Work Text:
Inko looked up at the gates of UA high school and balked at the academy’s sheer massiveness, with the backlighting from rapidly setting sun only helping to make it look more intimidating. Holding her tray of cookies a little tighter, she scooted forward to buzz herself in. After a brief conversation with whoever was manning security, the gates slid open for her.
She started forward, head level, determined to get in and do what she come for.
“HEY INKO!”
Which might turn out to be harder than expected.
A shiver ran up her spine at the shout of her name, and she slowly turned to see Mitsuki Bakugou rapidly approaching. The instinct to turn and sprint away was overwhelming.
“Thought that was you!” Mitsuki called as she got closer.
Inko tried to turn her oncoming grimace into a something resembling a smile. “Yep!” she said, in as cheery a voice as she could manage. “It’s me!”
Mitsuki stopped in front of her, scanning her up and down, and Inko felt very much like a bug pinned down under a microscope.
“Masaru and I were wondering if you’d be here,” said Mitsuki, jabbing her thumb behind her at her husband, who was somehow much slower than his high heeled wife. “I wasn’t sure - you never came to this kind of thing when the kids were in middle school. It’s almost like you never leave the house!”
That. How the hell was Inko supposed to respond to that? ‘Oh, sorry it’s just that ever since my husband sent me divorce papers through the mail I’ve been kind of depressed and raising a child by myself for 16 years has been kind of stressful and also I gained weight and in general my self confidence is so low that ants could crawl over it’?
Instead she mustered up the strength to smile and say, “Well, I’m here now!”
“Great to see you,” said Masaru when he finally reached them, panting a bit between the rushing and the weight of the covered dish he was carrying. Mitsuki glanced at him before snatching the dish.
“Gimme,” she said as she took it. “You’re gonna drop it. Now come on you two, let’s do this thing!”
As Mitsuki and her heels clicked off toward the door, Inko gave Masaru a sympathetic look.
“She seems...upbeat today.”
Masaru just smiled and gave her a sheepish shrug in return. “She’s always...upbeat these days.”
“MASARU, HURRY UP!!”
“See you inside!” he said before booking it after his wife.
Inko sighed as they left, happy to be alone again and walk toward the building at her own pace. The Bakugous really weren’t the people she’d wanted to run into right before going inside. If she were being honest, as interesting as it might be to meet the parents of her Izuku’s classmates, that itself wasn’t what convinced her to come. Honestly, part of her was terrified to meet the others. For one thing, she knew it would be mostly pairs, while she was here alone. For another they would be surrounded by free food which she wouldn’t allow herself to eat because eating in public was the worst. And of course, Mitsuki was a prime example of another aversion: loud, obnoxious, nosy people.
There were only two things that were getting her to come here tonight, dressed in her nicest black skirt and her new green sweater. One was her obligation to her son’s education and well being. The other was-
“Ah, Inko!”
Him.
She jumped slightly at the sound of deep voice reverberating in the tiled entrance way, and she looked up to see him approaching. Toshinori Yagi was sporting a wide, toothy smile, and dressed in a particularly nice blue suit. He had definitely dressed to impress his students’ parents, and as far as Inko was concerned, it was working. She held onto her cookies and did her best to maintain eye contact with him, but his burning blue pupils made that a little hard.
“Hello Toshinori!” she said, trying to keep the nervous trembling out of her voice and replace it with cheer. “It’s so nice to see you in person again!”
“You as well,” he said, stepping closer to her. Surprised by their close proximity, Inko found herself speechless. Thankfully he was still talking.
“It’s been a while since we last met for tea,” he commented. “How long ago was that?”
“A-about a month ago,” she said, impressed that she only let slip a slight stammer.
“That long!?” He shook his head, disappointed. “We should rectify that!”
Oh! This was good! He was getting ahead of her, but this was still very good!
“Hey.”
And then the whole thing was ruined by the sudden appearance of his coworker, Eraserhead.
“The meeting’s starting soon,” the scruffy hero murmured to both of them. “You should probably hurry up.”
