Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shouta knew it was just a question of time before more villains got to know his eyes are what make him dangerous. He’s been underground for that very reason, among others like: sneak attacks, no journalists, protect his family, no journalists, avoid the communication and advertisement work, and again: no, journalists.

Recovery Girl has been telling him to slow down for years. His health never was the best, he’s always tired and hungry, his throat and eyes feel dry and painful most of the time. Keeping up with two jobs has been an issue since day one, that he tried to solve with more caffeine and sleeping between two classes. It feels like running a marathon while the finish line keeps moving forward.

Now it appears that multiple villains from Overhaul’s team and the League of Villains tried to target his eyes first, or avoid his glare, giving them heavy chances of success. If they really understood how erasure works, a coordinated attack from 2 villains or more would be enough. For the next few missions, the UA team decided to put Eraser Head in scouting missions and back support. They’ve worked with Power Loader and Mei to design a daytime-friendly camo gear and clothes.

Now comes the real issues: when and where will they strike? What is their real goal? Who is the spy in UA? Ouch… headache. Calm down… high blood pressure won’t make your eyes go better. Why is there a woodpecker in my skull? 

Luckily, Mic chose this moment to go back home from the park with Eri. It was his first real day off for ages. They will need to slow down and seriously rethink their professional path if they want the adoption to happen. Two jobs for Shouta, three jobs for Hizashi. What kind of parents do that? Plus, Aizawa being here was a condition from the Hero Commission to let Eri out of UA for a few days.

Eri runs straight to Shouta, grasping a bunch of daisies in her little fist. Out of breath, she put them on Shouta’s lap, mumbling “I picked ‘em for you!”. 

Shouta grins, feeling the pressure leave his skull gradually. Here is your finish line: protect Eri, raise her, make her happy. Anything else is a mean or a distraction. His own parents always chose career first, what did they get? A bunch of professional injuries and lifelong resentment. 

It does not mean that his hero-career is not important anymore to him, but that his goals shifted. He’s not a teen anymore. He knows wanting to “protect everybody” is the best way to lose everyone. Mic, Eri, Shinsou, Mirio, class-1A. He already has so much. And then, from who? The Commission, Shigaraki, AFO, League, Liberation Front, that creepy Dabi guy… More than enough. Who could pretend to save the world? We know who… and what happened to him. The Symbol of Peace was very convenient for politics, until his humanity blew back in their faces.

His train of thought is interrupted by Mic putting a small glass of water on the coffee table. He delicately displays the flowers in their tiny vase. Eri already went back to playing alone with a puzzle. Any kid her age would be running around the house, trying to get attention from the adults. But she is so used to playing alone that it doesn’t cross her mind to do anything else. 

No tantrums either, she is so obliging they have to check that she really has everything she needs. She learned to fear her guardians, to ask as little as possible so not to get attention, because attention would surely be bad. Overhaul seemed to give her a lot of fancy toys and dolls, they found in a creepy room in the basement. But without playmates, most of it was dull and useless. So she focused on puzzles, drawing and books. Can a kid be too quiet?

Fortunately, for the past two weeks, she started to show more confidence. A big breakthrough happened when Midnight gave her a fairy outfit, complete with shiny hat and wand. 

With a very involved Mirio, she learned to “play pretend” and act silly. Soon after, they had a good laugh while she tried to imitate every new person she met. Her Bakugo impression really is something. Mic has been binging the Montessori side of TikTok and went a little crazy with the creative supplies.

But their education journey would need a pause as a new confrontation with the League is imminent. The only word they got out of Kurogiri: “the hospital”, seemed to ring a bell to the detectives working with Hawks. This confrontation left Shouta more exhausted than any fight ever did.

Eri’s quirk, Oboro’s body, the Nomus, the regeneration, the anti-quirk bullets, is there a connection to make? What are they missing?

Dinner is interrupted by a phone call from Nezu. Everything is set up, the raid will happen in 2 days. As Mic and Shouta discuss details with Nezu, Eri opens a coloring book. Instead of filling in the lines, she gets closer to the paper, and draws spirals on the whole page, as focused as always.

Chapter Text

The fight seems to be going for hours. Shouta feels like his eyes are going to explode even with Manual watering them. Rock Lock has been supporting his right side since a Nomu broke his leg. Deku is getting reckless and making mistakes. Bakugo avoided a quirk-erasing bullet at the last second but threw himself 100 meters away.

Shigaraki’s lower jaw seems about to fall off, while he keeps moving like nothing happened. This is when a second quirk erasing bullet appears in his hand. With his left leg, Shouta tries to jump out of the way as much as he can. He can feel Rock Lock pushing him away and pray that he does not take the bullet instead. Manual creates a wave in front of them. One second, that’s all it took. Shouta and Rock Lock are on the ground, and Shigaraki escapes Erasure. Manual frantically searches the ground for the bullet, as Shigaraki runs to them like a wild beast, his wounds already healing.

When Shouta opens his eyes, Shigaraki’s broken face is so near he can see his pupils shaking with rage. Reaching for his capture band, he sees a pale hand getting closer to his face. A cracking sound, then all fades to black. He can hear Rock Lock screaming, Manual’s waves rushing, then a well-known voice. Midoriya’s “SMAAAAASH” rings as a violent wind brushes everybody off. From then, Shouta can feel Manual and Rock Lock carrying him away, the battle sound slowly fading away. Ryukku’s roar, Bakugo’s explosions, Deku’s shock waves, Shoto’s fire and ice…  

How did Shoto get here? Why is he here? Where are Ochako and Tsuyu? What are the other children doing? Did Momo’s team win their fight? Is Midnight coming back?

These questions keep storming in his mind as he tries to talk but not a sound gets out of his mouth. “Stop it, don’t move, don’t try to talk, you’ll make it worse!” Manual shouts. Like a rag doll, his head feeling heavy, his body unresponsive, only his hands still grasp on Rock Lock and Manual’s clothes as they carry him. Slowly, his senses go numb. Black and silent like the  depths of the ocean, weightless, he’s just a floating body slowly rocking right and left, falling asleep, that feels good at last.

Chapter Text

Well… at least I’m breathing.

This is the first thing crossing his mind, slowly waking up from anesthesia. No tube in the throat, that means his respiratory system got back to work as soon as the anesthesia started to wear off. 

Good thing, uh? 

And that thing goes hand in hand with a working heart, another good thing. 

Now let’s check the nervous system.

It’s not his first time waking up in a hospital, all dizzy. Wiggling toes, wiggling fingers, numb limbs are normal. Should be better in an hour or two. 

Let’s sleep a bit more.

“He’s been like this for hours.” Says the nurse to a stressed out Hizashi. “Sometimes he moves a little bit, he seems about to wake up, then he goes back to his beauty sleep. Don’t worry, it happens after such a long surgery, his vitals are OK.”

“If you say so…” He sighed. “I’ll be in the lobby.”

Hizashi slowly walks back to an incredibly uncomfortable seat, next to a cold cup of lemon tea. He’s made a habit of having lemon tea with honey, as many vocalists do. But the “sweetened lemon infusion” from the vending machine seems to be made from soap and vinegar. Nursing a broken wrist, he continues the mental checklist of doom:

- talk to Vlad King.

- if Vlad King is not responsive enough, call Kayama’s parents.

- check on Eri, who’s back in UA with Nezu and Mirio.

- get more information on Shouta’s injuries.

- get back to Recovery Girl who did not sleep for 24 hours.

- get a decent tea.

“You forgot something idiot!”, he thinks. “With Shouta asleep, Midnight dead, Nezu busy with a stressed out Eri, Vlad still here, who’s taking care of the kids?”

Ectoplasm usually tends to the 3 rd year, Cementos the 2 nd . That’s 40 kids each as many of the other teachers are incapacitated or too stunned to speak and make sense. Hizashi wonders if he is himself able to make sense, as Shouta and Midnight keep coming back in his thoughts. Without realizing, he starts walking in the corridors of Wing D, where most of the injured students are being kept. What would Shouta do?

“LET ME GO”

The unique voice of Katsuki Bakugo interrupts Hizashi Yamada as he is about to self-loath. Eijiro and Tenya are already trying to calm him down, Hizashi can only understand the anguish Bakugo is in at this moment. Of course, he acts angry, that’s the only emotion he thinks he’s allowed to show. That’s not uncommon among teenage boys… still Bakugo is an extreme case. They end up checking on Midoriya with All Might’s help. The boy broke all his limbs. again He seems unconscious, yet All Might keeps talking to him.

Passing by room D104, Hizashi hears dear Kyouka talking. He knocks twice, then comes into a crowded room. Mina and Momo are in their beds, as the first broke her collarbone, and the second got 2 nd and 3 rd degree burns on her arms. Squatting on the window’s ledge is Kyouka, she luckily only twisted an ankle, and didn’t realize it before a doctor told her to stay still as she was helping another student, unaware of the pain. Mineta is here too, sitting still in an armchair, staring at his own feet. He got a few stitches on his forehead. Seeing him so quiet and silent feels weird. Hizashi is carefully choosing his words when they are joined by Kirishima.

“I couldn’t find Aoyama, but I met Bakugo and had to help him calm down. It sounds like Midoriya is going to be OK, but he hasn't woken up yet. Oh, hi again Yamada Sensei!”

“Hi… I thought you could use a talk, but Jirou beat me here.”

“Please stay!” Pleaded Mina, “We need to know how it happened!”

“It’s impossible.” Mineta whispers, barely moving his lips.

“She asked me to make a sleep-inducing poison with my quirk.” Added Yaoyorozu. “So she knew she was in trouble… what happened?”

Hizashi feels trapped, all eyes on him. He feels his head burning. The kids need an answer, but then, they’ll need to accept this answer. He lived the whole grieving process a few times, he knows the kids are only “bargaining”, while Mineta seems stuck in denial. They know what happened, but someone has to say it out loud.

“Your teacher, Kayama Nemuri…” He deliberately chose not to use her hero’s name. “… was hit by the League as she tried to put Gigantomachia to sleep. She then fell from the giant’s head. She warned you about him, and it was the last time we heard her on the communication devices. She suffered from many internal bleedings, and despite Kamui Woods and Mount Lady’s efforts, she could not get medical attention soon enough to survive. She died.”

A dead silence follows his words. It seems too simple. She was hit, she fell, she bled, she died. We got used to so many injuries and hospitalizations that we forgot it could end up this way. We rely on Recovery Girl like she could be everywhere, all the time. Shouta keeps warning us about our dependence on quirks, but do we listen?

