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"Mmmh.." Calliope groans in complaint as her mind slowly woke up. She rolls on her side, reaching over to grasp at the phoenix supposedly in bed with her- only to pull back in disappointment as she feels nothing but the air.
A minute passes before she gives up with a sigh and another groan, reluctantly blinking her eyes open to check around the room. She squinted, lifting herself up in a sitting position as she leaned back against the bed's headboard.
The curtain binds are already pulled open, letting the warm rays of the out-and-open sun inside the bedroom. Calliope hums and glances away and around the room, looking for a different more comfortable warmth. A pout tugs at her lips when she doesn't see anyone else in the room other than herself.
The reaper moves to sit on the edge of the bed, stretching her arms above and rolling her shoulders. She cracked her neck to the side, letting out a sigh of satisfaction as she stands up.
She grabs her phone from the nightstand, eyes widening as she realizes the date. It was still pretty early being eight in the morning, but she had been hoping to wake up at least earlier than this to prepare, considering it was the 13th of September, her wedding anniversary AND the date that she first met with Kiara.
"Oh fuck." She mumbles to herself, scrolling through her phone to send someone a message. She sets her phone back on the nightstand, combing her hair with her fingers as she starts to walk towards the door- to look for where her wife is.
A familiar smell of breakfast washes over her senses the moment the door opens to lead her out. One of their little kittens follow her, mewling as it moves to rub lovingly against her leg. She stops only for a moment, softly cooing as she bends down to lift the cat up and in her arms.
She smiles as she nears towards their kitchen, not minding as their little fur baby jumped down from her arms. She watches for a moment, wordless, as her phoenix sings her song and dances to her own beat- all the while getting (what Calliope assumes) their breakfast ready.
It isn't until Kiara turns and notices the reaper standing that Calliope finally moves from her spot. The look Kiara gives her is a little startled, with that cute pink blush that coats her cheeks at getting caught, but she beams happily anyways. And of course, Calliope smiles back.
Calliope's arms wrap around the phoenix's waist, who in turn snakes her arms around the reaper's shoulders. A tender kiss is placed on the other's lips, chaste yet nothing less than passionate, and she feels Kiara's smile against her.
She mumbles as soon as she pulls her head away. "Happy anniversary, love."
Kiara's arms slip away from the reaper, one hand reaching to cup her cheek instead. She gives the reaper a shorter kiss in return, softly muttering against the comforts of her hold. "Happy anniversary, Calli."
The phoenix twists her body afterwards, turning back around to tend back to their still uncooked food. To make it easier, the arms around her loosen so she can move as freely as she needs to but they stay around her.
Calliope doesn't say anything, only rests her head on Kiara's shoulder. Her eyes close, feeling the slight tickle of Kiara's hair, and takes in the warmth that is hers, breathing in the sweet, familiar scent of her phoenix.
Kiara doesn't say anything much either, only hums as she readies up the food. When she finishes, they enjoy breakfast in bed, if only because Kiara insisted- wanting to cuddle and lay together more after they've finished eating, and who was the reaper to deny her?
They laugh as they talk and eat, the smiles never fading. Their food carefully sits on a single bed tray, laid out in front of them, surprisingly (and thankfully) stable even as they shake with laughter themselves.
The sunshine illuminates their moment from through the windows, similar to a kind of movie scene, but the only light Calliope could pay attention to was Kiara. Her smiles, her laughs- those little cute giggles, the twinkle in her eyes, and the way her smile would widen up to her eyes as she recalls more and more of her memories together with the reaper.
"I still remember that!" Kiara says with a sly smile, her eyes glinting with mischief. She giggles, "Never could I ever forget the time I was taller than the Calliope Mori. You're lucky I ended up shorter after my next rebirth."
Calliope huffs, trying to curl her lips down in a pout, but failing as her smile overshadows it. She playfully rolls her eyes, taking another bite of her french toast. "I don't know what you're talking about, you must have been dreaming."
"Oh, really?" Kiara purrs, leaning over, voice low just beside the reaper's ear. She smirks, hand moving to trail down the exposed skin of the reaper's thigh. "Is this a dream too then?" She runs her hand closer to the inside, smug when Calliope's hand stops her from moving any further.
The reaper's face burns and she shoves Kiara's hand away, legs moving to close the little distance between. "Shut up and go eat." She mutters in mock annoyance before taking another bite of her food, this time shoving a cut piece of egg in her mouth.
