Touya had managed to give himself a heat stroke for the first time in months.
Taking over most of the responsibilities for Tomura was stressful, and as much as Touya was capable and competent enough to do the work, he could use a little more help with the workload.
He couldn't help but feel like the snidey prick Tomura was leading the Paranormal Liberation Front with, Re-Destro, was leaving a lot of his workload for Touya to do, too. Although he shouldn't be surprised, really. It was probably petty revenge considering Touya and Tomura had killed two of his men in a less than kind way when they'd discovered who had taken Star and Giran.
And then Hawks had tried pulling a move on him, and although Touya had let it slide with heated words alone, deciding the bird was more useful alive than dead with the threat of heroes ruining the nice set up they had going for themselves currently, he was beginning to feel doubtful of the fact it was the right thing to have done.
He'd burned up immediately after leaving the winged hero in the room in anger, and had to go outside to release some of the flames that had been barely contained underneath his skin.
He knows that realistically, if he'd have been the one to find out Tomura had been kissed by someone else, reciprocated or not, he wouldn't have been able to contain his anger. Absolutely feels guilty for not frying the man right there and then, feeling like he's betrayed his partner, something he never thought he'd allow himself to have, by just...letting him get away with it, even if it was what Touya thought was for the best at the time.
But with his flames comes consequence. As much as he found pride in his quirk, being strong and recognised for that now, and can enjoy the cathartic release of his emotions through the destruction he could cause with his flames... they hurt him. He wasn't built for them, as much as he loved to ignore that fact.
So he'd had to take the day off, leaving Compress and Geten in charge in his place.
He didn't mind too much. He didn't want to see Hawks, and missed his little Star so much. Felt awful for barely seeing her recently, even though she was getting on better and better with Zero.
The nausea he dealt with daily was worse to the point he was relying on plain toast for sustenance along with an insane amount of water to combat the dehydration. The headache could be combated with painkillers, as well as the cramps that had worsened under the scarring around the entirety of his body.
Heart palpitations he could deal with, just ignoring them unless they were more than he was used to dealing with anyway.
In reality, he just needed a hug.
So he treads weakly to Star's room, a little surprised to see the door's shut. She rarely, if ever, did that.
He raps the door gently with the knuckles on the back of his hand.
"You okay in there, hon?" He asks through the door.
There's no response, but he can pick up on the sounds of her getting out of her bed and the sounds of the floor creaking as she comes to the door.
She opens the door, surprised eyes looking up at him.
"Pawpaw?" She asks, highlighting how little he'd been there for her recently.
"Hey, darlin' girl." He greets with a weak smile. "How come your doors shut?"
She seems to get all embarrassed and looks away. "No reason. I was sleeping."
Touya fights the urge to cringe, because she's a terrible liar, and he wasn't born yesterday.
"Alright doll. Sorry for wakin' you up. I'll let you get back to sleep." He replies patiently, tracing the knuckles on his fingers over her cheek softly like Tomura used to do.
She's growing up so quickly, but he tries not to think about it too much, because he wasn't a stranger to spiralling the second he felt like she might not want or need him anymore.
She shakes her head and clings to his torso, knocking him sick without meaning to. He grimaces but lets her hold him with her face mushed into his stomach. That's what he'd wanted anyway. A hug.
"Lemme crouch." He says softly, petting her hair.
She nods, releasing him, only to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his shoulder the second he's more or less at her level.
He wraps his arms around her too, ignoring the cramping under his scars as he does so, burying his face into the side of her hair so no-one that might pass can see him in pain.
It's insane how a simple hug from the little girl could make him so at ease. He remembers when they lost Magne, Tomura had asked to pet her hair to see what 'the big fuss' was about, and then had amusedly recounted that there 'really was' something soothing about it.
"I've missed you so much." She sniffs into his shoulder.
"I missed you too, hon! Like crazy." He replies, rubbing her back. "When 'Mura's back, let's tell him he's never allowed on holiday again."
"But he's not on holiday, he's having operations." She replies worriedly.
Touya rolls his eyes playfully, smirking a little. She was always so literal.
"Was a joke, baby girl." Touya explains. "Means we're gonna tell him he's not allowed ta leave us alone this long again."
She nods enthusiastically. "Yes please."
He kisses her temple softly before gently easing away from her, moving her hair out of her face so he can look at her clearly. There's a worried expression there, faintly. Something he wants to get rid of, because he doesn't want her to feel anything other than happy ever again.
"Wha's that look for princess?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.
"He's been gone for so long... is he really sick?" She asks quietly.
"He ain't sick darlin'. This is... cosmetic operations. Ain't 'cause he's poorly." Touya tries to reassure.
"I don't know what that means..."
Touya muses on it for a minute. What could be the worst outcome of telling her the truth on this? It doesn't give anything away, not really.
"Tomura's gettin' some extra quirks." Touya explains. "So he can look after everyone better. But it takes a long time to get used ta new quirks, yaknow?"
"More quirks? Like Uncle Zero?" Star asks, her facial expression changing from worried to curious.
"Another uncle, huh?" Touya asks, raising an eyebrow in faint amusement.
