Through the Years

Fights

"He's just a little fiery today." He says, trying to make a joke of whatever they'd been arguing about. "Don't worry about it."

"He said you wanted him to be in pain." You say, trying not to be accusatory.

Tomura immediately rolls his eyes. "He's being dramatic. Of course I don't want him to be hurt."

And you'd never seen Tomura lay a hand on him like moms boyfriends did with you and her, and even after being yelled at and insulted, Tomura hadn't yelled back, just told Dabi to cool off.
So you believe him, even though the words you'd heard from Dabi are scary.

You lean your head against Tomura's hand, and he immediately starts petting your head as lovingly as he can.

"What were you arguing about?" You ask, trying to soak in the attention as much as possible.

"He was distracted and left something burning on the counters." Tomura tells you. "I made a comment about finding a way to deal with his pain that doesn't turn his brain off and he didn't care for it."

"Oh..." You murmur, not feeling soothed by that, and Tomura brushes his knuckles over your cheek once more before standing up.

"Help me make dinner." He says, which is a gentle order from Tomura unlike the ones you'd seen him give the others over the years.

"Okay. Love you." You say, hoping this might be a rare occasion he says it back and soothes you the way you need to be soothed right now.

"You too, little Star." Tomura replies, his cracked and scratchy lips grazing your temple.

*•*

Dabi comes home late.
Late enough for it to be right on the edge of your curfew when he stumbles through the door, alarming Cloud and making you jump, Tomuras eyes narrowing as he turns his head to look at the door.
Dabi walks into the apartment with his shoes on, swaying a little on his feet and a soft expression on his face as he looks at you curled up on the couch with Cloud loafed up in your lap.

"My darlin' girl." Dabi purrs, taking clumsy steps towards you, completely ignoring Tomura and sitting on the arm of the armchair you're in, draping an arm behind you and kissing all over your head.

"Dad!" You whine, embarrassed.

"Missed ya all day." He slurs, leaning his head on yours. "My lil' baby."

"I'm not a baby." You defend, which just makes Dabi rub his stapled cheek against your head.

"Are too. My baby. Always will be." He defends in return.

"Bedtime, Star." Tomura says, leaning his face on his fist and looking over at you both stoically.

Dabi refuses to let go of you though, his metallic arm tight around your shoulders and his facial staples rubbing against your head still, which definitely meant that you were probably going to have to get him to pull your hair from them gently when he did finally let you go.

"Touya." Tomura says. "Our daughter has to go to bed."

"What'd I say about that?" Dabi asks coldly. "And it ain't 'our'. She's mine. I found her."

"Dad." You whine in embarrassment at the mention of being 'found', despite it being a petulant point on Dabi's end.

"Love you so much." He says, squeezing you.

Tomura gets up, plucking Cloud from your lap and placing him on the floor, holding his hand out for you to take.
You're a little torn. You didn't want to upset Dabi by adhering to your bedtime rules, but you also didn't want to upset Tomura by being disobedient.