"Aw, c'mon Zero!" You complain. "No-one's even here yet!"
"The rules are that minors have to leave at nine p.m." Zero reiterates serenely, like it was the first time you were hearing that rule. "And you fall into that category."
"But I live here!" You argue. "Plus it's not like you're going to serve me."
"Miss Star." Kurogiri warns gently. "Go upstairs now."
"You don't want to be around drunk, loud men anyway." Zero points out, annoyingly accurately. "I can see you tomorrow."
"But I wanted to learn more about-" You begin.
"Don't make me call your father." Kurogiri interrupts, a little more firmly.
You 'hmph', but slide off of the bar stool, plucking Cloud off the countertop with a pointed look at the mist-like man.
On your way to the stairs, the door opens, and Shuuichi comes through with Uncle Jin close behind.
"Oh! Hey Star." He greets, smiling genuinely at you and reaching to scratch Cloud's head gently with his taloned fingers.
Cloud meows contentedly, as though he didn't hiss at Shuuichi for months when you first got him. Jin kisses your head affectionately, and scratches under Cloud's chin, making the little attention-loving cat purr immediately and half-shut his eyes in contentment.
"Hey darlin'! Long time no see." Jin grins at you. "How are ya? Look at ya! All grown up."
He then goes to punch your arm playfully before managing to stop himself, giving you an apologetic smile.
"Guys, Star needs to go upstairs." Zero calls.
Jin boos loudly and sticks his thumb down at Zero, which makes you snicker a little to yourself, but he does follow Zeros instructions to leave you alone, promising to come upstairs in ten minutes and kissing your cheek before joining Shuuichi at the bar.
You carry Cloud upstairs despite him getting incredibly heavy these days, and push the door open with your shoulder, accidentally hitting Tomura with it as he pulls his boots off.
Red eyes narrow at you before they relax again, and he gives you a soft smile.
"Hello, Starfire." He greets, giving you a once over and then his smirk grows a little more playful. "You look flustered."
"Don't start." You groan, dropping Cloud to the floor from a safe distance.
The tri-coloured cat immediately rubs against Tomura, purring madly, making sure to bump his head against Tomura at least five times before he's pet by the long-haired man, and then promptly picked up and held over Tomuras shoulder as he walks further into the house.
You follow behind, scratching Cloud's head while he's being carried.
"Uncle Jin's going to come up in a bit." You tell Tomura.
"Okay." He agrees, and then pauses. "Jin, huh? Interesting progression."
"What?" You ask with a frown, confused.
"Hey guys." Dabi yawns, coming into the living room, his hair messier than usual, shirtless and his sweatpants covered in what looks like little patches of soot.
"Another productive day I see." Tomura quips dryly.
"Drop it." Dabi says in a strained voice, avoiding greeting Tomura like he usually would, coming to give you a hug instead.
You wrap your arms around him automatically, the movement as natural to you as breathing after so many years of being held by everyone. You press your face to his gnarled chest, squeezing him tight for a moment before letting go again, his hand going to your hair.
"Good day, hon?" He asks as Tomura grumbles to himself, plopping Cloud onto the floor and beginning to thump around in the cupboards for food. "Jeez, babe, gimme five to say hi to Star."
"We'll discuss it later." Is the cold response from Tomura.
Dabi stares at him for a second, looking a little irked, but rolls his eyes and cocks a white eyebrow as he returns his attention back to you, ruffling your hair.
"Answer then, twerp." He teases.
"It was ok." You tell him as he begins helping Tomura, Cloud yowling for food and rubbing against their ankles. "I passed the math quiz."
"Attagirl." Dabi praises, grinning proudly at you and squeezing your cheek like some kind of grandma.
"Dad!" You whine, rubbing where he'd pinched.
Even Tomura's paused to look at you with an unmistakable proud warmth in his eyes, his cracked lips turned upwards.
He holds his fist up, like he used to when you were younger, and you bump your knuckles against his gently.
"Good job, Starfire." He praises. "Pick a treat for yourself."
"It's okay pa, I don't mind-"
"It wasn't a request." He says, silencing you effectively.
"What's up?!" You hear Jin call from the front door the second it opens, and you beam, spinning around to grin directly at him.
Except when you see Shuuichi behind him you freeze momentarily, your eyes widen and your face heats up. Jin had said he'd come upstairs, not Shuuichi.
"Hey, twos." Dabi greets. "F' I'da known you were coming, I'd have put a shirt on."
