The Christmas Date (Japan and Taiwan)

He nodded at the first part. The extra toothbrush and things would certainly help the situation, and it was the more likely things for her to have. She paused, and he waited, wondering how bad the situation would be.

She had a couple of big T-shirts? His eyes widened a tiny bit and a blush spread rapidly over his face. Would that really be...okay? Wasn't it more important he had something for his bottom half? Of course, he did have his underclothes, but...well that was a whole different situation with the unpleasantness of not having a fresh change in the morning, wasn't it? A situation he wouldn't bring up. It was embarrassing. In addition, voicing another issue would just seem like a reason to go home, and he didn't want that.

Now, if it were the opposite situation and she used one of his shirts that would seem more... Oh dear, why did he have to think of that. Now he was imagining Mei in one of his shirts and nothing else. It was a good thing he was already blushing, or this might be far too embarrassing for words.

"I-I-I-If you t-think...that...that's okay." His thoughts made it so he could barely talk.

Oh? Kiku suddenly seemed a lot more... tense? Though she made a confused expression, Mei decided not to say anything. She'd be jittery too if she was... in the same situation. Probably worse. An image of herself borrowing his clothes and things crossed her mind. Oh gosh. Yeah... most definitely worse.

"I'm okay as long as you are?" She really needed to stop answering with more questions. Nothing would be solved like that, it would just be like she couldn't state her mind or something.

Mei finally stood up and off the couch, remembering her empty glass and picking it up, then motioning for him to follow again.

"This way, please~"

She dropped her glass in the sink, then made her way to her room.

Her room. Which happened to still be mess. Oh no... She hurried ahead, not thinking about how suddenly odd that might seem, running into her room and kicking up any clothes on the floor and throwing them in the closet. Her bed wasn't made, but that wasn't so bad. Mei rushed into her bathroom next, making sure there wasn't anything else in here that needed hiding or tidying. After shoving whatever counter clutter there was into a drawer, she sighed. Everything else seemed okay, so she went searching for that spare toothbrush she kept... somewhere. That looked casual enough... yeah...

Spontaneity was fun and all, but sometimes it just gave her heart attacks. Or maybe being organized was a good resolution after all?

Kiku had started nervously following her when she suddenly took off. He blinked in surprise. He was just about to approach the door she had rushed into when she came out again and rushed off into another. He stood there, dazed for a bit. What was this all of a sudden?

When he had regained his senses, he approached the second door. She hadn't exactly closed it behind her, but he knocked politely anyway.

"Mei?" he questioned anxiously. "Is everything alright?"

Hmmm...was there something embarrassing that she was hiding or something she thought was embarrassing or she didn't want him to see?

The thought of the clothing situation temporarily left his mind as he concentrated on her current behaviour.

He waited for her to answer him from the other side of the door.

Ah. She heard Kiku on the other side of the door, then decided she should open it wider so he could either come in or just watch her from out there if he wished.

"Everything's fine, just... had some things to take care of."

Only after she had said it did she realize how... suspicious it sounded. Great. Oh well, there were other things to take care of. Like finding that toothbrush in the mess of things she called her bathroom closet. Really, really needed to rethink that organization goal.

After a moment of searching and a second of accidentally bumping her head on a shelf, Mei finally retrieved the package and handed it to him.

"Okay, that, now what else..."

Soap? Toothpaste? Where exactly was the line between things they could share and things they couldn't? Why was this so confusing... Why did she even need to wonder these things, shouldn't she know?

She looked at him for help, an embarrassed smile on her face. "So, uh, what else do you need..?"

Mei opened the door more and Kiku entered a bit. He watched her retrieve the toothbrush and then she handed it to him. "Thank you." He nodded.

He decided to leave her be as far as whatever she had been doing before. Between the two of them, they had suffered enough embarrassment for the night. He didn't need to give her more.

Oh, right. That thought brought back with it the reason why he had be so dreadfully embarrassed and he found himself blushing again.

But she was asking him a question. "Etto..." He paused. What did a guest normally need? He could just use her toothpaste, that wasn't a big deal. Most of the other things he could think of were for the morning, not now. Like a spare towel. Luckily enough, he did have with him a small bit of travel-sized deodorant, so that paranoid precaution had somehow worked out.

"I guess this is fine for now," he answered. "You don't mind me sharing the actual toothpaste, do you?" He didn't think she would, but there was no harm in asking.

