Midoriya and Shigaraki froze at the sound of a gigantic crash followed by another loud noise. 

Midoriya gulped as he felt Shigaraki's grip tighten ever so slightly. He felt like his left arm was about to fall off. It felt prickly, so he assumed it was either asleep or losing circulation. Hopefully not the latter. 

Shigaraki turned off his lighter, opting to not showcase their location to the unknown entity dropping in. If all goes south, he would not hesitate to throw the Hero in Training towards the threat and then book it to save himself. 

There was no shame in believing that sacrificing this pitiful hero would aid in the young adult's survival. 

As long as he could outrun the brat, then he would win. It was as simple as that. 

Neither boy breathed until they heard a groan and the sound of someone scooting down the rest of the stairs, not bothering to stand up. 

Midoriya rolled his eyes, knowing his friend had somehow decided to follow him. Slowly, Midoriya looked back to Shigaraki. His vision had adjusted to the darkness of the basement, so he could make out shapes and the dark shadows within shadows. 

Shigaraki hadn't noticed that Midoriya became less tense. Shigaraki was still currently analyzing the potential threat and possible ways to pass the current level. 

He began scratching at his throat with his free hand, blood specks chipping away and embedding themselves under his fingernails. 

Another soft groan was heard before the sound of shuffling fabric entered their ears. "...Midoriya…? Are you in here?" Was what a deep, seemingly unbothered voice asked. 

Shigaraki snapped his head towards his green haired captive, weighing the pros and cons of letting his fifth finger disintegrate the green haired child's arm. But he was too slow because the teen had grabbed his wrist and managed to make Shigaraki lose his grip on the limb he was keeping hostage. 

"Yeah, I'm over here Shinso!" Was the reply. 

Shigaraki growled under his breath. First one hero-in-training brat was spying on him, now another one showed up. 

He couldn't deal with these…these children! His head was pounding, a muscle in his eyelid was spazzing, and his neck as well as his leg was stinging. He was in no mood to fight, no mood to deal with these imbeciles--these brainwashed hero brats who had everything handed to them on a silver platter. 

He heard the child coined "Shinso" move closer to Midoriya. Feeling as if there was no immediate threat, Shigaraki walked off and situated himself against the wall. He was so tired, so sleepy, so mentally and physically exhausted. His body felt as if it was shutting down, but first his ears pickled at the idea of listening into the other two's conversation. 

"--hy are you here? I thought you were with Snipe?" Midoriya asked, looking at his friend as he talked.

"You were supposed to be with him too, I just followed through with the buddy system technique." Shinso defended, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Upon seeing Shinso stubb up, Midoriya released a small laugh. It was as if they were back at the dorms, goofing off in the middle of the night. But reality hit him fairly fast and his laugher was cut off, replaced by a more serious tone. 

"Do you know what that big crash was before you came in?" Midoriya asked, bracing  for the worst possible news. 

"I dunno what the direct cause of it was, but the ground shook really fast and a wall right outside of the staircase collapsed…" Shinso said, rubbing the back of his neck. He was currently feeling fatigued physically. Mentally he felt scared. 

So freaking scared. 

He could feel his hands shaking as he tried to slow them down. "They–" His voice cracked so he began to start again. "The debris sealed off the exit." 

Midoriya inhaled sharply. A sealed exit was bad news. 

Shigaraki, though his posture stayed relaxed, mulled over the horrid situation. He was trapped with two heroes in training, under the collapsed building, with minimal resources and bad survival statistics. He felt the weight slowly settle on his shoulders. 

He was the oldest in the room, but he could hardly take care of himself. And he was stuck with hero brats. 

Shigaraki let out an exhausted groan and began scratching his neck. 

Midoriya flinched at the noise, having accidently forgotten the villain was with them while conversing with Shinso. 

Shinso had jumped almost two full feet in the air. He hadn't realized Shigaraki--the leader of the League of Villains--was down here as well. His pulse quickened as he glanced around the small, dark room in hopes of spotting threats. 

