The glow of the sun cascaded through the windows and illuminated the king-sized bed in the corner. The sparkle of a beautiful morning enlightening the room painted the picture for a beautiful scene to wake up to, especially if you have your girlfriend beside you.
The warmth of Pareo's body, with her arms wrapped around the waist of the tired producer, made it incredibly hard to wake up in the mornings. Or ever. Today, though, something was different.
Groggily, Chu2 begun to stretch her arms to wake herself up. Normally, Chu2 either awoke to a phone call from Pareo, or from the physical presence and warmth of her poking her awake. The only thoughts in her mind were of how nice it always felt to do anything, knowing that a beautifully coloured wig was always 3 steps behind her, cheering her on and making sure she's well cared for. It was so nice to finally-
Ah. She figured she should wake Pareo up. She had a lot of track mixing to do today, and she wanted to make sure that she got up early enough to get everything done. Chu2 knew that the keyboardist would want to try out new melodies, too, and she didn't want to waste any time.
"Good morn-" she begun to say in English as she shifted her position around in bed to face Pareo, but the face that greeted her made her heart sink. There was an incredibly pained expression on the sleeping girl's face. Dried snot was slightly visible just above her mouth, with her nose very red and cheeks even redder.
Pareo was sick.
Chu2 had no idea what to do.
Chu2 tried her very best to move the sleeping girl's arms so that she wouldn't wake up, and was somehow successful. Slowly, she shifted her position so she was sitting up and over Pareo, looking down at her. Pareo was incredibly pale.
A blank expression came through to Chu2's face, fully coming to terms that she was hopelessly lost in treating a sick person. "What would Pareo do...?" was the only thought on Chu2's mind, echoing through the vast canals and bringing forth a whole set of anxieties, worries, and concerns as the thought tunnelled through all of the crevices of her brain. A sad and dejected "Pareo..." escaped her lips, almost automatically. What would she do without her belov-
Chu2 shook the thought out of her head. It's hard for her to use affectionate terms, even in the deep recesses of her psyche. Besides, Pareo does so much for her, much to the internal thought that she really doesn't deserve it, and Chu2 needed to care for her in the same way.
"Pareo..." Chu2 murmured softly. "would do this." It felt almost natural to stretch out her hand, and plant it on Pareo's forehead. She wasn't sure what exactly it does, or why it's important. All she knew was that her forehead was really really warm. That's bad, maybe, she figured. She didn't want to remove her hand from her girlfriend's forehead, but she had to if she was going to try to make things better.
God. Pareo looked very kissable right now. It was torturous to restrain, but she knew if she gave her a kiss, her eyes would flutter open. She loved to wake up Chu2 with a surprise meal, and Chu2 really wanted to do the same for her.
Chu2 was never one to initiate a kiss, but a desire keep in her heart couldn't pull her away. Pareo's voice was ringing through her head, from the day she burnt her mouth on ramen in Masking's shop, saying that "she'll make it all better" on the sweetest voice she had ever heard.
"Pareo would do this," in a voice that was 1% fact and 99% overwhelming feelings, Chu2 leaned over and planted a little kiss on her forehead. She... did not wake up, even after a minute. "Thank god," Chu2 thought to herself as she finally got up from bed, ready to make her girlfriend some comfort food.
The walk to the kitchen felt so long and lonely. She's normally accompanied by a tall bundle of sunshine, asking about how she slept and gushing over "how cute her soft kitty cat is". Chu2 couldn't help but blush at the recollection, but it soon lead to an empty pit opening at the bottom of her stomach. Self-doubt begun pouring through the cracks created in her soul, the thought of her being useless by herself and being undeserving of a wonderful and lovely partner swirled through her veins and mixed with her blood, creating a vile substance in her heart like milk left in the sun. "What would I do if Pareo went missing? I'm useless by myself." just kept mixing and bubbling in her head and-
Ah. In her thoughts she had walked through the entirety of the kitchen and almost hit the wall separating it from the rest of the house. She shook herself out of her negative state, after all, Pareo needed a nice lunch to wake up to! She couldn't make anything for her if she just lay on the floor moping all day.
