#jjkfanfic
Epilogue: What life is like given a few years to settle in with Toji.
A/N: Something short and sweet to end on. Thank you so much to every one who left kudos and comments. You all really kept me working on this piece when it got hard to carry on. The ending for this story came to me way easier than any other story I have ever had. In the future, look forward to a Nanami story next. In between me working on that story I’ll probs update with a Nanami oneshot, and a few satosugu x fem!reader one shots.
The Girl Next Door Master List
“You know, you’re talking a lot of shit for a woman who needs my help getting off of the ground,” Toji griped at you, looking up from the furniture pieces in his hands to level you with a glare. You stuck your tongue out at him in retribution.
“I’m just saying, maybe this would go quicker if you looked at the directions,” you argued, only to startle a bit and put your hand down on your rounded belly. The last two years were tamed compared to everything that had happened before. Toji proposed about six months after you got home from visiting the boys in Tokyo. You got married a few months later, choosing to elope instead of having a huge wedding. There was a reception with your friends, and you spent your honeymoon somewhere tropical.
“Are you alright?” Toji asked, turning a speculative eye at you where you sat on a floor pillow with your back resting against the wall.
You nodded, “Your strong ass baby just kicked me.”
“That’s her telling you to get off my ass and let me build this damn crib,” he continued, though you didn’t miss how he visibly relaxed at the assurance that it was just a kick. A baby had been a hard sell for Toji. It’s not that he didn’t like kids. Through his continued correspondence with Megumi he found that he actually might have enjoyed raising him. No, what bothered him was the risk it could pose to you. As you watched him try to put together two pieces that obviously didn’t go together you thought of the night you got up the courage to ask him for a baby.
“Hey, Toji,” you’d called, throwing one leg over him so you could sit up and be straddling him. His hands rested easily on your thighs kneading the soft flesh. The two of you were in between rounds, catching your breath before you would inevitably go again.
“Hm?”
“You know how you always say I can have whatever I want,” you began.
“What do you want?” he rolled his eyes.
“Well, it’s really quite a small thing, and I think you’ll really enjoy giving it to me.”
He raised an eyebrow as he looked up at your smiling face. Just looking up at you like this made him feel all soft in the chest. It was disgusting, and he loved it.
“What do you want?” he asked again.
“I want a baby,” you said softly, tentatively as if you were almost afraid to ask. The question froze him in place for a moment. You wanted a baby.
He frowned, “What happened to Fuck them Kids?”
“Weeeell, I’m sure I’ll like my kid. Don’t you think we’d be good at it?”
He let out a humorless laugh, “I didn’t take care of my first kid remember?”
“I believe in second chances,” you smiled but when he didn’t return the expression you visibly deflated, “It’s okay if the answer is no. I want you to want it too.”
You moved to get off of him, but his grip on your thighs tightened to keep you in place. He was giving you a calculating look, “Mm, try to sell me on it.”
“You want me to persuade you?” You asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, what’s the sales pitch? What’s in it for me?”
Your smile was back as you realized this was his way of considering it, “Well, you get the honor of being my baby daddy and husband. We’ll really be locked in for life.”
“So you’re trapping me?” he grinned.
“Right, I’m trapping you after the wedding.”
“Marriages break up, kids are forever.”
“Alright, well, fine it’s a trap. But you wouldn’t want to escape anyway. You know our kid’s gonna be cute as fuck. Come on, you can’t tell me the idea of a little curly headed menace running around the new house doesn’t put a smile on your face.”
Toji laid back and listened to the dream you weaved. He’d just wanted to know where your head was and he wanted a chance to see the possibilities that you saw. In all honesty, if he could live in your head forever, that would be just fine by him. The way you smiled, talking about this hypothetical child, and the sparkle in your eyes as you looked down at him made him accept his fate. He was going to give you what you wanted.
“Couple of rules,” he said when you were done.
“Oh good I have rules too. You go first.”
