The kids spend a couple of hours very, very carefully petting Alisa, who's still under light sedation, mostly so she doesn't try to walk around on her broken leg. They leave the reserve that afternoon- the kids reassured and weirdly hyper. Toji chooses to unleash this energy letting them fight about what they want to be for Halloween. He's tried to explain that they don't have to have a group costume, but they insist, every year. They also usually spend a week arguing about it.

There's a vicious rock-paper-scissors tournament in the back seat, which ends the fight in a surprisingly early decision- they'd been waffling back and forth between five different choices. Toji's relieved that Batman and Catwoman is at least an easy choice. He'll run by the party store- without them, he'd learned from the shitstorm of 2010- and pick up the costumes, no problem.

Well, at least, it works in theory until Halloween night, when Megumi and Tsumiki insist that Toji has to dress up too.

"You have to be Alfred, Dad. Batman needs Alfred!" Megumi insists, crossing his bat-arms.

"I don't have a costume," Toji protests.

"Yes, you do," Tsumiki whines. "Alfred wears a suit, you have a suit!"

"He has that towel thing, we can take that from the kitchen," Megumi adds, with the air of someone holding all the aces.

Which is how Toji ends up wearing his only good suit with a dishtowel over his arm, following his kids around the neighborhood as they beg for candy that will make Toji's life a nightmare for the duration of its existence.

Which is absolutely why they knock on a completely average door and Y/N answers it.

"Ms. L/N!" Megumi shouts, deliriously excited.

"Hey, Batman! What are you and Catwoman doing out tonight? Evil doers on the streets of Gotham?" Y/N asks, crouching down to their eye level. She glances up at Toji with a grin. "And you needed Alfred, too? All hands on deck!"

"No one else has known who he was," Tsumiki breathes out, impressed. Toji's not sure if he's pleased or unimaginably embarrassed. "All these moms kept saying James Bond, but duh, James Bond doesn't have a towel thing."

"Well, he's a little young for Alfred," Y/N explains. "Now, down to the really serious business."

Both kids perk up.

"What do you want from this giant bowl of candy?" Y/N brings it out from behind her and god, she's probably going to let them take handfuls.

Megumi and Tsumiki exchange gleeful looks, but Y/N lifts it up at the last second.

"I do have a fee, however- group picture." she says solemnly. "All my students are required."

Toji moves to step out of the frame and Y/N raises her eyebrows.

"Excuse me, group photo." Y/N pulls her cell phone out of her pocket. "Alright, say 'crime fighting',"

"Crime fighting!" the kids chorus, and Toji feels a single involuntary eyebrow rise. The flash is blinding for a phone and Toji is still blinking spots out of his eyes as the kids are picking all the good stuff out of the bowl and lining their bags with candy.

"How's the haul this year?" Y/N asks.

Toji rolls his eyes. "Significantly better now," he says as Megumi picks out all the almond joys. God, what a weird kid. "Is this where you live?"

"Oh, no, this is my dad's house. He's always out on Halloween, you know, catching miscreants engaging in youthful misdemeanors. But he feels bad that there's no one ever here to give out candy, so, here I am."

"Okay, stop, there won't be candy left for anyone else," Toji says to the kids. Christ, they must have taken half the bowl.

"Thanks for the candy, Ms. L/N," Megumi chirps, the happy sound of someone who is going to eat all the sugar in the world and crash so very hard in thirty minutes.

"Yeah, thanks," Tsumiki echoes, staring into her significantly heavier looking bag.

"You're definitely welcome." Y/N says. She glances at Toji again and smiles mischievously before tucking something into Toji's breast pocket. "Don't look so sour, Pennyworth."

"Bye, see you Monday," Megumi calls as he and Tsumiki are already running off in hot pursuit of the next candy dealer.

Toji manages a distracted, "Later, Y/N," behind him as he instinctively chases after them. He fishes in the bottom of his pocket to find a packet of Sourpatch Kids. Toji snorts.

The kids make it through about another neighborhood before they start to droop. By the time they're back on their own street, Toji has Megumi over his shoulder in a fireman carry, dead to the world, and is carrying both bags of candy. He's leading Tsumiki by the hand, and Toji thinks his eyes might actually be closed. He can't get away with holding Tsumiki's hand anymore while he's fully awake- he sort of misses it. But Tsumiki's eight now and "too big" for hand holding these days.

He must be getting sentimental, because he just squeezes Tsumiki's hand and leads them home. He has to carry them both up the stairs- he's probably just lucky that they were too tired to gorge themselves on candy.

Halloween was on a school night, so they're up early the next morning, Megumi and Tsumiki yawning their way through breakfast. Toji mandates no more than any five pieces of candy, despite whining complaints.

