Work Text:
“Eraserhead-san?”
Shouta stopped staring blankly at the stack of essays he needed to grade. He looked up to find the little girl under his care standing timidly near the lounge, eyes awfully alert despite the slow way she rubbed the edges. He set down his now-cold coffee, making sure his posture was open and welcoming.
“Yes, Eri?” He patted the space on the couch beside him. Eri shuffled closer, but did not sit down. That was fine. Shouta glanced at the clock. Oh, 6 AM. Neat, he'd ended up not getting any sleep after all. He focused back to Eri, who was still shuffling where she stood. “Do you need anything?”
She seemed to stare at the stack of papers. Shouta made a move to tidy them before she could beat herself up over ‘disturbing his work’. She seemed to gather her bravery before speaking up again, very quietly: “Can I… see Deku-san?”
Shouta blinked slowly. He did not expect that. His quiet surprise was the wrong thing to show, though, because Eri quickly backtracked. “I-if I can’t that’s totally fine, I understand—”
“Eri,” Shouta cut her off, gently. “It’s totally fine. We can go to his dorm.” And after a brief consideration, “Do you want to have breakfast here, or join them?”
“Um,” Eri squeaked, as if not expecting her request to be so easily granted, and Shouta gracefully ignored the pang he felt at the thought. “Later, if that’s okay.”
“It totally is,” Shouta said as he stood up slowly. He kept his hand out in case Eri wanted to hold it. Eri didn’t take his silent offer. That was fine, too. They started walking to 1-A’s dorm, with Shouta keeping his steps quick enough so they would arrive as soon as possible, but making sure Eri didn’t struggle to catch up with him.
The 1-A dorm’s noise level was as rowdy as any space occupied with twenty overpowered teenagers would be, even in the early hours of the weekend. Shouta resisted the urge to wince while they, thankfully, quieted down at his appearance. Because today wasn’t the schedule for dorm inspections, his visit was out of the ordinary; and a few heads turned his way in alarm. Eri timidly moved to half-hide behind Shouta’s leg.
“Aizawa-sensei? Everything alright?” Uraraka appeared from the common area, concern lacing her voice. She brightened minutely as she noticed the girl hiding slightly behind him. “Oh, hello, Eri-chan!”
“Everything’s fine.” Not so much, since Eri was clearly still very high strung, after whatever had made her seek out Shouta that morning, but, well. The alarm on his students' faces melted away, and there’s that. “Is Midoriya around?” He cut straight to the chase right after, resisting the urge to settle his hand on top of Eri’s head in case she still didn’t want to be touched. “Eri wants to meet him.”
“Oh, Deku-kun’s still out on his jog with Iida-kun,” Uraraka seemed to also notice the way Eri’s face fell, because she quickly amended, “He’ll be back in ten minutes, tops! Or, uh, I can try calling him?” She crouched down to give Eri a smile. “Can you wait just a little bit, Eri-chan?”
“Okay,” Eri mumbled. “Thank you, Uravity-san.”
Uraraka beamed again, oddly reminding Shouta of Midoriya in its intensity. “No problem! You can wait on the dining table, Tokoyami and Shouji’s preparing breakfast, and I think they’d spare some apples for you!”
Eri looked up to Shouta for some reason, and he nodded. He moved to sit on one of the dining tables and she tailed him quietly. The students greeted them and offered small ‘good morning’s as they go, now toning down their noise considerably, perhaps noting Eri’s visible distress. Shouta resisted the urge to tell them ‘good job’, because that would probably be a little out of place.
Eri sat rigidly on the chair, only finally looking up when Tokoyami set down a plate with bunny-shaped apple slices (huh, didn’t know he could do that) in front of her. She looked slightly interested, but didn’t reach for the apples, merely murmuring a small, “Thank you, Tsukuyomi-san,” to which Tokoyami nodded solemnly.
Just when Shouta was weighing on hunting the problem child himself, heavy under the weight of Eri’s curled up form, the door slammed open in a gust of wind. Shouta didn’t miss Eri’s slight flinch, nor the relief radiating off of her at the sight of familiar green lightning now visible.
“Where’s Eri-chan?” Midoriya asked, nearly breathless though Shouta doubted it was from the run, as a slightly sheepish Uraraka skidded back to view with a, “Oh, you’re quick.”
