A/N: Bold means that someone is speaking in English. Bold Italics means someone is speaking in Gaelic.
"It's time to go home, my little ray of sunshine."
"Okay, momma." Ichigo looks up at Toshinori, "Is Arcanine-san coming with us?"
You chuckle, "Yes. Him and I need to talk about some adult stuff while you sleep."
He winkles his nose, "You two aren't gonna wrestle are you?"
You and Toshinori look at each other in confusion then down at Ichigo. "Why would we wrestle with each other, young Ichigo?" Toshinori asks the young boy.
"I don't know. But this boy from daycare said that he walked in on his mommy and daddy wrestling once. Why would a mommy and daddy wrestle, momma?"
Both your and Toshinori's faces turn bright red and Toshinori starts coughing up blood from his surprise. "Uh...oh, geez....I am so not ready for that talk....Oh, God.... N-no, sweetie. Toshinori and I...w-won't be wrestling. " You look over at Toshinori in concern, "Are you alright, Toshi?"
Ichigo walks over to Toshinori and pats the older man's back as high as he can reach, which isn't very high, only to the small of Toshinori's back. Toshinori nods and waves his hand dismissively. "Yes, I'm fine. This happens quite often now." Toshinori smiles at the little boy, "Thank you, young Ichigo."
The three of you start walking together back to your and Ichigo's apartment. About halfway there Ichigo yawns then asks Toshinori, "Can I have a piggyback ride, Arcanine-san?"
All of you stop walking and you slightly frown at your son. "Ichigo! You don't ask someone you just met that."
Toshinori smiles, "It's okay, (F/N). I don't mind. You sure can," he then crouches down so that Ichigo can climb onto his back. "Climb on, little hero." Ichigo climbs on Toshinori's back wrapping his tiny arms around the older man's neck. Toshinori gently yet firmly grabs Ichigo's legs. "Okay and we're off!"
The three of you start walking again and you watch Toshinori and Ichigo with a large smile on your face. "Ichigo really likes you, Toshi. I've never seen him take to someone he just met like he has to you."
Toshinori grins, "I'm honored. I really like him too. He's a great kid." You can't help, but feel pride at Toshinori's words.
"Thank you, Arcanine-san." Ichigo says.
"Ah! So you can speak Japanese as well! Only four years old and you can already speak three different languages! Remarkable!" Toshinori says in amazement.
You giggle, "Actually he only knows a little bit of Japanese right now, but we're working on it, aren't we, li'l strawberry?"
"Yes, momma." Ichigo yawns loudly.
"Still, that's amazing for someone his age. Is it part of his quirk?"
"No. He inherited both my and his father's quirks. It was quite the surprise when one day, about a year ago, Ichigo was pretending to be All Might and accidentally punched a hole in the living room wall." You glance up at your son, who is now asleep with his head resting against Toshinori's right shoulder.
Toshinori laughs, "That would be quite a surprise. What about his father's quirk?"
"I don't know the full extent of his quirk, he rarely uses it, but it's obviously a very powerful quirk. He's the one who saved my life from Doomsday and destroyed the monster. So far, Ichigo has only shown the faintest signs of having the same quirk as his father, but it's still there."
You arrive at your apartment and pull your keys out of your pants pocket. You unlock the door and walk inside. You flick on the lights as Toshinori enters the apartment behind you with Ichigo still asleep on his back. The both of you slip off your shoes before you walk over to Toshinori to wake Ichigo up. You run your fingers through your son's hair, "Wake up, my li'l strawberry." He yawns and you take him off of Toshinori's back. You sit him down on his feet and he slips his shoes off. Once his shoes are off, he holds up his arms indicating that he wants you to pick him up. You pick Ichigo up then look over at Toshinori, "Let's go into the living room."
You lead him into the living room and immediately come to a stop. Sitting on the couch is a huge All Might plushie and on the coffee table are two purple glass vases each filled with 24 rainbow roses. Ichigo sees the All Might plushie and becomes excited. "Daddy was here! Daddy was here!" He squirms in your arms and you sit him down. He takes off running towards the All Might plushie and throws himself at it. He laughs while hugging the plushie tightly.
You smile slightly and pick up one of the vases. You see there's a note beside the vase and you pick it up. It reads, 'Sorry, I missed you. I just wanted to see how you and Li'l Strawberry are adjusting. I will drop by later, my love. -Red'
You frown and say to your son in Gaelic, "Ichigo...go to your room and call your father on the emergency phone ." He looks at you, very excited. "This is important, Ichigo. I need you to tell your daddy not to come by tonight. That mommy is visiting with a hero friend of hers."
Toshinori looks at you in confusion, "What's going on, (F/N)?"
