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Eri can’t wait for the baby to come. Her dads keep telling her that it’s still going to be four more months, but she can’t wait that long! She wants the baby right now! Eri’s excited to not be the youngest and can’t wait to be able to play with the baby.
When they first sat Eri down to tell her the news, they were hesitant, fearing that she wouldn’t understand or not like the idea. They were pleasantly surprised when she asked if they could make a sister for her so she wouldn’t have to have another brother. Unfortunately, they had to tell her no, that in fact she was getting a baby brother, but that didn’t even dampen her spirit.
For the past few weeks, Hizashi has been hyping up how cool it will be to be a big sister and even enlisted the help of Hitoshi to convince her how much he loved being an older brother. He was promptly kicked out, laughing when he told her that it was fun to have someone to boss around. He was completely lying, they all know that he’s actually whipped for Eri, but he has to try to play the part of the annoyed older brother.
Anyways, she couldn’t stop thinking about the baby no matter what.
It was a Saturday, and since he can’t do hero work while pregnant, Shouta actually has to take a break on the weekends now. Eri and Shouta go to the park together on sunny days like today. Eri was still hesitant around unknown adults and kids, so they were still homeschooling and bringing her to UA with them, but she was starting elementary school next month. Shouta and Hizashi thought it would be good for her to get warmed up to other kids by taking her to the park to play while Shouta could sit down on the bench.
That leaves Eri playing in the sandbox, building a castle. A small boy who looked about her age with red hair came sprinting into the sandbox, almost knocking down her sand castle. He sits directly in front of her, making her back up. Hitoshi always says that kids have germs and boogies, so she scoots away from him, not wanting to catch anything.
“Hey,” the boy says.
“Um, hi,” Eri replies, looking hesitant.
“You have white hair.” Well duh, Eri thinks. Gosh this kid was starting to annoy her.
“I know.”
“There are no grown ups here with white hair,” the kid says matter-of-factly.
Eri looks around. In fact, there were no adults with white hair like hers. Still, it seems like a silly observation to Eri.
“So who’s your parent?”
“Oh, my Dad’s sitting on the bench over there,” Eri points to Shouta, who was reading over papers, trying to not engage in any conversation with the other parents.
“Pfft, that can’t be your dad, he has dark hair.”
“Well, he didn’t have me. He adopted me.” Eri was looking down at the sand, not making eye contact. She wasn’t ashamed of her past or of being adopted, but she didn’t want to have to explain anything to this kid who she didn’t know.
“Oh, okay. So he’s only like your babysitter.”
“What? No!”
“Whatever, he looks like my mom did when she was going to have another pup.” That finally made Eri light up.
“Yup! I can’t wait to be a big sister!”
“You know he’s not going to love you after the pup’s born, right?”
“That’s not true.” Eri gives this kid the biggest stink eye she could muster. This kid just couldn’t take a hint.
“Of course it is. You said you weren’t actually his pup, so he’s not going to love you after he has his own. Parents always love the youngest pup way more than any of the others, and you’re not even his.”
If Eri didn’t know that she would for sure have to sit through a lecture if she hit this kid, she totally would.
“You’re lying. They love me tons,” Eri states, furrowing her brow and raising her voice slightly.
“Well, not as much as they’re going to love the new baby.”
With that last comment from the kid, Eri gets up and kicks a little sand in the kid’s face before running to Shouta.
“Ready to go, baby?”
Eri nods and takes hold of the hand that Shouta offers. Eri turns her head as they walk away and sticks her tongue out at the boy in the sandbox. He can’t be right, there’s no way.
---
Except Eri can’t stop thinking about it. She finally has two dads who love and care about her and now she might lose them? This sucks. Why did they have to have a baby?
Hizashi pops his head into Eri’s open door where she was working on her coloring pages.
“Hey, Er-bear! Wanna help me paint that last wall of the nursery?”
A day ago, she would have been all over it and excited to help. Now she looked at him with a blank expression.
“No.” Hizashi looks taken aback at her strong response. He was so sure that she would want to. She loves anything painting and baby related, but he wasn’t going to push her.
“Oh, okay. Well, if you change your mind you know where to find me.”
Why would she want to help get ready for the pup that was going to take her parents away from her. The frustration built up, and Eri snapped the crayon that she held in her hand in half. It’s not fair, and there’s only one person who will probably be on the same page as her: Hitoshi.
He knows a lot more than her, so he must have known that they would stop loving them after the pup arrived. She has to talk to him right this instant.
