Chapter 6: Thinking About Kids
The life of a Hero is rarely a dull one, especially if you're one of the more popular Heroes in whatever state, province, principality, etc. you live in. Wolfheart had always been popular since she restarted her career six years after having her children; partially from being a legacy of the most popular Hero in South Carolina, partially from her own efforts, and partially from having a movie based on her life being made. The same could be said of Chargebolt; he was already popular from being a UA alumnus, plus one of the Heroes who fought All For One's army, marrying the second Wolfheart helped ingratiate him to Americans and the movie being made about his and his wife as well. As such, as soon as they returned to America; they were busy. Press tours, regular Hero hours, and more took up much of their time. When they finally had time for each other; Mari and Denki Kaminari did not waste it.
Right now, they were resting in their large bathtub together, simply enjoying each other's company after having a night that would have embarrassed their kids if they knew about it. Marie laid down her head on her husband's chest and enjoyed the feeling of his company. "It's just hit me," she said after a minute, "This is probably the craziest we've gotten in years." Denki kissed the top of her head and said, "You're right. But well, we were busy with the kids, and work, and everything else. Now one thing less for us to worry about, for a little while anyway." Denki thought about his four kids and said, "I already miss them. I never thought that I'd feel this sad; I thought I was ready for them to go to UA, but I still miss them."
Marie nodded, "Yeah. We trained them as best as we could. They're better than I was when I was their age anyway." Denki agreed, "Yeah, they really pushed themselves and us to teach them everything we knew, didn't they? When the girls learned to redirect lightning, I thought I was going to cry I was so proud of them. I just hope Kaoru can adjust; we couldn't get him ready since we're all immune to his Quirk." It was discovered on the day of the quadruplet's birth that Kaoru's direct blood relatives were immune to his Somnambulist Quirk; he was the first of the quadruplets born, and not five minutes later all the doctors in the room were knocked unconscious by his Quirk.
It was pandemonium as Hana was about to be born, the doctors were unconscious, and Denki had to focus fast to keep his cool. He barely kept it together to help Marie give birth to the rest of their children after calling the Hospital's security to let them know what had happened. By the time more medical personnel with appropriate gear had arrived; Josuke was already being born, and all the doctors could do was clean and wrap up the babies and secure a special crib for Kaoru, so the baby boy didn't knock anyone else out. That day was the most terrifying in Denki's life; even more than when he was in the vanguard of the attack on the Paranormal Liberation Front, or as they fought the final battle against One For All. That was one problem he couldn't knock out with his lightning.
And even Marie admitted that the day was the scariest for her. The pain of childbirth was nothing compared to not knowing what to do after the doctors passed out. She was too busy focusing on having the rest of her kids to think about what else to do; Denki really shined that day when he figured out what to do.
The two of them continued reminiscing after getting out of the bath and just cuddling in their bed together. Marie was allowed to semi-retire from Hero work, under the belief that she would eventually return. They had decided to become a stereotypical nuclear family for a while, with Denki working as a Hero and Marie staying at home to raise their kids. By luck, Denki had arrived at home in time to watch their kid's first steps. Mysa saw him first, and got up to waddle up to him, and then Josuke, and Hana, and finally Kaoru all got up to follow her. That was one of the few times Denki had cried tears of joy in his life, to be able to see this important moment in their lives.
He ended up missing some other moments though; like their first words: 'Dada' for Mysa, 'Mama' for Kaoru and Josuke, while Hana's first word was 'Pudding'. That made Marie laugh when she heard it; chocolate pudding was Hana's favorite food ever since then. Denki spent as much time as he could at home; but being a Hero wasn't a job that gave you a lot of vacation days. He had ended up seeing a lot of his kids' lives through videos on Marie's phone; one of the few things he regretted about becoming a Hero. Denki laughed as he remembered something and Marie asked, "What's so funny?" Denki explained, "I just remembered the first time Mysa used both her Quirks at once. She looked like a big Pomeranian when she did it that first time." Marie chuckled as well, "You're awful, and you're right. The way her fur stuck up so much…it took forever to get her to quit shocking the boys though."
Denki nodded, "Yeah. Mysa's always been the headstrong type. She's got both of us to blame for that, she's got your guts and my brain." Marie nodded at that, "Josuke's got your confidence for sure, and Hana's got a lot from me too. But…I'm worried about Kaoru. He's always been so shy, because we couldn't help him with his Quirk like the rest, and Mom couldn't be here always either." Denki nodded and thought of his eldest son. They had never neglected their kids; they always knew they were loved, but looking back now he wondered if they had accidentally spoiled Mysa because they spent more time with her because she had both their Quirks and had made Kaoru feel left out. Kaoru was the smartest of his siblings, he had trained the hardest of all of them to keep up with them, and Denki said out loud, "Kaoru will be fine. He's strong in all the ways that matter; not just physically but mentally. He'll grow into his own at UA, I know it."
Marie sighed as they kept reminiscing about their kids, and their time in UA. Times had changed, some of their old teachers and faculty were dead or retired, some old friends were now teaching there, and she knew her Mother was retired as a Hero but still one of the teachers. She wondered if any of their fellow classmate's kids were in the Hero Course as well. It only made sense; Heroes were becoming more and more a legacy job just because powerful Quirks got passed down, and Quirks in general were getting stronger with each generation. It was with all of this in mind that they went to sleep.
A few hours later, Marie had to wake up. She was still part of the Hero team The Frightening Five after all; naturally with their monster Quirks they would patrol at night. She quietly got up and went to the gym room in their house to stretch and exercise for a good hour and a half before taking a shower and putting on her Hero costume. It was different now; more like a tight black leotard with a design like a wolf's head on her chest and fingerless gauntlets that had special features, the left gauntlet could release a compressed foam to combat fires while the right gauntlet could be electrified in case she was fighting Villains that didn't go down easily.