“Rule one, if it’s you or the parasite we choose you,” he said seriously, “And I get to name ‘em.”
“Absolutely not. Fuck you,” you laughed.
“Come on.”
“I’m not carrying your big ass baby for nine to ten months just to let you name ‘em. Hell no. You can choose the middle name.”
“Middle name?”
“Yeah, a second name. You can choose the second name.”
“Fine, middle name,” he rolled his eyes, “and last rule… no martyr shit. I don’t care how late in the game we are. If it’s you or them I want you. Got it?”
You elected not to tell him that his third rule was really just the first rule again. It kinda warmed your heart that he was more concerned about you than the idea of carrying on his bloodline. You really found new things to fall in love with about him every day.
“Okay,” you nodded, “Now for my rules. First rule, therapy. We both had fucked up childhoods, we gotta do the work so we don’t fuck our kid up the same way our parents fucked us up. We gotta find new and exciting ways to do it.”
Toji snorted, “Deal.”
“Alright, and with that, I don’t hit kids. We gotta try that gentle parenting bullshit.”
“Fine”
“And lastly… you gotta promise you’ll still love me, when the baby makes me huge, and afterwards, when my body looks like it’s been through a blender. You gotta love me through all of it.”
He rolled his eyes at that demand, as if he could do anything but love you at this point, “Til death do us part, sweetheart.”
You grinned leaning down to kiss him as you began to rock in his lap, “I’m gonna fucking chuck my birthcontrol in the ocean.”
“So it’s Fuck the Ocean now? That’s a step too far. I draw the line at pollution.”
“Shut up.”
Toji reached over and plucked the instructions out of your hands, breaking you out of your reverie. You smiled smugly as he studied the paper carefully. Obviously he’d needed it. It was his idea to get this complicated baby crib. The thing did more than you thought was necessary. Knowing him, the baby wouldn’t even sleep in the nursery. They’d be in their bassinet in your bedroom.
“Wipe that stupid grin off your face,” he griped at you.
“Oh I can’t smile now? You don’t want to see your lovely pregnant wife smile?”
“You’re being a little shit and you know it.”
“You know babies can hear in the womb. Your daughter can hear how you speak to her mother. She’ll come out holding a grudge.”
“She’ll come out knowing her mother has a smart ass mouth.”
“You’ll have to stop cursing so much when the baby comes,” you said, “I don’t want her first word to be fuck.”
“Why not? It’s a good word. It’s got a lot of uses.”
You rolled your eyes at him. Seeing him put together furniture like this reminded you of who the two of you were at the beginning of all this. Just two neighbors, one trying desperately to make a home for herself, the other… you actually didn’t know why he bothered getting involved with you. But you were happy that he decided to help you put together an overcomplicated bookshelf. And you were happy for every bit of help he’d given to you. You straightened out your leg and nudged him with your foot. He looked at you, and you’d gotten so accustomed to the softness of his gaze that it was only now that you realized just how different the two of you were from those people just a few years ago. He grabbed your foot and put it in his lap.
“Fucking hell, your ankles are swollen. They look like a busted can of biscuits.”
Your expression dropped, “Fuck you. It’s your baby’s fault I’m retaining water. You promised to love me even when I got big.”
“Oh I love you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make fun of you and your sausage toes.”
You kicked him again and he laughed at your poor temper. He massaged your foot absently as he continued reading.
“Don’t forget you have to pick the boys up from the airport at noon,” you reminded him as he seemed to be taking his sweet time with the crib.
“I know.”
Your eyes traced across the walls of the nursery. You and Toji really tag teamed this place. Most of your work was done before you got big. Now you couldn’t imagine putting in any amount of work to get this place together. The vision was really coming together, especially as Niecey kept sending stuff for the baby to the house. You wouldn’t need to buy any onesies, bibs, or toys.
Toji helped you off of the floor and downstairs before he left to pick up the boys. Yuji had been over the moon when he realized that your due date was in the summer. It seemed impossible to curb his enthusiasm about anything. The two of you spent a lot of time texting, going back and forth with baby names.
