Author-Troglodyte "Warning. This chapter is extremely fluffy. Like, 99.9 percent fluff. Also, there may be a gap between this chapter and the next as I am working on another story of mine right now. Hope you enjoy!
"Huh. Guess your right." Aizawa said in response to what Deku had asked "But, even if I ordered another child sized bed for the kid, it probably wouldn't get here until tomorrow. I'd say you can use one of the dormplex's beds, but you would need to disassemble those."
Izuku nodded "Yeah. Sorry about all this. I just wanted to know what I should do."
Aizawa sighed "I dunno. Just sleep on the couch or have Eri sleep in your guy's bed."
Izuku nodded "Those sound like good ideas! Thank you, sir!"
Aizawa sighed "Can't believe you needed my help for that... By the way, how is everything?"
Izuku chuckled "So far so good, we all seem to get along well"
Back with Mina and Kota
Kota was slowly crawling backwards as Mina approached him in a rather villain like manner "W-What are you gonna do?"
Mina grumbled a bit before grabbing the boy by his pants, just as he was about to get up and run the other way. She pulled him into her arms and grabbed his waist before delivering a powerful German suplex to Kota.
"Owwww" Kota wined "That hurt!" He then realized Mina hadn't let go yet.
"Ohooo it's about to get a lot worse..." Mina stated as she turned to her side with Kota and reached a vertical base once again. "You just gained a free trip!" She performed another perfect German suplex before standing up once more with a now dizzy Kota "A trip to Suplex-" she performed a third and final suplex "City!" Finally she stood up over Kota.
Kota was groaning due to the damage to his back "Argh... Your lucky that didn't kill me!"
"Well duh! I know how to do those moves safely!" Mina argued.
Kota struggled to get up so he sat on the floor next to the couch in defeat. "Whatever..."
Mina finally calmed down "Now that you've received your punishment... Tell me... " Her expression softened a bit "Why would you say something like that to her? Weren't you warned about her? She's extremely emotional."
Kota winced a bit "... I know ... Its just... I'm angry ok!"
Mina stomped one foot forward "Hey! Don't yell at me, ok? You started this mess that I'm currently fixing."
Kota winced again "Okay, okay ... You guys were... Too happy..."
Mina's mind nearly went blank "... Wut?..."
Kota grumbled "You guys were all so happy to be playing a big version of house. You guys even started to include me like I was a new addition to your family... But I'm not... I'm not part of your family. I'm gonna have to say goodbye someday just like Eri is!"
Mina lightly gasped, finally getting a grasp on what was bothering him.
Kota started breathing heavily "And I can already tell... That on that day when I say goodbye ... I'm gonna wish that our time together didn't end. I'm gonna wanna visit more. I'm gonna wanna be part of a real family even more! You guys are only thinking of short term fixes... But whose gonna help us huh? You guys get to hang out with us and treat us well and be heroes. Us, though? We just wait on the sidelines... Wondering if we're ever gonna find place to truly call home..." He began to sniffle. "Even now... My own aunt has trouble with watching me due to her responsibilities! I just feel like a pain in everyone's neck! No one understands!"
He suddenly felt himself being lifted up and placed into Mina's lap as she locked her arms around him in a caring hug. Kota was extremely emotional right now, he always wanted to put on a tough persona but knowing that Eri might suffer the same feelings he does... It hurts... It's hurts on a level that's just stupid. He wants to belong and yet here he sees Eri feeling like she belongs when she's probably gonna have to leave someday. He knows it'd break her heart.
"... I love Eri" Kota didn't expect those words to be the first Mina would say. It caught him off guard a bit. "... I love Eri so much... That I want her to be my real daughter."
Kota was stunned at that. Did she really care for Eri that much?. "Kota... I'm sorry to break your reality... But you have the wrong impression". Mina detached from the hug to look the young man in the eyes "Izuku and I... Even though we haven't discussed it, I know he feels the same way... We don't want to be Eri's temporary guardians. We want to be Eri's new parents..." She said, letting out a classic Ashido smile.
