New Beginnings

Sweet Dreams are Made

As y'all read this chapter, if you see any missing quotation marks or apostrophes, please point them out. Knightstar192227  and I had one hell of a problem today. Every time we hit save, it erased them for some reason. So if you see any that we didn't add back, please point them out—mainly in the bonus scene area.

MIDORIYA'S POV

"Dad, stop cursing," Hanako lectured from the picnic table as Bakugo struggled to get the pump out the door. It took us two hours to set everything up, but it was all good now. The large tent had a small area in the front with the coolers, a small table, and a few other things like our bags and chairs. A divider down the middle separated the two sides, and the doors allowed the kids to have their own area and Bakugo and I to have the other, which was a win. The three sleeping bags for the kids were laid out on the left side, and the air mattress on the right. Bakugo and I may not be that old, but we're definitely not young enough to sleep on the ground anymore.

"Sorry, princess," he said, tossing the pump in the backseat. "I'm done now."

"What do you guys want to do first?" I asked the kids.

"What are our options?" Kenzo asked.

"We can walk around and explore, head to the playground, play a card game, or have some silent reading time," Bakugo said.

All three kids said something different. Masao wanted to go to the playground, Hanako wanted to walk around and explore, using the camera Bakugo had bought just for this vacation, and Kenzo wanted to have some silent reading time.

"I think we should have silent reading time while your dad and I get dinner set up. Then, we can walk down to the park and play for a while. After that, we'll walk to the campground store for ice cream. That way, we can also explore a little," I suggested.

"What dinner?" Masao asked.

"We're going to have hot dogs," Bakugo said. "I'll grab your tablets so you can have silent reading time." He kept them locked in the car since he didn't want them to have too much screen time. They had enough screen time at home, and if they were buried in their tablets, they would miss too much.

While he grabbed that, I grabbed the cooler from the tent and carried it to the picnic table, where I started by pulling out the sides and condiments. Once the tablets were distributed and Bakugo helped Masao pick a book, he joined me at the table.

"I'll peel oranges if you want to start loading their plates with carrots and chips," he offered while reaching for the oranges in the cooler. We didn't need to keep them cooled since we'll eat all of them before we leave in two days, but we decided to just toss everything in the cooler to keep it all together. The only thing that didn't make it in there was the bread, buns, and chips.

"Sounds good." While he peeled the oranges, I plated five plates with our sides, which consisted of carrots and chips. After that, I grabbed the skewers while he grabbed the rest of the stuff we needed. Soon enough, we were all sitting around the fire, and Bakugo was helping Hanako and Masao cook their hot dogs while I helped Kenzo.

"Midoriya?" Kenzo asked softly. "Can I tell you something?"

I straightened. "Of course, bud. You can tell me absolutely anything."

"When we were at grandma's... she was mean to Masao."

I raised a brow. She definitely has a temper, but I can't necessarily picture her being mean to the kids. "How so?" I asked.

"Whenever Masao played dolls with Hanako, she told him they were girl toys. He wasn't allowed to play with her toys, and when Hanako and grandma were having a spa day, she wouldn't let Masao come downstairs because he kept wanting to join," he explained as he pulled his hotdog from the fire. "She said boys can't do that. I tried reminding her of when Dad painted his nails last year, but he kept saying it was because of Halloween and it doesn't count."