"And then he said that he wasn't going to play Uno with us ever again, because we're cheating good for nothings." You tell Giran on the way from the car to the front door of the mansion. "Which isn't fair, because it was only Himiko and pa that were cheating."
"Yeah, well, Bubaigawara's always had a flair fer the dramatic, darlin'." Uncle Giran replies, finishing off his secret cigarette before going inside.
"You said that about Dabi, too, but I don't think he's very dramatic at all." You remind him.
"I said what I said, sweet girl." Giran replies, smirking as he stomps out the butt of his cigarette. "You didn't watch yer dad prancin' around on TV."
"He did?" You ask, dumbfounded.
When Giran turns around to do the secret knock on the door, you stare at him, narrowing your eyes in suspicion.
"You're not meant to lie." You tell him.
"Ain't lyin'." He replies, his voice rich with amusement.
You 'hmph', folding your arms over your chest as you wait for someone to open the door for you both.
It takes a moment, but the door does eventually creak open, but no-one comes to greet you like they usually do. Giran heads on in with no fear, pushing the door open to expose the inside of the building, highlighting the fact that no-one seems to have been there to open the door for you both.
You stay outside, refusing to budge from your spot. Someone always came to say hello at the door. Usually it was Zero, what with Dabi and Tomura being so busy with paperwork at the minute, but sometimes Uncle Jin would come out and scoop you up into his arms, or Himiko would come bolting out of the door, give you a big hug and encourage you to join you in whatever she was doing.
"What're ya doin' out there, sweetie?" Giran asks, looking over his round glasses at you.
"No-one's come to say hello." You say, as if you're reminding him that that's the usual routine. "Something's wrong."
Giran raises a grey eyebrow at you. "Someone opened the door, so someone's around. Maybe they're all jus' busy."
You shake your head. "Something's wrong."
He continues to look at you over his glasses, as if he's pondering something, and then he looks over to the side, where the long hallway is that leads to the recreational rooms.
You're expecting him to bolt back out because someone you both don't know is there waiting for you, but instead he grins, exposing his missing tooth.
HImiko comes skipping up to you both, all smiles and fangs, her eyes sparkling like they always do whenever she sees you after you've been away for a little while.
"Star! Come in!" She encourages, grabbing your hand and leading you inside. "I got Cloud a little outfit! He looks soo cute!"
"You did?" You question, allowing her to drag you inside, past Giran, and towards the biggest room downstairs.
You hope to yourself that it's a little bowtie so he can look fancy and fluffy all the time, you'd seen pictures of cats wearing bowties on your phone when Tomura or Dabi allowed you to browse the internet under their supervision.
She drags you all the way over to the room, with Giran a few steps behind you, and throws the door open, revealing everyone sat around on the couches, a few of them sitting on the arms of the seats, aside from Uncle Jin who's eating party food.
You blink, taking in the sight properly. There are balloons, ribbons, and-
"Oh my gosh!" You exclaim when you see Cloud, immediately crouching down as he pads over to you quickly, meowing loudly. "He has a suit!"
"He's a fancy man!" Himiko chimes in.
"So fancy!" You repeat, lifting him up so you can see the little suit and shirt outfit she'd put on him, and then squealing when the shift from the floor to the air reveals a little bowtie underneath all of his fluff.
Everyone titters, but you're too busy clasping the cat to your chest and burying your face in his fur, kissing his little head over and over like you're trying to make how much you love him soak into his skull.
"Cloud's stolen the show." Spinner says, leaning back and grinning at Dabi.
"Always does." Tomura snorts from beside him, and Dabi just hums an agreement into his beer.
"Why is there a party?" You ask, putting Cloud back down onto the floor carefully.
"Why don'tcha read the certificate on the table, doll?" Dabi asks, smirking a little.
"Oh! Did you win something, pawpaw?" You ask, going to the table where Jin has paused his feast.
"Sure did." Dabi snickers.
You pick up the certificate carefully, not wanting to accidentally mark it or tear it if it meant a lot to Dabi.
You scan the words slowly, trying to soak it all in knowing it's important enough to have a party over. But when you read the first sentence, you immediately snap your head up to look at Dabi again, his smirk having turned into a full on grin as he holds his beer in both hands.
