You had been brought to Dabi's workplace again. Now everyone was working and Tomura was gone, you had to come too. It wasn't too bad when you could stay with Dabi, but after you had found Hawks' feather in your sleeve, he didn't like you being around him too much. You had tried arguing it, because you didn't understand why he was so upset about a pretty little feather, and you wanted to see HakuchÅ more, but he wouldn't give in.
Which led to you being left with Uncle Jin today, who was trying to get you excited about a rubber ball, something you hadn't seen since you were in school when you were around five years old.
"It was a gift! From Re-Destro!" Jin says enthusiastically, moving the rubber ball closer to your face. "Wanna play catch? My dad never loved me enough to play it with me."
"Oh." You say quietly, giving Jin a pitiful look as his masked face pulls downwards as if he's frowning behind it. "But..."
"It'll be real easy! Just catch the ball! We can even practice math while ya do it!" Jin encourages. "Boring! Shh, Shigaraki said Star needs to keep learning. Shut up, nerd!"
Uncle Jin was loud today. You think you'd almost rather go and spend time with Atsuhiro and Spinner while Dabi's meeting Hawks.
He keeps arguing with himself, and you're not sure why. Dabi said that everyone's a bit stressed about having to do work without Tomura to rely on if things went wrong.
But if playing ball with Uncle Jin and doing math helped him feel less stressed about Tomura being gone, then you were happy to do that.
"Okay... Can you explain the rules?" You ask.
"So, Shigaraki said that you needta practice your times tables! So, let's start with the twos! Deuces! I'll say two, throw you the ball and then you say..." Jin trails off expectantly.
"Four." You reply, and he throws you the ball, and you catch it a little awkwardly.
"Throw it back." He says. "Keep it, I don't want it!"
You throw it back, knowing better than to listen to the deeper voice that leaves Uncle Jin sometimes. When he catches it, he calls out 'six', and throws it back.
"Eight." You say, throwing it back to him shyly.
"That's right! Ten." Jin throws it back to you, and then you carry on until you get to twenty two. "Can ya do threes? Three."
You catch the ball, uncertain on this one. You didn't really 'get' the three times table just yet. "Six."
He catches it, spinning it on his finger, and almost dropping it. "Nine."
You hold the ball for a second, trying to do the sums quickly in your head. "Twelve?"
"That's right!" Jin encourages before making a buzzer sound. "Ignore him, throw it back, ducky."
"Ducky?" You giggle, throwing the ball a little more enthusiastically thanks to the new nickname.
"That's right, Star! 'Cause you like duckies! You even got two of them at home." Jin says, pointing at you and giving you a thumbs up. "Fifteen."
You catch the ball, holding it for a while again as you try to figure out what would be next in your head. "Seventeen?"
"Wrong!" He exclaims, clearing his throat and then softening his voice. "Try again, sweetie."
"Um..." You muse, bouncing the ball on the floor and catching it while you think. You were so certain you'd done the math right.
"What's five plus three?" Uncle Jin tries to lead instead.
"Um... Eight?" You reply, uncertain.
"So fifteen plus three would be eighteen, right?" He asks patiently.
"Okay." You agree, hoping he's not trying to trick you. "Eighteen?"
"Eighteen!" He exclaims, motioning for you to throw the ball back to him.
You struggle through the three times tables with him, him being a lot more patient with helping you figure it out than Tomura would have been. By the time you get to thirty three you're about done with it, using having a drink from your water bottle Dabi packed for you as an excuse to not play for a bit.
Uncle Jin doesn't seem to mind, playing with the ball by himself to the point you wonder if Re-Destro even got it for you at all and whether Uncle Jin got it for himself and didn't want to admit to it.
"Let's do an easier one for you next." He says enthusiastically.
"I like the tens." You say hopefully.
"You can do a little harder than that, right, Star?" He asks, tilting his head. "That's fer babies!"
Your shoulders sag, but you nod in understanding. They were really easy.
"Fives?" You ask instead, fluttering your eyelashes a little.
"Go on then." Jin says in playful reluctance, throwing you the ball.
"Five!" You giggle when the ball hits your chest a little harder than before, and throw it back just as hard.
"Ten!" Jin throws it even harder.
"Fifteen!" You say, giggling, and trying to match his strength behind the throw, except he ducks, and the ball smashes into the window, shattering the glass.
You freeze in your panic, and Jin darts back up to his full height, his hand going over his mouth as he gazes at the damage done and the shards of glass on the floor.
"My bad!" His deeper voice says, muffled behind his hand. "Idiot! No, you!"
