Love This Smmmm - Tumblr Posts
Big, butiful and nice - Fatgum x Reader
I have carried this idea with me for a while. This features a single Mom! Reader, so if kids aren't your thing, you don't have to read it. Pure Fluff. Tagging @missalienqueen @bbglay @pixiesavvy @itsyoursunshinebabe @marti-mp4
“UP! UP!” Chubby arms reach for him and huge eyes twinkle up at him over a row of missing teeth.
“Oh?” Toyomitsu reaches down and picks the little girl up. “Who are you?”
“Etsuko.” She tells him proudly, trying to reach for the zipper of his costume.
“Hi, Etsuko. Where is your mommy?”
“Dead.”
He stills. Oh.
“Etsuko?!” A woman in a business suit rushes around the corner, spots the little girl and halts. “You can’t just run off!”
It’s only then that you notice him - not that he’s trying to hide in his big form.
“Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Fatgum, Sir! I was just showing Etsuko the on-site childcare when she ran off! Please, let me take her, I don’t know why she bothered you.”
“Big!” Etsuko explains simply. “I can see the world!”
“Yes, you do!” Toyomitsu bounces her once, twice and revels in her giggles. “And don’t worry, it happens.” He transfers the little girl to your arms, watches with fondness as she immediately snuggles into your side. “Your…?”
“Niece, Sir. She’s my niece. I just… uh, I just transferred this week and this is all pretty new for us, but I promise we’ll be totally professional from now on.”
“Oh, please don’t.” He laughs, waving his hand, “That’d be boring, right?”
You look a little dumbfounded. It’s pretty, he notices, when your features soften. When you’re not constantly focused on looking all-serious.
“Boss?” A voice asks from the other end of the hallway. He turns to see Kirishima, all dressed up in his costume and eager to get going. Toyomitsu nods and turns back to you.
“I guess I’ll see you around. And Etsuko,” he boops her nose, “Keep smiling, okay?”
-
“Mr. Fatgum, Sir?” Toyomitsu looks up from his Desk and the assortment of food spread across its expanse.
You’re dressed in a different suit this time, the dull grey color of it making you look like a banker coming to collect his soul. He shivers.
“I have the analysis. Do you want to go over it now or later?”
“If you don’t mind me eating while you talk, we can go over it now.”
You nod and slip into the chair on the other side of his desk.
You’re a professional, he can tell. You stick out of their agency like a sore-thumb, but you’re probably also the voice of reason they need the most.
Yes, he’s on Number 58, but he’s also too slack with his employees. Lord knows there are many things he could improve.
You show him charts and numbers, studies and graphs. You’re smart, he can tell, to the point that he can’t help but interrupt you.
“Did you just do that calculation in your head?”
“Oh… oh yeah, it’s my… it’s my Quirk.” You explain, seemingly embarrassed by it. “I’ve got a computer for a brain, basically.”
“That’s cool.”
You shrug. Your eyes flicker to the Takoyaki. He pushes them towards you, silently offering them.
“Oh, no, I shouldn’t.” You wave your hands but he shakes his head. “Take one. Tell me about yourself for a bit, will you? You transferred here from Endeavours Agency, right?”
“Yes.” You nod, still eyeing the Takoyaki. He picks one up and hands it to you, watching the emotions flicker over your face. Eventually, you pop it into your mouth and chew and he’s lucky to have been watching because happiness flickers over your face like a shooting star over the night sky.
“Another?” Toyomitsu hands you another one. It doesn’t take long for the dish to vanish.
You must have been hungry, or maybe it’s just your favorite dish, but the food has softened your features, blurred the harsh lines that you draw yourself in.
“My sister died unexpectedly. I don’t know who Etsuko’s father is, but my parents died when I was a teen and I’m the only one she has left. I did love working for Endeavour, I really did, but it’s no place for a single mother. I heard you offered on-site childcare, so I applied.”
“And what do you think of us so far?”
“Well,” you reach for your tablet again, but he stops you.
“Without the numbers, please?”
You hesitate for a second. “It’s… it’s warm, I guess. Everyone’s really nice here and no one minds when Etsuko runs off yet again, coming to find me in my office. I know it’s my job to look for opportunities to improve your brand and your agency, but I am constantly at odds.”
“Why is that?”
“If you could have an Agency like Endeavour, would you do it if it meant giving up all the things that make you special?”
He considers it. If there’s no on-site childcare at Endeavour’s, and he’d have to give this one up, quite a few of his employees would fall away. Like Kuno-kun, who brings in his daughter and his wife’s homemade baking. Or Noda-san, who knits scarfs for everyone in the winter and who’s using the child-care for her grandsons.
There’d be no longer the laughter of children heard in the hallways, no more drawings handed over at the end of a semester.