“Deku-san,” Eri said, breathily, as she jumped down from the chair. Midoriya’s gaze snapped to her, seemingly looking her up and down, before slumping in relief. He gave a small smile, crouched down, and the little girl practically crashed into his arms.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay. I’m here, see? We’re fine.”
He murmured more words, quieter. Eri nodded or responded in equal volume. Shouta looked away, because it felt like an invasion, somehow.
He noticed his students also sharing the sentiment, as they busy themselves with other things, trying to give the hugging duo some semblance of privacy. Iida appeared from the doorway, took in the situation, and made a silent beeline for the kitchen, not without a curt nod sent Shouta’s way. Uraraka sat down across from Shouta, awkwardly fiddling with her phone. Asui moved from the adjacent table to occupy Eri’s previous seat.
Eventually, Midoriya stood up and approached their table. Shouta noted the way Eri seemed to slump, now in his arms, hiding her face to his curls. Midoriya looked slightly apologetic as he regarded Shouta with a square of his shoulders.
“Would it be okay if I take her for a walk?” His eyes burned, as if daring Shouta to refuse (as if he ever would), and he waved his hand easily; trying for nonchalance.
“Stay on the track,” he paused. “Try to come back for breakfast.”
Midoriya smiled, not unlike Uraraka’s earlier beam. His eyes softened as he dipped his head slightly, muttering a quiet, way too heartfelt, “Thank you.”
Shouta regarded him with a nod, once, because. If he wasn’t ready to open that can of worms, Shouta wasn’t about to force it, especially not now. Midoriya moved to get out of the dorms again, still murmuring softly to Eri, and it was only when Kaminari closed the door behind them that everyone seemingly sighed and the tension dissipated.
“They’re really cute, but that’s quite concerning, kero,” Asui said some moment later. She grabbed one of the apple slices to put in her mouth, since they all knew the girl meant to eat them wouldn’t be back for a while.
Uraraka groaned, thumping her head on the table. Shouta shared the sentiment, really. “You said it. Deku-kun sounded really panicked even when I tried to explain Eri-chan’s fine.” Asui offered an apple slice to her, and she looked up, revealing her scrunched up face. “Well, physically, anyway.” Uraraka opened her mouth, not lifting her head, and Asui rolled her eyes even as she fed the other girl the apple.
“They’re going to be fine,” Shouta said, trying to assure them as much as he tried himself. Iida came back from the kitchen and wordlessly slid a cup of coffee in front of him, and oh, it smelled like the one he used to drink at Tensei’s. Nice. He took a slow sip, burying a slight frown into the mug.
“We’re worried, but we know they’re going to be fine,” Asui looked up at him, poising an apple slice in front of her lips. “Are you, though?”
Shouta raised an eyebrow. “What about me?” Uraraka huffed something soft.
“Tsuyu-chan,” she said, not really a warning; a fond scolding, almost. Asui just shrugged.
“I’m just saying. You look rather rattled, kero.” Uraraka gave a small laugh as Shouta sipped his coffee a little too loudly.
Well. Maybe Shouta had gone through some inner panic. Sue him. He was running on no sleep and faced a closed-off Eri first thing in the morning, damn it. Also, how the hell did Asui read him—and Uraraka too?
Either way, he appreciated this particular student’s bluntness. So he responded with the same deadpan tone, “I’ll be fine when they are.”
He didn’t talk about the stabbing feeling inside him as he remembered Eri refusing his hand, Eri curling up in herself, Eri not meeting his gaze, Eri being surprised as he granted her simple wish. From the silent, eerily similar looks Uraraka and Asui sent him, he had a feeling they somehow knew anyway.
They didn’t call him out for it, though, now engaging in small chatter. Breakfast rolled around, and it wasn’t until the dishes were being washed that Midoriya and Eri stumbled back into the dorm, the latter looking marginally less taut and actually giving a shy smile as Shouji brought her a plate of curry. Only then, finally, Shouta let his shoulders slump, decidedly ignoring Asui patting his arm gently or Uraraka giving a cheery thumbs-up his way.
“Hey, Eraser. Buddy, you got visitors.”
Shouta opened his eyes grumpily at the call of Hizashi’s voice and the incessant poking on his sleeping bag. Who the hell was looking for him at lunch time. They could’ve waited until he got a decent amount of nap. His snappy retort was swallowed back down as he noticed the silver-haired girl peering behind Hizashi’s crouched form, curious.
