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Chapter Text

The first time was at Kanna's first parent teacher conference. 

She and Tohru showed up at the two story brick building on a Tuesday night- Kobayashi had finished early (which is what non-software people called 'on time') and took the bus, Tohru flew there by herself, and they met up at the school and ended up sitting at the other end of a table from Kanna's 3rd grade teacher - a somewhat nervous young woman with neck-length brown hair and whose name Kobayashi completely spaced on, and who was too awkward to ask. Kobayashi slouched in her chair, with her arms crossed. In contrast, Tohru looked alert, possibly because she was curious about this world's education system. Kobayashi wondered idly about what kind of educations dragons received in the other world.

They were informed that Kanna had excellent grades, though the teacher did complain about some sort of 'wicked' incident. Tohru immediately closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her head and chuckled awkwardly at that point, but Kobayashi didn't press the matter. 

"And one last thing; I know transferring can be very hectic, but its been a month and we still haven't received Kanna's vaccination records," said the teacher. "We're going to need those at some point, especially if Kanna's going with us on our overnight trip to the capital."

Kobayashi sat up a little straighter. "Oh? You didn't need those before?" 

"We do give some leeway for transfer students to get their medical records in, especially of they're coming in from out of the country, but since the overnight trip is paid for with national funds we need to adhere to the national health code."

"Oh! No, I have those...somewhere...." Tohru she fumbled through her satchel for a moment. 

Kobayashi blinked. Huh.

Eventually, the dragon pulled out a stack of papers. 

The teacher looked over what was handed to her. "This look mostly in order," she said, with a smile, "but it looks like Kanna's missing her meningococcal vaccine. That's no biggie right now; just make sure she gets it within the month." 

"It should be on there."  Tohru put on her poker face. She tapped the paper, and a part of it only visible from their side glowed green, almost imperceptibly. Kobayashi's jaw dropped.

Tohru returned the paper, pointing to a particular section. "See, here it is."

"It is- Oh, I guess I missed it the first time." The teacher jotted something down, "Well, in that case, look's like Kanna's all set for the trip to the capital, just make sure she brings sunscreen, some pocket change, and some ripe tomatoes in case we run into a beaurocrat. The kids are all so excited for it! We've been learning all about the political process...." 

"Y-yeah," Kobayashi said. She managed to be a polite regular, normal, non-magical guardian for the rest of the meeting. 

As they left the conference room, Kobayashi let Kanna hold her hand. She was used to it at this point. She was also used to Tohru getting jealous, and holding her other hand. 

And shortly after they left the room, Kanna tugged on Kobayashi's hand. "Kobayashi- Kobayashi- can I play with Saikawa please?" 

Kobayashi smiled and rubbed Kanna's head. "Sure thing." 

Kanna nodded and ran up to the youngest Saikawa child, and together they ran towards the play area. 

And Mr and Mrs. Saikawa approached the two of them. 

"And you must be Kanna's parent's," said one of them, "You must be so proud of her!" 

At the same time Tohru stood up straight and put her fist to her chest and exclaimed her thanks, Kobayashi managed a spittake with nothing in her mouth. "Kanna's not- she's not my daughter-" 

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself," said Mr. Saikawa, "I mean, it's kind of obvious that Tohru's the birth mother, since you don't have horns-" (Tohru chuckled suspiciously and touched her horns.)

"Dear, don't be so rude," said Mrs. Saikawa. "I'm sure you're an excellent mother to her." 

"I took that as a given, considering how well Kanna's turned out." 

Tohru smiled. "Thanks!" she said.

"No, I mean-" Kobayashi didn't know what hand gestures she was trying to make, "She's, like, not my daughter-"

"If you're that worried about it, you can get a second parent adoption," said Mr. Saikawa, "But that's mostly just for legal purposes. I'm sure Kanna already considers you her mother."  

At that point, Kanna showed back up, and she tugged on Tohru's hand. 

"Lady Tohru, come with us- we want to show you the bouncy thing." 

Tohru smiled. "Oooo~! I'd be happy to come with you!" 

And then she ran off to play with the girl who was legally registered as her daughter. And that left Kobayashi alone with two real adults. "Ahhh," Kobayashi began. 

But she was saved when Mrs. Saikawa said, "Ah, to be so youthful. How fortunate for you, Kobayashi-san, that you married someone so young." Mr. Saikawa shot her a look. 

Kobayashi took a breath and decided that the truth was a lost cause, and that she was fine with this new line of conversation. "Funny enough, Tohru's actually a bit older than me, " where 'a bit' meant, like, in geological time-frames, "but I totally get what you mean. I remember being able to pull all-nighters like five years ago, and now I get cranky if i'm not in bed by 10:00. And don't get me started on the lower back pain." 

"Oh, I can relate to that," began Mr. Saikawa. His right arm reflexively drifted to his lower back. 

They shared their experiences with various back medication, and that line of conversation lasted long enough for Kanna to finish playing, and for the time to come for them to leave. 

Later that night, out of a bit of morbid curiosity, Kobayashi looked at the process for getting a second parent adoption, for the political subdivision in which current residence was located. 

And when the dragon maid next walked past Kobayashi's door, the programmer beckoned her in. "Just a random question- you have all your paperwork in, right? Like the immigration forms and stuff?"

"Yep, of course!" Tohru smiled. "They'd kick me out otherwise." 

"And you have a citizen number and everything?"

"I- I'm pretty sure I have that. I can find if for you, if you need it?" 

"Well, maybe at some point it'd be helpful for me to know that." Kobayashi thought for a bit. "Anyway, I wanted to ask, did you put down yourself as Kanna's mother on her citizenship papers?" 

Tohru stood up straight and put a fist to her chest and closed her eyes. "Indeed! I've always looked out for her, so I figured I'm qualified to be her mother."

"She seems to think of you more like a playmate, though," said Kobayashi. 

Tohru deflated at that. "Yeah, well, I'm working on that. But I'd rather be the kind of mom who's close with her kids, rather than some sort of distant authority figure whom from which you occasional derive validation from." Tohru clutched her chin and there was a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Besides, the myth of the infallible parent is just part of a conspiracy designed to perpetuate a permanent underclass stratified along age lines, keeping the younger people dependent on their older masters and depriving them of legal capital." 

Kobayashi blinked and smushed her mouth. "You've been reading the internet again, have't you?" 

"tch." 

The second time was at work, when one of her managers asked her a favor.

An older man approached her at the end of the day. "Hey, Kobayashi-san!" said Mr Magatsuchi. He waved. "How's it going?" 

Kobayashi smiled. It was important that your boss liked you, so she used all her learned social skills for this interaction. It was pretty automatic at this point; boss said hi and asked you how it was going, you always said things were fine, boss leaves, you do good work, boss doesn't have any reason not to like you, you keep working your job for twenty or so years until you get laterally promoted, etc.

"I'm fine thanks for asking," Kobayashi said. She smiled and nodded. "How are you?" 

"I'm great, all around," said the manager. He smiled and nodded as well. "How's the wife and kid?"

"Oh they're fine-" then Kobayashi's brain caught up and she choked down a spit take. "Wh- <cough> what did-" 

"Heh, listen, I need a huge favor," he clasped his hands together and closed his eyes and smiled. "I've got to go to a conference this weekend, and my wife's gonna be out until Tuesday. Since Shouta knows Kanna, do you think you could watch him for a few days?" 

Kobayashi had mostly recovered by this point. "S-sure thing. It shouldn't be a problem."  

Mr. Magatsuchi visibly relaxed. "Thank you so much. He doesn't have a lot of friends his age- to the point where he got himself an, aha, imaginary friend. A demon, if you can believe it. Kids have such the imagination!"

Ah yes, an aha 'imaginary' friend. Kobayashi resolved to have a few words with Lucoa. 

But, there was someone she needed to have a few words with right now. Kobayashi leaned in, "I don't mean to be rude but could you not refer to Tohru as my wife-"

"Hey, don't worry, our firm is devoted to equality and support for all our employees, especially for our hardworking ones, ha!" He smiled again. "If Google can manage that, we can do just as well." 

The director clenched his fist and looked off into the distance. "Damn you Google. One day, we'll beat you, mark my words...." 

Kobayashi chuckled awkwardly. If that became a company directive, then well, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Probably wouldn't affect her, very much, right? 

