You wake up, like usual, in the middle of the night.
Although this time, you hadn't had a dream about your mom, which was nice. Something else had made you stir awake instead. You blink a couple of times, yawning, and turn around with the full intention to drop back off because you were definitely sleepy enough to do that.
But as you turn over, you catch sight of a dark human-shaped shadow in the room, and pause, slowly turning your head to look at it properly.
When you blink a couple of times and the shadow doesn't disappear you scream, loudly.
It takes next to no time at all for Dabi to come rushing into the room, blue flames licking at his skin all the way up one of his gnarled arms, highlighting Zero's features in the dark.
"What the fuck man?" Dabi asks angrily. "What're you doing in here?"
Uncle Jin and Himiko come stumbling in as well, Himiko holding a knife and her teeth bared while Uncle Jin seems to be weaponless, and instead of standing with Dabi and Himiko, he looks over at you, trembling and clutching the sheets up to your neck and comes over to comfort you, picking you up so he can get onto your bed with you, holding you close and shushing you.
"You told me to keep an eye on her." Zero replies calmly. "Did I misunderstand?"
"Uh, yeah?" Dabi snaps. "During the day, idiot! You can't jus' hang around in the dark while she's sleepin'. She's got issues with men bein' in her space as it is."
"I apologise." Zero says, still completely calm even though Dabi's really angry.
Dabi's flames are gone, though, and Toga's put her knife on your bedside table in favour of climbing onto your bed with Jin, too. It's a little cramped, but you feel better the more people that join. You hadn't been scared of Zero before now, he seemed really nice, just like Kurogiri, which was what Dabi had said. But Kurogiri had never come into your room at night and made you remember waking up to a big man touching you in your sleep.
"Jus' go to your room and stay there 'til morning." Dabi snaps again.
"Of course, Dabi." Zero says, still calm with no sign of getting any angrier even though Dabi's telling him off. "I apologise for distressing you, Star. I misunderstood the order given to me."
"Go." Dabi growls.
You see Zero's shadow moving in the darkness, opening the door and revealing that he's still in the clothes he was in when you met him. You cuddle a little closer to Jin, looking over at Dabi, who's wiping a hand over his face in exasperation, his touch seeming to get a little softer when his hand gets closer to his scars.
His expression softens when he looks over at you and sees how frightened you are, curled up in between Himiko and Jin.
"You guys can go." He says with a sigh. "Wanna have a sleepover, little Star?"
You nod eagerly, reaching for him like a toddler reaches for its parent for comfort. And even though you were getting too big and too heavy to be carried by him, he still picks you up from your bed with a little grunt, leaning his cheek on your head as he carries you to his room.
Uncle Jin and Himiko call a soft goodnight to you before returning back to their own rooms, Spinner and Atsuhiro watching from outside their doors.
You cling to Dabi wordlessly until he gently drops you onto his bed, tucking you under the sheets and then grabbing a shirt and pulling it on before laying atop the sheets next to you, immediately petting your hair when you roll over to press your face into his side.
"He wasn't gonna hurt you, hon." He reassures you quietly. "He's here to look after you an' everyone else, but he's still got a little to learn, so he's gonna make mistakes for a lil' while."
"He was in my room..."
"I know, hon." Dabi sighs, kissing your head. "Wasn't gonna do anything though. I promise. You think I'd lie to you?"
You shake your head.
"There ya go then." He says, leaning his cheek against your head, the staples scratching you a little bit. "You gotta be patient wi' him 'til he settles in. The more he learns the better it'll be. Promise."
"But you weren't patient, you swore at him." You reply quietly.
"Yeah, well, he upset my lil' Starshine." Dabi says, squeezing you a little bit. "Nobody upsets you an' gets away with it."
There's a short pause before he adds: "Don't wanna hear you swearin', though. Ever. So don't repeat what I said ta him earlier."
Now's your time to pause. You hadn't realised you weren't allowed to swear ever. If Re-Destro tells Dabi that you swore at him when he stole you and Giran, you might get into trouble, because that was keeping a secret.
"Dabi?" You ask sheepishly.
"Yeah, darlin'?"
"I swore once..." You admit softly.
"Ya did?" He asks, sounding more amused than angry.
"I told Re-Destro to eff off..." You practically whisper.
"Star..." Dabi says, sounding more serious this time.
"Am I in trouble?" You ask nervously.
