#GKLStories

[great-kobold-library]

We Make a Family Ch.2 (SFW)

Toshinori started Monday morning with a renewed vigor, and everyone noticed it. He assisted Aizawa with Class 1A outdoor training as usual.

"You look really happy today All Might, did you get lucky this weekend? Who's the lucky lady?"

Mina Aishido asked him. She had a bad habit of being nosy, and loved drama. She didn't start it, but if there was drama around, she wanted to be among the first to hear about it.

Toshi chuckled and said,

"No and No, I'm just in a good mood because I slept well and had a great breakfast, so I feel fantastic."

Ashido accepted the explanation with a pout to her lip. Aizawa scolded her for stopping her training to pester All Might. She apologized and went back to what she was supposed to be doing. Around an hour later while the students were about to head back to their next class, All Might stopped Izuku.

"Hey Izuku, meet me in my office for lunch. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Izuku looked quizzically at him.

"Okay, sure. What do you wanna talk about? My training?"

Toshi shook his head.

"No, something else, but we'll talk about it then, alright?"

Izuku still had his eyebrows wrinkled up in confusion.

"Alright, see you then."

He ran ahead to catch up with Ida and Ururaka.

Toshi watched him walk away, once again lost in thought.

Aizawa noticed him acting strangely.

"Hey….something going on?"

He asked.

Toshi looked at him, silent for a time.

"Do you remember when we had to talk to parents about the students living in dorms?"

Aizawa nodded.

"Yeah I remember, what about it?"

Toshi took a deep breath and exhaled, not sure what his reaction would be.

"Well, I personally spoke with Izuku's mother and convinced her to let Izuku live in the dorms and continue studying here at UA. Before I left, I gave her my number to contact me if she had questions or needed anything."

Aizawa listened quietly, waiting for him to continue.

"Friday night she texted me, said she wanted to meet with me about Izuku's progress in school."

Aizawa looked confused.

"Izuku's doing just fine in all his classes, so I'm not sure what the problem is?"

Toshi realized he needed to elaborate.

"No, there's no problem or anything bad, just the opposite actually."

He laughed nervously, and Aizawa looked like he was beginning to understand.

"We discussed Izuku and his schooling over dinner, but conversations changed, and we ended up having a really good night. I wanted to see her again, but I thought better of it, so I was just going to let it go. She texted me after I got home that she couldn't stop thinking about it, and that she wanted to see me again. I told her, I felt the same. We're trying to plan something out for this weekend."

Toshi realized he had slowly developed a big grin on his face as he recanted the story.

Aizawa raised his eyebrows and had a faint smile.

"You seem really happy, so I'm happy for you. I hope for your sake that it doesn't drive a wedge between you and Midoriya. There's no denying that you're a father figure to him, everyone can see that but...that, and you actually dating his mom, are two very different things. Kids react poorly to that sort of thing sometimes. He might think his mom is trying to replace his dad with you. He might think that you're crossing a line trying to be his dad when you aren't. You might get this idea in your head that you'll all end up a big happy family, and I'm worried for you that this won't end well."

Toshi's face fell and he looked down. Aizawa noticed that he looked genuinely hurt. His expression softened.

"Look uh...I didn't mean to be harsh. I just think you-"

Toshi cut him off,

"No, thank you. I need the reality check sometimes, you're good for that. I'm taking it slow, I don't want anybody to get hurt here. I need it to be the right thing to do, for everyone involved."

They started walking back to the teacher's break room together.

"So….how do you plan on figuring out how Midoriya would feel about you being with his mom without pulling the rug out from under him?"

Aizawa asks. Toshi remains silent.

Aizawa nodded. "That's what I thought."

Lunch time comes around. Toshi ordered a couple of sushi boxes for the two for lunch and waited in his office for Izuku to arrive.

"Oh, you got sushi boxes for today, thank you!"

Izuku says, taking a seat across from Toshi at his desk.

"You're welcome."

Toshi says. They both start eating.

"So….what did you want to talk about?"

Izuku asks.

Toshi sets his chopsticks down.

"Your mother and I had a conference this weekend."

Izuku put down his chopsticks just as he was about to eat another piece.

"You did? Is….everything okay? I thought my grades were good? If not I'll work harder, I promise!"

His voice raised near the end. Toshi chuckles.

