Dabi was in a bad mood again.
This time it was a lot worse than it had been before, because he was even being a little snappy with you. He'd always apologize immediately after, and give you a hug and sigh a little, but it was beginning to make you not want to be touched by him, and you hadn't felt that way for a little while.
You suppose you were to blame. You'd lost control last night and cried for hours, keeping him up.
You didn't want to do that. It was embarrassing and babyish, but whenever you had begun to calm down, your brain would imagine you being torn away from Dabi as he was on the floor, just like the heroes had torn you away from mom.
So you'd start crying again, and panicking.
You never wanted to go through that again, especially with Dabi.
Even when he was in a bad mood he made an effort to try and make it up to you with apologies, and little shows of affection. Mom would just leave you for days with very little care for your well being mentally and physically when she was in a bad mood.
He eventually went back up to bed after a few hours, leaving you to do math worksheets with Shigaraki again.
You were actually a little relieved that he was leaving you alone for a bit, happily chewing on some cut up apple that Kurogiri had slid to you while you worked on math.
Shigaraki was pretty good at leaving you to it unless you asked him for help, offering you none of the smothering help that Jin and Spinner often gave you.
So you're a little surprised when Shigaraki actually initiates conversation with you.
"What was wrong with you last night?" He asks, not even looking at you.
His eyes are on the paperwork in front of him, it looks like some kind of poor drawing, circles with hiragana inside them, with arrows pointing in all kinds of directions.
It almost looks like a messy map.
You gulp a little, your pencil pausing. You hadn't realised that Shigaraki knew, too. That made it a little more humiliating, especially now you were expected to answer the question.
You weren't allowed to lie either, because lying was bad.
"Dabi said something that upset me." You reply honestly, but vaguely.
Shigaraki gives an amused scoff. "Sounds about right."
You frown ever-so-slightly. You didn't like it when Shigaraki spoke of Dabi like that, after all he couldn't think that lowly of him when they had kissed before.
"What did he say?" He pries, his crimson eyes sliding to meet yours.
You shrug. You didn't really want to revisit it.
He stares at you for a second before shrugging himself, scratching his neck a couple times and then returning to looking over his weird map.
You both continue on in silence for about ten minutes, the quiet not uncomfortable between you both. You liked it like this. He was less intimidating when he didn't speak, and you enjoyed the quiet, knowing there was no pressure to fill it.
"All done." You announce eventually, pushing the papers towards him to check over the answers.
He scans over the page, giving nothing away facially. Once he's done, he holds his hand out wordlessly, signaling for you to place the pencil in his grasp.
You do, a little confused. You must have gotten a question wrong, and he was likely going to show you where you went wrong.
Except he doesn't, instead, he writes down a new sum.
"Work that one out." He says simply, thrusting the pencil towards you.
You glance at the numbers, they were all negatives, and big negatives too.
You look up at him in exasperation, and note the playful glint in his eyes.
"This is too hard!" You huff.
"If you solve it, I'll let you play the new game I've bought later." He smirks. "You'll like it. You can collect mushrooms, and catch fish."
"No fighting?" You ask, narrowing your eyes in suspicion.
He gives a curt nod, and for some reason this lights a fire in you to at least try to figure the equation out.
You stare at the numbers for a little bit, trying to imagine it wasn't all negative figures. This helps a little, and you manage to get an answer, even if it's a struggle.
You push the paper towards him again, a little proud of yourself.
The pride is gone the second he shakes his head.
"So instead of it being a smaller number, it'd be a bigger number." He explains, although it makes very little sense.
He draws out another diagram of negative numbers, as well as writing down a new, albeit smaller equation.
He tries to explain what you should have done by physically showing you on the page, but you still struggle to keep up.
"So if you take away, you're actually kind-of adding." He finishes firmly, looking at you finally with those piercing vermillion eyes.
You groan. "My head hurts."
Shigaraki huffs in amusement, watching as you flop your face into your hand, frowning in confusion at the numbers on the page.
You'd never get a real laugh from him, but those little breaths from him were just as good for you. If he was huffing, it meant he wasn't mad, and that was always a good thing.
The sound of lazy thumping footsteps coming down the stairs draws your attention, despite not even needing to look to know that it was Dabi. You'd pretty much memorised everyone's footsteps now so that you could tell who was where and when.
He swipes a bottle of water from the fridge before approaching you both, ruffling your hair and looking down at your worksheet.
"Damn, kid. Ya usin' your big ol' brain today, huh?" He teases, pushing your head with his fingers playfully as he sips his water.
A good sign that he was in a better mood. Maybe he'd had a nap, that often helped you if you were in a bad mood too.
