Welp… I thought there was only going to be one more chapter, but… it might be like 2-3 more so we'll see XD Thanks for your patience with my terrible updating habits! It really means a lot to me!

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A Day In Your Life

Chapter 10

Eri yawned as she sat at the kitchen table for breakfast. Miro and Tamaki always let her stay up and sleep in far later than she was allowed to at home, which made weekend stays amazing, but Monday school mornings rather exhausting as she readjusted to her usual schedule. The moment she saw her father's face, however, she was wide awake; Aizawa looked tormented as he set out their plates and almost dropped into his chair.

"Uncle Mirio told you what I said… didn't he?" she asked quietly, lowering her head when he nodded. In truth, she'd hoped that he would say something to her father and maybe even convince him of allowing her to go through with her desire to help before she had to make her case to him… But it didn't look as though Aizawa was even the least bit receptive to the idea.

Instead, he sighed and twisted towards her after a moment, brushing some of her long silver hair from her face as he looked her over. From the moment she was rescued, Aizawa had decided to dedicate his life to making hers everything it should have been and more; he promised himself that even if he didn't have an upbeat personality, he'd make her smile and protect her from anything that would make her unhappy. But the situation he was in now made it so difficult to keep that promise. "Mirio told me that you overheard what Bakugo and I were speaking about when he came by your school and that you want to help."

Eri swallowed but nodded, somewhat worried how her dad would react since she'd outright refused to use her power at all for nearly a year after being rescued out of fear of what she could accidentally do to someone. When she finally agreed to 'training' it was only to learn how to stop her quirk if it somehow became activated without Aizawa around to help. "A-are you mad at me?"

"No, Eri… I'm…" The Pro assured, sighing as he struggled to find the right words. "I'm proud that you want to help others and if being a hero is truly what you want to do in the future, then I'll support you, but—"

"I heard you, dad!" Eri interrupted as tears sprung into her eyes. "You told Mr. Kacchan that you'd never seen him so upset before when he was talking to you about Izuku and all the injuries he's had! That has to mean that big brother needs help right now!"

Aizawa almost flinched from the flare of sadness and desperation in Eri's expression, his gut sinking with a sense of failure as a parent. "I don't know what's going on with those two, Eri, but whatever it is isn't your responsibility."

"Big brother says that being a hero means shouldering the responsibility for the lives and welfare of others even when it doesn't have to directly fall on you." The girl argued. She pulled up her sleeves to brandish the scars Overhaul had left on her from his experimentation, nearly shoving them in Aizawa's face for emphasis. "Uncle Mirio and Tamaki, big brother Izuku, Fatgum, Eijiro, Nighteye, you—everyone who came to rescue me… You were all there because I needed someone to save me from the person who was responsible for me."

Aizawa fumbled slightly while he created a mental note to smack Midoriya for teaching Eri such wisdom-filled words… little hero indoctrinating twit. "That's true, but all of the people who were involved in the raid were police, Pro Heroes, or UA students with enough skill to be considered Pro's themselves. You're barely thirteen and we've only done minimal training on your quirk."

"You think I can't do it?" Eri sniffled, the passion in her voice dropping as insecurity created shadows in her mind. "You're worried I'll lose control again."

"Yes," Aizawa forced himself to admit, hating that there didn't seem to be a good way to go about this conversation. "From what we have learned, the strength of your power is heavily influenced by emotions and Izuku is one of the most important people in your life... It's irrational to go from minimal quirk activation to something so invasive, even more so to ask you to do it in a situation with him."

Eri sniffled and tossed her head aside. "Not everything is rational, dad."

Aizawa repressed another sigh, quickly realizing he wasn't making any headway in convincing her of anything other than his lack of faith in her. He'd heard rumors from his colleagues with children that the tween-teen years were an uphill battle on the best of days and he certainly didn't want to make things worse by insinuating he didn't believe in her. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

The pro could only rub the bridge of his nose when Eri pouted her bottom lip and crossed her slender arms in a solidly defiant 'no'. He only had himself to blame for her attitude, he knew. What else should he have expected from her when she hung around his former problem child Midoriya so frequently?

"I'm not going to say yes," he finally stated, holding up his hand to shush her when she whipped her head back around with indignancy. "But I won't say no either… Not until I've gotten to the bottom of what's going on and looked at other options first. Does that seem fair?"

Eri scrunched her nose and thought hard, eventually deciding it seemed like a decent deal… for now anyway.