"No, your grades are fine, kid. Your mom wanted to talk about more than grades. How you're doing at school, friends, adjusting to the dorms, that sort of thing."

Izuku relaxes.

"Oh, I see."

And starts eating again.

"What I wanted to talk to you about is something she told me during our discussion that I found...a little upsetting."

Izuku stopped eating and looked up at him again, looking a mixture between concerned and confused.

"She told me you don't visit her that often anymore."

Izuku looked incredulous.

"That's it? That's-"

"This isn't a joke Midoriya."

Toshi interrupted.

Izuku falls silent, Toshi lowers his voice.

"Your father passed away when you were little, right? And your family never owned any pets. Now that you've moved into the dorms, your mom is….she's all alone in the house. She said you used to visit every weekend, and so it wasn't so bad, but now you hardly ever come by. She knows as I do that it wasn't intentional, but that maybe you didn't think about it from her perspective. I don't want you to tell her I told you about this. I only want you to start visiting her on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be every weekend, every other weekend would probably be fine with some exceptions here and there. There's nearly another month before the end of first term. Summer's coming soon, and I'm sure you'll be living with her again for it, but I want you to remember this for the second term."

Toshi could see it in his eyes that Izuku was genuinely hurt, and felt very guilty. He looked down in shame.

"I had no idea she felt that way...I can't believe I didn't even think about it."

Toshi looked softly at him.

"It's okay. She knows you're a teenager doing teenager stuff, hanging out with your teenager friends."

Izuku chuckles a little.

"She knows you're growing up, becoming independent. That can be especially hard for a single parent. She just needs to know that she's still a part of your life, that you haven't forgotten about her."

Izuku puts on a small smile, nods and thanks him for the advice.

They finish their food, and Izuku leaves to get to his next class. Toshi wishes he tried talking about the other things relating to Inko, but he has no idea how to broach the subject. Probably best to see how the second, er, first OFFICIAL date with Inko goes.

He thinks about having an actual date the coming weekend, and feels giddy with a childlike joy.

Toshi and Inko start texting each other throughout the week, learning a little more about each other with each conversation. Toshi starts a game of 20 questions with Inko on Friday night for the main purpose of figuring out her favorite kind of flower in a subtle way. He buys a bouquet of them in preparation of the date Saturday night. They're going to a small concert of one of Inko's favorite local bands in the city park. Toshi wasn't big into music, but it still sounded like a wonderful time.

It was finally Saturday night. Inko had a band T-shirt on paired with a casual long black skirt and her hair tied up. Toshi wore a nice pair of jeans and a plain black T-shirt. When they first met up, Toshi handed her the bouquet of flowers. Inko adored them.

Even when the sun went down, the park was still bright with the light of the full moon, the concert lights and the sparkling of fireflies in the park. However, to Toshi, there was no brighter light within view, than the way the lights twinkled in Inko's eyes as they danced, and sang, and laughed. Eventually the concert was over, and the band packed up and left, but not before Inko got a new shirt and had it signed by every member of the band. The pair decided to take a walk around the park and enjoy the rest of the night in the peace and quiet and cool breeze of the summer air. At one point as they walked, talked and laughed, Inko's hand touched his arm, and slid down both expertly and subconsciously until their hands folded together as they walked. They both blushed, one not noticing the either. Toshi wanted to acknowledge it, but feared embarrassing her, so he just enjoyed it and let things be. They eventually came to a nice park bench close to the edge of a lake in the middle of the park. They took a seat and looked out over the lake and watched the moonlight reflected in it. Inko shivered, then curled up into Toshi's side. He tentatively put an arm around her, and she relaxed further into him, putting her head on his shoulder. He leaned his head over hers. They sat like that for a while, in comfortable silence.

"This….was an amazing night. I...I don't know how to put it into words."

Inko broke the silence.

Without looking Toshi responded,

"I feel the same. Sometimes things….can't be put into words."

Inko was silent for a moment before responding.

"Do you want to know how many dates I've been on since Hisashi died?"

Toshi was caught off guard by the question.

"Uh, sure...how many?"

She chuckles lightly.

"Two"

Toshi thinks for a moment.

"In around a decade you haven't had more than, three, maybe four dates total? You're wonderful, I can't imagine why-"

"No, silly!"

Inko interjects.

"When I said two, I mean only two."

Toshi starts putting it together in his mind.

