Chapter Text
In the couple of months Shouta Aizawa has taken care of Eri, there have only been a few notable mishaps with her quirk. A plant gone back to the state of a seed, a house spider being sent god knows where. Probably the back rooms. All in all, it was going well, only taking a bit of comfort to calm his young ward down. That was, until today.
“Shouta?” A little voice broke through Aizawa's grading, which, thank god, he was tired. His heart swelled at Eri calling him Shouta rather than Aizawa, which took several weeks of gaining trust to achieve. Luckily the man has plenty of practice in gaining trust, proven by the numerous cats that wandered the apartment. He turned his attention to the girl. “Yes, Eri? Is something the matter?”
The girl seemed to rock back and forth in nerves, looking everywhere but his face. Aizawa noticed her anxiety and crouched to her level, plopping his hand on her white hair. She finally looked up, red eyes full of tentative trust. He softened his face to look less…”terrifying” as his friends put it.
“You know you can ask me anything, kid.” He reassured, giving a small smile.
“Well…yesterday Deku said he could maybe take me to a town festival to get candy apples, like from the school festival, but we need an adult to come along, like you said…” Ah, Shouta could see where this is going.
“So, you and Problem Child want me to escort you to the town festival?” Aizawa said, one eyebrow raised. He’s trying to get Eri comfortable with asking for things, even with her fear of refusal. As if Shouta could ever deny the girl anything. Her big, pleading eyes made Shouta weak. That’s probably why Midoriya sent Eri, Shouta thought, knowing she had him wrapped around her little finger. He smirked, somewhat proud of his student’s forethought.
“Sure thing, kid. Wanna go pick up Deku?” He asked. Eri squealed happily, “Yes, yes, yes!” She bounded away towards the student dorms, Aizawa following with a chuckle. She was seriously precious when happy.
As they reached the 1-A common room, Shouta could already tell he hadn’t had enough coffee to deal with whatever the hell was going on, and he only caught the tail end of the conversation.
“…so you wouldn’t still be my friend if I was a worm?” Midoriya asks Todoroki with utter betrayal written on his face.
…What.
The dual-haired boy furred his eyebrows, stating in a serious tone. “It’s not that I wouldn’t be your friend Midoriya, but I don’t understand how you’d expect to hang out with us if you were a worm.”
“That’s not the point!“ Midoriya cried. The green boy turned suddenly and noticed Aizawa. “Sensei! Would you still teach me if I were a worm?” His eyes were crazed, as though this were the most important question he’d ever ask.
Why did I ever decide to become a teacher.
“I'm sure you would have found a way in my class somehow, kid,” Shouta deadpanned, “if only to terrorize me.”
“You could say he wormed his way in, eh, Sensei?” Kaminari called from across the room, eyebrows wiggling. Eri giggled from behind Shouta’s leg.
Christ.
“Eri!!” Midoriya called joyfully, suddenly noticing her peeking around Aizawa, earlier heartbreak at Todoroki’s admission forgotten.
“Okay, that’s enough of that. Problem child, you’re with me and Eri today. Come along.” Shouta called. Midoriya shot up from his seat, beaming and running to the girl, who allowed him to pick her up and swing her around, giggling all the while. Shouta couldn’t help the definitely-not-fond smirk that played on his lips as he watched them. It was heartening to see Eri so accepted by his students.
As they started walking to the train station, Aizawa turned to Midoriya. “So, did you purposefully send Eri to ask me about this knowing I would say yes to her?” He smirked. Izuku merely grinned innocently at him, stating smartly, “I have no idea what you mean, sensei.” Eri giggled from atop his shoulders, swinging her little legs around. “Cheeky brat.” Shouta muttered, causing both the kids to stifle a laugh, and Aizawa hid a smile into his capture scarf. All in all, the outing was shaping up to be a good time.
