Y/n huddled under a blanket in a ball. She laid still for a moment before flipping onto her back. She lifted her pillow from under her head and pressed it against her face as hard as she could. "Why me?!" she lamented as loudly as she could, her voice entirely muffled by the pillow. Her grip slipped through her fingers, and her hands fell to her side.

Y/n blinked, staring out into her pillow and feeling the damp fabric against her face. She couldn't imagine how her day could be any worse.

First, finding the bruise that formed on her chest. Followed by mild embarrassment when Kurogiri pointed it out, then more after Giran did the same. Her most recent interaction with Tomura was the cherry on top.

I've never wanted to die more in my life, she thought to herself. Y/n hugged her pillow in her arms as she rolled onto her side and screamed into it again.

"Why me?" she repeated in a near whisper, feeling as if she was on the verge of crying. Y/n wholly intended to give Tomura a few small nudges when she thought he was ready to know she felt that way about him. However, that was more like a firm shove.

"I'm never going to live this down, I can feel it. I could have saved myself so much grief if I just lied." Y/n knew that wouldn't work. Tomura was the first and only person to ever call her out for thinking about using her quirk. She reminded herself that the blue-haired villain was always somehow ten steps ahead of her.

Y/n spaced out, wallowing in her own misery, for what felt like an eternity. Every time she glanced at the time, she'd find that nearly no time has passed. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Y/n let out a frustrated groan.

After feeling sorry for herself a bit longer, y/n sat up. She decided it was better to do something productive rather than laying in bed feeling miserable all day. She forced herself out of bed and walked to the closet. Y/n got down on her knees and dug around, returning with her laptop in hand.

As she waited for the laptop to boot up, y/n stretched for the file sitting on her nightstand. "Okay. I don't know how to look for people online, but that's alright," y/n said in a fake cheery tone. "I'm just going to sit here and do some research. Get my mind off of this awful day. And tomorrow, I will do whatever I need to do and forget about everything that's happened." Y/n knew she wasn't fooling herself that easily.

She began looking for information on her target. Y/n had no idea where to start, so she decided typing his name into a search engine would be the best place. As expected, different people who shared the same name all around the world popped up. Y/n frowned at the results. I have a long day ahead of me.

Page by page, y/n clicked each link and looked at everything. Every time she exited from one page and returned to the search engine, she would find herself being reminded about just how enormous her task truly was. The number of results on the top was a grim reminder of how she was just barely scratching the surface and that she was looking at days, if not weeks, of research.

Keeping her mind off of how awful her day had been was so much more complicated than she thought it would be. Y/n was finding herself straying from her research to take breaks to watch short videos. After a few hours, she heard talking outside her room.

Kurogiri must be home, she thought to herself before immediately dreading what they could possibly be talking about. Surely Tomura wouldn't be asking for Kurogiri's thoughts about that?

Y/n began to panic, wholly expecting the blue-haired villain to talk about it. She knew Tomura didn't fully understand social norms, specifically what is and isn't okay to talk about. Y/n began to worry as she remembered that Tomura sometimes doesn't have a filter. Y/n began to mentally beg Tomura to be in one of his moods where he and Kurogiri can't seem to get along. At least that way, she knew Tomura wouldn't discuss any sensitive topics.

Y/n's head was at war. Part of her wanted to intervene before Tomura could say anything; while part wanted to hide in bed for the rest of her life. She kept her eyes glued to her laptop screen and kept working. Y/n put on some music to distract her from the talking. She also wanted to stop her head from imagining what the two were saying.

They've been talking for a really long time, y/n noted. It was strange to y/n hearing the two have a civil sounding conversation. No one was raising their voices, and neither of them was talking over each other.  Y/n looked back at her work. A massive collection of tabs were lined up on her browser. She rested her cheek on her hand and slouched forward, realizing that she's been doing so much work, but somehow hadn't made any progress.

Y/n knew what she had to do if she wanted to get anywhere. She reluctantly held her phone in her hand and stared at it. "Why me," she mumbled quietly to herself.

