Fifteen Minute Reads Vol. 1

Mother

"You look tired."

She took a sip of her soda before replying. "No, not tired. Just... thinking."

He frowned. "Class didn't go well? Weren't you supposed to have show and tell, or something?"

"Oh, it went well. Too well. The kids were delighted to be superheroes for a day. Naturally, they wore costumes. And got into fights, shouting all sorts of battle cries. Many of them attempted to fly." She was chuckling by the end of her story, and so was he. 

"How many Captain Americas?"

"Four. Plus an equal amount of Iron Mans. And Bucky."

"No wonder you're exhausted."

She shook her head. "I told you, I'm not tired. It's just... there's this one kid. She went last. Wore an oversized blazer and a large floppy hat. I seriously thought she was going to say she was Black Widow in disguise or something. But no. Guess who she was?"

They'd been together long enough for him to know it was a rhetorical question. So he said nothing and simply nodded for her to continue.

"A mother."

He blinked. "Capital M mother? Mother Goddess? Earth Mother?"

"No. A mother." She took his hand in both of hers, absent-mindedly playing with his fingers. "She said her mother was invincible, could do anything. And that she wanted to be just like her when she grew up."

They looked into each other's eyes in silence for a while. Then a grin spread across his face. "Yeah, I think mothers are pretty super."

She pursed her lips together. "I'm scared."

"Oh, don't worry about it," he said, kissing her forehead. "Kids don't lie. So if she said mothers are invincible, then you're going to be."