Trying to push the thoughts out of her head, Chu2 pushed herself up on the counter close to the cupboards, and sat on the ledge. She turned her body around to face the cupboards, and begun to sort through what Pareo would enjoy waking up to.
She remembered distinctly that Pareo enjoys cabbage, so she begun to sort through the cupboards for that. She set aside stuff that she liked as well, namely a packet of jerky and a container of rice, as she all but tore the cupboard apart looking for the cabbage that never was.
Chu2 was very frustrated, and deeply unmotivated to search the remaining cupboards, until she remembered that she once saw Pareo take some vegetables out of the fridge. Her insistence for Chu2 to eat her vegetables was not a welcome memory, but deep in her heart, she knew that Pareo wants the best for her. Even if the best is super gross.
Chu2 pulled herself down from the ledge. Grabbing what she collected, she set the rice and jerky on the counter, remembering that her girlfriend had a much easier time cooking if everything was in the same place. She then dragged her heels to the fridge, afraid of what might await her inside, and pulled the door open.
Oh, there was a lot of food in here. As quickly as she took in the amount of food, Chu2 realized she had no idea what cabbage looked like. She shrugged. "I can ignore the vegetables for today," she figured as the sauce compartment caught her eye.
Bingo! She had a master plan. Rice seemed easy enough to make, she could cut up some jerky and scatter it in the rice, and then put on some sauce to make the meal even better. "Genius!" she couldn't help but shout out loud. She froze. After she heard nothing, she continued to raid the fridge for the perfect sauce.
And then, like magic, she spotted something in the corner of her eye. It was some sort of meat sauce. Chu2's eyes lit up. It'll make the jerky so much better! She grabbed it, and set it on the counter, closing the fridge behind her.
Chu2 couldn't help but stare at the ingredients on the counter, questioningly. Realization hit very quick that she had no idea what she was doing. Before the doubt could set in, she grabbed 2 bowls and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She pressed the contact she knew could help her the most, and with a confident set of key presses, the message was sent off into an entangled string of 0s and 1s.
"rei please help how do you make rice"
There. She gave herself a proud smile. She then poured what looked like a good amount of sauce into the bowls, and set them both in the microwave. This she knew how to operate. 3... 0... start! The machine whirred to life, but the realization hit that it might get cold by the time the rice finished. Her only thought in response was "I'll deal with it later."
Chu2 then grabbed the packet of rice, flipped it so she could see the back, and desperately tried to scan for directions. She knew she quite literally just texted Rei a minute ago, but she wanted to at least see if there was a guide.
All it told her was the amount of water (1 1/5 cup) needed for a certain portion of rice (1 cup), and to put it over the stove for 14 minutes. Cool! She could do that. 1 cup seemed like too much after pouring it, so she dumped half a cup in a big enough pot. She then froze. 1 and 1 fifth... divided by 2... she may be an amazing student, but 9 in the morning is too early to remember math. So, she poured in half a cup, and then the tiniest bit more. "Yeah, this will work," she quietly said to herself, just in case Pareo was closer to waking up than she was before.
Then, she put the lid on, turned the stove on to the middle setting, and set a timer on her phone. No response from Rei, either. She groaned. She knew she got the answer from the rice packet, but she is the producer, and band practice is tomorrow, so the least the bassist could do is respond to her text a little faster.
She checked the timer. 9 minutes left. Woah, did the time pass that fast? Chu2 didn't really know what to do now, except wait- suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head. As quietly as she could, she ran down the hall to the main bathroom. She knew her mom kept all sorts of cold medicine there, and mixing it into the food may help Pareo out. She grabbed the liquid one and ran back. Almost falling flat on her face from how fast she was running, Chu2 stopped herself dead in her tracks and checked the timer. She was surprised to see there were 3 and a half minutes left.
Waiting for 3 and a half minutes... she didn't really know how to pass the time- wait! She needed to cut up the jerky! And re-microwave the sauce! And mix the cold medicine into the sauce! So, she set out to do just that.