Mineta cries, loudly. Kyoka awkwardly stands up and puts a hand on his back. It looks like he had been restraining his tears all this time. Hizashi sits on the floor between the beds, holding the girls’ hands. They have a long talk about their beloved teacher. Ashido sobs and shakes, while Yaoyorozu shows a blank face. She tries to know more about Aizawa, so Hizashi tries to be as vague as possible.

Eventually, a nurse comes in:

“Ah you’re here! Aizawa Shouta woke up, he’s in room C230 now if you want to see him. Also, we need a family member to meet with his doctor.”

“Then it would be me, I’m his husband.”

The nurse stares at his left hand, where the ring is, slightly frowns, sighs, and leaves. He usually just brushes off this kind of reaction, while Shouta tends to get hurt by even the tiniest ones. While he tries to look unbothered and strong, Shouta is the most affected by other people’s judgment. A bad habit he got from his strict parents. It’s only when fighting that his confidence shows up. Most teachers fear him, for Erasure but also for his ruthless fighting style. During training sessions, Shouta beat Vlad King and Midnight together, then Cementos, then Power Loader, even Ectoplasm! He had some difficulties beating Hound Dog as his strength comes from a mutation, but eventually tied him tight to a tree. Hound Dog got so mad he howled. So they were all surprised when Present Mic beat the untamed Eraserhead. While looking like an emitter quirk, Voice is actually a mutation of the throat and mouth. Erasure cannot stop it, and the capture bands get hard to use when they meet the sound waves. Still, Shouta manages to catch him sometimes. He’s a stubborn one when it comes to a good fight.

The kids give him a long list of messages to bring to their cherished homeroom teacher.

At the minute he wakes up, Shouta bombards the nurses with questions on his workmates and students. Midoriya’s “smash” keeps ringing in his ears. He cannot seem to remember anything after that, but Shigaraki’s hand coming toward his face as he tries to escape. Nurses are in a bad mood and brush off his questions while poking, rubbing, touching, everywhere. He feels like one of those dolls with a head too big for their body. He tries to reach for the dressings on his head, but an irritated nurse keeps pushing his hands away.

“Don’t touch anything” She hisses. “The doctor will come as soon as he can!”

“Is Recovery Girl here?” Aizawa asks, hopeful.

“The whole town is here, but everyone is busy.”

“Wait… what does it mean? Was Gigantomachia stopped or not? And where? What is left of Jaku? Where’s my phone? Why won’t anybody tell me anything?”

Suddenly, his bed starts moving. He can hear the hallways are busy, noise coming from every single room they pass by. A mashup of cries, panic, questions, calls, and no one to answer them.

“This is not the sound of victory, was the war lost? No, if they lost, I would not be cared for in a hospital bed, but rotting in what remains of Jaku “

As he is left alone in a room, Shouta tries to reach his head again. His eyes are fully covered in dressings, along with his forehead. His hair randomly spikes out of a light cotton hat that keeps the dressings secured. Pain strikes like lightning.

“So this is why I should not touch… Sorry nurse, I'll be good now.”

He tries to sit up on the bed, only to suddenly remember the broken leg as he tries to move it.

“How stupid am I? Good thing my students are not here, they still think I’m smart...”

“ How reckless can you be? STOP MOVING ALREADY!”

“Voice, sweet Voice, Hizashi is here!”

“What are you smiling for?” Hizashi yells. “You messed up the head thingy already… You had like a million stitches dude, take it easy!”

“Wow, that many?” He says, still smiling, “Then I have a Nomu’s head now!”

“Ha ha… no seriously if you need something, just ask, you spent 7 hours in the operating room, I need to find that surgeon though… he didn’t explain anything. He said he would talk to you or your parents and left before I could explain.”

“Getting my parents here could be fun…”

“Do you want the death of me?”

“Look, I’ve been alone for a while after waking up, and the nurses wouldn’t say anything either. So I have a ton of questions, ready?”

“Shoot” Hizashi orders, determined to face a wave of interrogations.

“I need to know the physical state of every 1A and 1B student, Big3, teachers, Ryukku, Gran Torino, Endeavor, Rock Lock, Manual. Also did Japan sink into the sea, was Gigantomachia stopped and where, was the League arrested, did they question the doctor, and where is Eri right now?”

After a good hour of talking, the good and the bad, Shouta had a splitting headache. Midnight and Crust died, along with dozens of other heroes, but the students were all alive. Sometimes, something, in the big dumpster fire the world is, makes sense. Or you have to make it make sense. And you have to hope Midoriya will wake up with two working arms, and two working legs.

The doctor doesn’t seem ready to talk to them yet, so Hizashi unsuccessfully tries to get Vlad King on the phone. He tries again with Nezu, Mirio, Cementos, Hound Dog… No one.

“It’s been like this the whole night, and the whole morning. Don’t switch the TV on, it’s just worse… Oh dear you didn’t hear Dabi’s speech…” Hizashi whines.

“I’m not sure I want to…”

“Oh, but you’ll be happy to hear Fumikage saved the number’s 2 life!”

“Of course, he did.” Shouta whispers, a slight smile drawing on his lips.

“His flying is impressive now! But Hawks looks like he lost all of his feathers fighting Dabi, I’m afraid he’ll be on the ground for a while.”

“Did he stop smirking like he knows something you don’t?”

“No.”

“Then he’s okay.”

“Sorry to interrupt…” says a tall figure in the doorway.

Finally, the surgeon is here. He’s a mutant with a dinosaur-like head. He probably has a lot of success with kids. Hizashi stands up. Shouta feels his hands shake under the sheets. Only thinking about Eri, and Le Million’s comeback, kept him from panicking until now.

“I’m Doctor Tanaka, your Eye Surgeon. I worked on your eyes while my friend Doctor Nomiya, worked on your skull and brain. Your friend Recovery Girl helped, but it was a little too late for a...”

“Just the facts, please. I won’t blame anyone; I know what Shigaraki can do to people.”

“Well… they told us his quirk was called “decay”. But it seems he did not have the time to use it fully. On your forehead, your skin, skull, and eye sockets, cracked like porcelain. I never saw a fracture so complicated, but fortunately, your teammates made their best effort to move you slowly and prevent the broken bones from shifting. That means your brain did not bleed, and you don’t have a lot of brain damage. You have a concussion that we are monitoring. We had to consolidate your skull with a slab, though, so expect pain for the next 6 weeks.”

“For an eye doctor, you avoid the topic an awful lot.” Shouta grumbles.

The doctor startles, Hizashi has a nervous laugh.

“I was coming to it… I mean… your brain was protected, but pieces of shattered bones from your eye sockets damaged your eyes. It also seems pressure was applied directly to them at the same time. You have hyphema on both eyes, it means they are full of blood, and two ruptured eyeballs. I drained the blood as much as I could, but given the state of your eyes now, it cannot get better. The remaining blood puts pressure on your retinas, so they are detached, your corneas are also gone…”

“And what can you do about it?”

“If one of those injuries happened alone, we could operate. Retinas can be guided back in place; cornea transplant is possible. But your eyeballs cannot take it. They are fragile, filled with blood, each of them suffers from multiple lesions. When we’ll put the dressings away, you’ll probably have very low to no vision at all left. We cannot fix it. Knowing you have an eye quirk; we did all we could to keep your eyes “in”.”

“What the hell was that?” Hizashi shouts, but the doctor continues.

“Recovery Girl’s intervention helped with your skull, but it didn’t have any effect on your eyes… This kind of injury usually requires removing the eyes. The risk of infection will be high for the next few days. Also, ruptured eyeballs produce so much pain, sometimes the patient asks us to remove them. Again, there is nothing else I can do to make your eyes better. Nobody can heal ruptured eyeballs to this day.”

“But you talked about my quirk, do you think it could work?”

“During the surgery, I noticed your irises are far smaller than usual, I suppose your eyes get tired easily in daylight.” The doctor supposes.

“Yes, I prefer to work during the night. I use drops daily, using my quirk makes them dry even faster.”

“Well, I couldn’t notice anything else, so your quirk may be activated by your brain, then your eyes are used to target somebody. So, I cannot guarantee it will work, and I don’t recommend trying now! Wait until the scarring is over, then I’ll ask Dr Nomiya to work with me to check how Erasure works. Some of your colleagues have been following us around, harassing us with questions about your quirk, so I guess you really need it to defeat that guy?”

“It helps. It keeps him from destroying entire cities in less than 10 seconds. If I use Erasure, he needs hours to destroy a city, so that helps.” Aizawa says blankly.

“I’m sorry what?” the doctor asks with a startled look.

“Shouta, we are not supposed to tell…” Hizashi tries

“And I’m not supposed to be incapacitated for weeks, but here I am. We’ll need all the help we can get. And I suppose Dr Tanaka, who works a lot with heroes and UA students, doesn’t like journalists already.”

“I sure don’t… They follow us around after a famous hero is wounded, and don’t care about privacy at all. Sometimes they even try to take pictures of dead bodies, we had to improve the morgue’s security!”

“That’s sick” Hizashi sighs

“I’ll keep my mouth shut. Consider everything we’ll say at the hospital is covered by doctor-patient secrecy.”

“I appreciate it.”

“I’ll leave the post-op guidelines to your husband. If your X-ray looks good in 2 weeks, you’ll be able to walk home. Recovery Girl will come back to heal your leg soon. So, make sure to eat a lot. And PLEASE, stop touching your head! You had exactly 126 stitches!”

“Told you it could not be a million!”

Chapter Text

“Emerald Princess of the forest, I summon you!”

(Eri’s cartoons are blasting in the other room. Note to self: get one of those Gem Princess dolls. But first, I have to know which one is her favorite!)

“What are you watching Eri-chan?” he asks

“Gem Princess! Sakura just summoned the Emerald Princess, but I think they need Ruby Princess of Fire, she’s the best!” Eri explains with enthusiasm.

(Mission accomplished)

“And they fight the spirit of mud, it’s really mad because people threw things in his swamp. It’s not nice to throw, though. The spirit of mud is really big, brown, and he has a lot of arms, like Tentacole. But Tentacole is way prettier!” She explains.

She quickly got the habit of describing anything in front of them. She was first worried about the scars, “it looks like it hurts”. But she didn’t say anything about Shouta being home all the time, or his blindness. Recovery Girl and Hizashi explained to her what the injuries implied, and how to help at home, not letting things get in the way, etc.

If she was at all worried about this, she didn’t show. Maybe, in her mind, everything is just temporary from now on? She did rewind the destruction of Mirio’s quirk. She did heal a few bugs and lizards. If she got too careless because of this, it would be a problem. For now, her horn is small and dull, and she hasn't had any episode since she last used it. It should be months before she gets to rewind something as big as a human being.

