You were sitting on the edge of the couch, arms crossed, jaw locked tight. You didn’t look up when Aizawa walked in and dropped his capture scarf on the chair.

“So,” he said, low and cold. “You wanna tell me what that was?”

You didn’t respond.

He didn’t raise his voice — he rarely did. But when his tone dipped like that, you knew you were in real trouble.

“You got detention for mouthing off to your math teacher. Again. This time with half the class watching.”

You scoffed, still not looking at him. “She started it.”

“She asked you to sit down.”

“She asked me like I was five.”

“Then act your age.”

That got under your skin.

You stood up fast, hands clenched. “Why do you even care? You’re not my dad.”

Silence.

The words hung between you, too sharp, too loud, even though you hadn’t yelled.

He didn’t flinch — not exactly. But his expression tightened, like a door had quietly shut behind his eyes.

“No,” he said. “I’m not.”

For a second, you thought he might walk away. Maybe he should’ve.

But instead he stepped closer.

“I’m not your father. But I’m the one who showed up. When no one else wanted to deal with the mess you were in. I took you in, made sure you had food, a bed, some damn peace. I go to your school meetings, I pick up your prescriptions, I fill out your emergency contacts. I show up — every day.”

Your throat was dry.

He wasn’t yelling. That somehow made it worse.

“But if all I am to you is some guy playing house,” he added, “then fine. Say it. Mean it.”

You looked at him — really looked.

He wasn’t angry.

He was hurt.

You swallowed, hard. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

He didn’t say anything.

You ran your hand through your hair, suddenly feeling fifteen in every awful way. “I just—I was mad. That’s all. I didn’t think—”

“No,” he said quietly, “you didn’t.”

Another beat passed.

Then he turned toward the hallway. “Dinner’s in the fridge. Warm it up if you want.”

You stood there frozen in the quiet, staring at the empty space he left behind.

And for the first time in a long time, you kind of wanted to say sorry.

But the words got stuck.