The promised Chapter 3. Took awhile to write, and may have ended up not having enough focus on Hiro and Zero Two but oh well. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review.

A familiar mop of black hair caught her eye amongst the roving crowds of people below.

"Hmmm?" Zero Two hummed curiously, slightly leaning a bit further over the railing of the mall's much less populated second floor. Was that Darling she had spotted?

She glanced back behind her at Miku and Kokoro, who were gushing over something or another in a shop window display. A couple feet away, Ichigo and Ikuno were busy inspecting a map of the mall.

The mall itself had only opened recently and had already attracted quite a few customers for its grand opening. The girls had invited Zero Two along to scout out the new possible hang-out, and she was more than happy to come along. It was Friday night, not like there was much else she was going to be doing.

Besides, friends had always been scarce throughout her life, so she was always glad to spend time with them whenever she could.

There was one downside to this, however. Time spent with her friends meant time not spend with her Darling - a difficult choice. Well… not really. She'd choose Darling over and over again in a heartbeat, but Darling was happy whenever she did something social without him, and if Darling was happy then she was happy. Being with the other girls was also, quite admittedly, a fun and enjoyable time.

A win-win scenario, except for the small (but not really) part of her brain that only wanted her Darling.

The black mop of hair was getting further and further away.

...that part of her brain was getting particularly loud.

She mentally shrugged. She had her phone on her. Meeting back up with the girls would be easy.

"Hey-guys-imma-be-right-back-okay-bye-call-me." Zero Two shouted over her shoulder as she took off for the stairs, a single hand lazily thrown in the air as a goodbye.

"Huh-wha? Zero Two?! Where are you going?!"

Ichigo sighed. Either Zero Two didn't hear her over the chatter of the mall or just didn't care(the much more likely answer). "I swear, that girl sometimes…" she muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.

"She'll be fine," Ikuno drawled, still trying to figure out the map. How hard was it to add a single goddamn 'You Are Here' sticker?

After a dangerous but extremely fun slide down the stair railing, Zero Two was in the midst of the crowd rapidly making her way towards where she had spotted her Darling, halfhearted apologies thrown towards the people she had unceremoniously pushed and shoved out of the way. She could always feel bad later.

Seeing the black mop of hair again, Zero Two smirked. Creeping up behind her unsuspecting victim, she got closer…

And closer…

And then pounced!

"Daahling!" She cried cheerfully, glomping her Darling and throwing her arms around his neck happily.

"What the fuck?!"

Immediately, Zero Two noticed a couple worrying details.

That voice… was most certainly not her Darling's. It was rougher, fiercer, and yet decidedly not male.

Her Darling was also not as short as the person she was currently hugging, of that she was sure.

And possibly most distressing of all - the scent was distinctly different. If Darling was oranges, then this was lemons. A tad more sour than her Darling's sweet smell.

Zero Two quickly jumped off the person she had basically assaulted.

The stranger spun around, revealing themself to be a girl about Zero Two's own age. Her black shoulder-length hair swung against her cheek with the speed of her turn.

Confused steel blue eyes met her own wide pale green, and Zero Two froze in embarrassment and shock. This girl actually looked a lot like Darling. The two stared at each other in awkward silence. "U-uh…" the pink-haired girl began to stammer.

"What are you doing?" From the right, a voice like steel cut Zero Two out of her stupor.

She broke the staring contest to turn towards the voice, thankful for the distraction from her awkward situation.

Regret was her immediate reaction, as she came face to face with a terrifying looking woman with narrowed dark blues eyes, long black hair, some sincerely impressive eyebrows, and a height that actually made her have to look up.

Zero Two was tall. That much was true. There were very few people that were taller than her, but none of them had ever been intimidating, in her opinion.

But this woman terrified her.

A truly oppressive aura forced itself down on Zero Two's shoulders, and coupled with her current utterly mortified state, the usually confident and proud girl was practically shaking, unconsciously bending her knees and sinking a bit closer to the floor.

She quickly looked back and forth between the shorter confused girl on her left and the taller scary woman glaring down at her from the right, mouth opening and closing in silence, blood slowly rushing to her cheeks and ears.

"U-UH I'M SO SORRY! I-thought-you-were-someone-else-SORRY!"

