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“I’m all dressed!” Kumi says, showing off her green backpack and the yellow sun hat that Himiko bought for her a while back. The backpack probably carries a toy or two of hers and one of Taiga’s.
Touya smiles at her. “You look pretty today, birdie.”
Kumi puffs up like a proud bird. “I gotta look the best. Gotta prove I’m the leader.”
“The leader?” Keigo asks, popping into the living room to set Taiga down in Touya’s lap. “Leader of what, angel?”
“All my cousins. I’m the army general. I’m in charge. I command them all because I’m the oldest.”
“Oh?” Keigo says. “Well, you’re a very cute army general.”
“Thanks!” Kumi calls as Keigo disappears back into the hallway.
“I’m pretty sure Maki is older than you, birdie.”
Kumi rolls her eyes. “In age only, Papa. I’m older than her in my brains. She might be in high school but I am smarter than her about being in an army.”
Touya chuckles at the way Kumi points to her head when she claims to be smarter than Maki. Taiga cheers for Kumi.
Kumi picks up Taiga’s matching sun hat from the couch and sets it on her brother’s head. “There. Now we match.”
“Matchy-match!” Taiga cries, clapping his hands.
Kumi smiles softly at Taiga and it reminds Touya of the smiles Keigo gives Kumi.
“Okay, I got the moody teenager,” Keigo says, holding Shuichi by their collar. “Let’s go.”
Kumi giggles and goes to take Shuichi’s hand. “You’re a moody teenager.”
“I am thirty-three years old.” Shuichi grumbles. “Can’t I stay home? There’s gonna be so many people.”
“My mother wants to see you,” Touya says, herding the lot of them out of the house. “You can sit in the trees with Atsuki after you’ve let her fuss over you for a minute.”
Shuichi grumbles under their breath as Kumi pushes him into the backseat.
They’re halfway down the street when Shuichi glances on either side of them. “Wait, why am I in the middle?!”
Kumi and Taiga giggle. Touya grins at Shuichi in the rear view mirror.
“That’s what you get for not paying attention,” Keigo says. “You can sit on the side on the way home, okay?”
Shuichi huffs. “I should’ve waited for Kurogiri to get back and gone with him through a portal.”
Kumi pats his leg. “It’s gonna be fine!”
Taiga pats his arm. “You can look after both me and neesan now.”
“Are we the first to get here?” Touya asks when he parks his car beside Enji’s and Rei immediately bounds up to his window.
Shuichi snickers as he remembers when Enji had to get a new car after Tenko trashed the old one.
“Yes,” Rei says. “You’re early, but your father and I figured Kumi would be excited enough to make sure you were all here before time, so we got here early too. Kumi, sweetheart, do you want to help me carry the drinks?”
Kumi is out of the car in an instant. “Yeah!”
“I’ll help,” Touya says. He glances at Shuichi. “Do not run away.”
Shuichi rolls his eyes and turns to unbuckle Taiga from his car seat.
Kumi grabs two soda bottles from the backseat of Enji’s car and sprints to the picnic blanket Rei points her to, where Enji is staring at a barbecue stand.
“Does he even know how to work that thing?” Touya asks as he pulls out two baskets and hands one to Rei.
Rei chuckles. “I’m not sure. We’ve never had a picnic before. I’m a little excited.”
“You and Kumi both. She can’t wait to play with her army of cousins. Her words.”
“Aww, that’s adorable. Is Shuichi sulking again?”
“Mhm. But I said they can hide with Atsuki later. That seemed to pacify them. Don’t be too loud with him while we’re eating, okay?”
Rei nods as they cross the park. “Got it. I do have a question, though.”
“Hm?”
“I know Kumi sees Shuichi as her uncle, but what do you see them as?”
Touya frowns. “What do you mean?”
Rei shrugs. “You kind of parent them a lot. I know he’s not much younger than you, but Keigo has a point when he calls Shuichi a moody teenager. Plus, he called you dad when your father and I came over for dinner the other night.”
“Oh. I didn’t notice.”
“Tenko and Himiko, too,” Rei says. “It’s kind of cute. You must have been doing everything right with Kumi for them to take to you like that.”
