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“Aizawa-san?”
Soft footsteps padded into the room, waking Shouta up from his quiet slumber. Blinking, Shouta sat up quietly, careful to not wake his husband, even if Hizashi didn’t have his hearing aids in, and looked to the door. Eri was standing there, basked in the soft glow of the nightlight in the room, clutching a unicorn to her chest.
“Yes, Eri?” Shouta asked, doing his best to keep his voice soft and gentle. “Is everything okay?”
For a few seconds, the girl was silent, before she trodded over to him, looking up at him with wide eyes, scared eyes.
“I...I had another... bad dream...” she said in a soft voice. Shouta felt his heart twist, and he pulled the blankets off himself.
It had been three months since Eri had been taken out of Overhaul’s care and placed into Shouta and Hizashi’s care, with Hitoshi as a faux-adopted brother, and although Shouta and Hizashi had been doing a rather fine job at parenting a little, traumatized kid (or so Shouta thinks), it still wouldn’t be enough to erase years of abuse at his hands. Nightmares, unfortunately, were still common for the little girl, as they were for Hizashi and Shouta as well.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Shouta asked, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Eri nodded, setting the unicorn up on the bed and climbing up onto it, plopping herself down in Shouta’s lap.
”I... I dreamed that I... that I was back there,” Eri started in a small, scared voice, and no child should have to have a voice that small and scared. It made Shouta want to go and beat up the Eight Percepts of Death and Overhaul all over again. But anger wasn’t what Eri needed, so he took a deep breath and let it out, storing it in a locked box.
“I... I was running again... and I was trying to get out, and I saw Deku-kun...” Eri continued, shifting on Shouta’s leg and picking up the unicorn plushie. “He... he was reaching out towards me, and I grabbed his hand, but...” She sniffled, burying her face into Shouta’s side, and his heart twisted. Gently, he rested a hand on her shoulder, hoping the touch would ground her. “It was just like what... like what happened to my dad... and I hurt him. He was... Deku-kun was screaming and he... and he seemed so... he was so scared, Aizawa-san.
“And then... I tried to pull back but it wasn’t enough... and his face kept changing, too... first it was Deku-kun, than you, then Lemillion, and- and dad, too... I was hurting them, Aizawa-san... and I couldn’t stop it...” More sniffling, and Shouta switched from resting a hand on her shoulder to hugging her.
“It was just a dream, Eri. I’m right here, and I’m safe,” he told her in a soft voice, rubbing circles into her back the same way Hizashi does to him when he has his own nightmares about the USJ and training camp, about the people he couldn't save, about falling rubble and rain and broken goggles.
“I know that, b-but it was still scary...” Eri hiccuped, sobs racking her tiny body. “I... I hurt you, and my daddy, and Deku-kun and Lemillion-san...” Eri shook her head, her next words muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“And you aren’t, Eri,” Shouta told her in a quiet voice. Another hiccup. “I’ll make sure you won’t hurt anyone.”
“But... but my quirk hurts people... and my eyes are a villain’s eyes.”
Wait, where did that come from? Out of all of the problems Eri had, Shouta didn’t think that her eyes would be on that list.
“What do you mean by that?” Shouta asked, pulling away a little bit to look at her tiny form. Eri sniffled, wiping at her face.
“I... I went to the park earlier with Lemillion and Deku-kun, and... and some kids there said that because my eyes are red that... that I’m a villain,” Eri sniffled. “I don’t want to be a villain...”
“You aren’t a villain, Eri,” Shouta said, because it was important for her to know that, because those were words she needed to hear (those were words he needed to hear).
“But the kids said having red eyes makes me a villain... and O-Overhaul said that... said that I was a villain because I hurt people... Tha- that has to make me a villain.”
The words hit a little too close to home for Shouta. As a kid, everyone had told him that he was going to end up as a villain. Sometimes it was due to the nature of his quirk, other times it was due to his red eyes, and more often than not, it was a mix of both. It had taken getting into UA’s General Studies course, beating out 1-A in the sports festival the first year of high school to transfer into heroics and a reluctant friendship with the two most loudest, obnoxious, and lovable people on earth to erase (ha) that idea.
