• Benevolence •

And On We Go

With that decision made, we head back to the school. Instead of going to the student dorms, Aizawa leads the way to the teacher's dorms. I trail behind him nervously, feeling out of place.

It's set up similar to the student dorms. In the common area, we run into Present Mic and Eri. The moment the small girl spots us, she dashes towards me and crashes into my legs.

"Meraki!"

"...hey kiddo. It's nice to see you."

I fix a soft smile on my face and kneel down to give her a proper hug. She buries her face in my shoulder before pulling back with a bright grin, bouncing on her toes.

She starts to talk animatedly about her day so far and I notice Aizawa speaking quietly to Present Mic. After a minute, Mic wander over and pulls Eri's attention away from me.

"Hey, little listener! How about you draw something for Meraki?!"

Eri nods excitedly and scrambles across the room to the coffee table where a stack of paper lies surrounded by scattered crayons. She's soon engrossed in her drawing and the voice hero turns to me.

He pats my head with a sympathetic look to his eyes. His voice is far softer than I've ever heard it when he addresses me.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Listener. You lucked out with Eraser, though. He doesn't like to show it but he cares a lot about you guys. And you're definitely one of his favorites."

He winks before Aizawa appears next to us, watching the blond almost suspiciously. I don't get a chance to respond as he takes my shoulder to lead me towards away quickly.

It's very bare, only basic items placed neatly around the room. I take a hesitant seat on the couch as Aizawa makes a call to social services. It's surreal to find that it really is happening. It almost feels like it's too soon but I know it's necessary.

Surprisingly, the process to become his dependent was rather simple. There were a few forms to fill out online and some people to call but in the end, it went through and only took a few hours to be approved.

Afterwards, he showed me the extra room and made an offhanded comment about being allowed to stay over whenever I please. I end up staying over for the night, not ready to see my friends just yet.

Eri stops by to deliver her drawing. It was the both of us holding hands. She remembered my hero costume and drew herself with the cape.

"Thank you, Eri... it's wonderful."

She gives me a quick hug before she's sent off by Aizawa. He's going over All Might's notes as he's taking over the class again the day after next. I'm seated on the opposite side of his couch when a thought comes to me.

"Is... it a secret?"

The teacher glances up from the papers he's been reading. "Is what a secret?"

"You b-becoming my guardian...? Do you want the- the class to know?"

"It's up to you. It doesn't make much of a difference to me."

"O-okay..."

The next morning is a free day and I head back to the dorms. Kirishima and Kaminari are the first people I run into. I'm given warm hugs by each of them before I take a seat on one of the couches with Kirishima.

"Are you coming back to school?"

"Y-yeah, tomorrow."

Kaminari pipes up from across the room. "Don't worry about missing anything! We didn't really learn anything new. Just review."

"Th-that's a relief."

Kirishima looks conflicted for a moment before he offers me a gentle smile. "Hey, [N/n]... Just so ya know, my parents are totally willing to adopt you, like, at any time so you don't gotta be alone. I'm here for you, dude."

I shake my head with a soft smile, not meeting his gaze. "Th-thank you, Kiri, but I'm okay. Aizawa sensei g-got guardianship over me last night so I don't ha-have to worry about th-that."

The redhead gapes a moment before leaning forward a bit with a slight smile. "Woah, so he's like your dad or something now?"

"I d-don't know..." I fidget nervously, glancing down.

Kaminari grins brightly, popping over the back of the couch. "Ha! You could call him Dadzawa!"

"Dadzawa?" I echoed him, quietly testing out the name- not that I would start calling him that.

"Yeah! Cause he's like your dad now but he's also Aizawa sensei!"

Kirishima rolled his eyes. "I think he understands that. He was just repeating it."

I smile nervously, glancing to my hands. "I just... I have Aizawa sensei now... b-but I don't want it to seem li-like I'm replacing my actu-actual dad... even if he's... never mind. S-sorry."

Kaminari nods thoughtfully after a moment. "I get that but even if you ever did start calling him dad, it wouldn't be replacing your birth dad or whatever."

At my confused look, he elaborates.

"It'd be more like identifying him as a figure in your life kind of. He acts a lot like he's your dad anyway. Especially after you did that internship with him. He watches you like a parent does and when you do something really well he always looks a little more proud than with anyone else."

"You're really perceptive for someone who fails so much in class." Jiro points out, announcing her presence.

"Hey!"

I stifle a smile when the electric blond jumps up in offense.

She offers me a soft smile. "Hey, [L/n]. I'm sorry about your mom. If you need anything, we're all here for you."

I blush and drop my gaze. "Tha-thank y-you, Jiro... it r-really means a lot."

She pats my shoulder. "Anyway, it'll be good to have you back. Bakugou's been snappier than usual."

"Re-really?"

Kirishima chimes in. "Yeah, I think he's just mad he can't help you. Oh, and Shinso came over last night looking for you but you weren't around. He ended up talking with Kaminari a bit."

I glance over to the blond with a bright smile. "You're fr-friends!"

"Hell yeah! I mean- I'm not sure he'd agree but he's super cool! We only talked a little though. He's super worried about you. He got this super gentle look to him when he talked about you. It's a polar opposite to how he looks normally. You're super important to the guy."

I blush lightly with a soft smile. "He's really i-important to me, too..."

---
Shinso is making friends!
It's about time considering the amount of time he spends around reader. Maybe he'll start appearing more often...

It means so much to have all of you reading my story! I started off writing just to create something I couldn't find and now it's evolved to a story I love and share with others. You all mean the world to me so thank you so much!!!