Moon Carver And Mountain Shaper Gijinka

The arnis stick I never got to use is sobbing-

Sticc ✨

If you’re wondering what those sticks are - they’re basically used in our Filipino martial art called Arnis!

I’ve been binge watching the 80s karate kid movies…

nevermore

“ their love languages ” [ bnha ]

╰┈➤ pairing: bakugou, deku, kirishima, shouto, shinsou, sero, denki, tamaki, hawks, dabi, shigaraki, iida, mina, momo, jirou x gn!reader

╰┈➤ warnings: gn!reader, wanted to get one of these out before valentine's day! i added shigaraki for @/veenxys only. febuary's gonna be a post-heavy month because i have three more collab fics to post!

— BAKUGOU:

acts of service, physical touch. katsuki might not be very good with his words, but that does not stop him from displaying his love for you. he always makes sure to keep you away from the street when walking, keeping you safely pressed into his side and anytime you're in pain- he's there to tend to you, waiting on you without complaint. he loves taking care of you, cooking every meal he can, picking up any chores you don't like and always making sure to help with housework. katsuki is also so observant, always noticing when something's troubling you and silently making the moves to fix it. he wants to make your life as easy as possible, scoffing anytime you press a kiss and thank you to his lips. he gets so casual with physical affection the longer you're together, always throwing an arm over your shoulder and tugging you against him. he refuses to leave for work until you cup his face and litter his face with kisses. he might be stubborn, but he takes every step he possibly can to make you know how much you mean.

— MIDORIYA:

acts of service, physical touch, words of affirmation. izuku wants to be able to help everyone around him, you included. you mean so much to him and he just wants to make your life easier. he always draws you a bath when you mention that your day had been rough over the phone or asks you if you need anything when he leaves for the store. he also makes sure he takes over your least favourite chores like the dishes or taking out the trash. once he gets comfortable around you, izuku gets so touchy. he likes laying together when you watch tv at night or ensuring that your thighs touch when you sit in a booth together- little touches throughout the day. he's always been very good at communicating and so he always tries to ensure he tells you how much you mean. he wants you to feel appreciated and loved, even if it takes a while to find the words, he makes sure to say them.

— KIRISHIMA:

words of affirmation, physical touch. eijirou has never shied away from showing everyone how much you mean to him. he has hands on you everywhere you go, holding hands or an arm wrapped around your waist. loves having you wrapped up in his arms, head pressed to his chest. you can't go more than ten minutes without him kissing you. he's also not shying away from saying everything he loves about you. always there to cheer you on or just cupping your face and whispering all his love- how pretty you are, how much you improve his day, everything- to you. he doesn't leave his praise to just you though, everyone around him knows how much he loves you. he just can't shut up. he calls you once a day to tell you he loves you and you've heard from everyone in his agency knows your favourite food. bakugou's patience is running thin.

— TODOROKI:

physical touch, gift giving, quality time. shouto is touch-starved. he's never really liked people getting close to him... touching him, but he finds himself aching for you. he has his chin resting on your shoulder whenever he's sitting next to you and always leans into every kiss. his favourite part of his day is coming home and being held by you. shouto loves getting to spoil you, no excuses needed. every time he comes home from patrolling, he has a new trinket for you. sometimes they're smaller things like your favourite chocolate or sometimes it's an entire jewellery set. he buys you flowers once a week, always a different arrangement. he's also someone who's never liked draining dates- doesn't see the point. he's perfectly content in spending every free moment with you, even if it's just watching you study or curling up on your couch for a nap.

— SHINSOU:

quality time, gift giving. hitoshi really loves existing together. he's not someone who likes really high energy dates, not that he doesn't plan more complicated outings. it's just he prefers really casual date nights: coffee dates where you can spend a quiet evening pressed together doing two separate things, planning a day to drive somewhere less polluted so you can have a picnic while star-gazing. afternoon dates where you go out to eat, usually some small hole in the wall cafe he found while on a walk one time. he likes being able to put all of his attention onto you, undivided and undisturbed. he also loves to be able to touch you. he's not picky about it, but there will be numerous movie marathons spent facing each other and not the screen, legs tangled together and running hands through each others hair.

— SERO:

physical touch, quality time. hanta just really loves touching you. he's always holding your hands, the feeling of your palm against his just makes him so happy and calm. every time you're close enough and your hands are empty, he's taking it. he hugs you all the time, catching you in his arms and spinning you around. he takes every opportunity to kiss you, pressing a kiss to your cheek every morning and always kisses you on your forehead and lips before leaving. hanta also considers his time to be one of the best ways to show how he loves you. he loves anytime he gets with you, usually spent just curled up on the couch and talking lowly or doing chores together. he likes the simpleness.

— KAMINARI:

physical touch, quality time. denki has always been a very hands on person and affection's no different. he's always touching you. it's just how he's wired, how he reacts- his first instinct when he feels any emotion is to latch onto you. physical touch is his way of making the best of bad emotions and sharing his good ones with you. if he ever feels excited, you're the first person he finds so he can cling to your shoulders. he has to have you close all the time, pulling you onto his lap, wrapping his arms around your waist, hands locked with your own, anything he can get. he also relies on touch to recharge, hooking a leg over your hips and nuzzling into your neck as you card through his hair. denki values any time you get together so much, so he takes extra care in ensuring that it's exciting. he spends days, sometimes weeks, before dates planning. he loves to see you happy.

— AMAJIKI:

quality time, physical touch. tamaki has never been the most articulated person, no matter how hard he tried, and he's never been good in high social situations. he hated it for a while, not being able to give you a proper date- but quickly adapted. he likes the little inside dates: curling up on something soft to watch a movie, making dinner together a little too late at night, or just sitting shoulder to shoulder while doing two completely different things. he also likes to be subtlety touching you too, though. a hand intertwined with yours or his head resting against your shoulder, small things that help remind him that you're together. after really taxing days, he comes how and curls into you, tucked away into your neck.

— HAWKS:

physical touch, gift giving. keigo loves with everything he has, once he gets comfortable with someone he's nearly obsessive. he's incredibly clingy and while he doesn't struggle with words- he tells you just how much he loves you plenty- touch is always his fallback. he refuses to start his mornings without a hug from you, pressing you tight against him and nuzzling into your neck and takes every opportunity to steal a kiss. he spends, much to his dismay, a lot of his time away from you and a lot of that time thinking about you. anytime he sees anything, literally anything, that makes him think of you he's bringing it home. he will not be letting you run out of jewellery, always insisting on clasping it onto you. you have a whole drawer at home filled with colourful rocks and shiny trinkets he's brought back to you. he blames the weirder ones on his "bird brain" but that rock just reminded him of your eyes.

— DABI:

acts of service, physical touch. touya loves so deeply and tenderly, even when he can't voice those feelings. he tries so desperately too help you, even if he blatantly refuses doing so. you mention off handedly that you need to do the laundry and find it done the next day. you know it's him, even as he rolls his eyes, by the contented little smile on his face. he also tries his best to take care of you- even if he can barely look after himself. he tries to cook dinner or breakfast and it's not anything amazing but you can tell how much it meant to him. he's very touchy, too, always finding an excuse to be pressed against you. follows you around when you're doing chores, anytime you stop he's knocking his head into your chin until you cup his face and kiss him.

— SHIGARAKI:

physical touch, quality time. tomura is desperate for touch, something he'd been deprived of for so long- now he revels in the plentiful attention he can get from you. if you're ever sitting down, he's draped over your lap, pushing his head into your hands to urge you to card through his hair. always pushes his face into your neck, nuzzling into the tender skin, when you cuddle. guides your wrist to his chin so you tip his head and kiss him. even if he needs to constantly be touching, he does like just being able to be in the room with you.

— ASHIDO:

words of affirmation, physical touch. mina loves you and will never let a moment pass which she doesn't remind you. she showers you with compliments, escalating throughout the course of the day in an attempt to fluster you. anytime you make even the smallest change in appearance, she compliments it. she'll tell you how good your new haircut looks, how the shirt you just bought is the best colour you've ever worn, how the way you've styles yourself brings out all your best features. she's also a very touchy person, it's also how she expresses her emotions and how she greets you. anytime you enter her line of sight, she's touching you- draping herself over your shoulders, littering kisses over your cheeks, or throwing your leg over her lap.

— YAOYOROZU:

gift giving, physical touch. momo sees you and thinks that you deserve every nice thing in the world. she's so casual in her gift giving- no matter how extravagant the object. she just sees something that reminds her of you and buys it. she brings you delicate rings, slipping them onto your fingers with a soft, "they made me think of you, lovely." anything you need paid for, no matter if you tell her or not, is being paid for. you see a shirt you really love in a store window? it's yours. you have more student debt than you know what to do with? she'll cover it. you go to the same cafe every morning? she always pays. she also loves to spoil you with affection, wrapping her arms around you whenever she sees you, dotting kisses over your face. anytime you're together, she has a hand on you. she just loves you so much and will do everything in her power to show you.

— JIROU:

acts of service, quality time. kyoka gets frustrated whenever she tries to voice her feelings for you. she feels awkward and gets hot all over, then she clams up for the rest of the day. she hates that she can't just tell you how much she loves you, that you make her happy- but she'll settle with showing you. she tries to think about you as much as she can: anytime she's getting something for herself- a snack, drink, hoodie- she's bringing you back one as well. she also keeps an eye on you and your needs, the slightest shiver has her tossing a jacket over your shoulders. she really values alone time with you, too. just simply existing in the same space, pulling you into her room so you can listen to a song that she was writing, bingeing a new series she found, or testing out a new cookie recipe.

‧₊˚✩ taglist + masterlist ✩˚₊‧

🏷: @veenxys , @mxgenderbender , @izukus-gf , @dinodumbass , @myaaki , @tipsyangels , @uwuthatshit , @akaakeijii , @rae-tenya , @sugarmaplewings-fics

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WHY NOT OKAY

I started drawing the Ever After High girls in random historical fashion eras… why? I have no idea

Raven Queen in 1890s, Apple White in Italian Renaissance.

Briar Beauty in 1920s, Madeline Hatter in 1880s

No particularly reason for the eras, just the vibe I get from the characters and their designs!

— 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ✫

𝐟𝐭;; xiao, diluc, ayato, scaramouche

𝐭𝐰/𝐜𝐰;; mentions of blood/bleeding/bruises, scaramouche thinks about choking someone, implied violence, this is being written before ayato’s official release, so inaccuracies may occur. apologies for any grammar errors.

— 𝐗𝐈𝐀𝐎 feels his breath hitch. Your pained expression comes into view, and suddenly, his vision is filled with red red red, because you’re hurt and there’s blood everywhere and why is his chest aching? Mocking laughter brings his daze to a halt, and Xiao distantly realises that now, his vision is tinged with red for an entirely different reason.

— 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐔𝐂 starts to choke up. ‘Not again,’ a distant part of him cries out, ‘Not them too.’ He prays to every God in Teyvat, in the hopes that this is all just a nightmare. But the blood that stains your clothes is all too real, and Diluc can only escape reality for so long. Slowly, he begins to stand, and his knees nearly buckle underneath his weight. His fingers tremble with the need for his claymore, and his eyes burn with a newfound vigour.

