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Thick clouds covered the sky, heavy with the threat of rain. The sea was loud, crashing against the shore, but the rest of the world was quiet. Rei sighed softly, leaning back in the porch chair, the mug of tea in her hands rapidly cooling. Thunder rumbled low over the skies, and the crickets began to chirp.
“What are you doing out here?” a voice rough from sleep asked behind her.
Rei hummed softly, tilting her head back to glimpse her husband in all his morning glory. “I’m waiting for the rain to start. It’s always so peaceful.”
“You won’t say that when Shouto is dragging you out to stomp in puddles,” Enji chuckled, warm hands smoothing over Rei’s shoulders. Rei tried not to melt, but it was hard when he worked his thumbs over the tense spots just right. “I’ve got the kids’s lunches all ready, and Touya was just waking up when I was walking by.”
Rei leaned back in the chair, fond eyes darting over her husband’s face. “He’s still trying to sneak out to work with you, instead of going to school. He thinks fire fighters are cool.”
“Almost every teenager his age would rather sit around the station and wait for a call than be in school,” Enji countered, pressing a gentle kiss to Rei’s forehead.
“True. Better hold onto that while it lasts,” Rei teased, biting back the smile. “He’ll be calling you ‘old man’ before you know it.”
Enji snorted, hiding his face in his wife’s hair, breathing in deeply after a moment. “Call me if you need anything.”
Rei lightly smacked at her husband’s hand, fond smile unable to stay hidden. “I’ve had four children, Enji; I know the drill by now. I’ll be back at the station in a few months.”
“I know you will, and I can’t wait.”
Rei grinned, tilting her head up to her husband. “Give me a kiss before you go.”
“Always,” Enji agreed easily, pressing his chapped lips to her soft ones. They relished in the few moments of peace, the sea and the clouds the only witness to the soft, warm energy spreading through the cool morning air. “There should be a couple meals worth in the freezer, enough to get everyone through the next few days, but Natsuo’s getting an appetite to match Touya’s, and Fuyumi’s not far behind, so I’m not sure.”
“That’s fine,” Rei replied, turning to look back out over the sea. “I can cook.”
She gracefully ignored Enji’s snort of laughter, choosing to hold her head high.
“If the kids let you in the kitchen, they’ll probably end the meeting early for the all-hands-on-deck fire.”
Rei wrinkled her nose at that, glancing over her shoulder to glare at her husband. “You’re insufferable.”
“Sorry, darling.”
“You aren’t, you grizzly bear.”
Enji only chuckled, ruffling Rei’s hair gently before pressing another kiss to her cheek. “I’ve got to go now. See you soon.”
Rei nodded, stealing another quick kiss from her husband. “Have a good day at work.”
“I will.”
── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──
“Mom?” Fuyumi asked, stairs creaking where she stood, head peeking into the room.
“Yes, Fuyumi?” Rei called back, hands steady as she focused on chopping the onions through her tears. Gods above, Enji was so much better in the kitchen, and the meals he’d prepared hadn’t even lasted a full two days.
“Do… you want me to order a pizza?”
“No,” Rei bit out, blinking back the tears. Fucking onions. “I can make a meal just fine on my own. We don’t need to live on fast food just because Enji’s away on a business meeting.”
“Isn’t it bad for the baby, though, for you to be stressed?”
“Baby’s fine, darling, but fast food won’t help her either.”
Fuyumi raised an eyebrow, bottom lip jutting out. “Not every night, but pizza’s ok for tonight.”
“Fuyumi.”
“Mom, you’ve burned the rice twice. It’s okay to not be good at cooking. Dad likes doing it more anyway.”
Rei let the knife fall onto the cutting board, pressing her face against her shoulder to make the stinging in her eyes more bearable. “Okay, you know what, all valid points. Can you go ask the boys what they want on their pizzas? And what do you want?”
“Goya and bacon for me,” Fuyumi nodded and turned around, hands coming up to her mouth. “BOYS! WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR PIZZA!?”
Touya and Natsou’s voices rang through the house, their voices muffled by the walls. Rei could hear the door to Shouto’s bedroom burst open too, could hear his little feet hitting the stairs as he ran downstairs.
