Chapter Text
All things considered, it was kind of strange how ordinarily this entire situation had started. It was a lazy Sunday — the first day off she’d really given herself in months between cram school, swim practice, and studying for entrance exams. She was just laying on the couch playing Animal Crossing on her Switch, when her Dad entered the room, oh so casually bringing up:
“You know the President of my company? He’s got a son that’s about your age.”
Oh no. She knew that tone of voice. That was the, “Let’s get excited about something awful” voice that made her Dad think he was so slick. The, “help me clean the gutters” and “you have an orthodontist appointment” voice. Indicating that it was something so supremely unenjoyable that he needed to trick her into thinking it was something fun or god-forbid cool beforehand.
“He even went to your school, isn’t that neat?”
She shot him a glare. No. No, that was not especially neat . They were a couple of rich kids that lived in the same commuter vicinity of a private school near her fathers’ company. A school that every employee of said company got a nice little stipend to send their kids to due to the large donations that the head of that company made every year. Of course they went to the same school. It was practically custom made for them.
“The President has expressed a lot of interest in introducing you two to each other. Thinks you’ll be a good influence on him!”
“Why does he even know about me? That’s a little creepy.” she joked.
Her Dad was less than amused, “Of course I talk about you with my coworkers. Not to mention you’ve met him at company parties.”
“Huh. I don’t remember.”
That was kind of a lie. She did remember. She particularly remembered that the company president liked to talk about himself and his visions a lot . To the point that she had started calling him “All For One”, in her mind and had completely forgotten his real name. But in all honesty, she didn’t really think about her Dad’s job — let alone his boss — unless she really had to, unless it was right in front of her. So maybe the more honest response would’ve been “I don’t care”, but that was pretty rude.
He reached over, forcibly pausing her game, “That’s because you always have your face buried in your devices, Peanut.”
She rolled her eyes playfully, unpausing the game just as quickly. “What’s his name?”
“Tomura. Do you know him?”
Her fingers froze, her little villager sprite swaying on loop as they waited for her to click forward to the next dialogue option.
Oh she knew him alright. Everybody at her school knew him. Tomura Shigaraki was a fucking freak . And not in the Judd Apatow, misunderstood renegade type of way — this guy was genuinely creepy. The type of guy that brought knives to school. That stole underwear from girls’ lockers (although this was never proven). One of the senpai in her club was convinced that Tomura was stalking her last year. And he was the type to get away with it all. And now she knew why.
Kamino High had universally let out a sigh of relief when the creep had graduated back in April.
“I think it’d be a good idea.” her father continued, “He’s a first year at Todai, now. Maybe he could give you some entrance exam pointers.”
“No, I think I’ll be okay.” she said.
“He likes video games.” her dad tried to sell.
“Most kids my age do, Dad. It’s really not that big of a selling point.”
“What if you just—”
“Dad.” she sat up suddenly, “I really don’t want to.”
He looked at her genuinely surprised. This wasn’t like his daughter to so vehemently oppose him on something. Especially when he was making it clear that it was something important.
“Why not?”
“Because he’s creepy! I don’t like him and I don’t want to spend time with him.” she insisted.
He frowned, “Honey, how can you say that? You don’t even know him.”
“Yeah and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Her dad sighed, “Come on, kiddo. I thought I raised you better than this.”
She looked down to her feet, guilt making its way slowly but surely through her body.
“I’ve met this kid. Sure he’s a bit of an odd duck, but I don’t think he deserves to be called a creep for that. He’s just a little awkward and lonely. Honestly, I think he just needs a friend.”
“And his Dad thinks I’d make a good one…?” she muttered.
“I think you’d make a good one.”
He leaned over, pinching her cheek teasingly, “You’re my friend after all!”
She snorted, swatting his hand away lightly, “Oh god, please stop.”
“Just hang out with him one time, alright? Can you do that for me?”
She sighed, “Fine .”
Her Dad grinned, clapping his hands together excitedly, “Great! It’s a playdate!”
“Please don’t call it that!”
