How does our perception of time impact its passage? As a child, events like birthdays and Christmas seem so distant, and it takes forever for them to return. However, as adults, time seems to be in short supply, and those important moments keep approaching faster and faster, leaving us questioning how time has slipped away so quickly.

Let's talk about the children. The mothers had to talk and get to know each other for two weeks before allowing their children to gather at the Todoroki household for a play date and sleepover. Though it may have felt like an eternity for the kids, Inko was surprised at how quickly the day arrived. She was talking to Rei Todoroki, having just dropped over Izuku's overnight bag, making sure Rei had Inko's contact information, which the woman did as that was how this all got set up.

Rei displayed patience and a reassuring smile as she assured the concerned mother, Inko, that Izuku would be safe and returned by 7 p.m. the next day. She promised to keep Inko updated and to have Izuku call her. Inko left before the children were released because she had to meet with Kobayashi regarding offers on their old apartment and paperwork for the new place.

Hizashi had reached out in anger when his lawyer received the new divorce paperwork; had he played the sweet, apologetic husband, he may have been able to manipulate Inko. She did still love him; that emotion doesn't disappear overnight, no matter how much we would wish it so. Instead, he became angry, cursing and saying all the wrong things. Inko was what one would say meekly. Her self-esteem had been slowly dropping since the day she married Hizashi and his disappearance from her life, then finding out about the affair had not helped the matter. But her anger and the fact that not one word out of his mouth was about Izuku awakened the lioness.

Her mind replayed that day on the bench not long ago of HER son crying, wondering why Hizashi had given up on him and how he could do better to get him back. Izuku asked her if she would give up and how that broke her heart.

"One, don't you ever call and talk to me that way." She said into the phone, her voice becoming clearer with each word. "You come home, make love to me, then just abandon your son and wife for some other woman and offer this "Generous" settlement. You don't get to dictate terms to me; you no longer get to say how things will be done or handled. Either sign the paperwork, or I will see you in court. NEVER CALL ME AGAIN!" she hung up the phone and blocked his number.

She didn't leave until she saw Izuku climb into Rei's vehicle, satisfied she left.

-The Trip to the Playdate-

Momo had been inside a limo all her life; now, had she climbed into a normal vehicle, that would have inspired a sense of wonder and awe. Setsuna and Izuku, on the other hand, were the exact opposite; they were so stunned that their mouths were gapped looking at it all. Momo introduced herself properly and gave Izuku a polite but firm elbow that brought him back to the world to introduce himself, and Setsuna did right after. Shoto was confused by his friends reactions, but he found it amusing.

Shoto found that Set, Izuku, and Momo behaved differently than anticipated, but he enjoyed their company nonetheless. Although he found the other members of their group equally pleasant, he felt a special connection with these three. When he was feeling lonely, Izuku had reached out to him, Momo had eagerly invited him to play, and Set had quickly given in to their requests, making it impossible for him to stay upset with her. Set had this nature about her that would sweep you up and carry you along before you even knew what was happening. Rei had initially said only two friends, but Shoto had insisted on all three, that it had to be all three of them. He wondered how his siblings would react to his friends.

Izuku, who tended to be nervous, felt uneasy as the Todoroki family entered the car. Natsuo was the first to climb in. he looked ready to say something, but his mother's glare stopped him from speaking. His hair was completely white, and he had grey eyes. He introduced himself in a rehearsed and monotone voice, saying, "I hope you all enjoy your time at our home. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask." He then sat down and took out his handheld game console.

"Is that the Omega Portable Ten?" Setsuna asked.

"Yeah," he responded with a very can't you tell tone.

"What you are playing?" she said, moving to sit next to him. He rolled his eyes, but Rei's look stopped him from saying anything negative. "Fantasy's End, Alpha Watch 8."

"I have that one; I am in the last zone. Zola is a pain, but I have to grind up some before I take him on," she said.

"There is no way you are on Zola," he responded indigently, "I haven't even gotten past Kri. He is like impossible."

Set reached into her bag and pulled out her gaming system, but hers was green and had some dinosaur stickers; of course, she powered it up and showed him her character. "You are probably using the wrong party; if you switch out the monk for the thief and have the hero duel wield, Kri is a piece of cake."

"Why would I duel wield? That skill sucks." Natsuo said in shock, looking at her heroes' stats.

"Cause dummy, once you get the skill to level 34, you unlock parry/counter; then you just go defensive, have the healer keep you full, the thief steals all of Kri's potions, and the trapper redirects agro to the hero." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Does that work?" he said, biting his thumb.

"Oh yeah, just grind up the levels, and you will see," she said confidently. They were lost in this little world where each one had the most intense looks of concentration on the screens before them. When Fuyumi entered, they both nodded in sync as a greeting, causing Izuku and Momo to giggle.

Fuyumi seemed a little nervous as she greeted the rest of the kids; she had a head of white hair and tuffs of red scattered throughout. All it took was a simple comment from Momo about how she liked the older girls' hair for them to start talking, Momo asking all kinds of questions excitedly like she was talking to a big sister rather than her friend's sister. As an only child, Momo had wild dreams of older and younger siblings and what that would be like.

