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Nemuri sips from her oversized coffee mug, eyeing Shouta who hasn’t touched his. He seems nervous, she realizes, and decides to do her best to lighten the mood. “I’m sure Hizashi’s just trying to get us excited about something else on his radio show,” she tells him, waving her hand. To be fair, she always was a little on edge when Hizashi would text ‘we need to talk after school’, but it usually was just something lighthearted and silly.
“It has to do with Eri,” Shouta retorts, and that causes Nemuri to set her mug down, giving her husband her full attention. “It’s all he would tell me.”
“Is she safe?” Nemuri asks with genuine concern, and Shouta nods.
“I know she’s safe, but he hasn’t said anything else.”
As if on cue, the blond walks into the room, settling at the table with his partners. “So, it has to do with Eri,” Hizashi says, unaware that Nemuri was already caught up. Hizashi doesn’t make her wait nearly as long as he did Shouta, before pulling out a folded piece of paper and setting it on the table.
Career Fair , the paper declares in large, bold letters.
“So Eri wants to start thinking about her future?” Nemuri asks, picking up the flyer. “I don’t understand the problem here, Hizashi.”
“Eri didn’t tell us about it,” Hizashi says, and the two just send him even more confused looks. “Look, Nem, it says to invite your parents. And what are we?”
“Eri’s parents…”
“And heroes ,” Hizashi adds, staring pointedly. “What kid doesn’t want their hero parents to show up at their school’s career fair?”
“Probably one who spends her whole day surrounded by heroes,” Shouta shrugs. “I don’t see what you’re so upset about.”
“Surprisingly, I’m with Shouta on this one,” Nemuri shrugs, returning her attention to her drink once more.
“What do you mean ‘surprisingly’?”
Hizashi and Nemuri continue, ignoring Shouta’s question. “My point,” the blond says, “Is that Eri’s embarrassed of us.”
“That’s not true,” Nemuri reassures him. “She probably knows we’re busy and can’t make a school time affair…”
“As teachers?” Hizashi raises a brow. “You know how easy it would be for us to make this? I mean, it’s not like five years ago when Shouta had that class.”
“They all became heroes,” Shouta shrugs, looking at the paper. “I’m sure Nezu would let us off, though…”
“Come on, she can’t be embarrassed of us! We’ve been-”
Nemuri stops herself and the three stare among them. They can’t think of a single friend of Eri’s they met this school year, or a single event they went to.
“I mean, we…” Nemuri shakes her head again, as if arguing with herself mentally. “We’re cool, right, Hizashi?”
“That’s what I thought.”
“You’re both incredibly uncool,” Shouta tells them, earning him a glare.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one she’s most embarrassed by!” Hizashi argues, and Nemuri claps her hands to get the boys’ attention.
“Now, now, arguing isn’t going to fix this. Why don’t we simply talk to Eri and see why she didn’t tell us about this?”
“Nem, darling, I mean this is the most loving way, but a talk with you always ends up with the birds and the bees.”
“Does not!”
The afternoon continues, and the three adults get no further in their discussion than simply arguing and calling each other the ‘embarrassing’ one. Eventually Hizashi wins, and the other two agree to show up at the career fair anyway. It’s not so much that the other two agree , Nemuri and Shouta thinking it’s a dumb idea, but it’s the only way to get Hizashi to settle down so they go with it.
~*~
Despite the career fair being crowded, the group manages to attract a lot of their attention. Hizashi and Nemuri are hard to miss in their hero costumes, and Shouta’s eyesore of a sleeping bag pulls lots of attention.
“Maybe she is embarrassed of you two,” Nemuri shrugs, frowning when Shouta won’t let her snatch the sleeping bag away. “Must you?”
“Must you dress like this around children?” Shouta responds with a smirk, earning a humph of annoyance from Nemuri. It’s enough to tell him he’s won for now.
Nemuri suddenly drags them both under a table, gasping dramatically. “I think I know why Eri didn’t invite us,” she hisses in a whisper.
“Nem, what the fuck?”
She glares, enough to shut Shouta up. “She has a boyfriend. Just look!”
Three pairs of eyes peek over the table, to see Eri talking awkwardly with another boy about her age, before he takes her hand and leads her to another table.
“We don’t know if they’re dating,” Shouta says, and his spouses just sigh in disbelief. “Fine, so she has a boyfriend, why wouldn’t she want us to come here because of that?”
“Because,” Nemuri emphasizes, “we’re her parents . You never want your parents to meet your boyfriend. At least not for a while.”
“I don’t think I would mind,” he shrugs.
“Then why haven’t we met your parents?” Hizashi argues back, and Shouta doesn’t even bother responding.
As the three sneak out from under the table, they’re caught by the principal. “Oh, you’re Eri’s parents!” she smiles. “I’m so glad you could show up! She said you’d be out on a mission.”
Eri, who’s come closer to the group, tries to hide by focusing on the free pens one of the booths hands out.
“Ah, yes, well we just got called on one, so we really should go!” Nemuri offers back, gripping her husbands’ arms again. “Thanks for having us!”
“Eri, I didn’t know your mom was a MILF! I don’t even care that she’s old!”
Hizashi and Shouta have to drag Nemuri away before she gets into a fight with another student.
~*~
The three parents sit on the couch, looking guilty as their kid stares at them, arms crossed.
“It was Hizashi’s idea,” Nemuri explains, but Eri’s look makes her stop talking.
“Look,” Shouta, the only one of them able to be unphased by this, starts. “It wasn’t good for us to crash the career fair. But you can’t avoid talking about this with us. If you’re embarrassed by us, or don’t want us to meet your boyfriend, that’s fine. You just need to tell us that.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Eri shouts quickly.
“If so,” Nemuri steps in, “then you wouldn’t know who we were talking about.”
A long moment of silence before Eri finally sits with them. “I have a boyfriend. I really like him. But… I don’t know all the kids think it’s so cool to have hero parents and I just…”
“Want them to like you for who you are?” Hizashi offers, and Eri nods defeated. “It’s fine, little listener. Just next time, tell us?”
Eri nods, settling when the three parents embrace her, promising she’ll introduce her boyfriend soon.