So, here's the thing. Kyouko knew it was Valentine's day. She could hardly not know it- there were advertisements all over the place, including at the conbenie where she spends a good portion of her waking hours. Naru had brought down brownies the night before, explaining they had been baked with Valentine's in mind. She was perfectly aware that today was Valentine's day.
The thing is, it didn't actually occur to her that for the first time in her life, she's in a solid, acknowledged relationship on Valentine's day and that something might be expected of her as a result. That is, it didn't occur to her until about an hour before her shift ended on the day itself, when a woman came into the store and bought chocolates for her husband, explaining it was just 'the sort of thing you do on Valentine's Day, right?'
And as she was walking out of the store, Kyouko's eyes had widened and her stomach had dropped as she realized oh shit. Is that the sort of thing you do on Valentine's day?
Cut to an hour and a half late, as she unlocks the door to her own apartment, a small plastic bag in one hand and a nervous look on her face as she peeks around the doorframe, trying to decide if anyone is here. "Momo?" She calls out first, perhaps hopefully. Then, "..Naru?" She steps in and closes the door, kicking off her sneakers.
"Momo's not home!" That is certainly Naru's voice, coming from the kitchen. The fact that her shoes and coat are in the foyer is probably also a good clue, although not entirely.
There is a glorious smell in the apartment, of roasted meat and something sweet that is probably for dessert. "How was work?" Naru asks as she leans on the doorframe of the kitchen, with a smile. "Hey love."
Kyouko looks distinctly nervous as she hears Naru's voice call out from the direction of the kitchen. She makes her way into the living room, just in time to see Naru leaning on the doorframe there. She tries to hide the fact that, for some reason, she looks more nervous now than she does before the average life-or-death battle. She is, as usual, very bad at hiding how she feels. She is, however, hiding the small bag behind her back.
"H-hi Naru." She greets, shifting from one bare foot to the other as she steps a few steps closer. "Work was fine. Um.. wow," Momentarily distracted, her nostrils flare as her mouth begins to water despite herself. "That smells amazing, what are you cooking?" She cranes her neck to peer past Naru into the kitchen, still with the bag behind her back.
"Roast beef." Naru answers with a grin. "Roasted root vegetables, and pie for dessert. Apple." Because of course it's apple pie.
"I figured you'd not object to valentine's dinner rather than obligatory chocolates, even if I'm utterly breaking with tradition." Naru points out as she watches Kyouko squirm, not commenting on the nerves.
Kyouko's eyes shift to the side. Then, rather hurridly, she pulls the bag out from behind her back and extends it towards Naru, still not looking in her direction, though her cheeks pinken.
"Look, you know I ain't good at all the romance, stuff right?" She starts to say, a distinctly rambly tone to her excuses as she darts a glance over, waiting for Naru to take the bag. "So I wasn't really thinking an' I wasn't prepared and I'm sorry cuz I really do love you and everything but.."
Inside the bag is a little heart-shaped box of chocolates. It was clearly purchased from the conbenie, and there's a price stick which was 200 yen that she's forgotten to take off of the back.
"Awww. Thank you love." Naru takes the bag, peeking in and extracting out the little box of chocolates. She takes a few steps closer and reaches out to wrap her arms around Kyouko's waist.
"You're very good at all the romance." Naru points out now that they are close. "In kisses and touches and midnight whispers."
Kyouko blushes a little bit more- she clearly feels her gift is inadequate. But that doesn't stop her from sliding her arms around Naru's wist in return. She's still looking a bit unhappy though- with herself, as should be obvious, not with Naru.
"Yeah but.." She protests, then stops herself, sighing and lightly resting her forehead forward against Naru's. "I just shoulda thought ahead and done something, that's all. Y'know, I know it ain't.. what makes a relationship, all the little gifts and dates and stuff, but it is part of it."
She leans back slightly, giving a lopsided smile. "I mean, you're making me an.." She sniffs the air again. "Apple pie." There's that mild salivation again. Then she shakes her head a little. "I just felt like kinda an idiot at work today when I finally realized, 'oh shit, maybe Naru is expecting I'll get her something.'"