For how much of a selling point her Dad had tried to make of Shigaraki supposedly being a gamer, she was a little peeved that he made her leave her handheld at home. She knew why of course. If she brought her own game, she technically didn’t have to interact with him at all while still living up to her side of the agreement — that’s why she wanted it after all.
But no. He wanted from her what he was so used to seeing her put into everything: 100% effort and a perky smile. And so now she had very little to distract herself from the anxiety bubbling in her stomach and bouncing her leg as her father drove her. (Seemingly to her doom).
Her leg was bouncing so much in fact, that she barely even recognized the actual vibrating of her phone in her skirt pocket.
She pulled it out and opened her texts, a smile instantly settling on her face as she saw who it was from.
Mirio Togata ❤
[Have fun today!]
[Please save me. (｡ŏ﹏ŏ)]
[You’re gonna be fine, hon.]
[Okay, but you do remember who
Shigaraki is, right?]
[yeah…]
[So how can this possibly be fine?]
[Idk. It was all just rumors about him
at the end of the day, right? Maybe the
guy’s just misunderstood.]
[Now you sound like my dad -_-]
[Well maybe he has a point. Lol]
[You know, people used to think that
Tamaki was creepy too.]
[And you like Tamaki, right?]
Aww, Tamaki. That poor sweet treasurer of the swim team that couldn’t even bring himself to stand on the podium of their last meet despite coming first in the boys' 200 yard fly. Her heart squeezed at the thought.
[Of course I do!! That boy is too pure
for this world ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡]
[See? Just give the guy a chance.]
[For your dad’s sake at least.]
She sighed. He was right. Of course he was right. And so was her dad. Even she could admit that she was being overly-judgmental of the guy who’d been officially guilty of nothing more than ogling a few girls in their swimsuits. And yet, she just couldn’t shove down the growing sense of dread in her gut completely.
But she’d keep that to herself. She still didn’t want to be a bother. She didn’t want to cause a problem.
“Hey we’re almost there.” her Dad said, “So put that phone away."
[Yeah okay]
[I’ve gotta go]
[Love you! ( ˘ ³˘)❤]
She paused, her heart quickening at the last message from her boyfriend. But not in the way it should’ve. Not in a good way. And it wasn’t the first time either.
She wasn’t sure why panic set in when he said that word. Mirio was a dream boyfriend - handsome, kind, funny, and her family loved him. He had a way of just lighting up every room he was in and she never had a bad time with him. Not to mention he’s never pressured her to do anything, despite them dating for six months already. He was everything she could ever hope for in a boyfriend. And yet…
[ ❤（￣ε￣ʃƪ）]
…she could never bring herself to say it back.
“Peanut .” her Dad said warningly — the type of tone that was just one step away from dropping nicknames and getting actually mad.
“I know, I know.” she surrendered, making a big show of pocketing her phone, “Where even is this place?”
Her Dad pointed straight ahead as they turned towards what looked almost like a hotel driveway — and her jaw dropped.
The Shigarakis lived in a skyrise that just from the outside looked disgustingly opulent. It was the tallest building in the swankiest part of the city, the type with required valet, uniformed security guards, and even an elevator attendant.
And of course, they lived in the penthouse.
Now, her family certainly wasn’t wanting for anything. They lived in a single family home in one of the nicer parts of Setagaya — one with centralized AC and a two-car garage, and they took regular family vacations to Taiwan and Hawaii. And yet the word “commoner” still felt branded across her forehead when compared to the Shigarakis. She couldn’t feel more uncomfortable by the wage gap if she found out that they owned this building. And as it turned out — as explained by her father as the doorman let them in— they did.
Everything from the elevator ride to walking into the middle of their contemporary minimalist living room went by in a blur. A butler — she was pretty sure he introduced himself as Kurogiri — had escorted them and quickly excused himself to inform the Shigarakis of their arrival. But she’d been so overwhelmed by the luxury of their home and the bad feeling growing heavier in her stomach that she couldn’t even remember his face. Only a black mist remained in her memory, and she made a note to herself to take a good look at him to correct this next time he came down.
