Emma didn't make it.
It wasn't unusual for mothers to die during childbirth, but it was never easy to experience. She'd been pushing and breathing like the doctors told her but the moment Melissa was finally out and getting washed up, her heart slowed from the adrenaline spike too quickly and took her life.
Dave was devastated. Even while holding his new baby girl, he couldn't help but cry for the death of his wife. She was still in the hospital bed, cold and pale. The doctors were quick to shove both men out of the room and unfortunately, that meant taking Melissa away as well.
Toshinori was angry. He wanted to punch through the wall, but knew that wouldn't do anything but make things worse. Why? Why had this beautiful day been cursed by the death of such an amazing person? It wasn't fair. Dave and Emma both deserved to live happily, together. They deserved to drive home and carefully lay Melissa in her brand new crib. They were going to camp out in the hospital room while Emma recovered. Why did this perfect family have to be ripped apart from the seams?
A soft hand touched his own and Toshinori nearly flinched away. Dave was still sobbing, trying to hold something, someone that was no longer there. He tried to speak, his mouth open, but nothing came out. What could you say after something like that? How do you speak after losing everything that ever mattered to you?
"I know." Toshinori whispered, worried his anger would make Dave's hurting worse. He let out a breath and pulled his age old friend close, letting him cry into the likely dirty shirt he wore. His anger started to simmer away into plain emptiness and he wondered how they could continue. What were they going to do? What was going to happen to Melissa, now that Emma was gone? What if they lost the baby girl as well?
No. He couldn't think like that. If Dave lost his daughter, he'd likely never recover. He couldn't lose everything and Toshinori would make sure that happened. He would change the spin of the Earth if it meant that one good thing came from this.
"I should've been watching." Dave sobbed, his voice sounded raspy and sore. "If I'd just watched her closer, then maybe-" He interrupted himself with another hard sob.
Toshinori hugged his friend as close as he dared. "Don't say that. It's no one's fault, alright? No one was able to stop it." That almost made it worse. If it was no one's fault, then who was he going to blame? When Nana died, he had someone to turn his anger toward but now?
They sat in the waiting area for a long time before anyone came out to get them. It was the same doctor that had delivered Melissa. Toshinori could see the small tears in their eyes behind the mask they wore. "I'm sorry for your loss, . I wish we could do something more. You're allowed to come back to hold Melissa if you'd like."
Toshinori looked at his friend closely. It took a long pause, but Dave eventually nodded. Toshinori looked back to the doctor. "Thank you. We'd like to see her."
Standing was difficult when Dave refused to release his shirt. Toshinori held the smaller man's back and kept him steady as they walked through the long halls. They didn't go back to the delivery room, but a smaller nursery. There was no one else inside but a doctor with the little baby Melissa in their arms. Slowly, Dave stepped forward and took the baby into his own arms. Toshinori watched carefully, ready to catch either one of them.
Melissa was very pink and had little to no hair on her small head. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her limbs moved without any real coordination. There were a few tumbes on her arms and a large clip on her belly button. Or, what would later become her belly button. She was all wrapped up in the purple blanket Emma had made for her the first week of her pregnancy.
Dave turned toward Toshinori slowly, tears still streaming down his face, but he was smiling. "Toshi." He whispered as he looked back down to his daughter. Her little fingers wrapped around one of his fingers. "She's perfect." More tears came but he held her firmly.
Toshinori risked a step forward and leaned down to get closer to Dave's height. Dave started rocking her back and forth, whispering soft words to a child that couldn't understand him. When the brunette offered her to Toshinori, he refused. He couldn't trust himself to hold this beautiful child. He could kill her so easily but Dave laid her into his large arms anyway, insisting that Toshinori wouldn't hurt her.
She fit almost entirely in the palm of his hand. She was so, so tiny and weighed next to nothing. The blanket was soft against this wrist and the moment she realized she was no longer in her father's arms, she started to cry. Instead of anxiously offering her back, he chuckled and touched the soft fuzz on the top of her head with a single finger. His thumb was roughly the side of her face. "I'll be your favorite hero some day."
