Rays of sunlight poking between the trees' leaves warmed y/n's skin. She felt weightless as the hammock linking the two trees swung gently in the breeze. Y/n placed the book she had borrowed from Tomura down onto her lap. A small smile formed as she watched Tomoru softly coo in his carrier. A butterfly landed just a hair from his grasp, and the infant was reaching out, trying to grab at it. Nobuo sat against the tree, away from the baby's line of sight.

Y/n lifted the book and reread the beginning of the page again. She listened to the birds above her chirp as she found the sentence she had left off at. The hammock swung unnaturally, and something weighed on her body. She lifted the book above her head and looked down at her body.

Tomura was lying face down on her, his arms limply dangled off the hammock's sides. He had his head turned to the side, his cheek against her chest. Y/n's exhales were easy. Breathing in, with Tomura's extra weight on her, was another story.

Y/n read a line from the book. "Have you read this part?" she asked. Tomura shrugged. She could see him staring at Tomoru. Y/n returned her gaze to the book and continued reading.

"Keep going." His voice was coarse, as expected from his first words since waking up. Y/n asked what he meant. "Keep reading."

Butterflies fluttered in her chest. She hid her face behind the book as she beamed. Y/n giggled. "Okay then," she said.

She continued reading from the sentence she had left off at.  The first few pages went by smoothly. She began holding the book in one hand, so the other could lightly play with his messy blue tuft of hair. Tomura quietly nestled into her chest as she read. After the first ten pages, y/n began taking elongated breaks between pages. She found herself quickly becoming short of breath.

The hair y/n was playing with slipped from between her fingers. She lifted the book just enough to see Tomura's fiery-red eyes staring at her in a glare. "What's wrong?" y/n asked.

Tomura answered her question with his own. "Why are you reading so slow?"

"Ah, sorry, I'll speed it up a bit." Y/n smiled at him and returned to the book. She fought with her ever-growing breathlessness as she read. Her steady pace had slowed again.

"Not very fitting pace for a battle scene," Tomura grumbled.

Y/n apologized and continued reading. The burst of energy in her voice wasn't nearly as strong as the other times she read, and she had lost it just as quickly as it came. "So, when are you going to explain yourself?" Tomura asked.

She lifted the book and looked down at Tomura. He wasn't looking at her. He kept his head turned to the side, eyes looking elsewhere. Y/n knew she could lie, and Tomura wouldn't be none the wiser. "I just can't breathe."

"Why didn't you just say that, stupid?" Tomura began to move. Y/n frowned a bit, fearing that he was done cuddling her. The hammock rocked and trembled with his movements.

He sighed as he laid down next to y/n. One arm dangled off the hammock's side, and the other rested across y/n's torso, his hand hanging by her side. Tomura rested his chin against her shoulder, the bridge of his nose against her neck. A warm tingling sensation rippled along her skin with each exhale. Y/n cleared her throat and continued to read.

Y/n took a pause between pages. She tried her best to look at Tomura without moving too much. His breathing was calm, and he had his eyes closed. Y/n carefully rubbed her cheek against his forehead as she set the book down on her lap, sandwiching her finger between the covers to keep her spot. Her gaze moved over to Tomoru.

The baby fumbled with a plastic toy with his hands. He shook it as vigorously as his little arms would allow until it slipped from his grasp, landing onto his lap. Tomoru stopped for a moment, blinking. He picked up the toy and repeated his actions in a cycle. At one point, he had shaken the toy too much and flung it out of his grasp. Tomoru fussed in his carrier, trying to reach for the plastic toy to no avail. Y/n's eyes lit up. She had been working on teaching Nobuo a new trick for an occasion just like this.

Trying not to wake Tomura up, y/n whistled as quietly as she could. The Nomu slowly crept up to y/n. She motioned her head to the plastic set of keys on the ground. "Retrieve," she commanded. Nobuo turned to the toy and reached out for it. The Nomu held the toy in his clawed hands.

"Give." Y/n held her breath as the Nomu inched closer to the baby. While Nobuo has successfully given Tomoru things before, this was the first time y/n watched at a distance. The possibility of Tomoru getting hurt so far away from her reach made her anxious.

