Count to Ten

Item Five: Use a Public Restroom

"I was able to get permission, finally, to have you leave your cell," Shouto smiled. He honestly looked pleased with himself for going through all of that trouble. Izuku smiled too. He'd read the book! Shouto came back! Wait, didn't that mean Shouto watched the footage of him in the bathroom reading the book naked?! How embarrassing! Izuku tried to keep his face from getting red. 

"I'm going to go to the hallway. I'll open the door and you can come to me," Shouto left. This would be the first time he saw Shouto, in person, without the man cleansing himself or anything. That was a bit terrifying. Not to mention, Shouto looked really nice with his makeup on. Don't get Izuku wrong, Shouto looked nice all the time, but the scar made Izuku uncomfortable. It reminded him of his own scars. 

Izuku stood in front of the heavy door. He struggled to open it. He wasn't sure if he was mentally prepared for this. But, he would have to try at least. Izuku stood in the hallway waiting for the click. He waited and he waited. The more he waited the more nervous he got. Shouto was wearing red today. It looked really good on him. He liked it when Shouto wore red. He should tell him that. 

Click.

The door opened. Shouto stood there in full lab coat glory. No clipboard. No mug. His expression was the same as always. "Can you do it?" he asked. Izuku nodded. He tried to regulate his breathing as best as he could and he crossed the threshold. The door closed behind him. How many years had it been? He didn't want to think about it. He followed Shouto blindly through the maze of doors and hallways and more doors. Standing in one hallway with one such door, were two people Izuku had never seen before. One of them sharing a resemblance to Shouto. His hair was a bit spikey. His lab coat the same. His expression the same. The other male was slouching, scratching his neck, with hair a light shade of blue and skin as dry (if not drier) than Izuku's hands. 

"This is Dr. Touya Todoroki," Shouto gestured to the male with red hair. "This is another patient of this facility, Tomura Shigaraki," he gestured to the other male. Tomura didn't look very pleased to be here at all. His hair covered his eyes but Izuku could tell he was glancing around.

"Tomura also has a case of mysophobia," Touya Todoroki explained. "We thought it would be best if you had another person with similar fears accompany you. Of course, Shouto and I are not allowed to leave you unattended. I do apologize for this." Touya Todoroki was calm and cold just like Shouto, but he was even colder somehow. There was an iciness to his voice. Izuku liked Shouto much better. He grabbed Shouto's sleeve, hiding behind him. Tomura wasn't scary, but Touya Todoroki was. Wait. Todoroki?  

"Dr. Todoroki," Tomura said. Both Shouto and Touya turned their heads to look at him. "Can I have my gloves back?" Tomura asked. He pointed to Izuku's hands. Izuku had gloves. Why couldn't he? That seemed to be his reasoning. 

"You're afraid to touch things, Shiga," Touya shook his head. "Your exercise a bit different from Izuku's." 

"Don't call me 'Shiga,'" Tomura scratched his neck a bit more fiercely. "Call me 'Tomura' or call me 'Shigaraki' don't call me 'Shiga.'" Tomura placed both hands on his neck now, scratching. "I want my hands back. I want my ashes. I want my hands," he mumbled. He repeated this mumbling mess and continued to scold Touya for calling him 'Shiga.'

Somewhere in the distance, Izuku heard a loud familiar scream. "When I get out of here I'm going to fucking kill you! You piece of shit doctor!" Katsuki? He was stuck in here too? Somehow that made sense. Katsuki was a bit more of a troublesome case than he was. But, that was his own personal opinion. 

"Sounds like Dr. Kirishima has his work cut out for him," Touya chuckled lightly. "In any case," he opened the bathroom door. This was about as public of a restroom as they were going to get. Besides, it would be slightly cleaner than a restroom in the actual public. All four of them entered. The two Dr. Todorokis stood by the door. They both crossed their arms and waited for something to happen. Yep, definitely related. 

"Do all the doctors here have red hair?" Shouto looked up at Touya. 

"Well, knowing our father, probably," Touya shrugged. The two Dr. Todorokis continued their conversation. They talked about meaningless things to keep the conversation going. They must be doing this to take the pressure off of Tomura and Izuku. Izuku was sure of it. It was a very Dr. Todoroki thing to do. 

"I can't even touch the stall door let alone use it," Tomura glared at the door. His relentless scratching moved from his neck to his torso. He hugged himself, in a sense, scratching the whole time. 

Izuku's eyes wandered from the stall door to Shouto. They kept going back and forth. Using this restroom with other people in it was embarrassing. Not to mention the last time he'd been in a bathroom and thought about Shouto...well...Deku had appeared. 

Tomura stared at the door. He couldn't touch it. Well, he could touch it just not with all five of his fingers. He poked the door with his pointer and it opened. This wouldn't be too hard. Right? But, how was he going to do anything with just four fingers? Hm. He wanted to go back to his cell. He sighed. 

"We've come to the conclusion," Shouto's voice rang in Izuku's ears. "That you don't necessarily have to use the restroom, just stay in the stall as long as you can."

"Mostly," Touya sighed, "I just don't want to stand here awkwardly listening to someone take a piss." 

"You're as colorful with your words as always," Shouto rolled his eyes. 

"As long as I can?" Tomura frowned. Being in enclosed spaces wasn't exactly his cup of tea. He probably wouldn't last long. But, at least he was in the stall now. That was more than Izuku. Izuku was still staring at the door, not wanting to touch it. Touya looked down at his watch. Time to start keeping track of how long Tomura lasted in there. 

"You're doing great, Shiga! Keep up the good work," Touya said. His motivational phrase didn't sound the slightest bit motivational. It sounded more like he was being forced to cheer at some school function. 

"Don't call me 'Shiga'!" Tomura yelled. 

"You never nickname people," Shouto stared up at Touya, a bit confused. "What is your reasoning for this?" 

"Ah, well, you know," Touya continued to stare at his watch. A faint smile on his face. "He's just so cute when he is angry," he looked at Shouto, giving him a wink. "And what about you, hm? You never let patients call you by your first name. You're always giving some weird excuse like 'gotta maintain a distance between patient and doctor.'"

"That's not true," Shouto frowned. 

"It took years before you'd let me call you 'Shouto,'" Touya rolled his eyes. "Imagine my surprise watching your first session. You even came up with such a clever reason to get Izuku to call you 'Shouto'! I'm impressed, truly," he snickered. 

"That's not true," Shouto's frown became even more of a frown. He decided that nothing he was going to say would change Touya's mind. However, he couldn't stop himself from bantering a bit more. The two went back and forth like this. Izuku finally managed to enter the stall. Shouto began keeping his own time, still arguing with Touya. They weren't talking about him anymore. Now they were arguing over which comic publisher was the best: DC or Marvel. 

"I can't take this anymore!" Tomura kicked the door open and ran out. 

Touya whistled, "I can't believe you managed that long. A whole ten minutes, let's go back to the cell then. Come along, Shiga," Touya opened the door. Tomura grumbling about how not to call him 'Shiga' once again but he followed behind. He wanted to clean himself. He also wanted his gloves back. This whole experience was traumatizing in a number of ways. 

Shouto walked over to the stall Izuku was in. He stared at the door, about to say something, but Izuku's frantic voice interrupted him. "Don't come any closer!" Shouto, shocked and slightly confused, decided to ask why. Well, he would've, but Izuku sounded a bit too frantic for casual conversation. He refrained. Unsure of what to do, Shouto shifted awkwardly from side to side. 

Eventually, curiosity got the best of him, "May I ask, why?"