#cus we need some cutesy stuff this Sunday

[happyheidi]

𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑣𝑖

𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤. 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑.

[goldenworldsabound]

Chapter 8 - Food Is the Ultimate Plan

cutesy stuff~

Wendy woke in the morning. She felt warmer than usual. Was that the covers bunched up behind her? No...some soft snoring cued her in to the situation at hand.

Shizuo’s here! She blushed, putting a hand over her mouth. Because of his height he was kind of curled around her, his head a few inches higher up the bed. She carefully rolled over in place, facing his chest. She snuggled up to him, gently, hoping not to wake him.

“Mm?” He seemed to have noticed the change of position. His eyes half-opened, he gazed at her, smiling. With one hand he played with her hair a little. “Mm.” His eyes closed again. He stopped playing with her hair, and used that hand to pull her closer, draping his arm over her.

She could feel his heartbeat, consistent, reassuring, from his chest, where her head pressed against him. She liked this immensely. It was soft, and warm, and sleepy. She wished she could stay in bed the entire day like this.

Her phone made a notification sound. She opened her eyes again. She was pretty sure notifications weren’t supposed to go off 9 am or so...so they’d slept in, that seemed fine...another notification. At the very least she wanted to put the phone into Do Not Disturb.

She started to roll over, but found that she couldn’t. Shizuo’s grip had tightened, and he held her against him.

“Shizuo…” Wendy said, smiling.

He opened his eyes halfway again, looking at her silently. He removed his arm from over her side, looking up and slightly annoyed. It was very cute.

She rolled over to check the phone. The first thing she noticed was the time. “11:30???” She squealed, surprised. “Oh, my…” As for the messages,

‘<Hi Wendy-chan! Do you know how to cook?>’ The second one said, ‘<I’m inviting a friend over tomorrow, and we wanted to cook, but neither of us know how…>’ A third one appeared. ‘<Shizuo can come eat with us once we’re done, if you like!>’

Shizuo’s phone make a text sound as well. Grumbling, he grabbed it from his pocket. Wendy marveled briefly that he had slept with a phone in his pocket.

‘<That sounds great Celty-chan! What time?>’ She sent back. A friend of Celty’s, huh…

She rolled back over to face Shizuo, still holding the phone, waiting for the response. Shizuo was looking at his own phone.

“My friend Tom wants to meet you.” He said, eyeing her. “Is that okay today?”

“Mm, sure! Maybe we could do a late lunch? You probably need to go home and get changed into clean clothes, right?”

Shizuo thought for a moment. “Unfortunately.” His clothes were too nice - it was obvious when they were wrinkled and worn.

He texted a bit more, and Celty responded to Wendy with a time - 3 pm Sunday. So a dinner meal.

“Um, Celty invited me over tomorrow to cook dinner, and she said you’re welcome to come once we’re done cooking.” Wendy smiled cheerfully.

“Mm, that sounds good.” Shizuo sat up, scratching his head. Wendy sat up too, stretching a bit. She giggled, and he looked over, smiling.

“What are you laughing about?” He tilted his head at her.

“I can’t believe you’re here. In my room. And you were all night.” She blushed, but smiled wide, not trying to hide it.

Shizuo suddenly lay back down, pulling Wendy with him, and into an embrace. “I can’t believe it either.” He said, nuzzling his face against hers. “But I’m glad.” He kissed her forehead and sat up again, responding to his phone pinging again.

“Tom suggests Russia Sushi at 1. I won’t have time to come get you...will you be okay getting there on your own?” He asked, buttoning up his shirt the rest of the way.

Wendy nodded. “It’s bright out and I...think I know where that is. It’s pretty recognizable.”

“Good. I should get going then.” Shizuo said, frowning a bit.

“It’s okay, it’s not even 2 hours we’ll be separated.” Wendy offered, hugging him from behind. Once she let go, he stood up, gathering his vest and bowtie, putting the outfit back together,

“I wish it were none.” He grumbled back.

“Next time you come over you should bring a change of clothes to leave here. Maybe a few...I’ll wash the dirty ones for you.” She suggested pragmatically, following him into the living room.

He put on his sunglasses and shoes, and it was time to leave. She was still in an over-sized shirt and shorts, hair messy, bangs sticking up everywhere. He doubted his hair was any better.

“I’ll see you later, sweetie.” She said, standing on her toes until he bent down so she could kiss his cheek.

“Let me know if you change your mind about walking alone. Later.” Shizuo replied, heading outside, hands in his pockets as he walked away.

She closed the door and locked it, and then headed to the shower.

Shizuo and Tom arrived at roughly the same time to Russia Sushi.

“Huh? Where is she?” Tom asked, looking around. “She’s coming separately?”

“Yeah. She’s new to Ikebukuro so it might take her a bit longer.”

She showed up not too much longer.

“AH! I’m sorry for being late, I took a wrong turn…” She seemed out of breath.

“It’s no big deal, we weren’t waiting long.” Shizuo said, eyeing her from behind his sunglasses. He took in her outfit. A mid-length pleated skirt of varying pastel colors, and a light green top. It was nice, though he had to admit he preferred the dresses more.

“Wendy-chan, this is my friend and colleague, Tom-san.” Shizuo said, pointing at Tom. “Tom-san, this is my girlfriend, Wendy-chan.”

“Pleased to meet you!” Wendy said, bowing a bit and blushing. He used the word girlfriend! Internal screaming!

“Nice to meet you too.” Tom said, only bowing his head a little bit, looking a bit unsure about her bowing.

