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One well known fact of life was that Midoriya Izuku would do anything and everything to see Eri smile.
He really didn't think anyone could fault him for that either, because the poor girl had survived years of abuse that no one should have to deal with. She had so many years of happiness and smiling to make up for, and Izuku would do anything to help her with that. He couldn't do anything to undo the trauma she had been through, but he for sure could help her navigate it afterwards and help her unlearn it.
So when she quietly mumbled that she thought she was ugly with her white hair and red eyes? Well, there was only one logical course of action for that.
One lesser known fact was that Izuku's forest green hair colour wasn't natural. He had inherited more than his dad's curls, he had also inherited their naturally white hair colour. When he was a child his mom used to say he looked just like his dad with his freckled cheeks and dandelion curls. She used to poke his nose and joke that if not for his green eyes, she would constantly mistake them for each other, pretending to forget the other differences between a full grown man of over two metres and small Izuku.
Izuku did have a small, hazy memory of a private conversation between him and his dad during one of his dad's rare bad days, when sadness filled his eyes and he confided in his son that he looked exactly like his late uncle. The grief in his dad's voice was so heavy it almost choked Izuku, and he had given his dad a long, tight hug to chase that sadness away. It was back when Izuku believed a hug could fix anything, back before Hisashi left their lives, back when their family was still whole.
The dark green he was known for now had come about, like most things in Izuku's life, in an attempt to protect and cheer up his loved ones. When he was ten years old, his dad never came back from his work in America. It was when the phone calls came to an abrupt stop, when Izuku scrolled through the American news to look for clues as to what had happened to his dad, when he eavesdropped on his mom's teary conversations with Auntie Mitsuki about just what could have happened to Hisashi. It was then that Izuku saw pain in his mom's eyes for the first time when she looked at him. She had never looked at him with such pain and grief before. Not when he was diagnosed as quirkless, not when he came home bruised and battered from school, not when she had caught a glimpse of him on the news, standing in the crowd during a hero fight. Her eyes had held worry, fear, and sadness, yes. But never that sort of visceral pain and grief, as if she had come face to face with a ghost. It was then that Izuku realised that while he wasn't his dad's height yet, he still looked too much like his father.
So Izuku had done the only thing he could think of. He had dyed his hair dark green, a shade matching his mother. He couldn't get the curls out no matter what he tried, but at least like this his mother wouldn't have a living ghost walking the apartment. She had cried when she had seen him in his botched dye job, all ashamed and worried for her reaction, but she had thanked him for the gesture. After that she had helped him with the dye, evening out the blotchy result he had gotten, and when his hair was dry she had kissed him on the forehead and told her how happy she was to have such a sweet child.
Izuku had kept his hair green since then, through burying his dad's empty casket when he was declared dead by the state, through all of middle school and up to U.A. He had diligently kept the same shade, fixing up the roots whenever the white began to peek through. Maybe his mom wouldn't be so heartbroken anymore if he one day stopped bothering with the hairdye, but by this point he had gotten quite attached to the green.
Not to mention, to him it was a way of keeping his dad around. His dad had always called him "his precious emerald", and now Izuku looked more like an emerald than ever before.
But, well. They live in the dorms now, so his mom wasn't around to have a heart attack from the ghost of her late husband, and Izuku would happily give up the emerald green to put a smile on Eri's face. So he spent way too long in the bathroom, clearing away the hair dye with the help of Kirishima, who confided that his red hair was dyed that way as well. He had some sort of clearing solution to get rid of the hair dye, and he was happy to help Izuku get rid of the green. Izuku tried not to think about the way his heart clenched when he saw the green disappear down the drain, instead focusing on his conversation with Kirishima.
When Kirishima heard why he wanted to get the green out and go back to the white, and that Hisashi's eyes had been red like Eri's, he sent Sero out to buy some red contact lenses. By the time they had finally gotten the green out completely and Izuku's hair was back in its fluffy, dandelion-white glory, Sero had returned with a box of red contact lenses. They were a bit brighter than Hisashi's natural eyes, but they were closer to Eri's red shade, so he went with it. He was doing it for Eri, after all, not his dad.
When his hair was dried and the contact lenses were in his bag, he dug up a few old photos of his dad and brought all of it over to Aizawa's apartment in the dorms.
---
"Deku!"
The happy shout was all the warning Izuku got before Eri barrelled straight into him. Izuku, who had crouched down to take over his red sneakers, let himself fall back from the momentum, until he was sitting on the floor with Eri in his lap.
"Hi, Eri!" he laughed and patted her on the head. She continued to hug him tight, nose buried in his chest and hands clutching his shirt, while Izuku finally managed to get his shoes off.
"Problem child", Aizawa drawled in greeting, setting the guest slippers down next to him.
"Sorry for the intrusion, sensei", Izuku nodded to the man. He wrapped his arms around Eri, keeping her safe in his arms, and with an exaggerated "hup!" he jumped up to standing. She giggled in his arms, and Izuku smiled down at her. He managed to get the slippers on without letting go of Eri, and still with the girl in his arms he followed Aizawa further into the apartment. He was oddly familiar with the apartment by now, after his many visits to see Eri, so he easily navigated to the living room.
