Arriving home without Toshi was rough on both of them. Eri ends up crying when she realizes her Papa won't be there anymore. Shouta holds her through her tears and lets out a few of his own. Even with all her strength and optimism, she's still a kid who lost one of her fathers. This isn't going to be easy, but they'll get through it. He has faith in that now.
They both jump when the door is kicked open and Hizashi yells out "Hello ladies and gentlemen! How's our little diva tonight?"
"Uncle Hizashi!" Eri is quick to wipe her eyes on her sleeve so she can hug the voice hero.
"We brought food like promised!" Midnight lets herself in to set down the food. After her arms are free, she quickly steals Eri from Hizashi. "Don't hog her all to yourself!"
They do a good job of cheering Eri up through the night. Hizashi puts his talk-show skills to use and spins stories through most of dinner. After dinner they watch some of Eri's favorite movies that Nemuri brought. Shouta's content to let his friends do all the heavy lifting in cheering up Eri. It lets him think that even without Toshinori, him and his daughter might find a way to pull through. Especially with all the people they have supporting them in their life. They aren't alone anymore. He's not alone anymore.
That fleeting thought has him wondering if Toshi planned it this way. Planned it so that when he passed on from his illness, Shouta wouldn't be alone. The more he thinks about it, the more his suspicion grows.
His husband was always going out of his way to invite people into their lives and make sure any old connections held firm. It explains why more and more of his former students come by every now and then. He always thought it was to see All Might, but more often then not, Toshi would drag them into a long conversation with Shouta. If his husband ever caught wind of a social gathering, he would convince Shouta to go for the food. Somehow, instead of eating, the eraser hero found himself surrounded by the other heroes rehashing old stories from UA, when All Might hinted at his great exploits.
That's exactly what his idiot husband was doing. Trying to save Shouta and Eri from the pain of his death. Building a safety net, that they could fall back on. It leaves a bad taste in Shouta's mouth. That Toshi thought he needed to be protected in such a way. From his own grief. It annoys Shouta that it worked so well.
But at the same time, Shouta's so unbelievably grateful. He loves his meddlesome husband so much.
By the time he's back to paying attention to his surroundings, the movie they were all watching has rolled to a close. Time slipped by while he was lost in his thoughts. Leaning against his shoulder, his daughter is already half asleep. Fondly, he kisses the top of her head and takes her to bed.
Hizashi and Nemuri wait around for him to come back from tucking in his daughter. Shouta already decided that he wasn't going to take any days off. Eri was also adamant about going back to school as well, saying that her Papa wouldn't want her to fall behind.
"Before we head out, I just wanted to give you an update on the All Might situation." Now that it's just the three of them, Present Mic went back to more tame speaking patterns. "Nezu has set him up in the dorms. Gave All Might the excuse that he never provided them a proper address."
Guilt wells up in Shouta. "Shit, I wasn't even thinking. I kicked Toshi out of his home. I should have just told him about us."
"Shouta, you have to stop worrying so much, he can stay in the dorms for as long as he needs. It's not like Nezu is going to kick him out." Midnight reprimands him with a quick flick to his ear. "Quit overthinking things. You did what you thought was best at the time."
Present Mic throws an arm around Shouta. "He's also headed to Might Tower tomorrow. I'm sure they can set him up with anything he needs."
"I'll go pack him some of this things as well. Can you drop it off at the principal's office tomorrow?" They'll arrive at UA earlier than he will, since he has to take Eri to school first. With that, Shouta takes off toward their shared bedroom, ready to grab anything his husband might need.
"Whoa! Hold on there!" Hizashi is quick to grab onto Shouta's arm. "Be careful what you pack, okay? It'll be weird if his favorite pair of shoes shows up, when no one is supposed to know where his house is."
"Huh, I didn't know you had a brain under all that hair gel." The eraser hero gives a devious grin as he twists away from his friend. Darting off to pack for his husband. Midnights laughter and Present Mic's angry yell following in his wake.
When he returns the blond's anger has cooled and he only lightly punches Shouta's shoulder, as he hands Hizashi the duffel bag. "Last thing before we head out, All Might is going to do a press conference announcing his return. Nezu convinced him to wait at least a week to announce it. We think it's because Nezu wants time to charm All Might into being a teacher again, but it also gives the big guy some time to adjust to society before rocking straight back into hero work. That gives you a week to tell him anything you need to, before he goes back to being the untouchable Symbol of Peace again."
"No pressure, right?" The joke falls flat. Shouta blames his queasy stomach. A week wasn't enough time to become All Might's friend, let alone lover, but maybe it could be a start. He was hoping to build something new with Toshi. Since All Might is never getting his memories back, there's no need to put those extra expectations on a fledgling relationship. It's the most logical course of action.
