When you begin to wake, you're aware of a lot of noise.
The voice yelling is familiar, but you fear you're still half asleep, because in real life, he's gone, and you want to desperately cling to what you had left of him.
You stir a little, tightening your arms around whoever's holding you's neck.
You hoped it was Giran. You needed the comfort of the older man when you woke. You loved the others, but they weren't as soft and as loving with you as Uncle Giran. You knew he'd be just as sad as you too, if he'd found out about Dabi.
In an act of desperation to continue hearing Dabi's voice, even if he was yelling, you keep your eyes closed.
When you readjust yourself, you become conscious of the other voices falling silent, despite Dabi's voice continuing to yell.
"She's waking up." You hear someone that sounds a little like Spinner say, their voice hushed.
No you weren't. No you weren't.
(You were.)
You didn't want to wake up and face the world alone again.
Sure, you were surrounded by the others. You could hear them. One of them was even holding you. But you didn't want them, you wanted Dabi.
"Go outside." You hear the familiar angry hiss from Shigaraki.
"Outside?" You hear Dabi scoff. "I'm bein' plastered on the fuckin' news as a fuckin' paedophile!"
"Dabi." You hear the voice of the person holding you rumble through their chest. It sounds like a warning.
You dont understand why they would interact with Dabi's voice if you were waking up, because they shouldn't be able to hear it.
You know better to get your hopes up though, squeezing your eyes shut tighter and hoping it's just a very realistic dream.
"Fuckin' stole a kid for you- an' now they're claiming we got a fuckin' ring!" Dabi's voice continues to exclaim, and you wonder if the heat rising around you is your imagination too.
"Of course they're lying." Shigaraki hisses back. "Go outside. You're waking her up."
There's huffs, and the sound of sneakers squeaking against the floor, as well as angry grunts.
The person holding you begins petting your hair, 'shh'-ing you despite not having made a sound. You stir a little more, finding a little comfort in having your hair stroked.
"Star." You hear Shigaraki's voice call.
You shake your head, gripping onto whoever's holding you a little tighter.
The person below you sighs, leaning their head on yours.
"Leave her alone." You hear Jin say quietly by your ear.
"Jin..." You mumble, a little sleepily, your face crumpling against his chest.
"Oh sweetheart." You hear Magne say, another hand moving to rub your back.
"It's okay." Jin tries to soothe. "I'm lyin', everything is terrible."
"Jin!" You hear Toga snap just as you begin sobbing fully, fat tears rolling down your cheeks, soaking through Jin's suit.
"You know he can't help it." Magne sighs, continuing to rub your back.
"Star." Shigaraki calls again, sounding a little more irritated.
You move your face away from Jin's chest, sobbing still.
You rub your face with your pyjama sleeves, not wanting to cry in front of them anymore.
It doesn't make any difference though, as you still struggle to collect yourself.
"Go away." You sob, your breathing ragged. You didn't want to talk to Shigaraki right now.
You hear him take a breath, as if to calm himself down.
You realise Jin's taken his mask off, revealing his mass of blonde hair, forehead scar and pitch black eyes as he looks sadly at you.
"Everything's okay, Star." You hear Magne say softly, still gently running her hand up and down your back. "Dabi's fine."
"Uh-uh." You deny, your eyes filling up with even more tears. "I saw it."
"He's fine. Just was sleeping for a little while." She informs you as Jin pets your cheek.
You swat Jin's hand away so you can turn your face, sniffling harshly as you do a head count. Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Toga, Atsuhiro... but no Dabi or Spinner.
You were also in a completely unfamiliar place. It was a bar again, but the surroundings were so much brighter and white.
Kurogiri was behind the bar, as usual, and the flat screen beside him seemed to be playing the news, a random news anchor speaking, the volume having been turned down too much for you to pick up anything he was saying.
"You're lying." You whimper, your bottom lip trembling violently. "And I don't know where we are."
"He's gone outside." Shigaraki grunts. "To collect himself."
"I wanna see him then." You sniff, rubbing your eyes harshly again.
The whole room goes silent, all of them looking awkwardly at each other. This doesn't instill much confidence in what they had said moments before, and that little bit of hope you had been holding onto that it truly was Dabi you'd heard yelling earlier begins wobbling.
Your face crumples again, making Jin's face contort from a look of sadness into a look of panic.
"Shhh. Shh." Magne soothes, bumping her forehead against the side of your head. "We promise he's okay. He'll be back soon."