“Not so loud, Fuyumi! If I wanted to find out that way, I could’ve done it,” Rei chastised, rolling her eyes fondly as she dumped the onion in the trash can.
“Sorry, mom.”
“Sure you are,” Rei replied, trying her best to keep the laugh out of her voice as she ran her hands under the sink. Glancing to the side, she could see Shouto was quietly clinging to the back of Fuyumi’s leg, pudgy hands bunched against her jeans. “Hello my little teapot!” she cooed, watching Shouto’s face light up. “You wanna tell momma what you want on your pizza?”
Shouto nodded quickly, giggling behind Fuyumi’s leg before darting forward. In the blink of an eye, Shouto had latched onto Rei’s leg, giggling and bouncing while she finished washing and drying her hands. She leaned down, to look Shouto in the eye, waiting for his answer.
“Well? What do you want on your pizza?”
“I want ‘nanas!” Shouto declared, jumping up and down before running back to Fuyumi, clinging onto her leg again.
“You’re so gross,” Fuyumi said, shaking her leg loose for a second before Shouto latched onto her again. “Get offa me, banana breath!”
“Hey!” Shouto squealed, wrapping around Fuyumi’s leg again. “Don’ be mean!”
“It’s not mean if it’s the truth, banana breath.”
“I don’ have ‘nana b’eth!”
“Kids,” Rei warned, raising an eyebrow in their direction. Shouto frowned, releasing Fuyumi’s leg so she could go upstairs. He crossed his arms and walked to the table, latching onto the leg.
“I don’ have ‘nana b’eth,” Shouto muttered petulantly, bottom lip jutting out.
“Of course not,” Rei agreed, walking over to ruffle his hair. “Wanna help me ask the boys what they want on their pizza?”
Shouto shook his head, sniffling softly.
“Not even if we go uppies?”
Shouto looked up then, eyes wide. “Papa says you can’ cuz you got another baby.”
“It’s okay if you’re on my shoulders, but just this time, and after we get upstairs, alright?”
Shouto shook his head, holding tighter to the table leg.
“Wanna keep watch on the shrine for me, then?” Rei asked, ruffling his hair. Shouto’s eyes lit up, like they always did when someone messed with his hair, and then he was taking off into the living room where the small shrine sat. “Say hello to Izuku for me, okay?”
“He says hi back!” Shouto called back a few moments later, falling into a fit of giggles. Rei smiled fondly in Shouto’s direction. He had such a good imagination, always so adamant that a boy his age lived in the shrine.
She turned to go upstairs. She wasn’t so far along that the stairs felt impossible, but they were definitely harder than normal. Nonetheless, she made it to the top only a little more winded than she normally was. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she headed down the hallway, knocking lightly on the door to Touya and Natsuo’s room.
“Come in,” Touya called, so Rei opened the door.
Touya was sitting on the top bunk, hunched over a textbook, papers and notebooks strewn about him, glasses falling off the bridge of his nose but he didn’t pause to fix them, too busy writing. Natsuo was on the bottom bunk, handwriting booklet open, but mostly covered in doodles.
“Hey guys.” Rei leaned against the doorway, smiling as her two boys looked up, Touya’s glasses finally sliding off his face. “It’s pizza night tonight! What do you want?”
“But we already told Fuyumi?” Natsuo said, head tilting to the side. “Why didn’ she just tell you?”
“Well, my polar bear,” Rei started, stepping into the room. “We couldn’t quite hear you,” and with that, she was within reach of her second son. Natsuo immediately broke out into squealing laughter, squirming away from the tickles.
“I’m good,” Touya replied, already burying his nose back in his schoolwork. “I’ve gotta study a lot more.”
“You still need to eat, little lantern,” Rei replied, growing concerned, turning to give Touya her full attention. “You’re a growing boy.”
“I know that Ma,” Touya huffed, pushing his glasses up along his nose again. “I’m just busy is all.”
“Touya?”
“Pizza’s not even that good for you, so it’s fine.”