Megumi was reserved about it. Toji assured you he’d talked to Megumi about it. You feared that he felt resentful about a new baby, given Toji’s choices in the past. He was entitled to his emotions of course, so you tried not to push him. When the two of you talked on the phone, you kept your conversation about things other than the baby, which was easy as the two of you quizzed each other on your second languages. You enrolled with a tutor to help teach you Japanese shortly after you first met Megumi and Megumi began to take his English studies more seriously after meeting you. It was a better way to engage with him. You wondered if Megumi would come around once the baby was born.
When the boys came through the door, you were surprised to see just how much they’d grown since the last time they visited. The two of them were well into high school at this point and growing into respectable young men.
“Stop growing,” you complained as they walked in, “you two are getting so tall.”
Yuji was the first to hug you. His embrace was firm, but much gentler than his usual embraces. He pulled back to look at your stomach.
“You’re growing too, we just FaceTimed last week and you’re already bigger.”
You scoffed, “I blame Toji for this monster baby.”
“It’s always my fault,” Toji grumbled in response.
“It sure is,” you nodded, “Yuji, there are cookies in the kitchen. I made ‘em this morning with you in mind.”
He gasped, “You’re the best!” he let you go, in favor of going to the kitchen. You noticed then, the thoughtful way that Megumi was looking at you. You gave him a wave and then after a moment of silent deliberation, opened your arms to him. He accepted the hug, though he seemed afraid to squeeze you.
“How are you?” Megumi asked.
“I’m fine. A little top heavy, but you know.”
He nodded, “Not in any pain.”
You wondered a bit at his tone, but then thought of how Toji regarded you sometimes. It was his way of showing he cared when he fretted over you.
“No. Well no more than is normal, when there’s a baby sitting on your internal organs.”
He nodded, seeming not to know what to say next. You looked up to Toji for a moment then took a deep breath.
“We still haven’t figured out names, yet. I’ve banned Toji from giving suggestions.”
“Smart,” Megumi nodded, “He’s the worst at naming children.”
“You have a great name,” Toji protested.
“I have a girl’s name. I was teased in school for it.”
“So you got tougher. That’s a win.”
Megumi rolled his eyes before looking at you again, “You’re smart. He sucks at names.”
You nodded, “But if you have any suggestions, I’m open to it.”
“Oh, okay.”
Having the boys over always meant days jammed packed with summer activities. Toji felt a little bit better about going to the gym to train with them around. The two reliably helped you out around the house, and looked after you while you were out. Yuji was the most outwardly protective of you, but at one point some random guy at the grocery store tried to touch you and Megumi gave him a glare so malevolent you thought the guy was going to pee himself. The two certainly kept you active, but it was often Megumi who enforced the rule for you to take breaks often.
Similarly, the two of you seemed to get hungry for a midnight snack at around the same time. He found the weird combinations of food you indulged in to be as disgusting as they were amusing. One night he found you in the kitchen struggling with a pickle jar. It was near the end of summer and you were due any day.
“It’s a pickle night?” he asked to alert you to his presence.
You nodded, “Well, it would be if I could get the jar open. I think Toji screws them on tight to be cruel.” He actually did it so you wouldn’t overdo it on pickles and make your heartburn worse.
He held out his hand for the jar and you handed it over. With a swift twist the lid was off.
“I loosened it up for you,” you grumbled, taking the jar back.
“Of course,” he agreed, turning to go to the pantry for his own snack. You sat at the kitchen table with the jar of pickles and a few napkins. Megumi joined you with a bag of chips. You were pouring over your list of names once again. You had a little journal full of them. Megumi peered at the writing curiously.
“Your kanji is better. It looks like perhaps a fifth year elementary student wrote it now.”
Your jaw dropped before you laughed, playfully shoving him away, “You’re so mean. These are Toji’s selections, and I was trying to decide if there was different kanji that could make them more bearable.”