Nobuo reached down and handed Tomoru the toy. The infant stared at him until he returned to behind the tree and out of sight. Y/n exhaled, relieved. In no time, Tomoru began shaking the toy once again.

"I'm not sleeping," Tomura muttered. Y/n's skin crawled as his breath brushed against her collarbone. She looked down at Tomura, a carnation-red eye stared up at her. "You stopped reading."

Y/n smiled at him and nuzzled her cheek against his forehead. "My apologies."

As y/n continued to read out loud, her mind traveled elsewhere. Back to the night they first met. At the time, y/n had no idea that things would play out the way they did. She was certain Tomura was going to either kill her or leave on his own, and she'd never see him again.

She once believed the night she met Tomura would be a horror story for her future children. Now, y/n wasn't quite sure if she could paint it that way. He is Tomura's son, after all.

"I can't wait to kill those bastards." Tomura's voice cut off y/n's reading.

"Language," y/n muttered.

Tomura didn't reply. He simply let out a slightly agitated sigh.
Tomura elaborated further. "The ones that attacked Spinner. I killed the one that we found, gotta find a new one."

Between the argument and the nearly two weeks apart from Tomura, y/n forgot all about the man at the warehouse. She figured he had killed him after she left; Tomura's words confirmed it.

Y/n wondered how that feels, to kill someone. She couldn't imagine doing something so permanent. She vividly remembered both the day she learned Liar could hurt someone and the night she used it for its full potential for the first time. She thought about it whenever it rains.

That day was rainy too. She was walking from the bar to the nearest convince store. Y/n was listening to the sound of rain pattering against her umbrella as she thought about what to buy her and her unborn children for dinner. As far as she knew, she was alone. That was until a hand grabbed her and forcefully pulled onto her.

The man who grabbed onto her was much taller than her. He twisted her arm with one hand, his other hand wrapped around her throat. With every passing second, his hold squeezed tighter and tighter.

Panicked and scared for her and her babies' lives, y/n uttered her first lie. I cut your arm with the knife in my hand. Surprised, he released y/n from his grasp, and she fled.

Y/n never forgot the feeling of Adrenaline that pulsated through her veins as she ran. She didn't stop running until she was back into her motel room. As soon as the door closed, y/n fell to her knees and gagged. She felt awful.

The pain she inflicted would fade away with time, but she still didn't feel good about it. That night, y/n cried for hours. Sobbing for forgiveness.

"I can trust you'll be there with me when I find them, right?" Tomura's words dragged y/n away from that distant memory. She glanced over at him. "Technically, you're not part of The League, so I guess you're not obligated to do what I say."

Y/n beamed and reached over, cradling Tomura's cheek with her hand. Tomura lightly brushed up against her. "Of course. We're still a team, aren't we?"

Tomura cuddled against her hand. He firmly placed a kiss on the palm of her hand.

As much as y/n wanted to stay with Tomura, she had things planned to do. She leaned to the side and snuggled against his neck. "I do have to go. Do you want to watch Tomoru?"

Tomura paused before letting out a small groan. His reaction wasn't surprising, and she's gotten used to hearing it from him. She didn't want to force Tomura to do something he felt he wasn't ready for. Y/n was sure he will step up when he feels confident in himself.

Y/n smiled. "Okay, I'll take him then."

Y/n carefully collected Tomoru in her arms. When she returned, Tomura had vanished. "Looks like Daddy decided to do some League stuff."

Tomoru lightly fussed in her arms as she walked. Y/n took a breather as she rode a taxi as close as she could to Giran's office. She cuddled Tomoru, carefully playing peekaboo with the baby as the low rumble shook the car.

Y/n held Tomoru close to her as the car jerked forward in a stop. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a dollar. "Keep the change," y/n muttered.

The man's face lit up as he observed the small bill in his hand, completely oblivious that y/n had not paid for her fair in full. The taxi stopped close enough to the office, always three or four blocks away.

Y/n paused in front of the large wooden door of Giran's office. She heard his voice on the other side, but she didn't hear anyone replying to him. "On the phone, maybe?" she mumbled before taking the doorknob in her hand.