"Do you mean….last weekend, and today?"

He was looking at her now.

She looks softly at him.

"Yes...just with you."

Toshi looks shocked.

"Only me? Why?"

She has a gentle smile on her face.

"Well, it's not like I couldn't GET dates. I just didn't think I could ever feel again what I felt with Hisashi. He was a wonderful father, such love and kindness in his soul. After he was gone, I put all my focus on Izuku."

She looks up at the moon.

"But then….I don't know. You remind me of him. Izuku is so much like both of you. I thought for a long time that dating again would feel like I was betraying Hisashi, and Izuku. I've been thinking about it lately. I think Hisashi would want me to be happy again, even if that means being with someone new. As for Izuku, well, I can only hope that above all else, even his own personal feelings, that he just wants me to be happy."

She takes Toshi's hands in her hands and looks at him.

"That he would want us to be happy."

Toshi is speechless.

They stare at each other for a while.

He lifts his left hand out of hers and brushes her hair behind her ear, then slowly leans forward.

Inko smiles and puts her hands on his chest. He pulls her in, his arms around her waist, and they kiss. The kiss is fairly short, but sweet, and powerful.

They grin like happy idiots afterwards at each other, and hug.

Inko checks her phone.

"Oh dear, it's a little after 1am!"

Toshi looks shocked.

"Is it really that late....er I guess….early?"

Inko giggles.

"Yeah, haha. I think it's time to go home."

She says, a little sadly.

As they start to walk back to the parking lot, Toshi puts his arm around her waist and pulls her close to his side, then says in a playful voice,

"Oh, if only the night lasted forever."

Inko started giggling.

"Oh stop it, you're a hopeless romantic!"

They both giggled, and began swapping silly and cliche pickup lines and giggling about them as they made it to the parking lot. Toshi walks her to her car. She gets in the driver's seat and looks up, a little sad to have to go now.

"Text me when you get home safe, okay?"

Toshi says. Inko nods. As he's about to close the door, Inko throws her hands out to hold the door open and says,

"Wait!"

Toshinori is in shock from the unexpected outburst and jumps back. Inko gets out and stands to face him.

"One more….before I go?"

Toshi looks confused, then smiles as he figures out what she means. He pulls her gently close into an embrace, and she places her hands on either side of his neck. They kiss, this one longer, sweeter, and more passionate than the first.

"Goodnight."

Inko said when it was over. She untangled herself from him, then got back into her car.

"Goodnight."

Toshi replies.

He shuts her door for her and steps back. He watches her car pull out and drive away, and he keeps his eye on the shape of the car until it disappears into the distance. As he drives home, he cranks his radio loud and feels the music rush through him. He never felt more alive in his life until this moment. He sang along to any songs that came on that he knew the words to at the top of his lungs. Of course he wouldn't admit it, not now, it's too soon, but he knew that he couldn't deny it to himself.

He had completely and utterly fallen in love with Inko Midoriya.

[great-kobold-library]

Dinner Party

NSFW, V*re, Male Pred/Female Prey, Dragons, PIV, etc.

A pair of dragons lived high in a cave carved into a mountainside that gave them a view of the human domain that stretched on for miles. Their sharp sight gave them an even greater view of distances no other beings could ever dream of seeing. They were both roughly the size of a large bull elephant, though not the unholy mountainous beasts of human tales, they were still quite large and mighty in their own right.

The dragons were ancient, for they lived during the days of man when they were only beginning to set fires and combine stone and wood. They watched as the sons of man changed the landscape, carving out mighty rivers to bring water to their settlements, carving and burning out forests to create fields to grow their crops, all over many generations. In that time, the dragons had amassed quite a hoard of precious and luxurious things.

The dragons had no respect for humanity, save for one small thing.

Ancient dragons are gifted with vast intellect and knowledge, and great magical power. With this they can cast scorching flames from their jaws, become completely invisible, and change their forms at will.

The pair had a particular fascination with changing their bodies into the forms of wealthy upper class humans and tricking and charming their way into grand and luxurious dinners and celebrations with the elite of humanity. At first it was just to enjoy the food mankind produced (which the dragons had to admit was the most delicious food they had ever consumed) and to steal valuables to add to their hoard, but over time the dragon male had developed a certain taste, a certain fetish, that lent itself to terrible events for the kingdoms of man.

