chapter twenty-eight;

"NOOO, I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE MEDICINE!!!", YOUKO WHINED, aggressively turning her head away as she rejected the pills that compress held out for her.

     "your highness, you'll feel better after taking it. it'll be over in a second", compress tried to persuade, while toga and twice were cheering for the princess on the side.

     but youko was stubborn.

     "no! I don't want to!!!", youko pouted, feeling the warm tears running down her even warmer face.

     it definitely didn't help that youko had a fever and there was no liquid medicine currently, except for the pills.

     "come on yoko!! if you swallow the pills, I'll take you out for ice cream", toga bargained.

     "or we can go for some parfait. just eat the damn pill!", twice contradicted.

"NO! I DON'T WANT ICE CREAM OR PARFAIT!!", youko screamed, hiding under her blanket that she shared with shigaraki.

the doors to the room suddenly opened, with shigaraki at the front and dabi and spinner following behind.

     "has she still not taken the medicine?", shigaraki asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

     "my apologies your majesty, but it seems that her highness is scared the pills will choke her", compress replied.

     "leave the medicine here", shigaraki said, referring to the nightstand.

     compress did as told as he also handed the blue-haired male a thick brown book, per shigaraki's request.

     "you all can leave now", shigaraki commanded, to which some bowed while others just stuffed their hands in their pockets and walked off.

     as the doors closed, shigaraki decided to place some special black gloves on that only covered his pinkies.

     gently shaking the little bump in the blanket, youko hesitantly unpeeled the cover, only showing her beat red face.

"youko, take the medicine", shigaraki demanded, feeling the warmth of the little girl's forehead with the back of his hand.

"but I can't", youko cried, pouting even more.

"yes you can. if you take the pills, we can start reading today", shigaraki negotiated.

youko sniffled at that, as she had desperately wanted to read with her father. she supposed that it wouldn't be too bad if she gave the pills a try.

"fine", the little girl mumbled, crossing her arms as she scooted her butt backwards to sit up and lean against the headboard.

     youko hesitantly opened her mouth as shigaraki dropped one pill in first, having a glass of water ready for youko to take.

     "just don't think about it. drink lots of water", shigaraki advised as youko did as told.

     once she managed to swallow the first pill, shigaraki gave the second one, to which youko had quickly repeated the same steps, feeling accomplished after knowing she didn't choke.

     "wasn't so hard now was it?"

     "read to me papa!!", youko cheered, harshly pulling on shigaraki's scarlet coat.

     "give me a moment", shigaraki softly mumbled as he brushed youko's hands off and shedded off his jacket.

     once he was only wearing his black yukata, shigaraki climbed into bed with the heavy fairytale book.

     "which fairytale do you want me to read first?", shigaraki asked, showcasing the table of contents for youko to pick.

     "it doesn't matter since we're reading all of them anyways", youko smiled, cuddling up next to her father as she laid her head on his upper chest, near the shoulder.

     "I suppose...", shigaraki silently sighed, flipping to the first story.

     "once upon a time, there lived a girl named cinderella..."

     apparently shigaraki had gotten the wrong version of the fairytale book, as it contained way more gory content than what a normal children's book should.

"what happened after the stepsisters cut off their toes?", youko casually asked, as if this was a normal daily occurrence.

"a-ah...well, even after cutting off their toes, their feet still did not fit into the glass slipper", shigaraki read on, worried that his daughter was too innocent for this.

"why did the prince not recognize cinderella if he loved her? would papa recognize me if I had dirt on my face and wore rags?", youko asked, glancing up at shigaraki.

     "of course I would", shigaraki replied, ignoring the first question as even he did not have an answer for that.

     "but before we continue reading, let me skim through this real quick alright?"

     youko nodded as shigaraki hastily flipped through the pages, internally cringing at the content that was presented, to which it was definitely not suited for a five year-old child.

"on second thought, how about you take a nap for now and once you wake up, I'll have another book ready for you", shigaraki said, to which youko just pouted, clearly wanting shigaraki to stay longer.

little youko could care less about the fairytales, as she knew they were a whole bunch of blubber. there was no way a prince was going to sweep her off her feet one day and dare take her away from her father.

"then can you stay with me until I fall asleep?", youko pleaded, as shigaraki placed the hefty book on the nightstand.

the blue-haired male gave a curt nod as he laid down with youko, who had promptly shut her eyes, but tried her hardest to not fall asleep.

though obviously that did not work, as not even 10 full minutes later, the little girl's breathing steadied and her entire body relaxed.

shigaraki gave a ghost of a smile as he quietly grabbed his phone from the nightstand and pressed on the camera app.

making sure his phone was on silent mode, the man closed his own eyes as his head leaned against youko's, to which he had clicked on the button to snap a picture.

after realizing that the camera would never be able to capture little youko's cuteness, he dropped his phone back onto the stand while snuggling youko closer to him.

     "sleep well, my little youko".

_♚_

     "how's it going?", a relaxed voice asked, though it could be easily described as a mere facade.

     "I should be asking you that. what's their next plan of action?", the caller questioned, not having any of the blonde male's silliness.

"...I'm not exactly sure...but it seems that shigaraki's got something big planned. he's recently allied with re-destro. now they're the paranormal liberation front", the male reported, tightly gripping onto one of his red feathers.

a sigh was heard on the other side of the phone.

"remember your mission hawks. there's no room for mistakes".

the solemn male glanced down at his boots, which dug into the pebbles and dirty sand that had gathered across the mat of his apartment.

"of course sir...I would never fail you", hawks promised.

"I hope that's the case. last piece of advice, feelings only drag you down and stop you from your true potential. even if it costs you your life, you must complete the task", the man repeated.

hawks let out a forced chuckle.

"no problem sir", the male replied as he immediately hung up, dropping his red feather as he took of his dirty boots.

hawks then placed his phone on the counter as he laid on his couch, slightly crossing his legs with his hands supporting his neck.

'after you join my family, I assure you that you won't be alone anymore!!'

     "my apologies little one, but I'm afraid I'll never be able to fit in".

✦ . . . . ────────☀️