A Lost Creation

Awake and Adored

You hadn't even been aware that you'd been dozing off in Giran's arms the second that he started telling you the story, only drifting in and out enough to know that it was a story about a woman who had to spin straw into gold.
You hadn't been able to fall asleep that easily in weeks. You're warm underneath the blanket, you can hear Giran's raspy voice telling the story even if he sounds distant, and you're safely cuddled up in his arms. It may have been all the tears tiring out your eyes that made you so sleepy, too.
It feels the most peaceful and safe that you'd felt in a long time, and you don't want it to end.

But the sound of a door slamming startles you awake, a surprised yelp leaving you, and Giran holds you closer, hushing you.

"Where is she?" You hear your pawpaw ask, almost angrily.

Automatically, you try leaping out of Giran's lap, calling out for Dabi.
Unlike Hawks, Giran just lets you get off of his lap without a fight, only stopping you briefly to remove the blanket from how it's been wrapped around you while you bounce impatiently, hearing footsteps rush towards your voice.
You don't even get a good look at Dabi before he's dropped to his knees and you run forwards to slam your bodies together, one warm hand pressed against your head, holding your face to his shoulder, and his other arm wrapped tightly around your body. He presses his face against your shoulder in return, making a choked noise.

"Pawpaw!" You cry out, wrapping your arms just as tightly around his torso, too.

"Starshine." He says, his voice cracking a little bit. "Yer so small again..."

He squeezes you even tighter, like he's trying to make you a part of him, and you wheeze a little.

"Can't... breathe..." You gasp, but you don't really mind. Because even if he's hurting you by accident, that means that this was real. That he was real.

"Shi- shoot. Sorry darlin'." Dabi says, his voice rough as he loosens his grip. "Fu- shi- damn, I'm outta practice... I've bled on ya."

"Don't care." You say, pressing yourself a little closer to him again, burying your face into the side of his scarred neck and breathing in the smell of smoke. "You're real?"

"As real as it gets, hon. I missed you so much." His chest heaves for a moment as he takes a shaky breath and nuzzles his face against you. "So much."

You immediately start bawling and gripping him tightly, which only makes Dabi cling onto you closer too, shushing you and peppering kisses on every area of your head and face as he can reach without moving you away from him.
You begin babbling tearfully and completely incoherently about everything that had happened while you were away from him, and he rubs your back, listening intently despite you not making any sense.
After a while of tears and complete nonsense spilling from your lips between heaved breaths, Dabi gently tries peeling you away from him, but you shake your head and whine, gripping his clothes tighter.

"Star, ain't lettin' you go anywhere, I promise. Jus' wanna get all cuddled up with ya. Can we do that?" He asks patiently, sniffing and still rubbing your back.

"We can cuddle?" You double check.

"Of course, ya think I'm gonna not cuddle you?!" He asks in mock offense. "Come on, let me get up little Star. Want me to make you into a Star burrito?"

He sniffs again as you let go, and when you move away, you gasp when you see his blood-smeared face. The scarring under his eyes now met the scarring that ran along the middle of his face. You immediately move to touch it, not even caring about maybe touching his blood as your bottom lip wobbles, but he grabs your wrist gently. You cry again when you see the scarring has extended over his hand a little more too.