Already before she had gotten married, Michiru hadn't been a big fan of Valentine's Day; she'd always considered it a bit of a sham, a day during which people who often didn't care much for romantic gestures during the rest of the year suddenly decided that flowers and chocolate and a fancy dinner were in order now.
Perhaps, she reflected as she sat next to her husband in the limousine, silence between them, her cynical opinion about this certain day could be blamed on her parents; after all, she only had ever seen her father present her mother with gifts during a few select occasions – Valentine's Day, her birthday, and whenever he had done something to upset her and had bought his way out of it.
Well, not that your own marriage is so much better, she then thought to herself, briefly glancing at the back of Haruka's head; they had taken her limousine for this trip to one of the more expensive restaurants in town, and she couldn't help herself, but just had to wonder what Haruka was thinking right now, driving both of them, the woman she was sleeping with regularly and said woman's husband.
If Haruka had any thoughts about this, she was remarkably good at keeping them from showing through her expression; and neither did her voice show any emotion as she parked the limousine at the restaurant a short while later, letting them know that they had arrived before she got out of the car to open the door for Michiru.
"Your driver's remarkably good", her husband commented as they entered the restaurant together, making her ask herself if he actually knew that Haruka was more than a driver to her or if he somehow still had no idea, "a safe driver. Good to know, seeing how often you have her take you somewhere."
Something in his tone at the last few words convinced her did he did know something; not giving him the satisfaction of reacting in any way to the implication though, she merely smiled her fake polite smile at him, her voice perfectly neutral when she replied. "Of course she is. I do want to arrive at my destinations safely, my dear."
He smiled frostily in response, then moved his attention from her to the man responsible for greeting the new guests and checking their reservations; after he had given his name, and the guy had in response checked his little black book, he nodded, then asked them to follow them, leading them to one of the more discreet booths of the restaurant, waiting until they had sat down before he handed them the menus and let them know that a waiter would be there shortly to take their drink orders and inform them about the night's specials.
Again, silence formed between them as they both looked at the menu; they were interrupted by the waiter, listening to the list of chef's recommendations and specials, then giving him their drink order before they both went back to studying the available meals, Michiru finding herself somewhat distracted as she kept thinking of Haruka, knowing the blonde was waiting in the car for her, probably reading a book or listening to music.
She'd much prefer to be there with her, she thought to herself, finally settling on something to eat; her husband decided shortly after her, signalling this by putting the menu down, the waiter smiling politely as he brought their drinks and asked if they were ready to order.
"I have something for you", her husband let her know the moment the man was out of earshot again; he reached into his pocket, then brought out a small jewellery box, not really surprising her, but still she forced herself to smile in response, telling herself that it was the polite thing to do.
She accepted the box as he held it out to her, and opened it; it didn't really surprise her that he had given her earrings, and neither was it surprising that they matched the bracelet he had gifted her with a few weeks ago, even though it briefly did make her wonder if he had bought a full set and had a necklace stowed away somewhere, for the next occasion or for the next time he'd have to apologize for something.
"Thank you", she said out loud, voicing none of these thoughts, "they are very lovely. I have something for you, too."
She peered into her bag, reaching for one of the two packages, then changing her mind in the last second; she wasn't quite sure what made her give him the gift which wasn't actually intended for him, but he seemed quite happy with the cufflinks once he had gotten a good look at them, giving her the first genuine smile of the evening.
"Not that I want to cut our time short", he then said, after the waiter briefly had interrupted them again to serve the first course, "but I'm afraid I have to leave right after dessert. My driver has been instructed to pick me up, so you won't have to come along to my… business appointment."
"That's very considerate of you", Michiru gave back, now with a frosty smile of her own, signalling that she had seen through his rather pathetic lie at once, but was aware enough of the people around them to not say anything which would reveal their little arrangement to them, "I hope you will enjoy your… business."
He cleared his throat in response, his cheeks reddening, forcing her to hold back a sardonic smirk; without further comment, she began to eat, and after another moment of regaining his composure, he did so, as well, trying to entertain her with mindless small talk as they ate, both of them trying their best to not let it show how much they wanted to be somewhere – and with someone – else.
Just as her husband had announced, he asked for the check right after the last bite of dessert had been swallowed; and once he had paid, he almost rushed off, remembering in the last second that it might be suspicious if he left without showing the slightest bit of affection to his wife, thus kissing her quickly on the cheek before he wished her a nice evening and strode out of the restaurant.
