SSD III: Silver

86. The Idea

Warnings: mentions of an abusive behaviour because of the ridiculous bet Aizawa made with Silver.

Stay safe and protect yourselves or I will be very disappointed in you.

There will be an in-chapter warning and I will happily add a full chapter summary of anyone wants it. You don't have to explain a thing, just message me or comment 'SSDIII Full chap summary' and it will be added.

Have lovely days/nights people! :)

Chapter 86: The Idea

Aizawa figured it was a side effect of the concussion. That was why he had two different versions of the Christmas Incident running around his head. One where he carried Silver out himself after that final quake dislodged the rubble enough for them to pull her out and he managed to find an escape route before the whole room fell on them (his memory of Christmas was admittedly fuzzy and that was before his concussion threw its hat into the ring, but that must've been what happened).

And then there was that other version hovering at the back of his mind. Maybe it was something he'd dreamt up, like an alternate universe's Aizawa made it out that way because he was sure he'd been the one to carry Silver out, but he also remembered a strange little girl with dark skin who was both safe and deadly who got them out with a power not unlike Chaya the Shadow Hero's.

"Oh, and you should probably remind Hound Dog to ask her about nightmares."

That was the main thing that kept coming right to the forefront of his mind, had been all day, even more so since last night. Whatever dream Silver had last night, it had to have been pretty bad for her to choose to sleep in their room without Eri's involvement. Of course, she'd managed to sneak out without waking either of them up, and when the two men emerged from their room, the blood that had stained the carpet the night before was gone, not even a lighter patch where it had been and Silver herself seemed to be doing Tai-Chi. Her eyes were closed and she didn't react to the pair walking by her but for a subtle wave that managed to flow into her movements remarkably well.

It was when Eri ran in that she stopped dead for a moment before lifting the eight-year-old up and refusing to let go. Silver groaned loudly. "You've grown again, haven't you?"

Eri could only giggle, filling the home with laughter.

"Keep growing at this rate and you'll be taller than me, that's not allowed," the teenager moaned, tipping her head back in a massive over-exaggeration. The adults were in the kitchen, Hizashi dubiously supervising Aizawa's attempts at making something edible for breakfast, but they could both hear exactly what was going on in the other room. It was a stark contrast to last night.

"I know what to do."

"What?" Eri could already tell Silver was about to spout something silly, it was becoming something she could pick up on just by listening to Silver's tone.

"You can either promise me that you'll stop growing-"

"I can't do that." Eri couldn't control how much she grew, it was biology, her body said she was meant to grow so she grew and she'd keep growing until her body said she'd grown enough.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to tickle you."

Eri realised her mistake too late, the older girl dropped her against the cushions of the sofa and Silver was immediately right there, attacking all her most ticklish spots.

Hizashi thought back to the previous night, to watching Silver shake at their door, to seeing her wrap up her arm like it was something she'd done a million times over and hearing her speak more gently than he'd ever heard. He thought back to how hard she tried to pretend she was fine. She'd said to ask her about the dream— or nightmare, really, because it couldn't have been anything else— and he would, just not now, she looked like she was enjoying herself, no need to ruin that.