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Aizawa wasn’t someone who got drunk often. Most days of the year he tried to avoid alcohol as far as possible. However, there was a day which was an exception – the anniversary of the death of one of his best friends.
The day arrived in the second year of his class of problem children – just like always. Fortunately, it was a Friday, so he didn’t have to worry about how he’d go through the next day with an unbearable headache. Because he was one hundred percent sure he’d have a pain in the ass hangover.
As soon as school let out, he left school grounds and didn’t stop until he reached the closest bar. He wasn’t worried about his friends not knowing where he was. Both Mic and Midnight were aware of the date after all. He would just send a text to the blonde man to come and pick him up when would feel drunk enough to forget about everything.
That day, it happened around 8 PM when Mic felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He was playing with Eri and Nemuri in the common room of the teacher’s lounge when it happened and his face turned dark immediately.
”I need to go,” he said and stood up. Nemuri only nodded at that, but Eri furrowed her brows. She pulled on the Voice Hero’s pants to grab his attention. The man looked down at her eventually.
”Is everything okay with Shou-san?” She asked and the blonde man’s eyes widened. It was kind of scary how she could tell if something was connected to Shouta.
”Nothing we cannot handle, sweetie,” Nemuri said, bringing Eri’s attention on her. ”Let’s go to your room, yeah?” She offered, but Eri shook her head.
”I want to wait for them coming back,” she said, pointing at the closing door behind Hizashi.
They indeed came back 30 minutes later and Eri’s eyes widened. She had never seen her caretaker like that. He looked at least 10 years older and had Hizashi’s hand around his waist to help him stand upright. A small gasp left the little girl’s lips and the raven haired man turned his head towards her. Aizawa’s eyes were glassed and Eri knew he couldn’t see her.
She felt as two arms lifted her up and in the next moment she was pulled to Midnight’s chest. The woman looked down at her apologetically. She really didn’t want the girl to see Shouta like that.
”We should put you in bed. It is past your bedtime,” she whispered and Eri only nodded with no objections.
Half an hour had passed since the woman left her room, but Eri just couldn’t fall asleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the man’s hollow eyes all over again. Suddenly, her ears caught the sound of muffled noises from the room next to hers. They sounded alarmingly like sobbing.
Eri shot up in her bed, the climbed out and patted to the door. She opened it, then tiptoed to the door on her right. She pressed her ear against it – even thought she knew that eavesdropping was not something heroes would do - and concentrated on hearing any kinds of talking.
”Nobody blames you for it, Shouta,” Mic-san’s voice said. ”You couldn’t do anything.” The sobbing intensified. Eri heard the sound of a bed dipping under someone’s weight and her caretaker’s answer came a bit muffled.
”If I was faster-” he started on a hoarse voice, but Mic-san shushed him, telling him over and over again that the blame wasn’t on him.
From how devastated the man who she loved the most in the world sounded, Eri knew that something really bad had happened in the past. She wanted nothing more than to go in there and giving him a big hug as well, but deep down she felt that right now, it wasn’t her job to do. Mic-san’d known him longer than she did, so he had to know why Shou-san was so sad. She retreated to her room, closing the door behind herself.
Approximately ten minutes later, she heard the other door opening and closing, then footsteps as someone walked past her door, then further away. Eri slowly reopened her door, then tiptoed to Shou-san’s door once again. She cracked it open, then slipped in the room.
The room itself was almost pitch black, if not counting the small ray of moonlight coming through the crack of the curtains. Despite that, however, Eri could clearly see the bed and the form almost curling in himself under the blanket. She walked up to the bed, then climbed on it as quietly as possible.
After lifting up the comforter and getting under it, she crawled closer to Shouta and wrapped her arms around his middle section. Almost immediately, she felt strong arms hugging her as close as they could. She hid her face into the man’s chest, nuzzling into it affectionately. The embrace got tighter around her. Before closing her eyes to fall asleep, the little girl whispered the words she had always wanted to tell the man lying beside her.
”No matter what happens, you’ll always be my hero!”