You can hear the rumbling of voices as sleep begins to slowly release you from its hold.
You can feel a warm hand stroking your hair gently and rhythmically, and cool skin against your forehead in contrast to the one on your head and in your hair.
Your pawpaws.
You nuzzle, still half asleep, into the cooler skin. You feel the muscle underneath flex as though it'd tensed at your movement.
"Move her away?" You hear Tomura say quietly.
And then you're completely enveloped in warmth, warm arms curling around you and dragging you back against your pawpaw, away from your pa.
The warmth just makes you more sleepy, but the movement stirs you a little more, your consciousness slowly returning to more coherent thought.
"Thought you were in control." You hear Dabi rasp in his attempt of a whisper.
"I am. But I'd rather not take any risks." Tomura whispers back. "Tell me what you've tried already."
"We tried making really nice food. Sweet stuff that kids usually like. We tried leavin' food in her lap to pick at, but she started getting grumpy about it so we hadta stop. We tried bribing her with stuff, alone time with her uncle paintin', her Switch, goin' to see the ducks... But that jus' got her all stressy 'cause she couldn't force herself to eat an' then would get sad about not havin' those things."
Tomura hums, and you feel his cold knuckles brushing over your cheek faintly.
"Told her if she got better we'd get her a cat." Dabi admits quietly, sounding like he might be smirking.
Tomura snorts. "I'd prefer a dog."
"Too bad. If ya hadn'tve fucked off, you mighta got a say in it." Dabi says, and the tone of it sounds like he might be mad.
At this point, you are awake. You decide to keep your eyes closed though and feign sleep, knowing that by the fact that Dabi had sworn you weren't meant to be hearing this conversation.
Tomura doesn't react to the snarky dig, or stop caressing your cheek gently.
"For me, it was a control thing." Tomura whispers, ignoring the jibe completely. "I felt like I had no control over anything, but the one thing I could control was that."
Dabi is quiet, but he squeezes you a little tighter and you grumble, trying to make it sound sleepy, but feeling like they're definitely talking about you and you are not enjoying it.
Dabi just gives a quietly amused huff, and kisses your head softly, before addressing Tomura again.
"That'd make sense. She's not had control over anything from the sounds of it." Dabi replies. "Said they've taken her quirk, that they locked her in a fuckin' room. Can you believe that? Like she's a prisoner."
"You'll get hot and wake her up." Tomura warns. "Just leave it to her. She'll eat when she wants to, for now, keep doing what you're doing."
You're thankful that Tomura doesn't want to force you to eat like the others had bordered on doing. He was right, you could eat when you wanted to. You'd had some fruit and pancakes at Giran's just fine. But the more they pestered you about eating, the less you wanted to do it, and the more anxious you felt about it.
"You're in control?" You hear Dabi ask quietly.
"Yes, Dabi."
Dabi goes quiet for a bit again, and you shift to turn around to cuddle up to him properly, making sure to pretend you're asleep when you do it. His warm arms wrap around you, and you feel his face bury into the top of your head, his staples snagging in your hair a little bit.
He takes a deep breath against your head before looking up again, leaning his metal-lined cheek against your head.
"I feel useless." Dabi whispers, his voice sounding like it's going to give out.
You grip him tighter on instinct, and he shushes you, like he thinks you're having a nightmare.
"Come here." You hear Tomura order softly, and you feel then feel him shift slightly next to you
Dabi moves carefully too, letting go of you to lean closer to Tomura. But there's a sharp movement from Tomura shortly after that jostles the bed, and you take the chance to feign waking up at that, blinking your eyes open in faux weariness and looking at Dabi.
"Well that's new, exciting and fun." Dabi says dryly, staring dead-eyed at Tomura before looking down at you with kindness. "Hey sleepin' beauty. Good nap?"
You nod, holding onto him and looking at Tomura, who looks like his head has been snapped to one side, like mom sometimes looked when her boyfriends hit her. He looks dead behind the eyes too as he stares at nothing, which is making you nervous.
