After their talk, it takes three months for her to look him in the eye. It happens one late night in the coffee house, where she whips around from watching the fireplace to grin at him.
"Izuku! It - the fire! It made a shape like a flower!"
He meets her eyes from over by the counter and grins right back. His eyes look like stars in the flickering light.
His voice is as warm as his heart is as warm as the fire. "Awesome! What did the flower look like?"
-
It's May 12th now, she knows. Izuku bought a calendar a bit ago and put it up behind the counter so that she knows what day it is (because he taught her the days of the week and the months and the seasons and also numbers, and he's going to teach her even more than that).
It's May 12th and she asks him about the things he took from the lab, because she knows now that he won't get mad at her for asking questions. And he sits her on his knee and tells her about how the machines in his office work, and what he's done with the numbers on the papers, and how her quirk makes it work.
"I'm working on making temporary quirk suppressants," he tells her. "They'll help people whose quirks hurt them or make them scared, like yours. See what they do is-" and he goes on about how different strengths of the suppressants can weaken the quirk, completely nullify it, or remove it altogether.
"I'm not going to give anyone that one," he tells her. He's very serious right now. "It's dangerous, and I should probably destroy the sample, but I'm not going to. Do you know why I'm keeping it, bug?"
She shakes her head. She doesn't know, but she's absolutely sure that his reason will make sense. His reasons always make sense, and he always explains his ideas to her so that she can understand him.
"I'm keeping it because if somebody comes after you, I need to protect you. If I have to take away their quirk to do so, then I will."
She gets it. The idea of someone taking her from Izuku crawls into her lungs and tries to choke her, but she knows that Izuku will protect her. He rescued her. He's her and she's his. She understands. She knows that if somebody comes after Izuku, she'll break the world to keep him safe.
-
Eri learns what a birthday party is on July 15th, and she loves it with all her heart.
Izuku is now 15 years old, and he closes up the shop for the day so that they can spend time together. Izuku takes her into the kitchen and sits her up on the counter, giving her tastes of a thing called cake batter in it's various stages as he mixes it all up. And then, when it's all mixed up and put into the pan, she helps him push it into the oven! It's hot and it scares her for a second, but Izuku's right there to make sure she doesn't slip and burn herself.
It's the first time she's helped him in the kitchen with baking something, but she's glad that this is the first thing that she's done.
Mrs. Midoriya and her husband, Mr. Midoriya, are talking to Izuku and her through a computer. Their faces are squished together and they're both smiling very nicely at her, laughing at the jokes Izuku's making and asking her how she likes her life with Izuku.
She loves it.
They were surprised when Izuku called them and she showed up with him on the screen, but Mrs. Midoriya had apparently immediately decided that Eri was a part of the family now. (Izuku had called his mom prior and explained that he found her crying on the street a couple of weeks ago, and that she was an orphan with nowhere to go. Midoriya Inko, not one to beat around the bush, had told him to take care of her, and that they'd start sending more money.)
The oven beeps, and Izuku grins.
"Alright, bug, I'm going to need to do this part, but can you get me the hotpad? Oh, and set it on the counter right-" he grunts with the weight of the cake in its dish, and she holds the hotpad over her head like a torch, "-over here, thank you bug!" She plops the hotpad down on the white counter and Izuku sets down the cake, heaving out an exaggerated sigh.
"Wow," he exclaims, "that's a lot of cake!" He looks over at her and his eyes are sparkling. "I think," he starts, wiggling his eyebrows at her as she giggles, "that we're gonna have to eat as much as we can tonight, and then have cake for breakfast tomorrow."
Eri gasps, eyes lighting up, and starts jumping up and down in place.
"Really?"
Izuku nods with a self-satisfied grin. "Yup!"
Eri stops jumping for a second and looks around, eyes wide. She creeps closer to Izuku, and tugs on his shirt. He crouches down and slowly reaches up, smoothing her hair down when she nods.
"What's up, bug?" he whispers.
Eri twists her hands into her dress, eyebrows furrowing with worry.
"Is-is that allowed? Nobody will get mad?"
"Oh, bug." Izuku opens his arms up for a hug and she snuggles up to him on the kitchen floor. "Nobody'll get mad, I promise." In warm arms, Eri knows that Izuku won't lie to her.
"Okay," she whispers. "Cake for breakfast."
"Wonderful," he whispers back, laughing into her hair. "Can I pick you up?" And with her nod, Izuku swings her up onto his hip and dances them around the counter to the cooking rack.
Mrs. and Mr. Midoriya are waiting patiently on the counter, chatting to each other about something Eri can't quite hear, and they smile when she and Izuku come back into the camera's view.
