Little Star was... off. She was picking at her food, practically silent unless someone spoke to her first, and staring at everything apart from everyone's faces.
She was a switched on kid, she noticed a lot and she was always enthusiastic in whatever she did. Touya sometimes even liked to watch her whenever he sat quietly with her because she somehow managed to make everything so amusing in the way she did things.
But this evening, she was reserved, blank and unenthused.

Due to his own upbringing, Touya was almost painfully accurate in reading people. Any slight change in the way someone interacted with him, others and the world would be picked up on instantly.
He also trusted his gut, and his gut was telling him something was wrong with her and he needed to fix it.

One of the dead giveaways was that she was back to not really wanting to be touched either, which Touya was more than happy to allow.
He liked that she had boundaries, and was happy to respect them.
He snapped at the less observant members of the League to get off of her whenever they got a little too touchy-feely with her, knowing she was too polite to do it herself.
He understood why they did it. She was a cute kid. She had soft, round little cheeks, a sweet little smile and eyes that looked at the world with sheer interest and curiosity. But that didn't mean they could treat her like some kind of doll, even though it was done with the purest of intentions, as they all seemed to love her.
 
Him defending her personal space didn't seem to help her feel comfortable either, and she ended up taking herself off to bed a lot earlier than usual.

The bar wasn't exactly the most soundproof building in the world. The floorboards creaked whenever someone moved, so Touya could hear she was still up an hour after she'd taken herself off upstairs.
Shigaraki kept peering over at him while he and Spinner played yet another shooter at the bar. Without Star around, Touya would allow the others to watch, play and discuss more violent and non-kid friendly topics. He didn't want her desensitised and her brain to be all mushed by that kind of stuff at her age.
She already had her fair share of issues without scary movies and games adding to it.

He couldn't quite tell whether the looks were because he wanted Touya to go up there and tell her to go to bed, or if it was just the same-old odd glance he'd catch Shigaraki give him from the time to time.
Everyone was having a good time, Spinner and Shigaraki gaming like they so often did together, and the others all playing some loud card game in a booth across the bar.
It was just Kurogiri and Touya being silent out of all of them.

Touya felt weird sitting alone at the bar, nursing a glass of whiskey without little Y/N sat beside him chewing his ear off about something or other. It felt kind of flat without her around.
A loud thump from upstairs rings out, and Shigaraki shoots him a more pointed look, as if to say 'sort it out'.
Dabi gives him an equally sharp look, draining the rest of his glass in one before standing, shoving his hands in his pockets, and climbing the stairs towards Stars room.
He'd fully intended on giving her her own space, maybe just listen in to whatever she was doing for a second or two just to make sure she was safe, but the thump had been loud enough for him to be a little concerned.

He taps his knuckles against her door softly.

"Star? Ya good in there?" He calls.

There's the sound of shuffling, and her door slowly opens, revealing a sheepish-looking Y/N.
The look makes his eyebrows furrow in concern.

"What's the matter?" He asks, crouching down to her level.

She's quiet, shifting on her feet and looking away.
Dabi's eyes flicker to see if he can look inside her room. He wasn't the best at this whole 'guardian' thing, but he knew that a look like that must mean she'd done something 'wrong', maybe accidentally broken something, and was avoiding telling him so she wouldn't get into trouble.

"Teddy's gone." She admits quietly, still not looking him in the eye.

"Okay... ya want some help lookin'?" Touya asks slowly, unconvinced that this was the only issue.

She snaps: "I'm not a baby!"

And then the sheepish, guilty look returns.

"Star..." Touya urges, his voice a little more firm.

Her shoulders dart upwards, as though she was flinching defensively.
Touya hadn't raised his voice an iota, just hardened it a little, and the flinch he got as a result of that makes his heart stop for a second.

"Look, I ain't gonna be mad. Pinky promise." Touya holds out his pinky.

She looks at his finger a little dubiously before finally meeting his eyes.

"Really, really?" She asks.

"Really." He replies firmly, moving his pinky towards her again.

She thinks about it for a split second longer before curling her tiny pinky around his own, both of them shaking their hands in unison.

"So. What're you hidin' little Star?" He asks, leaning his arm over his knee.

"Okay, I really have lost teddy, and I was just looking for him, and then I started panicking and I accidentally knocked over the bedstand but I don't think it's broken, and I'm really really sorry! Please don't tell Shigaraki! I don't want you to get fired or for him to get mad, he was really nice today when we were training and he'll get so mad if its broken, I'm so bad, I'm us-"

"Stop right there." Touya urges, struggling to keep up with her words as they tumble out of her mouth.