— 𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐓𝐎 releases a deceptively calm chuckle. Blue eyes that usually shimmered with amused mirth, now held the frigid glare of an icy storm. Quickly, he shoots a brief glance in your direction, his eyes softening at your bruised and battered form. Ayato leans down to press a tender kiss against your forehead, before gracefully rising to his feet. As he gazed upon the person who was foolish enough to harm you, his lips curl into a slow smirk, one that does not reach his eyes.

— for a brief moment, 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐄 is left stunned by the sheer audacity. The amount of insolence is almost laughable, don’t they know who they’re messing with? His hands shake with barely suppressed rage, itching to reach out and wrap themselves around the fool’s throat. Instead, both hands clutch his sides, and a hollow, mocking laugh leaves his lips. His eyes glint with the promise of vengeance, because what goes around, comes around, and scaramouche is more than happy to deliver.

---

𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐘𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 & 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐊𝐘𝐔𝐔!!

featuring ; (husband !) akaashi keiji + iwaizumi hajime + kageyama tobio + atsumu miya + bokuto koutarou

warnings ; mentions of alcohol, iwa’s muscles ;;

notes ; i couldn’t help but switch up my headcanon layout, i hope you guys don’t mind

+AKAASHI placed the glass of wine to his lips, eyes trained on you who stared with confusion. his location : lake como, italy, and by far one of the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen. it was almost cliche, how you were sitting here drinking expensive wines on the balcony of your hotel ( which might i add was just as breathtaking as the city ) with quite a view of the massive expanse of crystalline water glittering pleasantly in the sunshine. “this is something keiji, how could you even afford it ?” you gasped, tilting your head back with laughter at his sly smirk. so silly. “don’t doubt my ways love, i make more than enough y’know.” followed with a pout, it was nice seeing this side of him. that childish, prudish side. “are you happy with how your ‘ways’ turned out ?” this time you smirked. a long pause followed, noticing how thoughtfully the editor gazed at you. “yeah.” he followed with a sweet smile. “definitely.” oh, his ways alright.

+IWAIZUMI was having the time of his life, from surfing to tackling you into the water ( don’t worry, he was gentle ), the islands of maui could not appear more inviting. it was sometime midday, although you’d both easily have lost track of time, and the sky was blazing with golden rays of light. and honey, hajime was glowing. his skin tanned effortlessly from the many hours outside, and not to mention with the tattoo you’d urged him to get around his tricep. hot wasn’t even the word that could describe it. in the night you’d fall asleep in his big arms, chirping of birds and buzzing of insects falling to deaf ears. this beautifully muscular ( and shirtless :> ) man serving as an excellent teddy bear. and it seemed at just how cuddly and affectionate he was, he didn’t mind a bit. he softly stroking a piece of stray hair behind your ear while he leaned on his elbow. “go to sleep baby, and don’t worry, your strong and capable husband will protect you.” he flexed his arm, earning a giggle from you. “weirdo.” — “your weirdo.”

+KAGEYAMA first through the of greece. when confronting you with the location of your honeymoon, upon your agreement he came to realize just how basic greece would be on a chart of most to least common honeymoon spots but he didn’t mind. especially when you reached out to him, hands opening and closing to beckon him closer as your slipped into the hot tub of the luxurious santorini resort he’d booked. known for the beautiful scenery and top-notch quality. only the best. he vowed. “c’mere tobio, the water feels amazing.” he didn’t need to be told twice to sink into your warmth, vulnerable disposition hidden in the private sector he’d requested ( only the best ). the heavenly feeling of laying his head on your chest, nearly snoring after only five minutes. “comfy ?” you grinned widely, he was like a puppy. “yes.” he mumbled, planting soft kisses on your cheek with half-lidded eyes, puppy.

+ATSUMU gripped your hand as you walked through the streets of mallorca, spain. at this point he was probably family to most of the locals who now referred to him as “son.” meanwhile, you bathed happily on the cushioned sides of the boat he’d rented, surveying the setter as he learned how to sail. despite his big-headedness, you remained shocked at how patient the instructor was, having not thrown the man off the ship just yet. “hey babe, look at me.” you looked his way, not disappointed at the sight. the unbuttoned white flannel ( cut in a deep v ) exposed his chest just enough, along with the unkempt blonde hair and unnecessary sunglasses. he was fit for this. “wow tsum, you look-“stunning ? i know.” he dramatically sighed, you simply frowned. “not the word i was thinking of but okay.” — “hey that’s not very nice.” his sunglasses tumbling off his face onto the floor clumsy, that’s the word for it.

+BOKUTO leaned back in the carriage with a satisfied sigh, watching the stars up above with rounded eyes of curiosity. “do you know the constellations kou ?” the heartfelt moment broken with a “not a clue.” you rolled in the grass, chest erupting in laughter. “seriously ? this would’ve been so romantic !!” you huffed, deciding to lay still. “mm nah. i think it’s still romantic just watching the stars in australia.” he shrugged aimlessly, perching up to then lean over your lips. his kisses always felt magical, but this time even more so. “see ? pretty romantic huh.” he wiggled his brows humorously, getting the chance to kiss him again. and again and again till it seemed like there was no one in the universe except you and him. completely enraptured in all of it. “i will admit.” you breathed after an intense kiss from the needy ace. “that was romantic.” he rocked his fists to the air, whooping triumphantly. yeah, i guess bokuto koutarou was romantic after all.

—maak

plagiarism, repost, and editing is prohibited

---

bakugo katsuki was exhausted. scorch marks were smeared against his skin and complimented by a litter of scratches and cuts. the trip home was quiet, the usual buzz of the city nightlife faint in his ringing ears. all his senses were dulled and numb, but as soon as you came into view and your fingertips grazed his cheek, they all suddenly came into razor focus.

he inhaled the smell of your familiar body wash, stared right into those big beautiful eyes of yours, and sagged at the touch of your sweet hands cupping his face– gave into it and nearly collapsed. but you held him up.

silently you brought him inside, and sat him down on the couch so you could treat his wounds and bruises. you pressed a delicate kiss to his temple before going to get the first aid kit. you come back to kneel beside him, and begin the practiced routine of cleaning and bandaging his wounds. his throat was thick as he watched you work, and some thorny thing wrapped around his heart and tightened, digging into his gummy flesh as he watches how practiced and fluent your movements have become from the amount of times he’s come back home slashed and torn, always having to fix him back up again and again and again-

“tomorrow.” he chokes out, his hand reaching out to rest on your cheek. “we can finish this tomorrow. i just want to sleep.” your lips open for moment, but then purse in defeat and you nod silently, heaving his arm over your shoulder to carry some of his weight as you make your way to your shared bedroom.

hairline fractures in his soul grew deeper and deeper with each struggled step, each thump of his dragging feet, each laboured breath. but each time you press a kiss to him and your gentle hands glide over his blackened skin, he could feel each one mend itself one by one.

---

i kept snickering like an idiot while drawing this

---

commas of care,

↳ CHAPTER III. DAYLIGHT

kita shinsuke x reader, 15.7k

SUMMARY: Kita used to dream about being free. But now, he’s 28, years into a career and married to someone he doesn’t know.

series masterlist

a/n: here she is... the final chapter !! i'm getting sentimental about it all over again but writing this chapter was very therapeutic. especially because it touched on the theme of childhood hurt, something i can relate to very well. but alas, i'll save the rest of my speech for my end notes. i hope you enjoy ! the playlist is also finished so check it out from the masterlist <3

Kita doesn’t want to say your first date was life-changing, primarily because you already tease him by actually calling it that.

And to be honest, nothing super drastic has happened after the date to be throwing the word life-changing around.

You both do the same little things, and the structure of your days are essentially the same. Wake up, do your jobs, spend time together, then sleep.

There are changes, though. They're just… more subtle, like somebody had turned on a light and his life glows a tad bit brighter than before.

It's hard to completely articulate how he feels, but all he knows is that the person to thank for all this light is you.

He’s always thought all the movies were so silly for describing love as a thing that narrows the circumference of the world to a single person. It’s still a little silly, Kita thinks, and he’s not quite in love yet. But it would be a lie to say that you don't occupy most of his thoughts throughout the day.

The thought of you puts a certain skip to his step, a little absentmindedness in between meetings, and zeal to be super efficient with his work so he can go home earlier than usual.

He feels a little bit guilty about wanting to go home early, but their division is performing well and they’ve recently secured several high-profile projects. He thinks he’s earned a couple days of going home earlier than usual.

In any case, it’s hard for him to even remember the guilt once he’s home. Not when his wife welcomes him home with hugs and kisses. Some days, he doesn’t even get a chance to take off his shoes before he finds his hands full of you kissing him stupid against the front door. You pull back only after Kita is breathless to ask, “Did you have a good day at work, baby?”

You find yourselves going out for dinner dates more. You found this listing of all the best restaurants in Tokyo, and you've both been slowly but surely going through it. There's this new Vietnamese restaurant you went to recently in Roppongi that you both fell in love with on the list. You're determined to try out everything on the list first before starting to go on repeats, but Kita's hoping you make that one restaurant an exception.

They go on other types of dates too, like this one time you got tickets for an outdoor cinema experience. It played an older movie, one of the first Batman films, and he had brought blankets (so you could sit on the grass) and packed their own food (so they could have a little picnic as they watched).

Another time, they end up at a museum, where you give him the low-down on art history. You walked him down the different exhibits and acted as his own personal tour guide. Kita learned a lot of different artists that day, but he thinks he learned more about you. It’s in the way you talk about different painters that reveal you. How your voice booms with disdain when you talk about Gauguin but drops into soft dulcet tones when you reach Monet and Van Gogh. How you pause to admire a Bernini sculpture before giving him background on who even Bernini was. How you completely skip past the whole section of Medieval art with the excuse, it reminds me of when my mother forced me to go to church.

It’s how they’ve been getting to know each other for the past couple of months and still, he realizes there’s a lot left to learn. It really does feel like they’re in some weird, advanced level of dating, but he doesn’t mind because it’s really fun. All the stupid rules surrounding dating are gone, bulldozed by the fact that you’re already married.

It’s during this time too that he finally gets the chance to paint under your careful instruction.

“Wait,” Kita says, squinting at his canvas, “So what should I do?”

“Whatever you want,” you say from behind your canvas, “Follow your heart, Shin.”

So maybe the instructions were less careful and more vague. Kita stands up to see what you’re doing, “What are you gonna paint?”

“Whatever my heart tells me to,” you say. You look up at him with narrowed eyes, “No, I’m not painting you.”

Kita scoffs, “I wasn’t even going to say that.”

“Uhuh,” you tease, “But since you’re here, wanna give me a kiss?”

“No,” Kita says, walking away back to his place. He acts hurt, “I’m just gonna paint you. If it’s ugly, it’s your fault. You taught me nothing.”

Now it’s your turn to scoff, “This is supposed to be fun. It’s okay if it turns out ugly. You’re not being graded. Just relax, babe.”

Kita rolls his eyes, but he ends up doing what he’s told. Activities like this, where instructions are vague and don’t have a goal, usually stump him, but he takes a deep breath and focuses. He can do this. He can paint the ugliest painting of you and hang it in the living room.

He starts with your head, which is an easy enough thing to paint. You’re a circle on a stick but cuddly at the same time, so maybe he should avoid doing a stick figure. He gets lost in figuring out these tiny details and forgets his surroundings until he hears a phone ring.

