deercountry | o5 . bone house mingle!

There's a shake of his head as he goes over and starts rooting through the cabinet to find another box of tissues (thank you Teacher). He opens the box just in time to muffle a sneeze into a handful of tissues. Then he blows his nose, as softly as he can, before tossing them away.

Kaworu ambles over the the table and watches Midoriya and the cereal, pulling his knees to his chest and sitting like a tiny bird in one of the kitchen chairs. Ginger tea? That sounds curious and he's instantly very keen to try something new. Then something twinges in the back of his head, almost like an itch, reminding him of something important.

Oh... Midoriya has been through a lot. He shouldn't be waiting on someone else, not in the middle of the night.

"You should eat your food and rest. You've been through a lot."

Kaworu folds up so small like a fledgling left in the nest. Midoriya leaves the box on the table in case Kaworu changes his mind.

"I'm fine enough to visit," he assures him. That's not much of an assurance, considering he's up at weird hours eating cereal, but his appearance is a stark improvement from the shambling husk that haunted Trenchwood. Less a cryptid, though he could still be accused as such at this hour, and more what he is: a tired but resolute young man. He puts the kettle on with his usual care and returns to his bowl. As the water heats, he pushes his cereal around with his spoon, not eating though he is hungry. Finally he looks up.

"I'm really sorry, Nagisa-kun," he says in an even lower voice, as if continuing a separate conversation. "You went through a lot too, and you came to find me."

“I wanted to find you, so I tried. Why are you apologizing?”

Kaworu glances over at Midoriya, like he’s confused about the entire direction of the conversation. There’s no reason to apologize or any resentment on his part. He gives a shrug of skinny soldiers.

“I’m just glad you came to visit.”

"You weren't feeling well," he tries to explain. "You shouldn't have been in the woods, but you were because of me. So I came to apologize, and to make sure you're doing all right."

He doesn't want to hurt others. He feels he must thank or apologize for the trouble others go through because of him. He frowns, looking contrite, and takes a spoonful of cereal. It's a little sweet for him, someone who took All Might's workout meal plan as a guideline for his own groceries, but yes, it is good.

Kaworu shrugs a little. "I wanted to find you. I've endured worse." His tone is matter-of-fact, unconcerned, unaware that's an extremely odd thing to say even in the context of simple allergies. He watches Midoriya move the cereal around and feels he should say something.

"I'm glad you came to visit."

It is an extremely normal thing to say to the guy who broke his bones on purpose multiple times. Someone has got to join Kaworu in scar solidarity if they haven't already. Midoriya sets his spoon down. Kaworu is... glad. Midoriya doesn't know or care if it's a platitude. He'll make it true.

"That doesn't mean you should. Anyway," he says, rising and padding in his socks over to the boiling kettle demanding attention, "I hope this will make you feel better."

He retrieves a jar of ginger honey syrup he brought over for this specific purpose and stirs some into a mug of hot water. He slides this over to Kaworu ("Careful, it's hot.") and returns to his cereal.

"Thank you for having me over even after all that. It's probably for the best that I'm not spending a lot of time at home." He chews his Cap'n Trench thoughtfully.

There's a shrug, not dismissive but unconcerned, as though the idea of "doesn't mean you should" doesn't apply to him. Life is, especially his own, about enduring pain and confusion that come with being alive, so to endure a little more for someone he cares for is easy to do without second thought.

Even if hay fever is awful. He sniffles and takes the mug. The ginger spice manages to penetrate his clogged sinuses in a pleasant way (even if he has to grab tissues as it makes his nose start to run). He curls up around the mug like it's a little flame, holding it to his chest. Then he glances up at Midoriya, curious (or maybe he's just trying to hold back a sneeze).

"Why? Did you cover it in slime again?"

Life isn't fair. Midoriya learned that very young when a Quirk didn't manifest in him, and everyone thought less of him for the way he was born. A hero looks at an unfair world and protects people from it. Midoriya does this without even thinking, an urgency in him as necessary as breathing.

He makes a sound like a dying animal. "No..." he manages, pressing his lips together. Why this?! He's never going to live down the slime incident.

"I don't want people to find out where I live," he explains after swallowing the bit of cereal he nearly choked on, "or who I'm friends with. I've been thinking... that I should be more careful. I don't have my school or Pro Heroes or even the police to help. A villain could attack my friends. I can't let that happen."