He then stood up. "And anyone eavesdropping on this conversation should keep that in mind." There was a rustling around the adjacent cubicles. 

"And that reminds me- " he said, "If you haven't already, you should update your employee benefits to include Tohru and Kanna on your health insurance, and update your household information for our tax purposes." 

Kobayashi decided it would be best not to argue with a boss. She bowed. "Thank you, sir. I'll look into it."

However, right after he left, Kobayashi made a face at her computer screen.

And that night, when Kobayashi returned back to the apartment she shared with two dragons, she had the urge to yell 'Honey, I'm home' into the house. Heh heh. She probably shouldn't do that, though, because she didn't want to lead Tohru on....

But as always, Tohru was there, at the door, when Kobayashi entered. The dragon helped her out of her coat and escorted her to the dining room, where she had dinner prepared (paella with a side of red peppers and fresh bread from the market), hot and looking delicious as always. After Kobayashi ensured that it contained no trace of tail meat, she dug in. 

"Delicious as always, Tohru," Kobayashi said. "Thanks for all your hard work."

Tohru smiled, like Kobayashi's praise was all she wanted in the world (which might actually be true, Kobayashi mused, with a sinking feeling of guilt in her stomach- but the food helped overpower that). "Thank you, Kobayashi-san! I aim to please." 

Kobayashi knew what Tohru's next line would be, so she preemptively shot down the sexual innuendo.

The third time was the very next day at work, when the secretary, a young woman with brown hair, approached her for gossip. Kobayashi didn't want to get sucked into any sort of gossiping conversation, and she had thought the younger employee knew better than to look for gossip in the programming department, but apparently this instance was a specific exception. 

"Hey, Kobayashi-san," she said, "I ran into your wife at the market yesterday-" 

Kobayashi scrunched her mouth. "We're not married-"

"Sorry, 'girlfriend'," said the secretarial finance technician. She smiled and her eyes sparkled. "But she's living with you, right? With her daughter?"

"Kanna's not my daughter-" 

"Sorry- sorry, both your's daughter," the woman waved the air in front of her face and then paused. "Or does that not count unless you get married?"

The developer in the adjacent cubicle leaned out to interject. "Legally, I don't think so- she'd have to get a second parent adoption for that."

"But I thought both legal parents get on a child's birth certificate regardless of whether or not they're the birth parents?" 

Kobayashi leaned out of her cubicle. "First of all, you only need to get married to do a step-parent adoption. Second parent adoptions don't require any prior biological or legal relation to any of the child's guardians. Second of all, a couple gets on the birth certificate if they're married at the time of the child's birth, if at least one of the parents is biologically related to the child and the surrogate agreed to give up parental rights."

Kobayashi inhaled. "Third of all- you were supposed to be debugging the client-side garbage collection protocols. Are they done yet?" The neighboring programmer pretended to resume working. 

"Fourth of all, I also have work I need to be doing, and finally, Tohru and I aren't married." 

Unfortunately, that didn't end the conversation. "Anyway, I was going to ask," The secretary's eyes sparkled as she beamed, "Was that why you've seemed more open lately? You got yourself a nuclear family?" 

Kobayashi breathed. If she played along, maybe she could get back to work sooner. "Yeah, I guess. It's nice having some company around the house." 

Out of a little morbid curiosity, Kobayashi decided to ask a followup question. "So you met Tohru; did you get to talking, or did you just bump into her briefly?" 

"Yeah, I said hi, I mentioned I worked with you, and we chatted a bit." 

"So you got to talk to her. What impression did you get of her?" 

The secretary smirked, under her hand. "Oooh, I know that's a trap, Kobayashi-san. Of course, she's a very wonderful person. You're very lucky to have her." 

"O-kay..." 

"But seriously, she seemed really sweet! She compliments your personality. Upbeat and bubbly balances your surly- ah, um.-" the secretary coughed- "And she's got a really good accent for a foreigner- has she been living here long?"

"I didn't think so, but her hometown wasn't that different in terms of language, from what I've gathered." 

"And she's really into cosplay, huh? Definitely a catch." The woman clicked the side of her mouth and pointed finger guns at Kobayashi.

Kobayashi smushed her mouth to the side.

The secretary waved the air. "Its okay, we're all closet nerds here- it's all cool. But you're really blessed to have found something you can share the things you're passionate with." 

Kobayashi leaned back in her chair and reminisced. "Well, I guess it's pretty great to have someone to talk to about my hobbies..." 

And then, Kobayashi found herself getting sucked into the conversation and it wasn't until her coworker left, twenty minutes later, that she got back to work. 

And later, HR asked to see her, over the intercom.

Kobayashi got a little nervous. She didn't think she'd done anything wrong, though maybe she shouldn't have gotten sucked into the office gossip, especially when they were approaching crunch time.

As Kobayashi sat down across from a sort-of sleepy looking office worker, a manila folder was presented to her.

"I was recently made aware of changes in your family situation that qualify you for special enrollment with our health insurance," said the HR rep. "I just wanted to meet to go over your options..."

"Oh, what? Tohru and I aren't married," Kobayashi tried to explain.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's as real a marriage as any other." 

"No, I mean," Kobayashi didn't know what hand gestures she was trying to make, "We're like, not, like." She gestured with her hands, vaguely, "-Married. Like at all."

"Our insurance provider accepts civil unions and domestic partnerships too, for qualifying purposes-"

"No, I mean," Kobayashi took a breath and calmed herself. "We're not, like, together at all." 

The rep blinked, and then withdrew the manila folder. "Oh, I get you. Well, once you do get your marriage paperwork in, we'll update you in the system and you'll qualify for a health insurance change.

Kobayashi sighed. "Sure, fine, whatever." 

"However, if you're living together and if you have a dependent, you'll pay less in taxes, so you'll want to update that information. I know it'll get paid back with your rebate, but having an extra thousand or so dollars in the short run can really help a family out, I know...." 

Reluctantly, Kobayshi saw the need for that, at least. 

Once the weekend came, and Kobayashi finally shambled out of bed, and ate the breakfast Tohru made for her. She helped Kanna with her homework, not that the centuries-old baby dragon needed much help, and she grinded a few levels in a few video games to pass the time and gather some gumption. 

And once she felt awake enough, she got the attention of her dragon maid. "Hey, Tohru, would you like to go into town with me today?" 

Tohru brightened up. "That sounds wonderful! Let me go get Kanna-

"Actually, I was thinking it'd be just the two of us?"

"You mean, like a date?" Tohru said.

Kobayashi looked at the wall. "Sure."

Tohru brightened up. It was nice, the way she smiled when she was praised, how much she appreciated Kobayashi...

"Kanna, will you be alright by yourself for a bit?" 

"Yeah," said the baby dragon. She raised her arms. "You two have fun!" 

The train ride was nice. Kobayashi was used to the commute, so she usually just pulled out her phone during the commute. But next to her, Tohru sat up straight and smiled, her mouth closed, looking alert and happy to be there, pointing at the scenery and the passersby, asking about bits of human technology and offering her own commentary. And, for the first time in a while, Kobayashi admired the view on her train ride.

And they arrived at the courthouse. 

Kobayashi rubbed the back of her head and turned to her dragon. "So, uh- just for legal reasons, mind, -like, we're already two adults living together with a kid, so we fit the profile of a nuclear family, and there's legal bonuses to registering as a family, so- don't like look into it or anything, but," She turned to the wall. "Would you like to get married?" 

Tohru blinked. 

Then she smiled, mouth open wide, her fangs poking out under her lips.

And then she reached smile Lv. 2, where her mouth was even wider and her eyes brightened up even more, bigger and brighter, and she clutched both of Kobayashi's hands in her own. 

"No," said Tohru.

"Sweet, the court's right here-" Kobayashi managed to spit take on nothing, again, "Wait, what? 

Tohru smiled. "I'm afraid i must decline your offer of marriage, Kobayashi-san."