He didn't want to hear her saying anything negative about herself. She wasn't a bad kid, not in the slightest. She was one of the best kids anyone could really ask for. She was obedient, polite and eager to learn.
His old man probably would have loved her.
He shuts that one away as quickly as she slams her mouth shut.

"An' you haven't found him yet?" Touya asks.

He was ignoring the issue of the bedstand, seeing as that's what she seemed to be panicking the most about.
Maybe if it seemed like he was unphased about it (he was), then she would chill out too.

"No..." She murmurs quietly.

Touya thinks about a solution to this problem for a second, trying to think of a way to occupy her while he can have a look at the bedside table.

"You mess your room up a little?" He asks slowly.

He kind of got the feeling that from all the thumping and scraping they'd been hearing from downstairs, that maybe she was getting a little desperate while looking for her beloved teddy, and had begun moving stuff around.
Her face going a little darker gives him his answer.

"Alright." He says, pulling himself up to his full height. "I'll get ta fixing your room, an' you go look in mine for Star Jr, 'kay?"

"Teddy." She corrects, the slight sassing something that's the most Y/N thing she'd done all evening.

This relieves Touya enough to give her a little smirk. Maybe she was just stressing about where her beloved bear had gone all evening. Although, he was fairly certain it had started before dinner.
No matter, he had a room to tidy and a teddy bear to find.

"Alright." He chuckles. "Shoo, 'fore I make you tidy your mess, kid."

He's joking, but she doesn't know that, immediately hurrying to his room without another word.
He watches her with a smirk before pushing her bedroom door fully open, his eyes flickering over the extent of the damage.
It wasn't the worst he'd seen. He'd made bigger messes in his tantrums as a child before.

He starts by picking up the bedside table, which was still in one piece asides from the drawer that had fallen out the second he lifted it.
Pieces of paper fly out of the drawer, and Touya watches before sighing and sliding it back into place, picking up each sheet of paper one by once to place back into it.
He didn't mean to look. He really didn't.
But the sight of a whole lot of lines and blotches of purple attract his attention without him really asking for it to.

They were all drawings of Touya with Star.
One of them together with ducks, one of them eating soup, one of them eating ice cream.
There were a couple of her with Jin, and 'Uncle Giran', too.
The final one was a list of their rules, with accompanying drawings.

For some reason, this makes his chest tighten.

'One, don't give out your real name', accompanied by her name scribbled out with a drawing of a star with a green tick next to it.
'Two, don't follow strangers', accompanied by drawing of a small, chibi version of Touya's head with a tick, next to a faceless person crossed out.
'Three, no sleeping alone', but she'd taken it upon herself to add a little extra to this one, adding: 'The bar is safe though'.
This had a little illustration of the two of them with little 'zzz's' above their heads next to it.
'Four, behave!', which had a hilarious picture of Shigaraki frowning etched next to it.
'Five, no swearing', with a little speech bubble with a scribble inside it.

It was cute, innocent, and funny.
But Touya felt horrifically guilty for invading her privacy like that. It wasn't the same as reading a diary, sure, but she'd clearly hidden those away, as opposed to the ones she kept on top of the dresser.
He puts them away, hoping there wasn't a specific order to them.

He begins tidying the rest of her room, folding up the clothes she'd thrown around trying to find her teddy, and placing them all in the wardrobe.
He picks up the markers and pencils that had been tossed across the room, gifted to her by Giran no doubt.
He re-makes her bed, even fluffing the damn pillows.

Eventually she pads back in.

"He's not there, either." She says behind him sadly, and Touya can hear sniffling, his body immediately snapping to face her.

Her little eyes are watering and he can tell that she's holding back from crying.

"Hey now, we'll find him." Touya tries to say softly, although his raspy voice probably ruins the delivery. "Won't have gotten too far."

She sniffs even harder, her eyes filling with unshed tears,

"He's all I have." She says weepily.

Touya pauses, looking around the room. Toga had stolen her a bunch of stuff, but he knew it was mostly clothes, and her teddy usually sat on its lonesome on top of her bed during the day.
He supposed she had a point, it was the only real belonging she had, so it must have meant more to her than he'd realised.

He goes to pat her head, only for her to flinch away.
It makes his heart sink for a split second, wanting to comfort her the best way he could, because god knows he's useless with words.
But he holds his hands up, as though in surrender.

