I have so much in store for the couple. The possibilities are endless now that they are living under the same roof. I should stop myself for the sake of the two of them, but this is only the start ;)

Aisle three was still. All there existed was a hopeless boy and a few dozen colourful boxes with the word "always" dancing across them.

He stood there in his 6-foot-something self, trying to decipher the meaning of all the colours. He was lost in new territories with no map nor directions.

"Ultra-thin," he read aloud. Surely that would be of no use. He shook his head at their poor marketing techniques.

Radiance, ultra, infinity. They were words that had no relevance to periods.

There were many options, but Takumi was stuck. He shook his head in dry humour; He was not much of an alien now.

He pulled out his phone and tapped Misaki's blushing face. It took a few seconds before he heard the ringing tone.

…

Misaki whistled happily to her ringtone as it played its familiar jingle.

She had made it home and was now making room in her closet for all of Takumi's gigantic clothing.

Her sister interrupted her mid whistle.

"By the way, sis, the raffle winnings of pads and tampons I told you about yesterday are in the basement."

"Looks like we won't be shopping for pads in a while," Misaki said with a smile.

Her screen lit up with a notification. Takumi had left a voicemail.

She decided she may as well listen.

"Misaki…" She could hear carts rolling in the background, but they were not enough to distract her from what he said next. "What's your panty size?"

Misaki pulled her phone away from her ear. She was not interested in dealing with Takumi's bullshit right now.

She incidentally lost motivation for hanging his clothes. She decided that she needed some ice-cream as a reward for (somewhat) successfully dealing with her boyfriend for all these months. She added a few more scoops in preparation for the rest of her life.

Rest of my life? What am I thinking? Misaki was way too young to be deciding this, but a part of her knew it to be true. As much as Takumi was a nuisance, he was also doting, kind, smart, hot, sexy–

What the fuck. Maybe she was experiencing too much blood loss from her period.

…

Takumi was overwhelmed with all the various ways women could deal with their periods. The whole process was incredibly more complex than he could have imagined. It was scary that there were even pads for different times of the day.

It also didn't help that Misaki was leaving him dry. He deduced that the numbers shown on the boxes correlated with the size of the pad, but he wasn't sure what size Misaki preferred. She was a wee-little thing in his eyes, but maybe the numbers had nothing to do with body size and rather the amount of flow. From what he witnessed this morning, he grabbed the largest pads he could find.

He held his head high as he placed the soft packages into his cart – anything to make him feel more confident. He couldn't see any other guys shopping for their girlfriends, and he was aware he looked out of place.

He was glad they had reached a point in their relationship where he could do this for her, but a part of him knew that he wasn't here due to their growing intimacy.

Takumi eyed his selection, proud that he had overcome this difficult situation. Maybe Misaki will be proud of him, too.

With a smile, he paid for his things and made his way back home.

…

"I'm home," he called out to the quiet house.

Minako greeted him first. "Welcome back, dear. Misaki! Help Takumi with the groceries!"

It took a few seconds before the familiar creak of the stairs was heard. Misaki kept her eyes trained on Takumi, hoping to sense any fault in his usual composed expression.

Unfortunately, he seemed just as carefree as always. Surely her put-Takumi-in-an-embarrassing-situation plan must have had some effect?

"Did you get everything?"

"Yep!" No one was this happy after a grocery run. Especially not one who had undergone Misaki's diabolical plan.

Surely he hadn't been as dense as to think "always" was some sort of typo for a plant she was trying to spell.

She dismissed that idea with a laugh; Takumi was an idiot, but he was not stupid.

Maybe her revenge can wait. As much as she wanted to keep her grudge, she found herself forgiving him easily for creeping in on her business this morning.

"Here," she took the boxes of the blandest cereal she has ever seen from his hand to store them in the cupboard, where they probably will live until the guilt of wasting food sits.

"Where should I put these?" In his hands were the stars to Misaki's master plan.

Takumi has warmed up to the idea of sharing intimate details of their lives. Although it was surprising at first and put him out of his element, he was stoked that Misaki was willing to share this part of her life with him.

"Misaki, don't feel guilty. I'm glad you came and asked for my help. Although just a heads up, maybe you can help me out a bit next time and give instructions a bit longer than one word."

"Heh… yeah," She wasn't trying to make this some milestone in their relationship, as Takumi was so hell-bent on. She just wanted to see him embarrassed. One time wasn't enough.

Misaki grabbed the items from his hand and made her way to the storage. She analyzed his selection. He had gotten the largest size available. Was he poking fun at her weight?

She changed her mind; Her revenge definitely could not wait.

When she came back, she noticed that Takumi had finished sorting the rest of the items. He smiled at her and opened his arms for a hug.

Before she moved, she scanned the area for her mom or sister. When she determined the coast was clear, she let herself sink into his chest. They hadn't had a moment today to enjoy each other's company.

"Does it hurt?"

