Magne woke up from a dreamless sleep to her alarm clock blaring at her and felt around her nightstand for her glasses before she walked down to the kitchen rolling her shoulders as she did.
Dabi was still asleep and normally she wouldn't know that given Dabi was quiet as a dorm-mouse unlike some of her previous roommates, but Dabi was passed out on the couch this time with his phone in hand.
Magne sighed at the sight, shaking her head in begrudgingly fond exasperation as she fetched a blanket and draped it over him, technically he didn't need a blanket for warmth since his quirk fought off any chills he would have gotten but the peaceful look on his face once she did made her feel much better.
If she spent the rest of the morning quietly getting ready so that she didn't wake him up then that was no one's business, Dabi had a hard enough time sleeping as it was, the slightest noise could have him awake and on his feet, and once he was up he could never get back to sleep.
She wasn't sure what that had happened to cause such a deeply ingrained response in him but it couldn't have been good, she had thought of asking more about where Dabi came from but she respected he didn't want to say anything, he certainty hadn't pressed her about her parents after her mother showed up.
Before Magne left she made up some breakfast for Dabi so he could have something other than cereal for breakfast for once, between that and his popsicles it was a surprise Dabi ever ate any real food, Dabi still wouldn't touch some cooked meats though.
Once she was in the shop, she got to work baking her daily wares, humming to herself as she mixed up some gingerbread and blinked surprised when she heard the doorbell since it was an hour before opening.
Magne leaned her head out of the kitchen and saw Yua running her hands through her hair to get some of the snow out of it "Oh hey, Hun. What are you doing here so early?" she asked, coming fully out of the kitchen.
Yua smiled at her with her mandibles wiggling "I was hoping that I'd be able to make a special-order Maggie." Yua replied and Magne huffed, bemused.
"Is that so? What kind of special-order we talking about?" she inquired.
Yua pulled out a small drawing of a cake that was quite old looking. "This cake was something I've wanted to get for Mezo for a while now... my grandfather used to make it for me before I left home." Yua explained, the last bit a touch clipped for reasons she knew.
Magne also knew better than to point it out or bring it up "Okay Hun, any flavor in particular?" she inquired instead.
Yua happily clicked her mandibles "Vanilla." she replied.
Magne wrote it down "Got it, why don't you take a seat Yua? Not opening for a while and I wouldn't mind the company." She offered nodding back to the dining area.
Yua chittered, turning to a table then nodded and carefully sat down after she rearranged her arms to be comfortable. Magne finished off the batch and since it was the last thing she needed to put together and get in the oven, so she had a good ten minutes to chat with Yua.
It was about the normal things at first like how well Mezo was doing, Magne also got in some teasing about how close she seemed to be with the new guy Midori-Kun hired which was the first time she had seen her friend blush, or the spider equivalent of it.
"Have you thought about reaching out to your family?" Yua asked suddenly asked in a hasty attempt to redirect the conversation.
Magne huffed "And listen to my mom nag me to death about how I'm wasting my life in this damned place? No thanks, I think I'd rather shave my head." she replied putting her head in her hand.
"No, no. I mean your Aunt Lady." Yua corrected with a wave of a hand.
"Oh." Magne said blinking "Um, not really. I mean, it would be nice, but I didn't really have the time to with all of the parent drama before and starting this place up, and I don't even remember what her number was, much less have any idea where to start looking for her." she explained.
Yua tilted her head "Well things are pretty smooth now, and you could probably just ask Midoriya-San for some help finding her." Yua pointed out.
"Ya know, I actually could." Magne admitted leaning back in her chair tilting her head up to the ceiling.
She hadn't thought of her Aunt in years, Magne had pretty thoroughly written off ever seeing Aunt Lady after that big blow out with her parents.
She tried to find her Aunt's number in her parents' phone but it had likely been deleted and it wasn't like her mom ever got along with her sister before that, she couldn't remember the two meeting without a fight occurring.
She had considered finding her a time or two when she first moved out but she didn't have the money or the time to track the woman down, but now she was in a really good place and could probably hire some shmuck to find Aunt Lady if she really wanted to.
Magne was about to say as much but she heard a ding from the kitchen and quickly left to take care of that before whatever they were before they burned.
"I'll let you get back to work Maggie, I need to go make breakfast for Mezo. See you later." Yua called, getting up to leave before Magne could say anything back.
Unfortunately, Yua's attempts to distract her were far more effective than she planned because now that Magne was made aware of the fact she could reach out to her Aunt the idea had continued to float in the back of her mind, even many hours later as she was nursing a cup of cheap wine on the couch.
"Something wrong Red? You keep spacing out like this and I'll have to call the Hamster to bring you back to earth." Dabi questioned and she jumped.
Magne had thought he was still in the shower and turned to see him still drying his hair with a towel. She wondered how long he was standing there then just sighed and slumped back, sinking deeper into the couch and took a sip from her glass.
"Been thinking about my Aunt." Magne answered.
Dabi gave a soft grunt in reply and leaned against the nearest wall "What about her?" he inquired, crossing his arms.
