Month 24
If there was one thing you had begun to loath since becoming a parent... it was grocery shopping. Especially without your husband.
Having two little kids meant anything sweet or colorful caught their attention and instantly the baby doll's eyes were on you. With Katsuki there, he usually was able to easily cut through it with a stern 'no' but today you were shopping without him. Curse the office for making him work this Saturday! Wasn't he his own boss? Why did he go in knowing Saturdays were the day to grocery shop?!
Feelings of betrayal from your husband aside, you placed Katsuro into the cart and put your purse next to him. He was getting almost too big for the cart, and it seemed today he wasn't pleased with being put into the cart.
He eyed you sadly, pointing to Katsuko who was positioned at the front of the cart. Her feet were on the rim and she looked ready to move with the cart as if this was some sort of theme park ride.
"Me too!" Katsuro cheered, wanting to join his sister.
You sighed and nodded to him. Katsuro attached his little hands to the right side of the cart, but the front near his sister. The two giggled and eagerly pointed towards the shop's front door. No doubt ready for this trip, and possibly hoping to sucker their mother into getting them treats.
You inhaled, ready to deal with what might come of this trip, and started in for the store. You kept an eye on your kids, making sure neither was in danger of slipping off every glance or so. So far. So good.
The first stop was getting the usual: fruits, veggies, and spices. Your husband always used a lot of these for meals, thus you'd always have to refill every week. You checked the freshness and even let your kids pick up which color apples they wanted. Katsuko was set on red ones, while Katsuro picked out a shiny green one.
Next was the meats, then the pasta, and finally the bakery. You had to get bread and was dreading it. The bakery section, as usual, was lined with various cookies, cakes, and other sweets. You tried to walk past the sweets as quickly as possible, but it seemed that your speed was not as fast as your children's wandering eyes.
"Cake!" Katsuko shouted, pointing to a decadent chocolate one sitting in the display case. "I want cake, mama!"
Both kids spied it happily, practically drooling. You could agree with that reaction, as the cake really was good-looking. It looked like a two-layer chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate buttercream between and covering it. Chocolate pieces and chocolate shavings covered the top, along with what you could only guess was chocolate cookie crumbles.
"Cake, mama?" Katsuro looked up at you.
Inhaled sharply and internally pumped yourself up.
"Not today." You spoke gently, shaking your head.
"Awww." Katsuko frowned. "Why not?!"
"We still have cookies at home from your grandfather. We need to eat those for dessert first." You spoke, seeing your kids nod.
"Cake next time?" Katsuro asked you.
"Maybe." You spoke, reaching over and rubbing his spiky blonde locks. "Depends on if we can convince your dad."
"I'll get him to give us cake!!" Katsuko laughed victoriously as you started towards the loaves of bread.
"Yay! Yay, Ko!" Katsuro cheered for his sister.
The two kids seemed settled and you were internally relieved. You made it through an entire shopping trip and there was no begging or pleading? Oh, joy! You must be the luckiest mother in the world!
So happy that you wouldn't have to deal with any pouting, you picked out your loaf of bread and made your way to the last aisle you needed before it was time to leave. Katsuko's class had each parent bring in a snack each week, and next week was your week. So wanting to give the kids something sweet, but not too unhealthy, you decided some popcorn would do.
You entered the aisle and left the cart towards the side. You bent down to look at the flavors of popcorn, leaving your kids to play on the cart. As you looked, you heard them get off and talk excited, but didn't think on the matter too much.
Finally, you picked out the popcorn kernels and stood back up to place the item in your cart. As you did so, you noticed a few new items placed in your cart. The items were a pack of mini-candy bars of various flavors. The packaging seemed to be doing something special though, as each different type of bar had a hero on them: Deku's matcha. Shouto's melon soda. Red Riot's strawberry. Ground Zero's cinnamon. And several more.
You stared at the package, wondering if your husband's agent was once more signing his name up for promotions without him knowing... as you knew your husband would never put his name on candy bars... let alone along with Midoriya and Todoroki.
You hummed, looking up from the package as two more entered your cart. Your kids eagerly smiling at you. You sighed, seeing as you had foolishly missed that the popcorn kernels for whatever reason were placed in the aisle that contained lots of candies.
And your kids had used your distracted shopping to help themselves to the shelves lined with hero-themed candies.
"We found daddy!" Katsuko hollered, pointing to her father on the packaging. "Hiroki and Yuuto's daddys too!"
"We get?" Katsuro beamed at you, looking so excited it broke your heart a little.
"I already said no to extra sweets." You shook your head. "Put them back."
Katsuko's smile turned into a frown quickly and she stomped her foot. Katsuro looked between you and his sister and seemed to decide that it was Katsuko he was following today. Thus he crossed his arms and frowned as well.
