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Miorine never tired of watching the sun rise. There was a lot to be said about being on Earth, and, in fact, she had said plenty already, to the press, to investors, to her father, to everyone and anyone who needed justification. Everyone needed something from her. There was little she wished to share, but, as time went on, she found herself forced to give more and move away. It was a part of herself she detested; for how much she had grown, in some way she was still the scared 16-year-old who took no one's hand.
The pleasure of a simple, one-sun-on-earth, real and tangible sunrise, was something she kept dear to her heart, and shared with no one besides the one who resided there as well. It wasn't just the sight; there's lots of things to a sunset, things you don't notice when you're getting up at the crack of dawn and rushing to a meeting. Things you don't notice when a pane of glass and layers of brick and plaster is between you and the planetary rotation. There are things, like the slight change in temperature, from the chill of dawn to the slow warmth that licks your skin. The air is still wet then, water beading on plant leaves. Clothes left out to dry overnight will never be dry just as the day breaks. It's a cosmic event, like an eclipse, but you get to see it everyday. Somehow, it makes it even more special.
Sunrises are different everywhere. In the city, light wavers between buildings. In the country, the deep smell of dirt, earth, earth like the planet she lives on. In the seaside (Miorine had never seen the sea; you think of rich kids like they have the world at their hand, don't you, but there's plenty of things she'd never had) in the seaside, the air is cutting and it makes your face warm, it almost hurts. Everything smells like the sea when the sun rises, even if you can't quite explain why.
A clatter from inside the house. It breaks Miorine out of her reverie. She swears under her breath and rushes back inside, leaving the patio door wide open.
"It's okay!" Suletta says, her voice ringing clear through the small house, much too small as far as anyone else is concerned, but they're not anyone else. "Everything is fine!"
"What did you do?" Miorine sounds annoyed, but it's the sort of annoyance that betrays worry. She rushes into the kitchen, expecting a disaster, expecting blood, expecting to weep over her Mercurian country bumpkin again.
Suletta is on the floor, surrounded by flour and broken eggs. Her legs are bent underneath her and she's doing that thing with her hands, and she's looking away from Miorine, her guilty eyes hidden beneath her bangs.
"I thought... I'd make you breakfast?" she glances back at Miorine, trying to figure out how much trouble she's in.
Miorine lets out a sigh she didn't realize she was holding in. This is bad for her health, she thinks.
"Idiot." she says. "Dumbass. You can barely walk by yourself still."
There's a moment of pause where neither of them is willing to continue the conversation. Suletta has gotten better at that. They've only been married a year and a half, but she's a quick study, and she's realized that sometimes, with Miorine, a little space is enough for a lot.
"I wanted to make you breakfast." Miorine says, voice awash with tenderness no one else gets to hear.
Suletta looks at the mess around her.
"I don't think there's much of a choice anymore."
The silence only hangs for a second before they break into warm laughter, but it doesn't last. Miorine's laugh turns into gasping tears, the palms of her hands pressing against her eyes to try, to no avail, to try to hide how scared she is.
"Don't do this to me, you idiot. Don't-" she sobs and wipes her face, brushing back her hair "You could have gotten really hurt. You could have."
Suletta wants to say she's made of tougher stuff than that. She's still recovering, yes. She might be recovering forever. The scars on her face are a reminder that what she put her body through won't be washed away so easily. But she's still young, and strong, and full of freakish stamina, and she does her physiotherapy everyday, and when she feels like it (which is often, because she's bored and she can't go anywhere without Miorine nowadays) she does extra exercises, and she works out her upper body as much as she can. Mostly, because it's something she can do, something she's proud of still, but, partly, because Miorine looks at her a certain way, and it fills her with a sort of warmth.
"Yeah. I know." Suletta finally says. "I'm sorry."
The silence that had been heavy and suffocating before, slowly warmed up, much like the sun rise itself bathed the world in warmth. Miorine unwound, her shoulders slacking and her back curving more naturally as she slumped.
"I know." she breathed out. "I know."
Without care for the sanctity of her pristine tights, she knelt down on the flour in front of Suletta.
"Pancakes?"
"Mmm." Suletta hums, smiling at her softly.
"Thank you." Miorine smiles back. "Let's clean this up."
