"So, what's your name then? Just Star?" Hakuchō asks as you walk a little way away from Dabi and Hawks.
You nod, looking over anxiously at Dabi.
Hakuchō is a little less forceful than her dad, keeping a respectable distance between you both, but her eyes feel heavy on you, like she's watching you carefully to see if you do something wrong.
"Don't you talk?" Hakuchō asks, but she doesn't sound judgemental about it. "I know Dabi said he can use JSL, but I don't know it. Sorry..."
"JSL?" You ask curiously as she settles down on a seat, draping her wings over the back of it.
"Japanese sign language." She replies patiently, making gestures with her hands and looking at you analytically again.
"Oh." You reply, staying standing. "...Dabi is smart."
You hadn't known that about him, though, and you wonder how she did. You glance over at him, but he seems to be fully invested in his conversation with Hawks.
"I can talk." You say, finally remembering she asked you a question.
"Are there any other kids to play with?" She asks, looking around the thinning crowd almost exaggeratedly.
"I saw a few babies, but there's not many people our age..." You murmur. "I can see if Himiko wants to play too if you want?"
Hakuchō looks a little scared, her face draining of colour slightly. "No, that's fine."
"Uncle Jin sometimes plays with me." You suggest instead. "We play Go Fish!"
"It's okay." She grimaces slightly. "Uh, what do you want to play?"
"I'm not sure." You reply. "I'm not used to playing yet. Jin and Himiko are trying to teach me, though."
She looks a little exasperated, her wings sagging slightly behind her. She looks away for a split second, seeming to take a deep breath.
"They teach you any special games?" She asks, sounding uncomfortable.
"Like what?" You ask, cocking your head. "'Mura lets me play shrines with him sometimes. But other than that I don't think there are any special games..."
She mutters something you don't pick up on under her breath, speaking a little louder immediately after.
"How about we get to know each other a little more and then play?" She asks.
"Okay." You agree with a nod, behaving like you knew Dabi would want you to.
She goes quiet again for a moment, but her eyes remain fixed on you as if she's trying to see through you, her stoic face almost enough to rival Dabi's.
"You said you play Go Fish? Where's your cards, at home?" She asks.
You nod. "Uncle Jin cheats and folds the corners."
She blinks at this random bit of information. "Uh... okay. Is your home far from here?"
You shrug noncommittally. You didn't really know.
"Can I touch your wings?" You ask, tired of waiting for her to give you a chance to ask a question like Tomura did whenever he played this game with you.
"My wings?" She asks, frowning in confusion. "Uh, sure. Just don't do anything weird."
"Weird like what?" You ask, frowning straight back at her.
"I dunno. Anything you might've picked up from the others." She sighs, moving a wing to be outstretched towards you. "Go wild. Just don't touch the center of my back."
"Deal!" You agree, throwing all caution to the wind in order to touch the pretty, white wings on her back.
They're not nearly as soft as they look, though. They're quite coarse and brittle under your fingertips in comparison to the cloud-like texture you'd expected.
You continue petting the feathers softly though, not wanting to be rude. They shimmered really nicely if they caught the light right, like there was glitter in them.
"Do you have an angel quirk?" You ask innocently.
"What? No." She snorts. "They're just strong wings."
You nod. "Are you a bird like Hawks, then?"
"No." She rolls her eyes. "He's not a bird, either."
"Oh." You murmur, letting go of her wing. "Spinner has a gecko quirk and I guess he looks like a lizard so it makes sense that you're not birds..."
"Yeah? You go touching on him and calling him a lizard, then?" She asks, trying to joke with you, but the comment about touching Spinner sets you off, your face heating up immediately.
"No!" You deny immediately.
"Why'd you look like that?" She asks. "Are you lying or something?"
You shake your head fervently, looking over at Dabi and taking a small step towards him. You didn't like it when Dabi teased you about Spinner, never mind when a stranger did it.
"Don't." She says, folding her wing back and reaching for you, only for you to shy away from her fingertips fluidly.
You stand, looking between her and Dabi uncertainly.
She doesn't push the matter, withdrawing her hand and taking a deep breath, giving a small smile.
"Sorry." She apologises. "Do you like Spinner? Is that why you're all embarrassed?"
You shake your head and look at the floor, your face getting hotter and hotter by the minute.
Because you keep your eyes trained on your feet, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably, you don't see her cringe before she asks the next question.
"So, have you kissed him yet?" She asks, the question sounding a little forcefully cheery.
"Ew! No!" You exclaim, jumping back to life. "Kissing is gross! Plus, Dabi said Spinner's too old for me!"
She blinks. "He did? I mean, he is, but-"
"Have you kissed a boy yet?" You ask, pointing at her accusingly.