“No, I don’t think I’d want to give that up. At least not all of it. But we could find a compromise, I guess. Make the best of what we are. If that means we’ll stay at Nr. 58, I’m fine with that. Being a Hero doesn’t mean to have the highest rank, but to save the most people, right?”
Surprise flickers over your face.
It’s gone as fast as it came but he likes to believe that he made an impact on you.
-
“How are you all doing today?”
Almost fifteen children surround him. The older ones are holding back in favor of the younger ones, he can tell, but they’re all so eager to tell him about their adventures.
“One after the other, okay?” Toyomitsu settles on a nearby chair. “But first we have to ask: who’s our newest member?”
Etsuko steps forward. Her hair is pulled up into little pigtails and she looks adorable.
“Hi, Etsuko. Do you want to sit on my lap today? You have to be careful though, because if you lean too much into me, I might suck you in.”
Her eyes widen, but the kids around her giggle. “Do it!” They tell her. “It’s so much fun.”
So she does, giggling almost hysterically as the fat absorption kicks in. Only her head’s left out, her pigtails whipping around as she shakes her head, giggling.
“If you want out, all you have to do is tell me, okay? No kicking.”
She nods.
At the end of this month's visit to the children, he leaves with a hand full of drawings and one sucker, tucked into his hand by one of the older children.
Toyomitsu’s almost down the hallway when he feels someone tugging at his legs. He turns to see Etsuko toddling after him. She reaches for him.
“Up?” She asks and he can’t say no to her big eyes and her small pout.
If he walks around the agency for a bit with her sitting on his shoulder instead of directly taking her back, that’s his secret and his secret alone.
-
Months pass.
Toyomitsu implements the first of your proposals. His ranking moves, slowly at first, until he finds himself at Nr. 35.
Etsuko has begun sneaking into his office once a week, handing him a drawing or a slice of fruit, left over from her lunch. Sometimes he lets her sit on his lap, listening to her talk about her day.
Certainly, you must know about it. How else could she bring in expensive chocolates one day and have your handwriting on her drawing the next, clearly pointing out that the yellow blob is him?
He’s been thinking a lot about you lately.
More than he should about one of his employees.
But he likes the way you talk, all serious one second, rattling down numbers and statistics, until he makes a joke and you can’t stop giggling, your voice suddenly smooth and soft.
He likes the way you look in the early mornings when Etsuko’s done her best to make you late, when your hair’s not done up perfectly and you’re missing your usual makeup. Or when you’d been with her for lunch and no one’s told you yet that there’s a sticky handprint on your blouse or your skirt is wrinkled, no doubt from Etsuko pulling on it.
You love your niece and he loves to see all signs of it, like an imprint you cannot wipe away.
So far, you haven’t shown any signs of interest in him.
You’ve started calling him by his last name, though, foregoing the “Sir” for most of the time.
But that doesn’t mean that you’d consider a date with him, right?
Or is he starting to get delusional?
-
“What do you think, Daddy?” Toyomitsu freezes.
Etsuko’s sitting on his lap, fingertip moving over one of her drawings as she explains.
It had been a perfectly fine moment up until now.
“What did you just call me?”
“Daddy!” She looks up at him, grinning so wide it must hurt her face. “Because you’re my Daddy.”
“I… well…” He struggles. He doesn’t know what to say. “Etsuko, you cannot call me that.”
“Eh? Why?” She pulls at his shirt. “Are you not my Daddy?”
“No, Etsuko. I’m not your Daddy. I like you a lot and I want to be your friend, but I’m not your Daddy.”
Her eyes start to water and he can feel himself panicking. He’s normally not that bad with kids, but this… this is just catching him on the wrong foot at the wrong time.
“Look,” he tries to explain. “It’s like with your Aunty, right? She loves you a lot, but she’s not your Mommy.”
“But you’re my Daddy!” Etsuko’s hands are balled into fists now. “Mommy said that Daddy was big and butiful and nice! You are my Daddy.”
“Oh, Etsuko.” Toyomitsu pulls her in, realizing her mistake. She’s crying into his shirt now, her tears more fueled by confusion and anger than real sadness. He lets her cry it out before he picks her up.
“I think we need to talk to your Aunty for a moment about this, okay?”
-
He hadn’t thought your face could turn any more serious, but he’d been mistaken.
There’s no softness left in your features as he explains. Etsuko’s sitting on your lap now, face snuggled into your blazer. He’s pretty sure that’s going to leave stains, but he’s also sure he shouldn’t point it out right now.
“I didn’t know,” you say. And “I’m sorry she bothered you this much.” And “I will make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
At some point he realizes that you’re no longer listening to him, ears closed off from his explanations. He can do nothing but leave you, wondering if he’s just ruined everything that could have possibly been.
-
For the following week, he gets no visits from Etsuko.