She raised her head to stare into his concerned eyes. She raised her eyebrow, unsure of what he was referring to.

"Here," His fingertips stroked her stomach.

"No," she huffed out, embarrassed. She knows he was just trying to be considerate, but she wishes he would just mind his business. It was due time to switch the topic: "Your things are in my room by the way."

"Nope," he stated confidently.

"What do you mean "nope"? You haven't even gone upstairs."

"My things are in our room," he corrected. "You shouldn't lie so easily, Misa."

The throbbing in her head was back.

"Takumi," she said sweetly, "will you ever shut up with your bullshit?"

Takumi gave a joyous laugh and went upstairs to allow her some peace of mind.

Misaki stayed in the kitchen as she stored the used plastic bags for later. The creaking of the staircase was audible with each of Takumi's steps.

It was about time for him to finally be able to wear fresh clothes. She had sneakily taken a sniff of him when she was in his arms, curious to see if her always clean boyfriend had his off days. But just like always, he smelled irresistibly good.

When she opened the door to her room, she was greeted with the sight of an enthralled Takumi.

She followed his gaze to his closet, where her unfinished attempt to store his clothes remained. She looked back at him, feeling slightly jealous at how lovingly he stared at their clothes.

"Our clothes look good together," he said, happily. Misaki glanced at her closet again. It was kinda odd looking, to be honest, with her much shorter clothes contrasting with his longer ones. Some of his shirts that she had hung had fallen from her small hangers.

"Right… Anyway, you should get changed," she made her way out of her room to give him privacy, but he stopped her.

"Stay," he pleaded.

He looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"Huh? But I thought you wanted to get changed?"

He took an audible breath in and then out. He didn't think he could say, not that he had any words for it. There was only one way to get his point across.

Their eye contact never once faltered while Takumi grabbed onto the back of his shirt. With one hand, he pulled his shirt off over his head.

Misaki kept her eyes trained onto his face. She didn't know what point he was trying to prove; maybe he saw into her period plan and wanted to embarrass her back. Whatever it was, she would stand her ground. She wasn't embarrassed or shy or anything. Well at least, that's what she wanted him to believe.

"Up to you." Misaki shrugged her shoulders. She walked to her desk and busied herself with organizing papers.

Behind her, she could hear the buckle of Takumi's pants open. A few seconds later, the sliding of cargo on skin.

She lost focus on the task at hand and instead paid attention to her heartbeat.

Only in his underwear, Takumi caged Misaki between his arms and his desk. He kept a tight grip on the wood, careful not to let his own wood appear.

"You can look," he whispered, "I know you want to."

He was right; she wanted to look. It angered her to admit it. It was up to her if she should let this admission go to waste, or to take advantage of the situation.

No. She should stop him. Her mom and sister were home. This was not the time nor place to explore their sexuality.

Takumi felt a combination of relief and disappointment when he saw her head shake from left to right. Disappointment because this was a lost opportunity to take one step further into fueling their attraction for one another. Relief, because this was one step closer to…

He pulled his arms back to his side and dropped his eyes to his crotch. So much for keeping control. He doesn't know what he would have done if Misaki turned around. Well, that is, if she even noticed.

He moved away to let them breathe. And, of course, to finish changing.

An unwelcomed silence filled the room. However, the sound of Takumi's clothes rubbing against his skin was deafeningly loud.

To distract herself from their current situation, Misaki resumed the thoughts the run to his house had brought.

"You are such a careless spender. Why in the world do you need two electric shavers?" Misaki tried to pretend that his spending habits were what was occupying her mind.

He saw through her pretence and felt a humorous pity for her. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"You really don't know?" He raised his eyebrows, curious to see his girlfriend connect the dots. She looked into his eyes for a clue but quickly looked away as thoughts of a naked Takumi entered her mind. Did he take off everything before telling her to look?

"You're red. Thinking naughty thoughts?" He couldn't blame her if she was. He had his fair share of naughty thoughts of the two of them.

"You wish," she huffed. "Just answer my question."

"I bought two so I can look nice for my girlfriend," he gave her a smile hiding secrets, before leaving the room.

She didn't understand why he was being so coy with her. It was not like he only started to shave his face after they had started dating. Unless… it wasn't just his face he was shaving.

Misaki felt a rush of heat to her face as she covered it with her hands. This was not a conversation she wanted to share with her boyfriend, and she couldn't deny it was her fault that it had happened.

If Takumi dropping his let's-take-my-clothes-off bomb wasn't enough, now she had to take on this newfound knowledge about him.

Misaki prayed to the gods that this was the last of her punishment. She doesn't know what crime she committed, but it must have been severe if this is what she had to go through.

I decided I wouldn't leave this chapter on a cliff-hanger. I don't know if it's better this way, but I think it's good to change it up once in a while and give you guys a breather.

And thank you all for reviewing so far! It's a pleasure to read what you guys think of my writing and Misaki and Takumi's situation.

II XXVII MMXXI