Times like these always felt like a waiting game. Stranded in a room waiting for his furiously thumping heart to settle down, only for the sound of his quivering nerves to continue resonating within him. There was no peace for those that could only sit by with the impending damnation of a burning world fresh in their minds. And after the events of that day, not even sleep would bring him any ease.

Tokoyami stayed put as best he could, all things considering. The things he'd gone through didn't change the fact that he was supposed to stay here. It was frustrating, always, but now there was at least the possibility of expanding his options. Upon returning to the cramped living space, he'd spent an undisclosed amount of time just… looking at the communicator he'd been given. It left a sour taste in his mouth, knowing the deal he'd made. But it was the only thing that had been handed to him in a while – another tool at his disposal, hopefully for the better. If there was anything he could do to make use of this, he was going to seize it, because that was just the kind of position he was in. This was an opportunity, and he was determined to ensure that it would stand to benefit him. What other choice did he have?

But he knew that he was masking his fears. Tokoyami's stifled worries culminated at the back of his mind – all the doubts about the sketchy doctor and the potential pitfalls of the decision he'd made. These thoughts continued to build within Dark Shadow, who shifted restlessly in his mind. His quirk adamantly whispered the worries that he fought so hard to shove away, knowing that they were valid. Tokoyami didn't want to silence his quirk, though – not after he'd struggled so hard to ignite communication between them. So for every concern he fought to suppress, Dark Shadow brought it back up to the surface.

That doctor doesn't have our best interests at heart. He just wants to use us.

…Yeah.

Fumikage, I don't wanna work with him. Tokoyami detected the quiver in his quirks voice, and it wrenched his heart.

I know. I won't let anything happen to you, though. I promise. But that just means we need to work harder.

I don't like this at all. You don't either!

…Yeah, Tokoyami agreed numbly. With a disheartened sigh, he tucked the little device away – into the secure wrappings of his choker, where it'd be close at hand but not in constant use. When he did so, Tokoyami could feel the frayed edges of the red material. The choker had stayed with him for so long now, even in spite of everything. It was supposed to be in remembrance of a hero he'd admired, but now it just felt like an extension of himself with new meaning attached. The day where he'd first started wearing this choker with heroic aspirations felt so far away.

Dark Shadow, do you think we made a difference today?

We saved some people, didn't we? I thought that was pretty cool of us!

Tokoyami thought about that. There was so much damage. I didn't do any of it for once, though. Maybe that means there was a chance to do more.

H-hey, we didn't know what was going to happen. You're being hard on yourself.

I wonder how many people got hurt.

His quirk materialized in the room. It was night by now, and the shadowy flesh twisted strangely in the dim light provided by the streetlight outside. "Well maybe you shouldn't wonder that! It's upsetting, especially after how much we tried to do good!"

Tokoyami wasn't sure if he was entirely convinced by that answer. Regardless, he settled down, leaning further into the couch with a weary grunt. Next to him, his sword – which he had leaning against the couch – clattered to the floor. A chill breeze infiltrated the glassless window, even though Dabi had promised to fix it before it got too cold, and that encouraged Tokoyami to wrap his cape around him better. Despite the fact that it now had a damn hole in it.

Amber eyes kept gazing through him as he made adjustments for a restless night. Tokoyami could sense how fidgety his quirk was, even when he tried in vain to close his eyes and ignore the woes of the world that never seemed to cease their bombardment upon him.

"Dark Shadow, please behave yourself. I'm tired," Tokoyami grumbled absently.

Dark Shadow squirmed uncomfortably. "But your thoughts won't let me," he complained in a hushed tone, twitching his claws in agitation. Tokoyami had to admit that he felt bad about it. But he was so physically and emotionally tired that he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do for the night except make a vain attempt at sleep.

He probably spent more time staring at the inside of his eyelids than actually attaining real sleep, and within the realm of his mind all he could see was fire – bright orange and blue flames licking angrily at everything within its reach, causing havoc and unforgivable damage. And past those flames, its brilliant light cast the darkest shadows, where those who'd sworn off the light resided. He couldn't tell who exactly were in these folds of darkness, but he couldn't ignore the attachment to them that he felt inside himself. In the moment, he didn't know what to do with himself.

The fire – the light – burned so much.

Tokoyami woke up abruptly to the sound of the front door slamming open. He pushed himself up and off the couch before even knowing what the situation was, and almost ended up on the floor in his haste.

The door slammed shut, and Tokoyami adjusted to where he could make sense of what was happening.

Dark Shadow let out a hiss, making Tokoyami wince. D-damn it all, he never went back.

