Wearing a yukata was a bit like wearing an overly complex bathrobe, only significantly less comfortable. But that could just be because my own skin was feeling uncomfortable right now. I was nervous, more nervous than I had ever been for a first date in my entire life. And it wasn't like I was going out with some stranger, it was with Rei, the woman I had spent countless hours with since I had come to this world, and my best friend.

In theory I shouldn't be nervous. She was, technically, my wife. Legally speaking at any rate. We never actually had a marriage, and back when she married Endeavour it was purely a loveless affair. He wanted her quirk, and she needed his money. Which might be why I was so nervous. It wasn't as simple as just making things right, in some ways I'd already done that, and tried to. She was the one that ripped up the divorce papers.

No. The reason why I was so nervous was simple.

I wanted a romance with Rei.

Or, at least I wanted to try for one.

It was pure selfishness on my part, but I wanted to make her smile every time we made eye contact. Maybe I was just being desperate for that personal connection with her, but I really wanted this to work out, I wanted a family life that was filled with love and laughter. Maybe it was all those wants that was why I was so nervous, maybe it was because it was Rei, and I still felt guilty over things that weren't ever going to happen, it could have been for any number of reasons, but in the end my nervousness stemmed from the feeling of powerlessness that came in the moments before the date really began.

Though, I doubt Rei would stand me up, because we lived in the same house, and even traveled here together.

I glanced at my dark blue kimono, and felt the soft fabric of my sleeve, once more I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, my dark red hair and blue eyes took some getting used to but these features were now comfortably familiar to me. Compared to how Endeavour wore his hair, I was in desperate need of a haircut, but I think the slightly longer look made me look more approachable.

Though, I did still have his resting bitch face, or did I bring that with me? It was probably a combination of the two.

"I had a feeling you'd look good in a kimono," my attention was on Rei the moment she entered the room. The minutes I had spent waiting for her had been worth it a thousand fold, and I now fully understood the beauty of a kimono. Her kind grey eyes were locked onto me with a kind of warmth that made my quirk feel like nothing. Her Kimono shined with all of winter's beauty, the upper parts were a pure snow white that matched Rei's hair in a way that made my head spin, and as the the pattern descended downwards, blue fractures, crystals, and snowflakes began to form which made her outfit look like it was a blizzard turned to cloth. It hugged her slender figure perfectly, it's flashiness only adding to her beauty.

But the part that fascinated me the most was her hair. I had never seen her hair actually up. Sure, I was a sucker for ponytails, and Rei had pulled those out with increasing frequency, but that wasn't exactly up. No, this time her hair was pulled up into an elegant bun on the back of her head, held in place by a blue rindou—her favorite flower—flanked by two smaller white flowers. On each side of her face, a tuft of hair that was curled to perfection. There was even a hint of make-up that hadn't been there before.

It almost felt like this wasn't even the same day that I had driven here with Rei.

"I'm not a dentist Enji," Rei placed a hand on my chest smiling at me, her purse dangling from her arm. "You can close your mouth."

I snapped my mouth shut and looked at her again, it didn't matter how dressed up Rei was, her smile was always the star of the show.

At least until her laugh showed up.

Rei gave a cute giggle that had my entire body bubbling with giddiness and completely smashed the nervous fit I had worked up to myself.

"I guess I should take that as a compliment though." Rei gave a slight wink and then spun around, her sandals tapping against the floor. "Though, I wouldn't mind hearing you—"

Her wrist fell into my hand when she made a full revolution, her eyes met mine and my mouth made noises before my brain could properly catch up. "You're beautiful Rei. Here, now, always."

Rei's smile vanished, her eyes were wide, and her cheeks flushed, she stared at me for a peaceful moment, that was both ruined and enhanced by the squealing of the younger clerk.

"Ahh, I hope when I'm married my husband will treat me like that."

Her mother—I guess—swatted her in the arm and rolled her eyes. "Keep up with your taste in men and you won't."

Damn, and I thought I was the one with the fire quirk, I doubted I could cause a burn quite that serve.

Still it made me feel much better that maybe I was doing something right with Rei.

"Right," Rei laughed and straightened her kimono slightly, her hand falling out of mine. "Well, shall we?"

"Sure!" My voice was probably a bit too loud and I shrunk down slightly. "I mean, umm, sure," I opened the door for her and we headed out into the historic area of Tokyo. "You really do look beautiful by the way."

"Enji, if you keep that up, I'm going to start thinking that you're trying to flirt with me." Rei hummed, both hands crossed in front of her as we walked. I wanted to hold her hand. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to pick her up, spin her around and laugh. But that might be going too far.

I scratched the back of my head, battling the duality of being unable to look away from Rei, and not wanting to stare at her too much. Despite the butterflies in my stomach I could feel a smile creep up on my face. It was the kind of smile that appeared just from walking beside a pretty girl, amplified by the fact that I was on a date with said pretty girl. "Am I not supposed to?"

"Well," Rei hummed leaning to the side just enough to bump me with her shoulder. "We are married aren't we?"

Great! Now if only I knew how to flirt! Somehow despite fancying myself a romance writer, I had no idea how to actually flirt; my basic line was girl pretty. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? I mean, what were we even supposed to talk about on a date, what did we talk about in the car ride over here? I know we talked, but I couldn't remember what! It was just talk!

"So," I started just to get my mouth moving normally when it started making noise, more noises would just come out of it. "What made you want to come here?"