"Okay, momma! Can I talk to daddy for a little bit?" Ichigo jumps off of the couch and picks up the plushie, which is as big as he is.
"Yes, you can."
"Yay! I get to talk to daddy! Can I tell him about Arcanine-san?"
You think about it for a moment, "I don't see why not."
Ichigo takes off running to his room, the stuffed All Might slightly slowing him down. Toshinori walks over to where you're standing and gently touches one of the roses. "I've never seen roses like these."
You sigh, "Yeah, he likes to buy me unique roses."
Toshinori then asks his voice full of sadness, "I thought you and Ichigo's father weren't dating?"
"We're not. He's just trying to court me." You walk past him, accidentally brushing up against him. A shiver goes through your body and your heart races as your skin makes contact with his. You see him stiffen slightly and grow concern, "Are you okay?"
He shakes his head and clears his throat, "I'm fine." You start walking towards the kitchen and Toshinori follows you. "What do you mean by trying to court you?"
"He does little things like send me roses and flirt with me, but I never agree to go on a date with him." You begin to pull out of the cabinets and refrigerator everything that you need to make ramen. You mutter more to yourself than to Toshinori, "But that doesn't seem to deter that Red-headed idiot."
"So...you don't have any feelings for him?" Toshinori asks, a bit nervous about your answer.
You're silent for a while causing Toshinori to fidget in discomfort. You finally sigh and say, "He's the father of my child so I will always have some small amount of feelings for him. But him and I could never be together...." You turn to face him, "Can we change the subject, please? I'm not yet ready to go into too much detail about Ichigo's father. I will tell you about him...in time." You begin to slice the vegetables for the ramen.
"Okay. Whenever you're ready to talk I'm here to listen."
You smile, "Thank you."
Toshinori asks, "Do you need any help preparing dinner?"
"Yes, thank you."
As the two of you continue to make dinner together, Toshinori suddenly states, "I...I was in l-love with you too."
Your head jerks up to look at him and you accidentally slice the palm of your left hand with the knife you're holding. You hiss in pain, "Damn it!"
Toshinori is by your side in an instant, "Are you okay? Here let me see." He takes your injured hand gently in his huge right hand and examines the cut. "We need to run it under cold water." He gently coaxes you over to the sink and turns on the cold water and puts your hand under the running stream. You look up from where his hand is cupping yours and your (e/c) eyes meet Toshinori's pristine blue orbs. Both of your hearts are beating wildly in your chests. He opens his mouth to say something, but changes his mind.
"Toshi? Why didn't you ever say anything to me?"
"Because I was afraid I would ruin our friendship if you didn't feel the same way."
You begin to laugh, "That's the same reason why I never told you!"
Toshinori chuckles, "All those years ago, we were both in love with each other and both of us were too afraid of losing our friendship to say anything." There's a heavy silence between the two of you. Toshinori can't help but think to himself, 'All those years we could have spent together.... Maybe we would have gotten married...and had kids of our own.' Toshinori begins to cough up blood. After he gets his coughing under control, he wipes the blood off of his lips with his hand. He sighs and thinks, 'It's too late now. I'm dying and if I get involved in her life like that, I will only cause her pain when I die. I can't put her or young Ichigo through that.'
"Toshi? You've been staring at our hands for awhile....Are you okay?" You ask him in concern.
"Hmm?" He snaps out of his thoughts, "Yes, I'm fine. Do you have a first aid kit?"
"Yes, it's under the sink in the bathroom. Just go down the hall and it's the very last door." You point in the direction of the hall where the bedrooms and the bathroom are at. He leaves to get the first aid kit and you're left alone with your thoughts. If he's still mostly the same Toshinori that you once knew, you have a pretty good guess what he was lost in thought about.
You sigh and turn off the water when you see Toshinori reappear carrying the small first aid box. He sits it down on the counter then opens it. "Let me see your hand again, (N/N)."
You hold it out for him and he gently takes it in his own. He puts disinfectant on it causing you to flinch slightly at the stinging sensation. He then takes some gauze and begins to wrap your hand. "Toshi....I...I want you to be a part of our lives." He finishes wrapping your arm then looks at you in confusion. You become flustered, "W-what I m-mean is...I want us to be friends again....Or m-maybe even m-more than...f-friends. Just...don't push me a-away because you're afraid of hurting me....We b-both couldn't conquer our fears before and it c-cost us 18 years of experiences that we could've s-shared together. Please don't let it cost us...h-however many years you have l-left." You cup his left cheek with your right hand.
Toshinori's eyes soften and he nuzzles your hand. "I...don't think I could push you away...even if I wanted to."
