Work Text:
There was something pushing on her stomach, Aya thought as she slept. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but she couldn’t roll over to grab and hug the pillow she always held. Eventually, the pressure got stronger and her breaths were shorter, and then a cold hand touched her cheek and she ripped her eyes open to stare at what was trying to kill her.
After the lighting improved she found there wasn’t a crazed murderer out to get her while she slept, but her girlfriend Hikawa Hina straddling her.
“Ah! You’re awake!” she said, hands pressing down on the mattress. It creaked as she leaned in closer, and Aya had nowhere to flee. A cool finger slid down Aya’s cheek, making her shiver and crane her back just a bit. Her soft teal hair tickled Aya’s skin, and she hadn’t realized they were kissing until the warmth left her mouth and Hina jumped off the bed, finally letting Aya take a deep breath. She wanted to reach up and grab Hina’s collar to pull her down again, but the need to stretch her legs was too powerful in comparison.
“Happy birthday, Aya-chan!” Hina shouted as she threw open the curtains. Aya shut her eyes at the sudden light pouring through, but as she watched Hina proudly stare at her from the window, sunlight framing her body as if she were a goddess, Aya gripped her sheets and felt the tears forming in her eyes. “Ah! What are you crying for?!”
Aya shook her head as Hina approached the side of the bed and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. “I’m not sad…! I’m just happy…!” she wailed, sniffling loudly. “Thank you, Hina-chan!”
Hina snickered as she rounded the bed again, heading towards the bedroom door. “Ahaha! Don’t thank me yet, the day has just started! Now hold on, I’ll be right back!” Giving Aya no room to argue, she dashed out of the room and shut the door. What followed made Aya eye the door in horror - the clink of utensils hitting porcelain, pans slamming together, the fridge opening and shutting…
Then the bedroom door burst open again, and Hina entered with a full tray of what Aya assumed was breakfast. A small fluffy pancake topped with whipped cream and strawberries, a glass full of orange juice, a bowl of sweet cherries and finally… Aya covered her mouth to prevent drool from coming out.
Omurice. Bright, fluffy and glowing, like it just came off the stove. The message on top of it made her heart drop, especially as it began to smudge near the edge.
‘I love you! -Hina’
Hina rested the tray on her lap and placed her hands on her hips. “Doesn’t that just look boppin’? I got all your favorites!” she said, watching as Aya picked up her fork with another sniffle.
“Hina-chan… I really- I don’t know how to-” She sputtered, not knowing where to start. She wanted to dig into the omurice immediately, but she also wanted to save it for last…
“Want me to feed you?” Hina’s green eyes turned gold as they shined at the thought, and Aya couldn’t resist when she was likely the most spoiled girl in Japan at the moment. Handing off her fork, Hina went for the pancake. Not even the thought of Chisato scolding her for indulging in sweets could stop her from opening wide for the forkful.
“Mm!” she moaned, closing her eyes as the taste of maple syrup and whipped cream mingled on her tongue. The pancake itself was light and literally melted on her mouth, she leaned forward and took another bite as soon as the first went down.
Hina made a happy noise in the back of her throat, her eyes never losing that shine as she watched Aya eat. “You like it?” she asked, handing her the juice to wash down the sugar. Aya nodded with a content sigh, and Hina wasted no time shoving the last bite between her lips with a laugh.
“That’s good! It was my first try, too!” she said, wiping off the remaining whipped cream with her tongue. Aya watched with red cheeks, holding her hands up to her chest. “Now… how about some cherries?”
“Ah, sure! They look really good,” Aya said as she watched Hina take one between her fingers. They smelled sweeter than cherries Aya had in the past, but they weren’t quite maraschino cherries either. Slowly, Hina rolled it against her lips until the stem touched the back of her teeth where she bit down and Hina pulled it off.
Slightly bitter at first, it was soon covered by a sweet taste she thought belonged to artificially sweetened ones. Aya pressed her hand into her cheek with a sigh. “So good…!” she breathed. “Where did you get these?!”
“That’s a secret!” Hina answered, pressing a finger against her smirk. “If I told you, they’d lose their magic!”
It was a sly way of saying Aya would go out and buy all she could if she knew. Perhaps that was for the better… Still, she allowed Hina to slip another into her mouth, and shivered as the sweetness blended with the leftover taste of the pancake.
She took a few more gulps of the juice and shook her head when Hina brought another. “Hina-chan…!” she whined, “I won’t be able to finish the omurice if I eat any more…”
“Oh!” Hina dropped the bowl back onto the tray and lifted the plate carefully so it wouldn’t spill. She discarded the fork for the clean spoon on the side, rotating it like it was a magic wand. “Are you ready?”
Aya eyed it. Steam was still puffing from it, and the eggs smelled so sweet… she licked her lips and nodded. “Uh huh,” was all she could say.
