….
Dabi shook his head, running his hand through his messy dark hair.
"Bureaucratic idiots." he grumbled to himself. "Always trying to complicate a simple morning."
The living room was just as warm and messy as he had left it.
On the carpet, little Himiko was still sprawled out with her tiny thumb resting near her mouth. Eri had pulled her blanket up to her chin, clutching her plushie tighter.
Up on the couch, however–
Rumi's crimson eyes were open, bleary with sleep but sharp with that familiar awareness.
She propped herself up on one elbow, her blanket slipping down slightly as she looked at him with an amused smirk.
"Who was at the door, Patchwork? Sounded like your little fan club was having a panic attack."
Dabi walked over, stepping over the bread crusts on the coffee table, and dropped comfortably onto the rug right beside her couch, leaning his head back against her thigh.
"Just some politicians offering me a day job."
He replied smoothly, closing his eyes as Rumi's fingers instinctively found his hair, who let out a sleepy laugh while scratching his scalp with affection–
"Idiots. As if you would ever take orders from anyone."
"Damn right." Dabi nodded. "I already have three bosses in this house. That's more than enough."
Rumi's hand drifted down along the nape of his neck.
She didn't buy his flippant answer for a second, but she was too lazy to drag the full story out of him after being apart for so long.
"You're full of it, Patchwork." she mumbled, letting her head drop back against the armrest as her eyelids fluttered shut. "If a suit offered you a badge, you would feed him his own necktie."
"They brought terms." Dabi murmured, leaning more heavily against the cushion of her leg. "The National Diet is apparently sweating through their collars and wanted to see if I would be willing to play watchdog for the cabinet."
A quiet snort hitched in Rumi's chest, her white ears flicking once toward the ceiling. "Good luck to 'em. What else did they want? Jin sounded like he was about to lay an egg on our welcome mat."
Dabi didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted across and settled on Eri's tiny form; the little girl had rolled over in her sleep.
She was clutching plushie to her chest; a dusting of dried chocolate peanut butter still stained the corner of her lip; right beside the faint, faded scars from an operating room that had ceased to exist the day he knocked down Overhaul.
"They're scared who will lead the nation." Dabi said, keeping his voice so low it barely cleared the hum of the refrigerator. "Fucker, cant even trust their own next generations."
Rumi's fingers paused in his hair.
Her sharp, rabbit-honed instincts pieced together the unsaid syllables faster than any politician could draft them, and her crimson eyes slit open.
"...and they mentioned Eri." Dabi explained.
Rumi's teeth clicked together, a low, vicious rumble vibrating in her chest.
For all her brazen wildness in the ring, touch her kids and the Rabbit Hero turned into an outright butcher.
"I will break their knees." she growled, shifting upward before a sharp wince caught her in the ribs, reminding her of the hairline fractures knit together only hours ago. "The first suit that steps past that garden gate looking for my daughter doesn't get a warning, Dabi. I will rip his spine out through his collarbone."
"Sit down, idiot." Dabi drawled, nudging her back against the pillows. "Nobody's stepping on the grass. Nagant and the bird are handling the paperwork barrier, and I already told Stain what happens to the Diet if they send an escort."
Rumi exhaled a ragged, irritated breath, sinking back into the cushions with an angry twitch of her nose. "You gave an answer, then? What did you tell them?"
"Told them I am going to pay the hospital a visit." he said simply. "Taking Eri with me."
Rumi blinked down at him, her brow furrowing in genuine bewilderment. "You're... what?"
"I just want to check something." Dabi said.
For a brief moment, she stared at him, then she understood exactly what he meant.
Slowly, the tension left her shoulders. Her hand found his spiky hair again, combing through the dark locks with steady, heavy strokes.
"You're a petty bastard, you know that?" she whispered, though the fierce pride in her voice was unmistakable.
"Runs in the blood." Dabi murmured back. "Now shut up and go back to sleep. You're giving me a headache."
"Shut up yourself, Patchwork." she breathed, resting her arm across her eyes as the quiet living room settled back into soft, undisturbed breathing.
….
….
The rest of the morning dissolved into an unhurried, thoroughly lazy blur; nobody rushed to turn on the news or check the dispatches flooding in from the capital.
When the girls finally woke up at eleven, the living room once again devolved into a warm, giggling mess of bath bubbles, clean clothes, and a proper lunch that Dabi threw together to replace the morning's chocolate disaster.
