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The boy padded across the bedroom floor, barely illuminated by where the moonlight snuck in through the window. Touya kneeled down next to his parent’s bed roll, staring for a long moment. In a way, it was comforting to just be with them, even if they were asleep. The sound of his papa breathing was just so soothing; it was a sort of sound that reminded him of a purr. But he hadn’t come here just to stare. He didn’t know how long he’d been awake, but one thing was glaringly obvious: he couldn’t sleep. And usually the best cure for that was being with one or both of his parents.
“Papa?” He gently shook the man’s arm, trying to disturb him just enough to at least be half conscious. He watched the way his papa’s peaceful expression scrunched into something more resembling anger, reaching over to mama and holding her shoulder. Mama didn’t seem to react at all, and Touya kept bugging the man until a tired attempt at pushing him away was made. Papa’s eyes finally opened, squinting at him, clearly not thrilled to have been awoken.
“Touya…why aren’t you asleep?” His eyes, however, weren’t open very long, taking in a long and obvious breath as his attention was turned back towards the ceiling.
“I can’t. Papa, I want to stay with you.”
There was a pause, and Toya thought that he’d gone back to sleep for a moment until papa’s arm lifted up the blanket to invite him to lie down. “Why?”
He didn’t waste the opportunity, happily crawling up next to him and cuddling into his side. Papa was so warm, he always was, and that just made it even better whenever he got to hug him. Touya just sort of shrugged at the question, having no real reason for wanting to be there, he just felt like he did. “I want to sleep with you and Mama.”
There was a gruff noise that said his reason had been acknowledged. It was hard to tell if papa was annoyed by the response or was just too tired to even try to convince him to go back to bed, but regardless it meant he could stay. Papa’s hand rested loosely on his shoulder and it honestly felt so nice to be there. Touya felt calm there in the company of his parents, he’d lay there for as long as possible.
He hadn’t even noticed that he’d fallen asleep again until he started feeling gross. It took him a little while to figure out why that was, but the answer ended up being simple. He was sweating and papa was slowly getting hotter. Touya wasn’t bothered all that much by the temperature, he was more worried as to why it was so hot in the first place. He couldn’t see it all too well, but papa’s face looked upset and his breathing wasn’t as smooth as it was before. He wanted to say something to him before papa suddenly turned away, watching as he held onto mama. Touya could hear how mama was disturbed by it too, seeing as one of her hands was held flat to papa’s back.
“Enji…” She whispered, shifting under him to be more comfortable. “Enji, you’re getting too hot.” That didn’t seem to be much help. Papa didn’t move away and Touya could still feel the heat radiating off of him. He could see and hear how hard papa was breathing and how mama was trying to cool his skin down. He wanted to help. Touya could tell something was wrong and he wanted to try and make it better. He moved closer, trying to hug him again only for papa to tense up and lean away. It confused but didn’t deter Touya, who made a second attempt. That caused a much bigger reaction. Papa was sitting up in a second, one hand holding mama’s as the other was at his own chest. His face was upset in a way Touya had never seen on him before, like papa wanted to scream but refused to make any sound. And he stayed like that for a long while, almost glaring at the bed sheets. After a few minutes, mama slowly sat up, her free hand rubbing up and down his arm.
Touya didn’t move, just watching his parent’s in an exchange he didn’t fully understand. Papa was clearly upset, but for once he couldn’t figure out why, but mama seemed to know exactly what was happening. He could feel how she was using her quirk to tell him to cool himself down, the difference in air temperature rather drastic until papa started listening to the request. He turned towards her and put his head on her shoulder, holding his breath for a moment as he did so.
“Are you—”
“Fine.” Papa pulled away at that, his hand running through his hair as he stood up.
“You can tell me about these things. I could help if I knew more about what’s bothering you.” He walked off of the bed roll, and there was a flash of light before Touya was hit with a burning smell. Papa had burnt his shirt to ash, a few embers still floating around him, and it was nothing short of absolutely cool despite the situation.
“It’s fine, Rei! I don’t need it.” And with that he left the room. Mama seemed to sigh, moving again to lie back down before being startled.
“Touya! Why aren’t you in bed?” She didn’t sound mad about it, more like she was just surprised to see him there.
“Papa said I could sleep with you because I couldn’t in my own room.” Technically he’d never said anything, but sometimes papa didn’t say things when he allowed Touya to do something. And he’d never said no, so it had to be alright. Mama hummed, motioning for him to come closer before wrapping her arms around him.
“That’s alright then…you didn’t get hurt, did you? Papa’s not having a very good day and can get a bit rough. He didn’t mean it if he did hurt you.”
He shook his head. Papa certainly made some rough and sudden movements, but nothing that would’ve hit Touya. He was fine for the most part. He could hear the distant sound of running water, a part of him wondering what papa was actually doing.
“Is papa sad?” He’d been wondering about it. It was the only thing he could think of to label the emotion he’d seen on his face.
“Maybe…” mama was stroking his hair, a long pause between her words. “I think papa might be feeling scared.”
“But he’s so strong and cool!” Touya hadn’t even considered fear, not from his papa.
She laughed, a quiet sound, at that response. “Yes, he is, but everyone gets scared, even papa. He has a very scary job.”
“Papa shouldn’t be scared of a villain, he always wins, why would he be scared?”
“Villains aren’t the only scary things, Touya. I’m sure he knows just how strong he is, but there are some things we can’t fight on our own.” He didn’t fully understand that. What other things were there in the world to be scared about? Maybe it was one of those things he’d understand when he was older, but if papa couldn’t do it alone, Touya wanted to fight with him.
“Do you think I could help papa fight?”
“...one day, baby. You don’t need to worry about it right now.” Mama held onto him tight, pressing him up against her. There was silence for a while, not that he cared much within the hug, but mama was whispering to him again eventually. “One day you’ll be very strong. So strong that you could help papa with everything. I’m sure he’d like that.” And those words made him so happy. Touya loved the idea of helping papa like that. He loved the idea of being a hero with him and making him proud. To think that one day he’d be strong enough to do that was mesmerising.
He eventually heard papa come back, watching him as he grabbed a new shirt to wear and layed back down. He wasn’t nearly as hot as he was before which was probably a good thing, it meant that he’d given himself time to stop being scared. Touya pulled away from his mama to wrap his arms around papa instead, feeling him tense up again, but instead of moving away, he just let himself slowly relax. He was happy to know his papa was strong, strong enough to not be scared anymore. He always believed in him, and one day, Touya would be able to make him no longer scared. It was such a happy thought to a little boy.
“You’re so cool, papa.” He whispered, trying to make his papa feel happy. For a while, he didn’t get a response at all, but he could feel arms slowly wrap around him, being held close against him. Touya didn’t get any words back, but he didn’t need them. He was being held by his papa and nothing else mattered. Even if he was scared, Touya knew he’d always be strong enough to still fight. To him, in that moment, the hug meant everything.