The sound makes Kaworu laugh. It's bit barking and a bit raspy but it's it feels light and easy. He often feels that way around Midoriya. And it's nice to have that brief moment as the conversation turns serious.

There's a frown as the angel sets the mug down and observes Midoriya, trying to calculate where that line of thought came from. "I won't let anyone hurt you or the people you know. If you need help, call me. I'll get rid of the villain."

"Thank you, but it's not that simple, Nagisa-kun." He feels like he's explaining once again that Kaworu, who already died once, is not invincible. Even All Might is not invincible. "Someone can get the jump on you or anyone I know. You can't be everywhere at once. Neither can I. Preventative measures are better. We can't just react, because we'd always be one step behind."

He is taking someone who can kill with a touch very seriously, but he can't just tell people that. The moment someone looks at Shigaraki with recognition could be the moment they die instantly. Right now, there are only a handful of people who could out him. It could all come back to the UA students. He pokes his spoon fitfully in his bowl again.

"Anyway, you don't look like you're in the best shape right now. We're all tired. This world throws enough at us without having to worry about watching our backs too. I'll do that myself. Just don't tell people we're friends. Except those who already know."

"Do that yourself, huh?"

Despite his stuffy nose and itchy eyes, Kaworu manages a pretty good derisive squint across the table. "Isn't that just what you tried to do in the woods? That didn't work out very well, did it?" It's not really a question.

Then a sigh and the furrowing in his brow goes slack as he looks at Midoriya softly instead. It's easy to be annoyed, he's learned. It's easy to be annoyed instead of considering the other things you feel underneath the annoyance. It's often hard for him to name those feelings but now he knows exactly what it is: concern for Izuku-kun, who is a dear friend. "Even if we can't do as much as you, you still can't carry everything by yourself. I'll keep your secrets but I'm not going to let you take on so much. If there's trouble, I'm not going to let you do it alone."

Edited 2022-03-24 00:56 (UTC)

He can hear the narrowing of Kaworu's eyes in his voice. Midoriya stares at his cereal. It's swimming weirdly even though he's not stirring it, and his throat hurts. He, too, knows what's beneath the annoyance and even that jab about being in the woods alone. It's something that hurts more, something Midoriya always gave to others without thought and was surprised when they shattered.

He'd wince comically--like he did when being scolded by his mom, a teacher, Iida--but he's so tired... He knows that he needs to practice asking for help more. It was a slip in his way of speaking. It shows how little he did that when it really mattered, and how accustomed he grew to that.

"I have some help. It's not that you can't, it's about information. Back home, heroes are common, and thanks to everyone's support, we can work publicly. Here is different, I realize. For now, I want to keep it covert and see if we need to use that to our advantage. But..."

He looks up at Kaworu and knows he has to prepare not just for that, but also for the opposite: the eventuality of everything jumping out from behind dust and ashes to attack everyone he knows.

"Thank you, Nagisa-kun." There is a ghost of the old Midoriya, a slight, vulnerable widening of eyes and a soft lift of his voice as it constricts. "That means a lot." Then his eyes fill with tears in earnest.

"If I have to keep information secret, won't you explain more? I can't hide what isn't known to me."

He says, matter-of-fact, and it's not untrue but there's more to it. Kaworu wants to understand Midoriya and why he's so afraid, so concerned. What out there is hunting him? He knows Midoriya is powerful so this must be something of even greater power. A true threat, possibly from the place Midoriya comes from.

This isn't how he thought it would go. He just wanted to give everyone a friendly warning to keep any relationship with Izuku Midoriya or the hero Deku not so public. Some people even have stories of masked vigilantes in their world, so they understand. Kaworu is one of them. Midoriya thought Kaworu would simply accept that. He should have known that wouldn't be the case.

He wipes his eyes on his arm. He got carried away. It's his concern that drives him to tears even in battle. But as they threaten the corners of his eyes again, it's also what clenches his teeth inside his jaw and flattens his eyes with an iron will. He will not let the worst case scenario happen.

"Say, for example, you come across someone who has a grudge against me. If I warned you what they look like, it would show on your face. Then they would know it was me who told them. It'd come back to me, and make you a target. You're powerful," he looks at his pale wispy friend clutching his allergy tea and says this straight without guile, "but none of us are invincible."

o5 . bone house mingle!

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