Head Full of Doubt

[swellter]

Who: Shouto swellter  and Dabi burnitblack 
What: Staples run. 
When: A few days after THIS. 
Where: The Lumenarium

Content Warnings: mentions of domestic violence, emotional exploitation, praticide, and possible fratacide   (will edit as needed)


In the healing district of Trench, a young Todoroki waits for his older brother near the pale greenhouse of the Lumenarium. Sunset has long dipped beneath the horizon and Shouto gravitates towards a patch of Lumenflowers for light. The soft glow of the petals compete with the red haze that surrounds the district and dampen the taste of blood in the air with their thick, sweet smell. It suffocates the blood stench but it still feels wrong. All that blood in the air. 

He draws closer to the flowers while he waits. His omen, as usual, lies behind his ribcage sleeping to the beat of his heart. She's not as trusting as him. Warned him of this meeting, but understands the depth of feeling behind his decision. I only ever knew him by the picture on his vigil. I want...

I know. Kizu had stopped arguing, accepting his feelings for Touya, while distrusting Dabi.

As the minutes tick by, Shouto settles himself among the flowers, breathing in their thick scent to drown out the blood while he waits for his brother.

Comments

[swellter]

[ He wouldn't invite them without warning him first. Though, tbh, he wouldn't invite them period if Touya is there wondering he probably wouldn't like want to meet them. It'd be like lighting a powder keg and expecting it not to explode. He's dense NOT DUMB!

(Really?! No!!! I'm on the edge of my seat here! And lol, his new outfit is growing on me, not so much the crazy psycho look he's got going on. But Shouto is determined not to let the idiot kill himself!) ]

... You mean Midoriya and Bakugou.

[ Which begs the question: ] Are you still keeping track of them here?

[burnitblack]

[that's a good assumption. he isn't here to get chummy, especially not with shouto's friends. it's already weird enough to be having this strange moment between himself and his brother. and the dense versus dumb argument is up for anyone to make about shouto. touya thinks he's pretty dumb about certain things...

(yeeep, it's gonna be a long wait. i still prefer his black ensemble, grunge shit going on instead of the white. pretty sure he opted for white as some kind of symbology thing, but hey, it's half gone now. rip! so much for his reliant cuffs. and his lips. and... everything else.)]

And others.

[the league had interest in knowing what the could of all their opponents, though some more interesting than others.]

Who knows.

[swellter]

[ (It means death in eastern cultures. Laying it on thick there, Dabi. Shouto is not impressed! Stop burning yourself up! I cannot wait to read the end of this fight! Or what kind of volume cover they're gonna use for it!) ]

What others?

[burnitblack]

[(Yeah I looked into that and it means both death and purity in those cultures. A color used for both weddings and funerals. Wow. Double fun. Still looks like he swiped it from some British intelligence officer. He burns himself up just by living. Not like you gotta ever worry about that, Puppet. Yeah, I'm so looking forward to it!)]

Ya ain't the only three in ya class, Shouto.

[swellter]

[ (There's A LOT OF MEANING and I cannot wait to read essays dissecting it all once we get all their full story! It's not his fault he got the genetic lottery! Same! I hope it features them both! ]

[ That means Uraraka too. ]

You don't need to keep track of them here. They're trying to survive like everyone else. There's no heroes or villains here. We're all survivors.

[burnitblack]

[(And it's not his fault he got the shit end of the lottery and now's taking it out on the world cause dad was a fucktard. But yeah, he's definitely giving a middle finger in symbolism by wearing that. (Watch Hori reveal it's actually yellow or light pink or something. Hell, it could even be brown, like Ochako's hair.) The cover better have them both on it...)

And yes it does. Toga wanted to know about her girlfriend.]

Right. I'm sure ya don't keep tabs on them either.

[swellter]

[ (This clusterfuck of a family sure would hand out the best damn lottery tickets out there from best to worst! He is! He pays so much attention to detail without making it overtly obvious, he is definitely making a point! (Oh god! I would laugh!) Right! Dabi's cover was feakin' amazing! I cannot wait to see the cover these two will have!!! /vibrates excitedly) ]

[ Them being other villains. It's been a month, so he knows Shigaraki is here but he meant what he said: ]

I don't care about anyone but you.

[burnitblack]

[(Well arguably the Midoriya family has even worse lottery tickets... A Quirkless kid and all. Apparently the only one in the entire city from how the manga's going on. Aoyama don't count cause he came from France. Touya was raised with the Todoroki mindset, so yeah he got that intelligence down too. (It's baby blue!) Probably both of them clashing with Endeavor standing in the background, either facing away from them, standing beside his wife, or crying.)

