Yesterday
Sat on the couch in the living room Hitoshi had his hands wrapped around a cup of tea Hizashi had made for him. Papa had been sitting with him since the early hours of the morning since he'd first awoken to a nightmare. He felt like such a child for seeking out the voice hero but of course he'd been met with the usual response of 'you're my son; I've always told you it's never too early or late if you need me'.
Kacchan hadn't been round that night, which he was sure had something to do with why he did end up having a nightmare, but he knew his cousin wouldn't be there forever and that eventually he would have to grow out of the things on his own.
He didn't have to right now though which was why when Papa lifted up his arm he immediately took the invitation to shuffle across the couch and lean against his side.
A hand began to softly stroke through his hair.
When he'd first come downstairs and Hizashi was off making tea in the kitchen he'd noticed something on the living room coffee table, the same pile of documents which sat in front of them right now. He looked up at Papa who offered a smile.
"I take it you saw them?"
He nodded.
"And?"
Hitoshi took a breath.
"Can we really do that? Can we bring her here?"
"If you're okay with it then there's nothing more Shouta and I need to do than sign our names; the commission is happy, so is Nezu." He paused. "You are okay with this, right, Toshi?"
"You and Dad, you saved me and gave me a life for the first time outside of the love Touya gave me back in our cell; I want- I want Eri to have that too, she deserves it just as much."
Papa smiled.
"I have a feeling you already knew what we were planning."
He smirked.
"Of course I did, there was a kid who needed saving, I would've been surprised if you didn't offer to adopt her, even if Dad didn't have his erasure quirk. You have a thing for strays, human and feline."
Hizashi chuckled.
"Thank you for having so much faith in us."
"You are amazing people."
Papa pressed a kiss to his crown.
"And you're an amazingly thoughtful kid."
Present
Hitoshi had expected Eri to be nervous when they took her home… he'd been wrong.
The little bundle of energy had been chasing the cats around the house for the last half-hour giggling happily.
He wouldn't lie, it was adorable.
Eri's room would be the smaller bedroom down the hall from his on the third floor, not that she had been overly interested, her focus instead lying on the two heroes and getting attention from them. She certainly wasn't a quiet kid, especially not after having become comfortable around Hizashi and Shouta, which was the best case scenario. Eri seemed to be adapting well to the changes around her and soon enough it was dinner time.
"Food's ready kids." Hizashi called from the kitchen.
Eri, who was sat beside him on the couch watching cartoons on the TV, turned to him with an expression which seemed like she was unsure what to do.
He held out his hand.
With a giggle she took it before jumping down from the couch and following him into the kitchen. Placing his hands under her armpits he lifted her up onto one of the barstools around the island before taking the seat next to her.
"Oh yeah, we might need a more child friendly seat." Hizashi chuckled as he poked at the hotpot with his chopsticks before proceeding to plate up a bowl for Eri with practiced precision and a smile. "Here you go, sweetie."
It smelt SO good.
"And for you, Tosh."
"Thanks, Papa."
Eri was leant incredibly close to the steaming bowl inspecting it before she looked to him, her eyes widening a little with a light gasp before she repeated…
"Thanks, Mr. Mic."
"You're welcome, but how about we just call me Zashi?"
She nodded.
"Zashi!"
"There we go!"
Grabbing his chopsticks he went to start eating before he caught a glance of the little girl looking very confused and placing them back down.
"This is called a hotpot, they're very yummy, it's hot though so you'll need to blow on it a little before you eat it."
He noticed she hadn't made an attempt to pick up the pair of chopsticks either Hizashi or Shouta must have bought for her.
"Have you- have you used chopsticks before?"
Her blank expression said it all.
Picking up the sparkly pink chopsticks which had some form of character that Deku and Kacchan would probably recognise on them he was thankful for the rubber cat holding them together at the end. The heroes had bought him one of these too when he'd first came to live with them, the training tool helping him to master how to use them pretty quickly.
"These are chopsticks, and you hold them like this." He opened her hand before positioning them where they needed to be in it. "And then-."
Returning to his own set he gave a demonstration, grabbing a slice of daikon from the bubbling hotpot, blowing on it and popping it in his mouth; he couldn't help the little groan of satisfaction that followed.
"Mmm, I love it when you do a hotpot." He looked to Eri. "See, just like that; now you try. Don't worry if it's hard, they are tricky and you're just a beginner, you'll get it eventually, I promise."
She nodded determinedly.
Hitoshi scoured the hotpot looking for a good first target.
"There, this is cabbage; can you see it, the leafy green thing?"
"Uh huh."
"Try grabbing that, it should be really light."
