Hiro hadn't really known what to do after he left Zero Two's room after kissing her. He could barely believe he had kissed her. Just kissed her, no fanfare, no wild lead up, just kissed her because he wanted to, and he could.
If he thought about it, it was probably the first time he had done something like that. He had never been confident enough to really initiate a kiss with his previous girlfriend, instead just going along with whatever she had wanted.
Now, he was conflicted. He knew he had definitely enjoyed it but had no idea if Zero Two had. He had just left afterwards, not staying to see her reaction. Logically, she couldn't have been opposed to it. She had tried to kiss him multiple times before and even succeeded if his memory of the night they met was reliable. Still, he continued to question and worry about it for the rest of the day until he met Zero Two for dinner.
As soon as she saw him, she burst into a wide smile, dazzling him with her earnest beauty, before running up to him, throwing her arms around him, and locking their lips together. He jerked in surprise, but Zero Two refused to let him go, instead kissing him again with the same amount of enthusiasm. A second later, he gave in, returning Zero Two's kiss, which made her hum happily, pressing herself more firmly against him.
At some point, Hiro remembered that he had wanted dinner, leading to him gently pulling away from his eager girlfriend, who slowly released him. He also remembered that they were in a somewhat public place. He quickly glanced around the door common room, relieved to see it empty.
"Hello Darling," Zero Two said quietly, staring him in the eye with fervor in her own. "I missed you." Hiro had to force himself to remain calm and collected.
"Hi," he said, not sure what else to do. "Do you want to go eat?"
"Of course," Zero Two said immediately, dragging him into the elevator. Hiro was quickly catching onto the fact that there was little Zero Two loved more than food. "I've been waiting all day for this; I'm starving." Hiro stopped short at her words.
"Are you saying you haven't eaten anything all day?" he asked her, to which she immediately shook her head.
"Nope, I wanted to make sure I could eat with you, so I skipped lunch."
"Zero Two, you can't do just do that, you need to eat, especially after everything last night and this morning. You must be starving." Right on cue, her stomach growled audibly, though she just smiled at him.
"It's sweet that you care, Darling, but I'm okay. Besides, we're going to eat now, so it doesn't matter," she said, trying to gloss over the topic.
Hiro couldn't let it go though. "No, it does matter. This isn't the first time you've done this either, is it? I remember the other day when I…asked you out…you ran straight for the dining hall afterwards. How many meals did you miss then?" Now Zero Two didn't make eye contact, instead walking out the opening elevator, trying to escape Hiro's probing questions.
"I'm fine, Darling, you don't have to worry about me," she said, her voice slightly hostile towards him.
"Yes, I do!" Hiro exclaimed, finally raising his voice. "You're my girlfriend now, and that means I get to worry about you, which includes making sure you're eating properly. You won't do yourself any favors by skipping meals." He could tell he wasn't making any headway, forcing him to play the card he knew would work and that he had wanted to avoid.
"Look, if you promise to eat three meals every day this week, I promise I'll do anything you want next weekend." That got her attention.
"Anything?" she asked lowly, looking at him like she might a juicy piece of meat. Hiro quickly amended his words.
"Okay, no, not anything. I reserve the right to say no to anything too crazy."
"Aww, you're no fun. I know you want me, Darling," Zero Two said teasingly, resuming their walk towards the dining hall. "But something? You promise?"
"I promise," he said, ignoring the feeling that he was dooming himself with the words. The smile that lit up her face quickly discarded any worries he had.
"Deal. I get to eat tasty food and you're all mine this weekend. You know, you do the silliest things, Darling," she said cheerily.
"If it gets you to eat properly, I have no problem with that," he said, savoring his small victory as Zero Two grabbed his hand and dragged him off towards dinner.
Tuesday rolled around, and Kokoro was surprised to hear the campus buzzing about Hiro and Zero Two dating. Not that she was surprised that they had gotten together, that had seemed all but inevitable to her. She was more surprised when three of her friends had texted her asking if it was true.
She would have thought Hiro would want to keep their relationship at least somewhat private, given his general timidity. She also knew what kind of reputation Zero Two had. The two factors combined would logically lead to them keeping the fact that they were dating quiet.
