AN: I just really love writing slice of life stuff. It makes me so happy when characters are just happy and living their lives. So, this might end up being my favorite of my Quintuplet Fanfictions.
Chapter 2: A Day in the Life of Yotsuba Uesugi
The home of Fuutarou and Yotsuba Uesugi- newly weds- a quiet house in the suburbs right down the hill from a park that Yotsuba had always frequented. She had always stood on the swings, looking down at the houses and imagining each little light as a family. It would fill her with joy. Now she and Fuutarou were one of those lights.
Fuutarou was getting dressed and ready for work when Yotsuba was stirred awake. His job had him working in the mornings and afternoon. He had been keen on getting back to his job as soon as they got back from their honeymoon. This was the first morning back. The first time she was waking up in a bed she and Fuutarou shared.
She sat up and stretched, letting the bed sheets fall off her nude form. Her back popped as she arched it, eliciting a long guttural groan. She bent over, stretching to touch her toes. Her legs and chest were both sore.
"Sleep well?" He asked. He must have heard her stirring awake.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Yotsuba blushed. A cold shiver reminded her of how exposed she was so she pulled the sheet up to cover herself. She looked around and found her discarded nightshirt and panties lying on the floor. She quickly threw them on and she leapt out of bed.
Her sense of balance was off. All the cold air circulating through the house had gathered on the hardwood floor. It felt like little needles on Yotsuba's feet. Fuutarou was finishing up. He started putting his tie on. She glanced at the clock. He only had five minutes before he had to leave for work. It wasn't long enough for her taste. She wanted to spend every second of every day with her arms wrapped around her beloved husband.
"Yotsuba!" Fuutarou flinched as he felt Yotsuba embrace him from behind.
"Do you have to work today?" She pouted.
"Yes, I do." He said as he grabbed her hands. "And so do you." He pried them off his body and spun around to face her. "What time do you get off?"
"Hmph." She frowned. "I'm only working for a few hours. I'll be home by the time that office sets you free."
"Then I'll see you when I get back." He lifted her head and pulled her into a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself on her toes. She whined again when he broke the kiss and let her go. "Later Yotsuba."
"Have a good day at work." She muttered as he left the room. She walked over to the window and saw him drive off, leaving her in the house alone.
They had been looking at this house for a while. Yotsuba and her sisters had used their connections, and Fuutaou his financial acumen, in order to secure the house. Itsuki, Raiha and Fuutarou's father-Isanari had been the ones to put everything in the house. But the only thing truly setup was the bed.
All of their dress clothes were slung over in the closet. The rest of Fuutarou's clothes fit in a single suitcase. All of Yotsuba's clothes had been stuffed into trash bags and crammed into a single corner of their room. All of their furniture was crammed into the living room. The only exception was their large dresser. The dresser was empty though. They hadn't bothered going through their clothes that first day. They were far too busy not using their clothes to begin with. Everything else was in boxes labeled by room.
Yotsuba dug through her clothes bags until she found a pair of shorts and a sports bra. She changed into them, and then located her free weights. She spent around an hour exercising, focusing on her upper body and abs. After that, she moved her weights into the basement. That's where she wanted the real hangout place to be. She wanted to keep all her workout equipment there, as well as a party room. She envisioned getting a poker table and a pool table and maybe some table tennis, foosball or air hockey stuff. She'd likely have to pamper Fuutarou a lot for a long time to convince him to spend money on all that stuff though.
In the meantime, they had lucked out on a washer and dryer. Not many people their age had their own. They had gotten very lucky with the previous owner of the house. Same with the fridge, oven, microwave and the lawn chairs in the backyard, they just came with the house.
Yotsuba went back up stairs and contemplated taking a shower. She decided she'd rather have a bath. So she went into the bathroom right next to the bedroom, and started running the water. That's when she saw that Fuutarou had already set up the bathroom. The box that had been labeled as such was empty. Their toothbrushes were in a cup on the sink. Under the sink was filled with household stuff that Ichika and Nino had bought for them. And the shampoo and soap were already on the edge of the tub.
While the water ran, Yotsuba pulled the sheets off of the bed. They were already smelling a little musty from the previous day's activities. She threw them into the washer and started it up. She grabbed a towel from the bathroom closet and stripped down.
The bath was soothing. She took her time, letting the water soak into every curve of her body. She fantasized about sharing the tub with Fuutarou someday. It'd be pretty cramped, but all the better as far as she was concerned.
After she was satisfied with how clean she was, she wrapped a towel around herself and returned to the bedroom. She combed her hair, thinking about its style. Her sisters had all changed their hairstyle just for the wedding. They had a lot of fun playing the quintuplet game with the guests during the reception. The "Bride Hairstyle" had aspects of all five girls preferred style. There was a bit that framed the face like Ichika, was short in the back like Nino, had long sweeping bangs like Miku, a cowlick like Itsuki and was tied back in a bow like Yotsuba.
