"Mom..."
Ruby muttered as she took a look at the screen. Eyes shining from the screen. Brighter than any Star. It was the same ones her mother had. Ruby was left speechless, her mouth open in a state of shock. Was Akane acting like her mother?
However, she was suddenly broken from her thoughts as the weight dropped next to her on the couch. Pink eyes turned, expecting to meet the red of Kana's, though they were met with purple eyes, a grinning face looking back at her.
"Hello, sweetie. Whatcha doing?~"
Though, instead of waiting for her daughter's response she looked towards the TV screen. Her eyebrow raised as she saw a girl with the same eyes she did. Ai leaned in slightly as the camera cut to Aqua who was, for lack of a better term, starstruck.
"Ohhhhh. Would you look at that Ruby, have you ever seen that kind of face on Aqua?"
"N-No..."
"Work work work... is that all you care about?"
Akane said from the screen. Ai couldn't take her eyes off the screen as she smiled uncontrollably. This girl had gotten her entire attitude completely correct. Ai was more than impressed.
"What you should be doing... is focusing on me~"
"Damn, this girl is good."
Ai muttered to herself. As she began to look more and more invested in the show. Ruby couldn't help but look at her mother from the side as she also tried to focus on the show, which was easier said than done with her mother's unnecessary commentary.
"I..."
"What is it? Cat got your tongue~"
The two Hoshino women watched as their brother/son was openly being flirted with in front of them. For one of them it felt... weird to watch her brother get flirted with, his composure completely broken. Meanwhile the other... was weirdly invested into all of this.
"Ohhhh the two should just shut up and kiss!"
Ai said as she pumped her fists up and down in front of her. She seemed like a little kid watching an intense action scene in a movie. Ruby, while she was interested in shows like this, being a romantic at heart... But even this was not something to get that hyped about.
"Why are you encouraging your son to kiss a random girl?"
"She's not a random girl! She's gonna be your sister-in-law!"
"Right..."
Ruby's focus then returned to the TV. She was trying to drown out her mother, this time for good. Why can't she just let a woman enjoy her TV time!?
"You said you wanted me to focus on you, right?"
The pair stared at the TV intensely. Their starry eyes shining brightly as they watched Aqua speak to the girl. Inching closer, and closer to the edge of the couch.
"Well... now you have it."
The two girls just stayed there in silence for a moment, processing what just happened. Ruby's face began to crumple up, as she started to cringe at what her brother had just said. The attempt to flirt was so bad, in her opinion, that she felt like she wanted to give her brother a lesson on how to talk to girls.
"I can't believe that he said that... it was so... so... cheesy! Right mom?"
Ruby asked as she turned to her mother. However, she knew something was off. Her eyes were black as she stared blankly at the TV.
"Mom?"
- - - - - -
Ai couldn't help but frown as she held a baby Ruby in her arms, whilst Aqua slept in his crib. The small baby seemed to know something was wrong with their mother. Ruby reached out and tried to grab her mother's attention, in which she succeeded. Ai's eyes turned to look at her daughter, but they were hardly the kind and gentle eyes she was used to. Though they softened the second she saw her daughter.
"What is it Ruby, wanna nurse?"
Ai moved to get ready to feed her daughter, but Ruby didn't seem as excited as she normally was when it was feeding time, which confused Ai.
"You're not hungry..? Well, did you want to play?"
Again, nothing from Ruby convinced she wanted to play either. Ai was beyond confused at this point. Ruby always wanted to play with her, but now it seemed that she was just fussy.
"Maybe she's just in her rebellious phase..?"
Ai wondered aloud. However, the sounds of the door opening caught her attention. Ai felt her brow narrow, the displeased look coming back to her face.
Standing up, Ai walked over to Ruby's cradle and set her down in it. Ruby whined but Ai put a finger to her lips and motioned over to Aqua. Smiling down at her.
"Quiet Ruby, I'll be right back, I just need to have a conversation with Dada."