"When're you ever in trouble?" He asks in return, squeezing you tight. "Don't worry, I'll let it slide this once, 'cause he deserved it. But I don't wanna hear you ever usin' it again, got it?"
"Got it." You reply, squeezing him back.
"Go back to sleep now, doll." He kisses your head. "I got you."
You hum a little, nuzzling as close as possible to him and counting the staples you can feel across his stomach under his shirt over and over until you begin to lose count and slowly come to a stop as you drop off back to sleep.
*•*
In the morning, it's like nothing happened, everyone chatting and messing around like usual while Zero made breakfast. You were feeling a bit more wary of him however, now you were awake and around him again.
Dabi let you sit on his lap, seeming to understand that your guard was back up with the newcomer, talking to Spinner about something to do with a camera he'd found. He was explaining something that he couldn't get to work and asked Spinner if he could take a look at it, because Dabi didn't want to spend money on a new one, even though everyone seemed to have lots of money now.
Spinner agrees to look at it, suggesting that if he can't get it to work, that Dabi should maybe ask Skeptic. But Dabi didn't like Skeptic very much because of what he did when he took you and Giran, so he just huffs at the suggestion and tells Spinner that will happen when 'hell freezes over'.
Zero turns around with a bowl of rice porridge, putting it in front of you and smiling in the friendly way he had when you'd met him yesterday, his stitches flexing on his cheeks.
"Here you go, Star."
You look at the plain rice pudding and then look back at him, as if you're checking he's being serious. It might be nice, but to you, it just looked like white, clumpy sludge. You didn't want to be rude and ask for some jam or something sweet to be put in it when he'd made you breakfast, so you look at Dabi, who's smirking at the sight of the bowl.
Dabi pushes it back towards Zero slowly.
"It needs something else on there, otherwise she ain't gonna eat it. Whaddaya want on there, Star?" Dabi asks, looking at you.
You look at Zero apologetically, even though he doesn't look upset, he's just looking at you intently, his head slightly tilted and a soft smile still on his face.
"Umeboshi and seeds, please." You request shyly.
"Of course." Zero says, smiling softly. "Let me get that for you."
You watch as he takes the bowl back and begins to fix the dish, craning your neck a little to watch him putting the umeboshi on the porridge, and to watch as he sprinkles sesame seeds over it, too.
He seems to have been generous with it, placing it back in front of you with a patient smile that you're not expecting. You always thought that maybe Kurogiri got annoyed when everyone asked him for drinks and food all the time, but Zero looks happy to help, even though he was yelled at yesterday and nearly burned.
"Here. I hope this is better." He says, before returning his attention back to Dabi. "Should I put the same on everyone elses?"
"I want nori!" Toga exclaims.
"Ooh, me too, me too!" Jin agrees, before gagging. "Disgusting!"
Zero looks at Jin before his mismatched eyes land on Dabi. "I'm meant to ignore the deeper voice, right?"
Dabi nods, which is mirrored by Zero, who turns his attention to Atsuhiro, taking everyone's orders while you dig into your breakfast. It's not as nice as Kurogiri or Atsuhiro's cooking, but it's not the worst thing you've eaten.
Soon everyone's got rice porridge in front of them and the conversation turns to Zero as he eats. He doesn't look like he knows what he's doing, struggling with his utensils, but it could be because of his stitched fingers.
Dabi idly plays with your hair while he waits for his food to cool down like usual.
"Your hair is so long!" Himiko marvels, reaching out and bringing a handful of his long grey hair closer to her. "Can I braid it?"
"If you'd like." Zero replies impassively, smiling at her.
"Can I put bows in it?" She asks.
"If you want." Zero replies, eating another mouthful of porridge awkwardly like he doesn't know how to chew properly.
Himiko squeals in excitement. "Can I put makeup on-"
"Toga, he's not a toy." Dabi warns her.
"Makeup's for girls, dummy." You say to Himiko.
"Is not! Dabi lets me put makeup on him sometimes!" Himiko argues.
"Does not."
"Does too! Tomura said I did a good job." Himiko continues, slowly grinning widely. "Said he was a pretty boy."
"Shut up, twerp." Dabi says, flicking Himiko's nose. "I told you that anyone can wear makeup, an' you're still not putting makeup on Zero."
"If it will make you happy you can." Zero smiles softly.
Himiko's face lights up as if he'd offered to give her the world, and Dabi rolls his eyes as he begins to eat. You feel a slight pang of jealousy at the fact that Himiko and Dabi had fun with makeup without you. You don't even remember seeing him wearing makeup outside of the black mascara he always wore anyway.
