Discern and Perceive
Chapter Ten
Enjoy
Note: So….I'm taking some artistic license with Shiho, and I'm pretty okay with it at this point. Shiho is sort of not important/on the side in the anime but she's become pretty popular amongst fans, especially with DamageCtrl's "Let Justice Be Done" being such an amazing fic. Because she didn't have much dialogue and was quietly in the background she's often portrayed as shy and meek within the fandom. However! I have decided I like a Shiho that can be quiet and demure but is definitely, definitely, sassy. I think Yzak needs an equal, and with his strong personality that equal has to be tough.
X-_X-_X
"I want to take you out for breakfast," Cagalli says without opening her eyes. Athrun, still beside her buried in a tangled lump of limbs and blankets, moves around enough that she can tell he's awake.
Athrun gives a half-asleep huff of a laugh and asks, "Why?"
"Well, I hear humans occasionally have to eat to survive. A restaurant seems terribly civilized but I imagine we would manage it just fine."
Athrun laughs again, sounding much more awake. Absently, his hand that is tangled somewhere against her bare hip begins caressing patterns into the skin there.
"No, I mean," he leverages himself, clumsily, until he can drop a few uncoordinated kisses to her shoulder and neck. "Are you sure you want to get out of bed just yet?"
"Oh," Cagalli says, not without a touch of playfulness. "Oh."
They do eventually decide to go to breakfast.
X-_X-_X
"You owe me your firstborn child," Cagalli hears Miriallia shout when Cagalli opens the door to Milly's apartment noisily, keys jingling.
"Why?" Cagalli shouts back, readjusting the ball of cloth, formerly known as a respectable bridesmaid dress, which is clutched under her arm.
"Because," Miriallia comes around the kitchen and within sight, "Kira hardly noticed you were gone with all the excitement of the wedding right up until he and Lacus were getting waved off for their honeymoon and then he was half a heartbeat away from an anxiety attack until I told him that you'd gotten ill and that Athrun had taken you home."
"Did he believe that?" Cagalli asks. Guilt knaws at her a bit. She feels embarrassed now, and shallow, at leaving her brother's wedding early when she was only just finally getting to spend time with him. Not to mention his new wife, her new sister-in-law, had made Cagalli of all people a bridesmaid.
"Mostly."
Cagalli raises an eyebrow questioningly and toes off the sneakers she had worn before the service the previous day. "That doesn't sound promising."
"Yzak didn't help," Miriallia explains drying. "He was mentioning loudly about how convenient it was that you had been sick and Athrun was conveniently there to take you home where no one had conveniently mentioned who's home you'd be really going to. Lacus looked like she was enjoying it and Kira was oblivious to it, really."
Cagalli gave Milly a sheepish smile in return. She hadn't really expected anyone to lie for them, not that there was really any important reason for them to lie to begin with. It just seemed unnecessary to mention anything to Kira when all his focus should be on him and his new wife. The last thing Cagalli wanted was to be a distraction, or a source of resentment.
"Thanks, Miriallia," Cagalli says sincerely, "Maybe not my firstborn but I could definitely buy you lunch?"
"Of course," Milly agreed. She begins to turn absentmindedly back to the kitchen and waves a hand up over her head at Cagalli. "I have a thing or two to tell you as well."
As Milly's hand catches the light and Cagalli catches sight of the tell-tale glint of diamond she gasps and smirks. She had completely forgotten about the scene that she and Athrun had walked by the previous night.
"Miriallia! Congratulations!"
Milly pours Cagalli a cup of coffee. "Where's Dearka?" the blonde asks.
"Sleeping," Milly says grinning happily. Her previous brazenness is gone and she's looking at Cagalli almost shyly. "I never thought he'd actually do it, you know."
"Really?" Cagalli asks, genuinely surprised. "He's quite obvious about how taken he is with you. I've seen him needle Yzak because the other man picked up a phone call from Shiho during lunch and then dive into his own pocket a dozen times because he thinks his phone might have vibrated and he's missed your call."
Miriallia blushes. "Well, he's not always motivated."
Cagalli waves her on impatiently.
"He's wealthy, you know?" Milly starts. Cagalli nods, she's heard enough jokes about it between everyone that she's put it together easy enough.
"Well, he's never showed any concern about finding a career or moving out of his apartment with Yzak. Any mention of marriage or kids used to make him turn green."
"Maybe Kira's inspired him," Cagalli offers thoughtfully, "Kira seems to do that a bit."
"Maybe," Miriallia agrees. "At any rate, we haven't told anyone. I didn't want to disrupt Kira and Lacus' happy day, you know?"
"I understand," Cagalli says.