“But it still provides some sort of fuel for your body, and we can have salad too—”
“Not salad!”
“—hush, Natsuo, you don’t have to eat the salad, but we can have some for Touya… Sweetie if you don’t eat something your body won’t function properly.”
“If I fail this test—”
“You won’t fail this test, Touya. You’re a smart boy. Your teacher even asked if you could tutor that one boy, the one from the park, that had the bird…? Oh, what’s his name?”
“Takami-kun.”
“Yes, him!”
“But if I fail this test, I won’t be able to tutor him ‘cuz I won’t be top of the class!”
“You don’t have to be the top of the class to tutor Takami-kun.”
“But what if he won’t want me to?” Touya shot back, looking on the verge of a meltdown.
Boys and their crushes.
“Then he probably didn’t want a tutor to begin with. Now, what do you want on your pizza?”
“...Goya and bacon.”
“Good choice. Natsuo?”
“The same!”
“Oi, don’t steal my order!” Touya called out, leaning over the edge of the bed to look down at Natsuo. “Get your own.”
“You can share a pizza, y’know?”
“Yeah, Touya! Don’t be so greedy!”
“You know what? I’ll share something with ya! How’s a knuckle sandwich sound?”
The next thing Rei knew, Natsuo was bolting out the door, handwriting book falling to the floor as Touya ran after him, albeit, much slower as a means to give Natsuo a head start. Rei shook her head fondly, pulling her phone from her back pocket and dialing in the pizza places’s number—it was the only number she had memorized, actually—and got two goya and bacon pizzas, and a kid’s sized banana one.
As the call ended, Rei picked up the handwriting book and placed it on Natsuo’s bed, leaving Touya’s mess to sort out for later. With that, Rei left the boys’ room, heading to the kitchen.
She paused as she walked downstairs, eyes widening as she saw him standing in the kitchen. His suit jacket and tie were draped over his chair at the table, the button down shirt pulled taut over broad shoulders, black slacks clinging nicely to the muscle of his thigh.
Those pants should probably be illegal, for like, public indecency or something, right?
“You’re home early,” Rei said instead, raising an eyebrow in her husband’s direction.
“I mentioned I had four kids and a pregnant wife at home and everyone agreed that I could finish the meetings via video call. Which is what I asked if I could do initially, anyway.”
Rei rolled her eyes as Enji grumbled, walking up to the man to wrap her arms around his waist, burying her face between his shoulders. “We all missed you. Welcome home.”
“It’s good to be back, but I would love to be able to face my beautiful wife and hug her properly.”
Rei grinned where her face was hidden, squeezing Enji a little tighter. “Too bad. I look like a mess.”
“Since when has that made you any less beautiful.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Maybe,” Enji hummed, relaxing in his wife’s hold.
With a sigh, Rei let go. Enji turned around, pulling her in close, one hand rubbing circles into her hip. Rei kept her face buried against his chest, hands resting on his shoulders. “I ordered pizza by the way.”
“I figured that was the case, considering the kitchen was still intact.”
Rei tilted her head to the side, one steel grey eye peeking out in a glare. “Careful now.”
Enji only chuckled, pressing a kiss into her hair, nose bumping against the messy bun. “I try my best to be. Was it pickup or delivery?”
“Delivery.”
“Good. I’ve missed you these past few days.”
And just like that, Rei melted into Enji’s hold, letting herself be held, returning all his kisses tenfold until she heard footsteps thundering up from the basement. She pulled away just in time for Natsuo to burst out, Touya still chasing close behind, not pausing as the two boys gave twin shouts of “hi papa!”
“Should we be concerned about that?” Enji asked once the two boys had made their way back upstairs. Rei only shook her head, pulling Enji in for another kiss.
“No, they’re just messing around.”
Enji sighed, rolling his eyes fondly. “I’ll go get them when the pizza’s here.”
“Good. I don’t like stairs.”
Enji snorted, pressing one more kiss to Rei’s forehead before she leaned forward, hiding her face in his shoulder, content to just let herself be held, the sound of pattering rain dancing along the roof and windows.
Yeah, this was really good.