I actually forgot that this dinner happened so I had to write this from scratch. This fic was supposed to be 15 chapters and exclude Dabi completely, but now I'll make it 1 or 2 chapters longer. And it gives some closure to Rei :)

The weather shifting towards Rei's preferred cold temperatures also serves as a reminder that her former favorite holiday is coming up. A sacred time when families from all countries all around the world gather together to celebrate.

Christmas.

When she was growing up, it was her favorite holiday. She wanted to share her joy of Christmas with her children, but that joy only decreased every year. When she was institutionalized, this time of the year only increased her feelings of isolation (she'll always be grateful for Fuyumi's presence to make it not feel as lonely). Finally, in the present time, she feels hope that this time next year she can celebrate with her family again if all goes well. And it is not just Fuyumi that visits her this year.

"Merry Christmas, Mom." Shouto says.

"Merry Christmas, Shouto. I'm so happy to see you right now. Did you celebrate the holiday with your class?"

"We had a Christmas party. Everyone helped put up decorations throughout the dorms and we even had a tree. On the day of, we all wore Santa outfits and Sato made the food for us before we exchanged Secret Santa presents."

"Do you have any pictures?"

"I have a few of them. Do you want to see?"

"Yes, of course!"

Shouto hands Rei his phone so that she can go through the photos one by one. "There were a lot posted in the class group chat," Shouto explains, "Yaoyorozu and Iida took the time to parse out the duplicates and made it into one album."

Rei's first feeling as she swipes her finger across the phone screen is that her son looks absolutely adorable in his red Santa outfit. Her second feeling is one of confusion when she lays eyes on a small child who also looks adorable in their Santa outfit, but looks far younger than Shouto and the rest of his classmates. Rei points to her on the screen and asks Shouto. "Who is that?"

"That's Eri. I might have intentionally omitted mentioning her in my letters. Remember that mission I wrote about where Midoriya, Uraraka, Kirishima, and Asui got involved in a mission during their work study? They rescued her from the villains back then- not the League of Villains, but the group the League were working with. She was being held captive by them. Her power's unstable though, so they're having Aizawa-sensei look after her for the time being."

"Oh my, poor girl. Sounds like she's been through a lot."

"Yeah. I'm not sure of the details, but she was being utilized by the villains because of her quirk-" Rei unconsciously forms a fist- "Aizawa-sensei is her primary caretaker- he unexpectantly seems like he's content in that role- but we've all been doing our best to cheer her up. Especially Midoriya and the others who went on that mission. They've been checking on her everyday. She enjoyed the party and especially her Secret Santa gift from Tokoyami. She also had fun at the School Festival."

Rei sees the little girl holding a giant, plastic, two-handed greatsword that's larger than her body. "Is that the Secret Santa gift you were talking about?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

"I'm glad she can still smile like that."

"Me too."

"Try and help her out when you can too. I can give you some tips- Oh?"

"What is it?

"Is that you and…?" She stops scrolling once again when she reaches a photo of who she believes is Momo (with her hair down) in a green Santa outfit and Shouto sitting together on the couch.

"That's me and Yaoyorozu. The class wanted to set up at least one photo of the two recommended students together. I didn't really understand the point, but I figured you would like it."

"Oh, I do. Very, very much. Thank you, Shouto." Rei can't put her grin down after seeing that. 'It sounds like I'm not their only supporter.' Looking at the photo more closely, she sees Momo smiling brightly with a tint of pink on her cheeks. She's tempted for a second to ask him to make a physical copy so that she can frame it, but that's probably too much… at this stage. "Shouto? Whenever I get discharged or the doctors allow me a phone, could you send me some of these pictures? Like this one?"

"Sure."

"Thank you. Yaoyorozu-san looks beautiful with her hair down, doesn't she?."

"...I agree."

"She might be happy if you say that to her."

"Okay… We all chipped in to clean up after the party. After we finished, I asked Bakugou and Midoriya if they wanted to join me for Father's work study. Even though I was the one making the offer, I didn't expect both of them to accept."

"So they're both going with you?" The way he abruptly changed the subject doesn't elude Rei. 'So there are times he can feel shy sometimes too.'

"Yes. It's also good because now it won't just be me and Father. He didn't seem to like my request. Which is a bonus."

…

"I'll be busy working under Father, so even though it's a holiday, I won't be able to see you much."

"I see. Thanks for letting me know. And it's fine. You're always working so hard."

He stops at the doorway before leaving. "I wish that we could eat together again."

"One day, Shouto. One day."

"Hello again, Shouto. Are you done with your work study?"

"Hi, Mom. We're not exactly done. The three of us are all going back there twice a week when school starts up again. " He scratches his cheek, apprehensive about what to say next. "Have Fuyumi-nee or Natsu-nii contacted you since the last time I was here?"

"No, why? Is something wrong?"

"Hm… There's something that you should know, I'm just not sure how to put this... I wasn't expecting to be the one to break it to you, either. I'm going to start this off by saying that everyone is alright now… but Natsu-nii was taken hostage a few days ago."

"...What?!" Rei begins to feel light-headed.

"Some lunatic villain found out about our home address and wanted Endeavor to kill him. We were riding with him in his car when this villain named Ending showed himself on the road with Natsu-nii tied up. We managed to apprehend the villain safely and no one was hurt. That's the short of it." Shouto stops speaking and looks at Rei's hand shaking uncontrollably. "Mom, you're shaking. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine in a few minutes. It's just… it worries me that something will happen to my children once again while they're out of my sight. And that's a worry that keeps me up at night."

Shouto stands up and walks to Rei's side and pats her on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay. Even if you can't be there, I'll protect Fuyumi-nee and Natsuo-nii. And… even if he froze in that moment, I can't imagine he's going to let it stop him again. He didn't become the highest ranked hero by luck."