Then she laughs softly. "Dunno which is more embarassing, if I was supposed to and I forgot, or if you didn't expect me to in the first place."
"Oh yes, my love, because we're /terribly/ good at following social conventions on relationships and our lives and everything else." Naru leans in, forehead aginast forehead and steals a kiss. "Besides.. isn't this a weirdly gendered holiday? Which one of us is the boy in this situation, exactly?"
Naru gives a squeeze of a hug and then giggles. "So do try and be surprised if there's a pie again in a month."
"Well.. it's hard to know when, exactly, I should be more conventional, and when less." Kyouko says, but she's relaxing again now, which Naru can clearly tell from both her posture and her tone of voice. She returns the brief kiss.. then laughs a little at the question of which one of them is the 'boy'. "If I had to guess.. me. Which means I screwed it up again, since the boy is supposed to get chocolates on Valentine's. Damn, I suck."
She squeezes back, then shakes her head, stepping away but only so she can go and collapse onto one of the cushions around the low Japanese-style table. "I'll do my best to fake it." She says, smiling genuinely now, leaning back on her hands and curling her bare toes. "Good god, I've been on my feet all day, it feels amazing to sit."
She pauses, then adds. "Any new news about the.. situation upstairs? I ain't heard from anybody since last night."
"We're both mostly just faking it." Naru points out as she follows Kyouko into the living room and settles on a cushion next to her. Clearly supper is at a stage that can wait a little while.
Naru reaches over to tug Kyouko's feet into her lap as they relax. "Busy day? Usually you get to sit at least a little." She mmms softly at the question about upstairs. "I texted Kunzite, sounds like Unmei is improving a bit. She was better last night with the brownies than before, which is progress. What deals she made with Eclipse.. hard to say. Also hard to say what the gem is doing to her, or for her. Or at least, I've no clue."
Kyouko wiggles her bare feet on Naru's lap. Clearly, spending so much time with the (moderately) more feminine Naru is having some sort of effect on her, because her toenails are painted a dark red. "Busy day." She confirms, with a faint sigh. "Well, s'Valentines and all, as we've gone through already.. we sell the little chocolates and flowers and such, lotta businessmen runnin' in and out."
She laughs. "I think I have more in common with them than with other highschool girls, sometimes." She shrugs. "Just a lotta runnin' back and forth. I did get to sit a little. But not enough. So, if you have no objections, my ass ain't movin' from this cushion until dinner is ready, or some other temptation strong over to overcome my sore-footedness comes along." She grins.
At the upstate about Unmei, she just shrugs a little. "Alright. Well.. guess that's good. Frankly, much as she pisses me off, I'll take minor crises like that over anymore of those damn cards kidnapping people into alternate dimensions or unsticking time or knocking holes in your house."
Naru reaches a hand down to wriggle one of those painted toes, playful. "You sort of do, in many ways. Working rather than school. Different concerns." She isn't in a rush to get up either, for that matter. Clearly there's a timer in the kitchen, to keep things from burning.
"I can carry you, if you want." Naru offers with a laugh. "But reality is that you just have to sit here 'til I bring supper over and then you might have to sit up. Unless I'm feeding you roast beef."
Naru considers that as she tries not to tickle Kyouko's toes. Not too badly at least. "I will agree with you there, that's for certain. I'll take this crisis over alternate dimensional kidnapping, dragging people through floors, or earth elementals rampaging."
Kyouko curls her toes against Naru's fingers, enjoying the playful contact, eyes lidded as she takes a few moments to just relax in the quiet apartment. A soft inward breath, then out again. "Well," She finally says, when she speaks again, "I meant more in the 'panicking over forgetting things for the girlfriend' part, but." A grin. She's clearly convinced by now that Naru isn't upset with her.
"Mmm.. there's a certain amount of appeal in both having you carry me and having you feed me roast beef." She says, a mischevious glint in her eye, "Buuut, seein' as how it's Valentine's day and all, I suppose I'll find the strength to feed myself."
