Fools in Love
Sprawled comfortably on the beaten couch, Reina looked perfectly at home in the small apartment she was currently in. A wet towel remained draped around her neck and shoulders, her hair still damp and tousled after a shower.
She was not currently at home, obviously. The size of the hall at her house was bigger than the apartment itself. Alright, perhaps she was exaggerating a little, but it came close.
This was Ai's place, somewhere she came by very often, and currently the owner was taking her time in the bathroom. They had worked out an arrangement once Reina had started sleeping over more regularly: Reina always got the bathroom first. The reason was simple. Ai took forever in the bathroom, and Reina often wondered why anyone would waste that much time soaking in a bathtub when a good shower could get the dirt off as effectively.
As usual, Reina had one hand on the remote control for the television, though she wasn't really bent on watching it. She just liked having it on to create some ambient noise. Her other hand cradled a camera possessively, in a way that Ai had teased as having been glued to her hand.
The camera was a precious gift, of course. Reina had been overjoyed when she unwrapped her birthday present from Ai; the older girl having noticed her obsession with photography and given her a Polaroid camera, along with several rolls of film. Because of that, Reina had recently begun creating a photo album just for the two of them, since her new favorite subject was obviously one Takahashi Ai. After witnessing what she had unwittingly unleashed, Ai had only one thing to say.
"Well, darn."
Reina could only smirk to herself at the memory of Ai's resigned expression. In fact, she had gotten a fairly good shot of that as well. The yankii did have some good reflexes.
Twiddling her toes in boredom, Reina flipped through the channels restlessly, her eyes occasionally flicking towards the clock to check its interminably slow progress. Not for the first time, she wondered if Ai had drowned in the tub.
Deciding to give Ai another 5 more minutes before she went to pound at the door, Reina idly toyed with her towel, before scrutinizing her nails. She always liked it when Ai helped her decorate her nails. It was always nice when Ai paid attention to her. The dinner they spent together earlier was wonderful as well, given that Ai had chosen to accompany her instead of going out with the rest of the cast of the play. Today had been the final day, and Reina had been present within the audience. Granted, arthouse productions had never been a strong point of interest for the younger girl, but she wanted to show her support for Ai.
The more Reina got to know Ai, the more of the older girl's little quirks showed up. Some were cute, though some were a little annoying. Reina had no idea why Ai had a predominantly black wardrobe. It needed more pink. And purple. Basically, brighter colors. Reina had been attempting to get Ai to try more daring styles, with little success. Not that she was about to give up though.
And then there was her obsession with history and video games. At first the rambles about Nobunaga and the Edo period were interesting, but after the third time or so, Reina could feel her eyes glazing over at a subject she had little interest in. She humored Ai though, and injected witty remarks to make the older girl either laugh or pout.
The video game thing was annoying to some degree though. It took Ai away from her. She had playfully called Ai an otaku on more than one occasion, even as Ai vehemently denied the accusation (while cradling her DS like a baby, which kind of invalidated her claim). Nevertheless, Ai did take time to spend time with Reina, though there were times when Reina had popped in for a surprise visit only to see Ai obviously occupied by her amusements and reluctant to go anywhere else. It took lots of pouting, sulking, and whining on Reina's part to get Ai to even consider ditching her game and going out on a whim. Ai always did like her activities planned out beforehand, though with Reina's company she had become slightly more spontaneous. Just a little, but even that little was a vast improvement.
All that extended musing about Ai wore away the requisite 5 minutes in no time at all. Bouncing off the couch, Reina happily made her way to the bathroom, prepared to pound the door down (and not for the first time). Before her hand landed on the door though, she paused.
Reina never liked being too predictable. She had already done the whole "Get out of there before you shrivel up!" routine several times before, and wanted to try something new. The tiny little gears in the wonky eyed girl's head turned, and without really thinking about it, her hand fell to the knob of the door and turned.
It could have been locked. In that case, Reina would have had little choice but to fall back on the good old plan of yelling through the door. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it wasn't. Reina all but fell over the threshold and into the bathroom.
Nearly tripping on her own feet, Reina's first instinct was to save her camera, clutching it protectively before even attempting to regain her balance. She did manage to ungracefully tumble against one wall before leaning against it to prop herself up again.
The scramble startled the original occupant of the bathroom, who very nearly dropped what she was holding into the water.
"Reina!" Ai sounded scandalised, though a quick check of her expression would reveal that she was clearly more annoyed over nearly dropping her DS into the water rather than Reina barging in.