"He's too old to be my brother, and you and 'Mura are my paws." She says matter-of-factly.
"Charmin'." Touya chuckles, cupping her cheek to run his thumb over the skin there. "Yeah, sure. Like Zero."
"Oh." She breathes. "Can I have more quirks?"
Touya's reaction is instant and visceral as the question triggers a flashback to the memories of Tomura being in agony as the doctor had begun the experiments. God knows what he's going through now.
"No!" He exclaims and then immediately is chewed up by guilt as she flinches. He lowers his voice and strokes her cheek again. "No, hon. You're just a lil' baby."
"Nuh-uh!" She instantly argues. "Zero says I'm changing into an adult!"
Touya rolls his eyes and flicks her nose. "Ya got years left of bein' a baby."
"Zero can't lie, because it hurts him." She says, rubbing her nose. "So you're lying. And we don't lie!"
Touya blinks. So Zero told her about that, huh?
It wasn't his choice to have that implant placed, actually he found it kind of inhumane considering Zero was a reanimated person rather than simply a brainless dogs body, but Ujiko had been insistent, saying they wouldn't want a nomu with too much free will, and said that Touya was allowing too many personal feelings into the matter.
When Zero was complete, and Touya decided he could be trusted, he'd get it removed. Luckily, Star doesn't seem to realise just how wrong that is, though.
"Ain't lyin' darlin'." Touya replies. "Ya think you're gonna be an adult in a few days? It takes years. So you're stuck bein' my lil' baby for at least..."
He feigns thought before finishing his sentence. "Forever."
She looks all embarrassed again, shifting on her feet. "Well, yeah, Uncle Giran says I'll always be your baby, but I won't be a baby baby forever..."
Touya grins, finding her embarrassment adorable. "He's damn right you're always gonna be my little girl. An' you're not gonna stop bein' a baby baby 'til yer at least thirty."
She scowls at him. "Liar."
He chuckles again, already feeling the pain ease from his mind simply by being around her, and having fun teasing her.
"C'mon, let yer pawpaw in. I wanna cuddle with my cuddle buggin's." He teases, pinching her cheek and earning an embarrassed whine from her.
She swats his hand away, an embarrassed look on her face as her eyes move to the sides in thought for a moment. Touya stands up again, he wasn't going to push it. He'd noticed the little changes in her moods and personality even with how scarcely he'd been seeing her recently.
She was getting bigger now and probably didn't want to hang out with the guy she was so eager to call dad before as much anymore.
"Can you stay here? My room is messy..." She requests.
"Of course darlin'. I'll wait here 'til you're ready." He agrees, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket.
She looks at the cigarette for a moment as he lights it before nodding herself and going back into her room, closing the door behind her again.
Touya huffs a little in amusement. She was all embarrassed because her room was a mess? Somehow he doubted it. Neither of them had been particularly neat people, not like Tomura, and when they shared a room in the hotel it had been like it was thoroughly boobytrapped.
Seems to take her no time to clean up as her door is open again mere moments later, although her room is kind of messy, her bed is made and her plushies are faithfully at the end of the bed.
He smirks, blowing smoke from his nose. Strange kid.
He finishes off his cigarette, walking into his and Tomura's room to put it in the ashtray he'd snuck in while his partner was away, grabbing his large water bottle too.
When he returns to Star's room, she's lost in her Switch.
"Scoot over then. Bed hog." Touya jibes, poking her arm gently.
She grumbles in vague annoyance, but moves over so Touya can settle down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. He rests his chin on the top of her head, watching her play her little game from there.
He'd never admit that actually, this game did seem pretty fun. He was also admittedly a little thankful that this game that Tomura had introduced her to had puzzles to make her brain work a little while she played it, rather than losing her for hours playing the button mashing games that Spinner and Tomura seemed to enjoy playing together so much back in the bar.
"Aw. Love seein' you, even if you're playing that nerdy game." Touya teases, unable to stop himself from doing so and smiling a little as he does it.
"It's not nerdy." She grumbles, but nuzzles in further to him. "I told you. 'Mura said so."
"And I told you not to listen to him, 'cause he's crazy." Touya continues to tease.
"Is not." She huffs, tapping the buttons a little harder. "You wouldn't love him if he was crazy."
Touya bites back the 'wouldn't I?' in favour of going down the reassurance route, knowing that she might be in need of it with his and Tomura's absence lately. She used to be bad enough for thinking he was going to leave her just to focus all his attention on Tomura when they first got together, after all.
"Well, I'll never love him more than you, hon. Yaknow that right?" He replies, pressing his lips to the top of her head.
"Really?" She asks, her fingers pausing.
"Really, really." Touya assures.
"...Love you the most too, pawpaw." She admits quietly.
"Attagirl." He grins, sensing her embarrassment at the words she used to say so openly and confidently before and choosing to lighten up the mood again. "Always knew you had taste."
She buries her face into his side for a moment before returning back to her game, Touya watching dutifully and asking questions to keep her engaged with him and talking.
He wanted to make up for all the lost time, after all. And he didn't mind whatever it was he was doing with her as long as they were together.