Eri leant against the table as he aimed from the cabbage leaf, her first two attempts failed, and the third saw her pick up an edge just for it to tear from her chopsticks being too tightly gripped but she didn't give up, her little tongue sticking out as he preserved. It all paid off a few seconds later when her face lit up as he transferred the cabbage to her bowl.
"I did it! Toshi I did it!"
"Well done, Eri! You're a pro already!"
She giggled.
Using his own chopsticks he tore the large-ish leaf in two for ease of eating for smaller mouths.
"Now what do you do?"
Picking the leaf up again she first blew on it before taking a bite.
"Mmmmm!"
"Nice?"
She nodded.
"Good."
Dad walked into the kitchen.
"I would get some before these two finish the whole thing." Papa teased as he did.
Shouta took a seat opposite before being joined by his husband.
"They better not." He teased.
"What's this thingy?" Eri asked.
"That's called tofu."
"And this?"
"Okay so…" He pointed his chopsticks towards each ingredient as he listed them. "This is beef, the wiggly things are udon, and the rest of these are vegetables so we have leeks, mushrooms, and watercress."
"Oooh, cool!"
Hitoshi smirked.
"Glad you like them."
Papa chuckled as he looked between him and Dad.
"I wish you two were this excited about my hotpot."
As the night went on Eri became clingier. Currently snuggled up against a dozing Shouta she looked so happy.
"Okay sweetie, it's bedtime."
She didn't make much effort to move.
With a soft smile Hizashi knelt down beside the couch, two little arms reaching out, before he gently scooped her into his arms, her head immediately coming to rest against his shoulder, her eyelids barely open.
"Is Toshi coming?"
"Toshi's older than-."
"Sure I'll come too." He replied softly.
"Yay."
By time they made it to the third floor she was already asleep, Hizashi placing the little girl gently down on the futon before covering her with the pink blanket.
"Goodnight, Eri."
Hitoshi, stood in the doorway, smiled before following Papa down the hallway.
"You okay up here?"
"Yeah, I'll just read some manga or something."
"Has your reading gotten any better?"
"It's better than it was, I'm starting to get used to it."
"That's good to hear."
Hizashi gave him a pat to the shoulder.
"I'll probably read in our room too, come and get me if you need anything okay?"
He nodded.
"Goodnight."
"Night."
Thirty Minutes Later
Hearing small footsteps from down the hall he peered forward in bed from where he was sat reading the volume of One Piece that Kacchan had bought him to find the little girl stood in the doorway with tears in her eyes.
"Toshi…"
"Hey…" Quickly getting to his feet he knelt down in front of her, the six-year-old immediately throwing herself against his chest as she whimpered lightly. "You're okay, Eri." He softly rubbed a hand up and down her back.
"'M sorry…"
"You have nothing to be sorry about; it's really scary to be in a new place with new people, that's perfectly normal."
"R-really?"
He nodded.
What would Touya do right now?
"Hey, would you like me to tell you a story?"
"Uh-hmm."
He grabbed the All Might hoodie Kacchan had left a few days earlier.
"Arms up."
It was unsurprisingly huge on her but served its purpose.
Quickly throwing on his own Hawks one Hitoshi smiled and took out his phone.
"Hey Eri, can we take a picture of us in our hoodies?"
She nodded.
Flipping the hood up so that All Might's signature hair… things were sticking up he motioned her towards where to look for the camera before snapping the photo.
"There."
He heard a soft gasp before feeling something flap against his back.
"This has red thingies!"
"Those are wings like the one Hawks has; he's a really cool hero."
"Is mine a hero too?"
She doesn't know All Might either just like I didn't until the League became interested in him.
"Yeah, that's All Might, he's the Number One hero… well, he was… but he's Deku and Kacchan's favourite." He explained before holding out his hand.
Eri took it as he walked over to the balcony door and clicked it open.
It was a relatively warm night, not too cold but also not stuffy enough to be uncomfortable.
He took a seat in a similar spot to where he'd usually sit with Kacchan.
The little girl was mesmerised by the stars above them before she walked over and sat down on his lap quite happily.
"Do you want a story, or would you rather just sit here and watch the stars together?"
"Stars." Came the distracted response, her neck still craned up towards the sky.
"Want me to tell you about up there?"
He didn't know many of the star names, or about the… the uhhh… the solar system, only what Kacchan had shared during their numerous outings to the balcony during the night, but he hoped it would be enough to make her feel a little happier.
"Do you know what that is?" He pointed.
"Moon."
Eri snuggled closer against him.
"That's right; and did you know that far away there are lots of things called planets. There are nine of them, if you count Pluto, but we can see some of them, like Mars and…"