Post by GGJ5 on Jul 24, 2011 22:39:40 GMT -5
Light filtered in through Erin's closed eyelids, breaking the peaceful darkness of sleep. Normally, she could sleep through the light, too, but noise like a crocodile thrashing about in the closet kept her from dozing off again. “Yuyukun....” she grumbled sleepily, turning her face away from the pillow just enough to expose her lips. “It's too early....”
“Sorry, Erin,” came the muffled sound from the closet. “I must have forgotten to set the alarm last night. I have about five minutes to get there on time.”
“Get where?” Erin grumbled again, pushing herself up with all the effort she could muster at that hour of the morning. And she didn't even want to think about what time she actually went to sleep the night before. “Aw, work?” She shoved an unruly bit of hair away from her face, finding Yukito shoving on his second shoe through her bleary eyes. “You have work on our first anniversary....”
“My schedule's been on the calender, Erin... I couldn't get out of it; I tried.” He grabbed his phone and wallet from beside their bed and thrust them into his pockets before getting down on his knees to meet Erin's eye level. “And technically, anniversaries only celebrate the yearly mark of important events.” He saw her expression fall a bit, before he quickly reached out to cup her face in his hands, meeting her lips with his. “Nevertheless, I would love to celebrate our 'anniversary' with you today...” He rose to his feet and gave a sigh. “I'd take you any day over pain-in-the-butt customers, but.. I'm really late, and I want us to keep us from being homeless.” Another quick kiss on Erin's forehead and he dashed from the room, snatching his keys, and wrenching the door open. “I'll be back about 4:30, Erin,” he called back. “Shiawase-shūnen...”
The door closed. A crestfallen Erin remained behind it. “But I don't even know what that means,” she said to the room. The whole weekend Erin had been planning on how she'd celebrate the day with him. She'd planned to wake him up with a few surprise kisses, and make him breakfast, and give him her special surprise, and share a special lunch with him, and make the living room into a ballroom... but now all those ideas were gone because she'd been too clueless to look at the calender. Yukito always wrote his work schedule meticulously on the calender, calculating hours and wages per hour and overtime and probably even taxes somehow on that thing. He was so good.
She frowned. “You aren't supposed to have to work today. Stupid consumerism.”
Well, they still weren't going to ruin her one-month-anniversary. Even Yukito said he'd call it an anniversary even though “technically” it wasn't one. That was enough motivation to make it happen. By the time 4:30 came, everything would be perfect.
****______******
It was four o'clock as Erin unlocked the door and dropped the surprise groceries in the kitchen. She had now thirty minutes or less to prepare for Yukito's surprise, to plan for their special day together. Please be late, please be late, please be late...
Thankfully, angel hair pasta cooked in no time, as did the shrimp and broccoli. The apartment smelt beautiful. But I don't match! Erin thought in a frenzy as she whirled the dress around and out of the closet. It hadn't been worn since their trip to Japan, which felt like forever ago. The cloth still shone with newness. And maybe this time it would be easier to put it on by herself... Kimonos were much more complicated than they looked once you had them one, she concluded. Pasta and kimono and music from who knows where, but not Japan or Italy... yep, it's America, she thought with amusement.
She'd barely gotten the obi wrapped properly after about six tries in various postures (so it would stop being lopsided or so loose that it fell off) when Yukito's keys jangled in the door. “Tadaima,” came the usual call as the rest of his body followed his head in. Erin stepped out of the kitchen, where she'd just placed the utensils on their plates, and came into his full view, grinning.
“Okaeri!” As soon as the door shut, Erin enveloped Yukito in a tight hug. “Happy anniversary!!”
While he immediately returned her embrace, for a moment Yukito was silent before giving a peculiar exhale as though there was a word stuck in his mouth. “H—Happy anniversary,” he finally voiced, which what Erin guessed was a bit of laughter at the back of his throat. He punctuated the greeting with a kiss. “You look beautiful.” He smiled. “You put on the kimono by yourself?”
“No, the friendly neighborhood ghost helped me out. He said the same thing.” She grinned, sending him a wink before bursting into a laugh. “Of course I did it myself! It was a lot easier though, this time, with this website I found that gave like a crazy-long step by step process, and each little piece of this has a special Japanese name, did you know that?” Erin held up a piece of the silken cloth and recited happily, “This is the yukata!”
Yukito gave a deep chuckle. “Yes, it is. Good job...”
She took his hand, leading him to the picnic-style dinner she'd set up in the living room. The picnic-style wasn't anything new or special, since they worked without an official dining room table, but she'd made it special and decorated it with long-stem white and red candles, and had set up a few of their best pictures together, including several from the wedding and reception. The playlist from their reception played from Erin's iPod, though she'd picked only the slower, more ballad-type songs. “I made us something special!”
