Aizawa Shouta gently held Eri's hand as they made their way across campus to the class 1-A dorm. He hated leaving her all the time, but he was still a pro hero, and he could not turn his back on his duties. He originally asked Mirio, since Eri was most comfortable around him, but he needed to catch up on his studies, even if he was still Quirkless. Aizawa understood that Mirio needed his space to make sure he remained on track for graduation.
He looked up at the sky and didn't realize it had gotten dark so quickly. A massive storm cloud rained down on campus earlier that day, but even though the rain stopped, the cloud remained, taking the rest of the daylight with it. He looked down at Eri, wondering how she felt about gloomy, rainy days like this. From what he could tell, it didn't seem to bother her at all. Thinking back on it, he had caught her staring out the window on another rainy day several weeks back while he graded papers in the teacher's lounge. Her eyes grew wide, mesmerized at how much water could fall from the sky at once. He chuckled when she pressed her small hands and nose against the window, rubbing her fingers against the window to clear the glass and get a better view. Sometimes it worked, and other times, she rubbed the glass harder.
He smiled to himself as he helped Eri up the stairs to the dorm's front doors. She gradually hopped up the stairs, stomping on each with both feet, squeezing Aizawa's hand above her head. "Are you excited to hang out with Midoriya tonight? Aizawa asked. He realized too late that he forgot to check in with Midoriya to see if he would be available, but shrugged it off and assumed everything would work out.
"Yes. I. Am!" she yelled in time with her stomps. Aizawa had just gotten her a new pair of lavender rain boots, so Eri enjoyed jumping into puddles for the first time to break them in. When she first put on her boots, she crouched down and curiously pressed a finger on her toes, and gasped when she didn't feel anything. Aizawa was still getting his gear together when she burst in the room, exclaiming that she couldn't feel anything in her toes. He looked at her confusingly as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes, and she explained that she couldn't feel her toes through the boots. Aizawa kneeled down and gently squeezed on the toe of the boot until he felt tiny toes inside the rubber. He asked if she could feel the pressure, and she nodded in amazement. He smiled when he realized she thought it was some type of magic trick, then explained that she simply wasn't pressing down hard enough to feel the pressure. He also explained the concept of breaking in new shoes, which he understood would take some time for her to understand fully.
Aizawa helped Eri push the front door open so they could enter the brightly lit common area, a small fire gently illuminating the fireplace.
Surprisingly enough, no one was in the common area.
For the first time, as far as Aizawa could remember, this was the most quiet he had ever experienced in the dorm, not that he was complaining. This seems a little strange, Aizawa thought to himself.
"Where is everyone?" Eri asked.
"Probably in their rooms. They have exams coming up soon, so they're working hard and studying," Aizawa explained. At least, he hoped that's what everyone was doing...He kept walking towards the elevator, Eri trailing close behind him. She still wasn't used to riding in elevators, but she knew she wouldn't have to be in that metal box for long.
A few seconds later, the elevator chimed with a Ding! as the doors silently slid open. At this point, Eri knew exactly where Midoriya's room was; she had visited him in the dorms enough to remember where his room was, and she felt really proud of herself for doing it all by herself. After she gleefully hopped off the elevator, she ran ahead of Aizawa until she stood directly in front of Midoriya's door. Even though she couldn't read or write much, Eri could recognize his name from staring at the nameplate outside his door. She felt so proud of herself that she could recognize the hiragana characters, even if she couldn't read them yet. Hopefully one day, she could write his name out all by herself and be able to show it to him. She beamed at the thought of the wide grin that would grow across his face. She didn't seem to realize, however, that Aizawa began to knock on the door for her, pulling her back into reality.
A few moments passed until both Aizawa and Eri heard a slow shuffling noise approaching the door. The handle slowly turned, allowing the door to creep open, but only slightly. A dark figure stood on the other side, attempting to speak, but it sounded more like a ghost moaning in its haunted house.
"Oh, Aizawa-sensei, I didn't expect you to come. And with Eri, too! What a wonderful surprise! Would you like to come in?" said the figure, his voice hoarse, but seasoned with a welcoming tone. Eri hid behind Aizawa's leg at this sight of unspeakable horror. Is this really Deku? she thought to herself. Did he turn himself into a ghost? Perhaps he died and someone else used their Quirk to possess his body to scare her? All these terrifying thoughts raced through her mind, until Aizawa stepped forward and slammed the door open, his face decorated with a look of frustration.
"Midoriya, snap out of it! Can't you see you're scaring Eri? What's gotten into you, anyway?" He flipped the lights on, stopped, and suddenly realized that Midoriya's room was a complete pigsty. Clothes laid strewn about on the bed and floor, the remains of several instant ramen cups littered the desk and nightstand, and the desk could hardly be seen underneath the stacks of textbooks and disorganized papers. Midoriya had fallen backwards from the impact of the door, but stood up and gave Aizawa an unconsciously blank stare. Like his room, Midoriya hadn't taken great care of himself either. His hair looked so greasy, it began to lose its spiky texture; the gym shorts and blank T-shirt he wore both bore past and present sweat stains, which was unsightly in itself; underneath his eyes clung two dark circles, a clear-cut sign that he hadn't slept for days. He tried to offer Aizawa and Eri a reassuring smile, but neither of them were convinced.
"Deku, are you okay? You don't look so good," Eri said quietly, but clearly concerned.