It's almost sickening how content the both of them are after that. Sitting in Miriallia's slightly rundown kitchen and sipping coffee, glancing at each other every now and then to laugh quite out of hand. Cagalli can't imagine ever being part of such a care free scene back in Orb. Around this time in the morning, even on a Sunday, she'd probably be arguing with someone, somewhere, about something. It seemed like in the last few months that was all her job had consisted of, if it even was her job anymore.
"Oh yeah," Milly says brilliantly a couple minutes later. "You might want to get cleaned up. Shiho said she was stopping over to interrogate you about what exactly you got up to last night. She said to ask you 'whether you had tried harder, yet'?"
Cagalli sighs and makes a half-hearted rude gesture. "I suppose there's not enough time to get the hell out of here is there?"
As if summoned there's an impatient knock at Miriallia's apartment door.
"Definitely not," Miriallia smirks. "Happy to be part of the December City gossip tree yet?"
X-_X-_X
"I told Yzak I was running out for milk, so I only have a few minutes for lunch," Shiho says once they all sit down in Requiem, Shiho tagging along for the celebratory lunch/interrogation.
"You told Yzak you were running out for milk?" Cagalli asks, incredulous. She laughs, and snorts into her menu at the laissez-faire gesture Shiho makes in return.
"He can stand waiting a bit."
"It's a half hour from Yzak's to mine," Miriallia points out, really just for the sake of it. She's seen Yzak and Shiho subject each other to weirder and harsher things, really.
"We're not at Yzak and Dearka's, we're at mine," Shiho says opening her own menu and seamlessly transitioning into, "Do you think the salmon would really be decent this time of year?"
Miriallia sucks in a breath before laughing openly. "That's an hour drive here from Janus City! Don't you think Yzak's going to notice eventually?"
Cagalli laughs with Miriallia, once again happy at how carefree she can be with them. In her mind she pictures how red-faced Yzak must be just then. Spluttering and ranting, wondering where Shiho is the entire time.
"Yzak can manage," Shiho dismisses. Her playful grin is hardly hidden for all her tone remains nonchalant.
The server that interrupts them to take their drink order and returns and takes their lunch order is young, and neither Miriallia nor Shiho greet her familiarly. Cagalli's surprised that there's citizens in December City that these new friends she seems to have gained don't know. The girl is kind, and when she flicks her hair out of the way when she retreats from the table she reminds Cagalli of one of the secretaries that works in her office pool.
It's sobering, so she turns her attention to Miriallia instead. "Did Dearka blush the whole time? He seems like a blusher."
"Thought he was going to drop the ring," Miriallia shrugs, "But he actually seemed rather sure of himself. Confident."
"That couldn't have anything to do with you guys being together for nearly eight years already could it?" Shiho asks dryly.
Cagalli grins, leaning forward to sip at her water as Shiho and Miriallia spend a moment bickering good naturedly. They may have been together for a long time but Cagalli hadn't heard too much from Milly about Dearka before she had come to December City herself. She'd seen some pictures here and there, had Milly mention a thing or two back when they still vid-called regularly right out of college. Miriallia always seemed overprotective of the relationship in some way. Worried. Anxious.
"He's not terribly original though, proposing at a wedding, is he?" Shiho is saying. Cagalli turns her attention back to her friends. The café is filling steadily around them.
Milly rolls her eyes, sharing an amused glance with Cagalli. "I'm just happy that he proposed at all, okay?"
Shiho smiles, genuinely. Behind the good-natured snark she carries with her, Miriallia is one of her oldest adult friends and she cares for her greatly. "I am really happy for you."
"Thanks," Miriallia says, almost shy. She smiles and turns to her drink as well.
Shiho sits back in her chair, satisfied to share quiet smiles with her friend for just a moment. After a beat she leans forward to say, "Even if you've now destined yourself to picking up after a slobby man and changing diapers and vacuuming cat hair off your furniture."
"I can see you and Yzak must be planning marriage soon, then," Cagalli chimes in dryly.
"Marriage isn't always like that, you know," Milly retorts, exasperated. "And where is this mysterious cat coming from? I don't even own one. Dearka's allergic, I don't think a cat is in our future."
Mercifully, Shiho leaves Milly alone once their food arrives, and Cagalli only picks at her food, having had breakfast with Athrun just a few hours earlier. It had been at a place just the block over, actually. Athrun smiled sweetly when they'd kissed goodbye out front of the restaurant. He had tasted like cinnamon.
"I remember that look," Milly says, staring pointedly at Cagalli and bringing the other girl back out of her reminiscence. Milly mimed wide eyes and romantic sighs.
Cagalli senses what's coming next and her spine tenses. She searches for something to say. "Looks like Andrew Walfield isn't in today."
