Touya had been dragged away from the others by Tomura when the stupid quirk he'd been hit with decided to announce his suicidal tendencies in the middle of casual conversation.
Luckily, Star was oblivious, completely sucked into the workbook that Spinner was trying to help her through without making her flustered or uncomfortable.
He, however, had heard it and shot Touya a warning look, but there was the undeniable look of pity in his eyes too.
Toga had looked hurt, and Jin had to take himself out, muttering to himself under his breath in several different voices. Compress, at least, pretended not to hear after glancing at him and seeing Tomura's fingers wrapped around his arm, choosing to sit over with Star and Spinner.
As he sits on the edge of their bed, his hands running through his hair, he tries to ignore the burning of Tomura's eyes on him from the door, blocking his exit. Which had probably been a conscious choice. Touya was a flight risk whenever he felt like he was in trouble.
This wasn't meant to happen. None of it was.
"I'm gonna be stuck like this forever, aren't I?" He mopes to himself, not really expecting an answer from his partner.
"I keep telling you to stop frying anyone that annoys you." Tomura says, his voice as even and calm as ever.
"So I was just meanta let him attack Toga?" Touya responds sharply.
"There are other means to immobilize people." Tomura replies, as calculating as ever. "Or you could have just run. You're fast. Toga's agile. You lead with your anger, but you're smart. This may mean you use your head more in the future, at least."
It doesn't help his mood to be told how he reacted was wrong. His temperature begins to spike even higher, smoke leaking through his seams.
Tomura sighs, dropping to a crouched position, draping his arms over his knees and lacing his dangerous fingers together as he stares at Touya.
"Have you tried just getting it all out? There's clearly a lot you're hiding."
"Ain't tellin' you shit." Touya spits despite himself, and the fact he was even able to say it means it's the truth.
Tomura doesn't seem phased by Touya's annoyance at all, just continuing to watch calmly from in front of the bedroom door. It was always like this. He couldn't argue with Tomura if he tried. His anger was always met with nonchalance or patience, which was so far from how Tomura had been when they first met.
"Well. You already started talking about your intentions to burn yourself out, so let's start with that for now."
"It wasn't meant to be like this." Touya whispers in response.
Tomura remains wordless, waiting for him to elaborate.
"I wasn't meant to get attached to anyone." Touya continues, defeated. "Star was an accident but I couldn't just let her be alone on the streets, been through that myself an' it's hell, man."
He's glad that at least the quirk allows him the privacy of some of the things he'd had to experience on the streets growing up instead of letting all of that out too.
"An' she's just so good an' pure it makes everything hurt less just bein' around her, y'know?" He continues.
Touya hates himself for spilling it all out like a broken dam, but it's like he can't stop himself the second he starts.
"She's jus' a kid. Never been loved properly in her life. Breaks my heart. Wanna give her everythin' I never had." Touya chokes at the end of his sentence as he tries to cut himself off from saying anything more.
Tomura nods slightly. "And us?"
"A means to an end." Touya responds before he can stop himself. "Needed a way to get close to him again without giving it all away. Didn't even need that, I know now. Doesn't even recognise me."
He's panicking now, smoke beginning to pour from between healthy and broken skin as his words just keep leaving him and he can't even control the emotion behind them anymore.
"Didn't mean to fall for you." He chokes, trying to stop it coming out. "Tried to stop myself. Fuck!"
Tomura seems as unphased as ever, but that's better than being uncomfortable like he'd been whenever Touya had expressed too much genuine emotion before.
"And the others?" Tomura asks, ignoring what Touya had said completely, which is almost bittersweet.
"Attached to them too." Touya admits reluctantly. "Toga's pretty much my little sis. Compress tries to look after us all like a dad should. Jin's so good with Star, loves her with his whole heart like he loves everyone. Spinner's a good guy, wants the best for all of us."
Tomura nods as he listens to Touya spill out all his true feelings, feelings he'd hidden all this time, not wanting to be vulnerable, not wanting to have what he loved torn away from him once more.
"S' the closest thing to a fuckin' family I've ever had." Touya begins to choke on the smoke rising from his throat the second he even mentions the word.
"You know what family does?" Tomura asks, standing to his full height.
"No." Touya responds honestly before he can stop himself.
Luckily, Tomura doesn't pay it much mind, continuing on as if he'd expected that answer anyway.
"They support each other." Tomura replies, taking careful steps towards Touya. "You don't have to kill yourself to take down whoever 'he' is. Let us help you."
"Wanna do it myself." Touya replies as Tomura stands in front of him.
"You can't. And that's an order." Tomura replies dryly, capturing Touya's scarred chin in his hand quickly. "If we're not enough, then do it for Star."
Touya stares at his lover, his boss, wanting to defy the order, but knowing he's unable to.
Because he used his soft spot against him.
This was the whole reason he had gone so long without getting attached to people, and Tomura had just proved exactly why he should have kept it that way.
