Through the Years

Bonding Experience

You had been sitting on your own watching TV with Cloud, curled up underneath a blanket for the past hour or so, completely detached from whatever might have been going on around you. Dabi had put on a Studio Ghibli movie before he had left to go to some meeting with Fuyumi like he'd been doing weekly since she'd come into your lives, knowing that you wouldn't move an inch while it was playing.

Their meetings never lasted longer than an hour, so he only ever really left you for longer than an hour and a half tops, and usually, if he was going to be a little longer he told Zero to check in on you. Not that he ever really needed to, you always behaved, and could usually lose yourself in a game, drawing or movie pretty easily until your dad was home again.

You're so entranced by the movie that you don't even really pick up on the fact that Dabi had come back until he's flopping onto the couch next to you which makes you yelp in surprise. He looks at you like you're some kind of idiot initially and then leans his fluffy head on your shoulder.

"Pet my hair." He orders.

"Okay?" You reply, patting his head awkwardly before settling into trying to stroke the messy points down against his head. "How was the meeting?"

"Hard." He mopes.

"What was it about?" You ask curiously.

He'd been so secretive about whatever he and Fuyumi were having meetings about up until this point. Usually when he came back he went and sat in his room for twenty minutes before coming back out and pretending nothing had happened.

Instead of answering your question, he just tugs on your ear gently. Something you'd learned over the years meant that he wasn't going to answer you because you had 'little ears'.
You tug on his back, being a bit more gentle because of the scarring and the piercings.

This gives you an idea, though.

"When can I get my ears pierced, dad?" You ask.

"Whenever you want, doll. I ain't stoppin' ya." He shrugs. "Sure you can handle the pain, though?"

"Is it really painful?" You ask.

In a movement quicker than you'd ever seen him move before, his hand reaches to your earlobe and pinches the skin there hard, but only for a second.

"Ow! Dad!" You cry out, your hand flying to protect your ear from any more pinches.

"If you can't handle it, then you can't get it." He says simply, and then rests his head back on your shoulder again.

*•*

And so, after that, he started pinching your ear whenever you were off-guard. Every single time you squealed in surprise, and the first time he did it in front of Tomura he'd spun around, looking the angriest you'd ever seen Tomura, and he'd gotten really mad at Dabi.
Dabi learned after that not to do it in front of Tomura, so you tried to stick around Tomura as much as possible when he was home.

"Starlight, what is going on with you?" Tomura asks tiredly a week into you following him around the small apartment.

"Nothing." You reply too quickly.

He deadpans at you before saying: "Please leave me alone. I need some time to myself."

You look over at Dabi, who was sitting, draped over half of the couch and scrolling on his phone. You look back at Tomura, a little helplessly despite your fear of getting Dabi into trouble again.

"He's still pinching you." Tomura says blandly.

Your shoulders sink.

"Tomorrow, we'll get your ears pierced." He says in English, immediately drawing Dabi's attention.