“Wow, Erin...”
“Come sit down with me!” Erin positioned herself in front of one of the place settings, patting the spot next to her.
“Wait, Erin, I—I need you to close your eyes for a second, okay?”
“What?”
“Come on, now, just close them.” He was smiling. So she closed them.
The front door opened, closed, then a couple of minutes later opened and shut once more. “Yukito?”
No response, but she heard him moving closer. “Keep your eyes closed,” he said softly as she felt him sink down beside her, taking her face in his hands again.
“Okay,” she giggled out. Then Yukito's lips met hers in a sweet, drawn-out kiss.
“Daisuki, Erin-Kuroe-Supensa-Maki... Now you can open your eyes.”
She did, and her eyes met a colorful explosion of gorgeous flowers. “Watashi no hanayome ni shiawasena kinen-bi. Happy anniversary to my bride.”
Erin sucked in an excited gasp. “Yukito! They're amazing! I didn't even know flowers could come in these colors! I love them!” She took the bundle into her hands, staring into them intently for a few seconds until she felt something quite square nudging her hand. She looked down to see Yukito offering her a box. “Oh! Can I open it?”
Yukito smiled. “No, I just gave it to you so you could look at the box.”
Immediately Erin started laughing as she opened it, recognizing the same conversation from when he first gave her something. Her necklace, the one he gave her on their second real date. She'd asked him to put it on her.... “Oh, Yukito, it's so beautiful! I love it!” She removed the feathery blue band from its home and slipped it onto her wrist as Yukito held the explosion of bouquet for her. “I love them, Yuyukun.... And I love you more...” She pulled forward to kiss him by way of thanks and stood up, taking the bouquet with her. “Now I can use that vase my aunt gave me for our wedding!”
A minute later, their picnic had a new, bright centerpiece, and they could gratefully, easily enjoy their meal together.
“That was a really great gift,” Yukito said, blowing out the last of the candles. It wasn't anywhere near dark enough to truly enjoy the candlelight, so there wasn't much point in keeping them lit. “Thank you.”
“You're just saying that because you couldn't spot the green in it,” Erin teased, then stood up, straightening out her kimono with a few sweeps of her hands. She looked over at him and her smile grew double in size. “It's not my best gift yet.”
“Oh?” Yukito's eyes made a double take, a look that Erin didn't give a second thought to. She was too excited about sharing the fruits of a long time of effort and her best-practiced patience.
She nodded, beaming before disappearing into the bedroom for a second. “Hold on! Close your eyes!”
“As you wish,” he called back, and she thought she could hear him smiling. Did he know what she'd managed to do? She'd thought she'd managed to hide it pretty well...
Back in the living room, Erin sat back down next to Yukito and placed something into his hands. “Open!” she ordered, and his eyes went to the paper in his hands. A receipt for enrollment with a place called Desjardins Beauty School. “E—Erin... What--?”
“It's from the money I got from babysitting, and my parents helped some, and then the rest was a surprise wedding gift...” The pitch in her voice was shooting up now in her excitement. “I got in, Yukito,” she practically squeaked, grabbing his shoulders and hugging herself to him. “I got in!!”
“You.. did...” His eyes were still locked on the receipt, staring at the number no doubt. “You did...”
“And it's a one time fee and I can start next week and I can finish in nine months!! Yuyukun, don't you think this is just perfect?!”
“Yeah...” His voice was quiet, but she could see the smile growing on his face. “Of course you got in. But this... it's pretty incredible. Someone just gave this? Are you sure?”
“Not all of it!” Erin objected, defending her hard work. “Not even half! A lot was my babysitting work, and when I brought them dinners over they paid me extra... I just didn't spend most of it. See? I can do good saving.”
“Erin, you did great saving...” He let the receipt sit in his lap for a moment and reached out to wrap his arms around her. “You are going to be a wonderful stylist.” She felt his hug on her tighten and a kiss on her cheek. “That's an incredible gift, Sunshine... thank you.”
“It's gonna really happen,” she whispered excitedly. “It's really, really gonna happen!”
An almost inaudible laugh came from Yukito, Erin could feel it. “I love you... This was a great first month anniversary. I can't believe it's been a month... It feels like yesterday.”
“It's been the best month,” Erin proclaimed, giving him a short kiss before adding, “And I want there to be dozens and dozens and dozens more to spend together...” A few more kisses followed, tracing his jawline, his neck. “Just like this one....”