It seems to sour quickly though when he looks at the sheet of paper in front of Shigaraki.
"Oi. Not in front'a Star." He says firmly, moving to steal the sheet right from under Shigaraki's nose, but the smaller man is quicker.
"She doesn't know what it is." Shigaraki sneers.
"What is it?" You ask, peering over at the sheet of paper a little more curiously now.
"Nothin'." Dabi defends, a little snappily again.
"Well I know it's a map..." You inform him in a tone that matches his own. It wasn't often you genuinely sassed Dabi, but the rules were that he wouldn't keep secrets anymore.
"It is a map." Shigaraki diffuses, rolling it up with a sharp glare at Dabi and a lazy glance at you. "Dabi and the others are going on a team building exercise later, so I have to make sure they won't get lost."
You nod understandingly, wondering why Dabi would want to keep that a secret.
Maybe he was a little embarrassed about having a bad sense of direction in front of the others, but he always seemed to know where everything was on the streets.
You were more interested in how you'd done with your math after that extremely anticlimactic explanation, tapping Shigaraki's bony arm gently and pushing the worksheets towards him again.
"Did I get the rest right?" You ask eagerly, hoping he'll say yes in front of Dabi.
Shigaraki simply grunts in an affirmative way. "We'll have to get you a level up or whatever."
You beam at Dabi, who gives you a prideful smirk in return.
"Look at my little Star, shinin' bright. You bright spark, you." He grins, ruffling your hair once more. "Ya gonna show Uncle Giran?"
"Hmm..." You muse, before shaking your head. "He doesn't like math."
"Old man's a sop, he'll love ya showin' him how smart you are." Dabi drawls with an eye roll.
Your eyes widen at being called smart, a small happy and proud smile tugging at the corners of your mouth.
You can feel Shigaraki's eyes on you, the weight of his stare unmistakable, but you choose to ignore it in favor of relishing in the compliments.
"Go get your stuff ready, Star." Dabi orders. "Kurogiri's gonna make ya some weird potato mochi shi- stuff before ya go."
You nod excitedly, more than eager to hop off the stool you'd been perched on while doing math with Shigaraki, practically running to go and pack your stuff up.
You throw all your art materials in your bag, excited to finally get to do some more painting or sketching with Giran.
You pack teddy too, just in case. Dabi hadn't been late again since the first time, but if Shigaraki was checking the plans to make sure they wouldn't get lost, you wanted to be prepared just in case they were.
Once you're all packed up, you head downstairs with an eager pep in your step, happily humming a song you'd heard Spinner hum before.
You nearly bump into Kurogiri, squeaking as you catch yourself just before faceplanting right into his leg.
"Careful Miss Star." He says calmly, holding out skewered potatoes towards you.
"Thank you!" You chime, happily taking a skewer.
You had complete faith in Kurogiri's cooking, so you don't even think twice before biting into it, warily watching Shigaraki and Dabi as they sit beside each other, Shigaraki speaking to him in a low rasp as they look over the map together.
You wander over slowly, enjoying the strange potato snack Kurogiri had made.
The second Dabi manages to pull himself away from the plans Shigaraki had made, he offers you a lazy grin.
"Tha' good?" He asks, pretending to take a bite of what little was left.
"Hey!" You grumble, moving it swiftly away from him. "Get your own!"
Dabi chuckles, ruffling your hair.
"Ya ready to see Uncle Giran?" He asks.
You're surprised he'd taken to calling him Uncle Giran too, especially considering his reaction when he'd first heard you refer to the middle-aged man that way.
You nod, taking another bite of your food.
"Attagirl. Shigaraki'll pick you up in a couple'a hours. Rule four, 'kay?" He asks, gripping your face in his hand with a firm enough grasp to squish your cheeks slightly.
You nod. "I'll be good!"
"Good girl." Dabi praises with a grin, shaking your face gently and affectionately before letting go.
Kurogiri opens up a warp gate just as the sound of the door opening and Jin and Atsuhiro talking cheerily to each other.
Dabi ushers you along, even as you're looking over your shoulder wistfully because you want to see Jin.
"Be good, doll." Dabi reminds you quietly, kissing the top of your head as you stand in front of the whirling portal.
"Mhm! Have fun at team building! Don't get lost!" You chirp, hugging his side quickly, looking up at him with a smile.
A weird expression crosses his face, it looks like a mixture of guilt and sadness, but it's brief, and quickly replaced with a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"Will do." He promises, giving you a little squeeze back. "Love ya, kid."