She recoils a little, looking over at Dabi and Hawks who have begun looking over at you both curiously as you begin exclaiming, Dabi's eyebrow raised.
"Let's change the subject." She pleads.
You hum judgmentally. She didn't answer the question, which means it's a yes.
She seems just as out of practice at talking to other people her age as you, as she visibly struggles to find any other topics she could ask you about. She looks over towards Dabi and Hawks again as you sit opposite her, swinging your legs.
"I think Hawks likes Dabi." She admits.
"Dabi's nice." You nod. You can't imagine many people not liking him. He even won over Tomura, who was hard to impress.
"Not like that." She sighs. "Like likes, look."
You follow her line of sight, spotting Hawks leaning on Dabi and holding onto his arm even though Dabi looks annoyed.
You frown. Not even Tomura hung off Dabi like that. Asides from you, everyone respected his space for the most part.
"Oh."
"Yeah." She replies, looking at you like she can see through you again. "We might be sisters soon."
You shake your head. "Nuh-uh. Dabi is boyfriends with Tomura."
"Tomura? As in Tomura Shigaraki?" She squeaks. "Are you sure?"
You nod. "I saw them kiss this morning, it was gross."
She looks over at Hawks as though she's torn between going over there or staying with you. You can tell she wants to tell Hawks to cut it out, because she looks embarrassed and maybe even a little scared.
You could understand that, Tomura was a little scary. You definitely wouldn't want to be the one that made him mad.
"'Mura wouldn't like that." You comment in an attempt to continue the conversation.
She grimaces and looks at you, forcing another smile.
"How about we play now? What games do you know?" She asks, clearly desperate to change the topic.
"I know tag?" You reply unconfidently.
That was the only game the others had taught you that you could probably play right now.
You'd have to be careful of the few stragglers that were still hanging around in the room, though.
"Alright. Yeah, we could do tag." She agrees with a nod, standing and shaking her wings out behind her. "You're 'it'."
In a split second she's up in the air and out of your reach. You huff in annoyance, you'd practiced this before with Tomura and Spinner, but neither of them could fly.
Both Dabi and Hawks look over at her as she flies, no-one else in the room seems bothered by it, and she seems to be flying straight for Hawks, his expression changing as he realises this, and Dabi smirking in amusement at you as you run after her.
Hakuchō pats his arm and shakes her head, miming cutting her throat as she flits past him quickly, Dabi too busy watching you darting after her with a smirk to have noticed.
Hakuchō pauses in the air and watches you approach her with a frown.
"Get her, Star!" Dabi calls, tittering slightly afterwards.
You jump, trying to grab her ankle which was just within reach, but she hovers just a little higher just in time, smiling down at you.
"Close!" She says encouragingly, before twisting in the air and flying off for a bit before landing on the floor and running.
With her on the floor, you have a better chance, using the few people left behind from the big meeting to hide when she stops to try and find you in the room.
It works, the bigger bodies making excellent shields and hiding you from her vision as you stalk towards her, waiting until there are no more adults to hide behind before sprinting towards her.
Her back is turned to you, her wings big enough to block any peripheral vision she might have and working to your advantage as you run through the large open area towards her.
You tap her arm gently, but activate your quirk like Tomura taught you, cheerily exclaiming 'caught you!'.
She immediately almost falls, your quirk having knocked her sense of balance, and twists her ankle, yelping in pain and drawing Hawks' attention once more.
She struggles to turn to face you, a look of confusion on her face, her hand going over her mouth.
You squeal when you're suddenly being yanked away from Hakuchō painfully by your arm, your shoulder screaming out in pain as angry golden eyes glare down at you through messy blonde waves.
Suddenly, you're little again and in trouble with one of your moms boyfriends, and you whimper fearfully.
"What did you just do?" Hawks asks darkly.
You feel the heat of Dabi before you see him, barely registering what had even happened when you suddenly realise you're clinging to his legs, no longer being held onto by Hawks, Hakuchō being sick behind him. His wings look sharper than before, not as fluffy as they were before as he stands before you both now.
"If you ever fuckin' touch her like that again I swear I'll make Hiroshima seem like a fuckin' test drill, you get that, birdie?" Dabi asks, smoke leaking from between his scars and undamaged skin.
"Loud and clear boss." Hawks replies, and your eyes clear enough for you to realise he's being held by the collar by Dabi.
Hakuchō lowers herself to the floor, probably to stabilise herself a bit more.
Dabi's still smoking as he continues to hold Hawks up by the collar, wordlessly staring at him. The collared man raises his hands in surrender and his wings go fluffy again.
"I swear to god, you stupid fucking overgrown pigeon." Dabi hisses, moving Hawks even closer to his face. "If you touch her again..."