The use of the word 'idiot' makes you cringe, as you assume it's being used towards you instantly, like it had been so many times before in the past. You begin to almost curl into yourself, expecting to be yelled at or berated for doing something so careless and making such an expensive mistake when Re-Destro already did something to scare you before.
When Jin finally turns to face you, he sees the panic in your face and immediately flies into dad-mode, scooping you up in his arms and removing his mask, gently placing it in your hands.
"S'Alright, ducky. Accidents happen! Like me!" He tries to reassure you. "Are you hurt? Did any glass get you?"
You're about to respond but he continues, in a sad, deep voice.
"If something happens to ya, I'm as good as dead!" He mopes.
"I'm okay, Uncle Jin." You reply quietly, still a little wary about how calm he's being with you when you have broken something. "Am I in trouble?"
"'Course not! I used to break windows all the time as a kid." He reassures you. "On purpose! Not in front of Star. She's gonna find out sometime!"
"Where are you taking me?" You ask nervously as he continues to walk you through the hallways, everyone mindfully walking around your feet as he carries you princess style.
"To go see your dad! Gotta clean up everythin', then we can play some more." Uncle Jin replies.
You fall quiet. Dabi hadn't gotten mad at you before, but this was a broken window, and he was in charge instead of Tomura right now. It was probably a blessing Tomura wasn't around, because he'd be a lot scarier to tell about a broken window than Dabi was likely to be.
Uncle Jin peppers your head in kisses as if he knows what you're thinking about, kicking open the door to an office and gently lowering you onto your feet.
Dabi looks irritated, Hawks looks as smiley as ever and HakuchÅ is there too to your surprise, looking just as surprised to see you. You were already nervous about having to tell Dabi about the broken window with Hawks around, but with HakuchÅ there too, you're even more embarrassed.
"What are you doing, Twice?" Dabi hisses in annoyance.
"There was a lil' accident." Jin replies, lifting his shoulders into a shrug and gently taking his mask from you, pulling it back over his head. "I'll take her back in a minute, just gotta clean up the mess. Carnage, man, absolute carnage."
Dabi's eyes slide to meet yours, and you pull at your clothes sheepishly as if to try and hide yourself.
"What happened, Star?" He asks patiently.
"I did something bad." You murmur, avoiding his eyes.
"C'mere." He encourages, waving you over casually, holding his arm out for you to tuck yourself into his side.
You take the opportunity, wrapping your arms loosely around his shoulders, hiding your face from HakuchÅ and Hawks by resting your cheek against his, looking away from them.
"What'd ya do, darlin'?" He asks as quietly as he can, his fingers carding through your hair.
"Me and Jin were playing catch and I threw the ball too hard and it hit the window and broke it." You say quickly, beginning to stumble over your words by the end of the sentence. "I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to hit the window."
"Are you okay?" He asks, gently prying you away so he can look over you.
"I'm okay, but there's a lot of glass, and it's going to be expensive to fix isn't it? I'm sorry, pawpaw. I didn't mean to do something bad, I was just trying to have fun." You sniff.
"You're okay, yeah?" He repeats quietly, trying to catch your eye.
You nod, trying to collect yourself so you don't cry in front of HakuchÅ.
"That's all that matters, princess." He says in a hoarse whisper, smirking before flicking your nose and taking you by surprise. "Windows can be replaced. You can't."
You feel the weight of the stress you'd put yourself under from convincing yourself that he'd be mad at you for the first time ever completely dissipating the second the surprise from the playful flick of your nose fades.
He really meant it when he said he'd always talk things out with you all those months ago, and for some reason it's only just sinking in now.
"Maybe next time, play ball outside." He says, squeezing your cheek. "Don't worry 'bout it. We have a glass guy. Now sit down and try not to break anythin' else."
You try to match his playfulness with your own as you sit down next to him. "I'll see."
"Squirt." He mutters under his breath, kicking you under the table gently before he goes back to his stoic demeanor as he talks to Hawks, acting like HakuchÅ isn't even there.
HakuchÅ looks kind of tired today, her eyes are dull and her hair looks a little like yours had when you lived on the streets before you met Dabi, like it's a little wet although it's not been washed. She's wearing a big, baggy hoodie, and although she's looking at you with a tired smile, she almost looks like she's looking through you.
"Are you sleepy today?" You ask her quietly.
"A little." She admits, her smile still not reaching her eyes.
You hum thoughtfully. "Why?"
"School stuff." She replies blandly.
"Oh. Work?" You ask. "I haven't been to school for a long time. I didn't like it very much."
"Why's that?" She asks, leaning her cheek onto her fist.
"Mom always forgot to pack lunch, and sometimes I had to stay really late because she used to forget to come and get me..." You say, still trying not to speak over Dabi while he's having a conversation with Hawks. "The other boys and girls picked on me for having dirty clothes and messy hair, too. And teachers are mean."