"No need man, your home." Jin says, clapping his hand against Dabi's back loudly. "Whole'a Japan's seen ya shirtless anyway!"
You snicker as Dabi rolls his eyes, disappearing off to put a shirt on anyway, probably.
Tomura greets Shuuichi calmly, the heteromorph rolling his sleeves up to help Tomura cook without even being asked to. The two almost immediately start talking about a new game release that you weren't too familiar with, so you're glad you at least have Uncle Jin to give your attention to.
"How ya been, Star?" Jin asks, smiling at you with a warmth that makes you feel like you're the only person in the room right now.
"I've been okay. What about you?" You ask in return. "Himiko says she's been making friends with Mai."
Jin grins even more fondly at the mention of his daughter. "Yeah, they've been having fun I think! Toga's a bit much, though. Mai's a little shy... Total hermit!"
"Maybe Himiko will make her less shy." You muse. "Like Aunty Aiko helped me be less shy."
"Maybe! Hopefully." Jin smiles a little more softly. "Got any drawings to show me?"
"I can show you." You say, gently tugging on his arm, which is enough for him to be led to your room without complaint.
Cloud follows along with you until you pass Dabi in the hallway as he leaves his room, now with a shirt on. Dabi picks the unsuspecting calico up, holding him over his shoulder and scratching between his ears.
"C'mon, don't leave me alone with the nerds, Cloud." Dabi says to him as he carries him off.
Cloud seems happy to be held though, probably because Dabi is always warm.
You show Jin into your room, leading him straight to your desk and opening your sketchbook.
He flips the pages carefully, his grey eyes scanning over each drawing meticulously, even the ones you'd left unfinished, scribbled out or written annotations on where you'd gone wrong.
"This one's nice." Jin says, his calloused fingers gently running over the pencil marks on the page.
A drawing of Cloud, an attempt at still life drawing, the scene of him sunbathing on the windowsill from a little while ago.
"He's pretty." You say.
"Eh." Jin's second voice answers, his hand raising and wobbling in the air to gesture that Cloud was neither here nor there, and he immediately looks guilty, clearing his throat. "Best thing they did was get you that cat."
"Mhm, I love him a lot." You agree. "He's a good boy."
"Well duh, that's his job." Jin says, ruffling your hair affectionately.
You have no idea what that means, but sometimes Jin did just say things that didn't necessarily make sense, so you just ignore it and soak up the affection.
"I passed my math quiz today too." You add for extra praise, and it works, Jin laughing proudly and lifting you in the air like you were a scrawny ten year old again.
"Star! The child genius!" He annouces.
"I'm a teenager." You remind him, pretending you're not loving being given special attention.
"Still a kiddo to me, little princess Star." He says, his grey eyes shining. "Make sure you get Dabi to give you a good treat. Or else I'll handle it."
Jin mimes dragging his thumb across his throat and you roll your eyes.
"You're silly, Uncle Jin." You say, but your voice is full of warmth and affection.
"How's everything else? Likin' it here? Cosy! Tiny as hell, man."
"It's okay here." You reply, although it doesn't sound convincing even to yourself. "...Dabi and Tomura are arguing a little though."
"They are?" Jin asks, his already scarred forehead crumpling as he frowns. "You sure it's arguing and not just them bein' their usual selves?"
"They're arguing." You say firmly, and Jin gives you a sympathetic look.
"That sucks." He nods. "But it'll blow over. Always does."
"Do you think they'll break up?" You ask.
Jin laughs.
"Nah, hon. They love each other." Jin says reassuringly, moving your hair behind your ear. "It's gross."
You giggle a little at that, butting your head against his arm. "Love you, Uncle Jin."
"You too, little Star." He replies, kissing the top of your head. "Reckon I could swing dinner outta your folks? Smells horrible!"
*•*
And he does join you all for dinner, even though it's late, drinking a beer with Dabi while Tomura swirls a glass of whiskey that Cloud seems a little too interested in. For some reason Shuuichi isn't drinking, but is grinning and appears to be having a good time too, anyway.
You try not to look at him too much, your stupid childhood crush not having faded even a little bit the older you'd gotten. In fact, it was even worse because it didn't take much for him to make you so obviously flustered that you had to try and scurry off to hide it.
It sucked because you liked Spinner to talk to. He was clever, he was kind, and he was funny, too.