“Hm,” Touya says, watching Kumi talk to Enji, pointing at the barbecue stand as she speaks. “I guess.”
“Baby!” Taiga cries happily, tottering over to Nao’s carry-cot the second Natsuo sets it down on the blanket. He leans towards Nao and pokes her cheek lightly. She giggles. “Hi, baby!”
Rei practically squeals when Tenko hugs her of his own volition.
“Are we the last to arrive?” Natsuo asks, looking around.
Rei shakes her head, still holding on to Tenko. “No, Katsuki said they’ll be a bit late. Atsuki demanded they return his library books first. Oh, and Miko called to say Iori got held up at the hospital, so they’ll swing by later. Yumi’s on her way.”
“Ah. Er, what’s the old man doing?”
Rei glances over at the barbecue stand, where Kumi and Maki are arguing with Enji. “I think he’s getting a lecture on how to start a fire.”
“You’d think he’d know how to do that at least.”
“Without using his quirk,” Rei adds. “Kumi wants it to be authentic.”
“Ah.”
“You can let go of me now, Ma,” Tenko says. “I need to breathe.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Rei releases him halfway. He takes what he can get. “So, when do I get to babysit Nao?”
Natsuo scoffs. “When you prove you can handle a moody baby like Nao. You cursed us, you know. Nao was a perfectly good two-year-old until you said we got lucky.”
“Nao-chain’s not moody!” Taiga shouts, looking quite offended.
“With you, maybe,” Kumi scoffs, briefly pausing her lecture to Enji. “She once bit me because I took too long to pick up her bear.”
Tenko snickers. Rei slaps his arm lightly.
“Ma, my arm’s gonna fall off if you keep hitting me every time you see me.”
“Then maybe you should stop laughing at my grandchildren.”
Tenko looks at Natsuo for help. Natsuo turns to Enji. “Do you need help over there?”
Tenko stares after Natsuo with comical betrayal all over his face. “Of all the people. . .”
Rei grins. “C’mon, you can help me and Jin find the meat. The kids are starting to get hungry anyway. It should be in one of these baskets. . .”
Everyone stares at the stranger standing between Rumi and Fuyumi. She smiles and waves nervously, most likely startled by the sheer number of eyes on her. “Hello.”
She looks fun and cute, dressed in a pretty pink sundress and wearing butterfly clips in her dark blue hair that look like they were crafted by one of Fuyumi’s students.
“This is Tenka,” Fuyumi says, “we work at the same school. She teaches the kindergarteners.”
Rei’s a little surprised that Fuyumi brought a friend to a family outing, but she’s not complaining. It just would’ve been nice to know beforehand, then she would’ve told Tenko to bring Shouta, or Kumi to bring her two friends from school.
Rumi grins and throws an arm over Tenka’s shoulders. “She’s also our girlfriend.”
Tenka still smiles, but now she’s a few shades pinker than before.
“G-girlfriend?” Shoto says.
“You already have one,” Enji says, “why are you being greedy?”
“Because we like her. Duh.”
Tenka nudges Fuyumi. “When you said you were bringing me to meet your family, I didn’t think you meant all of them.”
“Sorry,” Fuyumi says, looking only slightly apologetic.
“Want a soda?” Natsuo eventually asks Tenka.
“You look familiar,” Katsuki says as Rumi sits down and pulls Tenka onto the blanket with her. “Do you wear glasses?”
Tenka shakes her head. “No, but both my brothers do. You’ll know my little brother —”
“You — fucking Engines has a sister?”
Tenka glances at her ankles, where, sure enough, there are a set of exhaust pipes that match her brothers’. “I’m pretty sure he goes by Ingenium.”
“Ignore him,” Fuyumi tells her. “You’re lucky if he even remembers your name by the end of today.”
“Shut up, Elsa.” Katsuki throws Fuyumi a light glare in response to the raspberry she gives him before turning back to Tenka. “Why are you dating these morons?”
“Dad,” Atsuki hisses. “That’s mean.”
“W-why? Well, because I like them both.”