Kota was in disbelief, why ... Why would they want that? Mina chuckled " Crazy right? Izuku and I are barely 16 and yet... He and I would die for that little girl. She's amazing, she's so precious and after only knowing her for like... 3 or 4 weeks?... I'm confident I'd sooner die than break my promise to her."
Kota's eyes went wide, he immediately had a flashback to when Izuku saved him from Muscular. "A hero's job is to risk his life! To turn his promises into reality!" Kota froze, 'how could I have forgotten... Deku... He wouldn't abandon anyone ... And this girl... She must feel the same way...'
Kota immediately embraced Mina as tears flowed down his cheek. "... I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry!" His words came out a bit wobbly but Mina heard him loud and clear.
Mina hugged him even tighter and enjoyed the precious moment they had.
Minutes later, Mina had noticed Kota wasn't weeping anymore but also felt him tapping on her back with his hand. She was confused at first until she heard him utter "... Too... Tight" this made her immediately loosen her grip as he crumbled in her lap and sharply inhaled, finally catching his breath.
"S-Sorry..." Mina woefully said, feeling bad she was suffocating him.
"I-Its okay... I'm... I'm sorry for what I said and... How I acted..." He said as he looked down to the floor.
Mina took a deep breath "I forgive you... I'm sorry if I hurt you."
Kota nodded "I'm... I'm fine..."
Mina nodded "Good... Now... You know you still gotta do one more thing, right?"
Kota blushed "Ye-Yeah... Um... Can... You come with me?"
Mina raised an eyebrow before sighing "I guess..."
Both then got up and went upstairs to a room with a hanging unicorn sign that said 'Eri' on it.
Kota looked at Mina with a bit of doubt. I wasn't until she looked at him with a great smile and a nod that he finally found the courage to open the girls door.
Once inside, it wasn't hard to locate Eri. The young lass could be seen hiding under the covers of her bed with her horn poking out from the top of them. Kota slowly walked closer to the blanket covered Eri who he could now hear was sobbing, no doubt, because of what he said. This made his heart sore as he kept trudging along to her bed until he noticed the covers shook. Meaning, she could hear his footsteps now.
He took a long deep breath "E-Eri... I... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said what I said. It was wrong of me to say that... C-Can you ... Please forgive me?"
Mina stood at the doorway with a proud smile 'Great job, Kota'
Eri gently moved the covered enough so that they were like a royal coat to her now. Her tear stained red eyes were practically stabbing Kota in the heart the more he looked at them. "... D-Do y-ya-you m-mean it?" Her voice trembling as she asked.
Kota nodded as he shifted his gaze to the floor. "Ye-Yeah... I mean it."
Eri paused for a moment "... Th-Then, s-say it." She wiped her eyes a bit "S-Say that they... Th-They are my parents."
Kota blushed and gulped down his pride "... Deku and Mina... Are your parents"
Eri wiped her tears once more, this time cracking a smile before gently getting out of her bed and slowly opening her arms to him "O-Okay ... I forgive you" she sniffled one final time as she waited for him to accept her hug.
'Gosh this girl will be the death of me!' he slowly but surely accepted her hug and patted her back as he did "Are we good now?"
Eri nodded gently "Yeah... Thank you Kota"
Kota nodded "No problem, Eri"
SNAP*
Kota and Eri turned around to the source of the house only to see Mina with her phone out, clearly taking a picture of the two hugging!
"Uhhh. Not sorry!" Mina yelled as she ran out of the room.
Kota blushed deeply and separated from Eri to follow Mina "Wait! P-Please don't show that to Deku!"
Eri chuckled at their antics before looking back to her bed and grabbing a book that she had on top of it. She then hid the book under her bed and smiled before following them.
Once she made it downstairs she noticed Kota was jumping at Mina while she simply raised her arm up high.
"Please don't show, Deku!" Kota begged
"But he's gonna think it's so cute!" Mina argued.
Finally, the front door opened and they all rushed to it to see Izuku Midoriya coming in and smiling upon seeing all of them. "Hey, guys. What did I miss?"
Eri, Kota and Mina exchanged glances at each other before stating, all at once "Nothing!"