“Welcome back,” Hizashi grinned toothily. Shouta swatted lazily at him, and his husband merely laughed, easily standing up to avoid the attack. Shouta shuffled out of his sleeping bag, finally noticing two of his students who were also present, apparently. They stood a little way behind Eri with amused and amused-but-more-politely-concealed expressions respectively.
“Eri. Jirou, Yaoyorozu.” He rubbed the sleep from one eye. “Something the matter?”
“Did you not get enough sleep last night, Aizawa-san?” Eri asked instead of answering, shuffling closer. Jirou muttered something suspiciously like ‘did he ever’ which got her a nudge from Yaoyorozu and an obnoxious laugh from Mic. Shouta decided to ignore them to shrug at Eri.
“I’ll be fine. Weren’t you hanging out with Toogata?”
“We met Toogata-senpai being dragged away by Hadou-senpai,” Yaoyorozu explained. “He passed Eri-chan to us, since he had to do something with the Big Three, apparently. Then Eri-chan said she wanted to see you.”
Shouta blinked, tilting his head to the side slightly at the little girl. “Do you need something from me?”
Eri hummed contemplatively, before moving to sit on the couch next to Shouta. He rolled his sleeping bag before discarding It to the side. Jirou and Yaoyorozu were still talking to Hizashi, and Shouta had half a mind to remind them they should probably hurry if they didn’t want to miss lunch.
“I wanted to ask something,” Eri started, wringing her hands. Shouta hummed to let her know he was listening. “How do I decide what to call someone?”
Shouta focused his attention at her. She looked up to meet his gaze for a second, before looking back down to her hands again. “Well, Lemillion-san was talking about… nicknames? Right? Since Lemillion is his hero name, he says I can call him Toogata, or Mirio, if I want to,” Eri wrinkled her nose as if the idea was something foreign. Shouta nodded his assent, and she continued. “He said Deku-san wouldn’t mind if I call him Midoriya or Izuku, too.” Eri met his gaze, and this time she held it. “And I’m… confused? I don’t understand. I thought you might be able to help me, since you’re a teacher, and well…” She trailed off at that.
Shouta hummed again, brushing the stray strand of hair from her face lightly. “What do you want to call them?”
Eri shrugged, a little helplessly. “I’m not sure… They’re the ones who saved me, shouldn’t I only be calling them by their hero names?”
Someone made an aborted choked off noise in the background, and Shouta really wanted to do the same. Instead, he tapped Eri’s fingers lightly, stopping them from clenching a little too hard. Her hand moved to grip on his, oh so small and hesitant, and he squeezed back gently, ignoring the pressure inside his chest.
“Names are… tricky.” He started. He thought about struggling to move from calling Mic and Midnight, Yamada and Kayama, to Hizashi and Nemuri. “Sometimes, though, you get close enough to people you give each other nicknames. And that’s… not a bad thing. Nicknames show that you’re comfortable with that person.” Hizashi muttered something like ‘POS’, to which Nemuri cackled and Jirou perked up in interest. Shouta spared them a quick glare.
“So… what, I can just call them… Mirio-san and Izuku-san?” Someone cooed, none to quietly. Shouta was willing to pin it on Nemuri if he didn’t know everyone in this office can and would do something as ridiculous as that.
“If you want to,” not helping, Shouta’s subconscious winced as Eri furrowed her eyebrows further. “Lemillion and Deku can be your nicknames for them, you know. Some of Midoriya’s friends call him Deku, a few use Midoriya, and some use Izuku.” Yaoyorozu’s eyes widened slightly, and Shouta stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Yes, he did notice his students hesitantly starting to call each other by their given names. He wasn’t actually asleep in his sleeping bag, most of the time. And, well, it wasn’t like he was going to stop them from getting closer to each other. “It’s your choice. Whatever’s comfortable for you.”
Eri seemed to ponder this over. “It’s my choice,” she echoed, a little bewilderment to her tone, and Shouta nodded to stop the steady pain from showing on his face. “I can… take my time to figure it out?”
“Of course.”
Eri copied his nod, confusion smoothing out to determination. Shouta’s lips twitched in a smile as he ruffled her hair, and that made her look up to give him a smile that might as well blinded him.