Besides the adult villain leaning on the wall, there was none. 

That didn't make Shinso relax, in fact, he was more anxious than ever. The cause being Midoriya practically running to the villain, and yanking his wrist away from his pale neck. 

Shinso jolted at the abrupt scene. The poor purple haired boy was about to experience a heart attack.

"No! You can't hurt yourself." Midoriya scolded, voice firm. It was such a voice that Shinso only recalled when the greenette was speaking of a subject he was passionate about. 

Like hero notes. 

But passionate about not hurting yourself… 

Midoriya broke his bones on the regular, he's the least certified person to speak on this subject. 

Heck, he even has a hospital bed reserved for him both in Recovery Girl's office and one in the local hospital. 

Shigaraki sat there stunned, eyes wide as he looked at the hero in training who was gently, yet firmly gripping his wrist, holding it away from his neck. The villain licked his dry lips to moisturize them. He hadn't seen All Might's prized successor like this before. It struck his curiosity. It struck his annoyance. 

He attempted to yank his hand from the teen's hold, only to have held firmly in place. He growled lightly, annoyed at the teen touching him. 

"Let go," he warned, voice thick in annoyance and anger. 

Shigaraki hadn't grown up with affection, so the lack of physical touch grew into a deep rooted hatred of skin contact with people. Heck, he wouldn't even shake anyone's hand on a business deal. 

"No," the scrawny child insisted. "You shouldn't hurt yourself." 

Shigaraki rolled his eyes. His annoyance getting the best of him, he blurted out words before thinking. "And what would a hero brat like you know about not hurting yourself?" 

Shinso, who had been slowly moving closer to both individuals, flinched and stilled. 

Midoriya's face hardened for a moment and then softened. He let go of the young adult's wrist, letting it be pulled back to Shigaraki's, chest. Slowly, he seated himself next to Shigaraki. 

He made sure not to touch the villain, having noticed his hatred for human contact. Midoriya smiled bitterly, remembering he was like that once too. 

Shinso, after taking a deep breath, looked into Midoriya's eyes. It was dark, but he could spot the small green glimmer of determination within his iris. 

Sighing, Shinso moved to sit on the other side of Shigaraki. 

It was quiet for a moment. The room seemed even smaller than before. 

Another loud boom, followed by the room shaking and the sound of falling items caused all three people to flinch hard. 

Shigaraki felt angry at these…these children! The stupid, stupid hero dreaming brats. They had their head so far stuck up that they couldn't see society at its cruelest moments. They didn't understand what it was like to lose their family because their quirk was so destructive. They didn't know how it felt to watch everything crumble between their fingers. They didn't know how it felt to live on the streets, scared of their own hands. They didn't know what it was like to watch heros simply walk away, ignoring a small, broken boy crying on the sidewalk outside his home. 

What right did these stuck up brats have to tell him to stop. 

Shigaraki felt a small pressure on his other hand, pulling it away from his face. He hadn't even realized he had started scratching again. 

"Please…just…don't hurt yourself." Midoriya persisted, though his voice was thin and sad. 

Shigaraki stayed silent, observing the two people next to him. He wanted to move as far away from these brats as possible. But he found himself rooted to his spot on the ground. Slowly, Midoriya started to rub circles in his wrist. Begrudgingly, Shigaraki let him. 

"I was called a villain too." Shigaraki froze at the nearly silent whisper of the teen to his left. Shinso was looking at his hands. His fingers were picking at the skin around his nails, pulling it off. 

Shigaraki remained silent, watching the teen with a careful gaze. He was attempting to decide if the teen was telling the truth or making up a story. So far, the young teen seemed to be telling the truth--if the pain intricately laced in his voice was anything to go by. 

"Brainwashing is not a hero's quirk." The teen continued, the comforting presence of his friend egging him on, as well as the lack of interruptions from Shigaraki. "I was told day in and day out…" Shinso took in a shaky breath, pausing to calm his nerves before continuing. "That I would never amount to anything--especially not a hero." He spit the last four words with a venom only someone who had been abused their whole lives could ever fathom to utter. 