Ruby looked up at her mom, she seemed concerned but only stayed quiet and muttered:
"Dada..?"
"Yep, Dada..."
Ai whispered back, but her smile turned back into that displeased frown. She turned on her heel and marched toward the door, with every step she grew angrier and angrier. She didn't quite know why she felt so angry. It had only been that day but it had been steadily growing throughout the day, and now, hearing the door open, it reached its boiling point.
As Ai reached the entranceway, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to calm herself. This anger could not take hold. She wouldn't let it. Putting on a smile, one similar to the one she put on for her concerts she skipped into the entranceway, beaming with false joy as she saw her boyfriend taking his shoes off. His posture was tight, his facial expression almost that of dismay..? Why in the world was he dismayed, she thought.
Though as he saw her, his lips smiled, his eyes beaming with pure joy, and his posture relaxed, though there still seemed to be some sort of worries in his (e/c) eyes.
"Hey there, sweetie."
(Y/n) said as he wrapped his arms around her and twirled her around, despite the unusual anger she felt, she couldn't help but giggle and feel her spirits lift slightly. Once he had done another twirl, he had set her down on the floor, a goofy smile on the seventeen-year-old's face. His arms wrapped around her comfortably, and she felt safe. Her head going to his chest on habit.
Though as she laid her head down on his chest, she could practically feel his anxiety threatening to burst through his chest, his heart pounding faster than she would have expected.
"Is something wrong, (Y/n)?"
She asked, pulling her head away slightly to look at him, her anger being briefly forgotten by the concern she had for him. He seemed taken aback by her sudden question. As if he wasn't prepared for it, He coughed slightly as he looked away sheepishly.
"You know how our anniversary is tomorrow..?"
"Yeah... I do."
Ai's eyes narrowed as she began to get the feeling she wasn't about to be thrilled about the next sentence that came out of his mouth, his tone gave it away.
"I uh... I have to work tomorrow."
"What..."
Ai's eyes dimmed as she suddenly felt the anger inside her begin to flare up, she finally began to pinpoint the cause of her anger that day.
"Look I know I got approved for the day off, but I got told I have to come in tomorrow... th-that they'd pay me extra if I came in!"
Ai was silent, her eyes had dimmed to her black star eyes. A small laugh escaped her lips, as if she found the whole thing funny.
"Are you fucking joking? You must be joking right?"
"I'm... not."
Ai's eye twitched. She couldn't believe it. The anger she had desperately been trying to keep suppressed for the whole day suddenly became too much to handle, as she exploded.
"Do you have no spine or what!? Are you unable to say no!?"
(Y/n) flinched as his arms unwrapped from his lover, who took the moment to step away from him, crossing her arms under his chest as her foot began to tap on the ground.
"Well...you know how work is..."
"Work work work... is that all you care about!?"
Ai asked in a dangerously calm voice compared to what she had been earlier. (Y/n) felt his spine go up in a chill as he tried to think of what to say to calm Ai down, though she wouldn't give him that chance.
"What you should be doing is focusing on me! You're never home!"
"Well, I..."
"No! You're blowing off our anniversary! There's no defense for that!"
Ai then began to see (Y/n) shrink down as if a child was being scolded by a parent, normally Ai would have begun comforting him, but at this point she was livid, she didn't care how he felt at that moment.
"Hell, do you even care about me and the twins anymore!?"
Ai didn't mean that she said that to hurt, she wanted him to feel the same way she did. Alone, taking care of two kids, feeling unsupported by her lover. However, her words only seemed to set something off within (Y/n) as he looked at her with anger in his eyes, something he had never done before.
"You said you wanted me to focus on you, right? Well now you have it!"
(Y/n) shouted as Ai flinched slightly, taking a step back away from her boyfriend.
"Of course, I care! Do you think I want to work tomorrow? You know damn well I would give you the whole world if I could! And you have the fucking gall to say I don't care?!"