Rumi, despite grumbling about her aching joints, refused to stay on the couch, lounging by the dining table while Eri and Himiko babbled endlessly about their sandwich masterpiece.
It wasn't until four in the afternoon that the house finally began to move with purpose.
What was supposed to be a grim confrontation with the broken Number Two Hero had, through some bizarre circumstances, turned into a full-fledged family outing.
Rumi had pulled on an oversized dark hoodie and track pants over her bandages, adamantly declaring that if Toya was walking into a snake pit, she was coming along just to laugh at whatever miserable face Enji made.
The girls, meanwhile, were thrilled simply to be getting out of the dorms with both their parents, holding hands in matching sneakers while Himiko proudly wore a little bunny backpack.
As Dabi helped Eri buckle her shoes, his fingers brushed against the soft, warm skin near her forehead where her tiny horn rested.
Unlike the unstable curse Overhaul had exploited, Eri's [Rewind] was no longer a ticking time bomb waiting to consume its user. From the very first week he brought her home, Dabi had worked with her patiently every single day.
He had broken down the fundamental principles of [Sun Breathing], stripping away the lethal heat and strain to craft a gentle, rhythmic pulmonary routine modified specifically for her small body.
Through focused respiration, Eri had learned to circulate her internal stamina, stabilizing the golden flow of energy that once leaked uncontrollably from her Quirk.
She hadn't unleashed her Quirk since the fateful afternoon her power had flared, rewinding Himiko from an unhinged, blood starved runaway into the adorable, chubby cheeked little sister currently trying to balance on one foot by the door.
Because of that restraint, Eri's horn had gradually accumulated a substantial reserve over months of peaceful living, holding roughly a year's worth of rewind energy beneath in her horn.
To reverse Enji Todoroki's burned out cells and restore the [Hellflame] he lost forty eight hours ago, she wouldn't even need a fraction of what she held.
A casual touch of her fingertips, and the flame bastard could have his Quirk back in less than ten seconds.
The entire nation's political class was banking on that exact miracle.
"Papa?" Eri looked up, blinking her wide, ruby red eyes as she noticed his quiet pause. "Where are we going now?"
Dabi leaned down, his expression softening as he ruffled her pale hair, carefully smoothing down the soft strands around her horn. "There is someone in the hospital… We're just going to say a quick hello."
"Is it grandma, Rei?!" she asked excitedly.
"No, it's someone else." Dabi clarified.
"Why not? Is that hospital scary, Papa?" Eri asked in a tiny, timid whisper, her little fingers reaching up to hold onto the sleeve of his dark coat.
"Not with me there, it isn't." Dabi murmured, his thumb gently swiping a stray fleck of lint from her cheek with tender care. "If anyone tries to make it scary, I will just turn down the lights and carry you out. Promise."
"And I will bite 'em!" Himiko squeaked eagerly, suddenly popping up right between them and hooking her chubby arms around Dabi's knee.
Her golden eyes sparkled with mischievous glee, her little fangs peeking out. "I am Papa's guard bunny! If anyone is mean to Eri-chan or Mama, I go CHOMP on their fingers!"
"Hey now, no eating random people in public, you little goblin." Dabi chuckled, a low, fond rumble vibrating in his chest as he reached down to boop Himiko's nose, making her giggle and sneeze. "Though a shin-kick is totally authorized."
"A shin-kick!" Himiko cheered, immediately copying the motion and kicking her tiny sneaker into the empty air with a dramatic whoosh. "HI-YA! Like Mama does!"
From the doorway, Rumi leaned against the frame, crossing her arms with a wicked smirk that held zero mercy. Her long white rabbit ears gave a playful flick beneath the hood of her oversized sweater.
"Now that is championship form right there kiddo." Rumi laughed, her voice raspy and full of warmth as she nudged Dabi's shoulder with her hip. "We should watch your dad put the final nail in the coffin."
"Can the coffin have sprinkles, Mama?" Himiko asked with complete, wide-eyed toddler innocence.
"Only the best kind, brat,." Rumi grinned, winking at Dabi. "The extra crispy kind."
"You two are absolute menaces to society." Dabi muttered.
He stood up, taking Eri's small, warm hand in his left, while Himiko immediately clamped both of her sticky little paws onto his right index finger. "Alright, let's get moving. The sooner we finish our 'family check-in,' the sooner we buy out that bakery down the block."
"YAAAAAY! Pastries!" both little girls squealed together, their happy giggles echoing out into the afternoon breeze as the front door swung open.
.
….
[To be continued…]
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