She opens her mouth to speak again when Naru's tickling crosses a line and she quite abruptly squeaks and tugs her foot back, half falling over onto the carpet in the process. "H-hey!" At least there's no one here to see it this time, so she doesn't have to deny anything. After a moment, she sits back up.. and replaces her foot on Naru's lap, if a bit grudgingly. "Well. I wouldn't mind a rampaging elemental," She amends, snorting. "'Least then I'd feel somewhat useful."
"I like to think that I am not quite the fussy and simpering stereotypical girlfriend." Naru points out with a little poke at Kyouko's foot. "I won't pout at you and not tell you why either." She giggles at the very idea, accepting Kyouko's feet back into her lap.
"Careful, I'm likely to carry you by tossing you over my shoulder, you know." Naru points out with a grin as she relaxes again, gentle touches again, not quite tickling.
"This refrain sounds familiar you know." Naru points out with a gentle squeeze to Kyouko's calf. "But I can see where you're coming from. We havne't had much to stab .. since the witch? Was there somethign since then?"
"No, you're not, an' I'm grateful for that." Kyouko acknowledges, to Naru's lack of simpering, then adding, "I don't think I've ever seen you pout, come to think of it. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that." She winks.
A laugh at the idea of Naru tossing Kyouko (who is several inches taller) over her shoulder and carrying her into the kitchen. "That'd almost be worth the price of admission, though I'd want Momo to be here to take pictures so I could see how it looked later." She says, giggling just a little herself.
Then a faint sigh, rubbing her jean-clad calf into the squeeze, because it felt good on sore muscles. "Sorry, I dun mean to be complainy, and honestly, I should be grateful there's been nothin' to stab. It's not like I want myself, or people I care about to be in danger, s'just.. well, there's still crises, right? They're just ones I suck at dealing with. Girl wants to feel appreciated, that's all. Feel like she's earnin' her keep anyway."
"Pouting isnt' really in my repetoire." Naru agrees with a quirk of a smile. "I could try it, but I don't think it'd be all that effective."
I'll keep that in mind when she's home." Naru laughs and continues with rubbing Kyouko's calf, massaging sore muscles, even through jeans. "Clearly part of my training, to haul you about." She winks, teasing.
"You are appreciated, you know." Naru gives a gentle nudge. "It's not eternally non stop violence, which is a mercy. Patrolling isn't exactly the same. I mean.. there are still witches and wraiths, right?" She almost manages not to shiver mentioning wraiths.
"It might be effective just cuz if you were actually pouting about something I might have a goddamned heart attack." Kyouko laughs, shaking her head. "But, I don't mind that you ain't the pouty type. I think that'd get old pretty quick."
A mild purr, or the best approximation of it that she can manage (which is actually almost disturbingly good) as her calf is massaged, and she scoots a little bit closer along the floor. "Well, we gotta keep makin' you sweat somehow." She winks. "Otherwise you might get all lazy on us."
Then a self-deprecating laugh as Naru points out that she is appreciated. "I know, I know.. it's just knowin' it don't help the feeling that I ain't contributed much recently. But yes, there's still patrols and the normal stuff. And I promise I'll stop whining, now. It's Valentine's Day after all, ain't we supposed to be all sweet and romancy?" She smirks. "Which, for the record, is somethin' that isn't really in my re-..repi..toire." She forces out the unfamiliar word.
"Lounging around, eating bonbons." Naru quips back at the mention of lazy. "Or at least painting them or something. Oooh, or a fainting couch and lacy pantaloons or something." She grins as she continues to lazily work the long day out of Kyouko's legs.
"We are being sweet and romancy." Naru points out. "We're together, and being cute and there'll be supper soon enough." Naru gives a little poke. "Besides, you're effectively on call for weird dangerous crap. I'm really very alright that you only get called now and then. All I do is text people, which I haven't even been doing well at keeping track of lately." She gives the briefest tickle, soothed with a caress only a moment later. "I'm fond of us as us rather than what commericals claim we should be like."
