I Don't Forgive You

32. Sandbox

Shinji felt like a little baby sitting in the sandbox. He wasn't a little kid anymore; he was almost a whole six years old! Yet here he was stuck in a sandbox. He had wanted to be training with every body else, and instead he was stuck in the sandbox. Haru's daddy, the one who yells a lot, said that he had to stay in the sandbox so that he didn't "set anything else on fire." 

This was entirely unfair, because Shinji didn't mean to set the grass on fire the last time they were training, it was an accident. Apparently, sand can't burn. So now Shinji was stuck sitting in a sandbox, and the worst part of it all is that his daddies had agreed to it. 

He knew that if he just glared long enough at his daddies, they would give in and let him go and train on the grass with Haru and Hitori. So that's what he did, he sat in the sandbox with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at the both of them. Unfortunately, his baby sisters were extra crybabies today, and so his daddies had been trying to calm them down and hadn't yet noticed his glares.

"What are you doing there kiddo?" Haru's nice daddy was smiling down at Shinji, "Don't you want to be training?"

"I don' wanna be in sandbox." Shinji pouted, "I not a baby no more. I a hero." He tried to stop the tears that he felt falling down his cheeks, wiping at them furiously to make them go away. How was he supposed to be a hero if he cried? Heroes didn't cry.

"What's wrong, are you sure this is about the sandbox?" Deku sat down in the sand next to Shinji, "You know, heroes can sit in a sandbox. I'm sitting in one right now, aren't I?"

"I hurt daddy," Shinji whispered, "I burnted him. I no mean to, but now daddies is different."

"They don't seem different," Deku looked over at Dabi and Hawks, "What do you mean?"

"At home, they no happy no more," Shinji muttered, running his fingers through the sand, "They very sad. Like really big feelings sad. I don't think they like me no more."

"That's not true, they love you," Deku looked down at Shinji with worry, wondering what could have possibly happened that would leave him feeling like this. 

"Dove, why are you crying?" Dabi had knelt down in the sand next to Shinji, without him realizing it.

Shinji bawled his fists into the sand, throwing the sand at Dabi, "No. NO. NO!" Shinji jumped up from where he was sitting, running past Deku to get away, "Leave me alone!"

"Shinji?" Dabi chased after Shinji, not sure what was bothering him, which made him worry all the more. "Dove, talk to me what's wrong?"

"I no like you, I no like you," Shinji shouted, "Leave me alone."

Scooping Shinji up into his arms, Dabi caught up to Shinji, "What's going on what's wrong?"

"I Hate you!" Shinji beat his fists against Dabi's chest, as Dabi carried him back over to where Hawks was still sitting with the twins, "I hate you daddy! You're so mean."

"What did I do that's mean?" Dabi asked, trying to keep calm while Shinji was shouting and kicking him, "Tell me what's wrong."

"You get to leave," Shinji reached out for Hawks, trying to get away from Dabi, "you gonna leave. I heard you. I heard you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Shinji," Dabi let Hawks take Shinji from his arms, averting his eyes from both of them, "I don't know what you think you heard, but I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not leaving you."

Shinji clung to Hawks' chest, wiping his tears on his shirt, "You asked Daddy for a divorce. I know what that means. It means you leaving."

"Buddy, that's not what happened," Hawks said quickly, resting his hand on Shinji's hair, brushing the hair out of his face.