“Hey, Eri, listen to me, please,” Shouta said gently, looking down at her. “You aren’t a villain. Overhaul and the people who hurt you were, but you are not a villain.”
Eri curls in on herself, shoulders hunching, as if trying to make herself smaller. “But I hurt people, Aizawa-san,” she said, shaking, and Shouta’s heart clenched in his chest. “I don’t want to hurt people.”
An idea occurred to Shouta, then, and he tapped Eri’s head gently. She looked up, her red eyes shining with unshead tears and scared, a sort of scared that shouldn't be in the eyes of a girl as young and almost delicate as Eri (a sort of scared he can't bear to see in his students' eyes either).
“Can you watch me, Eri?” He asked her, keeping his voice quiet so Hizashi didn’t hear them. She nodded, and Shouta activated his quirk, feeling a buzzing feeling behind his eyes before it died down. “My eyes can help you stop your quirk so it doesn’t hurt people when it gets out of hand. And they’re red, too, see? Does that make me a villain?”
“No!” Eri said, shaking her head quickly, and Shouta smiled, deactivating his quirk.
“And it doesn’t make you a villain, either, Eri,” Shouta tells her. “Having a certain quirk doesn’t make you a villain.” The words Oboro spoke to him echoed in his mind as he said that.
“Why would you two want to hang out with me?” He asked one afternoon after the two followed him up to the roof.
“Because you seem like a cool dude, Aizawa!” Yamada had said, plopping down next to Aizawa and shooting a couple of finger guns at him. Shouta had raised a brow at that.
“Me? The general studies outcast with the villain’s quirk who kicked your guys’ asses in the Sports Festival?” He snorted. “If I had a hundred yen for every person that said that, I’d have a hundred yen.”
“Really? But you’re like super-strong and smart, already number two below me in class and you’ve been here for only two weeks!” Yamada replies as Shirakumo furrowed his brows.
“Wait, wait wait wait, what do you mean ‘villain’s quirk’?” He asked, making quotations symbol with his hands and almost dropping the sushi tray carefully balanced on his lap. Shouta gave him a dry look.
“You’re kidding, right?” Shouta drawled. Shirakumo shook his head. “My quirk, Erasure, can essentially strip people of their quirks, however temporarily. And people... people don’t like it when it takes away the one thing that makes them special.”
“And people call you a villain for that?” Yamada asks, incredulous.
Shout hummed, digging into his own food and ignoring the staring of the two other boys. “It’s not a big deal - I’m used to hearing it, and it’s not like I care much at this point. It’s illogical to care about what people say when it comes to stuff like that. Besides, I’ve made it into the hero course now, proving them wrong.”
“Still, that doesn’t mean you should be hearing that!” Yamada protested, throwing his arms out. Shirakumo nodded in agreement.
“Yeah! Your quirk is seriously cool, Shouta! It sucks that people are so mean like that, bro,” Shirakumo said, and Shouta was taken aback by that.
“You... don’t think my quirk is creepy... or villainous?” He asked, a little hesitant, not sure if he wanted to know their answer.
“Bro, that seems like an incredible useful quirk for villain fights!” Yamada declared. Shirakumo nodded as he picked up a sushi roll with his chopsticks and shoved it in his mouth. "Being able to stop their quirks like that? It could be totally useful for rending a super-strong villain powerless!"
“Yeah, what Hifashi said! And besides, your quirk doesn’t mafe you a villain, especially if we’re in the hero course!” Shirakumo said, the words muffled by his sushi. Shouta scrunched up his face.
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Didn’t your parents teach you manners?” He asked. Yamada and Shirakumo both laughed, Shirakumo now having the decency to place a hand over his mouth to keep food from flying out.
“Says the man who hasn’t even returned either of our constant good-mornings in class!” Yamada said. “Hypocritical much?”
