Chapter 18: The Friendzone

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She really didn't know what to expect the first time she went back to Shigaraki's place for a study session after their... discussion. They were trying to find a new normal — one that didn't involve yelling and backsliding and sex, and two out of the two previous attempts at this had been completely unsuccessful.

Needless to say she had some serious doubts that any of this was going to work. She wasn't sure that it was possible to ever just be friends with Tomura Shigaraki. And she was really scared of what that meant. Best case scenario, it meant that they probably would never see each other again.

And that thought pained her way more than she'd ever admit.

So she was pretty surprised when she entered his apartment that day and found not the usual empty living room, but Shigaraki himself, spreading out his textbooks on the dining table. And Kurogiri too, assembling a delightful little tray of snacks and braising a rack of lamb in the attached, open-concept kitchen with no signs of leaving the room.

"What's going on here?"

Shigaraki answered simply, "Tutoring."

"Down here?"

"I've got my own work to do today, so I thought a set-up like this made more sense," he answered.

Wait... had Shigaraki actually set up their session in the living room, a public place, where they couldn't get out of control?

"Did you have somewhere else in mind?" he asked.

Without even thinking, she answered, "I, uh, I guess I'm just surprised that you don't want to do it in your room."

Shigaraki smirked, "Do you want to go to my room?"

"N-No, this is fine!" she squeaked, eagerly taking her seat, "This is great, actually."

He chuckled and tossed a stack of practice tests to her side of the table.

"Here are the study guides you missed. Review 'em and then you should do a couple practice tests since you're behind."

She looked up at him with a scowl, fully ready to rebuke and rebuttal whatever snarky comment or patronizing smirk he'd throw her way for why she was behind. But there was no judgment or passive aggression waiting for her. He'd just stated it simply and opened his own laptop to work. It didn't matter how long she waited either, no dig came. If he was holding onto any bitterness right now, it didn't show.

Feeling her stare, Shigaraki glanced up, "What?"

"N-Nothing!" she dropped her head to dive into her work, praying to God that he didn't see the red dusting her cheeks, "Just zoned out so... Yeah, nothing."

His mouth twitched up. He absolutely did notice. But he chose not to say anything about it, instead pushing his laptop across the table towards her.

"Hey, what do you think of this paragraph?"

She looked back up at him, beyond surprised, "You want my help?"

"I want your opinion," he corrected pointedly.

She turned the laptop towards her, still a bit baffled, but looking over the document on screen regardless.

"I had the first two sentences switched originally," he explained, "But I'm wondering if it actually makes a difference."

She read through the section a few times before scrolling back to the intro paragraph.

"It's for a history class?" she asked as she read over his thesis, "Not creative writing or anything?"

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