Chapter Text
The movers made a great noise going in and out, carrying all of Shouto’s things into Izumi’s house. At the breakfast table, Shouto slowly proffered the paper towards her.
“Then, Izumi-san… please sign this.”
She made a face.
“It’s seven a.m. right now…?”
“Yes! I wanted to submit it before heading to work.”
“Excuse me!” The moving man called from the hallway, “Where should we put the chest of drawers?”
“Oh, please take it to the second floor,” Shouto said. He turned to Izumi. “I’ll be using the room upstairs, right?”
Izumi, busy scribbling her signature onto the marriage certificate, nodded.
“Yes.”
Finishing his breakfast, Shouto picked up the certificate.
“Then, I’ll be back soon.” He nodded at her, and closed the door behind him with a light thud.
When he reached the municipal government office to get the marriage registered, there was a huge line.
Oh no, Shouto thought. I’ll never get it done before work.
He just gave up and went to work.
“Did you file your marriage registration yet, Todoroki?” his boss asked him cheerfully.
“No, sir.”
“Get it done, lad!”
Shouto sighed.
“Yes, sir.”
Kaminari gave him a sympathetic shoulder pat which was more like a whack. “What’s the issue? The lady say no again?”
Shouto looked up.
“No. It’s just – the line was too long to get it done before work.”
“Ah, I see. You guys must have been disappointed, then.”
“Well – I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know how she feels about it.”
When Shouto got home he told Izumi-san about it over dinner.
“Oh?” She glanced up from her soup. The crease in her forehead seemed to disappear.
“That’s okay,” she said.
Had she looked relieved?
“I guess you can just get it done tomorrow.”
Shouto wondered if he was wrong.
For the next few days the line was long as usual. Why were so many people getting married these days? It’s not like it was wedding season. Was it? It’s not like Shouto knew when wedding season was. He had never paid any attention to marriages before.
That whole week he was nearly late to work and didn’t get any closer to actually registering his marriage. He’d be adding Izumi-san to his family registry as well, since she didn’t have any living family of her own. He wouldn’t have minded taking on her name himself, but they had discussed it and agreed that in case the marriage did not last, it was better to keep their own names. And, Izumi-san had observed, you were quite attached to your own name.
Today he was back at the municipal office. Today the line was long as usual. Perhaps not quite as long, but it was a very slight difference. He might not get done before work started. He might be late again. But today was the last day this week that the office was open for marriage registrations. No wonder so many people were here every day, despite the early hours. Were there really that many people getting married in their neighborhood – in their municipality? Shouto gulped. I won’t get done before work.
But he decided to wait in line for a bit, in case he was wrong.
Shouto hadn’t exactly been paying attention before, but now with nothing to do but stand in line and wait, he looked around at just exactly which types of people were there, getting their marriages registered so early in the morning.
A young man and woman in front of him clasped hands. They smiled at each other, smiles of affection and quiet happiness. “I’m so glad we’re finally getting our marriage registered, my dear.”
“We’re finally starting a new phase of our lives together,” said the husband. He squeezed his wife’s hand.
Shouto looked away quickly, and found his gaze resting on two young women. The shorter one booped the taller one’s nose affectionately. He saw an older couple holding hands and blushing at each other like children. They all had an air of shining hope and warm love in the crisp morning air (we’re inside, how is the air crisp? Shouto thought). Everyone’s eyes were shining, with an idealistic, youthful love, or with a warm fire that burns hotter and hotter as it grows. Or both. Shouto didn’t realize people could look like that. He was surprised.
“I hope we’ll be happy together for the rest of our lives,” a person whispered to their partner as they left the municipal office hand in hand.
“We’ll do our best,” their partner replied. “I love you.”
There will be fights, though, Shouto thought. And disagreements. No marriage and no partnership is without them. He sighed to himself. He had never thought he’d get married, never been keen on the idea (why consign oneself to unhappiness? He’d written in a poem in his youth – his high school days) – and yet, here he was. Getting married. By himself.
He was not overly shocked but he was a bit dismayed to find he was the only single person there. The odd one out. Emphasis on one. He stuck out like a sore thumb. He had hoped he wouldn’t be the only one with extenuating circumstances forcing them to come alone. But couples came to get marriages registered together. That was the point.
