The rest of the night is a blur- Toji knows he met Tsumiki's teacher, but if pressed, he probably couldn't remember any of the conversation. Apparently, the only thing that did imprint on him from that night was the expression on Y/N' face, which, in an unsettling development, is the only thing Toji remembers from his dream.

He makes sure the kids are stumbling around their rooms, blearily putting on clothes, before getting in the shower himself. He's just stepping out again as he hears the tail end of Tsumiki's "someone on the phone for you" yell. Toji scrambles for a towel and the phone at the same time and all he hears is "...can you come in? It would mean a lot to the kids."

"Yes- hi, yes," Toji says reflexively.

"You will? You don't know how great that is, thanks, Toji!"

Toji realizes it's Y/N at the same time he realizes he just agreed to do a totally unknown favor for Y/N.

"I'll send you an email with all the details, it'll take like an hour, tops!" Y/N assures him and Toji is getting increasingly nervous. "Oh, man, I gotta run or I'm going to be late to school, thanks again, you're going to be amazing!"

Toji feels distinctly concerned.

When he gets to the office after dropping the kids off at school, he immediately checks his inbox:

Hey, Toji-

Thanks again for agreeing to do Career Day- even if you're not actually a cowboy, I think the kids will flip over you! Just be ready for like, a five minute speechy thing about what it is you do that's good for five year olds. But you know, you have one, so I figure you know how to talk to them. It's a month from now, Thursday the 15th. Let me know if there are any problems.

Thanks,

Y/N

He's a little relieved and weirdly disappointed for no reason he can figure out. Toji sends back a quick "Received," because it's only polite. He figures that it'll go on the calendar and that'll be that, which is probably why they run into Y/N in the cereal aisle in the grocery store that night.

Megumi is in rapturous ecstasies, despite having seen Y/N less than 3 hours ago, chattering away, as Y/N smiles and nods. Her cart is full of pop-tarts and red bull and Toji wonders how she's even alive. Y/N glances up and must follow Toji's line of sight because he just laughs.

"I know, I know. Since I moved out, I eat like a college student. But I save all the healthy meals for my dad." Y/N says.

"Dad, Ms. L/N's dad is a police officer, did you know that? A police officer." Megumi explains, starry-eyed.

Toji nods. "I've met him before." he says. He hadn't connected the dots between her dad and Y/N before, but it makes sense. Megumi stares at Toji accusingly like he's been keeping this information from him. "He's come by the reserve a couple of times."

"Well, the next time he does, tell him Y/N knows about the donuts," Y/N jokes. The Officer has eaten a danish in front of Toji multiple times, the sticky turnover ones that Emma brings in on Fridays with the look of a man seeing the face of god. Emma's danishes make everyone feel like that, but Toji understands it a little better if Y/N has put a donut embargo on the Officer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Toji says loyally.

Y/N snorts. "Yeah, you and every other aider and abetter in town." She glances at Toji's cart. "But hey, I like a challenge. This weekend we're doing tofu burgers. Well, he thinks they're turkey."

"You should come over for dinner, Ms. L/N!" Megumi chirps loudly and they both start protesting at once.

"I'm sure Ms. L/N has other plans-" Toji tries as Y/N says, "I wouldn't want to intrude-"

"No, my dad's the best, Ms. L/N. He makes the hot dogs into octopuses! He should be on Iron Chef!" Megumi breezes on, completely unaware.

Y/N laughs, but not meanly. "Yeah?" she asks Megumi.

"Yeah, he said it was the last time he was going to grill this year, Ms. L/N. This is a big deal." Megumi adds solemnly.

Toji resists the urge to bury his face in his hands. "It's not as exciting as- never mind," Toji trails off.

"He could come," Tsumiki says, off hand. Toji stares at her suspiciously. "It'd be okay."

"Well, if-" Y/N starts, rubbing a hand over her hair. "If it's okay with your dad?"