“Thank you,” Eri pursed her lips slightly, contemplating. “Shouta-san?”
Shouta’s hand halted in its movement. Someone, or maybe a few someones, coughed loudly. Not helping, people. Eri shifted awkwardly, and Shouta hastened to resume ruffling her hair, more slowly, undoubtedly letting his expression soften in the process. “No problem.”
"Shouta-san," Eri repeated, before scrunching her eyebrows. “It sounds right, but also… not right?”
Just when Shouta was about to tell her it’s okay to take time to figure it out, Yaoyorozu piped up. “If I may,” she said, giving a smile as Eri turned to her curiously. “Sometimes nicknames can be… say, abbreviations? Some of my friends call me Yaomomo, a combination from Yaoyorozu Momo.”
“That’s true,” Jirou joined, twirling one of her ear-jacks with a grin. “Or a shortened version of your name. Like how Midoriya calls Bakugou ‘Kacchan’.”
“Oh, yeah, people used to call Aizawa Shou-chan.” Hizashi contributed with a smirk, not reacting under Shouta’s flat stare. Jirou looked at him gleefully while Yaoyorozu covered her smile under her palm.
“Shou…-san?” Eri tried it out loud. She repeated it a few more times under her breath, ignoring the flip-flopping of Shouta’s heart and the general cooing all around them. Jirou and Yaoyorozu should really start moving to get their lunch instead of watching the whole thing play out. “Shou-san. I like it.” Eri met his eyes again, now with a childish shyness on her face. “Is it okay? If I call you Shou-san?”
He huffed a breath. Like he would ever deny her anything. “Sure thing, Eri.”
Someone whispered ‘too bright’ as Eri beamed. Shouta could relate. She started swinging Shouta’s hand—that she was still holding—excitedly. “Oh, oh, Shou-san, you can give me a nickname too!”
Jirou snorted. “You can join the problem children club.” Yaoyorozu laughed lightly as Eri gave them a confused stare. Shouta was about to say that Eri was anything other than a problem child, except the fact that she started hanging out with his class just might change that soon. He might’ve accidentally showed this realization on his face because Hizashi and Nemuri burst out laughing.
“But Shou-san likes the class… why would he call you all problem children?” Shouta really missed his nap right now. The rest of the room stopped pretending not to eavesdrop as they chuckle, and Jirou and Yaoyorozu gave him teasing smiles but with a certain softness in their eyes. It made Shouta try to bury his head inside his scarf.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s a thing. Sometimes you give funny nicknames to people you care about.” Jirou said, and Eri nodded in understanding and purpose.
“Then, you can call me problem child!” Shouta sighed at another bout of laughter and the ringing bell, hoping the stare he gave his two students conveyed his exhaustion.
“You missed lunch, problem children.”
Shouta stared with barely concealed amusement as Eri struggled to tie her shoes, eyes drooping every few seconds. He finally crouched down and offered his hands silently, and she let him pull her shoes on without protest. The rest of the dorm was still bustling with post-dinner cleanup as Eri stretched her arms, and Shouta picked her up to settle against his hip. He was going to grab the large sword (why, Tokoyami) from the side, before realizing he hadn’t put on his capture weapon yet, the cloth still hanging on the coat rack.
Eri was, evidently, trying to fall asleep on his shoulder, so he couldn’t really put her down now, could he?
“Here, let me help!” A cheery voice offered as Hagakure appeared, seemingly out of thin air. Ashido walked to their spot as Hagakure moved to fetch the scarf, and she cooed at the sight of them, snapping a photo on her phone (that also seemingly appeared out of thin air) before he could protest.
“Ashido,” Shouta warned, aware it wasn’t with the bite. Ashido just grinned at him.
“Could’ve called us for help, Sensei.” She said, shuffling closer to Hagakure, who was seemingly trying to untangle the capture weapon. Their joint effort finally managed to wrangle the cloth, and the stare they gave Shouta made him instantly wary.
“Just put it like you usually see me wear it,” he said, a little bit desperately. He knew his wish was for naught when they both swamped him from both sides.
“Why, Sensei, we can’t have Eri-chan get cold!” Hagakure announced, winding up the scarf around him and Eri. Ashido helped her from the other side with a giggle.
“Yeah, Sensei, this is big enough for both of you, you know.” Shouta sighed in resignation at that.