When he gets to the office- five "borrowed" pieces of candy in tow himself, including Y/N's Sourpatch Kids- his boss pulls him aside.

"Toji, do you know why I've gotten 20 requests from parents for a field trip since last week? Mentioning you by name, specifically?" Emma asks.

"Oh," Toji says, feeling sort of embarrassed. "I did Career Day for Megumi's class, I guess the kids were interested. Megumi's teacher actually wanted me to ask if they could have a field trip."

Emma eyeballs Toji for a second. "I bet. Well, it's fine with me, just put it on the calendar on a day where Noah's not scheduled." she says.

- Talked to my boss, field trip is a go. What day? Toji texts Y/N. About a half an hour later, his phone buzzes on his desk.

Really?! That's amazing!!! How about two weeks from today? Y/N sends back. Toji glances out toward the group calendar.

Done. Make sure the kids wear clothes that can be in a stable.

Oh my god they're going to freak you're my hero -

To this message, Toji's mouth turned into a big smile.

Anna tells Toji his smile is creeping her out.

__________________________

At the end of the week, Megumi comes home with a permission slip and a bunny.

"Megumi?" Toji says, trying to figure out why Megumi has the class rabbit.

"Yeah, Dad?" Megumi asks.

"Is there a reason you have the rabbit?" Toji folds his arms over his chest.

"Oh, oops," Megumi says. "I was supposed to ask you."

"Yeah, that would have been good," Toji sighs. "Well, how are we supposed to take care of it?"

Megumi looks down at the cage. "Uh oh," he says.

Toji raises his eyebrows expectantly.

"Um, so I think I lost the instructions." Megumi says slowly.

Toji takes a deep breath.

They try to google it, but there's conflicting information and stuff about poop that just can't be right and Megumi can't remember anything other than that you're not supposed to take Bugs out of the cage unless all the doors are closed.

After an hour of this, Toji just gives up and calls Y/N.

"Hey, Toji, what's up?" Y/N asks, sounding cheerful, not at all like she minds having one of her students' parent calling on her Friday evening.

"So, Megumi brought home the rabbit," Toji starts.

Y/N groans. "He didn't clear it with you, did he. Okay, sorry, I can come get him-"

"No, no, it's fine, he just lost the instructions. I have a bag of hay and some fresh vegetables and no idea what to do with them, the kids don't want to touch the vegetables anyways. All I know about rabbits is that wolves like to eat them." Toji explains.

"Okay, I'm headed over to my dad's place anyway to grab some old boxes of stuff- I can drop off the instructions?" Y/N offers.

"Thanks," Toji says.

"Not a problem. See you in 30 or so minutes?"

"Sure," Toji agrees.

"Ms. L/N is coming over?" Tsumiki asks, head in the fridge.

"Yes, and you," He pokes Megumi in the stomach. "Have to apologize for losing the instructions and making her come over."

"Yes, dad," Megumi parrots obediently.

The kids want to play with the rabbit outside, which means Toji has to get out the fencing they got for Alisa when she was a pup. Which also means he's covered in dust and spider webs, just like the fence sections. It's really just a glorified, sturdier chicken wire octagon, but Toji hoses it down and jams it into the ground and the kids pretty much cram themselves in there with the rabbit immediately.

Toji's hosing down his arms- which feel like there are still stray spiders crawling on them- when Y/N pokes her head around the corner.

"He—eeeeey," Y/N says, pausing. "Sorry, I rang the bell, but then when no one answered, I just followed the sound of children."

"Yeah, they wanted to bring the rabbit out and I didn't want poop all over the house. Compromise." Toji turns off the hose.

"And free fertilizer," Y/N says with a grin. "Here are the instructions, but um, you're sort of wet, so I'll just hang onto them for now?"

Toji shrugs. "They'll be busy with the rabbit. Want a cup of coffee?"

Y/N's smile turns small and pleased and Toji wants to know what it feels like against her mouth. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"We're going inside, do not go anywhere or let the rabbit out," Toji yells over at the kids.

"Hi, Ms. L/N! Bye, Ms. L/N!" Megumi shouts and Tsumiki waves.

"Milk and sugar for you, right?" Toji says, thinking back to Saturday breakfast.

"Yep, thanks. Until it's hardly coffee," Y/N elaborates.

Toji snorts, but he does as instructed.

"Thanks again for arranging for the field trip. The kids are dying of excitement. I can't imagine it won't be, but I hope it's not too disruptive." Y/N says, sipping her coffee. She makes a pleased, surprised noise that's... distracting. "This coffee is perfect."

"Good. And don't worry. I want you to come. To the reserve." Toji adds belatedly.

"Well, if you're sure," Y/N says, looking faintly amused.