You push your bowl away, towards Zero, and hop off of Dabi's lap to go and do some drawing alone for a while.
No-one follows you while you're in your room drawing for quite some time, giving you plenty of time to sit and think about what happened the night before, how lonely you feel today despite having a big family now, and wondering what the horrible ache in your body is that you get sometimes while you work on redrawing your portrait of Shigaraki for him.
You're working on his long white hair when there's a tap at your door and you look over to see Zero standing there, not crossing the line between your room and the hallway.
"Are you okay?" You ask.
"Are you?" Zero asks in return. "I'm sensing distressed emotions from you."
"Is that your quirk?" You ask curiously.
"One of them, yes." He replies matter of factly.
"You have more than one?" You ask, your interest immediately piqued. "That's cool. What are they?"
"Emotional sensors, regeneration, a minor healing quirk, kinetic energy absorption..."
"Kine-what?" You ask, confused.
Zero smiles softly. "Kinetic energy is the energy an object has when you apply force to it."
You blink at him, his quirk still not very clear to you.
"May I come in?" He asks, looking around your room.
"Why?" You ask quietly.
"Because you are upset and I've been told to look after you." He says factually. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"I'd rather talk to Dabi..." You reply. "No offense."
"None taken. Would you like me to get him for you?" Zero replies, his voice not showing even an inch of anger.
"It's okay." You reply. "I want to draw alone, thank you."
Zero stands still where he is for a moment before bowing his head slightly, his grey hair flopping forwards from behind his shoulders. He straightens up, turns on his heel and walks away like you asked.
At least he didn't hang around when you told him not to. Maybe he really hadn't meant to creep you out the night before.
You wonder how he has so many quirks, and how far he was able to sense emotions from.
You do feel a little betrayed by him when you hear the word: 'Starshine' being said from behind you.
You turn to look at Dabi, pausing with your pencil in the air.
"Yeah?"
"You alright, doll?" He asks.
"Mhm. I'm just drawing." You reply.
He comes in, because he knows he can, and settles on the floor next to your bed, where you've set up the little easel you got for your birthday from Spinner and Atsuhiro so you could draw somewhere comfortable without sinking into the mattress.
He folds his arms over the edge of your bed and rests his chin in the center of them, his eyes scanning over your drawing.
"Tomura again, huh?" He asks, looking at you even though you're pretending you can't see him.
You hum an affirmative as you continue shading the hair. Dabi watches quietly for a few moments before looking up at you again.
"Something wrong?"
"I just want to be alone please." You request quietly.
"You never wanna be alone." Dabi says just as softly, reaching to move your hair out of your face. "Talk to your pawpaw?"
You go quiet, pausing your scratching of the pencil. You can feel the burning of Dabi's eyes on you, his fingers still playing with strands of your hair softly.
"I miss Tomura."
"Oh hon..." Dabi says softly, stroking your cheek with the back of his hand.
"I miss mom. And I miss Magne and Uncle Giran." You continue, the words spilling out of you even though you don't really know why you're saying it all. "I wanna cry but I don't know why."
Dabi nods understandingly, staying quiet, probably because you mentioned mom, and missing mom, which he'd been negative about before.
"Zero creeped me out last night, I'm sad that you had fun with Himiko without me and I'm mad and my tummy hurts!"
"That's a lotta big feelin's, huh, Starshine?" Dabi says sympathetically. "D'ya think maybe it could be all feelin' a little worse 'cause you're boutta come on?"
"I don't know what that means! I just..." You begin to cry, and Dabi pulls you into him, slowly, as if making sure it won't upset you further.
"Here, shh. I got ya." He says, holding you close. "Let it out, darlin'."
You don't even know why you're so upset. Maybe you're just a little tired from last night, and feeling a little unsettled because there's another new man in your space, and you were missing Tomura's presence and the safety it brings.
Dabi's a stable support while you let it all out, cuddling you close and rubbing your back and petting your hair until you slow to a stop.
He waits until even your breathing has calmed from heaving sobs to slow, tired breaths before speaking.
"Calm enough ta listen?" He asks patiently, still rubbing your back.
You nod, wiping your wet eyes roughly. Dabi gives you a pitying look, the stapled corners of his mouth turned downward for a moment before his mismatched lips are pressing to your temple.
