A Lost Creation

Unanticipated

She was worse than Touya expected.
Admittedly, he hadn't expected much, the poor kid had been taken and then forced to witness them maiming her beloved 'uncle', her wrists still were bruised and burned from the handcuffs they'd had her in now.
But he hadn't quite expected quite how much she feared being out of his sight now.

He hadn't been able to make appearances in the new headquarters, because Star was jumpy and even worse around new people than she was before, but he couldn't leave her with Spinner or Compress either because she'd have a full on panic attack whenever he was out of sight.
That wasn't even Touya being dramatic on his end, either.
He'd waited for her to pass out one of the nights before leaving to meet Hawks, knowing he needed to keep the damn bird interested in the cause if he wanted to use him later to his advantage.

But it had taken all of ten minutes of him having left the ex-CRC building for Compress to call, expressing concern because after learning Touya had left for a little while, Star had started to 'struggle breathing'.
Touya had to then ditch the plans with the bird, not that he minded that too much, to go straight back to Star while trying to talk her through breathing exercises on the phone as she panicked.

And god, the sound of her struggling to breathe on the other end of the phone cracked his soul a little bit.

He understood that, though. Being worried when he was outside of their new home without her.
But she wouldn't let him out of her sight in the same building as each other, either.
To the point of which they'd almost had a fight about Dabi not being in the room while she used the bathroom, or vice versa, whether backs were turned or not.
He'd forced her to settle for sitting outside the door and calling to make sure that he hadn't left, which still was uncomfortable but it kept her tear-free.

The night terrors she already struggled with had tripled in intensity, too. She'd be whimpering in her sleep the second she dropped off, crying out for help or Touya himself loud enough for him to know that she must have been screaming it in her dream.
He'd just end up in her room, holding her, rocking her like she was six years younger than she actually was, petting her hair and trying to use Fuyumis old trick but to no avail... So he opted to just sleep in her room again.

It wasn't like he was unfamiliar with sleeping on the floor, it was second nature to him by now, but more often than not he ended up squished in her bed with her anyway.
It was just unfortunate, because she'd almost gotten used to sleeping alone, and now they were going to have even more issues trying to get her back in her bed alone.

She was already a kid with issues. She had a lousy mom, who had not-so-favourable partners from the sounds of it, she'd dealt with neglect, and found her mom after she'd died.
The kidnapping just made the consequences of all of that trauma so much worse.

He could have torn the people that took her apart given the chance, but he was unable to with her clinging to him like she was.
Tomura said that he would deal with them when the time came, because Touya would just be 'messy' about it, but Touya had rejected the offer, he wanted to see to them personally.
He would just have to wait until Star was doing better to do that. He could do it. He'd been waiting years for revenge already as it was.

He couldn't even see Tomura face to face, because Star wouldn't leave him be, and there was no way he was going to take her to Ujiko's lab. With her heightened nerves, the Nomu stored there would only serve as more nightmare fuel, and he had no idea how he would even explain them to her.

It was all so lonely and somehow smothering at the same time.

He really couldn't afford to neglect his duties any more, especially with half the League wiped out and unable to pull their own weight, so after a little while, Touya had to improvise, as much as he hated to do it.
Gently, he eases Star out of her little doodling bubble, crouching in front of her. She looks up at him innocently, the pure trust she has towards him evident in her gaze.