Hina laughed while cutting out a small spoonful, making sure to get some of the ketchup. “Open wiiiide~” she sang, grinning as Aya closed her eyes. It was still hot, so she had to open her mouth a little, though she blushed in embarrassment while she fanned herself.
But as she chewed, she tilted her head back and nodded. “Mmmm! Shoooo good!” Hina prepared another bite immediately, eyes glowing as she watched Aya writhe in excitement with every spoonful.
“Ahaha! You’re making such boppin’ faces, Aya-chan!”
“Mmm… Hina-chan… how did you learn-”
Hina silently pressed her finger to her lips again, then dug in for the last bite. “Alright, Aya-chan! This is the finale!”
“Ah! I ate the whole thing…” Aya looked down and pressed her fingertips to her stomach, averting her eyes. “Uuu… Chisato-chan is going to call me later I just know it…”
Hina glanced at her spoon, then at Aya’s nervous face and shrugged. “Well I guess there’s only one thing to do!” She shoved the spoon in her mouth and hummed with a nod. “Mhm! Good!”
“Hina-chan!” Aya shouted, jaw dropping as she watched her girlfriend down the remains. “Th-that-”
Again, she had barely felt Hina kissing her until her mouth was pried open with Hina’s tongue. A single hand gripped the back of her head, locking her into the kiss that shared the taste of that last bite with her for a few seconds until she peeled away, leaving Aya to let out a harsh breath.
“There! You still tasted it and you got a kiss!” Hina nodded, pulling the tray away. Aya felt like every single part of her was melting, she could barely think straight.
“Thank you, Hina-chan…” she whispered as she was pulled to her feet. Breakfast in bed, something she’d only ever read about on the internet and never thought would happen to her. A tear threatened to escape but she quickly blinked it away, wondering what more Hina could have in store for her.
Hina hurried into the kitchen to dispose of her dishes, then held up two fingers. “Option one or option two! Pick one!”
Aya blinked. “Wh… what are the options…?” she asked, grabbing her elbow while a small shiver of fear rolled down her back.
“Just choose!”
“F-fine! Option.. Two!”
She thought Hina had some kind of devious plan in the back of her mind, but in the end Hina rummaged through her bag to get a flash drive that contained a sought-after concert Aya had been wishing she owned, and they lied on the couch together after hooking up Hina’s laptop to the TV.
Resting her head against Hina’s chest, Aya could hear her heartbeat. Calm, slow… very unlike Aya’s racing one. She was sure Hina could feel the harsh thumps coming from her chest, but her girlfriend stayed silent, merely running her hands down Aya’s back while they watched. The blanket she threw over them made Aya want to fall asleep again, especially when Hina began to run her fingers through her hair.
“Ah! There she is! Wow, that dress is really weird on her!”
Hina laughed as Aya’s childhood idol, Mayumi, stepped onto the stage. She was part of the novice act of the event, and Aya felt a small breath leave her nose as she too realized the dress she was wearing was… very different from what she remembered.
“Hina-chan, don’t be mean,” she said, tilting her head back to look at her. Hina kept her eyes on the screen; Aya wasn’t sure if this meant she was invested, or if she was merely doing it because it was Aya’s choice of activity. “But wow… I can’t imagine debuting in front of thirty-thousand people at Tokyo Dome…”
“Hmm?” Hina raised an eyebrow. “But you debuted in front of more people, remember? When we messed up on that live show and we got put on the newspaper!”
Aya choked as the memory began to replay in her head. Of course, how could she forget? Despite being twenty-five she still thought about that day every now and again. It still hurt. She sighed, “Hina-chan…!”
“It’s true! I remember when our manager said that broadcast had millions of ratings that night!”
“Okay, okay! No more!” Blushing as if the event hadn’t happened nearly ten years ago, Aya turned her head back to the screen and groaned as Mayumi waved to the crowd and disappeared, making way for the intermission video. “Jeez, I was so excited to see her performance, too…”
Two hours later found them standing and stretching, with Aya realizing she was still in her pajamas. “Ah! I should get changed, huh?”
“For what?”
“Eh?” Aya watched Hina collect her laptop and cables from behind the TV. “Sh-shouldn’t we… go out or something?”
Hina shook her head. “Uh-uh! You chose option two, remember? No going back!”
Aya shrunk as she approached her, eyes glowing even brighter. What other things did Hina have on the schedule? She wondered.
“Is this your birthday or mine?” she laughed, watching Hina rummage in the fridge. It looked like she was making room for something when she stopped and stared right at her. At first her expression was neutral, in that strange way when her head was drifting off somewhere.