“Sorry,” you grimace, silencing the call.

“All good,” Kita says, humming as he goes back to painting. It hasn’t even been a minute until he hears the same ringtone.

You groan, “If a person isn’t answering, it usually means they’re busy. Ugh, leave a voicemail.”

Kita laughs, “Maybe it’s important. Just answer it.”

“No,” You dismiss, “It’s just my agent. They’ve been pestering me to do more work. But I told them I was taking a break and to only bother me for administrative things or charity functions. And I’m already doing people favors.”

Kita frowns, “Maybe you should get a new agent. This one doesn’t seem to respect your wish for time off.”

“I wish,” You sigh, “This one’s pretty good though, and they know what they’re doing. They’re just being pushy because I’ve been avoiding a lot of the public engagements they’ve been asking me to do.”

“Why have you been avoiding them?” Kita asks.

You don't answer immediately. Kita paints while he waits.

“All of them are abroad,” You finally say. “And we haven’t been married for that long, and I didn’t really want to do anything overseas until we got settled in…”

The words make him pause. He puts his brush down and moves his seat, so he can look at you properly when he says, “I really appreciate you, you know that right?”

“Hm?” you make a confused noise. “Where is this coming from?”

“Just wanted you to know since it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot, but also just because of what you said. I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but every time I find out all these little things you’ve been doing, it just really hammers the point that you’re so considerate of us,” Kita swallows, “And I just appreciate that.”

“Shin,” you say, touched.

“But baby, look at us,” Kita reaches for your hand and you meet him halfway. With your hands clasped together, he says, “This isn’t going anywhere. You don’t have to hold yourself back from these opportunities. You love your work and you deserve to go to all these places and showcase your work. I’ll only feel bad if you keep declining them.”

You exhale, “You’re right.”

Kita smiles, “I know.”

.

.

.

Okay, Kita knows what he said but now he kind of regrets it.

Not because he doesn’t like that you’re off doing great things, but because trips abroad tend to be a couple days long and Kita kind of misses you. That wasn’t a reality he had thought about until he came home from work and you weren't there to greet him. His dinner doesn’t taste as good, eaten alone. Watching tv feels uninteresting without you providing commentary at his side. And worse, when he settles into his own bed at night, he’s cold.

He sighs as he twists and tosses around his bed, unable to sleep. He hates how foreign this bed has become in so little time.

He wonders if he should just sleep on your bed instead, but he wonders if it would be weird without its owner. He doesn’t think you’d mind, considering you’ve been sleeping together every night.

He sighs, slowly getting up and crossing over to your room. It’s not like you’ll know.

.

.

.

Sleeping in your bed helps, but he still misses you.

It feels pathetic, but when you start getting used to having someone in your life, when someone is baked into your routine, you just miss them when they’re gone.

The only thing that consoles him is that you miss him too.

You’re in New York, which is about a thirteen hour time difference. When Kita wakes up, you’re about to sleep, and when Kita is about to sleep, you’re just waking up. There’s barely time throughout the day to talk, unless one of them stays up late or wakes up really, really early.

Which is why he gets surprised when he receives a Facetime call from you as he’s getting ready to go to bed.

“Hello,” He answers as he reaches over to turn a light on.

“Wow,” your sarcasm carries so clearly through their thousands of miles difference. “Can I get a more enthusiastic response? Did you even miss me? Are you even sad? Are you not crying every night at my absence?”

“No,” Kita responds, as he gets comfortable in his bed. He’ll move to your bed after this call. When he hears you go on about how offended you were, he smiles, “Do you miss me?”

You roll your eyes, “No. Because you said you didn’t miss me. Rude.”

Kita chuckles and finally notices that you were still in bed too, lying on your side. He copies your position and lies on his side too. This way, even if it’s through the screen, it’ll feel like you’re lying in bed together.

“But the truth?” Kita asks.

You look wistful on screen, “I missed you too.”

You let those words lie between you and for a moment, you just stare at each other, floating through the river of your own longing.

Kita breaks the silence first, his words coming out like they’re coming up for air, “When’s your flight home again?”

“In two days,” you say..

“It’s not too long, baby,” Kita says, “We’ll be so busy with work, it’ll be here before we know it. How’s everything been for you?”

“Ugh, my English is so rusty, but my agent hired an interpreter so it’s fine. Besides that, I love New York a lot, actually. It’s a bit chilly since it’s winter right now, but everything is so pretty. I should have sent you a photo, but it was snowing and I felt like I was in those snow globes. You’ve been here before, so you know what I’m talking about, right?”

Kita shakes his head, “Nah, I went to San Francisco actually. On the other side of that country, babe.”

“Ah, I see,” You say, “We should go here for fun someday. I feel like we’d both enjoy it.”

Kita can see it. “You know,” Kita starts, “We still have our honeymoon to go to. We never went on one.”

You snort, “Imagine if we went on one, right as we got married. It would have been so awkward.”

“Hey, you never know,” Kita says, “Maybe we would have gotten closer much faster. Maybe it would have broken the ice.”

“Our way is nice too,” You defend. “Feels like we really worked for it.”

Kita hums. They really did. “Anyway, honeymoon. We should do it. I want to do it.”

“I don’t want to do it in New York, though. I want to go somewhere special,” you say.

“We have time to think about it,” Kita says, “Given our schedules, we probably can’t go for a while anyway. I’ll have to rearrange things, and it depends on how long we want to go.”

You laugh, stretching out on your bed. “It needs at least be a two week vacation. Even if we’re just a week away somewhere and then we spend the rest of our honeymoon at home.”

“Anything works for me,” Kita says, “I just want to spend time with you.” you make a pained noise, pouting at the screen, “Don’t say that. That just makes me miss you more. What am I gonna do when you actually properly vocalize that you miss me, huh? I’m gonna end up booking the earliest flight home just to see you.”

Kita laughs, “Okay, okay, I won’t say it then.”

At least, not then. He says it a night later, in a voice message, and sends it to you right before he sleeps.

You make good on your promise and come home a day early, catching him sleeping on your bed. The embarrassment he feels lasts barely a second, making way to the swooping feeling in his chest when he realizes what you had done. He doesn’t even get a word into his explanation before you’re climbing over him, raining kisses on his face.

He thinks he's beginning to understand the term marital bliss.

.

.

.

Unfortunately for them, this marital bliss doesn’t last long.

The moment you stop being busy, Kita is suddenly drowning in work—to the point where he actually has to work late nights at the office.

He should be used to late nights at the office. They used to be his life. This used to be where he lived. He’s even slept here before. And yet, every bone in his body protests at being in this office past six pm.

Kita sighs, putting his pen down, and leaning back against his chair. He thinks about how he’s missing dinner with you, while you’re probably eating by yourself right now. Maybe you’ll eat in the living room and put on Netflix to have something to keep you company. Or maybe, you’ll go out and visit Mina, so you won’t have to eat alone.

The thought of it pricks at his heart. Work is work, and it is what it is—but still.

Kita shakes his head, and with it all his regrets about tonight. The only thing he can do is keep his head down and finish work as fast as he can. After all, the faster finishes this, the faster he gets to go home. Maybe he’ll even be able to catch you awake.

He picks up his pen and goes back to work.

He falls deep into his paperwork, so much so that he barely catches the knock on his door.

It must be his dinner. He had almost forgotten about it. It really has been so long since he’s eaten dinner at his office, but trust Atsumu to be on top of things.

“Come in,” He says, not looking up from his papers. He hears the door open and says, “You can just leave it on the coffee table. Thank you—”

“You know, you should look at the person you’re saying thank you to.”

That voice. Kita immediately looks up and is met with the sweetest sight, “Y/N?”

“Ta-da!” you grin, holding up a plastic bag, “I brought you dinner. Called your assistant and told him not to buy you dinner.”

“You did?” Kita can’t believe you’re here. It’s actually the first time you’ve ever been here, and you stand out in a fluffy hoodie and sweatpants against the sleek, posh furniture of his office.

You look like home.

“I thought it would be nicer than eating whatever sad takeout you were gonna have,” you reason, setting up the food by the coffee table Kita had pointed out earlier.

Kita finally stands up and walks over, giving you a hug and kiss on the cheek hello. “Yes,” Kita says, right as he pulls back, “This is much nicer than takeout.”

You give him a pleased smile, opening a tupperware, “I’m glad you agree. Anyway, I just felt sad at the thought of you eating takeout, and we had all this extra food at home. I don’t want to distract you from your work though, so I’ll be going—”

Kita makes a noise of protest, “Did you eat already? You’re not bothering me at all. I needed to take a break anyway.”

Need to take a break, Kita can’t help but make fun of himself internally, Didn’t know you knew what that meant.

“Are you sure?” you ask, looking at him with eyes that betray his hope, “Because I can just eat at home—”

“So you haven’t eaten yet?” Kita smiles, utterly pleased at the turn of events, “Let’s eat together. I know you don’t like eating alone, and you’re here already.”

Besides, it’s more than enough food for two people.

You settle down on the seat next to him, “Okay.”

As they’re eating, a thought pops up in Kita’s head, “How did you get up here, by the way? Security escorted you?”

The question sets you off.

You put down your chopsticks with a groan, “They barely did. I told them I was your wife and they took one look at my clothes and didn’t believe me.”

“We need to get you a badge,” Kita decides, “They should have known to let you in. Can’t believe we missed that. I guess it never occurred to me that you would have any reason to ever stop by.”

“Yeah, this building feels a little too stuffy for me. Too corporate,” you laugh, “But you’re here, and I think that’s reason enough to stop by.”

Kita swallows his heart, down with the rice he stuffs in his mouth. Cute, cute, cute.

He rarely gets friends visiting him at the office during the workday. At least, not without a scheduled meeting. He knows he’s mostly to blame for that. Everyone knows his days are packed with meetings already or that he had too many things to do to be entertaining people.

But here was someone—and not just anyone, his wife—who would come and stop by just to see him. Just to make sure he was eating well.

“Anyway,” you continue your story, “I showed them our wedding ring, and they were like, how are we supposed to know if that ring matches what Kita Shinsuke wears? So I had to resort to pulling up our wedding photos—”

Kita laughs, “You did not—”

“I totally did,” you smirk, “Now I’m kind of glad we had a public wedding. They were still kind of suspicious though and were about to call you to confirm, but Atsumu caught me as he was leaving. You need to give him a raise, by the way.”

“I pay him well,” Kita retorts back, “I know I’m not easy to work with and manage.”

“I still can’t believe I’m married to a workaholic,” you shake your head.

Kita smiles at his food and softly says, “I’m not as bad as I used to be. I used to sleep on this couch, you know? Only came home to shower and change.”

This was an admission hidden and buried within a story. An embarrassing thing to say out loud, but a part of him (one that recently revealed itself) wanted you to uncover it. To pick him apart and read what’s hidden between the lines:

I’ve changed because of you. Do you know that?

“Ah, Shin. Even if you tried I wouldn’t let you,” you say, so sure of yourself and your ability to drag Kita out of the office.

Kita raises a brow, incredibly interested, “Oh? What would you do?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” you tease, “Try it and you’ll see.”

Something in your smile dared him to try. To fuck around and find out. “Should I?” Kita bites his lip, “Should I not come home tonight?”

