Chapter Text
Eri sat on the hospital bed tracing the bandage around her arm. She didn’t like it. It reminded her of life before being rescued. But she was safe now. Shouta, her dad, was with her so nothing bad would happen. Right? The weird villain, with the long fur, that bit her was gone. Hizashi, her papa, captured him.
Shouta then laid his hand on her shoulder. “We’re just waiting for them to identify the villain who hurt you. Then we’ll go home,” he said.
“Identify?"
"Find out who they were," Shouta clarified and Eri nodded, understanding. She could be good and wait.
A few minutes later the door opened, and Hizashi came in with detective Tsukauchi. Smiling, she looked at him. They could go home now! Hizashi waved and smiled back at her. But that smile was different from the one she was used to. Then the hand on her shoulder tightened slightly and he looked up at Shouta. “Dad?” she asked.
Shouta loosened his grip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you, Eri,” he said. Then he looked at the detective and Hizashi. “What did you find out?”
Hizashi went over to Eri and Shouta as Tsukauchi spoke. “The villain's quirk is called lycanthropy. The good news is its effects only last for one night. However, the night after a victim is bitten, they’ll become a werewolf, and attack anyone…” Tsukauchi stopped, trying to be careful with his words.
Eri gripped her pants, bunching them up. She was going to become a real monster! “I’ll hurt people,” she said in a quiet voice.
Tsukauchi continued. “We have facilities back at the station to protect people who can’t control themselves from either a quirk effect or their own quirk. We’ll move your daughter there for tonight.”
Then her horn started to itch and spark, realizing she wasn’t going home. Tsukauchi’s eyes switched from being soft to fearful, reminding her she already was a monster that hurt people. Shouta quickly stopped her quirk. She looked up at both her dad and papa. “I’m sorry! I can control it!” she said. What if they decided she was always dangerous and left her there forever?
Shouta stroked her hair gently. “Everything is going to be fine,” he assured her. Then he looked at the detective. “Thank you for the offer, Detective. But we will be taking Eri home tonight,” he said, with a slight edge in his tone.
“I understand how you feel. But the facility is the safest option for everyone,” Tsukauchi said.
Hizashi spoke up now in his usual loud voice. “So? We’re pro heroes. Even if our little sweetpea turns into a puppy. No biggie. I’ll just sing her a rockin lullaby until she falls asleep.”
"I believe you're taking this too lightly."
Eri listened to them arguing and closed her eyes. They wanted her home. Even knowing she would be dangerous. That meant even if she went they would come back for her. So she could do this to keep them safe for one night. “It’s okay… I can go. I won’t even be scared,” she lied.
“Eri, do you mind looking at me?” Shouta asked.
She hesitated then looked up, keeping tears back to hide the lie. “I really will be okay,” she said.
“You’re a strong kid and I know you would be. However, that’s not the issue. Hizashi and I are not okay with this. We want you safe with us.”
“But I could hurt you.”
Hizashi spoke, “Now don’t worry about that Sweetpea. We’ll have it all under control and prepared. Unless you don’t think your papa can handle it.”
She hesitated. “You promise. No one will get hurt.”
Shouta nodded. “I’ll get help from UA for supplies, and other practical precautions beforehand. It will be safe for everyone and make sure you are as comfortable as possible.”
“I-I want to go home then,” she said.
“Then, we’ll go now. No use staying longer,” Shouta said and picked Eri up. Tsukauchi looked like he wanted to say something but then Shouta cut him off. “Send the file about this quirk to my Prohero Email,” he said while leaving the room.
Eri clung to her dad's shirt trying to process everything. It was still scary but they wanted her and she was going home.
Shouta buckled Eri into her car seat as nonchalantly as possible, while Hizashi started the car. Years of being a pro hero showed him he was lousy at comfort, so he compensated by presenting an air that everything was under control. Part of that was acting like you did when everything is normal. It served him well before and he hoped it worked for being a parent also.
“It’s a short drive but is there anything you need before we go?” Shouta asked casually, as he glanced at the car’s clock. It was 3:00 pm. They needed that file soon to know how long they had before the lycanthropy quirk took effect. It would be a scramble to get prepared no matter what, but a timeline was vital. Then he looked back to Eri hiding his thoughts behind a neutral face.
He was surprised to see her eyes widen. “What’s wrong!” he asked, the facade dropping instinctively at a sign of danger. Surely nothing can be happening to her yet. Or could it?
“My blanket!” Eri said. “We had it at the park. Did-did you get it?”
“You’re-” Shit. He in fact did not. It was last left on the bench with him and Hizashi before the villain attacked. After that, he scrambled to get Eri to the hospital, leaving Hizashi to deal with the villain. Did they have an extra half hour to look for it? He considered the question, but the answer was an obvious no. There just wasn’t time. He’d have to-
Then Hizashi spoke up. “I grabbed it!” he said, and picked up the dark red blanket made from the remains of Limillion’s cape, from the passenger seat and handed it to her. She latched onto it like a lifeline. “Thank you, Papa!” she said.
Hizashi beamed at her. “Have to earn that father of the year title sometimes.”