Eri gets up from her coloring table and bolts down the hall to her brother’s room. She starts banging on the closed door, knowing he probably had his headphones in. Eri could feel the tears starting to build in her eyes, but she has business to attend to. She can’t cry right now.
Except the minute Hitoshi swings his door open, she can’t hold back anymore and launches herself into him.
“Woah there, Eri. What’s going on? Are you hurt?” Hitoshi scrambles out, trying to get a good look at her face.
She sniffles into the front of his shirt. “Can I come in.”
“Yeah, Eri. Okay.” Hitoshi picks his little sister up and brings her into his room with him. He grabs the fuzziest blanket that hasn’t been used in Denki’s nest and wraps it around her shoulders before sitting with her on his bed.
Eri continues to sniffle and rub at her eyes, but as Hitoshi continues to smooth her hair and rub her back, she starts to calm her breathing down.
“What’s going on, Eri?” Hitoshi asks her. While he has never truly dealt with a full blown Eri meltdown before, he thinks the best plan of action would be to talk it out.
“They’re not going to love us once the baby gets here.”
That is definitely not what Hitoshi was expecting.
“What makes you say that?”
She looks at him like he’s stupid. “Because they’re going to have a new pup! Obviously!”
“Eri, when they adopted you, they didn’t love me any less.” Eri stops to think for a second.
“That’s different.”
“Tell me why that’s different.”
“Because we’re not actually their pups.” Gosh, for someone who always claims to be so smart, Eri thinks he’s acting kind of dumb right now.
“I promise you that we are definitely their pups. Who told you that?”
Eri sniffles again. “The kid at the park.”
Hitoshi sighs and wraps an arm around his sister’s shoulder. “Eri, what did I tell you about other kids?”
“That they’re snotty and have germs.”
“Right. Now are you gonna listen to a snotty kid with germs?” Hitoshi says with a smile on his face.
Eri shakes her head.
“Good, now I’m going to go get Dad.”
“No! Hitoshi wait!” He couldn’t know about this. He was already stressed and tired enough from carrying the pup all day.
“Eri, you’re only going to feel better if you talk to him, Hitoshi said while getting up and setting her back down.
Eri nods in surrender. She waits for her brother to come back with her Dad. She felt a little bit better about the situation, but still thinks Hitoshi is just in denial. The more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense to her that the pup would bring too much change. She didn’t want the change anymore.
“Eri?” Shouta calls to her. She looks up at her name, but seeing the look on his face causes another round of tears to spill down her cheeks. She doesn’t want to bother him.
“Okay, Eri. Come on, let’s go to the nest,” Shouta says. She nods and follows him to his room. He beckons for her to lay her head in his lap, and combs through her hair with his fingers in attempt to calm her.
“Eri, when you’re ready I’m going to need you to tell me what’s wrong, okay?” He says pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Once Eri can catch a breath, she speaks up. “Do you have to have the baby?”
Shouta continues to stroke her hair. “Of course I’m going to have the baby.”
“Why?” she asks, feeling even more tears coming. She knew the answer but was hoping maybe he would change his mind.
“Well, I think this baby is going to bring us lots of joy, and he will give you the chance to be a big sister.”
That was not the answer she was looking for at all. She wanted to tell him about what she talked to Hitoshi, but she was too embarrassed. He seemed happy about the baby, she didn’t want her to be mad at her, but she had to ask.
“Are Hitoshi and I not enough?” Eri whispers quietly.
“Oh, Eri, no.” Shouta pulls her closer to his chest. “Your father and I love you and Hitoshi very, very much and that’s not going to ever change. Just because there’s going to be another pup doesn’t mean that we’re going to love you any less.”
“But we’re adopted! And this time the pup is actually yours,” Eri didn’t understand
“Eri, look at me.” Eri lifts her head to make eye contact with her Dad. “You and Hitoshi are my pups and nothing is going to change that ever, okay?”
The small girl looks hesitant, but nods her head. She buries her face into his chest even though it was harder to do now with the baby belly, but it was still doable.
“You promise?”
“I promise.” Okay, Eri could do this. Her Dad made a promise and he always keeps his promises.
“How about you help me think of some names for him?” Shouta offers. She had been trying to give suggestions for the past few weeks, but they tried explaining it to her that they weren’t naming the baby after someone they know. No, they are not naming the baby Mirio or Deku.
The suggestion immediately makes Eri pipe up. “Yeah!”