Midoriya wanted to comfort the teen as he had always done before, but he stayed still. He changed the soft circles to triangles, still rubbing the soothing shapes upon Shigaraki's wrist. 

Over time, Midoriya had developed the nervous tic, constantly wanting to feel his close friend's heartbeats. He had needed the reassurance that he finally had people who cared for him. And that he wasn't making up the scenario of becoming a hero. 

Shigaraki sat stunned. His leg twitched once. He could tell the purple haired kid wasn't lying. Brainwashing had always been an ability Sensei wanted to get his hands on. And as a villain, he could see the appeal to have that quirk for their daily raids and evil plans. Yet he hadn't specifically realized that Shinso had a brainwashing quirk. Not many people did due to him being quiet about it. Yet Midoriya had made the insomniac increasingly more open to explore his quirk, and strive to prove his bullies wrong. Midoriya had landed a hand to Shinso, making the latter feel as if it was okay to have a brainwashing quirk. That his DNA and quirk gene was not severely flawed. 

Shigaraki could almost feel the teens resolve and determination to be a hero wafting through the room. Yet more noticeably, he could now practically see the hard work and almost infinite amounts of blood, sweat, and tears, it had taken Shinso to become who he was today. 

He hated to say it to a hero, as it would have been a wonderful quirk to have within the League, but Shinso's drive was respectable. 

Not that Shigaraki would dare utter it aloud. 

Shinso stayed quiet after that, slumping against the wall they were all on. He was happy to have gotten that off his chest. Although he had spoken many times about the consistent abuse to Midoriya, he now felt truly and utterly relieved. Shigaraki noticed the sudden calm shift. 

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the dark mass of hair Midoriya had, bobbing up and down in a silent nod. The greenette was both proud and happy for his friend. Proud that he was able to say something on a topic so sensitive. Happy that he finally felt relief. 

Now, it was time for Midoriya to do the same. Slowly he let his hand stop rubbing shapes in Shigaraki's skin, instead moving to grab his opposite arm's gloves. Slowly he removed both and set them carefully on the floor next to him. 

Shigaraki was blatantly confused, yet refused to take his eyes off the enemy. The hero child. 

Slowly, after taking in a deep breath, Midoriya grabbed Shigaraki's wrist and moved it towards the greenette. The young adult fought the urge to retract his hand from the teens gentle grip, yet also felt compelled to understand what Midoriya was attempting to do. 

Slowly, Midoriya rested Shigaraki's hand on his left arm and dragged his hand upward. Shigaraki was careful of his fingers, not desiring to turn the teen to ash. 

Yet. 

But his breath got caught in the back of his throat. All up and down the boy's arms were long bumps. Most were clearly healed and scared, yet some were left in the final stages before scarring completely. Shigaraki didn't know what to think. His brain was still, and he remained stiff, even as Midoriya dropped the villain's hand. 

Shigaraki was confused. He was in shock. He was rethinking his ideals. 

The kid who had everything--was All Might's successor, had an insanely strong Strength Enhancing Quirk, heck he probably was loved all his life even--had resorted to cutting through his flesh as if he was painting a canvas multiple times. 

Shigarkai, as someone who had killed his family, watched them all die before him, and has killed countless more lives when he turned a villain, had even thought of cutting as a small mental release from present time. Yet he had never acted on it. He only scratched his heck and sometimes his arms when he is severely anxious or when he overused his quirk. 

Slowly, quietly, Midoriya answered the question clouding the room. "...was quirkless…" 

Figurative ice water dropped down on Shigaraki's head. He felt the chills ride up his arm. If there was one group of people who were treated the same as "villainous quirked" individuals, it would be the quirkless. Heck, the quirkless probably get it worse off. 

Afterall, it was one thing to have a "bad" quirk, but it was a totally different thing to have no quirk at all. 

All three boys sat in silence. They were pondering their lives, their predicament, lost within the cavern of their minds, haunted by the thoughts that brought them pain long ago.