She shook her head no and smiled. "I don't mind." So that was that all, now, to go find clothing? Hopefully the clothing she said she had wasn't dirty. That would be... mortifying.

Mei took a breath and squeezed past Kiku, attempting to walk calmly to her room instead of freaking out and running again. Not that there was much to freak out about anymore? ...Except for that part with the might-not-having-clothes-after-all thing.

Sighing, she dropped down in front of her dresser, pulling a drawer open and rummaging through the various articles of clothing. Thankfully, she kept her clothes organized enough to know where everything was, and additionally, not have to worry about him seeing anything she didn't want him to see.

Not that he hadn't already seen some of her... underclothes though...

She swallowed and tried to concentrate on finding a shirt, instead of getting distracted with other kind of embarrassing thoughts that would make her face more--

Wait, no, concentrate! Right. A shirt. After successfully locating one of the ones she had mentioned, she pulled it out and held it up.

"Is this okay?"

Mei had squeezed past him and he stepped aside and watched her go. She entered the first room she had rushed into, leaving the door wide open and he could now see it was her bedroom. Although Kiku could see her plainly, he waited politely outside.

Not that politeness was the only thing keeping him outside the room. He was filled with the sort of trepidation one might expect from an explorer at the edge of an unknown cave. Although, instead of being dark and foreboding, this place was girly and cozy.

But it wasn't the thing itself - it was what it represented.

And just then his thoughts were interrupted by a question and Mei holding up...a shirt...right. Which then proceeded to bring make the memory of his recent embarrassment.

Although, he was slightly reassured by it's size. She had said earlier that she had a few shirts that were a little big on her. This was a bit troubling, as it would lead to the assumption that they would fit him...as a shirt. However, this particular one appeared to be one of those shirts that some girls seemed to have that actually fit them like a short dress. Which meant it might actually serve to be at least a bit long on him. This functioned as a relief.

So he nodded and said, "Yes, that will do." There really wasn't any other choice, other than sleeping in his clothes, which wouldn't feel very nice in the morning.

Mei pushed the drawer closed and stood up. She turned around to hand Kiku the shirt, but.. eh? He was sort of lingering just outside her bedroom. Was her room really that much of a mess that it made him uncomfortable? After a quick glance around again, she didn't see anything... that bad. The worst right now was her unmade bed, but other than that, there wasn't anything else! Sure, maybe she had... a lot of little odd trinkets, but they weren't scattered on the ground or something.

"You can come in, you know," she said, her expression somewhere between confused and worried.

Maybe her room smelled bad. Or overly flowery or something? No, no. Stop worrying, Mei told herself. That would only make the things more awkward. Think of other things! Other things like... er, what she would wear? Which usually didn't take too much thinking, but she had to remember, there was someone else with her, and and...

She sighed. Couldn't she go five seconds without worrying over something?

Kiku stepped into the room at her invitation, feeling a sort of invisible wall come down for him. It would be fine. He looked around a little and a slight blush came to his cheeks regardless. The blush deepened as he went to take the shirt from her. "Thank you," he said as he received the item.

He looked down and away for a bit, unseccessfully trying to hide his embarrassment, only really making it more obvious instead.

"So w-what do you want to start with? Brushing teeth?" he blurted out after a moment of nervous silence. For himself, he thought it was best to get as completely ready as possible before changing into...this. "If you don't mind, perhaps we could start with that. Shall we?"

Kiku looked between the door and Mei, wanting to go and start that, but not wanting to do so without her assent. She also looked a bit worried and had been since a bit before he entered, he wondered if there was something wrong. He tilted his head at her.

"Oh, okay. That's fine." Mei felt somewhere between relieved and still confused. Confusion because she wasn't exactly used to this, but relief that she had more time to think instead of worry.

She usually changed before brushing her teeth and the like, but then again, this situation was not the usual. Things were different! So, she made her way back to the bathroom to brush her teeth, grabbing Kiku's hand on the way out, trying not to care so much about what he was already holding. And then sort-of skipping to make the mood lighthearted instead of nervous-like. She didn't know herself if it was working or not, but she hoped it was.

The walk to the bathroom was short, but she did feel slightly better after getting there. Mei released his hand then found her toothpaste again (which she had shoved into the drawer during that earlier have-to-tidy panic), and took some for herself before handing it over to him.

Two minutes was enough time to get her head straight, maybe?

