Work Text:
“How… How does it look?” Shadowheart asked, stepping into the doorframe with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. Over her dark day clothes, she wore a crisp, new apron with frilly edges tied into a thick bow behind her waist.
Tav had been working to convince her for over a month now that it would be useful at their work: a small hole-in-the-wall cafe in the middle of the city. They had opened only at the beginning of the year, but Shadowheart had managed to stain nearly every outfit she wore as she learned how to properly prepare their goods. Whether it was thick, powdery flour for cakes or the hot grounds of Chultan coffee beans, she had somehow managed to get it all over herself.
‘We didn’t spend our time baking and making drinks at the Cloister,’ she would say, obviously self-conscious about her current lack of skill. But she would brush herself off and get right back to it. Every time, her brows would furrow and she would frown in what looked like annoyance, but was actually deep focus. Tav couldn’t remember seeing anything more adorable.
At least, not until now. Shadowheart was standing in the morning light, her face heating every second that Tav didn’t answer. Tav herself had been eating her breakfast before Shadowheart suddenly walked in, wearing that frilly thing. She raised a fist to her mouth to hide a mirthful smile, though the corners still peeked out, upturned.
“Why not do a little spin? So I can see the back too.”
Shadowheart scoffed. “I’ve already put this on. Don’t push your luck.”
Tav sighed in feigned disappointment. She put her fork on her plate and stood up. Shadowheart followed with her eyes as Tav walked over to her, then held back from yelling an obscenity when Tav laid her hands on Shadowheart’s hips.
Very sincerely, because she didn’t want to upset her wife, but also because she meant it, Tav said, “You look wonderful. You remind me every day why I’m the luckiest person to be your partner.” Tav moved her hands to Shadowheart’s head and captured her in a very gentle kiss.
Shadowheart wanted to keep being embarrassed, to have a reason that wearing the apron was a stupid idea and she should have never done it, but she instead felt a few tears burning her eyes. It would have been easier if she were indignant, but how could she be when the person who had practically saved the world loved her so? The person who had been by her side through the most taxing trials of her life? Who had saved her and her parents after forty years of unremembered torment? There was no answer to this question, and so Shadowheart looped her arms around Tav’s neck and kissed her in return.
They no longer adventured, their daily lives having became very mundane by comparison.
But, they thought, this must be bliss.