Your eyes widen at the words, and his eyes avert, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
He gives you a gentle shove, enough to push you into the momentary dark and cold, you emerging in Giran's office, still looking a little surprised.
Giran raises an eyebrow at you from behind his desk.
"You okay, lil' Star?" He asks, leaning back in his chair. "Got everythin' all set up for ya. Thought we could go through faces."
This peaks your interest again, and you grin at him, lunging to give him a hug.
He chuckles as your body collides into his side, his hand placed atop your head.
"Ya ready to do some drawin'?" He asks, watching you as you move away from the embrace, nodding your head.
You place your rucksack on the floor to rifle through it and pull out your pencils and sketchbook, excitedly placing them on the desk and opening the book up, ready to learn and listen to Giran.
The time always passes so quickly when Giran teaches you how to paint and draw, you wish it dragged a little more like whenever the others were trying to teach you something.
You spend the whole time with your tongue sticking out. You were concentrating so hard trying to mimic the methods Giran was teaching you, but you could never quite match up to his level of skill.
You barely even acknowledge Kurogiri's quirk making a reappearance before you see Giran's eyebrow dart upwards.
"Well well well, if it ain't the man himself. How's it goin', Shigaraki?" Giran asks, tapping his cigarette into the ashtray.
You turn your head, looking at the pale haired man that had emerged from the black pit forming in the middle of the room.
Shigaraki looks around with one visible narrowed eye, thanks to the creepy hand on his face again, grunting some form of acknowledgement at Giran.
"Dabi doesn't like people smoking around her." He informs Giran blandly.
Giran rolls his eyes and stubs out his cigarette.
You begin picking your stuff up and packing it away quickly, not wanting to annoy him by keeping him waiting for you.
"Thank you for having me!" You call happily, leaning over to give him a hug again.
Giran laughs a little to himself, his hand going to the top of your head.
He mutters low words of praise to you, petting your hair gently and then letting you go.
"Be good, an' keep practicing, my little love." He says as you move beside Shigaraki.
You nod at Giran as Shigaraki looks down at you.
You almost instinctively go to grab Shigaraki's hand, used to doing it with Dabi, but stop yourself. Instead, you just head straight on through the warp gate, hearing Shigaraki rasp a goodbye to Giran before you're standing back in the bar.
The TV immediately draws your attention, a bright menu on-screen with cute little animals walking around. Your mouth drops open and you spin around to look at Shigaraki.
"Is this the game?" You ask with a little more enthusiasm than you'd usually talk to Shigaraki with while pointing at the screen.
He nods, smirking a little as he removes the hand from his face.
"But I didn't get the question right..." You remind him gently.
"You tried." He shrugs, carefully placing the hand atop the bar counter, and taking a glass of brown liquid from Kurogiri.
You look wistfully at the screen, still a little distrustful that he was really going to allow you to play the game despite getting the question wrong.
He even slides onto a stool by the bar and pushes a controller towards you, not paying you any more attention after that, instead cradling his head in his hand as he looks at a couple of photos in front of him.
"But-"
"You've been working hard. You deserve a reward for..." He grimaces a little. "...Being smart. So relax and play the game, brat."
Your eyes light up and you give a massive grin, despite him only ever glancing at you quickly after the compliment.
You weren't sure you'd ever heard Shigaraki compliment anyone before, so you were on cloud nine with him reluctantly calling you smart, even if it was quickly chased by him calling you a brat.
"Thank you Shigaraki!" You make a fist, signalling for a fist bump.
His eyes slide towards your fist before giving another amused huff, bumping his fist against yours gently.
You drop your rucksack onto the floor, jumping onto the stool beside him and checking the controller for the buttons.
"Don't let Miss Star stay up too late." Kurogiri advises from behind the bar.
"I can handle one measly kid." Shigaraki snaps back.
You're not paying them any mind, already sucked into this game that Shigaraki had bought.
You couldn't imagine him playing it, it seemed too easy. There was no fighting, you just had to pick up certain items to build things and you had the complete freedom to talk to the animals that roamed in the game, as well as catch fish and bugs like he'd mentioned earlier.
It was relaxing, a lot more relaxing than any of the games he'd allowed you to play with him or alone before.
You'd feel his eyes on you from time to time, although he didn't really speak up much asides from congratulating you on catching a shark and a tarantula that you'd spent the entire time running away from, squealing in real life until Shigaraki hissed at you to just try and catch it.
Before you knew it, two more hours had passed, and Shigaraki finally addressed you properly to tell you to go to bed.
You grumble a little, wanting to play a little longer, but saving and turning off the game anyway, because you'd promised Dabi you'd behave.