Or not, given that they had practically announced it to the student body as they were walking to dinner a few days ago. Since then, people had quietly been discussing it, wondering how the party-oriented, never-to-be-tied down Zero Two had gotten attached to Hiro, a quiet, slightly nerdy nobody.
"What's so funny?" Mitsuru asked Kokoro as she giggled quietly, the couple walking to their next classes hand in hand.
"Just thinking about Hiro and Zero Two. Seems the whole campus knows about them dating."
"Yeah, great," Mitsuru grumbled, letting go of his girlfriend's hand and shoving his hands in his pockets, his expression darkening.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that," Kokoro said, pulling on her much taller boyfriend's arm. "You always have a problem with Hiro. You should stop being mean to him and be happy for him."
"Happy for him? Happy that something else landed in his lap so that he can throw it away? He's brilliant but has no aspirations. He's got all of us for friends but acts like it just him alone. And now, he's got a hot girlfriend who chose him over literally hundreds of other guys. Mark my words, it won't be her that screws their relationship up, it's going to be him. I don't know how, but he'll find a way to screw it up. He always does." Mitsuru stormed off, shoulders hunched and a scowl on his face.
Kokoro couldn't do anything other than watch him go. She had seen him in enough of his moods to know when he needed time to cool off. He'd come around and be the sweet man she loved again. Still, she couldn't really understand why he was so annoyed with Hiro. The taller boy used to look up to Hiro when they were younger, until one day they barely associated with each other. Kokoro had tried to figure out why for years, but Mitsuru would never explain his exact reasoning.
Kokoro sighed, resigning to the fact that the mystery of their shattered friendship would be left unanswered. She personally thought Hiro deserved to have Zero Two. They both seemed lonely to her; at least, that was the impression she had gotten from Zero Two the few times they had met. She hoped they could be happy together. And that they never heard about the growing betting pool about when and how they would break up.
The day he had made his promise to go along with whatever Zero Two wanted on the weekend, Hiro had felt a horrible sense of doom. At the time, he had brushed it off, attributing it to nerves at the most. Now, on a nice Saturday just past noon, being dragged through the mall on the promise of shopping, he was horrified to find that he was right.
"Come on Darling, no dragging behind. You said whatever I wanted, now you're going to live by that," Zero Two said, tugging his arm as she made a beeline towards a small store.
"I know, I'm coming," Hiro groaned, resigned to his fate. Shopping was far from his favorite thing to do, but he supposed it was a good way to spend time with Zero Two away from school, where they tended to have a lot of prying eyes on them, for some reason. Plus, this could be a good way to see her in some cute clothes. Not that the short denim shorts and blue-black shirt that she was wearing, along with her hair tied back and usual headband, wasn't already cute.
"Ooo, look at those shoes," she said, stopping to look through a window at a pair of low heels that looked like every other pair of heels to Hiro. Still, he bobbed his head idly, enjoying watching the girl next to him get excited about everything. She dragged him from window to window, brimming with childish excitement, practically running as she zipped around. If it hadn't been for Hiro holding her back, she probably would have been.
They went into a few stores, Zero Two browsing the racks as Hiro ambled around, looking at whatever interested him. Zero Two seemed to be interested in a little bit of everything, from novelty tees to lacy goth dresses. She would often turn to Hiro to get his opinion on a piece of clothing before criticizing it and putting it back.
"Why don't you buy anything?" Hiro asked as they left the seventh shop, their hands still free of bags despite the number of things they had looked at. "There must have been something you liked." Zero Two shrugged noncommittally.
"It's all fine, just nothing's jumped out at me yet. Want to eat something?" she asked, rapidly switching gears. Hiro blinked at the sudden change.
"Is it something so sickeningly sweet my dentist would want to die just considering me putting it in my mouth?"
"Come on, you'll love it," the pink haired girl said, rushing off towards another area of the mall. Hiro trailed behind, purposefully keeping his gait slow. He had noticed that Zero Two was reluctant to run off without him sometime in the last hour and was making full use of that fact to prevent her from plowing through everything in her path in a fit of sugar-induced madness. It was a scene he could imagine all too easily and was dead set on avoiding.
A few minutes later, Hiro found himself looking at the single largest caramel roll he had ever seen in his life. It was the size of a cantaloupe and absolutely dripping with thick caramel that covered every inch of it. "How do you expect me to eat all of this?" he asked Zero Two when she came back with plastic disposable forks and a large number of napkins.