"I am," Toji pours himself a cup.

Y/N opens her mouth to say something, but there's shrieking coming from the back yard and Toji can't tell if it's good or bad yelling, so he just runs out, Y/N hot on her heels.

"Dad! Worms! Gross! Cool!" Megumi and Tsumiki shout over each other.

"Jesus," Toji mutters under his breath, his heart starting to beat normally again.

"They're aerorating the soil!" Megumi yells happily.

"Aerating," Tsumiki corrects, rolling her eyes.

"Great," Toji yells back, rubbing a hand over his face. They're going to give him a heart attack some day.

"Oh, hey, thanks for the coffee, but I better run, my dad's waiting," Y/N says in a rush, her face looking flushed. "The instructions are on the counter! See you next week!"

Y/N is gone before Toji can even say goodbye- he's left blinking and confused on the deck.

"Okay," he mutters to himself.

He still has no idea why Y/N booked it out of the house by the following Thursday, which is also the day of the field trip. Toji doesn't think he said anything weird, or really did anything weird.

He's told himself a hundred times to stop thinking about it, but then instead he thinks about how he shouldn't be thinking about it. Which is pretty much the same as thinking about it.

It doesn't really help that he gets to work and Emma and Anna bust out laughing at him.

"What?" he demands.

Emma's wheezing too hard to talk, but Anna manages a garbled sentence. "You look like the Marlboro Man."

Toji glances down at himself. He'd worn some of his better jeans, and his boots, since they were going into the stable, and predictably, someone would ask him to actually ride a horse. Nothing out of the ordinary.

"Seriously?" Emma gasps out, still laughing. "I've known you for almost ten years, I will know if you're bullshitting me- who are you trying to impress today?"

"You look like the cover of a romance novel. Button your shirt!" Anna waves her hand at him. "You're going to make the chaperone moms go to confession."

"You're both nuts," Toji mutters, heading for the relative safety of his office.

His phone buzzes.

-See you in a couple of hours! Kids are DYING!-

Toji steels himself for a bunch of hyper, over-excited kids who will want to touch and probably lick everything.

He is so unprepared.

He can hear the bus coming down the highway- weird, high-pitched howls echoing out the open windows. Toji can practically see the kids vibrating with excitement, before the bus doors open. This calls for desperate measures.

The moment the bus doors open and the kids start piling out, howling at the top of their lungs, Toji whistles as loudly as he can. The kids fall into shocked silence.

"Does everyone remember me?"

"Mr. Fushigurou, Megumi's dad?" He asks, authoritative, but as gently as he can. The kids nod. "Okay, welcome to the nature reserve. We have a lot to look at and do today, so I want you to think of yourselves as a big wolf pack. Now, wolf packs have an alpha wolf, who's in charge of everybody. The rules is very important in a pack- and the first rule is that the pack have to listen to the alpha.

The kids nod like they're mesmerized.

"You can always ask me questions," Toji says.

"But one at a time and raise your hands, just like in class," Y/N adds, from the back of the group.

"Right," Toji agrees. "Do you remember what I said about what a nature reserve was?"

A sweet looking brunette girl raises her hand.

"Yes?" Toji asks, crouching down.

"It's a place where you keep plants and animals safe," she recites carefully.

"Absolutely," Toji agrees. "I'm going to show you how we do that, and some of the animals we take care of here."

After that, it goes surprisingly smoothly. He shows them the models of the reserve, lets them meet Emma and Anna, who show the kids the tracking software and the big light up map that doesn't really work but makes people think they're seeing where the wolves are. He doesn't really have a moment off until he takes them to the stables, shows them how to keep their palms flat out with the sugar cube to get the horses to eat them. He uses Megumi as a volunteer, ruffling his hair as one of the big studs hoovers the sugar off his palm perfectly. The kids are having a great time, staring up at the horses in wonder, and Toji thinks he sees some of the chaperones sneakily feeding the horses too.

"You know, you're really really good at this," Y/N says. Toji isn't sure when Y/N snuck up on him, but she's right at Toji's elbow. "Why don't you guys have this as a permanent program? I'm sure the older grades could adapt it to ecology and other things, too."

"We'd probably need another staff member to do it and we don't really have the funding," Toji admits. "It's good to see the kids get to interact with animals. A lot of them don't, outside of dogs and cats."

"Well, thanks for letting us come out and meet the animals," Y/N says, smiling up at him. There's a smudge of dust on his nose and it's actually a relief when one of the kids ask if he can show them how to ride a horse.

Toji saddles up one of the older, slower horses and has Y/N usher the kids out of the barn into the pen before riding out. He calls out simple tips, like sitting up straight and steering with your thighs, not the reins.