"Alright," Izuku announces, making his voice deep and silly. " "It is now time… to frost the cake!" Eri and Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya clap, impressed, and Izuku explains how he's going to frost the cake.
"First we have to get it out of the pan. Eri?" She nods. "Do you remember that greasy stuff we spread all over the pan before we put the batter in?" She nods again. "Well, that's non-stick baking spray and it makes the cake not stick to the pan. So what we have to do is take our little plastic spatula doohickey," he produces said doohickey with a flourish, "and loosen up the sides. Watch this."
And Eri watches, mystified, as Izuku gently pushes the spatula between the cake and the edges of the pan.
Izuku looks over at her and smiles. "My esteemed assistant, would you like to try?"
Eri straightens up, takes a big breath, and nods.
-
The cake is ready. Sitting on a plate, covered in cream cheese frosting and sprinkles and icing that spells 'Izuku and Eri', it looks amazing. Mr. Midoriya (she calls him that and he immediately says, "Call me Hisashi, dear." That prompts Mrs. Midoriya to say, "Oh, and just call me Inko, please.") calls for pictures as soon as they've got everything ready.
Izuku takes out his phone, sets it propped up against a pile of science textbooks, and presses record. Right at home, everyone sings happy birthday to Izuku. Then, they sing happy birthday to Eri.
At her surprise, Izuku beams at her and smooths down her hair.
"Because we haven't gotten to celebrate your birthdays before, we'll give you as many of them as we can now, so we can get caught up!" He holds out his arms and when Eri scoots over into them, he pulls her up into his lap. Mrs. Inko and Mr. Hisashi croon over them and lament at not being able to be there in person.
"Mom, Dad, don't worry! It's a lot of money for plane tickets, and we're fine over here. And anyways, I've got Eri to keep me in check!" Izuku lifts her up a bit and she grins, laughing. This is good.
"If you're sure, honey," Inko sighs. She rests her cheek in her hand and smiles softly. "I'm glad you two found each other. I was worried about my little boy all alone! But," and she looks directly at Eri now, "I can see that he's in good hands."
Oh, Eri's gonna cry. If Mrs. Inko thinks that Eri is good enough to take care of Izuku, then she must be.
-
Izuku dishes up two pieces of cake onto one plate (because it'd be a waste to have two plates, Eri's on his lap, Mom), and they dig in. Everyone waits with bated breath as Eri takes her first bite; a big bite of carrot cake and a healthy amount of cream-cheese frosting (an American recipe that Mom sent over - more sugar than Izuku's ever seen a recipe call for) that she shoves in her mouth.
She chews, swallows, and doesn't say anything as she scoops up another bite and shoves it into her mouth, same as the first. She swallows again, turns to look up at Izuku, and he melts at her expression.
"It's so good, oh my gosh Izuku!" Big red eyes shine up at him and she's got frosting on her cheek, holy shit she's adorable, and neither of them see the older Midoriyas exchange a soft look.
"Well, sweet pea," Mrs. Midoriya starts, "we have to go. I hope both of you have a wonderful day, and happy birthday again, Izuku. Your present should be coming in the mail soon, I hope you like it!"
Izuku looks at his mom and smiles at her. Her cheeks are rosy with affection, and she looks healthier and happier than she's ever been, even when they took care of the café together. Her hair and eyes are shinier, and his dad looks really, really happy.
Izuku smiles warmly. "Mom, I'm sure I'll love it. Thanks for calling, and I'll talk to you guys on Sunday." Eri waves goodbye, mouth stuffed with cake, as Izuku clicks the end call button. He picks up his phone and shuts it off, then closes his laptop.
"That was fun," says Eri, licking her lips. "I like Mrs. Inko and Mr. Hisashi. They're nice." She's back to facing the plate now, and she can't see how his face softens. He really loves her.
Izuku grins - because wow, he didn't realize how amazing this was going to be. How amazing life would be once Eri was allowed to be herself. He's so lucky to have her. He's so amazingly, incredibly glad that he got to her before anyone could hurt her more than they already had.
I'm glad you like them, bug." He rests his chin on top of her head. "You know," he whispers conspiratorially, "I think they like you too." He goes to get a bite of cake on his fork and finds that there's no more on the plate. "Woah, bug! That's a lot of cake you just had!" He grins and pats her head, reaching for the plate. "You want another piece?"
Eri nods vigorously, and Izuku dishes up another piece. "Alright. Cake now, then sleep, then more cake for breakfast."
Eri wiggles in the seat - she moves over so he can sit down and then clambers back onto her lap, and soft chants of 'cake, cake, cake, cake' reach his ears. "After all, we've got some work to do tomorrow in the shop! We can't disappoint our customer!"