"Star." Shigaraki states a third time, wrapping his thumb and forefinger around your arm.
You jolt, looking at him in mild alarm.
He looks as mad as usual, but it's clear he has no intention to hurt you, as his other fingers are stretched as far away as he can possibly get them.
"I have questions." He says simply.
"I want my teddy." You demand, albeit weakly. You continue roughly wiping tears away with the arm Shigaraki isn't holding on to.
Shigaraki grumbles a little to himself, looking pointedly at Kurogiri, who nods, warping himself for a second before returning back with your teddy in hand, placing it atop the bar counter next to you.
You take it by its arm gingerly, holding it by your side and rubbing the star on its belly with your thumb.
"Now." Shigaraki says, letting go of your arm. "Did you know you could do that?"
"Do what?" You ask, wishing you were alone so you could stick your thumb in your mouth. You needed comforting, and you needed it now.
"Extend the effect radius, obviously." He huffs.
"What...?" You ask, even more confused.
"What Tomura Shigaraki is trying to say is: 'did you know you could use your quirk on people without touching them?'" Kurogiri corrects calmly.
"Huh?" You ask, feeling the colour drain from your face. "I made someone else sick?"
"You quirked all of us." Toga giggles, swirling her drink with a straw. "You made the old man that knocked Dabi out throw up. It was gross."
"I-I..." You stammer, although none of them looked particularly angry with you.
You were still wrapping your head around what they'd said about Dabi, as well as your new surroundings. No-one had explained what had happened yet.
"That's a no, then." Magne says with a pointed look towards Shigaraki.
"Second question." Shigaraki asks, squeezing your arm slightly before letting go and crouching slightly, much like Dabi did with you. "Anyone here ever done anything to make you feel uncomfortable?"
You hold your teddy a little closer in fear. You knew you had to be honest with Shigaraki, but he was scary, even when he was being nice, and he probably wasn't going to like your answer.
If they were lying about Dabi being okay, the truth may stop you from being able to stay safe with them all too.
You take a deep breath, trying not to spiral. Magne said he was fine, and so did Jin. They had never lied to you before.
"You tried to rot me once, and Toga took Dabi's blood..." You mumble, not outwardly answering the question with a firm yes or no.
Magnes sour look sours even more, her eyes narrowed as she glares at Shigaraki over her sunglasses.
"Did not. If I wanted to ki- If I wanted to rot you, I would have done it." Shigaraki argues a little childishly.
Kurogiri warns him with a call of his name again, making Shigaraki grunt in annoyance.
It was only annoyance though, and not flat out anger, which makes you feel a little better.
"What he means is, has anyone pushed your boundaries and made you upset?" Magne asks softly, moving your hair behind your ear.
"Y'know, like ya don't like people touching you. Anyone touched ya and made you sad?" Jin explains even further, rubbing your back a couple of times.
You shake your head, a little dumbfounded by where this line of questioning had even come from.
"See? Just get them to ask the kid." Shigaraki huffs, standing straight again.
"They'll just say we all groomed her." Magne sighs. "Another please, Kurogiri."
There's a hum of acknowledgement from Kurogiri.
You don't know what they're all talking about, and no-one had explained the change in environment either, yet. You were feeling unsettled and you turn to Jin, sniffling away the last of your tears.
"Where are we?" You ask him quietly, laying your head on his chest again. "Is Dabi really okay?"
"We're in a hotel. He's fine. Promise." Jin says, outstretching his pinky.
You hear his second voice pipe up, but he slams his mouth shut, muffling whatever he was about to say.
You take his pinky in yours and he gives your hands a firm shake, offering you a lazy grin that reminds you a little of Girans.
"Are we staying in the hotel?" You ask, watching Kurogiri pour a drink for Magne.
"Mhm." Jin hums, plopping his chin atop your head. "You and Dabi get to share a room."
"Really?" You ask, more excited than you probably should be.
After all, you had gone from having your own room to having to share with Dabi. Regardless, you'd ended up joining him in his room most nights anyway.
He probably wouldn't be too keen on the idea, but it was exciting for you at least, especially when you had been convinced he wasn't ever going to wake up again.
"I wanna see him." You demand, trying to get off of Jins lap.
He doesn't force you to stay where you are, knowing better than to restrain you.
Magne places a hand on your arm though, holding it just tight enough to stop you from being able to move too much.
