[OP: "Rose"-- The Oh Hellos]

After a pause, she said, "We just want food. Is that all right? If you don't want to work it, maybe I could speak to your manager?"

"Nice, full on Karen mode," Dabi muttered. "Good thing Temari isn't watching this. They might lose a few windows."

He started to light his hand on fire.

"What are you doing?" Mabui asked him sharply.

"I was going to persuade her a little," Dabi said, as if that was normal.

"Are you crazy?" Mabui said. "Put that away before someone sees it. Do you want to get arrested on your second day?"

"I don't want people to treat us like pariahs either," Dabi shot back. "Do you have a better idea? Or are you just going to stand there like you people always do and pretend nothing happened?"

Mabui looked incensed, but then she turned away and focused on Shine again.

The clerk had not noticed Mabui, apparently, or they might not have said what they said next:

"I'm sure if you go down the stretch somewhere you can find a store that isn't concerned about who they serve," she said, with another fake smile. "Maybe in the red light district."

"She did not just call her what I think she did." Dabi got angrier.

Sasuke started to notice what was up and moved that direction.

Sakura followed.

"Don't." She put a hand in front of him. "It's like Stone... It'll just make it worse."

"Should I wait till they start throwing things at her?" Sasuke said.

"Just wait," Sakura said. "Or I'll hold you down, so help me. Shine won't want you to do anything."

That was true. Sasuke froze, but he was scowling.

The others began to notice something was up now too. Choji looked uncomfortable.

Shine stared at the clerk, but then she said, "Fine....I guess you don't need our business anyway. Forget it."

She turned.

The clerk smirked.

Mabui stepped forward. That was the last straw.

If Lord Ay heard about this, she'd get asked why she didn't do something sooner. What if they passed this on to Lord Gaara?!

She could see that on the news already.

"Excuse me," she said firmly to the clerk.

Then the clerk saw who she was and her jaw dropped. "Oh...Mabui-san...I didn't notice you were there."

"I can see that," Mabui said coldly. "Care to explain what I just witnessed? I didn't know you closed this early now. I suppose I'll have to go elsewhere also. Are you going to ask me to go to the red light district too?"

"Oh, no, lady, for you we'd be open of course," the clerk sputtered. 

"Then I see no reason not to be open for them." Mabui nodded her head at the team. "I suppose I don't need to remind you that Lord Ay is hoping to make their visit a success and that I'm in charge of ensuring that it goes smoothly. If you're not interested in that, I'll be sure to pass it on to him. I'll take you off the supply list for them also."

"Oh...there's no need for that," the clerk said weakly.

"Where is the manager?" Mabui asked.

"They're...in the back..." the clerk said.

"Did they tell you to act this way?" Mabui was proving again she was an Intelligence shinobi.

Shine was loving this. "Are you watching this?" she said to Dabi.

"Watching, yes, believing, no," Dabi answered. "I think I'm seeing a Karen in action."

"Oh, shut up." Shine rolled her eyes.

"No, no," the clerk said meekly. "Please don't mention it to them. I can't lose this job."

"I think you should have thought of that before," Mabui said. "I should mention it to them...but, I'm in a hurry, so if you'll just ring up their orders so I can get out of here, maybe I won't bother. This time."

"Yes...ma'am," the clerk winced.

Mabui let out an inward sigh of relief that that had worked so well for her.

A different, higher ranking shinobi might have laughed in her face if she attempted what she just did after....

But it didn't do to think about it.

She turned to Shine.

"I think I cleared up the misunderstanding," she said smoothly. "You can check out now. Don't go to the district. It's not safe at this time of day."

"It's the middle of the afternoon," Dabi said.

Mabui ignored him. 

"Thanks," Shine said. "But I'm not sure I should. I don't know if I like to support someone who would treat people the way she just did."

The clerk actually looked a little bothered by that, for a wonder.

Mabui wasn't sure how to stop Shine...so she moved closer and said in a lower voice, "Miss Likstar, it's imperative that you make her treat you normally. If she gets away with this, it'll happen again... Anyway, she's just a clerk. She doesn't speak for the whole store. She's more likely to get fired for this. Lord Ay will not like it."

"Who cares?" Dabi said. "He should be embarrassed. This is how his own people act."

"Lord Ay would never approve acting this way." Mabui finally acknowledged him again. "He's not the kind of person who would."

"I can believe that," Shine said. "This doesn't seem like his type of unfair... So they heard already."

Mabui frowned. "You brought Uchiha into the store."

Shine shrugged. "They'll have to get used to seeing him with us, sorry. "

Mabui wanted to wring her hands but held herself back. "You should be more conscientious about the actions you take. He's too well known. Too many people saw him in the War."

"Then I'll just leave." Sasuke had come close without her noticing it.

Mabui flinched.

That didn't help Sasuke's mood.

He stormed out of the store.

"Sasuke," Shine said. "Ah, wait... Touya, you take care of this." She thrust the money she'd brought at him. "I'd better make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." She raced after him.

Mabui frowned and then looked at Dabi as if to see what he'd do.

Dabi scowled. "If Shine says to, fine...but they don't deserve it."

"What happened?" Sakura asked him.

"You don't really want to know," Dabi said. "At least not now...later."

He turned to the clerk and gave her quite the intimidating glare. "If you could manage ringing our stuff up now."

The clerk very meekly did so.

They got out as fast as they could.

Mabui didn't think she'd see them again, but when she was finished, she found they were standing outside.

Dabi must have told them the whole thing, because they all looked angry.

"Oh, there she is," Naruto said. "Hey, thanks, Lady...Mabui, right?"

"Not Lady," Mabui said. "But yes."

"So you're not that high ranking?" Shikamaru said. "Temari is called that, and she's an aide too."

"Temari is the blood of the Kage. I'm not," Mabui said. "At most, I'm a senpai."

"Well, the regular term seems a little too informal," Ino said. "Thanks for helping us back there... That person was awful."

"I doubt that will be the last time that happens." Mabui sounded almost as if she knew from personal experience, Dabi thought.

He was getting more suspicious of her by the hour.

"Still, you didn't have to help," Ino said.

"Actually, I did. I assume the Kazekage will hear about this," Mabui said. "If I stood by, I'd be in huge trouble. And so would they." Nodding at the store.

"I doubt Gaara will make an issue of it," Shikamaru said. "We expected it would happen... It has before."

Choji frowned. "I almost wish we'd just left the store anyway."

"I suppose the others would say to make them respect us," Ino said. "If that's possible..."

"I'd like to give them a piece of my mind," Sakura said. "The nerve of some people...and it's not like I didn't help this Village in the war. We all did..."

Mabui didn't comment. "I have to go."

She started to walk away.

"Did that seem weird to anyone else?" Dabi asked.

"Dabi, we're all tired of hearing it," Shikamaru said. "We know, you think she's up to no good... but that back there was helping us, I don't care how you slice it... Maybe they're right...Maybe she doesn't mean us any harm. She's just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's your own fault anyway. You all singled her out."

"Do you think we should have let her die?" Dabi didn't realize how loud he was when he got angry.

Mabui stopped walking, but they didn't notice since she was in the shadows of the rocks now.

"I'm not saying that," Shikamaru said, with a look like he should hush. "Just that it's your team who's caused this situation. Of course you wouldn't have let her die, but there's a responsibility to doing things this way. And it was your choice not to say anything about those...attacks."

"We didn't have sure information," Dabi said. "You know that...and shut up."

"Yes, Shika, this is not the place," Ino said.

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah...I don't know why I said that."

"I think maybe it's still bothering you," Choji said. "Because of your fathers... Even though you know it's not their fault, you're still having a hard time thinking about it... Maybe it makes you angry that someone we don't even know is all right and they're not..."

Choji knew him too well.

Dabi sighed. "I get it, but it's not what this is about... It's not our fault, all right?"

"We know," Ino said. "I just wish things weren't always so complicated... Nothing is ever simple, is it?"

"Not with them," Sakura said.

"Maybe we're being too negative," Naruto said. "It can't be that bad."

Ino suddenly frowned. "I think she's still near, actually... Oh crud! do you think she heard us?"

"Heard us or was listening?" Dabi whirled around.

Mabui did not waste time taking off. But she shouldn't have moved at all. Dabi (not being a ninja) would never have seen her if she hadn't, but it caught his eye.

"Hang on," he told the others, taking off.

"What is he doing?" Shikamaru asked. "Is he going to ask her?"

"Looks Iike it," Ino said. "Should we stop him?"

"We should, but I dunno if we can. Your jutsu and mine probably won't do much to him," Shikamaru said. "I guess Choji could grab him."

"My hands are a little full," Choji said.