Apology made, Zero Two sprinted off as fast as she could, face burning red in embarrassment.

Quietly, the two watched Zero Two run away. "What the fuck?" The shorter girl repeated, breaking the silence.

"Ow!" She rubbed the back of her head where she had just been smacked.

"Language." The older woman reprimanded, eyes still on the retreating pink-haired girl's back. A currently forgotten memory from the recesses of her mind was saying there was something strangely familiar about that girl, something that she should recognize…

A thought for another time, she supposed.

When Zero Two eventually made her way back to the second floor, the other girls had yet to move.

Instead, they watched as a quiet Zero Two walked up the stairs with her head low and sat down on a nearby bench, a heavy aura of depression and embarrassment around her.

"...well. I wonder what happened to her?" Ikuno idly mused, the others looking on in concern.

It took almost thirty minutes before Zero Two was back to her usual lively self, yet any questions about her brief disappearance made her instantly clam up, cheeks bright red.

The girls silently agreed to interrogate her another day.

"...you know what?"

Hiro leaned back in his seat, popping another slice of the sushi roll into his mouth. He slightly tilted his head at the question. "What, Zero Two?"

After a rather uneventful morning, the two did what they always did every Saturday evening. 'Experimental Afternoons' were what his eccentric girlfriend had dubbed it.

She frowned, lifting her head from the table to look at the variety of different types of sushi that were covering her nude body. "I don't think I like this." She gently placed her head back down. "It feels so… one-sided?"

Delicately picking up another slice of sushi, Hiro raised an eyebrow. "You liked when we did bondage," he pointed out, tossing the sushi into his mouth. "They're practically the same thing. Being unable to move while your lover does that whatever they want with your body, similar concepts and all that."

Zero Two sighed. "Yeah, well, bondage is fun. This isn't. I dunno, darling, it doesn't feel as... intimate, I guess. Besides, you're just eating food. That's boring."

Hiro nodded thoughtfully. "I can see why you'd think that." He plucked a piece of salmon from Zero Two's stomach, silently admiring the faint outline of her abs. As he absentmindedly putting the slice of fish into his mouth, Hiro licked his index finger. With his saliva coated finger, he slowly traced a wet line between her abdominal muscles, a satisfied smirk appearing on his face as she suddenly shivered and softly whimpered in pleasure - he always had a weak spot for Zero Two's abs.

Shaking off the effects of his teasing, she huffed in exasperation and pouted. "Daahling! I'm trying to complain here!"

A bark of laughter escaped his lips. "Yeah yeah, sorry. Go on."

"Hmph! What I'm trying to say is that we should just do something else." She propped herself up on an elbow. "C'mon darling, help me get this stuff off." Zero Two began grabbing the wide assortment of food covering her body at random and shoving them into her mouth.

"Or we can… uh… y'know, just put it in the refrigerator?"

Zero Two gave him an incredulous look. "I love you, darling, but that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard." She resumed her feast.

With a roll of his eyes, Hiro laughed. "Sorry, sorry."

Reaching for another piece of salmon, he began to help out Zero Two.

The two ate in silence for a couple minutes, the quiet occasionally broken by Zero Two pointing out how delicious a certain type of food was followed by Hiro humming in agreement.

A sudden thought came to Hiro, in the midst of eating a shrimp finger sushi. The shrimp brought back memories of yesterday, when he and the other guys had eaten out at a restaurant with some really good shrimp tempura.

He jotted down a mental note to bring Zero Two there someday.

But that wasn't important. What was important was that the memory had made him remember the girls had gone to the new mall.

"Oh yeah, Zero Two, how was the mall with the girls? Did you have fun?"

Zero Two nodded. "Mhm! They have this really good noodle shop and a ton of other cool stores! Even Ikuno had to be dragged away from this bookshop!" She laughed and sat up on the table. "I actually had this really funny encounter. I thought I saw you at the mall, so I snuck up from behind and hugged you, but it turns out it was someone else! And it was a girl!" Zero Two laughed again. "But the funny thing is - she actually really looked like you! If you had longer hair and darker eyes. It could've been your sister!" With a giggle, Zero Two finished her story, looking expectantly at her Darling.

Her giggling slowly died down when she realized Hiro was staring at her with a strange expression. She felt her face start to heat up.

