Maybe We'll fix Each Other

Chapter 7

Before turning the door handle, Aizawa paused. His hand tightened around the metal as he forced himself to take a calming breath. He'd done everything wrong so far. He didn't want to make things worse, but the last thing he wanted was to let another hero take point on this.

Steeling himself to face the hostile force behind the door, Aizawa pushed forward. He was met with a glare that could kill.

"Eri," he stated simply.

The girl didn't reply. He wasn't surprised. When Dabi had collapsed, Eri had gone frantic, tears spilling from her eyes as her voice failed her. Aizawa had bound him with other end of his capture weapon and called for reinforcements who were there in minutes. They had whisked the villain away while Aizawa tried to figure out what to do with Eri. The last thing she had spoken was Dabi's name, and she had since refused to say anything else.

Aizawa gently closed the door behind him and padded forward. He had taken her back to UA, and they'd been stationed in one of the many sitting rooms.

He had to admit: her tenacity and stubbornness surprised him. Her description he'd heard time and time again from Midoriya and Togata was nothing like the girl that sat in front of him. Her arms were crossed and her face was scrunched in a little scowl. It hurt Aizawa's heart that she still reflexively flinched away from people, though.

Aizawa glanced at the coffee table in front of the couch she was sitting on. The sandwich he'd left her with before had small bites taken out of it, and the level of water in the glass had gone down a little bit. He nodded to himself. That's good.

"Eri," he started again, "We want to help you."

At that, Eri broke her steady glare to stare down at her hands in her lap.

He crouched down across the table from her so he was eye level.

"I work as a hero. I work here at this school. It's my job to help take care of kids," he tried again. She didn't look up. "Overhaul is a bad person."

Eri's eyes shot up to meet his, terror flashing in them as her body stiffened.

Aizawa hurriedly lifted his hands up and shook his head. "I will do everything in my power to keep him as far away from you as possible," he said, voice thick with determination. The immediate fear faded from Eri's gaze, though she still regarded him warily.

"Dabi is a bad person, too," he continued, watching her carefully.

Her eyes hardened and she frowned, looking back down at her hands. They had clenched into fists, clutching harshly at the edge of her tee.

Interesting, Aizawa thought. He idly reached forward to adjust some of the magazines that were sitting atop the coffee table.

He pushed forward. "The other heroes and I think we know why Overhaul wants you, but we can't figure out what it is that Dabi wants." He finished straightening out the coffee table and settled back on his heels, returning his gaze to Eri.

She was watching him with sharp eyes, mouth pressed into a thin line.

"He had you for almost an entire week before anyone found you two," Aizawa said. "What happened during that week?"

Eri kept quiet.

Aizawa gave a hum and stood back up. He put his hands into his pants pockets, moving around the coffee table and sitting on the far side of the couch. He was sitting next to Eri, but was trying to give her a healthy amount of space. He could feel her tense up next to him.

"I..." he began. Aizawa took a breath then continued. "I wanted to apologize if I scared you earlier. It's just...Dabi. He's a villain. He's killed people, Eri." He turned to look at her when he spoke. From her lack of reaction, this didn't seem like new information. She watched him with an unamused look, an eyebrow partly quirked upwards. He wondered where she'd learned that expression.