Suletta's heart blooms as she realizes she's being trusted to help with the cleaning efforts. Not too long ago, Miorine would fret just because she tried to get up on her own. Suletta tries not to hold it against her; for as frustrating as it is to be treated like a child, the same way her mother had treated her before, like someone who can't have control of their own life, Suletta knows now where it springs from. Miorine isn't trying to control her: she's scared, and unsure, and the future proves to be scarier every day. So when Miorine gets angry, or when she plans Suletta's day down to the minute, or when she hovers when Suletta is doing something both of them know she is able to, Suletta doesn't hold it against her.
It was a scary thing, to see Miorine as she was when they met again after what happened at school, and on Earth, and with the looming threat of the Calibarn. But Suletta reached out for her then, and when Miorine now reaches back, even when Suletta doesn't need a hand to hold, she takes it.
Sometimes, Miorine knows what Suletta needs better than she does. Sometimes that's the most frustrating part about all of this.
It's not easy to clean up a floor full of flour and shattered glass when you still need crutches just to walk around, but the two of them manage. Suletta doesn't get in the way, she thinks. Miorine mode is easier, her tone lilted and soft when she speaks to Suletta. The intention of the gesture now rings stronger than the mess and the worry.
I love you, Suletta thinks, but she doesn't say it because she doesn't need to. It's something she's learned since they got married. When they're goofing around, when they're watching corny rom-coms on TV, when they part aways, the I-Love-Yous fly out like pouring water. They don't need to think about it. Some people settle, and lose the habit, but for them, I love you is so automatic and easy, they can't go more than a few hours without saying it. But in these quiet moments, where they've reached a deeper understanding on something, it's unnecessary. The I-Love-You is there, it's there in the way Miorine sets her hand on the small of Suletta's back when she gets up, it's there when Suletta puts the dishes on the top shelf without Miorine having to ask, it's there when Miorine takes her hand to check for any cuts or scrapes from her fall. It's implicit, it's ever present, it's everything.
"Your mother-"
"She's coming back on Tuesday, right?" Suletta finishes Miorine's thought. They meet eyes. The kitchen is clean and Miorine is handling breakfast. She's pivoted from pancakes to something heartier to fit Suletta's tastes. Suletta is a bit annoyed about it, because this was supposed to be for Miorine, but she doesn't say anything.
"Mmm." Miorine glances over at the fridge. It's littered with to-dos, and calendars, and sticky notes, and magnets from everywhere they've been, together or alone. In the middle of all the mess, in a careful clearing, is a picture of Earth house and Miorine as well, or rather, Earth house and everyone who's a part of Earth house.
"We should do something."
"When she gets back?" Miorine's voice is tinged with annoyance, but it's the sort of annoyance that's reserved for your mother in law. That tone, it used to cut deeper. It took time, and understanding, but Miorine accepted everything about Suletta, and thus, she accepted Suletta's everything. "Eri is with her. Mostly. So we could-"
"No. Before."
"Before?"
They meet eyes.
"Together." Suletta says, and she smiles in that dazzling way that makes Miorine want to look away. It's not like the sunrise; it's like the sun itself.
"You're sex crazed." Miorine nudges her. They look down at the stove, watching the bacon sizzle. It's not a two person job.
"Not like that either." Suletta whines. "I mean... Let's go somewhere."
"On a date."
"On a date."
Miorine's fingers reach out, touching the hem of Suletta's sleeve. She looks deep in thought, but not in the same way she does when she's doing work.
(When she's on business calls, or she's organizing her week, or she's looking at the company finances, her face scrunches up and she scowls, the corners of her mouth tight, her brows knit together. Suletta doesn't like approaching her when she's like this, even though she doesn't get angry when she gets interrupted anymore- at least not when Suletta is the one interrupting her. When Suletta does need to interrupt her, be it because there's someone at the door, because she can't find something in the house- because of the pain, the pain gets to her sometimes, Suletta puts on a brave face, she always does, but the pain can be a lot, and even back in Mercury she never knew pain like this, because her mother has questions that prod and poke, when Suletta does interrupt her, Miorine's face relaxes and she seems to light up.)
Miorine looks deep in thought, her expression relaxed but her eyes far away, framed by her delicate, long lashes. She hums.
"A movie?"
"Too quiet." Suletta nudges her arm against Miorine's shoulder.
"A walk- Hm." Miorine stops herself and her lips purse.
