(I know Hina isn't in it as much as Fatgum but this is just establishing the story)

-Introduction-

The life of a hero is never easy; in fact, it can be quite a cruel and twisted career choice. There are certain things a person expects out of life: education, love, companionship, illness, injury, and death; a hero often faces the latter two most often. Feeling like your whole life is about to start to have the next stage ripped away from you before you've completed this one is like a stab in the gut... Or like in Miss Hina's case, a gunshot.

But life moves on. Taishiro Toyomitsu had taken Hina for a wife and they honeymooned happily. Something felt missing though. Every young couple dreams of the day they'd hear the pitter patter of tiny feet scampering around the home. Due to the incident, the chance for biological kids was slim to none. The tragedies of our lives lead to defining moments; this is the story of how the Toyomitsu family came to be.

-Kuri-

A small girl was kicking a pebble as she walked around the courtyard of the orphanage where she had spent a majority of her life. Four out of seven years wasn't much, but it was what the young Kuri had grown to know. Seeing so many of her friends come and go to new families was discouraging, especially since many had their eyes set on the young malleable idea of younger kids. Over time, the girl had been afraid to make bonds with anyone, and became more and more reserved. During what she would have felt was an average day, something would happen that would change the course of her life.

It started with what sounded like an explosion, the pebble long forgotten as she heard it. The workers were shouting for the children to come inside, but the girl stood as a cloud of debris and dust crawled towards the gates of the yard. Her eyes squinted as she tried to make out anybody in the rubble. Soon, the dust had crept past the fence and enveloped her. This moment would change everything. Despite the shouts of the workers, Kuri stood there in awe as she saw figures making their way out of the fog. Many of them seemed young, a lot more seemed really hurt. Her eyes had fallen on a taller figure, one that seemed older; when some of the dust settled, she was able to make out a man with messy blonde hair and an orange and yellow hoodie on. A gasp escaped her as she made the connections. This was the hero, Fatgum, but he wasn't as big as he usually was. She felt like she was seeing something she shouldn't have, like she had seen behind the curtain. It took courage for her to muster up the words to speak.

"P-plus ultra, Fatgum!" She hollered at the top of her lungs, sticking her fist up into the air. To her surprise, he turned her way and did the same back before hurrying off towards stretchers being pulled from the rubble. Her cry of hope was enough for a worker to find and scoop up the little girl and bring her inside, scolding her as he walked. This was her first time seeing a hero. She decided she would do her best to be one too.

-Taishiro-

Today had felt like he had just walked through hell and back. At every turn, something seemed to go wrong. His interns in the work study were like his own children and he just had to watch them nearly die at the hands of the yakuza. His colleagues were in critical conditions. Amajiki's friend had lost his quirk. It was hard to find signs of hope on such a dark day.

As the action (and dust) began to settle, a tiny voice rose above the deafening ringing in his ears as he processed what he had just gone through. His eyes darted about until they landed on a little girl, standing at a fence with her fist raised high and proud. A pang resounded in his chest as he was reminded of one of the many reasons he even became a hero. He gathered whatever strength he had left to smile back and give her a proper "plus ultra!" pose. Fatgum shook his head with a slight chuckle as he walked away, hearing the chastising the little one was receiving from her caregiver.

The healing process physically felt instant; the emotional wounds were taking what felt like ages to heal. There was a collapse in his life; his fiance nearly died as did his kids, his chance of being able to have kids with the woman he loved were practically nonexistent. Taishiro sat at his desk in the Fatgum Agency still struggling to make sense of everything even a few weeks after the raid. But if a child with hardly anything could stand there with a belief that he had done his job right, then how can he possibly let himself second guess his work?

That's when another realization hit him. That kid had seen him at his weakest. She had seen them carting out the bodies, alive and dead, of heroes and villains alike. 'God,' he thought, 'that kid must be scarred for life.' How was someone so young supposed to recover from witnessing something as traumatic as that? 'It wouldn't hurt to pay a visit, would it?' Taishiro concluded that he would go to check up on the kid; after all, it was the least he could do for the hopeful girl.

-Kuri-

Another mundane day, where another mundane family would be interviewed and meet her, and decide they don't want the quiet kid who didn't even show signs of a quirk or affection in front of strangers. Kuri sat at a table, doodling what looked like a big orange blob. A few weeks had passed since the day she saw Fatgum, but the girl couldn't get it out of her head; she was going to be a hero like him! (Doesn't that remind you of some other aspiring heroes?) He had to have done something really cool if he had come out of the fight looking like that!

The doors to the playroom chimed as they were slid open, a figure practically the entire door frame. A surprised squeak erupted from the girl as she realized it was Fatgum all back to normal. Unsure of what to do now, especially since despite being a hero, he was still a stranger. Kuri scurried to hide behind one of the workers as Taishiro talked to another at the door.

