Villains Secret Santa - Tumblr Posts

Of Markers and Masks

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28327749

Happy Holidays @possessedfuzzybear! It’s your @villains-secret-santa here with some of that sweet Spinaraki goodness. For your gift, I’ve written you a story of two soulmates who lose each other as children, only to unknowingly reunite and fall in love years later. I hope you enjoy it!

Since the day he turned four, Tenko always had a red marker in his pocket. After all, he always wanted to be ready to respond whenever the writing of his soulmate appeared on his arm. Shuichi was amazing, no matter what he said about his weird appearance or his weak quirk. Tenko knew this within a month of getting to know him, and he was more than ready to run over to his house to meet him in person, despite the fact that his soulmate lived far away in the boonies. He actually almost did run away from home to try to catch the next train there and see him, but his parents stopped him before he could make it to the station.

Through their arms, they would talk about everything. Tenko was able to write about the heroes he wasn’t allowed to mention around his father, and his dream to become one himself, while Shuichi would share his fascination with swords and video games. Speaking of which, they had an ongoing debate over which Legend of Zelda game was better: Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask. It was fun, especially when Tenko teased him by doodling the mask on his arm for Shuichi to see, only for his soulmate to draw an ocarina in retaliation. Communicating with Shuichi was always the highlight of his day, and Tenko couldn’t wait to eventually meet him.

But now that meeting looked like it was never going to happen, not after the events that occurred over the past few days. Now Tenko was all alone with no family, abandoned and far away from his destroyed home, under a bridge out of everyone’s sight. He had wandered the city for days searching for help, but no one came.

Although the memories of his actions were starting to fade away, he was sure that he deserved this. No one was going to save someone like him. No, that wasn’t true. Shuichi would have helped him without hesitant if he was here. But he wasn’t here, and it suddenly dawned on Tenko that he was probably going to die here, and that there was no way for Shuichi to know. He didn’t want to leave him behind, all alone and believing that Tenko had abandoned him for no reason.

He looked at his arm for the first time since he started wandering, and felt his heart sink as he read Shuichi’s latest message.

Tenko please let me know if you’re okay!

I’m so worried!

Tenko had to respond back, but his marker had been lost in the chaos. In desperation, he rubbed his fingers around the scars on his eye and lip, and used the blood that had gathered there to write to his soulmate one last time. When it was done, he felt his body go limp, his head become fuzzy, and just like that, Tenko was gone.

~

It had been days since Tenko had last written to him, and Shuichi was incredibly worried. He had tried reaching out with a new message every day, but never got a reply. He raised his arm up once again to see if anything new had appeared, and was shocked to see that Tenko had replied. His heart soared in anticipation of learning that Tenko was okay, had probably just been busy with dealing with his mean father, but it all came crashing down as he read the two words painted on his forearm, clearly written with something other than his usual red marker.

I’m sorry.

As he read the words that he realized were written in blood, he could feel his heart break, and he just knew. He knew that Tenko was gone. No more talk of heroes, no more praise for his quirk or flattery of his scales, no more petty arguments over Zelda or doodles of Majora’s mask to grace his arm. No more of his favorite person, the one he adored more than anything.

Shuichi spent the next few days huddled in his room, sobbing over the feeling of emptiness that had settled in his heart. He began wearing long sleeved shirts to hide his arms in his own sign of mourning, for what was the point of leaving them bare when he knew that the red scribblings of his soulmate would never appear. As the years passed, Shuichi became all the more isolated. With Tenko not there to encourage him, he locked himself in his room to avoid the town that tore him to shreds with every interaction.

By the time he reached adulthood, Shuichi had long since internalized that he would never love again.

~

Spinner was in love again.