The living room was a comfortable space, mainly dominated by the couch and the large coffee table. He had learned that Aizawa preferred to do his work on the couch, because both the couch and the coffee table were always covered in paper work. Though today most of the coffee table was overtaken by Eri's papers and crayons, finished and half-finished drawings strewn about, and Aizawa's papers were stacked uncharacteristically neatly at the edge of the table. Two big mugs were all but covered in the mess of papers on the table, even though they were both still steaming.
"Coffee? It's fresh", Aizawa offered, and Izuku gave him a grateful nod and a "yes please" as he sat down on the couch, Eri still in his arms.
"How have you been, little bug?" he asked, gently rubbing her arm. He knew the answer already, Eri was only this clingy when she had a rough time and needed to be close to one of her heroes, but he still gave her the space to voice it herself. She only shrugged and clinged even tighter to him. Izuku could feel his heart crack open at that, and his previous mixed feelings about changing his hair colour were washed away.
"Hey, Eri, I have something to show you."
"Really?" she mumbled into his chest, but he could hear the tentative curiosity in her voice.
"I do! Wanna look up at me for a moment? You don't have to let go, just look at my hair, okay?"
There was a pause of reluctant, tense silence as Eri seemed to decide if letting go was worth it. Izuku silently let her come to a decision, still only rubbing her arm. Finally it seemed like curiosity won out.
"Promise not to let me go?" she mumbled, even as she was already leaning backwards in his arms.
"Promise", he said anyways, and as soon as the word was out she lifted her head to glance up at him. Her eyes went wide, a small gasp falling past her lips. Her fingers loosened their tense grip in his shirt and instead her hands went up to hover over his hair in wonder.
"Deku, your hair", she whispered in awe.
"Do you like it?" he asked, and shook his head to make his curls sway. She giggled at the motion, her fingers clasping around one of his curls and turning it every which way to see if it was white in every angle.
"But... But your hair is green!" she said as she turned her wide eyes back at his face again.
"It usually is, because I usually dye it green. But white is my natural hair colour. I got it from my dad."
"Your dad had white hair?"
Oh, if Izuku had ever doubted if this would be worth it, then the way Eri's eyes lit up in awe and cautious hope would have proved that it really, really was worth it.
"He did, and do you want to know something else he had?"
Izuku slowly let go of Eri with one hand, careful to keep an eye out for any indications that she didn't like that, but when she didn't react he leaned down and dug the photos out of his bag. He flipped through them until he found the one that was a good close up of his dad's face, showing off his red eyes, and held it up to Eri. The girl glanced down at the photo, and then her breath hitched when she saw what Izuku knew she would focus on. She glanced from the picture to Izuku, her eyes wide and watery. He gave her a soft smile.
"He also had red eyes, just like you", he confirmed, and gently patted her head. "Your hair and eyes are beautiful. There are others who have them, too, just like my dad. And me." He booped her on the nose, just like his mom used to do to him. "We match, Eri-chan."
That was the final straw for Eri, and the glossy sheen in her eyes turned into a full-on bawl. She threw her arms around Izuku's neck and buried her face into the crook of his neck, sobbing onto him. Izuku simply hugged her, holding her close and mumbling soft comforts to her as he rubbed her back. He rested his cheek on the girl's head, gently shushing her as he reminded her over and over again how beautiful she was.
It wasn't until Aizawa held out a mug of coffee to him that Izuku remembered his teacher's presence, but he only gave the man a grateful nod as he accepted the coffee mug. Eri was slowly calming down, especially when Aizawa sat down next to them to offer his own silent support. When Izuku glanced up from Eri to take a sip of his coffee, that Aizawa had been kind enough to put a ton of sugar in, he caught his teacher's eyes. The man nodded to him with something like gratitude in his eyes and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly upwards. Izuku beamed at him and hugged Eri a little tighter.
After a while Eri calmed down, enough to lean back and start playing with his hair again, mesmerized by his white hair. Izuku gave her a soft smile.
"You know, Eri, my mom used to say that I look a lot like my dad. And I do have something with me that will make my eyes look red. Do you wanna test it out? See how much I really look like my dad?" He booped her on the nose again. "And then I'll look even more like you, too!"
"Yes!" Eri squealed, throwing her hands up in excitement.
"Okay, how about you keep my coffee safe for me, and I'll go ahead and put them in." He held out his coffee mug to her with a look of seriousness. "You have to be very careful with this, otherwise Aizawa-sensei will drink all of it. Can I trust you to keep it safe?"
"Hey", Aizawa scoffed at him, but without any heat, and his dark eyes were glittering when he looked at the way Eri stared at the offered coffee mug with all the seriousness of a pro hero on a mission.
"I'll protect it!" she vowed, moving off Izuku's lap so he could get up.
"Knew I could trust you", Izuku smiled as he ruffled her hair again. He got the contact lenses from his bag, and retreated into the bathroom to put them in. He kept the door slightly open, listening to Eri's excited chatter and Aizawa's low hums. He couldn't hear what exactly they said, but it was enough to hear the happiness in her voice. It made Izuku smile as he listened to it. Mission success.