(Y/n) shot back at her. She knew what she had said was wrong, her anger began to die down slightly, but her pride was getting in the way of her backing down.
"T-then why aren't you ever here! If you cared you'd be here more often!"
"Because we need more money!"
"All you think about is damn money! We could start a new life in Tahiti with all the work you do!"
"You clearly haven't looked at our bank account, have you?!"
"Yeah-Yeah I have, but still can't you take the day off for us! We made all those reservations and everything!"
"I tried, but life always is gonna throw curveballs at us!"
"I-I-I"
Ai found herself speechless as (Y/n) took a breath. His posture relaxed as he seemed to calm down slightly. He closed his eyes and took a breath, just as she had before she greeted him, but unlike her, he seemed to get his emotions back under control.
"I'm not having this augment with you, I'm going to bed."
(Y/n) said, clearly fed up, walking towards their room. Ai was left standing there im both shame and regret. Once she heard their bedroom door close, she instantly felt worse about what she had said.
Instead of going after her boyfriend that second, she supposed it would be better for both of them to calm down. So instead she went to put the little ones to bed.
- - - - - -
After about half an hour later Ai slowly cracked the door open to their room. She was nervous. She felt really bad about what she had said, but knew she had to make up for it. So she slowly closed the door as she entered their room, before sliding into bed with her boyfriend, she pressed her body against his and wrapped an arm over him as she buried her head into the crock of his neck.
"I'm sorry..."
She muttered, she had no idea if he was awake or not, but he didn't move or say a word, so she assumed he was asleep.
"I'm sorry I said those hurtful and mean things... It's just I really miss you... and not seeing you makes me anxious and it led to all this stupid anger and I took it all out on you... it wasn't right I know... I'm so sorry..."
She knew it wasn't an excuse for what she had said, but it's how she felt. She closed her eyes, before she felt the bed shift as (Y/n) turned around and looked at her in the eyes, smiling.
"It's okay... I'm also sorry for yelling..."
"No... you have nothing to apologize for, I was the one in the wrong."
He smiled and kissed Ai on her forehead. Before he wrapped his arms around her, she did the same. The two enjoyed each other's presence, cuddling.
"Also, I've got a trip for us planned for this weekend... would that work instead of going out tomorrow."
Ai was touched, even when he was angry at her, he still wanted the best for her... she really was stupid for saying those hurtful things.
"Of course it is... Thank you, (Y/n)."
"Of course Ai, I love you"
"And I love you too."
The two lovers stared into each other's eyes, smiling until they let sleep take them over, putting their fight behind them.
"Hey..."
"Mom..."
"Hey!"
- - - - - -
"Mom, is everything alright?"
Ai shook her head as she looked at Ruby, who had paused the show and looked at her mother with concern. Ai simply smiled and hugged her daughter.
"Yeah, just remember something me and your dad said back in the day."
Ruby looked confused but shrugged, before she reached for the remote and resumed the show, which by now, had cut from Aqua and Akane.
She hadn't even met the girl, but she already had her blessing to date her son. That look on his face was genuine, if anyone could tell when Aqua was crushing over a girl, it was her.
"You know, I hope Aqua brings Akane over for dinner some time."
Ruby shot her mom a weird side eye. Clearly not being as into Akane and Aqua's possible relationship as she was.
"There's no way you're taking her side now too! Yuki is so much better for him than she is!"
"You really wanna have a shipping war with your own mother?"
"Yes I do! Now bring it on!"
"You are not ready for the smoke, young lady!"
(A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! Yes I know it's been... a few months but I'm back! High school is behind me and now I've gotten that surge to write again, and hopefully is here to stay! Anyway, I don't have all that much to say, other than thank you for reading, your support is why I keep going! Once again sorry for taking so long to get this out! School was a pain, had to clutch up in math in my final semester to graduate with honors (Fuck math) and writers block and a lack of motivation to write kept me from really making any progress until today! Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all next time!)