You'd broken a glass trying to get water for yourself quietly after Imasuji had banned you from drinking when you spilled juice on the floor.
Within no time at all he was in the kitchen, glaring at the shattered glass on the floor for a moment before his angry eyes settled on yours, and his lips curled into a snarl.
'You stupid fucking mutt.' Imasuji sneered down at you, grabbing your hair and lifting you up with the grip on your hair alone.
'Ow! Mommy!" You screamed, wiggling even though it hurt your head even more to do that.
"Mommy!" Imasuji mocked, getting his big, scary face right up close to yours. "Mommy ain't listening, Y/N."
"Mom." You whined, trying to push Imasuji's face away from yours.
But you were too little, and he's so big and your head was really beginning to hurt from his grip on your hair.
"Will you be quiet, Y/N?" Your mom sighed from behind Imasuji. "Mommy's trying to relax."
"He's hurting me!" You whined louder. "Make him let go!"
"Goto, let her go." She sighed again, like dealing with you was too much effort.
"Nah. She's in the way. As fuckin' usual." Imasuji growled.
"Just put her in her room then." Your mom groaned. "I'm too fucked to deal with this right now."
"When aren't you?" Imasuji scoffed, but did drop you onto the floor, leaving you crumpled up on the floor. "Scram then."
You scurry off, somehow gaining enough awareness in your rest that you need to find Dabi, because Dabi would make you safe again. So you try to look around the house without being seen by Imasuji, too scared to call out for Dabi in case it alerts Imasuji to your presence while he helps your mom take more of the sleepy medicine.
Your elbow really hurt after landing right on it, and you clutch it to your side as you sneak around your own home, wanting to cry from the pain of the headache your moms boyfriend has given you, as well as the pain from your elbow, which seemed to be swelling rapidly, but knowing that if you cried Imasuji would just get even angrier at you.
After you see a flash of a shadow from the corner of your eye in the window, you assume that it may have been Dabi outside, and decide to try and sneak outside while mom and Imasuji are distracted. You can hear groans coming from the living area so you should be able to sneak out without them hearing you.
But when you move your injured arm to try and open the door, you squeal out in pain when your elbow refuses to move.
There's an annoyed grunt from the living room, followed by quick and heavy footsteps that you try to run away from, but you're too slow, and you're being lifted by the back of your collar and thrown-
*â¢*
You yelp as you jolt awake, Dabi jolting awake too, his body shooting upright. Tomura's hand lands atop your head, gently rubbing his thumb over your scalp.
"You're okay." Tomura says calmly as you catch your breath.
"Bad dream, cuddle bug?" Dabi asks forlornly, settling back down onto the bed again.
He cuddles close to you, hissing to Tomura: "I told you that game was too scary for her to play so close to bedtime."
"It wasn't the game." You defend, uncertain to which dad you should cling onto for comfort.
"What was it then, Starshine?" Dabi asks, kissing the back of your head.
"Imasuji." You murmur, holding Tomura's shirt in your fist.
Dabi scoffs. "What on earth are ya dreamin' about that jumped up pri-"
"He's gone. I made sure of it." Tomura interrupts, lowering himself down so he's lying face to face with you. "You don't need to worry about him anymore."
"I wasn't, I don't know why I dreamed about him." You reply quietly.
"What happened in yer dream? Let's make it into a silly story, darlin'." Dabi says, laying an arm over your waist.
"Um... he got mad because I broke a glass when I was trying to drink water sneakily. And he lifted me up by my hair."
"Mhm." Dabi says, his voice sounding strained.
"He told me to scram, so I was trying to find you so I could be safe, but I had to be quiet otherwise I'd make him mad again." You continue.
"Right." He replies dryly, and Tomura begins to very softly and very carefully move your hair away from your eyes, listening silently.
"And I thought I saw you outside the window so I was going to try to sneak out while Imasuji was helping mommy with her medicine." You pause. "I think he might have been struggling to do it right, though, because he was making lots of annoyed sounds."
Dabi presses his face to the back of your head and a dark look flashes over Tomura's face momentarily.
"But my elbow really hurt from landing on it so when I tried to open the door it wouldn't move and it really really hurt. So I cried and he chased after me and threw me." You finish.
There's a short pause.
"Maybe he didn't throw you. Maybe you made him fly an' he dropped you." Dabi says, but his voice isn't as committed as usual.
You hum a little in acknowledgement of his attempt, trying to close your eyes and imagine it like you had whenever Dabi had done this with you before to try and lull yourself back to sleep, but it doesn't really work.
"I don't think it's working because I know that didn't happen." You explain quietly, keeping your eyes shut. "Can you try something else?"
"Wait, all that really happened?" Dabi asks, the temperature in the room rising a little.
"Mhm. Except in real life I was trying to run away to Grandmas, but Imasuji got really mad at me for landing on my elbow because I had to go to a hospital, but mom was too sleepy to take me" You say casually.
"A hospital?" Dabi asks, moving away from you as the temperature goes higher.
You suddenly get the feeling that telling him is making him angry at you, too. He didn't like Imasuji, and maybe listening to stories about when he was your dad for a little while made him mad, like listening to how Himiko had fun with him while you were asleep made you mad. So you clam up.
"Did they take care of your elbow, little Star?" Tomura asks.
"They made it worse first because they said my elbow was dislocated, which means it wasn't in the right place. But they gave me special air which helped a little while they squeezed it back."
