A/N: As always, thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows!

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Sunday evenings were one of the few times during the week that I was guaranteed to see the Moyashi. She always came over for dinner and a movie, no matter how much schoolwork she had to do. Sometimes she'd pick a movie she'd already seen so that she could get her homework done, and sometimes she'd actually give me her complete attention and we'd end up in bed together before we ever got to the movie. We played it by ear and I let her make the decisions. I was just happy that she was there with me, even if it wasn't guaranteed that she would spend the night.

This particular Sunday, I was definitely hoping for sex. We'd had a great Valentine's date, but it had been a weeknight, so I was really hoping that tonight would be our substitute Valentine's Day. It didn't help that she wasn't feeling well and we hadn't been together at all the weekend before. I really wanted to sleep with my girlfriend. And it was probably with that thought in mind that I had cleaned the apartment and ordered her favorite pizza.

But any hopes I had were dashed the moment that Allison walked through the door.

She was clearly stressed about something and looked like she hadn't slept in the last few days. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was even paler than usual. It worried me to see her like that, and if I hadn't already ordered the pizza, I might have sent her home. On the other hand, if she was that stressed, it was possible that she wasn't eating properly, and it would be good for her to sit down and have a decent meal.

We made small talk while we waited for the pizza, though I'm sure that to an outside observer, it would have looked more like an awkward first date than like we'd been together for years. The Moyashi was usually more than willing to chatter on and fill the silence between us, but tonight she was quiet. We could barely keep a topic going for more than three sentences. I often found the Moyashi's constant chattering irritating, so I didn't mind the lulls in the conversation, but I found the fact that she was so stressed out that she couldn't even hold a proper conversation to be very worrisome.

Allison remained quiet even after the pizza arrived. She never once tried to talk with food in her mouth. And that was so strange that I had to find out what was going on. This was about more than her classes if she was that freaked out. "What's wrong, Moyashi?"

She frowned, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to fake a smile and deny that she was stressed, but then she sighed. "There's something I need to tell you, but I don't know how to say it."

I was immediately on edge. From the way she worded her response, this could only be about our relationship. I was pretty sure that she wasn't breaking up with me, but beyond that, I had no clue what she wanted to discuss. And while I wanted to press for answers, I knew that what the Moyashi needed was some space; if this was as serious as it sounded, pushing for an explanation would only piss her off. "Why don't we turn on the movie? It'll give you some quiet time to collect your thoughts, and then we can talk once you're ready. There's no need for you to push yourself."

"Thank you." Her eyes watered, and I had to resist the urge to scoff at how emotional she was getting over something so simple.

We got comfortable on the couch as we pulled up our movie. I hit play and she cuddled closer to me, confirming my earlier guess that she wasn't breaking up with me and easing my nerves. I turned my focus on the movie, but I was pulled back to reality before the opening credits finished. Allison's weight on my left side had suddenly gotten really heavy, and when I turned to look at her, I found that the brat Moyashi had fallen asleep.

I sighed in exasperation, but I still turned off the movie and carried her to bed. If she was as exhausted as she looked, it was best to let her sleep. She'd probably be pissed that she ended up staying the night at my place, but I wasn't about to wake her.

She not only slept through the night, but she slept through her alarm. I managed to shut the damn thing off, but she never budged, even though the noise was more obnoxious than a fire alarm. I debated rolling over and going back to sleep, leaving the Moyashi to catch up on the sleep she clearly still needed, but I knew she'd be livid if she missed her morning class. It took me a bit to wake her, and when I finally succeeded, she was predictably pissed off. Her anger at me quickly turned to anger at herself when she realized she was running late, and the next few minutes were a blur as I watched her rush about getting ready to leave.

It was amusing, but curiosity had been eating me alive since the night before, and I couldn't let her leave without telling me what was going on. So when she dropped her keys on the way out, I made sure that I beat her to them. I distracted her with a goodbye kiss, which I knew I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn't stolen her keys, and then I asked her about it as casually as I possibly could. "What was it that you wanted to talk about last night?"

The Moyashi turned beat red and looked like she was going to grab her keys and run off, but instead, she bit her lip and frowned at the floor. I knew the second she opened her mouth to talk that the answer she was about to give me wasn't the truth, or at least, it wasn't the whole truth; Allison was a skilled liar, but she would never lie to my face like this. Whatever she was about to tell me may have been bothering her, but it wasn't what was stressing her out so much. "My family's coming into town this weekend. They want to have dinner with us Friday night so that they can meet you. It's no big deal. I'll try to get us out of it. They-"

I cut her off with a kiss. I didn't know why she was freaked out about that of all things. I was incredibly willing to finally meet her family, and I was certain that we had discussed it multiple times before, so I gently reminded her of that. "Moyashi. I'm more than happy to go. I want to meet your family. You know that. You've spent several long weekends with my family, and I've only met a couple of your cousins. I want to meet the others."

She let out a snort of derision before sweeping out the door. "You'll regret that decision once you've met them."