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"Yu?" Masayuki stands in their bedroom doorway, slipper clad and blinks away sleep as his eyes adjust to the brightness.
She's sitting near the front door wearing her coat that won't close anymore, slowly tugging on her shoes, but looks back at his voice.
"Hmm?"
"What...are you doing? It's 3:30 in the morning."
"Convenience store..." She finally gets her shoes on. They've gotten a little tighter in the last few months, but that was to be expected, among other changes that pregnancy entailed.
"Is something wrong? Are you in pain?" He says questioningly and Yu can hear the concern in his voice.
"I'm fine, no, not in any pain." She reassures him.
He stares at her the same way he usually does when he can't understand. "Then why? What do you need that we don't have right now?" He knows he sounds a little grouchy right now, but it's past three in the morning and Yu's going to insist she needs to go out. He knows she will. She's as stubborn as a rock and usually it's a clash between their wills, but he finds himself giving into more of her crazy whims over the years.
"Natto..." She trails off thinking, "and ice cream!"
He gives her a look of complete and utter disbelief. "Don't we have natto and why do you need ice cream? It's freezing outside!" His eyes have now adjusted to the light and he's standing a foot away from her.
"I can't sleep and I was just laying there thinking about having some. Now, I really, really need some right now." She grips the top of the shoe shelf and eases herself up. "Don't worry, Masa-chan, I'll be back before you know I'm gone." Yu gives him one of her award-winning smiles that manages to be even more perfect than it was before.
It's not working on him though. Not right now. Not when it's 3:30 in the morning and Yu wants to go to the freakin' convenience store for natto and ice cream in probably negative ten degree weather.
"I already know you're leaving! I will know you're gone as soon as you leave. Why can't this wait for a reasonable hour?" He rubs his eyes tiredly. "I thought your random cravings were over in the first trimester."
"Don't worry, Masa-chan." She beckons him closer because she has her shoes on and she doesn't want to go through the effort of putting them back on again.
"What?" He grumbles, but pads closer to her. He's just within her reach when she pulls him closer into a hug; not too tight—she's very much aware of her belly—but tight enough.
"Yu—?" He starts in surprise, more awake now than he was a moment ago. "What's wrong—?" Concern coats his voice. He has a hand on her forearm and the ends of her short hair are gently grazing his cheek.
"Don't worry your pretty little head so much," she says smoothly. They're almost the same height right now, because she's standing in the lower front door entrance way and he's standing above, but she's still a smidgen taller. It doesn't stop her from tip-toeing and pulling him down slightly to press a firm kiss to his forehead. "Go back to bed. I'll be back."
Masayuki feels his patience running thin and he pulls out of her embrace, "You are not going out right now." He has to draw the line somewhere and it's going to be here. "It's supposed to snow, if it isn’t already."
"I am!" She insists, moving towards the door. "I'll be back quickly!"
"Yu."
"I'll be back!" He gives her a long hard stare, daring her to take a step outside. She stares back; her hand is on the doorknob. She twists it open and—
"Wait!" Masayuki says quickly and in exasperation, "Fine! I'll go instead! I'll go get your stupid ice cream." He groans in annoyance. "You are absolutely insane, do you know that?"
"What? No way! Why would I send you out! I'm going! It's too dangerous out for you!!" She protests, pulling open the door, slipping out, and quickly locking it behind her.
Masayuki's never been one to react slow, but he just woke up, so he blinks once, twice, mutters a profanity under his breath, and then grabs the first coat he sees and slips on a pair of shoes that he doesn't realize for a second, are Yu's. He doesn't think much about it though because even if she's nearly eight months pregnant, he's sure she can still run decently and he needs to catch up with her, for more reasons than one.
(One, it's 3:40 AM, two, did she just—?! Three, how dare she.)
He almost forgets to grab his keys before taking off after her and that would have been bad. If he knew her, she probably forgot them too. Getting locked out of the apartment would be another adventure that he definitely does not want to have this early in the morning.
And so, it's now a quarter to four in the morning, it's freezing and he's chasing Yu down the street.
"Yu," he hisses as loud as he thinks would be reasonable at this obscene hour of the night, but she doesn't turn around. He sprints to catch up to her, but she turns the corner, jogging lightly. She's not that far from him now and neither is the store, but he can't force himself to slow down. It's a mix between the absurdity of the situation and that competitive drive in him that he must one up her; an inner fire that has never diminished.
She doesn't look back, just heads straight into the only lit building on the street and then she disappears behind a shelf. He stalks inside a little angrier than he was before.
"What the heck was that?" He spits when he sees her in the ice cream aisle.