As he worked to put in the contact lenses, he distantly heard the front door opening and a new voice joining the chatter outside the bathroom door. He didn't focus on who it was or what was being said, not when he had to focus on putting the contact lenses in without poking his own eyes out. When it was finished he leaned back and blinked a couple times to get the lenses to settle. Opening his eyes fully again, it was a bit of a shock to see himself in the mirror. What looked back at him was, indeed, the ghost of his father.
Back when he was a child he could only see the similarities in the hair and the freckles, but now he found more. They had the same shape to the face and the jaw, even if Izuku's still had baby fat stubbornly clinging to his cheeks. The shape of the eyes were the same too, which was even more obvious now that his eyes looked red. Izuku leaned forward, staring into the bathroom mirror, and mumbled a quiet "wow" when he saw his dad stare back at him. For a moment tears burned in his eyes, and he had to bite his lip hard to keep the tears from falling. The quiet grief, the wisps of it that never truly left him, suddenly roared in him. He wished his dad could have been here, wished his dad could have met Eri, wished he could get one more of his dad's warm smiles. He desperately wished he could hug his dad again, hug him tight and never let go, to let himself believe for a second that hugs really could fix everything again.
He blinked harshly and rubbed his eyes, forcing the feelings down. He was doing this for Eri, he was cheering her up. He couldn't cry in his teacher's bathroom because he missed his dad. He had to focus, damnit. Cheer Eri up, help her realise how beautiful she was, and then he could go back to his dorm room and cry. For now, he needed to be a hero, and smile.
He pushed on the corners of his mouth, forcing them up in a smile. reminding himself of the motion. When he could hold the smile and make it look natural he dropped his hands down. He took one more deep breath, plastered on his bright smile and stepped out of the bathroom.
"Okay, Eri, I'm done! What do you-" he began as he walked out into the living room, but paused when he took in the newcomer. He stared in surprise, as he had forgotten the noises of someone else coming to the apartment. The guest in question sat in the arm chair in the living room and stared up at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. Then Izuku blinked, head tilting slightly as he looked down at the seated guest.
"All Might", he greeted, one hand coming up in a wave. "How are you-"
The question was interrupted as All Might jerked, a move to get up from the chair that was quickly overtaken by the brutal coughing attack he got. He bent over himself, all but hacking his remaining lung up, blood running down his jaw. Eri gasped and Aizawa was quickly on his feet, all but shoving a napkin in the retired hero's hands and telling him that he better not get blood on his paper work.
"All Might!" Izuku squeaked at the sudden coughing attack. "Are you okay?!"
All Might stared up at him for one incredulous moment, his wide blue eyes scanning his face before something like realisation settled in him.
"Y-Young... Midoriya?" the man coughed, more blood splattering over the napkin. Izuku winced, but nodded.
"Yeah, it's just me. Sorry, did I surprise you?"
"It's... it's okay, my boy, but, please... why do you look like that?"
"Huh?" He blinked in confusion for a second, forgetting the change to his appearance. The movement, however, only made All Might even more pale, for some reason. Izuku crossed the living room and gave him a pat to the shoulder, hoping his mentor would be spared another coughing attack.
"Your hair", All Might rasped, before his eyes went impossibly wider and the blood began trickling even faster from his mouth. "What... what happened to your eyes?"
"My hair? Oh! I just changed it up to show Eri!" Izuku said quickly. "This is my natural hair colour."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because All Might looked like he was on the verge of passing out.
"This is your- your normal appearance?"
"Uh, yes? I'm sorry, I usually dye it the green you're used to, to look more like mom. But white's my natural one. The red is just contact lenses, my dad had red eyes, so..."
"Your dad?" All Might wheezed, making a rather accurate impression of a dying goose being stepped on.
"Yeah, um-" Izuku leaned over the coffee table to snatch up the photo he had shown Eri earlier, and then held it out to All Might. "This is my dad."
Immediately upon seeing the photo, all the blood disappeared from All Might's face and was instead expelled out in a rather impressive, if gory, blood-fueled spit take. Eri screamed as Aizawa jumped back to get out of the line of fire, but Izuku wasn't so lucky. The blood hit him right in the face, and dripped down over his cheeks. All Might jumped up to his feet, but as soon as he was standing his eyes all but rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the floor.
"All Might?!" Izuku screamed as he knelt by his mentor, shaking his shoulder to make the hero stay with him. The man took one look up at Izuku's face, blood dripping from his white curls and over his red eyes, and promptly closed his eyes.
"Nana... I'm coming up..." he wheezed on the floor.
"No! All Might, don't leave me!" Izuku wailed as he continued to shake All Might to keep him in the land of the living.
"Like hell you are!" Aizawa yelled and slapped All Might in the face. "I swear, old man, if you die in my living room I'll kill you myself!"
In the end, All Might managed to stay alive long enough for Aizawa to run out and tell one of the students to get Recovery Girl. And if Recovery Girl walked in to see Eri and Izuku desperately clutching at All Might's half-dead almost corpse, both sobbing as blood dropped from Izuku's white curls, well... It wasn't the worst thing Recovery Girl had seen that week.