You didn't hear Dabi hit him, and you didn't think Dabi would hit him, but you were seeing a lot of parallels that you couldn't ignore.
You reach one hand towards Tomura, but Dabi gently catches your wrist and brings it back to your lap, shaking his head down at you when you look up at him curiously.
"He's sleepy hon, best ta leave him alone." He says, brushing his thumb over the tube along your cheek.
"He's awake though." You say, looking at Tomura again. His eyes were definitely open, he just looked like he had frozen like the TV used to sometimes. "'Mura?"
Fluorescent eyes snap to you, and you barely even have time to even widen your own eyes before Dabi's scooped you up, gotten the two of you out of the bed and carried you out of the room, leaving Tomura alone in there.
"Hey!" You whine.
"Don't start." He says simply. "Don'tcha wanna go see the others? They've missed ya."
"But something's wrong with pa..." You worry, looking over Dabi's shoulder at the room you'd been rushed out of.
"I told you, Star, he's sleepy." Dabi replies, dropping you onto your feet carefully once you get to the bottom of the staircase.
You groan as an anxiety induced nauseous wave hits you, and Dabi sighs, dropping to a crouch and cupping your face in his warm hands and looking at you with serious pale blue eyes amongst the darkness of his scarring, old and new.
"Please try not to hurl, doll. I'm worried about you havin' enough food in your tummy anyway." Dabi sighs. "Tomura's fine, he's just got some adult stuff goin' on right now."
"Adult stuff?" You repeat uncertainly.
"Yeah." Dabi nods. "He ain't himself right now. So we gotta give him a lil' space from time to time at the minute. Got it?"
"Is he mad at me?" You ask quietly, with the conversation you shouldn't have heard fresh in your mind.
"Hon, you just got back. Why the hell would he be mad at you?" Dabi replies a little tiredly. "Relax doll, you're home."
He kisses your forehead quickly and then stands, ruffling your hair affectionately, although he doesn't do it as playfully as he used to anymore.
He tilts his head towards the recreational room, beckoning for you to come and join, which you do automatically, walking a little quicker when you hear Himiko's enthusiastic voice.
When you walk in, you see Zero having his hair done by Himiko again while Spinner plays a game on the TV.
Zero doesn't turn to look, so he doesn't mess up Himiko's job on his hair, but Himiko turns to look with a wide grin, which only drops for a brief moment when her eyes rest on you, and then it's back to her usual wide grinning.
"Lil' sis! You're back!" She exclaims, dropping Zeros hair and capturing you in a tight hug. "I missed you so much!"
This reaction from Himiko then piques Spinners attention, and he immediately pauses his game, turning his head to look in the direction of the commotion. His eyes widen and he squeaks out the word 'woah', only to quickly snap his mouth shut when he locks eyes with Dabi behind you.
He gives you an easy smile, a look of sadness in his eyes.
"Welcome back, Star. It's nice to see you." He greets.
"Hello." You greet shyly, expecting Zero to say something or even give you a look, but he doesn't. "Can I give you a hug?"
He looks surprised initially, but gives you a soft smile and nods, sitting up so that he's no longer laying across the settee.
Himiko lets go of you reluctantly so you can give Spinner a hug with burning cheeks.
You approach him cautiously. You rarely gave Spinner hugs, so it was always a little bit awkward when you did, but you still didn't feel like any of this was real. You wanted to make sure you gave them all hugs to make sure they wouldn't vanish into thin air.
You wrap your arms around his shoulders, and he wraps his arms around you carefully, not even squeezing you like the others always do. He just rubs your back carefully with one of his clawed hands a couple times before pulling away from you and looking at your face with concerned eyes.
"We were worried about you." He says genuinely. "I've never seen Dabi so... pent up."
"I wanted to come home so I was really bad, but they wouldn't let me." You explain. "I even bit Endeavor!"