"Ah I'm sor--" Reina started to apologize as she regained her footing and looked up. Then she stopped. Her cheeks reddened considerably. Ai blinked back at her, unperturbed.
"Is there something wrong?"
"N-nothing!" Reina spluttered, looking all around her, suddenly finding the tiles and ceiling of the bathroom to be of immeasurable fascination. Her cheeks were stained a bright crimson, and she fidgeted around awkwardly, like a child caught with her hand still in the cookie jar. Suddenly, Reina wished that the towel she still had around her neck would just cover her entire head right now and save her the embarrassment.
The reason for Reina's panic was obvious (except to Ai, who was still oblivious). For the less perverted, it can be simply put together in few bulleted points.
1) Ai was taking a bath
2) She was sitting in the bathtub to play her DS
3) The water was only at waist level
The rest can be left to a normal imagination. Reina wanted to bury herself headfirst in the nearest hole, while Ai wondered why Reina was acting so strangely. Oddly, for someone as naturally shy as Ai was, she showed absolutely no awkwardness about Reina walking in on her naked in the bath. If asked, she would undoubtedly say that it was because they were both girls, and that she trusted Reina. Reina, however, was in no shape to ask or even wonder why Ai was completely unbothered by her presence.
"Reina, are you sure you're ok? Your nose is bleeding..." Ai definitely sounded concerned now. She started to climb out of the tub, and Reina's brain came very close to shorting out as she smothered her own face (and the bleeding orifice) with the towel and beat a quick retreat, nearly falling over in her haste. The door slammed shut after her, and Ai heard an "itai!" that was preceded by a very loud thud.
The last thing a dazed Reina saw was a still dripping Ai wrapped in a towel kneeling by her side, before she passed out from the bump to her head.
~*~*~
"Argh..."
Reina winced as she cracked her eyes open. The first blurry image reflected into her eyes made her jerk back reflexively, nearly whacking said person in the face.
"Reina? Are you ok?" Ai leaned in, making Reina's cheeks redden again from the proximity, but Ai simply checked Reina's temperature by touching her forehead to Reina's.
"I was so worried..." Ai murmured. Reina lowered her eyes guiltily, then yanked her eyes away just as quickly. Having Ai seated by her side dressed in only a bathrobe was still too much for her right now. Granted, she knew she shouldn't have overreacted to seeing that, since they were both girls. But still...
"You shouldn't have run out like that. What if you really hurt yourself?" Ai scolded her, or tried to. It was obvious that Ai was still too worried to be truly angry, and in any case, her tone was too gentle and caring to hold much barb. That did not take away the sting of truth in her words though, and Reina bit her lip, hanging her head.
"I'm sorry..." Reina mumbled, looking rightfully ashamed of herself. Ai sighed at the repentant look on Reina's face, fondly running a hand through Reina's tousled locks.
"Do you want to tell me why you freaked out just now?" Reina winced. That was the last thing she wanted Ai to ask her right now. Ai watched her expectantly, and Reina grumbled under her breath, averting her eyes to avoid direct eye contact.
"...not fair..." Was all Ai could catch from Reina's muttering. She arched an eyebrow, prodding Reina speculatively in the side, earning a short squeak from the younger girl. Reina glared back at her waiting senior, clearly reluctant to answer.
"Because of you." Ai blinked.
"What did I do?" Reina pouted childishly.
"Why are you so much bigger than me?!" To emphasize her point, she jabbed at the center of Ai's chest, making Ai blush and pull back a little.
"I-i-it's not, I'm n-not, it's just r-really..." Ai stuttered incoherently, caught offguard by Reina's revelation. Reina sulked, folding her arms indignantly.
"And I can't believe you bring your games into the bathroom!" On a roll now, Reina successfully pushed away the topic of her awkward reaction to seeing Ai's naked state and moved on to the less inflammatory subject of gaming.
"I just wanted to clear another level!" Ai replied just as indignantly, her lips unconsciously forming into a pout. To look on this two right now, one would vividly see the childishness with which they were conducting themselves at the moment.
The flashpoint of the evening was successfully averted as they descended into the much safer territory of childish squabbles, which eventually led to a tickle fight, lots of squealing, before both sides called a truce. It would be a routine faithfully seen to for still some time to come, given that neither side were ready for any more "adult" confrontations.
Then again, they might not always have a choice in the matter.
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Ah, young love...
Topic: Destiny Love [16/02 - In My Own Time] (Read 68872 times)