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Shuichi still couldn’t get used to the new headquarters of the Paranormal Liberation Front. The long winding hallways twisted and turned endlessly and made him dizzy.
But he hadn’t seen Tomura since yesterday morning and was seriously concerned he was falling back on his habit of shutting himself inside his room and ignoring the world, so he’d brought it upon himself to bring him food and maybe coax him out to meet the new recruits. He sighed. In a regular situation this kind of job fell on Kurogiri, but with the man arrested and the rest of the League preferring to do whatever they wanted, he felt it was his duty to look after Tomura.
Not that it bothers me, he thought, ignoring the heat spreading down his neck. So maybe he’d developed a stronger-than-normal admiration towards his leader, but he knew better than to let feelings get in the way of work. He’d continue his duty to the team and keep whatever personal wishes to himself.
He mentally retraced his steps and followed the path he’d mapped in his head, taking a left in the next corner and heading for Tomura’s room at the very end of the hall. With his hands busy with the tray he was carrying, Shuichi didn’t bother knocking and just used his elbow to push open the door.
The room was dark, the curtains drawn completely and making the room uncomfortably chilly—or maybe it was just his reptilian side complaining. The lump under the covers in the middle of the massive bed betrayed Tomura’s position. He was still asleep.
Laying the tray down on a table by the door, he quietly made his way to the bed.
“Shigaraki?” He said softly, keeping his distance. He could barely see a flash of white peeking from under the covers.
Tomura grumbled something and buried himself further into the bed.
Shuichi knew it wasn’t a good idea to surprise him, but he wasn’t getting anywhere just whispering his name from afar. He stepped up until his knees hit the edge of the bed and leaned forward slowly, letting his hands sink on he mattress.
“Shigaraki” He called again, a bit louder this time. “Come on, you need to get back to work”
But Tomura seemed to be even more stubborn than usual when sleepy. Maybe that was the reason he had no problem fighting Gigantomachia on just a couple hours of sleep a week. He rolled around and inched further away from him towards the other side of the bed. At this rate he would end up falling and accidentally disintegrating the entire floor.
As a last effort to avoid massive destruction, Shuichi got a knee up on the bed to try and reach him before he rolled away.
His weight bearing down on the mattress made the frame creak, and apparently that was enough to activate whatever survival instincts Tomura had kept, because before he could react there was a hand whipping out of the covers and straight towards him.
Tomura emerged from the depths, looking around frantically until he focused on Shuichi’s figure and let out a relieved sigh. “Spinner, what have I said about bothering me?”
“S-Shigaraki” Shuichi whispered, his voice shaking as he addressed him.
Tomura made a questioning sound, looking into his lieutenant’s eyes and following them to where they were looking.
To where Tomura’s entire hand was wrapped around Shuichi’s bicep.
With a gasp he snatched his hand back, cursing up a storm and hurrying to his feet to search Shuichi for any of his knives; because what was missing an arm in exchange for staying alive, right?
But it was as he as patting him down that he felt hands landing on his shoulders, grounding him.
Wait.
Hands? Plural?
He slowly looked at the scaly hand holding him, following it up a green arm, complete and unharmed, all the way to Shuichi’s equally shocked face.
How the—
“Shigaraki?” Shuichi said for what felt like the hundredth time. “Why am I not dust?”
It was a question Tomura didn’t have the answer to.
Even with his newfound control over his quirk, he still couldn’t turn it off, and he’d used the hand that was still whole to touch him.
“I…I don’t know” Tomura finally said. His voice matched the awe in his expression, but that was something Shuichi wouldn’t let him know. Even through the terror chilling his blood from his near death experience, he couldn’t help thinking the wide-eyed, open-mouthed surprise on Tomura’s face was too endearing to break down.
There was a moment of silence until Shuichi spoke. “Do it…do it again”
“What?! No!” Tomura snapped. “I don’t want to kill you!”
Shuichi ignored the way his stomach fluttered at his words. “But I’m not dead” He insisted. “Come on, it’ll be fine”
Tomura’s breathing picked up, eyes turning misty as if lost in deep thought. Shuichi was starting to thing that maybe he’d brought up some bad memories with his request, but then Tomura’s damaged hand was brought up to pick Shuichi’s off his shoulder, carefully held between his thumb and index finger. Then the other hand joined and slowly touched down on Shuichi’s wrist, one finger at a time.