The door quietly opened, and y/n peeked inside. Giran was sitting alone at his office, throwaway cellphones scattered his desk. He was hunched forward, his head in his hand while his other vacantly clicked his mouse. The scent of freshly burnt tobacco spilled out into the hallway. Y/n couldn't help but breathe in, as much as she didn't love the smell, it reminded her of home.

"One g?" Giran scoffed. "Please, I could get a broken one for a quarter of the price and find someone to fix it."

Y/n quietly slid into the room, she held her breath as she closed the door behind her as silently as possible. "Sweetheart, at some point, ya gotta find some friends or somethin'. Seems like a waste of time to be comin' over here every few days."

"You're not that bad." Y/n smiled at him. "Besides, I'm here for business reasons today."

"Oh?" He peered over his computer towards y/n, sitting on the chair across from his desk.

"You remember that argument Tomura and I had a few weeks ago?" y/n asked.

"Don't tell me ya two are already clawing at each other's throats again," he mumbled. Y/n shook her head. Giran sat up straight and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm listening."

"You found that guy Tomura wanted to interrogate, right?" y/n asked.

"Of course," Giran replied. Y/n could tell he was invested in what y/n had in mind.

"He mentioned a name, I'd like to find myself. Ozima. I don't have much information to help you get started. A name is all I got." Y/n watched Giran pull out a paper and begin writing.

"That's fine, I've worked with less." Giran mumbled to himself under his breath. Y/n leaned forward a bit, but she couldn't hear him. "I'll bill Shigaraki later."

Y/n nearly jumped out of her seat as soon as she heard Giran. "Oh, this is my own little project."

Giran kept his head down, but his eyes peered up at her. "Is that so?"  he muttered. His eyes traveled back down to his desk. He tapped the paper with his pen.

Y/n listened to Giran tap on his desk. She recalled her brief conversation with Tomura. "Hey, I got a dumb question."

"No such thing as dumb questions, that's the saying, right?" Giran mumbled as he typed on his computer.

"Have you ever killed someone?" y/n asked.

Giran stopped typing and looked up at y/n. "I always thought that was a stupid saying."

Y/n felt her face flair up. "Killing is a self-defense sort of thing for me," Giran replied. "I work alone, so I put myself in danger whenever I go out and meet with a new client."

"I don't look for trouble. As ya know, I'm a passive guy. Nothing like the psychos in The League," Giran said. "Not that I don't like The League."

"Do you remember the first time you've killed someone?" y/n asked.

"Of course, why? Ya killed someone?" Y/n shook her head. "Thinking about killing someone?" Once again, she shook her head.

"I'm just curious. Tomura is so casual about it-"

"Because he's an actual psycho." Giran cut off y/n with his off-hand comment.

She cleared her throat and continued speaking, deciding to overlook Giran's words. "How did it happen for you?"

"Self-defense. Some jacka-" Giran stopped himself, eyeing the baby in her arms, he cleared his throat and silently apologized. "He was trying to mug me way back in my early days in the business. I was the new guy, they thought they could make a cheap deal, and when that didn't happen, they got violent."

He pointed to the side of his head and tapped. "Got a bullet to the temple. It was sloppy and amateur, but it got the job done."

"And after?" y/n asked. She was completely engrossed in the older villain's story.

"Adrenaline was pumpin', I didn't feel anything until maybe the next day. I think I was just happy I was still alive." Giran paused, he looked like he was lost in thought. "I was nervous. Overanalyzed the whole thing. I wasn't sure if I covered my tracks. In secret, I returned over a week to find where I messed up. Should I have changed my clothes? Tried to look for the bullet?"

Giran suddenly looked like he was in the present. "Killing isn't a good look on ya. Sure, you're gotten better, not as shy, a lot more confident. Goals in check. A bright future, even among villains. It's not in your personality. A bit of advice: if you need someone dead, leave it to your psycho."

Y/n nodded. "Thanks."

"Clear things up for you?" he asked. Y/n smiled, and nodded, refusing to verbally reply to him.

Of course, being told to just have Tomura kill for her wasn't what she wanted to hear. If there was anything the year without The League had taught her, Tomura wasn't always going to be there for her. Giran's words did resonate with her. She already knew she didn't have it in her.

"I'm gonna quit bugging you. Gotta go find this Ozima person for me."