"You said no more desserts!" Katsuko told you. "This isn't a dessert!"
"We're not getting any more sweets, Katsuko." Your voice was stern. "We have plenty at home."
"But daddy!" Katsuko wailed, pointing desperately. "I want daddy's candy!"
"Deku! Red!" Katsuro whined, coming to you.
He grabbed onto the ends of your shirt and pulled on it. His eyes were teary and looked ready to start to pour. Your lip wiggled for a moment, but you held firm.
"No. Put them back please." You told your kids. "I'm not going to ask again."
"No! We're getting them!" Katsuko declared and grabbed the candies out of your hand.
She put them into the cart and stared at you. Her carmine eyes narrowed at you and you suddenly saw a very familiar angry look on her features. Katsuro was now fully crying, his words incoherent as he tugged on your shirt.
You inhaled, reaching into your cart and grabbing the candies. You grabbed Katsuro in your other hand and put him into the cart's little seat. He squirmed and cried more, but you ignored him as you put the candy back.
"It's okay, Tsuro. You're fine." You cooed him when you returned to him.
Your attention was pulled away when you heard something being put into your cart again. You turned to see Katsuko moving away from the cart and crossing her arms. You blinked in disbelief when you saw the three packages of candy were back.
"Bakugou Katsuko." You spoke angrily. "I said no."
She stomped her foot as you picked up the candy again and started moving to put it away once more. She screamed loudly, making several shoppers suddenly stop that was in the same aisle of walking past it.
"No! No!" Katsuko wailed, falling onto the floor and started to hit and kick it. "I hate you! I hate you! You're a bad mama! I want candy! I want it!"
Katsuro wasn't calmed in the slightest at the sounds of his sister's tantrum and suddenly he started to scream loudly as well. You were taken back, having never seen either of your kids act like this before. But... you'd be damned to give in to the temper tantrums now and make them think they earned the candy.
You inhaled sharply, eyes narrowing and your feet moving quickly. You put the candies back and then moved back to your kids. You hoisted Katsuro out of the cart and held him firming in your left hand and supported him with your shoulder.
With your right hand, you moved to Katsuko. She kicked and hit your hand away, continuing her little show. You then used your quirk, forcing her gently onto her feet and put one of her hands into your right hand.
She screamed loudly and stomped both her feet. To make matters worse, she tried to fall down, but you were no longer having any of this behavior. Katsuko blinked in confusion when she wasn't back on the floor. A soft white glow was around her and she was gently hovering next to you as you walked.
"Fine. Don't walk then." You spoke to her, anger laced in your voice.
Katsuko continued to yell, Katsuro continued to cry. You only hoped the workers of the grocery store would forgive you for leaving your cart behind. But... you were not going to deal with them and this behavior any longer, especially not in public.
So, you walked home, letting both scream and cry all the way there. Not caring who looked at the three of you, or what they might think. You didn't say a word to either, and only spared them a mixed look of anger and disappointment when either tried to get your attention.
Finally, you arrived home. The screaming and crying seemed to have started to quell from your two kids, but you were nowhere near cool or level-headed. You merely put both kids into their rooms and shut their doors.
After about thirty seconds, both kids came out and went towards the tv. But upon trying to turn it on, you came over and turned it back off. You didn't say anything, merely picking both up and putting them back into their rooms.
This time, you finally spoke your first words to them since leaving the store.
"Stay in here for a timeout. You've been bad to mama."
The battle went on for another hour. The kids tried to get out of the timeout and play around, only to get put back into their room and told how they were bad to you. You didn't cave, and by the time they each stayed in their rooms for five minutes, you could see the message had started to settle in.
You had never risen your voice at them, even now. But it was clear they had hurt you and acted poorly. You were sitting on the couch, finishing a text message when both came out.
Katsuro was already crying and when you looked at him with your disappointed eyes, he collided into you again and started bawling.
"Sorry, mama! Sorry!" He pleaded.
His cries became less noisy when you began to rub his back. His sniffles ending soon after and his worry turned back into content thanks to your soothing.
Katsuko was still stubborn, crossing her arms, but she looked teary as well. She didn't like it when you were mad and wouldn't talk cheerily with her. So... even the stubborn daughter of Bakugou knew she needed to apologize.
"Sorry, mama... I was bad. I was mean." Katsuko muttered, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.
You reached forward and tousled her locks, making her cry a bit more. You hugged both your kids and told them you forgave them. You hoped a lesson was learned and that they would not try that with you again.
Only time would tell, but at least for today... they each had apologized and felt bad. So you had nothing more to worry about aside from hoping Katsuki checked his phone and went grocery shopping on his way home from work like you had requested from him.