"When's Dabi coming back?" You ask, sliding off the seat.
"When they've got what I sent them out for." Shigaraki informs you bluntly. "I don't have to help you get ready for bed, right?"
He scrunches up his nose a little at the end of that sentence, and you're relieved that he's just as put off by the idea of that as you are.
"I'm not a baby." You huff, crossing your arms over your chest.
"Whatever. Have a shower, you're covered in pencil." Shigaraki grumbles, waving at you dismissively.
You stick your tongue out at him as he continues to gaze down at whatever those photographs are of, and head up to get ready for bed.
"Night night Kurogiri." You say as you pass the mist-formed man.
"Goodnight Miss Star. Be sure to stay upstairs tonight, yes?"
You hum an agreement, beginning to climb the stairs without too much thought about what Kurogiri had said.
You're obedient, not wanting to cause trouble for Dabi by making Shigaraki mad. So you showered, brushed your teeth and put the pyjamas Toga got you a little while ago on.
It's not until you curl up in bed that you realise that you'd left your rucksack with teddy downstairs, and you huff a little at yourself, climbing out of bed and padding downstairs barefoot in your baby pink pyjamas.
When you exit your room, you hear a loud 'boom', one that shakes the whole building.
At first, you jolt, and then you're filled with fear, worrying that maybe Shigaraki had gotten into a fight with someone and destroyed something. But when you'd left there was no-one in the bar beside him and Kurogiri, so you were a little confused.
It isn't until there's more thumping and yelling that you realise that there's maybe something more going on.
Your first worry is Dabi, and the second is getting your teddy back so that if there is a fight going on, you have something to hold to make you feel a little safer.
So you do something brave, and slowly continue down the stairs, noting the raised voices and new dust settling on the floor.
When you manage to push the door to the bar open, you trip over a piece of rubble on the floor, scraping your knee.
It takes you a second to realise what happened, your bottom lip wobbling as your brain finally registers the pain.
When you look up, all eyes are on you, all of Dabi's coworkers looking worried and squirming, trying to get free of some wood that seemed to have trapped them all.
It isn't until you hear Dabi snap angrily at you to get away that you start to cry, realising that there were strangers in the room and you were crying in front of them.
And then you see a blur of yellow dart across the room, making impact with Dabi's head and rendering his body limp.
Your body freezes in place, your eyes growing impossibly wide as the two strangers, including the one that had just hit Dabi attempt to encourage you to walk towards them, promising to save you.
He wasn't moving, and his messy hair was covering his face, so you couldn't see whether he was awake or not.
You can just about make out Shigaraki's voice slowly building up into a yell from the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears.
"Dabi?" You ask quietly, beginning to crawl towards him, strangers promising you safety and busted knee be damned.
"Oop- Wrong way young one." The big, scary and muscular stranger announces, sweeping you up and over his shoulder in one easy movement.
You squeal in horror at the touch, especially when it's the exact type of person you hate being around.
"Put her down!" You hear someone yell, followed by grunts and the sound of creaking wood.
"If you take her..." You hear Shigaraki rasp, his voice the lowest and most dangerous you'd ever heard it.
He doesn't even finish the sentence, but the threat hangs in the air heavily.
In your fear, you wiggle, desperately trying to get out of this seven foot tall nightmares grip, and accidentally headbutt him straight in the nose, creating a small opening to drop to the floor.
You cry out when you land on your already injured knee, running straight to Dabi even though it hurts.
"Star! Get me out!" Shigaraki orders, his eyes burning into the back of your head as you gently tip Dabi's head back.
His eyes are rolled back into his head, his mouth hanging open.
Your brain flickers between the image in front of you and the memories of when you'd found your mom, any and all emotion you'd been feeling before slowly leaving your body, being replaced with nothing but a cold emptiness.
The others are all yelling at you now, all of their words blurring into one big noise, your world becoming incoherent and your arms beginning to lose feeling, too.
When you feel a small hand on your arm, you swing around, your nostrils flaring.
You grab the offenders arm, twisting it in an unnatural direction as you snarl.
It was him. The one that killed Dabi.
The one that hurt the one person that cared about you.
"You." You say simply, your voice dripping with venom.
"Let go of me! We're trying to help you escape." The old man tries to soothe, one of his eyes twitching ever so slightly in pain as you refuse to let go.
"You killed Dabi." You say coldly. "I hate you."
"What? He's not..." The greying hero begins to say, before you activate your quirk, trying to put all your effort into it as though it'd make him a lot more sick than your quirk typically would allow for.
You must have used a whole lot of effort though, because your vision begins to go, and you completely lose yourself within the darkness.