Before he could respond to her agreement and leave the room, she had already grabbed his hand and was leading him out. She skipped out and into the bathroom. Well, if she could be lighthearted, so could he, right? Not that he would be skipping anytime soon, but he didn't need to drag her down, either. Seeing her act as such did lift his spirits, anyway, dispelling some of his nerves.

He let out a quiet "thank you" as she handed him the toothpaste. He put some on the spare brush and they both started brushing. It certainly wasn't a thrilling thing to be doing together. It was nearly as mundane as it gets, but...it was almost like a preview of their marriage...spending a night, in a way. Well, sort of. Don't think any further, you'll blush again.

When they finished, he made up his mind to suggest something. "Maybe from now on, we can keep a few things of each others? I mean...you have a few things of mine here, and I'll keep a few things for you at my home, so if we spend the night..."

He paused, looking at her to gauge her reaction. "...So we will always have something if we decide to stay last minute?"

Okay, so... the thought of what to wear. It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't as hot as usual. Or... well, not? Having someone else in your bed kind of increased the temperature, not to mention... if that certain someone kind of made you feel generally warmer in the first place. No, wait, wait. She hadn't even asked, nor had he given any hint of where exactly he planned to sleep. Maybe he would rather sleep on the couch or the floor...? She rinsed her mouth out and sighed. There would be time to ask later. Not much time, but still. And she still had no idea what to do with herself. Hooray.

Mei returned her toothbrush to its normal place and wiped her face on a towel, listening to Kiku as he spoke.

"That sounds like a good idea~" She smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry we didn't think of it sooner, though."

She started back towards her room, taking a breath and attempting to phrase her other question as casually as she could, finding she had more courage when she was moving around. However, her voice betrayed her as soon as it possibly could. She stuttered on the first word.

"S-So, do you have anywhere specific in mind about where you'd like to sleep? I mean, you can sleep wherever you like, on the couch, or on the floor," Mei felt her voice get tiny and her face turn red again. Her casual walking turned into nervous shuffling, and she found herself staring at the floor instead of straight ahead. "O-Or... with.. me."

"Yes, well, it's times like these that make you realize that it's needed," Kiku stated at her apology. "So it's alright."

He followed her example and proceeded to leave the bathroom behind. They walked silently for a bit until Mei spoke up, her words making him stop in his tracks and blush.

Of course he wanted to sleep with her. Well not sleep with her, just actual sleep. Well, not that he didn't want to, but that wasn't something they would be doing before their marriage, and it wasn't what she was asking. Why did his mind decide to think about this? His face got redder.

"I-I-I-" Don't stutter. Calm yourself. He took a breath before he began to speak again. "If...you would allow me..." he looked at the floor "...to sleep in your bed with you...that would be.... Yes. If that's okay."

He didn't think she would have offered if she hadn't meant it. But the nervous words slipped out anyway.

Mei felt a sense of relief when she heard his reply. Well, it wasn't like she actually believed Kiku wanted to sleep elsewhere, but being who she was, she automatically thought the worst. She sighed and continued back into her room, smiling to herself.

"Of course it's okay."

He would be sleeping in her bed, beside her. Well. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from making any embarrassing noises. Like giggling, or some kind of squealing, or... ah. Too late, she had to let herself laugh, if only a little. It was a nice feeling to accompany that fluttery feeling that was already there, though.

All right, one worrisome thing down, one more to go. Or two? Clothes were generally the same basic thing, but she also had to wonder if they planned to change in the same room or not. Not that she would really mind either way, but it was probably better to ask him anyways? Or just start? Both ways were kind of... embarrassing?

Mei silently went over to find her own clothes again, not knowing what to do.

Kiku was following her back into the bedroom when he realized they would probably be changing next. What should he do? Should he wait outside the door for her to change first and then they would switch? Or should he just change elsewhere, like the bathroom? Or would they just change together, but maybe with their backs turned or something?

Should he ask? No, asking would seem.... But assuming would be worse. What to do?

Maybe he should just follow her like he wasn't sure that changing would be what they were doing, and if she shuffled him out, she shuffled him out. He wouldn't take offense.

Yes, that's what he would do. Just follow her lead here.

She seemed to have gone over to look for her own sleeping clothes. He just sort of stood there, in the room, for now.

