Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eri was a lonely girl.

She had always been lonely. She was lonely when she lived with Mr. Chisaki, and she was lonely now she lived with Mr. Aizawa. She had no friends at all! None of Mr. Chisaki’s friends were her friends, and Mr. Aizawa didn’t count. She thought that maybe Mr. Mirio was her friend, but she didn’t know for sure.

She had never had friends before.

One day, while Eri was drawing, Mr. Aizawa walked into the room.

“Eri-chan,” he said, and Eri immediately listened. Adults must be listened to, after all. “I need to go out tonight, but I’ve found someone to look after you. Is that okay?”

Eri thought about this. Mr. Aizawa had never brought anyone else to his apartment before, not while Eri was there. She knew he had friends, but he never brought them to her. This was something new, and Eri didn’t know what to think! But she was a good girl, and good girls agree with adults, so she nodded.

Mr. Aizawa nodded back, and left the room. He came back with someone else. “Eri-chan, this is Midoriya. He’ll be looking after you while I’m out.”

Eri looked at the new person. Mr. Midoriya was very funny looking, though it was rude to say. He had big black eyes that shone in the light and a smile that seemed just a little fake. Beneath each of those big round eyes, close to his nose, were two large freckles. Eri didn’t know what to make of this new boy, but Mr. Aizawa trusted him, and she trusted Mr. Aizawa.

Good girls always trust adults.

Eri watched Mr. Aizawa turn around to Mr. Midoriya and talk to him, before he turned back to her, “I’m going now, Eri-chan. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Eri didn’t like the idea of Mr. Aizawa leaving, but she let him go. After he left, the apartment was very quiet. Mr. Midoriya didn’t say anything. He only looked at her with that funny fake smile. Eri didn’t know what to do, so she went back to drawing. She felt Mr. Midoriya sit down beside her, but he didn’t speak, so she continued to draw.

After a minute, Mr. Midoriya spoke for the first time, “What are you drawing, Eri-chan?”

His voice was quiet, but he sounded nice. Mr. Midoriya wasn’t an adult, she didn’t think, but he was close enough, so she obeyed, showing him her drawing, “It’s me and Mr. Aizawa.”

“That’s very good, Eri-chan,” Mr. Midoriya smiled, “but don’t you have any friends to play with?”

Eri frowned and shook her head. Eri had never had friends. 

Mr. Midoriya smiled at her, “Would you like some?”

Mr. Midoriya was silly, Eri decided. Of course she wanted friends! She wanted friends more than anything else in the world! She nodded lots.

“I can bring you to some friends if you want, Eri-chan.”

Eri nodded again. Mr. Midoriya held his hand out for her, and she took it. She was very excited! She followed him as he led her outside, and towards a big old tree. She looked around, but couldn’t see anyone else. But good girls didn’t question adults, and so she let Mr. Midoriya lead her to the tree, which had lots of big rocks around it. They stopped in front of the tree.

“Pick up one of the rocks, Eri-chan. You’ll find lots of friends there.”

Eri frowned. Friends under the rocks? But that was impossible! People couldn’t fit under rocks, not even if they squashed and squeezed! But Mr. Midoriya was an adult, and adults weren’t ever wrong.

Not even when they hurt you.

Eri did as she was told, picking up one of the smaller rocks. Underneath, there weren’t any friends, but what there were, were lots and lots of creepy crawly bugs!

“There you are, Eri-chan! Lots and lots of friends for you!”

Eri looked up at Mr. Midoriya. Those weren’t friends, they were bugs! Gross, icky bugs! “B-but they’re gross!” She whispered. You shouldn’t argue with adults, but even good girls had their limits.

Mr. Midoriya didn’t seem angry though. He sat down on the ground, looking at her with that little smile, “You remember Mr. Chisaki, don’t you?” How could she forget the man that hurt her so much? “Well, didn’t he hate anything gross and dirty?” She nodded; Mr. Chisaki was very clean. “And Mr. Chisaki was a very bad man, wasn’t he?” She nodded again; he was very very bad. “So if he was a bad man, and he hated gross things, then doesn’t it make sense that gross things are good?”

Oh. Eri hadn’t thought about it like that before. If bad people are bad, then anything they don’t like must be good. And Mr. Midoriya was an adult, and he didn’t need to lie to Eri, so he must be right! She turned back to the crawling pile of bugs and reached out, letting a big orange beetle climb into her hand and up her arm, giggling as it tickled her with its legs.