"Oh, for the love of--!" Sakura took off after Dabi.

But she slowed down when she saw he'd already caught up to the Cloud woman.

Mabui hadn't expected him to be so fast...but then, she was a lot shorter than him and in heels.

And carrying stuff.

"Could make the spying less obvious." Dabi was mad. "What was that about anyway? Just trying to make us trust you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Mabui was finally fed up enough to retort sharply. "Leave me alone. And don't talk about classified information in the street if you don't want people to hear it."

"Didn't even deny it," Dabi said.

"Would you have believed me if I did?" 

"No."

Pause.

What else was there to say?

Mabui turned.

"It wasn't what it sounded like," Dabi said, making her stop again. "We didn't know they would--"

"Shh." Mabui suddenly panicked and turned, putting a finger to her mouth. "Anyone could be around right now. Are you some kind of imbecile?"

Dabi looked around. "I don't see anyone close."

"That means absolutely nothing," she shot back. "And I'm not discussing what I heard about it, not here."

"Well, you could have asked about it at any other time," Dabi said. "Just like you ninja to try find out without us actually telling you directly. Predictable. But you won't get the right information that way."

"Is that advice?"

"That's a warning." Dabi's eyes turned darker blue, as they tended to do when he used his quirk, though he wasn't using it. "Don't try."

Mabui didn't like his tone.

"That is a threat, then," she said, frowning. "That's not wise."

"I don't trust any of you, so I don't care if you trust me," Dabi said. "The others do, but I don't. Especially you."

"Especially me," Mabui said flatly. "Nice to know... Things don't make any sense, then. If you wanted me out of the picture so badly, your actions seem counterproductive."

"Didn't know that at the time, did we?"

She frowned. "I'm not surprised that you've changed your mind about it, but after the second day was not when I expected to hear that...and in public, no less."

"Seems to me it'd be doing you a favor." Dabi said something quite unexpected, and he sounded smug too.

Mabui froze.

What...did he...know?

No, how could they after 2 days...? No way that they picked it up that soon...

Right?

She mentally ran over all the things she'd heard people say about her in front of them... Nothing had been that obvious...unless they were exceptionally good at reading tone and expressions.

Then she reflected that Ino Yamanaka was a mind reader, literally...

Perhaps they'd found out even before now.

"Well, don't do me any favors," she said aloud, cautiously. "I can handle this situation on my own. Just stop trying to add to it."

"So there is a situation." Dabi was more smug.

Mabui realized she'd just walked into a trap she should have seen coming a mile away.

She mentally cursed herself.

"And you're supposed to be an Intelligence shinobi." Dabi made it worse by piling on the sarcasm. "This is just sad. I knew it. Ninjas really are the biggest b-----ds. Hrmpf, I'd feel sorry for you if you weren't asking for it."

"Asking for it?" Mabui glared. "You don't know what you're talking about. I thought you did, but that was just a trick. I'm not sure what you just thought you figured out, but it's clearly off."

"I think it's not," Dabi said. "And I think you're hiding something, all right. Something personal."

Mabui felt cold.

But how on earth...?

"I don't really care, just to clarify." Dabi held up a hand. "Unless it hurts us. Then I care a lot. So does it?"

"I can't possibly answer that."

Mabui was getting more nervous the longer he spoke, though. She was no stranger to the way that shinobi handled people who could be informants...and she was kind of alone right now...

And the surest way to clear themselves of any association with her would be to eliminate her...but it would also be an act of war...unless they could do without getting caught.

Dabi had not demonstrated any such power, but she didn't know what his other jutsu might be. Just fire couldn't be the only thing he could do. [lol]

And where were his teammates? Could she just not see them?

(This was accurate about Sakura, currently.)

Sakura was just hoping Dabi didn't do something stupid, but she was kind of curious to see how this played out.

Dabi, not really noticing the effect his demeanor was having, stepped forward. 

Mabui backed up quickly.

Dabi finally noticed how huge her eyes were and that she was poising herself as if to run.

Was she actually worried?

Well, he could be pretty intimidating, he supposed. Still, he hadn't thought it would be that easy--he hadn't even busted out the flame yet.

But he didn't want her to actually run... Ay would be sure to hear about this later if he caused a big scene.

And the team wouldn't like it if he freaked her out too much.

Maybe a little part of him felt guilty for bullying her anyway... So far she hadn't really been that bad... She was spying, but she wasn't trying to hide that fact...

