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Eri looked around the room, she knew class 1A well enough that a few people felt safe to her. The ones that didn’t feel safe only felt like that because she didn’t know them well enough, that’s what Mirio told her, so she kept an open mind when he dropped her off and left. At least she tried to, she found herself stuck in place where she was before Mirio left and while a few people walked up and tried to get her to move it didn’t work quite well. Midoriya tried to get her to at least sit on the couch and have a snack but she looked over to the couches where a few other class members sat and she quickly shook her head.
“I’m okay.” Eri mumbled to Midoriya with a shaky smile and though she tried she couldn’t pull her gaze from the floor. Iida, Yaoyorozu, and even Koda tried to softly and kindly get the girl to sit but she didn’t budge. She couldn’t bring herself to move an inch, she just felt so uncomfortable and uncertain around the class without somebody else to be her buffer. Mirio was always there but without him she realized she wasn’t able to feel comfortable.
She started to feel her eyes water and her breath start to get stuck in her throat. ‘I don’t wanna cry, I just want to go with Mirio!’ Eri caught herself shaking, if she was too obvious she knew Midoriya would run to her help. While she wanted the comfort of Midoriya’s presence his friends were a different story, they made her uncomfortable and scared, she didn’t know them all as well as she knew Midoriya. She was so unaware of her surroundings that she didn’t notice the small boy that had approached her quietly.
“Are you okay?”
Eri looked up slowly and very quickly realized she was almost face to face with a boy she vaguely recognized, she may have seen him once or twice but she couldn’t recall having talked to him much. She looked away, it was weird to have somebody at her face level asking her questions. She shook her head and heard him softly under his breath, she couldn’t bring herself to look up. ‘Is he my age?’ Eri wondered before looking up again, he certainly was short. “Um...who are you?” She asked in a whisper, she kept her gaze low but was able to see the smile on his face.
“Mineta. I’m in this class too. Do you recognize me?” ‘Mineta’ asked with a soft and patient smile, his hand busied themselves and began fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. She couldn’t place when they had met before but his face did seem familiar, at the very least the overbite was familiar. She shook her head. “That’s alright, you’re probably bored, yeah? You want something to do?” Mineta smiled, Eri had been told about stranger danger before and she wasn’t supposed to go with people she didn’t feel safe with. Part of her felt in danger, she didn’t know the boy and not only that he seemed eager to get her alone. Regardless of her fear she knew the members of 1A were kind and all heroes so she nodded. He smiled wide, his overbite on full display, before grabbing her hand gently and tugging her along. She hadn’t played with many kids her age and Eri wondered if this is what it was like. The two took the elevator to the second floor and entered the door at the end of the hall.
“This is my room!” Mineta gestured to the room in front of him and Eri looked around. There were a lot of posters, some heroes and some anime she couldn’t place. She heard the door shut behind them and she couldn’t turn before he ran off to the tall bookshelf and pulled out a bright yellow box. Eri took a few steps forward and looked into the box.
“Have you ever heard of Lego’s?” Eri looked up and he was smiling patiently at her, she shook her head no and watched his face fall slightly. “Oh....Well that’s what these are.” He picked up a long red brick,”You stick these blocks together and make different buildings or creatures.” He explained and grabbed another block and put the two together. He handed the bricks to her and she took them timidly. She turned them over in her hand a few times and looked at them before grabbing another brick and stacking them together. She smiled and looked up at Mineta, who seemed pleased, before grabbing the box and pouring a bunch on the ground. The noise was startling but she didn’t jump, rather she got onto her knees and started to put blocks together. She didn’t know what she was going to make but when she looked up at Mineta it seemed like he didn’t know either.
They spent a few minutes building in silence before he spoke up. “I used to be in robotics in middle school. Sometimes we used Lego’s to be a shell for the parts on the inside.” Mineta explained, turning to Eri with a smile. “But sometimes it’s fun to just build something simple, like a house.” Mineta explained softly and gestured to the building he was making. So far all it had amounted to was some walls, a simple roof, and two floors. None of the rooms had any furniture in them but it was still impressive for the short time they had been building. Eri looked at her creation. It was supposed to be a car but it didn’t have any wheels or doors, it looked more like a hollow blob than a car. She turned back to his house and smiled.