"Oh. Huh." Her face felt hot. "I-I guess I got used to you always going along with what I said. Sorry for assuming." Kobayashi bowed, partially to cover the embarrassment "That was really rude of me. " 

Tohru smiled softly and clasped Kobayashi's hand. "Kobayashi-san," She said, and she looked into her beloved's dead fish eyes, "You say that we resemble a 'nuclear' family, and that all these human laws benefit standard family units like that. And I do want to have a family with you, but not because we fit the superficial idea of one." Tohru tilted her head to the side and her smile widened as she took a breath, "But rather, because we've found a sense of family with each other. Because you're kind, and responsible, and smart, and such a good mother for Kanna, and you've brought out the goodness in me as well- I'm happier and more content and I'm more proud of myself than I ever remember being, when I'm with you." 

Kobayashi felt her face heat up as she blinked, lamely. 

"And, that's why," Tohru glanced at the ground, very briefly, before reaffirming the eye contact and the gentle smile and her expression of absolute contentment. "That's why every day I fall deeper and deeper in love with you, Kobayashi-san."  

Kobayashi's heart thundered in her throat and her ears and against her ribcage.

Tohru let go of Kobayashi's hands and stepped back. "And I don't need a silly judge to validate that for me." 

A blush effervesced across Kobayashi's cheeks, and she blinked a couple of times. "Oh. Wow."

Tohru turned back towards the train, tilting her her head backwards. "But you knew that, right? I keep telling you." 

"Yeah, I guess you do. I guess I started tuning that out." 

"Ah- Kobayashi-san!" Tohru pouted." So mean!" but both of them laughed. 

Kobayashi rubbed the back of her head. "Honestly, Right now I'm a little put out that I forget the true meaning of family."

"Oh! Kanna and I saw a movie that explained that- you should watch it with us." Tohru brightened up, "Oooh, you should do that right when we get back, Kobayashi-san!" 

Tohru took steps towards the train station. 

"Tohru, wait one moment," Kobayashi said. 

Tohru turned,

Kobayashi smushed her mouth to the side and looked to the side and she rubbed the back of her head. "Tohru, you bring out the best in me too," she began.

Tohru tilted her head to the side. 

"And you know, I never really saw myself as the type to start a family- maybe get married someday, but families were for like adults, you know? And I never really had to grow up, that much, before I met you- and it's a lot better than I thought it'd be, you know?" 

Kobayashi cleared her throat, "So what I'm saying is, I'm glad you and Kanna came into my life, and- I'm glad I found a sense of family with you, too, Tohru."

Kobayashi knelt down on her left knee. She dug in her pocket for something that might make do- 

Hey, look, a hair tie. That might work. 

"So what I'm saying is," said Kobayashi. She held out the elastic loop, like a ring. "Would you maybe like to get engaged?"

Tohru blinked. 

Then her face jumped directly into smile level two, and then beyond, and she seemed to literally float in elation, and she leapt forward to hug the human with her whole body, squeezing her right, and planting a brief smooch on Kobayashi's cheek. 

 "Oh Kobayashi-san, Yes! Yes, I do! I do!"

"You're going to have to get me a real engagement ring, though," Tohru said.

Kobayashi laughed, "Yeah, I know." 

Chapter Text

As luck would have it, Tohru was set to host lunch for her neighbors, that day. Miss Sasakibe worked at home, Mr. Sone was retired and Mr. Yana worked a night shift at some kind of 'dive bar', (And Tohru was a proud homemaker, so she was available most of the time) so they had started doing lunches together, three times a week. Tohru always awed these pitiful humans with her mastery of cooking, and today was no exception. 

And after the customary groveling compliments towards her basil chicken salad and a tomato sauce and cooked vegetable dish (She and Kanna's last movie had deceptively advertised itself as being about that dish) and some nice fresh tea.

"Well," Tohru smiled, happiness beaming out of her, threatening to burst, "I have some big news." 

Her guests leaned forward, expectantly. Tohru couldn't stand the suspense either. 

And with all the aplomb befitting such a momentous occasion, Tohru spoke the words she had wanted to shout with all her might, "Yesterday, Kobayashi-san proposed!" 

That was met with universal squees, and Tohru cradled the warmth that newly welled inside her chest. 

"That's so great!" 

"You've been together for a while now, huh?"

"It's about time, if you ask me." 

"Yes, Kobayashi-san has some trouble with affection," Tohru said. But that was the appeal, yes? The flower that blooms just for you, the smile that's meant just for your eyes- that your hard won love was rewarded, that at the end of the most noble pursuit there was the prize.

And knowing that Tohru's unquestioned, unrelenting affection had cracked the shell around Kobayashi-san's heart enough to let her into the warmth inside- that was a wonderful feeling.

"So," said Ms. Sasakibe, "When did you think the wedding was going to be?"

"We haven't settled on a date yet- there's really not been a lot of time since she's proposed."

"Doesn't mean you can't start planning yet, right?" said Mr. Yana, "Surely you've given it at least a little thought." 

"And what kind of arrangement you want your floral centerpiece, and who's going to cater the reception?" 

"I know I've looked at wedding dresses since I was a child, so you must have some idea what you want to wear...?" 

Well, as a younger dragon, Tohru had devoted countless afternoons of creative energy into filling in the details of her ideal bonding ceremony. The venue would be a nice alpine mountainside, on a partly cloudy day in the mid-afternoon, with whatever dragons who were still alive that she considered friends in attendance. 

Tohru imagined herself in her mate-bonding attire, her head adorned with gossamer silk, her claws gilded and embossed in runes suggesting flame and power, her belly clad in gold and gems (it was partially for that reason most dragons only got married once they had an established horde). 

 And back when Tohru thought she was only attracted to dragons, she'd dreamed, idly, of her ideal brood-mate; an older woman, with a beautiful crest of horns and a nicely shaped head and sumptuous wings- seething raw power wherever she went- someone who could take care of her, and protect her, someone powerful-

But, that was before she realized that humans had just as much to offer a life-mate, because power and wealth were not the only things to look for in a mate. And Kobayashi really was, now, what Tohru considered an ideal life-mate; she was steadfast and self-assured, which was great for a young woman like Tohru, who still had bouts of doubt as she tried to work out who she was and what exactly was her place in the world. Kobayashi was serious enough to run her household but funny when you least expected it; nurturing, which was great for a broodling like Kanna and, possibly, for Tohru in her weaker moments- (It was funny how, in many respects, a mere human like Kobayashi-san was stronger than a dragon like her, and how much Tohru enjoyed being- not quite submissive, but - actually yeah, the submissive one in their dynamic).

And most of all, Kobayashi was kind- that was a rare commodity among dragons, not because most dragons were cruel (though crueler than most species, perhaps), but because they didn't let kindness become so cheap as to give it away freely. It wasn't until Kobayashi-san stumbled into her life that Tohru realized that kindness didn't diminish in abundance, and that being treated kindly, constantly, was such a wonderful feeling.

And Kobayashi was so effortlessly kindhearted, even if she did have trouble with showing affection. She was always there for Tohru, or Kanna, or even Lucoa of Fafnir or her friend from work, and now, Tohru couldn't imagine life without her Kobayashi-san.

So instead, Tohru imagined a life with Kobayashi-san, and she shared those thoughts with her neighbor.

After a full day of shambling through work, Kobayahi tapped her best friend on the shoulder. 

Makoto turned and smiled. "Hey Kobayashi. What's up?" 

"You wanna go drinking tonight? Just a bit though- I gotta be home, sober, at a reasonable hour, but, um." She rubbed the back of her head. "If you're down, I'm down." 

"Ok, yeah. Did something happen that you need to talk about?"

Kobayashi rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, a little."  

Understatement of the year. 

After their first beers were served, Kobayashi downed half of hers in one chug. She put it down on the counter and lay her head in her arms. 

Kobayashi let out a sigh. "I proposed to Tohru yesterday." 

"That's great!" Makoto said. His smile started out happy, but then it slackened. "I mean, right? Maybe?" 

"I've never been that forward. I don't know what came over me I mean I've never been that forward." 

"Well, as for what came over you," Makoto swirled his beer, "maybe it was True Love(TM)?"

Kobayashi punched her friend on the shoulder. 

Makoto laughed. "But seriously, maybe it's that Tohru brought that out, in you. I mean, if she's special enough to do that, it makes sense you'd propose."  

"Yeah..." Kobayashi said.

"Do you find it disagreeable?" 

"Honestly, no. Just, kind of scary. A lot scary, actually." 

"Well, facing your fears often makes them less scary."

