Everyone in the room cooed their approval at the little girl's request. Hagakure pulled out her sets of colored pencils and bright markers from her desk as Yaoyorozu used her quirk to create a few different color sheets of paper. Jiro and Asui helped clear the table and opted to set the leftover snacks on the bed.
"So, what kind of card do you want to make?" Yaoyorozu asked as she laid out the paper neatly in a row. Eri reached out her tiny hands to touch each sheet, expecting them to be different textures and thicknesses as well.
"I want to make Shouta a thank-you card!" Eri exclaimed. He's been so nice to me, and he's gotten so many pretty things just for me, and so much more! I just want to say thank you…but I don't know how to write it." She stuck out her bottom lip ever so slightly, but it did the trick.
"Well, how about this," Yaoyorozu began. "How about you tell me what you want the card to say, and I'll write it down for you? Then you can decorate the card afterwards and make it pretty!" Eri beamed at the suggestion, nodding her head vigorously with a new wave of energy.
"Alright! First, choose what color paper you want to use," Yaoyorozu suggested, motioning to the sheets lying in front of them. Eri took no time at all to slap her hand down on a bright yellow sheet.
"This one! Yellow is Shouta's favorite color, so it has to be this!" the little girl exclaimed.
"Great! Now I'll take the paper and fold it just like this," Yaoyorozu explained as she neatly matched up the corners and flawlessly sealed the crease in one swift motion, "so now it actually looks like a card." Ashido and Uraraka peered over the side of the bed while they continued to munch on snacks, amused at the little girl's enthusiasm over such a small task. Yaoyorozu passed the card to Eri, letting her hold it in her hands and experiment with opening it. It made everyone watching a little sad: was this her first time making a card for someone, especially someone she liked? If so, by God, these girls would help her make it the best card ever.
"Do you want it to say anything on the front?" Yaoyorozu asked as she pulled out a gel pen from her own pencil case.
"Yeah! I want it to say, 'To Shouta, From Eri,'" Eri stated quite matter-of-factly. Yaoyorozu smiled and held out her gel pen.
"Do you want to write it?" she asked. Eri grinned and nodded.
"Yeah! I wanna write it! Mic-san showed me how to write Shouta's name, and he doesn't know yet, and I wanna surprise him." She gingerly grasped the pen in her small hand, getting used to its weight and texture. She knew that pens were permanent unlike pencils, so if she made a mistake in the card, it would be there forever. Yaoyorozu noticed the sudden hesitation in Eri's eyes: she was losing her confidence.
"Would you like to practice on another sheet first?" she asked. Eri looked up at her again and nodded. Yaoyorozu pulled another pen from her pencil case and moved a pink sheet of paper in between herself and Eri. She slowly wrote out the characters, looking over at Eri's serious expression following every pen stroke. Uraraka leaned off the side of the bed to take photos of Eri's focused face with furrowed brows.
Yaoyorozu finished writing, gently pushing the paper in front of Eri. "Now just copy the characters right next to them." Eri took a deep breath and nodded, lifting the pen just above the paper. She slowly copied each stroke to the best of her ability but realized when she finished that her handwriting ended up twice the size. She huffed in disappointment.
"It looks great!" Ashido exclaimed. Everyone else hummed in agreement, including Yaoyorozu.
"Let's copy it onto the card now," Yaoyorozu encouraged, placing the card back in front of Eri. The little girl took another deep breath, then nodded with conviction this time before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She looked more ready for battle than writing a simple card, but everyone still found her expression adorable. She glanced back at the practice page, just in case. Readying her pen, she carefully copied the characters once again, hoping they wouldn't take up too much space. When she lifted her pen, she gazed at her handwriting, a bit smaller than before. She smiled in satisfaction.
"That looks great, Eri-chan! Now, I'll write the inside message. What would you like it to say?" Yaoyorozu asked, pulling the card back towards her. Eri paused and gazed up at the ceiling, her face pinched in thought. She wanted to thank Shouta for a lot of things, but she didn't know if it would all fit in the card. It would be a shame to leave anything out, but Eri knew it would end up being a long list.
"I don't know if it will all fit," Eri said finally, breaking the brief silence.
"That's okay! You can just pick out a few things that mean the most to you, and then add something else if there's space," Uraraka encouraged.
"Yeah! What are your favorite things that Aizawa-sensei does for you, ribbit?" Asui asked.