His arms wrapped tightly around her, Yukito pulled Erin down wit him, lying on the floor with their arms and legs entangled. He gave her a kiss, long and deep, before voicing, “I think I can help make that happen...”
“Sorry, Erin,” came the muffled sound from the closet. “I must have forgotten to set the alarm last night. I have about five minutes to get there on time.”
“Get where?” Erin grumbled again, pushing herself up with all the effort she could muster at that hour of the morning. And she didn't even want to think about what time she actually went to sleep the night before. “Aw, work?” She shoved an unruly bit of hair away from her face, finding Yukito shoving on his second shoe through her bleary eyes. “You have work on our first anniversary....”
“My schedule's been on the calender, Erin... I couldn't get out of it; I tried.” He grabbed his phone and wallet from beside their bed and thrust them into his pockets before getting down on his knees to meet Erin's eye level. “And technically, anniversaries only celebrate the yearly mark of important events.” He saw her expression fall a bit, before he quickly reached out to cup her face in his hands, meeting her lips with his. “Nevertheless, I would love to celebrate our 'anniversary' with you today...” He rose to his feet and gave a sigh. “I'd take you any day over pain-in-the-butt customers, but.. I'm really late, and I want us to keep us from being homeless.” Another quick kiss on Erin's forehead and he dashed from the room, snatching his keys, and wrenching the door open. “I'll be back about 4:30, Erin,” he called back. “Shiawase-shūnen...”
The door closed. A crestfallen Erin remained behind it. “But I don't even know what that means,” she said to the room. The whole weekend Erin had been planning on how she'd celebrate the day with him. She'd planned to wake him up with a few surprise kisses, and make him breakfast, and give him her special surprise, and share a special lunch with him, and make the living room into a ballroom... but now all those ideas were gone because she'd been too clueless to look at the calender. Yukito always wrote his work schedule meticulously on the calender, calculating hours and wages per hour and overtime and probably even taxes somehow on that thing. He was so good.
She frowned. “You aren't supposed to have to work today. Stupid consumerism.”
Well, they still weren't going to ruin her one-month-anniversary. Even Yukito said he'd call it an anniversary even though “technically” it wasn't one. That was enough motivation to make it happen. By the time 4:30 came, everything would be perfect.
****______******
It was four o'clock as Erin unlocked the door and dropped the surprise groceries in the kitchen. She had now thirty minutes or less to prepare for Yukito's surprise, to plan for their special day together. Please be late, please be late, please be late...
Thankfully, angel hair pasta cooked in no time, as did the shrimp and broccoli. The apartment smelt beautiful. But I don't match! Erin thought in a frenzy as she whirled the dress around and out of the closet. It hadn't been worn since their trip to Japan, which felt like forever ago. The cloth still shone with newness. And maybe this time it would be easier to put it on by herself... Kimonos were much more complicated than they looked once you had them one, she concluded. Pasta and kimono and music from who knows where, but not Japan or Italy... yep, it's America, she thought with amusement.
She'd barely gotten the obi wrapped properly after about six tries in various postures (so it would stop being lopsided or so loose that it fell off) when Yukito's keys jangled in the door. “Tadaima,” came the usual call as the rest of his body followed his head in. Erin stepped out of the kitchen, where she'd just placed the utensils on their plates, and came into his full view, grinning.
“Okaeri!” As soon as the door shut, Erin enveloped Yukito in a tight hug. “Happy anniversary!!”
While he immediately returned her embrace, for a moment Yukito was silent before giving a peculiar exhale as though there was a word stuck in his mouth. “H—Happy anniversary,” he finally voiced, which what Erin guessed was a bit of laughter at the back of his throat. He punctuated the greeting with a kiss. “You look beautiful.” He smiled. “You put on the kimono by yourself?”
“No, the friendly neighborhood ghost helped me out. He said the same thing.” She grinned, sending him a wink before bursting into a laugh. “Of course I did it myself! It was a lot easier though, this time, with this website I found that gave like a crazy-long step by step process, and each little piece of this has a special Japanese name, did you know that?” Erin held up a piece of the silken cloth and recited happily, “This is the yukata!”
Yukito gave a deep chuckle. “Yes, it is. Good job...”
She took his hand, leading him to the picnic-style dinner she'd set up in the living room. The picnic-style wasn't anything new or special, since they worked without an official dining room table, but she'd made it special and decorated it with long-stem white and red candles, and had set up a few of their best pictures together, including several from the wedding and reception. The playlist from their reception played from Erin's iPod, though she'd picked only the slower, more ballad-type songs. “I made us something special!”
“Wow, Erin...”