In human forms of fair skin, great attractiveness and dressed in fancy clothing, the pair had tricked their way into a grand feast between 3 kingdoms, a king and queen from each, and a few of the most powerful lords and ladies from each. The pair claimed to be a Duke and Duchess of a small feudal state on the border of the three kingdoms who had a desire to join in the Three Kingdoms' Alliance.

The dinner was as delectable as the pair expected it to be, even exceeding their expectations. The female ate her fill, her husband did not, for something else would soon be on the menu for him.

The conversations were grating, self-aggrandizing and generally a great bore. Once the male noticed his mate had finished her dinner, he nonchalantly asked her,

"Have you had your fill of supper my lady?"

His mate's lips curled into a knowing grin. She uncrossed her legs in preparation for the event to ensue, and gave the signal.

"I have had my fill m'lord, I think it's time you had yours."

With a shock of magical energy, the pair transformed back into their true draconic forms. The screams of the royals filled the feast hall. The female made way for the door to block the exit, while the male began the real feast.

His eyes darted over the hoard of panicking humans, selecting his first prey. He relished the soft, supple skin of human females over males, so he made certain to consume the males first. One by one he tore their clothes from their bodies and devoured them. He enjoyed the way they squirmed in his jaws, wriggling in his throat before finally entering his stomach with a satisfying drop. Finally the last male was consumed, and he could turn his attention to the females, wailing in despair.

He took a young queen, slamming her body against the oak wood floor and pinning her down with a hand. With his other hand he made quick work of disrobing her. He simply used a single claw, slitting it slowly down the front of her dress as she trembled, exposing her naked body. He lifted her from the ground, and brought her into his glistening maw. She squirmed and pressed against his teeth, tongue and roof of his jaw, trying desperately to free herself to no avail. He stroked his tongue over the front of her body, feeling over her breasts and between her legs, making her body slick with saliva. Finally he swallowed her, feeling her squirm in his throat again, and he felt such satisfaction when she finally entered his belly. He licked his lips and turned for the others. Queen after queen, duchess after duchess he devoured, feeling their soft warm skin, their breasts, their bodies covered in his sweet drool before swallowing them all whole. Finally, there was only one lady left, the youngest of them all, appearing to be barely a woman in her age. This one seemed different. She was not running, screaming or even trying to escape. In fact, her clothes were already removed, and she was down on her knees on the ground, legs spread wide as if to present herself.

He observed her with interest, and recalled reading somewhere that some odd humans had a fetish for being devoured by terrible, massive beasts, and his lips curled into the biggest, most joyous grin, for he had finally hit the jackpot.

He moved to her, their eye contact and her blushing appeared to confirm his theory. She was likely a virgin, and so he desired to defile her to her liking before consuming her, if she willed it. He stroked his tongue over her quivering body, over her breasts making them glisten in the hall light, and between her legs. She began to grind against his tongue, a moan finally escaping her lips. This continued for a few minutes before the dragon reared up again. It had been a long time since he had entered the mind of a human to speak, but speak he did to ask a certain question. She nodded yes, and he used his hand to shift her into position to take her from behind. His cock was already hard and erect from immense arousal from his prior consumptions. It was not too impossibly large for her to take, but may still be a bit of a struggle. He licked her from behind, his tongue glancing over her ass and ending between her legs. She moaned, and began backing into his tongue. He obliged, sticking the tip of his tongue into her aroused opening and began fucking her with it, sliding it deeper and deeper into her. She used her arms to push herself onto his tongue, returning his thrusts, and moaning louder and louder.

Finally he could wait no more.

He removed his tongue and moved forward, using his hand to guide his cock into her and then moved it to hold her body, her wetness coating the tip as he slid in slowly. Because his dragon form was much taller than her small human body, that position became uncomfortable rather quickly, so he pulled out of her, still grasping her in his hand. He moved into a position on his back, turned her around to face him and lowered her onto his cock once more. Her hands grasped his thumb and she moaned loud, delightfully enjoying being used like a fuck toy for the handsome beast. Up and down he lifted and lowered her. As he began to increase his speed, he lifted his head to her and he licked over the front of her body again.

This continued for a while until he finally came, a great amount of fluid that leaked from her and poured out once he removed her from himself. Still laying down, he lifted her to his jaws, his tongue sliding across her body, savoring the taste. She barely squirmed, not struggling but in fact grinding her body against his tongue. He swallowed her, feeling her slide delectably down his throat and into his stomach just like the others before.

