unfamiliar [hxh and bnha crossover]

chapter 9

While it had only been, at most, a week in this new world, Illumi couldn't wait to go home. Home was stable, consistent. Whatever this was, he didn't like it.

There was only so much he could tolerate before he lost it, and Hisoka was testing those limits. If Illumi had thought that his husband was bad, he was unfortunately proven to be wrong. The combined force that was Himiko Toga and Hisoka was enough to give him a migraine.

Illumi Zoldyck came from years of training and enduring torture, but if anyone had set him in a room with those two, he would've cracked in minutes. They were that bad.

"Hisoka-chan! Look!" Toga squealed from the other side of the room, where she was perched on top of the very unstable bookshelf. She was holding what seemed to be a scorched piece of paper, possibly an image. Dabi was fuming from his spot, unable to reach the younger.

"You slimy fucker! Give that back--!"

As Dabi shouted, Toga took the opportunity to grin and peer over the edge so that Dabi was within her range of sight.

"What's wrong, Dabi? Are you missing something, maybe?" Her eyes creased into pleased crescents, a smug air around her. Illumi thought that she resembled a cat. Fitting, he supposes, given the circumstances.

"YOU--!"

Before he could finish his sentence (possible threat?), Hisoka sauntered up from behind him, and draped himself over his back.

"Hm, what's this, Himiko-chan?"

While invisible to others, Illumi was able to see the trace of bungee gum that he sent out like a more crude version of those hand-slapper-sticky things. Though Illumi wouldn't know, he never got to have them as a kid. Regardless, the atrocious (but admittedly clever) Nen snatched what Illumi could now identify as a photo out of Toga's grasp.

Curious, Illumi peered down at the photo in his husband's grasp and studied the contents. It was a rather mundane photo, the only really distinguishing features were the scorch marks and charred corner that seemed to have been burned in a fit of strong emotion.

It was old, very obviously well-loved, and clearly belonged to Dabi.

The photo looked as though it was taken unsuspectedly, capturing the moment of happiness and ease that would otherwise be impossible to recreate had it been staged. There were multiple figures sitting in the photo, all sat under a tall evergreen oak with a plethora of various foods. All of the people in the photo seemed to be young, the oldest being at most 12 years old, and the youngest 8 years old. It was in the midst of winter, the trees devoid of any leaves, and the children were all adorned with various levels of warm clothing.

They were very clearly a family. The similar hair, a mixture of whites and reds, as well as the striking shades of grey and blue eyes were indicators of such. If it weren't for their similar features, the ease of which they felt around each other would have given them away. There were care-free smiles among all of their faces, varying from a slight quirk of the lips, to a face-splitting grin, caught in the midst of a laugh.

The main focus of the image was the four children sat together, and what Illumi presumed to be the mother in the foreground, having taken a front-facing photo. Her children were unaware of it, but she looked content with a small smile, joy evident.

It looked like a rare moment of peace for her.

Stuck in his musings, Illumi narrowly managed to catch the last half of Dabi's sentence.

"--and so what!? Why does it matter to you, huh?" The seems of his scars were seeping smoke, his rage overtaking his entire body. "Now fucking give it back."