If he hadn't known better, he'd almost have thought she was trying to warn them...but for what? What was her angle?

She wasn't going to tell him out here, that was for sure.

Dabi saw then that this was useless. He was going to end up scaring her too badly to get anything out of her in the future if he pushed it, and she was more likely to scream than to tell him anything now. Better know when to call it.

Besides, it would mess with her more if he acted confusing.

"Yeah, yeah," he said aloud, flatly. "Guess you can't."

Mabui was a little surprised that that was it...or was that her warning before he killed her?

She tensed more. But Dabi just backed up. "Stop staring at me like that anyway. No one's attacking you," he said, ungracefully. "Just the light makes me look menacing--doesn't mean I'm that stupid. Everyone's around, please. The only place I kill is where no one's going to know about it."

Not reassuring.

Mabui swallowed. "Who was saying anything about attacking?" She couldn't have that get around. It would start more rumors about the party.

"No one," Dabi said pointedly.

Another strained paused.

"Guess we'll see you tomorrow." Dabi made that sound like a threat before he walked away.

Mabui let out a sigh of relief.

She felt weak all over....

She was sure now...she knew that he was someone who'd killed before. You couldn't mistake that tone and that expression. He knew what he was doing with that speech.

It wasn't that she hadn't heard that before, plenty of times, but she didn't like hearing it alone, in her current position, and where she had no one to verify her story...

If she told Ay, he might determine this was too dangerous...but then, she wasn't actually being threatened...yet.

She walked away... If this Dabi was smart, he'd know that if he said that it could be taken the wrong way...so if he really meant to kill her, he wouldn't have warned her first. Too much time for her to react...

And if he thought she'd tell Ay, was he just trying to get the team evicted from the Village? He'd admitted he didn't trust any of them...and he'd been such a jackass so far, it seemed like it could be his plan to seem like a threat...

If he was so deeply against Cloud, he might sabotage the peace mission just to ensure they didn't stay there... It would be like a ninja to do that. Cloud had done the same many times.

But then, he didn't speak for the rest of the team. And Mr. West had as much earlier.

After mulling it over, she decided she probably didn't need to worry. It had to be a scare tactic, nothing more. Miss Likstar and Gaara and Mr. West didn't seem to be out for blood... She wasn't sure if they could control all their team members well, but pressing them for it would have consequences.

She could handle herself anyway... She'd just make sure not to be left alone with that person...or any of the others she wasn't sure about...Iike Uchiha.

She shuddered at that memory... He'd run away from the store, but she knew he could just have killed them all... He'd looked angry enough to.

[I'm not sure she's remembering it quite accurately, but people exaggerate when they're scared.]

* * *

Sasuke didn't go far. He stopped in the shadows of some building and stared up at the moon. 

It looked very close here. [They are farther north.]

he heard Shine coming before he saw her. Her tread was still heavier than any ninja's.

But it was almost comforting, because it was familiar.

She appeared finally.

"Hey...are you okay?"

Sasuke scowled at her, but then his expression softened.

"What do you think?" he said testily, but Shine noted his tone had lost a lot of its hostility since Stone Village.

"I know I would be furious," she said.

"You don't seem to be furious. They were treating you the same," Sasuke said, "because I came here. I should have just gone back to Leaf...or somewhere else."

"In the long term, that would not have solved anything," Shine said.

"You can keep saying that, but maybe they'd forget, with more time...but it's too soon." Sasuke was gloomy.

"More time did not seem to make you forget," Shine pointed out bluntly.

Well, she had a point.

Sasuke went onto another tack. "Is it true that that duel idea was partly because it was like what I did...? If it was."

"I do see some irony in it, but it wasn't really what I thought. Sakura is right though...punishing people belatedly for crimes is something you would understand. Though perhaps, in this case, they at least had more justification. You actually did those things."

Sasuke scowled some more.

"I suppose it's bothering you that you had consequences for your actions even after turning from that path," Shine said. "But did you really think it would be simple?"

[My question exactly to the source material. How the heck is every Village fine with Sasuke getting off scot-free after he started a war!]

"It's more that I didn't even actually kidnap Bee," Sasuke said moodily. "So of all the things to be punished for...and now everyone else is implicated also."

"Hmm," Shine said. "I guess that's a risk we all took. It doesn't bother me much, actually. I'm really just glad for once I'm getting in trouble for something I know I didn't do. It's a huge relief to know I didn't bring it on myself."

