Chapter Text
Tokoyami Fumikage isn’t a good student. Well. That’s not entirely correct.
Tokoyami is cognizant of his strengths and weaknesses, believes that it’s a mark of a good hero to grow one’s strengths and improve on one’s weaknesses. He knows that he can work well with others and is strategic in battle, as indicated in seizing victory for his team in the Human Cavalry Battle. The bird-headed boy is also extremely proficient with his Quirk and continually strives to improve his range of abilities using Dark Shadow.
On a purely academic basis however, Tokoyami isn’t a great student. Coming in 14th out of their class of 20 in the midterms blatantly shows this and though he passed the written final exam, it had been a narrow pass. For these reasons the bird-headed teen found himself sitting in the library on a sweltering summer afternoon.
“Ugh…nothing makes sense,” Tokoyami groaned, closing the math textbook in front of him with a small thud. “It’s one thing when Ectoplasm explains fighting techniques. It’s an entirely different subject when he’s lecturing about polynomials.”
In the back of his mind, Tokoyami could feel Dark Shadow quietly stirring in response to his emotions, but a combination of his own experience handling his Quirk and the bright, afternoon light streaming through the large windows kept the shadow monster in. Rubbing his temples, Tokoyami contemplated giving up and packing away his books for another day when a small noise to his right caught his attention.
“Just a little more…kero.”
Pushing away from the table he was seated at, Tokoyami made his way toward the sound, turning the corner around one the towering bookshelves surrounding his study space to find…
“Asui?”
“Kero?” The frog-girl turned abruptly, clearly startled. When she caught sight of Tokoyami however, her countenance relaxed. “Tokoyami-chan? What are you doing here?”
“Ah, trying to study.” He smiled ruefully, “Trying being the operative word. Yourself?”
Tsuyu pointed to a book well above her head, on the top shelf of the bookcase directly in front of her. “I came to pick up some study material as well. But I’m having a little trouble reaching it,” she said. “Don’t tell the librarians, but typically I’d use my Quirk to reach something so high…”
Tokoyami moved forward a few steps, putting himself directly beside the green-haired girl and quirked a brow questioningly. Without needing further prompting, Tsuyu explained.
“After the Summer Camp incident, Recovery Girl has ordered me not to use my tongue for the next few weeks to let it recover to its full extent.” Tsuyu ended this by poking out her tongue where Tokoyami could see a long scar crossing the length of it.
Bowing his head, Tokoyami remembered that dreadful night. The night he lost control and let his emotions fuel his Quirk to monstrous results. On a night where his classmates and friends were in immense danger, instead of helping fight the villains, he had posed as an additional threat to everyone’s safety…
“Tokoyami-chan?”
Tokoyami startled as a brief brush of Tsuyu’s fingers touched his bare arm. Following the line of her arm, he looked up to her concerned gaze. “Are you okay? You were quiet for quite some time.”
“Ah…” Looking away, Tokoyami pushed his dark thoughts away with a small cough. “Can I assist you Asui? Which book is it that you need?”
Still looking slightly worried, Asui let go of the topic for the moment and turned back to the shelf. “That one? The one with the red cover.”
Nodding affirmatively, Tokoyami wordlessly summoned Dark Shadow and ordered him to grab the book, which the Quirk did willingly, bringing it back between the two students from Class 1-A. “Here ya go!” it crowed, offering the book to Tsuyu, who accepted it with a large smile and pat to the shadow. “Thank you Tokoyami-chan, Dark Shadow-chan!”
Hearing his Quirk purr in content, Tokoyami felt a small smile creep across his own face, before turning to Tsuyu. “You’re welcome. If there’s nothing else, we’ll get out of your way so you can study in peace.” Retracting Dark Shadow back into his body (which the Quirk did reluctantly), he turned to leave.
“Um…Tokoyami-chan?”
The boy turned, “Yes?”
Tsuyu shuffled the book underneath her arm, then looked up. “Would you like to study together? Maybe we could work on some problems together. I’ve found the equations Ectoplasm has assigned recently have been quite difficult.”