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"I wonder what Recovery Girl found out…" Midoriya mused aloud as he and Bakugo met out in front of the UA entrance before beginning the nostalgic trek to the old hero's office, this time on better terms than they had been in years.

"Tsk, hell if I know," Bakugo grunted in response. He was only partially focused on what Midoriya started babbling about next since literally every student they passed gawked at them and whispered about how badly he'd messed up by getting them swapped and subsequently put on leave from hero work.

It bothered him less that they said it and more that it was true… it was already eating him up inside and he really didn't need to hear random kids snickering about and condemning his second-biggest failure— the greatest being pushing Midoriya away for nearly two decades.

"Kacchaaan!"

"Ah? What?" the blonde huffed as he turned his attention back to the now pouting Pro, finding the sight endearing enough to soothe his blistered ego. "Were you talking to me or some shit?"

Midoriya puffed out his cheeks and snorted, rolling his eyes. "Uh, yeah, Kacchan! I was asking if you wanted to go visit Kirishima and Shoto with me today."

"Oh, uh…" Bakugo started, feeling his ears burn in an unfamiliar and probably humiliating way that he attempted to compensate for by puffing out his chest. "Fine, but afterward you come over to my place and we watch a scary movie."

Midoriya's immediate response was to trip over his feet, nearly crashing into the floor in a heap as passerby's giggled. He managed to catch himself just in time but didn't school the startled, hopeful expression that bloomed on his adorably flushed face.

"R-really? You mean like… a movie night?" he questioned breathlessly with wide red eyes.

"Tsk, yeah if you want to get all school-girly about it," Bakugo chuckled, secretly breathing a heavy sigh of relief from fear of being turned down. "We're friends now, right Deku?"

Seeing Midoriya tear up out of happiness was worth the palpitations in his chest. He almost forgot what they were there for until he opened the door to Recovery Girls office and came face to face with a room full of people.

"Ah, there you two are…" The old nurse hummed. "I was beginning to think you'd decided to skip our appointment today."

"Uh…" Midoriya responded in confusion. He looked around at the people already there, finding that Principal Nezu looked as peppy as always while Aizawa was rather frustrated in appearance. "Wh-what's going on?" He turned to Bakugo to see if he was just as lost but found him almost backing out of the room entirely.

"Have a seat—both of you," Aizawa ordered, giving a harsh glare at Bakugo that dared him to see what would happen if he tried to get away.

Midoriya sat down wordlessly even though he had an unending flow of questions filtering through his brain. He kept his eyes on Bakugo as he defeatedly slunk back into the room and eased into the farthest possible chair.

"Well, Bakugo?" Aizawa drawled after several tense moments of everyone staring at him. "You know why we're here; Would you like to start the conversation?"

The blonde swallowed thickly and firmly kept his eyes downward and away from Izuku, knowing that the Pro's nervous gaze was likely burning a hole in the top of his head. He'd visited Swap and Eri in an attempt to help Izuku and atone for the foolish things he'd done, but he had the most unsettling feeling that Izuku would be pissed at him once he found out.

"I'm sorry, alright?" he murmured, "I was just trying to do the right thing... I didn't know—I didn't think it through..."

"Think what through?" Midoriya squeaked while whipping his head around to everyone. It wasn't lost on him that he was the only person in the room that didn't know what Bakugo was referring to and that made his already frantic heart beat even more rapidly. "What did you do, Kacchan?"

"He showed up at Eri's school to try and convince her to use her quirk on your body, Midoriya," Aizawa answered, clearly out of patience for Bakugo's continued hesitance. "And thanks to your constant hero babble, she's determined to do it despite how dangerous it is for her to try."

"YOU WHAT?"

Bakugo flinched back and grit his teeth against the ear-drum shattering screech Midoriya let out. He wanted so badly to explain himself—to swear that it wasn't a selfish act or meant to cause trouble, but his mouth simply fell open and clattered shut repeatedly.

"Kacchan!" Midoriya continued desperately. "Is this true? Did you really try to—"

"Everybody settle down!" Recovery Girl interjected with a harsh tap of her cane. "Now, everyone here is fully aware of the fact that Midoriya has been injured frequently and severely over the years. We're also aware that my power limits me to what the body can do to heal itself... So, the question we're all here for and want you two kids to answer is why Bakugo found it necessary to approach Eri in the first place."

"And from there we'll determine what we do about the repercussions of his actions!" Nezu added, his brilliant mind already weighing the pros and cons of allowing Eri to attempt something so difficult.