"Oh, well," Rei gave a light laugh, holding her hand in front of her mouth slightly as we passed through a winding street filled with old japanese style houses. We were heading towards a park, and then through there towards a palace, after which we'd find some place to eat. "You're going to think it's silly."

"If it's why I'm here with you now, then it's not silly."

"Well, when I was little my grandma used to take me to a similar place in Kyoto. We would wear kimonos, walk around, and drink tea. She always said that I was made to wear a kimono, and I just thought that it would be a fun date. Besides, I wanted to see what you'd look like in kimono."

I spread my arms wide and gave her my biggest smile. "Well, how do I look?"

"Like a giant adorable teddy bear."

"Hmm, so I'm Totoro and you're a Yuki-Onna,"

"Yes! But I doubt you'll be turning into a bus, and I certainly hope I don't end up turning to mist."

"I'll make sure you don't."

Rei gave a soft laugh and pulled on my arm. "Hey, Enji, let's try some on."

"Huh? Oh! Okay!" We all but sprinted towards the stand where a wide variety of masks were set out on the street, some were simple, just cute little face masks, others more ornate. There were tengu masks, cute rabbit masks, cunning fox masks, grinning cats, ferocious tiger masks, and— I grabbed the mask that really caught my attention and smiled at it. Was this really something I was about to do?

The weeb in me said yes.

"What do you think—" Rei turned to me with a white and blue fox mask on her face.

It was too late.

I had the frog mask on, my hands outstretched like a classical japanese play actor, as I hoped on one foot. "From the east to the west, north, and south! I am the man with no enemies! Jiraiya, the toad sage!"

Rei stared at me for a second, and then snorted, her bubbling giggle quickly turning into full blown laughter. "What?"

I stood straight, and shrugged. "Nothing, I like your mask."

She kept laughing from behind her mask, up until we decided to purchase both masks and even beyond as we made our way towards the first of a dozen or so snack booths.

All things considered, this date was going pretty good! I got Rei to laugh a bunch, and we'd only just began. We meandered through the park, crossing over at least a hundred bridges as the path jumped from island to island, the soft sounds of nature felt so away from the city just on the horizon, it was enough to make me feel alone.

But not the dreadful loneliness that came from staying up too late and not going out, no, this the good kind of alone, the kind that was shared with someone.

"So," Rei started, using the same tactic I did earlier. "How do you like being a hero?"

I let out a long sigh, that had my entire body deflating. "Honestly?"

"Honestly," Rei nodded, her hand falling on top of my arm for a second. "You can trust me, I know you're not really fond of it."

"In a way, it's nice feeling like I'm making a difference," The fact that I had a meeting with a future extremist and set him on the road of being a politician might have gone to my head a bit. "But, I could go without getting punched so often. And I'd love to have more time off."

"Well, if you ever get punched hard enough I wouldn't mind taking care of you." Rei said. She then stopped and tilted her head to the side. "That came out wrong, please don't get hurt."

I let out a deep belly laugh that was loud enough to scare a bird out of the nearby tree. "Ha! I was about to say that'd be motivation to get hurt."

"If you end up in the hospital I'll be mad at you."

"I'll do my best to avoid that."

"The hospital?"

"No, you, getting mad at me."

Her smile returned and she bounced against my side once more.

"But what about you?" I asked as we started crossing yet another bridge, the wood clacking against our sandals. "How do you like being a housewife?"

Rei sighed. Maybe bringing up the kids wasn't such a good idea. "Fuyumi's pretty easy to manage, but Touya is so energetic I can barely keep up. I can't wait for him to start school in a few months. Though, it's been a lot better since you showed up. Maybe once Fuyumi starts school too we'd have more time to do things like this as well."

"Yeah," I nodded, letting my hand drop as I glanced at Rei's. Would it be too much to grab it? She had such soft hands and she always felt like the cool side of the pillow in the middle of summer. "Well, I mean, there's nothing stopping us from going out more, is there?"

Rei gave a light pout, and pushed one of her curled strands of hair back. "I can only leave the kids with my parents every so often, and Touya wears them out too, so maybe once a month at best?"

"Hmm, why don't we get a babysitter?" I blinked and smiled. "Actually, I think I know the perfect one."

"Oh, that smile is evil." Rei grabbed my arm and held onto it tight. "Tell me more."

"All Might owes me, I'm willing to cash in those favors for a few more dates with you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Date?" She asked, her smugness reaching peak levels. "I don't think I ever called this a date."

My blood went cold. Did I misread the situation? Did I misread playful banter as flirting?

"But, I like the sound of that Enji, and I'd love to go on more dates with you." She reached down and grabbed my hand before leaning up and kissing my cheek softly. Her lips were cold. "Just stop treating me like I'm going to run away. You're so afraid that you're going to treat me like Endeavour did, it feels like you're—"

"Actually, I'm not, I'm actually naturally this timid." I laughed holding her hand tightly. "Sorry, but really, treating you like Endeavour did not even cross my mind."

Probably. I think a lot of random stuff and forget most of it.

She blushed. "Oh, well, I clearly misread things then, but don't be afraid to ask me for things."

"When we get home and watch our show can we cuddle?"

Rei nodded. "I'd like that."

Woo! Cuddling!

AN: Woo! Cuddling! Also tormenting All Might with baby sitting duty! Muhaha!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write.

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