He could hear Dave laugh at that. He offered her back, reluctantly. As he watched his best friend cradle her closely, he finally understood that things would be okay. They could get through this, even if Emma couldn't see it. The world wouldn't end today. Toshinori was sure of it.
…
There were more people at the funeral than had gone to the baby shower. It was clear who only went to get attention by fake crying over someone they never cared about. To Toshinori, the only real people at the funeral were him, Dave and their families. They were the only ones who stayed for the whole ceremony, after all.
It was difficult to write a speech in such a short time. He had contacted Nighteye about the matter and was told to write it as if he were talking only to Melissa and no one else. What would Emma's daughter want to know about her own mother? So, that's exactly what Toshinori did. He stood in front of the entire crowd of fakes, gave them a sober smile and spoke only to Melissa.
After the burial, an older man had come up to Toshinori with a rude glare. "Aren't you Japanese fold supposed to be hard working? Why did you let Emma die like this if you're the Number One hero?"
The angry fire returned, but Toshinori knew better than to Texas Smash an elderly man, even if he deserved it. "It was nice having you here today. I'm sure Emma would have been relieved to know you came to mourn her with those she held close." He gave his most polite smile and excused himself. At least the shocked look gave him a sense of satisfaction.
The only other part of the funeral that Toshinori truly hated was how many people offered to hold Melissa. Dave kindly refused every time and Toshinori could only praise his friend for being so good. He understood that the first few likely wanted to relieve him of having to hold a whimpering baby while trying to mourn, but the more others offered, the more obvious it was that they just wanted to brag about holding a dead woman's child. Dave was smarter than to let these fakes gain a privilege like that.
After the funeral, both Dave and Toshinori returned to the Shields household. Toshinori had left his hotel in favor of staying with his friend for support. It had been much appreciated every time they ended waking up from Melissa's crying. She barely slept a full hour without crying before and after. It didn't help their mourning by any means, but at least they had each other's back.
"Maybe I should cut my hair." Dave commented offhandedly after they had finished putting Melissa to bed for the fourth time that night. It was only one in the morning.
"If you want. It might be a good idea when Melissa starts to pull at things." Toshinori spoke softly in the dark room. Even the moon seemed to be hiding tonight.
Dave chuckled at that. "Yeah. It just feels too much to take care of with a baby around. I can barely remember to brush my teeth every morning. Styling my hair just...doesn't seem so important now."
Toshinori understood the pain. He'd kept his hair as an unruly mess ever since they took Melissa home. Gelling his hair was at the back of his mind right now. "I think you'd look nice with short you. And maybe a beard." He laughed at that. The picture he imagined didn't look so nice.
Dave laughed as well. "I can do that. I've always hated shaving anyway." They went silent again and Toshinori was almost asleep when Dave spoke again. "I was thinking of applying to move my work to I-Island." He whispered it almost too softly to hear.
Toshinori shot up and looked at his best friend for a long while. This wasn't a joke. "That's amazing, Dave!" The shushes Dave gave him made him feel a little bad for shouting. "You should definitely go for that. You're a brilliant scientist and I-Island would be lucky to have you. It could be a great experience with Melissa as well."
Dave smiled a little but new anxieties made it fall. "But when you work there, you live there too. It might be harder for Melissa to make friends and get to know people like that."
"I'm sure you won't be the only parent on the island." Toshinori argued.
"What about you? It's really hard to just fly out there every year or so. You need a lot of-"
"I'm the Symbol of Peace. I think I can figure something out." He chuckled.
Dave nodded to that but something else was bothering him. "Would Emma be okay with me just leaving like that? I mean, we're still paying off this house and you just got us a car. Would she really be okay if I just moved like this?"
It was a valid fear. Emma had loved their new home in California and Dave had likely never voiced his idea to apply for work at the island to her. They had no way of really knowing if she liked it or not. "I don't know, Dave. I can't speak for her, but I know that she would still love you, even if you did leave to work at I-Island."
Dave seemed content with that and gave him a soft smile. "Thanks, Toshi. I really do appreciate you being here for me."
"Of course. Now go to bed." Dave huffed a laugh and they turned away from each other on the large bed -it was still too small for Toshinori. Melissa woke up about thirty minutes after that. At least they tried.
…
Nighteye was very supportive of Toshinori's grief when he returned to Japan. His sidekick had gotten the entire agency to throw him a sort of welcome home party. It helped him get his mind off of Dave and Melissa. He had already promised his friend that he'd return again next year for Melissa's first birthday and again as soon as he could.
The party was a bit small and the cake had significantly less sugar but he still enjoyed it. He had made a point to thank each and every employee afterward, giving out a few personalized gifts. Nighteye rolled his eyes at it, but he knew not to argue with the "saint side" of Toshinori.
Constant hero work also helped his healing process. He was able to get his mind off of death and pain and onto saving others. It was easy to make other's lives better when his wasn't as good. Their smiles and happy tears made a part of him grateful for the people of Japan.
That grateful feeling must've been what finally convinced Toshinori to tell Nighteye about One For All. He was his sidekick after all. He deserved to know the truth about his own boss's quirk.
So, he told him. He started at the beginning, with All For One and his brother. Then, he talked about how Nana passed her quirk onto him and how he plans to pass it along as well, someday. Nighteye had stayed steadily quiet through the entire experience and only spoke one Toshinori had finished.
"How is that possible?" Nighteye sounded calm but there was a slight hint of confusion. Or was it just shock?
"I don't know. Quirks are strange things and you never know-"
"No. I meant, how did she physically pass it to you? Was it through blood transfusion? Or was it by another factor of the quirk?" Now, Nighteye sat back and seemed to analyze him. It made him nervous.
"Ah, we transferred it through DNA." He hoped his sidekick wouldn't press.
"How so?" Apparently, his luck had run out.
"Well...I ate a hair." He muttered it, a pink flush warming his cheeks.
Nighteye didn't say anything for a while. It was awkward, not knowing exactly what his sidekick was thinking. Was he judging it? Toshinori wasn't sure how else to transfer the quirk without doing something disgusting or illegal. Sure, eating hair was pretty gross, but he'd rather it than cannibalism or drinking blood. "Can someone force your quirk out? If I were to pluck a hair from your head and eat it, would I gain your power?"
Was that what Nighteye was thinking of? "No. No, we both need to be willing in order to pass it on. If I decide to never give it up, then no one can stop me. If a person I choose as my successor doesn't want it, I can't force them either."
"Good. And what happens after you pass it on? To you, I mean. Do you immediately lose your powers?"
Another very good question. "No. It'll fade and I'll become weaker, but I'll have some time after, but it depends on how much I use it. My...um, my master didn't live long enough to really tell." He tried not to think too hard on that part. If Nana hadn't passed on One For All, would she have survived?
"Hm. Thank you for trusting me with this information, Sir. I understand that it's a well kept secret and I plan to continue to keep it that way. But...if I could use my Foresight on you, then I could-"
"No." Toshinori didn't snap, so much as firmly refuse. "I don't want you using your quirk on me. Whatever happens in the future will happen for a reason. So please, promise me that you won't use your quirk on me. Ever."
Nighteye seemed put off by this. He knew that looking into his future could prevent things. If Nighteye had been there, Emma likely wouldn't have died, at least not so quickly. The doctor's would've been warned, but the thought of looking ahead made Toshinori feel terrible. Life wasn't supposed to work like that.
"Yes, Sir. I promise." They shook on it, cementing the agreement. Toshinori knew how hard it must be to promise something like that, but he appreciated Nighteye's honesty.
"You're a good man, Nighteye." Toshinori smiled, standing up.
"Please," Nighteye held eye contact with Toshinori but his irises remained a sharp yellow color. "Call me Sasaki. At least in private."
Author's Notes: I treat the BNHA wiki like the law, and it actually didn't say anything about Nighteye and All Might being lovers. I likely won't make it a big part of this because of that but I can always imply that it might have happened.