#shigaraki-ankle's gonna translate it later

[codenamesazanka]

We’re getting the League of Villain profiles! 

[handyhandman]

"You’re still as rude and insufferable as the day we first met."

Well, a lot of people could appreciate Shigaraki’s stone cold honesty, but to Dabi it comes off more as a threat. If Shigaraki tells the truth, then Dabi has to do the same, right? Tit for tat, this for that?

"So I guess you’re finally kicking me out."

Dabi never consented to that, though. Shigaraki’s visible eye narrows, and there’s a dangerous glint in it, but he somehow extinguishes it before it can really catch fire. Huh.

"I should, but no. Do something for me, and I might forgive you."

For the rest of the conversation, Shigaraki uses a level tone. He never stops looking at Dabi dead in the eyes, either. There’s a change brewing on the horizon, and in that moment, Dabi can’t decide on naming the feeling it gives him.

In fact, he shouldn’t.

"Like what?"

"There’s a difference between you and almost everybody else who joined. Guess what it is."

"What, that I’m not completely nuts?"

"You got it. And I’m gonna need somebody to lead the Vanguard Action Squad while I’m making final preparations."

"And you’re handing it over to me."

"Yeah. So, are you gonna make up for what you did or not?"

Gonna have to be a bit specific there, Shigaraki.

"I guess…" But does he even have a choice? "I was wondering how the attack was gonna work. It’s still gonna be chaotic as hell regardless, but that’s what we’re aiming for, anyway."

Shigaraki nods.

"I’ll give you a noumu, too, for extra support."

Why?

"Okay, I’ll do it. But…can I see it first? Or…"

"You can pick him out."

"Okay?"

Some things don’t translate well on tv, and noumu are among them. Shigaraki is unnervingly quiet as he leans against the warehouse’s exit. Shigaraki’s presence doesn’t translate well on tv, either. There’s just something eerie about the concept of noumus- Genetic engineering, forcibly combining quirks… It doesn’t sit well with Dabi. Personal feelings aside, though…

There are so many of them.

There are so many of these things. As Dabi passes by them, he catches his reflection staring back at him. He stops for a minute. If someone cracked open his skull and he weren’t such a string bean, maybe he could fit-

"You like that one?" Shigaraki interrupts his train of thought.

Ah. Right. Dabi blinks, then he focuses more on the noumu cased inside like he’s supposed to be doing.

"He’s gonna be your responsibility, so you better like him."

What? Like a pet? Weren’t these things people at one time? Shigaraki said it with that exact tone, too. Well, of course he’d become desensitized to things like this…

People becoming monsters and people being born as monsters... Are they really that different?

Dabi can feel unease festering inside him as he stares at it. Lifeless, soulless, dead eyes. All it does is sit around and do nothing while waiting for orders… Damn it, Dabi shouldn’t have anything in common with a noumu.

No, maybe it would be better to pick one without eyes. Dabi keeps on moving until he finds one with half of its skull torn apart and only its mouth remaining. Okay. All right. That’s fine. He’ll take that over the blank, unfeeling stare.

It's like looking in a damn mirror otherwise.

Dabi hears the door creak as Shigaraki stops leaning against it. It isn’t long before he sees Shigaraki’s reflection. Shigaraki makes a gruff noise as Dabi looks over at him.

"Well?"

Isn’t this a big deal?

"Yeah… I’ll go with this one. So do I gotta feed it and water it? Take it out on walks?"

Shigaraki makes a sound against the hand that almost sounds like a laugh. "Ah, that’s a good one."

The joke or the noumu? Well, Dabi hasn’t been able to make anybody laugh in years. For Shigaraki of all people to find him funny would be absolutely nuts, but that might not be the craziest thing going on in his life at the moment. Shigaraki standing mere feet away without wanting to maim him is high up on the list.

Still, it’s gotta be the noumu.

"Really, though. If I mess up…"

"You won’t," Shigaraki interrupts him. "All you need to worry about is what you tell him to do. He’ll obey you up until he dies…but I don’t think anyone’ll be able to come close to this one."

There’s something about Shigaraki’s tone that makes him prickle- The kind of prickle where he knows his hair would be standing up on end if it weren’t already. It’s unfamiliar and slightly praising, and an unfulfilled part of Dabi aches for it for a moment before he awkwardly snuffs it out. Is he really that desperate to be praised that he’d want it from someone like Shigaraki?

"…Huh." Dabi almost surprises himself at how casual his voice is. His resting face serves him well. "Okay then. Second easiest pet I’ve ever had."

Inconsequential details like whether he’s a cat or dog person don’t really matter in the end. Now, the one about him not playing video games very much… Maybe that was a bit too much. But, hey, at least Shigaraki hasn’t prompted him to keep going.

For the record, he prefers cats. A certain someone preferred dogs.

Noumu seem more like dogs, though. Loyal to a fault and capable of obeying orders without question, but also being dangerous. You can’t tell a cat to attack someone, but they will if you’re a dick. With dogs… Hm.

Does he have to bond with the noumu? Can that even be done?