He made a point to Nezu, commission agents, and other heroes, that nobody even dare thinking about telling Eri they need Eraser Head back as soon as possible. Hizashi and he explained to her the war, and what was happening outside, sugarcoating as much as possible. Of course, she needs to know that things have changed. But there is no need to involve her in UA affairs. Having to live in a school changed into a fortress is weird enough. Nezu gave them a 2 bedroom suite that Hizashi, Shouta and Eri can call “home”, right above the 1A dorms. The playroom they first made for Eri is now shared by families with babies and toddlers among the UA refugees.

The Commission keeps trying to get full custody of Eri, but the court’s psychologist keeps pushing them away. He mentioned something about Hawks. Anyway, he seems very reluctant about the Commission getting any child’s custody. Of course, the Commission could ask for another doctor’s opinion, or simply use some politician… Nezu seems to know something he won’t share. He says a small group from the Commission, including Yokumiru, wants Eri to be as “coddled” as possible to avoid her quirk to go frantic and cause a scandal. Yokumiru seems not to trust a few persons from the Board enough to let them even approach Eri’s file. He’s been keeping everything about her classified. Nezu added that some backlash occurred when Lady Nagant was arrested, which gave Yokumiru more authority.

More rumors keep spreading every day in UA, it’s hard to avoid in such a closed space. Loud noises come from the basement. The Support students are always running in the hallways. Many of the General Education and Management students left UA to be with their families. Those who stayed asked their families to come take refuge in UA and help with daily tasks in the building.

They managed to keep EraserHead's forced rest a secret. More and more people know about Shigaraki's true power, it’s already hard to contain the panic. Nezu came up with a plan in case Eri couldn’t restore his eyes soon enough. Monoma comes daily to practice Erasure, using his Copy quirk. He’s also a great help with Eri, putting on his Phantom Thief costume to play with her, doing magic tricks, and telling the Extraordinary Adventures of Class 1B.

Since Deku left, the chances of such attacks are still low. Shouta wishes he could get out and look for him, convince him to come back. But the kid won’t even listen to All Might.

Shouta’s phone rings, it’s Bakugo:

“- Hi, teach’, we need to talk about Deku. The damn nerd won’t come back by himself, he’s too damn stubborn!” Bakugo almost yells on the phone.

“I know that, but what do you suggest?”

“We talked, with the whole class, we have an idea. Even Iida agrees.”

“Then you should come to my place on the 3 rd floor. I cannot leave Eri alone.” Aizawa orders.

Eri cheers about the whole class coming in. She sets her toy teacup set on the coffee table and insists they should make tea for everyone. As he still feels awkward in the kitchen, Shouta would rather not pour boiling water near Eri. He convinces her it’s hot outside, and that everybody will want something cold to drink. As he gets bottles of fruit juice from the pantry, Eri counts:

“We only have 12 glasses!”

“Use the cups, we have 6 of them… and I guess bowls would do...”

“I’ll give Tentacole a pitcher, he’s bigger, he needs more apple juice! And a toy teacup for Mineta because he is small like me!”

Shouta manages to fill the glasses, cups, toys… Fumikage’s mother happens to be blind from birth, so she came a few times to teach him how to deal with the house tasks. It’s not easy to get an appointment with an actual occupational therapist these days. She kept telling how Dark Shadow is polite and useful in a house, but it’s hard to picture him sweeping or baking cakes. Though he did say a few times he did not enjoy violence… Dark Shadow seems to have a different personality than Fumikage, how is that even possible?

Eri comes back with ice cubes she put in a bowl. “We don’t have enough; I hope Todoroki can make some more…”.

Shouta snorts, picturing the very serious Todoroki using Ice to refresh drinks, and Fire to cook sausages.

Class 1A eventually arrives at the door, and Eri welcomes each of them individually. She got a book on etiquette from Momo and is now mimicking Momo’s ways of speech and greetings any time they have company.

“Greetings, Todoroki-san, I’m more than happy to see you. Good morning Ochako-chan, you look radiant today! G…”

“What the hell is that?” Shouta shouts.

Shouta could not help but yell as two yellow lights appeared in front of him, like cat eyes in the dark. A shape starts to appear around them, and he eventually recognizes…

“D… Dark Shadow? What is he doing?” Shouta asks.

“I’m sorry, I thought my mother told you.” Fumikage answers. “Dark Shadow appears at all times to blind people. And his form is slightly different. He does not stop to exist when he comes back in my body. He’s kinda always there, just silent.”

“I’m a bit shy, Aizawa-sensei” says Dark Shadow while making himself a bit smaller. “Sorry for not telling you about this, I did not think we would have the occasion to meet this way. I’m sorry about what happened, but I’m happy we get to know each other a bit more.”

“How can this even work?”

“My mom has a telepathy quirk, so I suppose it has something to do with it. The expert said Dark Shadow can create illusions into people’s brains, but that he does not totally master it. The same way darkness gives him strength, but then he loses control. We are just not sure about the full extent of his power.”

“So, he really is… he is a different entity entirely?”

“I am my own person, Aizawa sensei, but I don’t think I would exist on earth without Fumikage.”

It takes a few minutes for everyone to understand what happened, as they could not hear Dark Shadow speak. Fumikage tries to explain, but it seems his quirk is still surrounded with a lot of mysteries, even after multiple experts tried to understand it.

Bakugo groans “good thing Deku’s not here yet, he would never shut up about it, and asks you questions ‘til you die of boredom.”

Class 1A suddenly goes silent. Thank you, Bakugo, for pointing out the elephant in the room. Shouta thanks Eri for the drinks and asks her to go play in her room. She’s not happy about it, so he adds “we need to work, to make Deku come back. It’s dangerous work, OK? You should write a letter to Deku so we can give it to him later.”

Eri eventually goes back to her room, but she knows something is wrong. She has been asking about Deku for weeks. She got a letter from him, along with the rest of class A. She kept reading it again, and again, asking “Why would Deku fight alone? It’s not safe!”.

Todoroki, Bakugo, and Tenya, expose their plan and ideas. Shouta is quite impressed, they really considered every detail: other villains appearing, self-defense groups, Deku using his speed to run away…

After two exhausting hours, class 1A leaves. Dark Shadow asks permission to stay and help with the dishes. He really is a housewife's best friend! Fumikage lets him out, and after 5 minutes, the kitchen is spotless.

“So… I heard Dark Shadow complain about violence before, how do you make it work?”

“Dark Shadow is also not a fan of villains. Violence is just one of the ways we can stop them.”

“Some villains are easily afraid when I show up. I like to stop them from moving, like you do Sensei.” Dark Shadow explains.

“Of course, with the League it’s different.”

“I don’t want to fight Dabi again!” Dark Shadow says, shivering with fear.

“I won’t let him come near you again, but we had to help Hawks!” Fumikage adds

“Speaking of the devil… How is he?”

“His feathers are growing back, but it’s very slow as Dabi burned everything and hurt his back… Recovery Girl sped up healing after he got skin grafts on his back. And his voice is getting better every day. He wants to help track Deku already.”

“Along with Endeavor and Best Jeanist. Midoriya has a lot of new allies. But he needs to accept our help. He’s too afraid about anyone getting hurt again.”

“We all are, now.”

Eri timidly opens her room’s door, watching them from there.

“Come here Eri dear. It’s OK.” Aizawa says.

She walks slowly to them.

“Me too” she whispers.

“You are afraid too?”

“I’m afraid more heroes die, I cannot rewind people when they die. I know it. He tried!”

“He”, has to be Overhaul. Of course, he tried, the man knows no limit. Or at least he used to. The League made sure he would not hurt anyone again. They got the quirk destroying darts from him and left him to rot in Tartarus. We now know they had the Doctor and the infrastructure to try and make their own darts. So Shigaraki could have more of them soon. Despite Eri’s success to heal Mirio, they cannot rely on her too much. First, she’s literally a child, then, her quirk needs a long time to reload. Because of Overhaul, we know what happens when she overuses it : high fever, seizures, after fighting with Deku she was in a coma for 2 days. 

“Eri-chan, some things cannot be done, and no one should even try. We are not asking you to heal everybody, we are not asking you to make miracles. You just keep growing up, you practice self-control like we taught you, and…”

“And I make more friends! Like Fumikage, and Mirio, and Hizashi! And then my horn will grow, and I’ll heal your head! You don’t have to ask me, that’s what I want to do. Erasure could fix Rewind when it used to hurt. And now Rewind can fix Erasure. Also, Rewind can help Deku’s quirk when it hurts him, like the first time! I used to hate my quirk, but now I love it. And the more friends I make, the more I love it.”

The way she speaks about quirks, like they are people who just happen to be with us… it has something to do with Dark Shadow of course. And with the lack of control, she used to have on her quirk. But after everything the Doctor Garaki told them about singularity… Shouta cannot help but think the old man was right all along.

Quirk society revolves around heroes, and quirk control. We used to have criminals, now we have “villains”. While kids are born with more and more powerful quirks, that sometimes they cannot control at all. Quirks are taking over people's lives. Many came to AFO because he could change that and give them control on this.

He gave them their life back. They won’t stop fighting for him. This is why the League has been so dangerous. They don’t commit those crimes solely for their own interest, for money or fame. They really believe AFO will bring “peace”, just like we used to have our own symbol of peace. The same illusion keeps us fighting.

Chapter Text

“I don’t understand why I should leave the apartment.” Shouta asks, disgruntled.

“Because even you need fresh air, Shouta! You’re looking deathly pale.” Hizashi answers.

“I didn’t notice.”

“Dark humor is no substitute for vitamin D.” Hizashi says, unamused.

“Who’s going to watch Eri?”

“Recovery Girl volunteered. She wants you outside too. She screamed when I told her you did not leave the apartment since you got back from the hospital. It’s been 3 weeks!”

“Our students left, looking for Midoriya, and you want to have a picnic!”

“Are we supposed to help them on this mission?”

“No but…”

“Are Endeavor and Hawks chaperoning them?”

“Yes but…”

“Then let’s have a picnic.”

He almost forgot the smell of the pines, just outside of 1A dorms. One hand on Hizashi’s arm, he tries to focus on the sensation under his feet. He traded his usual heavy boots for light summer shoes. He is still too stubborn to use a stick, though.

It feels weird to walk on UA ground as a civilian. He left his capture bands at home. He wears one of the Fat Gum T-shirts he got from years of using his agency as a bed and breakfast after a patrol. They are oversize, soft and comfy. A yellow Fat Gum face is drawn on the chest, the rest is all black, so it’s just his style. He also wears one of the jeans Hizashi got him, that he never wore because they don’t allow enough mobility. He cannot remember the last time he went outside casually, without some amount of preparation for a fight. His eyes are still hurting, so he got shades from Present Mic collection, the simplest he could find…

“You were right, it feels good.” Shouta mumbles.

