Quick apology for not posting last month, a few different things happened in IRL that took priority.
I'll still try to post chapters monthly but since they'll be longer with the multiple povs in a single chapter I might end posting every other month instead.
Magne hummed as she considered between which of the two shirts she wanted to wear under the sweater Suki gave her.
She had gone to family dinners for a while now, but tonight's was supposed to be a bit more of a celebration for one of her nephews.
Noah's son had apparently gotten into his dream school, and she had already gotten him a gift.
The fact she was included in such an event couldn't help making her feel especially warm inside.
Magne always knew family was important to her deep down, and being so emphatically pulled into the fold of Aunt Lady's family just... made her feel right.
So given how much tonight was supposed to mean to her family she wanted to look nice tonight.
After a little more thought she chose the sleeveless pale blue turtleneck and decided to wear a thicker jacket to keep her shoulders from getting nippy.
Walking over to her mirror and put up her hair, it had gotten nice and long over the years, and Magne had to admit that Suki was right about her growing it out.
"Hey Dabi, you got your toothbrush right?" She called out as she curled up her hair, she knew Dabi planned to crash with his uncle for the night.
Dabi grumbled back at her "Yes mom." Dabi quipped back though she heard him going towards the bathroom likely to collect the forgotten toothbrush.
Magne huffed amusedly, fluffing up her hair.
She pulled on her jacket, then grabbed the gift she picked, and her purse was the last thing to grab before she headed for the door.
"I left some cash in the jar, get some takeout for yourself instead of raiding your uncle's fridge, I'll be back tomorrow evening." Magne called over her shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah I won't burn the place down Red." Dabi told her, waving her away as he left the bathroom.
Magne rolled her eyes and left for her aunt's house.
Arriving Magne wasn't surprised that most of the family was already there, and she accepted the hug she got from one of her cousins, Moe.
"Hey Mags, glad you could come, Ma's in the kitchen, she's making cake pops if you want to give her a hand." Moe told her jabbing a thumb back towards the kitchen.
"Ooh, I think I will. The guest of honor here yet?" Magne asked, handing off her gift and put the jacket on the coat rack.
"Not yet, Noah had to take detour for Maki's motion sickness." Moe answered.
"Ah," Magne replied nodding even though she couldn't recall Maki having motion sickness any of the times they all met up before now.
Moving into the kitchen Aunt Lady and Duchess were there in the kitchen.
"Hun, glad you could join us, grab an apron and get in here." Aunt Lady told her motioning for her to come further into the kitchen.
"Oh, are those the earrings I got you last year?" Duchess inquired pausing from chopping up some veggies.
Magne grinned one of her hands coming up to feel the penguin dangling from her ear and chuckling "Yeah, they have a good weight to them. Now what's left to be made?" She asked back as she put on an apron.
"Dessert and Rikido's meal, I'm making that though I can't risk getting any sugar in it." Duchess answered.
Aunt Lady sighed "Such a shame that boy can't enjoy himself more, he's got a gift in the kitchen you know, and he can't even have a crumb of it himself." Aunt Lady mused sadly as she made room for Magne to join her.
"Did they ever try artificial sweeteners?" Magne asked to be polite.
She hadn't been able to talk to Noah's son in depth yet, so she hadn't gotten to know him well enough to know about his quirk's details.
"Noah tried, poor thing's allergic or it triggers his quirk badly for some reason." Aunt Lady replied.
Duchess nodded "I helped drive him to the clinic after he got his hands on a packet, he was seven, he needed his stomach pumped, and he hasn't touched anything sweet since." Duchess informed her.
"Oof, poor guy that must have been scary." Magne commented before taking the food dyes and helped Aunt Lady with coloring the frosting.
Midori-Kun mentioned something about food intolerance for certain quirks before, mainly in animal-quirked people but she didn't doubt food-related quirks came with those same intolerances.
She'd make sure to ask Midori-Kun more about food-quirk intolerances.
"Probably was, I'm glad Rikido hasn't let it stop him from loving baking, kid loves making fruit bakes for his mom in the shape of all sorts of animals." Aunt Lady said fondly.
"Awe, that sounds cute." Magne said, wondering what kind of animals the boy made.
"I think I have some pictures of a few of his bakes on my phone," Duchess mentioned "I'll forward you some of them." Duchess promised.
"Don't be surprised if he asks you for tips, he's tried to remake those puff-kins you made last Halloween." Aunt Lady playfully warned, bumping Magne with her elbow.
Magne smiled elbowing Aunt Lady right back.
The quip she thought of was cut off before she could say it by the doorbell ringing.
"Ai, if it ain't the man of the hour!" Moe exclaimed and judging from the cry of surprise and the following protests, Moe likely had Rikido in a headlock.
Magne chuckled hearing the various reactions her cousins were having as Noah's family finally arrived.
Aunt Lady's family always seemed to be loud and talkative with each other.
Maki, either hungry or wanting to get away from the main group of the family came into the kitchen.
"Hi Batty, going to hang out with us for a bit?" Duchess asked before sealing away what Magne assumed was Rikido's finished meal.
Maki nodded, settling down in one of the counter bar stools.
"Do you want anything to eat Hun?" Aunt Lady asked.
"A bowl of berries would be nice, I wasn't able to eat anything this morning." Maki told them.
"Oof, hope you didn't spend too long in the bathroom this morning." Duchess said as she started getting a bowl ready for Maki.
Magne blinked looking between them, wondering what context she was missing for Duchess to assume Maki was in the bathroom.
Maki didn't look sick, her skin was a healthy shade of turquoise as it usually was, maybe her eyes were a bit glossier than normal.
Only when Duchess offered Maki a handful of different berries and she scrunched her nose at the raspberries, her favorite normally, did an idea finally dawn on Magne.