Rei finally finds her voice. “Are you allergic to anything?”
“Hm? No, why?”
“Just planning ahead for the next family outing. Can’t be bring food you can’t have, you know?”
“Oh.” Tenka’s cheeks turn pink again.
“Told you they’d love you,” Rumi says, sounding a little too smug.
“Wait,” Kumi says, frowning slightly. “So does this mean I have six aunts now?”
“Yup!” Rumi says before Tenka can say anything.
“Cool,” Kumi says. “Can we eat now? I’m hungry.”
Fuyumi smiles at Tenka. “See? We told you. Everything’s fine.”
Touya turns away from Kosuke, who’s going through his top five favourite moments of Jin embarrassing himself in front of Nori, to see Kumi tugging on his collar.
“I spilled my juice,” she complains.
Touya sighs. “See, this is why your papa makes you pack extra clothes in the car.”
Rei notices them when Touya stands. “What’s wrong?”
“We’re going to change Kumi’s clothes before she gets all sticky. Take care of everyone while I’m gone.”
Rei nods and gives him a salute as he leads Kumi to the car.
“Do I have to go change in the public bathrooms?” Kumi asks, wrinkling her nose.
“No, you can change in the car. It’s just a shirt.”
“Oh, thank god.”
“How’d you spill your juice, anyway? You seemed fine.”
Kumi looks away from Touya.
“Kumi. . .”
“Fine, I tried to tip Aki’s juice over because she said she was gonna tell everyone I had a crush on Uravity but I tripped.”
Touya sighs. “Of all the pro heroes to have a crush on. . .”
“Relax, it’s just a celebrity crush. Uravity’s just super super super super cool.”
Touya glares in the direction of the picnic, as if he can see Fuyumi. “Celebrity crushes are dangerous.”
Kumi rolls her eyes. “Only if you’re old enough to date your celebrity crush. Plus, you shouldn’t get mad at Yumi. You married your celebrity crush.”
“I did not! I’ll have you know that I didn’t even think about dating your father until you showed up.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I mean it!”
“That’s not what Miko says. She says you were moping about Kei Papa even before then.”
Touya glares at Kumi. “Do you want to go back to the picnic with your juice shirt?”
Kumi mimes zipping her lips shut. “Okay, I’ll drop it for now.”
Touya lets her into the car and waits for her outside. He considered checking up on her when the car shakes, but Kumi calls out that she’s fine. Touya isn’t even sure what she did, but he wouldn’t put it past her to have somehow fallen off the seat. She’s done it before.
After a moment, Kumi opens the door. “Okay, I’m done.”
“Cute shirt.”
Kumi scowls at her miniature version of Himiko’s restaurant uniform. “It was this or the shirt that said I like cats and sleep. Hey, when are Miko and Iori coming?”
Touya shrugs as he checks the car to make sure it’s locked before guiding Kumi back to the picnic. “Iori had to go to work super quick. They’ll be here once Iori’s done.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Touya and Kumi return to the picnic to mild chaos. Rei, Atsuhiro and Fuyumi are trying very hard to stop a dirt fight that Tenko is, for some reason, participating in. Kosuke, Keigo and Katsuki seem to have given up and are laying on the blanket, staring at the sky and possibly contemplating their place in the universe. Tenka and Ichika are sitting off to the side with Nao, watching with something akin to amusement. Atsuki and Shuichi are already up a tree and Atsuki is watching Shuichi record the chaos. Shoto looks like someone punched him in the face. It may have been Aki. It was probably an accident. Enji has mustard on his face and he looks startled by it. Natsuo is trying to stop Tenko from throwing dirt at children. Jin and Maki are wheezing and it only gets worse every time they try to sit up and they see Enji with the mustard and Shoto with a red nose.
“Oi,” Touya says, “I still see food in a lot of plates. Go and wash your hands. You can play after you’ve eaten.”
Rei watches in absolute awe as the kids drop their little twigs and race each other to the water fountain at the edge of the park.
“My saviour,” Keigo says, lifting his arms into the air.
