"Kyoko sweetie, can you grab the soy sauce?" A tall man with kind eyes called to your mother.

It was your father, his expression joyful as you had always remembered it.

"I'm coming geez..." She muttered, her attention focused down at the sizzling pan before her.

"Sweetie, you're burning it-"

"IT'S NOT BURNED! IT'S EXTRA CRISPY!"

"I'M HUNGRY!" You cried in complaint.

"(Y/N) YOU JUST GOTTA BE CALM AND COLLECTED LIKE MOMMY!" Kyoko yelled back.

Your grumbling stomach has driven you into overdrive bratty kid mode. Batting your fists against the table, you cried further. Hungry ten-year-olds are a force to be reckoned with.

"It smells awful in here," Dabi muttered the moment he opened the door. "Kyoko, did you kill something?"

"DON'T INSULT MY COOKING THE MOMENT YOU GET HERE!" She snarled in retaliation, waving her spatula in a threatening manner. "AND I KNOW YOU'RE HERE TO EAT, YOU TWERP!"

"Wow, guess I'll just go stare-"

"Don't mind her Dabi." The man smiled. "Please sit down."

"Daisuke, you should cook. Why would you subject us to this torture?" Dabi scoffed.

"Oh come on," He laughed. "She's gotten better."

"DABI DABI DABI!" You shouted excitedly, leaping up from your seat and sprinting around the table. He was in his late teens now, almost 18. "I learned how to do something new with my quirk! Wanna see?!"

"Oh? Something new huh?" He knelt down next to you and ruffled through your hair.

"Mmhmm!" You grinned brightly.

You always got excited when he came by. There were times when he would stay for a few days or weeks and times when he would just disappear for a month or two. It was a strange system, but Dabi always knew he had some kind of home to come back to.

"Dinner first." Daisuke smiled. "You can show Dabi after dinner, okay (y/n)?"

"Awww okay..." You pouted.

"Don't worry, it just builds it up more." Dabi insisted.

The boy had basically become something of a big brother to you when he started sticking around. At first, he was hostile. His eyes were constantly dead and he barely ever spoke a word. That was about four years ago. Things were so different now.

Dabi took care of you.

He looked out for you.

As much as he hated to admit, he adored you with every fiber of his being, as if you had become his own family.

He liked the others as well, your mom, your dad. Materialistically they had nothing. But they had all the love to give in the world. They never asked Dabi why he was out in Kabukicho or where he went off to sometimes. They didn't ask about the burns. They didn't need to. Who he was didn't matter to them. Ever since he came into their lives, he had been nothing but caring, even if he never admitted it directly.

Everything had become a chain reaction. The little things were starting to come back to you as well.

You remembered a moment where a water pipe under your house busted. Dabi had welded it closed using his quirk.

Another time your mother had collapsed with a fever while your father was working a night shift. Dabi carried her all the way to the hospital.

When he found out you had some bullies picking on you at school, Dabi would walk you home. When he found out who they were, he 'nonchalantly' terrified them into never crossing your path again.

He was family.

"Hey, you fuckers haven't started eating without us right?" Ai jeered as she walked through the door.

"Ai watch your language!" Daisuke gasped in horror, throwing his hands over your ears.

"My it smelled delicious in her Kyoko dear~!" Ranka grinned as he passed under the doorway behind Ai.

"The fuck you talkin' about?" Ai grimaced. "It smells like shi-"

A quick smack to the back of the head by her friend shut her up instantly. Dabi sighed and took a seat at the table

"You're loud." He groaned.

"Oh shut it ya crispy bastard." Ai retorted.

"Language." Daisuke huffed.

As mediocre as the food had been, it didn't matter. You all laugh and jeered at ridiculous dad jokes spouted off by Daisuke. Ranka always kept the energy going by explaining his next planned act. It was always hard to get through those explanations though. One beer in and Kyoko was talking nonsense. Her tolerance basically equated to her smelling alcohol and instantly getting wasted.

It was always like that.

It was like a little world separated from the misery outside the door. You never minded the broken heater because the atmosphere was made warm by the people sharing the space.

You had been rich in all the things that actually mattered.

"OOO! Let me show you the new thing I learned with my quirk now!" You shouted excitedly.

"Okay sweetie. Be careful." Your father smiled softly.

You ran over to an outlet beside the wall and pushed your palm up against it without a second thought.

"BEHOLD!" You grinned.

Annnnd the power went out before someone had managed to make it across the room to stop you.

"... Uhhhh..." Ai sighed.

"That's amazing sweetie." Daisuke awkwardly laughed. "Now I need to get to the breaker..."

"Ooooo the lights are off Daisuke~" Kyoko teased.

"Eh?! N-No sweetie, not now." He nervously answered.

"I swear to FUCKING god if y'all start feeling each other up right now." Ai growled.

"IT'S DARK, I'M SCARED!" You yelled.

"This is so stupid..." Dabi muttered.

- - -

"I saw it..." You muttered. "We all lived here, like a family..."

"That's right." Dabi simply answered.

You stood there a bit dumbfounded. There were so many mixed emotions. On one hand, you felt fortunate that you had such a loving family. At the same time, you were devastated that to your knowledge, it was gone. Taking a few steps forward past the doorway, you ran your fingers along the table from your memories. It was exactly how you had remembered it, just coated in dust. Your eyes solemnly traced the trails you left across it. The only thing that brought you back to reality was the feeling of fabric brushing against your shoulders.

"Here," Dabi mumbled, placing his overcoat over you. "It's cold."

"Oh..." You hadn't noticed your breath crystallizing as it escaped you. "Thanks..."

As usual, he didn't respond to your acknowledgment of the sweet gesture. You held onto it and slowly made your way around the table, eyes running across the pictures and knick-knacks the took up the walls and available table top. One of the pictures made you stop.

"This is... my father." You softly said, recognizing the man from your flashbacks. "He's wearing a costume... Was he perhaps a hero?"

"He wanted to be, but he never really excelled in combat." Dabi huffed. "He was too much of a softly. But he worked as a sidekick for a long time until-"

He stopped.

You peaked back at him with questioned eyes.

"Until?"

He was resistant to deliver such harsh truths, and rightfully so.

"Your mother was diagnosed with Lupus after experiencing multiple organ failures."

Straight to the point. There was a sinking feeling in your stomach.

"I see..." You muttered, throat tight to the point of near suffocation. "So that's how it was."

"He wanted to get a job closer to home, where wouldn't have to leave for long periods of time." Dabi added.

"He must have loved her a lot."

"He loved you a lot too."

Loved.

Past tense.

- - -

"Are you going somewhere?" You groggily asked, peering up at your father. It was early in the morning. Dabi and Daisuke had been talking in the kitchen and you had heard. So you came out to see what all the commotion was.

"Mmmhmmm." Daisuke hummed. "Dad's returning to his old job for a while."

He had a small briefcase with him.

"Are you gonna be home for dinner tonight?" You smiled.

"Not tonight sweetie. In a few days!" He cheered.

Dabi was leaning up against the wall, arms crossed, clearly discontent with the outcome of whatever conversation had just ensued.

"Awww okay..." You pouted with puffed out cheeks. "I'll make the best dinner for you when you get back!"

"I look forward to it." Daisuke softly smiled, pulling you into an embrace. Your face burrowed against his abdomen as you wrapped your arms around him tightly.

"See you soon."