AN: So I took a year break...whoops. But I'm back with another story in my EraserJoke series! 3 As always, this is a little post-war fluffy bit focused on Aizawa, Emi, and Eri (and their new baby, Noa) and general family life. Enjoy the sweetness that these characters deserve. :)
(PS--I am actually NOT caught up on the manga, so please no spoilers if anything bad has happened in canon. XD I would prefer to live in my delusion a little bit more, which is exactly why I'm like 10 chapters behind. I can't handle the stress these babies are putting me through. XD)

~~

Eri had never wanted to use her powers on someone so badly before.

She could do it, too. Daddy had taught her so much, and she thought she had it a lot more under control lately. Nobody would get killed like her first daddy. Nobody would unwind into inexistence.

She'd just take her baby sister Noa back a year, to when the precious little girl was a newborn.

Eri stared down into the crib as Noa slumbered, her chest rising and falling with little breaths. Her black-with-green-tips hair smelled like strawberry baby shampoo, and she looked too cute in her cat onesie.

But despite all that cuteness, Eri still blinked back tears.

"Don't grow up, Noa. Please," Eri whispered. Noa had captured one of Eri's fingers earlier with a chubby fist, and neither sister looked like they were about to pull away soon. "Please stay my baby sister forever and ever and ever."

That sentiment had plagued Emi all throughout Noa's birthday party. How could a year pass by so quickly? And if the first year could go by so fast, then that meant all the next years could fly by, and soon Noa would be all grown up.

Eri's bottom lip trembled. Not even delicious cake could make that scary thought more palatable.

Someone knocked on the doorframe softly. "I thought I heard a noise. Can I come in? Or is this strictly a sister-to-sister chat?"

Eri turned around to see Mama Emi illuminated by the hallway light. She was already in her pajamas, and her green hair was in a ponytail.

"You can come in, so long as you don't talk Noa into growing up." Eri rested her cheek on her hand, gazing back down at her baby sister.

Mama padded across the room. "I would never." She pulled up the rocker and settled down beside Eri. "But shouldn't you be in bed right now? It's already midnight, and we had a long day with Noa's party." She reached forward, stroking Eri's gray, damp hair.

"Couldn't sleep." Eri rubbed her thumb across Noa's knuckles. "So I came to check on her. But I guess she's fine." Silence fell between them until Eri broke it with a sigh. "Mama, would it be really bad to unwind Noa until she was a baby again? Then she could stay so small and adorable forever."

Mama wrapped an arm around Eri and held her close. "It's probably frowned upon in most societies. Not that I don't trust you completely, but I don't think that's what we need to do when we're sad about growing up."

"Then what do we do?"

"Well, when I'm sad about you or Noa growing up, I usually do exactly what you're doing. I go give you a big hug, and then I try to remember everything that's going on. To make a picture in my mind so I never forget this exact moment."

"You mean…" Eri lifted her head up, her brow furrowed. "Sometimes you don't want me to grow up?"

"Why would I? You're my chickadee. And you're already eleven. Almost twelve! Gosh. I don't know where the time goes. But of course I want to stop it so you can be this age forever."

Eri pursed her lips, the cogs in her brain working overtime. "I've never tried to unwind myself, but—"

"Oh, no. That was not me asking for you to unwind yourself." Mama planted a kiss on Eri's head. "Everybody has these feelings. Even your dad. We just have to face them and treasure the little moments."

Eri smiled, a small giggle escaping her. "Daddy doesn't want her to not grow up. He can't. He'd say…" She dropped her voice to imitate her father. "'It's not logical. Nobody can never grow up. So why would I want that?'"

"I don't know if he'd use a double-negative, but yeah. That does sound like something he'd say." Mama rubbed her thumb across Eri's shoulder. "But trust me. I know he gets sad too sometimes." Mama squeezed Eri extra tight. "It's a side effect of loving someone. You don't want things to change when you like them so well, right? And you love Noa being a baby—I do, too—and I love you being so sweet and cuddly. You're just too darn adorable." Like she wanted to emphasize her point, Mama moved her arms and captured Eri's waist. With a kiss, Mama brought Eri in for a tighter hug, letting out a little "grrr" sound. Eri giggled, only to slap her free hand over her mouth so she wouldn't wake up Noa.