Her hands trembled as she unlocked her phone and went straight to her contacts. She held the phone to her ear and listened to it ring. Y/n wondered if he were going to answer her call, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. The phone clicked, and y/n hesitated. "Uhm," she began weakly; "h-hey."

Y/n apologized over and over for nearly two hours, she didn't realize hiding things from Giran would hurt him so much. Typically, the older villain stayed out of his clients' personal lives, it was none of his business after all. He explained how y/n was different.

Giran talked about how he took her under his wing. Back when Tomura didn't know what to do with her. He reminded y/n just how frail and skittish she was back then. He reminisced about how she barely talked and how she couldn't make eye contact. Giran let out a laugh as he recalled how y/n didn't trust him to accept food from him the first few days.

Giran admitted that he wanted to see y/n improve. He knew that y/n was in a lousy situation, and he couldn't help but root for her. He wanted her to not only survive the new environment she found herself in, but to thrive in it.

Y/n listened intently to Giran talk. She never realized just how invested Giran was in her life. Y/n always thought that he saw her more or less as another one of his clients. All the free and discounted things were a small thank you for occasionally doing his paperwork and odd jobs for him without pay. Y/n was then suddenly reminded just who she was talking to as Giran ended his heart-to-heart conversation with one last snarky remark. "Honestly, I kinda wish Shigaraki an' Kurogiri gave up on ya. I would have taken ya to work for me full time."

Y/n shuddered at the thought. She was never sure if Giran actually stopped working. Y/n couldn't imagine putting in anywhere near as much work as Giran did. Y/n then remembered why she called Giran in the first place. "Oh, so I'm having trouble finding this guy."

"Is it for Tartarus?" Giran asked. Y/n knew he wouldn't be happy to hear she was working on Tomura's plan, but she didn't want to lie to him.

"Yeah, it is. I don't know a thing about searching up people. I'm sorta coming up empty-handed." Y/n chewed on her cheek as she waited for Giran to reply. Although he didn't sound mad at her, she wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to help her.

Giran let out a hum. "Well, ya shouldn't be finding anythin' really. That person works for Tartarus after all. Ya gonna need a specialist."

"Like you?" y/n asked in a hopeful tone.

"Nope, but I got you covered. I can think of a few people who specialize in tracking people down." Y/n felt relieved on many levels. She was grateful that Giran was still willing to help her. It also put her mind at ease that Giran knew someone that could help her out.

Y/n thanked Giran and tried to offer him some sort of payment, as she usually did. Like always, Giran offered to do the work for free. This time, ending the phone call with a joke about how she was going to pay him back when she eventually becomes the next big villain boss.

Y/n laughed it off, adding that Giran had too much faith in her if he ever thought that was going to happen. "Nah, I know talent when I see it. Ya got the quirk for it. You're on your way up there. And when ya do, you're buying me a mansion."

Although she knew Giran couldn't see it, y/n smiled. "Alright, alright. Deal." Y/n heard Giran chuckle on his end before hanging up.

Y/n placed the phone on her lap, unsure of what to do now. She didn't want to dump all of her work onto Giran, but he promised her there was nothing she could do. Y/n took her laptop and got back to work. She yawned as she skimmed through a page leading her to another dead end.

Tomura looked up from his game and towards the window. Light no longer peered from between the curtains. He impatiently tapped the couch's armrest as he wondered if enough time has passed.

When Kurogiri came back to the hideout, Tomura had a few questions for his advisor. He mentioned that y/n was mad at him and wanted to know how long he should stay away from her. Tomura grimaced, remembering that Kurogiri didn't give him a clear answer. He said it depended on what Tomura had done.

"Maybe I should have disclosed more information," Tomura grumbled as he played his game with one hand. Something in the pit of his stomach told Tomura not to go into detail.

He mentioned his little joke and why he sent y/n out to order things from Giran. The villain also added that he had eavesdropped on y/n. When Kurogiri asked for more detail, Tomura refused. In the end, Kurogiri suggested giving y/n a few hours to herself. She should be fine by the time she usually went to sleep.

