Tales of Their Hero Academia: What's in a Name?
At twenty-one years old, Eri should have been perfectly happy. She had two loving parents, she'd graduated from the most prestigious Hero school on the planet, and was set to graduate medical school later this year. She'd long ago gained mastery of her Quirk and she'd used it to help a lot of people already. There were few nightmares these days.
And she had a boyfriend who loved her and who she loved back. She had a boyfriend who'd asked her to marry him.
Which left her with a choice that she wasn't sure how to handle.
No, not the choice of whether or not to marry him. That choice was easy. She loved Kota with all her heart, even if he was hot headed and reckless and drove her crazy sometimes. He had a heart as big as all of the outdoors and a desire to help people that was nearly as strong as her own. He understood her, understood her pain and loss, and understood what drove her to make sure no one ever felt as helpless as she once had. Some of the same demons that drove her, drove him.
No, her choice was something different. Something that brought her to her childhood home: her parents' apartment on the U.A. campus. She had her own key and let herself inside. As Dad had often said, it wasn't rational for her to knock. It was always going to be her home and she should feel free to come and go as she pleased. Still, she would usually call first if she was going to stop by. But she hadn't this time. Some things, some things had to be said in person.
She wasn't surprised by the sight that greeted her: Dad engulfed in his yellow sleeping bag, curled up on the couch. The TV was on low, the volume barely audible, and Mom was likewise on the couch, Dad's head on her lap. She was lightly dozing, but not nearly as asleep as Dad was.
Mom's eyes widened when she saw her, before she broke into a grin. "Eri!" she shouted, arms up in the air. Dad didn't wake up. She didn't completely understand it, but Dad could sleep through almost anything, except he somehow always woke up when he was needed. Mom swatted at him rapidly. "Shota, wake up! Eri's here!"
Dad's eyes snapped open and he shifted into a sitting position instantly, though he did not yet come out of his sleeping bag. "Eri," he said. To anyone else, it might well have sounded flat. But she would hear the warmth in his voice. He looked tired. Then again, he always looked tired. But a smile did tug at the corner of his eyes and lips. "You didn't call. What's wrong?"
"Why would something be wrong?" Mom asked. She brushed a strand of green hair out of her face. "Can't our daughter visit just because she missed us?"
"She'd call first, Emi."
Mom's attention snapped back to her. Concern replaced joy. "Is he right, Eri? Is something wrong?"
Eri took a seat in one of the room's comfortable armchairs. There hadn't been a lot of furniture here when they'd first moved from the teacher's dorm. But little by little, they'd filled the apartment with furniture and love. "No," she said. She shook her head. "…Kind of? I'm not sure."
She took a breath to steady herself. This might not have been the way she'd planned on telling them, but it was still good news. A smile spread across her face. "Kota asked me to marry him."
"OH MY GOODNESS!" Mom shrieked, jumping up from the couch. Dad winced at the noise. "Eri, that's amazing! Congratulations! I told you he was planning something, Shota! I told you!" She was practically vibrating, waving her hands excitedly. Just as suddenly as her outburst had started, it stopped. She blinked slowly. "Wait… then what are you… Are you pregnant?! Shota, get out of that sleeping bag right now, we've got to go kick some ass!"
Dad closed his eyes and sighed. "Calm down, Emi." He shook his head. "Eri. Tell us what's going on. I can tell you're happy, but there's something else going on."
Eri let out a small puff of breath. "I'm trying to decide what to do about my name."
Certainly, she must have had a family name when she was born. She'd had a biological mother and father, neither of whom she could recall. Eri knew that she had accidentally unleashed her Quirk as a child and rewound her biological father out of existence. And she knew that her biological mother had abandoned her after that. Dad had been honest with her, once she'd been old enough to ask. She wished she could know if they had loved her. Her biological mother must have been near mad with grief, but it was still no excuse, not with what had happened to her after. She sometimes found herself wondering, in her darkest hours, if the woman was even still alive. And she could not bring herself to dwell too long on whether or not she would ever like to meet her, or what she might say if she did. p/CKmismZpuRr/
She had a grandfather too, her biological mother's father, now long dead, his true name unknown, just called the "Boss" by his underlings in the Shie Hassaikai. From all accounts, he might have loved her, or at least wanted her to have better control over her power. But he had trusted the wrong man and she… she had paid the price. Paid the price in trauma and scars and nightmares… At least Chisaki, long may he rot, had not tried to force his name upon her, for all his pretense in public of being her father.
Whoever she might have been, whatever past she would have inherited, that past was gone. Thanks to Izuku, Mirio, Dad, and so many others, she'd been granted an opportunity for a much brighter future, a future that had started when she was rescued, and a future that had been solidified when…
She'd been seven years old and had been living at U.A. for a year, under Aizawa's guardianship. He'd held her when she'd had nightmares, helped her when her Quirk threatened to rage out of control. He'd made her feel happy, safe, and loved. It had started as the most logical guardianship, given his own Quirk, but even to her young and naïve heart, it had quickly become apparent that his fondness for her was something much greater than the simple affection for a child by a caretaker.
Before she'd really understood what it meant, she'd known that she'd been his child.
"Eri," Dad had said one day, crouching down so he could talk to her on her level. "I have something important I'd like to talk to you about."
She'd looked up from where she was laying on the floor, coloring a picture of Deku and Lemillion fighting the bad guys. It had been rendered as messy sticky figures that had been little more than barely distinguishably blobs of color. "Yes, Dad?"
She'd been calling him that for a little while now. She'd heard the word and asked Izuku what it had meant. He'd hemmed and hawed, before explaining it as an older male who took care of you, loved you, and made you feel safe. In her little mind, she'd immediately decided that that was what her caretaker was and had called him that at her earliest opportunity, in front of Uncle Mic and Aunt Nemuri.
Uncle Mic had nearly fallen off the couch. Aunt Nemuri had laughed out loud. Dad had looked away, with both of the other adults claiming he was crying, something he'd vehemently denied.
Dad had smiled. "You've been living with me for a while now," he'd said. "And I'm very happy about that. You make me very happy."
"You make me happy too," she'd said.
"And I'm happy to be your dad," he'd said. "Which means if I'm your dad, then you're my daughter."
Daughter. She remembered that word. When she'd gone to the park with Dad, a few women had told him what an adorable daughter he'd had. She hadn't remembered to ask about it then, but it came back to her now.
"Uh-huh," she'd said, her head bobbing rapidly as she'd nodded.
Dad had gone on. "I want to make it official. I want to adopt you, so that everyone knows you're my daughter, and I'm your dad."
She'd looked up, confused. "What does that mean?" she'd asked. "Is something going to change?" She'd started gripping her crayon tighter and had started to tremble. She had thought she'd been safe, stable, but…
Dad had put a hand on her shoulder, giving it an affection squeeze. He'd smiled reassuringly. "For you, almost nothing. You'll still live with me and I'll still be here for you, just like always. It's more about what I can give you. I can give you my family name, so everybody knows you're my kid. You'd be Eri Aizawa."
Eri had known that family names were a thing. She'd even asked once why she didn't have one. Dad had explained as best he could to a still traumatized six year old, but she hadn't completely understood. But she had seen Deku with his mom and all the other kids with their parents and she had known that there must have been people out there to whom she belonged, people who had not wanted her. It had been enough to make her cry.
But Dad did want her. He'd made that clear then, holding her tight until the tears had stopped. He loved her in a way no one else did. In a way she didn't remember anyone ever loving her before. And now, he wanted her so much that he wanted to tell everybody…? He wasn't ashamed of her. He didn't want to hide her away like a monster kept in the closet.
Tears had started to form in her eyes.
Panic had sent in Dad's eyes. "Eri, what's wrong? Did I say something to upset you…?"
She'd stood up and thrown her arms around him. "Yes," she'd said. "Yes. I want to be Eri Aizawa. Always."
He'd held her so tightly and hugged him back at hard as he could. "I love you, Eri."
"I love you, Dad."
"Your name?" Dad asked. Dad didn't do "confused" but his expression was as close to it as he came.
"What about it?" Mom asked.
"I'm just deciding what to do about it when I get married," Eri said. "I know some people, like Momo or Kyoka have kept their maiden names."
"Not me!" Mom piped in. She put an arm around Dad. "I wanted everybody to know I finally got him to marry me! Hell, I even took out billboards announcing it!"
"I think I'd remember if you did, Mom."
Dad just shuddered. "She did. Around Ketsubutsu. I made sure you didn't see them."
"Right," Eri said, desperate to move on. "And I know plenty of women like you or Ochaco are happy to take their husband's last names."
"Or he could take yours," Dad said. "That also happens."
Eri shook her head. "His name's all he has left of his parents. I can't ask him to do that." Kota had been orphaned young. The fact that both of them had endured so much loss so young had been something the two of them had first connected over, long before they'd dated or been lovers.
Concern started creeping into Dad's face, but he otherwise kept silent. She could tell he was thinking, but she couldn't tell what. If experience had taught her anything, it was that he would speak when he was ready.
"Then what's the problem, exactly, kiddo?" Mom asked.
"It's just…" Eri began. How did she put it all into words? How could she explain? She frowned. "Aizawa is the name you gave me, Dad. You said you wanted the whole world to know I was your daughter, no questions asked. I didn't have a family when I came to you, didn't have a family name.
"You wanted me. You wanted me to be your daughter. Someone wanting me like that, belonging like that… I'd never felt like that before. After Mirio and Izuku gave me freedom, it was one of the greatest gifts anyone's ever given me."
"What does Kota think about this?" Mom asked. She liked Kota, she knew. Liked him a lot. Kota was terrified of Dad, of course, but she knew he was more fond of him than he let on.
"I haven't told him," she admitted.
"You should," Dad said. "No secrets in a marriage."
"He's right," Mom agreed. "And a hypocrite."
"How am I a hypocrite?"
"You won't tell me where you keep that extra strong coffee you guzzle!" Mom said, crossing her arms.
"That's not a secret," Dad told her flatly. "It's a precaution. You're hyper enough without caffine."
"Okay," Eri said. That argument would last all night if she didn't interrupt. "I'll talk to him to. It's just… I feel like… if I take his name, I'm throwing away everything you gave me."
"That's not rational."
"Shota!" Mom gave Dad a hard swat across the chest. He winced.
"It's not," Dad insisted, giving her a dirty look. "But it is understandable."
"It is?" Eri asked. "I know I was being a little crazy but…"
"It's a big life change," Dad said. He finally unzipped himself from his sleeping bag and crossed the room, to kneel by her chair. He took her hands in his. "But no matter what you decide, even if we don't have the same last name, you're always going to be my daughter. We're always going to be family. And nothing is ever going to change that. Do you understand? You're one of the greatest things to ever happen to me, Eri, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about how adopting you was the best thing I ever did."
"Even better than marrying me?"
Dad shot Mom another annoyed look. "Yes."
He turned his attention back to her. "This is your decision. But I raised you, Eri. You, me, Emi, we're family. And nothing changes that. Not names, not distance, not anything. Do you understand?"
She nodded. "I do." She pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, Dad."
He nodded thoughtfully. "Tell me what you're thinking."
"I love him, Dad. So much." Eri closed her eyes and smiled. "He's… home. He's kind, he's brave, and he knows all my faults and flaws and baggage and stays with me anyway. He's seen me at my absolute worst, when the nightmares and the trauma get so bad I can barely get out of bed. And even knowing that, knowing that if I make it as a doctor and a Medical Hero, I'll barely have time to think straight, let alone think about him, he still asked me to marry him. If I had to do things again, I'd choose him every time."
"Aaaaw," Mom said. Eri looked over in her direction. Mom's eyes were wet with tears. "That was so beautiful!"
"It sounds to me," Dad said, "like you're already making up your mind." He turned his head away. Eri was certain he was tearing up too, even if he'd never admit it.
"I think I have," she said.
They had, of course, gotten Uncle Mic to DJ the wedding reception. Mom and Dad were there, Kota's aunt and the rest of the Pussycats, Aunt Nemuri, and Izuku and all his friends. It was one of the happiest days of Eri's life.
"Heeeey!" Uncle Mic called out, his voice overpowering all the others in the room. "Let's give it up for the happy couple! We've all known them since they were kids, but give a shout and say hello to Mister and Doctor Izumi!"