It had been fifteen years since Tenko’s death and Spinner had slowly but surely fallen for Tomura Shigaraki, his snarky, charismatic, and compassionate leader. He had realized it the moment he saw Tomura standing triumphantly against the beautiful, destroyed horizon of Deika City. Although he didn’t know it, Tomura had developed similar feelings towards the scaled swordsman in return. His loyalty was unquestionable, and Tomura was wooed by how Spinner did his best to care for and support him when Tomura was unable to support himself.

They were currently hanging out in a compound the league had claimed shortly after the disaster that had been Jaku. Everyone else was out on patrol while Spinner stayed behind to keep an eye on Tomura, who was still recovering from his mental battle with All For One. As the afternoon sun started to shine through the broken windows, Spinner and Tomura were playfully arguing over which video game they should play next to pass the time.

“What about Legend of Zelda?” Spinner asked, “I’m pretty sure I saw a copy of Ocarina of Time around here somewhere, and it didn’t look too busted.”

From the worn out couch, Tomura retorted, “If we’re gonna play a Zelda game, it’s Majora’s Mask or nothing.”

“What?! Hell no, that game’s way too stressful! Who thought it was a good idea to put a time limit in a series that usually focuses on exploring the game’s world?”

“That’s not the point of the game!” Tomura shot back, “The point is to complete all the quests and tie up everyone’s story lines before the world ends. It’s perfect emotional story-telling, and anyone who doesn’t 100% complete it is playing it wrong!”

Upon hearing this opinion for the first time in over a decade, Spinner couldn’t help but burst out laughing from the shock of it, Tomura joining in when it became too contagious to ignore.

“Damn Tomura,” Spinner snickered, “You’ve got the same taste in Zelda my soulmate had!”

Tomura suddenly froze. He had gotten so caught up in the discovery of his feelings that he had honestly forgotten that soulmates were a thing. Of course someone as amazing as Spinner would have a soulmate, he should have figured that out sooner, but why was he not with them? Trying to find out what was going on, Tomura questioned, “You have a soulmate? Or –wait– what do you mean had?”

Spinner wasn’t sure what to make of the look on Tomura’s face, but thought it was probably best to be honest about what had happened between him and his late soulmate.

“Well, I used to have one. He was one of the only people who thought I was cool, scales and all,” He sat down on the couch and mindlessly rubbed his arms, still covered in mourning, though now with bandages instead of sleeves, “but he died right around the time I turned six. I’m okay now, but… it still sucks you know.”

Well, that was certainly better than the scenario that Tomura had pictured, of his soulmate abandoning him like a moron, but Spinner still shouldn’t have had to lose his soulmate so suddenly. He deserved better than that cruelty.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. It must’ve been nice though, having a soulmate, even if only for a year or two.”

“Huh?” Spinner balked “Wait, did you lose your soulmate too?”

“Nah,” Tomura sighed, “I never had one in the first place.”

“What? That can’t be right! Didn’t you ever see any messages or doodles on your arm?”

“Nope, not since I was taken in by Master. I may have unlocked a bit of my backstory, but not enough to remember if I had one.” Tomura looked down at his arms, marked with scars from the life he spent in the criminal underworld as he continued, “He used to say that it was because I was too twisted to have a soulmate, and he’s probably right. I am pretty awful.”

“That’s bullshit, you’re absolutely perfect!”

Realizing what he just said out loud, Spinner quickly turned his head away in embarrassment, hoping that Tomura couldn’t see his prominent blush.

Meanwhile, Tomura had come to a realization of sorts: that neither he nor Spinner were tied to a soulmate, both of them left adrift by events that were out of their control. Fate may have been cruel in doing this, but it also gave them a freedom that no one else had, the freedom to choose what ties they wanted to forge. For Tomura this meant that, if Spinner was willing, they could choose each other in spite of what fate had dictated. After all, what could even stop them at this point?

“Hey,” Tomura asked as he returned to the present moment, “Have you ever written him anything since he died?” Spinner shook his head, still refusing to meet Tomura’s eyes.