Finally his feast was complete.

All of this his mate had watched quietly, amused.

She moved from her position of guarding the door over to his contented, still-laying body, approaching him from the direction of his tail. She moved her head to between his legs and began to lick at his cock. It twitched and slowly became erect once again. She crawled up onto him and licked his cheek, and spoke.

"Now that you have had your fun with those stupid creatures, my lord"

She gently lowered herself onto his cock until she met the base and grinned at him.

"I believe it's my turn."

END

[great-kobold-library]

We Make a Family- All Might X Inko My Hero Academia Fanfic. Ch.1 (SFW)

Toshinori Yagi, aka "All Might" was quietly grading papers at his desk when he heard the faint hum and felt the short vibration of his phone in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was a notification of a text message. He didn't recognize the number, so he stopped grading the papers for a moment to investigate. The message read,

"Hello, this is Inko Midoriya, Izuku's mom. You gave me your number the day you came and spoke with me and my son about the dorms. It's near the end of the first term, so I was wondering if we could discuss how Izuku is doing in school? When I ask him he only tells me "everything is fine" He seems too busy with his friends and school to talk to his worry wort mom so much anymore, haha. Oh dear this text is a lot longer than I meant it to be! Sorry! Please let me know if we can arrange a meeting!"

A small smile came across Toshinori's face. He began to text her back,

"Hello Mrs. Midoriya, it's nice to hear from you. I would love to discuss Izuku's progress in school with you. By the way, you can call me Toshinori, or just Toshi for short if you'd like. Unfortunately I will be quite busy grading almost a month's worth of papers this weekend, does Sunday night work with your schedule? I should be finished grading by then. If not I'm sure we could figure something out before the end of next weekend." He hit send, and then added her to his contacts as "Izuku Mom"

"Haha oh my gosh, please just call me Inko! Mrs. Midoriya makes me sound so old! XD

Besides, my husband passed away several years ago now, so I don't really go by "Mrs." so much anymore.

Sunday night would be perfect, time and place?"

Toshi's face fell from a small smile to a grimace. How did he not know that her husband had passed?

"My deepest apologies Inko, I was not aware that your husband had passed. Izuku never mentioned it, so I suppose I just assumed he had to be at work the day I came to speak with you.

I know a nice small restaurant not far from your house, it's owned by a lovely elderly couple and everything on the menu is homemade. We could discuss Izuku's schooling over dinner, maybe at 8? I'll take care of the bill, it's the least I can do to apologize for my error."

Toshi grit his teeth and hit send, hoping that he had not deeply offended her. A few minutes later he received another response from Inko.

"Thank you, and no worries, I forgive you! If no one told you, it wouldn't be fair to expect you to just know it. It makes sense that Izuku wouldn't tell you, he was still so little when his dad died that it doesn't cross his mind very often anymore. Kids are resilient like that.

Anyways, I think I know the restaurant you're talking about, but I haven't had the chance to check it out yet, so this makes for a great excuse to go! 8 sounds perfect, see you then!"

A smile of relief returned to Toshinori's face. He marked the date and time to make sure he wouldn't forget, and went back to grading papers.

Saturday came and went, and Toshi spent most of it behind his desk with a red pen and an intimidatingly long stack of papers. He knew he really shouldn't have let it build up and get this bad, but here he was paying the price. "Never again" he sighed as he completed the grading for a test. Hours later, he took a break to visit the UA Dorms for lunch and to see how the students were doing. Some students visited family on the weekends, others stayed and hung around the dorms, so it was less busy and crowded on the weekends. Toshi heard Bakugo, Kirishima and Jirou having one of their typical, obnoxiously loud weekend jam sessions upstairs as he approached. He smiled and chuckled to himself. When he entered the main dorm hall, Izuku, Ururaka and Ida were in casual clothing on the couch watching some sort of movie marathon. He ordered ramen for himself and the group and joined them for the second half of the movie. Once the credits came onscreen, he said goodbye to everyone and returned to his office to finish his work. Around 11pm he grew tired and decided to call it a day.