In the end, it was actually quite practical. The cloth wrapped his and Eri’s necks snugly, though they looked like some weird cocoon that way. But, well, Shouta already had Nedzu making his home in his scarf for more than once, and Eri was infinitely more pleasant company than the rat-bear-mouse-man.
Ashido definitely snapped another picture. Damn it.
“You need help with the sword too, Sensei?” She asked cheekily, and Shouta responded by jostling Eri to one arm and picking up the sword with his free hand. Hagakure laughed as Ashido raised her hands dramatically.
Eri blinked her eyes open again at the commotion. Shouta could practically feel Hagakure’s smile.
“Hi, Eri-chan! I hope you had a good time!”
“Yeah! Safe trip back!” Ashido shrugged under Shouta’s unimpressed stare.
“It was really fun,” Eri responded with a small, sleepy smile. “Thank you.”
Both girls smiled brightly back at her. They waved their hands as Shouta gave them a nod and moved to go out, before they noisily raced to open the doors for him; not giving him the time to even think about dropping the sword to open them. He rolled his eyes, stepping out with a muttered ‘good night’ that they echoed with far too much energy than necessary.
Light snow was still falling outside, dim lampposts accentuating the white lumps starting to form on the pathways. Shouta dragged the sword with one hand, feeling both his arms slightly go numb at the cold and the weight they’re carrying. He didn’t mind, though. And it wasn’t like the teacher’s dorm was that far from the class’ dorm.
After the rambunctious party he’d just had there, this quiet was quite nice, too.
“Shou-san,” Eri broke the silence by mumbling to his neck. He huffed a breath lightly, not at all bothered, and she continued. “It’s so warm.”
Shouta found it quite ironic that Eri only said such thing when they were out of the class’ dorm and subjected to the winter air. Still, Eri was nuzzling so close, and her tone was quiet, so he responded with a low, “Yeah?”
“Mm,” she approximately responded. “The dorm. And Deku-san, and all his friends. And you.”
And my heart, Shouta thought fondly at the melting thing inside his chest, despite the cold air they were being exposed to. “You like it?”
“It’s the best.”
Under the light snowfall, warm lampposts, and a heart so full, the thought was given a voice, unbidden, “Good. It’s your home to stay.”
Shouta felt like his feet was tripping against Tokoyami’s (now Eri’s, unfortunately) sword, when in reality he was still walking in his previous steady pace. He waited for Eri’s reaction, almost holding his breath.
He could only feel her smile against his shoulder.
“Home sounds nice.” A whisper. Soft, quiet, fragile. Hopeful. “I’d love to stay.”
Shouta’s breath went out in a puffy white exhale. He ducked his head into his scarf. Their positions meant that he was resting one cheek on top of Eri’s head. “You can.”
She finally peered up, jostling his head to meet his gaze. The scarf that winded around them both made the position a little uncomfortable, but their eyes met nonetheless. Those red irises were soft with sleep and something entirely different, and her smile could light up the whole UA—maybe the rest of the world too.
Definitely Shouta’s world as well.
“I’m staying, then.”
He allowed himself to press his nose gently against her hair, a smile against her forehead. “That’s all I could ever asked.”
Eri gave a tiny, twinkling laugh, burying her face back to his shoulder. He could feel a slight wetness on his sweater that he didn’t mention. Even as the snow started gathering on top of his hair, as they started melding with Eri’s white locks, Shouta found himself musing the same thing as Eri’s earlier words: it was quite warm, wasn’t it? The kind of warmth that bloomed from your insides, threatening to flow out from your eyes and lips; the one that made you feel like you were being swallowed—in the best way possible. The kind of warmth that chased off the winter air, not unlike a common room with piled gifts and stacked plates and ever-ceasing laughter.
He pressed his lips to cherry-shampoo scented hair. Maybe it was time to re-examine those adoption papers, after all.
“Shou-san.”
Perhaps it was her tone, back to low murmur from a year and sometime ago, that made Shouta abandon his phone completely to give Eri his full attention. Then again, it wasn’t quite the same murmur, he thought, as Eri didn’t immediately backtrack, nor was she curling up to herself in silent fear. Her weight continued to press on Shouta’s side, while her eyes and fingers were still busied on the gameboy Hadou had gifted her. She barely shifted from her sprawl on the couch.