Izuku was a bit caught off guard at this. Immediately he knew something happened. He then noticed Mina wink at him and felt it was a signal to wait till later for the answer. Satisfied with this, he then motioned for everyone to follow him into the living room.
Izuku sat in his dad chair while the others sat on the couch. The all were wondering why he guided them to the living room but Mina was the only one to notice that he obviously didn't get what he was supposed to from their homeroom teacher.
"So." Izuku started "I've got a bit of bad news. Kota, we don't really have a spare bed for you."
Kota merely tilted his head.
"Is there anywhere you prefer to sleep?" Izuku asked.
"... On a bed." Kota started, not knowing how to respond.
Mina thought about it for a moment "Well... Eri? Do you wanna sleep in our bed tonight? If so then maybe Kota could sleep in your room"
Eri immediately panicked 'Oh no... What if he finds my book?!' "Uhhh C-Can I maybe stay in my bed?"
Mina was rather puzzled at this "Huh? But you usually always wanna cuddle up with us."
Eri blushed "Y-Yeah I know but... M-Maybe he could sleep with me?"
"Huh?!" They all yelled.
"E-Eri. Kota can't sleep with you alone, that's not a great idea." Izuku daintily argued
"... Wait... What if it is?" Mina suggested
"What?!" Kota and Izuku yelled.
Mina then leaned closer to Izuku and whispered "Think about it, Midori. Aizawa has a camera in each room of this house just in case anything happens. If they do anything, we'd be the first to know."
"I-I dunno, Mina... What if something happens?" Izuku said clearly worried.
Mina chuckled "Oh don't worry. He won't, even if he does. He'll get the worst punishment of his life..."
Izuku finally leaned away and sighed "Alright... You two can share a bed. Kota, are you ok with that?"
Kota was frozen solid.
"Kota?... Kota?!" Izuku began shaking him "Are you ok?"
Kota finally snapped out of it "Oh! Uh ... Sorry... I dunno. Wouldn't it be... Weird?"
Eri shook her head no "Nope! It might fun! We can tell cool stories and stuff!"
Kota looked at Eri, then looked to the two students then closed his eyes before finally declaring "Ugh... Fine... I guess I have no choice."
Izuku sighed "Thank you, Kota. Don't worry, it's only for tonight."
Kota nodded, accepting his fate.
The day then continued without a hitch. While the kids were playing games though, Mina decided that now was the time to tell Izuku what happened. As she was prepping the food, she told him about how it all started and what it eventually turned into.
"Wow... I'm sorry you had to deal with all of that on your own..." Stated an impressed Izuku who also felt a bit bad for her.
"Eh. It's no big deal. Compared to Bakugo this was literally child's play hehe" Mina replied.
Izuku thought about the whole situation for a moment "... Hey... Do you think that... Kota and Eri will really be ok tonight?. Based off what Kota said, things might not work out so well."
"Well..." Mina began "I'll give you that one. But I gotta say." She quickly pulled up the picture she took of them and presented it to Izuku "When I look at that... I think everything will be ok."
Izuku looked at the picture and zoomed in to see that they were very carefully embracing each other. "... I guess you right... Now onto my other worry. What if Kota does something that... Mineta would?"
The knife that Mina had been using to chop veggies was immediately stabbed into the cutting bored as Mina looked back to Izuku with a hauntingly plain look in her eyes "... There's your answer... Now... Don't ever bring up the Grapists name in this house again."
Izuku gulped as a shiver went down his spine "Ye-Yes, Ma'am"
Mina went back to cooking and once dinner was ready yelled out "Dinner time!"
Kota and Eri paused their game and ran into the kitchen only to see today's dish, Katsudon. One of Izuku's favorites. Mina didn't make it for any special reason, she just wanted Kota to be in awe of her godlike cooking skills.
Finally, everyone sat down at the table and clasped their hands saying "Thank you for the food!" Before chowing down.
Eri loved her parents cooking, no matter what they made, she could always taste the love they put into it.
Kota was skeptical about Mina's cooking skills, but seeing the others chow down like no tomorrow gave him the courage to power through and take his first bite.