“That’s very good, Eri-chan! Remember, bugs are your friends. They will be with you forever if you want them. But you can’t tell anyone about today, okay?” 

She frowned at him. She wanted to show Mr. Aizawa her new friend!

“I’m sorry, Eri-chan, but there are lots of people in the world who are scared of bugs, and if they find that they’re your friends, they might take them away from you, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

Eri shook her head. She didn’t want to lose her new friend! If she had to keep it a secret from everyone else, then she was okay with that.

Just as long as she could keep her friend.

Chapter Text

The next time Mr. Midoriya came to take care of Eri, he took her out to see the bugs again. They sat down beneath the big old tree, and Eri let them crawl over her. There was Mrs. Centipede, who wriggled along her sides and made her laugh, Mr. Beetle, who sat on top of her head, and lots and lots of lovely little Mr. Ants marching up and down her arms and legs. 

While Eri played with all her friends, Mr. Midoriya told her about them. He told her that Mrs. Centipede could grow to be even longer than she already was, and all about Mr. Ants’ queen, who they all had to listen to. It was kind of like Eri with adults, but Mr. Aizawa never ordered her to do anything, and Mr. Midoriya was very nice too, so she was okay with listening to them.

Being a good girl was a bonus.

“You really like your friends, don’t you Eri?” She nodded quickly, and that made Mr. Midoriya smile, “You know, if you love them, they’ll love you back just as much. And when someone loves you, they protect you against anything that wants to hurt you. Or anyone.”

Eri looked up at him. What was Mr. Midoriya trying to say?

He smiled at her, “Mr. Chisaki is gone. But they will still protect you.”

She understood. Eri very much did not like Mr. Chisaki. In fact, she would even say she hated him! And the bugs were her friends, so they would hate him too, and stop her from getting hurt again!

Eri found herself smiling. It was a very, very, very, very small smile, but it was there.

Because of her new friends, Eri smiled for the first time ever.

Chapter Text

The third time Mr. Midoriya came to look after Eri, they didn’t go to see her friends. He came in and sat down next to her as she drew, but said nothing! It was very confusing: normally, he would ask her if she wanted to see the bugs, and she would say yes, and they would go to her friends! But today, he was just being quiet!

After five minutes, Eri put her pencil down, and turned to Mr. Midoriya, “U-um, are we going to see my friends today?”

He looked down at her with those big black eyes, “Would you like to?”

Eri nodded. Good girls didn’t ask for anything from adults, but she thought she had been really good recently, and she really wanted to see her friends!

Mr. Midoriya smiled and gave her his hand, walking her outside, “You know, Eri-chan, lots of people love their friends so much, they want to hold them as close as they possibly can. Do you want that too?”

Eri thought about it. She loved having her friends crawl over her; Mr. Midoriya said their tickles were their way of showing her love. She wanted a way to show them love as well! She nodded, and scratched at her arm. She’d been feeling very itchy recently, but no matter how much she scratched, she couldn’t make it go away! It wasn’t her scars itching, though, but something deeper.

Mr. Midoriya hummed as they sat beneath the big old tree, her friends already swarming out to meet her, “You know, bugs like your friends have a way of telling you when they want to get even closer to you. When the time comes, you will hear their song in your dreams.”

She blinked at him as a whole load of Mr. Cockroaches wriggled their way up her arms, “What does it sound like?”

He smiled at her, “I don’t know. Bugs like your friends don’t like me as much as they like you. They think I’ll eat them.” He laughed, “But I think you’ll know it when you hear it. And when you do, make sure to tell me, okay? Tell me, and no one else.”

That was a very easy thing to agree to! Eri would agree even if she didn’t have to! She loved all her friends, and wanted to stay with them forever and ever!

They stayed outside, playing with her friends for a while, before the sun began to set. She even thought she saw Mr. Midoriya playing with a spider, but she wasn’t sure. He took her back inside, prepared her dinner, and tucked her into bed. She’d had quite an exhausting time with all her friends, so she fell asleep quickly.

That night, her dreams were filled with a throbbing, humming song, one she had never heard and yet knew in her soul.

Her friends were calling her.

Chapter Text

The next time Mr. Midoriya came to see her, Eri told him about her dreams immediately.