"My bad, doll. 'M sorry." Touya lowers his arms. "Look, why don't you go brush your teeth, an' get ready for bed, an' I'll go have another look."

She nods, still sniffling and fleeing to the bathroom in a hurry.

She was behaving so oddly, and it was really beginning to take a toll on Touya.
Usually, she trusted him to touch her. The only occassions she hadn't were when he had snapped a little at her, or told her off. Understandable. He knew what that felt like.
She'd also never really made an effort to hold back tears like that with him. She felt safe to feel her feelings in front of him and Touya loved that. He was emotional too, and never had the opportunity to feel them, and be validated as a kid.
He didn't want her to go through that too.

He tries not to dwell on it too much. That line of thinking will only lead to one place, and it was somewhere that would only drag him down, too.
He thuds down the stairs, looking over the bar.
He approaches Shigaraki first, while he's in the middle of setting up another match with Spinner.

"Oi, boss." He drawls. "Seen Star's bear about? Stained, battered thing. Star on its chest."

Shigaraki snorts condescendingly, a sound Touya isn't too fond of. His teeth clench slightly in irritation.
Spinner looks over at him, shaking his head, despite not being the one Touya had asked.

"Is that a no?" Touya asks, his eyes set on Shigaraki in a hard gaze.

"Yup." Shigaraki replies bluntly, focusing entirely on the game he was setting up. He gives another snort before adding: "Isn't she a little too old for toys?"

Touya bites his tongue yet again.
Just because neither of them had been allowed items of comfort growing up for one reason or another, that didn't mean Touya wanted Y/N to experience the same thing.
He certainly wasn't going to allow her to be shamed for having a teddy by a man who is frequently referred to as a 'man-child' in the media.

Touya ignores him, walking off for the good of the both of them.
He walks on over to Toga, Twice, Mister Compress and Magne, seeing that they were playing poker.

"You guys seen Star's teddy?" He asks, interrupting their conversation without caring too much about how impolite it is.

Twice shakes his head and then instantly begins nodding, and Compress turns to face Touya, still uncomfortable to take the damn mask off, apparently.

"I can't say I've seen any soft toys around here. Magne?"

Magne shakes her head. "What does it look like? I can keep an eye out for it."

Touya pulls a cigarette out, lighting it and taking the first breath quickly before answering. Seeing Twice smoking has set off that burning need under his skin again.

"It's a little beaten up. Stained, has a star on its front." Touya informs lazily.

Magne hums, nodding a little as if to let him know she'd taken a mental note of it.
Toga doesn't reply, acting as though she hadn't heard them all discussing the matter at hand, instead focusing completely on her cards.

"Toga?" Touya asks, blowing smoke from his nose.

"Hm?" She asks, not meeting his eyes.

"Ya seen Star's teddy?" He repeats, although he's pretty certain she has from the way she was being avoidant alone.

"Nope." She replies, popping the 'p'. A surprisingly blunt answer considering her usual chatterbox self.

Even Magne seems to pick up on the change of Toga's personality, glancing at her before raising her eyebrow at Touya.
He gives her a little nod of acknowledgement. He knew where he had to look next, and so he took a few more drags of his smoke while hovering over them before he stubbed out his cigarette and headed straight back upstairs.
The bathroom door is open, signalling that Y/N must be back in her room waiting.
He walks past, heading for Togas room. He knew that what he was looking for would be in there, he wasn't an idiot and she was a terrible liar.

Sure enough, the second he opened the door, he saw the ragged thing laying atop of her unmade bed.
He rolls his eyes, taking large strides across her messy room to snatch the teddy back up.
He brushes it off for no reason other than he kind of feels compelled to when seeing the carnage within her room. He turns it over in his hands, double checking there weren't any new stains on it.

One he's satisfied that it's in 'good' condition still with no stains or any tears or damage, he carries it off back to little Y/N.
He knocks on her ajar door gently before slowly pushing it open.

"You found him?!" She asks, sitting bolt upright, her little eyes wide open.

"Yup." Touya replies, with a small proud smirk as he hands her the bear.

She practically snatches it, immediately burying her face into the bears head, giving a sob of what Touya really hoped was relief.

"Where was he?" She asks, looking up at Touya.

Touya shrugs. "Musta been for walkies."

Her face turns sour again.

"I'm not a baby." She repeats, flopping onto her back and gripping her teddy like it's a lifeline.