Mina was silently watching him, waiting for a great reaction.
-in Mina's head-
Kota opens his eyes "Oh my gosh! This is... It's... It's the best thing I've ever tasted! Mina! Your cooking is on another level!"
Mina giggled "Oh you hehe"
Izuku chimed in "Seriously Mina! It's amazing! This is better than my mom's!"
"Oh Izuku~!" She said while squirming in her seat.
Eri turned to her "Your the bestest chef in the whole wide world!"
"Stop iiiit~" Mina squirmed faster in glee
Kota, Eri and Izuku started chanting "Chef Mi-Na, Chef Mi-Na, Chef Mi-Na!!!"
-Back to reality-
Mina was lightly humming the chant in her head while Eri looked at her curiously until she finally came back to the real world.
Kota's eyes finally opened "Hm..."
'... Hm?... Hm... HM?!?! WHAT DOES HM MEAN?!' Mina yelled in her head before straight up asking him "Soooo how is it?"
Kota responded first "It's good. Thank you"
Izuku nodded "Thank you, Mina, it tastes great."
"It's the best, Mama!" Eri yelled out.
"... Huh?! What do you mean it's only 'good' or 'great'. Isn't it the best thing you've ever eaten?!" Mina yelled out.
Izuku was immediately a stuttering mess "Wh-What?! But I-Its great! That's a c-compliment!"
Eri tilted her head "I thought you said pizza was the best food..."
Mina patted Eri's head "Don't worry, sweetie. I'm only scolding the ones who are wrong here"
Kota was beyond confused but this whole interaction was so... Heartwarming... He could tell that Mina wasn't super serious and that Izuku was just playfully going along, but Eri's smile is what tied it all together.
"... Heh... Hehe... Hehehe... Hehehehahahaha" Everyone took notice of how Kota suddenly started laughing. It was pretty magical. Hearing Kota laugh was rare enough but seeing the look of pure joy on his face... Well that was just incredible.
After an awesome dinner and a squeaky cleanup, the gang played more Mario party all the way up to bedtime.
Eri was already in her sleepwear and sitting on her bed, waiting for Kota and her parents to come in.
Soon enough, they all entered with Kota now in a light blue pajama outfit. Eri smiled at him but Kota was extremely embarrassed about being in his pajamas in front of a cute girl.
"All right, you two. Sleep well." Mina said with a big smile.
Deku leaned down to Kota "And if you need us for anything we're just down the hall, okay?"
Kota nodded "Got it"
Eri nodded and ran up to give her parents a hug "Night Deku, night Mama!"
"Night Eri~" they said in unison before slowly waving and shutting the door being them.
Now, Eri and Kota stood in front of each other in their pajamas all alone. Eri was quick to plug in the night light before even considering to turn the lights off.
Kota gently rubbed the back of his head "Hey uh... I don't mind sleeping on the floor if you want me to."
Eri looked at him curiously "I thought you wanted to sleep on a bed?"
Kota gulped and blushed "I do it's just... I don't... Wanna um... Bother you..."
Eri turned the lights off before going back to the bed and standing right next to Kota, smiling as she said "You won't bother me. It's ok."
Kota's heart fluttered at seeing her smile with the nightlight behind her making her look like an angel. "W-Well... O-Okay..." Slowly, Kota got under the covers and went to the opposite side of the bed. He immediately decided to look at the wall so he wouldn't embarrass himself any further.
He felt Eri get under the covers, luckily she wasn't touching him or anything. There was a long and awkward silence though, both kids didn't know what to do really.
Finally though "So um... How did you meet Deku?" Eri broke the silence.
Kota thought about if he wanted to reply or not, after deciding it wasn't gonna hurt, he decided to speak up "... I met him when he came to my Aunt's Hero Summer Camp Training."
"Oh? That sounds fun." Eri started calmly
"... It was ... Until the bad guys showed up..." Kota said, shivering at the mere thought of the event.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Y-You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..." Eri said, the feeling of giving up was well heard in her voice.
"... I punched Deku in the boy parts" Kota stated rather bluntly
"Huh? Why would you hurt Deku?" She asked.
"I thought he was a poser, a phoney hero... But he proved me wrong... He saved my life... He even beat the crud outta the guy that... Got rid of my parents." He admitted.
"... Do you remember your parents?" Eri suddenly asked.
Kota was surprised by her question but was even more surprised as to why she would ask it. This shock made him turn around and face her as they both lied down. Looking each other in the eyes. "... I... Don't remember much... I remember they liked to smile a lot"
Eri looked a bit deflated "I ... I can't really remember anything about my parents..."
Kota could see the sadness in her eyes "... I'm sorry to hear that..."
Eri smiled a bit "Thank you... The only thing... I can really remember... Is... Him..."
Kota was a bit shocked she would talk about this "You mean ... the bad guy you knew?"
Eri gulped and nodded "Yeah..."
Kota was a bit curious and decided to randomly ask "... I don't know much of what he did... What .. what did he do to you?"
Eri looked fearful at first then closed her eyes and thought of Izuku and Mina. She then took a deep breath "... All I remember was... He would strap my arms, legs, stomach and neck to a chair. Sometimes... S-Sometimes..."
Kota was immediately regretting asking this "You don't have t-"
"No... It's ok... I... I can do this" a determined Eri said. "Sometimes... They would put needles in me and take my blood, I felt a bit woozy after that... Other times, they would cut my arms... Those ones always hurt... But the worst ones... Th-The worst times... We're when the bad guy... Would take off his glove... And reach for me..." Eri was starting to breath heavily and curled up a bit.
Kota was becoming extremely worried about her and followed his instincts which told him to gently grab her hand. It seemed to slowly calm her down.
"Wh-When... When he would reach for me ... Everything would hurt for a moment ... Then it all went dark... Then I would see a light... After that, it all went dark again... And I'd wake up in the same room as I did the night before... It was so scary..." Eri recounted painfully.
Kota held her hand more firmly now, wanting to show her she had his support.
Eri smiled and then recounted more "... Then I met Mr Lemillion and Deku. Lemillion was incredible. He fought off three bad guys and did all he could to keep me safe... Even when... He lost his quirk."
Kota froze at that "he... Lost his quirk?"
Eri nodded "I think... They were using my quirk to turn people back to a time when there were no quirks."
Kota was confused but decided to go with it "That's some quirk..."
Eri nodded "I started getting worried... I thought that everyone might lose... Or worse,... die ..." She took another deep breath "But then... Deku came in, and for some reason... I reached for him... I just felt like I could trust him. He told me my quirk was such a soft and gentle one ... No one had ever told me that before... The bad men always called it a curse..."
Kota was getting pretty invested in this story even though it was extremely messed up "What happened next?"
Eri thought about it "Well... Deku told me to use my quirk while I held onto his back with Mr Lemillion's cape wrapped around me. After that... I only remember Deku punching the bad guy... I can't remember much else... But when I woke up in the hospital, I saw Lemillion, Deku, Mama and Mr... Teacher? Oh, Aizawa, is his name I think."
Kota sighed "Wow... That's ... That's a lot... Can't believe they'd do that to you..."
Eri nodded "B-But I'm ok now. Deku and Mama promised that they would never leave my side."
Kota was reminded of what Mina said earlier "I'd sooner die than break my promise to her" he then looked back to Eri "You know ... I think you have some of the coolest parents ever..."
Eri smiled at him "Thanks."
Kota felt his heart warm up but didn't shy away this time. Instead, he decided to be bold and give Eri a hug.
"K-Kota?" Eri asked quite surprised.
"... I... I thought you could use a hug" Kota shyly admitted.
Eri only giggled and hugged him back, her head was just barely against his chest "I do like hugs... Thank you..."
"No problem... Goodnight Eri" he whispered as he began to fall asleep
She too started drifting off but just before she knocked out, muttered "Goodnight Kota"
Author san sama "What did I tell ya. I took pillows and made words. Anyway. Thank you guys so much for reading I hope you all have a lovely day and tell me whatcha think! Love you guys! See ya!"