“You could do it you know, write to him one last time and let him know that you’re okay,” Tomura moved closer to Spinner and leaned on him a little in an attempt to support him. “Maybe it’ll give you some closure, help you get ready for whatever comes next.”

“Whatever comes next,” Spinner murmured, and as he finally dared to look at Tomura, who had pressed himself to his side, he couldn’t help but think, “It’s you. You’re what comes next, if you’ll have me.”

~

After parting ways so he could have some privacy, Spinner went to his room in the compound. He sat down on the makeshift bed, unwrapped the bandages on his left arm, picked up a marker, and began to write.

Tenko,

It still breaks my heart that you’ll never know how much you meant to me. Your endless encouragement got me through the bullying I faced when we were young, and it was enough to keep me alive against all the odds even after you were gone.

What's more, you kept me alive long enough to find someone who nurtures my self-confidence just like you once did, someone I’ve fallen head over heels for. He’s smart, determined, always reaching out to the misfits, and I see so much of you in him. He doesn’t have a soulmate, but he’s so beautiful inside and out that I’m willing to defy fate to be with him.

He’s actually the one who suggested I write this to you, and I hope that you can somehow see this. You will always have a reserved place in my heart, and I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.

Thank you for being my soulmate,

Shuichi

~

As Spinner replaced the cap on the marker, Tomura finished reading the words that had appeared on his arm out of nowhere. Suddenly, it all came rushing back, all the precious memories of his amazing soulmate, as if they were always there. Before his mind could catch up, his body began moving as fast as it could towards Spinner’s room, reminiscent of how he had first tried to catch that train to the boonies when he was four. He only made one detour to grab a red marker most likely abandoned by the compound’s previous occupants, and hoped that it hadn’t run dry.

Tomura slid into the room, startling Spinner as he was wiping his arm. He made sure he had Spinner’s attention before rolling up his sleeve and using the marker to draw something on his left arm, looking back up at Spinner with a grin that was both giddy and mischievous. Confused, Spinner squinted to see what Tomura had drawn, only to quickly snap his own arm upwards to look at it when he recognized what was now on both of their arms.

A doodle in red of Majora’s mask.

In a second, they had crossed the room and pulled each other into an embrace that had been a long time coming twice in their lives, since they were four and since the previous winter. Spinner would undoubtedly tease Tomura for using that doodle to reunite them, and Tomura would do the same for the gooey sentiments Spinner had written, but that could wait. For now, they basked in the fact that they were bound together two-fold, by fate and by choice, and with the guidance of scaled hands upon a smiley and scarred face, their lips met for the first time of many to come.

I participated in the Villains Secret Santa for bnha in December and gifted my story to the user I was assigned to (I hope you enjoyed the story @possessedfuzzybear), but the mystery user who was assigned to me never gifted me anything.

I wasn’t tagged in anything to my knowledge, and when I asked the organizing blog @villains-secret-santa to please reach out to whoever my secret santa was supposed to be, on the off-chance that they just needed some more time, the organizing blog suddenly disappeared last night without ever following up (which is why tagging them now doesn’t work).

I’m still glad that I participated in the event, I’m proud of that story I wrote and the fact that I was able to meet the deadline! But I’m sad that if someone was still in the middle of making something for me, they’re not gonna know that I’m waiting for it. Now I don’t think I’m going to get anything in return.

I’m sad.

hello. I’m your lov secret santa. I am so sorry I wasn’t able to get it done on time. I’ve been kinda busy and I didn’t wanna force myself cuz i was scared it’s just come out bad and I didn’t wanna give you a crappy gift. I’ll try to finish and post it this week but school just started for me again so I can’t say that I most definitely will. Again, I am very sorry.

Hello!

I’m really glad you’re okay! I got worried when the organizing blog went offline before I could make sure you were doing alright. This is great!

Thank you so much for letting me know how you’re doing. Take whatever time you need to finish everything, I’m totally fine with waiting until you’re ready. Good luck with school!