She can still see Kiara grinning teasingly at her, but she's far from annoyed. She feels warm all over, actually, and in a good way too. A good heat that warms her heart and spreads throughout her chest whenever she's with Kiara.
They do as they said they would after they've finished eating and have set the dirty dishes aside. They cuddle. With Calliope's back against Kiara's front and the phoenix's hands wrapped around the reaper's body- holding her tight in a snug snuggle.
Kiara's steady, warm breaths brushes across the reaper's neck. Her outer warmth spreads to the other, keeping away the cool air. They both have their eyes closed, not asleep but rather enjoying the simple touch and moment.
Calliope leans her head slightly aback and smiles when she feels a kiss on her neck, chokes on air and nudges the phoenix in warning with her elbow when she feels a light bite on her ear. She rolls her eyes when Kiara giggles and shifts to kiss her cheek, the reaper settling back comfortably in her phoenix's warmth.
The reaper turns, rolling so she could face the phoenix instead. Red-pinkish eyes connect with amethyst colored ones and Calliope moves to rest her head in Kiara's neck, hand trailing up to where she could feel the phoenix's heart beat.
The barely felt thudding of the phoenix's heart matched her own, and it was somewhat.. calming, comforting as it always have been. To know that her birb is still alive, that she was with her, and that she wouldn't be leaving her anytime soon.
"Calli," She hears the phoenix mumble a few minutes later. She hums in acknowledgement, feeling the slow drowsiness creep up her being. "Baby, don't fall asleep."
Calliope only hums again, taking note of Kiara's words but choosing to stay still eitherways. She breathes against the phoenix's neck, not having enough will to move away. She nuzzles herself more into Kiara, as if it wasn't enough to melt against the phoenix already.
Giggling, Kiara shifts just a little so she could move one of her hands to stroke Calliope's hair. With a touch so tender, her hands weave through the long pink locks of hair.
She could feel the reaper's breath against her, and she can only smile wider when Calliope mumbles "You told me not to fall asleep, but I think you're trying to get me to sleep.. you're not really helping, you know."
The phoenix pauses with her hand's motions, laughing softly at the annoyed whine the reaper lets out. "I didn't tell you to stop, Kusotori."
"But you said it yourself, you might fall asleep." Kiara teases still, despite her hand moving once more to play with a stray lock of the reaper's hair. "I wouldn't want that now, we still need to shower together, don't we?"
"But-" Calliope stops. She pulls slightly away, just enough so she could stare at Kiara in the eyes. "Did you just say shower together?"
A smirk takes place on the phoenix's lips. "Maybe?"
Amusement flashes in amethyst eyes when the reaper moves to sit up, tugging the phoenix with her as she makes her way out the bed. "Let's go."
[• • • ⌛ • • •]
Water sprays down and against their bodies as the reaper circles an arm around the phoenix's waist, her head buried in the crook of Kiara's neck. She's humming, her free hand reaching over to grab the bottle of shampoo.
"Let me do you first." She says while her arm separates away from the phoenix. She pours a fair amount of shampoo in her hand, eyes glancing up to check on the phoenix who had her whole face flushed red. "Your hair, I mean." She adds with a chuckle, then a grin- leaning over to whisper in Kiara's ear. "We can do the other thing later."
Blushing, Kiara turns around and turns the showerhead off when she's sure they're both wet enough to proceed. She keeps her back turned to the reaper, a chill running up her body when she feels hands weave through her hair.
She relaxes, feeling the reaper stand just behind her- still humming a tune that Kiara couldn't help but hum as well. Fingers lightly scratch at her scalp, massaging her head in a way that actually causes the phoenix to nearly melt.
"I love how fluffy your hair is." Calliope mutters in awe, enjoying the softness in her hands. This is one of the reasons she loves showering together with her kusotori, she loves washing the other girl's hair. And also maybe something else. "Have I ever told you that?"
Kiara giggles like the warm, bright bird she is, the sound echoing in the comforts of their bathroom. "You tell me every time we do this Calli."
"I always end up meaning it every time." The reaper smiles before bending over to turn the shower back on, the stream of water cold for a moment as it gradually transitions to warm.
With a soft sigh and a continuation of her previous humming, Calliope starts to rinse her bird's hair.
[• • • ⌛ • • •]
Time passes by a bit too quickly, as if it's only been thirty minutes within the day when in truth it's been a little bit over two hours since they've woken up.