Tokoyami spoke a harsh mental command and urged his quirk to retreat. No wonderhis rest had been so poor, with his agitated quirk milling around throughout the night. He would've thought Dark Shadow would've called it quits – instead, he'd stubbornly stayed awake, rather than get some much needed rest to restore his energy. Even now, instead of dematerializing, he just hovered behind him, barely bigger than a sock puppet. Tokoyami quickly realized that his quirk's hesitance might be because of the ominous sense of danger that filled the air.

Standing just inside the doorway was a dark, lanky silhouette. Hunched over just a bit. Like the weight of something invisable was trying to hold him down. The faint light of morning just starting to emerge glinted on staples and the cuffs of his coat.

Dabi stood there quietly for a while, and Tokoyami wondered if, after such a long night, he was just going to drag himself to his room.

Heavy footsteps crossed over the old floorboards. When he walked right past the door to his room, that's when Tokoyami began to worry.

You don't think he'd be mad, do you? Dark Shadow croaked nervously.

Tokoyami stood up from the coach as he approached. "Dabi, I can ex—"

Dabi lashed out with his hand, faster than he ever would've expected. Tokoyami gasped as the front of his shirt was grabbed. Through the thin material, he could feel the scorching heat that was being barely contained within the villain. Then he was shoved back, unceremoniously dropping back onto the couch with all his weight.

Dabi kicked his sword away from him, and Tokoyami flinched when he heard it slide across the floor before colliding with the wall. Dark Shadow hissed, shadows bristling angrily, and the quirk swiped defensively. Tokoyami closed his eyes, but he could tell that Dark Shadow's claws had connected with something. He didn't know what to expect next. All he'd wanted to do was help people, but it feels like he'd walked in on a scene not meant for him when he'd watched Dabi attack the heroes, and it made his skin crawl with uncertainty and fear. He knew what this person was capable of in terms of firepower. But psychologically speaking, he had no idea what went on in his head.

The air had gone still. Nothing else was happening around him now. With all the caution he could muster, he cracked his eyes open just a sliver.

Dark Shadow was coiled just above his head, claws lax. He could tell at a glance that his quirk was upset.

At the same time, it was so much harder to gauge Dabi's emotions. It always had been, really, though it didn't help that he almost never showed himself in a way that could be defined as vulnerable. But right now, that might've been the best word to describe him.

He was still standing, although it looked like he could drop at any moment. A thin line of blood trailed from a claw scratch on his arm.

"…You weren't supposed to be there. To see all that."

Tokoyami felt the same anger that he'd felt in his hopelessness before the event with the planned nomu attack begin to bubble up again. "You would rather keep me away, even knowing that you were endangering the lives of innocents? You knew how much I hated it, this sick plan of yours to rain destruction using the doctor's little test subject!"

Dabi hung his head, though it was difficult to tell what that meant. Tokoyami could've taken this to be a sign of shame on any other person, but that didn't seem like something suited to Dabi. In which case, it was probably closer to disappointment that he hadn't done as much as he'd wanted. Tokoyami held back the urge to yell at him. That wouldn't solve anything – nor was that a face he wanted to bear. Ruffled as his feathers were by the events of the last 24 hours, he fought to keep his voice level in the hopes that he could maintain a successful conversation even in spite of all that occurred. Rest assured, he was still pissed for the stunt that Dabi had pulled, and the whole confrontation with the doctor was a whole different thing that he would rather be left unspoken, but he at least had the patience to hear out the villain and in turn provide a few answers of his own. More than anything, though, Tokoyami was desperate at this point to know what was going on between him and the pro heroes that they'd encountered.

Dark Shadow drifted ever closer to him, the quirk's voice whispering quietly in his head. The heroes there saw us, right? Do you think they'll try harder to look for us now? I mean, we made it this far, right? Since they tried so hard to save Eri and succeeded, we're like their next priority!

This left a bad taste on Tokoyami's tongue. He wasn't sure how to break it to his quirk. He doubted he was anyone's priority right now. I'm not sure if Endeavor saw us through the flames… he seemed rather injured. And it feels like Hawks has already made it clear that he won't help us. The Bunny Hero saw us for sure, though, so perhaps not all is lost? This… might need to be pondered further at a later time. For now, we have a different matter at hand.

"Dabi, it doesn't matter how I got onto the scene. Just know that it was meant to be… I'm sure you can figure it out on your own. More to the point, what even was all that? I kept trying to find you in that city! I thought you would've shown your face sooner, but walking onto the scene to have a standoff with Endeavor after all that damage had already been done? What were you even thinking you could do?"

Dabi rolled his shoulders is if to rid himself of whatever was weighing him down, but Tokoyami doubted that it would do much for him. After all, going through such motions had never done much to rid Tokoyami of similarly heavy guilts. So perhaps that's why he wasn't all that surprised when Dabi shuffled over and sat down heavily on the couch, causing the aging structure to creak ominously. Tokoyami would prefer to keep his sleeping place intact, but it felt like it wouldn't hold out much longer.

