Through the Years

Not What You Want

You enter the apartment and place Cloud on the floor gently, locking the door behind you.
You had been playing with Uncle Zero and Cloud in the small garden behind the bar while Dabi was with Fuyumi and Tomura was at work to break up your own school work.
Zero was always happy to spend time with you, and seemed to enjoy petting Cloud now that the cat never really hisses at him anymore.

You can hear that the TV is playing in the living room, so someone's home now. It also smells a bit like some of the weird cigarettes Dabi smokes from time to time, but he wasn't really allowed to smoke in the apartment.

You sit down in front of the door to take off your shoes, not really in any rush to get back to your school work. You could get away with being a bit lazier with it while your dads were out, but now one of them is back you would probably have to really knuckle down and focus on it so that they wouldn't nag you too much about it.

When your shoes are off and your slippers are on, you follow where Cloud had wandered off to the second you had allowed him freedom from your arms.
Cloud is curled up on Tomura's outstretched legs, Tomura's head resting to the side, his arms crossed over his chest and his long white hair shielding his face from you.

You pause. It's unusual for Tomura to come home early, and Dabi had gone off to see Fuyumi again, so it wasn't like Dabi had called him home.

"How come you're home early, pa?" You ask, approaching the couch slowly.

Tomura doesn't reply, or move, and your stomach drops a little bit. Even if he was being particularly grumpy, he never ignored you if you addressed him.

"Dad?" You ask again, a little more worriedly, your footsteps slowing even more.

You're leaning over the couch, taking in the sight of Tomura with his eyes closed and his face looking soft and peaceful compared to usual, even with all the harsh scarring and rough skin around his eyes and mouth.

"Not funny, Tomura." You breathe, trying to sound more firm than you feel.

He doesn't move again, and you begin to panic, your heart sinking and your mind going back to how your mom had looked when you'd found her.
He wasn't a funny colour, and he didn't have any foamy puke near him, so he could just be asleep, but your brain was refusing to settle on that.

Tomura never really slept well, and he certainly never fell asleep on the couch, unlike Dabi.

"Dad." You repeat, forcing yourself to reach over the back of the couch to prod at his shoulder with two fingers.

He doesn't budge, not even an inch. And usually he was hyper aware of his surroundings even when he was asleep, poking him like that would usually have him grabbing your wrist so quickly that you wouldn't have time to realise that he was waking up in the first place.

"Stop it. You're scaring me." You say a little breathlessly.

Surely if he was dead Cloud wouldn't be curled up on him, but maybe Cloud hadn't realised or this was his way of saying goodbye to Tomura.

You begin backing away slowly, images of your mom replacing the reality of what was in front of you, and luckily you hear the door open before you have to make a decision on what to do.

"Pawpaw!" You cry out, bolting for the hallway.

Dabi looks a little startled, clearly not expecting such an energetic greeting, and then sniffs a little and frowns.

"What's..."

"Tomura won't wake up." You explain, pulling on his prosthetic arm.

"Huh?" He asks, allowing you to tug him into the living area.