It was Midoriya's turn to choke up, Adam's apple bobbing incessantly under the tan skin of his throat while he looked between everyone. Though he didn't say anything, the fear that sprung into his eyes was more than enough information for Nezu, Aizawa, and Recovery Girl.

"You told me you weren't experiencing much pain, child." Recovery Girl sighed dishearteningly. "Just how serious is your discomfort?"

"It's not that b—"

"It's fucking horrific," Bakugo grunted, finally finding his voice as he interrupted Izuku's desperate attempt at downplaying his symptoms. "I can't move a single muscle without it feeling like it's tearing. Every bone in this damn body creaks and aches when I take a step. I can't breathe deeply without causing a coughing fit from hell and—"

"Kacchan, stop! Stop it!"

The blonde did as he was told and fell silent, though the determination in his eyes didn't waver despite the look he was receiving from Midoriya. As far back as he could remember Midoriya was never one to complain and he'd begrudgingly admired the little nerd for it... but there were times where speaking up took more strength than keeping quiet.

"Izuku..." he breathed, softening his expression when Midoriya shook his head in continued, but faltering denial. "You saw what happened to All Might when he tried to do everything alone... when he pretended that his body wasn't a fucking train wreck. You know better than this..."

Bakugo could see the frantic fight behind Midoriya's rapidly watering eyes and knew what was likely rushing through his head. He was torn; living up to All Might's expectations for him meant two very different, conflicting things. On the one hand, he'd received One For All because he was a true hero that never gave up and yet on the other, continuing without regard to what happened to himself was exactly what led to All Might's decline—something the old Pro had no doubt warned against repeating.

Then, of course, Bakugo knew he was a factor in whatever chaos was swirling through Midoriya's mind. Admitting that he was probably one bad fight away from having a full physical breakdown was no different than accepting what Bakugo had always told him he was: weak, a failure; he'd never 'win him back' if he couldn't prove that they were equals.

"He's telling the truth..." Midoriya finally admitted in a whimper, his voice almost inaudible as he sagged low in his chair. "I'm so sorry..."

Bakugo was quick to move closer, however, immediately switching seats so that he could put a comforting hand on Midoriya's back.

Aizawa cleared his throat as Midoriya tensed but eventually accepted Bakugo's attempt to console him, posture less threatening than it had been minutes before. "Given this new insight, I can understand Bakugo's rationale, however irrational, in going to see Eri. However, I have my concerns about the efficacy of this plan to use her power to heal Midoriya."

"Indeed," Nezu nodded, "Eri is still mostly untested and unpredictable despite how far she's come since her rescue."

"I don't understand why you can't just stop her though, Mr. Aizawa?" Bakugo questioned after a deep, calming breath. "She couldn't have had any training at all without you there to intervene, right? So, what's so different about this?"

"She knows me," Midoriya responded with a quiet sniff. "Eri's control over her quirk decreases as her emotional state increases so, using it on someone close to her like me is dangerous."

Bakugo continued to frown. He'd gotten the gist of why it was generally a bad idea already but still couldn't understand their reasoning. "So...?" he questioned slowly, somewhat frustrated that everyone else was seeing something he couldn't.

"Eri would be trying to reverse only the critical damage to Midoriya's body without undoing the years' worth of training he's done to handle the intensity of his quirks. Couple that with her emotional attachment to him, the unpredictable nature of her quirk, and the sheer speed of that ability, and there may not even be time for Aizawa to erase her power before something unthinkable happens." Recovery Girl explained solemnly, nodding for Midoriya to add his own input.

"She healed my broken bones before I even knew they were broken, Kacchan. Her rewind ability is so strong that I could use 100% of my power at a time when my body should've only been able to tolerate 15%… and that was before she and I became close."

The blonde felt a burning numbness flood just under his skin. Deku was one hell of a hero and he'd seen his fair share of monstrous quirks thanks to Shigaraki, but Eri's power was something else entirely. "That's why you never asked her to help you?" he asked, though it came out as more of a statement.

"And because I knew what it would do to her if something did go wrong," Midroiya confirmed. "I didn't want there to even be a chance that Eri would feel guilt over hurting me; she's suffered and blamed herself enough.

"So... what's the answer then?" Nezu hummed thoughtfully. "Do we allow Eri to try despite the risks or hope that Midoriya can withstand several more years in his current state to give her time to train?"

He didn't receive a response.

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I'm trying to get all of my stories updated, so, hopefully, there aren't too many typos in the most recent chapters! Thank you for reading!

Leave a review if you want!