Almost sagging in relief, Tokoyami nodded in response. “Yes, that would be helpful. As long as you’re certain it’s not too much of a burden…” The frog-girl shook her head and shot him a smile, making Tokoyami look away. ‘Cute…’
Back at the table, the two settled down quickly, with Tokoyami rearranging his books to allow Tsuyu an equal share of the table space, while she laid out her own materials in an efficient matter. Flipping to the section in the math textbook Ectoplasm had assigned the class for summer homework, Tsuyu turned to Tokoyami.
“How far have you gotten Tokoyami-chan?”
With a small blush, which he knew was thankfully hidden by his black feathers, Tokoyami pointed at the spot he’d stopped on, which wasn’t very far in the assignment. Tsuyu nodded, then proceeded to explain the equation to him.
As in all matters, Tsuyu was very efficient and focused. She circled tricky parts in the equation, highlighted points to review, and patiently explained how she had solved a problem, being sure to list out all her steps. Tokoyami found his initial embarrassment fade away as Tsuyu continued teaching (really, at this point, she was tutoring him), because the way she taught was so frank and matter of fact, that it allowed him to simply focus on the equations as opposed to his shame in asking for help.
Before he knew it, Tokoyami was looking up from the last equation in the assignment with a surprised blink. Tsuyu gently slid the paper toward herself, checking over his work, while Tokoyami looked out the window, realizing that the sun had already begun its descent, bathing the room in a warm, deep orange hue.
“Perfect Tokoyami-chan,” Tsuyu said, handing the paper back to Tokoyami, her eyes closed in a happy crease. Tokoyami accepted the paper with a small bow of his head.
“Thank you Asui. Is there anything I can do to repay you? You’ve spent the entire afternoon tutoring me…I’m not sure you were able to get of any of your own work done since you spent so much time teaching me.”
Shaking her head, Tsuyu began collecting her books, stacking them into neat piles. “It’s alright Tokoyami-chan. It was good review and I enjoy spending time with you,” she paused, “I mean, it’s nice to be able to see and talk to you outside the classroom. It’s been a while. Not since the summer camp really…”
Tokoyami gripped the pencil in his hand in an unconscious gesture. Once again, they’d circled back to this topic. With a deep sigh, he nodded, jaw clenching uncomfortably as memories from that day dredged themselves back to the forefront of his conscious.
“Tokoyami-chan?” Once again, Tsuyu’s touch brought him back to the present. His scarlet eyes jerked up to meet her caring ones. “Did you want to talk about it? I know you might not want to talk about it now and maybe not to me, but please know I’m here if you need someone to listen.”
The raven-headed boy’s eyes flicked back to their hands, where Tsuyu’s cool touch still rested on his clenched fist. Glancing back up, he opened his mouth, ready to thank Tsuyu for her concern and bury his apprehensions as he’d been doing for the last few weeks, but once again, the compassion in the girl’s eyes caught his gaze and he found his beak spilling the fears and shame he’d been bottling up since that terrifying night.
He spoke about the rage he’d felt, down to his bones, red-hot anger fueling his body and pushing his Quirk to terrifying limits. He talked about the fear he experienced seeing his friends being attacked, first by Moonfish, then by the monstrous Dark Shadow; fear that he would not only hurt, but even possibly kill his friend, given how uncontrollable his Quirk had become in that moment. And he found even his deepest shame spilling out, shame that in the aftermath of the attack, people had praised him for taking out Moonfish, when he knew that demolishing the villain had been done by Dark Shadow in his berserk, bloodthirsty rampage and it was entirely thanks to the efforts of Shoji, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou that he hadn’t hurt anyone else. To this day, he couldn’t look the four of them in the eye without feeling a tinge of disgrace for the risk he’d put them in.