“Do it,” you say, voice turning low and soft. All it did was pull Kita closer—close, close, close, only stopping because you turned your head to look at him too, a sidelong glance through long lashes. “Sleep here so I can call you right before I sleep. Tell you, my bed is comfy and nice and warm but I can’t sleep because something’s missing.”

Kita holds his breath as he hangs onto your every word.

“What’s missing? You’ll ask,” you muse, a slow growing smile on your face. Kita doesn’t understand what’s so amusing. “I’d laugh at you for asking. You should know what’s missing.”

“I should?” Kita asks, watching as you nod. “What if I don’t know?”

You throw your head back laughing, pulling away. Kita almost follows you. You stand up, choosing to walk around to look through his office, “That was cute of you, Shin. You’re too smart to be pretending not to know.”

Kita stretches on his couch, right before standing up and going back to his desk, “Just playing the same game you’re playing.”

“Game?” you dramatically gasp, turning to him, “You think I’m joking? I’ll totally call you—”

“No need,” Kita rolls his eyes, pretending to look over his papers, “I’m definitely coming home tonight.”

“Yeah?” you ask, coming to stand beside him, leaning over to look at the files on his desk, “What are you even working on?”

“I have to review the presentation we’re giving tomorrow for a big partnership deal,” Kita explains, pointing at the notes he was making on the slide deck, “There was a last minute change in our strategy, which is why I’m reviewing it this late. We have a pre-meeting right before just to go over any further comments I have.”

“Some big words you’re using here,” you squint at a page, “Never thought I’d see them outside of class.”

“You took business classes?” Kita asks. “Thought you were an art major.”

Your mouth twists in distaste, “Yeah, I double majored actually. A compromise. Just in case the art thing didn’t work out.”

Kita can’t imagine you working in an office. It feels wrong. He thinks of your paintings, how much care you put in it, how every one of them felt like a child—your blood, your essence on a canvas. Kita is glad it worked out for you.

“You were probably super bored,” Kita murmurs.

“Some of it was actually interesting,” you say, hand moving to rest at the nape of Kita’s neck. Kita fought the urge to lean against it completely. “Taught me a little bit how to at least negotiate my contracts.”

“You don’t use a lawyer?” Kita asks.

“I do,” your thumb rubs against the side of his neck. “But I like doing a first glance in front of them just so they know I’m not some stupid, stuck-up rich girl they can fool.”

Kita oohs to tease, but it comes from a genuine place. His wife has a spine, made partly of steel, while you ran partly on fire. You slap him on the shoulder, “I do have pride. I’m barely part of the business, but I’m a Fukuda.”

“Not quite a Fukuda anymore though,” Kita reaches up to lightly touch your wrist. “You’re Kita Shinsuke’s wife now.”

God, you make him feel like a teenager, have him flirting like a teenager too. He cackles when you make gagging noises. “That was terrible. I’m going back. I’m not going to wait for you. Goodbye.”

Kita pulls you back before you get too far, “Okay, but give me a kiss before you go back.”

“A kiss?” you repeat, with a raised brow, “Just a single kiss.”

“Well yeah,” Kita says, glancing at the unlocked door of his office. Not that the unlocked part matters. Nobody else is here. “I actually do have to finish work and I don’t want to sleep here.”

“‘Kay,” you agree, leaning down to kiss him.

Kita cradles your cheek and meets you halfway. He meant it when he said one kiss, but he should have known that he’s too greedy to settle on just one. Thankfully, you are too.

What starts out as a short kiss goodbye soon becomes one long open-mouthed kiss to another. A polite hand on a cheek moves way past politeness, settling to a tight grip on your hip.

“Sit on my lap,” He breathes out in between kisses.

“I shouldn’t,” you say after pressing swift successive kisses against his mouth, “If I sit on your lap, I’m going to have to take you home.”

Kita pouts, which you press one last kiss against before finally pulling away.

“Fine,” Kita says, running a hand through your hair. “Drive safe. Don’t wait up for me.”

“I won’t,” you say, crossing your arms over your chest. You stand there for a moment, leaning against his desk, then say, “Please come home. I won’t wait up, but—”

“But?” Kita prods.

Your nose crinkles, before shaking your head, “It’s nothing.”

Kita wants to know, wants to ask, but you’re already moving away. Kita ends up watching you pack the tupperwares from the dinner back into the plastic bag, and is only able to say, “Good night,” to a retreating back.

Kita sighs. Rubs his eyes, before staring blankly at his papers.

He’s thought about this before, this side of you who keeps your cards close to your chest. He wonders what it would take for you to stop hesitating. He wonders if there’s something he could do to convince you that you can.

You probably just need a little bit more time. Maybe you don't trust Kita enough just yet.

He’ll think more about it later. His brain puts its foot down for now, reminding him of the work he still had to finish tonight.

With that thought, he picks up his pen and wills his mind to forget about everything but this proposal in front of him.

He finishes way later into the night, close to midnight. A part of him wanted to sleep on his office couch, but he promised he’d come home. And promise or not, he wanted to be home.

He sped through the streets in his car, mind on auto-pilot, too weary to be thinking of anything else. He thinks he gets home in record time.

He barely remembers the ride up to their floor. Punches their code in with an absent mind. Feels his knees crack when he bends down to toe off his shoes.

He’s aching to lie down by the time he reaches the top of the staircase to his room, but he pauses when he sees light coming out of your room. The door had been left slightly ajar.

Kita frowns. You said you weren't going to wait up.

He sighs, ready to say something. Though when he enters your room, he finds you asleep.

You lie curled on the bed, hand gripping your phone tightly. Were you actually going to call? Kita wonders as he brushes the hair off of your forehead. He leans over and kisses your forehead, lips lingering for a moment.

“Thank you for bringing me dinner,” Kita whispers. “Thank you for thinking of me. I was thinking of you too.”

He pulls your phone out of your hands, plugs the charger in, and turns off the light. Shuts the door closed.

Even if you keep things from him, it’s fine. It doesn’t change the fact that you have genuine feelings for him and care for him in a way nobody has for a long, long time. Whatever it is, it’s worth waiting for, no matter how long.

.

.

.

After what feels like an eternity of missing each other, you both finally manage to find some time to go out on a proper date.

Naturally, Kita is super excited for it. He makes a reservation at this famous restaurant in Shinjuku that’s earned two Michelin stars, and then plans to just walk around the streets with you. It might be a little chilly given the weather, but he thinks it would be nice to just be out.

The night starts off nicely—he got you flowers again, a gesture he’d been rewarded kisses for—and then dinner had only elevated the night. The food had been high-class, truly deserving the Michelin stars it had been awarded with.

It’s at Shinjuku that the night gets derailed, though.

They briefly stopped at a cafe to get some hot tea to drink as they found a park bench to sit on. However, after finding a nice spot, you accidentally elbows his tea out of his hands and he ends up having to buy another one.

The cafe is close enough, so he tells you that he can just go by himself and return in a couple of minutes.

When he comes back with a fresh cup of tea, he finds you with someone else.

At first, he doesn’t know what to make of it. He’s having a hard time recognizing the man you're with, because they’re wearing a dark cap and a face mask.

Kita is about to step in when hears the man say, “I miss you, Y/N.”

“You don’t have the right,” you reply, coldly.

“It’s not what you think. I know how it looks when it all went down, but it’s not what you think. You didn’t even let me explain, and you blocked my number. You said you loved me,” This stranger says, heated with despair, trying to reach for your hands.

You take a step back, not letting the man touch you, “How dare you? I loved you completely, and you ruined it. I saw everything… what else is there to say?”

“Then forgive me. We can start over,” He says, desperately, “I still love you. I’ll do anything—”

“I’m married,” you hissed, “Leave me alone. If you ever come near me again, I will ruin your career—”

This stranger doesn’t give up easily though. He grabs your wrist and says, “I don’t care if you’re married. I just want you back in my life—”

“Let go of me,” you say, trying to pull your arm away, but this man’s grip is tight, “You’re hurting me.”

Kita’s been watching this whole interaction with dread so heavy he can’t move. There’s so much here to process, he doesn’t even know where to begin. Whoever this stranger is, he’s clearly not a stranger to you. Not even close.

Whoever he is, though, he doesn’t have a right to hurt you, and it’s the pain on your face that moves him out of his spot and has him grabbing the man’s arm.

“She said you’re hurting her,” Kita says. He tries not to sound angry, but just looking at this guy has his blood boiling. “Let her go, while I’m still asking nicely.”

The man lets go, but not without asking, “Who are you?”

“I’m her husband,” Kita says, turning to you, watching as you cradle your wrist close to your chest “Are you okay?”

You nod, “It just hurts a little. But I’m fine.”

“Do you want to go home?” Kita asks, cradling your cheek.

“Yes,” you say, and that’s all Kita needs to know. He wraps an arm around your shoulders, tucking you into his side and kissing your temple. He doesn’t even spare this not-stranger a glance as he walks you back to the car.

The walk back is silent, even though Kita is brimming with questions. He has an inkling of who that person used to be, but he’d rather hear it from you. There’s a fear that keeps him from asking though, and it’s the possibility that you might not tell him, even if he asks.

So he doesn’t ask, and you sit in silence on the way home too.

Back at home, Kita decides he’ll just give you space for the night and resolves to try to speak to you tomorrow morning.

When he tries to go to his room though, you grab his hand to stop him.

“Are you upset with me?” you ask, in a quiet, fragile voice.

“Baby, why would I be upset with you?” Kita reassures you, reaching for your hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “I swear I’m not.”

“Then why are you going to your room? Do you not want to sleep with me tonight?” you ask.

Kita shakes his head, “I thought that maybe you’d want some space for the night.”

“No,” you say, tugging on his hand, “I don’t want to be alone.”

Kita exhales, running a hand through his hair. “Okay, let me just get ready for bed. I’ll join you, I promise.”

You let him go, but not before kissing him long and hard. When you pull away, there’s an unreadable look in your eyes, even as you say, “Thank you.”

Kita doesn’t know what to make of it, but he does keep his promise.

After getting ready for bed, he carefully enters your room and finds you’re already lying on the bed. There, on the left side, is the space where Kita’s taken to sleeping on. Left open for him.

He climbs in, and as has become muscle memory, your bodies naturally turn toward each other. Your head on his shoulder, arm around his waist, and legs tangled together.

“Shin,” you say after a moment. “How much did you hear?”

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Kita says, even though he’s aching to know. “I heard most of it...I think.”

“I...I don’t really want to talk about it in depth. At least not right now. Maybe not even tomorrow,” you say. You lift your head, propping yourself up with a hand on his chest, “Is that okay?”

Kita bites his lip, “Would you tell me someday?”

“Yes. I promise,” you say, sealing it with a kiss.

You pull away, resting your forehead against his. Kita nods, “I’m okay with that. Would you… tell me who that was though? So I’m not in the complete dark? I have an idea, but… I don’t want to assume.”

You nod, “That’s fair. It’s probably what you’re thinking. He’s my ex-boyfriend. We dated for three years, before I married you. It ended badly. That’s all I can say.”

Three years. That’s a long time to be with someone. The next question is out of his mouth before he can think about it, “Do you still love him?”