Hawks chokes a little on the smoke leaking between Dabi's seams, and you turn your face away, beginning to get a little scared.
People are beginning to gather around now, looking just as angry as Dabi.
"C'mon, just wanted her away from my kid." Hawks continues as Dabi refuses to let go. "You would do the same if the shoe was on the other foot, right?"
"Dabi..." You worry, looking at Hakuchō who's laying on the floor with her hands covering her face.
"If my kid wasn't here..." Dabi warns, shoving Hawks as he lets go.
Hawks almost falls over but manages to use his wings to catch himself, spreading them to block everyone's view of Hakuchō.
Dabi gently pries you off his legs and crouches, placing his hands on your shoulders with steam still coming slowly from his seams.
"Why'd ya use your quirk on Hakuchō, Star?" Dabi asks, his voice completely different to how it was when he was talking to Hawks.
"We were playing tag..." You explain, looking over to what little you could see of Hakuchō between Hawks' lowest feathers.
"Ah." Dabi replies, his eyes sliding to Hawks, too. "You're not meant to use your quirk when you play tag, doll."
"But Tomura-"
"I know he taught ya to, but that's with us only, not other people. Go turn it off." Dabi leads, letting go of you.
You hurry over to Hakuchō, deactivating your quirk and apologising profusely, patting her head shyly and sympathetically.
She slowly begins to sit up, groaning a little, wiping her forehead with her arm.
"See? Simple mistake." Dabi stands, no longer smoking. "No need to go grabbin' her. She's a good kid."
"I was gonna turn it straight off but-" You begin to defend, but Dabi interrupts you.
"I know." Dabi says simply, staring at Hawks who has lowered his wings now she's well enough to stand again.
"I'm sorry Hakuchō, I didn't mean to make you sick..." You apologise. "I just wanted to play."
Hawks shoots her a sharp look, one that makes her smile weakly at you.
"It's okay." She replies. "That's a good quirk. You could be really strong one day."
"And I'm sorry, little Star." Hawks crouches so hes in line with your eye contact, and you duck towards Dabi again. "Shouldn't have grabbed your arm like that. Bird instincts go a bit nuts this time of year."
He reaches his hand out towards you, but Dabi holds his arm out, acting as a barrier between you both and stopping either of you from being able to touch one another.
"She doesn't want you touchin' her. Don't make me say it again." Dabi hisses.
"Its okay..." You reply behind Dabi's arm. "But Hakuchō says you're not a bird?"
"Oh he's a bird, alright, Star." Dabi teases. "A big dumb bird. Bet he flies into windows."
Hawks stutters a little, his big fluffy eyebrows pulling together and apart again.
"Can we go home now? Please?" Hakuchō asks him, giving him a desperate look.
"Yeah! Yeah. Sure. Sorry again, Star. Hey- maybe next time you'll know some new games!" Hawks chirps, and then immediately clears his throat.
"There's not gonna be a next time." Dabi growls.
Your shoulders fall and you look at the floor. You messed up your chance to have a proper friend instead of having to play with family all the time.
"I wouldn't mind playing with Star again." Hakuchō says, and your head snaps back up, hope lifting in your heart.
"There ya go!" Hawks grins, throwing an arm around Hakuchō's shoulders even though she still doesn't look well. "All's well that ends well!"
"You're lucky it ended well. If her other dad were here..." Dabi warns before slamming his mouth shut.
Hawks pays no mind to what Dabi said, already walking away with one arm slung around Hakuchō still.
"Seeya next week!" He calls back to Dabi, who's fists are clenched by his side.
"Asshole." Dabi hisses, looking down at you. "Never say-"
"Any of those words. I know, pawpaw." You finish for him.
"Alright. Attagirl." He sighs, ruffling your hair. "S'pose that went about as well as it could."
"I'm sorry for making you mad." You say as the crowd that had gathered disperses again.
"Wasn't mad at you, Starshine." He reassures you.
"But it's my fault you got mad." You continue as he begins leading you towards where you'd last seen Tomura and the others.
"You're grabbin' at straws, now, Star." He replies dryly. "Let's head back. These guys're all boring anyway."
You hum, not knowing what he was talking about straws for, and too busy feeling bad for making Hakuchō sick to even ask.
Before Dabi had begun to lead you away, someone who looks like they have some kind of cleaning quirk had begun to clean up the mess left behind, so at least you or Dabi didn't have to do that.
"You said Tomura's my other paw-" You begin to say to fill the space between you.
"It was a slip of the tongue, Star." Dabi interrupts as though he had been expecting you to bring it up..
"...Two pawpaws." You whisper to yourself thoughtfully.