As the last of his words caught in his throat, Tokoyami sputtered to a stop, feeling his entire being had been wrung out from the emotional turmoil he’d just relived. A gentle squeeze to his hand made him look up where he saw Tsuyu looking steadily at him. Somewhere along his monologue, Tsuyu’s hand had woven into his in a gentle grip. While a part of him instinctively wanted to shy away, at that moment, he felt so emotionally drained that Tsuyu’s hand in his felt like a lifeline.
“Tokoyami-chan, it’s okay,” Tsuyu said in a soft-tone. “I know all of us who were there at the camp felt similarly to you. I wish I’d done more, protected more of our classmates, stopped Toga from attacking Ochako-chan, saved Bakugou-chan…”
At Tokoyami’s doubtful look, she sighed and began detailing how she’d hidden away during the Room competition, because she had been so ashamed of how she’d spoken again Midoriya and their classmates in their plan to pursue the villains to rescue Bakugou. While she had spoken rationally and with the safety and best interests of her classmates in mind, knowing that they’d still gone had shocked her greatly, making her question whether her direct words had helped at all or if they’d only served to hurt her classmates. She’d since apologized to those involved, but the incident still left her with some painful memories and a new awareness of the effect of her blunt words.
This time, Tokoyami was the one to break Tsuyu from her grey thoughts, with a small squeeze to their still adjoined hands. “It seems we all have our burdens to carry, don’t we Asui?” he asked with a solemn look.
“Please call me Tsuyu-chan, Tokoyami-chan,” she nodded with a sniffle, swiping at the moisture that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Noticing that her voice had more of a croak than usual, likely due to all the talking she’d done while tutoring him and in sharing her own painful experience, Tokoyami stood up, causing Tsuyu to look up in surprise.
“Let me get you something to drink Asui,” the raven boy said, patting his pocket to ensure he had his wallet.
“Kero! I can pay!” Tsuyu grabbed for her backpack, before being stopped by a gentle hand.
“Please. It’s the least I could do,” Tokoyami said. “What would you like to drink?”
Tsuyu paused thoughtfully, placing her finger on her chin in her familiar thinking gesture. “Hm…surprise me,” she smiled at Tokoyami. The bird-headed teen smiled back and nodded, before turning to walk to the stairwell where he knew the vending machines were located.
‘What would Asui like to drink?’ he wondered, staring at the plethora of colorful drinks on display in the three machines that sat in a neat row. In the cool shade of the stairwell, Dark Shadow crept out of the raven boy. ‘What do you think Dark Shadow?’
“Something cold! And…fruity?”
Tokoyami paused in his perusal of the drinks. Given that it was still summer, a cold drink made sense and fruity beverages would certainly be refreshing in the humid Japanese summer. Nodding, he narrowed his choices to a select few, hand hovering uncertainly above the glowing blue buttons. Trying not to overthink his choice, he inserted a few coins and pushed first one button, then another.
“Thunk-! Thunk-!”
Scooping up the cans from the dispenser slot, Tokoyami made his way back to the table where he could still see Tsuyu sitting. The sunset cast deep rays of orange and gold into the space, highlighting and complimenting the sea-green tone of Tsuyu’s hair, giving Tokoyami pause to take in the beautiful sight.
‘Oi. She’s gonna notice you if you keep standing there gawking at her!’ Dark Shadow’s voice crowed in Tokoyami’s head, shaking him out of his stupor. Shaking his head, Tokoyami walked the remaining steps back to the table, holding out the beverage he’d picked for Tsuyu.
“Here you go. I wasn’t sure what you liked…If you don’t care for it, I can get you a different drink.”
Taking the can, Tsuyu looked at it for a second, before turning to Tokoyami with a sincere smile. “No, this is good. I haven’t had Muscat soda in a long time. Thank you.” She waited until Tokoyami had cracked open his own canned drink before following suit. There was a small pause before Tsuyu held out her can to Tokoyami, who quickly understood and tapped his can to hers gently, causing them both to share a laugh.
The pair drank silently for a few minutes, admiring the onsetting twilight. Tsuyu peered over at Tokoyami, noting his choice of beverage.
“Is coffee your favorite, Tokoyami-chan?”