“Oh no. They are awful. Kanji will not save you.”
“Yeah, I was coming to that conclusion.”
You were both silent for a good long while as you looked over names from other people trying to see if any of those spoke to you.
“How about Ren?”
“Ren?”
“Mmhm. It’s simple, but strong and gender neutral.”
You thought it over for a bit but as you thought, you realized that maybe this was Megumi’s way of extending an olive branch. He was obviously comfortable enough with the thought of a little sister to be engaged with the naming process.
“I think I like it,” you smiled. He gently took your little journal and wrote the Kanji for you a couple of ways and he explained the significance of each character. You knew as you listened to him talk that you had found your daughter’s name.
“It will also stand well next to any awful name that my father picks for her second name.”
You snorted, “Yeah, but middle names are supposed to be bad. Only boring people have normal middle names.”
Ren made her grand appearance into the world four days before the boys were set to go back to Tokyo. She came in the middle of the night. Neither you nor Toji were asleep. You’d been pacing the floor in the bedroom trying to ease the pain of what you thought were Braxton Hicks contractions. Toji was timing them and so he was intimately aware that the time between contractions was dwindling.
“You’re going into labor genius. Come on,” he barked at you, worry made him irritable.
“If we go now, they’re just going to have me waiting in a stupid hospital room until my water breaks.”
“Good! That’s where you should be.”
“You’re supposed to be a soothing presence, Toji,” you snapped at him, “I don’t feel very soothed right now.”
“Well, I’ll be soothing when your ass is in a hospital room. Come on,” He was already up and grabbing your go bag. You growled a sound of avide frustration.
“You’re being ridiculous. Labor can last days for some women.”
“She better not take that long,” Toji threw back, glaring at you with wide green eyes, and then turning his sights on your stomach, “You listen here, kid. You are going to take it easy on your mother on the way out. Give her hell after that.”
“You’re a horrible influence,” You groaned.
“You knew that when you married me, now come on so I can help you down the stairs.”
You rolled your eyes. You didn’t have the mental bandwidth to argue with him and breathe through your contractions. Toji helped you downstairs then ran up to wake up the boys and tell them that the two of you were going to hospital.
“Don’t burn down the house while we’re gone. I’ll give you a call when the miracle of childbirth is over.”
Megumi made a sleepy sound of agreement and Toji wasn’t confident that Yuji was even awake. Since it was such an odd hour of the night the streets were clear on the way to the hospital. You hobbled in, holding on to his arm as he walked to the front desk. The tired eyed woman at the desk looked up from her computer to the two of you with a kind of indifference that could only be gained by spending years at this front desk.
“My wife is in labor.”
She blinked, “Has her water broken?”
“No.”
“Take a seat,” she said, turning to her computer.
You sighed knowing good and well that was the worst thing she could have said to him.
“Absolutely, fucking not, you tired ass b-”
“Alright!” you interrupted loudly, letting go of Toji’s hand, “Look, ma’am. That right there, is the reigning heavyweight champ alright. He will knock all of this shit over before he takes a seat. So save yourself some paperwork. You should have gotten a call from my OB/GYN Dr. Challah. We’ve got a birth plan already set up. Please, for your sake, follow it to a T.”
She looked at you with wide eyes and then back at Toji before making the wise decision to start looking through the papers on the desk in front of her. It was truly the best thing she could have done for herself because Toji was already fuming. Before long you were in a room to wait for your water to break. That took a few more hours of pacing and cursing while Toji became more and more on edge. When you water broke they moved you to another room where you could deliver your baby
Seven hours later, your beautiful baby girl took her first breath, and showed the world the set of lungs she had on her. You all but collapsed back into Toji’s arms once she was out. You could hear your doctor speaking to you, congratulating you on a beautiful baby, and making observations with the attending nurses that all seemed great.
“You fucking did it, sweetheart,” Toji breathed, nearly delirious with relief.
“One and done. No more kids,” you answered, voice ragged and hoarse from yelling as you pushed.