"Wondering if I should call her or something, I haven't seen since I was like, ten." Magne confessed, the alcohol loosening her lips just a touch.
Normally the two didn't talk much about their families, coming to a rather quiet understanding that neither of them had happy home-lives and that any drunk ranting about them was to be forgotten the next day once they were sober again.
Dabi pursed his lips "She in any way decent?" he questioned a touch more uncertain, Magne couldn't help snorting at that.
"Oh yeah, no idea how she and my mom are related. They said they had the same dad but I just can't see it." Magne told him.
"Then what's the problem? Just go knock at her door or something." Dabi suggested.
Magne groaned and threw her head back "I don't know, wouldn't it be weird or something? It's not like we stayed in contact after the big blow out she had with my mom. Wouldn't it be creepy to just show up at her door after all this time, and I look pretty different now, so she probably won't even recognize me." Magne replied, her tone way sulkier than she intended it to be.
Dabi frowned looking away from her, his right hand twitching a bit before he pushed off from the wall and collapsed on the couch beside her.
"Look Red, I can't really relate to you about this thing with your Aunt considering my "family" was fucked up three- no four ways to Sunday... but if you think there's any chance of building bridges with her then you should probably go for it." Dabi encouraged, surprising her.
"Really?" she asked.
Dabi hesitated "Yeah... If I hadn't burnt all my bridges with my, on my side of things I'd try to reach out to the people who weren't complete assholes." Dabi admitted "I doubt they'd want anything to do with me now, but it would be better than wondering, for the closure of it I guess." he added after a second, looking slightly pained at the thought.
Magne's heart panged, she would joke about how much of a kid Dabi was and he certainly put most moody teens to shame with his devil-may care attitude. But every once and a while there would be these softer moments where how painfully mature he really was would shine through, and the scars all over reminded her of why he was.
"Thanks Dabi." she muttered, afraid she would break the somber air around them.
Dabi huffed "It's nothing, see you tomorrow Red." Dabi responded as he got up and left for his room for the night.
With a vote of confidence from her roommate, Magne had asked Midori-Kun if he could find anything on her Aunt Lady, apparently it wasn't too hard once he dug around in her family tree.
So once he gave her an address, she talked it out with Dabi about having Shuichi over to see make sure he didn't burn the place down while she was gone for the day, and so she was now standing in front of her Aunt's house and trying to work up the nerve to knock at the door.
Something that seemed far more daunting now that she was here, it was a really nice looking neighborhood and she couldn't believe how much it unsettled her now, she always hated suburban areas because she grew up in one but finding such a warm welcome in the South Side sort of fully flipped her perspective of what a "safe" place looked like.
Magne shook her head "Come on, just do it." she hissed to herself and quickly knocked before she could lose her nerve, nothing happened for a minute and Magne was considering turning around and leaving when the door opened.
Her Aunt had certainly aged a decade but Magne recognized the tall woman near immediately, somehow still as large as she remembered her being, 6'3 and a decent amount of muscle for most despite being in her late seventies, there were more grey than red in her hair but it was undeniably her green eyes behind the glasses.
Feeling slightly self-conscious, with her Aunt staring at her Magne raised a hand with a nervous smile "Uh, hi. I'm Magne, your um, niece." she said timidly trailing off as Aunt Lady kept staring at her not saying anything.
Magne was considering apologizing for disturbing her and leaving but was caught off guard by her Aunt launched at her all but crushed her in a hug "Honeybuns! I haven't seen you in years! Oh come in, come in, we have so much to talk about." her Aunt gushed, pulling Magne inside.
Magne let herself be dragged inside and couldn't help marveling at how different and warm the interior was compared to her parents' house, dozens of pictures of people she had never seen before and trinkets dotted everywhere and she could even see doodles on the walls likely from kids years ago, compared to her parents' house this one was actually lived in.
Aunt Lady sat her down on the couch and immediately peppered her about with questions about her life now, her Aunt had been so touched when Magne explained she had gotten into baking because of her and Magne even joked with her Aunt about some of the things she and the girls had gotten up to when she went out with them.
Her Aunt cooed over her driver's license which had her chosen name on it, Aunt Lady didn't even look surprised when she mentioned her parents blowing up over it "Honestly, I don't know how she found someone that could be as much of a tightwad as she was, the two of them certainly deserve each other though." her Aunt commented with a scoff.
"Oh, that was nothing, you should have seen how red she got when she came to my work, if I wore a skirt, she would have actually burst a ventricle." Magne replied.
"Oh god she's still doing that, she would come around my shows to preach about how immoral it all was, I hope she didn't do anything too bad this time." her Aunt mentioned though Magne waved it off.
"Nah, she came to berate me about "getting my life together" but my boss shut that down pretty quick and she hasn't bothered my ever since." Magne told her and her Aunt started laughing.
"Good on him, about time someone put her into her place, god knows she never listened to me." Aunt Lady said.
Magne snorted "Yeah, he's a great guy, pretty young but I've never worked for a kinder person." Magne commented on thinking about all the things Midori-Kun did for people without thinking and he was a total saint compared to her previous employers.
"Ooh, am I smelling the beginning of something more?" Aunt Lady teased and Magne nearly choked on her own spit.
