*shuffles into view really small and timid* hello user scary grace….. i have a little query……
i just wanna start off with saying i #LOVE your work and writing it’s so concise yet emotive and the way you write tomura dialogue and characterise him despite au’s that differ from canon wildly is amaaaaaaziiiiing!! <3 you capture tomura essence in a very special way
um i had a question and its chill if you don’t want to answer or have an answer or if im being a doofus and you’ve already answered this elsewhere, but in your saviour fanfic i was wondering if (when we were in a relationship with tomura) did he show any like. obsessive tendencies that would foreshadow his later stalking? and why did the reader end up calling things off with him?
it’s obvious tomura was a little (a lot) delusional about the breakup what with the stalking and saying something like he’ll ‘wait for her’ but were there any moments maybe like the reader and overhaul’s wedding where the fantasy sort of. Shattered? and tomura felt dread like ‘oh ive been stalking my ex who doesn’t like me anymore ive lost something really good and made it worlds worse’.
idk if i worded this well but i really wanna pick at your tomura infested brain ;—;
Sorry for the delay in answering this ask, but I was really excited about it and wanted to give a solid answer! I also wanted to thank you for asking about Savior. It's probably my darkest fic, but I'm fond of it, and I'm glad to have the chance to talk about it.
To answer your first question -- no, Tomura didn't show any (obvious) obsessive tendencies when he and the reader were dating in high school. But that was partially because he didn't have to! He and the reader were pretty good friends by the time he asked her out, so they were already spending a significant amount of time together. I think if she had been more distant or busier, some of those tendencies would have come out. Being ignored (or just feeling ignored) is a trigger for him. Nothing trips Tomura's weirdest behavior faster than feeling like he's irrelevant to someone he cares about.
So why did the reader break up with him? I think she was trying to be practical. They were both going to college, and to separate schools, and she was the type to draw a distinction between high school or "practice" relationships and the "real" relationships one has as an adult. While she loved Tomura (probably more than she expected to or would admit to herself) she didn't see the relationship as long-term. Tomura, meanwhile, thought they'd be together forever.
As for moments where Tomura snapped out of the delusion, the first of those will be discussed in the chapter that comes out tomorrow! But probably the largest one wasn't so much the wedding as when he spotted her wearing Kai's engagement ring. Tomura isn't really a wedding guy in general, so when he pictured his future with the reader, the wedding wasn't a big element of the fantasy. The ring, though -- he liked the idea of getting the reader a real gift, one that she'd always wear, one that would show everybody that she'd picked him and they'd be together forever. So seeing her wear Kai's -- which not only suited her but was also pretty expensive -- shattered the fantasy while making him feel inadequate as all hell.
In that situation, though, he definitely felt despair, but not necessarily guilt. It took him a while to reflect on how badly he screwed up by stalking her, and it wasn't until he realized how badly Kai was treating the reader that the way he himself had treated her had made her vulnerable to someone like Kai in the first place. In short, past!Tomura's misery at fucking up was focused on himself. Present!Tomura is much more focused on what happened to the reader as a result.
Thanks for the ask! It was a lot of fun to answer, and I hope you enjoy tomorrow's update when you have a chance to read it.