"You'd have to put up with me stopping all the time." Suletta smiles but Miorine looks guilty.
"I don't put up-"
"A picnic could be nice." Suletta interrupts her "A short walk in the park, I would have plenty of time to rest."
"A picnic could be nice." Miorine repeats, glancing back up at Suletta. "But it might rain."
Suletta's shoulders slump and she pouts, her eyes going squinty as she thinks.
"We could watch a movie at home?"
"But it sounds like you want to go out..." Miorine retorts.
There's a moment of pause.
"What would you like to do, Mio-san?" Suletta smiles so softly and warm. Miorine pauses.
What does she enjoy doing with Suletta, besides everything?
"It's... Not very romantic." She mumbles.
"That's alright."
"I would like to go grocery shopping with you." Miorine looks away, and the tips of her ears are red.
Suletta tilts her head aside.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
There's a long pause. Eventually, Miorine can't take it anymore. She glances back at Suletta, her eyes barely visible behind her hair. Suletta is still smiling.
"That sounds nice." Suletta says. Miorine puffs her chest out, barely noticeable.
"But a nice shopping trip."
"We could go to the fancy grocery store."
"Is that okay?" Miorine says, her voice soft. Sometimes, the guilt of it all comes back, and she thinks of Earthian children with no access to organic tomatoes, or roofs over their heads, or a stable future.
"It's not that much of a drive." Suletta replies. She knows that's not what Miorine was asking about.
Miorine nods.
"If we walk slow- They have those mobility scooters."
"I don't want a mobility scooter." Suletta giggles.
"Okay, I know, you like the exercise- We don't need vegetables." Miorine muses.
"The garden is doing well, yeah." Suletta tilts her head up, then moves away to get a plate. Miorine reaches out to turn off the stove.
"There's a food court."
"At the store?"
"The one I'm thinking of, yeah." It's a bit hard to maneuver around the kitchen with crutches, but under Miorine's gaze, Suletta manages. She's a bit more careful, a bit more wary, less reckless. But she's been getting better like that for a while now, hasn't she, morning incidents notwithstanding.
"We could grab lunch." Miorine takes her plate and goes to sit down. Suletta manages to pull her chair out for her.
"Yeah! That's a date, isn't it." Suletta sits as well.
"It is." Miorine starts eating with a smile, then curses under her breath and moves to get up, but even with the crutches, Suletta is faster than her.
"Coffee, right?" Suletta hobbles to the coffee pot, which has already been run. Miorine didn't even notice.
"Mhm- We should pick up something for your mother." Miorine says.
"She likes the macarons." Suletta sets a mug of coffee in front of Miorine, who takes an eager sip.
"Surprisingly delicate." Miorine snarks.
"Ericht wants a new holo-film." Suletta says as she sits back down.
"Eri has unlimited access to the internet. I don't know what she has to complain about." Miorine has already forgotten about the incident earlier. The panic and the hurt is long forgotten.
"It's something nice." Suletta's leg still hurts, but she's not about to tell her that.
"It is." Miorine pauses. "I need to pick up some fancy chocolates, wine- The dignitary visit next week-"
"You're thinking about work again." Suletta gently admonishes her.
Miorine's shoulders slump and she sighs.
"You're right. I know you're right."
She props her chin on her palm, her elbow resting on the table, and she looks at Suletta the same way she looks at the sunrise; with a sort of reverence she reserves for things she hadn't known her entire life but that she is no longer able to live without.
Suletta, in turn, looks back at her, and she tilts her head slightly as if she's trying to understand a difficult problem.
"It's a date." Miorine says.
"And you won't think about work." Suletta smiles. "And you won't fret too much about me."
Miorine's lips purse, but after a moment of thought, she nods.
"And we'll get a nice lunch together." her voice is soft.
"Mhm." Suletta's eyes go squinty and soft "And we'll pick up nice things for mom and Ericht, and we can walk slowly."
Another pause, warm and soft.
"It sounds great." Miorine smiles.
"It does." Suletta grins back.
Over her shoulder, the morning light spills from the kitchen window. Miorine's eyes drift from Suletta to outside, the world now bathed in golden light. Even out here, not quite the suburbs and not quite the country, the early morning bustling is starting. Cars in the distance, birds in the trees. Another sunrise has passed.
"It sounds great." Miorine repeats, the smile on her face as warm as the world outside as she looks back to Suletta.