***

It's a little surreal, cooking with someone else- about as surreal as finding four boxes of cocoa puffs in the groceries that Toji knows Tsumiki snuck in there somehow- but it's helpful having someone over four feet helping. Y/N had insisted on being allowed to at least bring a salad, and Toji can see her and Megumi in the kitchen through the glass doors; Megumi is supposed to be snapping the ends off of sugar snap peas, but he's mostly talking as Y/N smiles and explains something with a lot of hand motions and a vegetable peeler.

"Dad," Tsumiki reminds him, holding the plate of corn, wrapped in foil.

"Sorry, Tsumiki," Toji says, putting them on the grill. The weather is perfect- one last indian summer day, with the promise of a cool fall weekend ahead. The preceding "hot dogs or burgers" conversation had led to the kids stubbornly wanting both and Toji resigns himself to leftovers to be used in increasingly weird ways.

"Megumi really likes her, huh?" Tsumiki asks, glancing inside.

Toji nods, distributing the corn evenly.

"You like her too?" Tsumiki pushes.

Toji freezes. "She's Megumi's teacher, she's okay," Toji finally says, feeling weirdly like he's being interrogated.

Tsumiki eyeballs Toji. "Are you on a date with her?" Tsumiki asks.

Toji nearly drops the empty corn plate. "No," Toji manages.

Tsumiki stares for a moment longer, but then just shrugs. "Okay." Tsumiki goes back to poking at the hamburger patties under the cling wrap and Toji just doesn't know what's going on in that kid's head sometimes.

"I hate to steal your assistant, but can I have Tsumiki? Megumi and I need her help with an experiment," Y/N is poking her head out the door, smiling in a way that he clearly thinks is ingratiating. Tsumiki glances over at Toji and he can read the excitement behind the cool look.

"I'll manage," Toji says, nudging Tsumiki toward the door. Y/N flashes him a grin before they disappear back inside.

He can't help but think about Tsumiki thinking this is a date.

Toji has been on exactly two dates since the kids came to live with him, both in that first month. He'd still been dating Kate- young and stupid, totally blind to all her faults- but she'd been cold and unconcerned about the kids and Toji had broken up with her within two weeks. She'd laughed and said she wasn't the maternal type, anyway, keyed his car and left town with the pharmacist's husband. When he thinks about Kate, which isn't often, he usually just feels relieved- which is probably awful. He'd thought he'd loved her- had looked at rings in the small jewelry shop in town- and when he thinks about her now, all he can think is that he dodged a bullet.

He wouldn't call himself lonely- he has Megumi and he has Tsumiki, and only an idiot could be lonely with two kids under ten in the house, constantly asking questions, climbing all over them, asking for stories, for attention, like a pair of needy pups.

But if he's totally honest with himself, the nights are almost too quiet when the kids are both asleep, the only sound the quiet hum of the television.

Still, in no way is this is a date. This is Megumi's love affair with his kindergarten teacher. Toji reapplies himself to the task at hand, which is to say, not burning everyone's dinner.

Of course, he runs out of distractions when he comes in, both hands full with plates heaped with food, only to see the three of them frantically shaking bags of something.

"Dad, we're making ice cream with science!" Megumi calls joyously.

"I found the rock salt in the garage," Tsumiki points out proudly.

"You've got a pair of scientists on your hands," Y/N says, smiling small and real and it feels like a horse kicking him in the chest.

"Can we eat it before dinner so it doesn't melt?" Tsumiki asks stealthily.

"We're putting it in the freezer," Megumi reminds her. "Ms. L/N said so. We made some for you too, Dad. Well, Ms. L/N made it."

"I didn't know whether you liked chocolate or vanilla, so I made both. The kids insisted mint chocolate chip was your favorite, but you didn't have any mint extract." Y/N says apologetically.

Toji realizes that he's still standing in the doorway holding dinner like a moron, so he puts the plates down on the open space left at the end of the counter. "Either's fine," Toji says, belatedly adding, "Thanks."