“Yes?” He prompted when she didn’t continue for a while. Nemuri peered curious eyes from behind her magazine (who the hell still reads magazines these days?), not even trying to look inconspicuous.
“Do you think,” the gameboy made a game over noise. She didn’t restart it. “Would my father hate me?”
Shouta carefully wrapped an arm around her. She eagerly melted to his side even more. Nemuri closed her magazine slowly, leaning back on her wheelchair and stared out of the sun slowly rising outside of the window. “What makes you think that?”
“Well, you know, I,” Eri vaguely pointed at her horn. “Made him disappear.”
Shouta hummed in lieu of a response, treading over his answer slowly. This was delicate territory, after all. “You think he’d hate you for not having control when your quirk first manifested?”
“I don’t know,” red eyes peered up at black. “Which is why I asked.”
“What was he like?” He asked back instead of answering. “What do you remember of him?”
Eri shifted. She put her head on his arm. “Warm.”
She didn’t elaborate further. Nemuri breathed out something shaky in Shouta’s stead. He had to be strong, after all, if only for Eri’s sake.
Not knowing if his answer would be the right thing to say was scary, but if he had any idea about anything, “I can’t speak for him, but if I were in his place,” Eri tensed minutely under his half-embrace, and he tightened his hold. “I don’t. I never would. Couldn’t even if I tried.”
Eri shuddered something violent, and she turned fast to bury her face to his chest. He fully embraced her as she cried, near silent. Nemuri looked like she was ready to roll away, but one desperate look from Shouta kept her in her place. Their silent conversation went in something like:
Stay.
Are you kidding me? The kid needs you.
And I need you. Please.
She stared at him for a moment, before sighing softly.
Shouta never said he was above seeking for moral support.
“My mother hates me, though,” Eri mumbled tearfully to his shirt, and Shouta tensed. He… couldn’t refute that, and the thought panicked him.
Nemuri, however, snorted something unkind. “She’s a dick.”
Shouta gave her a warning look. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Sure, Shouta wasn’t about to refute that, but she could’ve filtered her words—who was he kidding, this was Nemuri. Eri looked up, not at all bothered by the language, and Shouta faintly wondered what kind of things she’d heard from his students whenever they spent time together. Or maybe she'd heard that and worse during her time in a yakuza hideout—which Shouta always desperately tried not to think about, so.
“But I rewound my father—her husband.”
“Because you haven’t had control on your quirk. Which just manifested. When you were a toddler.”
“Still—”
“Kid,” Nemuri cut her off, and this time, she exhaled, shaky and harsh, at Shouta’s stare. Her tone was much softer as she continued. “Eri-chan, I want you to remember this, okay? No decent lady would abandon a child for an accident. No good mother would abandon her own child, period. If you ask me, no one that cruel deserves to get the title of ‘mother’ at all.”
Eri seemed to wilt, under Shouta’s hold. He tightened his arms a little more, like that way he would shield her from how she probably felt the world she knew crumbling around her.
“Nemu-san,” Shouta caught Nemuri’s lips twitching upwards, faintly, at the use of the nickname. “Can I have a hug?”
Shouta’s friend laughed lightly, pushing her wheelchair closer. “As many as you need, sweetheart.”
Just when Shouta was about to pull away to let Eri hug Nemuri, she grabbed onto his shirt. He looked down to find her already looking at him, a mix of sheepish-desperate-please that had him wrapping his arms around her again without so many words. He shifted Eri to sit on his lap, and Nemuri stretched forward to fill the empty space.
It’s not ideal, but maybe, this way, they’d be okay. If not today, then someday—definitely.
Eri refused to let go of his hand even as he had to attend homeroom that morning. She simply followed behind him into the class, sitting on the lectern as he gave his lecture, peeking at the monitors curiously as they observed training.
None of his students mentioned her nor his red-rimmed eyes.
“Why am I here again?” Shouta despaired, and was answered by a few stray giggles; like he was surrounded by teenagers and not some of the top pro heroes of the country. Though, said pro heroes were making use of one of the free rooms in their own agency to have a girls' tea party of all things, and invited Shouta of all people for some reason; so he shouldn't be surprised that he didn't get a straight answer for his troubles.
“Aizawa-sensei, stop complaining! You’re gonna mess up Eri’s hair!” Hagakure said, and he stared blandly at the approximate height of her eyes, his hands still weaving Eri’s hair into a braid carefully.