"I don't, I expect us to eat it," she said, grabbing a fork and jamming it into the enormous roll, pulling off a large piece of fluffy bread, dunking it in the spilled caramel in the bottom of the tray, and jamming the entire thing into her mouth. Hiro watched as she chewed, his expression completely straight. Zero Two made some noises of encouragement, gesturing for Hiro to eat. With a sigh and a smile, the bemused boy picked up his own fork and pulled off a piece as well, albeit much smaller than Zero Two's.
"Who even makes something like this?" he asked between bites.
"Only these guys. Trust me, I've checked, and only this store makes this work of art," Zero Two said, forcing another massive piece past her teeth.
"What's it called?" Hiro asked, barely believing his eyes as the chunk of caramel roll disappeared into his girlfriend's mouth.
"Mmph mhmp ahhmph," Zero Two said around her huge bite, struggling to contain the roll as she ate.
"Stop that, at least chew first. And look, you've got caramel sauce everywhere," Hiro said, grabbing a napkin and pressing it against Zero Two's face, catching the bead of caramel that had escaped the corner of her mouth. He carefully dabbed at the eating girl's face, scooping up any stray bits of roll and caramel. "You need to get that off right away or else it'll stick to your skin."
"Keep making that face at me and I'll let you clean it off me later," Zero Two said quietly, her shining eyes looking up at Hiro, inuendo heavy in her voice. Suddenly flustered and realizing what he was doing, Hiro made a quick retreat, dropping the used napkin on the table and hiding behind the shrinking caramel roll. "Some other time?" Zero Two said with a giggle, still able to see her boyfriend's blushing face.
"So, what's it called? The roll?" Hiro asked again, eager to change the subject.
"The Diabetic's Doom," Zero Two said offhandedly, slowly pulling off a long strip of roll and pushing it into her mouth in waves. Hiro deadpanned again before laughing.
"It would be wouldn't it. And naturally you manage to find it."
"Yep!" she said cheerily, picking up the last piece of the roll and examining it. She looked up at Hiro and the sly grin he was becoming extremely familiar with appeared. "Say 'aah' Darling," she said, holding the last of the roll out to him. Hiro glanced around, and upon seeing there was no one watching them, leaned forward and bit into the large chunk of caramel roll, pulling away half of it.
"You were supposed to eat all of it," Zero Two said with a little pout, still holding the roll out to Hiro, who had to quickly shove the bite of sticky bread into the corner of his mouth to respond.
"Knowing how much you love these, I couldn't just eat all of it. I don't mind sharing." Zero Two looked at him intently for another handful of seconds before pulling the roll back and fitting it into her mouth, barely tasting it as she considered Hiro.
"What?" he asked, cleaning any smeared caramel from his face. Zero Two shook herself a little.
"Nothing, you're cute" she said cheerily, standing up and scooping the caramel roll's paper tray up to carry to the trash. "Come on, we've got a few more stops." She quickly scurried away, forcing Hiro to push his confused thoughts aside and scramble after his reenergized girlfriend.
True to Zero Two's word, the couple continued to tour the mall, looking at different shops filled with clothes and curios, but still not buying anything. They continued the pattern for another hour before they found themselves in a larger store, wandering among the racks once again. Zero Two was poking through a bunch of what looked like school uniforms while Hiro examined some hats, when the busty girl pulled an outfit free of the rack.
"What do you think of this one?" she asked, holding the outfit in front of herself and turning to gauge Hiro's reaction. The black-haired man looked up, turning a cap over in his hands. Zero Two was holding up a black shirt and skirt combo, with small gold buttons and chains hanging off them. Thin stripes of white encircled the short sleeves and the top and bottom of the skirt. The outfit looked purposefully small though, the skirt looking like it would only reach midthigh and the top falling short of the waist by a few inches.
"I…think…it looks a bit small," he said, continuing to turn the hat over in his hands, seemingly unaware that he was doing it. Zero Two examined him and then the outfit before turning and walking off.