"Yes, Eri, I'm doing fine. I've just been working hard studying for midterms. You know, all the typical hero-in-training stuff. But enough about me. What brings you guys here?" Midoriya turned his back to them to clear some of his clothes off the bed, but didn't make much progress before he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He turned to face Aizawa, his facial expression still fuming.
"I appreciate you're working hard on your studies, but this is definitely taking things a little too far. I was going to ask you to look after Eri for a few hours, but it's clear you need to get some sleep." He quickly cleared most of the bed of clothes and lifted the top corner of the covers, beckoning Midoriya to snuggle into them.
"No, I'm fine, really. I just had a rough night last night— OUCH!" he tried to explain before Aizawa karate-chopped his head. Midoriya met Aizawa's glare with alert confusion as he gingerly rubbed his sore head.
"You're not fine! Anyone with eyes can see that! I'll find someone else to look after Eri. In the meantime, get in the bed," Aizawa scolded. Midoriya ultimately could not fight against Aizawa as he practically pushed Midoriya onto the bed, then helped him slip one leg, and then the other under the sheets. He was a little shocked, to say the least – he had never seen Aizawa act this way, like a nurturing parent, except with Eri. On top of that, he thought he was the last person Aizawa would care for like that. But soon his thoughts began to dissipate as he continued to stare at Aizawa, noticing his glare had softened. Aizawa realized Midoriya hadn't fallen asleep yet and laid his hand on Midoriya's face, forcing his eyelids to fall heavily like velvet curtains as they caress the varnish of a theater stage.
As Midoriya's breathing began to even out, Aizawa slowly lifted his hand off his face, sighing in relief that he caught the problem child when he did. Why were some of his students so bad at taking care of themselves? Aizawa really wished they wouldn't make him worry like that.
Eri inched closer to the bed and lightly placed her hand on his chest. She felt a comforted smile slowly pull at the edges of her mouth as her small hand rose and fell in time with his breathing. She was happy that she could help him relax and feel better, just like he did back when he saved her…
"Night night, Deku," she whispered.
A hand much larger than hers rested on her head. She immediately recognized that it was Aizawa and, turning around, noticed he was motioning towards the light from the doorway, letting her know it was time to leave and let Midoriya sleep. She obediently nodded and followed his lead, tiptoeing across the room until she reached the door, safe from detection. Aizawa turned off the light and gingerly closed the door behind her, making an effort to ensure the door latched silently. He looked back at Eri, then glanced at his watch, and let out one of his famous heavy sighs. At this rate, I'm going to be late for my shift, he thought to himself.
"Huh? Aizawa-sensei and Eri? What are you doing here?"
Aizawa felt his body turn towards the sound of the familiar voice behind him. It was Asui, standing next to the elevator in frog-themed pajamas. Eri beamed at the sight of her and exclaimed, "Froppy!" Then, imitating a frog, she jumped towards Asui and leaped into her arms once she was close.
"Eri! I missed you! Why are you here so late? I thought you would be at the teacher's dorms by now," Asui said as she squeezed Eri and swung her around in her arms.
"I missed you, too! I was going to play with Deku tonight, but it's his bedtime," Eri explained. "He's not feeling good."
"I wondered," Asui replied. "I haven't seen him much the past couple days, and when he would come downstairs for food, he looked terrible. I tried to convince him to go take a shower or get some sleep, but I don't know if he listened to me."
"It's obvious he hasn't done either of those things until now. Anyway, I really need someone to look after Eri for a few hours while I go on patrol," Aizawa added, glancing again at his watch. "All the other teachers are unavailable tonight."
"Well, you're in luck!" Asui said, lowering Eri towards the ground. "The other girls and I were just getting ready to watch a movie with popcorn and other snacks in Toru's room," she explained and, speaking directly to Eri, asked, "Would you like to join us?"
Eri's eyes widened at the opportunity to have a girl's night. She had attended sleepovers with Deku at the dorms before, but never with just the other girls she had met. She didn't quite know what to expect, but she knew all the other girls in Deku's class were nice and fun to be around. She flailed her arms around excitedly as she ran back towards Aizawa, looking up at him as she ran into his legs.
"Shouta, can I stay with them tonight? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top? Or...was it an apple?" Eri's pleading unexpectedly turned into a puzzlement, but Aizawa simply smiled and bent down so he was at her eye level.
"Of course you can," he replied, "just be sure to behave yourself and have fun, okay?" Eri grinned and violently nodded in response, barely able to control her excitement at this point. Aizawa stood back up, pulled a pen and small notepad out of his pocket, and began to scribble something on one of the pages.
"I shouldn't be out too late, but if anything happens, give me a call. My number is on there," he explained as he ripped the sheet from the rest of the notepad and handed it to Asui. "She already ate dinner, so she's good for now. Snacks are okay, but not too much sugar, and she shouldn't be up later than 9:30pm. Hopefully I'll be back before then. Asui, thank you againso much for doing this on such short notice. I really do appreciate it," he said as he bowed towards her out of polite gratitude. Asui felt a little overwhelmed at her teacher thanking her so formally, so she casually waved her hands in front of her.
"Please, Sensei, there's no need for that. We'll take good care of Eri. Just stay safe," she croaked.
"I'll try," he replied. He turned back to Eri and patted her head. "Have fun tonight, okay?" he asked as he moved towards the elevator.
"I will!" Eri exclaimed in response as the elevator doors dinged open and Aizawa stepped inside. Asui and Eri looked at each other, as if fate brought them together for this play date. They smiled and headed towards the stairwell, going up this time. Girl's night had officially begun, and there was no time to waste!