"You're late," Mary huffed, puffing her cheeks up at him, and Seto did his best to look intimidated, which was difficult, because right now she looked far more adorable than scary.

In his best attempt at appearing contrite, he glanced towards the clock on the wall, doing his best to bite back a laugh. "Ah, is that right? I guess I lost track of time."

That wasn't true, of course. He'd stayed after work to help a coworker finish up, despite the fact that he'd already promised to be home in time to try Mary's first attempt at making dinner- something he'd entirely forgotten about. But he couldn't tell her that. She'd pout even more if she knew, and then he'd definitely laugh.

Her grumpy expression didn't fade, unaffected by his attempt at an excuse. Seto had to look away to unlace his shoes, and when he looked back he was struck all over again by how hilariously cute her attempt at a glare was. He chuckled.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Lemme make it up to you, okay?"

Her mouth twisted sideways, her eyebrows lifting in an expression that said all too clearly 'I'm listening', and he had to laugh again, taking her by surprise as he hooked one arm under her knees and the other around her back, sweeping her off her feet. She squeaked, startled, and he offered, "I'll give ya one kiss for each hour I was late. How's that?"

She looked like she was considering it, so he threw another glance towards the clock and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.

"One."

Mary's cheeks went pink and she looked like she was trying not to laugh, clinging to his shirt as though she was afraid he would drop her. He kissed her other cheek.

"Two."

This time she did giggle, fidgeting in his arms as he leaned down for a last kiss.

"Thr—"

"Stop, stop, you're embarrassiiiiing," she whined, pushing at his chin as he kissed the tip of her nose. Her face was aflame with embarrassment, and he couldn't help laughing, pressing kisses to both her palms, even though by now there were way more kisses than hours. She didn't seem like she minded, though.