can't you feel my heart beat fast

Kouha is a little excited, but not too much, because that would be weird. It’s just that both she and Midori have been so busy lately that they haven’t had a proper date in ages. And, okay, having a quick lunch together isn’t exactly a proper date, but at this point she’ll take what she can get. So if Kouha’s just a little early to pick her girlfriend up, lingering semi-suspiciously outside the Genbu offices and nodding at everyone who walks past (hoping that they don’t call security) no one can blame her.

She’s absentmindedly kicking a couple of rocks around when arms wrap around her waist from behind, and Kouha turns, an easy grin sliding across her face. “Look who decided to show up,” she says teasingly.

Midori just laughs, pulling her down for a quick kiss before taking a step back and tugging gently, leading them down the street toward the nearby cafe. “I wasn’t late.” She pulls once on their joint hands as if to solidify her point. “You were just early.”

“Just excited to see you,” Kouha replies, in a moment of unabashed emotion. “We’re both so busy all the time.” She shrugs, maintaining eye contact with the pavement in front of her. “I missed you.”

Before Midori has a chance to reply, they’re slowing to a stop outside the cafe, and Kouha lets go of her hand for a moment to step forward and hold the door open for her. It must be a slow day, because they find a table rather easily, despite this cafe being a rather popular spot for lunch breaks.

Kouha’s pretty much forgotten about the previous conversation when Midori reaches up to pull her menu down so that it’s lying flat on the table. She’d been debating between getting an actual meal or just ordering three different kinds of desserts, and when the words disappear from in front of her, she glances up, frowning in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

For a moment, Midori doesn’t reply, simply staring across the table. Then she smiles, eyes lighting up with happiness, and Kouha almost misses her next words. “I missed you, too.”

And, in their line of work, they both come across some pretty unbelievable things more or less on a daily basis, but Kouha thinks her favourite miracle is the fact that she gets to love Midori, and that Midori loves her back.

Not that she’d ever say as much out loud, some things are just too sappy for a Tuesday afternoon.

&.

In the end, Midori manages to convince her to eat real food by promising that they’ll get something sweet to share afterwards. Kouha chooses a sandwich, mostly because she doesn’t want to bother with forks and knives today.

“I’ll go order.”

“Alright, I’ll go.”

Both their voices ring out at the same time, and Kouha just raises a single eyebrow, as if to ask if her girlfriend is being serious right now.

“You know? You could let me be the chivalrous one for once, just to see how it feels like.” Midori crosses her arms, though the action is softened by the smile on her face.

Kouha just stands, picking up their menus as she goes. “Maybe one day,” she says with a shrug.

“So, basically never?”

“That’s the one.” Kouha grins, leaning down to drop a kiss on the top of Midori’s head before spinning around and heading for the counter. The sooner she places their order, the sooner she can get back to the table. What with their busy schedules, who knows when they’ll have the time for another lunch date? Kouha’s going to take every second she can get.

&.

Halfway through the meal, they end up swapping plates. Kouha has absolutely no recollection of agreeing to trade half her sandwich for what’s left of Midori’s pasta but here she is, picking up a fork even though she’d previously decided not to bother.

Midori doesn’t even seem to have noticed, happily picking up her half of the sandwich. “This is really good,” she says, after a bite.

Kouha just looks at her, pasta dangling off her fork. “Uh, yeah. I thought so too.”

“How’s the pasta?”

“Um? It’s fine, I guess? I mean, I don’t hate it.”

Midori hums in assessment, busy polishing off the rest of the sandwich while Kouha stares at her plate, still trying to puzzle out how she’d managed to somehow be eating something entirely different from what she’d ordered.

“I’m not entirely sure how you convinced me to trade food,” she says, finally. “But I’m glad you’re enjoying your sandwich.”

“I asked and you agreed,” Midori says easily, almost nonchalantly, even as if pops the last of the sandwich into her mouth and dusts her hands off above the plate so that crumbs don’t fall everywhere. “Don’t you remember?”

Somehow, Kouha doesn’t think it’s that simple, but she just nods with a shrug. As long as Midori’s happy, she doesn’t really have any complaints.

“Oh, I’m not sure what desserts this place has, so we need to grab the menu again.”

Kouha is out of her seat before Midori even finishes her sentence. “I’ll go get it.”

“Well, it seems fair, since you’re going to be eating most of it.”

“That’s a lie and you know it. We’re going to split it evenly,” Kouha says, darting away before Midori can come up with a retort.

When she comes back, toting a menu, the table has been cleared, so she slides the menu over before taking a seat. Midori picks it up and flips to the back, glancing over it in search of the list of desserts.

“What are you feeling like?”

“I’m almost a hundred percent sure that I’ll eat anything you order from that list.”

Midori nods absentmindedly, as if she isn’t really listening. On her part, Kouha just rests her chin in one hand, watching as her girlfriend concentrates on the menu. These days, they don’t really have much downtime, and when they do it’s usually cut short for some sort of emergency. Quiet moments like these, where they can just exist in each other’s bubble, with nothing to worry about, start to become rare occurrences.

Kouha knows it’s because they both have pretty intense lives, and she loves her job, don’t get her wrong, but sometimes she just wishes she had a little bit more free time to spend with her girlfriend.

“Hey, you in there?”

“What?” Kouha blinks herself out of her own thoughts, startling when she sees Midori’s hand fly past her nose, missing it by half an inch. “What is it? What happened?”

Midori giggles, rolling her eyes in fond amusement. “Nothing, I just lost you for a second.”

“Just thinking about stuff.” Kouha nods in the direction of the menu, seeing that it’s now closed and sitting on the edge of the table. “Have you decided what to order?”

Midori nods, clapping her hands together as she picks the menu up and makes to stand. “Yep! And I’m going to the counter this time, because it’s going to be a surprise.”

“What?”

“Just sit! I’ll be right back!”

And she’s gone before Kouha can even protest.

&.

Midori returns with what looks like a plate and two spoons. In her excitement, Kouha stands to try and get a look at what’s actually on the plate.

“Stop cheating.”

“I’m not! What did you get?”

“If you sit down, you’ll see.”

Kouha pouts, but sits obediently, a grin lighting her face as Midori puts the plate down.

“Pudding!”

“I’m glad I was the one who ordered, you’d probably have finished the whole thing on the way back from the counter.”

“Would not! We’re splitting it evenly, like I said we would.”

Midori nods like she doesn’t believe her, so Kouha picks up the spoon and carefully cleaves the pudding in half, as evenly as she can.

“There, I’ll keep to my side, and you keep to yours.”

“Sure, let’s do that.”

Kouha smiles, happy with her girlfriend’s reply, and immediately scoops up a spoonful of pudding. “This is really good!” She says, mouth still half-full so her words come out a little warbled.

Midori huffs out a laugh, picking up her own spoon. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Kouha watches patiently as she takes a bite, unconsciously leaning forward to hear her opinion.

“Oh, it is good,” she says, almost surprised.

“I told you!”

“Well, you like all sorts of pudding, so your opinion is a little skewed when it comes to how good they are.”

“I resent that accusation, I’ll have you know that I judge all pudding fairly.”

“Of course.” Midori nods sagely. “I don’t know why I ever thought otherwise.”

&.

Later, when they’re back at the offices, Kouha walks Midori to her department, glancing around for a second before leaning down for a quick goodbye kiss.

“I’ll see you later?” She asks, already walking backward down the hall, not wanting to be late back to her own office.

Midori raises her hand in a wave, smile etched onto her face. “See you later.”