Inko completely missed the daggers that Toshinori was glaring at his colleague before he turned back to her, smiling again.
“Ah, terribly sorry about that! We should meet up again after the meeting lets out. See you at the reception!”
With that the two heroes headed off for the assembly hall.
“Okay,” she told herself now that she was alone. She shut her eyes, willing herself to have confidence. “This is okay. I can still do the plan. Step 1: offer him a cookie. Step 2: when he likes the cookie (oh god I hope he likes the cookies what if he doesn’t??) I ask him if he’d like to try some of my other cooking. Step 3: If he says yes, I invite him to dinner, and I’m home free!”
“Sounds like a great plan!”
For about the third time that evening, Inko was surprised, and this time she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that the Midnight had been standing behind her for some time. The pro hero smiled as Inko floundered for something to say, before putting a finger to the woman’s lips.
“Don’t worry honey,” she said gently. “Your secret’s safe with me! Now let’s get you inside.”
Before Inko could protest she found herself being shoved off in the direction of the assembly hall.
About 45 minutes later, Toshinori let out a sigh of relief and slumped in his chair as the Parent Teacher assembly was finally let out. He slumped in his seat, eliciting a squeak from the crappy metal chair they’d been provided.
“I hate these things,” he said with a grunt.
“Same,” mumbled Aizawa next to him.
“Thank god for free food,” chimed in Present Mic, who as always was acting far more energetic than the rest of the teachers. He reached and yanked Aizawa out of his chair, slinging an arm around his partner’s shoulders as he did so.
“C’mon Yagi, let’s get you some grub,” he said, kicking Toshinori’s chair for emphasis.
“Yeah, don’t you have someone you need to go talk to?” Aizawa asked.
Toshinori glared back at him. “Shut up.”
“Oh, have I missed something?” Mic asked, looking between them with curiosity.
“He told Midoriya’s mother that the two of them needed to get together again sometime,” said Aizawa before Toshinori had time to come up with a response. And before he could defend himself from that, Mic was all over him.
“AGAIN, did you say? So you’ve already gone out with her? Yagi, you dog, dating one of the parents! Tell me is she cute? Oh who cares, anyone that would put up with that ugly mug of yours has to have a beautiful soul!”
That last comment struck a chord, and Toshinori came very close to flexing into his muscled form.
“Who are you calling ugly?” he snapped at Mic.
“You, Zombie Man,” Mic quipped. “That’s right, Shota told me about the Zombie Incident.”
“Sorry,” said Aizawa without sounding sorry at all.
Toshinori grimaced at the memory of being genuinely mistaken for a zombie...by other zombies.
“So what?” he asked, yelling a little bit out of defensiveness. “You’re not so hot yourself!”
“Excuse you,” said Mic as he and Aizawa started walking in the direction of the reception hall. “But I’m beautiful! You know why? Confidence. Something you seem to lack.”
Toshinori grunted as he followed the pair. “Well can you blame me?” he asked. “It’s kind of hard to be confident when most of Japan worships a hotter version of yourself while you’re stuck in a body that frightens children on the street.”
“Yeah, that’s rough man,” Mic agreed as the three reached the reception hall. “But cheer up! If she went out with you once, she’ll probably go again!”
“You might have some competition though.”
Confused by this utterance from Aizawa, Toshinori looked around until he found what he was talking about.
Inko was standing off in a corner talking to Midnight, aka the 18+ hero, aka one of the hottest teachers on staff who constantly had people fawning over her. And she was eating one of Inko’s cookies.
Toshinori’s jaw nearly hit the ground, and a horribly immature wave of jealousy hit him. He wanted to eat her cookies!
Without saying goodbye to Mic or Aizawa, he rushed across the floor, shoving past a few parents to get to the two of them.
It wasn’t just about cookies. It was that they were her cookies. Her, this sweet woman who was strong enough challenge him outright and caring enough to compromise with him afterward. She sent him texts asking about her son peppered with questions about his own health, filled with an even mix of concern and encouragement and dozens of adorable emojis.
