Count to Ten

Item One: Touch a Doorknob Barehanded

"Ah," Izuku's eye twitched more vividly. "You wouldn't understand, would you? What it feels like to be disgusting?" He continued to stare at his hand. There wasn't anything on it. But, his mind visualized blood, bodily fluids of all sorts, the crimes of his other self. It was all on his hands. He couldn't wash it off no matter how many times he'd tried. 

"Your hand is clean, isn't it?" the simple observation from the cool man. Izuku blinked. Where was the blood? He blinked again. It wasn't there. His hand was clean, wasn't it?  Weird. Why was his hand clean? It was usually so dirty. He hadn't touched dirt. Not in years. He hadn't been outside in years. What could possibly be on his hand to make it dirty? If he wasn't allowed outside to hurt people? 

"It's not dirty?" Izuku's eyes filled with tears. He sobbed. "It's not dirty, right?" he continued to sob. "I didn't do any of it. It was all him. It wasn't me, so it's not dirty, right?" Shouto said nothing.

Whether it was the shock of being told he wasn't dirty by a complete stranger or the shock of actually touching something without disinfecting it first, Izuku's eyes rolled back into his head. Being unconscious. That was a dangerous thing. He began to fall to the ground. But, as if he were a puppet on strings, his falling motion stopped. He laughed. He laughed and he laughed and his legs defied gravity, pulling him up, without him touching anything at all. He tore off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and reapplied the glove to his hand. He turned on his heel and ran for the glass. He jumped onto the table, crouching, both hands on the glass, a cruel villainous smirk plastered on his face. 

"Don't get me wrong, Dr. Todoroki," he spoke, a delicately sweet sing-song voice that left chills down any sane person's spine. "I love what you're doing for my darling Izuku." He placed a hand on his cheek, "Really, I do, but if you get this boy thinking he isn't what they say he is, things could be a bit troublesome for me. You know? I don't want to disappear. I quite like existing."

"Deku, I presume?" Shouto folded his hands, placing them on the table. 

"Hm? Nothing scares you at all, does it? You're no fun," Deku pouted. He shifted and sat on the table, back pressed against the glass, swinging his legs off of the side. "Most of the others ran out screaming out of their mind when they saw me for the first time. It was such a thrilling experience. What makes you so different? Hm? Why are you so special? Izuku likes you too much for his own good." 

"Should I be afraid of you?" Shouto asked. "Would that make this situation better? I have no reason to be afraid of you, Deku. Not because you're in some fancy prison but because you haven't done anything to me yet. I prefer to make my own judgments of people. Relying on what other people say rarely does any good."

"You're treating me like a human? Are you sure that I'm the insane one here?" a loud cackle escaped his lips. Deku fell to the floor, rolling around, he held his stomach and continued to laugh. "Human? Me? He thinks I am a human? Ha!" 

"I have a request I would like to make of you," Shouto stood up. He pushed his chair in and grabbed his clipboard. "If I am to get permission for Izuku to leave these facilities and go outside for the sake of his list, I need to know that you won't try to escape." 

Deku stopped rolling. His smirk turning into a straight line. "You want me to promise not to run away? What good will that be for me? That's not fun at all." 

"Don't you exist to help Izuku? Do you really want him to be more terrified of the outside world? Wouldn't you rather help him conquer one of his greatest fears? You don't want to protect your other half forever, do you?" 

"How amusing," Deku stood up. He stared into the depths of Shouto's eyes. He didn't care if the doctor had a point or not. He simply was thrilled about watching a new entertaining scenario befall him. He knew very well what Izuku felt for the doctor. He just hoped he didn't fall for the doctor himself. That might be tricky. Deku was too possessive to share. "I'll be a good boy, I promise," he smiled, innocently, even though he wasn't innocent at all. 

"Thank you very much," Shouto bowed. "Now, I hate to cut our conversation short, but I would prefer it if Izuku didn't recognize the fact that we spoke. He did just barely make it through touching the doorknob." 

Deku's eyebrows furrowed. This guy really thinks of everything, doesn't he? He sighed, shrugging, and took off the glove again. He returned everything about his appearance to how it was previously, even if he didn't really want to. But, if he was going to make it outside he had to play along with Dr. Todoroki's game. 

Snapped back to reality, Izuku looked around the room. "I blacked out, didn't I?" he frowned. He couldn't remember anything and he certainly hoped Deku hadn't surfaced for Shouto. He was just starting to like Shouto! Izuku didn't want him to go running away like all of the others!  

"That's to be expected. However, it is quite an achievement to be able to cross the first thing off of your list, isn't it? We shall end our session here today. See you again soon, Izuku," Shouto, with a hint of a smile, turned to leave. 

"Smile? Was that a smile? That was a smile, wasn't it?" Izuku felt a flutter in his chest. "He smiled! His face is so cold but he smiled! Ah! Yes! I shall remember this forever!" Izuku, too happy to remember about the glove that wasn't on his hand, twirled around the room relishing in his sweet victory. Smile! "I wonder what other expressions I can get him to make!~"