They end up wrapped in each other again, bodies pressing close together as a low music played over the room. They're dancing slowly to the beat of the song, with nothing else in their thoughts other than the other.
Calliope has her her arms around Kiara's waist, her head tilting down to face the phoenix and to rest their foreheads together. She has the same soft look in her eyes similar to the time she'd found out she really loves the phoenix.
Kiara has her arms around Calliope's neck, loose as she lets herself melt into her reaper. Her eyes are closed, cheeks rosey, and a reminiscing smile lays on her lips. She lets the memories of their past dances, just like this one, lead her to sway with the reaper.
The song comes to an end but they don't stop their motions, simply carrying away with their own rhythm. The phoenix opens her eyes to meet with the crimson ones staring at her, giving a small kiss on the corner of the reaper's lip before hanging her head down to rest it on Calliope's shoulder.
In a whisper, she utters. "I got us a reservation for lunch today." She waits for the reaper to hum and then continues, "Do you remember the restaurant where we first ate together? Back when you still weren't used to being in a human body here at the surface."
"The place I almost got us banned from?" Calliope chuckles, the low vibration traveling onto the phoenix's chest. "I made quite the mess back then, I do remember."
Kiara giggles too, "It wasn't your fault you were new to things up here, it was my bad that I brought you to such an expensively formal restaurant for your first time." then she adds, with her cheeky grin. "I wanted to impress you at that time."
"And yet you did the opposite." Calliope jokes, laughing when she feels the huff of breath the phoenix lets out. One of her hands lift from the phoenix's waist to her hair, stroking tenderly as she says "I admit I was pretty annoyed at you back then, but you should know. There was nothing that you could do that didn't amaze me."
Kiara flushes, hiding her heating face in the crook of the reaper's neck. "I'm really happy I met you Calli," she says in earnest "I don't know what would have happened if I was assigned to another reaper, but I don't want to imagine that either. I just want to be with you."
"I'm really grateful too." The reaper mumbles, her eyes closing as she tightens her hold on Kiara. "You gave death a life, Kiara. I always knew you were quite special but I never thought I would spend my existence like this, and I don't think I want to spend it any other way."
She opens her eyes once more, pulling her head slightly away as the hand she was stroking the phoenix's hair with moves to make Kiara look at her. "I don't want to spend it with anyone else that's not you."
[• • • ⌛ • • •]
They're making out in a couch, lost in each other's tastes, scrapbook (one that they both made so that Kiara would remember even if her memory refused to cooperate) laying out in the open- forgotten on the table. In one page, it shows a picture of them together, out in a camping trip they've done years ago. Meanwhile, on another side is a picture featuring their whole squad (Kiara, Calliope, Gura, Ina, Amelia) who were surrounding a lit campfire.
And then it happens. In a flash, their door's been kicked down as it breaks and falls- and in comes the little shark. "Calli! I got what you asked me for."
Gura's eyes fall onto the couple on the couch, eyes narrowing as she scrunches her face in disgust. "Gross, I did not need to see this at this time of the morning." On her arms, she carries a bouquet of roses and a box of cake on the other.
Blushes coat both the reaper and the phoenix's cheeks as they pull away with Calliope clearing her throat. They shuffle a little on the couch, moving so they sat together and not on the other. Kiara's the one who asks, still a little bashful. "What are you doing here, Gura?"
Gura rolls her eyes, "Why are you two so shy, it's not like this is the first time you're seen like this." She nods her head to Calliope to answer the question too. "Like I said, I got what you asked for Calli."
The reaper's eyes widen when she realizes, immediately rushing on her feet to take the items she asked for earlier in the morning. She hisses silently to the shark, "I thought I asked you to bring it to me without her knowing!?"
"Well I couldn't really do that with no one answering the door now, could I?" Gura shot back with a huff, "And besides, you had me running around at 9 am in the morning out the blue when I could peacefully still be laying in bed with Ina and Ame, be grateful I didn't just ignore your text."
"Yeah.." A little sheepish, the reaper mumbles. "Thanks for that by the way, I did kind of expect you to bail on it."
"I would have but Ina saw the text and scolded me about how you helped Ame and I a lot when we were trying to propose to her." Gura grumbles in response, but then she sighs and smiles. "Congrats on your anniversary, by the way!"
"Thanks Gura!" Kiara says from the couch, peeking from behind the reaper. "Tell Ame and Ina hi for me."