"No can do, sweetheart. He needs a few." Magne says. "His head got his pretty hard, you know? And he was all worried about you cause you were out cold for a while too."
You look up and down at her, loosening your grip on teddy.
"You remember anything before you went to sleep?" She asks, holding her arms out for you.
You back away from her, moving closer to Jin again.
Nothing personal, you were just used to hugging Jin, whereas Magne was still new to you. You weren't sure how you felt about being touched by her just yet.
She grimaces a little, but retracts her arms respectfully.
"No. I just remember making the man who hurt Dabi sick. And maybe someone screaming. But I think that might have been me." You admit, embarrassed.
The room goes awkwardly silent again, Jin and Magne staring at Shigaraki, who avoids both of their gazes. Toga giggles a little to herself, and it''s hard to tell what Atsuhiro's looking at with one of his masks on, but he may have been preoccupied with rolling a marble around between his fingers.
Kurogiri changes the channel to cartoons the second the screen changes to an image of some kind of building that had been destroyed.
"Now little Star. Ya gonna be good if I let ya down?" Jin asks, cocking his head at you.
"I'm not a baby." You huff. "I could get down if I wanted to."
He chuckles, his mouth pulling up at one corner only.
"Oh I know! Big brave Star!" He encourages. "But you gotta stay here. 'Kay?"
"Okay. Where are you going?" You ask, climbing off his lap, still gripping your teddys arm.
You were still incredibly unsettled. You didn't understand how you'd randomly appeared in a hotel, with Kurogiri pouring drinks as though nothing had happened, and with the lodgings already all picked out.
You still hadn't seen Dabi despite everyone promising he was okay, or Spinner. You didn't really want to let Jin out of your sight, either, the number of people you're comfortable with in this room is slowly dwindling.
"Gonna go for a smoke. Tell Dabi you're up." He explains, jutting his thumb towards the door. "Better hurry his ass up! Get it together, man!"
"Oops." You and Jin say at the same time, a habit he'd picked up whenever his other voice swore in front of you.
He gives a single laugh, ruffling your hair as he stands. You watch as he leaves the room, holding your teddy to your stomach.
You flop into the seat he'd left, your eyes flicking between the TV above Kurogiri and the door Jin had left through.
It's hard to tell what time it is because of the bright lights in the hotel, and your nap earlier has thrown your body off-schedule.
You rub the ear of your teddy, half listening to and watching everything going on around you.
You're not getting much. Shigaraki, Toga and Atsuhiro are discussing things in low voices, and Kurogiri was fixing a cup of tea, likely for you.
Magne was hanging out beside you, remaining quiet, but from time to time you can feel her eyes on you even when you're not looking at her.
One cup of tea, and a twenty minute cartoon episode later, the door opens, and you swing around to look at whoever it was coming in.
Your face falls when you realise it's just Spinner, and you turn around, rubbing teddy's ear a little harder, more anxiously.
Jin had said he was going to get Dabi, to tell him to hurry up. So where was he?
"Dabi?" You ask as Spinner approaches you.
"He's just having a chat with Twice." He says with a friendly smile. "Nice to see you're awake. Good job back there."
He ruffles your hair much like Dabi does, his talons scratching against your head in a way that isn't totally unpleasant.
You feel your face heat up the second he does it, probably from a mixture of both the words of praise and the touch.
The door opens again, and you spin around expectantly.
This time you're not disappointed, the back of Dabi's head as he closes the door is all you need to hop off the seat, ditch teddy and run full speed towards him.
"Dabi!" You call, slamming your body against his, wrapping your arms around his torso.
You feel him stiffen initially, but he does eventually drop to a crouch, wrapping his arms around you, too. He buries his face into your shoulder, his unruly black hair tickling your cheek.
"I thought you were dead!" You cry, gripping onto him even tighter.
He's quiet for a second, giving you a tight squeeze in return, his body as warm and comforting as always. It was nice to know he was there, firm and real against you.
"It'll take more than that t' kill me, little Star." Dabi says, his voice muffled against your shoulder.
You begin crying again, from sheer relief more than anything else, clinging onto him as he lifts you from the floor, carrying you over to the bar again, refusing to let you go as he sits with you on a bar stool, placing his chin on your shoulder and rubbing your back as you cry.
"S'alright." He whispers. "You're okay."
"I was so scared I'd be alone again!" You sob, pressing your face further into him.
You were a little embarrassed that the others were seeing you like this, but unable to care too much about it in comparison to how relieved you were that Dabi really was okay.