"You're right. Thank you, Shouto."

"Any time."

"…There isn't a risk. right? That it could happen again?"

"The police are chalking it up to one lone fanatic finding out our address. They couldn't find any evidence of him giving that information to someone else. And just in case, Father is staying alone at the old address and we're all moving to a new house. We should be fine from now on."

"So it's a temporary home until the situation clears?"

"I don't think so. It seems like it's going to be permanent. And it's going to be your new home too."

"Hm?"

"This incident seems to have sparked something in Father and he came up with this solution. He said he wants the three of us to give you a warm welcome and to join us when you're out."

"...I see." There's a few things that Rei wants to say right now, but the words aren't meant for Shouto, who she knows is only relaying her the message. "If you have time, could you tell me the long part of the story now?"

"Sure. As you know, Bakugou, Midoriya, and I were working in Father's agency. He wanted us to stay back and watch him work at first, but none of us are the type to follow those type of orders. We all came for the experience for a reason. He even wanted to give me special treatment that I wanted no part of. I think the term is 'drew the line?' I told him to treat me the same as any of his other employees"

"Yes, that's the right term."

"The first mission was stopping a new villain. The villain lured Father into an alley where he had henchmen waiting for ambush. Coincidentally, there were also three henchmen there. The three of us were about to take them out when we were beaten to the punch by Hawks. And that's how we met him."

"The number two hero, Hawks?"

"Yeah. He introduced himself to us and told us Tokoyami was working with his agency's sidekicks. He recommended a book to us called 'Meta Liberation War' and gave us some copies. I haven't had the time to look through it yet. He said it was flying off the shelves. Maybe Yaoyorozu's heard about it or even read it already. I'll ask her later.

"That first day of the work study was the only time we bumped into Hawks. About the person himself, he was quite different from how he seemed on TV. A lot less… smiling. I was surprised that he knew my name. Maybe Father or Tokoyami mentioned it to him before."

"Tokoyami's the boy who sits in front of you, right?"

"Right. The one with the shadow quirk. Tokoyami studied under Hawks for his work study, though we haven't talked much about it. Well, neither of us are the type to make much small talk in general. That made it stand out when he made one comment to me about it during the joint training. Something about avenging him and his team after their loss since we're both working under the top two heroes.

"Anyway, according to Midoriya, Hawks is the same age as Fuyumi-nee. When I heard that, all I could think of was that he's impressive for making such a high rank."

"I spoke with your sister about that as well."

"Speaking of her… Have you been telling Fuyumi-nee anything?"

"About what?"

"She's been saying some weird things to me. Like if I get a girlfriend, to bring her over next Christmas and stuff like that."

"...It's nothing to worry about. Your sister's just at that age where she's curious about these things." Rei apologizes to Fuyumi in her head.

"The rest of the time was just us trying to surpass Father even once. He gave each of us tips while we were patrolling or on break. Father somehow even understood Midoriya's rambling about quirks. He's the first person I've ever seen able to do that.

"We slept at his agency's accommodations to save on commute time, like all his other sidekicks. I got a text from Fuyumi-nee a few days in telling me to bring Midoriya and Bakugou home for dinner. We went there on the day before we needed to go back to school. Her food was good as usual, but… the atmosphere, not so much.

"Natsu-nii was there eating with us too and left early because he didn't want to sit with Father. Then, the villain took that opportunity to kidnap him. We had no idea until the ride back in Father's car when Ending revealed himself. We all sprung into action and utilized what we learned to keep everyone safe. For me, that was focusing all my firepower into a single point so that my speed would increase. I took down the villain, Bakugou secured Natsu-nii, and Midoriya saved the civilians who the villain attacked out of desperation."

"Well done, my hero." Rei pats Shouto's head. "And give my thanks to your friends too. Did you say your Father froze earlier?"

"It was only afterwards that we found out that he was a step slow. He said at that moment, he stopped because he felt if Natsu-nii was saved by him, then Natsu-nii would never be able to stand up to him ever again. That's when he made the decision to live the rest of his life atoning instead of seeking out forgiveness."

Rei notices Shouto glancing at the clock. "Are you out of time?"

"I'm afraid so. It took longer than I thought to explain everything. See you soon." He waves.

"Goodbye and thanks for coming again." She gives him a goodbye hug and a wave before he departs.

Rei reflects on what Shouto just shared with her.

'Not forgiveness, but atonement?'

In a way, it's slightly heartwarming for Rei to know that her husband still thinks of her, but making this solution on his own without bringing it up to the person himself? On second thought, it's natural. Though they are still technically husband and wife, they haven't seen nor spoken to each other for nearly a decade. They are practically strangers in their current selves. The only communication between them is that one, brief letter Rei sent that may have gotten lost for all she knows.

She picks up a pen and paper, something she hasn't done for a while now, and begins to write.

There are too many lines that she wants to say:

I can talk to Natsu.

You don't have to cut yourself off just because of this incident.

Rei frowns and crumples the page before throwing it in the trash. 'He never did like these weak-sounding words.' She takes out another sheet to start afresh.

Dear Enji,

Shouto told me that you're going to stay in the old house from now on and are building the rest of us a new house. Thank you.

This path you've chosen is a long and thorny one without an end, but it seems like you've resolved yourself to see it through.

I know that you are strong and never want to show weakness in front of anyone, but you don't have to suffer and shoulder everything alone.

You're not the only one at fault.

I know you always have a lot on your mind. If you're comfortable with it, let's talk again once I'm discharged. I'm not sure if Fuyumi, Natsu, or Shouto have told you, but I've gotten a lot better. It might not be long now.

Rei