Well, Yamada did have a point - the past twelve days Shouta had been in the hero course, both Yamada and Shirakumo have said good morning to him without fail, and he’s only responded with a grunt. It was only after that did he start replying because, well, Shirakumo and Yamada were one of the first people to tell him that. The words he’d been looking for someone to say for a decade. The least he could do was respond to them.
(It ended with broken goggles from a hero that will never be and two rings where there should’ve been three).
“Are you sure?” She asked in a small voice, but there was a spark of hope in her eyes.
“I’m sure. Now, do you want some hot cocoa?”
Eri brightened up at that, her eyes widening as she looked up at him, smiling.
“Yes, please, Aizawa-san!” She said. Shouta felt himself smile and he wrapped his hands around her waist.
“Alright, I’m standing up. Hold on,” he said, and Eri’s grip on his shirt tightening. Shouta stood up, positioning Eri so she was secure against his waist, and walked out of the door, padding down to the kitchen, using his phone as a flashlight.
“Do you want marshmallows on yours?” Shouta asked as he set Eri down on the counter, before flicking on the stove lights. That, combined with the flashlight from the phone, should be enough light for Shouta to work with, but not enough to (hopefully) wake up Hizashi. Hitoshi might be awake because of nightmares, and his door was closed, but he still didn’t want to make any inconveniences.
“Yes, please,” Eri said, shifting on the counter to look at Shouta as he searched for the kitty mug he used when he had his own nightmares.
It was silent for a few seconds as Shouta searched for the ingredients, getting the hot-cocoa mix, Marshmallow fluff, a mug, the milk jug, and a spoon. As he started pouring the milk, Eri spoke again.
“Aizawa-san?” She asked, voice quiet in the small apartment, and she fiddled with the end of her pajama shirt. Shouta glanced at her, before turning his attention back to the milk so he didn’t spill anything.
“Yes?”
“Do... do you ever have bad dreams too?” She asked. Shouta’s hands stuttered for a moment-
“Oboro? Oboro, where are you?” Shouta asked, his head swiveling left and right as he looked around for his friend, but all he could see was destruction- falling buildings, screaming children, villains parading around left and right but none of them seeming to notice him.
“Shouta! Over here!” A familiar voice called, and Shouta’s head snapped to his right. There. Oboro, waving frantically for him. Shouta ran his way, parts of the ground seeming to crumble under his feet but never acts stumbling or falling as he ran.
He skidded to a stop next to him, where Oboro was now crouching on the ground next to a kid trapped under some rubble. Oboro spoke before he could.
“Shouta, help me get him out,” Oboro said, taking his staff and wedging it under a space where the rock wasn’t touching the ground. “I’ll push, you pull him out, got it?”
Shouta nodded, trusting Oboro’s judgment far more than his own, and shuffles so he can grab the kid's arms. He was shaking, but didn't seem to be in shock or show any signs of having a concussion, which was a good sign.
“We’re gonna get you out of here,” Shouta says, doing his best to keep his voice calm and comforting.
“On three,” Oboro said, looking at Shouta, and he nodded. “Alright, one.. two.. three!”
As Oboro started pushing down on his staff, Shouta waited until Oboro gave him a nod, and he started pulling. The kid, still half-conscious, started to push himself out with one leg too, whimpering slightly. Once he was out, Oboro let the rubble slab drop.
“Alright, I’ll keep looking for survivors, you get him back to the ambulance,” Oboro said, stepping back and twirling his staff. Shouta nodded, carefully picking up the kid in a bridal-style, mindful of his leg - broken at the very least.
Quickly and carefully as he could, Shouta started running towards the ambulances in the distance. He tensed, waiting for a villain to notice him, but they just passed him by, paying him and the victim no mind.
Then, a loud roar, followed by the sound of something like giant footsteps on the ground. A shout. Shouta’s head snapped to the side to look behind him, and his heart stopped.