Tomura looked at the clock on his console. He noted that it would be about that time. He saved his game and set down the console. Before entering the bedroom, he cautiously pressed his ear against the door and listened. Tomura could faintly hear music on the other side of the door, but nothing else.

Y/n was sound asleep in bed. Her phone and laptop were by her side. Tomura turned off the music and placed the electronics off to the side. He looked down at y/n. She was hugging onto her pillow and was slightly curled up. He sat down next to her and placed a finger on her cheek. He felt the softness of her skin. He recalled how y/n said his name earlier and he felt a sudden shortness of breath.

Although y/n made him feel strange, something about seeing y/n's sleeping face made the villain grow tired. He got up from the edge of the bed and walked over to the side he claimed as his. Tomura closed his eyes, feeling the comfort of y/n's warm skin against his face.

Y/n was gone by the time Tomura woke up. Not only was her laptop gone, but he noticed her phone was gone as well. He knew that could only mean one thing, y/n wasn't home.

The villain forced himself out of the comfort of the bed. On his way out, he grabbed the journal sitting unguarded by y/n's side of the bed.

Tomura came face to face with his advisor. The shadow-like villain was sitting down with a newspaper in his hands and a cup of coffee placed off to his side. As if Kurogiri knew what Tomura was going to ask, he spoke up without looking up from the papers. "Giran's."

The blue-haired villain threw himself on the couch. "Why am I not surprised," he mumbled. Tomura opened the journal and flipped through the pages, looking for where he left off.

Tomura grimaced as he flipped through pages upon pages of personal thoughts about various things. He skimmed through one passage that described a day she had a week ago. Tomura was hoping to find some sort of profound revelation about the world and how y/n sees it. Nothing. It was merely a recollection of one of her less exciting days.

Tomura turned the page and looked at the note y/n wrote for herself. Reminder: look up what flavor pink lemonade is supposed to be. Tomura stopped and wondered if y/n was playing games with him. He thought it was frustrating that he gave her a way to place down her thoughts to actively assess the world, but y/n was wasting her pages on trivial things. It has felt so long since the last time he dug through the little leatherbound journal, he had forgotten to remind y/n that it wasn't meant to be a diary.

Tomura could feel his blood boiling as he skimmed through more pages of useless information and thoughts. Suddenly, he felt himself calm down almost instantly. He arrived at the last written page in the journal, a single sentence took up the center of the paper. I got my lead, time to investigate.

The blue-haired villain stared at the sentence and reread it as if trying to analyze some sort of code. He wondered what kind of information y/n had found and where she was going to next.

"If you're gonna hang around here all day, why don't ya fill out this for me?" Giran kept his head down as he waved a small stack of papers in his hand.

Y/n turned her head and looked at the stack of freshly printed documents in his hand before getting up off the couch and approaching the older villain, nearly tripping on a box on the way. She leaned on his desk and flipped through the papers quickly. "Why so many orders lately?"

"I'm catching up before I finish moving to the new office," he replied, without looking up at y/n. "I got the place, now I need to stay away for a little while. Gotta be wary of any potential strangers."

"Oh..." y/n said quietly as she looked through the papers again. She wondered when Giran would finally tell her where he was moving. Y/n decided that he was keeping under wraps for a good reason and not to pry.

In the corner of her eye, y/n noticed a flash of pink coming from Giran's direction. Y/n saw Giran looking at her. He breathed out slowly, allowing a dark cloud of smoke to seep out of his mouth. He pointed in the corner. "By the way, I got Shigaraki's order packed up. Do me a favor and take it when ya decide to go home." Y/n could faintly hear Giran speak under his breath. "I should be charging an arm an' a leg for the overnight shipping."

Y/n knew he didn't mean for her to hear his last comment, so she ignored it completely. Instead, she smiled and thanked Giran for his hard work.

Y/n kept herself busy in the corner. She filled out paperwork while Giran talked to clients on the phone. "So, why are you here?" Giran finally asked.