There's a feeding frenzy as soon as the ice cream is in the freezer, the kids laying waste to burgers and dogs, even the salad under Toji's stern look. Y/N eats her fair share too, and it looks like Toji's worries about leftovers are going to come to nothing. Y/N is seemingly fine with Megumi's endless questions about everything and even Tsumiki's weirdly invasive questions about her taste in movies and outdoor activities. Toji is sort of astounded, because it's a lot to take, but he supposes Y/N spends all day with five year olds, Tsumiki and Megumi together can't be much worse than fifteen of them.

"Give Ms. L/N a break," Toji feels compelled to say by the time the kids are just pushing the remains of their food around on their plates.

They open their mouths to protest in unison, but Y/N just laughs. "They're fine, Toji. I wish all my students were as interested as Megumi." Y/N reaches out to comfortably ruffle Megumi's hair. Megumi beams like a lantern. "And yes, Tsumiki, I do like to camp. Well, as long as there are enough chocolate bars for the duration. Went on a camping trip once with my dad and it was looking ugly for a while. Thought it was going to be every man for himself."

Tsumiki looks obscurely satisfied. Megumi cheerfully starts asking Y/N about stingrays again.

The homemade ice cream is surprisingly good; Toji can't help the surprised noise that escapes as he takes his first bite.

"I know, right?" Y/N says happily, licking her spoon clean. Thoroughly. Luckily, she's distracted by the sounds of Tsumiki breaking into one of her illicit boxes of cocoa puffs to cram a bowl's worth into her ice cream.

"Tsumiki," Toji says. "You can put half of that bowl back in the freezer." Tsumiki sulks as she puts half the bowl back, crunching bitterly.

"You know, you're really good with them. It's never easy to be a parent, but I've seen a lot of them, and- and if you care what I think, you're doing a really good job." Y/N says quietly as Megumi slowly eats every bite at Tsumiki.

Toji is frozen, ice cream halfway to his mouth for an embarrassingly long moment.

Y/N swallows her bite quickly, scrambling to speak. "Whoa, sorry, that might have- I mean, obviously you're doing a good job with them, I-"

"No, that- thanks," Toji finally gets out. "I've only had the kids for 4 years- what do I know about kids? It's good to know I'm not messing it up."

Y/N is staring at Toji like if she just looks hard enough she'll find the secrets of the universe or something. "No one knows kids, everyone worries they're messing it up. I worry about it all the time. But you love them, Toji, and that's the most important thing."

Toji feels like he's been kicked in the chest again and he's starting to think that's just something about Y/N that makes him feel like his rib cage is being squeezed.

"Well, this conversation got heavy," Y/N says with an awkward laugh. "But you don't have to worry so hard." Y/N nudges Toji with her elbow.

"Dad, my ice cream is better than Tsumiki's right? Right?" Megumi demands fiercely.

"Well, you can worry about that," Y/N laughs, much more at ease.

"Megumi, you can both like different ice cream, no one's has to be better," Toji sighs, grateful for and irritated by the interruption. The kids take this bone of contention out into the living room and into a competitive cushion fort battle. It doesn't make any sense to him, but he gave up on that years ago.

"So, are you gonna let me help you with the dishes or what?" Y/N asks, already stacking them up.

Toji protests, because Y/N is a guest, but somehow he ends up drying and apologizing for the lack of dishwasher in the house.

"There's just the three of us, there was really never any point," Toji explains, even thought he feels like an idiot because he can't stop talking about a dishwasher.

"No, it's kind of nice. I'm sort of surprised that you don't have a pair of yellow rubber gloves. Can't imagine you with dishpan hands." Y/N laughs.

Toji snorts, wiping the salad bowl dry. "You should have seen me change a diaper."

Y/N stares at him incredulously for a second before bursts into surprised laughter. "I tried to imagine it, it didn't really work," Y/N admits.

"Neither did me trying to put diapers on Megumi. It took me about a week before I got the hang of it." Toji says. "Tsumiki wasn't exactly helpful, either."