"Da-darling…? T-this is the part where y-you laugh along so I don't feel so embarrassed…"

Hiro's face didn't change.

"Oh god! Wwhhhyyyy!" She cried out, burying her blushing face into her hands. "It was the worst experience of my life!"

With a start, Hiro snapped out of his daze.

"O-oh no, Zero Two, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - I mean, heh, I guess that is pretty funny…?" He finished lamely, utterly failing to comfort his borderline hysterical girlfriend, who continued to scream incoherently into her hands.

"Ah jeez," Hiro mumbled, getting up from his seat and climbing onto the table with Zero Two. He sure hoped the table would support their weight. Reaching out, Hiro gently pulled her hands away from her face, instantly taking her lips with his own.

Zero Two blinked in surprise, before happily melting into the kiss.

"Here, let me help you forgot about this…" Hiro smiled as they broke apart. He slowly began to drift downwards...

"Huh? Darling? What do you mean - oh! Oh yes, I like where this is goin - OH! Mmm, do that again!"

Zero Two inspected the massive doors in front of her with a raised eyebrow, hands on her waist. Behind her, Darling was thanking the tall old butler-looking man that had brought them up here.

"Sooo… what about this is a surprise? Why are we on a skyscraper? How the heck did you get a butler? And why'd we have to come somewhere so far away on a Sunday? The drive took forever." She pouted. "I wanted to sleep in with Darling…"

With a smile, Hiro reached an arm around her shoulders and brought her close to his chest, pressing a kiss against her cheek. She happily basked in her Darling's affections.

"Sorry, Zero Two. But hey, you always said you wanted to meet my family, and well, my sisters live here." Unnoticed by Hiro, Zero Two had instantly froze at the word 'family'. "Soroi's their butler. I don't think he does much nowadays though."

"F-family!? Sisters!?" Sisters! Darling's sisters! Darling had sisters!? What!? She thought Darling was- WHAT!?

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Yes...? I mean, not really-"

"Darling! You should've told me!" Zero Two began combing her fingers through her pink hair and pulling at her clothes, trying to smooth and straighten them and look as presentable as possible.

Hiro could only look on in confusion. "H-huh?"

"Oh no oh no what if they think I look stupid?! What if they think I'm not good enough for you?! Wha-what if they have an arranged marriage for you? What if- what if they hate meeee?! I knew I should've worn my cute dress!"

"Z-zero Two…? Zero Two. Zero Two!"

The girl blinked in surprise as Hiro grabbed her shoulders and literally shook her out of her crazed ranting.

"Huh wha-?"

"It'll be fine, Zero Two. They'll love you," he reassured his frantic girlfriend, comfortingly rubbing her shoulders. A sly smile grew on his lips as he knocked against the massive doors. "Besides, you've already met."

"We've already what?"

One of the massive doors swung open, and a familiar face greeted them. Zero Two's jaw dropped.

"Hiro! Long time no see!" Hiro's smile grew as he hugged the short girl from yesterday.

"Hey, Ryuko. I brought my girlfriend, although you two might have met."

Zero Two's face grew an interesting shade of pink as the girl looked around Hiro with wide eyes. "Oh hey, it's the cute girl from the mall! Damn, Hiro, nice!" Her blush grew.

The girl-who-kinda-looked-and-smelled-like-Darling-but-wasn't turned her head back into the massive house and hollered, "Hey Satsuki! Hiro's here and his girlfriend is that girl from yesterday!"

When she saw the other woman from the mall, just as tall and scary looking as she was back then, poke her head around a corner, Zero Two quietly whimpered, her blush and embarrassment both increasing in their intensity. "Nooooo~"

Hiro laughed, throwing an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "Isn't this great? C'mon, let's go in!"

"Noooo, darling - why would you dooo this…? Noooooo~~"

Watching the two, Ryuko's eyes lit up in understanding. She reached out with a grin, catching Zero Two's wrist with a surprisingly strong grip as Hiro took ahold of Zero Two's other arm.

Against the combined strength of Hiro and Ryuko, her resistance was useless. Zero Two could do nothing but despair as she was dragged into the penthouse.

By all means, Zero Two should've felt comfortable - extremely so, in fact.

The loveseat she was sitting on was disturbingly comfy, and Darling had his arm around her shoulders, holding her close against his chest.