"Will do, o7!" Gura turns back to head outside, waving as she unapologetically says. "I ain't fixing your door, have fantastic day!"
"Didn't expect her to." The phoenix laughs, accepting the flowers the reaper awkwardly offered with an amused smile on her face. "You know this wasn't needed, right?"
"I know," Calliope nods, setting the cake on the nearby table as she closes the scrapbook now next to it. "But I wanted to."
"Thank you." Kiara stands to place a kiss on her reaper's cheek, smiling. She sets the flowers down as well, "I'll put it in an extra vase and in our room before we leave later."
"Now that I think about it.." Calliope hums, furrowing her brows. "I'm pretty sure I told Gura to drop by when it's nearing lunch. Perhaps we should get ready now, shouldn't we?"
"That can wait a little later," The phoenix steps closer, wrapping her arms back around Calliope. She grins, tilting her head up to hover her lips in front of the reaper's. "It's not good to leave things unfinished, you know?"
[• • • ⌛ • • •]
Kiara is blindingly beautiful and Calliope can't stop staring.
"What do you think?" Kiara twirls, beaming as her dress flows along with her movement. She's wearing a long teal off-shoulder dress, a bit flowy at the end though the front dips low enough for the reaper to blush. There's also a slit located on the lower half of her dress, showing off a glimpse of her thigh.
A little more than a minute passes before Calliope registers the question, she pulls her gaze back to look at the phoenix's face. She's a little breathless when she answers, feeling a little silly for her simple suit (gray blazer that matches with her pants, covering the plain white shirt that dips a little low but not as much as the phoenix's dress was)- but she still takes confident strides towards the phoenix as she approaches. "You look gorgeous."
"Thank you, Calli." Kiara cheekily grins, taking the arm Calliope offers her so they could catch their reservation in style. Her eyes roam the reaper's appearance, winking as she says "Not so bad yourself, as dashing as always, I see."
Calliope chuckles, the flush still in her cheeks. "Well I have to fit the role if I want to be seen with someone as beautiful as you."
Kiara giggles at that too and, soon, they start to make their way to the restaurant's location. Hand in hand, with Calliope having to rush back inside real quick because she forgot the car keys, they don't lose the blissful smiles on their faces.
At least not until they do and Kiara's speaking half german, half english now- talking furiously with the one in charge. Kiara frowns, her voice full of accusation. "How would it become our fault if you wrote our names wrong? I called, I got the reservation, I made sure everything was okay! And now you're saying there's a single typo in our names and we're not allowed to attend our reservation anymore?"
Calliope rubs her wife's shoulders, pulling her into a short back hug so she could whisper in Kiara's ear. "Hey, calm down, okay? It's fine, I'm sure we can resolve this. If they don't let us in then we can just find anoth-"
"No!" Kiara crosses her arms, pulling away from the reaper's touch to turn and face her. "We shouldn't be the one facing the consequences just because they made a mistake. They-!"
"Shh." Calliope's hands lift to cup the phoenix's cheeks. She pulls her away, a little further from the restaurant, and feels the phoenix soften but the anger in her eyes were still there. "Don't let it ruin your day, okay? I'll deal with this." She gives the phoenix a smile when Kiara finally sighs and nods, "Good. Now smile, if there's one thing that doesn't fit your pretty face, it's that frown."
Kiara pouts, rolling her eyes. Though that breaks into a smile later on when the reaper sends a wink her way and goes back to talk with the ones in charge. Surprisingly enough, and to their luck, it doesn't take that long until the issue's resolved and they're let inside.
"See?" Calliope smirks at her, smug at her own success. She holds the phoenix's hand, squeezing it as she says. "That wasn't so hard or bad, was it?"
Kiara rolls her eyes again, a small smile playing on her mouth. They take a seat in a two-person table, with Calliope sitting right across her. "Hmp. Whatever."
She does feel a little disappointed though, she wanted to date to be somewhat perfect- and what happened earlier may have ruined that want. She sighs, eyes falling onto the menu to scan it of its contents.
The reaper notices this though, and so she taps on the menu the phoenix's holding, gesturing for Kiara's attention. "Hey. Listen, just because there was a little problem back there doesn't mean this isn't gonna be a great lunch, okay? Cheesy as it may be, it was perfect the moment you went here with me."