Tokoyami sighed, glaring judgmentally at the villain seated on the other side of the couch. It feels like they've done this before.

He waited for Dabi to speak. Usually the villain was much more eager to run his mouth, considering all the places he chose to do so. Generally speaking, talking down on the current biggest hero in Japan wasn't the best approach to… whatever it was he was trying to accomplish after the defeat of his rental science project. It's not like he even had anyone else in the League involved. In fact… Tokoyami was convinced that the rest of Shigaraki's rag-tag group had known little to nothing about what Dabi was up to. He already had the habit of acting independently of them, so why would this be much different?

"I'll admit. I wasn't intending on showing myself like that and making a scene. But the opportunity opened up. Mission was already a bust anyway… since Hawks had to go and bring Endeavor along with him. Of all the heroes out there, it had to be him."

Tokoyami shuffled nervously. "Before all this, you sounded excited about slandering the integrity of the top heroes in this attack. Did you not want… him to be there?" He couldn't help feeling like he was walking on eggshells in this conversation, like at any moment he could say the wrong thing and be scorched for his insolence.

It looks like he already gave everything he had though. You'd think he'd be low on firepower, Dark Shadow grumbled.

Well, he's certainly… low, Tokoyami observed, noting the way he was slumped into the thread-bare cushion. Tokoyami had been tired after that day, too. But he'd been through worse, so something like this felt like a drop in the bucket in retrospect. Meanwhile, he couldn't help noticing the gaps of exposed muscle stretching between the staples keeping his patchy face together and the remnants of dried blood trails under his eyes. It would be more alarming if he wasn't already well acquainted with the drawbacks of Dabi's power and how it affected him.

"Hawks had agreed to bring a strong hero to test out the nomu," Dabi explained through mumbled tones. "Well, test makes it sound kinda innocuous. He hadn't expected the nomu to be that strong either. The doctor wanted this… but I was looking forward to seeing how it might rock the foundation of hero society, what with the new top ten and all that shit." He glanced over at Tokoyami wearily. "Well, don't you look upset? Wha's the matter?"

Tokoyami took a deep breath, holding his tongue in the case that he might say something wrong. Considering how quickly a simple conversation could become an argument between the two of them, he'd prefer at this point if the villain would just keep talking.

"Don't get your feathers all ruffled, now. If you're worried about the death toll, then you shouldn't be," Dabi grumbled.

Tokoyami sat up straight, immediately on alert. "How?! I saw the building fall and everything. There were so many panicked civilians! And you can so confidently say that no lives were lost?!"

"It's true," he argued."For someone trying to join the villains, that winged hero was suuure insistent on making sure nobody ended up in critical condition. Personally, I find it suspicious, but apparently a guy like him doesn't have much room for error, wouldn't you agree? In fact, you don't look much worse for wear, either. While I was keeping my head down up until the end, what were you out there doing?" Dabi asked, the beginnings of a sneer ready on his face.

Tokoyami leaned heavily against the armrest on his side, leaning his head against his hand with a muffled grunt. So nobody died. That's… such a relief. His gaze drifted over to where Dabi had kicked his sword against the wall, and he contemplated his actions. "What if I just said it was training? Would your tortured thoughts be content with that answer?" No response, but he could still feel Dabi's glare burning into him. "I didn't want to sit by idly while people got hurt because of you, alright? I did what I could to help some people get out of there and fight off some of those smaller nomu. That's all. I didn't get the chance to approach any heroes or actually talk with any people."

Tokoyami waited for a response. He'd told the truth as best he could. Dabi didn't need to know the details of his rationale – if he didn't already understand the sort of motivations that might compel him to act in these situations, then he must not understand him at all. And if that were still the case even after all this time where they've had to put up with each other, then so be it. It was frustrating being in such a stifling situation, with the only other person around him thinking that anything he tried doing to help people was wrong. That's the feeling he got, anyway.

You did the best you could. I thought that was pretty amazing, Fumikage!

Tokoyami fought to suppress a smile, least he give himself away. Thanks.

"Fine. Okay, whatever," Dabi lamented snidely. "You were on the scene and there's nothing I could've done to predict that… did you get anything useful out of it? Since you dared to call it training despite how serious it actually was?"

Tokoyami thought back on it, giving his little adventure some careful consideration. While the event had certainly been of serious urgency and there'd been the pressure for him to act fast, there were a few notable things to have come from it. For starters, he was never the one having to deal with the greatest danger – that responsible had fallen to the top two heroes. And also, compared to other dangers he'd faced, this encounter had seemed manageable. After all, he'd just been tasked with fending off some small-fry enemies.

"It's been a long time since I last had to navigate a city like that," Tokoyami began, thinking through everything that had happened. "I was also pretty comfortable using my sword against those weaker nomu." He cast an accusatory look across the cough. "Why couldn't you have me fight something like that instead of the high-end nomu? I'm glad that thing was obliterated."

"Because you probably would've been able to handle a weaker nomu just fine, even with just a sword?" Dabi said, as if that should've been obvious.

Tokoyami let out a huff, brushing it off. Next to him, Dark Shadow perked his little head.

Aw, he thinks you're strong! That's a good thing! Hey, hey, do you think that was a compliment? 'Cause those nomu are pretty nasty baddies, even the smaller ones… No, wait, you're still trying to be mad at him!

"Alright, whatever," Tokoyami snapped, both to get his quirk to settle down and as a way to change the topic. "I ran around a little bit that night and got to flex some freedom, can we leave it at that? But then after the high-end was defeated, you went and set fire to a whole city block. Why go through the trouble of using that much firepower? I know that creating conflagrations like that aren't easy to you."

"Actually, it'd probably be harder for me to hold back – I'm sure you know that feeling," Dabi said, maybe a little too easily.

Tokoyami winced. At this point, it probably wasn't wrong to say that Dabi knew more about Dark Shadow than any teacher or student at UA ever did. Which was maybe fitting, but certainly didn't make him feel any better. "That's not the point I was trying to make, Dabi. What I want to know is…" Tokoyami had to think of how best to word it. A lot had happened in a short span of time, but there were aspects of that encounter that stood out prominently in his mind, and something about the whole thing just felt so off. It all tied back to how he was responding to one specific hero, though. "What do you have against the current number one hero? Because from the sound of it, I could swear you had some kind of personal vendetta."

Dabi stayed quiet for a long time. Tokoyami finally looked over to see if he was still even paying attention or if he'd conveniently fallen asleep after the night's events. But no, he was still wide awake and staring off into space. Tokoyami could swear he was sulking at first, but it was just as likely that he was deep in contemplation.

Or maybe he's just trying to come up with a good answer?

…Which means that the true extent of what he's thinking about would be too revealing for someone with a complicated history, Tokoyami pondered. He wondered if he'd need to ask the question again, but didn't want to push it… whatever it was.

When Dabi finally gave an answer, it was about what he could expect. "Tokoyami… you probably understand more than most just how much evil is in the world. I've done things I'm not proud of, but at least I know where I stand in all this, and I don't claim to be something I'm not." He paused, and something about the way those words hung in the air made him squirm in his seat. "That hero – Endeavor – doesn't deserve to be Number One. He shouldn't be a hero at all for the things he…"

Tokoyami thought that if he just kept listening, that Dabi would keep talking. But that didn't happen, which didn't sit right with him. How could someone be so simultaneously open and secretive at the same time? Though I suppose I'm not exactly one to talk…

Tokoyami couldn't bear the unpleasant silence building between them. But with such a loaded question, it was beginning to taint the air with the sensation of regret and despair. Once again, not something he was unfamiliar with, but discomforting all the same. Dabi wasn't talking.

"…Does this have to do with Stain's Will?" Tokoyami asked, urging for a more concrete answer.

Dabi gave him a tired look before turning his attention elsewhere again. "Yeah. You could say that."

Tokoyami was reminded of the events of Stain's last stand before he was arrested – it was hard not to, since his own classmates were involved in the incident. But that had been an important turning point for quite a few members of the League of Villains. For Dabi, it was a direct reason for why he was here now, working for this group of villains and causing upsets in the hero world. Tokoyami didn't fully understand it, but he didn't have to in order to know the significance of Stain's ideals to people like Dabi.

Tokoyami felt like he was getting closer to uncovering some forbidden truth that nobody was supposed to know, all because he'd ended up living alongside this ostracized fire-user and his villainous tendencies.

"It sounded like you wanted to kill…him. If Mirko hadn't stepped in, do you think you would've been able to? You… made it sound like –" He never got to finish his thought.

"Tokoyami, I'm going to bed. I'm tired." Dabi abruptly got up from the couch, which admittedly made Tokoyami feel a bit better but wasn't exactly what he'd wanted. There was still so much that had been left unsaid.

Tokoyami wished he could've done or said something to stop Dabi from leaving so abruptly, maybe see if there was anything else he could get from him. But not now, after he'd already pushed for answers. He didn't want to misstep now and cause a rift in their communication. It was unpleasant to be stuck living with someone who didn't want to associate with him if he said the wrong thing.

Well, regardless of what he chooses to say or not say, that doesn't remove the fact that he still has an obligation to help me train in the days to come, Tokoyami thought to himself. He watched the villain retreat into his room as the light of the rising sun began to spill into the room. And admittedly, he was relieved when the door closed, leaving him alone with his quirk.