𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 - 𝙷. 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Two

A grumble escaped Hitoshi Shinsou's mouth as he walked over to yet another one of his late mother's bookshelves to continue packing them up to give away. While he was quite the bookworm, he had no desire to keep any of her collection of Danielle Steel and Harlequin novels, he actually found it quite off-putting even knowing she had those. Gross.

There were really on a handful of titles that caught Hitoshi's eye, but he owned them already so there was no point in keeping an extra copy.  

When he cleared out the shelves, he taped up the full cardboard boxes and piled them by the door of their house, continuing to go through each room of his house and setting aside things he knew he'd never need or want. It was an arduous task and since his father had passed away from a heart attack years earlier, he didn't have anyone to help him. He found himself wishing for the umpteenth time that he had had a sibling, wishing that he hadn't been the only child in a family of only children. No aunts, no uncles, both sets of grandparents had died - he was alone.

Well, alone until a ten year old with light periwinkle blue hair and a huge grin ran up behind him and jumped on his back. Shinsou staggered forward and grabbed onto his mother's dresser for support. "Holy shit Eri! How did you even get in here?! I didn't even hear you!" 

"We knocked on the door but you didn't answer, Toto!" She laughed before continuing, "I've been practicing stealth mode with Dad, though." 

Eri then leaned closer to Hitoshi's ear and whispered, "I'm so sneaky now."

The indigo haired man chuckled and pried her fingers off of his shoulders before tossing her into the bed with a thud. "You forgot to lock the door, rookie mistake." Shinsou's mentor, Shota Aizawa smirked as he leaned against the door frame, watching his adopted daughter scramble off of the bed.

People often thought that Aizawa was Shinsou's father as they shared a few similarities: tired eyes, longer hair, and both willingly suffered from coffee addictions. Since his father's passing, Aizawa had become a sort of father figure for him, but neither of the men would ever admit that. 

Shinsou ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I'm glad you're teaching her, but man, this was not the time." 

Aizawa shrugged lazily, his shoulder length black hair scrunching up as he did. "Someone's got to keep you on your toes while you're on leave." 

"Uggggh. Don't even remind me I have to go back on Monday," Shinsou groaned, watching Eri out of the corner of his eye as she played with a ceramic figurine unicorn as if she were much younger.

"I'm surprised you're not wanting a distraction," the raven-haired man mused as he studied the man in front of him with interest. 

Shinsou smirked. "I actually did want a distraction. Yesterday I went out and had the weirdest thing happen."

Eri had been slowly creeping up behind Shinsou, but he had been waiting for her to do so and he was prepared. He and Aizawa shared a knowing look, and at the last second, Shinsou moved out of the way, letting the girl fall flat on her face with an oof. "Totoooo." She whined as she sat up cross legged on the floor, rubbing her forehead with her right hand. 

He shrugged, "You underestimated your opponent, you've got to deal with the consequences."

She groaned and slouched as she walked over to him and snatched his hand from his side, starting to pull him out of the room. “Come make me a sandwich,” she ordered as Shinsou dragged his feet, making eye contact with a smirking Aizawa. 

“You could at least say please, kid. Your dad’s not teaching you any manners?” 

Eri stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the man she’d attached herself to. “PLEASE!” She shouted as she placed one hand on her hip.