“No more. One and done,” he agreed emphatically. He hated seeing you in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it. It was an acutely distressing sensation that he never wanted to feel again.
Though, watching the change in your body, the very moment they put your baby on your stomach to clean her and give you a bit of skin to skin contact before they weighed her was something special. It was like the contact alone breathed life back into you and you went from a woman who looked like she might pass out at any moment to being alert and watchful as they picked her up. Toji had long since laid down the law that anything they needed to do with the baby would be done in the sprawling delivery room he paid for so it wasn’t long before she was in your arms. Toji’s hold body was curled protectively around the two of you, watching as you began to tear up over her.
“Look at her,” You squeaked at him, voice pulled higher by your tears. He was looking at her. She had a head full of hair, which made sense considering how badly you’d suffered from heartburn. Her eyes were close and she was only hours old so she didn’t look like much but a newborn infant. Her features would set eventually and bids on who she looked like could be made.
“She’s perfect,” he said, smoothing her jet black hair down where it already curled against her forehead. She left your arms briefly as they cleaned you up a bit and moved you to a new room where you could potentially have visitors. They had you nurse, being sure Ren latched on properly and that all was well in that aspect. You weren’t concerned about your ability to produce milk though. You’d been leaking like an overstuffed cow on a dairy farm. You were half afraid Ren would drown, but all went well.
“That was probably the smoothest birth I’ve ever delivered,” you doctor laughed as she came to check in on the three of you.
Toji held Ren when all of the adrenaline, and other hormones left your body and you were too tired to carry on. You passed him the perfect little bundle of joy, giggling softly about how comically small she looked in his arms. If he thought he was gone for you, then he was truly hopeless now. The moment he held her to his chest, she cracked a toothless little grin. Was it probably just gas? Yeah. But that little expression was enough to make Toji realize he was going to spoil this child rotten.
At your behest, in the morning you told him to go pick up the boys so they could meet Ren. You were alert and capable of moving around, though you tried to avoid it if you could. You wanted the boys to see the baby before they had to leave. It’s not like you all lived terribly far from the hospital. It was a 15 minute drive, and Toji called ahead to tell the boys to be ready. Your doctor was keeping you an extra day for observation, and so you’d only be home one day before the boys had to leave. You wanted them to have as much time as possible with her.
When they came back, Toji had barely been gone 20 minutes and it looked like he’d already imagined that the worst possible thing that could happen had happened in his absence. He was visibly relieved to see you were playing games on your phone while Ren napped. You grinned at them. Yuuji came over and hugged you gently, before peering over into the hospital crib to look at Ren. She had a little pink cap over her head.
“Oh wow,” Yuji gasped, “she’s so cute.”
“You don’t have to lie. She kinda looks like an earthworm. All babies look weird when they’re born.”
You succeeded in making Megumi, of all people, laugh with that quip. Toji just shot you a withering glare.
“You’re going to stop calling my baby a worm,” he wagged his finger at you.
“Or what?” you challenged.
Yuji was eager to hold her and you had him sit down before depositing her into his arms, “Just be sure to support her head.”
“She’s so little,” He looked back at you with eyes, “She weighs next to nothing.”
“Yeah I feel a little upset about that. I was all big and round just to give birth to this little baby.”
Megumi peered over Yuji’s shoulder, curious about his little sister but obviously a bit reserved about holding her himself. It wasn’t until late in the visit, while you, Yuji, and Toji were engaged in a conversation that he took his turn holding her. You spied them, but chose not to comment. He studied her plump, squishy little face. Her cap came off as she nuzzled into his arms and Megumi noticed her hair. He couldn’t help smiling as he saw the way the barely developed curls of her hair made the ends stick up from her little head. It was the most unlikely of family resemblances, given that he knew he got his hair from his mother, and while he couldn’t in good faith call Ren’s hair spikey, the curved locks of hair were enduring. He knew they would become curls before long. He tugged the hat back on her head gently.
“Megumi, are you smiling?” Yuji gasped.