"W-Wha- no. Hard no, he's way too young for me and that would make Inko my mom-in-law. God just thinking about it, ugh." Magne firmly shut down slight gagging at the cursed image.
Aunt Lady chuckled "Just kidding Honeybun, but do you have your eye on anyone?" she asked with a dismissive wave of the hand.
Magne huffed "'Fraid not, haven't quite met the one just yet. But I'm sure tall, dark, and handsome will walk into my life sooner or later." Magne replied with a shrug.
"Well, you make sure to bring him back around here once he finally gets with the program, I haven't had to give a good shovel talk since little Lexi found herself girlfriend." Aunt Lady told her and Magne couldn't help snorting.
"Sure Auntie." Magne agreed *If there's anything left of him once Midori-Kun, Dabi, and Yua get through with him.* she thought chuckling before she realized something.
"Wait, Lexi? Do I have cousins?" Magne questioned, she never heard about Aunt Lady having any kids.
"Of course, you do Honeybun, Roger and I had seven kids together before his accident. Didn't- wait no I know the answer to that, my sister never told you about any of them, did she?" Aunt Lady guessed and Magne nodded, Aunt Lady shook her head and crossed her arms "Oh of course she wouldn't, she didn't even like to acknowledge we were sisters, why would she talk about my kids when they could corrupt her precious "son"." Aunt Lady fake gagged at the end of sentence.
Aunt Lady stood up and grabbed one of the pictures from a shelf and showed it to her "Okay Honeybun, this little hunk here is my Roger, we've been together for about sixty years now." Aunt Lady told her pointing to a black-haired lanky man that was nearly dwarfed next to her Aunt in the picture and was contently sitting on her Aunt's curled arm.
"That this is our oldest Davie, the triples are right next to him, their Polly, Ducky, and Moe." she continued to point out the tallest person in the photo which took after Roger, and three people flexing around him, two boys and a girl.
"They were fraternal. And there's Noah and his girlfriend, he was the first one to find someone out of the whole lot, but Duchess here got married first." Aunt Lady commented pointing to the only two of the kids that looked alike and a smiling girl next to the boy.
"And here's Lexi, she's about five years younger than you are dear, in college over in England right now." Aunt Lady commented pointing to the last one in the picture hiding slightly behind Noah.
"Oh, that nice." Magne muttered staring at the photo, each of the kids falling into the un-canny valley as she could see the family resemblance but didn't actually know most of the people in the picture "I'd like to meet them someday." she told her Aunt.
Aunt Lady snorted "Of course you're going to meet them, they've been dying to meet you for years now, why if that little brat hadn't threatened to put a restraining order on me-" Aunt Lady grumbled and Magne turned to her shocked.
"Restraining order?" she questioned and Aunt Lady sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Even when she was little my sister was particular about how people should be, dad didn't get her diagnosed but I know that Junko was a narcissist, and that husband of her's wasn't much better." Aunt Lady said.
"I tried to be happy for her though, and I thought that after all they went through just to have you that they might be a little better but, oh Honeybun the way they talked about you, it was clear you were just their meal ticket.'' Aunt Lady sadly told her.
"Wait, what?" Magne questioned taken aback, Aunt Lady took her hands and softly rubbed the back of her hands.
"Magne, they only had you as a retirement plan. That's why they pushed you to be a doctor or a lawyer that would make a lot of money to pay for everything for them, and how you had to marry some homely girl they could get to take care of them. When you were ten it came to a head, Junko was angry that I was encouraging you because of the stigma of trans people might affect your future earnings down the line." she explained with a scowl.
"Up until then I grit my teeth with all of the crock Junko was pedaling to see you, but I hit my limit and told her if she didn't wise up I would sue her for custody of you, and well I think you know how well that went over." Aunt Lady told her "And well, Junko promised to get a court order to keep me away from you if I ever showed my face around her again." Aunt Lady elaborated.
Magne's mouth opened and closed from her shock "You mean, the nail polish wasn't why you stopped visiting?" she asked and her Aunt blinked, realization slowly dawning on her.
"Oh, oh Honeybun, no. If we thought we could win we would have fought for custody of you no doubt, but that stupid man Junko married would have won in court.'' Aunt Lady told her, quick to reassure her.
Magne bit her bottom lip and looked away and back to the picture of her Aunt's family, briefly wondering about how her life could have been growing up in such a big supportive family, her grip on the frame becoming white knuckled.
"Magne?" Aunt Lady called a hand on her shoulder again.
"I'm fine, just thinking Auntie." Magne said, handing the picture back "Where's everyone else?" she asked.
"Shopping, should be back any minute. I thought you were them when you knocked." Aunt Lady answered and almost on cue Magne heard the front door open and a series of voices flooded in, arguing about different toppings.
Magne tensed a bit and felt a wave of anxiety at suddenly being confronted with the whole new family she didn't know she had, but just as quickly the hand on her shoulder lightly squeezed her "Hey, come on, the kids are going to love you." Aunt Lady told her and went to meet them at the door.
Magne bit her lip and hesitantly she got up and followed her to meet her cousins.