Chapter 20: Serious Talk and Planning

Marie

Marie was not happy when she was woken up by her phone at four o'clock in the morning. She had finally managed to sleep and was not happy at being woken up. She then saw that it was Joey, and her heart sank down to her stomach as she said, "Are you alright Joey?" Denki stirred and woke up, "Wha' happen?" he asked in drowsy Japanese. "I'm fine, sis," Joey answered in English, but he sounded nervous. "Um…well, I kind of did a thing, I thought I knew what I was doing, and then I didn't and now I need help…" he said. Marie's mind turned to the worst-case scenario, and she nearly screamed, "Don't tell me you got someone pregnant!"

"What!? No! No! NO! Not THAT kind of trouble!" Joey yelled, and Marie heard people commenting about it on Joey's end. Marie took a minute to breath a sigh of relief and Denki said, "Joey got someone pregnant!?" Marie turned to her husband and quickly said in Japanese, "No, I just jumped the gun, sorry babe," then returned her attention to Joey. "Alright Joey, it's not that. Then what is it you need help with?" Marie heard Joey breathe in as he said, "Okay…so…me and Eri are…a couple now to start with." Marie smiled wide as she heard this, "Go on," and her memories were filled with watching Joey and Eri grow up. If any two people would make a perfect couple, it was them. "So, we've kissed some, talked a lot about more…private things, and I wanted to take her on a date for Saturday. I asked Aizawa-sensei, and he said yes. Now…I don't know what to do to take her on a date."

Marie chuckled and said, "Denki's awake now, you want to talk with both of us?" Joey took a few seconds before he answered, "Yeah, that might help." Marie quickly explained things to Denki and they both had smiles on their faces as she set her phone on speaker, "Alright Joey, we're listening." Joey continued, "I don't know how to date Eri. This isn't like the girls in Middle School, this is Eri. She's…special to me. I want our first date to be perfect, not something generic, I want it to be special. I'm the first boy she ever dated, and I don't want to mess it up for her."

Denki nodded, "Sounds tough. I admit, wanting your first date to be perfect is normal. Especially for a special girl. But you don't have to go crazy with it either. I mean, mine and Marie's first real date wasn't all that fancy, just dinner and a movie, and a walk through a park. What's important, Joey, is that you're open and honest with her, and listen to her, make her feel special and even a walk in a park can be a good date." Denki turned to Marie, and she told Joey, "Yeah, exactly. I admit, that was before, when I was blind, so just having a cute boy like me made it feel good. But Denki's right about how you can just make it feel special if you're open and honest. Just be yourself Joey."

"I know, but I still want to do something that she'd like," Joey said. "Calm down Joey," Marie told him, "Now think. You've known each other for almost half your lives now, you know all about things that she likes. What's someplace that she'd like to go to?" Marie heard Joey thinking on the other end, he tended to click his teeth together when he was thinking seriously. "Well, there's a new pastry shop that opened up, it's Hero themed and in the ad there were some servers dressed like Deku-nii-san and LeMillion-senpai. Oh! Yeah, I just remembered they also have a new bookstore she said she wanted to check out," Joey said. "Perfect!" Marie and Denki said in synch.

Joey sighed in relief, "Yeah, I think I know what we can do. We can go to the pastry place, do some window shopping on the way to the bookstore, go to the bookstore, yeah, that's good." Denki smiled a knowing smile for his brother-in-law, "That'll work, Joey. I know you'll do fine. You're a smart kid, you just need to relax, and go with the flow." Marie then thought of something, and looked at Denki and gently whispered in his ear so Joey wouldn't hear them, even with his own superhuman hearing. "Should we tell him about me being pregnant?" Denki stopped and took a few seconds to think and said, "Yeah, but then you'll need to call your Mom and tell her. She should know that she's going to be a grandma if you're telling Joey too."

Marie nodded and turned to her phone, "Okay, Joey, since you're here, I think you should know something. I'm pregnant!" Joey was dead silent on the other end for a whole two minutes before he quietly said in English, "Holy crap. I'm gonna be an uncle… WAIT! You're pregnant and you're still in the field!?" Marie sighed and said, "Yes, I am. It's my choice, Joey. Once it's apparent, I'll stop, but until then, I'm going to be a Hero. Alright?" Joey swallowed and said, "Alright, Sis. Just…be careful okay?" Marie nodded, "I will be, Joey. We gotta get ready now, I love you, bye." Joey responded, "I love you too, Marie, Denki. Be careful, both of you," and hung up.