Touya rolls his eyes and pulls Keigo to sit up. “How can you have twelve years experience and still not be able to control a bunch of little brats that are pretty tame when Kumi’s not around?”
“Tame?” Rei cries. She decides she’s not interested in babysitting her entire flock of grandchildren anymore. She’ll do it one at a time.
“And you,” Touya continues, facing Tenko, who immediately covers his ears with his hands, “hide your ears all you want. I’ll twist them later.”
“No,” Tenko whines.
“Where’s Kurogiri?” A few hands point to the tree Atsuki and Shuichi are in. Touya looks up and on the branch above, Kurogiri is sitting there. “What are you doing in the tree?”
“Emi has terrifying aim. The only way to survive is to hide.”
Touya frowns and shakes his head. “Whatever. Miko texted. They’re on their way and they have someone they want to introduce.”
Maki perks up. “Another aunt? Uncle?”
Kumi gasps. “A grandparent?”
“You already met Iori’s father,” Sana says, rolling his eyes at Kumi.
“He could be dating someone now,” Kumi huffs.
Touya shrugs. “I don’t know. She said they’re almost here.”
Taiga and Reiji pull on Enji’s shirt when they get back from washing their hands.
“After we eat,” Taiga says, “you have to play with us. Kei Papa has a baseball bat in the car!”
Rei mimes swinging a baseball bat. “I’ll bet I can hit every ball.”
Enji looks like he’s going to start crying. Kumi rolls her eyes. “Sap,” she mutters.
“Hey,” Aki says, nudging Kumi, “be nice.”
“This is nice.”
Rei smiles. Even if she nearly lost her mind earlier, this is still a wonderful family outing. She can’t wait for Iori and Himiko to arrive.
Some of them were expecting the couple to arrive with a girlfriend, after Tenka’s introduction. Some of them were expecting a boyfriend. Some were expecting a child whose adoption must’ve gone through that morning, and who could walk on their own two legs.
Emi specifically was expecting a cat.
They all stare as Iori presents a newborn. Not a small baby that’s a month or two old. A newborn. An actual, honest-to-god newborn that can’t be more than twenty-four hours old.
“Everyone,” Himiko says, “this is Mizuki. She was born at one-thirty-eight this morning.”
Katsuki lifts his eyebrows. “Is she adopted or are you saying we’re all unobservant?”
Himiko grins. “Adopted. Iori was her birth mother’s nurse.”
“You never told us you were adopting,” Tenko says, looking offended.
“We were still deciding,” Iori says, “if we wanted to adopt or go with IVF. But last night, when Mizuki’s mother went into labour, she asked if I was eligible for adoption because she liked me and Miko a lot. It was a scramble, but Miko managed to get the papers in order by the time Mizuki was born.”
“Dang,” Kumi says, “I kinda wanted another aunt.”
“Maybe the greedy girlfriends will find another one for you,” Jin says, shooting Rumi a grin as he pats Kumi’s head.
“Oh,” Fuyumi says. “This is Tenka.”
“Hi,” Himiko and Iori say.
Rei stands up and walks over to Iori, who offers Mizuki to her. “Oh, she’s so tiny!”
“Just like Miko,” Iori says, shooting Himiko a teasing grin.
“Make fun of my height one more time and I will divorce you.”
“As if.”
“Can I hold her?” Kumi asks.
Keigo laughs. “Absolutely not. You almost dropped your brother the first time you held him.”
“I was nine!”
“If you sit down,” Himiko says, “yes.”
Kumi wriggles excitedly in her seat and waits for Himiko to take Mizuki from Rei and place her in Kumi’s arms. Mizuki whines for a moment before she settles down, blinking shining black eyes at Kumi.
“Oh,” Himiko says when Mizuki closes her eyes. “She’s going to sleep.”
Kumi grins proudly. “I’m awesome.”
Iori sits down near Tenka. “So, welcome to the family, I think.”
Tenka smiles. “Thanks!”
Rei smiles happily. There was a time when she was afraid she wouldn’t ever have a normal, happy family. But now — and it really is all thanks to Kumi — she has a big family that she loves and enough grandchildren to spoil.
It’s nice.