today, was the day of the ballet performance. all your little swans were ready. except toga and dabi were freaking out a bit.

"now, what do we say when we get anxiety?", you asked them, right before they went on stage.

"it isssss what it isssss", toga said nervously.

"my anxiety is chronic, but this ass is iconic", dabi replied.

twice snorted while shigaraki just grinned.

"no!", you sighed.

"you all will do great! you guys are the most amazing little swans i know of", you said, smiling.

"i thought we were ugly ducklings", dabi said.

"shut it!", you said, quickly kissing all their foreheads before leaving them.

you sat in the audience, waiting for the show to start. the swan lake music started playing after inko's introduction.

it was the third act and odile, toga, had appeared. she looked absolutely adorable yet elegant in her black swan costume.

she tip-toed her way to prince siegfried, who was played by todoroki zenko.

they connected hands and started dancing together, before odette interrupted.

you smiled at the dance. even in a silly school play, they were the villains.

after the final act, all the kids bowed and everyone clapped. flowers were thrown and pictures were taken.

"you four did amazing!!", you praised as toga jumped into your arms.

"thank you mama!!", toga said excitedly. "i was so nervous and stuff! but once taro gave me a hug, i felt all better—"

"SEE?! THEY'RE TOTALLY DATING!!", dabi yelled.

as if on cue, little bakugo came over and you let toga down so that they could talk.

"y-you did okay! okay? i still did better though!", mini bakugo said.

toga smiled widely and patted his head. this time, he didn't end up swatting it away.

'aw poor taro. little does he know she should be 17 by now', you thought as you looked at the cute interaction.

"anyways, you did amazing taro! but i have to take them now. see you...soon", you said as you held dabi and twice's hand.

shigaraki followed while toga skipped behind you. they were already in their regular clothing so you planned on taking them to a surprise place.

"where are we going mama?", toga asked.

"you'll see", you said.

▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ yeet █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁

"mom, i think you're taking the swans thing a little too seriously", dabi commented.

"what do you mean?! it's cute!!", you said as you strapped blue life jackets on them.

you were online and found this lake where they rented out swan boats. you thought it'd be cute to all go as a family.

the swan boats had two seats in the front, for the ones that were paddling. there was a bench on the back, for those that didn't want to paddle.

"now, who wants to paddle with me?", you asked enthusiastically.

all of them sighed.

"i guess i will", shigaraki said.

"alright, let's go then!!", you said, letting them get on the swan boat first.

"what's in the bag, mama?", toga asked as she was holding it.

"dinner. i thought we could eat on the lake while watching the sunset", you said.

she nodded and held onto it tighter, making sure it didn't fall into the water.

you paddled along with shigaraki, although it was really rough since shigaraki's force was way smaller than yours.

"oi! move faster, crusty!", dabi said.

"you try it! you ash tray", shigaraki retorted.

you lifted shigaraki up and switched him with dabi as shigaraki was getting tired.

dabi tried his hardest, and he indeed, did slightly better than shigaraki.

"alright, this is a good place to stop. let's eat now", you said as the sun was setting.

you grabbed the bag from toga and started distributing all the food.

everyone had another egg and ham sandwich since that was the only thing you knew how to make. it was also accompanied with an apple juice box, much to dabi's displeasure.

the others were busy eating while dabi just looked at you.

"is something wrong, dabi?", you asked.

his turquoise eyes stared at you, like it was boring into your soul. it reminded you of the old dabi for a moment. it was...riveting.

"mama...", he started off.

you listened. you were worried. did he find out about you putting the concoction that kurogiri gave you in the sandwich?

you really didn't want to. you had tried to find many excuses to not do it. but in the end, you knew it had to be done.

"do you...love us?", he asked, totally serious now.

"of course i do! why are you asking?", you asked.

the sun had already set by now. the moon was slowly rising and the stars were shining against the dark sky.

toga was sitting in the middle and had dozed off. shigaraki and twice's head were laying on her shoulders, also asleep.

dabi looked at you for a moment and stuck his arms out to you. he rarely asked to be hugged or picked up, so of course, you sat him on your lap.

"promise that you'll stay with us forever?", dabi asked.

he laid his head on your chest, trying to hug you with his tiny arms.

you placed a kiss on his forehead.

"i promise, sweetheart".

you and dabi made a pinkie promise. dabi had fell asleep too, leaving you to paddle back by yourself.

you carried the four kids back to the base and placed them on the bed.

you started tearing up.

you haven't felt this sad since you last killed your ex-boyfriend. you combed through shigaraki's hair. you knew it'd be the last time doing it since once they turn back, they probably won't remember you anymore.

"sweet dreams, my little brats".

you kissed their forehead one last time and went downstairs. perhaps, the potion was taking effect right now.

you left the base and went back to your apartment. kurogiri should be back and taking care of them right now.

they don't....need you...anymore.