Right at the building Oboro was at, there was a gaint nomu the size of the building on top of it, hands sprouting out from its body at random places and jaw open up in an ear-splitting roar. Mount Lady seemed to appear from somewhere, and the nomu roared, before leaping off the building towards the her, it's massive claws crushing part of it, and Shouta could only watch in horror again as rubble fell once more, right to-
“OBORO!” Shouta shouted, reaching out towards him but it wasn’t enough, he wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t useful-
-before he set the milk jug down.
“Yes,” he said, quietly. He picked up the mug and walked over to the microwave. He opened up the door and put it in, closed it, and punched in a time. Three beeps sounded in the tiny apartment.
“What... what are they about? Do you want to talk about them?” Eri asked as the microwave hummed. With a minute on the clock, Shouta grabbed the scissors and reached over to the hot cocoa packet, cut it open as he pondered his answer.
“They’re about a lot of things, sometimes,” Shouta replied, setting the scissors on the counter. Stepped back and opened up the drawer, before grabbing a spoon. “Sometimes they’re about losing people I care about, or civilians I save. Sometimes they’re about me or my friends or students getting hurt. Sometimes they’re about stuff I don’t know. Dreams are something that’s just there.”
Eri hummed, before tapping the counter and gesturing for Shouta to come there. Frowning, he did, stepping closer to her. “Yes?”
Instead of replying, Eri just reached up and tapped Shouta’s nose with her finger, before saying, “Boop!”
Shouta blinked, taken aback, before smiling. “What’s that, Eri?” He asked, and with it just the two of them, he allowed himself to let the amusement slip into his voice.
“You’re sad, right? Bad dreams always make me sad, but booping is supposed to cheer people up!” Eri told him. “At least, that’s what Deku-kun says. He always does that when I’m feeling sad!”
As the microwave beeped, Shouta chuckled, and he ruffled her hair before walking back to the microwave. “Well, that certainly cheered me up, Eri,” he said, opening up the microwave door. “Deku is smart, isn’t he?” Especially considering he held the title as the second-smartest student in class, just only behind Yaoyorozu.
“He’s really smart!” Eri said as Shouta took out the mug. Closing the door, he set the mug on the counter and tipped the packet into the mug, before grabbing the spoon. “And he’s really kind, too!”
“Yes, he is,” Shouta hums, and he starts to stir the hot cocoa. The spoon clinks on the glass of the mug, a bit too loud for Shouta’s liking. After a few seconds of stirring, he leaves the spoon in the cup and turns to the marshmallow fluff bin. Opens it, before taking the spoon and scooping up a sizable helping, and sets it in the cup, watching it pop up. After that, he sets the spoon in the sink and closes the bin.
“Is it done?” Eri asks, leaning to the side. Shouta nods, turning to her.
“Let’s get you down, and then you can drink and go back to bed,” he said. Quickly, he gets her down, before picking up the mug and handing it to her. “Be careful, and try not to drop it.”
Eri nods with all the seriousness a seven-year-old girl can muster, and grabs the mug, unicorn plushie tucked under her arm. Shouta turns off the stove light, grabs his phone, and follows Eri to the living room. They sit down at the couch, Shouta turning on his phone while Eri focuses on drinking her mug.
It grows silent again, a comfortable silence that neither of them need to fill. Eri drinks her hot cocoa and Shouta scrolls through the news on his phone. It’s only after the mug is empty does Eri speak, turning to Shouta.
“Uhh... Aizawa-san?” She asks, and Shouta sets his phone down, looks at her. She seems nervous, running a hand down her unicorn’s hand. “Can... can I sleep with you tonight? I don’t want to sleep alone...”
“Of course,” Shouta said. Eri brightens up, before she yawns, and Shouta smiled. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
The two of them head back to Eri’s room, with Shouta reminding himself to put up the hot cocoa mug tomorrow.
Eri’s bed is a little small, but Shouta manages to fit onto it, curling up with Eri taking up the space he doesn’t. But they manage to make it work, with Eri falling asleep right next to Shouta, and that’s how Hizashi found them the next morning, taking a hundred pictures to use as blackmail.