Lost Souls

Bringing Up The Past

The second Touya walks through Kurogiri's portal, Star is out of her chair and clinging to him like he's a lifeline.

"Woah- You 'kay, Star?" Touya asks.

He wasn't expecting that kind of welcoming. He knew first hand how much Giran spoiled kids that he looked after overnight. He was half expecting to have to tear Star away from him when he came to collect her.
When he looks up to see Aiko staring at him, his mood immediately sours even more.

"Dabi, yer early." Giran comments, smoking a cigarette like Touya had told him not to around Star.

"Put that sh- Put that out." Touya demands.

"Told you." Aiko says to her dad smugly.

"It's my damn house!" Giran defends, but stubs the cigarette out anyway.

Touya pets Star's hair softly as he finally decides to face the woman in the room that he hadn't seen for a while.

"Aiko."

"Dabi." She greets back just as sourly. "Been a while."

Touya pries Star away from his side as gently as he can, dropping to a crouch in front of her and giving her a little smile. He wanted to get out of this house as soon as possible, especially if Aiko was around. She was still sour after he'd rejected her when they were both eighteen, and was prone to making digs whenever she was in the same space as him.

"Go get changed and then getcha stuff, Starshine." He tells the little girl, trying to make the order sound calmer than he feels, running his thumb over her jawline softly before standing.

Star, ever the good child, nods, grabbing the plate she'd had in front of her and putting it in the kitchen sink. He thinks she got that off one chat with Magne who suggested it to help Kurogiri with the cleaning up.
The memory of Magne makes Touya's heart ache with guilt.
The politeness seems to please Aiko, who smiles softly at Star as she bows her head to her and Giran politely.

"Thank you for having me!" Star exclaims.

"Yer silly, Star." Giran chuckles, pulling a seat out and gesturing for Touya to sit down while he waits.

"She has manners." Aiko says pointedly, giving Touya a cold look.

Touya's eyes narrow straight back at her in return as Star dart upstairs quickly to gather her stuff.
Everyone watches her, waiting for the door to close before Giran and Aiko turn their attention to Touya.

"So, wha' happened?"

"You're just picking up random kids off the street now?"

Giran and Aiko ask at the same time, just like Touya expected.
He sighs, itching for a smoke himself already. Instead he idly taps his fingers against the wooden table for something to do with his hands.

"Magne got killed by the yakuza, and it wasn't a problem when your dad did it." He replies evenly.

"Oh no. Poor Star." Giran says immediately, looking towards where Star had walked out of the room. "What a loss. Magne was a lovely woman."

"It was a problem when dad did it." Aiko seethes.

Touya shrugs. Sure, it had been when he first arrived in their house, Giran refusing to let him leave his sight to try and find another person who'd let him in their house for the night.
Touya hadn't trusted him at first, he expected him to be sly about the conditions of Touya being allowed to sleep in his house overnight, Touya had been on edge the entire night when Giran fed him a copious amount of food and then made him watch black and white musicals. Had expected him to try and pull a move on him the second his guard was down, and he hated sly people more than people that just told him what he had to do in order to stay in their home for the night.
But he hadn't. And the more Touya reluctantly trusted him, the more he stayed in his home instead of risking it on the streets or finding someone that'd trade sex for a warm place to sleep and some food.