The bad part was that he suspected she might be somewhat afraid of him. After all, whenever they were together she always stammered and had a hard time making eye contact - what else could that mean except that she found him slightly frightening? As Mic had oh so kindly brought up, it wasn’t unusual for people to find his newly emaciated form scary. But the fact that she still tried and seemed to care about him meant a lot and he had hoped that, with time, he could help her to feel more comfortable around him. Hence the attempt at asking her out for tea, which Aizawa had ruined. Now, at the reception, he had a second chance. It was just a matter of getting her alone for a moment.
Which would be hard if he had Midnight to contend with.
As he approached, he couldn’t help but pick up some of their conversation.
“Just tell him,” Midnight was saying as she nibbled on the cookie. “Trust me it’ll be fine.”
“But what if he doesn’t understand?” Inko asked. “I mean I’m not exactly-”
A shadow fell over her and when she turned to find him standing nearby, she jumped, eyes wide and nearly terrified. Toshinori winced at the sight, saddened by how much his presence alarmed her.
“Um, hi,” he said, gently as possible, trying to ease her shock, silently begging her not to be so afraid of him.
“Hey!” Midnight said from where she stood behind Inko. “How goes it Yagi? Inko and I were just talk about you!”
That got his attention, as did Inko’s suddenly very tense posture.
“Oh?” he asked, nonchalant as he could manage. “Were you?”
“Yep!” said Midnight, her voice thick with mirth. “I’ll leave you two to chat!”
And with that, she sauntered off, leaving the two of them standing there quite awkwardly.
“Um…” Toshinori said yet again, trying to urge the words to come. “You were talking about me?”
Practically trembling with nerves, Inko nodded her head slightly, making tentative eye contact with him. “Yes...uh. I was just saying to Miss Midnight…that I was hoping you would try one of the cookies that I made!” She gestured to the nearby dessert table, practically beaming.
Toshinori smiled at the sight of happiness having returned to her face, glad that the light conversation topic had set her at ease.
“Of course!” He began reaching for a cookie and said, “Actually I’ve been looking forward to having-”
He paused half way to grabbing a cookie.
“Shit.”
“Huh?”
“OH! Uh, no, not...sorry,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “I forgot I need to take this one pill. Can’t eat before I do. Losing a few organs calls for a lot of medication, you know…”
“Oh, of course,” she assured him. “You go right ahead! I’m glad to know you’re taking care of yourself.”
With a nod, he hurried off to track down some water, leaving Inko to patiently await his return. In the meantime, Mrs. Iida and Mrs. Uraraka showed up, scanning the various food tables. Being the parents of two students that she knew her son was close with, Inko quickly found herself to be comfortable in their presences.
“Everything looks so good!” Mrs. Uraraka exclaimed. “I wish they’d let us take some home with us!”
“Yes, that would be nice,” Mrs. Iida agreed. “It’s certainly been a while since I’ve let myself have mochi.”
“Oh, that’s one of my favorites,” Inko chimed in. “Go ahead, and try it!”
“Yeah, it’s a party! Let’s have fun!” Mrs. Uraraka then began loading her plate down with sweets. With a giggle, at her friend’s eagerness, Mrs. Iida began following suit, with Inko after them, happy to have found such pleasant company.
Meanwhile, Toshinori had run into a problem.
“Psst,” he whispered, trying to get Aizawa’s attention from the pillar he was hiding behind. After a few more tries, he succeeded, and his fellow teacher slumped over to him.
“What now?”
Through gritted teeth, Toshinori said, “I lost my pills.”
“What?”
“I. Lost. My. Pills. I can’t find them anywhere.”
“Did you retrace your steps?”
“No, I just stood here and hoped the pills would magically fly to me. Look, I’ve searched all over and I can’t find them, okay? Will you please help?”
Aizawa sighed before saying, “Hang on, lemme see if I can pull Hound Dog away from that tray of meat kebabs.”
“Thank you,” Toshinori said, and as Aizawa walked off, he found himself sinking to the ground, back to the pillar.
