Play Nice (Tomura Shigaraki x Reader)

Chapter 23: I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

Even for a Friday afternoon the arcade was way more crowded than she had expected. The group had originally planned on grabbing a bite at the attached restaurant before gaming, but their new addition had created a bit of a logistical problem.

"I'm so sorry," the Hostess bowed repeatedly and apologetically, "All of our larger party tables are booked for at least another hour. The most we could fit is a chair on the end of a four person booth."

"Awww, really? I mean how small are the booths? We're all friends, we can squeeze!" Nejire insisted, pulling Amajiki into a tight hug at the waist to prove her point, much to the quickly reddening boy's chagrin.

"That's against our fire code," she bowed again, "I'm really so sorry."

Yuyu, ever the pragmatic one, turned to suggest, "I guess we're gonna have to split up?"

Nejire pouted, "That's not really festive."

Mirio, more than happy to put on a show to either sacrifice one of his friends to table with Shigaraki, or make show of how much he didn't belong there at the moment, put a hand on Nejire's shoulder, "Hey, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?"

Shigaraki was feeling itchier and pricklier by the second. He didn't particularly enjoy being the center of gawking attention even under the best of circumstances. And this moment — standing awkwardly to the side as a group of kids already way cooler than he could ever hope to be were actively discussing the logistics as to why he was a complete inconvenience to all of them — was far from the best of circumstances.

He leaned into his one spider's thread of a tie to it all, whispering nervously, "I'll just go, this is stupid..."

Mirio, somehow hearing him, as if he'd been waiting for those words frowned "sympathetically" at him, "Awww? Are you sure?"

"Uh, y-yeah..." Shigaraki said, even he was a bit taken aback by how quick Mr. 'Let's Make Everyone Smile At All Times" was willing to kick him to the curb, "I-I'm making this weird anyway, right?"

Nobody really wanted to answer. That's what the group of friends did think, after all.

But then she put a hand, a perfectly manicured lifeline, on his shoulder.

"Don't be silly," she pointed out, "Look, there's a two seater right by that booth. Shigaraki and I will take that and then we won't have to squeeze anywhere."

The group all looked about each other, shrugging and mumbling positively. That really did seem like the best option. The group that needed to be altogether — the friends since elementary school — were indeed, altogether, and Shigaraki was neither ostracized nor isolated with people he didn't know. It was a perfectly fine solution for all.

All except Mirio.

"H-Hey, those big party tables aren't reserved for the night or anything right?" Mirio asked the hostess, and upon a confirming nod, he offered back to the group, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not starving or anything — why don't we just put our name down and play some games in the meantime? Then nobody has to squeeze or split, you know?"

Another chorus of shrugs and "Yeah, that's work"'s — and Mirio had his, admittedly, small victory over the situation.

Though it's not like it lasted long.

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When something was too good to be true, that's probably because it was. It was a school of thought Tomura Shigaraki never particularly subscribed to. After all, Sensei had taught him his entire life that anything he wanted, no matter how good or bad, was his for the taking. Nothing was too good to be true in his world.