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This is not a good time, Aizawa thinks frantically. He and Midoriya were currently shielding Eri as a villain monologued about the fallibility of quirks. Her name was Overwrought, which Shouta thought was fucking stupid. Probably a leftover Overhaul fan, from the sound of it, which only served to piss Shouta off, as he had his still-healing ward with him. Thankfully, most civilians had evacuated, leaving only a few in the center of the festival where the attack started. The villain, a tall woman with no notable features besides long fingers, turned to the two heroes.
“So, heroes, are you ready to see just how much of a failure your quirks are?” She grins like a madman. The woman suddenly pointed her index finger at Deku, who took a fighting stance in response. As Aizawa was about to leap in to take out the villain, he noticed green lightning shooting around Midoriya's body, which wasn’t odd on its own. What was concerning was Midoriya's grimace, which deepened as purple bruises slowly began forming, littering his skin. Panicked green eyes caught his.
“What the hell are you doing?” Shouta growled at the villain. What sort of quirk was this, that caused Midoriya to bruise using his quirk, which hasn't been a problem in months?
The villain only grinned wider in response, “My quirk causes the quirk of anyone I point at to go haywire, but I didn’t know it would hurt him that bad! Don’t worry, it’ll wear off in about, hmm, maybe 1 minute?” She mocked concern. Behind Midoriya, Eri began to cry in distress.
Aizawa turned his erasure on her, but it seemed once the quirk was in effect, he couldn’t stop it, only prevent it from happening again. Damn it.
“Don’t worry about me sensei,” Midoriya winced, “just focus on taking her down, backup will be here soon! I can handle the pain a little longer.” What a Midoriya thing to say, Shouta thought. The bruises were spreading further, turning from a sickly green to deep purple. Aizawa grimaced at this, but complied, knowing it was the fastest way to get this fight over with. He leaped into action, using his capture weapon to aid him as he fought with the villain, throwing swift punches and kicks as he tried to subdue her. Just then, the sound of sirens appeared in the distance, and Aizawa sighed. Soon this would be over, hopefully.
It seems the villain had other plans, naturally, as she shouted, “This is my cue heroes, but before I go, I’ll leave a little parting gift!” She suddenly pointed both her hands, one toward Aizawa, and one towards the direction of the kids, before she ran off.
It was then that several things happened at once.
Aizawa activated his quirk, but it was so strong, so overwhelming, the man had to kneel to the ground, clutching his eyes as burning pain built behind them, like the world's worst migraine. He heard a panicked shout of “Eri!” and he registered a golden glow from behind his hands. Damnit, the villain must’ve hit Eri during her escape. Nothing good could come from that.
“Midoriya! Get away from her until I can erase her quirk!” He could hear Midoriyas footsteps as he backed away, presumedly to get help. Good, his stubborn student listened for once. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to him.
As Shouta began crawling towards Eri, he knew he wouldn’t be able to use erasure immediately, not with the blinding pain from Overwrought's quirk. He knew he was risking being rewound entirely from existence, but he was the only one in this instance that would be able to help. To help his child, who was crying out in fear and pain.
“Eri!” He called, trying his best to ignore the debilitating pain, to ignore the fact he could feel his body changing, the golden glow surrounding him, the tingling sensation that only proved he didn’t have much time. Finally, finally, he could open his eyes without passing out, and immediately activated Erasure, the red glow washing over the girl's pale, terrified face. She immediately passed out, exhausted from the prolonged quirk use.
Aizawa gently scooped her up and cradled her close, even though all he felt like doing was lying down and sleeping for a year. She was more important. Finally, he heard footsteps approaching.
“Aizawa Sensei, I brought the police and-“ Midoriya suddenly cut himself off. He went ramrod straight in shock, his mouth falling open. “Aizawa…Sensei? Is that you?”
Well. That didn’t sound too good. He knew he still existed at the very least, so it wasn’t that. So what?
Fearing the worst, Aizawa slowly turned his head to the nearest window, eyes squinted as he focused on his reflection. His blurred form took shape, revealing his…shortened stature? He looked closer, at his hair that now hung around his chin rather than shoulders, the youthful roundness clinging to his face…
Fuuuuuuuck-