"She's already lost one parent. Don't make her go through that again." He says, letting go of Touya's chin.
Tomura remains unphased by Touya's stare, his authority over Touya in this present moment unwavering as the two remain in silence for a couple of moments, tension thick between them.
A knock on the door pulls the two out of their bubble, Tomura glancing at the door with confusion set behind his red eyes.
"Yes?" He calls out, holding a hand towards Touya as a silent gesture to stay seated.
"Can I come and see Dabi, please?" A small, young voice comes through the door. Star.
Tomura glances at Touya, raising one of his scarred and wrinkled brows as if to silently ask if Touya wants that to happen. Touya tries to control his body temperature a little more, willing the thin streams of smoke to disappear so that little Star isn't too worried when she comes in.
He nods, wanting to see the little ray of sunshine, to feel better about having spilled more than he should have to Tomura.
Tomura sighs, although somehow manages to do it solely through an exhale in his nose so that it's not too audible, aware that something as simple as a sigh could set Star off in a spiral of fear about being unwanted if she were to hear it.
"Come in." He says, sitting in his office chair.
Star comes in immediately after being given permission to, looking around the room curiously, as if expecting to have seen a scene or something secret. There's nothing there though, just Tomura and Touya, and a heavy atmosphere between them that Touya can't tell whether he's imagining or not.
"What's up, Starshine?" Touya asks her, trying to sound upbeat.
"Spinner taught me how to write something in English and I wanna show you!" She says, immediately moving to join Touya on the bed.
"Careful." Tomura warns from where he's sitting. "Your dad's running a little hot."
"Okay!" She chimes, leaving a cautious amount of space between herself and Touya, peering over at Tomura cautiously before whispering to Touya: "Did you fight?"
"No, darlin'." He reassures her. "Just stressin' about work stuff."
Apparently that was just the right amount of truth for him to actually be able to say it. He can even see the interest die inside Star's eyes at his answer.
For such a curious kid, she never prys too much into their 'work'. A blessing, really.
Instead of asking him any more questions, she hands him a piece of paper with messily scribbled English on it, the letters completely foreign to him, no matter how much he tries to understand it or translate even one of the four words written on the scrap piece of paper.
"Wha's it say, doll?" He asks, looking at her little face, her shining eyes meeting his.
"It says: 'I love you, Dabi'!" She exclaims, pointing at each word and translating it into Japanese for him.
Emotion forms as a lump in the back of his throat as she does it and then looks up at him again with the purest look of excitement on her face he'd ever seen.
He's going to cry, he can't stop himself. He's never been good at handling his emotions, as shown from the mottled skin barely clinging to his body thanks to a few pieces of metal.
He'd never cried in front of Tomura before though, and Tomura was hardly an expressive person outside of indifference and hatred.
He tries so desperately to swallow it all away, to blink it away, trying to keep his face stoic and his voice even as he asks: "Can I keep this?"
"Mhm! It's yours!" She nods enthusiastically.
He nods slowly, folding the paper up carefully and sliding it into his pants pocket.
How did this kid always seem to do things to help without even realising that's precisely what she's doing? She's completely oblivious to what Tomura and Touya had been discussing, but it was as if she knew she was the only thing keeping Touya on this earth, and she knew precisely how to drive that point home.
Her sense of timing is almost too perfect.
A warm trickle down the clear skin of his cheek gives away the fact he'd failed at keeping himself stoic, and just like she always did whenever this happened, she panics.
"You're bleeding!" She exclaims, reaching for his face.
"Cryin', baby girl." He corrects, that damn quirk speaking for him once more.
"Crying? But you're bleeding, not crying." She says, concern heavy in her voice.
"Tear ducts are fucked." He replies, wiping his cheek angrily. "Don't repeat that."
"I know, pawpaw." She says patiently, understanding the fact he couldn't control what he says at the moment even at her young age. Ever the good kid. "...Does it hurt?"
"Naw, just embarrassin'." He replies honestly again.
She curls her arms around him, pressing her little face into his side as he wraps an arm around her, too.
"Dabi's sad." She says, seemingly pointed towards Tomura. "You're meant to give him a hug."
"He needs you more than me." Tomura says calmly.
"Nuh-uh." Star argues, moving her face to glare at him, even with Touya's hand in her hair to try and encourage her back to his side.
Touya's about to tell her to stop arguing when Tomura gets up from his seat and settles down next to Touya's other side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and tugging him against Tomura's sculpted chest, Star giggles slightly when she gets dragged along with him thanks to Touya's arm being draped around her.
Cracked lips press against Touya's head, pulling at a couple of strands of his hair slightly.
"See? Supported." Tomura says quietly, the smug smirk audible in his voice.
"Shut up." Touya bites back, although it's less venomous than he'd been earlier.
As much as he enjoyed being held between the two, as much as he felt like he could be being loved right now, one thought remained at the back of his mind...
If it was really that easy to love and support him, why hadn't it happened sooner?