“You made it!”
She looked up to the top of the floating staircase, where “All For One” descended in great grandeur. He could’ve been wearing a cape for how high and mighty he held his head and how wide he spread his arms. The boy trailing behind him however had the complete opposite energy — although it was no less unnerving.
His clothes were all black and all wrinkled. A hoodie and pair of joggers that probably fit his willowy body at some point, but had been so heavily worn for so long that they were completely stretched out and now pooled around his every slouched joint. His pale mop of uneven (although admittedly fluffy looking) hair looked like it hadn’t seen a brush or a decent barber shop in the better part of a year. His skin was just as dried and scarred as she remembered it, maybe worse considering his notorious scratching habit. Her senpai that was in his class had once told her about a time where he scratched his neck bloody when the calculus teacher called him up to solve an equation. He’d gotten blood all over the chalk and even dripped onto the board without batting an eye, ignoring the teacher’s pleading to go to the nurse’s office.
And he’d solved the equation perfectly.
None of this in itself was a problem to her, a guy this rich could dress and present himself however the fuck he wanted to, although a part of her did wonder why someone as obsessed with images and self-preservation as All For One would let him. The issue she had was with the way that he stared at her, unblinking and hateful as he picked at a scab on his neck the entire trek down the stairs.
That was Tomura Shigaraki alright, looking just as creepy and withdrawn as she remembered.
“President.” her father presented her, “You remember my daughter.”
“Why of course!” All for One grinned, approaching her, “My, you must’ve been in middle school last time I saw you.”
The way he smiled… It was wide and immaculately charming, and yet something felt off about it. She wrote it off in her mind as just being a God-tier level of a customer service smile he’d mastered over the thirty years of building his company. Maybe she’d get there with her own fake smile some day.
“At least.” she bowed politely, shoving her nervousness as far back into her psyche as possible, “It’s an honor to meet you again, Shigaraki-sama.”
“And so polite! You have certainly grown into a beautiful young lady.” He turned to his son, “Hasn’t she, Tomura?”
“Huh?” he finally broke his staring contest with the side of her face, realizing that he was being talked to.
He looked away, muttering irritably, “I-I dunno…”
A pretty rude response, all things considered. But she was just happy to finally be free of his leering. Even if the long silence that followed was unbearably awkward.
All For One broke it with a succinct and enthusiastic clap, “Wonderful! I can already see you two are going to be fast friends. We’ll go ahead and get out of your hair now.”
Her stomach dropped. She looked to her Dad, who looked just as surprised by the announcement as her.
“Y-You’re leaving?”
“Well surely you two don’t want to hang out with us geezers, do you?” All For One laughed.
She shot her Dad a pleading look. But before he could even acknowledge it, let alone respond to it, All For One was already pulling his attention away.
“How’s your golf game, my friend?”
“I’m… Admittedly a bit rusty.” her Dad said modestly.
All for One laughed, “Well, why don’t we give you a good polish and go play a few rounds at my Country Club? It’ll give us a chance to talk about your future at the company.”
His eyes widened, glowing at the opportunity in a way that his daughter knew she couldn’t pull him away from if she tried.
“Th-That’d be great!”
All For One’s grin got even wider, if that was possible, “Wonderful ! Kurogiri, pull the car around!”
Her father shot her a sincerely apologetic look, but let his boss lead him out the front door anyway.
“Please make yourself at home, my dear.” All for One told her.
Her father paused in the doorway, looking at her pointedly, “And play nice, Peanut.”
And with that, she was alone with Tomura Shigaraki.
They stood across from each other for what felt like way too long. She shifted from foot to foot, trying to figure out what to do, what to say. She was obviously uncomfortable and flustered, and Shigaraki just watched her suffer. The vaulted ceilings were suddenly looking very interesting…
After what felt like ages of painful silence, she found her voice, “So—”
She honestly wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but she had no chance to discover even for herself when Shigaraki just turned and walked away without a word.