“What?” Hizashi asks.

“You were right.” Shouta says more clearly.

“Sorry I didn’t catch it, it’s my bad ear…”

“YOU WERE RIGHT, IT FEELS GOOD TO GET OUT” Shouta almost yells.

“Hey Vlad, 13, heard that? I was RIGHT!” Hizashi says, triumphant.

“You…” Shouta grinds his teeth.

“Hi Eraser, hi Mic” Vlad says blankly

“Hi you two! You were right, we needed that! Cementos is going to join soon.” Number 13 says cheerfully.

Number 13 sets up a blanket under the old oak. She made iced tea, sakura flavored. Vlad puts bags of chips on the blanket. Hizashi made dorayaki (grandma recipe), with chunky azuki paste. Shouta tried to make a salad, but it ended up being only cucumber and cream cheese, because of the list of vegetables Hizashi or 13 won’t eat. It’s also Eri’s favorite… She’s probably eating the other half with Recovery Girl now. She watched him as he sliced cucumbers, afraid he would cut his fingers. And Shouta did not want to explain why he can use a knife without watching so well to a small child…

They talk about the perfect weather for a while, tiptoeing around the elephant in the room. Hizashi brings up the kids looking for Deku for the second day in a row, and how Endeavor and Hawks jumped in the One for All thing to help as soon as they could. It seems just yesterday Izuku was just a weird kid with no control over a simple strength enhancement quirk… Now he’s dealing with the only “weapon” they got left against Humanity Number One Enemy, and the freaking UNO is involved.

“I still want to strangle All Might now for making him keep secrets this whole time…” says Aizawa slowly

“I don’t know, I'd have probably done the same… at the beginning. AFO was supposed to be dead. Then it became clear he would target anyone with intel on the One for All… then there was the suspicion of a mole in UA…” Number 13 was mumbling, in a Midoriya fashion, still thinking about it.

“Still, it’s not a 15-year-old job to deal with all this. He didn’t even let him tell his mother. Then Sir Night Eye died, leaving him with one less person to talk about it.”

“I agree,” says Vlad. “As the homeroom teacher, Aizawa should have been informed about everything. It’s not like he’s the kind who talks too much.”

Vlad slightly smiled. Hizashi felt a little relieved to see him attempt humor and decided to tell Shouta about the smile later.

“Good evening everyone!”

Cementos comes in, with a bunch of candies. The chit chat resumes, about disturbing news from the city. More violent self-defense groups forming, in deserted buildings. Then a silence sets up, letting them hear the swifts dancing between trees, catching bugs in the dusk light.

Vlad finally says

“Those past weeks… I felt like I did not live in reality anymore. Not only because of Nemuri’s death. Everything changed so quickly… UA, the cities around us, the way people walk in the street, or more like… avoid the streets. I even saw the All Might statue vandalized. I felt like we lost everything. I was not even brave enough to come see you, Aizawa, Yamada…”

“No, you…” Hizashi tries

“Yes, I should have. You’ve known her for longer than me, it couldn’t be easy, on top of Aizawa’s injuries. I was afraid. But I was not the only one to grieve, I was not the only one hurt. At the hospital, I stayed here for hours, not knowing what to do with myself. I saw so many people walking around, heroes and civilians, with missing limbs, life changing injuries… and here I was, intact.”

Another silence.

“I stayed in my room for days after that, sleeping, mostly. Only showing up for mandatory meetings. I kept thinking about all the things we missed. Nemuri and I, we never went public about our relationship. Because of her “Image”, her agent said she would make more money if she appeared to be single… So we couldn’t go around in public too often, or hold hands… It feels so ridiculous now.

How could we be that… tamed? Two pro heroes, acting like pop stars? Knowing one of us could die on the field any time? Even you guys, while your wedding is still null in Japan, you went all the way to California to live your dream. And you never refrained from showing up together every morning. All that while Yamada is a celebrity with his radio show. But when journalists tried to bring that topic, you just brushed them off with a laugh

Aizawa, you’re probably the smartest here, for becoming an underground hero. You don’t waste time. We lost one battle. And here we are. They all hate us… all of them: journalists, fans, politicians, civilians… So that means… Nemuri and I traded our happiness for a popularity that was not even real?”

“Vlad…” 13 interrupts “All that is temporary, we will win.”

“That’s not the point! Even if we fight again, and win the war, even if Eri manages to heal everybody, all that time, stolen, GONE! I’ve been fighting and working like crazy not to stop villains, but to build a pretty picture. Communication and PR always came first! That’s why Aizawa has a bigger tally than any of us, while having a support quirk. How come? We’ve been fooled, and the LOV, and the Liberation Army, they KNEW that. If they wanted to break heroes, then it’s done. Congratulations to them. They were smartest than me, the freaking Commission, all that bullshit.”

Shouta was trying not to move or even breathe too loudly. He never understood his friends going in the media, pleasing the public, making ads… but he was happy that THEY were happy. He did not think the fall of the Hero System would happen during his lifetime.

Hizashi finds the courage to talk first.

“What happened… changed us. All of us, and the very tissue of society. In that way, yes, they won. Right now, we can only see what we lost. It’s easy for me to say, I know… but we will build it again. And we have a chance to make it better, stronger, than before. We are still together after all that, talking, planning… I’ve never spent that much time with other heroes…”

“I cannot even start to understand how you must feel about Midnight, Vlad” Cementos says. “But don’t you think you’re alone, don’t you think it’s over.”

“I don’t care about what’s to come… I want my life back, those past 20 years, spent becoming and being a so-called “hero”, I want it back. I want to change everything. I want to give her what she deserved from the very beginning.”

Vlad ends up in 13’s arms. Shaking and crying. Shouta wants to disappear, Hizashi is, for once, speechless. Cementos stares at his feet.

Back at their place, Eri is building a Lego castle, while Recovery Girl naps on the couch. It’s way past her bedtime, so she almost falls asleep in Hizashi’s arms when he keeps her up. After a few months, she ended up not fearing their arms anymore, but only with them, or Mirio. Any other adult making a move in her direction made her flinch. Hizashi fought back tears as he tucked her in bed.

Shouta gives Recovery Girl a heads up on Vlad’s psychological states, as she nods silently.

“There is nothing to do, but give him time” She says”And show up. Be here. Stay here, nearby. And listen to him, even when it hurts. Even if sometimes he’s mean to you, keep showing up.”

“But there is no way he gets what he wants. He only has regrets… I can still hope, for I have Eri. He has no hope. Kayama won’t come back. And he’s alone now.”

“He has you, Yamada, 13, Cementos, and the others… you were here for him tonight, and you’ll keep going.”

That night, Shouta and Hizashi pillow talk until 3am.

“What if, when all this is over… What if one of us hung up the gloves? What if, both of us? Would it be that bad? Will heroes still be relevant after all that happened? Hizashi asks.

“I cannot see a future where it just comes back to normal.”

Chapter Text

Excruciating, stabbing pain wakes him up from his amitriptyline-induced dreamless sleep. Between each of his eyes, Shouta can feel his blood pounding at the frenzied rhythm of his heart. He feels the clutter on his bedside table, uselessly looking for the switch. When the familiar “click” is not followed by light, his mind painfully clears up. All the information rushes back in his brain. He remembers the raid at the hospital, Shigaraki’s escape, the fight, the aftermath… 

Hizashi moans, then turns over. The loud hero takes off his hearing aids for the night, but furthermore, he’s used to his husband’s troubled sleep. He doesn’t even wake up anymore, should the bed be shaken by an earthquake. 

Back at the hospital, during long insomnia nights, Miruko would hear Aizawa turning in his bed and snake out of her room to join him. During the day, she would hop around on one crutch, nurses concerned about the fall risk. But at night, she finally used the wheelchair so she would not make any suspicious noise. Sometimes, she would try to pull an all-nighter with him, only to fall asleep on the guest chair around 4 in the morning. An amused nurse would find her in the morning and scold them for partying all night. 

The doctor was not joking about the pain caused by ruptured eyeballs. But without a thorough analysis by an emitter-quirk expert, they have no way to know if enucleating him would render him quirkless or not. Yet, they need Monoma to be able to copy Erasure as soon as Shigaraki will resurface. 

The pain was quite manageable thanks to morphine, but he refused to take more, as the side effects made him go nuts. Having a clouded mind was not acceptable with the amount of worries on his plate. He was relieved when all of his students eventually left the hospital to go back to UA. But soon after that, he got a phone call from Nezu. "Deku ran away. He left letters to everyone, I have yours… Toshinori is on his way to give you more information.”

He easily finds the box of “just in case” pills next to his water bottle. 

“Hizashi is an angel.” He switches the light off and lays back in bed. He focuses his thoughts on the placebo effect so that the painkiller goes faster. Sometimes all you have is wishful thinking. 

Shouta slowly sits on his bed, finds his slippers, and gets up. He pours himself a cup of leftover coffee. It’s cold, but he doesn’t want to wake up Eri with the microwave. She wakes up very easily, which is disturbing when you are used to Hizashi’s 8 hour coma. No wonder he wakes up every morning chirping and smiling. Shouta, however, needs to add up several short naps during the day so he can get enough hours. He always had a disturbed sleep, but it got worse after Shirakumo’s death. He would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares, go running around the block until dawn, then fall back asleep in class. He only woke up for hero classes and training. 

Now he wakes up from physical pain more often than nightmares, and he cannot even go for a run. All he has to do is to be patient, take his meds and… “avoid stress at all cost”, as said Dr Nomiya. Only a brain surgeon can give such an idiotic advice to a patient. You are a pro hero with an eye quirk, and permanent vision loss, but please, no stress! You are a teacher whose students have been enrolled in a war and wounded, but please, no stress! You are raising a traumatized little girl whose quirk can either heal people or make them disappear, but please, no stress. Let’s not mention the whole “Midoriya” situation. 

He’s been ranting in his head for so long that eventually, the morphine kicked in. There are less flares since the second surgery, where they fixed his “ciliary body”. He didn’t even know he had a ciliary body, it happens to be a very crucial part of the eye anatomy. He’s been on corticosteroids for a while after that, plus daily exams of his eyes by Dr Tanaka and a bunch of his students. With Recovery Girl’s help, he managed to leave the hospital only a week after the last surgery. She healed his broken leg, but she refused to speed up his eyes’ healing. It could have led to abnormally thick scar tissues, making his eyes even worse. 