His eyes dart to your lips then back to you (e/c) orbs. He begins to lean down and your heart starts to beat wildly in your chest again. "Momma! I need help with my jammies!" You and Toshinori look over at the entrance to the kitchen and see Ichigo standing there with his pajamas on backwards. "I tried to put them on by myself, but something went wrong."
You and Toshinori laugh, "You put them on backwards, sweetheart! Come on, Ichigo, I will help you put them on correctly." You look back at Toshinori, "I'm sorry to ask this, but do you mind chopping up the rest of the vegetables?"
Toshinori smiles, "Of course, I don't mind. I love to cook."
"Thank you," you say to him before Ichigo pulls you out of the kitchen and to his room.
It doesn't take you very long to fix Ichigo's pajamas; they're his favorite pair made to look like All Might's Silver Age costume including two little tufts on the hood that's meant to look like All Might's bangs. "There! All done!"
"Yay! Thank you, momma! I'm gonna go show Arcanine-san!" Ichigo takes off running causing you to chuckle.
You walk out of Ichigo's room and make your way to the kitchen. You see Toshinori putting the last of the ingredients into the pan with Ichigo excitedly talking to him. "Did momma cut herself again? She usually cuts herself when she cooks. That's why daddy's cooks never let her in the kitchen with them when we visit."
"Hey! I don't always cut myself when I cook...." You say with a pout causing Toshinori to chuckle.
"Well, what should we do while the ramen cooks?" Toshinori asks you and Ichigo.
"Can we play Go Fish?" Ichigo asks excitedly.
"Sure, but in Japanese." Ichigo let's out a disappointed, 'aww.' "It's important that you learn Japanese, Ichigo."
"I know, momma." He says before running back to his room to get the cards.
You walk into the living room with Toshinori right behind you. "I'm sorry about you having to finish dinner and for having to play Go Fish."
Toshinori smiles, "It's okay, (N/N). I don't mind at all. Like I said earlier, I love to cook...and I haven't played Go Fish in a very long time."
Ichigo comes running into the living room with a pack of playing cards in his hand. You and Toshinori sit next to each on the couch and Ichigo sits on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. After a couple of games of Go Fish, you watch as Ichigo plays around with his cards. "Look, momma! I've got a..." he furrows his brows as he tries to think of the words that he wants in Japanese. He gives up and switches to English, "straight flush."
You look at his cards and see that he has indeed arranged his cards into a straight flush. You sweat drop, "Ichigo, where did you learn that?"
"From daddy."
You sigh, "Of course. I should have known. I'm going to have a few words with your father about gambling when you're around him." You crack the knuckles of both of your hands and hear Toshinori chuckle. You stand up and stretch, "I'm going to check on dinner."
You then walk into the kitchen and over to the stove. When you see that the ramen is done, you turn off the stove and retrieve three bowls from the cabinets by the refrigerator. You divide the ramen into the three bowls. You then pick up two of the bowls and walk back into the living room. You smile widely when you see Toshinori lifting Ichigo, using both of his arms, above his head while Ichigo holds one of his hands out in front of him like he's flying. There's a huge grin on both of their faces and Ichigo is shouting, "Have no fear! Because I am here!"
You laugh loudly and this gets both of their attention. "Dinner is ready," you say and place the bowls down on the coffee table, noticing that the cards have been put away. You grab Ichigo's All Might portable lap activity table from it's place under the coffee table.
Toshinori lowers Ichigo to the floor, sitting him down on his feet gently. "That was fun Arcanine-san! Daddy can't do stuff like that with me because he has only one arm." You hear your son say as you return to the kitchen for some forks for Toshinori and Ichigo. When you return to the living room Ichigo asks, "Momma, can we watch SpongeBob while we eat?" He sits on the floor in front of the coffee table, facing the TV.
"Of course," you say, handing a fork to Toshinori. "I hope you don't mind using a fork. We don't have any chopsticks right now." You tell Toshinori.
You place the All Might lap table over your son's stretched out legs then place his bowl down on the table along with a fork. "Thank you, momma."
You smile lovingly at him, "You're welcome, my li'l strawberry." You walk over to the TV, grab a season of SpongeBob SquarePants, then put the first disc in the DVD player.
"A fork will be fine. Thank you." Toshinori replies as you press play on the DVD remote. You then retrieve your own bowl from the kitchen and sit down on the couch beside Toshinori.
You grin over at him, "As you can see this is my life now: playing Go Fish, watching SpongeBob, and singing nursery rhymes. A far cry from the horror movie fan, rock-'n'-roll loving, girl who liked to stay out all night that you used to know."
Toshinori chuckles, "Yes. Things are certainly different now. But I think you have a wonderful life. I always wanted children, but with, you know, my lifestyle...I decided to wait until I retire."
