Work Text:
As much as Yukina had wanted to become a professional singer, it didn’t work out in the end.
It wasn’t that she lacked the talent or work ethics or pure skill. She also had a pretty face and was widely considered charismatic in her signature cool, confident way. But her stubborn attitude paired with impossible idealism would never work in the music industry where money was pretty much all that mattered. She did have a short period of success on the indie scene, but fans were fickle and soon her characteristic style lost its freshness; alongside a lack of budget for sustained promotion, the name “Minato Yukina” soon became forgotten.
She could just retire and wait for her wife to feed her. Sayo was a big-name surgeon now, and Sayo being Sayo, she did not mind the least to pamper Yukina. But Yukina’s pride wouldn’t let her do such a thing. As such, she had started working a generic office job, which she only landed because of Lisa’s connections. Thankfully, the job didn’t require much interpersonal interactions aside the mandatory greetings of her fellow coworkers when she came in and left the office for the day. The rest of her time was spent in front of a computer drawing outlines on photographs to help optimize how AIs could detect things. She honestly didn’t care for the theory behind her work. It was repetitive and boring as some sort of frozen hell, but that was still better than retail and it did pay comparatively well. Yukina would much rather do this than stand on the street in a mini-skirt doing PSAs about the sales going on at the nearest Daikoku Drug store.
Still, even with that positive prep talk, Yukina found it hard to concentrate on her work. She was sitting at her little cubicle. The only sounds around her were the humming of computers and mouse clicks. Her supervisor was an asshole and if he caught Yukina dozing off again, she was sure to be fired. It was so hard to get through a day like this. Yukina kept staring up at the clock hanging from the front of the room; she had a clock on the bottom right corner of her monitor, sure, but the still digital display didn’t give much motivation compared to a moving hand that confirmed the passage of every second.
Three more seconds till noon. Two. One.
The supervisor’s door opened and out came the man who looked constantly constipated. He cleared his throat, not that it ever helped his gruff voice. “Thank you for your work. You may now have lunch.”
The sighs of relief that followed was loud enough to fill the entire office. Other workers were stretching out their feet, but Yukina didn’t bother, darting immediately for the pantry to ensure her lunch was first in the microwave.
“You never ran this fast during PE class in high school.”
Lisa came to join Yukina in the pantry shortly after. Yukina gave Lisa an annoyed stare. “I was not a slave in high school, thus never realized the value of freedom.”
Lisa chuckled. “You also weren’t so snarky back then.”
“College of Adulthood taught me valuable lessons.”
The “ding” of the microwave interrupted their conversation. Yukina tried to grab the lunch box by her bare hands, couldn’t pick it up because it was too hot, then turned to Lisa who handed her paper towels so she could use them for some insulation.
“Why hasn’t the College of Adulthood taught you not to grab a hot lunch by your bare hands? This has happened way too many times already,” Lisa said.
“I must express my eagerness to eat.”
Lisa rolled her eyes at Yukina’s comment. Even a childhood friend could not tell if Yukina was serious or being sarcastic given her monotone. Yukina found a seat at the lunch table and Lisa went to sit beside her, not that Yukina was paying much attention to anything but her lunch box. She opened it carefully. The simmered seafood medley heated up nicely. Yukina also took out Sayo’s artisan bread from her lunch bag, alongside her dessert of white chocolate cheesecake which had been chilling in the fridge. The aroma and visual-appeal were enough to make mouths water.
“My husband can cook western food too,” Lisa mumbled her jealousy between mouthfuls of sandwich. When Yukina scrutinized the cold PBJ, Lisa felt the need to defend herself. “I made the sandwich, not my husband. And I can cook better than Sayo. I just don’t have as much time to waste on making every lunch look like it came out the kitchen of a three-star Michelin restaurant!”
“And Sayo is busier than you. She just loves me.”
Lisa might’ve choked on her next bite and spat it out three seconds later across the table. Their coworkers were staring, not that Yukina cared.
“If you hate your sandwich so much, go back to your natto rice. Don’t you like traditional Japanese food more? You don’t have to force yourself to compete with Sayo’s cooking.”
“I swear you ain’t getting any cookies from me when I make my next batch!” Lisa shouted indignantly.
Yukina just shrugged. “How old are we now, Lisa? Cookies? All that fat and sugar will clog your arteries.”
Besides, Sayo’s cookies were better than Lisa’s nowadays.
…………………
Sayo finally caught a break to have some food. She took out her lunchbox from the pantry fridge and was about to microwave it, but upon opening the lid, she realized that it wasn’t what she had been expecting.
It did answer her question of what the heck Yukina had been doing in the kitchen last night though.
“Dr. Hikawa, aren’t you going to microwave your lunch?”
Sayo recognized that the person who had just talked to her was the pathologist down at the histology lab. She closed the lid on her lunch box and returned it carefully into its bag.
“I no longer need the microwave, but I would appreciate it if you have any leftover paraffin I could use,” she said to the pathologist.
“Paraffin?”
“Yes. Paraffin.”
Even if Yukina’s homemade food was inedible, there was nothing stopping Sayo from preserving her loving efforts for an eternity.