She had learned over the years, from dating Hina and being around Sayo often, that the Hikawa had a particular trait where they narrowed their eyes in a specific way. For Sayo, it was being annoyed, and it was rare on their mother, but it would happen when she was right about something…
And with Hina, it was when she was debating with herself and asking herself questions. Her face stiffened and her eyes narrowed, making her look intimidating. Aya couldn’t help but feel warm and wish Hina would stare at her like that all the time.
Not a moment wasted, she blinked, and her eyes were sparkling again. “Why not both?!”
“Eh?!”
Hina shut the fridge and ran back into the bedroom, the sounds of zippers being pulled open and shut following. Soon she was back in the kitchen with Aya, still in her baggy pajamas, standing and wondering what was going on. What was Hina talking about now?
“Aya-chan!”
She flinched but snapped her arms against her sides. “Yes!”
Then, she saw it. The tears she held back earlier didn’t give her even a millisecond to react and instead poured down her cheeks. She pressed her arms into her face and sucked in a sharp breath, legs giving out and forcing her to crouch down. Hina only took one step forward.
“A-ya-chan~” she sang. “Don’t you want to look at it?”
Sobbing, Aya shook her head into her arms. How utterly unromantic this was! She wasn’t dressed for the occasion at all, Hina hadn’t prefaced it with a speech… it was the opposite of everything Aya wanted it to be. But even so… it was such a Hina way to do it, and Aya loved it.
“Hina-chan you’re…” she wheezed, “You’re so… uu…!”
Now it was time for Hina to crouch to her level, still holding out the small white box that encased a beautifully shiny diamond ring. Aya hadn’t even taken a good look at it, but she was sure she saw flakes of pink and blue in it.
“Hm… I messed up, didn’t I?” Hina asked, sounding defeated. “I thought you’d like this for sure, Onee-chan even helped me find it…”
Aya immediately looked up to see Hina had her eyebrows raised in dejection. “No!” she choked out. “No, no, no!” She grabbed Hina’s lowered arm and brought it back to her face, shaking her head.
“You didn’t do anything! I love it, I just… you just caught me off guard is all..!” she rapidly wiped at her face, hoping to clear her vision enough to get a better look at the ring. But some things still had to take place…!
She cleared her throat and rested her hands on Hina’s soft cheeks. They turned red. A rare sight. “W-will you…?” she asked, leaning closer until she kissed the spot on Hina’s cheek where her hands were. Again, Hina was narrowing her eyes, looking beyond Aya’s concerned expression.
Then she nodded and they were back on their feet. The hum of the fridge offered a very small escape from the sound of Aya’s thumping heart. But she never looked away from Hina’s gorgeous eyes. Flakes of white and yellow, they threatened to suck her in and never let her out.
Hina gently grabbed her hand with one hand, while the other held the silver band. “Aya-chan, will you marry me?”
Choking on her sob, Aya nodded with a low “yes” and felt lighter than a feather when the ring was slipped onto her finger. She could feel the weight of Hina’s feelings in the diamond, but it didn’t stop her from launching herself into Hina’s arms, tightly wrapping her arms around her neck.
“Hina-chan…!” she cried, ignoring how her tears were smearing all over Hina’s skin. In return, Hina laughed in her ear, using the momentum of Aya’s hug to spin them around the kitchen island. “I love you, I love you so much Hina-chan!”
She didn’t give Hina a chance to respond when she pulled her into a kiss, gripping her shoulders tightly. While Hina pressed her fingertips against her back to keep Aya flush against her.
Aya could feel an infinity of details against her lips. The shift of Hina’s breathing as she turned her head into the kiss once, twice, three times, the tiny dry spot at the corner of her mouth where the air chapped the soft of her lips, the warm wet of her mouth against Aya’s clearer than it ever quite managed to be.
She found herself pinned against the fridge, losing all feeling in her legs the more Hina nipped at her lower lip, brushed her fingers against the skin underneath her shirt. Her hands wandered the valley between Hina’s chest and the hem of her jeans, wanting desperately to feel more. They eventually had to part to breathe, sweaty foreheads rubbing together.
“Aya-chan…” Hina’s husky voice made Aya’s brain turn to jelly. This Hina, the quiet and affectionate one, never failed to summon the kind of Aya her public image would never recover from. “Your last gift, I’m going to change it.”
“H-hm…?” Aya’s eyes couldn’t part from the sight of Hina’s lips. Her mouth is redder than it usually is, the color of it darkened by the friction of Aya’s mouth against hers. Her half-lidded gaze was pried wide open as Hina effortlessly swiped her right off her feet and into a gentle bridal carry.
“Can I?!” her voice is excited, but her eyes reflect a desire that already made its decision. Aya flushed red the moment Hina set off towards the bedroom again without waiting for an answer. She still buried her head into Hina’s shoulder with no intention of resisting, pink eyes unable to peel themselves away from the shiny diamond on her finger.
Hina sealed their fate with a swift kick to the bedroom door.
“Happy birthday, Aya-chan.”