“It’s okay…” he murmured to himself. “Just find them...and it’ll all be okay…”
“You’re kind of falling apart, huh man?”
Toshinori didn’t even flinch this time when he opened his eyes to see Mic standing above him.
“Yeah,” he said, voice heavy. “I kind of am.”
Mic said nothing, face barely changed, but a second later he was sitting on the floor next to him. And then he was asking, “What’s going on, dude?”
Toshinori sighed again, leaning his head back to look at the ceiling.
“I have to take five or six pills everyday,” he murmured. “I’m missing several vital organs, and I cough up bloody on a daily basis. I can barely eat at times, and what I can eat is limited. I’m weak. Physically, I am so damn weak. And I know I’m not the first person to experience things like this, and Japan’s indebted to me, and all that other shit… But. When I walk down the street, people jump when they look at me. Kids look freaked out and old people stare. Sure they’re strangers so it shouldn’t matter but…”
“It hurts?” Mic offered.
“Yeah. It really does.”
Mic hummed in response. And for a minute they sat there in silence, listening to the voices of parents and teachers milling about, talking and eating, occasional laughter ringing out amongst the din of the noise.
“I’m sorry,” Mic said after a long pause. “About earlier. I was trying to mess with you, but sometimes I go overboard and end up with a foot in my mouth, y’know?”
Toshinori shook his head. “No, you’re fine-”
“It’s not fine, man. Damn it, you deserve to have some self esteem. Maybe you’re not Japan’s handsomest man, but neither am I. Neither is Shota. But you know something? It doesn’t matter if people think Shota is ugly or gross. Doesn’t matter if they think I’m a disgusting troll. Because that man is gorgeous to me. You know why? I love him and every inch of his ratty hair. And he loves my annoying voice. Love’s like that. It doesn’t blind you, it just lets you see someone as a whole rather than parts. And then when you look at the parts, you see them as extensions of that thing you love.”
“Mic…”
“And you know what? I think you look good too. There’s different ways to look good to people man, and when it comes to being a good person, you check all the fucking boxes. That makes you beautiful. And the people in life who are worth your time will be able to realize that.”
A slight grin tugged at Toshinori’s mouth. “You’re really cheesy; you know that right?”
Mic gave a grin in return and elbowed him, making sure to miss the sore spot on his side. “Cheesy is my favorite, baby!”
“Is it okay if I still wish I was conventionally attractive?”
“As long as you don’t get a complex.”
“Don’t we all have a complex?”
That came from Aizawa who had returned and was standing above them, Hound Dog in tow. The canine themed guidance counselor was practically vibrating from excitement after consuming so much meat at the buffet table and was more than willing to use his quirk to help locate the missing medicine. After giving the lanky teacher a good (and only slightly uncomfortable) sniffing, he set out, Toshinori following close behind.
“I heard some of that,” Aizawa said to Mic as they watched the two go. “And you were right: I love your annoying voice.”
“Aww,” Mic gushed. “I love the bags under your eyes!”
“I love your stupid little mustache.”
“I love your stubble!”
“I love your split ends.”
“I lo- wait, WHAT SPLIT ENDS?”
Aizawa gave a rare laugh and let Mic rant at him for a few minutes about how his hair was part of an iconic look and should not be joked about, before breaking into the middle of the speech to press a kiss to his cheek. Unused to the two of them sharing PDA, Mic quickly melted and got over the previous incident.
Across the banquet hall, Inko was having almost as good of a time talking to her new friends.
“Oh, I remember seeing your daughter on TV,” she was saying to Mrs. Uraraka. “She did such a good job, holding out as long as she did! Endurance is tough!”
“I know!” Mrs. Uraraka agreed. “I keep telling her to appreciate what she’s able to do, but that girl is always reaching higher. I guess it’s no wonder she got into such a competitive school!”
“Yep, competition is tough alright,” added Mitsuki, who had suddenly sidled up to the group. Inko was proud of herself for not jumping this time.
“You have to really push them sometimes, you know?” Mitsuki continued. “Take my Katsuki for example: a lot of people would have coddled him when he got home, but not me. No, he screwed up, and he needed to know that.”
