Family Matters

Birthdays and Christmas Celebrations

Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to publish a new chapter, I had some other projects to work on. Hopefully, the length and the content of this chapter will make up for it.  Also, I do not own Boku no Hero Academia, its characters, or its locations. They are all owned by Kohei Horikoshi, Jump Comics, and Funimation. And now...here is the newest installment of Family Matters!

December 18th

"Keep up Eri; we're nearly there!" Uraraka said as the little girl's head swiveled around in amazement at the decorations hanging between the skyscrapers of Tokyo. It was the middle of December and everyone was in a festive mood. Large, multi-colored paper balls hung in the air on wires, projection cameras displayed snowflakes, snowmen, and other Christmassy decorations against the sides of buildings, and window shoppers stood in awe as they watched the Christmas-themed displays set up by big name shopping stores.

On this particular day, Eri and her 'parents' were heading into the city to pick up a Christmas cake for the Class 1-A holiday party on Christmas Eve. Being confined to a small, dark cell for a majority of her life, Eri rarely saw such a wide variety of colors and shapes. So it was understandable that her gaze flitted back and forth between everything she saw, trying to take it all in and not miss a single thing. Midoriya and Uraraka smiled fondly at Eri's sense of awe and wonder. It was so cute to see the little six-year-old see so many new, fascinating things!

After crossing a couple more blocks, the three of them arrived at a small bakery nestled between a bookstore and a pharmacy. The structure was wooden and the entire window display was filled with delicious cakes and pies. As soon as they entered, the scent of sweets hit them like an aromatic firework. Besides the glass cases displaying what the shop had to offer, there were also little toy planes with Santas inside that flew around the room, a ceramic village with a toy train, and holly that hung from the ceiling.

"Hey Uraraka," Midoriya said as Eri's wonder-filled gaze continued to drink in all of the sights, "if you get the cake, I can watch Eri."

"Sounds good." Uraraka walked up to the counter where an elderly woman was kneading dough. "Hi," Uraraka greeted and the woman looked up from her work and smiled warmly at her. "My name's Uraraka Ochako. My friend, Ashido Mina, ordered a cake for our party?"

"Ah yes," the woman said as she used a towel to clean her hands. "We just finished it yesterday. I'll be back with it in a few minutes."

As the old lady went into a secluded part of the shop, Uraraka turned to see Midoriya crouching next to Eri and pointing at the various cakes and sweets. She silently giggled as Eri's eyes glistened with happiness and her mouth watered. Uraraka glanced at Midoriya and couldn't help but smile fondly at him. It had been almost three months since Class 1-A had accepted Eri into their lives and Midoriya was proving to be a better father figure to her than anyone could have ever imagined. Ochako felt extremely lucky that she was given the opportunity to share all of Eri's adventures with him.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

The sudden question caused Uraraka to blush a violent shade of pink as she spun around to see an old man with their Christmas cake and a smile on his face.

"Nonononono," she babbled as she waved her hands back and forth frantically, "h-h-h-he's just friend. I-I-I mean, w-we aren't even-"

"Forgive my husband," the old lady said as she playfully smacked the old man's shoulder. "He's got the blood of a romantic coursing through his veins." She smiled as Uraraka composed herself, inspected the cake, withdrew the money that 1-A had pooled together from her pocket, and handed it to the couple.

"How long have you two been together?" Uraraka asked curiously.

"Nearly 60 years," The old lady said as she looked at her husband affectionately. "And after five children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren... it's safe to say we would do it all over again in a heartbeat if given the chance."