Over the course of the next few weeks, Toshinori met up with Shayera regularly.
Sometimes they went out to lunch or dinner. Sometimes he joined her while she went shopping for new materials to work with in her shop. And there was even a few times where she had called him over to keep her company at her store while she worked the day shift.
It wasn't often, mainly because she preferred the night hours. But on the days that she did call him over to join her, there was a nice homemade bento lunch in it for him. Not to mention a pleasant dinner with her as his unspoken date once she closed up shop for the day.
Needless to say, he was growing more and more attached to her by the moment until finally he decided to get her opinion on quirk marriages, and maybe broach the subject of settling down. He wished to know her opinions on both, just in case he didn't manage to make a total fool of himself so that he could approach her about the idea of marrying him in a more serious manner later on.
"Shayera," He said her name softly as she finally came out of the back of her shop to take a small rest from making things. Honestly he'd seen her make stuff before, and she always seemed to work as if she were frenzied. Her mind and body easily flitting from one thing to another until there was a huge pile lying around her work station that needed to be sorted. She took off her safety goggles and gloves and looked at him questioningly as he slowly asked, "W-What do you think of quirk marriages?"
"I don't really know. I can't honestly give an opinion since I've never found myself in the position that some men and women find themselves in, but I have heard that not all quirk marriages go well for either party. There's usually some form of sexual abuse or physical or mental abuse that happens. Why do you ask?"
"Because I am being forced into a quirk marriage." He said somewhat awkwardly and blinked at her as her jaw dropped open and her expression changed from curious to one of abject horror.
"Oh my god Toshi! When did this happen?"
"I was contacted almost two months ago and told that I was to enter into a quirk marriage within three months with someone of my choosing."
"I- o-okay- Um, h-have you managed to find anyone yet?"
"Well, there is one person that has managed to catch my interest but...I'm not sure how she would feel about being bound to me. My current physical form is very...unattractive whereas my quirk form..."
"Let me guess, it's nice." She said with a wry grin of amusement. Earning a faint blush from him.
"I've heard some stuff." He said as he blushed a bit more. Shayera chuckled softly at his admittance and sat down in the chair next to him and propped her chin up on her palm as she rested her elbow on her knee.
"Okay so...why not use your other form to seal the deal?" She asked curiously.
"I have my reasons, but mostly because it is dishonest."
"Ah, a man with honor. You are of a dying breed my friend," She sighed and placed a hand over her heart in a dramatic fashion. "I really do wish there were more men like you in the world. Maybe if there were, I'd have twelve kids by now and a doting husband." Shayera said wistfully.
Toshi noted to note of wistfulness in her tone and decided to use it as his opening.
"That sort of brings me to my second set of questions," He said almost nervously as she glanced at him and waited for him to speak again. It took him several moments to gather up the nerve. But when he finally did manage to speak, he wanted to convey his thoughts and feelings properly so that there could be no misunderstandings. "I like you quite a bit. And I- I-" He started to stammer, his heart picked up speed and he was beginning to sweat a little bit when Shay reached out with her hand and placed her fingertips and very gently placed them against the underside of his chin and tipped his head back a little bit as she slowly stood up and stepped up into his personal space.
She understood even without the words what he was trying to say and she had every intention of responding in kind. She'd known that there was something special about Toshinori before she had ever flung her arms around him and called him honey and kissed him.
He simply had a certain presence to him that was unmistakable even to someone like her.
Add the fact that he was somewhat awkward and shy from time to time as well as a genuinely nice guy- and she couldn't help but feel something a little more than simple friendship for him.
Toshi continued to stammer for several more seconds before she said in an attention grabbing tone, "Say it clearly Toshi. I can't respond to you if you don't."
"Would you be adverse to entering a quirk marriage with someone as pitiful as-" She stopped him from saying anything more by simply laying a finger against his lips and growling at him.
"Never refer to yourself as pitiful Toshi. I will not have it," He stared at her for a moment and slowly nodded his head at her as she leaned down a little bit as if she were going to kiss him, his blood heated in anticipation as she said very slowly, "I will admit that I've been feeling something for you beyond friendship, but I didn't want to make a move on you because I didn't want to ruin what we already have. A strained friendship is much better than none at all in my opinion. Still, you are special to me Toshi and if you really want this then I am willing to explore the possibility of more with you."
He sat there dumbfounded by her response as she slowly straightened her spine and removed her fingertips from his skin. Leaving little tingles where she had touched him as he looked at her questioningly while she moved around the front counter and went to flip the sign on the door before finally announcing, "I think I'll close early today so that I can show you just how attractive you are to me."
There was something about her tone that sent a pleasurable jolt down his spine and left him feeling curious as to what she was planning as she quietly made her way back to him and collected her wallet and key ring and then turned to him and held out her hand.
He took it without question and let her tug him up out of his seat and followed her silently out of the building. He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings as they walked, he was still a tad bit shell shocked by what had just happened.
His mind going over everything from previous weeks, to well...now. In all honesty now that he really thought about things, he shouldn't have been so shocked by her response to him and his questions. Much less her response to the marriage proposal.
His Shayera never really seemed to care overly much how he looked or how weak and sickly he was. It was actually kind of...sweet how much she didn't seem to really care all that much about how he looked in his usual form.
Finally she stopped walking and Toshinori took a moment to check out where they had ended up and almost started spitting up blood on the spot from the shock of their current location. Turning his head to look at her, he noted her pulling her wallet out and quickly slipping one of her cards out of the folds and found himself almost mortified by how quickly his mind slid right into the gutter.
Glancing over at him for a moment, she gave him an encouraging smile that looked just a tad bit nervous to him and said in a slightly shaky tone, "Okay! Let's get this show on the road." before she then grabbed his hand again and practically dragged him inside of the love hotel, with him sputtering and flailing the whole way.