She started going through all her clothes. She made executive decisions on which drawers she would lay claim to. She had far more outfits than he did, so it was her right to dictate the drawer space. As she did so, she also picked out her own outfit. She settled on a matching green bra and panties, a plaid skirt, and a white button up top. She brought it all together by tying her hair up in her special white ribbon.
After all that, it was time for work. Her stomach started growling after she got on her bike. She took a quick stop at a deli to get a turkey sandwich on her way to the florist. Yotsuba had been working part time there for over a year now. She had been offered a full-time position but chose to say no so that she could maintain her lifestyle of volunteer work for the community.
"Yotsuba-San." Natsumi greeted her. Natsumi Ino was the person who owned the flower shop. "How was the honeymoon?"
"It was wonderful." She responded.
"Ah, to be young and in love. I remember when I first got married." Natsumi was almost three times Yotsuba's age. She must have been pushing seventy. Her granddaughter Kyoko also worked at the shop, and was a few years younger than Yotsuba. "You can always tell the difference between newly weded women, and women who have been married for a while. Just like you can tell the difference between happy and sad women."
"I think if there's people out there with enough love to tell my sisters and I apart, anything is possible."
"I'll tell you young lady, when you walked in here and smiled I was nearly blinded by light." Natsumi added. "That light will fade a little bit. Best case scenario all that joy you feel will become so normal that it just becomes a part of you as natural as your breath or striking hair color."
"Thanks, I'm sure Fuutarou will keep me smiling." Yotsuba said. "And I gotta keep earning those smiles."
"I doubt you'll have much trouble with a man like that." Natsumi nodded. "Anyway, it's been a slow day today. And I'm sure you're eager to get back home so…"
"Well, Fuutarou had to go to work as well." Yotsuba beamed as she scratched the back of her head. "I'm here for as long as you'll have me so long as I'm home by six."
"Always so helpful." Natsumi praised. "Kyoko is at school until five. You can leave when she gets here."
Yotsuba got situated. She walked around, examining the plants. She then sat behind the counter lightly dancing to the music playing in the shop. She pulled out her phone and loaded up one of the nature podcasts she loved listening to. This one was about the jaguars of South America. Over the hours only two groups of customers came in to buy some flowers. At five, Kyoko arrived.
"Ooh, Nakano-San!" The teenager cheered as she entered the shop.
"Fufu." Yotsuba laughed. "It's actually Uesugi-San now." She giggled as she showed off her wedding ring.
"Oooooh!" The girl cooed as she grabbed Yotsuba's hand to examine it. "That's right, you and Uesugi-San finally got married."
"Finally?" Sure Yotsuba thought of it that way. She had been in love with him for ten years. But it was only five years since fate reunited them and just over two years since they started getting serious about dating. For other people though, the writing was on the wall long before he even realized his own feelings. Kyoko had never met Fuutarou, she had only heard the stories about him from Yotsuba. Therefore it made sense that she thought of their relationship as if it had been a fate decided a decade ago.
"Psst." She leaned in. "Does that mean you two ...you know…." Her face betrayed her embarrassment and by extension the subject matter of her question.
"Young lady!" Natsumi shouted as she smacked her with a fan. "Girls your age don't need to concern yourselves with such subject matter."
"But grandma, I need to learn about this stuff before I get a boyfriend. And Nakano- er Uesugi-Chan is a good role model, you said so yourself."
"Kyoko-Chan, just call me Yotsuba." She smiled. "It's so much easier."
"And who said you were going to get a boyfriend anytime soon?" Natsumi asked.
"I'm seventeen, I'm practically an adult."
"I should get going." Yotsuba interrupted. "I have a place or two to go to on my way back home. I'll see you two later."
"Aww, won't you stay a bit longer?" Kyoko asked.
"She has a husband who will be getting home soon. You'll understand one day."
"How can I understand if you won't let me ask her stuff?"
"You can ask about relationships without letting your head go straight to the gutter!" Natsumi barked back.
Yotsuba laughed as she clocked out. She wondered if her own mom would have said similar things when she was that age. The thought of her mother made her sad for a moment. She prayed silently, hoping that her thoughts reached her mother's spirit.
"Yotsuba-Chan?" As she got on her bike, she ran into Takeda.
"Takeda-Kun?" She responded.
"I thought you'd be home by now." He said nervously.
"Fuutarou-Kun gets off at six. I was just killing time by making money."
"Yeah...that's good." He said. His eyes darted to the flower shop then back to Yotsuba.