“God, no,” your expression twists in disgust, as if you can’t even bear the thought. Kita feels something dislodge in his chest at your answer. He’s so relieved. Your expression softens, “I wouldn’t have married you if I was still in love with him. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kita says, stroking your hair. “Let’s go to sleep.”

.

.

.

Kita tries hard not to think about your ex.

Still, sometimes, he catches himself thinking about it. The hurt in your voice. The desperation in your ex’s. The three years they spent together. A relationship like that couldn’t have been anything but serious.

He knows he could probably ask Suna and be able to get answers, but he decides to trust you on it.

You promised, and someday, he’ll know.

In the meantime, he’ll focus on their relationship, and what better way to do that than to focus on preparing for your honeymoon.

Your honeymoon destination is Nami Island, South Korea, and you’re going at the heart of winter.

(When Kita had first told his friends that, he’d been met with confusion at first. Suna had frowned, Aren’t honeymoons usually somewhere hot? Somewhere tropical with beaches?

You guys could have gone to Boracay or if you wanted somewhere farther, you could have gone to the Maldives, Aran had whined. You only get married once!

Kita felt defensive at their words, Nami Island is perfect for us. It’ll be quieter and more intimate—

Oh, Aran smirked. You wanted it to be cold so your wife could hold onto you—)

Kita put a stop to that conversation fast. He wasn’t even thinking of those kinds of things. He’s sure you weren't either. You had both just wanted to be alone, a chance to forget the world and focus only on them.

They can vacation anywhere else in the future, but they can honeymoon only once. You want to make the most of it, and he feels that’s best done at a place where they can focus on them and their relationship. Forget the world. Forget their families. Forget exes and everyone else.

Just you and him.

.

.

.

Almost everything is set for the honeymoon. Kita just has a couple things left to set up and arrange at work, then he should also be good to go.

One of them is submitting his request for time off.

"I'm taking time off work," Kita says, casually, handing the appropriate paperwork to his father, the CEO.

His father finally looks up from his work at that, "You know this has to go to Human Resources first, right?"

Kita sighs, pointing to the files, "It already has. And as I directly report to you, all I need is your express approval."

"Your secretary could have done this, son," His father finally grabs the files and takes a moment to read it. Kita tries not to look impatient. "Oh? You're taking time off for the honeymoon?"

"Yes," Kita answers, short. "I've cleared my schedule, assigned my responsibilities to appropriate people who can cover them, and moved forward everything that I can. In addition, I've recently secured the deal with that entertainment company you wanted me to handle."

His father raises a brow, setting the files back down on his desk, "Why are you telling me all of this? Did you think I wouldn’t let you go on your honeymoon?"

Yes, Kita thinks. There is nothing Kita hasn't received from his parents that hasn't been earned.

"Don't look at me like that," His father frowns, reading his non-response for the accusation that it is. "You always work hard and I recognize that. You've done amazing work for the company. And a honeymoon is a honeymoon. I'm surprised it took you so long to take it." More quietly, his father continues, "I'm glad you're taking it. I'm glad your marriage is going well."

Kita doesn't know what it is about his father's words that annoy him. He's never been the rebellious sort of son nor has he ever been the type of son who spoke back to their parents. But there's something about his father being glad that he's taking time off to go on his honeymoon that pricks at him.

Maybe it's the attempt at closeness. Growing up, he was never close to his father. If his father loved him, it was a love so mild Kita could have barely felt it, and it was further eclipsed by the love his mother had for him. Though that, Kita wasn't sure he could call love either.

In any case, he's twenty-eight now and his relationship with his father has barely changed. He prefers the business relationship they've cultivated. It's cleaner, less messy. He's better as a boss than a father. Now, he gives Kita what he needs.

And maybe it's because he's twenty-eight now, with all the cards shaken up and laid out on the table, that he says this, "I don't understand your surprise. The marriage is arranged, there's a lot of work to be done at the company, and you know how I am about my work."

His father looks taken aback, "Son—"

"And please," Kita says, unyielding, "you don't have to pretend you care about my marriage. If this is about what I said last time to mother's comment about the divorce—"

"No, no," His father says, pained, "Ignore your mother. You know how she is. I'm genuinely glad it's going well. I know it's arranged and our motivations for it… were more on the practical side, but it's good to see you happy."

"Happy," Kita repeats in disbelief. He looks imploringly at his father, "Isn't it a little too late for sentiments like this?"

His father gingerly stands, which Kita watches warily. When did his father grow so old like this? "My son, I know I haven't been the best father, which is something I have thought about a lot. It's something I've been hoping to correct. Shin—"

His father reaches for him, and Kita hates, hates, hates how he doesn't back away. How a part of him craves this, has always craved it.

His father pats him on the shoulder, the gesture of it awkward. If this was years ago when he was still a child, it would have been enough.

But he's twenty-eight now. He's not a child anymore. And it'll take more than this—this awkward pat on the shoulder and small words backed with no action—for Kita to forgive him.

If this relationship ever mends, it'll be on his own terms.

"You know, I didn't realize this until recently," Kita smiles, though it holds no sweetness, and his father's hand slowly drops back to his side. "But I've been an open wound all my life. And you've done nothing to fix it. You've never even acknowledged it at all. I know mother never will. I've always wondered if that's because you've never seen it, busy as you are with work. But you know what? You see it, and it kills me," his voice breaks into a whisper at the word, "that the only person who's acknowledged it properly is the stranger you married me to. And it makes me wonder if you've seen and just chose to look away. I don't know what version of the truth hurts less."

"If you want to be a good father, you have to earn it." Kita says, because a part of him will always be molded in his parent's image. His father's eyes look glassy and Kita looks away, unable to take it. Finally, he says, "Now please, could you approve my vacation paperwork?"

.

.

.

They arrive at their hotel in Nami Island with bodies weary from multiple connecting journeys.

“I’m starting to rethink our honeymoon destination, babe,” you say, lugging your suitcase up the stairs, “Or at least, your decision to get us the suite on the highest floor.”

Kita snorts, “Maybe if you worked out with me, you wouldn’t be struggling. Do you need some help?”

“No, I got it,” you say, but you stop on the step you’re on to catch your breath, “I can do this. Just stay there and look sexy, so I have motivation to keep climbing.”

Kita shakes his head, watching you carry your suitcase with so much determination you’d think you were saving the world or something. You finally make it to the top and give Kita a smug look, as if to say, see, I could do it!

Kita puts his arm around your shoulders and squeezes. “Good job,” He teases.

You lean your head on his shoulder and pucker your lips, “Thank you, now give me a kiss.”

“You never miss an opportunity, huh?” Kita says, giving you a quick smooch that causes you to whine. “Let’s kiss later. We haven’t even made it to our rooms yet. Come on.”

Their suite is pretty easy to find, since he booked the penthouse suite. He swipes their room cards and goes in.

Kita has stayed at a lot of expensive hotels, often in different countries, so he’s a bit used to beautiful, ostentatious accommodations. But as they walk into their suite, as he’s greeted by beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows that present snowy views of Nami Island, he’s admittedly breathless at the view.

You leave your suitcase by the door and rush to the windows. “This is super nice,” you say, turning back to him. “Tell our vacation planner that they did a good job.”

“I picked this place!” Kita rolls his eyes, as he closes the door behind him. “He did help, but I chose a lot of it.”

You walk back to him, arms wrapping around his waist. “Oh yeah?” You coo, “You did so good, baby.”

Kita runs a hand through his hair, feeling pleased, “It is super nice, right?”

You laugh, “Yes, an A plus for you.”

“Oh, I love that,” Kita nodding, seriously, “Keep giving me these grades. They’re music to my ears.”

You smack his shoulder, letting him go. “Stop that! I am not encouraging this.” You walk away, grabbing your suitcase, “I’m going to go check out our bedroom.”

Kita laughs, following behind you, only to see you stop in your tracks. “Why’d you stop?”

You turn to him, looking so betrayed. “Shin. How could you?”

“How could I what?”

You gape at him with disbelief, pointing to a room, “What is this?”

“What is what? Babe, use more words.”

You point to another room, unimpressed. “Why are there two rooms? Are we sleeping separately?”

Kita’s brows knit together, “We can if you want?”

“Why is that even an option?” You narrow your eyes, “This is a honeymoon, Shin. You’re so stupid. You get an F for this.”

You make an agonized noise, before stalking into one room and throwing yourself on the bed.

It takes a promise of a thousand kisses and a half (please don’t ask about the negotiations process) for you to forgive him.

“I’m sorry I gave you an F,” you say, in between kisses. You look too pleased for someone who was pinned down and tickled into submission. “You’re not stupid. I overreacted. You were just being considerate. Besides, it’s an easy fix. We’ll just use one bed.”

“You’re so awful,” Kita manages to get out, before you pull him back in for another kiss. You’re insatiable today. When he manages to pull away, long enough to catch his breath, he says, “It’s literally just how we have it at home.”

You raise a brow, “Yes, and we are not at home.”

Kita gets off you, rolling on his back and gets a glance of the world outside their window. All he can see is white snow. It really does feel like they’re the only two in the world.

He grabs your hand and presses a kiss to it, turning to you once again, “No. We’re definitely not.”

.

.

.

Maybe they call it a honeymoon because it’s a moon’s worth of sweetness packed in such a short period of time.

With you threatening to throw his phone out of his window if he even dares to check his work email, he ends up fully checked out of work.

Their days usually begin like this:

They wake up and just do whatever they want. If they wake up early, they spend the morning tangled up in each other before hauling themselves out of bed for breakfast. If they wake up late (which is really mostly just Kita being held captive by you cuddling him until you’re ready to wake up), they get room service for breakfast and get ready to hit the slopes.

Each successive day they spend in Nami Island, they try hard to level up their skiing skills. They humble themselves to the kiddie slopes on the very first day, cheering and laughing at each other’s successes and losses.

Some days, when they want a break from skiing, they take their time and explore the surrounding villages in the area. There’s some small but highly regarded restaurants that they try. There’s even cute little souvenir shops that they can peruse.

When they take a break like this, it’s usually because their bodies are sore and aching from the previous day’s activity. For that, the town also has something to offer: a spa. They book full body massages and it feels like heaven on earth, relaxing as they’re surrounded only by the trees. The pain and the stress—from almost everything—melts away. They don’t remember any other time they’ve felt more relaxed.

And whether they’re ending the day tired or relaxed, the one constant is this: they always welcome the night happy.

Some nights, they watch a movie until they fall asleep. Some nights, their bodies are so tired they fall right into it the moment they get into bed.

Some nights their bodies are thrumming with too much energy. They lie there, holding each other in silence long past after even the movie credits have ended.

Nights like these, they talk.

"Tell me something I don't know about you," you say, listening to the beat of his heart. "A secret or just something you've never told anyone."

"When I was younger," Kita says, feeling himself sink into the past, "I had this dream that I would get away from my life somehow. Nevermind that I'm the heir to my parent's fortunes and dreams, I had plans upon plans. I would leave everything behind and start a new life in the UK when I went for university. I would make my own name and I'd do whatever the hell I want. Date whoever without wondering if their name would pass my mother's approval. I'd have a new family, new dreams, new life."

"What happened to those plans?" You ask against his chest, arms tightening around his waist, as if Kita would go through with those plans now and fly away.

Kita shrugs, "Time, I guess? I got so busy focusing on pleasing my parents, on working hard to meet their approval, that I lost sight of anything else. I kept saying someday, someday, and then I got older and I got scared. What if I was free but I was nothing? What if I got away but I was more miserable? I was a bird in a cage with its door open, but the cage felt like home. I don’t know… looking back now, I was only twenty then, but I felt so old already. I came back home when I was twenty-three.”

"Twenty-three is still super young," you comment.

"Compared to the twenty-eight that I am now, yes," Kita agrees, "But back then I felt like my life was already made with bricks. Built. Unchangeable. Unmoveable. Like this was it and there was nothing I could do about it. That it's too late to do anything. Which was crushing, you know? Everybody else had this nice childhood where they got to do whatever they wanted. Youth was supposed to be the most beautiful moment of your life, but nobody ever tells you what to do when you don't get the chance to make it beautiful. It's not fair."

There's an undeniable hurt that slips into his voice, and at that, you pull yourself up to a sitting position, and Kita has to look up at you.

"Babe," you frown, "Tell me you still don't think this way."

Kita tries to smile for you, tries to lighten it up, "It's not that I'm unhappy. Like, I have you and we're on our honeymoon and baby, I love this—" you lean down to kiss him and Kita meets you halfway and takes and takes whatever you have to give.

"I just want you happy," you say when you pull away. Your voice aches like Kita’s pain is your own. "I know we can't always be, but I don't ever want you to feel trapped. I don't ever want to make you feel like the way your parents made you feel."

"You don't. You never have," Kita holds your hand and presses a kiss against the back of it. "I just think about the past sometimes and wonder how I would have turned out if I did everything like I intended to. If I wasn't so scared. I just feel like I missed out on something big when I was younger, and I just mourn the loss every now and then. It doesn't mean I'm not happy with you right now, but it really makes you think, right?"

Your frown looks heavy, like you’re the one holding all of Kita's pain.

After a moment, you say, "I used to believe that youth was special and extraordinarily beautiful too. Everything was new and I think there's a certain beauty to that. That even in our struggle, we were so beautiful. Looking back on it now, I don't think that's true. And the older I get, the more I'm convinced that the people who believe that peaked in high school or university. I think our youth could be beautiful, but I don't understand how other ages of our life couldn't be beautiful either. I don't think happiness or beauty could be measured or compared. The flavor of it is just different."

You sigh, "I just… think it's sad if youth was the peak. Life is so long. And I think you're so valid to be sad over the loss, but also, I hope you're more comforted by the fact that better things can and will come."

Your words are a comfort, in the same way that everything else about you is too. And for the moment, he is comforted, but he knows himself, knows the routines his brain loves to lean into when he's tired and low and feeling the loneliest color of blue in the world. So he says, "I am comforted, but if I forget, could you just remind me?"

"Oh, Shin," you lean down again and kiss him on the forehead, and Kita nearly cries at the tenderness of it. "We'll make so many good and beautiful memories that I won't have to. But if you forget, just tell me, and I'll hold you like this and remind you again and again."

It’s moments like this that make Kita feel like all the pain of the past has been worth it. His early life had been cold like winter, but it doesn’t hurt as much knowing it gave him you, something as bright as the lemons and oranges that were born during the harshest season of the earth.

Because even now, with snow falling heavily around the tiny home they’ve built around each other, he feels perfectly warm.

.

.

.

For all their emphasis on being in a more secluded honeymoon destination, they do end up spontaneously deciding to spend the night in Seoul.

They leave early in the morning, taking only one suitcase with them filled with enough clothes to get them through the trip. They’re coming back to Nami Island after all.

It’s nearly a two hour train ride to Seoul from there. Two hours is a long time, which they spend either asleep or just staring out the window, watching the world outside pass by in a blur of whites and blues. You fall asleep within the first ten minutes, head lolling about until Kita presses it against his shoulder.

He eventually falls asleep too, with your hands in his lap and the sight of your rings glinting under the soft morning light in his mind.

Once their train arrives at the station, they’re woken up by the conductor’s announcement.

They stand outside the station, watching their breaths mingle with the air. You shiver, even though your body is wrapped up in a fluffy coat and your neck is hidden by a thick scarf and your hands are kept warm by mittens. You burrow yourself by Kita’s side, and maybe now, Kita can admit that Aran was partly right.

He does want it to be cold, so that his wife could hold onto him like this.

“Did you find us a place?” You ask. “Maybe we should have thought this through a little more.”

Kita turns to you, “Oh, now you want to be less impulsive. What did you say last night? Shin, we’ll figure it out. Stop overthinking it like a hag.”

You pout, “Because I was cold! And you were on your phone, far away, and not paying attention to me. What was I supposed to do?”

“How old are you, darling?” Kita pinches your cheek. They turn pinker at the squeeze. “I can’t believe you bullied me into this. We didn’t even book a hotel. What if they’re all fully booked?”

“They won’t be,” you say, pushing his hand away and rubbing your cheek. “I’m just complaining right now because it’s cold. You’re not stressed, are you?”

Kita wasn’t, but now that the possibility of not finding a hotel is brought up, he finds that yes, he is a little stressed. What would they do?

“You are!” you shake your head, “Don’t be, babe. Hand me your phone. I’ll handle it.”

And you do handle it, even if you have to take off your mitten to work the phone and you have to blow on your hands to warm them up. It doesn’t even take you that long to find a place to stay.

“Here,” you say, handing his phone back to him. “Let’s quickly get a taxi so we can drop off our luggage and go exploring.”

“Hey,” Kita says and waits for you to turn to him before he presses a kiss to your cheek.

You blink, “What was that for?”

Kita shrugs, averting his eyes, “I don’t know. For taking care of me, I guess.”

You soften, “It’s nothing. You would do the same for me.”

It’s easy from there. They check-in at their hotel to drop off their luggage. From then on, it’s an exercise in spontaneity led by you, who claims that all Kita has to worry about is holding your hand.

And what does a day trip led by you look like?

It’s pretty fun. They take the train to get to the center of the city and then they begin to explore starting there. They’re both well-traveled and have seen more tourist spots than either one can bear, so they spend their day just walking around. It’s a nice way to discover a city without the burden of having to see certain sights just because they’re supposedly famous.

This way, they end up stumbling into a variety of things. First of which is an honest-to-god Snow Festival that neither of them knew was happening but are super stoked about. It’s an amazing parade of ice sculptures, and they go around and try to decide which one they think is the best. Kita thinks the best one is the sculpture of an actual temple. It looks too real and detailed not to be the best. You think the sculpture of Pikachu is the best. When Kita asks why, you say it’s because it evokes an emotional response from the heart. Kita thinks you chose it just because you think it’s cute.

Another thing they stumble upon is this amazing restaurant for jjajangmyeon. It’s tucked in behind an alley and they only find it because of the line beginning to gather outside it. It’s a gem of a find; it’s amazingly savory, the combination of the salt coming from the sauce and the tender meat. It’s so good he even risks the threat of murder by stealing a slice of pork from your bowl.

After that, they end up topping off their lunch with a trip to confectionary factory. You had pulled him towards it with starry eyes, and Kita was powerless to refuse. They take their time exploring the place, watching experts make chocolate and letting themselves be your sweet tooth craves it. He lets you feed him some, and they’re pretty good. But that’s probably only because you’re the one feeding him.

And because the world is small, they stumble into someone he knows too.

“Kita Shinsuke!” He hears someone call him as he’s waiting for you to come out of the restroom.

He’s wrapped in a hug before he can even process who it is. The person pulls away and to say he’s shocked is an understatement, “Ichika?”

“Shin,” the woman smiles brightly, taking him in. “You look good. I did a double-take just now, because I thought I saw someone familiar. And I was right! Don’t know anybody else this tall and good-looking.”

“Ichika,” He says, embarrassed. She’s always been so direct, and he sees that she hasn’t changed. Same old Ichika, with her sharp hair cut short and sharper personality.

She hits him on the shoulder, “You haven’t changed! Still can’t take a compliment without wanting to die, huh? How have you been?”

“I’ve been fine,” Kita says vaguely, not wanting to get into a full blown catch-up in the middle of a street, “What about you? What are you doing here?”

Ichika sighs, running her hands through her hair, “I’ve been so busy. You know how it is in the fashion industry, it’s always about trying to chase the new thing. Being ahead of the future, so that we can set the trends.”

“Same job, then?” Kita asks, “Still working for that fashion boutique company?”

“Yup,” Ichika nods, before smiling slyly at him, “Unless… you have a spot at yours?”

Kita laughs, “You really, really haven’t changed. I’ll see if anything’s open, just send me an email in case I forget.”

Ichika exclaims, “An email? Kita Shinsuke, am I dirt to you?” She pulls out her phone, “I am not sending a work email to you. That’s weird. Is your number still the same?”

“I thought you deleted my number,” Kita raises a brow.

“I was just kidding when I said that. Is that why you never bothered texting me?” Ichika narrows her eyes. She sighs looking away, “I… understood why you did it. It was decent of you to let me know.” She looks back at him with a considering glance, “I’m still fond of you… Shin, if you ever change your mind—”

“Ichika-kun,” Kita shakes his head, uncomfortable at where her next words were about to lead. “I’m married now.”

She pouts at him, “I said if you ever change your mind later. In any case, we should definitely catch up. How long are you in Seoul?”

How does Kita respond to this without leading her on? Before he can come up with an answer, he hears somebody else call his name, “Shin!”

He turns and he sees you walking up to him with a bright smile on your face, grabbing a hold of his arm, before turning to Ichika,  “Oh, hello.”

Ichika smiles, “You must be the wife.”

“Yup, that’s me,” you chirp. You don't extend a hand when you introduce yourself, “Kita Y/N. And who are you?”

“Sato Ichika,” she introduces, though she glances at Kita when she says that. “Kita’s old friend. Just saw him as I was walking around and thought, what a coincidence.”

“Ah, Shin has never mentioned you,” you pout at him, “Any friend of Shin’s is a friend of mine. Are you busy? Would you like to have dinner together? I would love to get to know you more.”

Kita is praying Ichika says no, and for once, his prayers are answered. She smiles politely, “Sorry, I’ve got plans tonight already. Maybe some other time. It was nice meeting you, Y/N. Shin, it’s really good to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you too,” Kita says, feeling like he dodged a bullet when they say their goodbyes.

But as the day goes on, it doesn’t feel that way.

Your bright demeanor darkens, like the sky as its sun sets slowly but surely in the horizon. Kita doesn’t feel anything amiss at first.

You talk to him like nothing’s wrong, laugh at all the right things, and hold onto him tight. But by the time they get to dinner, you’re playing with your food, which doesn’t feel right. You’ve both been walking around all day, so you should be famished.

But when he asks you what’s wrong, all he gets is this: “I’m just tired, Shin. Do you think we can go back to our hotel room?”

Even then, he tries not to read into it. It makes sense that one would be tired, but when he tries to kiss you on the lips, you turn your head and his mouth awkwardly lands on your cheek.

And when they get back to the hotel room, you immediately pull away, making a bee line for your clothes and entering the bathroom with a few bare words.