Toyomitsu does not dare to visit her in childcare either, unsure of what you want.
But he’s got an appointment with you on Thursday that he puts all his hopes on.
When you come in he can tell that you must have spent an extra minute preparing yourself beforehand, because there is no hair out of place and you’re wearing lipgloss like battle armor.
He feels wholly unprepared for this fight, even less so after losing a quarter of his body fat in yesterday’s fight.
But the sight of him, so much smaller and thinner than you’ve gotten to know him, seems to soften the resolve in your eyes.
“Are you okay?” You ask.
“If you refer to my body, I will be. I have to eat a lot in the next few days to get back to my usual form, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. If you refer to something else… No, I’m not okay with how this played out.
“About that…” You gingerly sink into your chair, hands folded over your lap. You’re not looking at him. “I did some more research. I should have done that ages ago. I… I’ve found Etsuko’s father.”
His heart beats painfully.
“Who is it?”
“His name’s Kan Sekijiro. I don’t know if you know hi-”
“Vlad King?”
“Ah, yes. So you know him?”
“I know of him. One of his students interned here. He’s… did you contact him?”
“Not yet.” You purse your lips. Considering that all Etsuko knew about her father… I am sorry that she got you confused. I know this is highly unprofessional and-”
“I don’t care.”
You still. Your eyes flicker over to him.
“Look,” he leans forward, can’t help it. He needs you to understand this. “This isn’t just Etsuko’s doing alone. I like spending time with her. I could have stopped anytime, bring her back every time she came over to my office. I didn’t put a stop on it and maybe I should have, but I…”
“What?”
“I have to preface this by saying that I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, or… or put you in a tight spot because I’m your employer, but-”
“Spit it out.” Your words are harsh and rushed and he can tell you regret them the second they leave your mouth. But you’re right. He’s stalling.
“I am interested in you.”
Your jaw slackens, your features soften with that well-known dumbfoundedness.
As you bury your face in your hands, he can feel his heart sink. Fighting criminals is so much easier than facing rejection.
“Are you okay?” He asks when your face doesn’t come back up. You nod into your hands.
“Are you sure? You’re not looking too good there.”
“It feels like my Quirk is overloading. I am…”
“Overthinking? I am familiar with that. Not that I suffer from it, but you’ve met Suneater, I guess.” He tries to joke, make light of the situation. It’s what makes you finally lift your head.
“If you’re serious,” you bite through your teeth, “About this. About… Etsuko and me. I… I’d take you out to dinner.”
Toyomitsu blinks. He’s expected everything but that.
“Are you serious?” He asks and you groan.
“No, I mean yes. But… you know how much I eat, right?”
You huff, looking away. He’s not the worlds expert in flirting, but you do look kinda flustered.
“I might have looked up All-You-Can-Eat-Restaurants ever since I’ve gotten to know you,” you mumble and the pout on your lips looks eerily like Etsuko’s.
-
“I’m home!” Toyomitsu calls out from the Genkan.
To his surprise, no tiny feet come running. When he peeks around the corner he finds you curled up on the Couch, an open book next to you on the floor. You must have fallen asleep reading.
“Hey,” he cards a hand through your hair to wake you gently. “Shouldn’t Sekijiro be back before dinner?”
“What?” You try to wipe the sleep from your eyes while snuggling into him. “Oh, no, he called before I took a nap. He’s bringing her back after Dinner. Apparently, they’re making pancakes.”
“Ah, did you tell him to bring leftovers?” He jokes, chuckling when you nod earnestly.
.
Life is good.
He’s got a wife and a daughter and his daughter’s father has turned into a good friend.
He’s got a job he enjoys, a Quirk he can rely on and so far he’s been able to stay himself.
There’s not much he’d wish for nowadays.
Well, except maybe some more food.
.
You’re still on the Couch when he walks into the kitchen, fully intending to make Dinner as soon as he’s gotten a little snack from the fridge.
But inside the fridge is a huge box. He furrows his brows and pulls it out. He recognizes the branding, but you only buy a cake at this bakery for important dates, like your wedding anniversary or Etsuko’s first day in kindergarten.
“Baby, did I miss an event?” He asks, flipping open the lid.
“Why do you ask?”
“There’s a cake in the fri-”
“Don’t open it!” You yell, rushing over. But the lid’s already open. The buttercream frosting is light blue and the icing a dark blue. Big, bold letters write out “World’s best Dad!”
“This is nice,” he says as you reach him, clearly out of breath and a little haggard. “But you didn’t have to buy an expensive cake to let me know. Not that I mind. Or is it for Sekijiro?”
“Ah,” your face is doing some weird contortions.
His eyes flicker back to the icing and something in his head clicks at the color.
“Taishirou, I’m pregnant.”