"Uhm," she started. Y/n didn't want to hide anything from Giran anymore, especially after their conversation the day before. However, y/n also didn't want to tell him. She hesitated and looked at Giran with a worried look on her face.

Giran snuffed out his cigarette and looked at y/n. "Does it have to do with Shigaraki?" Y/n nodded in response. "A little quarrel?" She shook her head. He paused and looked at y/n with a stern look on his face.

The office would be dead silent, if not for the sound of Giran packing a new box of cigarettes against his desk. Finally, the villain spoke up as he peeled off the cellophane. "Something that would disappoint me if ya went into detail?"

"Yep. Most likely," y/n replied in a flat tone.

He lit up another cigarette. "And he's not going to be upset that you're here?"

Y/n briefly thought back to the note she left in her little journal. "Nope, I got that covered."

He leaned back into his chair and lightly rocked it. He stayed quiet for a moment. "We'll drop the topic then, deal?"

"Deal," y/n repeated, thankful that Giran was willing to stay out of it.

Y/n still felt a little awkward around Tomura. She was sure, judging by Tomura's initial reaction and the fact that she woke up to him sound asleep next to her as usual, that he genuinely didn't care. Even if that were the case, y/n still cared and trying to look Tomura in the face was still tricky to do.

"Don't look too upset," Giran mumbled.

"Huh?" She looked up at the older villain.

"The long face ya got going on," he clarified. "I don't know what happened, but that zoned out look usually means you're overthinking it."

Y/n smiled at him, trying to look less frantic. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." She wanted to believe Giran; however, he had no idea what happened. She was sure he'd be giving her a completely different set of advice if he knew what actually happened.

Y/n cleared her throat and tried to change the subject. "So about the favor I asked for."

"They're working on it," Giran replied as he looked back down to his paperwork. "I can order things overnight for a hefty fee. Can't pull a Tartarus employee out of thin air. I'm no miracle worker."

"Ah, r-right," y/n studdered.

"Ask again in a week. I'm not paying them top dollar for nothing." Y/n nodded.

Although y/n appreciated that Giran was willing to throw out random generic advice to try to make her feel better, she still dreaded the thought of going home. Y/n looked down at the ground and thought about it. "Do you mind if I stay with you? Just for tonight?"

The older villain looked up from his paperwork. "That bad, eh?" Y/n hesitated and then nodded. He pointed to a door behind him that y/n didn't seem to notice before now. "You can stay in my room."

"Your room?" y/n repeated with a worried tone in her voice. She already knew what Giran was going to say and she already hated it.

"Yeah, my room," he said in a matter of fact tone. "It makes things more comfortable if I live in my office. I can take naps and get straight to work as soon as I need to."

Y/n knew she wasn't going to like his answer. "Don't you have hobbies?" y/n asked.

"Gettin' paid," Giran replied with a smug grin.

Y/n shook her head and looked down at the stack of papers Giran had given her. She was nearly halfway done. Now that Giran allowed her to stay the night, she didn't have a reason to rush herself.

She knew asking to stay the night was just her way of prolonging the inevitable. Y/n knew she had to go home and face Tomura sooner or later. She genuinely preferred to do it some other day. She was still far too embarrassed to pretend like it never happened.

Giran waved a small plastic card in his hand, catching y/n's attention. "Why don't you go pick us up dinner. I'm buying." Y/n was going to point out that he's always the one buying, but she held her tongue. Instead, she took the card and headed out.

Y/n came back with a bag in each hand. She decided to grab take out from Giran's favorite place to eat. Y/n huddled onto the couch and did some research while the two of them ate.

Giran questioned what she was doing and reassured her that y/n wouldn't be able to find anything. Y/n, in turn, admitted to the note she left Tomura and mentioned how she didn't want her quirk to activate the next time he asked. Technically, although she knew she was going straight into dead ends, she was still doing some investigating as promised.

The two talked about whatever came to mind.  Giran asked if she was improving her quirk and y/n admitted that she didn't know how to. Liar wasn't something she could just strengthen like many quirks. It merely is what it is. Giran gave her some advice that y/n took to heart. She needed to learn to think on her feet. Improving her quirk involved changing her way of thinking.