Sunday passed by relatively the same, except he finished grading the rest of the papers, and even organized them by assignment and in alphabetical order, much earlier than he thought he would, around an hour or two after having lunch with Izuku and his friends. There was no loud jam session at the dorms today, Izuku informed him that Bakugo's mom had called and yelled at him last night for not visiting last weekend and demanding that he come and visit. Everyone who slept in the dorm heard because both of them are rather loud and were screaming at each other over the phone, which for some odd reason was on speaker. Kirishima had taken to the weight room most of the day, and Jirou decided she may as well go visit her family today too because she had nothing else to do at the dorms.

Toshi spent his several hours of free time before the meeting with Inko Midoriya working out. At one point he stopped and decided to watch the news, but he turned it off not long after. It was heartbreaking for him to not be out there helping people, but he couldn't keep his "All Might Form" up more than a couple minutes now. He looked at the palms of his hands, then took a deep breath and exhaled a heavy sigh. He looked back at the binders full of papers, and thought about meeting Izuku, and his time teaching over this school year that is coming to an end soon. He smiled again. This was his purpose now, he finally understood. His gift was not only to be the world's most beloved Hero, no, now that his time in the spotlight was over, the new gift he would give to the world, is teaching the world's next generation of heroes.

He was teaching the boy who he believed would one day become the man who would take his place, and become the new Symbol of Peace. He thought about Izuku, then suddenly remembered something important after being lost in thought.

"Oh no, what time is it?"

He turned on his phone and checked the time, it was 7:30.

"I can't be late!"

He took the quickest shower of his life, threw on the best clothes he could find (nice khakis and a blue button-up shirt) and bolted out the door to his car. He made it to the restaurant with two minutes to spare.

He was still a little out of breath when he made it inside, buttoning the top of his shirt.

"Had a table reservation, last name Yagi"

The waitress smiled and said,

"Right this way sir, your friend is waiting for you!"

His stomach dropped. How long has she been waiting for him?

Then he finally saw her and stopped dead in his tracks for a split second behind the waitress.

She wore a beautiful lilac 8purple dress with a v line that was just low enough to show a slight bit of cleavage, Her hair was down and over her left shoulder, her eyelashes were longer and darker from mascara, and two long pretty earrings, one in each ear. He hadn't thought about it before, but she was an attractive woman even when they first met and she was in more casual clothing.

She finally saw him and they made eye contact.

"Hi!" She said a little nervously.

Toshi sat down and finally spoke,

"Oh, hey! You look...really good!"

She blushed.

"I overdressed, didn't I?"

She took hold of a section of her hair.

"You look dressed a little more nice-casual. I don't get out much, so I don't get a chance to wear my nicer clothes very often, I hope you don't mind."

Toshi shook his head.

"No no, I don't mind at all."

The waitress who was still waiting patiently finally spoke while handing them the menus.

"Alright, now that you're both here, what drinks would you like to start with?"

Toshi and Inko both looked up, equally mortified that they forgot the waitress was still there.

"Oh um just a glass of water for me please"

Inko said.

"Are you sure? I told you I got everything covered, just get what you want."

Inko waved her hand lightly.

"It's fine, I really do just want water, but thanks."

Toshi thought she was just being humble, but he didn't push it. He looked up to the waitress.

"A glass of sweet tea for me please."

She nodded and walked off to get their drinks.

"You weren't here for too long before I arrived were you? If so, I'm really sorry."

Inko chuckled.

"Not at all, I was only here for a few minutes, and besides you made it before 8 so you showed up on time!"

There was silence for a moment, looking at their menus.

"So, uh, what are you looking at getting?"

It took a second for it to register to Inko that he spoke to her.

"Oh sorry, lost in thought. Umm, I think I'll get the spaghetti and garlic toast"

Toshi smiled.

"What about you?"

Toshi thought for a moment.

"It's been a long time since I've had spaghetti, so I think I'll get that too actually!"

They smiled at each other.

The waitress showed up with their drinks and then took their orders.

"You know, Izuku's favorite food is spaghetti, I've made it a lot over the years. You'd think I'd get sick of it, but every time I see it I think of him. He's everything to me."

She takes a sip from her glass, and Toshi speaks.

"That's lovely. It's nice when little things remind us of the ones we care about."

He takes a drink himself and then Inko replies,

"So, about Izuku…I would really like to know how he's doing. He doesn't visit me so much anymore. I know he doesn't mean it, he's just busy being a kid and spending time with his friends and school and everything, it's just…."