"Ooh, bonbons." Kyouko says, momentarily distracted. "That does sound pretty nice.." Then she makes a sound at Naru's further tickle, scowling briefly before it's soothed away and then she gives a little laugh. "No, you're right, as usual." She says, shaking her head, one hand coming up to push red strands off of her face. "I ain't never been too good at doin' what I was supposed to, anyway. No need to start now, I guess."
She suddenly pulls her legs back, but only so she can rise to her feet, in defiance of her earlier statement of her intent to do no such thing. "Though I think we might both have a pretty low bar for 'sweet and romancy.' She grins. "Which I am totally okay with, for the record."
"I'm gonna get outta these jeans, they probably smell like conbenie." She pads off towards the hallway.
Naru watches Kyouko get up and pad down the hallway. "Our bar is just /fine/ for sweet and romancy." She points out, her voice raising as Kyouko moves out of the room. She gracefully gets to her feet and roams back into the kitchen to check on things. "What do you want to drink with supper?"
"I like the mix we've found of public versus private." Naru points out. "I mean, neither of us are known for being all touchy touchy. Then again, neither is Kunzite and he's coping shockingly well with Unmei clinging to him like a limpet."
Kyouko returns a moment later, settling back down by the table on the cushion with her legs crossed as Naru heads back out into the kitchen. "I dunno, should I have gotten us wine?" She asks, teasingly, knowing full well that Naru doesn't really drink. "Just water or somethin' would be fine." She amends.
"I do too." She says a moment later, sounding happy. "I like it when you touch me.. but other people don't need to know that." She grins, even if Naru isn't in the room to see it, and then follows up with a mild shudder. "Blegh. Well, I respected a ton already but he may be earnin' new levels of it. I don't deal well with clinging.. at least, that sort of clinging."
"Get me drunk and have your way with me?" Naru teases with a laugh. Clearly a tease, she doens't drink, let alone get drunk. She returns out of the kitchen with glasses of water. Even if they eat out here, its so much easier to serve in the kitchen itself.
Naru leans down to drop a kiss on Kyouko's head. "I can mostly cope with the clinging, but I dont always do so well with the tears. Usagi's tears I'm used to, and they're like a tap. When she's done crying, almost always, it's about a blink before she's giggling again."
"Babe, I don't need to get you drunk for that." Kyouko shoots back, teasing in return, with a rather self-satisfied smirk. When Naru leans over to put down the water (and kiss her head), Kyouko reaches up, grabbing Naru on the shoulders (after she's put the water down) and tugging her to the floor in a gentle, playful half-throw, the sort they've been practicing in Naru's 'learn how to fall without hurting oneself' training.
In a blink, she's sitting astride the other girl, looking triumphant and wiggling her eyebrows. "See? What about this sort of clinging?" She teases, and then without letting Naru up, adds, "Usagi is a training course in and of herself.. 'course, all she trains you for is how to deal with Usagi. You are a specialist, my dear, but maybe there's still time to branch out."
There's been just enough training that Naru neither clocks her head on the table, nor lands especially oddly, but she /is/ pinned by Kyouko in short order. The laughter says that she probably doens't really mind.
"This isn't clinging, per se." Naru points out as she gives her girlfriend a shove before she gets back up to her feet. "I'm branching out, or trying to." She takes a few steps to the kitchen and then winks. "I'm getting used to you, aren't I?"
Kyouko is shoved, and allows herself to be shoved backwards off of Naru and onto the floor, laughing along with the other girl. Comfortable and clearly happy, despite how nervous she was when she came home a short time before.
She blinks over her shoulder at Naru as the other girl starts to head back to the kitchen. "You are? I mean.. getting used to?"
Soon she's on her feet, trailing after Naru into the kitchen. "Well, I dunno if I appreciate that particular comparison to Usagi.. but then again, the roast beef smells so good I'm not really sure I can muster a complaint, at the moment.."