Shuichi was panting heavily, and his back was aching something dreadful, but he couldn't stop.

"Ha haha hahha ha!"

His entire body shuddered as he heard that laugh echo through the seemingly endless halls and he nearly lost his grip on the ceiling but the pain in his back was swift reminder of why he couldn't stop no matter what.

"L-l-lizzie.~"

Shuichi felt tears prick his eyes and his heart hammer even more frantically as he scrambled even faster across the ceiling, knowing that she was catching up to him.

"Where oh where could you be Lizzie?~"

He felt choked then because it felt like she had said that directly into his ear and that momentary distraction caused him to not grab the ceiling like he should've, and he crashed to the ground and slammed into a wall.

Some things had fell onto him and he quickly shook himself and threw it all off in a rush.

He scanned the room and almost at once locked on to the pair of terrifying yellow eyes he had been running from staring right back at him.

"Igu-"

He didn't allow the demon to finish as he reared back and hissed as threateningly as he could while he pressed himself back into a corner.

He was brought out his defensiveness when he heard the sound of Kaori sobbing and with the snap back to what was going on he realized a few things.

One, that he was not in the gloomy grey-blue dark and damp endless labyrinth.

Two, he was in his room and therefore probably just had a nightmare.

And three, the person with yellow eyes was not the shape-shifter Toga, but Kaori who was on the floor and crying.

*Fuck... * Shuichi thought moving down from the corner having half climbed the walls in his panic and took Kaori in his arms and hugged her close "Hey, hey. Imouto-Chan, everything's okay." he quickly told the girl.

Kaori sniffed as she tried to calm down but didn't fight to get away from him as he curled up around her "I-I'm sorry, Igu-Chan but you w-were crying in your sleep." she whimpered into his shirt.

"Oh Imouto-Chan," Shuichi muttered feeling even more awful about this "You don't have to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong I just- I had a, really bad dream and couldn't think straight." he told her petting her hair.

She raised her head "Was it about that meanie again?" she asked, and Shuichi internally cursed himself but nodded.

Kaori pouted as the last of her tears fell "I wish that meanie would just leave you alone." she mumbled burying her head into his chest.

Shuichi sighed and let his head fall back and hit the wall *You and me both kid... * he thought feeling very tired as he did.

The attack had been roughly nine months ago and yet he couldn't shake the feeling of the shape-shifter's hold over him, it wasn't every night but more often than not he had nightmares about her chasing him, sometimes she caught him or other times he woke up mid-scramble.

And he knew Deku-Sensei had already taken care of her and she'd never get near him ever again but that didn't change how real his dreams felt, the phantom pains in his back certainly didn't help the matter.

Once he was done reassuring Kaori, he sent her along her way to go get ready for the day and he checked the time "Four? Damn it... " he cursed, falling back on his bed and laying his arm across his eyes knowing he couldn't just go back to sleep again.

Shuichi opened his eyes and they slid back to the innocent looking folder Deku-Sensei had given him about a month afterwards, he remembered how miserable Deku-Sensei looked through the boy was trying to not show it as Deku-Sensei explained to him that under no uncertain circumstances would he ever see the shape-shifter, Toga, again.

Crawling over the folder he looked through the information and photos again, it... helped somewhat and he definitely needed it when Deku-Sensei gave it to him.

It helped him humanize Toga, less of some monster from a horror movie and just a regular human that could be dealt with and stopped like anyone else.

And Deku-Sensei had.

Shuichi picked up the folder and stared at the picture of Toga copied over from her year book, she looked deceptively like a normal girl from any middle school but even through the picture he swore there was that predatory look in them that made him feel like he needed to scratch off all of his scales.

Putting it down he stood up and looked at himself in the mirror.

*Well, you look like shit, no wonder Kaori's been concerned about you... * Shuichi thought pulling down on the right side of his face.

Shuichi looked somewhat gaunt and there were even some scales of his that weren't as vibrant as the one's around them, turning slightly brown even, his hair was a mess and his weight lost though not concerning was visible.

*When was the last time I left this room?* He added seeing as the lack of sun light was also clear and shook his head.

He padded out and into the main area of the apartment and he found Kaori waiting there dejectedly poking at her bowl of cereal with her spoon.

Shuichi sighed and walked over to sit with her, she brightened up as soon as she saw him and ran over to the cabinet to grab out a small container of blueberries and immediately, she held it up to him "Here Igu-Chan! I got these for you yesterday in case you were hungry." Kaori declared.

Shuichi forced himself to smile despite how his heart sank "Thanks Imouto-Chan, but I'll only eat them if you eat with me okay?" he said and she eagerly nodded, he sat down, and they took turns eating one at a time despite his body's protests.

He hadn't been able to eat as much lately, since finishing his qualifications he hadn't had anything to take his mind off of things aside from gaming with Comet-chaserXxX, and CC was starting to get concerned for him too since he's 'being chronically online' now... which wasn't wrong exactly.

And well, the stress of it all was making his appetite basically disappear which was... a not so good thing admittedly.

Speaking of food, they were probably running low, he'd have to go shopping soon even if the idea of leaving the apartment made him unreasonably nervous, he didn't know why but moving a lot right now always made him uneasy now a days.

Kaori was overjoyed he was going out but didn't ask to join him either, instead choosing to run off with her friends which he didn't have a problem with, the trip would be shorter without her there, a thought that made him feel guilty but the faster he could get everything the faster he could go back to his room.

This thought really shouldn't be as reassuring as it was, what with how much time he was spending in there it was starting to feel claustrophobic but at the same time as he walked down the street, he was quickly reminded why he stayed there.

Because despite wearing enough clothes to leave nothing but his snout revealed he was drowned in the feeling that he was far too exposed and that he needed to hide away again.

It didn't matter that he knew most of these people and that they had been nothing but welcoming since he got adopted by Miyake-San, he was sure that even if he had Deku-Sensei walking right beside him he'd still feel utterly suffocated by the over looming thought.

Shuichi tried to steel himself and shook his head, taking deep breaths in order to calm his pounding heart.

This wasn't his first time experiencing something like this, he felt it a lot when he still lived with his parents and subsequently never left his room unless he absolutely had to, so this time wasn't as bad as it used to.

He could even leave the apartment without being dragged out and he wasn't shaking that bad, trembling hands notwithstanding, he just wished that it wasn't so hard to keep breathing.

Only taking twenty minutes had to be a shopping record of some kind but Shuichi was simply glad he managed to be outside for that long and was fully planning on dashing straight home but was stopped by an arm very unexpectedly wrapped around his neck.

Shuichi entire body locked up on him and before he could do so much as scream a familiar voice said "Finally come out of your cave Zilla?"

There were no words for how utterly relieved Shuichi felt when Dabi spoke up "For fucks sake Dabi... you nearly gave me a heart-attack." Shuichi grumbled feeling very glad he hadn't dropped his bags.

"Well consider us even then, you know, for not showing you're face for three weeks now." Dabi replied his arm tightened preventing him from escaping Dabi's grip, Shuichi ducked his head swallowing thickly.

"Sorry, but I've been... " Shuichi tried to say but Dabi cut him off "Busy?" Dabi finished for him clearly thinking of it being exactly what it sounded like, an excuse.

"And you mind telling me just what's got you so busy you couldn't leave your house and why Charlotte had to help your brat to go shopping for food? Cause for some reason the blonde was certain you were sick with something since you weren't eating and barely left your room if what she's been saying is correct." Dabi questioned.

Shuichi felt a stone be added to his stomach, mainly because even if Dabi wasn't being so ham-fisted with it, he'd still understand what Dabi was hinting at.

But the feelings of being in the open in combination to the guilt was far too much for him "Dabi I promise I'll tell you everything but, just let's go back to the apartment... please." he quietly pleaded.

Dabi didn't answer right away, and it was about an eternity before Dabi grumbled "Fine, but you better not leave any crap out or going to hang you Zilla." Dabi relented not loosening his grip, but Shuichi was just happy to be returning home.

It wasn't a far walk and Shuichi was back home and sitting across from Dabi, the brunette sat cross legged and had his arms crossed while wearing 'well?' expression on his face.

Shuichi felt a twinge in his heart when he made out the four thin but clearly visible scars on Dabi's face, ones he had gotten from the shape-shifter after they became him.

Shuichi knew he hadn't done it and that he never would've... but at the same time it just as easily could've been him, Toga had his claws and Shuichi was willing to bet that if he did attack Dabi just like that it would leave the same lines.

"Well? What do you got to say for yourself?" Dabi questioned and Shuichi flinched.

Shuichi brought his knees up to his chest and hugged himself "It's... hard to explain." he replied resisting the urge to retreat to his room.

"I just, can't get over what happened... I know Toga's gone, Deku-Sensei made sure of that, but I don't feel safe outside anymore." Shuichi fumbled with his words, he's never quite had to explain himself to anyone like this before.

"I could make myself leave for school because the Vespas were following me and I knew I had more than one person there for me even though it didn't feel right to leave, but now that I've graduated, I've just been... tired? I don't want to do anything and leaving the house... it feels so wrong." he said words trailing off as he felt like he was just whining and curled in on himself more ducking his head.

Dabi stare was making him more uncomfortable and the desire to escape back to his room was only growing, he knew it was pathetic to be acting like this after nine months...

Dabi sighed deeply as his head hit the wall behind him and he rubbed the bridge of his nose, either disappointed or annoyed with him, Shuichi wasn't sure which of those things were worse.

"Twinkie fucking called it... " Dabi grumbled "Okay, so you're having an, agoraphobic rut or something?" Dabi questioned and Shuichi blinked staring at him.

"What?" Shuichi asked back confused.

Dabi rolled his eyes "As if you becoming a hermit wouldn't work its way back to the Twinkie one way or the other," Dabi commented and Shuichi allowed his head to hit his arms knowing Dabi was probably right.

"And naturally, he sent me a couple fucking paragraphs to explain to me how he expected you'd react to that shit. Green aoles, the lizard you're related to or whatever are known to feel very stressed if they don't have places to hide, and that stress keeps you from eating and makes you lazy or something, and that the lack of sun would make you feel more like shit." Dabi grumpily explained.

Shuichi blinked, his mouth opening and closing once "Really? This, is just part of my quirk?" he quietly asked.

Dabi tsked rolling his eyes "Don't ask me that crap, the Twinkie and his impostors are the quirk nerds not me," he replied kicking Shuichi's foot "He just told me this hermit shit wasn't uncommon for lizards like you and to try and get your ass out in the sun if I could so you don't rot your bones." Dabi added turning away from him.

Shuichi bit his lip at that, Deku-Sensei had warned him about getting enough sunlight because it would likely affect his bones and it wasn't a problem before because he liked sunbathing but now... yeah he probably needed to take some pills or something to make up for the lack of sun bathing he's been doing.

Shuichi let his head hit the wall and groaned, he hated those pills, they tasted like straight up chalk.

Dabi scoffed "If they taste that bad it'll just be extra incentive to go outside for a bit." Dabi told him with a huff and then got up to leave, leaving Shuichi wallow some more for voicing that last bit out loud.

Dabi, having been raised in a toxic house, nearly killed by his dad, and living on the streets for years and then this chapter happens.

Dabi: When and how the fuck did I become the emotionally stable person in this rag-tag group of misfits?

Riya:... You know I'd be offended by that if it wasn't true.

Izuku: He has been planning on a murder-suicide with his bio-father after the guy almost killed him.

Mido: And you're arguing with a version of yourself about whether your emotionally unstable because you have control issues.

Izuku:...

Izuku:... Just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it.