Saturday came faster than Toji thought it would. Megumi almost flayed him alive for waking him up so early to go to the grocery store, on a Saturday no less. Both of them, half awake and grumpy, make the leisurely walk to the store, Megs, still in his dinosaur pajamas.
It wasn't until Toji was standing in the produce section of the store that he realized; mindless meal prep food and Megumi's frozen dinosaur chicken nuggets were not going to cut it for tonight. He quickly slides his phone out of his pocket.
"Good simple recipes for a date."
He doesn't process what he's typing until it's glaring back at him in his search bar. He deleted the text there quickly, scratching his chin. This wasn't even a date? If anything it's going to be the most uncomfortable dinner he's had in a long time. Interviewing his neighbor to watch his kid...
"Simple recipes for idiots who don't know how to cook... Reddit."
He scrolls through countless recipes before getting wildly frustrated, because who the fuck owns a slow cooker? After scrolling a bit more he decided he can't possibly fuck up making pasta, a premade salad, and wine.
He grabs Megs by the shirt collar hauling him around the store swiftly, tossing pasta noodles in the cart unceremoniously. He's a whole array of pasta sauces, not super clear on the difference. He didn't know your preference.
When he gets to the wine, he pauses. Did you even drink? Did you prefer red or white? Fuck, why was he even putting so much though into this. It's purely business. He grabs a cheap bottle of red with purpose. Toji yanks Megumi away from the wine bottle on the bottom self; why he insists on touching everything in the story is a mystery to him, and goes to check out.
7:30pm, He's pacing around the kitchen. He nearly trips on Megumi, who by all means, was just minding his business drawing on the kitchen floor. In the past several hours, he did manage to fuck up pasta in so. many. ways. Finally he has a strainer filled with limp noodles, salad put into a nice... ish bowl and wine on the table. It didn't occur to him that he doesn't own a single wine glass, hopefully you don't notice.
7:52pm, a knock at the door makes Toji jump twenty feet in the air. Megumi, who had moved from the kitchen to the living room after being stepped on an ungodly amount of time, flies to open the door before Toji can even bark out his name.
"Hi Megs! Your dad is home?" You bend down to ruffle his hair. Toji steps out from the kitchen and into the living room. You're in a dress. "I am. Is that a problem?" Fuck, he didn't mean to say that out loud. He clears is throat. "Nah no issue, you look... nice?" He voice wavers more than he'd like. You stand back up fully, rising from Megumi's heights; an infuriating grin on your face. "Thanks. I knocked before entering too. Maybe I could teach you by action, since you have a habit of throwing my door open whenever you see fit." He scoffs. "Don't hold your breath."
You finally really look at Toji, seems you're not the only one who overdressed a little. He's in a dress shirt... and the shirt is ironed, which strikes you as odd because you're 90% sure he doesn't even own one of those. He's also wearing slacks, what happened to your shitty neighbor. You don't recall seeing Toji Fushiguro without his stupid work clothes on, or without a lick of stubble on his face.
"You clean up well." You say mostly to yourself. "Yeah yeah, stop standing in the entryway like a fuckin stranger. Shoes off." Toji says gruffly. You fight off an eye roll as you slip out of the pumps. Megumi stays glued to your side. He points to a spot next to his tiny shoes and you put yours there. He's absolutely beaming when you do. Toji brushes the whole thing off as strange, he may be Megs dad, but he'll never understand his affinity towards you.
Megumi continues to be the outstanding host he is, shows you to the dinner table. You push one of the seats out next to Megumi. "Help yerself to the food. It's nothin' fancy." Toji murmurs, sitting down across from you. You spoon some pasta on your plate before glancing over to Toji.
"So, you don't me that well. What do you want to know exactly...?" Right. Business was the main reason for this weirdly tense meeting. "Whaddya for work exactly? I just know ya do remote stuff." "I do IT work, for Z enterprises. I've been working there for like a couple years now." He jaw clenches slightly. He didn't think of any questions past that.
"What's yer um... experience watchin kids?"
"I babysat throughout college, so I'd say a couple years."
"Right... uh... Do ya... Do any drugs I should know 'bout?"
You want to slam your head against the table. "You're asking me this NOW!? Seriously? I've been watching your kid for two months and it dawns on you right now that I could be smoking crack in front of your five year old?"
His scarred lip twitches upward. "'s long as it's crack, Megs is cool with that. Didn't raise him to be a narc." "Fushiguro!" He chortles. "Sorry kid, yer easy to get a rise out of." He shovels some pasta in his mouth briefly. "You're insufferable you know that?" Toji throws his head back with a laugh again. "You act like you're the first woman to ever tell me that."
You shake your head at him and he inhales. "K, I've made up my mind. I have some ground rules if this is gunna work for both of us. Don't tell anyone you're watchin him and that he's my kid, not a soul, 'specially coworkers. Don't let him wander outside of the apartment complex alone, nd for the love of God stop giving him sugar past 5pm." Megumi frowns at the mention of his after dinner snack being cut out of the equation.
"I think I can handle that. Am I allowed to ask why you don't want anyone outside of the apartment knowing you have a kid...?" You glance at Megumi and then at Toji. He frowns before casting a stoney expression. "Nothing of concern, just don't want people in my business." You nod slowly before looking at Megumi. "I can pick you up from school if you'd like, Megs? That way you don't have to walk home all alone." His little eyes widen before he nods his head ecstatically.
Dinner was oddly quiet after that other than little details being ironed out. After dinner, you help Megumi to pick out some toys he could bring over to your apartment, the second he finishes he immediately passes asleep the moment he lays down. You take that as a sign of him getting a satisfactory outcome of the situation. He was such an easy kid, you don't understand how he's such an angel compared to his dad.
You quietly collect your share of his things and get ready to leave. Toji lifts his head up from the kitchen sink as you stalk toward the exit. "Thanks again... For giving a shit about him." "As I said before, he's a good kid." There's a beat of silence. "I can pay you if you want... " "Fushiguro, I don't want your money. Just, show up for your kid a bit more. That's all." He throws you a baffled look before morphing it into smirk. "Fine, have it yer way. I'll let the school know you'll be picking him up, so they don't call the cops on you or somethin'." You shake your head, slipping back on your pumps. "Always a charmer Fushiguro, I'll see you on Monday... And I guess every weekday from now on." Toji turns back towards the dishes. "Yeah. See you then." He hears the door open and then close.
A strange anxious feel settled in his chest. Everything will work out fine. Megumi will be safer this way. Safe with you.