You’d been fine, Kita thinks, until Jiwoo. Fuck, how much did you hear? Kita replays that conversation back, but thinks it’s fine? He had drawn the line clearly with her. Besides, if you had problems with it, you wouldn’t have invited her for dinner. You would have told Kita immediately if anything was wrong, so maybe that’s not it.

But if not that, then what?

Kita doesn’t remember doing anything wrong. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything wrong either. He’s about to tear his hair out when you step out of the bathroom in pajamas and eyes a watery red.

“Baby,” Kita stands up immediately, feeling like his heart’s been pierced through, “What’s wrong? Were you crying?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you say, hiding your face by drying your hair with a towel.

Kita understands the need for space. He does, he really does. And any other time, he’d give it, but every part of him says this is something they shouldn’t sleep on. Especially when he feels like he’s the cause of it. He walks up to you, bending low to make eye contact, and says, “Y/N, I think we should talk about it.”

“Not right now,” you say, moving away again to avoid his gaze.

“Then when?” Kita asks, wanting to plead, don’t pull away, not from me.

“I don’t know,” you sigh, sounding tired and weary and a little bit of something else. Frustrated, maybe, but Kita can’t tell for sure. It feels like you’re closing up, with every step he takes. “Just leave it.”

Kita bites his lip, “Is it something I did? You—”

“Shinsuke.” you say. His name has never sounded so harsh coming out of your mouth. “I said to just leave it.”

You start stalking away to the other side of the room, and Kita can’t help but follow, grabbing a hold of your hand. But it’s barely in his grasp, before you take it away from him.

It reminds him of how easily good things can slip away in the span of a moment, and something desperate claws its way through him, “Don’t walk away from me, please. Y/N, come on—”

“God,” you angrily cursed as you whirl around to face him, “Can you please leave me alone for a second? Can you leave me to just process this before we talk about this? Can’t you see that I’m trying hard to be composed about this?”

Again, if it were anything else, Kita would. But he feels so strongly in his gut that this will only fester if he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t want you to go to bed angry at him, especially when he doesn’t even know what you’re angry about.

“What are you trying to process?” Kita says, wanting to tear his hair out. “I’m hoping it’s not this, but I can’t think of anything else. Is this about Ichika-kun?”

You give him a withering look, “Ichika-kun?”

“Yes!” Kita confirms, eyes widening in disbelief at your tone. “Are you jealous? Is that it? Y/N, we’re married.”

“That’s not what it looked like back there,” you cross yout arms, looking away.

Kita frowns, “She’s just a friend.”

You scoff, “She’s not just your friend. She’s literally your ex-girlfriend. Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I didn’t hear her ask for your number? That she wasn’t inviting you out even though she knew you were already married?”

“So, you did hear that,” Kita says, which ends up being the completely wrong thing to say because it just darkens your expression even more. “How… did you know she was my ex?”

“You might not have cared who you were going to marry, but I did,” you say, like the reminder pains you. “I told you. I did my research. And that’s the last person you dated before you married me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kita swallows, “Because… I thought it didn’t matter. It was a good break-up and we promised to stay as friends.”

You don't say anything to that for an agonizing moment, before nodding. That’s all you do though, and it’s just not enough.

“You have no reason to be jealous,” Kita says, wanting badly to reach out and touch you. He doesn’t think you would let him though. “I promise. Don’t be. I’m yours.”

“You say that now,” you say, sounding out of reach. “But maybe later, you’ll feel differently. I mean, it’s not like you wanted to marry me in the first place. I knew that from the very beginning and I still fell for you. I still fell hard enough that I excused the fact that I’m always the one making the first move, that I always have to pull what you want out of you. I used to get scared of making requests of you, because I didn’t want you to say yes just to please me. What if your mother told you to keep me happy, so this marriage wouldn’t fall through? Am I forcing you into this? Maybe,” you swallow, shaking, “you don’t want to be with your ex, but maybe there’s somebody else you want to give your heart to? Is that something I should be worried about? Is there going to be other people in this marriage—”

“Baby, no,” Kita says with horror, grabbing a hold of your hands and trying to unfurl them from the fists they’d become.

You continue, as if you didn’t hear him, gaze hard and intolerable, “If there’s going to be other people, you have to let me know now. I don’t care if this marriage is arranged. I don’t care if it’ll plunge your parents’ or mine’s companies into bankruptcy. I’ve been cheated on and used for my parents’ name before and I refuse to suffer through that again. If you put me through that, I will leave you and take half of your assets.”

Kita barely even knows where to begin. There’s so much to parse through with what you’ve said, but he figures he’ll start with the words that stand out the most, “You’ve been cheated on?”

You don't answer. But you don't need to. Your silence speaks of shame, and Kita can hear it clearly. Slowly, the pieces come together and create a picture that starts making sense.

“Your ex,” Kita says, “That one we met. That one you didn’t want to talk about. He’s the one who cheated on you.”

You nods, and the confirmation fills Kita with the understanding of why good people commit murder. Right there and then, Kita wishes he had asked Suna for all the information he could get on your ex. He wishes he had punched the guy when he’d seen him.

But this isn’t about how Kita feels right now. This is about you and how scared you feel that Kita might do the same thing.

“I’m sorry that he did that to you,” Kita says, cupping your cheeks, “Nobody deserves to be cheated on, least of all you.”

You blink and a tear slips out. Kita wipes it with his thumb, and somehow, it’s that gesture that breaks you down. “I’m sorry,” you cry.

This time, Kita doesn’t hesitate to gather you in his arms. He holds you, stroking the back of your head until your tears subside. And when you’re done, he doesn’t mention how tight your hold on his shirt is. He doesn’t mention his tear-soaked shoulder. He doesn’t say anything at all until you break the silence.

With your flushed cheeks and red nose, you tell him, “Shin, I promise I’m not in love with him.”

Kita makes a surprised noise, “I know. I believe you.”

“I don’t know why it still hurts. I’ve moved on from this. I’m over him,” you say, “I swear I am.”

“And I believe you,” Kita stresses, “I wish it didn’t hurt you still, but I understand if it still does. Even if you’re over him. That kind of thing, that kind of hurt almost always outlasts the event. Do… do you want to talk about it?”

You sigh, “Yeah...yeah, I think you should know.”

They sit on their bed, and Kita waits patiently for you to begin, “I don’t know how much you know about him, but he’s an idol. He’s the reason I became really popular actually, because he was a fan of my work and he spoke about it on social media. Anyway, because he’s an idol, we had to keep it a secret that we were dating and that went on the whole time we were together. But on New Year’s, Dispatch came out with this story that he was in a relationship, with evidence and everything,” you smile bitterly at him, “It was with someone else, another idol, and I thought at first that maybe it was a mistake, but their companies went ahead and confirmed it too. They’re both really popular, so their fans were actually super happy for them. I…  met up with him only once after, to properly break up with him and give him back everything he ever gave me. And then I never talked to him again, until we saw him at Shinjuku.”

“I really thought I’ve moved on from it, but today, seeing you with your ex, I just lost my mind,” you say with a frown, “At first, I was just annoyed because how can she just say that when you’re already married and act perfectly normal when talking to me. But then, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I spiraled until I couldn’t see straight and all I could think about was the possibility that you’d leave me for somebody else too.”

He grabs ahold of your hand, both of which were clenched by your sides, and unfurls your fingers so that he can hold them. “You have to know that there’s not going to be anybody else. I don’t know how much words mean to you right now, but I swear to you on everything that I have, it’s just you. And just in case it needs to be said, I wouldn’t want you to bring anybody else into our marriage. I don’t want an open relationship. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes,” you say, sounding and looking so small. Kita wants to hold you again. “Is there anything else you want? For us?”

Your question reminds Kita of what you’d said earlier, “What I want… I don’t know what I want fully. I just know that I want you, and I’m sorry if you feel like you’re always the one making the first move,” Kita pauses, trying to find the right words to say, “I’m still learning to be okay with chasing after what I want. To actually voice it out. But I’m trying really, really hard.”

Kita sighs, squeezing your hands, “And I’m not doing that for my parents. I’m doing that for you, because you mean so much to me.”

And if Kita’s being honest, he’s doing it for himself too. When you grow up with parents who never seem to love you unless you’re doing well, you grow up with the idea that you’re only wanted when you please someone.

But you have never made him feel that way. You always make Kita tell you what he wants first, before saying anything. And it’s not about pleasing you so that you would want him. It’s about reciprocating the gesture, so that the person he cherishes is happy too. And he loves that he gets to practice that here, that he gets to prove to his younger self who was so convinced he’d been cursed because his parents never taught him how to love that he absolutely can. You’re not ruined, he wants to say.

His words seem to have thawed you completely. “Shin,” you say, touched.

“Come here,” Kita says, patting his lap and you climb on without hesitation. Kita lets you straddle his lap, simply wrapping his arms around your waist, just as you wrap your arms around his shoulders. This, Kita thinks, this is how close we should always be.

“I’m sorry again,” you say, “For blowing up on you. I just got scared. I shouldn’t have thrown the fact that you didn’t want to marry me when I know how it’s been for you with your parents. This is an arranged marriage, it was for my name—”

Kita cuts you off, “It doesn’t matter how it started, because what I feel for you right now has nothing to do with your family’s name. It’s purely just you. I love coming home to you for dinner. I love doing all sorts of fun things with you on the weekends. I like going to bed with you. I even worked super hard to get this much time off work, so we can spend all this time together on our honeymoon. You’ve upended my sad life and made it happy, Y/N. You, and only you.”

You sniff, hiding your face against Kita’s shoulder, “I’m going to cry again. Maybe you should keep holding your feelings in. It’s not good for my heart to hear you say all of that. I’m embarrassed.”

Kita laughs like a child at your words, wholeheartedly endeared. You lift your head at the sound, and Kita settles at the sight of your face. Your nose is still red, your eyes are puffy, the whole of you looks tender, and still—you’re the most beautiful thing Kita’s ever seen. “Can I kiss you?”

“No,” you say, immediately covering your face, “I look ugly right now.”

“Are you fishing for compliments right now?” Kita raises a brow, “I know that you know that you’re absolutely gorgeous.”

“But I was crying just now,” you reason, peeking between the spaces of your fingers, “I can’t believe you saw me ugly. You should only see my good side, Shin.”

Kita helplessly sighs, slowly unfurling your hands from your face, uncovering you like a rose, petal by petal, and says, “But what can I do? I want every part of you.”

And then he kisses your red mouth tender until you completely understand just how much Kita wants you.

.

.

.

It’s in the morning after that it hits him.

Maybe it’s the way he wakes up—sleep-drenched and kiss-drunk and to your beautiful face. Maybe it’s the emotional night they just had. Maybe it’s just the natural culmination of every day and every night they’ve spent together since their wedding, but he wakes up today and just knows.

He rains kisses on your face, from your forehead to your temples to your nose to your cheeks until he reaches the endless road to your mouth.

You wake up giggling, hand pushing his face away, “Let me sleep, please, please, please. You can’t expect me to sleep late and wake up early to entertain you.”

Kita pretends to think about it and then says, “I’ll consider it if you give me a kiss.”

“Demanding,” you comment with a shake of your head. Kita only puckers his lips as a response. You groan, hold him by the chin and give him a kiss. “There. Happy?”

“Sooooo happy,” Kita dives in for more kisses, until he can’t kiss you anymore because you’re both too busy laughing.