Momentarily, Michiru was angry at him, annoyed that he couldn't even wait long enough to leave together with her, make it look less as if he was running away from her; then, she pushed those feelings aside, telling herself that it meant she'd have more time she could spend with Haruka, the thought forcing her to hold back a smile as she walked outside.
The moment she stepped out onto the sidewalk, the valet came hurrying over; she instructed him on which limousine was hers, then waited as he scurried away to inform her driver that she was ready to go, and a short while later, the limousine pulled up to the curb and Haruka got out, smirking when she saw that her husband was nowhere in sight, not making a comment though, merely holding the door open for her again.
"To the pier?" she then asked, after she had gotten back into the driver's seat; briefly, Michiru considered taking her home instead, figuring that her husband wouldn't be home for the night and that she could as well make use of that by taking Haruka to her bedroom, then decided against it – there was no guarantee after all that her husband wouldn't come home, and she wasn't really interested on having him catch them in bed, not after how she had reacted the last time he had brought his lover there.
Thus, she just nodded, taking a quick look into her bag afterwards to make sure the second gift was still there; focused on the road, Haruka noticed nothing of this, only glancing at her through the rear view mirror once she had to stop at a red light.
"Did you ditch your husband at the restaurant?" she wanted to know, an amused twinkle in her eyes; for a second, Michiru almost held the laughter which wanted to escape her at hearing this back, then remembered what Haruka had said about how she had a beautiful laugh and let it out instead, the way the blonde immediately smiled in response making her feel even happier than she was already.
"No", she then let her driver know, "he sort of ditched me. Right after we'd finished dessert, claiming he had a business appointment. I told him that I hope he will enjoy his business and he blushed bad enough to make me fear he's suffering an aneurysm."
At this, Haruka snorted, the noise being enough to make Michiru giggle again; the blonde glanced at her through the rear view mirror once more, giving her a warm and tender smile so different to the ones she had seen on her husband's face during the dinner that it made her heart clench up, and once more, she asked herself why she had let her parents bully her into this sham of a marriage, why she couldn't have met Haruka earlier, if perhaps, she would have been able to withstand the constant talks and nagging if she'd had the blonde by her side.
Then, she decided that this wasn't the right time for such thoughts, and that she should enjoy what was left of Valentine's Day with Haruka as much as she could; after all, it was too late now to change things, so she'd have to make the best of it, and if that included that her Valentine's Day would end with her having sex in the back of the car with the blonde, she figured that this was the best she could ask for her in her situation.
Glancing out the window, she thought of the gift she had gotten for Haruka again, suddenly oddly nervous as she wondered if the blonde would like it; it had been expensive, like her gifts usually were, and the people she usually gave them to never had a problem with that, quite fond of giving expensive stuff, themselves, but she knew that Haruka wasn't comfortable with it, remembering well how the taller woman had reacted when she had insisted on buying her the suit she was wearing this very moment.
Hoping that, due to the special occasion, her gift would be accepted, Michiru looked out the window again as Haruka drove; and a short while later, they had arrived at the pier, the blonde parking the limousine before she took off her cap, then got out and held the door open for her, earning a smile from the smaller woman as she got out of the car.
"I got you something", she stated, belatedly realizing that perhaps, it would have been better to give her this while still in the car, where they were safe from curious eyes and she could have handed the gift over along with a kiss, "I hope you'll like it. Happy Valentine's Day."
She reached into her purse and brought out the gift, a slim, oblong box wrapped in pretty, dark blue paper; momentarily, Haruka looked surprised, then, to Michiru's relief, delighted, smiling as she accepted the gift, the artist nodding when she asked if she could open it right away.
"Oh wow", she said, stunned, as she opened the box and got a good view at the gift; with exceeding care, she took the wristwatch out of the box, getting a closer look at it, immediately able to tell that it hadn't been cheap.
"Please don't worry about the price", Michiru said, before Haruka had the chance to make a comment about this; the blonde gave her a wry smirk in reply, but didn't try to give the present back, instead delighting Michiru by taking off the rather cheap watch she had worn so far and replacing it with the new one.