"So you see, I wanted to make sure that girl was okay since she saw some scary things that day…" he explained with a smile, rubbing the back of his neck. Scanning the room, he saw her cowering behind a worker that was smiling and chuckling as they comforted the little girl. A personality like that was nothing new to Taishiro by any means; after all, he had Suneater doing his work study under him and had grown accustomed to more reserved individuals. He knelt down with a smile. "Hey there kiddo… How are you doing? I'm Fatgum! What's your name?" Fatgum tried to keep his voice quiet so as not to frighten Kuri, but the bright, sunshiny tones came out in full force.

Digging her face into the worker's side, she mumbled quietly, "Kuri…"

"Huh? What was that? I can't hear you. It's okay! I don't bite!" He reassured.

The worker grinned and pushed her forward as a means of telling her to go ahead. Kuri gulped, "M-my name is Kuri… I'm this old," she held up seven fingers, "I saw w-what you did.. You're really cool and my favorite hero and I wanna b-be a hero too!"

Taishiro visibly relaxed when he realized that the events from the raid hadn't affected the girl. Well, not in a negative way at least. A large hand reached out and ruffled Kuri's hair. "That's great, Kuri! The world can alway use more heroes." Kuri's eyes seemed to sparkle as the man interacted with her and she continued to talk with him until he received a call to return to the agency to help close some cases a few of the sidekicks were working. "I'm sorry, little miss, but I gotta go! It was nice meeting you!" Fatgum stood but froze in place when he felt the girl holding onto his leg in a hug with a pout on her face.

"Please visit again, Mr. Fatgum!" she requested, waving as he left.

Within earshot, Taishiro could hear some of the workers in shock at Kuri's actions, saying the girl never interacted with adults other than the workers at the facility. It was probably just because he was a hero but to make a difference in a kid's life like that felt pretty good. Maybe it was a sign.

-Hina-

Working at UA was exhilarating since it meant bringing up the next generation of heroes. Just because they were going to be heroes doesn't mean that they were as disciplined as the pros were, and even then, many heroes lacked it too. Class 1-A's period in Art with Hina had started out with the assignment to draw something you considered ugly or something you hated as something ideal and/or beautiful. Yeah… she should have expected the many drawings of an idealized Mineta from the girls and a picture of Izuku from Bakugou. Honestly, it was hard not to laugh at some of the subject selections, but they had done the work she'd assigned. It was a nice distraction from the rough patch she and Taishiro had been going through.

Speaking of which, Hina's phone went off with a ping. Looking at the screen, she saw that someone had seen Fatgum at a childcare facility and reported it to the local media station. Her eyebrow raised and she texted him, 'Hey baby, whatcha up to?'

'Heading into the office, y?' he responded.

'Childcare facility?' Her heart clenched after she was reminded of the Madame Mayhem incident and the consequences of it. Why would he even be there?

'Ah. That. Yeah! I just visited some kids. Y?'

'It's on the 're just a big ol' sweet Gummybear, aren't ya? 3' Hina hit send with a sigh. Maybe this was a signal that better things were to come for them, that they could move on and continue with their lives; it wouldn't be exactly how they'd initially imagined, but it would be something.

That night Hina had ordered in from one of the restaurants she and Taishiro had gone to for one of their first dates. A nervousness filled the bottom of her stomach as she waited for him to come home. Was this too soon? Was she rushing into this? What if Taishiro wasn't ready for this? What if she wasn't either?

Unbeknownst to Hina, Fatgum was getting home with a bouquet of Lilies-of-the-valley, white heathers, and daisies. He took a deep breath before entering their shared home. He asked himself questions similar to the worries running through his wife's mind. As he stepped inside, both adorned a similar confused and concerned look upon their faces as they saw the offerings that they had for each other.

"So-" they both began. A chuckle escaped Taishiro and a smile spread across Hina's face. 'Good,' they both thought, 's/he's in a good mood.'

"You go first." Taishiro insisted, but Hina shook her head.

"No, you should! Also, I can get a vase for these flowers." She took the bouquet from him and turned to go grab something to hold the flowers.

Fatgum rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath, "what do you think of kids?"

Hina nearly dropped the vase she had found. "I… Like in general? I love kids; I wouldn't have become a teacher if I didn't!" She was glad she happened to be facing away from him as to hide the shock on her face. A smile crept onto her face.

"Would you want to have any? B-before you say anything, I know we had the incident, but how would you feel about adoption?"

She put down the vase in a chillingly calm manner after such a big set of questions. Taishiro's brow began to perspire as he waited for a reply. In a surprising burst, Hina had basically thrown herself at her husband, hugging him. "You think that we're ready?"

He took a moment to answer as he wrapped Hina in his arms. "I don't think anyone is ever really ready… but if you want to look into it, I'm ready."

Hina grinned and went up on her tiptoes to kiss her husband. "Then we'll start looking into the adoption process." The rest of the night they discussed some of the possibilities when they would have their own kid to love and guide.