"You bit him?" Spinner asks, clearly amused. "Well done. High five."
You eagerly slap your hand against Spinners, drawing the attention of the others in the room.
"What're you high fiving about?" Himiko asks curiously, taking a hairband from Dabi, who has somehow been roped into Zeros makeover.
"Star biting Endeavor." Spinner snorts, smirking despite his previous concern.
Dabi chuckles again at the memory of you telling him, a genuinely warm grin tugging at the staples on the corners of his mouth for the first time since you had woken up from your nap, his foot tapping against the floor a couple of times.
"Yeah, she's great. A real good kid. I'm so gonna adopt her for that one." He says, grinning and still chuckling to himself.
You beam at the fact everyone seemed pleased by this, even Himiko was giggling at the idea of you biting him, even if he was your real grandpaw.
You look at Spinner again, and his eyes are on the medical tube on your face. You touch it self consciously, but Spinners face lightens up again and he points to his face, where it'd be on his face.
"I like your band aids." He says.
"Thank you." You reply, getting all shy again. "I had to choose between bunnies and chickens."
Spinner nods empathetically. "Hard choice!"
You hum, touching the tube again. "I chose the bunnies because they reminded me of my pyjamas from home."
Spinner gently moves your hand away from the tube, giving you an apologetic smile when you get all flustered.
"Don't touch it just in case you accidentally pull it, okay? Don't want you hurt." He explains, leaning back on the couch again.
"A lady that looks like you put it in." You tell him.
"Oh yeah?" He asks, actually looking interested. "Was she nice?"
You nod your head. "She was the nicest nurse. She let me talk about everyone, and called me Star when I asked her to."
"That's good, Star." Spinner smiles. "Are you still sick?"
"No... I just can't eat." You lament.
Spinner's smile falls too, and he leans forward to rub your arm reassuringly. "Aw, it's okay. Have you tried shakes, or soup?"
You nod, cautiously settling down on the couch next to him. "I've been having fruit shakes."
"Have you tried protein shakes?" He asks, smiling softly at you.
You shake your head.
"Some are pretty gross, but I got a nice one recently. It's oreo flavored. Wanna try some?" Spinner asks kindly.
"Oreo?" You ask thoughtfully, and then think on it for a moment after Spinner nods. "Does it smell?"
Spinner blinks in confusion and then laughs in surprise and rubs the back of his neck. "Not that I've noticed?"
You think about it a little more, thinking about how nice it was for Spinner to offer you something of his, and a little bit of you wanted to impress him as well, so you nod.
"Okay." You agree, apparently to his surprise.
He grins, the sight of it making your face all hot again, and he pats your head carefully. "I'll be right back then, Star."
And then he gets up off of the sofa, leaving his game on pause, and the others watching curiously as he passes, Dabi's eyes on him for longer than the others are. You wander over to them as Dabi heads off towards the direction Spinner went in. You sit cross legged beside Zero, trusting him to keep you safe in Dabi's absence even while Himiko does his hair, leaning your head against his arm.
"Hello, Star." Zero greets, his head still straight but his eyes moving to rest on you. "Did you rest well?"
"Mhm. I think something's wrong with Tomura, though." You murmur, looking up at him. "Your hair looks pretty."
Himiko squeals in excitement at the compliment of the job she'd done. Today she was braiding it, the braids running all the way down the length of his hair.
"I'll do yours next!" Himiko says excitedly. "I missed you so much, being surrounded by boys was boring. They never want to talk about love or let me do their makeup or hair."
"I always let you." Zero reminds her.
"You don't count." She replies, nuzzling her cheek lovingly against the braided side of Zero's hair. "Anyway! Everyone was worried about getting you back Star, we were looking really, really hard. Where did you go?"
"To the hospital, and then I had to go to Hawks' house. It sucked." You reply poutily. "They were all mean. They kept putting me to sleep for being bad, and then they took my quirk away and locked me in a room."