Denki gave Marie a look and she sighed and went to her Mom's contact. She contacted her and at the third ring Midnight answered, "Hello Marie. How are things?" Marie told her, "I'm fine Mom. I just got a call from Joey, he's dating Eri now, taking her out on their first date on Saturday." Midnight laughed on the other end, "I know. Our little Joey's growing up so fast. They're such a cute couple too." Marie chuckled, and then Midnight said, "So, I know you wouldn't call me to talk about Joey's love life. What's this about?" Marie swallowed, feeling a little more awkward telling this to her Mother. "Mom, I'm pregnant."

Marie heard glass drop on the other end, and then she heard a body drop. "MOM!?" Marie yelled. "I-I-I'm here," Midnight answered, "Just surprised, that's all. I…I feel so…I'm so happy, and so scared, and so old, and Marie…you need to be careful now. I mean it. You have my grandchild now, and I'm worried about that, but…this will affect your career too you know." Marie nodded, "I know Mom, I know. I've already talked about it with Denki, once this Brotherhood of Humanity case is over, I'm going on desk duty." Midnight breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm going to be a grandma… I…didn't think I'd live to see the day… Marie, I gotta go, thank you for telling me. Be careful, baby, alright?" Marie told her, "I'll be careful Mom, I promise. I love you." Midnight said, "I love you too," in English and hung up.

Marie saw Denki finishing telling his own parents about her pregnancy, "I know Dad, I know. I will Mom, I promise. It's her decision, but she'll get out of fighting after this case is solved. She's telling her family now, so she can't talk. Yes Mom, yes Dad, we're getting things ready. Baby names? We're…we're thinking about it. We still got time to think about that. I gotta go, it's almost time to get to work. I'll talk later. Goodbye." The lightning Quirk user sighed deeply and told Marie, "That was rougher than I expected."

"At least that part's over. Now we need to figure out a name…or names if there's more than one," Marie told him. Denki nodded, "I guess. But for now, we should get ready to go to work. We got a country to save and all that."

Joey

Joey hung up his phone and his head was swirling around. He was going on a date with Eri. His sister was pregnant. He was going on his first date with Eri. He was going to be an uncle. He was going on a perfect date with Eri. His pregnant sister was fighting terrorists and putting her life and her unborn child, or children's, lives on the line. He felt like he had to hold on to a wall to keep from falling down. He took a few deep breaths and focused on what he could do anything about. He couldn't do anything about his older sister, so he had to focus on Eri, and giving her a good first date. That's when it hit him, this would be the first real date Eri had ever had in her life.

He was glad that his older sister and brother-in-law hadn't told him anything crazy, it was all commonsense things that he probably would have thought of himself if his head wasn't messed up with stupid teenage hormones. After his field test with Satsuki, Mine-san had gotten flirty, and started a few rumors because he and Satsuki had to be so close because of her sensitivity to the frigid Blizzard Zone. Thankfully, Eri wasn't jealous, and trusted Joey and Satsuki enough to know they had only the best of intentions, but she also acted much flirtier with Joey than before, asking him for piggybacks and such, so he now had a MUCH better idea of how well formed her body was. It really messed up his head.

When he thought about dating Eri, his hormonal brain turned to other things, like how dates could end, and what kind of outfit Eri might wear. Joey shook his head at this and thought back to what he had been discussing with Marie and Denki. He had the arrangements figured out now, so he decided to text Aizawa-sensei his plans to see if he approved of them. After five minutes Aizawa-sensei responded, This is acceptable. I've already chosen your chaperone for your trip. Aizawa-sensei then sent an emoji that looked like him smiling the way he smiled when he has made a devious plan, one of his 'logical deceptions'. Joey swallowed and texted back, Who? And Aizawa responded, You'll find out on the day of your date. Eri will be waiting for you at the front gate at 11 A.M. Do not disappoint her, or your entire class will receive the workout of their life for the next month. Aizawa-sensei sent the emoji again, and Joey swallowed hard and prayed out loud, "Oh dear God, don't let my chaperone be her!"

?

The Hooded Man watched from his screens as his puppets made their plans. Everything would be ready soon, and he would have the final ingredient. Soon, the end of Quirks, the end of the animals that thought themselves human, would be at hand. He put in the number on a burner phone and said, "Be ready at 12 P.M. Saturday, Tokyo time." On the other end a woman said, "Occidere Animalia." The Hooded Man responded, "Surge Humanitatum." He then hung up the phone, dropped it, and smashed it with his foot. He had avoided detection so far, no need to risk being found now. Everything was coming together now. Everything was proceeding as planned.