"Stay here, I'm going to go try it on," she said, draping the shirt/skirt combo over her shoulder as she walked away, leaving Hiro standing among the clothing racks, still holding the cap in his hands. He looked around at a few other things while he waited, one red dress in particular catching his eye. He was about to pull it out when he felt a tap on his shoulder, drawing his attention to the woman standing behind him.
Everything Hiro had thought about the outfit had been spot on, from the length of the skirt that left a mile of creamy leg to be seen to the inches of clearance between the bottom of the shirt and the waist of the skirt that left Zero Two's tight midriff exposed, the fabric of the shirt actually held slightly away from her skin by the swells of her sizable breasts.
"Do you like it?" Zero Two asked, making a small twirl that send the loose fabric of the skirt swirling, teasing him with just a little more of her smooth thighs. Hiro forced himself to swallow before answering.
"Y-yes, I think it looks…good. Very good," he said with a stutter, transfixed for not the first time by the pink-haired girl, who looked at him with her head tilted for a second.
"Then I'll get it," she said, spinning away with another small twirl. "I think I'm going to need a few things with it though." She walked over to the hats Hiro had been looking at and picked out one that had the same black with gold accent style as the outfit. She popped it on her head and struck a pose in front of a mirror, looking herself over. "Yeah, I like it. Good choice, Darling."
"But you chose it," Hiro said, still thrown off by the girl that he had somehow gotten for a girlfriend, who immediately spun back towards him.
"Okay, then what would you have picked out for me?" she asked with a hint of challenge. Hiro, suddenly on edge with nerves, looked around before seeing the red dress he had been looking at before Zero Two rejoined him. On impulse, he grabbed it and held it out, keeping his eyes averted from her to ensure he would still be able to speak.
"This one," he said, hoping he sounded more confident than he thought he did. He must've, because Zero Two gently pulled the dress and its hanger out of his fingers and walked back towards the dressing room. Only once she disappeared from view did Hiro realize he hadn't really seen what the dress looked like, only that it was red, a color he thought suited Zero Two and her passionate personality.
Hiro waited somewhat patiently for Zero Two to come back, both excited and nervous for her reaction and to see what she would look like. He didn't wait more than a few minutes before he spotted pink hair weaving through the racks towards him. The first thing he saw when she rounded the corner was the burning crimson color of the dress, broken up by black fabric around the hems of the sleeveless dress. The straps over her shoulders were extremely thin, barely seeming to do anything, while the rest of the bright fabric curved around her breasts before stopping, showing almost no cleavage but all of her collarbone. The skirt of the dress was slightly longer in the back, falling to just below her knees, whereas the front rested just above. A small twirl revealed a darker red ribbon on the back at the waistline, breaking up the color of the dress slightly.
"I guess you like it, Darling," Zero Two said, laughing. Hiro realized a second later that he had been staring at her with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open. "I like it too," she said, twirling again in front of the mirror. "Do you think I should get this one too?" she asked, to which Hiro immediately nodded. Giggling, Zero Two looked around the store.
"Okay, I will, but I get to pick something out for you too. And you have to get it if I say so."
"I thought you were the one going shopping," Hiro said, trailing after Zero Two as she walked through the men's clothing, plucking a black shirt off a rack immediately before looking through some pants.
"I was, but it's not fair if I get two things and you don't get any."
"I had some of the caramel roll," Hiro said, trying to deflect the conversation, though he didn't really know why.
"So did I," Zero Two countered, pulling a dark red pair of pants off the shelf and holding them up to Hiro's waist, before swapping them out for a slightly longer pair. "We shared that, so it doesn't count. Now go try these on, I want to see how you look. Go, I'll be right here." Zero Two shooed him off, leaving him no choice but to head towards a changing room.
Looking at the clothes Zero Two had picked out, he realized they weren't too different from what he wore usually, with the exception of the color of the pants. He liked them, he just wasn't sure he'd like them on himself. Still, knowing Zero Two wouldn't be satisfied until he bowed to her wishes, he changed into the chosen clothes, shifting them around a little until they felt comfortable. He looked at himself in the mirror with a critical eye. He didn't hate how he looked; it was just a little different. He briefly tried to wrangle his hair into a manageable mess before accepting that it was beyond help and that Zero Two was going to get what she would. He quickly walked out of the changing room, refusing to stop and continue to second guess himself.