Kiara blinked at her. Once, then twice. Then finally, a genuinely big smile graces her face. She giggles, mockingly shaking her head. "God, you're such a hopelessly romantic reaper."
Calliope laughs too. "Only when it comes to you."
[• • • ⌛ • • •]
Calliope silently hisses when her knee hits a furniture of some sort. Her hold on the phoenix's hands tighten and she hears Kiara mumble a soft "Careful." as she leads her to wherever they were going.
"Hey Calli," Kiara had said just a few moments ago, all the while changing her attire to a more casual clothing. "We still have time before dinner so I.. I want to take you somewhere, if you'd like to go with me?"
"Of course. You don't even have to ask." She had responded, and of course the trip to go where they were about to go required a blindfold on the reaper.
Kiara leads her out the door, carefully as they walked for quite a bit and crossed a few roads. Never once did she let go of Calliope's hands, even as she comes to a stop in a secluded area she knew only they would be in (they totally did not trespass a restricted area, nope).
She doesn't take off the blindfold just yet, nor does she retract her hand. But she does take a small step back as her wings silently sprout from her back. She knows she shouldn't be letting her wings out, for if someone saw- they'd be in a lot of trouble.
Just for this moment though, she allows her wings a breath of freedom. There wasn't much chance they would be seen anyway, considering the area and around were considered abandoned and barely a few people were allowed to venture inside.
"Baby," Kiara calls out softly, hands now holding both of the reaper's own. There's a certain anxiousness in her voice that tints her tone. "Do you trust me?"
"I always do, Kusotori."
"Wrap your arms around me then, liebling." Kiara guides the other's arms to circle around her nape. She takes a deep breath before bending to carefully lift the reaper up in a princess carry-kinda style. "And hold on to me tight, okay?"
The moment the reaper tightens her grip, the phoenix's wings move, bringing them up, up, and up until they've reached the point pass where the clouds were waiting at bay and it was getting a little harder to breathe (only for Kiara, she hadn't flied for a long while now. Calliope was just fine, her body wasn't normal anyways).
When the surrounding sight was clear, despite the little few clouds that still stayed near their level, Kiara brings them to the top of the abandoned building (See, the thing about why this building is abandoned and restricted is because it's an unfinished skyscraper that lost its funds because original owner died yada yada). Her feet touch the ground and she gently lets Calliope down. She reaches to take off the blindfold on the reaper.
Pinkish-red eyes open and blink, it's gaze first turning onto the teal-colored wings that fluttered around in little movements. Calliope's hands loosen its grip on Kiara and she lifts her head to look around the area. It wasn't that much of a surprise to her that they were somewhere high, she basically could have guessed with the feel of flying and the air pressure's change.
What she's questioning about, however, is the question of why Kiara would bring her here. There was nothing around them other than the sky. The top of the scyscraper contained nothing but them as well. She looks back at Kiara, opening her mouth to ask but getting interrupted as the phoenix leads her to the edge and sits down, gesturing for Calliope to do the same.
Calliope follows, feet hanging off as she sits next to the phoenix. She takes one more look around- this time taking in the fact that it's a moment before the sun's setting. She hums as she thinks about how the day went by- satisfied in knowing there were more days to come.
"This used to be one of my favorite places to go to whenever I needed a breather in my other lives," Kiara speaks lightly, a soft tone in her voice. Her hand finds itself on top of Calliope's and she twists it so they could interlock. "I loved watching the sunset here, I still do. I just haven't had the time to go here for a while so I thought maybe I could bring you here too."
Kiara turns to her, smiling before she leans her head on the other's shoulder instead. She snuggles comfortably on Calliope's side, feeling an arm snake around her shoulder. "I hope you don't mind?"
"Not at all." Calliope says, pulling her bird closer to her. She feels one of the phoenix's wings encase her and she leans her head on top of Kiara's as well. "I often don't particularly like the sun, as you know, but I like watching it set. It reminds me of you," She turns her head slightly to kiss the crown of Kiara's head. "And you, Kusotori, is something I really, really love."
Eyes closed, completely wrapped and intertwined with her reaper, Kiara's smile challenges the sun's light. She loves this, the little moments and the big ones. She loves her everyday life with Calliope, loves how warm the reaper made her feel despite her being the phoenix, loves the fact that one day.. one day they'll have a family of their own. And it wouldn't be a perfect way to get through that path, but it would be more than worth it. "I love you too, my tsundere reaper."