Dabi looks at Shigaraki’s reflection in the glass. The eye he can see has a glint to it. Narrow, but pleased. Above all else… What does Shigaraki value the most?

"I don’t think sensei needs to add anything more to him…" Shigaraki’s tone sends a chill down Dabi’s spine, but he’s able to stop from showing it by clenching his fists for a second. Shigaraki makes a curious noise. "Unless there’s something you can think of?"

Did Shigaraki somehow see him do it?

That’d be funny. The hand man watching his hands.

Dabi struggles for a second to keep his default expression. "Nah, there isn’t anything I can think of right now."

"Good. Don’t forget- Even if something happens to him, we can use whatever’s remaining later."

Like the noumu is a robot rather than a person. Formerly, whatever. Don’t piss off Shigaraki or All For One. Common sense, yeah, but staring at a noumu face to…half face really brings it home.

"Yeah…," Dabi says. "So… We done here, or…?"

"Nope," Shigaraki replies in a less approving tone. "Up next… If you’re representing the league, you’re gonna have to dress better. You look like a hobo right now, and that won’t cut it."

But I am a hobo, Dabi almost says. Or was, I guess? Does sleeping on the league’s couch count as me not being homeless?

"Sure, but don’t get mad if I turn anything you give me into ash when I use my quirk," Dabi says with a shrug.

"Sensei’s made sure of that."

"…Oh," slips out of Dabi’s mouth before he can stop it.

Shigaraki gives him a pointed look. "What? You think he wouldn’t be able to?"

"No, I…" Dabi sighs and shakes his head.

I hope they’re cool? I have an aesthetic I’m going for, and it’s gonna suck if those clothes fuck it up. I guess I have no other choice… If I make All For One mad… I’m not good enough to even be made into noumu food-

"…That's cool, I guess," is what Dabi settles on.

Maybe he can be noumu chow for one of the defective ones. A defect for a defect.

"God, you really do have the emotional range of a pile of ashes," Shigaraki mutters. Then he says louder with a wave of a hand, "Whatever. Let’s go."

Shigaraki leads Dabi out, and hmm… So that’s how Shigaraki sees him, then. And, on top of it, he’s accepted it. Begrudgingly, it seems, but that’s more than Dabi can say about a lot of people.

It’d be cool if that were true, though. Then he wouldn’t have this unsettling feeling when Shigaraki shows him the new outfit picked out for him. It fits- It fits so damn well. It brings out the exact aesthetic Dabi wants as well as a conflicting swirl of emotions.

It serves some unfortunate implications- Has All For One been watching him? Has he been watching all of them? What does All For One think of him? Of all of them?

The boots and jacket are the right size, and everything lines up together too well. It’s unsettling for things to be going in the right direction for once. It’s unsettling to have things specifically made for him. He’s just some scrub, right? Or has he been an absolute moron about all of this and just-

Wow.

Wow, he's so stupid. Everybody else has to be stoked about having their own custom equipment ordered by The Big Bad man himself. That’s the appropriate reaction. That’s how he should be acting, but he slides off his old jacket and unties his shoes in silence while Shigaraki watches him with his arms crossed. Dabi is able to ignore it just long enough to slip on his new jacket and boots. Then he looks over and meets Shigaraki's stare.

"What?" Dabi asks. "You got somethin' to say?"

Shigaraki huffs and shakes his head. "It’s nothing."

"Yeah, sure…" Dabi taps the front end of his boots against the floor. So they’re steel-toed. Nice. "So, anyway, when’re you gonna get your outfit upgrade?"

Shigaraki tilts his head. "Huh?"

"Well, you’ve been showing your ankles ever since we met, and considering you can get anything you want…"

"I’m going through a growth spurt," Shigaraki interrupts him. "There’s no point right now."

"A growth spurt? What are you, a teenager?"

Shigaraki is always slouching... How tall would he be if he stopped that? When he's slouching, the tip of his head comes close to Dabi's lips- Okay, back up.

"Are you trying to piss me off?"

"Just trying to get all I can in before you forgive me for everything."

"I can always change my mind, you know."

God, please don’t be any younger than 20. If for anything, just for the fact that it would be fucked up in general for a kid to be my boss. Things are already fucked up enough.

"Yeah, but what’re you gonna do with my cool new clothes if I die?"

What is this?

"I’ll just disintegrate them, too."

Seriously. What is this?

"Seems like a waste, though."

Shigaraki isn't at his throat. He hasn't moved an inch. He's just standing there with his arms crossed and acting like an actual person, someone with self control, someone who Dabi could hold an actual conversation with.

"Ugh…" Shigaraki shakes his head. "Guess that’s your way of saying you like them."

"They’re…all right, I guess."

More like there's no way Dabi ever could've gotten clothes that match his aesthetic so perfectly on his own.

"You guess..." Shigaraki reaches up to his neck, but his scratching stops midway before he can break skin. He snaps out of it and turns away. "Okay, now we're done. In a few hours, we'll be holding a meeting. Be there."

"Yeah... I'll be on the couch like usual."

Because he's definitely already dreaming.