His smile dropped almost immediately, “No.”
“You were. You were smiling.”
You grinned up at Toji. You could already see that Ren had him just as enamored as she had the rest of you.
By the time the boys were done with high school, Ren was running around the house doing absolutely nothing but terrorizing her father, with brief breaks to cuddle up to you. She was more your twin than Toji’s something you felt a smug sort of pride about, and while she showed her affection for you in hugs and kisses, she usually showed Toji love by using him as a jungle gym. It didn’t matter to her that he was tired from training or just got in from a fight. If she decided that she was going to jump of the sofa and cling on to him, then that’s just what would happen. The only time things were any different is when the boys were visiting. They walked in the door while she was having the world’s weirdest tea party with you. She dropped the plastic tea pot and went sprinting for the front door.
“Is that Ren I hear?” Yuji called out playfully, pretending like he really had no idea who’s little feet were slapping on the floor as she ran.
“Yuji, Yuji, Yuji!” She yelled in a song-like tone. As she yelled her little chant, Yuji joined in, but instead sang Ren’s name. You picked up the discarded teapot before continuing down the hall after Ren. You found her in Yuji’s arms speaking a mile a minute with a good mix of English, Japanese, and pure nonsense. Nevertheless, Yuji nodded dutifully as if he understood every word.
“Hey, Yuji? Where are the other two?”
Yuji beamed at you, “Oh, probably getting the bags which I should be helping with.” In spite of his words he came over and hugged you taking his time with his hello as always. He passed Ren to you, much to her dismay.
“No, Mama! Yuji!” she pointed after him.
“If you put on your sandals you can go outside like Yuji.”
She hastily pushed away from you. You had to bend down quickly so she wouldn’t fall. She tried to put on her sandals quickly, but fumbled with it so much that she really didn’t get out of the door any faster. It was an adorable sight though. You slipped on some sandals to follow her out. It obviously hadn’t occurred to her that Megumi would be outside as well because when she saw him she gasped.
“Gumi!”
Megumi turned at the nickname just in time to see her running over. She did not move fast despite her efforts. Her dark springy coils bounced with every bit of movement, making it looked like it had a life of its own. From your accounts about trying to tame her hair, maybe it did have a life of its own. He squatted down to received her embrace.
“Is this really, Ren?” he asked seriously.
“Yes!”
“I don’t know. My Ren is only this tall,” he argued putting his hand out a couple of inches shorter than her.
“I grew! ‘M gonna be tall like Daddy.”
“You grew? So you are Ren?”
“Yes!”
“I just don’t believe it,” he kept teasing her. She made a little sound of frustration that he found adorable, and she looked up at Yuji who was nearby.
“Ask Yuji! I’m Ren!”
“Megumi, stop teasing her. You know it makes her angry,” Yuji rolled his eyes.
Megumi chuckled, before ruffling her curls, “Hi, Ren.”
She growled at him before throwing herself at him for another hug. You could only smile as you looked at the two of them. She quickly talked him into letting her sit on his shoulders. It didn’t even take much convincing. The little girl was so delightfully spoiled, but never rotten. The immense affections that her family held for her only made her sweeter. Though as Toji approached you he looked put out.
“What’s the matter, old man?” you asked peering up at him.
“I didn’t even get a hello,” Toji grumbled, “She hasn’t seen me all day.”
“She’ll remember you in a bit. The boys are just new and shiny. I’m happy to have you all to myself for a little while.”
“Is that right?” he smirked.
You hummed your agreement as you leaned into him, wrapping your arms around his waist. He bent down and pressed his lips to yours for a soft building kiss. The only thing that pulled you out of the moment was your daughter.
“MOMMY! THE TEA PARTY!” she shrieked, only just remembering the task she’d left behind.
“We have more guests! We’ll need more cups babydoll.”
“Okay. Daddy can have the big cup!”
You looked back at him with a smile, “See, daddy? You can have the big cup.”
“Lucky me.”