"And when would you ever do anything like that? You never do anything wrong." With almost a derisive tone, like that was something uncanny.

"I do plenty of things wrong. You just don't know them because your standards are much lower than mine. Which is nice, actually. I suppose I get on with villains so well because I can't offend them so easily...but it depends on the type of villain. Many evil people are much easier to piss off than good people, which you'll find out soon enough if you haven't yet. I have many enemies, you know...but, I can't waste all my time worrying about them."

She folded her arms. "I do worry at times... I'm human. But you can't stop. They don't get to decide that for you."

"Actually, they do, if they kill us all. This was probably a mistake."

"If you run from this," Shine said more somberly, "you'll keep running. Even if we ultimately fail, give it a fighting chance first. We can't dictate the results, but we can do our best. Two days is not long enough to call it."

"Two years would not be enough to change their minds."

"Public opinion is swayed easier than you think, for good and bad," Shine insisted. "And, what that lady said...she didn't mean to insult you, really. Just that she's worried about how this changes things."

"The clerk?"

"No...I don't want to say her name out here, just in case, but you know."

Mabui. Sasuke understood.

"Well, her opinion doesn't matter," he said.

"No, but it offended you, didn't it? I don't believe she meant to. She didn't think about what she said. We make her nervous, obviously." Shine knit her brows. "Something else is going on here, I'm sure of it. I just wish I knew exactly what kind of pressure they put on her. I thought Lord Ay would be kinder to his own people than this."

"A Kage is a Kage, no matter what," Sasuke said coldly.

"That's not true," Shine said. "Don't be so narrow. And don't throw away your newfound peace on something like this. It's a good sign, really. If things went too smoothly here, it would be sure to be a trap. When have they ever gone smoothly?"

"You're a strange person," Sasuke said, but he was starting to feel slightly better. "You should worry about me less and yourself more."

"Thanks, but you're more than enough work," Shine replied dryly. "And the others are waiting for us... I only hope Touya didn't manage to get into a fight with her while we were gone."

Shine knew him too well.

Sasuke calmed down, however.

Granted, he didn't like the reception he was getting in Cloud, but he had never cared that much about what other people thought of him, and the shock of it was more what bothered him than that he really wanted to impress them.

He didn't notice what Shine had, which was that he had expressed concern for the others as well as himself.

Even a wish to not have endangered them further.

She thought to herself that Sasuke might not know it yet, but there were signs that something had changed for him recently. It could take a while to bleed into his actions in any measurable way... She knew it was different for everyone, but he was learning to think differently.

She was happy to see it but didn't want to embarrass him by pointing it out till he had more time to get rooted in it. He'd probably pull back if she pushed him.

She wondered how long it would take the others to catch on.

* * *

Dabi didn't admit to Shine that he'd had a...contention...with Mabui till they were safe (relatively) at the house again.

The others were already eating dinner or kicking back, and most of them were taking to the new "plan" very naturally.

Dabi told Shine and Wally while they were eating later.

"You really just had to go and start it," Wally said.

"Touya, why do you feel the need to do this?" Shine said. "I mean, I know why, but could you control yourself here?"

"Hey, you started it with Ay," Dabi said.

"I know, but Ay is not the same as her. She seems like the type to take this personally," Shine said. 

"It's been less than 3 days and you're really cementing yourself as her enemy with that kind of behavior," Wally said. "Sheesh, why do you care so much about pissing her off and threatening her?"

"Technically, I didn't," Dabi said.

"You came pretty close, and after she helped us. Talk about a slap in the face," Shine said.

"She has her own reasons for that, mark my words," Dabi said. "She gets hurt if we do, I bet. Something about this has to benefit her or she wouldn't do it."

"Given the attitude of the Village towards us so far," Wally said, "don't you think anyone who helps us might come under suspicion...or anger? Ay has basically signed her up for that...and why only her?"

"I think we know why," Shine said. "We keep coming back to this... I knew she mattered, but...I feel a little puzzled as to how to help her. And I hate to cause anyone more trouble than necessary on our account. If she had voluntarily offered to help, at least it wouldn't be so bad...but who would want to?"

"Well, Karui and Omoi seemed interested," Wally said. "But they might not come back here after the reception they got earlier."

"Good riddance. I don't like them either," Dabi said.

Shine sighed. "We've tried reasoning with you, Touya... What is it that makes you so determined to dislike them?"