But with only a week, he'll have to adjust those plans. He has to tell his husband about Eri. But would it be best to tell Toshi about their relationship at the same time? Or should he give the taller hero time to adjust to the roll of a father first? Shaking his head, he decides that he's too wound up right now to make a decision. He'll make a list of pros and cons later.
"Maybe a little bit of pressure" Nemuri gives him a hug, Hizashi joining in. Shouta walks them to the door, and they say their goodbyes.
Once back inside, Shouta lets out an exhausted sigh. All he wants to do is curl up and sleep this awful day off. Instead he walks over to the kitchen to clean up the dishes. Halfway through cleaning his third plate, he notices their bento boxes, piled in the corner. He frowns at them. Toshi would always make them a lunch for the day. It can't be that hard. He'll do a practice run now, so that he can make it for Eri in the morning.
That's how Shouta ends up spending the rest of the night watching cooking videos and attempting to mimic them. Conveniently forgetting that there's a reason he lived off juice packets before his husband came into his life.
His night starts off with a melted spatula left in the pan too long. Then the wooden spoon burnt and caught on fire. Any ingredients he had on hand quickly ran out, only to be sacrificed to the trash in an ever-growing pile of failed attempts. Needless to say, Shouta had to make multiple trips to the convenience store throughout the night.
He's just thankful he hasn't sets off the fire alarms and that Eri's room is upstairs and the furthest away from the kitchen. He would have hated to wake her with all the ruckus he was making.
Shouta doesn't have any better luck chopping the vegetables. Blades were never his forte, even on the battlefield, so it's no surprise that his knife skills are atrocious as well. A little past two in the morning, a video lets him know that there is a proper way to hold a knife. His hands are already covered in blisters and small cuts. He lets out a frustrated growl and watches a few videos on correct knife handling skills.
Some of the words used in the recipes make no sense to Shouta either. He ends up having to look up and research half the terms used. He doesn't understand why they need to call cutting up something long and thin, a 'julienne' cut. Just tell him to cut it into small strips and be done with it. And for that matter, why is 'a pinch' even a form of measurement?
Anything fried is quickly given up on. He can never tell when it's cooked. The result is a nice brown but raw shrimp or veggies, outside is burnt to a crisp but the inside is perfect, everything is undercooked, or everything is burnt. Shouta wasn't expecting the oil to splash back at him, which caused him to jerk back and spill half the tempura batter over himself. In anger he pours the rest of the batter and oil down the sink. Later, that night he learns that you should never pour oil down the drain. He hopes he didn't ruin their drains.
The eggs were the worst part. The videos make it look so easy. Just drop the egg in the pan, let it sit, roll and repeat. The damn thing broke apart or burnt every time. After figuring out his problem was the pan size, he was eventually able to get an egg completed, with only mildly charred edges.
It's much later when by some miracle, he is able to produce his first completed bento box. The sausage octopus look like molting spiders, curled in on themselves. They cooked almost to the point of no return. The vegetables are soggy and limp. The cat he attempted to make out of rice is missing an ear. The egg is probably edible, if only a bit charred. There's still time though, he can make another. He sets the failed one down, it would make a decent guide to where he went wrong.
"Dad? What are you doing?"
Eri's sudden voice has him franticly looking over at their All Might clock. He should still have a little over an hour before Eri is scheduled to wake up. Did he have it wrong? He was always the last to get up from bed, but he always thought Toshi woke up first.
"You… made a bento?" She's looking right at his monstrosity of a bento. His stomach drops. Eri looks up from the bento, to the mess that was once their kitchen. He doesn't know why he even tried. He should have just made a sandwich. He could never fill Toshi's shoes.
Feeling he has to say something to appease his daughter, he says "That one's the first attempt. I was going to try again." He regrets saying it as soon as it leaves his mouth. Because Eri's eyes are on him now.
He must look like a mess. Batter spilt over himself from the tempura. His sleeves are rolled up, so she can see the little cuts and burns littering his hands and arms. No sleep. It makes him wonder how bloodshot his eyes are.
"There's no need to, this one is perfect." Moving forward, she gives her dad a hug. "I was actually getting up to do the same thing. I can take care of the cooking if you want. I've been helping Papa with all the meals. I loved watching him cook when I was younger. He eventually let me help out with the chopping and we just sort of went from there." She's smiling fondly at the memory.
Even though her words about his bento aren't true, they help to calm his growing self-loathing. "How did I miss you two always cooking together?"
She lets out a giggle. "Papa used to call our cooking time 'get out of Dad's hair while he grades.' You always seem to give out more homework then Papa and you never trusted his grading, so you always looked over his work as well."
"I guess it doesn't help that I've been banned from the kitchen, as well."
"I can see why though. You made a mess Dad! No wonder Papa got so fired up whenever you got near the kitchen."
