at the same time, I wanna hug you

I wanna wrap my hands around your neck

you're an asshole, but I love you

and you make me so mad, I ask myself

why I'm still here, or where could I go

you're the only love I've ever known

but I hate you, I really hate you

so much I think it must be

true love, true love

~ True Love by Pink ~

Epilogue Three: Six Months Later - The Fight

It wasn't every day that Wally could say he was in a good mood. But today? Today's a good day.

It was Saturday, the weather was nice, Kuki was right next to him, and to top it all off, they were about to have ice cream - butter-fudge cream with chocolate peanut butter chunks, just the way he liked it - and he was just about to go in for the first dive with this spoon when -

Smack.

There was the sound of a hand making contact with a paper cup, and the only thing he saw next was his cup of ice cream flying through the air before it landed on the ground with a sad little splat.

His head spun towards Kuki, his eyes wide and glaring. "Kuki, what the HELL?!"

She gazed back at him with wide, innocent eyes, her arm still raised in front of him from when she smacked the ice cream out of his hand. "Are you mad?"

"Of course I'm mad! You just knocked my ice cream out of my hands!"

Kuki's lips twitched with a tinge of excitement. "Are we going to fight?"

His eyes grew wider, his expression now a critical combination of confusion and rage.

Kuki lit up with excitement, then she eagerly readjusted so that she could face him completely. She then opened her mouth to respond, and when no words came out, her expression fell flat.

Too baffled and furious to speak, Wally turned away from her and ran his hands down his face, fuming as he did so.

"No, no, no, don't do that!" Kuki said in a panic.

"Do WHAT?"

"Don't calm down!"

He turned to her again, his eyes blazing and his lips tight from wanting to bare his teeth. "Kuki, if you don't tell me what the hell is going on right now, I'm going to LOSE IT."

Kuki slumped her shoulders and fiddled with her fingers, completely immune to his rage. "I was hoping we'd fight."

"What?" he said pointedly. "Why would you want to fight?"

She shrugged sadly. "I read in a magazine that it's normal for couples to fight."

As soon as he heard the word 'magazine', the fire in his eyes grew, and he practically hissed. "So?"

"Don't you think it's weird that we haven't fought ever since we started dating? It's been, what, six months?"

"Kuki, we fight all the time! We fought on the way here!"

"Yeah, but that's more like petty bickering! We fight about things like what movie to watch or what restaurant to go to, but we don't really fight, you know?"

Wally closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Let me get this straight," he said, struggling to stay calm. "You knocked my ice cream out of my hand, because you knew it would make me mad, because you wanted us to fight, ALL BECAUSE YOU READ IT IN A STUPID MAGAZINE?"

Kuki shrugged sheepishly. "Yes…? But still!" she pressed on, and he could tell that this was no longer the magazine talking through her. "Don't you think it's weird that we don't fight-fight? Normal couples are supposed to fight!"

"Kuki, my parents never fight!"

She blinked and tilted her head. "They don't?"

He didn't know why she was so surprised. His parents were incredibly sunny and laid back people. Even he wondered every now and then where he got his temper from. "No, they don't. Do your parents fight?"

She thought about it for a second, and then she shrugged. "I guess I wouldn't call it fighting. It's more like… They get quiet and frown at each other a lot, and that's only when they're mad at each other about something silly."

She spent another second thinking about it, all while Wally watched and glared. "So I guess... We're just not the fighting kind? At least not boyfriend-and-girlfriend us?"

She looked at him expectantly, as if asking if he agreed.

He ran his hands down his face again and fumed. "I can't believe I have to explain this to you..."

He turned to face her completely, then he took her by the shoulders and turned her as well, making sure that they were directly face-to-face.

"Listen, Kuki," he started. "There are a lot of things in this world that piss me off. A LOT. So many, in fact, that I can't go a day without wanting to punch something. Girls who stand in doorways gossiping? Annoying. Having to polish my Dad's bowling trophies every two weeks? Annoying. Long lines at the cafeteria when my own stomach is about to eat its own lining? ANNOYING."

He paused again to make sure she was listening to every word.

"You, Kuki, are one of the few things in this world that don't annoy me. I happen to LIKE you. WHY WOULD I WANT TO FIGHT SOMETHING THAT I LIKE?"

He watched her expression as his words sank in, and part of him braced for her next argument. After all, stubbornness was one of the few qualities they shared. To his surprise, however, she smiled.

"What?" he hissed. She was always, always smiling, and though he genuinely thought she had the prettiest smile in the world, it also drove him crazy.

Kuki melted slightly on the spot as a gentle blush colored her cheeks. "Nothing... It's just that... That's one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me..."

Wally glared at her incredulously. He could tell he was about to lose it.

He drew back slightly as his insides welled like a volcano ready to erupt, his fingers curled from wanting to punch something, and his jaw tensed from wanting to roar a string of profanities into the air. And just when his rage was about to explode out of him…

He deflated.

He turned away from her and squeezed his eyes shut, fuming as the seething rage drained out of him. She was his weakness. He had never, ever met anyone so capable of pissing him off and calming him down at the same time.

By the time he opened his eyes, his anger had quelled into mere exasperation, and though testiness still marked his every move, he spoke gentler than he normally would.

"Come here," he prompted tiredly, to which she complied sweetly and scooted closer to him.

Their lips met, and its mere contact extinguished the last of the fire burning within him, leaving nothing but hot steam in its wake.

"I'm sorry about your ice cream..." she said sadly after she pulled away.

"It's okay..." he groaned.

"Do you want some of mine? I know you don't like Strawberry Swirl, but…"

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

Kuki gazed a little sadly as he turned his eyes away from her to fume once more. Then she smiled. She couldn't help it. He's cute even when he's grumpy.

She picked up her cup of ice cream and dug a spoon into it, and she was just about to take out a spoonful when -

Smack.

She watched in horror as her cup flew through the air and landed sadly on the ground, not too far from where his butter-fudge cream was now a melted puddle.

Her head spun to look at him, and she was aghast to find him smirking.

"You seriously thought I was going to let you get away with it?"

He watched her cute little face turn red, the signs of impending rage evident in her heaving chest and gaping mouth. And then he thought, maybe they were about to fight after all.