A Lost Creation

Pawpaws

"Goodbye lil' love." Giran says as he gives you a gentle squeeze with his arms around you, pulling away to cup your face gently in his large hands. "Ya know you can always come back ta see yer grandpaw, 'kay? I love ya."

"Love you too." You reply, leaning your face forward a little more into his hands.

He kisses your forehead, and lets you go to stand and pat Dabi's back, talking quietly to him. You hook your pinky finger around Dabi's wordlessly, holding your duck in the other hand as you look towards Zero and Aiko as they talk together too.

Aiko even hugs Zero, which impresses you a little bit, because you'd only ever seen Aiko hug Uncle Giran, and even then it was brief, but this one looked like a long one, and she's smiling at him really big when she pulls away.

Dabi and Giran finish up whatever conversation they were having quietly, Dabi telling him goodbye and calling him an old man again, and then leading you away from Giran's house to Zero's car.

You obediently get into the car, letting Dabi strap you in and pull on it to make sure it's tight enough around you. He kisses your head before closing the door and sitting in the passenger seat beside Zero, telling him to drive carefully, only to be told that Zero always drives carefully.

You sit quietly in the back for a while. You were pretty sleepy, and the monotony of sitting in the car and watching things pass outside was doing nothing to make you feel any more lively.

"Uncle Zero?" You ask after a while, looking at the sewn-up man's side profile from where you're sitting.

"Yes, Star?" Zero replies, smiling a little more at the sound of your voice, but his odd-coloured eyes remain on the road.

"Are you boyfriend and girlfriend with Aunty Aiko?" You ask.

"Star." Dabi snorts and rolls his eyes, smiling as he leans his cheek on his fist.

"What?" You question, frowning a little. "She gave him a long hug and she doesn't hug anyone."

"We're friends." Zero answers, glancing at you in the rear-view mirror. "I have no interest in being anyone's boyfriend."

"No-one ever?" You ask curiously. "Not ever?"

"I don't think so." Zero replies, still smiling.

You hum a little in response. "But what about when you're old? You have to get married."

"Star, no-one's gotta get married." Dabi chuckles. "Yer mom wasn't married."

"No, but she had boyfriends." You defend. "And she had me!"

"Alri', let me put it this way. Remember when I told ya boys can kiss boys an' girls can kiss girls?" Dabi asks, turning to pay you his full attention. "Some people don't wanna kiss anyone at all. An' all of that is fine."

"Maybe I'm like that too." You muse. "I don't like kissing."

"You ain't kissed a damn soul yet, an' if you had I'd be out there wringin' necks, kid." Dabi snorts. "Plus, you gonna look at me an' tell me you don't have a lil' crush on our Spinner?"

You splutter, your face heating up immediately. Zero doesn't seem to even really pay attention to the conversation, busy following Dabi's order of driving carefully. You wonder if he ever really stops smiling, because you'd never seen anyone as smiley and happy as Uncle Zero before.

Even though he isn't paying attention that you can tell, you still get embarrassed at the fact that Dabi had teased you for your crush on Spinner in front of him. You hadn't told anyone about it apart from Dabi, and you didn't want Zero to make fun of you too, even if Dabi was always being playful about it.