Marie took a moment to look at herself in the mirror, noting how her stomach had never fully recovered from her pregnancy even after all these years. Having your stomach stretched out by not one but four kids was hard to bounce back from, Eri could have helped with her Rewind Quirk, but Marie wasn't THAT vain that she would have her sister-in-law waste her Quirk just to get rid of her stretchmarks. A special cream helped with those; but the extra skin was another matter. Even after dedicated training and dieting for the last fifteen years, Marie couldn't get the six-pack abs she had been so proud of as a teenager back. The best she could do was a well developed four-pack. "Oh, how time has moved on," she said out loud as she gave herself one last look before heading out.
She drove to Charleston and met her teammates outside their Headquarters. The Frightening Five were a motley of Marie and her old friends, who all had Quirks that gave them a monstrous appearance. Aside from Marie and her Lycanthrope Quirk, there was her best friend Francesca Steinhaur aka Frankenstein's Daughter, whose Quirk made her look like a female Frankenstein's Monster and gave her amazing super-strength and toughness; she could even get stronger if shocked by lightning or electricity. There was her old ex-boyfriend from before she met Denki, Samuel 'Sammy' Sanchez aka Slither, whose Lamia Quirk gave him a snake-like lower body and four arms along with the senses of a snake. Then there was Lilith O'Connor aka Willow Wisp, the smallest of them normally until her Will O' Wisp Quirk turned her into a ball of light that hit like a cannonball. And finally, there was their leader, Marcus Gordon aka Headless Rider, whose Quirk Sleepy Hollow gave him a fiery pumpkin head that let him breath fire as well as let his head be removable and toss it as people, but it took a long time for him to grow it back afterwards.
"Took you long enough," Francesca joked as Marie parked her car in the Headquarters garage. "Enjoying some time alone with your man?" Marie smiled and said, "You know it girl." The two old friends fist-bumped and Francesca asked, "Seriously though, how you holding up?" Marie shrugged, "I admit, we got a little nostalgic, but it wasn't like we were crying or anything." Marcus walked up then, "Alright guys, enough with the family talk. It's time to go on patrol. We all know our routes, so let's go. "Right," the other four Heroes said, and they all set off to the various main streets that crossed throughout the Holy City while Marcus rode his motorcycle around the city's perimeter. Everyone kept in touch with their ear mics, checking in every half-hour to keep in touch.
After four hours of nothing happening, Sammy decided to talk. "So, Marie, how were the kids acting as you guys left?" Marie shrugged, "You know, kind of excited, kind of sad; we've never really left them for so long, we might have left them for a few weeks in Japan so they could spend time with the Grandparents, but nothing like this. Mysa's fired up as usual, but Kaoru's the one I'm worried about." Francesca spoke up then, "Don't worry about him, Marie. He's got the best Quirk of them, maybe not the hardest hitting one, but unless he's got to fight family then he'll take out anyone in a snap. Plus, he was the one you taught how to fight the most; I'm sure he'll do fine once he focuses."
Everyone reassured Marie, but then Marcus interrupted them, "Alright guys, as much as I love those kids, we got a job to focus on. Keep your eyes open." That made them all refocus on their job as they kept on patrol for the night until the sun began to rise. Marie saw that it was over, and so she called all her kids on video chat. Her phone's screen showed all her kids in their dorm rooms, which were now furnished after their belongings had arrived. "Hey guys," she greeted them. "Hey Mom," they all answered. "So, how's your first week gone down?"
"Kind of slow," Josuke said, "Aside from some normal stuff, and the Quirk Apprehension Test, we haven't done anything too Heroic so far." The other three agreed with their brother and Mysa said, "It was like a competition between 1-A and 1-B, 1-A won, of course with my help, so we're all getting automatic 100's on our first written exams. What happened to 1-B?" Hana answered this question, "Vine-sensei wasn't too strict with us, but we have been doing a lot of PT and Quirk Training this week. Plus, I heard that Deku's going to evaluate us next week!" Marie chuckled at her kids' enthusiasm, to them Midoriya Izuku was Deku: Earth's Savior and Greatest Hero, but to her and Denki he would always be Midoriya, the nice, dorky, funny, analytic kid in class. Even though Marie always acknowledged his heroism, to her Deku would always be a lovable dork.
"How've your grandparents been?" Marie asked them after they stopped talking about Deku. "Grandma and Grandpa Kaminari are doing good," Kaoru said, "And Grandma Nemuri helped us study. She's doing pretty good, although some folks have been giving us looks, since our Grandma's a teacher and all." Marie shrugged, "It was inevitable. All you guys can do is prove them wrong by doing your best." Hana spoke up, "Don't you mean go 'Plus Ultra?" Marie nodded, "That's my girl." They talked for a little longer about nothing important before Marie finally hung up and drove home.
She arrived to see Denki was already up and making breakfast. He had gone all out with making a more traditional Japanese style breakfast; that was unusual for him. Denki very much liked American cuisine more, especially hamburgers; most of the time it was Marie who made Japanese style food in their home, or Denki made it on special occasions like her birthday or Mother's Day. It was neither of those things today, so Marie was confused. After she kissed her husband she asked, "What's the special occasion?"
Denki shrugged, "I guess I felt a little homesick. Plus…I sort of miss the kids. Talking about them made me want to…bring a little bit of 'The Old Country.'" Marie nodded and helped him finish making the fish and miso soup, and then together the two of them dug in. It was a good way for her workday to end, and for his to begin.