Under normal circumstances, she would've been relaxed beyond all belief, happily soaking in the warmth of her Darling, blissfully breathing in his scent.

But she was not relaxed. The complete opposite, actually. Sitting straight up, spine as stiff as a board, Zero Two stared intensely at her clenched hands in her lap. A blush was clearly visible on her cheeks.

Not even Darling's hand comfortingly rubbing her arm was helping the complete and utter sense of embarrassment she felt from being in front of the two sitting across the table from them.

A concerned Ryuko raised an eyebrow. "Is she… alright?"

With a small smile, Hiro waved his free hand nonchalantly. "It's fine. She's fine." His smile grew when he noticed from the corner of his eye Zero Two's small pout.

Hiro focused his gaze on to Ryuko. "But I've been wanting to ask. You've been taking cooking lessons?" He felt Zero Two slightly perk up beside him. "How's that going for you? Satsuki sounded quite proud when she was telling me about it over the phone."

"Proud? Reeally…?" Ryuko smirked, peering closely at the older girl. She recoiled when Satsuki flicked her nose.

"Ow! Damnit Satsuki!"

"Don't get cocky, you brute. I'm simply glad you've found an outlet that isn't picking fistfights with hooligans."

"Pft! Who uses the word 'hooligans'?!"

"Not everyone has only two brain cells, Matoi Ryuko."

"Why you-!"

"Anyways," Hiro loudly said before their quarreling could go on any further. While amusing, he knew they could become rather time-consuming, and that worked against what he was trying to accomplish. He came here for a reason, after all. "I wanted to ask, how far are you aiming with your lessons? Are you going to make a career out of it or what?"

Ryuko threw one last dirty look at Satsuki, who responded with rolling her eyes, before facing Hiro with a shrug. "As far as I can, I suppose. I enjoy it, and money certainly isn't an issue with good ol' Satsuki." Here, she jokingly elbowed the taller woman, who halfheartedly shoved away Ryuko's arm. "Plus, with her influence, I can probably find a high paying job or whatever straight off the bat instead of sludging it through fast food joints and stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if the company had some food branch or something, either."

"It does," Satsuki said into her cup of tea.

"See!" Ryuko smiled. "I'm pretty set for life, to be honest!"

Zero Two suddenly stood up and bowed at a hard 45-degree angle, surprising Ryuko, who yelped, and Satsuki, who simply raised an eyebrow. Hiro had no reaction, almost as if he was expecting it.

"U-um! C-could you… could you teach me h-how to cook?!" The pink-haired girl stammered.

Taken aback, a wide-eyed Ryuko hesitantly responded. "Uh, sure?"

"R-right now?!"

"I mean, it's only 10…?" Ryuko caught Hiro's eye, who was nodding his head intently, his message clear. "But hey, who can say no to an early lunch? Hell, we'll call it a brunch!" She laughed loudly at her own joke while the others remained silent. "C'mon, let's go to the kitchen!"

"Th-thank you!"

The high-schooler marched out the door they had come in through, Zero Two quickly kissing Hiro's cheek before eagerly following along.

After placing her cup back on its saucer, Satsuki knowingly glanced at Hiro. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

Leaning back into the couch with a smirk, the boy shrugged. "I'm not saying anything."

She rolled her eyes, her own small smirk on her lips. "Quite an interesting choice of a girlfriend you've got there."

Again, Hiro shrugged. "Can't choose who you fall in love with." He gave her a pointed look with a laugh. "You should know that better than anybody."

Satsuki remained silent, picking her cup back up and taking a sip. Her smile said more than enough.

"Woooooah!" Zero Two gasped as she saw more of the penthouse. Ryuko had brought Hiro and Zero Two to a smaller room to the side of the entrance, so she had only caught a glimpse of the massive living room further in. Now that she could see all of it, Zero Two was truly amazed by its sheer size. "It's huge!"

"Haha, yep," Ryuko chuckled. "I had the same reaction. Satsuki's pretty loaded."

"I-I've been meaning to ask. Are you two and Darling really related? Because I thought Darling was-"

"Darling?"

Zero Two nodded. "Darling."

Ryuko stared at her for a couple seconds before a lightbulb visibly went on in her eyes.