People’s declarations and tiny displays of love and affection were starting to make him uncomfortable. Was he embarrassed? His thoughts turned to Izumi-san.
They didn’t love each other. They barely knew each other. So why were they getting married? He thought of Izumi-san’s green eyes, full of tears. He thought of her quiet ways, and her declaration that she only wanted to live in this world as long as her cat was alive. He thought of how kind and considerate she had been to him. He thought of how she might look, laughing freely, maybe in some bygone time. He wondered if she was getting married to someone she loved, would she look like that? Would he look like that? People were here with their partners, so why was he here all alone? Suddenly a fear gripped his heart – had he forced Izumi-san into this?
Shouto never wanted to force anyone into anything. Especially not marriage. Shouto was not his father. He didn’t want a repeat of anything that had happened in his family, especially not with someone innocent who would otherwise be spared. He hadn’t forced her, had he? Shouto did not wait to think about it. He ran.
Izumi-san was watering the tomato plants when he got there, panting and out of breath, his tie askew. She turned to look at him in alarm. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” He put his hands on his knees as he gasped this out. “Izumi-san!”
Shouto waited a bit to get his breath back. Izumi obligingly waited too.
“I’m not forcing you into this, am I?”
Izumi frowned.
“I mean, I thought maybe you didn’t actually want to get married, and only agreed because I was being so pushy. We barely know each other, after all.”
Izumi put her hand on her hip, and looked up contemplatively. When she began speaking, it was a bit hesitantly, like she was trying hard to find words to properly convey what she felt.
“At first… I wasn’t really sure. I didn’t actually want to get married… And you’re right; we don’t know each other. I didn’t want to say yes just because you were pushing me for an answer, though… But then, I agreed. I think…” Here, she looked into his eyes steadily. “I do… want a family. I do want to be a family, with you. I mean, I only said yes then because I wasn’t looking… very far. I wanted someone to live with, again, and… mean something to, I think? I don’t know how long I have to live, anyway, so I thought I might as well do it. Something… new? Something I haven’t done before, that I probably might have done anyway, if things were different.” She shrugged.
“Everybody gets married, right? So I thought, why not. I don’t have anything to lose. If you turned out to be abusive, then I could just leave, or I might die first. Anyway, I’d be able to call the police on you and live on my own again. No big deal. Or our marriage might not work out anyway and we’d just get a divorce early. And you didn’t seem abusive… You seemed kind… So when I said yes, I meant it. And I didn’t want to go back on my decision, really.”
“Those don’t seem like very… optimistic reasons, Izumi-san. Most people don’t get married for reasons like that.”
“You’re not getting married for normal reasons either, though.”
“I guess not… But it doesn’t really matter about getting married… I mean, I want you to be happy, Izumi-san. I want to make you happy, if I can. I’ll do my best, to the most of my abilities. But if I can’t, and if you don’t want to, then we don’t have to get married.”
“I don’t want to force myself on you. Or force something you don’t want.”
“Shouto-san… It’s not something I don’t want. I don’t want you to leave,” Izumi looked down, suddenly embarrassed. “I like having you in the house, and… I think I could be happy, with you.” She looked up at him, slowly.
“You said you wanted to be my family. I’m okay with that. I want that… I do… I do want to get married.”
Shouto looked at Izumi. Izumi looked at Shouto. Suddenly she raised her fist in the air, face set with determination.
“Let’s be happy together!”
Shouto stared at her. Izumi stared back, wide-eyed and uncomprehending. And then they both burst out laughing.
“Isn’t that the name of a show?” Shouto wheezed.
“I think… so? I haven’t watched it in a long time!” Izumi said. She was smiling, and Shouto was smiling, and suddenly things were better than before.
“Do you want to go get that marriage registered?” Izumi asked.
Shouto nodded, smiling. Izumi walked up the back porch, taking off her apron as she went. And that was the day that became their wedding anniversary. May 10th, 10 a.m. on a beautiful morning with the sun shining down warmly and a breeze blowing pleasantly. Izumi was in her pajamas and Shouto was in his work suit, but they were laughing and they were there together. It was the start of many adventures for them both.