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Jirou interjected, “but wasn’t your son the one who got kidnapped during the camping trip?”
“Yep,” Mitsuki said, sighing slightly before downing her punch. “That’s Katsuki; the little dumbass. He’s always been like that, hasn’t he Inko?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Inko mumbled. “I remember him being rambunctious as a child - he and Izuku certainly had some interesting times together in preschool.”
“Oh yeah, preschool. Man, that was over ten years ago now. Hard to believe how different things were back then. Actually, wasn’t Hisashi still around then?”
No. No, she couldn’t be bringing him up. Even Mitsuki wouldn’t be so cruel as to-
“Yeah, that’s right! That was right before he ditched you guys. God, what a bum. No wonder you - well, you know.”
Mitsuki puffed her cheeks up and used her arms to make an O shape in Inko’s direction. And Inko herself was frozen as she watched.
“‘Cause seriously, she used to be hot you guys,” she was saying to the others. “Don’t let the housewife look fool you! Oh, c’mon Inko, don’t look like that, you know I’m just kidding. Though really honey, maybe you’ve had enough.” And without warning she took the plate of hor d'oeuvres from Inko’s hands and started picking at it herself.
The group was silent. Mrs. Iida looked incredibly uncomfortable and Mrs. Uraraka looked ready to punch Mitsuki in the face. A few other parents who were standing nearby had also grown quiet, staring at them. And Inko knew, just knew, that most of them probably were on her side and felt sorry for her having to deal with this.
But it was the fact that she had to deal with it at all that sucked. And the fact that a deep, gross part of herself heard every word that this other woman was saying and agreed with it.
Once she was able to get her legs to work, she found herself rushing away and somehow ended up in a restroom, and god even if she wasn’t literally in a school building this would still be high school all over again. Her standing there in a stall, fists pressed to her eyes, crying her heart out and using all of her power to not make noise as she did so.
Back at the buffet, Mitsuki and her husband were on the verge of an argument as Masaru tried to wrestle her punch cup away from her, claiming she’d had enough.
“That was bad,” Mrs. Iida murmured, still looking in the direction Inko had rushed off in.
“Yeah,” Mrs. Uraraka agreed. “Should we go check on her?”
“I don’t know,” said Mrs. Iida. “She might need space.”
“Poor thing,” Mrs. Uraraka sighed.
Mrs. Iida nodded. “She’s so nice too. Look, she made these sweet little cookies and everything.”
She reached for a cookie now and took a bite, and her eyes flew wide a second later.
“Oh my goodness,” she exclaimed. “These are delicious!”
This exclamation got some attention. Mrs. Uraraka noticed a few people glancing over with interest, and took the chance to grab the plate and carry it over to the interested parties.
“Would you like one? Mrs.- ah! Ms. Midoriya made them!”
Back in the bathroom, Inko had managed to come out of the stall and was now splashing her face in the sink.
“Stupid Mitsuki…” she mumbled through the water. “Who’s she to judge...doesn’t even appreciate her own son…I’m not lonely…”
But this last statement was a lie, and she knew it all too well when she raised her head to look at her flushed face. After a moment, she looked down at herself. She’d learned how to carefully layer her clothing so that the fat stayed hidden and blended with the folds of the fabric, but it was still there. It probably always would be. And she’d accepted that, but…
She thought of him again. The two of them laughing together, the way he talked about her son, and about life. The way he smiled at her.
The he in that statement, the one that made her feel flushed and happy, had once been her husband. Now it was Toshinori. Her crush had been mortifying from the offset and she knew going in that it would likely not be reciprocated. And she knew that now more than ever - how long did it take to take one pill? Not this long. He was likely avoiding her, and the thought hurt.
But, from the beginning, she had still felt eager to try. To test the waters and see if it could be possible. Because damnit, he was just so…
“Perfect,” she murmured to her reflection. And with that, she made up her mind. With newfound, steely resolve, she pointed at the woman in the mirror and said, “You still have time. Screw Mitsuki. You’re gonna do this or die trying.”