“But why do I have to get my hair braided too.”
“Inauguration, kero,” Asui answered flatly from his back, and Jirou snorted as she put another bright colored pin to his hair.
“Did you braid Uraraka, Jirou, and Ashido’s hair when they joined? Their hairs aren’t even that long for you to braid.”
“Oh, we braided them anyway.”
“You can’t even see Hagakure’s hair.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’m not even part of your girls club.”
“Well now you are! A honorary member!” Ashido exclaimed, bashing a flower crown to his head. He scowled in response. Eri laughed where she sat in front of him, as Yaoyorozu gave her a flower crown, much more gently than Ashido did.
“Why.”
“Guardianship!” Uraraka not-answered, tongue sticking out as she applied glittery purple polish on Eri's nails. He fully gave up trying to find an answer at that.
“I think it’s nice,” Eri said as Shouta tied the end of her braid. She craned her head, blinking slowly at him. “Do you not like it?”
Shouta held her gaze for a second, before sighing away, accepting the cup of tea Jirou offered him. “I don’t mind.” And truthfully, he didn’t.
“See, told you it’d be fine!” Shouta narrowed his eye at Ashido, who gave an innocent smile. Eri laughed softly.
“I guess,” Eri said, poking at her flower crown. It slipped a little over her horn, and Shouta huffed before grabbing a bobby pin and setting it in place. Eri beamed at him once he was finished, which made his hair being messed into a braid a little worth it.
“Done,” Asui announced, moving in front of Shouta to admire her handwork. The other girls gave her thumbs-up and cheers. Eri continued smiling, bright and content.
“You look good, Dad.”
Shouta very nearly dropped the teacup. The girls around them gape, before dissolving into another fit of giggles—probably at his constipated expression. Who knew; definitely not him. Shouta knew he had officially adopted Eri years ago, but still.
But nothing, Eri’s sunny smile didn’t falter, and she didn’t take back her words. Well. There’s that, at least.
He patted the patch of her head not covered by flower-shaped pins. “You look very pretty too.”
Uraraka cooed. Hagakure was definitely filming the whole thing. Damn. Well. There’s also that, he guessed.
He knew that video would end up being passed to Hizashi's hands somehow. Shouta would literally never hear the end of this.
“You got your books?”
“Yeah.”
“Gym clothes?”
“Uh huh.”
“You sure your shoe size fits—”
“Oh my god,” Eri groaned, slapping his hand away from opening her bag. “Yes, I’m ready for the first day of school. At UA. Where I used to live.”
Shouta dropped his carefully blank expression for a grin. “Thought you’d be more nervous.”
She smiled, punching his arm lightly. “Stop, Father,” she said, well aware the title still managed to melt and frustrate him to no end.
“Brat,” he said, flicking her horn, because Eri and Hizashi would kill him if he messed her hair up again. She said a flat ‘ouch’ that went ignored. “If Vlad gives you any trouble, you come straight to me, alright?”
“You know he won’t.” Eri rolled her eyes. “You enjoy him, anyway.”
“That’s false information.”
“Mhm. Besides, it would be weird if I’m in your homeroom. My to-be-friends would never let me hear the end of it.” Her eyes widened slightly, as if realizing something. “Please don’t traumatize your homeroom too much.”
This time, Shouta flicked her on the forehead, and she laughed. His own lips twitched in a smile. “I take back my words. I hope Vlad gives you trouble.”
“Plus Ultra!” She cheered with a fist-pump, and he actually laughed at that. His daughter was ridiculous.
He loved her, so very much he felt like bursting every damn day.
“But seriously,” he sobered a little bit, “You’re handling this okay, right?”
Eri gave him a smile, soft and reassuring. She’d grown so much. “I actually am. I know I’ll be fine.” She tilted her head, half part actually-questioning and half part teasing. “You?”
Shouta matched her smile. The answer came out easy and true, “I am.”
She nodded once, with purpose and determination. Another bright-eyed hero-to-be he’s already so damn proud of. She offered her hand out, hiding that slight sheepishness (that he noticed, anyway) with a raised eyebrow and a, “Walk me to school?”
Shouta huffed, taking her hand. It fitted perfectly, now, instead of being swallowed by his old, calloused one. She squeezed back confidently, now, instead of clinging hesitantly.
“Thought you’d never ask.”