"Never alone wi' us, Star." Dabi promises, leaning his head on yours. "Even if somethin' happened to me, the others would keep ya safe."
There's a few sounds of approval from around you. It was sweet of them to agree, but you didn't want to be left with them, you wanted Dabi to be with you, too.
You don't say that though, knowing better than to offend them all. You just squeeze him again, as if to check he wasn't going to disappear from under your fingertips.
"You should take her to bed." Shigaraki states.
You shake your head. You don't even want to chance whatever nightmares you were bound to have tonight.
Dabi strokes your hair comfortingly.
"Nah." He says simply, moving his face against your head in a way that allows you to feel the line of staples across his cheek.
"You should let her rest. You need to rest too." Magne speaks up, surprisingly seeming to defend Shigaraki.
Dabi squeezes you protectively.
There's a tense atmosphere as Dabi continues to hold you to him, your sobbing slowly having calmed to sniffles.
"C'mon man, it's three a.m." You hear Jin try to encourage.
"Won't be able to sleep anyway." Dabi shrugs, nuzzling his cheek against your head. "Ya tired, Star?"
Reluctantly, you were a little tired. You still felt a little spent from earlier, and you'd cried a lot today.
"A little..." You admit quietly.
Dabi sighs, kissing your temple gently.
"Alri'. If you're sleepy." He mumbles, slowly getting up, not releasing his hold on you.
"Night Star." You hear Spinner say softly.
The others mumble a goodnight to you too as Dabi carries you through the room.
"Which is ours?" He asks, pausing by Shigaraki.
"Room furthest from the elevator." Shigaraki replies absentmindedly, scrolling through his phone.
You carry on clinging to him as he carries you through your new, strange surroundings. You weren't used to the brightness, after getting used to the dim light of the bar previously.
It isn't until you get to the elevator that he begins losing his grip on you, although he does desperately try to keep carrying you.
"You gonna be okay if I put ya down?" He asks, apparently giving up as he struggles to hold you with one arm while reaching to press a button.
"Mhm." You mumble, your sleepiness beginning to hit you a little more now.
Dabi grunts a little as he lowers you to the floor. He does it slowly, making sure you're safely on the ground before releasing you.
You grab ahold of his hand instantly, not wanting to give up contact on him entirely just yet.
He freezes again, but he does wrap his hand around yours in response.
It's warm, and comfortable. It's home.
There's a ding before the door opens, and you follow Dabi inside, jolting when you catch a glimpse of your own reflection in the multiple mirrors in the elevator. It was the first time you'd seen yourself properly in a while.
Your hair's messy, and you're covered in dust. And you look healthier, fuller than how you'd been with mom, or on the streets. You're almost surprised that Dabi had carried you at all. He wasn't strong like Jin, he was built differently. And you knew his scars were fragile.
You look up at Dabi, whose eyes are avoiding the mirrors entirely. He's staring at the floor silently as the elevator takes you up.
The silence makes you a little nervous. He hadn't really spoken to you like he usually would since he'd seen you. And you'd been so excited. So thankful that he was alive.
You were beginning to worry that you'd annoyed him by ignoring his order earlier to get away.
"Are you mad at me?" You ask quietly, joining him in looking at the floor.
"Huh? No." Dabi denies, and you can feel his eyes burning into the side of your head. "Not mad at all, little Star. Heard ya did a good job of gettin' everyone outta that sticky situation. I'm proud of ya."
He ruffles your hair again. It's a little rougher than usual, almost a little forced.
You're unconvinced, keeping your eyes trained on the floor to avoid looking at Dabi.
You can still feel those burning blue eyes on you though, and hear just the slightest of sighs leave him as the elevator dings again, and the doors slide open.
You allow him to pull you towards the room Shigaraki had rather vaguely described, glancing out of the corners of your eyes at the hallway.
Just like everything else, it was white, with fluorescent lights that made everything feel so much brighter and more clinical than homely. Even the doors were white.
When you finally get into the room, you look around shyly, Dabi letting go of your hand to check the room. He even lifts the mattresses and presses his finger against the mirror in the bathroom, which seemed pretty weird.
"Alright." He shrugs. "Guess this is home for now. Whaddaya think, doll?"
"It's white." You reply dully.
"Sure is." Dabi sighs. "Hurtin' my eyes, ain't gonna lie princess. Maybe Magne was right after all."
He mutters something that sounds like 'I hate that' under his breath.