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When Tsukasa gets home she is only greeted by silence. It was odd to her as she was able to close her tavern earlier, simply because she wanted to cook dinner at a time that wasn’t past 8 pm. Closing earlier wasn’t the odd thing but rather the lack of being welcomed back home. It was dark already because it was winter.
Her wife, Rui, didn’t mind eating so late but she also forgot to eat lunch more often than not. Tsukasa wasn’t about to let her go to bed hungry either. She could be stubborn despite helping her fix some of her more unhealthy habits.
She closes the front door and takes off her shoes, balancing the grocery bag in her hands, and hanging her hat on the rack. She wouldn’t let herself pout because she didn’t hear Rui coming out of her workshop to greet her, she refused to.
Her strides bring her to their kitchen, setting down the groceries and preparing to get started. She adorns her ‘home apron’, taking off her brown vest and other accessories prior. She gets out the equipment like a chopping board and a microplane from their designated spaces. The kitchen was organized to its peak and she took pride in it.
She still hears no noises other than her own as she takes out the ingredients, was Rui not home? Or rather was she holed up in her workshop again? She sighs as she sets the spaghetti in her hand aside and proceeds to pack the other ingredients in the fridge so they won’t spoil.
She doesn’t like it when the house feels empty, a house is supposed to feel homey and more comfortable.
Okay maybe she was pouting now but she knows Rui has had a rough week with an influx of commissions, to which she has no idea why Rui would do that. But she still could have come to at least greet her.
After packing she makes her way to Rui’s workshop, steps tretting lightly as she wonders if her wife is asleep. She worked hard and worked up to high standards, there was no doubt about that, but Tsukasa knew better than anyone else what overworking could do to a person.
She knocks, asking if Rui was awake through the door. When she receives no response she opens the door to reveal her wife, who was in fact sleeping at her desk. Tsukasa sees how the lantern is the only thing that lit up the space nd how Rui’s light snoring was the only sound in the room.
Her workshop consisted of various pinned images and maps, a few pot plants hanging from the ceiling, and various other items that just screamed this was Rui’s room.
Rui had taken off her jacket and left it to hang on the chair, her gloves were still on with her tools in her hands and goggles on her face. Her hair was disheveled but that was normal, a wolfcut with all those layers makes it expected.
As she goes closer she notices Rui’s eyebags, frowning at the fact they appeared to be darker than usual. What kind of wife was she to not notice this? She also had no idea how long Rui had been sleeping for, she didn’t want her sleep schedule to be thrown into wind again.
First she removes the pick and brush from Rui’s hands, followed by her gloves, and then sets the rock specimens aside. She thinks about moving Rui to their bed but she concludes it would be better to wake her up and have her eat something.
She knew Rui adored her cooking so it was a win-win situation. She gently pokes her cheek “Rui, wake up”. She doesn’t budge so she moves her hand to nudge her arm “I’m home Rui, come on it’s not healthy to sleep so early in the evening!”.
Her partner groans and opens her eyes slowly, one blue and one yellow, smiling softly at the sight of Tsukasa “Welcome home my treasure…”. Tsukasa finds herself fawning internally at such a cute reaction while helping her sit up. Rui takes off her goggles, running a hand through her tangled hair.
“Rui, are you still sleepy?” she asks, trying to gauge for any other reaction. Rui smiles before dragging Tsukasa into her lap, startling her in the process “Rui?!”.
Rui giggles, slowly leaning into her so she can rest her head under her chin. Rui wraps her arms around her waist as Tsukasa shifts her legs to be more comfortable, resigning to her fate of becoming Rui’s personal hold pillow. She was tired but Tsukasa notes that she was also shameless.
“I missed you…” she mumbles as Tsukasa brings one of her hands to pet the back of her head “You could drop down by the tavern at any point you know”. Rui mumbles out a response, incomprehensible as she tries to bring Tsukasa even closer, leaving a soft kiss on her neck after.
But Tsukasa, as much as she loved her being sleepy while affectionate, couldn’t forget. She gently gestures for Rui to lift her face off so they can look into each other’s eyes. She takes her unoccupied hand and cups her cheek, thumb stroking over her eyebag “Rui, have you been staying up after I’ve already gone to sleep?”.
Rui doesn’t deny or confirm what Tsukasa asks her; instead, she tries to avoid eye contact. “Rui…” she tries again, trying to pressure any kind of response.
But she knows if Rui doesn’t respond the first time then she doesn’t feel like talking. She can offer support to her, her arms move to wrap around her neck. Rui’s shoulders slightly slump, Tsukasa wonders about any meals she could make in the following days to give Rui some more energy.