"Go for it." She said. "You should be honest with your feelings. Otherwise you'll be waiting for a long time and miss your chance." He nodded, understanding. He had a thing for Itsuki. Yotsuba had seen it coming from a mile away. And she was sure Itsuki had feelings for him too. Whether Itsuki's were romantic in nature was still anyone's guess. "Anyway, I'm going, see you around Takeda-Kun."
She stopped by Nino and Miku's bakery on the way home. The place looked busy. Miku and some guy were working cash registers, taking orders while Nino stayed busy at the ovens. The three of them scrambled around to get everyone's orders done in a timely manner.
"Yotsuba?" Miku greeted.
"Is this a bad time?" Yotsuba asked.
"It's a busy time." Miku handed the customer his change. The line had officially died down enough for her to help Nino prepare the orders.
"Damn, I should have called ahead." Yotsuba said as she fidgeted around.
"Hold on." Miku said. "Fuutarou already placed an order for you to pick up."
"He did?" Yotsuba asked.
"Yeah." Miku got something out of the oven, wrapped it up and handed it to the customer.
"Here you go." Nino got the baked goods and handed them to Yotsuba. "We know you haven't really had a chance for grocery shopping yet." Yotsuba set the pastries down and dug into her purse. "He already paid for them."
"It'd be nice if he let me know." Yotsuba rolled her eyes. "Like, what if I decided to get snacks at another shop?"
"Then I'd deliver them when we close shop tonight." Nino mused.
"By the way, who's the new guy?" Yotsuba asked.
"His name is Yoshitsugo." Nino said. "He's one of Kisuke's friends." Kisuke was a boy Nino met at university. The two had hit it off pretty well, but-in Nino's words-she didn't really have time to date.
"Well, tomorrow's my day off and I'm going to kick ass on unpacking all those boxes." Yotsuba said. "You should swing by when you got the time."
"We will." Nino said. "Anyway, back to work for me. Take care and tell Fuu-Kun I said high."
Yotsuba arrived home a few minutes later. The sun had started to set. She locked her bike up and jumped on her bed. She kicked her shoes off and waited. A few minutes after six, her phone started ringing. It was Fuutarou.
"Yes my love?" She answered with a sweet tone.
"Did you have a fun day?" He asked.
"Yep." Yotsuba sat up. "Went through my clothes and put all my exercize stuff in the basement." That reminded her, their sheets were in the drier. "Went to work, ran into Takeda of all people, shishishi, then stopped by Nino and Miku's shop and picked up those snacks you ordered without telling me."
"Speaking of food, what do you want for dinner?"
"You going to stop somewhere and get something? Fuutarou-Kun, that's very expensive of you." She teased.
"Do we have anything at the house?"
"No, I didn't have the chance to go grocery shopping."
"Then pick something cheap." Fuutarou demanded.
"Hmm...what is it I want?" The first image in her mind was one of Fuutarou laying down on their bed. "How about a nice romantic cup of ramen."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll be home in about twenty minutes."
"Alright, love you."
"I love you too."
Yotsuba made their bed and changed into her pajamas. She then opened the kitchen box and started going through it. She put things away and moved the largest table into the dining room. When Fuutarou arrived she greeted him with a kiss.
The two ate their food while casually chatting about their day. Yotsuba especially had fun talking about Natsumi and Kyoko, and speculating on Takeda's budding relationship with Itsuki. Fuutarou's job didn't have him dealing with people on such personal levels. It seemed boring, but he enjoyed having a quiet job that made good use of his intelligence.
After eating, Fuutarou jumped in the shower. Yotsuba passed the time by going through more of the boxes. So much of this stuff she didn't know what to do with. So, she gave up and started working on putting all the kitchen stuff away again.
"Don't worry about all this tonight." Fuutarou said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"It has to get done eventually." Yotsuba said.
"There'll be plenty of time to go through everything when I'm off for the weekend." Fuutarou kissed her neck. "Let's go and pick up where we left off last night."
"Hmm…" Yotsuba sighed in content. "Too tempting." She broke his grasp, spun around and pulled him into a kiss. "There is nothing I'd rather do."
They went into their bedroom and locked the door behind them. For the remainder of the night they stayed in bed, cuddling, having fun and making out whenever they needed a break. In the end, Yotsuba's eyes were glazed over again. She curled her body up as close to Fuutarou's as humanly possible and drifted off to sleep. She could get used to this lifestyle. As far as she was concerned this was perfection.
AN: Such wholesomeness. These storytelling sensibilities are what really attracted me to this series and to Yotsuba in particular. Now, I think I'll be fine with Miku, Nino or Yotsuba winning in canon, but for my money, I think Yotsuba is the one with the most post-marriage potential (mostly in that her desires outside Fuutarou aren't set in stone like the others). That and my enjoyment of her quirks is why I chose her for this story. As a side note, my descriptions for their house and neighborhood are based on my sister's house because ...my sister and brother-in-law are like, the perfect life goals honestly.