"Oh, you mean Hiro! Nah, it's an honorary thing. My dad… was kinda an asshole. He'd dump me somewhere and then fuck off for a couple months, before coming back to pick me up and dump me somewhere else."

Opening the pantries, she began digging out certain ingredients and handing them to Zero Two, who dutifully placed them in an orderly fashion on the large kitchen island.

"During one of those periods, I met Hiro. As you know, I'm sure, Hiro's smooth as fuck, always has been."

Zero Two nodded proudly, humming in agreement.

"Little baby Ryuko basically fell in love. He was one of the few people who actually gave a shit about me back then. The idea that someone cared absolutely blew my mind."

Zero Two's nodding intensified. She knew exactly what the girl meant.

"We even looked alike, as you've obviously noticed," Ryuko smirked. Zero Two pointlessly tried to hide her blush behind her hands. "It felt nice, to pretend I had a sibling. Well, I mean I do have a sibling. But I thought I was an only child for most of my life. Like I said, my dad's an asshole."

Ryuko scowled.

"And like the asshole he was, he went ahead and died right before I started high school. And turns out I did have a mom. A sister too! I mean, turns out good old mom was batshit insane but whatever. I ended having to go live with them and attend the local high school. Met Satsuki, and my life ended up great."

Ryuko rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I still regret introducing Hiro and Satsuki to each other. Those two get along disgustingly well. I sometimes wonder if they're the ones that are real siblings."

She pulled out a big pot and a couple pans.

"But I'm gonna shut up now. We're not here to talk about backstories, we're here to cook some fucking food! And what better dish than the amazingly delicious! Simple to make! Japanese delicacy! Ramen noodles!"

Reaching down, Ryuko pulled out two aprons and tossed one to Zero Two. "Safety first!" She winked knowingly. "Also these are cute as fuck and Hiro's gonna love it."

Zero Two blushed again.

"And that's how Zero Two and I got together!" Hiro finished with a grin.

Satsuki rolled her eyes. "I am genuinely disgusted by how cute that is."

"You tried to learn cooking from Nia?"

"Y-yes?" Zero Two meekly answered.

Shaking her head, Ryuko tutted. "You poor baby."

"I ended up being sick in bed for about two days."

"Sounds about right."

Ryuko looked inside the large pot in which four servings of egg noodles were floating in boiling water, and nodded approvingly. She turned to the large pile of ingredients and dug through them, pulling out three small packages and laying them on the table before her pink-haired partner.

"Since it's gonna take a while for so many noodles to cook, we can go ahead and start on the soup. You see, Zero Two, the thing is that most people can't stomach too many flavors at once. Less is admittedly sometimes better."

The taller girl nodded, enlightened by the wise words of her teacher.

"That's why the soup is only gonna be one flavor. The most common choices are miso, pork, and soy sauce." Ryuko gestured towards the small packages.

Zero Two stared at the three packets closely, clearly trying to determine which one her Darling would like the most. She gave each an experimental sniff.

Watching in concern, Ryuko gently but firmly pushed the girl's head away when she tried to lick the plastic packages.

"Hiro likes pork." The black-haired girl said helpfully.

Eyes lighting up, Zero Two snatched up the middle packet. "This one!"

Ryuko rolled her eyes with a smile.

"And that's why I don't like teddy bears."

Wide-eyed, Hiro nodded. "Wow. That's quite the story."

Satsuki dramatically raised her hand to her forehead. "Simply retelling the story had brought back all the past trauma." She sighed in false dismay.

He snickered.

Zero Two watched in awe as Ryuko carefully filled the four bowls of noodles with soup.

"Wow Ryuko, you're so skilled!"

"I-I mean, I'm just pouring soup…?"

The taller girl nodded earnestly, eyes shining in admiration.

Slightly uncomfortable with the praise, Ryuko looked away with a slight blush.

"*cough* Anyways, now we add the toppings."

Zero Two perked up. "Like sugar? Or candy?"

Ryuko gave her a puzzled look. "What? No!" Her blue eyes narrowed in concern. "Have you really used those as toppings?"

"...no."

"...well, I have some braised pork in the fridge. We can use that, chopped green onions, and that package of roasted seaweed."

"Okay!"

"Jesus fuckin- no no no put that down! There's a bag of chopped green onions right there!"

"Aww."