"I know you're missin' Tomura, but you can't let it get you this upset, hon." He says softly, but with a look of understanding in his cold eyes. "He's gonna be back before ya know it, an' you think he wants to hear you cried yerself silly about missin' him?"
You shake your head. "He'd say I was being a brat."
Dabi snorts a little. "He would. An' you're not a brat, are ya?
You're the sweetest little Star there is."
You sniffle. "But I am upset about him not being here."
"You're allowed to be upset, darlin', but you've cried yourself stupid!" He says, running a thumb over one of your sore eyes. "Who'da thought I'd be comfortin' you 'cause you miss Shigaraki? Gonna have to get Toga to do one of them compress things for your eyes again."
You nod, cuddling closer to him again, pressing your head hard enough into his chest to feel his staples against your forehead. If the pressure hurts him he doesn't tell you, petting your hair lovingly as he figures out what to address next.
"If you're missin' your mom, I'm sure Toga'll let ya go an' see her with her if you ask nicely. She loves spending time with you, Starshine. You're like her baby sis." Dabi says, leaning his cheek on your head. "An' you can talk about Magne wi' her too. She misses her a lot, yaknow? Tha's why she wants to dress Zero up so much."
"An' you know Uncle Giran wants to see ya all the time. Loves lovin' on you and spoilin' you." Dabi squeezes you gently. "All you gotta do is ask ta see him."
"Can I see him soon then?" You ask quietly, unsure he can even hear you with how muffled your voice is by your proximity to his body.
"'Course ya can, hon." Dabi replies. "As for Zero... he didn't mean to creep you out, darlin', but I understand why it made you uncomfortable."
"He was in my room."
"I know." Dabi sighs, rubbing his cheek against the top of your head. "Told him earlier on in the day to keep an eye on ya, an' he took it a little too literal. Like I said, he's new, an' learnin'. I think you'll really like him when he's a bit more used to things."
Dabi pauses for a moment before speaking again. "His head ain't quite right yet. Needs a little more patience. You can be kind an' patient, right, doll?"
You nod. "He won't do it again?"
"No, hon. I told him he can't go in your room unless you say he can. An' he won't go against orders." Dabi squeezes you again.
"Okay." You sniff, remembering how Zero has stayed firmly outside your room earlier and turning your face so you can breathe a little easier away from Dabi's stifling heat.
"And you're all upset 'cause me and Toga goofed around while you were sleeping?" Dabi asks you gently, looking down at you.
You nod. You don't know why you're upset about it, not really. Jealousy that Himiko got to do something with Dabi and you hadn't known anything of it? Maybe feeling a little left out for the first time since being with Dabi? Whatever the reason was, it was probably silly, and annoying for Dabi, but it was the way you felt and you didn't have secrets.
"Ya know, Starshine, when you go to bed, I spend all evenin' excited to see your lil' face again." Dabi says with a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. "Wonderin' about what shenanigans you'll get up to in the mornin' and what mad dreams you'll tell me about, and... Wanna hear a secret?"
You nod eagerly, looking up at him expectantly.
He smirks a little more, dipping his head closer to you with a playful gleam in his eyes.
"I even look forward to hearin' you talk about your nerdy game."
You smack him gently in the shoulder and he chuckles, leaning back again, and letting you out of his hold.
"You're so mean. It's not nerdy, 'Mura told me so."
"Told ya already, kid, he's crazy. Can't trust him." Dabi shrugs, his smirk getting bigger and bigger.
You huff, turning your back to him to return to your drawing, allowing him to pet your hair even though he'd insulted something you cared about a lot.
"Your tummy's hurtin', you said?" He asks after a while.
You nod. It wasn't too bad yet, just the odd cramp here and there, but it was definitely there.
"I'll grab you some pills, that flannel for your eyes an' your stinky duck." Dabi says, patting your head, moving your hair to try and look at you again. "You still mad an' wanna cry?"
"I'm a little grumpy." You admit. "But I think I've run out of tears."
He chuckles despite himself, stroking his knuckles against your cheek like Tomura does. "Grumpy's okay. Everyone has grumpy days."
He gets up from your bed, allowing you to carry on with your drawing now you'd gotten all the yucky feelings out.
"Now, when I come back, do ya wanna be alone like you said earlier or do ya want me to steal Togas makeup so you can put it on me?" Dabi asks from the doorway with a knowing smirk.
You pause with your pencil, slowly looking up at him.
"I wanna do your makeup."