"Oh, Masa-chan," she says cheerfully, "look, they have purple yam." She takes out a small carton of the ice cream from the freezer.
"Really, it's not safe for you to be out at this hour!" She says this chidingly, seriously, as if she doesn't realize how ridiculous this whole trip is; as if she doesn’t know he's capable of taking care of himself as well, even after all the years they've been together.
He has to count down from ten because they're in a store and he's mostly learned to control his outbursts, but that doesn't mean she still doesn't drive him up a wall more than usual from time-to-time.
"Yu," he says slowly, "get your natto and let's go."
She makes a quick trip to a few other aisles, grabbing more items than necessary before making her way to the counter. He trails after her tiredly; the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off.
"Why do you need mochifuwa pancakes? Are you going to eat all of that now? You're going to make yourself sick." He yawns, arms crossed over his chest from the lack of sleep and the cold.
"They have cream and syrup inside and they are amazing. I love them! I'll share with you. You should have stayed home and slept though. You look really tired." Yu hands the money over to the night worker before pausing to look over at her spouse.
Masayuki rolls his eyes at the irony. "Do you know what time it is."
"It's okay!" She grins at him cheekily, "You don't have to worry about anyone hurting you. You know I'll always protect you."
He yawns again and flicks her halfheartedly on the forehead before they step outside. A cold blast of air hits him in the face and he's absolutely freezing. Masayuki is beginning to regret not grabbing a hat, a scarf, some gloves and—socks would have been splendid, but in his crazed rush after Yu, everything else had been secondary.
Yu slings her arm around his shoulders and pulls him close with her free hand. She's actually pretty warm right now. He would have preferred to cuddle up with her under a blanket rather than be walking the streets at this hour, but this was Yu and…this was what he had signed up for. Literally.
"What are you doing?" He still says wearily, too tired to keep up with her antics right now.
"You look really cold, Masa-chan."
"Of course I'm cold. You're the idiot that ran out of the door on a whim in the middle of the night. I'm too tired for this. Why are you not cold? Your coat isn't even closed." He grumbles. "Isn't the baby cold?"
"Hmm. Yeah, I've been sometimes really hot and really cold and it has nothing to do with the outside temperature. Must be this." She rubs her belly a little. "I'm sure the baby's fine."
Masayuki reaches over to feel it himself. His hand almost feels warm and his chest feels tight. It's as if he has never thought that the overwhelming love he has for her could be any greater. "...Can't believe it's almost time." He says quietly.
"Yeah." She says a little pensively. "You'll be a good mother."
He stops, stares at her, raises his arms and tugs on her cheeks. Of all the garbage she says— "What did you say?"
She laughs and Masayuki grumbles irritatedly, but now it's starting to snow and he watches a snowflake and another, and then another fall.
And it's almost like one of those cliché sorts of scenes that come out of a cheesy romance play script, but Masayuki likes that sort of thing and right now it's just him and Yu and nothing else. It's actually kind of nice.
He wraps an arm around her waist caught up in some moment of quiet appreciation and fondness; leans over and tip-toes to give her one of those rare kisses in public. There's no one around at this time anyway. There's no one else crazy enough to run to the store at 3:30 in the morning to get ice cream and natto, after all.
She ends up kissing him back, hard and long, coaxes his lips apart with her tongue, and bites on his lower lip, and when they pull away, she's grinning at him just a little breathlessly. "Are you warm now?"
"Shut up." He says, definitely feeling warmer and speeds up, walking a little ahead of her to cool his head.
"Are you going to have ice cream with me?" She asks after a moment.
"No," he answers, but slows down and waits for her.
But once at home with the heat on and cocooned under a blanket on the couch, he sits with her and watches her furiously mix them cohesively together.
"You want some?"
"No."
“Are you sure?
“I’m positive.”
“Why not—”
“—it’s four AM! Who eats ice cream at FOUR AM?”
“You don’t know what you’re missing.” She shakes her head and licks the spoon, purple streaks of ice cream and stands of natto still remain.
"I'm not missing a thing."
He leans back against the couch. Of all the insane things he’s gotten caught up in with her, this was probably one of the craziest. He's beginning to think she's synonymous with crazy because this whole journey has been a very long ride.
But, it’s almost over; just a little less than two months more to go before they add more chaos to his life because any child of Kashima Yu is bound to be as crazy, headache-inducing and stubborn as she is, and the thought almost overwhelms him—but also just as amazing.
He watches her fondly for a little while before exhaustion from their adventure catches up with him. She's talking about something Sakura said, but he’s dozing off quickly because he’s not twenty anymore, after all.
The last thing he sees is Yu throwing another blanket over him and feels her press a kiss to his forehead.
"'Night, Masayuki..." She murmurs.