He tried to walk confidently towards where Zero Two was waiting, not wanting to disappoint her with hunched shoulders and a nervous attitude. Of course, there was only so much he could do, but he thought he hid his fear reasonably well.
As soon as his pretty girlfriend spotted him, he saw her eyes widen a little and a big smile appear on her lips. She rushed over to him and looked him over.
"See, I knew you'd look great. No arguing, you have to get it," she said, looking at him with a proud expression, as if congratulating herself on her excellent fashion choices.
"Really?" Hiro asked, still not sold on it. "I'm not sure I like the pants; they're a little…loud." Zero Two's smile quickly turned into a pout.
"If you're not getting that, exactly as it is, then I'm putting this dress back too. You chose for me, so I get to choose for you. Plus, look, we match!" she exclaimed, pulling Hiro to the mirror and standing next to him.
Hiro didn't like to admit it, but she was right. The color of his pants matched well with the ribbon on the back of her dress, and the black accents on the hems of her dress tied his dark shirt in too. They really did look like a couple like that, both complementing each other.
"And see, if I do this," Zero Two said, wrapping her arms around Hiro's neck, bringing their faces to bare inches apart, "now I think we look perfect." Hiro watched as the couple in the mirror stood together, really looking like a perfect match. He saw the girl lean closer and press her lips to the boy's cheek, feeling the soft press of flesh on his jaw, before they broke apart and the moment passed.
"Okay," Hiro said, his mind made up. "I'll get them." Zero Two smiled again.
"I knew you would. I look too good in this dress for you to refuse. Quick, go get changed and meet me up front, I've got one last place I need to go," she said cheerfully, a sneaky tone slipping into her voice at the end of her sentence. Whatever that was, it probably didn't bode well for Hiro's composure. Still, he swapped back into his original clothing and walked up to the front of the store. Somehow, Zero Two was already there and paying for her clothes, having apparently changed impossibly fast. Or he was just slow. Hiro quickly paid for his outfit and the two of them left the store with their bags in hand. Zero Two was quick to lead him towards the one area of the mall that they hadn't visited yet, apparently leaving best for last.
Naturally, the place she had to go was the lingerie store, the absolute worst place for Hiro to be with her. Not only because, well, boobs, but Zero Two's teasing was sure to reach an all-time high. Luckily for him, she left him outside the store with their bags, saying she had to leave some surprises for later. Hiro wasn't sure how comfortable he was with the emphasis she put on the word 'later' but let it slide as he sat on a bench outside the store, purposefully looking away from the storefront and its alluring posters.
Zero Two had been inside Victorian Silence plenty of times before. It was one of her favorite stores to visit actually. She knew she had a great body and made sure to enjoy it. She delighted in the looks she got from men and women alike, desiring to have her in one way or another. That had always been enough for her, but now she felt differently. She wanted to really impress Hiro.
But she worried that her usual choices wouldn't be enough. He had already seen her undressed once before, what if he wasn't as interested next time? Zero Two didn't want to disappoint him, so she found herself wandering the store, looking for that nebulous something.
"Anything I can help you find, miss?" one of the store attendants asked politely, approaching Zero Two as she searched the store. Zero Two looked at the young woman, ready to dismiss her, but stopped short. Normally she would never ask someone for help, but maybe this woman could recommend something.
"I'm looking for something to go with this," she said, pulling out her phone out and showing the woman a picture of the red dress her Darling had picked out. The store woman looked carefully at it.
"Did your boyfriend pick it out?" she asked, starting to lead the surprised Zero Two through the store.
"How did you know…?"
"I saw you two outside the store. He's cute," the saleswoman said with a laugh.
"He's mine," Zero Two said with a small growl, instantly defensive. If this woman wanted to take her Darling, she'd have to do it over her cold….
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not in the business of stealing people's boys," the clerk said quickly, derailing Zero Two's detailed plan of how she would demolish the woman. "I was just thinking that he has good taste to pick that out for you. He looks like a very nice boy."
"He is," Zero Two said, resolute in her assessment.
"Here, try this on and tell me what you think," the woman said, grabbing a dark red bra off a hanger, its edges fringed with bits of lace. Zero Two quickly took it and ducked into one of the fitting rooms. Trying it on, she found that it was actually perfect. The dark color of the cups complemented her hair nicely and would do the same for the dress. The lace was also perfect, showing hints of the skin underneath that would probably make her Darling freeze up. She smiled, already looking forward to when she could wear it for him.