"You have a question," Y/N calls out, pointing out a boy with his hand up.

"Shoot," Toji calls, steering the horse over.

"Is this the horse you were riding when you saved the wolf?" he asks.

"Nope. Iron is an older horse, he's a little slow. So I rode Thor, he's our fastest." Toji explains, dismounting, leading Iron back into the stable.

"Another question," Y/N calls out.

"That cat is on a horse. Can cats ride horses?" another little boy asks.

Toji pauses a second. "No, they can't. But barn cats are sometimes friends with horses." After Toji's done putting Bumble back, Y/N reappears at his elbow.

"What's next?" Y/N asks.

Toji shrugs. "That's pretty much it, there's really not anywhere else that's safe to show them."

"Dad, Dad," Megumi says, tugging on Toji's shirt. "Dad, you need to show them the howl!"

Oh, god.

Y/N is grinning maniacally. It is actually the perfect time to do it- the sun is starting to set, winter-early, and the wolves will howl back.

"Okay," Toji sighs. He whistles and rounds up the pack, bringing them back out to the pen.

"I'm going to howl, and if we listen quietly, we might be able to hear the wolves howl back." Toji explains. Suppressing how ultimately embarrassing this is going to be, Toji tilts his head back and howls as loudly as he can.

There's a long pause but coming back faintly from the north is an answering howl.

When the kids hear it they burst out into cheers and howls of their own.

"Ok, I was not expecting that," Y/N says, staring at Toji. "You have any other secret skills you're not telling me about? Other than the Optimus Prime voice?"

"Megumi told you about the howling, it wasn't a secret," Toji points out.

"Yeah, but he didn't say you could do that," Y/N waves a hand at Toji.

"Well, I guess you'll have to see," Toji says.

Emma steps out, tapping her watch- wrap up. Toji gets them the activity books to take home with them- simple puzzles and coloring sheets and loads them back on the bus.

"See you later, kids," Toji calls.

"What do we say, class?" Y/N asks.

They howl back a thank you.

_________________________

They're in the supermarket a couple of days before Thanksgiving, when one of Megumi's classmates sees them in the freezer aisle with his mom and he immediately howls.

Toji is about to apologize to the kid's mom when Megumi and Tsumiki howl back, a short bark of a howl.

"Um," Toji finally says.

She laughs. "Don't worry about it. He's been doing it for weeks. You must be the infamous Toji Fushigurou." They shake hands. "Kyo told me about the field trip to the reserve, it sounded great."

"Thanks?" Toji says.

"We have to run, but nice meeting you," the mom says, ushering her son down the aisle. Toji turns the corner and literally runs his shopping cart into Y/N's.

"Hey, you," Y/N says cheerfully. "I thought I heard howling."

"Yeah," Toji says.

Y/N glances into Toji's cart. "You already got your turkey? You're shopping kind of light." Y/N's cart has the suggested turkey, loaves of French bread, vegetables and potatoes piled in.

"We usually have Thanksgiving with our neighbors, Jin, his wife and his son, but they going out of town this year to Jin's parents. It'll just be a regular dinner, I guess." Toji shrugs.

Y/N stares at Toji like Toji just slapped her. "You're having Thanksgiving with me." she says.

"What?" Toji asks, convinced he heard wrong.

"I mean us, I mean me and my dad. We cook too much food every year, we eat leftovers until we want to die. Come on over, no one should miss turkey and stuffing." Y/N insists.

"Are you sure-" Toji starts but he's interrupted by Megumi and Tsumiki staring up at him desperately.

"Dad, can we?" Megumi asks.

"Please?" Tsumiki adds. Toji can see the edge of a box of pop tarts in her hand.

"Put back the pop tarts and we'll talk," Toji says. Tsumiki sighs, but puts the box back on the shelf.

"Are you sure, Y/N?" Toji tries again.

"Absolutely." Y/N says. "C'mon. Save me and my dad from tryptophan poisoning."

"Okay," Toji says. "What can we bring?"

Y/N laughs. "Uh-uh. That's my rule, all the real dishes must be family recipes. You can bring another pie."

"Okay, sure, we can bring the pie," Toji says.

Y/N shakes her head. "Don't get crazy. I said you could bring a pie. There's going to be more than one."

"Okay," Toji repeats, shaking his head. "Thanks for the invitation."

"You're the one doing me the favor- I don't need five servings of stuffing this year." Y/N says. "I have to run and get this bird home, but see you Thursday- my dad's house, you remember where it is, right? His kitchen is better."

"Sure," Toji nods. "Tsumiki, pop tarts back on the shelf."

~~~~

a/n: This is weird sry 💀 and I saw that I wrote mrs instead of ms the whole time which I will definitely change in the next few days

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