Under the Christmas Tree

The scene in the living room that night was a familiar one, a traditional gathering of man, woman and child in a timeless tradition of decorating their Christmas tree. The trio in this home wasn't father, mother and daughter, however, though they appeared to be.

One might also add that the man was not "helping" directly, either. He lay sort of slumped over on the couch, snoring.

"Are we done?" Eri was peering into the small box they had been picking ornaments out of.

"Just the most important one is left," Elly grinned. The hairy bundle on the couch snorted awake, seeming to know they were almost finished. He flipped his long, dark hair back and blinked his bleary gray eyes, reaching for his cup that sat on a warmer nearby. "Well, at least Shota's awake again," she laughed softly.

They were dressed festively, all three of them in sweaters since it was chilly and starting to snow outside. Eri's and Elly's were traditional red and green holiday sweaters with trees, snowmen and candy canes on them. Aizawa, however, was wearing a green and black one with cats in Santa hats decorating it. He rubbed at his chest absently as he watched them.

"The tree's so pretty," Eri said. She was sitting back with her knees on the ground staring up in awe at the tree. The colored lights shone next to bright ornaments and reflected back in a multitude of rainbow light. Elly handed her the last one, a large star for the top, and her eyes went wide.

"Uh huh. Look, I'll pick you up so you can put it on."

Aizawa sipped complacently from his mug of hot chocolate and watched his girlfriend bond with the pale child. Last year the little one had not even known what the holiday was about. This year they were lucky to have Cheshire around to show them how it was done in the States. Elly had insisted they decorate a tree in their home early, so they could enjoy it for a couple of weeks before the holiday.

"I did it!" Eri put her hands up and grinned.

"Hooray!" The counselor spun her around impulsively then set her down again. "You did a great job. It looks awesome!"

"Awesome!" She echoed, giggling, and scampered off to take a big gulp from her own mug, which was mostly marshmallows and very little chocolate.

Elly flopped down next to him on the couch. "Whew. That was a big tree. I'm glad we had help."

He grunted and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"It's very pretty." She sighed and leaned into his side.

"Yes," he said quietly.

Eri looked over at them and smiled more. He was looking at her while he said it.

She really liked when she was allowed to visit them in their home. It felt more like a normal living situation than the dormitory ... although she liked that, too. But here she could almost forget her past and believe, for a little while, that she had a loving family. The scruffy homeroom teacher wasn't afraid of her and neither was his girlfriend, the nice lady she had confided in a lot over the year. Cheshire had gone through bad times, too, and had shared some of her own pain with Eri. It had brought them closer.

"It's time for you to brush your teeth." She jumped guiltily, a smudge of chocolate on her upper lip.

"Already?"

"It's late."

Eri sighed and nodded. Once she padded off into the bathroom to clean up, Aizawa kissed his girlfriend on the neck.

"I'll put her to bed. You stay here and wait for more kisses."

"Oooh." Elly cuddled down onto the couch as she watched him walk down the hall.

Eri was a well-behaved child, and so happy to be sleeping over that she had brushed, dressed and hopped into bed in record time. It wasn't long before the adults were together again, snuggling and watching the tree lights twinkle.

"You're so good with her," he murmured into her furry ear.

"She reminds me a lot of myself at her age. I want her to feel better than I did back then." She hugged him tight.

"Oh?" He sighed, then pulled her closer, his hand resting on the back of her neck. "I would like to give you an early present, if you don't mind."

"Oh, cute," she breathed. "Your hair's up, babe. You're super excited."

"Emotional," he corrected her with an even stare.

"Yes, but I thought that word was more acceptable to you."

He shrugged. "I'll be honest. Watching you with Eri made me - what do you say when I make that face? The one the kids think is scary?"

"The wha -" He grinned creepily at her, his eyes alight. "Ohhhh," she murmured, her body relaxing even further in his hold. "You mean melt?"

"Mmm. That."

"Even cuter!"

"Cut it out. I'm trying to be serious."

She snorted, an indelicate sound that made him laugh. "Of course you are."

"All right, that's enough out of you." He kissed her deeply, enough so that when they parted she was wobbling a little, dreamy-eyed and smiling. "Now, here. Open this."

A small box was pressed into her hands. She popped the top off easily since there was no wrapping and peered inside. Laying neatly on a small satin bed was a pretty chain with a resin ball attached. She picked it up, wondering, and saw that there was a bit of fiber spun into the rough shape of a heart inside.

"Is this made of what I think it is?"

He nodded. "The day I met you, I was about to retire my capture weapon. I saved it for other uses, so I still had it on me..."

"This is from when we first met?!"

He coughed and nodded again. "Yes."

"That's beautiful, Shota. It's... beautiful." She wiped her eyes with the back of one hand.

"You're beautiful," he said quietly before twining a hand in her hair to pull her in for another kiss.

Eri clapped a hand to her mouth, stifling a batch of gleeful giggles as she watched from the darkened hallway. She was about to turn around and sneak back to her bed when Aizawa raised his voice.

"And I think somebody needs to work on their stealth skills if they're going to try sneaking up on Santa in a couple weeks."

She shrieked laughter and scampered off into the back.