"Thank you", she said once she had put the new watch on and had stowed hers away in the pocket of her slacks, "it looks great. Uhm, I got you something, too, well, kind of…"
Michiru had a second to wonder how Haruka could have "kind of" gotten her something, then the blonde was vaguely gesturing down the pier, asking her to walk with her; curious now, the artist just nodded, and they got moving, Michiru's gaze moving back and forth as she tried to figure out what Haruka might have gotten for her.
"It's a good thing you wanted to come here", her driver commented, distracting her from glancing around, "because if you'd wanted to go somewhere else, that would have made getting the present to you difficult."
"You're making me more and more curious", Michiru told her, half amused, half scolding, "what is it?"
"Well", Haruka stalled, making her raise an eyebrow, "I had no idea what to buy you. I didn't want to get flowers or jewellery or chocolate, cause that's so cliché, but then, what does one get a woman who can buy anything which catches her fancy? So I came up with something else instead."
She looked up ahead, searching, then seemed to spot whatever she had been looking for, since her face lit up; and then, she waved, Michiru only feeling more curious as a young, slim woman waved back, then approached them, smiling shyly while Haruka was grinning happily.
"Michiru, this is Ami", she then introduced, "Ami, Michiru. Remember that friend I mentioned, with the flower shop? I met Ami through her, she's a med student, but she's also a hobby photographer, so I thought we could get a picture of us here, at your favourite place… I mean, you can't put it on your nightstand or something, but…"
"That's a lovely idea", Michiru reassured her, before she could ramble herself into reasons for why this was a bad idea, "and very thoughtful."
"I'm glad you like it", Haruka gave back, her cheeks reddening slightly, a sight so adorable that Michiru wanted to grab and kiss her right there; instead, she just smiled, aware of the people around, then gestured at the far end of the pier, asking if this would be a good spot, with the ocean right behind them.
"Wherever you want it", Haruka told her, "luckily, it's after sundown, so we won't need to worry about the glare or something, right, Ami?"
"Right", Ami nodded, still appearing nervous, running one hand through her short blue hair; hoping to calm her down, Michiru smiled at her, but this only seemed to make things worse, the younger woman blushing again and clearing her throat before she asked if they were ready to go over there, then.
Nodding, Michiru led the way this time, Haruka by her side and Ami right behind them; it didn't take long for them to reach the far end of the pier, Ami keeping a bit of a distance so she wouldn't be too close for a proper picture, giving them a minute to find a pose comfortable for both of them.
Momentarily, Michiru worried about being too openly affectionate with Haruka, out here in public, where anyone might see; then, she realized that the other people at the pier, few as there were, were quite far away thanks to their location, and weren't paying attention to them, anyway, surprising the taller woman moments later as she made her decision and practically snuggled up to her, the blonde getting over her surprise quickly though and putting both arms around her.
Smiling up at her, Michiru reciprocated, turning slightly in her embrace so she could wrap one arm around her waist, her other hand finding a comfortable position on her chest, right above her heart; and as they smiled at each other, Ami started taking pictures, not bothering to give them any instructions, simply letting them stand and act as they wanted, knowing it would look much more natural and genuine that way.
As she felt Haruka's hand tenderly rub her back, Michiru forgot all about the other people, suddenly overwhelmed with desire and something else, something she didn't dare to name yet; had it been anyone else, she would have ignored the sudden need burning within her, but Haruka once again made her drop all caution and limitations, and before she could think too much about it, she acted on the impulse, surprising the blonde once more by pulling her down for a tender kiss.
They both were mindful enough of the camera and the people around to not let it deepen, and to not let it go on for too long; still Michiru's heart was racing in her chest as she pulled back, barely registering the click of the camera as Ami shot another pic, unable to take her eyes off Haruka.
"Happy Valentine's Day", the blonde murmured to her, her voice even lower and huskier than usual, making Michiru's knees feel decidedly weak; she just managed another smile and a nod in reply, then cleared her throat as she noticed Ami lowering her camera from the corner of her eye, the younger girl not paying any attention to them though as she now was busy checking the pictures she had taken.
"I'll email them to you, like we said", she then told Haruka, making the blonde nod; and even though Michiru was thankful that Ami had been willing to make time for this, apparently without pay, she was grateful when afterwards, goodbyes were said and they parted ways, all at once eager to get back to the car – and to a secluded place, where they could properly celebrate Valentine's Day, for the first time in her life understanding why this certain day was so special to so many people.