"It's great," Zero Two said when she came back out of the changing room, smiling excitedly. "I'll take this, some matching underwear, and…these," she said, grabbing a pair of dark tights to go with the other outfit she bought. The saleswoman quickly led her over to the counter to pay.
"So how long have you two been dating?" she asked as she rang up Zero Two's purchases and tucked them into a bag.
"About…two weeks, I guess," the pink-haired girl said, glancing towards the front of the store, trying to spot her Darling waiting for her.
"Is he your first boyfriend?" Zero Two thought about it for a second. She had dated other guys before, but they had never been like her Darling was. He was different, so…
"Kind of," she ended up saying. "It's weird."
"I've been there," the cashier said, handing Zero Two her bag of things. "Well, I hope you like him, because you're going to have a hard time getting rid of him once you show him those." The women shared a small laugh and Zero Two left the store, eager to tease her Darling about her new purchases.
He wasn't right outside the store, but Zero Two quickly spotted him standing in front of a bookstore next door. She skipped towards him, landing at his side and peering through the window of the store with him.
"What're you looking at?" she asked cheerfully, her face close enough to his to see a slight blush appear on his face through his concentration.
"Just seeing if they have anything interesting. I've read some of these, they were pretty good," her Darling said, pointing to a few books stacked on top of each other. "I always like to check the new releases for anything…interesting…" Hiro's words lost momentum as something caught his eye. "Did that come out already?! How did I miss that?! Zero Two, come on!" he exclaimed, grabbing the confused pink-haired girl's hand and dragging her towards the bookstore's doors, the excited smile on his face tugging on Zero Two's heart.
So it's been, a bit. Just a little. Sorry. I do feel kinda bad about the long wait, so I thank all of you for still waiting patiently. I didn't want to post this until I was sure I'd have the drive to write more, and while I can't promise that entirely, you all deserve something, especially since you've left such nice messages for me to read. Between finishing 'Revival of the Gods', starting school up again, writing other things, and having some semblance of a life and other hobbies, I just haven't had the time I wanted to write more of this. Fortunately I can feel it coming back even as I write this, so fear not, I will continue.
Now how about some of those very nice reviews. You guys always blow my socks off with these. Like...Alfred, glad you're liking the story. Warriors, yes, finally, though if you think about it, they got together very quickly compared to other stories. Not that that means we won't be having more fun with them. Far from it... O5-7, that's all you have to say, thanks! Dutch, careful, that's some damn high praise you're throwing around there. Godamora, I'm glad you liked the sweetness and the little confrontation. Zero Two is not someone who really takes shit from anyone, at least as I see her. Trojan, yeah, yeah, sorry you had to wait. Hope you enjoyed though! Frosty, glad to keep you excited to read my stuff, I just hope you didn't make too much of a mess... Order, no story is complete without one, especially an anime/manga based one. Glad you liked it. Unknown, cuteness is the prime metric by which I measure if a chapter is done, glad to see my scale isn't off. I did have a good laugh at the pregnancy comment, so cheers for that. ETfoo, I never feel forced to write for anyone, the way I see it is I'm doing this for free in my own free time, so really no one has any say on whether its satisfactory or not. But thanks none the less, I do put a lot of work into these, so I'm glad its enjoyed by someone other than me. Djfede, glad you're enjoying! You guys always leave a smile on my face with comments like that. Dungeon Crawler, unfortunately I'm a slave to my own desires and if I don't feel like writing something, I'm just not going to. All I can promise is that this story will be finished eventually.
My gosh, you guys are nuts. Again, sorry you had to wait so long, but I was busy with a whole lot of stuff, including expressing some of my other desires. In very healthy ways, fear not, we're all fine here. It's all in good fun and helps me stay sane and eats up some of my free time. Plus school, which I think we can all agree is probably the exact opposite of everything I just described. Only one semester left though. December can't come soon enough. Anyways, you all have a good time, I'll post again when I feel like it, thanks for your support, remember everyone has their issues, and don't juggle open bottles of...well, anything really. Usually makes a mess. Cheers!
~Aro