After again hitting start, this time for a full 45 seconds, Chu2 grabbed the nearest scissors and 6 pieces of jerky, setting them into 2 groups of 3. For each group, she grabbed the 3 of them together and sat them up evenly. She cut them in half, and then cut the halves into half. She then put them in their own piles and took the bowls out of the microwave. She then dumped the jerky into the sauce and put some cold medication into one of the bowls. Done! Chu2 smiled, pleased. Then, just like that, her phone started blaring an electronic RAS-themed ringtone she had pulled a all nighter to work on. The rice was ready! She was thankful the stove was so easy to operate, all she had to do was turn the little dial in front of the pot to "OFF", and then there was no risk of a fire.
Carefully, Chu2 grabbed... what looked like a serving spoon. She wasn't sure what it was used for, but it looked correct. As she was trying her best to evenly distribute the rice, a notification on her phone went off. Picking up the phone, there was a new message.
"What type of rice is it?"
Chu2 stared at the message in confusion. It's just rice. They're all the same! She texted out a quick "already figured it out", and went back to what she was doing.
There were 2 already washed forks in the rack by the sink, so she just grabbed those. She mixed each bowl, thanking her past self that she put Pareo's meal in the purple bowl, and then stepped back.
"I... I did it." She couldn't believe herself. All her doubts, about being useless without Pareo. Being unable to live by herself. The doubts that had been circling her mind this entire time, that she had been repressing and pushing out because she so desperately wanted to finish a meal... slowly, they faded out of her mind as a satisfied smile slowly came over her.
Picking up the two bowls, with her confidence unmatched, she marched on over to her bedroom, where her sleeping beauty lay.
And sleeping beauty she was. Even though she looked sick, the light cascading from the tall window to the bed illuminated her in such a perfect light. Her hands, now over her stomach, looked so soft and delicate. Her hair had such a perfect shimmer, and was the perfect contrast to the oversized pastel t-shirt she had on. Chu2 had all the words in 2 languages, and couldn't even begin to describe her beauty with all of it.
Disrupting Pareo was going to be really hard, but she had to. Setting both plates on the nightstand, she crawled onto the bed, her arms to each of Pareo's sides, so that she could look over her. With confidence in her eyes, Chu2 only had one thought in her mind as she grabbed Pareo from behind her back, embracing her in the tightest hug she could, and kissing her cheek.
"Pareo would do this." Pareo's eyes begun to open, although groggily as she became aware of her condition.
Pareo could barely croak out a "Morning, Chu2-sama" before her throat gave out. Chu2 smiled at her, and pointed to the bedside, where her meal lay. She looked towards it... and realized. The realization hit like a truck, and if Chu2 weren't holding her, she very well would have collapsed. Tears forming in her eyes, and an unhideable smile, Pareo snapped her attention back at her tiny girlfriend, unable to hide just how much this meant to her.
Chu2 leaned over, grabbed Pareo's bowl, and sat it in her lap before grabbing her own. Chu2 smiled back at her. She wasn't sure what to do with all these overflowing emotions, but she knew one thing for certain. She was starving.
Her hands shaking slightly from all the positivity she created and received today, Chu2 grabbed some rice with her fork and put it in her mouth... and frowned. Oh, this tasted terrible. The rice was somehow still slightly hard.
She messed up the meal for her girlfriend. Her blood turned cold and begun to ice over the rest of her body in a painful uncertainty. "Pareo is so good at cooking, yet the one time I cook for her I mess up! I'm just-" Chu2 didn't have any time to finish that thought as Pareo tapped her on the shoulder.
Pareo was holding up an image on her phone. It was one she had clearly doodled herself, full of hearts and smiley faces. It was super cute. After seeing all of the hearts and smiles, Chu2's attention drew to the center of the image.
"That was delicious. Thank you, Chu2-sama~! I love you!"
Chu2's heart melted. Even though it wasn't the best, Pareo loved and appreciated the gesture. Chu2 couldn't help but smile as she took her finished, and her own unfinished, bowl back on the counter. Pareo snuggled back up into bed, ready to fall back asleep.
All Chu2 could do in response was crawl back into bed, position herself under the covers, and fall asleep with her.