 ”What would you’ve done if you never got into the Hero Course in the first place?” Rumi asked bluntly

It was during one of those sleepless nights, after he talked about the unstable nature of Eri’s quirk, and the possibility that he would never get his vision or his quirk back. He thought hard about it. Thinking about who he was back then, as a teen, before the war, before Naruhata, before graduating, even before Oboro… It felt like looking at a perfect stranger. What kind of kid was he back then ? Hizashi would say “a huge Emo disaster”, laughing. Midnight would add “You were so stuck up ! Always looking at Hizashi, but it took you years to confess! It drove me mad!”.  They were both right. At the time, Shouta was dealing with a handful of emotions, but also bottling them up as much as he could. 

“I guess… I would have continued the general education course” Aizawa answered her, “I would have fought with my parents about college… They wanted me to go into business or law. In case I could not become a pro hero, my second choice was to study literature and foreign languages.”

“WHAT? You’re always rambling about “logic” and “rationality”, I thought you were all about math and science!” Rumi yelped

“Well… not really. I rely on logic to make decisions, because it’s practical…” he explained

“Practical… that’s a weird way to make decisions…” Rumi muttered

“Says the hero who jumped alone in a Nomu factory” Aizawa grumbled

“Y’all were too slow, I swear!!!” She almost screamed, before slapping her hand on her mouth and giving a look at the door. They were all supposed to be asleep. “But seriously, now that you said it… I can almost picture you in a dusty library, reading ancient books, wearing a wool cardigan with ““practical” elbow pads” she chuckled. 

“That’s it, I’m never telling you anything personal again”, Shouta threatened

“Nooo! I’ll be good, I promise!” 

They kept talking all night about Rumi’s youthful exploits, fighting illegal wrestlers, basically acting as a vigilante, while the young Aizawa had to make sure nobody ends up killed. 

Maybe he should text Rumi. He heard she was already back on the field, rocking two huge prosthetic limbs, one of them can shoot rockets if the rumors are true… Hizashi installed accessibility software on all of Shouta’s electronics, but the phone was still a pain in the ass to use. He started his computer, and managed to type an email to congratulate Miruko on her recovery and flamboyant comeback. He knows Hizashi would cheer him up for “keeping contact” with a “friend”. When did he become so soft?

He hears tiny soft steps getting closer. 

“Eri Chan ?” he calls

“A-zwa… I cannot sleep” the child says, clenching on her bunny plushie.

“Me neither…” he says softly.

He makes hot cocoa for both of them, extra cinnamon for him, extra marshmallows for Eri. For a while none of them talk. Eri usually takes a while to speak her mind. After a good 20 minutes, he hears her shift on the couch and take a deep breath. 

“The bad dreams came back. I have more of them now…” she says slowly.

“Do you need me to sleep with you tonight?” he asks.

“I… I want to. But you need to sleep in your big bed, or else your head will hurt” conflicted, she wiggles her legs.

This 7 year old little girl keeps thinking about the adults' needs before her own. In this way, she’s like Shouta when he was a kid himself. 

“Eri, I spent the last 13 years doing night patrols. I can do it.” an attempt at a smile draws on his face.

“But soon, you’ll leave again…” she says in a shaky voice.

“What? Why do you say that?”

“You are training with Phantom Thief. You are training to fight Shigaraki again, aren’t you? 

Aizawa remains speechless.

“I don’t want you, or Phantom Thief, to get hurt. Nobody should get hurt again!” She tries not to cry, but her voice betrays her.

“Eri chan…”Aizawa says softly “I don’t want anybody to get hurt either. This is why we train, this is why we fight. We don’t want Shigaraki or the villains to hurt anyone again. Did you hear the rumbles downstairs?”

“Y, yes.” she sobs

“The support students are working hard to make UA a safer place. They will help us catch Shigaraki, and protect you, the refugees, the school, everybody…” he enumerates, as he feels her moving on the coach, uneasy.

“Everybody but the heroes. Heroes always end up hurt. And you are a hero, so is Yamada, so is Deku, and Mirio, and…” she bursts into tears. 

It’s the first time she’s cried for months. It’s always sudden, and intense, as if all the bottled up emotions suddenly exploded. Just like her surrogate father, Eri, most of the time, doesn’t like being touched. So he keeps his hands on his knees. But this time, she’s the one reaching for him. Her little body shakes as she buries her face into Shouta’s sweater. 

The wounded hero is mad at himself for insulting the child’s intelligence, by claiming nobody would get hurt… She’s 7, but she’s seen a lot. It makes no sense to sugarcoat a war to a child who has lost her family, been in the middle of a ferocious battle, and seen her father figure “come back from work” mutilated. She is the one trying to protect them, all the time, by acting like a child should. 

She cries herself to sleep, still in Aizawa’s arms. His sweater is soaked with tears and… something else. He grabs the throw blanket from the back of the couch and puts it on her, he doesn’t want to wake her up. 

In the morning, Hizashi finds Eri still asleep on Shouta’s laps. The latter didn’t sleep at all. The Voice Hero greets Shouta with a kiss on the forehead. As usual, he prepares his morning meds, water, coffee and “Calorie Mate” biscuits on a platter. Aizawa barely dares to move as he eats. 

Before, in those situations, they would sign to each other not to wake up Eri. They both miss those silent conversations. They also used it as a secret code to talk to each other in public. It used to drive Midnight mad as she never really learned JSL… Indeed, nothing lasts forever. Covering Eri’s ear with his hand, he whispers to Hizashi “We need to talk to Nezu. We need to discuss what happens to her in case we don’t make it.” Before the Hospital Raid, Hizashi would have screamed his indignation, “how dare you even mention it”, something like that. But things are different now.  We are different now.

Chapter Text

“Nezu wants us in his office by 10.” Hizashi says, staring at his phone.

“Who’s gonna…” Shouta tries.

“Shinsou is coming over to babysit.” Hizashi interrupts while typing an answer. 

***

Shinsou comes in using his copy of the apartment key. He’s sporting an oversized orange Present Mic hoodie and ripped jeans on top of black fishnet pantyhoses. Eri drops her crayons the second she sees him. 

“Good morning Unicorn!”

“Good morning Tanuki!”

“So, what are we doing while they’re at this boring appointment?”

“Make up!”

“Oh.”

“I’ll do yours!”

“Oh.”

***

Shouta’s hand on Hizashi’s arm, they progress slowly through UA’s endless corridors. The blond can feel his partner is nervous, even if he’s good at hiding it. That feeling is reinforced when they reach Nezu’s office where the stoat is unusually quiet. 

No happy greetings. No jumping around. No hands to the sky. 

“Nezu?...” Hizashi calls

“Come in, sit… please.” 

The Erasure Hero moves a hand forward until he feels the backrest of a chair. Hizashi knows better than to help him with the most basic tasks now. 

Nezu eventually breaks the tense silence with a ton of bricks “The Commission… demands Eri’s guardianship. And this time, they found a court psychologist on their side.”

The Voice Hero instinctively blocks his breathing to avoid his quirk to act out. Shouta grinds his teeth so hard his jaws crack. 

“We can still counter them with our own expert, but that means a trial, and a long fight. It may be grueling for Eri… and you too of course. The fact is : the guardianship was transferred to UA, not directly to you, and it was at the condition that Eraserhead is around to erase her quirk whenever necessary…”

“I expected that…” Shouta says under his breath. “It was just a matter of time. We are just tools to them.”

“Come on man!” Hizashi shouts. “It’s not just a matter of quirks, Shouta was the first adult Eri managed to trust! And she doesn’t even need Erasure anymore, she didn’t need it for the past 4 months all together!”

“Hizashi.” Shouta grabs the blond’s wrist and squeezes it tight, too tight. “We know, Nezu knows, that Eri belongs here. But we need to come back to the Commission rationally and logically if we want to win this. We are not registered as foster parents so it was doomed to happen even without my injury.”

A few years earlier, Hizashi would have asked “how can you be so calm”, but he knows better now. He knows better than to underestimate Shouta’s anger. 

“Nezu… what are they asking for exactly?”

“Full custody of Eri, and the right to train her in their facility. But unlike Hawks and Lady Nagant, they don’t plan to make a hero out of her, they say that her training is purely for “safety”. That’s what they claim at least… They won’t say how they plan to use her quirk, but we’ve seen enough now to have an idea. And I don’t like this idea.” 

“The management of her quirk is tied to her emotional state.” Shouta explains. “If they think they can control her by kidnapping her and using force, they will die. I don’t care for those people's lives, but I don’t want Eri to go through it again.”

A shiver runs through Hizashi. “They… do they know the full extent of her quirk’s power?”

“No.” Nezu answers. “In preparation for such a situation, I kept some information away from them. They don’t know what control Eri has on her quirk right now, or how she triggers it.”

An ominous sound emanates from the basement. Hatsume and Power Loader are working hard down there. 

“Aizawa-kun, Yamada-kun…” Nezu’s tone is softer now. “I’m amazed by the work you’ve done with Eri-chan, and how the first year students stepped up to help. But the Commission knows nothing about it. They assume we just put her away and erased her quirk any time it got dangerous, because this is what they would do. You’ll find that powerful people tend to think that everybody else acts like they do… They lack imagination… 

“Also… I was not supposed to know about the Commission request before 2 more weeks. A little bird whispered this information to me.”

“Yokumiru…” Shouta whispers.

“What? Never heard of this name!” Nezu answers with a smile.

“This is why we are going to play dumb.” He adds. “I have the paperwork ready for you here. You are going to file a request to become foster parents for Eri-chan. You’re both teachers, you have a nice and safe apartment on UA grounds, you have savings, CPS will like that. Eraser, you’ll claim that you quit your hero career for now. Of course you are still class 1A homeroom teacher, the kids would never let you leave anyway…

“Tokoyami’s mother will teach you how to pass a CPS’ inspection. It seems she’s used to it because some people were “concerned” a blind woman wouldn’t be able to raise a child…”

“So that’s a thing, I mean, it happens a lot, parents or guardians being threatened to lose their kid because they have a disability ?” Shouta asks.

“Ho Shou… my parents were the target of “random control” all the time because they were deaf, even when I was deaf myself ! I didn’t have such good hearing aids at the time, so we used JSL all the time. I learned how to sign before I was able to speak. But still everybody thought they would do a better job…”

“Indeed, the society we live in is a dumpster fire !” Nezu chirps with enthusiasm. “Again, keep any information about Eri’s quirk to yourself, we are going to use it later… The Commission will come in with a plan that totally ignores a child's emotional needs, and we are going to come back with a plan that keeps everybody safe.”

***

They focus on the paperwork for a good hour. When they finally leave Nezu’s office, they feel like they just ran a marathon. They decide to go sit outside for a while before they go back to Eri. Or else she WILL sense an emotional distress and start asking questions. 