She can chaste her health when she wasn’t so tired “Rui, don’t go back to sleep”. Rui brings their faces closer “Do something so I won’t fall asleep again Tsukasa-chan”. But Tsukasa can only question in her mind about how someone so pretty expected her to function when they were this close, the gleam in her eyes gave it away.
Tsukasa’s eyes drift all over Rui’s face before she presses a kiss to her nose, then to both her cheeks, and so on and so forth.
Rui squeezes her waist so that they move impossibly closer, enjoying the warmth of their bodies and the gentle way Tsukasa was treating her. Tsukasa couldn’t possibly ever get sick of spoiling her with all the affection she could give.
The smile Rui gets on her face outshone even the brightest stars in the sky.
“I love that sweet smile you get, when you look at me as if you adore me” Tsukasa says once she stops kissing her. Rui looked infatuated with her “I do adore you Tsukasa-chan”.
She feels another squeeze around her waist, watching Rui’s eyes droop slightly. As much as she wants to stay in Rui’s arms forever she knows if they don’t get up now then Rui would fall asleep again. She makes a mental note to ask about Rui’s recent sleeping patterns again later.
She finally manages to detach herself and stand up. She stretches her arms before tugging Rui’s shirt “Come with me, I got a good deal from the merchant for tonight’s dinner and it won't get made if you keep me here”.
Rui laughs light and airy as she stands up too “You let yourself be dragged into my embrace, who am I to deny affection from you?”.
“Be grateful I am not serving you vegetables tonight” she says this as if she doesn’t chop the vegetables she uses thinly, sometimes even blending them so Rui doesn’t recognize them in her meals. Some dislike was from texture and others were from taste, Tsukasa wasn’t about to criticize with her own dislike for green peppers.
“Eh? What are you making Tsukasa-chan?” Rui asks while she lets herself be led out of her workshop to the kitchen “You’ll see~”.
Rui sits on the chair by the counter, propping her elbow up so she can rest her head while she watches her wife bring out ingredients from the fridge. Rui first sees the eggs alongside the spaghetti that was already out, instantly coming up with a guess “Is it carbonara?”.
Tsukasa nods as she places the guanciale on the chopping board, beginning to cut the meat into thick batons “You’re as sharp as ever, Rui”.
She hears her wife laugh “Of course I am, I never can take my eyes off you”. She laughs in return. There is something about Rui learning about cooking while she got to learn about archaeology.
She begins to grate the cheese and prepare the eggs to create the sauce when she asks Rui to tell her about her recent work, half because she wanted to know about what she was doing, half because she wanted to hear Rui’s voice.
The kitchen is filled with facts about Rui’s archeology work, commenting on minerals and new findings. So at the end when Rui starts slowing down the conversation as she mixes everything together she starts getting excited. Serving a warm dish to the person she loved was one of the things that made her happy so of course she gets delighted when Rui enjoys her food.
One plate for both of them. She says thank you for the meal before they both dig in.
Rui hums as she takes her first bite, twirling her fork for more she says “Have I ever told you you’re an extraordinary chef?”.
Tsukasa finishes her own bite before she responds “Are you saying that because you love the pasta or because you want to sleep on the bed tonight?”.
“Tsukasa-chan is so mean….” she fake sobs and Tsukasa can’t help but think how lucky she was to have Rui.
Their home felt lively again.
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Tsukasa finds out later that Rui was trying to scrape some extra funds to go to a place a bit further from the town they lived in because of a rumored rare gemstone. She chastises Rui after it is revealed she just wanted to make Tsukasa some new earrings ‘worthy of a star’, blushing all the while so Rui knows she isn’t actually in trouble.
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Rui loved the tavern where Tsukasa worked, people always left with satisfied looks on their faces and full tummies. Adventures came around from all over the land, always in high spirits from the reviews they had heard. And Tsukasa always delivered above and beyond.
After all, she had met her wife at that very tavern, she had gotten so distracted by how beautiful Tsukasa had looked that she just ordered whatever the special was. Her face had grimaced when she saw all the vegetables in the dish. She so desperately wanted to create a good first impression but Tsukasa had caught on.
She had smiled at her, that breathtaking, gorgeous smile, and had cooked her an alternative. It was heavenly and she found herself frequenting not long after.
Now she could wake up with Tsukasa by her side, the very sun of the universe dozing peacefully in her arms. A companion she had wished for since she was a young girl, hoping someone would accept her with all her oddities.
She is sure her face is lovestruck as she walked through the town but she could not care less, the way she clung to Tsukasa was more than enough of an indication of her enamourment with the star chef. She was finally done with a new round of requests, she had forgone her goggles and gloves in favor to go visit Tsukasa.
The wooden exterior comes into view, a pep in her step once she reaches the front.
