Chapter 9: Sunday Family Time
The Aizawa family always loved going to the park especially Eri. She loved playing in the jungle gym especially when Hitoshi agreed to play with her. It always brought a smile to Aizawa's face. He typically graded papers during this time but he kept an eye on them. Currently, Hitoshi was helping Eri across the monkey bars while Aizawa was sitting on a bench in the shade grading papers.
"Okay, I'm going to let go," Hitoshi told her calmly. "You think you can make it to the other side without me?"
"Yes, I can," Eri said in a determined voice.
"Okay," Hitoshi responded. "THREE. TWO. ONE." Hitoshi lowered his arms and placed them at his side, but he was still on guard in case he needed to grab her if she fell. Eri then grabbed the next bar and swung over. She grabbed the next bar and then the next.
"Daddy! Look!" Eri exclaimed. Aizawa looked up and saw Eri was three-fourths of the way across the monkey bars. "I'm doing it!" Aizawa smiled.
"Good job!" Aizawa exclaimed back. Eri smiled back as she continued to go across the monkey bars until she finally made it all the way across.
"I did it!" Eri exclaimed happily. "I did it!" She climbed down the ladder still smiling.
"Good job," Hitoshi told her. "High five?" Eri gave him a high five. "So what do you want to do now?"
"Slide?" Eri suggested. Hitoshi gave her a nervous chuckle and smile in reply.
"Sure, kid," Hitoshi replied before being led by the seven-year-old to the jungle gym. Aizawa looked at his kid in awe and smiled. Then he felt his phone vibrate, he pulled it and saw that his father was calling him. His smile fell and he quickly denied the call before sighing.
"He can't seem to let it go, can he?" Aizawa muttered.
"Hey! Dad!" Hitoshi called. Aizawa looked up and saw Hitoshi and Eri near the base of the slide. "Come and join us!" Aizawa smirked, restacked and paperclipped his papers, set them down on the bench, and walked over to his kids who were already climbing the ladder to the slide. Aizawa climbed the ladder and joined them at the top of the slide. Aizawa sat down near the edge of the platform connected to the slide with his legs stretched out. Hitoshi sat down on his lap and then Eri sat down on Hitoshi's lap.
"Ready?" Aizawa asked. Hitoshi and Eri nodded. Aizawa skooched forward onto the slide causing them to slide down.
"Waahoooooooooo!" Eri and Hitoshi exclaimed.
"Wooooaaaaahh!" Aizawa shouted as they slid down the slide and onto the group.
"Again!" Eri exclaimed. Aizawa chuckled.
"I don't…" Aizawa started.
"Plleeeaassee daddy?" Eri asked with puppy dog eyes.
"Okay," Aizawa responded with a smirk. "One more time."
"So…whatcha doing?" Hizashi asked his wife who currently lying on the couch. It was Sunday so Nemuri wasn't working and Hizashi was off the clock till later that evening. Nemuri looked up at him and smiled.
"Just looking through our old yearbooks," Nemuri told him. She pointed to a picture on a student body page. "Remember your hair?"
"Hey! It was AWESOME and you know it!" Hizashi exclaimed. She giggled in response.
"What was it that Shota called it? Oh right! The cockatoo-do," Nemuri teasingly reminded him.
"Owww, that hurts," Hizashi said in fake pain. "Betrayed by my own wife. And it's not like your hair was any better your freshman year." Nemuri fake laughed.
"I thought we agreed to never speak of that again," Nemuri responded with a subtle threatening undertone.
"Funny? I remember a similar thing about the cockatoo-do," Hizashi told her in a similar. "So why don't we call it even and move on? Deal?"
"Deal," Nemuri said. "Oh, and there's Shota! I forgot how cute he was!"
"Yeah and look he's still got some baby fat on his cheeks," Hizashi added.
"How is it that someone can look so dead and somehow look cute at the same time?" Nemuri questioned. Hizashi shrugged.
"Oh! Remember this!?" Hizashi asked. He opened to the U.A musical talent performance in his junior yearbook. In the center of the page was a picture of Shota playing on the piano with the caption, Junior Shota Aizawa plays his award-winning piece written for the musical, Dear Evan Hansen, Waving Through a Window.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he had everyone sobbing by the time the song was over," Nemuri replied. "He won, didn't he?" Hizashi nodded.