Last to join them was Touya. Like his siblings, his hair was white, and he rolled his eyes, taking a seat; a nudging from his mother got him to introduce himself at the very least. After his introduction, he crossed his arms and stared at the window. Izuku felt like somehow he got cheated. Set and Momo had made friends with the other siblings, but Touya ignored any question that came his way or supplied simple answers. Izuku shrugged and instead focused on Shoto; soon, the two were whispering about heroes and laughing. They were both talking about the recent debut of Mr. Mysterious and how he resembled other heroes, with Shoto sure that he was Dr. Night in a new outfit. While Izuku thought it may be Captain Darkness. With all the children in their little worlds, they barely noticed the time it took to get to the Todoroki household.

-Rei Todoroki-

Like the limo, the house's luxury did not affect Momo but had a grand effect on Set and Izuku. The two greenettes seemed afraid to move in fear of breaking something that would cost a gazillion yen. After some coaxing from Momo, they soon seemed to forget and settle into the more important thing of playing. After all, they were four.

That was not to say that the night was not without hiccups; a group of 4-year-olds will only agree on everything so many times before someone wants to do something different. Fuyumi, well-practiced in interfering in her brother's fights, could defuse things quickly, but other times, Rei stepped in. Soon after some tears, they were back to playing and laughing about whatever had just popped into their minds.

Rei smiled, watching the little group drag her other children into whatever game they played. Fuyumi was the first to get pulled in, not that it required much effort before Natsuo was reluctantly pulled in. The last bastion of resistance was Touya. He resisted until nighttime before the constant needling of his siblings and the others involved him in a hide-and-seek game.

The house was full of laughter and cheer; Rei soaked it all in, drawing it into her soul. This was only possible because her husband was out of the country on a mission, as he would have never allowed this. Their marriage had been arranged for her, but as a dutiful daughter, she did her best to make things work. It was a quirk marriage, once a widely accepted practice but now heavily frowned upon.

Enji Todoroki was at first kind and gentle with her; she began to dream of how their story would play out of an arranged marriage turning into real love. That changed after they were married. He had been gentle "enough" that first night, but after that, it was an obsession with her being pregnant; he tracked her cycle and would "insist" they perform coitus during those optimal times. It became cynical, cold, distant. Rei tried to make it more intimate, but he would have nothing to do with it. They slept in separate rooms, with him coming to her bed for the act before returning to his study or whatnot. A single message was all she was given when he was on his way; she was expected to make herself ready to receive, and that was that.

Divorce or separation was not an option due to the marriage contract; it would destitute her and her family. She was in no position to hire lawyers to help her fight for custody of her children. Her love for them held her there; she loved them dearly and wanted them to live happy lives and chase their dreams. She would almost come to tears thinking they were alone with just their father.

Her oldest was the source of much of her worry as Touya wanted so desperately to gain Enji's favor or, at the minimum, his acknowledgment that he trained his fire relentlessly, even when the evidence began to arise that his fire was hurting him.

You see, most fire quirks make the user resistant at the very least to fire or heat; Touya didn't have this; instead, he inherited his mother's resistance to cold while he gained an even stronger version of Enji's fire.

Enji would train Touya, but as soon as this flaw was discovered, he wrote Touya off as a lost cause; Fuyumi and Natsuo had weaker versions of Rei's quirk, which immediately made them not worth his time. Natsuo had expressed a desire to learn, but the dismissal by Enji had made him bitter, and soon, he chose the world of video games. After Natsuo's quirk manifested, Enji stopped coming to Rei's room.

In truth, Enji's absence after Natsuo was welcomed, he would rarely come home, and that was fine; word had reached her ears that he was spending time with a few of his sidekicks. Rei was slightly upset, but as he no longer made demands on her or her body, she was happy to look the other way. She did pray that he would father a few children out of wedlock and name one of them his heir, thus allowing her to break their marriage contract in her favor.

With Enji gone, Rei had turned to her only friend, the person she had once dreamed of marrying before the Quirk Marriage. It was simply coffee or lunch before it turned to dinner and more. In the arms of her friend-turned-lover, she could find the intimacy that she had dreamed of and wasn't even aware she was craving.

Word had reached her ears that he was spending time with a woman who had born him a daughter and another who had born him a son. Sadly, it seemed that whatever children he had fathered hadn't been up to snuff because she eventually received the message that she was to be ready.

She remembered him coming home, her lover slipping out the window into the night, so she was ready to receive Enji. Rei closed her eyes and let him do his deed before he left. This happened over the next three days; she was pregnant like clockwork. He went back to ignoring her till the child was born. When Shoto was born, his hair perfectly blended with hers and Enji's, and his different-colored eyes were mesmerizing. She instinctively knew that this was the child Enji was waiting for.

She sighed and held her baby close, knowing the misery Enji would inflict upon her little Shoto. But she hoped that if she could show him a better way and a better life. She would do everything she could to ensure that Enji wouldn't be able to break him. Hence, she enrolled him in the academy and was so pleased when he told her about friends. With Enji gone, she wanted to give him an experience that would have otherwise been denied him. She sent her lover a picture of her kids and Shoto's friends on the couch, enraptured by some movie.