She stood dumbfounded, watching the boy pad lazily up the stairs and out of sight — only snapped out of her stupor at the sound of a slamming door.
…the fuck?
What did she do now? Was she supposed to stay? Was she supposed to follow him? If he’d been expecting her to come with him, she’d have thought he would’ve said something, or at least paused at the top of the stairs when he realized that she wasn’t moving.
Maybe she could just stay down here in the living room. All for One had told her to make herself comfortable after all — he probably wouldn’t mind if she just raided the kitchen for some snacks and watched Netflix on their giant TV, right? She’d put money on them having really nice, fancy snacks too — like small-batch kombucha and dried fruit. Maybe Shigaraki wanted her to stay down here too. Maybe he was just as irritated and embarrassed by this mandatory-fun situation as she was and they could just agree to lie and say they had a good time when their dads came back.
She sighed and shook the idea out of her head. No. No, that wasn’t gonna fly. There was no way for them to get their stories straight if they didn't at least talk about it first. And, well…
…she’d promised her Dad that she’d at least try.
And so she found herself trudging up the grand floating staircase of this grand, fucking apartment. It spit her out into a hallway that housed doors to far more rooms than this place had any right to possess. They were all closed, a distinct aura of “Do Not Enter” wafting from each one. She padded down the hall, trying to figure out which was Shigaraki’s.
Finally she stood in front of the one where the blue light of computer screens and the sounds of medieval RPG combat systems seeped out from under.
She knocked. No response. Her better judgment told her to just leave it at that — to take the lack of answer as permission to leave Shigaraki the fuck alone. But her love for her father and her desperate desire to not make waves in his life convinced her to knock one more time.
This time she was thrown a grunt from the other side. She sighed. She should’ve just left, she knew it. But it was too late now.
She opened the door.
The smell of the room was the first to hit her — a gag-inducing cocktail of sickly sweet energy drinks, stale and soured food, and sweat. And much to her dismay, the smell wasn’t happy with a jump scare to her senses and quick escape into the ether. This shit lingered .
The next thing she noticed was the state of the room. It was like a tornado of hikikomoris ransacked the place. Dirty clothes were piled along the room in a mountain range, accompanied by neighboring sierras of filled trash bags piled just as high. Stacks of dirty dishes and instant ramen containers decorated every flat surface.
If she really looked hard, she could see what was once a vestige of nerdish normalcy to the room. Shelves of manga, figures, and video game cases, limited edition posters from comic conventions and game releases haphazardly taped on the walls. An impressive wall of gaming equipment that included a flat screen tv, a custom-built desktop with three monitors, at least five different gaming consoles, and a gaming chair that she was pretty sure cost more than her school’s tuition.
This is the corner of the room Shigaraki was in, eyes glued to his Elden Ring boss fight.
She took a step forward, pausing as she felt her foot slip a little on something — evoking an audible tear.
She looked down to her foot and balked.
A disgustingly well-read nudie magazine — one that had certain sections not only dog-eared, but stained. A porno. She had stepped on the man’s porno. That he had just left out in the middle of the room for her to see.
God, she made a mistake.
“What do you want?”
She snapped out of her disgust momentarily to look at Shigaraki, who still hadn’t even bothered to look at her despite the bark. With great difficulty, she threw on her best club-recruitment smile and approached him.
“Well, I’m here to hang out, right…?” she trailed off, hoping that he’d take the hint and either fill in the blank or tell her not to bother.
He did neither. He just continued to button mash with furious force.
She continues, “... so we should probably, you know… Hang out?”
“Hang out then.” he grunted, “Wherever you want.”
She took another look around the room, scoping for a seat that maybe she’d missed upon first inspection. A chair that 100% did not exist. There was the unmade bed (not happening), a pro series floor rocker (in this skirt, also not happening), and the floor (which just from the feel of it through her socks was SUPER not happening).
Standing and taking stock of the things on Shigaraki’s desk was undoubtedly the best opinion.