And with that, she left the restroom, ready to head back into the fray.
Elsewhere, Hound Dog had finally managed to track down the meds, which had apparently fallen out of Toshinori’s pocket a few blocks away from the school and were somehow still untouched. After walking back and thanking Hound profusely, Toshi used the nearest water fountain to down his pill before dashing back to the hall.
“There’s still time,” he told himself. “It’s now or never. Just go have a cookie and-”
When he entered the hall, he found that getting a cookie might be much harder than expected.
Inko was standing near the table where she’d placed her adorably packaged cookies and was smiling while Snipe, Vlad King, Ectoplasm and a few other teachers and parents crowded around her, devouring her confections.
“Don’t eat too many,” she was saying with a slight giggle in her voice. Mrs. Iida and Mrs. Uraraka were standing nearby, nodding and smiling as the teachers crowded around her friend. Mitsuki Bakugou was asleep in a chair, with a large punch stain splashed across her pale purple dress.
At the sight of so many people swarming around Inko, that jealousy welled up again and he found himself marching back to her, ready to fight off every one of his colleagues if it meant he could try one of her cookies.
“Hey,” he said when he reached Snipe, the teacher closest to him. He reached a hand toward Snipe’s small plate that had a few of the surprisingly tiny cookies on it. “Lemme have one, man.”
“No way,” said Snipe as he swiped his plate away. “Go get your own! These are too good!” Snipe then turned back to Inko and asked, “Ms. Midoriya, may I ask what your secret is?”
“Yes, I’d like to know as well,” said Vlad. “Perhaps we could get Lunch Rush to start making these.”
“Oh, there’s nothing special about them,” Inko assured them. “Just the usual ingredients! Having experience helps, I suppose. And of course I always try to put a bit of love into my cooking!”
Love. These heathens were devouring her love right before his eyes. Monsters!
“Maybe you guys should go try something other than cookies?” he asked the others pointedly. Unable to reach the tray, he tried to steal another cookie, only to get a very serious and insulted look from Vlad.
“Oh, here you go Toshinori!”
And suddenly Inko was there, offering a cookie herself. She held the small thing aloft, and even though she was shaking and her face was red (had she been crying?), she still looked eager for him to try it.
“Ah, the much famed cookies,” he said, taking it between two of his massive fingers. “I’m surprised at their size.”
Inko bit her lip for a second, before smiling and saying, “You know, I actually made them that small with you in mind.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” she said, a mixture of happy and proud. “I know you have a hard time with complex foods now, so I made them small to make it easier for you. I also used a few substitutes so there would be less fat. I was worried they wouldn’t taste good anymore, but it seems they’re going over well!”
Oh. Oh that was too much. That was far too much for him to handle.
Without thinking he leaned down and said, “May I speak to you in private?”
Cheeks in full pink, she managed a quiet, “Yes.”
It took some doing to get away from her sudden onset of popularity, but before long Inko was outside with him, sitting on a bench while he sat next to her, hands folded in his lap.
“Inko,” he said after some time. “I wanted to discuss something with you.”
She blinked, trying to hold everything back as she said, “Yes, Toshi?”
He gripped his hands before angling his torso in her direction to better face her when he spoke.
“I was hoping to tell you tonight that...I like you. And by that I mean...I am interested in you.”
The size of her eyes put dinner plates to shame.
“I understand,” he quickly went on, “if you don’t feel the same. Or if my appearance and my health problems are too much for you. If that’s the case, then you can simply tell me and we can act like this never happened. But I had to ask because...you’re just so…” He flung his hands up, at a loss for words, before finally saying, “Perfect.”
Inko’s heart thumped at the word.
“Perfect?” He couldn’t mean that.
But he was nodding. “I don’t know how else to put it,” he apologized. “I just find you to be so...wonderful.” It was his turn to go red in the face. “I understand,” he went on, “that this is all kind of shocking. But I was hoping that maybe you could be interested as well. And maybe with time you could grow to like me. You see, I know that you find me...off putting. I see you jump when I approach, and how you don’t make eye contact or get flustered. I’m sorry. But maybe with time you’d find me less frightening.”