"Yeah, he was pretty proud," Hizashi told him. "His song was even adapted into the musical."
"Yeah, he was really good," Nemuri responded. "Why didn't he do it next year?"
"His dad made him drop," Hizashi told her.
"Really, why?" Nemuri asked.
"His dad wanted him to be a lawyer and felt that music was a distraction," Hizashi explained. "Shame really. He was really talented, and I think he would've done it too."
"Why don't you have him play a song on your show?" Nemuri asked.
"I've been trying but he keeps declining," Hizashi informed her. "Says he's lost his drive and it doesn't give him the same passion it used to. The reason he started doing it again for fun was because of his kids."
After a long day at the park, the Aizawa family came home.
"I'm going to start making dinner," Shota told them once they got home.
"Can I help?" Hitoshi asked. Aizawa nodded.
"Can I help you too?" Eri asked.
"Not tonight sweetie," Aizawa answered. "You can help tomorrow, okay?" Eri nodded.
"Okay," Eri said before heading up to her bedroom.
"So what's for dinner?" Hitoshi asked.
"Hayashi Rice Stew," Aizawa answered. "Would mind cooking the rice while I do the meat?"
"Sure," Hitoshi responded as he grabbed the rice out of one of the side cabinets and pulled out a pot from underneath the island. Aizawa took the meat out of fridge and the other things for the dressing for the meat. Aizawa just started cutting the meat when his phone rang from on the kitchen counter. The person calling him was Emi.
"Could you please answer the phone and put it on speaker?" Aizawa asked Hitoshi.
"Sure," Hitoshi responded before doing what he requested.
"Hi Shota," Emi said over the phone.
"Hey Emi," Aizawa responded. "FYI you're on speaker and we're making dinner."
"We're?" Emi questioned.
"Me and my son," Aizawa informed her.
"Hi," Hitoshi added.
"Hi," Emi replied. "So, anything embarrassing you can me about Shota?"
"Hitoshi, don't you dare," Aizawa told him.
"He secretly collects cat plushies that he happens to find at the store that he thinks are cute," Hitoshi informed her. "They're in a bin under his bed."
"Rrrreeeaalllyyy," Emi responded.
"Wait, how did you know about that bin?" Aizawa asked.
"I saw you showing it to Eri," Hitoshi answered.
"Shouldn't you be focused on cooking the rice?" Aizawa said as he tried to change the topic. Hitoshi chuckled before looking over and realizing that he hadn't even started. Aizawa smirked.
"Let me guess, you haven't even started?" Emi guessed.
"No, I haven't," Hitoshi admitted. "Also he secretly likes…"
"Finish that sentence and you're cleaning the whole house for two weeks," Aizawa told him.
"Fine," Hitoshi muttered. Emi laughed at their interaction.
"Is it always like this?" Emi asked.
"Typically yes," Aizawa replied. "He finds humor in joking at my expense. He's kind of a brat."
"You know I'm right here," Hitoshi reminded him. Aizawa ruffled Hitoshi's hair in a loving manner.
"I know, and you are, but you're MY brat," Aizawa said with a smirk in both a teasing and sincere tone.
"AWwwww!" Emi exclaimed. "That's SO sweet! You guys are adorable!"
"Don't tell my class, could ruin my reputation," Aizawa responded.
"My class has named you Dadzawa, I don't think you have that serious and stoic reputation anymore," Hitoshi informed him.
"Mind telling me who created that name?" Aizawa asked.
"To be honest, I have no idea," Hitoshi said. "It just sort of…happened."
"It's kind of sweet name," Emi stated. "Well, I've got to go. Talk to you later! Bye!"
"Bye," Aizawa and Hitoshi replied before she hung up.
"So…when's the wedding?" Hitoshi teased.
"Very funny," Aizawa responded sarcastically.
The minute Emi hung up the phone, she sighed in relief.
'How much longer am I going to play around like this?' Emi thought as she looked down at the red string on her pinky before pulling a tube out of a box and squeezing some on her finger causing the red string to become invisible.