Touya chuckles, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Feelin' better now you got Star Jr back?" He asks, wanting to reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear but controlling himself enough not to.

She shrugs, back to indifference.
Touya looks over her, trying to read her body language as though it'd tell him specifically why she was being so strange this evening.

"I do somethin' to upset you, Star?" He asks, cocking his head.

She shakes her head, but looks away again, holding that ratty teddy tighter.
Touya sighs, leaning back ever so slightly.

"Then whassup, kid? Somethin's buggin' you, I can tell."

She goes quiet for a second or two before swallowing audibly.

"You're not my dad." She replies quietly.

This wasn't the response Touya was expecting, and he's a little taken aback for a moment, his eyebrows pulling together slightly as he thinks over her answer.

"An' that's upsettin' you?" He asks for clarification.

He would never admit it, but a little part of him kind of hoped it was.
He was a lot fonder of Star than he'd expected himself to be, and he was a sucker for praise and for being adored, maybe even needed.
Although that was probably expected after his upbringing.

"No!" She denies, turning herself onto her side, hiding her face from him. "I called you dad in front of everyone, and you're not my dad."

The way she emphasises the end of her sentence stings a lot more than Touya cares for, but he'd swallow it down and deal with it later.

"So you're a little embarrassed?" Touya tries again.

She stays quiet, curling up underneath her blanket.
Touya's just going to go ahead and take that as a 'yes'.
Which also stings a little, even though he knew deep down that was a normal reaction for a kid to have, and is by no means anything personal towards him.

"Alright..." He muses. "Well, did anyone laugh?"

She shakes her head.

"Did anyone correct ya? Or make fun of ya?" He asks.

She shakes her head again.

"So wha's the problem?" He asks softly. "No-one thought twice about it, doll."

She shrugs again, this one a bit harsher than the last one. Clearly this subject was bothering her more than Touya really could understand.
He sits on the edge of her bed, still and silent, trying to figure out a way to lift her spirits. He hated seeing her bothered like this. It wasn't really something he was used to, and it was something he definitely didn't want to get used to.

Eventually, he comes to a decision.
It's not something he particularly wants to share with her, and it's not something he really wants to think about, but she was so open with him, a lot more open than he was with her, so he figures it's the least he can do to give her something about himself.
She also seemed a little stunted, like she hadn't been around other kids much and had no idea that it was actually pretty common for kids to have a slip of the tongue like that.
He needed to let her know it wasn't a big deal.

"Hey, wanna know a secret?" He whispers as best he can.

As expected, this works to entice her curious little mind, her face turning to look at him.

"What is it?" She whispers back.

"When I was younger..." Touya starts, before stopping to try and rid himself of the lump in his throat. He can't believe he's going to talk about this.

"When I was younger..." He tries again, speaking lowly so he can keep his voice relatively clear for her. "My dad was a big, big scary and angry man."

She seems invested already, turning her whole body towards him again.

"He used to yell even when he was jus' talkin' normal. He was just a loud guy, y'know?" He asks softly, she nods. "So when I was growin' up, if any man used ta yell at me I'd accidentally call 'em 'Dad'."

She's listening intently, with no judgement. She didn't seem distressed or upset for him, either, which meant that Touya was doing a good job at hiding how horrible talking about this was making him feel.

"Used to do it wi' male teachers too." Touya admits, slowly reaching to pet her cheek, thankful that she allows it again. "Ain't nothin' to be embarrassed about, kid."

She leans into the palm of his hand as his thumb glides over the soft skin of her cheek.

"You're not mad at me for doing it it front of everyone?" She asks.

Touya gives a dry laugh out of surprise. "Why on earth would I be mad at ya for that?"

She shrugs a little, avoiding Touya's gaze once more.
She was rubbing the worn ear of her teddy a little anxiously with her thumb, which made Touya feel like he needed to give her more than that.

"Kid, I'd be proud to be called your dad." He admits, feeling heat rise to his cheeks and he prays she doesn't see it. "Ain't no way I'd ever make someone as great as you though."

Her little face starts burning up underneath his hand too, which makes him feel a little better about his own blush.

"Promise ya, kid. No-one's thinkin' about what you said." Touya promises, giving her one final stroke of the cheek before standing. "Now, get some z's, it's gettin' late."

He reaches to pet her hair, giving it a gentle ruffle before leaving her to herself, quietly shutting the door to her room.