Five game controllers — not counting the one currently in his claw grip. Three half empty bottles of something called swiftech hydrx coolant. One bottle of lotion — which guessing by the dryness of his skin, she was pretty sure was not for his face.
She was sufficiently distracting herself in this weird little world of Shigaraki’s, to the point that she didn’t notice him looking her up and down out the corner of his eyes. Lingering on every inch of skin, drinking up every curve. And in some weird, twisted way — both loving and hating it all.
“You still at Kamino High?”
She looked up in surprise, having happily reserved herself to awkward silence. From her perspective, Shigaraki still hadn’t taken his eyes off his game, but it was obvious he was waiting for a response.
“Uh, y-yeah. I’m a third year.” she answered.
“Still on the swim team?”
Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t like this. For someone who appeared to be completely uninterested in her presence, he sure remembered a lot about her.
“Yeah…” she answered with a nervous laugh, trying to play it cool, “Breast stroke and IM.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“IM… It’s the Individual Medley — so I swim all four strokes in one… race…”
She trailed off. The complete disinterest from Shigaraki was palpable and made her feel more awkward with every word. Out of all the things she had been nervous about, all the gross creepy scenarios of how this day could’ve gone that played in her head — she’d genuinely never expected that he would be such an asshole.
And her Dad had told her to play nice.
She was coming up on her last straw of patience. But damn it, she wasn’t one to not get back on the block after botching a dive.
“...You go to Todai now, right?” she probed, “What are you studying?”
“CS.”
“Oh.” she said, looking over his setup once again, “Yeah, I guess that makes sense...”
“You trying to get into Todai?” he muttered with an amount of bite that implied he already knew and was unimpressed by the answer.
She smiled nervously, “Well, yeah. I mean who doesn’t want to go to Todai—”
“I don’t tutor for free.”
Her eyes narrowed, “I wasn’t asking for tutoring.”
For the first time — from her point of view at least — Shigaraki spared a glance, amusement tugging on the corner of his lips.
She sighed. This whole ordeal was going nowhere fast. Obviously neither of them were enjoying this. Maybe it was best to just put them both out of their misery.
“Listen Shigaraki-san, I—”
“You still dating that meathead on your team? What was his name, Togata?”
She blinked. …How the fuck did he remember all that? She barely even remembered what Shigaraki’s name had been until her father reminded her. Not to mention Miro confessed to her no sooner than a week before what would’ve been Shigaraki’s graduation.
“Uh, yeah. For about six months now.”
“How’s his dick?”
She froze. There was no way she heard this guy right. And yet, thinking back to the magazine she’d stepped on, she had a sneaking suspicion that she did.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh come on, big himbo school hero like that — he’s gotta be either packing or lacking, right?” He smirked, “So which is it? How much does he stretch you out?”
Her face flushed with equal parts embarrassment and anger.
“I-I don’t see how that’s any of your business!”
Shigaraki snorted, and looked at her, “Relax . We’re hanging out, right? So let’s talk.”
“Well I don’t want to talk about this…” she crossed her arms, self-conscious as, for the first time, she felt the full intention of his devouring stare.
Play nice, Peanut.
The words ricocheted in her ears, whipping her soul with guilt and determination. No, she couldn’t get angry and storm out now. She had to try.
She stammered, “We don’t have to talk…W-Why don’t we play something together?”
Shigaraki paused his game with a speed that took her by surprise. This whole time he’d seemed to only be half-listening to her, so engrossed in his game he couldn’t possibly think about anything else.
And yet here he was, turning his chair around and forgoing his perfect run all in one move.
“Oh? You want to play together? I’m game… Let’s play.”
He was faster than she would’ve expected. Of course, she hadn't exactly expected him to shoot his hand up the back of her skirt and grab her ass. She leaped back with a yelp, slapping his hand away hard.
“W-What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” she blushed.
Shigaraki smirked, completely unphased, “I thought you wanted to play?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Do I?” he stood suddenly, stalking over to her. She backed up. He was surprisingly tall.