Wood Cutter: You deserve so much better than having to steal moments like this, Rei. I wish I were there to share this with you.

Kaguya: I hate having to steal these moments just as much as I hate having to steal them with you. I miss you so much right now. When will you be home?

Wood Cutter: Soon, my love. Soon. I G2G. Miss you.

Kaguya: Miss you 2, be safe.

The boys all slept in Shoto's room while the girls slept in Fuyumi's; Rei walked the house, peaking in on all the children and making sure to tuck them in before she went to her room as she lay down to sleep. She felt that if she just had more time, then things could be so much better. Time was always moving forward never standing still.

The next day was more of the same. Still, this time, the kids didn't have to work nearly as hard to wrangle her older boys into their antics, especially when the game turned into heroes, with Rei needing to be rescued from the clutches of Fuyumi and Natsuo, who were hamming up their roles as cartoon bad guys.

When she witnessed Izuku disappear before her eyes and suddenly her bonds were undone, and Natuso was tied up, she knew she had stumbled upon something. Watching Set break apart and float and Momo create Nesting dolls as distractions were amazing. The part that Rei loved the most was when Shoto came over and hugged Izuku, bringing up his fire just a little bit as his friend sat on the ground, his teeth chattering.

All the kids wanted to be heroes; of course, they did; they were four years old. She could see Touya wishing to say something as they were talking; she could see the anger towards his father, all the training he put in, only to be dismissed and then ignored when Shoto was born. She knew that Touya didn't hate his little brother, but he resented him; Enji had no choice but to pay attention to Touya as he was the only one pursuing heroics. But with Shoto's arrival…

"Warm enough?" Shoto asked Izuku.

"That was great, thanks, Shoto," Izuku said, getting up.

"Do you have some ice quirk also," Touya asked, moving closer.

"No, I stop time," Izuku said smiling, "But when I do, I start getting cold; the longer time is stopped, the colder I get."

"So, you couldn't stop time forever?" the teen asked.

"I don't think so," Izuku replied. "I wouldn't want to; being the only one moving would be lonely. But it would be fun to stop it for a long time for extra time in art class!"

Touya just nodded and walked away to stand underneath a tree, watching the kids start up some new game with the ball Momo made. Rei walked over to her son and leaned against the other side of the tree.

"How come he gets everything?" Touya said. "Fathers attention, little friends to be heroes with."

"Is having your father's attention all the good?" she countered. "He doesn't show Shoto affection or spend special time with him; instead, he drills him as he does you."

"You mean did," Touya responded, the bitterness in his voice present. "I just wanted to matter to him, but…"

"Touya," Rei said. "Nothing matters to your father besides a stupid fantasy that will mean nothing except to him. What does it say that your father couldn't accomplish his goal and had to hoist it onto his children? Do you want to be a hero, Touya?"

"I do, Mom, I do." He said, wiping away a stray tear.

"Why do you want to be a hero?" she pressed. "Look at your little brother and his friends; why do they want to be heroes?"

"Because they are four, Mom," he sighed. "Everyone wants to be a hero when they get their quirk; even Natuso and Fuyumi also wanted to."

"That is how it all starts, Touya; then they grow up, and things change, they change, the world changes, or the person they looked up to changes. Or we begin to see them for what they are." Rei said, reaching around the tree and taking her son's hand. "If YOU want to be a hero, then it has to be for your reasons, not your fathers, not mine, but your own. You are risking your life; it is your life, Touya."

"You want me to quit?" he whispered.

"If you want to quit, then I will support you. If you want to keep going, I will support you. But you need to find a better way, Touya; you are hurting yourself, trying too hard to be like him and not like yourself." She gently squeezed his hand.

"I am not hurting…"

"Touya, I am your mother. Try lying to someone else," she tugged him into a cool embrace. "If you want to stick it in the face of your father, then become the number one hero your way, not his. I love you. Touya, Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shoto all love you. Don't let that bastard destroy you or the hero you dreamed about being when you were four years old."

"He won't like any of that," he said, hugging her back.

"Then we will just have to make sure not to tell him," She whispered.

Touya sat in his room that night, pencil curled between his upper lip and nose, leaning back in his chair. "What kind of hero do I want to be?"

Shoto lay in his bed, drifting off to sleep, a smile on his lips. Today, had been an almost perfect day. It just hadn't lasted long enough. He was sad when his friends had to go home, but knowing he would see them again on Monday soothed that ache. Lost in dreams of playtime and heroic adventures, he promised never to let his friends go and that he would be a hero they could be proud of.

Rei sat in her garden, staring at her phone; she had started and deleted the message several times.

Kaguya: I want out. The moon is too lonely. I can't let him destroy the children anymore. I want to be with you. Please help me.

Wood Cutter: I told you all you had to do was ask.

Thus began a dangerous game; Rei was going to save her family and herself. Now, she just needed the time to pull it off.