“Ah,” Tokoyami nodded, mid-swallow. Once again, Tsuyu’s head tipped to the side, finger resting against her chin. Clearly, she wanted to ask a question, so Tokoyami set his can on the table, giving her his full attention.
“Does drinking coffee not disrupt your sleep pattern Tokoyami-chan?” she asked, gesturing at the rapidly darkening sky.
Tokoyami shook his head, tapping his chest ruefully. “It doesn’t matter much. Dark Shadow is most active at night, so I don’t get much sleep at night. I’ve gotten acquired to the taste and it gives me a little energy to put up with his nocturnal antics. So, whether I drink coffee or not, it won’t make too much of a difference toward my sleep. Although…I sometimes wonder if drinking too much coffee has affected my height.”
Tsuyu giggled, understanding from his self-deprecating tone that the bird-headed teen was merely poking fun at himself. “It’s okay Tokoyami-chan. We’re still in high school and I read somewhere boys can grow until they’re in their mid-twenties. Girls stop pretty much in high school so I might be the shortest girl in our class forever.”
The raven teen turned his scarlet gaze to meet her dark eyes and said somewhat seriously, “Asui, you’re perfect as you are.”
As if just realizing what he said, Tokoyami looked away in embarrassment, taking a large gulp of his coffee, while Tsuyu scratched at her reddening cheek. Internally, Tokoyami could hear Dark Shadow cackling maniacally at his slip.
Clearing his throat, Tokoyami grasped for a topic to break the silence, settling for an easy question. “So…what’s your favorite drink Asui? I take it isn’t Muscat soda if you said you haven’t had it in a while.”
“Mmm,” Tsuyu paused, then looked at Tokoyami with a small, playful smile. “You’re right that it isn’t Muscat soda, though I have enjoyed drinking it again today. Care to guess what my actual favorite is?”
“There are so many Asui,” Tokoyami balked, remembering the three giant vending machines. His mind spun just trying to remember all the drink choices.
Looking at the Muscat soda can in her hands, Tsuyu smiled. “How about this? Since you’ve shared so much about yourself, I figure it’s only fair if I do the same. If you can figure out what my favorite drink is, I’ll tell you a secret about myself.”
Tokoyami paused, intrigued. “To be fair Asui, you shared about your own painful experience as well. It doesn’t quite seem like an equal trade…”
“Well, technically, Ochako-chan and the others knew about my story, whereas I don’t think you’ve told anyone what you told me today.” Tokoyami nodded affirmatively. “How’s about it Tokoyami-chan? Deal?”
The bird-headed teen nodded, smiling at the happy face Tsuyu had. He had no idea why sharing a secret about herself would cause such a reaction in her, but seeing her happy made his own stomach do back flips and he was curious what the secret might be…
“Shall we get ready to go? I think it’s almost dinner time?” he asked. Tsuyu nodded and the two teens packed up the remainder of their belongings, then walked side by side down the stairs to the library’s exit. As they approached the bottom floor, more students appeared, all eager to make it to Lunch Rush for their evening meals. Tsuyu scooted a little closer to Tokoyami as an anxious student pushed by down the stairs, causing the two teens’ arms to brush. Despite the amount of contact they’d had already throughout the afternoon, Tokoyami felt his face heat up and struggled not to move away. Risking a small glance at his companion, he didn’t notice any discernable differences in Tsuyu’s expression, not realizing the frog girl was also struggling to hide a blush.
“Asui.” The green-haired girl turned as the pair emerged into the cool evening air to look at the bird-headed teen. He bowed slightly. “Thank you again for tutoring me today. And…for listening to me earlier. I haven’t been able to speak as freely as I could today about my worries, and it truly was soothing for the darkness in my soul.”
Tsuyu tilted her head with a smile. “You’re welcome Tokoyami-chan. I could say the same to you. And please call me Tsuyu-chan. Also…if you’d like, maybe we could study again sometime? I’m free most days at the same time.”
“I’d like that. Thank you…Tsuyu-chan.”