After climbing into the passenger’s seat, Shouta closed his eyes for a few seconds and laid back, feeling relief flow through him. If you told him before a missing blanket would feel similar to a crisis situation he wouldn’t have believed you. But here he was. He was lucky to have Hizashi for that and more. He probably should voice something to that effect, it was just difficult to find the exact right words and tone to match without them sounding flat or awkward.
Hizashi shoved his shoulder slightly to let him know that he had an inkling of his thoughts. Right, his husband practically read his mind anyways. Another thing he was grateful for. It saved him so much energy. "Fine. Nice save," he said.
Hizashi grinned. “See, is that so hard Shou?” he asked.
“Excruciating,” Shouta said sarcastically, as Hizashi started to pull out of the parking lots.
~~~
When they arrived home, Hizashi left straight away to UA to get supplies. Shouta saw Tsukauchi sent him the quirk file on his phone. He opened it and noticed the file was only a few pages long. He went to look further when Eri spoke.
"Um.. Dad," Eri said.
"Yes?" Shouta asked, taking his eyes away from his phone, pretending it was nothing of interest.
"I'm really tired."
He looked at her carefully. Her eyes were drooping and she was swaying slightly. He supposed it made sense. Despite their best efforts she was still underweight, and suffered some blood loss today. Plus who knew what that foreign quirk was doing to her body. "Okay, let me get you upstairs," he said, picking her up.
"Thank you, Dad," she muttered into his shirt. He wryly smiled at the words. Eri had every right to complain or cry, but instead, she thanked him. This was the least he could do for her.
He didn't want to put her down. In his arms she was safe. But he knew he couldn't hold her forever.
Reluctantly, Shouta laid her down on the bed and tucked her in. She blinked up at him about to fall asleep.
"You're a very brave kid. I'm so proud of you," he said to her as she shut her eyes.
After that, he went back downstairs and read the file.
As he suspected the file was vague. The little it had was from civilian reports too, making any claim dubious at best. Shouta sighed, it made sense. Quirks that only affected humans were tricky; there is no way to ethically study them. Still, he put together some key details.
The victim would experience lethargic symptoms a few hours after infection. The transformation occurred at midnight. After the transformation, the victim would have increased strength, wolf-like traits, and an instinctual prey drive to kill. Sedatives were also immediately neutralized.
That explained Eri's tired behavior. As for the rest, all they had to do was find a way to comfortably restrain Eri. It wasn’t until he read the last page where the victim reports were that he felt his stomach drop.
The previous victims reported the transformation back and forth as being extremely painful.
Sitting down, Shouta worked through the white hot rage boiling through him. How could someone do this to an innocent child? Not to mention without any reason.
He kept thinking it over until Hizashi walked in the house. His facial expressions were subtle, but the slightly tightened brows, and stiff movements, told Shouta he finished the report too.
"Remind me that vigilante justice is bad," Hizashi said.
"As a general rule," Shouta said, and sighed. "There was a moment where I noticed Eri was playing a bit far away. I thought about moving closer. But I didn't, reasoning that a clear visual should be enough.”
"Shou, We've been trying to encourage her to be more independent. It is good she felt comfortable playing further away."
Shouta nodded. That was his thought at the time, but it was a mistake. "I know, but I think we should pull back on that for a while,” Shouta said. He could already predict Hizashi’s argument on the surface and continued. “And no, I’m not just reacting to today. I’ve been considering it for a while. Crime rate is only rising by the week, since All Might’s retirement. It's not a safe time, even for adults. Let alone kids."
“True. But we also need to worry about her self-esteem and confidence.”
Shouta sighed. It wasn’t as if he didn’t value teaching those things too. But he needed her safe first and if that meant being more cautious at the expense of some growing, it seemed temporarily worth it, until things calmed down. And he was willing to push it further. Then again this wasn’t the time for it. "I suppose it's something to take one situation at a time,” he said.
“Right, we'll hash it out later. We have bigger things now,” Hizashi agreed. "So where is our little Sweetpea?"
"Sleeping. The quirk is taking a lot out of her."
Hizashi nodded. "Thought so. UA had some ideas. Come on, I'll show you what we have."
Shouta stood up, ready to go. "I don't want any cages, chains, or anything like that. She'll have a hard enough time as is.”
"Yep of course. I made a big no no on that clear."
Despite the little tension earlier, Shouta grinned. They usually were on the same wavelength. "Thanks Hizashi… for everything," he said.
“Two praises in a day? Guess I'm on a roll or your age is showing," Hizashi said.
Eri quietly went back upstairs and to her room. She knew she shouldn't have listened in. But she woke up and heard them talking about her. And she wanted to know if everything really was okay, or if they were lying. But now… she was just more confused. They looked more angry than worried.
Entering the room she shut the door and layed down on the bed clutching her blanket. There were a lot of words she didn't understand like crime rate and independence. But they were upset, because she couldn't take care of herself and got hurt.
She bit her lip. She didn’t want to be a problem. Maybe… if she fixed this everything would be fine again. They'd know she could take care of herself.
Sitting up and taking a deep breath she started to unwrap the bandage on her arm. The bite only stung a little, and it wasn’t bleeding anymore.
She hesitated, before shutting her bedroom door. Using her quirk like this was okay, she wasn't putting anyone in danger. All she had to do was rewind herself until the bite was gone.