"Probably still hung over from the wedding," Shiho says, confidently. "I imagine the second rounds of shots after wrestling the microphone away from the wedding singer did him in good."
Cagalli makes an amused noise but she's not let off the hook that easily.
"If you're thinking of Andrew Waltfield after spending a night with Athrun Zala then my esteem for the man is going to quickly decline."
"I'm not talking about last night," Cagalli says firmly.
"A new relationship can be nerve wracking, you might want to talk about it," Miriallia tries.
"I'm not talking about last night," Cagalli repeats.
"You should be considerate towards the people that might need to live vicarious through you and your devious sexual exploits," Shiho tries.
"I'm really not talking about last night."
Shiho makes a 'harrumphing' noise and Milly giggles around a spoon full of soup. Twenty minutes later and threats to many of her body parts courtesy of Shiho Cagalli grudgingly comments that "Yes, the night was great. No, you don't deserve details. Yes, Athrun is great."
Shiho rolls her eyes, mimicking Milly well, after the few terse statements. "I'm going to have to train you up better. That was lousy. It really wouldn't kill you to learn to use adjectives."
Milly needles Cagalli a bit more, Shiho making lascivious slurs at every opportunity, until they eventually move on to neutral topics. They've discussed Christmas plans for the coming holiday, only two days away now. Cagalli is following Milly to Dearka and Yzak's where the rest of the group is apparently gathering. That led to a critique of Yzak's eating habits by Shiho, and a humorous story about the former Christmas courtesy of Milly.
"Seriously," Milly is laughing, "We thought Dearka had electrocuted himself and then all the lights went out at once. The breaker blew."
Shiho's phone lights up on the table top. It buzzes its way towards the edge until Shiho lets out a bored sigh and picks it up to look at the caller ID. "It's Yzak."
"Only took two hours," Cagalli says, genuinely impressed. Her impression of Yzak was not of patience.
"Well," Shiho digs in her purse and lets a few bills drop down onto the table. "I have to stop and at least think of buying milk some place now. I'll see you two soon enough."
"Bye." Milly and Cagalli call in unison.
Moments later, when they've finished the rest of their meals and the familiar looking waitress is waving them out the door Cagalli turns to Milly, shuffling her feet a bit.
Milly only watches Cagalli kick at the snow pile for so long before she says, "What?"
"I didn't want to say before," Cagalli says, grimacing and feeling her face pull up into that frown she gets when she's forced to talk about something uncomfortable. "But doesn't everyone realize I have to go home soon?"
"Of course we know you have to go home soon," Milly chides. "We're not that forgetful."
Cagalli sighs and they pick their way across the snowy streets. Cagalli keeps her hands in her pockets and knows that she's throwing up defensive signals, but unable to stop herself from doing so.
"Do you mean, does Athrun realize you have to go home eventually?" Miriallia ventures as they cross around a blue mini-van, the children in the back are drawing rude things into the condensation of the windows.
"Yeah, mostly." Cagalli admits. "Shiho calls it a relationship but really we haven't gotten past the 'let's spend some time with one another' part. And, you've met me, I'm not really the best at good-byes."
Milly furrows her brow, her stomach tugging uncomfortably. She knows a lot of what's happened in her friend's life, even if they hadn't been in the best of communication until recently. She knows what Cagalli means by rough good-byes.
"I think you should talk to Athrun about this. He's not the sort that's going to push aside your questions or your worries as meaningless. He's a really great guy."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me," Cagalli says, sighing and stewing a bit as they make their way up the steps of Milly's building. "That's what I'm worried about."
Miriallia makes a noise that's supposed to be comforting. But, like most people, other people's pain is often awkward and while she wishes she knew what to tell the blonde to make her feel better, there's not much she can think of.
Cagalli shrugs, trying to do away with the serious air that's settled around them. "I'll just add it to the list of things I don't want to think about."
X-_X-_X
In retrospect, Cagalli is surprised that she and Athrun had made it to the couch. There was a long moment of time where, in between attempting to undo Athrun's belt buckle and letting him mouth along her collarbone, Cagalli had leaned precariously over Athrun's chic, glass coffee table. Half a step from tripping over it she hadn't cared much. After all, the way Athrun stroked and caressed at her bare skin was more than distracting.
She hadn't done much more than knock when she'd arrived. Athrun had opened the door and then one or both of them had reached forward and the next moment they were pressed against one another, sinking into each other's curves. Athrun had muttered something about nosy neighbors as he fumbled to shut the door and then Cagalli had found herself pressed, hard, against flat wall.
The part that Cagalli finds most astounding is the way that Athrun's presence utterly distracts her. His nearness provokes a slow burn that starts in her extremities and slides smoothly down to her core. His scent, the heat his body gives off, the sound of his breath so close to her—all of it takes her away from her common sense.
