A Lost Creation

The Talk

Touya really just wanted to get away from her.
Not even for any negative reason. Star was just doing such a good job at buttering Shigaraki up. She was polite, just like she'd agreed to be. She hadn't stared, and even when given the opening to ask him questions, she hadn't honed in on the hand that Shigaraki called 'Father', nor queried him on any part of his appearance.
She'd entertained his little theory about playing games with the new recruits, and after a round or two, she'd seemed to settle right in. She was more of the kid she was around Touya, happy, playful, and competitive.
She'd even made a fuss over his quirk, which was probably a nice little ego boost for Shigaraki. She'd never cooed like that over Touyas quirk, but he had made a point of not exposing it's true strength around her.

It was all going so well until that random sour look crossed his face when she had asked if he accidentally used his quirk on something he wasn't meant to.
Touya knew she'd instantly picked up on the slight wince that pulled at Shigaraki's scarred eyes when she'd asked the question, because she immediately followed it up with a 'relatable' story, which seemed to make the situation even worse.
Touya had given her a little warning, but it was only to look like he was trying to get her to behave. He'd instantly regretted it when he saw her recoil a little, and he'd wanted to soothe her, but had to hold his ground for this one time.
She'd done nothing wrong. She was just comfortable, enthusiastic. Curious.

Touya, surprisingly, trusted Shigaraki with her alone when he decided to go for a smoke.
He thought a little time alone with Y/N may help convince Shigaraki even more that she was a good kid and that she wouldn't be a problem around the bar.
Shigaraki had been a lot less snappy and impatient and muderous around her than he was with Touya, Toga, and that one guy who contradicted himself all the time. Bubaigawara, was it?
Shigaraki wasn't the type of guy to sugarcoat things either, so the fact he wasn't actively sneering at her or tearing his throat up at her mere presence was comforting enough for Touya to allow them a bit of space to get to know each other some more while he smoked.

With the little hair ruffle he'd given Star, his new-found favourite way of reassuring her in a form of contact that was comfortable for them both, he'd seen her shoulders relax again.
When Shigaraki had hopped out of his seat and announced he'd be joining Touya to have a 'talk', Touya saw the look of sheer panic on her tiny little face as Shigaraki walked past.
Frankly, Touya was equally as nervous about what it was that Shigaraki wanted to talk about. He hadn't lashed out yet, which was a good sign considering he hadn't exactly shown any real signs of self-control, but Y/N was young. Much younger than any of the others. Touya didn't know how much of that had a part to play in how Shigaraki was acting.
Shigaraki was still human after all.

"What's up?" Touya asks, trying to sound casual as he uses his finger to light his cigarette, trying to maintain the usual cool exterior he gave off in situations like this.

Sure, Shigaraki was more frail than Touya, and was a fraction smaller, but he was fast and he was unpredictable.
He made Touya nervous, as much as he hated to admit it. So to compensate, Touya made an active effort to try to make it seem as though he wasn't scared of him in the slightest.

"Let's talk conditions." Shigaraki says, sliding into the seat opposite.

This was one thing Touya did appreciate about Shigaraki. He was straight forward, to the point, little to no bullshit.

"What for?" Touya asks, blowing smoke through his nose.

"You and the girl to stay." Shigaraki replies, a little irritably, as though it should have been obvious.

Touya's too relieved to care about the tone Shigaraki uses with him, his stomach hadn't stopped sinking since taking that loan from Giran, but knowing he had a place to stay, a safe place for Star... that made his stomach settle instantly.
Any conditions were fine as long as he had somewhere to sleep, food to eat and a relatively clean place to sort his body out when needed. Y/N was a good kid. She'd try her hardest to adhere to any rules Shigaraki set. She already had Touya's rules memorized as though they are scripture.
He tries not to show how thankful he is as he continues to smoke and lazily take in the details of Shigaraki's face. He's a little surprised to see his exposed face, his features a lot softer than he'd imagined.

"What are these conditions then, boss?" Touya drawls, peering over at the girl as she seems to talk to Kurogiri while he chops up food.

"You're solely responsible for her. We're an organization, not a daycare." Shigaraki taps the table with one finger as he replies.

Touya scoffs, resulting in a puff of smoke leaving him a lot less elegantly than he'd have liked, especially when it is aimed straight towards Shigaraki's face.

"Like I'd trust any of you wi' her anyway."

He earns himself another sharp look from Shigaraki, but he doesn't say anything, choosing to continue on, the tapping of his finger against the wood quickening in his irritation.

"You'll have to up her stats. I'm not carrying her, and I don't expect anyone else to carry her either." Shigaraki continues on.

Shigaraki's eyes are narrowed, in either annoyance or some kind of form of intimidation, Touya can't quite tell.
It's hard to be too intimidated by a look alone when he's got such a soft little baby face.
Also hard to be intimidated by someone that seemed to relentlessly use gamer terms, like some kind of basement dweller.

"She's not fighting." Touya states bluntly. He wasn't even going to budge on that point.

"Obviously." Shigaraki hisses. "I'm talking about defense. Not being completely useless and reliant on you."

Touya bristles at that comment, but Shigaraki continues before he can even say anything.

"If something happens, she needs to be able to stand up for herself. Currently, she looks at you before she even speaks."

Touyas jaw rolls in annoyance, but he can't argue it. It's true. But she had stopped looking to him for help the longer they'd been here, she just needed to get comfortable and then she'd be fine.

"Fine." Touya agrees, although it's through gritted teeth.

"I also don't want her running around. Touching things." Shigaraki all but snarls. "There are things around here that I don't want getting sticky."

Touya bites his tongue when his brain immediately goes to snap at him about how Y/N isn't a toddler.

"Alright..." Touya agrees again, dragging the word out as it leaves him, and then taking a long inhale of his cigarette to stop himself from making any biting comments.

"If she annoys me... even once..."

Touya and Shigaraki glare at each other as he leaves the threat hanging unfinished in the air.
Touya wasn't stupid. He knew what he was getting at.

"You'll be ash seconds before you can land the final finger, asshole. Don't try me." Touya growls, wishing he could put his cigarette out on that stupid creep's hand.

He didn't even care that realistically, Shigaraki was doing him a solid by offering him and his new little add-on  housing and food in exchange for working for him.
He wasn't going to have anyone even threaten her.

After some internal collecting of his anger, Touya takes what he hopes is a subtle deep breath before continuing.

"She's a good kid. Ya think I'd want some snot nosed brat clingin' onto me?" Dabi asks, trying to appear collected and calm again as he leans back. "If ya give her rules, she'll listen. She can recite my rules back to me like it's fuckin' written into her soul. You don't gotta threaten her."

After a second of silence, Dabi decides to drill in the point a little further.

"Plus, only a fuckin' loser would kill a kid. 'Specially if it's just 'cause they 'annoyed' you. " He continues, raising his hands to put air quotes around 'annoyed'. "You ain't a loser, are ya, boss?"

He's probably pushing his luck a bit, but he doesn't really care. Shigaraki's ego was probably more fragile than his, and something as simple as being called a loser would more than likely sit in his head every time he even thought about going near Star in a non-friendly way.

Shigaraki stares him down for a second longer before getting up from where he sat.

"We'll see." He says simply, glaring down at Dabi before ditching him at the booth.

Dabi stays sitting there for a while, deliberately stubbing the end of his cigarette into the table as he scowls at the back of Shigaraki's head.