"What...?" You ask, your voice breaking a bit.
"Read it properly, Star." Tomura leads.
Your lip wobbles, but you read the paper again.
'Certificate of Adoption:
This is to certify that:
Star Todoroki
Has been formally adopted into the Todoroki/Shimura family.
By: Touya Todoroki & Tomura Shimura'
Your eyes are blurry past that, and you sob as you clutch onto the paper.
Uncle Jin shushes you softly and gently pries the paper from your hands so you can run into Dabi, who only just manages to pass his beer to Tomura in time for your body to hit his at full force in a hug.
"You're all mine now, kiddo! No take-backsies." Dabi smiles into your hair.
"You mean it?" You ask, still expecting it to be a joke.
"I didn't do all'a that paperwork to be asked if I mean it, baby girl." Dabi snorts.
You cry even harder, wrapping your arms around him even tighter. He squeezes you back just as tight, kissing the top of your head over and over like you had Cloud not even ten minutes ago. You know that the second he pulls away, he'll probably take a few strands of your hair out in his staples, but you don't care at all.
"Hope ya don't mind us changing your name." He says quietly.
"I don't wanna be Y/N ever again." You tell him, your voice muffled by his body.
"You never hafta be." He says, rubbing your back affectionately.
"Jin, quit eating the good food!" You hear Himiko snap, bringing you back to the reality that it's not just you and Dabi in the room.
Sniffling, you pull yourself away from him, wiping your eyes before he gets a chance to.
You climb onto Tomura's lap without asking, which you usually would, Tomura passing Dabi's beer straight back to him before you start hugging him too, wrapping your arms around his scarred neck.
He wraps his arms around you, too, not even gently chastising you for getting into his personal space without asking.
"Love you, pa." You tell him, even though he rarely says it back.
"You too, Starlight." He replies, the scratchy texture of his lips making themselves apparent against your temple.
You stay there for a while, refusing to face the others until you'd stopped crying.
Tomura seems fine to just hold onto you until then, one hand rubbing your back as you collect yourself, the others all chatting amongst themselves like they're waiting for you to be okay, too.
"Aren'tcha gonna give old man Giran a hug?" You hear Dabi ask, a metal finger poking your arm. "He's your grandpa now, after all."
"For real?" You ask, your voice cracking again.
"Well, not by blood..." Dabi admits.
"But by love!" Himiko chimes in. "Can you be my grandpa too?"
"'Course I can." You hear Giran agree, his smile audible in his voice.
Himiko squeals happily, and there's a sudden noise of alarm from Spinner.
"No knives." Zero says calmly, and takes the weapon from her hand with practiced ease.
"Aw..." Himiko whines.
"I'll give you a hug, grandpaw." You say quickly, getting up to ensure he doesn't get hurt by Himiko anyway.
You reach up for him, and he crouches down to hug you properly, one of his hands pressing your face to his shoulder and the other arm around your waist.
"Done so much growin' since Touya first brought ya into my office." Giran reminisces. "So much healthier an' happier. M' so glad I gotta be around to see it. You really are a lil' Star."
You squeeze him in response, unable to form a proper sentence to reply with. You just want to soak in all the love you're receiving from the people around you.
Your parents. Your family.
"Is this a dream?" You ask him quietly, and he laughs.
"No darlin'. This is all real. Even Cloud's lil outfit. Aiko made it for ya."
"She made it?" You ask, yanking back to look at his face to make sure that it's not a lie.
"She did. Said to tell ya sorry that she couldn't make the party." He smiles, wiping under your eyes with his rough thumbs.
"He looks really handsome." You tell him, looking over at the cat, who's being fed cheese by Atsuhiro, who's not wearing his hat or balaclava today.
"I'll let her know." Giran grins, patting your head and standing up.
You look around at everyone, taking in all their faces and seeing how happy they all are for you.
"So we're all a family now?" You ask.
"Always have been, hon." Dabi says easily.
You beam, rushing to Uncle Jin to give him a hug, which he's eager to partake in as usual, picking you up with ease and spinning you around haphazardly, despite the warning from Tomura and Zero. When he puts you back down, Himiko immediately traps you in a hug, kissing your cheek over and over, one of her fangs accidentally grazing your cheek, and she licks the blood before you can even register it.