Mei glanced back at him after a while, expecting one of three things. One, he had miraculously changed within that time span she had her back turned; two, he had gone back to the bathroom to change; or three, he would be in the middle of changing, which part of her hoped wouldn't be the case. And.. she would say nothing about the other part of her, which she didn't really want to think about. Or maybe she did. But didn't feel like she should. But it didn't matter anyways! None of those things had actually been the case. When she saw Kiku just standing there, she felt she had to hurry up. Like he was waiting on her, or something.

She decided to hurry up and pulled out whatever looked... okay? A t-shirt and shorts? Good enough? Right? Maybe?

"Okay... so."

Time to change.

After some time of clutching her clothes uselessly, Mei dropped her sleeping clothes over on her bed, and began undressing. She resisted the urge to look over at him again to check if he would leave or not, because that might lead to more awkward silences. She started slowly, giving him time to leave if he preferred.

It was a moment that could have turned into one of those where they both nervously stood around until someone took some initiative. But then Kiku watched as she dropped her clothes on the bed and then, without telling him anything more, started undressing. She hadn't asked him to leave. She hadn't even requested he turn around.

But he did the latter, a bit stiffly, after just a moment - the moment it took for his brain to catch up. Then he started quickly doing the same. Taking off the clothes he had worn for the day. Then he quickly put the shirt on.

He stood there a moment, fiddling with the hem. He wondered if he should turn back around or stay here. She had started undressing a bit before him, but her clothes were slightly more complicated, and she also had more to put on.

He started to peek over his shoulder to check and then stopped. Even though she hadn't asked, he had turned around. So it didn't feel right if he were to look before she was finished.

Instead he called to her, "Just tell me when you are done?"

He then busied himself with folding his clothes into a neat pile.

Judging from her peripheral vision, Mei could tell he had turned around. While she didn't particularly mind or feel unsure about it, she figured she should hurry up now anyways. She knew she wasn't exactly the faster out of the both of them. Kiku's clothes looked so much easier to get in and out of compared to most of what she wore. Or maybe she really was just slow.

Eventually pulling the shirt over her head and flipping her hair out, she pushed her bangs out of her face, having a feeling that her faster-than-usual changing had probably made her hair a mess. Not that it mattered so much, since they were going to bed.

"I'm done, you can turn around now?" She looked back and forth between herself and him, noticing what she had picked for herself looked similar to what he was wearing. "We look kind of the same now," she laughed.

Mei threw her removed clothes into the hamper and sat down on her bed, busying herself with removing the flower pins in her hair.

Kiku turned around to face her, as she had said he could. He looked at her, face still pink. "I guess you're right about that," he replied. His mind fought between becoming more embarrassed from it and relaxing. It wasn't the scenario as he would have thought. Her wearing a nice pair of pajamas, and him like this. With herself looking rather similar instead, it made him feel a bit less exposed. But then, there was...her.

As she sat herself down, his gaze wandered for a moment down her legs, then he looked away, embarrassed that he had done so. After he had returned his gaze to a more proper place, he walked over to her bed as well.

She has already invited you to sleep here, so this isn't strange.

Kiku sat himself on the opposite side of the bed from her and then turned his head to watch her as she finished removing her hair pins.

She seemed so very beautiful to him. Even in a T-shirt and shorts. Even doing something as routine and removing the flowers from her hair. She had an incredible, natural beauty that nothing could dim.

And she was his - as he was hers.

It was somehow miraculous.

He reached out a hand to touch her face - not thinking anything of pulling back for the moment.

After some fumbling with her hairpins, Mei finally pulled them out of her hair and set them on the nightstand. Though she had done this hundreds of times, her anxiety made it difficult. She sighed, trying to calm herself. It wasn't like going to bed was anything wrong or involved anything that she needed to think about. It was just sleeping. Nice, restful, peaceful sleeping! Like they should--

She had begun to turn her head and glance over at Kiku like the countless times today already, but instead of meeting his eyes like she had planned, Mei felt his fingers against her cheek. Though she flinched a little bit, she managed not to pull away, realizing she probably would have regret it if she had.

When the initial feeling of surprise was out of her system, she turned towards him and smiled, reaching out one of her own hands and touching the side of his face.

Normally, she would be uncomfortable with the sudden silence, but for some reason, it didn't bother her right now.

Kiku felt Mei's hand touch his face in a similar gesture and he closed his eyes. He felt this enormous connection, as if this touch - from him to her and her to him - sent a circle of energy through them. Now that she was facing him, he leaned forward and touched their foreheads together, keeping his hand on her cheek.