"See?" Done with her bear hug, Mama pulled back and smoothed Eri's hair away from her horn, tucking it behind her ear instead. "I love having you the perfect size for hugging. And I love having you here, where we can spend every day with each other." Mama's voice caught a little bit. "And sometimes it makes me sad to think of you growing up and moving away, and I might not get to see your face every day. It reminds me that one day I'm going to have to let my little chickadee fly and leave the nest, and that's all right. It's more than all right, even. It's what you're supposed to do. You're going to go live your life and follow your dreams and do amazing things. You're going to be a wonderful young woman that makes the world bright just by being in it, because you already are a wonderful little girl who does the same." Mama swallowed, and maybe even a few tears gathered on her eyelashes. Eri reached forward to wipe them away.

"Don't cry, Mama." Which was hard to say when Eri could hardly swallow now because there was a huge lump inside her throat. "I don't want to grow up. I want to always be your chickadee forever." Maneuvering her way onto Mama's lap, Eri snuggled in close—only to realize with a sinking feeling in her heart that she could already see she was growing up. Her legs hung over the side a bit more than they used to, her hair was longer, and even her pajamas were brand-new because she'd outgrown her old ones.

"You'll always be my chickadee. No matter how much you grow up, you'll always be my little girl. You and Noa both." Mama rocked back and forth. She hummed a quick musical bar under her breath as she rested her chin on Eri's head.

Eri smiled, her eyes closing. "And you'll always be my mama that I love forever and ever. No matter how old I get."

But just for tonight, Eri didn't want to think about growing up and life changing. Right now, she just wanted to take one of Mama's pictures in her head: a quiet night, the memory of birthday cake fresh on her mind, Noa asleep in her crib, Mama's arms around her, and a lullaby in her ear.

Nobody had to grow up tonight. Maybe tomorrow they would, and the next day.

But tonight, time was frozen, if only in Eri's mental picture, and everything was perfect.

~~

With both girls tucked in for the night, Emi crawled into bed next to Shouta. He was on his side, probably half-asleep, but that didn't stop her from cuddling right next to him and wrapping her arm around his chest. He grunted as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

She squirmed, trying to make the position more comfortable, but gave up with a resigned sigh. "I'm not cut out to be big spoon. You're so much taller than me. Switch."

Shouta grunted. "You did this of your own accord."

"Switch me."

"I have to get up early. Go to sleep."

"Swiiiiiiitch."

Shouta sighed and rolled over, adjusting their positions so that he could wrap his arm around her. "Satisfied?"

"Immensely."

"Good." A beat passed between them. "Did you figure out what the noise was?"

Emi smiled in the darkness. "Yes. Eri was in Noa's room. She wanted to know if she could use her unwind to keep her a baby forever. Said she didn't want her baby sister to grow up."

"Mm."

"I told her I knew how it felt. That everyone feels that way, even you."

"Mmhmm."

"Is that true?"

He sighed. His breath tickle her hair, and when he inhaled again—maybe in mild annoyance—she felt his chest rise. "Is what true?"

She didn't bother to conceal her smile. "Is it true that you don't want the girls to grow up either? That you might actually get sad at the prospect of them growing up?"

"Never growing up isn't logical. It's a fact of life. You can't stop time, so it isn't efficient to mope about its passage."

Emi twisted her neck around so she could peer at him in the half-darkness. She'd expected his eyes to be closed, but his gaze met hers. As always, he expression might have been taken as disinterest, except the faintest downward twitch of his lips hinted that he might have emotions.

Emi turned all the way over so they could be nose-to-nose and pressed her lips against his. It wasn't a deep kiss; in fact, it was so chase even a nun wouldn't be scandalized. But it was sweet and warm all the same, feather-light even though it was barely more than a peck. Poor, poor Shouta. Even after all these years, he still had such trouble admitting that he cared. That he had been tamed, and he wasn't merely a calculating robot, but a flesh-and-blood person with—gasp—emotions.

And, slowly, he voiced those opinions in a low murmur. "But…yes." His voice sounded thick as they pulled away. "Sometimes I wish they'd never grow up, too."