With all of her worries Cagalli shouldn't be able to let herself go like she does. Athrun shouldn't be able to chase away all her thoughts the way he does. However, the evidence is before her. It's long after deep, invasive kisses and limbs being pulled frantically together that Cagalli comes back anywhere near her senses.
Cagalli arches her back up a bit, lifting her head up from soft planes of Athrun's chest. "Hi," Cagalli says, dryly. She doesn't think they had actually managed to get the word out when she arrived. One moment she had been standing. The next, she had been flying.
Athrun chuckles and the sound reverberates through the pieces of Athrun that Cagalli is stretched out on. She can feel his humor vibrate up and in to her. "Hi," he says back. He smiles.
Cagalli sighs. "You're a horrible influence."
"Am not," Athrun manages, mock petulant.
Cagalli gets up and off the couch; none too carefully as Athrun winces in response to the elbow in his abdomen. She manages to pull a few pieces of clothing up and on, enough to convince herself that she feels decent.
"Do you know Shiho told Yzak she was going out for milk and then was gone for three hours?" Cagalli asks humorously, nudging at Athrun's legs until he makes room for her to sit
"That's nothing," Athrun snorts. He stretches as if his only care in life is how much skin he can put on display. Cagalli doesn't mind admitting that she's caught up in the sight. "One time Yzak put a nail in her car tire because they got into an argument about who would be more prepared if they broke down. Shiho still won."
Cagalli laughs loudly. "I thought I had all the crazy in the world back home. You guys seem to have it in spades."
Athrun groans and makes himself sit up, noisily re-fastening his pants. "Everyone's got some crazy, somewhere."
"Even you?"
"Even me."
Cagalli leans forward to kiss him, giving in to temptation and running a hand down the chest she had been laid against only a few moments prior. "What's your favorite color?"
Athrun barks a laugh against her lips. "Bright blue."
"Least favorite holiday?"
"My birthday."
"Odd, but I'll accept it. Favorite article of clothing?"
"Socks," Athrun replies, just because.
Cagalli hums and sits back. She smiles at Athrun and kicks her foot against his own. She eyes him as he tugs his shirt back on.
"Are we interviewing one another? I'm betting you have more practice."
"No," Cagalli says absently. "Just getting to know you. You know, all the important things."
Athrun laughs again, mimicking Cagalli's mock-serious look. "There are other ways to get to know one another."
"What," Cagalli retorts, "Like greeting one another at the door? Because that seemed to escalate quickly."
Athrun gives her a measured look. The low lighting makes him look mischievous, and for the first time Cagalli realizes there's music playing lightly in the background. "Come away with me next weekend."
"Hm, I don't know," Cagalli crosses her arms, "I'm awfully busy these days."
"I'm serious," Athrun says, sincere, grabbing up her hand and holding it between his. "I told you about Silvermoon Lake. My family has a cabin up there, we could go for the weekend, before everyone starts getting busy with the new year."
"Do you think we could survive, just the two of us like that?"
"You've got to give us more credit, two days in a cabin with, frankly, a moody heating system, is nothing. We can do that easy."
"Okay," Cagalli says, though she pulls her hands out of Athrun's and leans back. "I'm on vacation after all, aren't I? Cabins are what people do on vacations aren't they?"
"And fall into bed with their brother's handsome friends," Athrun jokes.
"How gross, Zala," Cagalli says with perfect seriousness. "I'm not sleeping with Dearka!"
Athrun's eyes crinkle at the corner when he laughs, and it's an open and honest sound. Cagalli wishes she could meet more people who could be so upfront with themselves like Athrun is. She feels warm again, tender like she's been pulled into an embrace. It inspires her, and she leans forward and sinks down into Athrun's arms, nudging them wide to make room for herself.
"Want to go to Janus City with me tomorrow?" Athrun asks, "I have a few things to get before Tuesday."
"Sounds good." Cagalli agrees.
It's a little worrying, to Cagalli, how content she feels to just lie in someone's space, breathing the same air as them, feeling every little move and breath that they make. She almost wants to reprimand herself; tell herself that there's a trade agreement to work on somewhere, or a diplomat to impress and cajole into her own political agenda.
She doesn't do any of that though.
Cagalli stays the night at Athrun's again. They have crackers and cheese for dinner sat in front of Athrun's TV in a pile of blankets. Later, they go back to Athrun's bed together, again. Cagalli doesn't think of going home the entire time.
X-_X-_X
A short chapter, but a quick update; so I think that evens out. I have quite a few plans for events here on out and they're start in the next chapter I think.
Hope you've enjoyed this new chapter (Even though I think the new rating has chased some people away :x )
-AS