“Come sit down with me!” Erin positioned herself in front of one of the place settings, patting the spot next to her.
“Wait, Erin, I—I need you to close your eyes for a second, okay?”
“What?”
“Come on, now, just close them.” He was smiling. So she closed them.
The front door opened, closed, then a couple of minutes later opened and shut once more. “Yukito?”
No response, but she heard him moving closer. “Keep your eyes closed,” he said softly as she felt him sink down beside her, taking her face in his hands again.
“Okay,” she giggled out. Then Yukito's lips met hers in a sweet, drawn-out kiss.
“Daisuki, Erin-Kuroe-Supensa-Maki... Now you can open your eyes.”
She did, and her eyes met a colorful explosion of gorgeous flowers. “Watashi no hanayome ni shiawasena kinen-bi. Happy anniversary to my bride.”
Erin sucked in an excited gasp. “Yukito! They're amazing! I didn't even know flowers could come in these colors! I love them!” She took the bundle into her hands, staring into them intently for a few seconds until she felt something quite square nudging her hand. She looked down to see Yukito offering her a box. “Oh! Can I open it?”
Yukito smiled. “No, I just gave it to you so you could look at the box.”
Immediately Erin started laughing as she opened it, recognizing the same conversation from when he first gave her something. Her necklace, the one he gave her on their second real date. She'd asked him to put it on her.... “Oh, Yukito, it's so beautiful! I love it!” She removed the feathery blue band from its home and slipped it onto her wrist as Yukito held the explosion of bouquet for her. “I love them, Yuyukun.... And I love you more...” She pulled forward to kiss him by way of thanks and stood up, taking the bouquet with her. “Now I can use that vase my aunt gave me for our wedding!”
A minute later, their picnic had a new, bright centerpiece, and they could gratefully, easily enjoy their meal together.
“That was a really great gift,” Yukito said, blowing out the last of the candles. It wasn't anywhere near dark enough to truly enjoy the candlelight, so there wasn't much point in keeping them lit. “Thank you.”
“You're just saying that because you couldn't spot the green in it,” Erin teased, then stood up, straightening out her kimono with a few sweeps of her hands. She looked over at him and her smile grew double in size. “It's not my best gift yet.”
“Oh?” Yukito's eyes made a double take, a look that Erin didn't give a second thought to. She was too excited about sharing the fruits of a long time of effort and her best-practiced patience.
She nodded, beaming before disappearing into the bedroom for a second. “Hold on! Close your eyes!”
“As you wish,” he called back, and she thought she could hear him smiling. Did he know what she'd managed to do? She'd thought she'd managed to hide it pretty well...
Back in the living room, Erin sat back down next to Yukito and placed something into his hands. “Open!” she ordered, and his eyes went to the paper in his hands. A receipt for enrollment with a place called Desjardins Beauty School. “E—Erin... What--?”
“It's from the money I got from babysitting, and my parents helped some, and then the rest was a surprise wedding gift...” The pitch in her voice was shooting up now in her excitement. “I got in, Yukito,” she practically squeaked, grabbing his shoulders and hugging herself to him. “I got in!!”
“You.. did...” His eyes were still locked on the receipt, staring at the number no doubt. “You did...”
“And it's a one time fee and I can start next week and I can finish in nine months!! Yuyukun, don't you think this is just perfect?!”
“Yeah...” His voice was quiet, but she could see the smile growing on his face. “Of course you got in. But this... it's pretty incredible. Someone just gave this? Are you sure?”
“Not all of it!” Erin objected, defending her hard work. “Not even half! A lot was my babysitting work, and when I brought them dinners over they paid me extra... I just didn't spend most of it. See? I can do good saving.”
“Erin, you did great saving...” He let the receipt sit in his lap for a moment and reached out to wrap his arms around her. “You are going to be a wonderful stylist.” She felt his hug on her tighten and a kiss on her cheek. “That's an incredible gift, Sunshine... thank you.”
“It's gonna really happen,” she whispered excitedly. “It's really, really gonna happen!”
An almost inaudible laugh came from Yukito, Erin could feel it. “I love you... This was a great first month anniversary. I can't believe it's been a month... It feels like yesterday.”
“It's been the best month,” Erin proclaimed, giving him a short kiss before adding, “And I want there to be dozens and dozens and dozens more to spend together...” A few more kisses followed, tracing his jawline, his neck. “Just like this one....”
His arms wrapped tightly around her, Yukito pulled Erin down wit him, lying on the floor with their arms and legs entangled. He gave her a kiss, long and deep, before voicing, “I think I can help make that happen...”
-Mascii(:
