A Lost Creation

Truth Hurts

You carry your ducky over to Hakuchō too, sitting beside her shyly as she jots something down on the iPad thing, leaning a little closer to her when she spins it around to face you.

'What's with the teddy? Are you scared of being here?'

She passes you the pen when you look back up at her, and you gently begin writing your answer on the screen, sticking your tongue out slightly as you try to be as careful as possible with her toy, kind of knowing how expensive they were from adverts you'd seen on TV.

'My tummy hurts because I'm having a period, Dabi got me this ducky when I had my first one.' You write back.

She looks a little surprised when she reads your response, her wings fluffing slightly behind her, which distracts Hawks from his conversation with Dabi momentarily, his golden eyes moving to check you both over quickly.
They were talking about the news or something boring, in all honesty you tended to ignore Dabi and his work friends when you were here.

'Did you learn any new games?' She writes, leaning her face on her other hand while watching you write your answer.

'Himiko and Uncle Jin taught me charades.' You reply.

She smiles softly and then mimes 'movie' at you, and you beam and nod in response to show you understand. Her grin widens slightly before she begins writing again.

'Maybe next time we can play that. Do you know tic tac toe?'

You shake your head,and she nods understandingly, beginning to draw out a diagram on the screen and drawing an 'x' and 'o' on the side, with a star doodled next to the 'x'.
She writes a brief explanation on how to play before handing you the pen and gesturing for you to make the first move.
You draw an 'x' on one of the far corners, looking at her to make sure that you did the right thing. She gives you a patient nod and marks an 'o' next to your 'x'.

You end up taking a long time between each move to think things through properly, but it works because you win two times before Hakuchō finally wins.
She shakes her head in amusement, about to erase the marks again when Spinner pokes his head around the door.

"I'm free to take Star back now." He says. "Oh, hey Hawks."

Hawks greets him back cheerfully, fully leaning back in his seat now as though he'ss the most relaxed you could possibly be while sitting opposite Dabi, who didn't seem to like him very much.
You make a facial expression of annoyance. You wanted to carry on playing with Hakuchō, you were winning as well as having fun.
In a desperate attempt to at least get one more game out of Hakuchō, you slide your duck to Dabi on the table.

"Can you warm it up again before I go?" You ask sweetly.

"Not your personal heater, kid." Dabi replies, but presses the teddy to his own stomach as Spinner wanders over, crouching and leaning on the table between Dabi and Hawks.

Hakuchō holds up a finger, motioning that there's only going to be one more game and you nod. Before she starts the next game she looks over at Spinner and begins writing on the screen again.

'Are you happy leaving with him?' She asks.

You nod, feeling your cheeks heat and your throat struggle to swallow as you assume she's referring to what she had spoken about last time you'd seen her.
Remembering that she asked you if you'd kissed him makes you feel humiliated all over again.
You motion for her to give you the pen, which she does without question.

'We sing songs in the car.' You write simply.

She gives a sad smile when she reads the answer for some reason, taking the pen from you gently and beginning the final game.
You feel like she deliberately loses this game as you make a mistake and accidentally give her the chance to put three of her circles in a row, but she doesn't take it.
The second you win and give a gleeful grin, Dabi slides your duck back to you.