“I’ve been hearing the song in my dreams,” she said, “and I wanna be closer to them!”

Mr. Midoriya’s black eyes sparkled in the way they did whenever he was happy, “That’s great to hear, Eri-chan. And just in time too; I have a surprise for you.”

He held out his hand, and Eri took it. They walked outside together. The weather was nice, the sun was shining, and she was very excited to see her friends! But they did not walk to the big old tree. No, they instead made their way across the big fields of UA, not meeting anyone else along the way.

They stopped in front of a different tree. This one seemed very old and very crooked, and didn’t even have any leaves! It did have a big hole in it though, and Mr. Midoriya pointed her towards it. 

“In there is your surprise. It’s an old nest, full of friends! It was very hard to bring it into school, but I managed it for you. It’s a gift. All you need to do is reach into it.”

“What will it do?” Eri asked. She wanted it so badly, but she also wanted to know more!

Mr. Midoriya smiled, “It will bring your friends even closer than you ever could have imagined. But you must keep it a secret, okay? You can’t tell anyone I gave it to you, no matter what.”

She nodded. Apart from the bugs, Mr. Midoriya was her best friend! He was super nice to her, fed her when Mr. Aizawa was away, and showed her how to meet all her friends! She imagined it was like what a big brother would do.

He nodded back, “Then reach inside the tree, Eri-chan, and say hello to all your friends!”

Eri looked at the tree. She could see something sitting inside the hole, low enough for her to reach in. It looked like a big ball of grey paper, all swirled around each other. She didn’t see how this would bring her closer to her friends, but Mr. Midoriya had never been wrong before, and anyway, Eri was a good girl.

Good girls always obeyed adults. Especially when they’d given her a present.

Eri reached into the hole. She pushed her arm into the hive. It was dry, and it felt like paper. 

And then she reached the core, and found the squirming, fleshy, living centre.

The worms, small silvery things, crawled up her arms, but she felt no fear. She knew that they simply wanted to greet her. 

And then they began to burrow into her arms, writhing deep beneath her flesh as they spread through her body. It hurt, oh yes it did, but the pain was numbed by the sheer ecstasy she felt. The wriggling, writhing, squirming worms that pushed through her, forming their own pathways and caverns within her body, they were going to be her friends. Friends that would never leave her.

Because she was a hive. She was a home. 

The worms bored through her, scooping out all that remained of the old Eri, the human Eri, the Eri that was hurt by Mr. Chisaki and all his friends. In its place they left a new Eri, one who would no longer be hurt by anyone, who had friends who could protect her, and she could protect them.

An Eri who was no longer lonely.

The last of Eri’s blood rushed to her head in her bliss, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

When she awoke, some time had passed, and Mr. Midoriya was nowhere to be found! Mr. Aizawa was there, though, looking very scared.

“E-Eri…? What happened to you? Are you okay?!”

She didn’t have the words to describe just how much more than ‘okay’ she felt.

Chapter Text

Months passed. Eri hadn’t seen Mr. Midoriya in person since she became her friends’ home. According to Mr. Aizawa, it was to stop her friends from attacking him. That made her sad; she knew they wouldn’t do that! Even if they weren’t her friends, Mr. Midoriya said they’d be scared of him anyway, so they wouldn’t hurt him! But Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Nedzu didn’t know about Mr. Midoriya helping her find her friends, and she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, so she had to keep it secret. She knew he was safe; Mr. Aizawa said everyone who wasn’t fighting in the war was being kept safe.

Eri watched one of her little friends squirm out of her and writhe away. She had been given a very important job in the fight; she was being kept very safe with Mr. Nedzu and Mrs. Yaoyorozu, and they had to watch everyone. The others made her a little uncomfortable, especially with their eyes, but it was the job she was given, and above all else, Eri was a good girl. 

Eri couldn’t see everyone the way the other two could, but her little friends could watch things happen anywhere, and she would know what they could see. It was very useful for making sure everyone else was safe. 

And everyone needed to be safe. According to Mr. Aizawa, there was something dangerous coming, even more dangerous than Mr. Chisaki! It was like a whole army of Mr. Chisakis, coming to hurt UA! She didn’t know many people there, but she didn’t want any of them to be hurt! That was what a bad person wanted.

And Eri was a good girl.