"Kids are mean." She replies, nodding.
"You're okay. And Himiko is nice too." You disagree. "But, is it work, or are kids mean to you?"
Her lips press into a thin line. "Both."
"Have you told Hawks?" You ask innocently. "If anyone's mean to me, Dabi tells them off."
"I know." She says dryly.
You'd almost forgotten about Dabi telling Hawks off for yanking on your arm, and you almost feel a bit stupid for bringing it up.
HakuchÅ seems different today, less approachable and talkative, and she doesn't seem to be looking at you with any kindness in her eyes today.
You were pretty good at reading people after your mom had so many scary boyfriends, and everything about HakuchÅ today is telling you that she might argue with you, so you take her lack of interest in having a proper conversation with you as a sign to leave her alone, so you patiently wait for Jin to return, reaching for the hand that Dabi has under the table.
When you wrap your pinky around his, his eyes dart to yours momentarily, and he squeezes your finger gently before returning his focus back to Hawks.
The small amount of contact is enough to soothe you from the energy that HakuchÅ is giving off. You're a little sad about it, it wasn't often you got to interact with other girls around your age outside of Himiko, and you enjoyed talking to HakuchÅ when she was around, but she didn't seem to want to talk to you today.
She seems to be paying a lot of attention to Dabi today, her eyes scanning him over and over, and when she spots your hands interlocked under the table, and she cranes her neck a little to see that it's just your pinkies, her shoulders seem to sink slowly.
"Have I done something wrong?" You're unable to stop yourself from asking.
She looks at you, confused. "What? No. I'm just tired, Star."
"Okay." You murmur, unconvinced.
You rack your brain trying to think of something you could have done to upset her, but come up empty. Maybe you should have agreed with her that kids are mean, especially if she's having trouble at school. Maybe Dabi had done something to upset her before you came in, which was why she kept looking at him.
You couldn't tell unless she told you though, and suddenly you're thankful for Dabi's gentle ways of telling you why he was in a funny mood sometimes, and Tomura's blunt honesty. Having to guess wasn't any fun at all.
In your boredom, you even try listening to Dabi and Hawks' conversation, but it's boring. It sounds like Dabi's giving him a history lesson, and he's talking about a lot of people that you don't recognise the names of, as well as a few mentions of people you did know, like the other members of your little found family, Geten, Dabi's workmate that he didn't seem to like very much, Re-Destro and Skeptic, the mean men that had hurt Uncle Giran.
You end up playing a game of squeezing Dabi's finger as lightly as you can to see when he'd stop being able to feel it, but always get a squeeze back, matching the firmness of however you'd squeezed his first.
It feels like time's passing so slowly without HakuchÅ really talking to you, and although you're mindful of rule number four, you really wish there was more you could do to keep yourself entertained.
"What happened earlier?" HakuchÅ eventually asks.
"Oh." You murmur. "I accidentally broke a window."
"What? How?" She asks, surprised.
"Me and Uncle Jin were playing catch and he ducked when he wasn't meant to, so it hit the window." You explain, releasing Dabi's finger so you can gesture an explosion.
"You must have thrown it really hard." She comments thoughtfully.
"Jin was throwing it hard." You reply in mumbled defensiveness.
As if saying his name three times summoned him, you see Jin's masked face pop around the door, and he gestures for you to rejoin him.
Your face lights up once more, and you get up, giving Dabi's scarred and stapled cheek another quick kiss before rushing to go to Uncle Jin, who was arguably in a way better mood than HakuchÅ.
"Outside." Dabi calls out as a reminder to you both.
"Got it!" Uncle Jin replies, sticking his thumb up on one hand and his middle finger up on the other hand. "Get fucked."
"Oops." You and Jin say in unison and you giggle straight after, even though Dabi doesn't look impressed.
"C'mon, sweetie. Let's get doin' those sums again." He says, using his hand at the top of your head to encourage you through the door.
"Oh, bye HakuchÅ, I hope school gets better for you." You say, turning to wave and smile at her, even if she is a little grumpy.
"Cheer up kiddo. School is temporary but death is permanent!" Uncle Jin says, holding his thumb up again as though that was meant to be encouraging.
It looks like the weird comment that he made makes Hakucho genuinely smirk though, as her face softens slightly when she does it, her eyes even going a little kinder for a moment. Jin waves and then closes the door quietly, looking down at you with his hands on his hips.
"You're weird, Uncle Jin." You giggle.
"Even when you're bein' mean, you're my favourite." He replies, dipping to press his forehead against yours affectionately.