"Yeah," Kobayashi took a breath. "It's also that this changes things. This was me admitting to myself that I liked her. I mean, I could pretend I didn't before. And now I can't, and situations that might not have been awkward if I didn't like her, now are." 

"Is that a bad thing?" 

"I- well, I couldn't make eye contact with her, afterwards. Just like the briefest of glances. I don't know if I like not being in control of my emotions like this." 

"But you do like her?" 

"I- yes." Kobayashi took a breath. "And I don't know what to do next." 

"Well," Makoto said, "I mean, the obvious answer is, uh. 'get married'?" 

Kobayashi punched her best friend in the shoulder again. "That's true, but I was talking about like emotionally. Or like, tonight."

"I think you could stand to be more honest with your feelings, Kobayashi. Just something I've noticed from being friends with you all these years." 

"Yeah..." 

Kobayashi looked all around the bar though the bottom of her beer.

"Well, if you're having doubts," Makoto ventured, "Maybe you shouldn't get married quite yet?"

"I mean," Kobayashi took a deep breath. "I don't know when it happened, but now I can't imagine life without her. I mean, after only a week with her gone my life fell apart. So, why shouldn't we get married, if I feel like this?" 

"You shouldn't get married unless you're sure, though. And postponing a wedding doesn't mean you'll never get married, it just means you need some time to get comfortable with it." 

"But, it's like, I've never been too comfortable with affection."

"That is true."

"So I'm wondering, if the apprehension is me being a doofus, or if there's something else I'm worrying about?" 

"Well, if you're feeling this doubtful, do you think maybe you were too hasty in decided that you're in love?" 

Every so often, while she was drunk, Kobayashi remembered the day she had (literally) bumped into Tohru on the mountainside.

And Kobayashi remembered the day Tohru showed up at her door, insisting that she be her maid. 

And she remembered all the days of domestic bliss; sitting together watching TV, eating nice home-cooked meals, going shopping together. 

And Kobayashi remembered the times Tohru had helped her bathe-

"Aahhhhh" Kobayashi clutched her head, "And she's seen me naked~~" 

"You've seen her naked, though." 

"It's different for dragons. "

"No I mean, in her human form."

"Being 'technically naked' because her clothes are her scales also doesn't count." 

"No I mean, you pull off her uniform whenever you get too drunk around her-" 

"Aw, dammit dammit dammit!" Kobayashi clutched her hair and blushed. "I did do that arrrggh~~~~" 

After Kobayashi calmed down enough (with the help of Beer #2), she slumped her head on the counter again.  "Well, I guess I don't know what I'm so apprehensive about, since I've basically sexually harassed her already.  That was uncool of me, I should apologize for that."  

Makoto laughed, and then immediately wondered if maybe it was too awkward to laugh at that, specifically.

Kobayashi looked into her.empty beer glass. "Well, that's the solution then. I just get hella drunk whenever I need to show affection." 

"That's certainly one solution," Makoto said,  "But, you know, you could also just try to be more open in general." 

"Yeah....." 

The silence loomed.

"Anyway," Makoto said, "Did you have a date for the wedding, yet?"

"I- I don't know yet. But, is it too early to ask if you'd be my best man?" 

Makoto smiled. "I would love to. But since you're a woman, wouldn't I be the maid of honor?"

Kobayashi smirked. "Ah, shoot, you know I can't turn down the opportunity to have more maids at my wedding."

And then they talked about maids for way too long.

Tohru had just finished cleaning the kitchen and was enjoying a nice glass of water (maids didn't want for much) and some daytime television when there was a loud knock at the door. And Kanna was still at school and Kobayashi was still at work, so it might have been the deliveryman, or perhaps one of the neighbor's forgot something earlier. 

So, as the diligent parlor maid, Tohru opened the door, with a smile- 

Lucoa and Fafnir jumped on her, sweeping her up in their enthusiasm.

"You're getting married?"

Tohru opened and closed her mouth. "Uh, yeah-" 

"And you didn't even think to tell your best friend?" 

Tohru grinned. "I mean, Kobayashi-san just proposed yesterday, so I haven't had the opportunity-"

Lucoa and Fafnir shared a look.

"Don't worry," said Fafnir, afjusting his glasses, "We have time if we start preparing now-"

Lucoa nodded, her eyes closed and her arms folded across her chest. "We have a few months before the equinox-"

"You're going to need a ring-"

"And there's an active volcano nearby in which you can forge that-"

"Kobayashi's going to have to recover a sword from her ancestors, did you let her know that yet?-"

"And there's time to harvest a dowry of maize-" 

"And a kransen- I doubt you'd want to ask your father for the one of your clan, so we'll have to improvise-"

"Are you officially disowned? Is your father going to be involved in the ceremony?"

"And if not, do you have any holdings here? We'll need to officiate the distribution of possessions-" 

"Oh! And you're going to need a sacrifice-"

Tohru batted her friends away and, a minute later, managed to sit everyone down in the living room, with a freshly brewed pot of tea.

Tohru breathed, her tea in her lap and her posture perfect and her eyes closed. "First of all, I was going to tell you the next time I saw each of you- actually," Tohru opened her eyes," How did you guys find out about this?" 

Lucoa smirked and touched her nose. "Dark magic." 

"And by that," Fafnir said, "She means she consulted the Book of Faces for the status of your relationship." 

"But I don't have an entry in the Book of Faces." 

"But other people do. Dark magic is involved," Lucoa tapped the other side of her nose.  "Anyway, I'm so excited for you! You've been wanting this for a long time."

Fafnir nodded. "Would you like to take this opportunity to gush about your fiance?"

Tohru furrowed her brow. "You guys have always gotten annoyed when I talk about why I like Kobayashi." 

"Yes, but since you're getting married, it's not annoying anymore."

Tohru frowned. The other dragons laughed. 

"But seriously," said Lucoa, "We're going to need to go over your wedding plans." Fafnir nodded. 

Tohru pretended to sigh in exasperation. "I just went over this with my neighbors." 

Then she blinked, and then she smiled. "But yeah, I'd love to go over again what I've come up with so far!...." 

When Kobayashi returned home that evening, mildly buzzed, and after they enjoyed a nice dinner, Kobayashi approached the baby dragon in her life. 

"Hey, Kanna," Kobayashi said. She rubbed the back of Kanna's head.

Kanna looked up. "What is is, Kobayashi?"

"I was wondering. If." Kobayashi coughed. "If we could trade rooms?" 

"Oh. Sure, but why?" 

"Well, Tohru and I were getting, well, more intimate-"

A short ways away in the kitchen, Tohru leaned her head out into the hallway and blushed. "Hee hee hee -"

"Not like that!" Then Kobayashi blushed. "At least not yet."

That actually managed to fluster Tohru. "K-Kobayashi, you don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with-"

"I'm not."

Tohru blushed again, before leaning back into the kitchen.

Kanna tugged at Kobayashi's sleeve. "So should I move my stuff now?"

"It's a lot to move, so Tohru and I will help you on the weekend. For now, actually, you can get the master bed tonight, and Tohru can go to bed with me."  

"Hee hee hee-" 

"Tohru, be serious."

"Yes ma'am." 

Kobayashi turned to her fiance. "It'll be a bit cramped, but we've managed it before, right?" 

Then Tohru smiled at her, and this time Kobayashi had to look away lest she chicken out of the subsequent intimcacy. "Oh Kobayashi, you just mean it'll be more cozy."  

Kobayashi got ready for bed with a quiet sense of overwhelming nervousness 'cause this was it. This was, like, what relationship people did, together. It was nice.

And it was a little weird, to realize that, yeah, she and Tohru were in a relationship now. Loke, romantically. Like, Kobayashi had always thought of Tohru as her maid, or her friend, or her like surrogate-daughter's other mother. But, now, this was, like- well. Different. 

Tohru got ready in the other bathroom, and was there, in Kobayashi's room, once the human was prepared for bed.

Tohru was wearing (Or had changed her her scales into) an over-sized t-shirt. Without pants. Kobayashi didn’t know what the rules were for dragons in human form, but Tohru’s legs looked completely hairless. And really smooth, and soft-

Kobayashi managed to resume eye contact. “Hey," she said. 

Kobayashi broke eye contact. "I. Um." 