And because your crush was so painfully obvious, he never spoke to you first, waiting for you to approach him before speaking. Sometimes if you felt brave, you would approach him first, but today was not one of those days, only offering him a small smile whenever your eyes accidentally met. It was always returned, but even that was enough for your cheeks to burn.
The further the night goes on, the more Dabi and Jin begin getting a little louder, which doesn't seem to make Tomura any happier, although his unimpressed attitude was only really noticeable to you after years of learning what their usual behaviours were, and what gave away when they were getting annoyed.
After one more annoyed glance at Dabi, Tomura looks at you, his expression softening.
"Bedtime, Star." He says, always the one to enforce your nightly routine.
"But-" You begin to complain, but he cocks a non-existent eyebrow at you, which is action enough for you to shut up.
It was already past your bedtime after all, which he'd already been generous enough to allow you to do.
"Okay... night dad. Night Uncle Jin." You say as you get up, bending down to kiss Uncle Jins cheek quickly. "...Night Shuuichi."
Shuuichi smiles softly and waves at you, and Jin wishes you an almost obnoxiously loud goodnight. Dabi beckons you over, which you do obediently, and he brushes your hair back and gives you a quick peck on the forehead.
"Sleep tight, princess." He says softly, his drunk eyes hazed over but adoring on you.
*•*
"But Himiko gets to stay up late!" You argue the next day, and Tomura shrugs.
"You're not Himiko."
"But we're not that far apart in age!" You insist.
"It's not just age, it's life experience and personality too, Starlight." Tomura sighs, cracking his neck. "She's had to grow up quicker."
"That's not my fault. You said you and Dabi deliberately try to keep me safe so I have a longer childhood!" You continue. "I wanna hang out with everyone else too!"
"Listen to yourself." He says simply, returning back to cooking food.
"It's not fair." You repeat yourself for the third time.
He doesn't reply this time though, busying himself with cooking dinner for everyone because Dabi had been out all day getting health checkups.
"Dad! Come on." You whine.
"Star, I'm not in the mood. Why don't you play a game or take Cloud out or something?" Tomura replies a little more sharply than usual.
Your shoulders sink as you stare at the back of his head, but don't argue your point further, picking Cloud up and carrying him over to your room, deciding to hide out in there until dinner's ready or Dabi's back.
It takes a while for Dabi to come back, but when you hear the front door open and close you immediately jump out of bed and open your own door, slamming into Dabi as he bends to unlace his boots.
He gives a small 'oof' as you almost knock him over, but he does automatically rest his prosthetic arm over your shoulders.
"Hey hon." He greets, sounding tired.
"Missed you." You say, your face buried into his shoulder.
"You too, dollface." He says, kissing your head. "Let go, hon."
You let go, albeit reluctantly, and watch as he winces while trying to get his shoes off.
"Are you hurt?" You ask, concerned as well as feeling deflated.
"Jus' had some new staples in, doll. Lil' sore and tight." He explains, sighing softly. "Just gimme five to adjust."
You watch him quietly for a second or two, a little disheartened that both of your parents seemed to be in bad moods.
And although they'd spent years making sure you didn't fall into old habits again, that you would feel safe in whatever home you were in no matter what mood they were in... You sometimes did find yourself slinking back into your room and avoiding them both on days like today just because you felt like your presence made everything worse.
Today was one of those days.
You tuck yourself away, leaving Cloud with them both, laying in bed and playing a mobile game on your phone that Tomura had introduced to you a little while ago.
You don't come out when Tomura tells you dinner's ready, or when Dabi knocks to try and lure you out either.
When you eventually do quietly open the door, you find your meal on a tray waiting for you outside your room. Your heart tugs a little as you look down at it, and you look at the entrance to the living room, the door closed for once.
Probably them trying to stop Cloud from getting to your dinner before you had the chance to eat it.
You step over it, quietly pushing the door open to see your dads finally.
When the door opens enough for you to see inside, you're met with the sight of Dabi sitting on Tomura's lap, their chests pressed together, and Dabi's face pressed against Tomura's shoulder.
Tomura seems to be petting his hair and leaning his head against Dabi's, talking to him quietly and his long white hair hanging over the back of the couch with Cloud on his back batting idly at it.
It's the first time you had seen them hugging properly in a little while, so you decide to leave them to it, slowly closing the door again with a hopeful and soft smile and taking the food back into your room.
Maybe them cuddling like that would lead to them making up, and everything getting better again.