You weren't really too sure how long was the polite amount of time to hang around with all of the others after you were gifted the giant duck.
You were holding it by the neck, your little arms wrapped around it, making the body and head hang loosely.
You really wanted to scurry back to your shared room and cuddle with it, but you were unsure of when you could do that.
You were surrounded by Magne, Jin, Toga and Atsuhiro, all of them smiling proudly at you, Jin occassionally reaching out to pretend to play with the ducky.
Dabi seemed to be pretty sucked into a conversation with Spinner, leaning his scarred cheek on his knuckles and nodding as Spinner talks a lot more enthusiastically than usual, gesturing a little with his clawed hands.
Shigaraki is back to scowling at his phone, seeming to be endlessly scrolling.
Eventually Dabi glances over at you, his hand reaching out to ruffle your hair.
"Why don'tcha go play wi' your new toy, Star?" He suggests.
"You don't play with soft toys! You cuddle them!" You inform him, squeezing the ducks neck for emphasis.
Dabi rolls his eyes at you, smirking a little. "Sure you can. I used to play wi' soft toys all the time."
You shake your head, your hair flying around your face. "Uh-uh. The kids on TV never play with soft toys! They cuddle them! You play with proper toys."
There's a short silence in the room that has you pausing in uncertainty, your lips pressing together tightly.
Even Spinner looks a little sad as he looks over at you, cupping his scaly cheek in his hand thoughtfully.
Dabi seems to be mulling over what to say next, his smirk having pulled downwards into a thoughtful frown.
"You've never played before, Star?" Toga asks, her voice as cheerful as always. "I can teach you!"
You feel your cheeks burn up a little. You're unsure what's embarrassing about not knowing how to play, but it definitely is embarrassing.
"You never had toys?" Magne asks, pity clear as day in her voice.
"Mommy said we couldn't afford it." You mumble self conciously.
You notice Dabi's jaw clench underneath his marred skin, his icy eyes hardening. He mumbles something to himself low enough that you can't hear it, but Spinners eyes widening tells you that it's something you probably didn't want to hear anyway.
The feeling of self conciousness and embarrassment worsens.
"Why don't we all play together?" Magne soothes, rubbing your back gently. "Toga can bring some extra friends down."
Your face heats up even more at the concept of playing in front of other people, grown ups no less, when you didn't know how.
Toga, however, is more than keen, bouncing off to go and get more 'friends', while Jin lifts you from your stool, carrying you over to a quiet area of the bar with Magne.
He places you on the floor gently with your ducky still gripped between your arms, crossing his legs and sitting beside you. Magne joins you both on the floor too.
"So, what's the big guys name?" Jin asks, squishing the end of ducky's beak.
"Ducky." You mumble with no hesitation.
"Isn't that a little too easy?" Magne asks, with a soft smile. "What about something with a little more character, like you Star?"
"Quackers!" Jin exclaims. "Jus' like the rest of us!"
Magne laughs a little, her eyes shining as she looks at Jin.
You shake your head at his suggestion, although you did really like it.
"Ducky like Ducky from Land Before Time!" You explain, lifting it up by its body, leaving its head to hang loosely. "And because its a duck."
The two look at you blankly, Magne turning to look at Jin to see if he was able to tell her what you were talking about.
Unfortunately for her, he was just as confused.
"American film." Shigaraki informs them from a distance. "It's old though. Doesn't show much over here."
"American, huh?" Jin muses.
"Ducky goes 'yep, yep, yep!'" You mimic. "And she's always happy."
Magne ruffles your hair like Dabi does, looking down at you with an almost prideful smile.
Toga jogs back into the room with two plushies under her arms, both of them being cats, and plops herself down next to you with a wide grin.
"Lets play cat and duck!" She giggles, a little menacingly.
"Cat and duck?" You ask, a little spooked by her exposed fangs.
"You gotta stop the cats from eatin' your duck." She explains, her eyes glittering and her grin widening as she holds one of her cat toys up.
You tighten the hold you have on Ducky, terrified of the blonde that was closest in age to you.
"Toga, play nice." Dabi warns.
Her expression sours immediately, her piercing yellow eyes sliding to the corners to glare at the back of Dabi's head. Her grin drops instantly.
"Fine." She huffs. "What do you wanna play?"
You shrug. You didn't know any games, but you certainly didn't want to play anything that could involve you, or Ducky getting hurt, even if it was make believe.
Dabi slides off his barstool, Spinner following suit.
