Chapter Text
Kobayashi wearily lifted up her head from her pillow and rubbed her eyes. Her head was pounding and her mouth was dry. Fortunately, there was a glass of water by her side of the bed, likely put there by Tohru. She was out of bed, her spot in their bed vacant. That was often the case, Tohru usually eager to be active and face the day. In contrast, Kobayashi was never going to be much of a morning person. Today though, this was the result of a hangover.
Uh, I drank way too much last night. This is embarrassing.
She had tried to drink less, something that seemed essential as the amount of time she had with Tohru and Kanna grew. Since they had resolved the dispute with Tohru’s father, the two dragons had only felt more and more like they were family. Both were affected by Kobayashi’s drinking, so she had tried to at least work on toning it down. It had been a while since she had gotten this drunk.
She slowly got dressed. Then she went out of her bedroom and to their table. Tohru looked a bit uncomfortable, something clearly bothering her. But she still smiled brightly as she saw Kobayashi. “Good morning, Miss Kobayashi”.
“Good morning, Tohru”.
“You look like you need something special to help you feel better after yesterday. Fortunately for you, I expected this and have made the perfect meal for you”.
Tohru then put her “perfect meal” on the table. “Ta daaaa!”
Kobayashi looked at what Tohru had put down. The first item was a simple cup of coffee. The second was a plate of mystery meat. That was the only way Kobayashi could describe it. It was an unknown meat that she could not identify, along with some eggs. Despite being an unknown meat, it seemed oddly familiar.
“That’s not your tail meat again, is it?”
Tohru said nothing, but took the plate back. She went back to the kitchen and quickly came back with the eggs now on some toast. “I’d prepared for you rejecting my perfect meal too”. She sighed. “Really though, it would help a lot”.
Kobayashi glared at Tohru. “Really?”
“Probably?”
“We both know it won’t”.
“Well, no human has ever tried using dragon meat as a hangover cure, so we don’t know either way”.
“And we aren’t going to find out the answer anytime soon. Right?”
“Fine”. Tohru then smirked. “But it would be great if you wanted to ea..”
“I’m about to eat. Please don’t finish that sentence”. Kobayashi started on her breakfast, Tohru watching her. After letting her enjoy her breakfast for a bit, Tohru asked the inevitable question. “So, how much of yesterday do you remember?”
Kobayashi tried to think, but all she could remember was that she had been drinking. “Not much” was Kobayashi’s response. “We were hanging out. I was drinking. Then, it’s all very fuzzy”. She rubbed her head. “Sorry. I drank far more than I should have”.
“I see. Well, this is exactly what happened”.
As Tohru started to go through the events that had transpired, Kobayashi’s memory of them started to become clearer.
Kobayashi was out with Tohru, Makoto and Fafnir. Kanna was at her friends until they picked her up after this. It was a night before a day off, something both Kobayashi and Makoto were thankful for, so the four of them were out to relax. Well, that was the idea. Fafnir was there purely because Makoto had asked him to come. He seemed very disinterested in the meeting, apart from occasionally talking with Makoto. Tohru was still inclined to be a bit suspicious of Makoto.
But Kobayashi was distracted by the challenge facing her. Fafnir had been annoying, so she decided to issue a challenge that made a lot of sense to her after a drink or two. She would face him in a drinking contest. That would show him who was better. Makoto and Tohru both protested, but Fafnir accepted.
It had been a while now and a number of drinks, yet he still seemed fine. How? No, he always seemed bored. He probably was the same when drunk. There was no need to panic.
“Miss Kobayashi, maybe you should stop now”.
Fafnir looked annoyed at the intrusion. But Kobayashi just turned to look at Tohru, her look of angry determination instantly replaced by adoration. “Maybe, but I’m not going to lose”. Hmm, there was something she really wanted to say. It was something she had felt for a while, but she didn’t have the confidence. But now, she felt very confident. After all, she was beating a dragon at a drinking contest. Probably. “Tohru, there’s something I really want to tell you”.
“Yes?”
“I love you, Tohru. I love you so much”.
Her beloved dragon maid at first blushed, her cheeks blazing like the fire she could breath. Maybe even more intensely. She was unsurprisingly clearly very happy to hear those words. Tohru had always worn her own feelings, especially her love of Kobayashi, on her sleeve. But then Tohru frowned. Why did she do that? Kobayashi feared that Tohru did not believe her.
“Please.. don’t frown like that. I really love you. I love you a lot”.
“Ah, Miss Kobayashi.. um, I think you’ve gotten drunk”.
Huh? No way. She wasn’t drunk. “No I’m not”. She gestured angrily at Fafnir. “I’m going to beat you”. Fafnir grumbled something in response to Makoto, who did his best to calm Fafnir down. Hmph, sore loser. But that wasn’t important. Kobayashi turned back to face Tohru.
“Please say you’ll be my wife. Marry me, Tohru! I need to marry you! I want to marry you”.
Tohru was again clearly torn between her desire for this and... maybe she thought Kobayashi was just saying this just because she was a bit tipsy. But she really did want this. She didn’t know what to say.
“I really do want to marry you too, Miss Kobayashi. But you really are a bit drunk”. Tohru them moved a bit closer and whispered “Plus I’d rather have it be more romantic when we make that sort of commitment. So please sit down and try to calm down”.