She pauses for a moment.

"Ever since….Hisashi….It's just been Izuku and I. Never had pets growing up so I've never had one before. It's just me at home now, and work. Don't see friends very much because they're all busy with families of their own. I guess I've just been a little lonely lately." Inko took another drink from her glass and then stared down into it.

Toshi's expression softened with sympathy and he leaned forward a little.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. If it helps, I know he really loves you, he tells his friends about you, he asks for his best graded assignments back to show you. I'm sure if you talked to him he'd visit more often. He gets distracted easily with things sometimes, that's all."

Inko looked up from her glass, looking a little happier.

"It's nice to know that you pay attention to him so much. I know it means a lot to him to have your guidance in his life. Ever since Hisashi passed, he hasn't really had a father figure until...now."

They locked eyes, and a quiet understanding passed between them.

Just then the food arrived.

They ate in silence for a couple minutes. Toshi broke the silence.

"Izuku is doing really well with his schoolwork. Not straight A's mind you, but very few kids do. He's a solid A B student, which is the best you could realistically hope for. He turns things in early for subjects he has a firm grasp on, he gets help from classmates on things he struggles with. He's exercising every chance he gets, he has good friends and they spend a lot of time together, they push each other to give it their all. He's definitely one of the best students of his class."

Inko smiles wide.

"That's really good to hear! I know I was probably worrying for no reason."

Toshi chuckles.

"I think it's a parent's job to never stop worrying!"

They were both chuckling now. Inko says,

"So, do you have any kids?"

Toshi finished a bite of spaghetti and replied,

"Unfortunately no, I never really had time for relationships, so kids couldn't really be part of the picture either. If I had any, I wouldn't have gotten to be around them very much, which could hurt their development, so, it's probably for the best."

Inko finished a mouthful of spaghetti and spoke,

"It's really meaningful for you to admit that. Do you think not having kids of your own affected your decision to become a teacher?"

Toshi took a drink and thought about it for a moment.

"You know, I never really thought about that. Primarily I wanted to become a teacher because, well, it’s complicated, but I have to say that especially after….well, what you and everyone else saw on live television everywhere…"

He sounded bitter for a moment.

"My hero days are over. For a little while after, I thought that I was broken, that I lost my purpose….but I have a new purpose. Teaching. I can't be a hero anymore, but I can pass my knowledge and experience on, do my part to raise the next generation of heroes that will inherit the world."

Inko stared at him, awestruck and inspired. She knew he sincerely meant every word.

He really was everything everyone believed, a compassionate, humble and thoughtful soul. He didn't care about being the best as much as he NEEDED to be the best to be what he needed to be for everyone, the Symbol of Peace.

"Of course.."

He speaks in a more lighthearted tone now.

"That doesn't mean that teaching doesn't have its challenges. Unruly teenagers are bad enough, but these kids pretty much all have the ability to kill you in one way or another."

Inko giggled a little.

"So I gotta stop Aoyama from using his navel laser so much that he throws up, I gotta keep Izuku and Bakugo from punching each other, I gotta stop Kaminari and Jirou from killing and or messing around with each other, I gotta stop Kirishima from working out so hard or so long that he hurts himself, I gotta be careful that Tokoyami's night light works so he doesn't lose control of Dark Shadow at bedtime, Higakure constantly jump-scares people, Mineta's a little perv who keeps trying to get in the girl's bathroom…."

Inko was giggling and laughing hard now.

Toshi started giggling with her, and then they were both laughing hysterically. They chatted about school, about work, about life, and they laughed together for a while longer until they finished their meal.

Toshi and Inko stacked up the dishes and put the trash in a relatively neat pile to make it easier for the staff to clean up, and Toshi left a generous tip on the bill. He also signed a couple autographs for various staff and other patrons of the restaurant who insisted on it.

They walked outside and the sun had dipped well below the horizon, the night lit up by the glow up the moon behind a cloudy sky, streetlamps, the glow of house windows, and various neon glowing advertisement signs.

They stood outside together for a moment, saying nothing, enjoying the cool June air.

"Well, I think I better get going now before it gets too late."

Inko said.

"Oh, right, of course."

Toshi replied.

"I'll uh, walk you to your car."

They walked together to the car, Toshi opened the door and Inko got into the driver's side.