"You don't have a quirk anymore?" Himiko asks curiously, tilting her head and pausing mid-braid.
You shake your head, raising your hand to hold Zero's stitched wrist, and focus really hard on trying to make your quirk manifest, to make a green aura appear, or even just make him a little bit sick, but nothing happens, so you let go again.
Zero seems to be trusting, not even flinching when you attempt to use your quirk, regardless of the fact your quirk wasn't working.
"See?" You huff.
Himiko hums, and falls quiet as she continues to plait Zero's hair, a dark look on her face for once. She's frowning slightly, and her feline eyes aren't as sparkly and bright as usual. It looks like she's deep in thought.
"Hawks did that?" She asks after a while, her voice completely different to how it usually sounds. She almost sounds a little scary.
"I don't remember." You reply honestly, pressing your cheek harder against Zero's arm, silently requesting a half-hug.
"I'll kill him." She says simply, her voice dark as she says it. But then she perks back up again, all smiles and sparkly, yellow eyes once more. "All done, Zero! Star, get the mirror, get the mirror!"
You reach forward to get the mirror and pass it to Zero wordlessly, looking at the job Himiko did yourself. His hair looks pretty in the two braids that she's pulled all his hair into, and it reveals his face properly, showing off how soft his features are and how pretty he himself is, even with the stitches.
He hums a little to himself, his eyes scanning the mirror wordlessly, his constant smile faltering a little bit, and then returning as he tilts his head back to look at Himiko.
"Could you show me how to do my hair like this, Himiko?" He asks, getting an enthusiastic squeal from Himiko as she nods her head vigorously.
"Hug?" You ask Zero, pulling on his shirt sleeve now that he wasn't getting his hair done.
"Of course, little Star." Zero replies, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you closer to his side.
Toga flops over both of your laps too, beaming up at you with her sharp teeth fully on show. You poke them playfully and she pretends to nip your fingers. Dabi reappears and flicks her forehead as he settles down next to you, sitting on the floor even though there's lots of space on the couches in the room.
Himiko whines and flicks him directly on a staple with a twisted giggle, making him hiss in pain before he's smirking too and then suddenly they're play fighting. Well, at least you hope they're play fighting. Himiko's giggling madly, and Dabi seems to be grinning himself, so you think it's okay.
A glass appears in front of you, full of a milkshake-looking liquid with a straw poking out of it. You look up to see Spinner smiling down at you.
"The shake. Wanna try it?" He asks as Dabi and Himiko get louder with their play fight. "If you don't like it, that's okay. I'll have the rest."
"Okay. Thank you." You say, taking the glass in both of your hands.
Spinner pats your head with his taloned hand gently before stepping over Zero's shoulder carefully, ignoring Himiko and Dabi as they continue to push each other and returns back to his game, not paying you any mind as you take a tentative sip of the drink.
It tastes a little funny at first, but it's not awful, and it's nice to have something different to the fruit shakes you'd been having. Zero begins to pet your hair softly as you drink it more and more, and Dabi and Himiko stop their game.
The more you drink, the more affection Zero seems to be showing you, even kissing the top of your head lightly, and even Dabi rubs your back a couple of times before kissing your cheek, narrowly avoiding the tube taped there.
"Gonna go see how 'Mura's doin', sweetheart, okay?" He asks.
"Mhm." You nod. "If he's better can I show him my drawings?"
"Of course, hon." Dabi replies, standing without making any comment or pressuring you to carry on drinking the shake.
Himiko begins chatting excitedly about what you should draw now you're back, laying her head in your lap again and looking up at you with a big grin and rosy cheeks. Spinner peers over at you occasionally, and smirks every time he sees that the shake's gone down more and more.
You're so thoroughly distracted by the conversation between Himiko and Zero that you don't even see the look exchanged between Dabi and Spinner across the room, Dabi giving him a lazy thumbs up before leaving the room.