There was a moment of tension when the last finger hesitated to make contact. Tomura met Shuichi’s eyes in poorly veiled concern and found only trust and determination in his subordinate’s face. He brought his pinky down.
And waited.
Shuichi’s skin was smooth and cold, and it was actually really nice to feel despite what one might think from just looking.
But most important, it wasn’t disappearing from his touch.
Tomura started dragging his hand up towards his elbow, his shoulder, marveling at this new development as he fully took in the feeling of another being for the first time in well over a decade.
His touch kept moving up, not even realizing he was now on Shuichi’s neck until he was carefully cupping his cheek and once again making eye contact with wide pink eyes.
“W-Why do you think…” Shuichi muttered, releasing his hand from Tomura’s hold to bring it up, wanting but not daring to place it on top of the one on his face.
“I-I don’t know” He answered just as softly, rubbing his thumb over Shuichi’s cheekbone and feeling the ridges and bumps of his scales.
Wait.
“Scales” Shigaraki gasped. “Of course, should’ve realized sooner…”
“My scales? What’s that got to do with anything? You can decay concrete”
“I can’t touch a single scale with all five fingers” Tomura said. “I can decay with any amount of fingers now, but I can control that. It’s only when I use all five that I can’t turn it off” He breathed in and out slowly, letting his free hand join to fully hold Shuichi’s face. “You’re immune”
And in a flash he closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Shuichi’s neck and burying his face in his scarf.
Shuichi didn’t know what to do, his heart hammering against his chest as he felt his entire body heating up. Tomura was just slightly taller than him, but he was hunched over so often and he was so thin it made him feel smaller against him. He could feel Tomura’s arms starting to slide from his neck down his chest only to wrap around his waist.
Oh god, Tomura was hugging him.
“A-Are you okay?” Was the only thing he could think to say at the moment, yelping when he felt cold hands slip under his shirt to rub circles on his lower back.
“More than okay” Tomura said, his voice light and airy as he got his fill of proper body contact in forever. “Hug me”
“What?!”
“Hug me”
Well, Shuichi couldn’t deny his boss an order, now could he?
He wound his arms around Tomura’s waist, feeling him shudder and let out a breath against his collarbone. He tightened his hold and reeled at the positively needy whine that escaped Tomura’s throat.
“I hope you’re not busy today” Tomura casually said. “Because I’m not letting you go”
Shuichi hummed. “Well, I actually came to pick you up so the new recruits could meet you, being the big boss of the Front and all” He looked at the abandoned tray he’d brought. “Also I guess I need to get you a new lunch”
“You brought me lunch?” Tomura dragged his nose up Shuichi’s neck and along the line of his jaw. Shuichi couldn’t tell if he was doing it consciously or if he was just too drunk on physical contact to realize it. Not like he was complaining, mind you.
“Uh huh” Shuichi let his eyes fall closed as he enjoyed the gentle touch. It was a good thing he was a lizard and not a cat, or he’d be purring up a storm.
Tomura finished his journey with a soft press of his lips on a scaly cheek. “Hm. I guess we can work something out”
When Shuichi could finally drag Tomura to the kitchen and then out towards the stage for his formal introduction, it was with the man as a permanent fixture hanging from his arm. Tomura could just not let him go, and didn’t seem all that concerned about what image the newbies might get from him at being so touchy with one of his teammates.
It was only when Re-Destro came to fetch Tomura for private business that he was reluctantly released for the time being, with the silent promise to come back later to pick up from where they left off.
Shuichi was still so lost on the feeling of Tomura holding onto him that he missed the newcomer casually striding up to him.
“So the Creep finally cozying up to you, huh?” Dabi said, bumping shoulders with Shuichi. “Well done, Romeo”
Shuichi pushed him away, huffing and praying his scales were enough to hide any blush. “Piss off, dude”
Dabi laughed, patting his back. “Sorry, sorry” He then slipped his hand in Shuichi’s pocket and dropped something before turning around and walking off.
“What did you—Hey!” He shouted at feeling the square foil wrapping crinkling in his hand when he tried to pull it out, stopping at the last second when he recognizedwhat it was.
“Get some, man!”
And he would’ve gladly chased him down to strangle him with his own hands, if it weren’t for the now familiar weight crashing against his back and the arms wrapping around his waist.
“Managed to shook that guy off. Let’s go” Tomura said, pushing him forward and in the direction of his room before Shuichi could react.
Well, at least with this guide he wouldn’t be getting lost any time soon.