“I’m so sorry Hizashi…”

“If you’re about to apologize for your injury again I swear I…”

“Of course I apologize for that! I made a big deal about my students getting hurt and reckless, and then I got my head cracked open like a coconut! I lost not only my sight but my ability to use my quirk, this is the reason why all of this is happening to begin with! This is the reason why Monoma has to face Shigaraki next time, the reason why I cannot even protect my students anymore!”

“What about YOU?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are the one who got hurt, you’re the one who lost your sight AND access to your quirk, AND your career as a hero. You are the one suffering the most from YOUR injury, Shouta. Not me, not Eri, not your students, YOU.”

“I’m a grown up, this was my responsabil-”

“Oh shut up!”

Hizashi kept his voice low, but Shouta is stunned. 

“Shut up… A teacher’s job is to teach, not to protect his students from terrorists. A hero’s job is to use his quirk to rescue people and stop villains, with the help of other heroes. A hero cannot save the whole world, nor be invincible, nor work every night and never get hurt… That’s not a thing, that’s impossible. You keep having those crazy high standards for yourself. Do you realize that that’s your upbringing haunting you?”

“Hizashi, everything is not my parents fault…”

“Who’s fault is this then? Tell me why 15 year old Shouta acted like a miniature adult, just like Eri does?”

“I hope you are not comparing what Eri went through with me having strict parents…”

“Shouta… “strict parents'' is the polite way to say “abusive, narcissistic assholes”. No they didn’t experiment on you or cut you like Chisaki did on Eri but… You were a kid, and you were convinced that everything, all the time, was your fault, that you were responsible for anything going wrong around you.

“You never let your guard down, even before coming to the Hero course. You were tense all the time, you had reflexes and habits that usually heroes pick up after a few years on the job. Always careful, always looking around for clues… Even today, even with me, you analyze my tone and my posture and if you feel that I’m tired, you won’t ask anything from me…”

“You…”

“Yes I noticed that. And Midnight noticed too. She would text me “hey, Shouta is hiding something, be careful, I think he got hurt on patrol but he won’t say anything.” This is why I would “randomly” burst into your place with food and a first aid kit because you were probably out of plasters or suture kits…”

Shouta is speechless. 

“What, did you think you were being subtle? Good at hiding it? Flash News Shouta : you were not. Everybody saw you get hurt and hide your wounds, but most people don’t care enough to help someone who won’t ACCEPT help. But Nemuri senpai did, Oboro did, I did.”

“Please…” Shouta pleads.  

“No, not this time. We are about to raise a kid together, so we don’t have time anymore for this game. Shouta, stop acting like you’re the only reliable adult around. You are not. Nezu is here, I am here, god knows TOSHINORI IS HERE !

“Here! Here it is! Your smile! I saw it, you don’t have your capture weapon on and you forgot your scarf at home. Hiding your smile is just like hiding your pain: it is not helping anybody. Not even yourself. 

“Eri is mimicking you, you know that? She started wearing short sleeves only after seeing you wearing a T-shirt that showed your scars.”

“I thought… I thought Deku talked to her about it…”

“He did, but she was still too shy to show her arms and legs. Only seeing you doing it had an impact.”

“So… you’re saying that when I hide my feelings from you, you feel like I feel when Eri hides her feelings from me… and that if I shared more about how I feel, she would do so?”

“BINGO! I swear, people always assume I’m the dumb one…” 

“See… when you're mysterious, people assume you are thoughtful and smart. When really I’m just really tired and I have a stupid song from your radio show stuck in my head…”

“I know…” Hizashi sighs. “Your self-defense methods work very well for work, or patrol but… you need to let your guard down when you are with your family. If you don’t, the bottled up stress will kill you, and I’m not ready to be a single mom!”

“I’m not sure you really want to hear all the shitty things that come to my mind, especially since I lost my sight…”

“Oh I want to… because the pain, I can see it, the stress, I can see it, everytime you flinch, I see it. But I miss something : your say on that matter. You think you hide it so well… Again, I’m not just a workmate, I’m not a patrol partner, I’m your husband, and I’ve known you for 15 years. 

“It’s going to be us against the world now… Don’t be a stranger. We are in this together. Whatever crosses your mind, I can take it.”

“You’re sure?”

“Adamant.”

“OK… Well… When Tanaka took the plasters off and tested my eyes, when he said I was totally blind… I thought that you would be better off without me.”

“Yeah I figured that you would think something awful like that…”

“So you end up guessing all those things I hide from you anyway…”

“Always did…”

“Alright… I guess it would be more logical to simply tell you everything from now on…”

“Thank. You. Now we’re talking!”

“We should go check on Eri and Shinsou now…”

Chapter Text

The noise of the key turning triggers Eri. Her heartbeat rushes, and she feels her small chest getting tight… then she remembers that she is at UA, she is safe. She slowly puts the brush and eyeshadow on the table. She is safe. She looks at Shinsou, smiling at her, his face covered with rouge and glitters. She is safe. Aizawa and Yamada come in, tonight, it’s Aizawa’s turn to put her to bed with a story. She is safe.

Hizashi compliments Shinsou and Eri about their makeup, but Eri is focused on Aizawa. He sits far away from everyone, breathing slowly, then he rubs the back of his neck with both hands. It means he has a big headache coming up! Eri rushes to the kitchen, uses her step stool to reach the sink, and pours a glass of water. From there, she says loudly, “Zashi! Shouta needs the head pills!”

This kid… they all think.

Shinsou takes it upon himself to clean up and sort the toys and books on the proper shelves. Hizashi comes back from the bathroom with the kind of “head pills” intended for tension headaches. Shouta has had a lot of “head pills” recently. Some for the pain, some to lower the bleeding risk, some to help with the eye surgeries…

Shinsou is about to leave when Aizawa says “Wait… I’m okay, it’s getting better already. Come here… Eri too, we need to talk to both of you.”

Hizashi anxiously rubs his hands together. With all that is happening at UA, he didn’t expect to discuss this with Eri and Shinsou until at least a few months had passed. He really, genuinely, thought that the Commission would be too busy to come at Eri right now…

Hizashi says simply: “We just started the process to become an official “foster family”.

Shinsou’s eyes light up.

“For now, we have no idea if we are going to get the approval. We don’t know either if CPS will let both of you live with us in the long term. But we just took the first step. And soon, you’ll meet social workers, and they are going to ask you questions about us, about UA, your life here and our relationship.”

Eri clenches her fists. “I… I already talked with them before… I thought they were happy about what I said?”

“They were happy, yes,” Shouta answers softly. “but they only wanted to check if UA was a good place for you. But you cannot stay a ward of UA forever. Now, what we are trying to do is to become your foster family, Hizashi and I.”

Shouta wishes things could be easier… All the kid wants is to stay with them, with all the people she learned to trust and smile again with. But CPS could decide to send her to the Commission or to a random foster family somewhere in Japan. Hizashi and Shouta both wish they could spare her the anxiety and the doubt. But she will be interviewed by social workers, lawyers and a judge, so she better be prepared.

Shinsou, on the other hand… his parents have his custody, after losing it for 3 years when he was in middle school. CPS decided to trust them again, the fools… Shinsou has been fighting this decision since then. They have to be careful, and not spend too much time with him, as it could be seen as child abduction. Fortunately things have been easier after UA opened the dormitories. Shinsou even suggested that he could stop fighting with his caseworker, keep a low profile, and simply spend all his time at UA. He would be taking extra classes and activities during the holidays.

Hizashi sighs loudly before he says: “We love both of you very much. Whatever the court’s decision ends up to be, we’ll keep an eye on you, make sure you are healthy and happy. Of course we’ll do everything in our power to obtain your custody. Nezu is also working hard on it.”

“I wouldn’t want to go against Nezu’s during a trial” Shinsou smirks.

“Even he has to abide by the law… most of the time” Shouta whispers those last words.

“Now focus everybody !” Hizashi claims.

“Eri-chan, you are going to be interviewed by a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a caseworker, and a judge. I know it’s a lot. But you are still a child. If you don’t feel well, at any given time, you can ask for a break. We cannot be with you on the days of the interviews, but Nezu will be here. If you don’t know what you should answer, simply ask him. If a question feels too personal, simply say that it is “private”.”

“What if they say you and Zawa are not good parents?”

“Well… tell them what YOU think. But try not to get angry…”

“Yeah, don’t act like I would!” Shinsou interjects, smiling at Eri. “You know how I always tease? Don’t do that!”

“So when you have your interviews, you pretend that you are not mad?”

“Err… I try… but oftentimes I fail…”

Shouta scoffs. He was around when Shinsou had phone calls with his caseworker sometimes and… The kid could use some diplomacy.

***

Hizashi opens a document he got from Nezu, it’s full of extracts from other custody trials, models of questions a caseworker would ask a child… How did he get that? Anyway, Aizawa cannot read it, so Hizashi spends more time with Eri, talking about the examples and practicing some questions with her. From time to time, she uses signs as she talks. She picked it up while living with them, and it helps a lot when she shuts down. Thankfully Nezu also knows JSL, so if she needs it during an interview, he’ll be able to help.

Aizawa goes out on the small balcony to have a smoke. He was supposed to quit, but it was before the war, and now he has a new excuse to postpone the dreaded withdrawal.

Shinsou joins him quickly.

“So…” he’s keeping his voice as low as possible. “Now that we’re all about becoming a family, and telling the truth… I wondered… Can I borrow you a cig please ?”

“Hitoshi…” Aizawa closes his eyes and slowly blows a long streak of smoke with his nose. “You have a voice-activated quirk… And you smoke?”

“Aaargh, come on, you smoke all the time and it cannot be good for your lungs, what about your cardio?”

“Don’t worry about MY health now, how long have you been smoking?”

“Maybe 1 year, 1 year and a half… basically as soon as I came back to my parents. But I don’t smoke that much, I don’t have that kind of money anyway! Like, 3 to 4 cigs a day… I “borrow” most of them.”

“Well, I know you won’t quit today anyway… here, serve yourself.” Shouta takes a small bag from his rear pocket and holds it in Shinsou’s direction.

Shinsou opens it, stares at the loose tobacco and the small packet of paper, and starts blushing.

“I… Err… I don’t… I don’t know how to roll it…”

“Are you kidding? No wonder you cannot save money.” He grunts and makes a tiny cig with as little tobacco as possible in it. “Here, and don’t tell Hizashi I did it for you.”

“Thanks sensei… “

“I’m not supposed to mentor you into hurting your own quirk you know.”

“I know, I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to find a better coping mechanism. Just… things keep…”

“... life keeps getting in the way, I know that feeling. Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. It’s this whole situation. It doesn’t make any sense.”

For a few minutes, the silence is only broken by the huff and puff.

“Look… don’t say it to Eri, but we have to rush the process before the Commission tries and get her custody.”

“The Commission ?”

“Shush…”

“Sorry… I…” Shinsou whispers. “Do you think they stand a chance?”

“Honestly… I don’t know. After what happened with Lady Nagant, the Commission lost a lot of credibility. And since the war… They are running around like headless chickens trying to gather enough heroes to keep the newly formed vigilante groups to blow up the city… “

“So they have a lot on their plate… why would they try to get E… oh.”

“Yes.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“Tell me… do you still want to live with us? I mean, you basically are now, but do you still want to make it official?”

“Of course I do! Why do you ask that? Wait…” Shinsou stares at the tiny cigarette for a few seconds before he resumes. “If… Eri should come first. I understand that taking in two kids is a lot, so…”

“Wait what? No! It’s not like that!”

“So what?”

“I meant… Of course we want to take both of you in!”

“But you just asked…”

“Because I thought maybe you… I… I’d understand if it’s too much now. I came to you as a teacher and a mentor. I taught you how to fight, Hizashi helped you work on your voice but… I cannot help you like I used to.” Shouta’s cigarette's about to burn his fingers. “And we’re still not sure if Eri will be able to reverse my eye injury anytime soon so…”

“So… so what, did you think I wouldn’t want to stick around because you’re blind?”

“I mean you don’t have to.”

“Wow… And Deku says that I have low self-esteem… Bakugou even called me EMO but maybe you’re the one. “

“Excuse me?”

“So you REALLY thought I would… what… abandon you? Because you were hurt, because you may lose your quirk… It’s a war, people are getting hurt, damn, people are getting killed! Aizawa, when I heard you were hurt, I was just relieved that you didn’t die.” Shinsou cannot remember when the tears came up his eyes, and now he hopes his voice is not betraying him.

“I’m sorry child, I didn’t want to upset you like that…” Aizawa whispers.

“No, I’m sorry, I know I’m not good at letting people know when I care for them… I just assumed you KNEW.”

“Well, it takes two…”

Frantic knocks on the glass door startle them. Shinsou turns back to see Hizashi mouthing “YOU SMOKE”.

“Uh ho...”

Chapter Text

Shouta wakes up on the couch, soaking wet, his head burning. He cannot tell anymore when he’s having a fever or not when the pain just feels like his head is on fire. He knows the sun is rising thanks to the soothing song of the doves on the balcony. All he can see are the twisted scenes from his dreams, confusing, irritating, impossible to escape. He’s not even sure he fully woke up yet. Sitting up feels like an impossible task, the weight on his chest won’t allow it. He tries to recollect his thoughts : Shinsou, his exam is today, Eri, she’s going to worry, Monoma, a lot of work awaits, Shigaraki… Shigaraki… A pale hand, a shock, a cracking sound.

No, this one belongs in the past, with the dreams and nightmares and hallucinations. As he firmly grabs the backrest of the couch to sit up, dizziness immediately punishes him. Stubborn, he gets up and counts his step to the kitchen counter. His morning meds are right on top of the coffee machine so he cannot forget to take them, it’s all muscle memory. The machine purrs, a familiar smell fills the air.

“You’re giving wet cat energy today” Hizashi chirps.

“gotohell” he grunts, nursing his cup of coffee.

“You’re supposed to drink decaf to avoid high blood pressure so your…”

“grrrRRRUUUUNNTS”

“Did you just LITERALLY grunt at me ?”

“Grunt.” he enunciated

“Anyway, I’ll get Eri ready, Ectoplasm will pick her up at 7. Then I’ll drive Shin to his exam and come back so I can take Monoma and you to the hospital for his training. Also you should take a shower”

“Idun’eed to”

“Oh my ! You almost TALK now ! You are going to take a shower anyway because you look like you just fought a bear and then the bear threw you into the river and then you fought a catfish.”

“mrmbl”

“No, a splash of water won’t “do it” ”

“Grooowl ?”

“Yes, I bought more of this revolting “4 in 1” you put on your skin and hair, it’s on the sink, to the left.”

“Hmf.”

“You’re welcome”

***

He should be focusing on Monoma’s training, but all he can think about is Shinsou’s exam. He was trained well, he’s in control, the exam itself is not the issue. The commission desperately wants more heroes and trainees on the field, which means they’ll give him a card even if he’s not ready.

But none of them is ready for what is awaiting them now. Shinsou will get his temporary license only to be thrown on a battlefield with the rest of 1A. But their teacher is going to sit on the bench, all because of his own recklessness.

After only 30 minutes of training, Monoma managed to teleport rats with unlikely accuracy. Not even a misplaced whisker ! Hizashi went back to the Commission to support Eri, so he keeps sending him vocal messages about Monoma’s and Kurogiri’s progress. He used to hate vocal messages…

It’s time for a test on humans… a very anxious Commission agent comes in, facing a very enthusiastic Monoma. What the hell did this man do to deserve this job ?

***

Shinsou did great, he got his temporary license. Hizashi got the appropriate cake from the fridge, the one that said “You did it !” in fondant letters. They should quickly hide the one with the “You’ll get it next time” fondant letters.

Eri keeps coming up with cute hero names but Shinsou seems to really like “mind jack”. “It gives away too much information about your quirk” Shouta tempers. He was not heard as Hizashi loudly laughed at the same moment, looking at Eri making herself a hero mask with paper towels.

This is wrong. Monoma was brilliant, Shinsou was great, and this is all wrong. They should be careless first year students, too green even for an internship. But now they are soldiers in a war deserted by world class veteran heroes. They laugh, they celebrate, they make plans. Shouta wants to scream. This is all wrong. He can feel his pulse beat behind his eyes, then the heat comes in. He feels the urge to fight, just run in the city and beat up the first sorry villain trying something stupid that he could meet. A dirty, quirkless fight, with the high kick Mirko taught him… She’s already back to work, after speedrunning physical therapy. Yesterday night she told a journalist that kicking butts counts as physical therapy… Nothing to laugh about, she’s going to hurt herself even more…

Then his damn phone rang.

“It’s Nezu. We found the UA traitor.”

Hizashi’s laugh faded before Aizawa could say anything. After all these years, he could see through the usual poker face.

“Shinsou, you should go play with Eri in her room, she got a new Lego set that’s not so easy to build !” Hizashi's fake smile was perfect, as always.

When he heard Eri’s door close, Aizawa simply said “Aoyama Yuga is the UA traitor. “

Chapter Text

Hizashi finally sits down in the empty 1A classroom and takes a big breath. “Your kids were amazing today… they’re all grown up!”

Shouta stays silent.

Hizashi tries again. “Your speech really convinced Aoyama. And Shinsou is only here to help thanks to you spotting him at the sports festival and mentoring him all this time.”

“Are you wearing your pink tinted glasses?” He scoffs. “The kids are alright despite me being such a lousy teacher. I can’t even…”

“HO—SHUT THE HELL UP!”

The yelling takes both of them by surprise. Hizashi is panting, his fists trembling. Shouta’s used to his husband being loud but not like that, not with this tone, not to him.

Hizashi wants to run away and cry, he needs to hide, he needs to plug in his headphones and dissolve his thoughts in music. These thoughts belong to the inside, with the grief and the shame. He’s not supposed to get mad at Shouta, what’s next?

“You don’t get to… ” his voice sounds like it’s coming from a different person—mean yet trembling, instead of confident yet joyful. It’s just him, Hizashi, 16 again in a UA classroom, facing a silent, moody and overstretched Shouta. “... wash away everybody else's hard work with your self-loathing again.”

“What ? I don’t…”

“YES I KNOW it’s not your intention, just like I know you didn’t mean to make me so lonely, when I needed you the most, not once, but twice! And I know you didn’t mean to worry me sick when you kept patrolling alone in Naruhata during the Trigger crisis. I know you don’t even have a thought about how your self-harming, self-sabotaging, self-deprecating habits impact everybody else around you, including the kids!”

Heat. It’s all Shouta can feel, the heat of Hizashi’s voice, the heat of shame, the heat of pain. He sees red, blood red, fire red, quirk activity red.

“We are here for you; you are not in this alone. You are not a brooding teenager anymore, so you don’t get a pass! You are married, and you’re in the middle of a procedure to get custody of two kids. And you’re telling me that they should WHAT? WHAT exactly are they supposed to do? Stop counting on you? Stop loving you? Stop seeing you as a hero who could overcome anything?”

“I never told them any of that!” Shouta quickly interjects.

“Yet you tell ME, all of the time! What about me? Do you even WANT my love or is it too much of a burden? When do I get to be sad, or moody, or sorry for myself? When all you do is— ”

“I did NOTHING to you.” Shouta says between clenched teeth. “I lost my sight, my quirk and my profession, and YOU’RE falling apart? I don’t get to do that because I have 22 kids!”

“WE have 22 kids, you idiot! And to say you are not falling apart but I am? How delusional can you be? You only ever fall apart WITH ME! TO ME! Because that’s what I’m here for, right? So you can keep your composure with everybody else. Now tell me: who can I be vulnerable with? WHO?”

Her name is stuck in Shouta’s throat, getting bigger and bigger, suffocating him.

“She’s dead now, so your students could live.” Tears are running all the way down Hizashi’s neck. His voice doesn’t crack, it cannot. But it tends to skip and saturate like a scratched disk when he’s upset. “And you can't even say her name or acknowledge her death! She was there for you until the end; I am here for you right now. The pros—and dammit, Shouta, even the students—are doing their very best out there, but it’ll never be enough because it’ll never be perfect.”

“Worth it…” Shouta mumbles.

“What was that?”

“If another kid has to die, if anything happens to them, then it was not worth it. Then Oboro died for nothing, and all our work these past 15 years was for nothing.”

Hizashi has so much to say that he cannot even mutter a word. All the thoughts keep fighting to get out first, stuck in his mouth with a bitter taste.

“I want to be there for you too, Zashi. But I’m not sure I’m what you need.”

“Let me figure out what I need then; I’m an adult. I’m not asking you for some impossible feat. I’m asking for my husband to have my back. You can keep the unbothered act for the hero scene and your students… I’m asking you to be there, with me, and to stop pushing me away any time you get hurt or afraid. The kids think Eraserhead is never afraid; they’re 15, it’s their prerogative. But you don’t get to treat me like a stranger just because you’re scared. And you don’t get to give me dread anytime I’m trying to inspire hope.”

Chapter Text

Adults seem to think children cannot hear them.

“We generously allowed a full use of Rewind for the situation with Le Million, but it doesn’t mean we’ll allow more. And don’t think we won’t find out. ”

Do they even see us sitting in a corner of the room ? Is it because I’m so small ?

“Should we trust the teacher behind Kamino, and the UA traitor, with this child ?”

Why are they mad at Aizawa ?

“Don’t you dare blame HIM, when you never had the guts to confront All Might about OFA !”

I wonder where Deku went…

“Kids keep disappearing, and i’m not just talking about hero students now…”

Maybe Deku left to avoid getting hit by my quirk too…

“Just face it, he’s useless to us now.”

Useless ?

“Ha ! We all are ! Shigaraki means all of us are useless, without Eraser we would have…”

They need him, but they’re still mad ?

“That child should not even be in the system, she’s a hazard”

No, I’m not ! Deku told me !

“... your ability to support the needs of a young child…”

Are they talking about us or another family ?

“Maybe I’ll have to leave so they can keep Eri”

No don’t leave !

***

“Hello, Eri-chan”

Eri immediately feels pacified by Nezu’s soft smile and paws. Holding hands, they are practically the same size. Everybody else walks faster than them in the huge hallways. But Nezu doesn’t even try to rush. He’s making small steps, just like her. He also stops now and then to show her a door and encourage her to read what’s written on it. It’s a lot of complicated words, kanjis she has never seen before. But he’s not mad when she’s wrong, he simply explains.

They reach a part of the courthouse where a wall was broken down. Outside, the skyline is disrupted by collapsed buildings and helicopters going back and forth, never resting. Day and night she can hear the sirens, and sometimes someone screaming, calling… She wonders who did all that and how could they destroy so much in a few days ? The adults really want to shelter her, and she doesn’t want to make them sad by asking these questions. When she asked Nezu how Aizawa got hurt, he seemed mad. And kids, they always think you’re mad at them.

A tall, thin and tired man walks to them. Nezu doesn’t let go of her hand, and doesn’t tell her to stay put or to go and play. They go to the tall man together.

“Did they reach a verdict, Yokumiru ?” Nezu chirps

The Commission agent takes a look at Eri, then stares at Nezu, visibly taken aback.

“We should discuss… “

“We are perfectly comfortable here, and Eri should be the first one informed.” he keeps smiling.

“The com… the jury, composed of 2 commission members, 2 social workers, and the child psychologist you advised us to take… reached the conclusion — “

Eri struggles to hear his calm voice over her heartbeat going frantic.

“ — that the temporary custody could be extended to the next 6 months, with no modification of the parental authority. “

“So, just to be clear for Eri, she can keep living with Aizawa and Yamada for the next 6 months, after which a new trial will happen. But the Hero Public Safety Commission still has her parental authority, meaning…” Nezu invites Yokumiru to speak, opening a pink and white paw toward him.

“Meaning the Commission has the final say in any medical decision, possibility to travel, school topics, well, all schools are closed now… and of course any modification of her identity.”

“Are you satisfied with this explanation, Eri ?” Nezu asks her.

“Well… if it means I can go back home now, I’m happy !” She wants to feel good, she wants to celebrate, but something is wrong. “But why do we have to come back in 6 months ?”

Avoiding the little girl's intense stare, Yokimiru explains “To check that Aizawa and Yamada are still the best choice to raise you…”

“But who else would do it ?”

“The Commission itself.”

“Is the Commission a school too ?”

Nezu wants to scream a lot of things about the Commission, and what they do to kids with a fascinating quirk, but he keeps his demeanor.

“The Commission can be a… safe place for children with a complicated quirk such as yours.”

“My quirk is not complicated anymore thanks to Aizawa sensei. We’ll keep working hard, you don’t need to worry !” She hesitates. “Also, you know, Aizawa doesn’t really need his quirk to help me. And I’m sure he’ll be able to help the heroes too. Quirk is not everything. “

Nezu fights really hard no to laugh, depriving himself from oxygen as Yokumiru’s face goes red.

“I… I don't doubt it, you both are very resourceful ! Well… I know the team working on that other student’s case is meeting right now, expect their conclusion via mail this evening. No need to come in person. “

“It’s time to go home, Eri chan.”

Chapter Text

“LunchRush delivered the birthday cake while you were gone.” Shouta screams from the kitchen as he hears his husband come in.

“And I got our suits cleaned and pressed for the funeral.” Hizashi answers.

“It’s… a weird week”

***
In her room, Eri colors in bright purple the letters : G O O D B Y E, trying not to slip out of the lining Hizashi did for her. She adds a few stars with a yellow crayon when the co-artist comes in.

“I think it needs more glitter !”

“We have glitters ?! Yuga loves glitters ! “ she giggles.

“Well, he’ll leave for France in 2 weeks, so you have plenty of time before the farewell party !”

***
“Chisaki finally talked, thanks to you” Nezu chirped to a very tired Lady Nagant.

“And… How did I help again ?” She nurses her shoulder, her movements restricted by the catheters as well as the handcuffs.”

“It seems your babysitting had a fantastic influence on him. He’s all about making amends, telling truths…”

“No, he can’t have picked it up for me… I tried telling the truth at the Commission and it nearly got me killed.”

“Yes, about that, my kids are making a documentary, and they would really love to hear what you have to say. Also, your room is ready at UA, and our defenses are still up. We can transfer you any day of your liking.”

“Transfer me… what did you do ?”

“Only what I needed to. ”

“Only if Deku’s my bodyguard.”

“Granted.”

***

“I’m not sure she’s going to understand UA and Commission politics… “

“Not that. She needs to know that she never killed her father. Chisaki did.”

Hizashi’s mouth is open, but no sound comes out, which is a very dangerous situation, so Nezu feels the need to clarify : “Her quirk cannot do that to an adult, or maybe it could but her horn would need to be 2 meters long according to the last results we got. He probably used his quirk to dispose of the body.

Hizashi firmly grabs Shouta’s hand in an attempt not to break the window with a very, very, bad word. If Eri could hear it, it would be a disaster.

Shouta whispers “the son of a – “

***

“Beach volley is better than therapy !” claims Ochako, cheerful and bouncing around.

Cementos delivered all the sand necessary to make a beach near the swimming pool where the students gather everyday. Everybody in class 1-A takes turns to keep Ochako busy and avoid the elephant in the room. Himiko Toga’s funeral is tomorrow, with the press.

***

“
TOKYO DAILY : BREAKING NEWS !

A JOURNALIST HAS BEEN VICIOUSLY BITTEN BY PRO HERO VLAD KING !

Our reporter : “He said he had it coming.”
“

New text from Shouta : Thanks Vlad, I knew I could trust you with this !

***

“A VAPE !” Shinsou shouts, half laughing, half worried. “ Thanks Uuuughhh who’s idea was that ?”

Hizashi raises his hand. “Your quitting journey starts today. I had Iida and Momo do the research for the healthiest formula on the market. “

Iida raises his hand “And here is a booklet with a strict but paced program indicating the percentage of nicotine and the number of puffs per day, day to day, for the next 2 years.”

“I’m going to count… puffs ?”

“Yes, you are.” Shouta deadpans.

Shinsou quickly grabs another gift.

“That’s huhgmmm…” he bites his lip before the word “grinder” betrays him and pretends not to know what it’s used for.

Kaminari’s head is getting redder by the second. Hizashi is whispering something into Shouta’s ear. Jirou laughs.

Sato saves the day “Oh nice ! It’s the one I talked to you about ! Perfect to mince parsley, basil, oregano…”

“Ho yeah, I’m taking cooking lessons with Sato !” Shinsou tries.

He can’t tell if his new dads bought it.

Eri shouts “I want to learn too !”

Shinsou grabs a third gift praying for something normal and non controversial. A My Chemical Romance T-shirt pops out.

“Ho THAT’S the one I was willing to give you today” Kaminari says.

“I can’t believe these guys are still around.” Hizashi says.

Shinsou feels like somebody else is opening gifts, blowing candles, sharing cake with friends… and a family. It happened over an email, while they were still picking up the fragments of concrete from the battle. The happy Shinsou can’t stop smiling, his cheeks hurt, and he’s social with everybody, it doesn’t seem real. After all these years, some peace.

***

“So you want… civil war ?”

“Yamada-kun… always so dramatic” the stout keeps smiling “Aizawa doesn’t seem so surprised”.

“I was ready 15 years ago, it’s cruel to do that now that I can't even fight.”

“You can still help me greatly. You’re going to be the one breaking the news to dear Eri.”

***

Eri resumed practicing on insects, this time trying to focus the rewind on very specific parts of the body. Hatsume Mei provided tiny echography machines to observe the impact on intern organs.

Nezu figured this method would let her heal more people with less side effects, and less waste of her accumulation factor. Eri got a bit tired afterward, but it was nothing like what she went through before. When she came to them claiming she wanted to heal as many people as possible, they were not surprised. But knowing the national casualties since the beginning of the war, triage was bound to happen.

“And you expected me to allow this ?”
“She WILL learn, Shouta, eventually, one day or another. And she won’t be happy if anyone had to suffer more than necessary because you wanted to shelter her.”

“It’s not just her, it’s anyone with this kind of quirk, their health, their future mental and physical health, their ability to grow and thrive…”

“Believe me my boy, we had this talk before” Recovery Girl interjects. “This is why we came up with a system not very different from the one I had to use when I was younger. Candidates with an appropriate case for the type of healing Eri can provide are registered on the database, distributed into 10 different categories according to the level of urgency, time sensitivity matters, severity… and then a random one is picked. The last part is not high tech, it’s a bingo ball spinner…”

“What the…”

“Ectoplasm explained to me it’s a whole thing in the mathematical and information technology fields apparently… You cannot get a true random number from a software.”

“At first I tried to find a way… but spinning this thing is just too damn enjoyable, hee hee hee !” Nezu proceeds to run into a wheel his size making a stupidly big bingo spinner turn so loudly Shouta can hear what it is.

“Is he ?...”

“Yes, my boy. What’s bred in the bone…”

***

Like, 8 years later, like, you wouldn’t realize how many very badly hurt people needed to be put in the Unicorn system !

Shouta starts every time he has a glimpse of his face in the mirror. Half healed, yellow eyes, with a labyrinth of scar tissues covering it from forehead to cheek. This is not for the faint of heart, he wonders how Hizashi managed to kiss this mess.

And… he would kick him for thinking this way about himself. They said no more self-loathing !
!

Hizashi actually had his attorney make an amendment to their prenup to allow a maximum of 3 self-loathing commentaries a week.

He asked Eri to heal him just enough so he could go back to work, but to keep some Horn for the Life-or-Death cases. She may have rewind a part of his scars on purpose… after 8 years with Dadzawa, Eri developed a redoubtable poker face.

He’s savoring the comfort of using a mirror to shave when Hizashi bursts out laughing, staring at his phone. “Hey, guess who’s teaching the class right next to yours this year ? Midoriya !”

The razor bites him.