He blushes at the memory his daughter's words invoke. Toshi banned him early on in their relationship. As proven tonight, he has terrible luck in the kitchen, though that wasn't the main reason he was banned. The main reason was because he kept trying to seduce Toshi whenever he was cooking. Which in turn, caused a few small fires and his husband got sick of wasting food. In his defense, Toshi was adorable in his All Might themed apron.
"Okay, I'll gladly let you do the cooking, kitten. But I'm not letting you eat that bento. It's nice of you to offer, but I don't want you getting sick." Shouta quickly grabs the bento and tosses the contents of it. "If you really want me to, I can try to make you another."
"Maybe another day, you need extra time to get ready. I'm pretty sure there's batter in your hair. While you get ready, I'll make our lunch." Eri rolls up her sleeves and starts aggressively cleaning the kitchen.
Following his daughter's directions, he gets ready for class. Tiredness is creeping up on him. He hope he can survive the day. It's been a long time since he's pulled an all-nighter like that. Class shouldn't be too bad; he's already expelled a few students this semester and the rest of the class is shaping up nicely.
By the time he finishes, Eri is ready for school, has the kitchen cleaned up, and there are three bento boxes prepared to go.
"You made one for Toshi?" He's looking at the bento that's wrapped in a bunny print. Shouta winces, at the look of sadness crosses over Eri's face. He needs to be more careful with what he blurts out.
"I guess I forgot, but at least you can offer it to him! They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach! Oh, but maybe you shouldn't? His bento is made for his old self." Toshi had a very limited diet, but he always found creative ways to make it work for him.
"If your worried, I can eat Toshi's and give him mine. I feel like a lighter lunch today anyway." His daughter gives him a big simile as they leave the house together.
The trip to Eri's school doesn't take long. Shouta stays just long enough to make sure she makes it into the building before heading off to UA. She's in control of her powers enough to go to a normal middle school. But it still worries him to have her so far away, even if a few pro heroes make sure that Eri's school is part of their patrol.
Shouta manages to arrive in the teacher's lounge some time before his class started. He makes a beeline for his chair collapsing into it and hiding his face in his arms. He's so tired. His body is heavy with fatigue. The other teachers mulling about and getting ready for their respective classes. He tries to drudge up the will to ask one of them to make him coffee, but his body refuses to move.
A light clink chimes out in front of him and the smell of coffee wafts over him. Someone must have taken pity on him. Shouta groans in pleasure at the smell, lifting his head up just enough to see his familiar cat mug staring back at him. With the rest of his strength he lifts his head the necessary few inches to say thanks to his savoir.
A jolt goes through him and he can feel his heart stop for a second. Of course it's All Might. "Good morning hero! I'm sorry if I woke you, but you looked like you needed some caffeine. I am happy to have caught you before Principal Nezu took me to Might Tower. I wanted to give you my thanks for yesterday. It would have been a mess without your quick thinking and…"
Shouta stops listening. He's too tired for this. He buries himself back in his cocoon of his arms. All Might continues to ramble, but the sound is soothing. He's not so booming today, more like how Toshi used to be. The voice washes over him and lulls him into a light doze.
A gentle squeeze on his shoulder by a large hand startles him from his slumber. "Nezu's here to pick me up, he let me know your class should be starting soon. I'll hopefully get to talk to you again when you're more awake hero!" The large hero starts walking toward the door.
"Shouta." It's irritating that All Might hasn't used his name once. Hasn't even asked for Shouta's name yet. Just refers to him as 'hero.'
All Might turns back to Shouta. "I'm sorry hero, I didn't quite catch that!"
Lifting his head and moving to look at All Might, Shouta wrinkles his nose in mild annoyance. "My name, it's Shouta Aizawa. If you're comfortable with it, call me Shouta. We were close, before."
A light dusting of pink starts to grow over All Might's face. "Of Course! I'll be sure to remember it," The taller hero is suddenly fidgeting, and he nervously swipes his tongue over his lips. "Farewell, Sh-Shouta!" All Might then makes a quick retreat following after the principle.
Shouta can feel himself smiling at his husband's antics. He knew Toshi was shy, but he never thought All Might was the same way. Lightly, he traces the cat ears on the rim of his mug. The coffee has gone cold by now. It's black, just how he likes it. All Might isn't supposed to have any residual memories from his time as Toshinori. But then why did he pick out this mug for Shouta?
Scoffing at his rising hope, Shouta pushes it down. It's the cutest mug in the bunch. All Might probably got it because he liked it. The black coffee is a no brainer as well, it's logical to give a stranger plain coffee at first, so they can add what they want if needed. Downing his cold coffee, Shouta gathers up what he needs for his next class and heads out of the teacher's lounge.
He hopes Eri can forgive him for screwing up their second meeting. He can't believe he fell asleep during All Might's thank you mid-sentence.