Dabi sits up now, and Tomura follows him with his eyes for a moment before he looks back at you with that impassive vermillion gaze.
"Maybe you should try imagining that you made him sick with your quirk." Tomura suggests. "And Dabi came to get you."
Dabi mutters something under his breath, but you nod and close your eyes again, trying to use Tomura's suggestion instead, trying to focus on the feeling of his prosthetic fingers gently stroking your cheek.
It works a lot better, your body becoming less tense and your breathing beginning to slow after a little while.
"She asleep?" Dabi asks as quietly as he can.
"Possibly." Tomura replies just as quietly, still stroking your cheek with the back of his fingers rhythmically.
You pretend to be asleep, half expecting them to talk about you. You wanted to know if they'd be kind or cruel when they thought you weren't listening.
"Goin' for a smoke then." Dabi says, slowly moving completely off the bed.
"Don't waste time being angry about something you can't change." Tomura calls after him softly.
"How about you don't tell me how to fuckin' feel." Dabi hisses before the door clicks quietly.
You wait a couple of moments before peering at Tomura, his expression not changing even as you open your eyes in a way that makes it obvious you weren't ever asleep.
"Did I make you two argue?" You ask quietly, your lip trembling slightly.
You were making things bad again, just like you had with mom and her boyfriends. Tomura was only here for the night and you'd managed to make Dabi angry enough to talk to him badly.
"We didn't argue." Tomura says calmly. "Why aren't you asleep, brat?"
He pokes you in the cheek, taking you by surprise for a moment, your eyes widening before you give a surprised giggle.
"I was going to, but Dabi talked." You reply.
Tomura sits himself up so his back is against the headboard, but his hand stays in your hair, his fingers gently threading through the strands.
"Go to sleep, Star." He says simply, but softly.
"I don't want you to go tomorrow." You whisper. "Where are you even going?"
"To the hospital, to have some more operations." Tomura replies evenly.
"But you said you were okay now." You argue, a little worriedly.
"Huh?" Tomura quizzes, his wrinkled brows pulling together slightly.
"When I asked about the scars on your chest, you said you had to have an operation to feel better, but you're okay now." You remind him. "Are you not okay anymore?"
"I'm fine. That was a different kind of operation."
"Different how?" You question immediately.
"Sleep." He repeats firmly.
You groan a little dramatically, pouting a little as you turn away from him, his hand raises until you've settled on your other side, and then he lowers it onto your head again, resuming the careful petting of your hair.
You try to follow his order, closing your eyes again and trying to turn your brain off for long enough to go to sleep.
"That operation was top surgery." He tells you after a while.
You open your eyes but don't turn to face him.
"What's that?" You ask curiously, reaching for your duck toy. You were probably going to have to get Dabi to heat it up again when he got back.
"It's when they remove your breasts." Tomura replies matter of factly.
You frown in confusion for a moment, until you remember when, months ago, you'd walked in on Tomura taking the medicine that Dabi said made Tomura feel more like himself.
"Oh."
"Yeah." Tomura says. "These operations are different to that. I don't need any more surgeries to be okay with myself for now."
"Okay." You reply, amazed that he'd been so honest with you when Dabi said he didn't want people to know about that. Maybe you were special. "I'm glad you're happy now."
Tomura hums in response, falling back into silence momentarily before whispering another repeat of: "Sleep now."
"Okay. Love you pa." You reply, closing your eyes again.
"Love you too, Star." Tomura responds easily this time, sounding like he might be smiling a little bit.
You follow his advice of imagining you were making Imasuji sick, finding a weird sense of comfort in it. There was a lot of comfort in knowing you had at least two strong, scary men that wanted to make sure you were safe and not scared for once now.
You're even asleep before Dabi comes back from his cigarette, missing the hushed, rare apology from him and the chaste kiss shared between your parents.
When you wake up in the morning, Tomura is gone without even a goodbye. You just wake up curled around Dabi, the heat coming from his body helping the ache in your lower stomach slightly, with no Tomura next to you like he had been last night.
You slowly peel yourself from Dabi, not wanting to wake him after you woke him up last night, and quietly leave the room to pad down the stairs and look for Tomura there, instead.
But no sign of your white haired pa. Just Spinner and Zero talking over cups of coffee, no-one else seeming to be awake yet.
"Hello, Star." Zero greets the second he sees you. "Would you like some juice? Breakfast?"
Spinner turns his head to smile at you in a friendly way, probably not turning properly because he was topless again and Dabi got mad last time he'd come down topless in front of you in the morning. You try not to think too much about it in case your face heats up and the two notice.
You shake your head in response to Zero's question.
"Where's 'Mura?" You ask.
"Shigaraki has gone back to the laboratory." Zero responds, ever smiling, even though the news cuts you like a knife.
"But he didn't say goodbye." You say, your voice trembling a little.
"Oh." Zero says, his face going blank for a moment before that same friendly and soft smile returns. "I can sense you're distressed, and suffering with cramps, let me just-"
You don't let him finish, storming off, thumping into Uncle Jin on your way to your own room.
"Hey! What's up little Star?" He asks, pausing and watching you thud towards your room.
You don't respond, opting to slam the door in your temper instead.
You sit with your back to your door, crying for a reason you can't quite put your finger on, hugging your knees tight.
"What did you do?!" You hear Dabi's angry hiss through the door.
"Wasn't me, man!" Jin replies defensively. "Blame puberty, jerkwad."