When he settles down and you’re still mid-beam, he feels it so strongly in his chest. Without thinking, he says, “Y/N, I think I’m in love with you.”

“You, uh, what?” You sputter with wide eyes.

“No, not I think,” Kita pushes forward, grabbing both of your hands and holding them to his chest, “Y/N, I’m in love with you.”

You breathe, looking at him like you’re seeing him for the first time, “Shin, I—”

And Kita waits and waits with bated breath until he realizes that you might not feel the same just yet.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” Kita reassures you, but he winces when he realizes that disappointment has seeped in his voice.

“Shinsuke,” You say, looking at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes, before burying your head into his chest.

Kita sighs, threading his hand down the back of your head. “It really is okay. I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable. I wasn’t thinking and I just said what I felt because I woke up and just knew.”

You peek up at him with a frown, “Don’t apologize for being in love with me. I… I like you a lot and I care for you a lot and I adore you a lot. And I wasn’t uncomfortable, I was just surprised. I just thought that if we were to ever get there, I would get there first. I didn’t expect you…”

“You didn’t expect that I’d be there already?” Kita asks. “I’m glad I can surprise you too. But is it really surprising? Who wouldn’t fall for you?”

“Stop it…” you say, embarrassed to the point where you’re hiding your face again.

Kita laughs, not letting you hide. “You’ve been so shy lately. Last night too. Where’s my wife and her hubris so high it could reach Olympus?”

“What happened to my husband? I miss him. Where did you hide him? He was so cute and earnest,” you lament. You frown at him, “You’re so lucky I like you so much, you bastard, it drives me crazy sometimes…”

Kita closes his eyes, pretending to savor his words, “I like you so much, you bastard, that sounds almost as sweet as I love you.”

You smack him, “Shut up! Stop embarrassing me—”

Kita laughs, managing to catch your wrist before your hand could get another swipe in, “Stop hitting me. I’m literally in love with you. Baby, I love you—”

The reminder stuns you to silence, your whole face blossoming red. Kita softens, “Let me be sincere, even if it’s embarrassing for both of us. I love you and it really is okay if it takes you a while to catch up. Let me lead in our relationship for once, okay?”

You nod, “I’m almost there anyway. Just wait for me.”

“Oh yeah?” Kita bites his lip. “How close is almost there?”

“Shin!” you admonish, “I thought you said it’s fine if it takes me a while.”

“It is!” Kita says, “I just want to know how far you are from my heart. And also if I can do anything to help you get there faster.”

You press yourself against him, curl your leg around his hip, face close, mouths a breath apart, “I’m this close. Just love me as you are. And I’ll get there soon enough.”

“Okay,” Kita says, against your lips, “I can do that.”

.

.

.

Eventually, their honeymoon ends and they're due for their flight back home.

You're lying in the bed while Kita tries to finish packing his clothes.

"I don't want to go home," you say, voice coming out muffled from having your face squished into a pillow.

"Me neither," Kita says, steadily folding his clothes, "But we have to. We've already extended a couple days. Time to face reality again, babe."

You roll dramatically to the edge of the bed, where you easily poke Kita's back with your foot, "It's like you're excited to go back home."

Kita rolls his eyes, turning to you, "I literally just said I don't want to go back either."

You continue, all forlorn like you didn't hear a single thing that he said, "Going back to being my husband's side hoe. He's coming home to his real first love, his work."

"You're ridiculous," Kita laughs. "Remember when I came home expecting cuddles, but you decided to put your work first instead of me."

"Yes, that's because you're also my side hoe," You lie on his side, propping your head up with your hand. You look at him, like you’re appraising a painting, and say, "My pretty, pretty side hoe. You should let me paint you some time. I swear you could have been a model in another life."

Kita flushes at the compliment, feeling pink and pleased, "You think so?"

You covers your face, "You're so fucking cute when you get shy." you demand, "Come here. Come here right now and kiss the love of your life."

Kita wishes they were still at that part of their relationship (which was a couple nights ago) where you would get embarrassed at hearing I love you. Here they are now, with you unable to go a single moment without bringing it up. The audacity of this woman.

"Just for that, I'm going to continue packing," Kita turns back to his clothes. He's almost done with it anyway.

"Babe!" You whine, but Kita doesn't budge, "Y/N come here. This is really cutting into our cuddle time. We could both be done at the same time, but then I'm going to be done while you're going to have to still pack your stuff. Which really isn't ideal."

You stay silent for a moment, considering his words, before you say, "Fine. You make a great point."

You finally get out of bed and grab the suitcase you’ve been storing in the other room and then carry all your clothes into your current room as well. "Still can't believe you got two rooms. What a waste of money," You say, shaking your head as you open up the suitcase.

"You are not bringing this up again," Kita knows he will never live this down. He's sure he'll hear about this from his friends too, because you’ve decided Aran is your new best friend and doesn't know how to keep a secret. "I was just giving you options."

You hum, "Uhuh… we were already sleeping together in the same bed every night. Why would I suddenly choose to sleep in a different bed with you on our honeymoon?" At Kita's non-response, you sigh, "What am I gonna do with you, Kita Shinsuke? Are we gonna go back home and sleep in separate beds too?"

"You're so terrible," Kita says, throwing a dirty sock at your face. "As if you can sleep without me."

You narrowly dodge the sock and huff, "It's not my fault you're so warm." You throw the sock back at Kita, who doesn't dodge on time. Sometimes, the world wants to see you suffer.

You clear your throat, "By the way… I was thinking about how we should talk about our separate rooms back home. It's kind of odd to be talking about this, you know… considering we're married and all..."

"It's okay, this isn't really a conventional relationship." Kita reaches for your hand and holds it. "I do want us to share the same room. I can move my stuff around in my room, you can redecorate to however you want it—"

You gasp audibly, "Why not move to my room?"

"Well," Kita starts, "because my bed is bigger, and my room is bigger."

You raise a brow, "Then why do we always sleep in my room?"

"Because we always end up there," Kita shrugs, "Because you always pull me in and I can't say no to you. Because I really like the vibes of your room. Take your pick."

"Then why are we moving to your room?" You cross your arms over your chest.

"So we can combine our stuff in one place and have enough space for it," Kita explains, "Come on, wouldn't it be nicer to have a bigger bed?"

You roll your eyes, "My bed is barely smaller than yours. But… fine. I'll move in with you."

"Yay," Kita leans over and smooches your cheek. "Thank you. Love you."

Whatever frown you wear disappears, smoothed over by simple words. Looking at your small but unmissable smile, Kita thinks he should take back his previous statement. There's nothing to miss about you being embarrassed about hearing I love you. Not when you’re this happy hearing it. Not when you’re this pleased to know you’re married to someone who loves you.

Not when you’re here, ready to say I love you — something for Kita to look forward to.

.

.

.

They go home.

Their honeymoon begins to feel like a distant dream, but it’s alright. Life comes together so beautifully after that.

His days begin to blur into each other like this, hues of work and home all blending into contentment, until one day those days turn into months, and he realizes he’s happy.

And there’s so many reasons for it:

There’s going home to a warm meal, a beautiful home, and a wife whom he loves.

There’s the weekends, where they take trips to far out places just because they can.

There’s dinners, group dates, outings, and even weddings with their friends.

There’s new traditions, like decorating their home in red and green and hanging up a tree for Christmas. It includes suffering through insufferable dinners together with his family, and being overwhelmed at the welcome he receives at yours. It includes exchanging gifts and realizing how well you’ve come to know each other, how far you’ve come.

There’s New Year’s too, when their friends somehow convince them to throw a party.

This, Kita hopes, doesn’t become a tradition. It’s fun but loud and involves more people at their home than expected.

In the middle of decadent cakes and champagne, of fireworks and New Year’s Eve countdowns, there’s you wrapping your arms around his waist, whispering into his ear: people say you’ll spend the rest of the year with the person you kiss when the clock strikes twelve, and then proceeding to kiss him stupid.

This, he hopes, becomes a tradition.

There’s birthdays too, and the first birthday they celebrate together is yours.

He throws a little dinner party for that too, at some beautiful rooftop in Tokyo, with the city glimmering around them.

It’s unfortunate that there were no stars visible in the sky, but seeing you, surrounded by family and friends, more than makes up for it.

You both go home, half-stumbling, tipsy on champagne and happiness.

“Baby,” Kita says as he tries to input the house code while trying to support your weight, “You’re not only getting older but heavier.”

“Stop reminding me I’m old. I’m still young and sexy,” you complain. “Besides, you’re the one that’s almost thirty.”

Kita laughs, “Hey, this isn’t about me. This is about you. And the fact that you’re twenty-eight. That’s real late twenties. Remember when you were comforting me with the fact that there’s beauty in all ages?”

“Okay, I know what I said,” You stand upright, looking so seriously sober Kita wonders if this mini existential crisis absorbed all the alcohol in your body. “But I really can’t pretend to not be a real adult anymore, you know?”

“Hate to break it to you, sweetheart,” Kita pushes the door open and in they go, “But you’re not only twenty-seven, you also have a career and you’re married. I think you’ve been a real adult for the past couple of years. Just because you stay up until three in the morning while I’m asleep doesn’t change that.”

You stare at him, “How do you know I do that? I make sure to put a pillow in your arms, so you don’t notice.”

Kita stares right back, unimpressed, “You think a pillow could replace you?”

You suddenly look very, very pleased with that statement, “You’re unreal. Stop flirting with me.”

“You always say that when you want me to continue,” Kita rolls his eyes, “I know you so well.”

You sigh, the sound of it sweet. “Yeah, you do.”

And then after a beat:

“You know what,” you say, like you just thought of it randomly as they’re taking off their shoes and putting their slippers on, “I love being married to you.”

It’s not an “I love you” by any means, but god, does it feel like one.

The words unmoor him, has him steadying himself against the wall, his socked feet halfway in his slippers. When he manages to find his voice, it comes out thick with emotion, “You mean that?”

Upon hearing his voice, you turn to look at him, frowning when you meet his eyes, “Of course I do. Listen, we’re still at the beginning and the road ahead is long, but I love that it’s you I’m doing this with. Didn’t I tell you that I chose well?”

“Mhmm,” Kita nods, his hand coming up to hide his face. “You did,” He says, wetly.

“Are you crying?” you say, voice coming down to a whisper, the way adults usually do with crying children.

Kita hates feeling like a child, hates being treated like one even more, but he finds that he doesn’t take offense at the way you’re talking softly like this.

Maybe it’s the way this hurt you’re soothing is as old as a small child. Maybe it’s the way your words pierce through time, straight through to the child Kita once was, the one that wanted to be loved just the way he was.

Either way, there’s a weight lifted off his chest—unbearably heavy but unnoticed until it was gone. How long did he bear it?

Kita rubs his nose, sniffling as he does, “It’s nothing. I’m just really happy you said that.”

You wrap him in your arms, letting Kita bury his face against your shoulder, softly rubbing his back as you say, “I got lucky with you. I don’t know how I managed to pick someone with a heart so big and rare. Someone who’s also talented and driven and smart. I don’t know.”

Kita feels the same. He got lucky and he doesn’t know why.

But maybe it’s not about deserving. Maybe that part doesn’t even matter at all.

All he knows is he’s never letting go.