Kobayashi coughed. "I know we’ve done this before,” she said “But, it’s a little weird, now that, we're uh. Engaged." 

“You think so? You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Kobayashi-san."

"But, I was wondering if." Kobayashi adjusted her glasses, "If we could do some of the intimacy things. I mean, I'd like to." 

"Oh? Would you like to try snuggling tonight, Ms. Kobayashi?"

“Actually, um,” Kobayashi stepped forward, "I was thinking, maybe we could first. Um." 

Kobayashi glanced towards Tohru’s lips- those inviting pink lips-

Kobayashi smacked her own mouth, and she looked up a bit, into Tohru's brilliant eyes-

“Um.“ Kobayashi said. She hoped Tohru might catch the hint.

Tohru smiled, and maybe that meant she did-

And Tohru leaned forward, and she tilted her head to the side so the nose wouldn't get in the way. And she parted her lips a bit, wetting them with her tongue-

And they smooched- lightly. A brief peck. It was nice.

Kobayashi kind of wanted to do more, but the peck was all she was ready for, at least tonight. 

"Was that to your liking, Kobayashi-san?"

Though her blush, Kobayashi could only nod, slightly, as the sensations of the smooch played back through her head. 

Kobayashi climbed into bed, and Tohru snuggled up next to her. And Tohru had been right, earlier; this was cozy. 

Chapter Text

Kobayashi's foray into physical intimacy went pretty well. At least, that's how she would describe it- it wasn't like she had any past experiences to compare it to, aha. 

Snuggling was... really nice.

Snuggling with a dragon was - actually, they hadn't snuggled while Tohru was in her dragon form, so all she knew was that snuggling with a dragon in the body of a human was really nice. Kobayashi knew that Tohru wasn't completely comfortable in the form of like a simian biped, but she also knew that Tohru enjoyed intimacy with her beloved even in her human form. Kobayashi also knew that Tohru knew that Kobayashi wasn't entirely comfortable with physical intimacy in any form, and that Tohru welcomed any form of snuggling in light of that knowledge. 

And Kobayashi knew that Tohru was aiming to get Kobayashi comfortable enough with physical intimacy to be able to snuggle with her in any form, and Kobayashi wanted that too, and she knew that Tohru knew that Kobayashi knew that.

And that whole thing was making Kobayashi's head hurt. 

But, in general, the more Kobayashi thought of snuggling with a big old dragon, the more it also seemed really.... nice. Like, being nestled against the hide of a massive dragon, using a big leathery wing as a blanket, letting Tohru's rhythmic breathing cycle gentle jostle Kobayashi's idle frame....

Well, it wouldn't be too good to imagine it too hard, because that'd like maybe build up this expectation of what it'd be like and when they got to do the real thing it'd leave Kobayashi disappointed. So maybe they could try, you know, 'more than snuggling' sooner rather than later.

Makoto had allayed a lot of her fears that she wasn't, like, attracted to Tohru- that'd be kind of bad, if they got married and it turned out that Kobayashi was only platonically attracted to her wife. That'd be like, the worst. But it turned out that Kobayashi really was a... a.... you know. Like, when alcohol made her lose all her inhibitions, she was all over her fiance- inappropriately so, probably, at least legally speaking. But when she was sober, something like three decades of internalized inhibitions meant she struggled to accept her more salacious desires, even if Kobayashi was completely, absolutely sure that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the heart-rendingly beautiful dragon girl that had crashed her way into her life. 

Or, you know, to put a positive spin on it, maybe it was just that lying next to each other like this was satisfactory. Maybe Kobayashi didn't want to want more. At least not now.

And again, it was only recently that Kobayashi had seriously confronted herself about whether or not- and to what extent- she was attracted to women. (It turned out the answer was that she was, and quite a lot, to at least one woman in particular.) She'd always sort of assumed that those sorts of feelings were shameful, and when she'd stared at other women's bodies she'd always told herself that it was simply jealousy. 

And you know, she did feel a little envious of Tohru's breasts.

But she also kind of wanted to press her face into them too. Like, sexually. 

Like, right now, as the two of them lay snuggled together, in the middle of the night, in what had become a new routine for the two of them.

Kobayashi shifted, moving her body closer to her fiance's wrapping her arms. Tohru cracked an eye and a smile at her.

And they lay there, together, in each other's arms.  

Kobayashi took a breath and looked at her fiance's beautiful sleeping face. "Tohru." 

Tohru's eyes opened. She looked at her, expectantly.

"Can you. Um. Hold me?" Kobayashi said. "Like, to your chest? If you don't mind." 

Tohru's cheeks blushed and she narrowed her eyes but like in the kind of embarrassed way, like the 'about to cry happy tears' kind of way- And she glanced to the side, and she moved her arms to get a grip on Kobayashi's back. 

And Tohru pulled the human close. She rested her chin on Kobayashi's head. 

And Kobayashi took a breath, as her heartbeat quickened and her cheeks lit up. 

She felt the pressure of Tohru's body- her breasts above her own, her neck, her arms, and Kobayashi drifted to sleep. 

And the morning after, Tohru had quietly snuck out of bed to begin making breakfast.

And after a while, Kobayashi walked into the kitchen, still in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes under her glasses. 

"Hey Tohru," Kobayashi managed to say, at some point. "Or. Um. Darling."

Tohru smiled and blushed, but like in a dignified way- definitely not in the same way Kobayashi felt like whenever she herself blushed. "Aw! But you don't need to change anything for me. I know what you mean, Kobayashi." 

"Um," Kobayashi said. She adjusted her glasses again, before sauntering up behind her fiance and then giving Tohru a quick smooch, on the cheek.

Tohru froze, probably in surprise, for just a moment, before she turned her head and gave a wide, closed-mouth closed-eyed smile, accompanied by a happy little squeak.

And later that day, after Kobayashi was fully awake, the human found her dragon in the kitchen, where the latter was cleaning dishes. 

"Um. Tohru." Kobayashi said, to a nearby wall.  

Tohru appeared at her side, smiling and diligent. "Yes Kobayashi?"

"Can you. Um." Kobayashi looked at the phone in her hand. "Can you sit with me, for a bit? For moral support? I gotta make a call." 

Tohru escorted Kobayashi to the couch. She clasped Kobayashi's hand in both her own, resting them on her knee.

And Kobayashi hit the 'call' button on her phone. 

It rang twice before someone answered. 

"Hey, um, Mom," Kobayashi said, "Is Dad around?"

"Hey sweetie! He's not that round, but he's right here if you need something, my dear." 

"Hello!" said her dad, and he sounded a little distant. Physically. He was probably on the couch, while her mother was at the counter in the kitchen.

"So," Kobayashi said, "Is it okay if I come over, this weekend?" 

"Of course, sweetie. We always love having you over. What brings this about?" 

"Well, that- that's related to my next question. I. Um. I won't be visiting alone..." 

"Oh, that's wonderful! It's always nice to meet anyone who's managed to become your friend. So what does that have to do with why you're coming over?" 

"Well, I'm. Um." Kobayashi winced, even though it was just a phone call. "I'm uh. I'm getting married. To a woman." 

There was a pause on the line. Kobayashi preemptively moved the phone away from her and winced at it. 

"WHAT!?"  

Kobayashi heard her mother pull the phone away and yell into the distance. And then she heard some rustling, and her father then sounded much closer, physically, like he was standing right there. 

"You're getting married? Since when?"

"Well, I proposed last week- "  

"How long have you known her?"

"Quite a while, actually- " 

"And you never thought to mention her in any of your calls?"

"We'll, we just recently got engaged- "

"But did you know her for a while before you got engaged?"

"Yeah-"

"And you never even thought to mention her?"

"Well I didn't know I was in love with her until like recently-" 

"So that means at one point you had a friend you started getting close enough to to fall in love with and you never thought to mention her?"

"That's- um. I guess I might have been a little embarrassed for her-" Tohru giggled at that. 

"You bring her over so we can meet her, ASAP." 

"Yes, well, that was the plan-" 

"Good! We'll see you this weekend." 

"Alright, that sounds good," Kobayashi said.

And from where she was sitting across the table and, until now, smiling silently,  Tohru leaned in and whispered something into Kobayashi's free ear. 

"Oh, and um." Kobayashi said, "I don't suppose I can borrow a. Um. A sword of my ancestors? If we have something like that? It's for the wedding. " 

There was a pause on the other end before her mother responded. "I think I can work something out." 

Tohru loved human travel. 

At first, she thought it was weird; the only advantage the puny inferior human race had over other creatures was that being bipedal meant for slightly more efficient movement, but you only benefited from that efficiency over long periods of running, so early hominids also developed high endurance, so they could use their superior running ability for longer.

In fact, early hominid's main hunting technique was just to chase their quadrupedal prey until the gazelles and antelopes and stuff ran out of stamina and got overpowered by a human hunter, since there wasn't much a gazelle could do with zero stamina.

And then, you know, the first spirit/dragon/deity/evolutionary adaptation did bestow upon humans the Tool Use special ability- the most OP ability outside of Void Magic- and Intelligence focused builds became viable for the puny humans, and then became the new meta in general, and the rest is history. Literally.

Nowadays, statistically, the average human could be found on a couch, having completely disregarded their running ability (despite the valiant efforts of all the gym leaders and the people who organized marathons.) Over the years the Tool Use paid off, it seemed. Now, humans could sit on a couch while traveling at 300 Kilometers per hour over metal bridges connecting islands together, to visit their parents.

And, honestly, that was pretty cool. 

It was neat seeing the mountains zoom by from the side, rather than from down below her. Tohru would also have to admit, begrudgingly, that these 'bullet trains' moved faster for longer than she could without magic, so maybe there was some sort of novel experience that added to the enjoyment. 

And when they went into a tunnel it was like getting swallowed up. Kanna seemed to have a similar idea, and Kobayashi rubbed each of their heads (Kanna's first, though- Tohru's beloved could still be so mean sometimes!) during their respective awestruck moments.  

But after they arrived at their stop and took quick taxi to a nice house in the country that belonged to Kobayashi's parents. The garden was a little unkempt but very colorful, with some nice garden ornaments in and around the yard.

Koabyashi walked up to the fancy wooden door and lifted her hand, pausing for just a moment, before she knocked. 

And at the door was a woman who looked like- well, she had the same hair color and the same height, so it was a pretty decent family resemblance going on there. 

A quick peak inside revealed that Kobayashi had gotten more of her physical characteristics from her father- eye color, build, and bust. Hehe, no, that last part was mean- Tohru certainly wouln't have Kobayashi any other way, though. 

"Oh, sweetie, it's good to see you." said her soon-to-be mother in law. She held her arms out for a hug, which Kobayashi accepted and returned with an awkward pat on the back." 

"And you must be Tohru!" she said, turning to the dragon. She smiled and held out her hand. Tohru smiled back and took the hand and moved it up and down. "I tried out that stir fry recipe you sent me- it was really delicious!"

Tohrus closed her eyes and tilted her head and smiled. "I'm so glad! It's Kobayashi's favorite!"  

Kobayashi froze. "Wait, why do you know each other?"

"We talked On the Line!" Tohru explained.

"Oh yes," her mother said, "After you called us, Facebook recommended as a friend someone I'd never met and had no friends in common with, but she had pictures of you in some of her galleries so I figured she must be this mysterious woman you were intending to marry." 

"Is that how you found me? That's so nifty!" Tohru said, "how does the Book know how to do that?"

"Dark magic," Kobayashi said. "And how do I describe the inexplicable feeling of violation from knowing that my mom and my fiance are Facebook friends?" 

"Oh honey," Mum Kobayashi said, "That's just how the world works now." 

"So why'd we come all this way then?" 

Mum Kobayashi bopped her daughter on the shoulder. "Sweetie!~ Besides, we haven't shared any important stuff over Facebook." 

Tohru nodded. "Just some of the superficial Facebook things, like stir fry recipes and cat gif's and our favorite conspiracy theories." 

"It's pronounced 'gif' actually-"  

Mum Kobayashi ignored her daughter. "Yeah, did you know that the private companies that come up with and host national standardized tests have all paid the government to get their tests to be the qualifying exams for universities, so they can repeatably sell study guides for them in a stable market that replenishes every year?" 

"Tohru has regaled me of this story many times." Kobayashi said in her adorable deadpan. 

Tohru folded her arms and leaned her head down and closed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, and did you know that government police surveillance drones are using fluoridation chemtrails to vaccinate the water supply into turning the frogs bilingual so they can steal our jobs?"

Tohru cracked an eye open at the two humans. Mrs. Kobayashi looked somewhat impressed, but Kobayashi seemed to have malfunction. 

Kobayashi opened and closed her mouth. "What?" 

"See, the globalists want all their workers to know two languages so its easy to outsource jobs." 

Mrs. Kobayashi nodded. "And frogs are much less likely to ask for health insurance." 

"Mom, Tohru, none of that is even a little true. Like at all. Like at all at all."

Tohru and her future mother-in-law shared a laugh. 

"Anyway, do come in," said her mother. "Make yourselves at home."

Tohru smiled but didn't follow. She turned to Kobayashi, who had something in mind, first. 

"Well. Um," Kobayashi said, "I- we have a surprise for you, real quick." 

And they both stepped aside. 

Kanna raised both her hands in the air. "Hello. I'm Kanna," she stated. 

The older human froze.

"We're. um." Kobayashi said. She rubbed the back of her head. "We're her guardians." 

Kobayashi's mother froze, stock still, for a good three seconds, before she brighened into a high-pitched squeal of excitement.  

"You brought us a grandkid!?!?" Her mother squeed. 

"Wait, what?" Said Kobayashi's father. He ran up to the door, and the two of them crowded around Kanna. 

"You're adorable!"

Kanna blinked. "Thank you." 

"You must be in elementary school now, right?" 

Kanna nodded. "Yes."

"Is our daughter treating you well?"

"Very."  

Kobayahsh's parents coo-ed and wow-ed. 

"You know, every parent's wish is to become a grandparent." 

"We didn't want to bring it up until later," her father said, "but it's about time you adopted us a grandkid."

"Well the adoption hasn't quite gone into effect yet-" 

"But she must be Tohru's daughter right? I mean, you both have horns.

"And our daughter never said anything about being pregnant, ever..." 

Kanna nodded, curtly. "Legally, that is correct." 

"Oh, aren't you adorable~...." 

Kobayashi followed her mother into the kitchen she grew up in. They all took a seat around the dining room table, a large window nearby with a view of the country to the side of them. There was an assortment of snacks and a small flower vase on the table. Her mother served them all tea as they sat down. 

The greetings had gone well, and Kanna had definitely gotten her some brownie points, and they seemed to like Tohru enough. She had been worried about the first impressions but apparently that had happened already, but at least that seemed to have went over well. 

Kanna held her arms up and wordlessly bounced on the tips of her toes, twice. Kobayashi picked her adopted (well, not legally, not yet) daughter up and sat her in her lap.

"So Tohru, tell us about yourself," her mother said, after her first sip of tea. "Where are you from? America?" 

Her father nodded. "I'm pretty sure women have horns and tails in America," he said.  

Kobayashi blinked, "Wait what? You really think that?" 

The mother giggled. "You didn't know? They've got pretty unrealistic standards of feminine beauty over there."

"We read about it online." 

Kobayashi made a face, but Tohru laughed. 

"Well, my passport says I'm from Iceland," Tohru said. She waved her arms in the air and her voice grew excited, "but I'm actually a dragon from another world!" 

Kobayashi froze.

"Really?" said her father, without missing a beat, "Why're you here in this world, then?"

"Actually, it's related to how I met Kobayashi," said Tohru. She reached out and gave Kobayashi's hand a squeeze. Kobayashi sent a smile back. "I got in a big fight with the Abrahamic god one day. Mortally wounded I fled here, and by dumb luck, Kobayashi was drinking in the mountains and she saved me, and invited me to come live with her!"

"After only a day? Sweetie, I didn't realize we'd taught you to be so loose~"

Kobayashi smushed her mouth and looked at the ground. "It wasn't like that. We hit it off and she needed a roommate and I was a little lonely and the invitation was strictly platonic." That wasn't exactly true, since Kobayashi had been drunk at the time, and had apparently asked Tohru if she could grope her breasts right after doing so. Or was it before? But when she was sober she had decided it was platonic, originally. "We wouldn't fall in love until later." 

"So," her father said, slowly, as he parsed Tohru's statement, "So you fought with the Abrahamic god?" 

"Yeah." Tohru rubbed the back of her head and closed her eyes and visibly sweated. "It was pretty brutal..."

"So does that mean the Abrahamic god was evil in your world?" 

"Oh. I wouldn't describe anybody as 'evil'. Morality is a complex system of often contradictory rules with huge amounts of nuance and a variance across viewpoints, cultures, and specific situations." 

Both her parents nodded in understanding. "So you were the villain, then."  

"Oh, no," Tohru stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and wagged her finger. "I am a good dragon and I have been on my very best behavior," she recited. 

"I have no follow-up questions," said Kobayashi's father. 

"And good for you, dear," she elbowed her daughter. "The villains are always the best characters. And the sexiest."

"Mo~om!" 

"But speaking of religions," said her father. "Our daughter mentioned something about needing a sword of your ancestors?"

Kanna reached out towards the snacks, and Kobayashi used her superior reach to procure a yogurt-covered pretzel for her daughter.

Kobayashi nodded. "I just have to present a sword of my ancestors during the joining ceremony."

Tohru clasped her hands together. "I hope its okay that we're having a wedding ceremony in my culture. Well, with some differences."

"Oh of course," Her mother said, "Whatever our darling wants." 

Her father nodded. "We're not very traditional, I'm afraid." 

"Well, I'd be fine with anything, but Tohru's dreamed about her wedding since she was little," Kobayashi said. And honestly, marriage had never really been on her mind when she was growing up. Tohru had all these dreams of like the most grandiose version of a traditional viking wedding and, you know, Kobayashi could get behind that, now as an adult, even if she never did when she was younger. 

Tohru nodded. "Yeah, ever since I was a broodling, I had all these wild fantasies about when I'd finally bond with my mate. But I know now that they're not the important part of a wedding ceremony- it's about the person you're marrying!" 

"But I don't see why you shouldn't at least try to have your dream wedding, if it's possible," said her father. Kobayashi agreed. 

"But anyway," her mother said, "One of our ancestors was a samurai retainer~ woooo~"

"OO~oo~" Tohru said, as her mother presented a katana to the dragon. Tohru made an impressed face as she took the sword, and Kobayashi made a different kind of face when she saw her mother peel a tag off the hilt of the sword. 

 Her mother shot Kobayashi a grin. "Well, it might be true. Who can tell, really?" 

"Geneologists," Kobayashi stated. 

 That brought a chuckle from both her parents before they changed the subject.

"Well, since we're talking about ceremony prep, are there any other preparations we should be aware of?" 

Honestly, Kobayashi was only interested in wedding prep because Tohru was- and since the Dragon was really, really excited about it, that rubbed off on Kobayashi. But to Kobayashi, the actual marriage ceremony was more of a formality. She was more worried about other things.

Tohru made a nervous smile, eyes closed and teeth showing. "Well, this is a social visit, so we're not going to do anything too heavy, but at some point you two are going to have to negotiate with some people who represent me on the dowry and bride-price, and the division of our holdings." 

"um- 'negotiate'?"

"Well, just to make sure everything's satisfactory with all parties involved. Traditionally it was to make sure the new family could support themselves, and as a kind of nest egg in case one of the couple dies or the economy collapses. And I'm afraid I don't really have any holdings in this world, so I'll make sure to get a bigger dowry to make up for it." 

"Oh, don't worry about that- everybody rents nowadays." said her mother. 

Tohru glanced aside and made a face and lowered her voice. "And I mean, one of my best friends wants to make it an Aztec monarch wedding, so asking to forgo the negotiations isn't even close to the weirdest accommodation that's been requested (I don't even know how we'd get a volcanic sacrifice)." 

"Okay," her mother said, "So what about the date? Have you decided on when you're planning to get married?" 

"Yeah," Tohru said, "The summer solstice is four months away and it has significance in Aztec culture, so I figured it would be a good day to do it." 

"How about a venue?" 

"There's a nearby mountain that actually has done weddings before," Tohru said, "And it's accessible by lift, so it shouldn't be hard for you puny humans to get there." 

Kobayashi's parents chuckled at that. 

And they discussed more wedding plans, they brought up some of which Tohru hadn't even considered- like flowers; Tohru'd have to find some tasty ones for the centerpiece that'd go well with the dinner- and other things like that. 

They made idle smalltalk for a while. Tohru figured this wasn't so bad, and Kobayashi's parents seemed to like her and Kanna. Not that she needed external confirmation of her love, but it was nice that Kobayahi's human parents accepted her. 

And if they hadn't, well, Tohru would have taken drastic measures. 

Meaning that Tohru would have begged and pleaded and done whatever it took to get them to give her a chance. Sure, that might have been a abjectly humiliating, and it would have been a lot harder than just threatening them with violence, but these were Kobayashi's parents, and her fiance definitely wouldn't like it if she threatened to eat them. Besides, Kobayahsi was worth it. 

"So now for the real questions," Kobayashi's mother said. She put down her tea and clasped her fingers together. Kobayashi's father adopted a similar posture. 

Tohru nodded, expectantly. Kanna looked up. Kobayashi herself felt uncharacteristically nervous. 

Her mother put down her tea and clasped her fingers together. "Tohru, are you good enough for our daughter?"

Kobayashi frowned "Mo~om~" 

"Well it's a parent's duty to be sure, sweetie." 

Tohru chuckled to herself. So now it was time for the interview portion, huh? Well she'd ace it, for sure. 

Tohru brought a hand to her collarbone. "Well, I know I'm loyal and hardworking and I'm super powerful," Tohru said, "But I think that even if I weren't, it wouldn't matter, because I'll do anything for Kobayashi-san, because I'm desperately in love with her!"

Her mother smirked. "Yeah? Why?"

"MO~OM~" 

"Because she's so smart and kind and beautiful," Tohru said, "And she saved me! I mean, that might seem superficial since it doesn't relate to her as a person at all but, like, the bonds we forge over the time we spend together help us grow, and how we influence how each other, in ways that bring us closer to each other." 

Kobayashi looked at the floor and rubbed the back of her head. She was blushing- how adorable.

"And she's so kind! I've actually been thinking about that a lot, since kindness isn't a common commodity among dragons, but Kobayashi's so kind and helpful to her friends and coworkers and to Kanna, and- and to me," Tohru inhaled and glanced at the floor with a serene smile, "And that's just amazing." 

Kobayashi gave up trying to hide her blush. She coughed and procured Kanna another pretzel. "I have to say, Tohru's made me grow over the time we've spent together," she said. 

"I'm glad to hear that," said Mr. Kobayashi.

Mrs. Kobayashi wiped a tear from her eye. "That was beautiful. Of course, we weren't being serious when we asked if you were good enough, but you've definitely sold us."

"Good for you, sweetie," said Mr. Kobayashi.

"I- thanks dad."

"And how about you, Kanna?" The mother said, "Can you vouch for Tohru's qualifications as our daughter's bride?" 

"Yeah," Kanna said. She nodded. "She's like a mom; really responsible and kind and smart." 

"And eventually we plan to make it legally so, eventually," Kobayashi said. "I don't see any reason not to try to start that before the wedding, even." 

"Awww, we look forward to being your grandparents, Kanna." 

"Mmhm!" Kanna emitted. She nodded. 

"To get around to all the grandparent-y things we gave up on dreaming about."

"Mo~om!"

Tohru nodded. As far as she understood, humans lived three generations long because human childcare required more than two adult humans worth of labor. 

But dragons were different, probably, and she and Kobayashi were doing awesome with Kanna. They probably didn't need any help, but they could spare Kobayashi's parents feelings.

"So what do you two do?" Kanna ask.

"We're semi-retired code monkeys.

"Semi-retired because we keep end up making code for old contacts and random internet people." 

Kanna raised her hands in the air. "Like Kobayashi!" 

"Like the youngest Kobayashi, yes." 

Kanna nodded. "I like playing around and running and other physical activities." 

"Ooo, I don't know if you'll fit in with our family," Mr. Kobayashi said. "We'd all prefer to stay inside and stare at glowing rectangles all day."  

"Da~ad," Kobayashi said.

