They didn't usually keep glassware in their house due to Hizashi's quirk. But one far, far back in a cabinet, possibly from a previous owner, had escaped their attention. He found it one day, and, thinking it was one of their plastic ones, brought it out a little too quickly. The heavier glass was a shock and it dropped before he knew what was happening, splintering and cracking into several pieces on the hard wood of the kitchen.
Nearby, Elly started to shake. She turned on her heel and rushed out of the room, white-faced in panic. Hizashi hurriedly cleaned up the pieces and threw them safely away, after which he ran after her.
"Els? Ches? Holy crap, are you okay?"
She was breathing rapidly, panting as she kept speaking in a low tone to herself. "It's okay, it's all right..."
"It <i>is</i> all right, princess. I wasn't cut or anything. Look." He held up his hands. "See?"
Her eyes were wide and filled with tears. "I was worried about you and I couldn't say it. I was afraid to ask."
"Baby, it's okay." He slipped an arm around her shoulders, joining her on the bed.
"No, sweetie I - I remembered."
"Oh. Ohhh..." His expressive brows drew together and he wrapped his other arm around her. "Shit, babe, I'm here. You can tell your Zashi. Did you get punished for breaking one by accident when you were little?"
Elly laughed wildly. "Nope! In fact, it was my mother that broke the glass in this one."
"Really? Then how..." He bit his lip.
"Well, I heard the glass breaking and ran into the kitchen. I asked my mother, '<i>are you okay?</i>', you know, as it's glass and she could've been cut." She took a shaky breath and laughed again.
Hizashi didn't care for the laughter. It was wrong; high-pitched and sarcastic. He almost wished she would cry instead. "That's reasonable."
"Yeah, well, she yelled at me. She said the only reason I came in was not because I cared about her, but because I wanted to see if she had broken one of my glasses. Her <i>face</i>... all I wanted was to see if my mommy was safe. She was so twisted in her rage."
He sucked in air through his teeth and started rubbing her arm in comfort. "Aw, shit. That's fuckin' rotten. And you really didn't do anything wrong!"
"Yeah. I still can't think, to this day, if I was concerned for her or not. She has me so conditioned I still think maybe I really was that selfish."
"Even if the thought crossed your mind, babe, it's what you spoke - like, the second thought -- that matters. You were right. She was wrong."
"And it was one of my favorite glasses, by the way," she added. "She was probably protecting herself by making me afraid and ashamed to 'attack' her for her mistake. But, honestly, I wouldn't have done that."
"Bet she would've," he muttered under his breath.
"I think so, too. If I had broken one of hers, she would have tortured me forever about it. So, for protection, she turned the tables on me."
"So when I broke the glass you were concerned about me, but then this came flooding back. And, bam! You froze up. If you asked if I was okay -"
She kissed his cheek. "I know you wouldn't react like she did. But it's hard to get her to stop controlling me in my mind."
"It'll get less. You notice it now, yeah? If you can see things for how they should be, hopefully you can work through them after a while."
"I hope so."
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