“You’re good at building stuff.” She mumbled softly picking up a brick and turning it over in her hands. Mineta smiled warmly at her.
“If you want you can help me make this house.” Mineta offered as he put a few bricks together for no reason Eri could figure out. She smiled and nodded, scooting around the pile and observed the house a bit closer, the colors weren’t perfect or consistent but the walls and hallways he had created on the two floors were impressive, it looked like the interior to a real house rather than a dollhouse. The stairs were unfinished so she set to work in trying to match the pattern he started. It took a few tries but she had finished applying the third step when Mineta spoke up again.
“Why didn’t you talk to the others but you talked to me?”
Eri turned to look and was surprised by the firm expression on his face, his eyebrows were low and his lips were pushed together tightly. She put in another piece of the stairs while she thought. ‘Why did I talk to him?’ Eri found herself wondering but when she looked at him the realization hit her.
“It’s because you’re more like a kid than anybody else! I doubt Midoriya plays with Lego’s still!” She said excitedly, picking up another piece and placing it. She sat back and admired the staircase she had helped finish, it was hard to tell where his work started and her help ended and that made her proud.
“Hmm...well I’m happy that I’m still such a kid.” Mineta said with a soft smile and ruffed her hair playfully, she giggled and the two went back to work. Eri eventually found herself talking about the cats that Aizawa had, their names, favorite places to nap, what fish they preferred. All the while Mineta nodded with a smile and small interjections of his own.
“My favorite one is the tabby though, she smells really nice because she sits close to the air freshener.” Eri explained through her short giggles. She was so caught up in her story and putting the table together for the kitchen, though they hadn’t decided where that would be yet, that she didn’t even notice Mineta leaning closer until she felt short and strong arms wrap around her. She felt her breath catch in her throat, the sensation of danger started to gnaw at the back of her mind and for some reason she felt her palms start to sweat. Before she could open her mouth and ask what he was doing Mineta pulled back.
“You’re like the little sister I wanted when I was younger.” Mineta pinched her cheek playfully and she felt all her fear melt away again. What had she even been scared of? She smiled back and pinched his equally chubby cheek.
“You’re like a brother that doesn’t know when to stop being weird.” Eri teased and tried not to giggle, though she quickly failed when Mineta pulled back with a gasp and his hand clutched his collar like he was offended.
“You wound me!” He said flamboyantly, throwing his head back and his hand was still clutching at pearls he didn’t have. Eri giggled again and placed the table on the ground.
“Well be wounded, where are we gonna put the table?” Eri picked up the table and stuck it to the roof of the house and looked at him seriously, even though the two of them were trying to hold back a giggle.
The two jumped when Mineta’s room door opened and Kaminari was standing in the doorway. “You two have fun?” He questioned with a smile, the two nodded. “Mirio is waiting downstairs.” Kaminari thumbed down the hall to the elevator. Eri let out a soft ‘awwww’ and looked at the floor. Mineta didn’t seem too happy either, his previous smile was nowhere to be seen but it quickly returned and he put a hand on her shoulder.
“How about this, I’ll keep the house put together so that way the next time you come over we can keep building it. How’s that?” Mineta asked and Eri felt a smile spread across her face, she nodded happily and her hair bounded with it.
“I’d like that!” Eri beamed at Mineta before leaning over and wrapping her arms around him tightly and squeezing hard. She let go quickly and stood up. “Thanks for the fun Mineta!” She exclaimed before running out the door and down the stairs. Mineta was left sitting on his floor with a smile.
“You wanna play with me now?” Kaminari asked, shutting the door behind him. Mineta nodded excitedly, pushed the house to the side, and poured out some more blocks from the yellow bin.
“Let’s build a castle, okay?” Mineta asked in a way that was more of a statement rather than a question before the two started putting together the base for their castle. Mineta wouldn’t admit it to just anybody but Eri was right, he was still such a kid.