You nod, "I understand. The reason why we moved to Japan was because villains in Ireland discovered that Ichigo is my son and I wanted to get him away from danger."
Twenty minutes later, you see that Ichigo is struggling to stay awake. "Looks like it's somebody's bedtime." You stand up and walk over to Ichigo. You move his lap table and bend down to pick him up. "Let's get you to bed, Little Red."
"Wait, momma. Put me down please." You put him down on his feet and he rushes over to Toshinori. He climbs on to the couch and hugs the older man. "Goodnight, Arcanine-san."
Toshinori smiles and hugs him back, "Goodnight, young Ichigo."
You smile at the scene before picking up your son again. "I'll probably have to sing to him until he falls asleep so it might be a couple of minutes before I return."
"That's fine. Take your time."
You take Ichigo to the bathroom before taking him into his room and tucking him into his bed. "Momma, will you sing to me?"
You sit down on the edge of his bed and run your fingers through his hair as you sing:
"Remember make believe in you
All the things I said I'd do
I wouldn't hurt you, like the world did me
Keep you safe, I'd keep you sweet
Everything that I went through,
I'm grateful you won't have to do
I know that you will have to fall
I can't hide you from it all.
But take the best of what I've got
And you know no matter what
Before you walk away, you know you can
Run, run, run,
Back to my arms, back to my arms
Run, run, run, back to my arms and they will hold you down
Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
See, here's the bloody, bloody truth
You will hurt and you will lose
I've got scars you won't believe
Wear them proudly on my sleeve
I hope you'll have the sense to know
That sadness comes and sadness goes
Love so hard and play life loud
It's the only thing to give a damn about
But take the best of what I've got
And you know no matter what
Before you walk away, you know you can
Run, run, run,
Back to my arms, back to my arms
Run, run, run,
Back to my arms and they will hold you down."
Ichigo falls asleep halfway through the song and you get up to leave. You return to the living room only to see that Toshinori isn't there. You hear the sound of running water coming from kitchen and head towards it. You see Toshinori standing at the sink washing the dishes from dinner. "Toshi, you don't have to do that." You walk up beside him and try to nudge him away from the sink.
"I know, but I want to. Besides it's already done." He says, sitting the last bowl in the dish drainer to dry. He dries his hands on a dish towel then turns to you. "So...."
"Let's go sit on the couch and relax for a moment." The two of you return to the living room and you collapse on to the couch with a sigh.
Toshinori sits next to you and you turn so that you're facing him. "So...." There's a long, awkward silence and Toshinori fidgets on the couch beside you.
Ever since that moment in the kitchen you haven't been able to get the thought of kissing Toshinori out of your mind. "Oh, to hell with it." You say causing Toshinori to look at you in confusion. You lean forward and press your lips against his. A jolt of electricity shoots through your body and you moan in pleasure. Toshinori is shocked at first, but slowly kisses you back. He places his right hand on the back of your neck and deepens the kiss. You tangle your own right hand in his messy blonde hair. You run your tongue over his bottom lip and he hesitatingly opens his mouth for you. You start to slowly explore his mouth with your tongue. The kiss becomes more heated as your tongues begin to battle for dominance. You break the kiss to lay down on the couch and Toshinori starts to cough up blood. Once he's done he wipes his mouth and apologizes, but you just reach up and drag Toshinori down on top of you. You wrap your legs around his waist and he holds himself up on one elbow. This time Toshinori kisses you passionately. Your lips moving in sync with his.
All of a sudden, Toshinori's phone begins to ring, 'A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE!' He breaks the kiss, "Sorry. I need to get this." He gets off of you and you both sit up. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and answers with, "Hello?" There's a moment of silence while Toshinori listens to whoever is on the other end of the line. "I'll be there in just a couple of minutes." He hangs up and looks over at you, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Duty calls." He stands up.
You stand up as well, "I understand. To you being a hero comes first just like being a mother comes first to me."
"I would like to come by again sometime. Spend more time with young Ichigo and...you and I obviously have more things that we need to talk about."
You chuckle, "Of course, you can come by anytime you want. Just give me a call first to make sure I'm home." You hold your right hand out, "Let me see your phone and I'll put my number in." He unlocks his phone and pulls up a new contact before handing you his large red phone. You enter your name and number then hand his phone back to him. "I'm sure Ichigo will be thrilled to have you visit again. He really, really likes you....And I know I will always be happy to see you, Toshi."
He gives you a bright smile, showing off his perfect white teeth. "I look forward to seeing you again, (N/N)." He then walks over to the door with you right behind him. He slips on his shoes and opens the door. "Goodnight, (F/N)."
You lean up on your tip toes to kiss Toshinori gently on the lips. "Goodnight, Toshinori." He leaves and you lock the door before taking shower and going to bed.