Through the Years

Fall Out

Tomura idly waits for the water in front of him to boil, his brain so beautifully quiet for once. He hadn't realised how much of an issue the one off smoking of Touya's weed was going to be until it had knocked him out cold the one day.
Now he was using it a couple times a week when his insomnia was significantly worse than usual.

Tonight, what with Star being at Bubaigawaras for the night, He and Touya had overindulged a bit. It hadn't worked with his insomnia this time but it did shut his brain off, and that had made everything feel so much better in bed.

So now while Touya was asleep in their room, he was making a chamomile tea like Kurogiri had when he was a child, hoping that maybe it'd do the trick in knocking him out for the night.
He's so relaxed for once that he doesn't even register the door opening, or pick up on careful footsteps approaching him.

"Dad?"

Tomura spins around, startled for the first time in well over a decade.

"You're hurt." Star immediately worries, her eyes filled with concern.

"Star. What are you doing back?" Tomura asks, tilting his head as he brushes over her comment. "Did something happen?"

Her expression turns more sheepish, and even in his intoxicated state, Tomura can see her eyes are puffy as though she'd been crying.

"An argument." He states, turning when the kettle begins to whine, pouring the boiling water into his cup. "What about, little Star?"

"I'm not little anymore..." She insists, albeit with less confidence than she would with Touya. "It's dumb."

"Probably." Tomura agrees. "But it's upset you and made you come home at the dead of night, so let's discuss it."

Star sniffles a little, highlighting that perhaps Tomura had been a little too blunt with her when she's already feeling fragile.
Tomura squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, taking a deep breath as he picks up his cup from the work surface.

"I'll put on a shirt and then we can talk." He says simply as he passes her.

"Have you and dad been fighting too?" She asks, turning to follow him with her eyes. "You've been scratching, and your eyes are red..."

"No, Star. We're not fighting." He says blandly. "Put your pyjamas on and join me in here again."

And he slinks into his shared bedroom with Touya, checking his partner is still asleep. And he is, of course he is, a mess of scarred and metal limbs sprawled across the thin bed sheets.
Tomura smirks a little at the sight of him, placing his cup on the dresser and approaching the sleeping man.

Touya's on his back still, his scarred chest rising and falling rhythmically. Tomura leans over the bed, the ends of his long hair trailing over his torso as he moves Touya's unruly fringe out of his face, checking for signs of a nightmare.
When Touya responds with a faint smile, even in his sleep, Tomura knows that he'll be okay for the night, and returns to his original task of grabbing a shirt.

He settles for Touya's, the material laying on the floor closest to him, retrieves his cup and leaves Touya to rest again.

"So, what happened?" Tomura asks, going back to fill the kettle to make a cocoa for Star, like he, Dabi, and Zero used to when she was eleven.

"It's my fault." Star admits tearfully.

"That's not what I asked." Tomura states.

If he didn't nip these things in the bud, she'd end up getting herself in a mess about being in trouble with him. She didn't get that wound up about being 'in trouble' as intensely with Touya, but it was something she worried about even to this day.
Tomura wanted her to stop fearing that. To stop walking on eggshells around him.