"Are you pregnant?" Magne asked in disbelief.
Maki's ears flicked with embarrassment and one of her hands cupped her cheek, Aunt Lady though shushed Magne.
"Not so loud dear, she's only a few weeks along and they haven't told everyone yet." Aunt Lady told her.
"Right, right sorry I'm just surprised." Magne apologized and Maki giggled.
"So was I, when I went into the doctor's I thought I was starting menopause early like my mom." Maki told her.
"But no, I apparently had a bun in the oven." Maki said her hand coming to rest over her stomach.
Magne could understand Maki's shock, Maki was at least a decade older than her and was mostly infertile from what the others told her, having taken a couple rounds of IVF just to have Rikido years back.
Now to suddenly have a miracle pregnancy in her late forties? Magne couldn't even imagine how much of a shock that would have been.
"We're really hoping that I'll make it to term." Maki informed her "Noah and I always wanted at least two kids." Maki quietly confessed to them.
Duchess placed a hand on Maki's shoulder, to comfort Maki no doubt.
Magne felt a bit out of place as she watched the two of them, something that was rare in her aunt's house with how welcoming they had been.
But she could tell Maki's infertility was a much deeper issue than they originally told her about.
Well infertility was always a hot button topic, hence why she initially didn't press about the details beyond what was told to her by the others.
It wasn't her place to dig into old wounds like that and she hadn't wanted to bring back bad memories.
Which left Magne in a rather awkward position as she watched the two women commiserate silently.
Aunt Lady though thankfully broke the tension.
"Now, now dear, no bogging yourself down today, things will work out no matter what will happen." Aunt Lady told Maki, coming around to sit next to her as well.
"You, Noah and that brilliant boy of yours have more than enough love between you three to weather anything life will throw at you." Aunt Lady assured Maki.
"And if it comes down to it, then I'm sure Rikido will be a fantastic older brother." Aunt Lady commented softly.
Maki smiled "He'll be the best older brother." Maki agreed.
"Damn straight he will, now let's finish the food and get out there to tell your boy how amazing he did." Lady told them all and stood up, clapping her hands.
Magne was perhaps a bit too thankful when Aunt Lady changed the topic back to their cooking and getting them out of the kitchen with the rest of the family.
She knew it was her own emotions playing it up, but she very much didn't feel comfortable saying anything after her initial question.
Magne for one wasn't very read up on the topic of high-risk pregnancies, much less know how to comfort someone with a high-risk pregnancy with a history of infertility issues.
And secretly she also didn't want to comment about something that she knew she would never be fully able to relate to, she could understand the issue as well as anyone else could, but she wouldn't be the one pregnant and never at risk of having a miscarriage herself.
It was... weirdly a fact that would comfort her most of the time but also left her somewhat morose.
But Magne shook the thoughts off before they could sink in and affect her mood, she could think about it later when her nephew wasn't the focus.
It didn't take much longer for them to finish and once they had a tray of sweets in the oven Magne went out to greet and congratulate Rikido.
"Hey Mags, we were just about to come look for you." Moe said as Magne left the kitchen.
Next to him was Rikido, a boy that took on her and Aunt Lady's body type compared to Noah, Maki and Uncle Rogar's thin frames.
The boy also was tall, maybe as tall as Mez was now.
"Oh, Duchess warned me about that, said you were interested in some tips." Magne told them back.
Rikido nodded "I've tried making some of the things you baked for mom before, but it never comes out right." Rikido admitted rubbing the back of his neck, a bit sheepish.
"Well, I'll be happy to talk shop with you, let's go find somewhere quieter to talk." Magne suggested, Rikido brightening up and nodded.
Following Magne to the dining room, they could set it up while they talked.
"So, which recipe do you want help with first?" Magne inquired as she grabbed the silverware.
"I've tried to make those sponge cupcakes you made for mom last year, but I wanted to add a filling and can't keep the berries or fruit from bleeding into the cupcake." Rikido explained to her.
"Ah, the sponge cake does soak up juices, not as easily as its namesake but I do think I have a couple ideas for you to try." Magne replied chuckling as she remembered her own attempts to make a filled sponge cake.
The two of them talking over baking tips and tricks until Rikido, notably more nervous, asked her a different type of question.
"Can I, um, ask you something?" Rikido asked, shifting his weight since his hands were full with the plates.
"Like you already have?" she teased initially but followed up with a "Sure Hun, I'll try to answer the best I can."
Rikido ducked his head and maybe considered changing his mind before he eventually asked her "Do you think Nana would be okay with me taking her old stage name as my hero name?"
That... was not quite the question she expected from the boy.
"Nana helped teach me a lot of her old moves and did a lot for my training, and I wanted to honor her by calling myself Azúcar but I'm not sure that would be too much and should just wear her colors instead." Rikido further explained to her.
Magne smiled at the boy, and ruffled his hair, causing him to look back up to her.
"I think she'll love that Hun, especially if you put her old colors into your costume too, though you might need to talk with your dad about the legalities of using her old name since she's still pretty well-known in wrestling circles." Magne told him.
"Really? I didn't think about that... " Rikido muttered, a little dejected as his shoulders slumped.
"Hey, I'm sure it would be fine Hun, just need to work out a few technicalities before you could officially use it. Nana probably has the rights to her name so it shouldn't be that long to sort it all out." Magne assured the boy.
Rikido smiled again hearing that.
"Thanks aunt Maggy, I'll be sure to ask dad and Nana once we start eating." Rikido said a bit more hopeful.
Magne beamed back at him, tickled somewhat at him not only trusting her to ask something important, but by Rikido calling her his aunt.
It would probably stop affecting her so much one day, but she'd bask in the warmth of being family with all of these wonderful people until then.