When? Yes, she was taking Kobayashi’s declaration seriously! “Great!”. She promptly threw herself at Tohru, hugging the other woman. She started giggling. For some reason, she really wanted to. She also wanted to keeping sharing her feelings with the woman, which she did, muttering them into Tohru’s ear. But then she suddenly felt really bad. She had enough experience of being mildly drunk to know what that the problem was. She stopped hugging Tohru and moved back from her. “Now, could I ask you for some help with something? This is very serious”.
“Of course, Miss Kobayashi”.
“I’m about to throw up. Could you come with me to the bathroom?”
“Okay”.
Tohru helped steady her. Her balance felt off. Just a bit. Well, even if it was a bit much, it was nice of Tohru to help her.
“Good luck”. Makoto gave Tohru a thumbs up while looking sympathetic. Fafnir did the same, awkwardly copying the thumbs up. At the same time, the expression of sympathy on his face was as genuine as Makoto’s. What the hell? She was mildly drunk at most. Mildly drunk. Were they thinking about her? That she’d become a lightweight? That Fafnir had beaten her?
She tried to turn around to yell at them, but Tohru stopped her. “We need to get to the bathroom, Miss Kobayashi”
Oh right, they did. “Thanks, Tohru”.
“It’s no trouble at all, Miss Kobayashi”
“I love you”.
“I love you too, Miss Kobayashi”.
They then made their way to the bathroom where Tohru then helped Kobayashi with throwing up and tidying herself up before leaving, Tohru supporting her. Then an idea occurred to Kobayashi.
I’ll never have the courage to do this any other time.
She took advantage of her position, leaning against Tohru, to kiss her. On the cheek, of course. After vomiting, there was no way she could kiss her on the mouth. Though kissing anyone at all after vomiting was gross, so perhaps she should just kiss her on the mouth anyway at this point? She moved to do so…
“Miss Kobayashi, we’re in the middle of the street and you’re really drunk”.
Hmm? Oh, they were, weren’t they?
“Sorry. Let’s get home”.
“I remember now”.
Oh, this was terrible. Now what? What could Kobayashi do about this? She started gripping her cup of coffee tightly. Tohru stood up and moved by Kobayashi, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I know you were drunk, Miss Kobayashi, so we can just forget about what happened if you want”.
“For what it’s worth...”. This was hard to say, but Tohru had the right to know. “I do really feel that way. I’ve just been deciding what to do about my feelings. I mean, I’ve not really considered entering a relationship like this before”.
“Well, I’ve always wondered if you would one day feel the same way as I do about you".
While she still didn't feel alright, there was something Kobayashi wanted to say now that her feelings had been spilt out involuntarily. Nervously, she asked “Maybe.. you could be my girlfriend? Only if you want to, of course”.
“I do, but perhaps you should maybe wait until you’ve recovered fully from last night. I love you a lot, Miss Kobayashi. I want to be your girlfriend. But l feel you should be fully sober when we make a step like that. That’s why I think I should only accept that sort of offer when you are making it with a clear head”.
“That does make sense”. But Kobayashi was uncertain. “I’m scared though. You know how I am with emotional issues. What if I can’t make that offer again?”
“Even a maid as great as me can’t solve that problem. I will help you as much as I can though. No matter what, I’m ready to accept your feelings when you are ready to move forward with them. That’s a promise, Miss Kobayashi”.
“Thank you”. Kobayashi smiled, but there was still an uncomfortable feeling as she finished off her breakfast. The sound of footsteps alerted them both to Kanna entering the room. “Good morning, Miss Kobayashi. Good Morning, Tohru”.
She seemed to sense the awkward atmosphere, her smile dropping. The two women responded immediately, moving to reassure Kanna. Both gave her a bright “Good Morning” in response, then Kobayashi did her best to explain things.
“We were just talking about some personal issues. We’ve sorted it out though, so no need to worry”.
“What sort of personal issues?”. Kanna was a curious young girl, so of course she’d want to find out more when given a vague answer. Tohru looked like she was about to answer, but she stopped herself. So Kobayashi thought about it for a moment and then decided to be honest. “You know how Tohru loves me?”
“Yes”.
“Well… I love her too”.
“Oh”. Kanna put her hand on her chin for a moment. “Are you going to become a couple now, Miss Kobayashi?”.
“Eh?”
“My Teacher and Riko’s mum both told me that sometimes two women love each other a lot and become couples. Some even get married”. Kanna then smiled brightly and seemed to get lost in her own thoughts, as though imagining Kobayashi and Tohru marrying. “So cute”.
Tohru broke her out of that with “Kanna? Your breakfast is getting cold”.
“Sorry, Tohru”. The young dragon then sat down to eat her own breakfast, the two adults doing their best to act they normally would. After the awkwardness so far, this felt nice.
“So, you’re going to play with Riko today?”
“Yes, Miss Kobayashi”.
“Okay. You remember what time you need to be back by?”
Kanna nodded.
“I hope you have fun together”. Kobayashi then patted Kanna on her head. Kana gave her a hug, then left. Kobayashi smiled and turned to face Tohru, who was also smiling. “Even if I’m still working out a lot of this in my head, I’m glad to have this family with you”.
“So am I”.