"I love you," he whispered, although he felt it was more than words could convey.

His thoughts skimmed to their future. A future where sleeping in the same bed together would seem completely natural. Instead of the blush that such thoughts would normally produce, he closed the gap between the lower part of their faces and planted a soft little kiss on her lips.

Kiku let his upper body collapse on the bed, pulling his Taiwanese love with him. Any thoughts that he might be too nervous to sleep had fled since the touch. Most of his mind was now filled with a sort of sleepy euphoria. Causing quite a change from his previous embarrassed behavior.

Mei watched as his eyes closed. For a moment she wanted to keep hers open, to watch Kiku and look at him all she pleased. But no... she wanted to concentrate on how he felt, not how he looked. How his cheek felt warm and soft against her fingers. His hand, the same. Though it was only his hand, it made her feel safe and at ease. And while she was trying to remember all these things and burn them into her memory, there was suddenly more to remember, the feeling of his forehead against hers. She vaguely began to wonder if any of that warmth was coming from herself instead of him.

You would think she wouldn't act so... flustered when he told her he loved her, but for some reason, it felt different this time around. As usual, her heartrate shot up, her breathing went weird, her thoughts became mush, and everything else didn't work right, but she had a hard time getting the words out, all four of them, even though she had said them many times before with less... trouble. Maybe because she was busy noting how his breath felt nice against her face, and smelled like her toothpaste. Maybe she was wondering if he now tasted like her toothpaste, and how she should go about in satisfying her curiosity. Maybe she could just--no no, wait, words, she had words to say, right.

"I love you too--" she started to smile and whisper back, but was interrupted (thankfully just as she finished, though) when.. he.. kissed her. Mei felt her head fill with a happy fuzzy feeling as the hand she had on his cheek slipped down to his neck, and her lips pressed against his, because really, kissing someone so carefully and whatnot was going to make that someone want more than that.. Kiku had been a step ahead of her, though. And... he did taste like her toothpaste. And himself, which was.. always a nice thing to taste.

She hummed softly and happily when she found herself falling alongside him, only re-adjusting herself to comfortably scoot closer to him. Had she really felt worried about this whole sleeping-together thing earlier? Right now it was just... happy and happy and only sort of sleepy now. She could even stare at his face perfectly from this position. Hmm. Mei settled with kissing him once more then smiling at him sleepily.

---

okay idk why so long i am sorry but
i'm glad i finished because as soon as i looked at my own signature my serious mind went out the window haaaa

Kiku heard Mei hum as they fell and smiled. Not a true upward grin kind of smile, but one that was more across than up - sort of like a content cat. Soon he felt her lips against his again, and he responded with his own kiss before she broke away and he made a soft, content noise.

His eyes were closed, but he was still conscious, if not fully awake in mind. He moved his thumb to gently brush her cheek. His stroke became slower and slower as the comfortable bed and embrace caused his sleepiness to take over.

"Oyasuminasai," he mumbled sleepily, "watashi no ai."

---

So short. After your nice long reply. OTL

Mei didn't notice how tired she was until her eyes were closed and they both lay still. It was becoming trouble to think so much now, which probably was a sign she should stop trying to think about everything and just sleep. She decided she would listen to that sign. It got easier to listen too when Kiku started stroking her cheek (or so that's what she assumed, at this point, everything was becoming a drowsy haze). Whatever it was, it was a nice, calming sensation.

Before long, Mei was right on the edge of sleep. She thought she heard something, but she wasn't sure what it was or who had said it. Or maybe she just thought she didn't know any of those things, because she did catch herself nodding and mumbling something in reply.

"...oyasumi to you too, my dear."

She had no idea if that's what came out or if she had said something completely different, but the worry didn't enter her mind as she drifted to sleep.

---

'w' I told you it's fine shhh. <3

Kiku woke up in the morning to a few sensations he wasn't used to waking up with. One was the smell of Mei's hair. Then there was the feeling of her cradled up to his chest and his arms around her. Also, there was the fact that sometime during the night, their legs had entangled.

He shifted and wondered if she would wake soon. Or if he should wake her up. If this were his home, he would just get up and prepare breakfast, but as they were at her place, he might need help finding things if he were to do that.

Kiku kissed the top of her head and then nudged her a bit with his body, also trying to disentagle their legs from each other.

"Mei?" he called softly after he had managed to pull them apart. "Are you awake, love?"

He waited for her answer before determining his next course of action.