Suddenly, a hand was pressing against the lapel of his suit and he looked to see that she had scooted much closer to him than before.
“You think,” she whispered, “that I’m afraid of you?”
Well...how was he supposed to answer that?
“I’m not exactly good looking. But I think I am a somewhat good person, albeit with a lot of problems. But I’m working on that. So,” tentatively, he met her eyes, and asked, “do you think that you might be able to like me?”
Inko blinked. She looked at her hands, and then the sky, and pressed her lips together before looking at him again.
“No,” she said.
Oh.
He’d been expecting that but…
“I can’t grow to like you,” she said, “because I already love someone.”
Oh. That was worse. Somehow that was actually worse. It figured though - someone as great as her had to have someone else. Hell, it was probably one of the other teachers inside - heaven knows they’d been drooling over her and her cookies.
“Can I tell you about him?”
Oh this was cruel. But he had made her listen to his speech, so he owed it to listen to hers. He gave her a nod, eyes cast down to the ground, ready to hear it all, even if it was painful. Her hand had slid to rest on his arm, and she held it there now as she began speaking.
“He’s very tall.”
Tall, huh? Well that could be most people when compared to Inko. Her stature was actually one of the things he found so cute about her.
“He has a very deep voice.”
Deep voice. Ectoplasm, maybe. That guy had a cool voice. And he was good at math. He’d be good for Inko.
“And he has very large hands.”
Power Loader maybe. Or possibly Vlad. Dammit, why did so many attractive people work at this damned school!?
“He has soft blond hair, and bright blue eyes.”
Blond was… Mic? No, his eyes were that weird green. Then who…
“And I’m starting to think that his self confidence might be even lower than mine.”
Attention grabbed, he looked to see her giving him a sad smile.
“I can’t grow to like you,” she said, “because I already love you. Dummy.”
What.
“I jump around you because you always seem to sneak up on me, and it’s kind of jarring to have your crush pop up out of nowhere.”
Crush. What?
“And I stammer a lot because I’m so afraid to sound stupid in front of you that the words stall out in my brain and then I end up looking silly anyway.”
“No you don’t,” he managed to say. She gave him a small laugh and squeezed his arm a little tighter.
“And I blush around you for the same reason. I’d like to see you try not to blush when your heart’s beating so fast!”
He did. He always tried. He was never sure if he succeeded.
“You…”
He was holding her gaze, dumbfounded and confused, but with some strange part of him rapidly getting lighter and lighter as they spoke.
“Yes, Toshi,” she said, moving even closer to him.
“But I…” he gestured to his general self. “I’m…”
“I know,” she said, gently. She backed up and gestured to herself as well. “I know what you mean. I have mine and you have yours and it’s hard to get over it.”
“But it’s different,” he tried to say. “You’re...Inko you’re so-”
“Perfect?” She laughed again. “Toshi I don’t agree one bit that I’m perfect. But I think you’re perfect. Not that you don’t have flaws, heavens everyone does, but you’re so good . You’re so good Toshi.”
It was real. This was real. She…
He leaned forward and took her face in his hands, surprising her once again. He didn’t try to restrain her or hold her there, just let his hands rest on either side of her face for a moment.
“I love you,” he murmured. “You are….so very beautiful.”
There was something amazing about the fact that he could let her pour out her heart about how she loved him and still make her blush.
“You’re beautiful too,” she said with a smile.
He didn’t believe her. But he wanted to believe her. And he thought, that with time, he would. He slid a hand down to her shoulder, cross the length of her arm to hold her hand. The other rested alongside her face, and she used her other hand to press it closer to her cheek. A tiny tear or two was threatening to spill, but honestly who cared at this point?
Later when they went inside they would have to deal with wolf whistles and cheers and lewd comments from the people who had been crowding around the door and watching them as they shared their first kiss together. Mic and Midnight would be particularly vocal in their support.
But right now, at this moment, they were having that kiss - and not a single damn thing besides that mattered.