"Well, I want to thank him for saving me, and reading to me before bed, and giving me hugs when I have scary dreams, and teaching me new things, and helping me control my Quirk. Oh, and when I have a question, he always has an answer!" Eri exclaimed. "I think those are my favorite."
"Okay!" Yaoyorozu said. "Leave it to me, Eri-chan!" Eri's eyes lit up in awe as Yaoyorozu began to write even more with her shiny purple gel pen. How could anyone's handwriting be so pretty? She hoped her handwriting could be just as pretty, but she knew she needed to practice the hiragana exercises Aizawa gave her every week. She liked it when they looked over her homework together.
"Done!" Yaoyorozu stated a minute later, gently blowing on the ink to help it dry faster. She handed the card back to Eri for approval. It looked really pretty, even if she only recognized a few of the characters.
"I love it! Now can I decorate it?" Eri asked.
"Yes, now you can decorate."
"Eri-chan, wait!" Hagakure yelled. Everyone shot a surprised look at the floating clothes while they opened a desk drawer and rummaged. Hagakure quickly found what she was looking for, standing up and setting them down on the table: numerous sticker sheets displaying designs of stars, rainbows, hearts, and lots of cute animals. Eri peered at them all with joy. "I almost forgot I had these. You can use these to decorate your card. Feel free to use as many as you'd like."
As Eri's eyes surveyed the sheets, one stood out from the rest. It contained stickers of cats in all different colors, sizes, and positions, from pouncing on a red ball of yarn, to sitting up tall and proud like a lion statue, to fast asleep in a curled-up position. Eri found a sticker of a black cat sitting with its white chest puffed out, eyes focused and slightly strained as if it were holding its breath. She carefully peeled off the sticker and placed it next to Aizawa's name, rubbing her tiny fingers over it to seal it to the page. She giggled as she moved her hand away, imagining Aizawa as the cat. If she could give it his goggles and capture weapon, the resemblance would be uncanny.
Aizawa propelled himself above innumerable rooftops and streetlights on his way back to campus. He didn't mean to stay out so late, but he also didn't plan on arresting two amateur carjackers on the other side of town. The air had chilled from the earlier rainfall, but thankfully only a gentle breeze blew tonight. Even with his goggles, Aizawa could usually feel the wind biting at his face, drying his eyes out immediately; his eyes still ached tonight, but less than usual, which he learned to be thankful for after he graduated high school.
Despite his exhausted limbs telling him to slow down, he pushed himself to hurry and pick up Eri from the 1-A girls. He worried constantly whether Eri would accidentally release her quirk without him there to cancel it. She seemed to be adjusting to normal life well, and there was no place she felt more comfortable than the dorms. To be honest, he was overjoyed that Asui had been there to invite Eri to hang out with the other girls. Being around only men for most of her life must have been not only scary, but also stifling; now, she could learn from actual girls about girly things. He imagined the girls scattered around a room, gossiping and giggling like teenagers do. One of them would be sitting behind Eri, brushing her long white locks away from her baby face and into a complex, beautiful hairstyle that she would be sure to beg him to attempt for her the next day. He wondered if Eri would be staying with him long enough for him to learn a cool hairstyle for her before the school placed her with a new family… He shook the thought out of his head and checked his watch. 10:15. He picked up his pace.
As he approached the dorm building, Aizawa scoped out all of the windows that he could see for any lights still on; he sighed in relief when he couldn't find any. He pushed the front door open into the dimly lit common room, a scheduled feature the school installed when constructing the building. Feeling too tired to climb the stairs, he threw his capture weapon at the second-floor balcony and propelled himself once more. He applied his eye drops as he waited for the elevator. Asui said they would be in Hagakure's room, so he pressed the fourth-floor button, hoping he remembered correctly. He stepped out of the elevator, scanning the door tags; he found Hagakure's name fairly quickly. He used one of his knuckles to knock on the door gently, but still loud enough to be heard.
"Hagakure? It's Aizawa. Is Eri-chan in there?" he asked through the door. He heard some muffled noises on the other side, followed by a high pitched, "Just a moment!" He didn't wait long before the door opened to a floating pink T-shirt with a large red heart in the center with a pair of matching pajama pants.
"Come on in, sensei!" Hagakure greeted. As Aizawa stepped further into the room, his eyes immediately fell on a sleeping Eri, face relaxed and content as she lied on top of Hagakure's bed. A small blanket covering her rose and fell in time with her deep breaths. He felt his face soften at the sight.
