Build Me a Funeral Pyre

Revelation

Dabi props his feet up on the bar stool next to him and watches as Toga chatters away with a masked man who doesn't seem to know what to say. Every other sentence that flies out of his mouth is a blatant contradiction and their endless chatter makes his head hurt as they talk circles around him.

Shigaraki is sitting next to him with a newspaper in hand, ignoring everything around him. Dabi can't help but to lean over and ask him if this is a criminal syndicate or a zoo. Shigaraki's only answer is a ghost of a smirk and a soft reply that if this is a zoo, then Dabi will be the main attraction with how ugly he is. Dabi only narrows his gaze at his boss and goes back to watching Toga and the man babble happily away to each other. Even then, he's relieved at the thought that at least Toga has someone that will be able to keep up with her and hopefully she'll leave him alone now that she has a new friend.

One can hope.

Such is the running gag in his life and his luck doesn't last. Soon, he's drawn into their conversation. Dabi learns more than he ever wanted to know about the new man who goes by Twice and his headache only gets worse as the night drags by. Evading questions from Toga is difficult enough, being cheered on by Twice makes things nearly impossible to deal with. They feed and bounce off of each other's endless amount of energy and curiosity, making the both of them his worst nightmare.

Eventually, he can't handle either of them or the occasional amused huffs from Shigaraki and stalks off to his room for peace and quiet. Being around those two loudmouths makes it hard for him to gather up his thoughts and figure out what to even do in the upcoming mission.

He leaves the light in his room off and sits down in his bed, thinking. There will only be ten of them that's going to raid the area, seeing what happened to Shigaraki at USJ makes Dabi want to avoid that. He'd rather not end up in jail, he has a sneaking feeling that if that happens- a certain somebody would get wind of that once they run his finger prints. Everything he had worked towards would be thrown in the trash and that must be avoidable at all costs.

Throughout the rest of the week, Dabi meets the rest of the members of his Vanguard Action Squad. Arriving a day after Twice is another masked man dressed in fine fabrics and speaks so eloquently, with flowing and flowery words peppered in every time he talks. Talking with him feels like Dabi is listening to a reenactment of a Shakespearean play. Regardless of his prim and proper etiquette, Dabi likes Mister Compress enough.

A few hours after Mister Compress's dramatic entrance of staged smoke and mirrors, another member slinks through without saying anything too much. For an hour Dabi doesn't even realize there's a kid hanging out in the back, sulking with all the teenage angst in the world. Motioning Twice over, he asks what's up with the pipsqueak and apparently that's when Twice finds out there's another new member and marches over there to greet and interrogate the kid. Twice only stays over there for a heartbeat before hurrying back over to Dabi.

"Rude little shit. He's so nice, he'll fit right in!" Dabi absently nods. With a sigh, he stands up and asks himself why he even asked Twice to scope things out for him.

"What's your deal, rugrat?" At Dabi's question, the kid's head snaps up at him with a glare so intense he wants to laugh- no wonder why Twice turned and tucked tail so quickly.

"Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy?" Dabi narrows his eyes and stuffs his hands into his pockets.

"Don't you have parents or something? What, did you tell them that you're going to an after school club because you don't got any friends of your own?"

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to mind your damn business?"

"Man, you really are a little shit ain't ya? No wonder why you don't have friends, nobody likes you." The kid stays silent, the anger in his eyes speak enough and Dabi can only chuckle.