“You couldn’t get up to my room fast enough. And here you’ve been begging for my attention like a bitch in heat.”
She gasped as she felt Shigaraki’s bed kiss the back of her legs. And the man himself was on her just as fast, shoving her down onto her back before she could think of her next move, caging her head between his arms.
“So what else am I supposed to think?” he breathed hot onto her face.
Her eyes narrowed — her anger at the situation being the only thing to keep her from gagging.
She threw her hands against his chest, pushing hard. Whether it was due to his lack of muscle mass or lack of conviction, he was shoved back easily. She hurried to her feet, straightening out her clothes with a huff.
“I’m not fucking doing that.” she spat, turning tail and storming towards the exit.
“Oh yeah?” he called after her, “Then let’s see if your Dad has a job tomorrow!”
She froze. She hesitated a peak over her shoulder. Shigaraki, lounging back cheekily on the bed, stared right through her. His composure wasn’t shaken in the slightest, his smirk steady. And his big, spidery hand had started to palm himself through his joggers.
As much as she hated it, she couldn’t keep the fear from her face.
He wouldn’t do it — no. No, she was almost certain that he would. But he couldn’t do it. There’s no way that her rejection of him could have any effect on her Dad’s job. The real world didn’t work like that. Adults were more reasonable than this crusty man-child wanted her to believe.
She glared and turned to finish her trek out of the room.
She was calling his bluff.
Shigaraki hadn’t been bluffing. Boy she couldn’t believe how much he had not been bluffing. Sitting on her living room couch, head dropped in shame, she racked her brain trying to think of how she could’ve possibly handled this situation differently. Some alternate action that didn’t include letting the way-too-powerful-for-his-own-good incel feel her up, but she supposed it didn’t matter now.
What if’s did nothing for the fact that her father was currently pacing in the kitchen, begging for his job over the phone.
“P-Please President, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything malicious by it.”
Her heart seized at the desperation in his voice. She’d never heard him like this. As dorky as she typically thought her father was, she also knew that he was a kind, hardworking and confident man. While he whole-heartedly embraced taking responsibility and apologizing, she’d never heard him grovel .
And the cold condescension that came from All For One over the speaker did little to lessen her worry.
“Please know that I don’t take this decision lightly — you’ve done nothing but stellar work for this company through all of your tenure. But I just truly wonder that if you can’t keep your own daughter in line, how on earth are you handling our high-level clients? That level of disrespect doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it’s learned . And I shudder to think about where she has learned it from. ”
“I completely understand, President. Please, I’ll talk to her — she’ll come straight over and apologize, just give me one more chance…”
The rest of the conversation faded into a blur in her mind. Tomura Shigaraki had done it. That cunning fucker had actually ran to his daddy and told him— God who even knows what he’d told him? That she’d disrespected and harassed him, bullied him? The details weren’t the point — this 19 year old actually held her father’s career — the fate of their family in his hands. And he was happy to decay it at the drop of a hat.
She was brought out of her thoughts by her father suddenly looming tall and angry over her. He wasn’t on the phone anymore. He was focused all on her.
“You are going over there and apologizing to Tomura first thing in the morning.” he commanded.
“D-Dad—” she breathed.
“No! No excuses. I don’t care what you don’t like about him — this is bigger than you. This is my job. Do you want to end up on the street?!”
She dropped her head, trying desperately to bite the tears back.
“I am very disappointed in you, young lady.”
“I… I’m sorry.” she sobbed, “I'm so sorry, Daddy.
His face softened slightly. He hated seeing his daughter like this. She was a good girl, he had no idea what had gotten into her to behave like this and put his job at risk. It wasn’t like her. He wanted to comfort her and ask what was wrong, if something was going on at school. If cram school and the pressure to get into a good college while maintaining her swim record was becoming too much. But he couldn’t. Not now. This was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at its cruelest. He needed to make sure his job was secure, to keep a roof over his daughter’s head before he could worry about her esteem. He had to stay strong.
And so he said, “I’m not the one you need to apologize to.”