Y/n excused herself and walked into Giran's room. The room was surprisingly dull. Admittedly, she didn't have any expectations about what it would look like. He had records in a box, and she looked through them. Giran also had a small bookshelf that held various chemistry books. That made perfect sense to y/n. Giran had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of chemicals and what happens when they're mixed.

She sat down on his bed. This reminded y/n of the time she spent a week with Twice. Y/n remembered having a hard time falling asleep because it was his bed and not a guest bed. Regardless, y/n was tired and wanted to get at least a few hours of sleep in.

Y/n found Giran napping on the couch the next day. As quietly as she could, y/n pulled a blanket over the sleeping villain and exited the office. She called Kurogiri and requested to be taken home. Y/n's talk with Giran struck a chord with her.

She needed to change how she thought about things. The first step to force herself to muster the courage to be in the same room as Tomura. She tried anxiously listing off positives while she waited for Kurogiri to warp her back home.

Y/n has embarrassed herself in front of Tomura before, so that wasn't the first time. As much as she didn't want to admit it, if she and Tomura were going to be together for even another year, she was bound to embarrass herself again a few more times.

Besides, now Tomura knows y/n was open to the idea of becoming more. She hoped that maybe it will make Tomura open up and warm up to her a little bit more.

A black mass manifested in front of her. Y/n held her breath and reminded herself to hold her head up high and that everything will be alright. She walked through the portal shortly after her mental pep talk.

Y/n was greeted to the sight of Tomura standing in front of her, waiting for her arrival. Upon seeing him, y/n suddenly felt smaller. She averted her eyes behind Tomura, so she was looking past him.

Although she wasn't looking at the villain, she could still feel his eyes on her. Her face felt warmer almost instantly. Y/n knew Tomura was expecting her to say something, but she didn't want to be the first to speak.

Once again, she reminded herself that everything was alright. She smiled at Tomura. "Hey," y/n greeted in a small voice.

She felt the villain ruffle her hair, as he always did whenever she got back from Giran's office. "Where'd you run off to?"

"I decided to stay the night at the office," y/n said hesitantly. Tomura questioned why and she side-eyed Kurogiri. "Can we talk about that later."

Tomura's eyes narrowed at her, and he agreed. Y/n remembered just how much she loved Tomura's eyes at that moment. They gave away so much. Tomura was trying to look intimidating; however, nothing in his eyes showed pure aggression.

Her wrist suddenly felt cold as Tomura's fingers curled around her wrist. He firmly tugged her into the room and away from the shadow-like villain. Tomura closed the door and sat y/n down. He crossed his arms and stared y/n down.

She swallowed hard. Y/n let everything out. She expressed how embarrassed she was and how awkward she felt. Y/n explained that she stayed with Giran because she was too scared to face Tomura.

The blue-haired villain let his arms fall to his side. "That's it?" he asked; "I don't understand you."

Y/n looked up at him and watched Tomura sit down next to her on the bed. "Why's that?" she asked, unsure whether or not to feel insulted.

"You've faced heroes, villains, and everything in between. Yet you've shown more fear over what I think? It doesn't make sense." Y/n could hear evident frustration in his voice. She thought it was endearing that he was trying so hard to understand.

"Well..." her voice trailed off as she thought about how to word her thoughts. "I just value your opinion of me that much." Y/n felt confident Tomura would understand her point of view.

"I see," Tomura mumbled. Y/n noted that he looked like he was thinking. He glanced over to y/n, his red eyes looked mesmerizing for a moment. "My opinions of you haven't changed any."

Y/n wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. In the end, y/n decided no progress was better than a rift forming between them.  She gave him a warm smile. "I'm so glad  to hear that."

Looked down to the ground. Y/n suddenly felt like she had to take a second look at the blue-haired villain. For a moment, it seemed like his face had a little more color. When she took another glance at him, he appeared normal. Y/n shook it off, convinced it was merely her imagination.