Saving Grace

Gyudon

"Daddy!"
Eri ran towards Aizawa, smiling ear to ear and jumping towards him. He crouched down to brace for her hug, standing when she held onto him and wrapping his arms snug around her tiny frame. Aizawa pulled back to plant small pecks all over her gleaming face. "Hey, cutie pie! Daddy missed you today, how was school hm? Did you do anything fun in class?" He grinned back at her.

Mio stood silently off to the side, it was so strange to see Aizawa affectionate with his daughter, he always seemed so off-put and distant. Mio forgot Aizawa was a human being like the rest of them, he was a husband, a father...
"Yeah, we made pictures! I made one for you!" Eri waved the crumpled paper of macaroni art that she'd had in her hand, passing it to her Dad with such pride.
Aizawa acted shocked, "for me?! Oh, thank you, sweetheart." He kissed the top of her head as he set her back down on the ground to properly look over the artwork. "This is so beautiful, I'm going to put this on the fridge so everyone can admire it!"
Eri giggled, eyes catching onto Mio's and she instantly recoiled into her Daddy's chest, tiny hands holding onto the sleeves of his shirt as her smile faded.
Eri whispered into Aizawa's ear and his expression switched, brows furrowing and then raising, head tilting to the side to look at Mio. "Oh no... it's okay, Eri, this is Mio... she's going to be staying with us for a little while. Can you say hi to her?"
Mio could tell Eri was shy, or scared... probably both, she became more aware of the way she carried herself and crouched the same as Aizawa to greet her. "Hi, Eri. It's really nice to meet you." Her tone was soft.
Eri stared wide-eyed at the other girl, she'd seen lots of girls her age in school, and sometimes the bigger kids from her Daddy's classes would come to visit her, but none of them looked like this. She took a brave step forward, hand reaching out for a lock of Mio's hair.
Mio let Eri gently tug on her hair. She filled in the silence. "We match, don't we? We have the same color hair... yours is much prettier than mine though." Mio was shocked she wasn't put off by her injuries, or ask what happened to her face, she only seemed to be intrigued by her hair.
Eri blushed a little, a smile turning back up in the corner of her lips.
"Maybe one day Mio will let you braid her hair, you can give Shinso a little break hm?" Aizawa offered, his voice telling of the slight amusement it brought him. Eri nodded, backing up again to Aizawa and he tipped up her tiny chin. "Alright, now go get ready for dinner. I think we kept Dad waiting long enough."
Mio stood when Eri ran off and around the corner, she eyed the macaroni art that Aizawa held still in his hand. Eri reminded her so much of Mako it made her chest ache to see her; she was so happy... was that how it was supposed to be? She stood when Aizawa did, hunching her backpack over her shoulder a little tighter as she started to follow him through the house. The kitchen was first, something smelt absolutely amazing and when Mio stepped into the room her eyes caught a familiar looking boy and the strange image of her English teacher cooking over a hot stove.