She stops and stares through the window, noticing her wife’s tired posture. She liked how Tsukasa looked, she was beautiful. Her hair was cut just above her shoulders, when she worked she tied it up so it wouldn’t get in any of the food. Her hair was thick and fluffy and Rui loved to press kisses into her hair. She was missing her hat at the moment. Rui liked everything about her like the freckles that dusted her cheeks and the small pudge of her stomach. She could go on and on about her wife...
Rui snaps out of it when she hears an exhausted sigh coming from inside. She promptly ignores the closed sign and swings the door open. She sees Tsukasa’s posture tense, turning around to tell whoever had entered that the tavern was closed but visibly brightens when she sees that it's Rui.
Rui walks up to her, before Tsukasa can do anything else Rui grabs the dishcloth and begins to dry the dishes next to her. Tsukasa pauses and watches her, gaze softening. No words are exchanged as Rui helps Tsukasa finish her cleaning duty.
She appreciates Tsukasa so of course she wants to help her. Her wife single-handedly ran most of the business, with a few employees here and there but she was the owner. Her work was admirable but sometimes Rui wished she relied on others more, like MEIKO or even her if she wasn’t working.
She didn’t believe she couldn’t do it but Tsukasa was like her, both of them wanted nothing but perfection and strived for it. She just wanted to make sure she was there to pick Tsukasa up if she ever crashed.
Tsukasa packed the last of the cleaning supplies away before facing Rui, she looked at the blonde-haired woman expectantly, spreading her arms open. Tsukasa naturally falls into her arms and whispers a hello into her shoulder.
Rui has never been more happy that both of them had a love language through touch, she would never get tired of Tsukasa’s hugs.
Rui rubs her hands on Tsukasa’s hips, relishing the way Tsukasa melts in her embrace, “Rough day my treasure?”.
She feels Tsukasa’s sigh on her shoulder “It was just an obstacle for me to overcome, after all, a few rude customers won’t hinder my progress”. Rui feels angry at the way Tsukasa treats this as if it were another thing that happened casually.
But she doesn’t let it show on her face, it was not her call to make. Instead, she prompts to Tsukasa that she’ll listen, bringing her closer and kissing her forehead.
Tsukasa talks about a few new travelers and how rude they were, entitled rather. They kept changing their minds about the specifications of their orders and getting impatient at the wait time as if Tsukasa had no other customers. It wasn’t uncommon for travelers to think they were above others, boosting about their dungeon skills and such, but they had to straighten up sooner or later.
She finds herself slightly chuckling when Tsukasa recounts how Emu and Nene were in the restaurant too, how Emu himself and gotten up and stormed over, demanding that they learn some respect.
Nene had silently observed but fully supported what Emu was saying. As much as Tsukasa appreciated the patronage people would give she felt relief that their obscure demands weren’t all in her head.
When she stops talking they are both silent but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. They had long been past the silence between them being awkward, they just enjoyed each other presence.
Rui decides in that moment that Tsukasa needs a break, she knows that last week she was overly busy and this week Tsukasa had been dealing with more and more rude customers. She wants to spend time with the blonde-haired woman, she felt deprived of their time. She slowly releases their embrace after a while and asks “Could you take a day off?”.
Tsukasa thinks for a moment as she takes off her apron “I guess I could… it is a slower traveling season so there aren’t any major rush hours. Why are you asking?”.
Rui smiles “Take tomorrow off and we’ll do anything you want”.
“Anything I want?” she mirrors, placing the apron on the hook. Rui pretends to shudder “Fufu within reason Tsukasa-chan….”.
She takes mock offense to what Rui says “Hey, don’t act afraid! As if your ideas are ever tame”. Rui laughs as Tsukasa moves to take her hands.
“Fishing… take me fishing. To the lake we went to last time.” Tsukasa declares and Rui laughs at her eagerness “The same one where I fell off the boat?”
She giggles “Yes that one, except this time I’ll catch you in my arms before you go overboard”.
Rui hums, thumbs rubbing Tsukasa’s knuckles from where their hands were joined “I’d be honored to be in your arms, you’re warm and the winter is windier this year”.
Tsukasa continues to smile as she links their hands together and begins to leave her place. Rui watched her lock up the tavern, jiggling the doorknob to ensure it was secure. Rui asks her if she was ready to go, squeezing her hand. Tsukasa murmurs an affirmation and leans on her shoulder as they begin to walk. Rui thinks she must be the luckiest person on earth to be Tsukasa’s wife.
“Let’s go home Tsukasa-chan”.
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Emu and Nene are still in town when Rui and Tsukasa come back. Tsukasa is dressed with Rui’s light blue jacket and both of them have still drying hair. It turns out Tsukasa did attempt to catch Rui from falling in due to the wind but ended up losing her balance.
Nene notes to himself how despite the fact Rui is actually shivering she is still smiling widely as Tsukasa presents to them her catches for the day.