Hinokuma laid in bed, coughing. "Daddy!" Her voice was hoarse. "Daddy!" "I'm here, devil. What's wrong?" "Tummy." Dabi thought for a moment. "Does it feel like something wants to come up?" She nodded. "Ok." He picked her up and took her to the bathroom, by the toilet. "Don't force it back down, ok? Just let it out." Dabi held his daughter's hair back as she dispelled the contents of her stomach. "Tastes bad." "I know. But it'll help you feel better. I promise." Once she was done, Dabi brought Hinokuma back to her room. "You hungry? Thirsty?" She nodded. "I'll be back with some ginger ale and snaps with a banana. Sound good?" Hinokuma smiled. "Movie?" "You want to watch a movie? Which one?" Dabi walked over to the movie cabinet. "Want Castle." "Castle? Ok then." Dabi put in "Howl's Moving Castle" and went to the kitchen.
Keigo came out of the master and yawned. Feel better?" "A bit." Keigo looked at the chopped up banana. "What's going on here?" "Hino's sick. She just puked. Can you get her cup ready? Ginger ale. Remember: not the pink one." Keigo grabbed the sippy cup and soda. "Kei. Not the pink one." "It's not." Dabi looked to his husband. "Babe, that one is pink. Hino won't drink out of that one." "It's not pink. This is the green one." The two argued a bit more. "Ok so traffic lights. What do the colors mean?" "Red is stop, yellow slow down, pink means go." "Pink? Go?" Keigo stood in silence. "I might be colorblind." "You think? I'll ask Doc to check you too. I've got him coming to check Hino. See what's wrong."
A few hours later the doctor left. Hinokuma caught a stomach virus and sore throat, while Keigo was indeed colorblind. "Alight. So Hino should be feeling much better by tomorrow, but one of us will likely have that virus as well. Probably me. So." "Self quarantine. I'll let Endeavor know.
Over the course of the next few days, Hinokuma got over her stomach virus, then Dabi, then Keigo. While the three were having breakfast, a knock was heard. "I'll get it." Keigo got up to answer the door. "Oh. Endeavor? I wasn't expecting you. Hi, Rei." Dabi flinched at the mention of his father. He got up and began to clean up the dishes. "GRAMMA! GRAPPA!" Hinokuma ran to the couple. "Hey there, little one. I assume everything worked out?" "Yep. We're all good now." Rei sniffed. It was heavily masked, but she'd recognize the scent anywhere. "Why don't you show Grappa your room? I'm sure he and mama would love to go play with you." "What bout Gramma?" Rei smiled. "Oh. I'm going to help your daddy clean up a bit. Just us omegas." Hinokuma nodded as she drug Endeavor to her room.
"I can take care of this by myself." Dabi was pulled into a hug. "I know that smell anywhere. You can try to hide it. But you can't from your mother, my little toasted marshmallow." Dabi teared up. "You know?" "I'm just happy you're alive." Rei explained how Endeavor felt awful a few days after putting him outside, so much so that he hired members of the Shie Hissaki to find him. "We were told you wandered into LOV territory, and we should accept your fate. Touya. We thought you were dead, or some alpha's plaything." "I wasn't. I actually was taken in by All For One. He trained me to defend myself. But all of that, and I still was taken advantage of by alphas." Dabi sighed and slightly shook at the thought. "Almost let one mark me. But then I met Kei. And we had Hino." "I'm glad your happy now." Rei smiled at her son. "DADDY!" Hinokuma came running out carrying a plush. "Floppy broke." "Oh no. Floppy." Dabi inspected the toy and found it had a growing tear on its back. "I'll get him prepped for surgery and get him back to you after our guests leave." "Daddy now." Hinokuma pouted. "Hino. I said when our guests leave." "Daddy. Now." Endeavor and Keigo walked back into the room. "Hino." Dabi held up his hand. "I said 'no'." "Now." Hinokuma said with a bit more force. "Hinokuma Takami. I said wait." Her full name had never been used before. It scared Hinokuma, but she wanted her toy fixed. "Daddy do it now." "One." Endeavor and Rei sat back to watch the parenting. Both knew counting was an empty threat. No kid ever let it get to three. "Daddy now." "Two." Keigo grew a bit worried. "Dabs, what are you doing?" Hinokuma grew a bit more fearful, seeing her father's eyes darken a bit. She took a few steps back, and decided to risk it. "Daddy fix now." Her voice was shaky, obviously full of fear of what would happen. "Three. Go to your room." Hinokuma screamed as she ran to her room. Dabi followed. "What is he going to do?" "I don't know. She's never gotten in trouble before." A few minutes later Dabi came out of the bedroom, and Hinokuma was heard crying. "What did you do?" "I spanked her for talking back. Made sure she understood what she did wrong." Rei and Endeavor only nodded. "So that's what happens when you reach 'three'."
The older couple said their goodbyes and left. Dabi went to fix Hinokuma's toy, and Keigo checked on his daughter. "Mama." She cried into Keigo's arms. "Do you know why daddy spanked you?" "Talk back, bad. Daddy say no, he mean no." "Good girl. You're normally so good. Why be bad?" Keigo asked, wondering what was going on in his daughter's mind. "Wanted Floppy be ok." Dabi walked in after fixing the stuffed dog. "Here's Floppy. I told you I'd fix him when they left."
Dabi got Hinokuma settled for bed and went to his own room to find Keigo waiting. "I didn't think you had it in you." "What? Disciplining my child?" Dabi scoffed as he laid down next to his husband. "No. Actually hitting her." "Oh. Was I in the wrong with that?" "No no. It was totally warranted. I'm just surprised you did." Dabi placed his head on Keigo's chest. "Yeah well, I did. Hopefully I never have to again." "Yeah. Definitely." The two kissed goodnight and calmly went to sleep.