"Gross!" You whine.
"Love you!" She replies with, her eyes practically glowing.
You edge away a little, thankfully saved by Zero pulling you backwards into a hug.
His long hair falls over your shoulders as he hugs you, his chin resting on your shoulder, his mismatched eyes on you as he holds you.
"It's real. You don't need to be uncertain. Just be happy." He tells you.
You smile at him and kiss his scarred forehead quickly. "Thank you Uncle Zero."
He smiles back, a little more genuinely than usual, and releases you from his hold, allowing you to give Atsuhiro a hug. You skip Kurogiri, though, not really knowing if you could hug the mist-formed man.
You approach Spinner a little shyly, and he smirks, like he knows why you feel a little awkward about giving him a hug. It wasn't really something you did with him anyway, but whenever you gave everyone else a hug, it kind of felt mean not to hug him too.
Instead he holds a fist out, like Tomura did whenever you did a good job on something. It takes a second for you to realise what he's doing, but you catch on and bump your fist against his lightly.
"Happy for you, Star." He tells you, his voice warm and his eyes genuine.
You feel your shoulders raise a bit, and your face begins to heat up immediately so you thank him quickly and turn around, joining Uncle Jin and Zero at the food so that he can't see you get all flustered over nothing.
Zero protectively puts a hand at the back of your head as you pick up a piece of mochi and chew it so that it looks like you genuinely wanted some food.
You're in a state of shock, you think, because you can't really taste the mochi.
Zero's thumb begins gliding over the back of your head, and you can feel the weight of his eyes on you as you stare at all the plated food on the table.
"Let's play Uno!" Himiko chirps, practically bouncing on her feet.
"Sure! Hell no!" Jin replies quickly.
Himiko pouts, crossing her arms over her chest as she glowers at Jin.
"It was one time!" She defends.
"How 'bout charades?" Giran suggests. "Can't cheat at that."
"Why don't you sit with Cloud?" Zero suggests quietly.
You nod, moving to join Atsuhiro on the couch. Cloud immediately hops onto your lap, purring and rubbing his face on you when you raise your hand to pet his head.
It's a simple thing, but it makes you smile while the others all cycle through games, working around which ones would work with Uncle Jin, which admittedly, isn't many.
"Let's play Smash Bros." Spinner eventually sighs. "Everyone's equally terrible at that."
"Not true!" Himiko says, pointing animatedly at Spinner. "You and Tomura played that all the time at the first base!"
"We don't count." Tomura says simply, but with a smirk, which only gets a deadpan look in return from Himiko.
"Mario Kart?" You suggest finally, attracting everyone's attention.
Tomura's smirk pulls upwards even more and he nods, signalling for Kurogiri to get the console needed.
"Sure. A bit of nostalgia." Tomura grins. "Bet I'll beat you this time, too."
"Nuh-uh." You frown.
As Kurogiri sets the console up, you continue to cuddle Cloud like he was one of your beloved plushies, watching and listening to everyone else without really joining in yourself. You think back to your time with mom, and how empty the house always seemed, even when she was present.
You never had toys with mom. You never really played with mom. You never had hugs, kisses, or any kind of affection, either. Even Grandma never really seemed happy when she was around you both when she was alive.
Mom definitely wouldn't have gotten you a cat and made sure you were safe and happy like Dabi, Tomura, Uncle Giran and the others had all this time, either, and you'd only been with them for maybe a year, you're not too sure.
As Tomura hands you a controller, entertainment in his eyes as he tells you that it's best of three, you can't help but feel a weight come off your shoulders, a smile on your face as you nod in agreement.
You think you can let go of the memory of her now, in favour of the family that chose and loved you now.
And forever, like Dabi had promised all this time.
You think you believe it now.
*â¢*
Well... that's it!
Thank you so much for all the love and support on this fic. I started it for myself thinking no-one would read it, and was so amazed when so many people loved it!
Don't worry though, there's an active fic called Through the Years which is Stars teenage years, which you can find on my profile.
I'll also be writing a sequel, called Our Loved Creation which will be starting in the future too.
-Leaf ð±