"There's a list of reasons I don't like Cloud," Dabi said. "I told you before. You seem to think each shinobi Village is somehow not sucky, and I just don't know why. You know they're cruel and unfair. You know what they did to the Hyugas... All the Villages are awful, but Cloud does things, and it takes the least heat for them. They get exempted from it because people are scared them. It's messed up."

"Well, that's going to change now," Wally said. "So can't you let it go? Sheesh, you don't even live here."

"Doesn't mean it's not unfair," Dabi growled.

"Taking it out on an innocent person is not going to make it better," Shine said.

"Get real, Shine." Dabi sat back and crossed his arms. "She's not innocent any more than Ay is. It's the lackeys that go along with this stuff and let it happen who disgust me the most. One madman is just a fluke, but an army of them?"

"Big talk from the guy who was with the LOV," Wally said.

"It was a means to my end," Dabi said. "But I knew they were nut jobs."

"And that makes you better than them how?" Shine was brutal.

"Maybe I wasn't better than them, but I know better now," Dabi said. "And they're still arrogant."

"I'm sure that if you can learn, so can they," Shine said. "I wish you'd work with us instead of doing things like this... I may have to talk to her about it. I don't like to apologize for my students--I think it undermines our authority--but you may have left me no choice."

"Tell her whatever you want," Daib huffed. "But my opinion is the same."

"I'm going to get ready for bed." Shine used a tone that said she was leaving before she bit his head off.

Wally just shook his head at Dabi, but after Shine was gone he said, "I don't understand how you can be so mean to women."

"What's the difference between women and men?" Dabi said. "I'm mean to everyone."

"Not all the same way," Wally said. "You know, since we started talking about this girl, you've been nothing but negative about her. Even in the War, I remember, you didn't like her. What did she do? I thought there was nothing on her."

"That's not good. That just means she's a sheep," Dabi said. "And a sheep is not gonna help us. You're too trusting."

"You're being more negative than makes any sense," Wally insisted. "And it's a real shame, too. She seemed smart enough, and at least she's polite to us, and she wasn't unkind to me earlier when I talked to her. A little awkward maybe, but then, everyone here is awkward.  And, I mean, let's be real, she's really pretty."

"Shine better not hear you say that," Dabi said.

"Shine agrees with me," Wally said. "Camie's right about the good genes in their Village. Makes me feel a little insecure, honestly. And the men are all ripped and look like statues. I feel kind of puny."

Dabi didn't know why--Wally was 6 feet tall.

"My point is," Wally said, "she's got a lot going for her. If I didn't know better, I'd say that's why you don't like her."

"What do mean? Why would that have anything to do with it?" 

"I can't help but notice that you're comfortable around people whom you're smarter than and more savvy than. Like the League. But you've given people who could compete with you a hard time, even on the team. Momo at first, Shine and me, Shoto, Bakugo...Sakura."

"Sakura?" Dabi snorted.

"She is smart," Wally said. "In her way. And she's strong. She's a threat, whether you like it or not."

"You're being ridiculous." Dabi denied it.

"I'm sure you're insecure," Wally said. "A smart woman can be pretty intimidating, I know. I mean, you know...they're hard to impress. And they see through your bullcrap."

Dabi rolled his eyes. "I'm not really worried about things like that. Remember, I'm not the type."

"So the fact that she's a woman has nothing to do with your winging about her?" Wally said. "At all?"

"None," Dabi said.

This was not quite true. Dabi understood women about as poorly as most guys of his background and social experience...also, being dense ran in his family.

It wasn't a lie to say that the females in the group did make him more nervous than the males. But of course, he was mostly unaware of this fact about himself. He believed he found women annoying more than he was afraid of them. [By the way, many men who find women annoying are afraid of them.]

"Out of curiosity, do you think she's pretty?" Wally wasn't convinced he was wrong yet...plus he never got to rag Dabi about this kind of thing. The guy was hard for him to read.

Dabi just gave him a cold look. "Why would I even dignify that with a response?"

"I agree, it's obvious." Wally tried to regain his swag. Not very successfully. "Well, I was just wondering... Guess I was way off."

"Guess so," Dabi said, as if Wally was boring him.

Now he reminded Wally of the villains he knew at home...or Batman... How did guys like this always seem so scary?

"Well, just be nicer," he said lamely. Before leaving.

Dabi snorted. "Yeah, right."