The beginnings of a life (an Erasermic family/Shinkami story)

Chapter Six

"What?" Hitoshi asks for lack of a better response. Part of him thinks he's misheard him, but Mic simply repeats himself and proves him wrong. "What?" he asks again.

"You, us, a house," Aizawa says bluntly, pointing out him and then them and the drawing a house into the air. "...What?"

"Oh my god," Aizawa mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Shinsou, would you like to stay with us? Yes or no?" Aizawa asks.

Hitoshi stares at him, ready to say 'what' again, but Aizawa glares at him hard. "If it isn't something you would want, we have another friend who's ready to take you in."

He can't stop himself from denying that offer fast enough. Mic huffs in amusement. "So, that's a yes?" he asks with a weary smile.

He can't bring himself to say the word, so instead he nods. He's half convinced that they're playing a joke on him, so not giving them a verbal answer will spare him from half the embarrassment of being naive.

But the two men simply nod and smile at him. "You should know though, we have a daughter," Mic says, wringing his hands. "She's six, we recently adopted her. She came from a bad situation, so she's very wary, but I don't think it will be an issue."

Hitoshi nods, unable to speak anymore. Subtly, he reaches down and pinches his arm as hard as he can, accidentally drawing blood. He doesn't even care, he just needs to make sure that this is real.

"Shinsou, I think Bakugou's going to kill your sister," Sero says, panting as he runs up to him. Hitoshi whirls around immediately to find Yumiko taunting the older boy.

Hitoshi crosses the room and drags her away in less than three seconds. "Can you not?" she asks exasperatedly, glaring at Bakugou. "He's like a foot taller than you, you won't win."

She shrugs and pushes away from him. "Hey! I was just telling him the truth," she says, throwing her hands up in surrender. "Which was?"

"That he's in—"

"Not another fucking word!" Bakugou yells at her, causing her to violently flinch. She recovers a second later and rolls her eyes at him. "He's in denial."

"D E N I A L," Keiko spells out, half asleep on the couch. "Thank you, Keiko," Yumiko says, earning a sleepy thumbs up. Hitoshi puts a hand on Keiko's forehead, feeling for a fever he knows he won't find.

She never falls asleep with this many unknown people in a room, but it's also way past her bedtime. Keiko leans into his hand, causing Ren to whine from where he's curled into her side.

He gently lays her down and moves Ren so he can lie beside her and not on top of her, pulling the blanket over them. When he turns he finds Kaminari watching him expressionless.

Hitoshi wishes he could read minds, and see what Kaminari's thinking. He doesn't like being watched, especially when the person watching him isn't showing any emotion.

He's grown used to it after so many days of training with Aizawa. But, this is Kaminari who's always happy and wears a constant smile.

"What?" he finally snaps quietly, careful not to startle the other kids. "Huh?" Kaminari asks, tilting his head to the side. "You're staring."

Kaminari's cheeks flush pink. "Sorry," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Hitoshi looks away, focusing his attention on Hiro.

The small boy is holding a bundle of blankets in his hand and looks unsure of what he's supposed to do with it. Truthfully, Hitoshi isn't sure either.

He looks back over to the couch. "You should be able to fit at the other end," Hitoshi says to him, gently guiding him to the spot he's talking about.

Hiro climbs onto the couch and presses himself into the back of it, making room for Asahi who climbs up beside him almost immediately.