Dabi's not covering for Shigaraki. If the guy doesn't want his tracks uncovered, he can deal with that himself.]

You're real bad at lyin...

[swellter]

[ (We shall see how it goes!) ]

[ Let him restate that: ]

I keep track of my friends and you.

I don't keep track of Shigaraki.

[burnitblack]

[now that makes more sense.]

So how ya plannin on keepin track of me?

[swellter]

I'm not. Kizu will.

[ Bluntly stated. ]

She's indicated as much and she doesn't listen to me.

[ When he tells her not to. So, it's better that he puts it out there. He can't stop her any more than he can stop his brother. ]

[burnitblack]

Great.

[so happy to know he's gonna have that cat stalking him as often as it can. then again, shouto's said as much before.

gonna have to find out a way to prevent omen from tracking or locating him.]

[swellter]

[ The large cat purrs from her perch on the ground, tail swinging lazily, pleased by that answer. She'll be watching you. Shouto may trust him, but she doesn't. Dabi's been the source of many of their arguments. The only time her counterpart is ever more stubborn than her. Her only recourse is gathering information to make sure Dabi isn't a danger. Plus she enjoys the added benefit of stalking him the way he stalks others; a taste of his own medicine. ]

She won't hurt you.

[ That too, is true. A reflection of him, she won't ever do anything that he's expressly against that means hurting who he considers friends and family, so he's safe from her claws and teeth; for now. ]

She's just stubborn.

[burnitblack]

[enjoy that while you can, cause he's going to find a way to block her. even if it means siccing his own omen on her whenever she gets near. which... might end up giving away his position anyways, so moot point. wow, does she really think he hasn't been stalked before? his entire time as a villain was getting stalked by "society" itself. dabi's not going to have a good relationship with your cat, shouto. and yes, he's gonna refer to her as 'the cat' because he's a dick and she pisses him off.]

Ya think I'm worried about that?

[something tangible enough to strike him is tangible enough to burn. so his mind figures. might change his mind once he learns more about the omens, but for now, this is what he's thinking.]

Hmph. How surprising...

[swellter]

[ Why? Does her presence bother you? ]

I don't know what you worry about.

[ That's the whole point of why he's here! To learn more about him! ]

[burnitblack]

[are ya really that ignorant about privacy and wanting shit done in secret? or did you actually like dad monitoring your presence and always being "there" even when you managed to sneak out into the hall for an attempted peek at your siblings?]

Ain't worried. Just don't like someone stalkin me.

[it's a real gross feeling. like bein hunted. and he's a hypocrite.]

[swellter]

[ That's Kizu's thinking, but that's not the stalking she'll be doing because she's a reflection of him. She'll be blunt. Her presence known every time. She believes in confronting people. Making them see her... or is that him? ]

What about joining you for a walk?

[ He can surely convince Kizu to do that instead. ]

[burnitblack]

[either way, he won't be pleased to know she's there. makes leaving whatever home he eventually settles on is a waste of time. guess he'll think on that more later, come up with an idea he's more comfortable with. this is a new world after all.]

A walk.

[that sounds so... domestic.]

[swellter]

It's better than stalking.

[ Look, he's trying to find a compromise here. Why are all the people he knows such stubborn walnuts! ]

[burnitblack]

[he has a point.

and hopefully he's including himself in that group of stubborn walnuts.]

After sundown.

[swellter]

[ Where do you think Kizu gets it from?

His eyes widen a slightly, surprised by the offer before flicking down to Kizu who's tail has stopped flicking back and forth and who is now watching Touya with intense eyes while omen and Sleeper go back and forth until Shouto's stubbornness wins out. ]

She accepts.

[burnitblack]

[the factory.

sucks to be you two, cause dabi's not focusing on either of them. he's currently pulling a staple out of his stomach and dropping it on the tub floor. where there are plenty of them in his blood. yeah, been focusing on the task at hand with this conversation going on in the background.]

That wasn't to her.

[he's not goin on a walk with your pet cat, shouto.]

[swellter]

[ Wasn't to... What--

His brain's processing this real slow. Congratulations, you've 404'd him. ]

You... want to go for a walk... with me?

[burnitblack]

Compared to ya psychic cat who doesn't like me.

[it's not an optimal way of doing things, but if it means getting the thing off his tail, then it's a reluctant compromise.]

[swellter]

[ Kizu says something in his head - a protest - but he doesn't quite catch it, caught off guard by the unexpected offer. ]

I'd like that.