"Let me know you made it home safe, okay?"

Toshi said. Inko nodded.

"I will!"

She replied. Toshi made sure she was clear, and then shut the door for her. He stepped back and watched her pull out and drive away. He stood and watched as her car disappeared into the distance. Once it was out of sight, he walked to his own car. He got in, started the car, turned the radio off, and drove home in silence, lost in thought. It was late enough that he decided to brush his teeth and go to sleep. As he lay in bed unable to sleep, his thoughts flowed like a waterfall out of him through the night.

It was just a parent teacher conference, right? And yet he couldn't help but think of her personality, her humor, her gentle, soft spirit. She reminded him a bit of Izuku, that abundance of empathy and love for the world, and that strong sense of justice and for what is right. She saw the world the way he did.

Toshi thought back on his past. There were women in his life, of course, but those relationships didn't last. He admitted to himself that they could have, but he didn't let them. If he sensed that the relationship was becoming more serious, he ended things. What he was doing for the world had to become priority. He thought about Izuku. That kid. His relationship with Izuku feels like the relationship he wanted with a son, back when he was younger and still thought that might be in his future.

That was before Nana Shimura's husband was killed and she put her child up for adoption.

After that, he was determined to never have a family because he didn't want to cause that kind of suffering. Being a hero was too important to him, but being a hero also meant you were a target, and your loved ones too. He thought about how maybe if things were different, he might have had a wife like Inko. He might have had a son like Izuku. He could have lived a normal life. It wasn't necessarily because he had regret for his life so far.

In fact, it was this more "normal" aspect of life that he spent his life trying to defend. He was the Symbol of Peace to keep evil at bay.

He sacrificed his own chance at having a family to spend his life ensuring that every other person on Earth could live a happy, peaceful life with their family. As he worked through his feelings he felt a sense of calm acceptance wash over him of how things are, and will be….but then his thoughts turned to Izuku.

What if Izuku turns out exactly like him?

If he felt so strongly that the most powerful and famous heroes should be alone, then why did he feel such fear for Izuku? He thought about how Izuku clearly has feelings for Ururaka, but doesn't seem to have the desire to ever act on them.

Don't heroes deserve happiness too, even the ones at the top?

What happened to Nana Shimura was a freak event. There are lots of heroes who are married and/or have children that all live happy lives.

He grabbed his phone, and saw a notification for a new text message from Inko, still under the contact name "Izuku Mom"

He quickly changed it to "Inko"

The text message read,

"Hey, just letting you know that I made it home safe! I know it was supposed to just be a parent-teacher conference and talking about Izuku, but I want you to know that I had a really good time tonight, thanks so much!!"

Toshi stared at the phone and read the message over and over until he felt tears well up in his eyes. He didn't realize he had so much grief buried deep for not having that kind of life. Toshi never valued his own life and his own happiness over others.

He thought about doing something selfish for the first time in his life.

He wanted to say something to Inko, but what was there to say? She was a student's mom, and hell, not just any student but IZUKU'S mom. Would it even be...appropriate? Even if she returned this feeling and they decided to see each other, how would it make Izuku feel?

But tonight….there would always be the memory of tonight, and he thought maybe, he could hold onto how it felt. Maybe it would be enough. It would have to be enough.

Suddenly the three bubbles indicating that someone is typing came up under Inko's message. She was typing right now! What was she going to say?

He wiped his eyes and stared at the phone screen, transfixed, waiting, until the text appeared;

"Hey, I'm sure this is a little strange, and you're probably asleep already, but I keep thinking about tonight, and how much fun it was….do you think it would be weird to….go out again? Not a parent-teacher conference this time though, haha…

Umm….have a good night"

Toshi never held his phone between his hands so tightly. To him it was like a sign, a beacon of hope in the night. He pushed the power button to make the screen go dark and held it to his chest. He felt a sob choke up in his throat, then finally let go. He felt the waves of sobs wash over him and he began to cry.

He fought to regain composure, and wiped the tears with his arm and woke the phone up, going back to the messages. He collects his thoughts and finally types a response,

"Inko, I can't stop thinking about tonight either. I'd love to see you again, next weekend if you have time? You should pick the next place! Whatever you want to do I'll be fine with, I'm not picky, haha."

His finger hovered over the button for a few minutes before he finally made himself hit send.