A Hero's Dirty Work (Villain Deku / Vigilante Deku au)

Friends and Family

Midoriya opened his door, lost in thought as he reflected on the previous day. When he'd heard about how Iida had gotten everyone's attention and prevented a full-blown panic from happening inside the school, he'd decided to make him his assistant. It technically wasn't an official position, but there was no way he was going to replace Momo and it would go against his orders from One For All if he stepped down and let Tenya take his place.

"You were on the TV, I saw you!" Eri cheered when he came in. Midoriya smiled. 

"What did you think? Was I cool?" he asked her, picking her up and spinning her around. Her eyes filled with wonder and she hugged him fiercely when he finished his circle and pulled her in, but he felt a pang in his heart when he noticed that she didn't smile. She'd never smiled, not that he'd seen. And those scars... Oh man, when he got a hold of Overhaul, he was going to rip him a new one.

"Yes!" she said. "You were awesome. I would be way too scared if there were that many people yelling at me, but you told super cool stories. I want to meet your friends!"

"My friends would be super excited to meet you, too!" he told her. "We just need to wait for a little bit, so you can get be around lots of people without getting scared."

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I can't help it."

"Don't be sorry, you're the best little sister ever! Being scared is never something to be sorry about, it's just something to face so you can get stronger." She cuddled further into his chest, humming happily.

"I'm a good little sister?" she said. "I've never been a little sister before, so I don't know how."

"You do it just like you're doing it right now," he said. "You're just right."

She didn't respond other than to hug him tighter. He held back tears; Izuku was the emotional side of him, not Midoriya, but Eri was just too adorable. She wouldn't understand that they were happy tears, though, so he made sure to just keep smiling.

"How was your time with uncle Shigaraki?" he asked, a mischievous twinkle lighting in his eyes. He couldn't wait for the man to hear his new nick name. "I never got to ask you before."

"Uncle?" Eri asked, her head tilted to the side. "What's an uncle?"

"It's someone who is like a dad, but isn't actually your dad. Usually it has to be in your family, but since me and you don't have a real family, we can just use it for a grown-up that we really like. Do you like Shigaraki?"

"Yes! And Kurogiri. They are super nice!" Eri said. "Can I call Kurogiri my uncle too?"

"You sure can," Midoriya assured her. "What did you do with them before I woke up?"

"They told me about how awesome you are, and we played some games," she said. "I always won, but I think uncle Shigaraki was going easy on me."

"He's nice like that, isn't he?" Midoriya said. "How was your day today? Shigaraki and Kurogiri weren't here while I was gone, so I was worried about you."

"Oh," she said, looking down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Oh, stop that," Midoriya said, tickling her. She squirmed and scrunched up her face adorably, but she didn't quite smile. He would have to work on that. "Big brothers always worry about their sisters, that's just how it is. It's not your fault."

"Really?" Eri asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"That's right. If I'm worried about you, that just because I love so you much and I don't want you to ever get hurt again."

Eri's bottom lip trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes. "I've never—I don't know how..." she said, but she stopped. She didn't know how to say what she wanted to say, but Midoriya understood.