Y/N glances at Toji sidelong, like she's deciding what to say. "My dad told me about what happened with your wife and your sister, I'm sorry. It must have been so hard on all of you."

Toji stares at the plate he's holding and takes a deep breath. "Nothing good is easy," he finally says. "Despite the fact that my wife and I lived separately, I miss her and my sister every day. But I wouldn't know what to do without Tsumiki and Megumi now. They're my entire family."

Y/N has stopped washing, her hands still submerged in the water and foam. After a long quiet moment, she clears her throat. "I lost my mom when I was 7. It wrecked my dad and I had panic attacks for years after she died. Losing a parent-, suddenly- can mess kids up, but Tsumiki and Megumi-" Y/N huffs, looking frustrated. "What I'm trying to say is that I think you're a great dad for them. They're happy, great kids. I just thought maybe no one had told you that, and I sort of thought you should know."

Toji nearly drops the plate.

"Sorry, I overstepped, sorry-" Y/N stammers.

Toji puts the dish down on holds up a hand. Y/N' mouth snaps shut. "Thank you," Toji finally says. "It... thanks."

Y/N exhales noisily. "You're welcome." She offers a tentative smile before turning back to the dishes.

They wash in silence for a while, and they're almost finished when Y/N cocks her head toward the living room. "Um, is it just me, or has it been really quiet?"

Toji cranes his body around to glance into the living room. "Hm." They finish quickly and head into the living room, only to find Tsumiki and Megumi fast asleep under a pile of pillows.

"Damn, that's cute," Y/N sighs.

Toji snorts and starts excavating his kids. Tsumiki murmurs something annoyed sounding, but Megumi is out like a light. Tsumiki is also sprawled half across Megumi like a blanket, so Toji reaches for her first, hefting her up, half-fireman style.

"I'm not asleep, put me down," Tsumiki mumbles almost incomprehensibly.

"Uh huh," Toji says, feeling Tsumiki settle in like a little barnacle, already mostly asleep again.

"I can grab Megumi for you, if you want," Y/N offers quietly.

Toji pauses, but nods. "Thanks, yeah."

Y/N picks Megumi up with the ease of someone who handles kids all day. Megumi wraps his arms around Y/N' neck instinctively, burying his face in Y/N' dress. Toji readjusts his grip on Tsumiki and tears himself away from the image of Megumi clinging to Y/N like a security blanket.

Toji leads Y/N upstairs, motioning them into Megumi's room. Y/N easily lays Megumi down on the bed.

"Pajamas?" Y/N asks quietly, turning to the dresser.

"Top drawer, you sure-" Toji starts to ask, but Y/N just rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah," Y/N says. "Kindergarten teacher, remember? Seen, done it all." Y/N has Megumi changed faster than Toji has ever managed, and tucked under the blankets.

"You've done this before?" Toji asks.

Y/N shakes her head. "Not in years. Bunch of little cousins." Y/N palms a hand over Megumi's messy hair, smoothing it down.

The automatic night light is shining right behind Y/N' head, haloing the upward flip of Y/N' hair, the upturn of her nose. Toji takes a deep breath.

"Oh, sorry, Tsumiki must be getting heavy, sorry," Y/N says, getting up from her crouch.

"It's fine," Toji mutters. Y/N leans in the doorway while Toji gets Tsumiki ready for bed, Tsumiki clumsily moving her limbs to help Toji along.

The two of them creep back downstairs quietly.

"You want a cup of coffee, something?" Toji offers.

"Oh, um, it's sort of late," Y/N says. "I'm supposed to have Saturday breakfast with my dad early in the morning, it's sort of a L/N family tradition."

"Thanks for the help with dinner, the kids." Toji says, nodding.

"No, no, thanks for everything, it was a great night," Y/N waves her hands. "It was- it was really nice." Toji sees Y/N to the door, watches her get in her car and heads back inside.

The house is very quiet.