Some of the girls had already gone back to their rooms; Uraraka and Asui sat on the floor leafing through a magazine, while Hagakure remained standing by the door.
"Welcome back, sensei, ribbit," Asui said. Aizawa nodded in response.
"How did things go tonight?" he asked.
"Great! We watched a movie, ate some snacks, and just hung out," Uraraka answered with a yawn. "Eri had a lot of fun."
"That's good to hear. I'm sorry for being late. We'll get out of your hair so you guys can get some sleep," Aizawa said as he approached the bed. He hated to wake her up when she looked so peaceful and cute, but he knew it was necessary; he just had to be delicate about it.
He gently nudged her shoulder.
"Eri-chan?" he said softly, louder than a whisper, but soft enough that he wouldn't startle her. She turned towards him, her eyes slowly blinking open. Her gaze settled on the dark-haired man in front of her and she immediately relaxed again, the corners of her lips turning up to form a lazy smile.
"Shouta," she said sleepily as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Are you ready for bedtime?" he asked as he moved the blanket off her. She slowly nodded with her eyes closed and he walked back to the door, grabbing her coat and boots. As he helped her arms into the coat, Hagakure chimed, "Eri-chan, don't you want to give Aizawa-sensei something?" The little girl furrowed her brows, confused for a moment, before they shot up in realization. Aizawa watched her in confusion as she slid off the bed and grabbed a folded piece of paper from Hagakure's invisible hands. She walked around the heart-shaped tea table and stood in front of him, holding out what looked to be a card.
"I made this for you," Eri said as she attempted to hold back a yawn. He took it from her and, upon closer inspection, knew this was without a doubt the cutest card he had ever received. The front displayed a cute black cat sticker next to large but legible characters that read: To Shouta, From Eri. His eyes widened in shock as he realized she learned how to write his name.
"Mic-san taught me how to write your name so I could surprise you. Momo-san wrote on the inside for me, and Tooru-san let me use her stickers," she explained. Aizawa opened the card, stunned at the excess of cat stickers used, and read the inside message, which he recognized as Yaoyorozu's neat handwriting. It read: "Dear Aizawa-san, I want to thank you for your help in rescuing me, and everything you have done for me since then. Thank you for reading to me before bed, answering all of my questions, giving me hugs when I have bad dreams, and teaching me new things every single day! You're my favorite hero! Signed, Eri."
He knelt down in front of the little girl.
"This is really thoughtful of you, Eri-chan. Thank you," he said as he patted her head; Eri beamed at the praise. She leaned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug; he dropped the card on the ground and wrapped his arms around her small body in return. Uraraka and Hagakure both had their phones out, savoring this opportunity to show off this wholesome moment with the rest of their class in the morning.
"Let's get your boots on, and then we can go to bed, okay?" Aizawa asked as he grabbed Eri's boots. Eri held onto Aizawa's shoulder to balance herself as she slid in one foot, then two, ready to go. Aizawa picked up the card and handed it to Eri.
"Could you hold onto this for me until we get home?" he asked. She nodded, unable to hold back another yawn. As Eri gingerly held the card in her hands and the girls cooed at her cuteness even more, Aizawa lifted her off the ground and balanced her on his hip. She immediately burrowed her face into his capture weapon with one arm wrapped around his neck.
"Girls, thank you again for looking after her. I greatly appreciate it," Aizawa said as he bowed his head slightly.
"Thank you…everyone," Eri slurred as she dozed off once again. Aizawa allowed himself to smile the tiniest smile. If the other girls saw it, they didn't say anything.
Aizawa walked casually back to the teacher's dorms with little Eri in tow, careful not to wake her. He was thankful to find the teacher's lounge empty as he fished around his pockets for his keys. He managed to open the door with no free hands and pushed the closed the door with his foot. He made a beeline for Eri's room, lying her on the bed. He carefully slipped her feet out of her boots and snaked her arms out of her coat, gently pulling the card from her pliant fingers. Setting them off to the side, he pulled the covers over her, tucking her in and placing her favorite cat stuffed animal next to her. As he left the room, he lingered at the door, turning to gaze at her peacefulness one last time. He never thought in a million years he would become somebody's favorite hero; looking back at the over-decorated card, he felt content at the idea of having only one small fan and no one else.