"Daaahling! We're done!" Zero Two cried happily, poking her head around the edge of the doorway.

Hiro looked up from where he was going through Satsuki's extensive collection of photos of Ryuko in embarrassing outfits. Satsuki had gone through the extra effort to have them all printed and professionally organized in a photo book, and he'd be damned if he let her efforts go to waste.

In turn, Satsuki was on his phone, scrolling through all the pictures he had of Zero Two.

A mutual exchange, they had called it.

Carefully bookmarking where he was, Hiro gently shut the book and got up, swapping the photobook for his phone with Satsuki. He nodded, and the older woman silently mirrored his gesture.

Hiro stepped out first, Satsuki staying behind to stash her book in its hiding spot. As he turned the corner, he almost choked at what he saw.

Zero Two in a full-on French maid getup: short frilly skirt, stockings, heels, and generous cleavage included.

"Z-Zero Two!"

She smiled sensually. "You like what you see, dahling?"

Hiro could only silently nod, his throat suddenly too dry for words.

Taking his arm and tightly holding it close to her chest, Zero Two leaned in close to whisper in a red-faced Hiro's ear. "Come on, darling… aren't you… hungry?"

"Well isn't that something." A dry voice cut through the air.

Zero Two yelped and immediately jumped away like she was burned, face bright red before Satsuki's smirk.

"No no, go on. It was just getting interesting."

Her blush grew brighter.

"Tch, leave them alone, Satsuki." Came Ryuko's voice as she walked around the corner.

The tall woman was abruptly subject to a sudden fit of coughs as she caught sight of Ryuko in a similar attire to Zero Two, and quickly turned away.

"Is that a nosebleed?" Hiro asked incredulously.

"No, it's not." Satsuki hissed.

Ryuko rolled her eyes and grabbed Satsuki's arm, dragging her past the other two. "C'mon, the food's getting cold."

A blushing Hiro held out his hand to an equally red Zero Two. She accepted his hand, and squealed as he suddenly pulled her close to his chest, his nose just barely touching her own. She could feel his hot breath against her lips and his scent suddenly grew tenfold.

"Gotta be careful with those heels. It'd be awful if you tripped." He whispered, staring deeply into her pale green eyes.

As her blush intensified, Hiro followed after the two sisters with a satisfied smirk.

Zero Two stared at Hiro expectantly. "How was it, darling?" She asked eagerly as he finished the last of his noodles.

Smiling brightly, Hiro nodded. "It was delicious!"

A massive smile spread across Zero Two's face. "Really!?" She squealed in happiness. "I'm so happy!"

Hiro laughed, opening his arms. Zero Two happily climbed into his lap, gently nuzzling her nose against his own.

Ryuko frowned at the two and glanced at Satsuki who was still slowly eating her noodles.

"No."

Ryuko rolled her eyes. "I didn't even say anything." She pouted.

"Th-Thank you very much!" Zero Two loudly said from her bow.

With a laugh, Ryuko gently pulled Zero Two into a hug. "I'm glad we've finally got to meet you, Zero Two." She smirked at the taller boy. "Hiro chose well."

"I know." Hiro simply replied, and grinned when Ryuko playfully punched his arm.

Satsuki stood in front of Zero Two, and silently offered her hand with a small smile. Beaming at the older woman, Zero Two happily accepted the handshake. Her eyes widened as Satsuki pulled her into a hug. "Take good care of him," a smiling Satsuki whispered into Zero Two's ear. "He deserves it."

"Of course." She quietly smiled back.

"See, Zero Two."

Zero Two slightly tilted her head up from Hiro's chest to look at him questioningly. After being driven back by Soroi, the two had decided to spend the rest of Sunday trying their best to do absolutely nothing and lie in bed.

"That wasn't so bad."

She lightly slapped his arm and closed her eyes again, pouting as his chest rumbled with laughter.

"That was mean, darling."

Hiro pressed a kiss against the top of her head, slowly running a hand up and down her arm in comforting strokes.

"I wanted to show you off." He smiled into her hair. "I love you, after all. And I want everyone to know that I love you. You mean too much to me for me not to."

She sighed happily, snuggling deeper into his warmth and reaching up to cup his cheek.

Gently turning his head down, Zero Two stretched up to catch his lips.