The door creaked open before the sun dipped down. You looked up from the couch, surprised.

“Home already?” you asked, halfway expecting a clone or shapeshifter instead of your actual dad.

Aizawa set his bag down and didn’t even take off his scarf.

“Get your shoes. Come with me.”

You blinked. “Why? Did someone die?”

“No,” he said, tossing you your jacket. “But you’ve looked like someone did all week.”

You froze for a second, jacket caught in your hands.

“…I’m fine.”

He stared at you flatly. “That’s cute. Get your shoes.”

⸻

You ended up at the bookstore you used to beg to visit when you were younger—the one with the weird little café in the back and the chairs that squeaked too much.

He didn’t say much. Just bought you your favorite drink before you even asked, then wandered into the graphic novel section while you pretended not to smile.

You sat down on the same squeaky chair you always claimed, cracked open a book, and let the quiet wrap around you like a blanket. No questions. No pressure. Just… being there.

⸻

It wasn’t until you were walking home—soda in one hand, bookstore bag in the other—that it happened.

He made some dry, ridiculous comment about a book you picked out.

“Oh, great,” he muttered. “Another angsty teen protagonist. That’s exactly what my life needed more of.”

You lost it.

You laughed so suddenly and so hard that you almost tripped over the sidewalk. Full-blown, breathless, double-you-over kind of laugh. The kind that startled even you.

He blinked. “You okay?”

You were wiping tears from your eyes, still trying to breathe. “That was so unnecessary, oh my god.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “It was accurate.”

You nudged his arm, grinning like it hurt. “You’re such a jerk.”

“Did it make you laugh?”

You nodded, still catching your breath.

“Then you needed it,” he said simply.

⸻

Later that night, after you were curled up on the couch with your new book, he passed by and dropped a blanket over your legs.

“You seemed more like yourself today,” he said, barely above a whisper.

You didn’t look up right away. But you smiled.