"I'm only kidding, sweetie." 

"And it's okay," Kanna said, "I have Lady Tohru to play outside with. Kobayashi's really smart and caring even if she plays dodgeball like an old lady, so she's perfect just the way she is." Kanna said. "Except we learned that excercising more might help with her lower back pain."

And Kobayashi's parents laughed out loud at that. "Yeah, I heard that too," her father said, "But that doesn't mean I ever get the motivation to do it." 

And then the conversation turned to more small talk, more domestic things. Tohru learned a few embarrassing things about her fiance, but Kobayashi countered with the tale of her Christmas play.

"Now, do either of you have any dietary restrictions?" the mother asked.

"No, but I prefer not to eat people," Tohru said. 

"Same," Kanna stated. 

The parents seemed to find that funny. 

"Good, because I'm about to start dinner," the mother said. She stood up and stretched. "Tohru, would you mind helping me with dinner?" She gestured to the kitchen.

Tohru jumped to her feet and saluted. "Of course! I cook Kobayashi dinner all the time and I've gotten very good at it." 

"That's so great! We're always worried that our darling's not eating right." 

"Mo~o- actually, I'll give you that," Kobayashi said. 

And as her mother and her fiance prepped dinner, Kobayashi went out to the patio, overlooking the well-manicured back lawn to the house. Kanna saw the grassy hill and, after securing Kobayashi's permission, ran down to it, to roll around in the grass.

Kobayashi pulled up a lawn chair, next to her father, so they could watch the sunset and Kanna play. Kobayashi accepted a beer her father offered, and they clinked the cans together before taking a sip, simultaneously. 

Kobayashi's father cracked open his beer can. "So your mom and I were going to tell you that you could have told us you were into women," he said, "But there wasn't really an opportunity to fit that in." 

Kobayashi opened her own beverage. "Well, I didn't really know myself, too be honest." 

"Really? What about all that maid paraphernalia you've been collecting since you were in high school?" 

"Hey, that is not a fetish-"

"No? Young women who's job it is to attend to your domestic needs?"

 "Maids aren't necessarily young-" 

"So, implicitly, you affirm your interest in women who attend to your domestic needs." 

In the distance, Kanna was staring at a butterfly that was sitting on one of the flower bushes in the backyard. Kobayashi scrunched her mouth to the side. "I've sort of been trying to find out how I feel about that, actually. I mean, it's been really nice to have Tohru around the house." 

"You're eating enough, though, right?"

"Da~ad!" 

Her father chuckled. "I don't mean to pry. And anyway, I'm really happy for you, dear," he said, "Your mother was a little worried you'd never find someone."

Kobayashi took a sip of her beer. "And what about you? Were you also worried?"

"Maybe a little. But I was confident you'd find the right lady, eventually." He took another sip of his beer. "Granted, if you asked me a few weeks ago I'd have said 'the right gentleman', but we always would have been happy for you no matter who you marry." 

Kobayashi took a longer sip of her beer. "Is that weird? That I'm suddenly marrying a woman, I mean." 

"It's not weird, dear," he said. 

"I mean, I'm not, like, anxious or anything about my sexuality," Kobayashi said. "I don't know, maybe I should be?"

Her father inhaled through the corner of his mouth. "In general, i'd say if something isn't giving you anxiety, you shouldn't try to make it do so." 

Kobayashi nodded. "Yeah, okay. But like, I am kind of, well, 'worried' is what I'd say, about, like, if it's weird that I'm just coming out. In my 30's." Kobayashi said. "To myself, even. Like, don't most people know when they're kids?" 

Her father inhaled through the side of his mouth. "Well, I don't know anything about coming out, but a lot of people don't figure their lives out until they're even older than you are now, so, I guess, don't worry about it more than a standard deviation above normal," he said. 

And Kobayashi chuckled at that. In the distance, Kanna was chasing her butterfly around the garden. "Thank you. That helps a lot, actually." 

"That's what I'm here for." 

The two Kobayashi's took respective sips from their beverage. 

"I'm getting married," she said. "Like, I'm going to be a full adult now. And-" Kobayashi took a breath. 

"Well, you already had a job and a mortgage," said her father, "It's not like this is your first responsibility. You'll do fine." 

Down the hill, Kanna caught her butterfly, and ate it. 

"But like, how do I know?" 

Pa Kobayashi scrunched his mouth for a moment. "Well, do you love Tohru and Kanna?"

"Yes, absolutely."  

"And are you willing to learn and make sacrifices for them?" 

"Yeah, I think so." 

"Then you'll be fine," he said. He finished off his beer. "If you were worried about whether or not you wanted it, then that'd be cause for concern, but if you're worried about being good enough for her and Kanna, well, that just means you care, and that's a good thing." 

Kobayashi finished off her beer too. "You really think so?"

"Yeah," he said, "that was how it was with your mom and me, when you were born." 

 With Tohru's help, Dinner was ready. It was a kind of curry- Kobayashi seemed to like that- although earth meat was definitely not as tasty as meat of mythological creatures. 

"Thanks again, Tohru," mum Kobayashi said, "You're very handy in the kitchen!" 

"No problem!" Tohru said, "I've also learned how to clean dishes without breaking them hardly ever!  

That made her laugh- add another point for Tohru. 

"You know, our darling's never brought anyone home. No high school sweethearts, no college study-mates, no more-than-friends from work, not even a decorative pillow," she said. 

"Oh! Well, I'm glad up up to your standards, Mrs. Kobayashi." 

"Oh, I'll let you be Mrs. Kobayashi, in four months. Why don't you just call me 'mom'?" 

Tohru paused, overcome with an unexpected flood of emotions.  

"What is it?- you don't have to, if you don't want-"

"No no, that's fine, it's just," Tohru glanced into the distance and took a breath to steady the involuntarily quivering in her nostrils. "I - well, my mother... hasn't been in the picture for a while. And I'm not really on the best terms with my father, either. 

The human frowned in sympathy. "I'm sorry to hear that. So I guess we won't see him at the wedding?" 

"Well, I haven't invited him yet..."

"Do you want to?" 

"I-" Tohru bit her lip and looked to the side. That was a topic she had spent too much time thinking about all the wrong parts of. "I don't know." 

"I don't know your situation, but he'd be silly to not see how amazing you are," she said, "And anyway, we adore you, and our darling adores you, and Kanna adores you, and maybe that can be good enough for you." 

Tohru couldn't help but smile, at that. Guess she figured out where Kobayashi got her kindness. 

"Yeah, I guess that's right, mom." 

"Oh, come here," said mom. She held out her hands, and Tohru gladly rushed in for a squishy human hug.

"So I was wondering, do you plan to have another child? I understand if Kanna's enough for you and we don't especially care about our bloodline or about seeing a newborn grandparent grow up but," the human smirked, "Maybe we care a little, if you were going to anyway."

"Oh, we haven't talked about that yet," Tohru said, she leaned in conspiratorially and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think she's still worrying about the wedding and stuff, and I don't want to freak her out."

Mom laughed. "I see your point." 

And the door opened, and the rest of the family walked in. 

Tohru stood up straight, which in retrospect was probably really suspicious. 

"Dinner's ready!" Mom exclaimed.  

Kobayashi's furrowed her brow, slightly. "So wait, what were you two talking about?" 

Tohru froze, but mom waved the air all non-nonchalantly. "Oh you know, conspiracy theories,"  she said, "Did you know, you know, the whole edifice of private testing companies relies on having high scores be a rarity, to justify the sale of lessons and books designed to inflate a student's score? So when lots of students do well in tests one year, they artificially rank some students down to preserve their institutional power dynamic." 

Tohru nodded. "Yeah, it's true!" 

Kobayahsi furrowed her brow. "I can see that some parts of that might be factually accurate, but I seriously doubt it's all in service of some grand conspiracy-" 

"No no," Tohru said, "I'm definitely sure its a conspiracy, all to keep younger humans stratified in a permanent lower class under the heel of the the adult Bourgeoisie," Tohru stated.

"That sounds a little far fetched-" 

"Yeah? Then why do we make kids use separate, smaller drinking fountains, huh?" Tohru said, triumphantly, "Its segregation, is what it is."  

Kobayashi opened her mouth and inhaled and, after a moment, let out a defeated sigh.