Satisfied, Shizuo nodded, walking into the restaurant. Wendy and Tom followed.

“Shi-zu-o-san! Oh, and Tom-san, and who is this small lady?” Simon greeted them, pausing as he got to Wendy.

“Hi Simon. This is Wendy-chan, my girlfriend.” Shizuo replied.

“Girlfriend? Wow, I’m impressed, Shi-zu-o-san!” Wendy looked a bit embarrassed, while Shizuo remained silent, a small blush on his face. They sat down at the bar.

“Where you from, Wendy-chan?” Simon asked.

“America. I only moved here about 3 weeks ago.”

“Oooh! America! <I speak a little bit of English. We learn it in school in Russia.>”

“<Are you from Russia, then?>”

“<That’s right.”>

Shizuo drank his tea without concern, while Tom seemed to sink lower and lower, looking between Wendy and Simon somewhat anxiously. He wanted to whisper to Shizuo asking what was going on here, but Wendy was sitting between them.

“I’ll go get you some sushi! Sushi good, sushi fresh. Not made of Americans!” Simon wandered off.

“Was that...English, then?” Tom asked, glad to hear Japanese from Simon again, even if it was fairly broken Japanese..

“Mm-hm.” Wendy nodded. “It’s always nice when I can converse in English for a bit.” She smiled pleasantly.

“I see.” Tom felt a bit guilty for being annoyed, but quickly moved on from it.

“Tom-san, are you fairly strong too?” Wendy asked, prompting Tom to laugh and hold up his hands.

“Ha, no. Shizuo-san’s the muscle in our duo. I keep track of who we’re talking to next and how much they owe use.”

“I see. You make a good team then?”

“Yes.” Shizuo interjected. “If it was just me, I’d probably forget to collect the money.”

“Aah well, without you there wouldn’t be any money to collect, much of the time…” Tom laughed nervously. “Wendy-san, what do you do?”

“I’m a software developer.” As the two discussed Wendy’s career, Shizuo tuned out a bit, just watching Wendy talk and admiring her. Out here, in public with someone else he knew, he tended not to smile as much, although he didn’t realize this himself.

“Sushi ready! We’ve got crab sushi, cream cheese sushi…” The list went on.

“Simon-san, I can’t have the cream cheese ones. I’m lactose intolerant.” Wendy said, sighing a bit.

Simon tilted his head curiously at her. “What?”

“<Lactose intolerant?>” She tried again in English.

That seemed to land. “Oh! I’m sorry, I’m sure Shizuo-san and Tom-san can have them, right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me...although, it is a little weird, cream cheese in sushi…” Tom replied.

Shizuo remained silent. Wendy looked over at him, and jumped a bit. He was staring at her with a look of total shock. “Lactose...intolerant?” He said, gripping the edge of bar.

“Er...ye-yeah. It’s been a few years now, I guess.” She looked a bit nervous.

“But...dairy is the best. Milk is the best. How...how do you live like this…” He slumped over a bit, seeming very depressed by this news.

“Sh-Shizuo-kun…” Wendy said shakily, reaching out a hand and putting it on his shoulder.

He swiveled suddenly, grabbing her shoulders. “I didn’t know you were suffering this way. I’m so sorry.” He was holding onto her a bit tighter than usual.

“I-it’s okay, I’m fairly used to it by now, and there’s, uh, lactose pills I take sometimes...it’s okay, I promise.” She clasped her hands together. “C-can you let go, please?” She asked, laughing awkwardly.

“...Sorry.” He let go, and returned to facing the bar.

Tom and Simon stared at him. Simon shrugged and put down all the sushi, then walked away again.

Shizuo looked back at Tom. “What?”

“Er...nevermind.” Tom said, drinking tea as a substitute for asking his question.

“Let’s...eat?” Wendy said cautiously, breaking her chopsticks apart. The other two followed suit. Sushi had never been a favorite of Wendy’s, but this sushi was...pretty weird, and pretty good. Shizuo seemed to take extra care to savor the cream cheese ones, sneaking glances at Wendy as he did so, as if feeling apologetic somehow.

The rest of lunch passed without much incident.

“I’ll see you Monday, Shizuo-san.” Tom said, excusing himself after the meal. It hadn’t been much, but coming from Shizuo things like little smiles and staring at his girlfriend felt sickeningly sweet. Tom found that as much as he was happy for his friend, he was a bit jealous as well.

“What do you want to do now?” Wendy asked, as they started walking away from the restaurant.

Shizuo suddenly turned to her, hugging her tightly.

“Um, not that I’m complaining,” She said hugging him back. “But...is something wrong?”

“I’m so sad that you can’t have dairy.” Shizuo mumbled back.

“R-really, Shizuo, it’s...it’s okay.” She laughed gently. “I’m used to it.”

He stopped hugging her, and looked at her sorrowfully. “If you say so...I don’t know what I’d do without dairy…”

“You figure it out.” She replied, shrugging.

He nodded slowly.

“So then, what would you like to do?” She asked. Her question was answered as he scooped her up into his arms again.

“This.”

Wendy laughed. Shizuo smiled. “Okay, but what else?” She clarified.

“Watch a movie at your place?”

“Oh that sounds lovely! We can decide a movie on the way over. Oh wait, even better, we should stop by your place first and pick up that extra set of clothes! And anything else you want to...stay.” She grinned up at him.

He smiled. “You’re always on top of things like that, Wendy.” He said, changing direction to head that way.