Dabi slinks towards you all, resting his hand on the top of your head.
"Why don'tcha play Adventure Time?" He suggests.
You actually don't hate that idea, and you feel your face brighten up a little. Toga watches you carefully, her own scowl fading.
"We can do that!" Toga agrees, nodding so her stray blonde hairs bounce up and down. "Adventure Time, c'mon grab your friends..."
She carries on singing a new rendition of the theme song, handing Jin one of the stuffed animals.
Dabi drops to a crouch to kiss the top of your head quickly, one of the staples lining his cheek accidentally pulling a few strands of your hair as he pulls away.
"Spinners gonna teach me how ta use some of the stuff in the gym, 'kay?" He murmurs lowly to you.
You nod, feeling safe enough with Jin nearby playing with you. You knew he liked Toga a lot too, but he wouldn't let her hurt you if she started playing a little too rough.
"Be good." He reminds you, ruffling your hair.
You hum happily, getting ready to start playing with Toga, Magne and Jin.
You hear a low chuckle from behind you as Dabi stands, and you don't pay any more attention to him as he wanders off with Spinner.
*â¢*
Playing was fun.
You had a blast playing with the others, having so much fun that you hadn't even noticed how long you had all been playing for until Kurogiri made you all aware that it was time to come and eat.
You had the task of going to tell him and Spinner that they had to come and eat. Naturally, you lugged your ridiculously big duck along with you.
You followed the signs as Shigaraki instructed, and soon enough you begun to hear loud music, knowing that could only be those two.
You follow the music, eventually finding yourself at the gym, opening the door and peering around to make sure it was actually where you needed to be.
The sight of Dabi and Spinner confirms it, but you avert your eyes quickly the second you realise they're shirtless.
"Sorry!" You cry out, flinching despite them being a good few feet away.
Spinner doesn't seem too bothered, turning around lazily, but Dabi does grab his shirt quickly, covering the scarring you'd seen anyway across his stomach.
You were used to your moms boyfriends getting mad at you whenever you accidentally saw them undressed. Sometimes they'd yell, and sometimes they'd throw things at you. Sometimes mom would, too.
"What's up, doll?" Dabi asks, hurriedly throwing the vest over his head.
"Kurogiri said food's ready." You reply shyly, making sure to keep your eyes on the floor.
"Already?" Spinner queries, craning his neck to look at the clock. "Well sh- damn. Yeah, about that time."
Dabi shuts off the music, stretching as he stands and slowly approaching you, dropping to a crouch in front of you.
"Didja have fun playin'?" He asks, petting your cheek softly.
"Mhm!" You nod enthusiastically, your fear of being punished dissipating the second he offers a soft touch. "We played all this time!"
"That's nice." He replies, grinning lazily. "Ya like your ducky then?"
You bob your head up and down eagerly, wrapping your arms around it even tighter. This makes Dabi's grin widen, his staples buckling.
"Attagirl." He says before getting up, looking over his shoulder at Spinner. "Thanks, man."
Spinner nods his head in acknowledgement, his violet hair falling over his face.
You lead the way back to the bar, clinging onto your new toy the whole while. You were thinking about Dabi's scars. You'd never really thought too much of them, probably because he'd had them the whole time you knew him, so you'd never questioned why they were there too much.
But seeing the patch of scarring on his stomach clearly for the first time had you wondering about it.
You knew it was there, you'd counted the staples that had peeked through one night when his shirt had ridden up a little bit. But you hadn't really thought about how the scarring had gotten there, much like how you hadn't really thought about how the scarring pattern on his face was a little strange too.
You weren't unfamiliar with facial scars, moms boyfriends usually had some, Jin had one on his forehead and even Shigaraki had a couple. But they were all vertical, like they'd gotten the scars by getting cut or something.
But Dabi's were large patches, and they were purple and stapled. You'd never seen that before.
"I can smell bacon." Dabi teases, giving a couple emphasised sniffs before flicking your head playfully. "What're you thinkin' so hard about?"
"Nothing." You reply instantly.
You knew that he was a little self conscious about them, piecing that together while you were thinking about it. He wore big hoodies, sunglasses and face masks whenever he went out with you in public now. He avoided looking in the mirrors in the elevator, and now he had panickedly tried hiding the large strip of scarring on his stomach with a shirt.
So with that, you knew it probably would upset him if you told him the real reason you were thinking hard. Especially in front of everyone else.
So you'd ask him about it some other time.
When it was just you two.