AN: It took me forever to think of something to do with this chapter. I wanted something involving Ichika because of the previous chapter but nothing really came to mind.

Chapter 5: Teasing

The day had started off fine all things considered. Fuutarou couldn't help but feel a little bit grumpy. He lived for Saturdays. It was the one day of the week where he could sleep in as long as he wanted and stay up as late as he wanted. It was the one day every week he could spend alone with his darling wife. But this Saturday was different.

They were with Ichika, and that limited the things they could do. For the most part, Fuutarou was happy. He loved all five of the Nakano Quintuplets. And of the four he didn't marry, Ichika always had a special place. They had a sense of older-sibling camaraderie. They both dedicated themselves to their work and to support the people they loved. And of all five sisters,

Ichika was the one who probably had the best head on her shoulders. She was naturally more intelligent and had a better memory than any of the sisters-though those measurements were all relative. She had the clearest plan for her future. She had the best means to achieve those goals. She didn't want to let any boy-or girl- or kid get in the way of her career. She wanted to be special in that way. And she was.

But as much as Fuutarou loved and respected her, he was still firmly in the honeymoon phase. And anyone who got in the way of him getting alone time with Yotsuba wasn't going to be fully in his good graces. He had to play it cool though. Ichika and Yotsuba together like this, was a pair custom made to get him all flustered.

"Ooh Yotsuba, you should try this on." Ichika pulled out a skimpy looking dress from the rack. Clothes shopping was never one of Fuutarou's favorite things to do. But the sisters had insisted on visiting the mall. He'd be fine indulging Yotsuba, as he had in the past. But he saw through their intent. They were trying to embarrass him in public.

"Fuutarou-Kun." Yotsuba said as she emerged from the changing room with more skin exposed than not. "How do I look?"

"Well…" It was a trap. He could get flustered, lose his cool and make her happy at the expense of his composure. He could play it cool and make it look like he didn't find her attractive. Or he could compliment her while keeping his cool, and risk her doing something more drastic that could embarrass the both of them. And the worst part was, she wouldn't be doing this if Ichika wasn't around. "I think you would look better in something more modest."

"Hmph." Ichika pouted. Yotsuba just blushed and looked the other way. "The nerve on you. Your wife gets all dolled up and you tell her that she shouldn't even bother?"

"Well when you leave so little to the imagination, it has no effect on someone who doesn't need that imagination." Fuutarou noted. Yotsuba's face went red and she nervously covered her cleavage.

"You're no fun Fuutarou-Kun." Ichika huffed.

"Not my fault that your idea of fun involves public embarrassment."

"I just want you to appreciate all the work Yotsuba does for you!" Ichika raised her voice.

"It's fine." Yotsuba said as she came back out of the changing room.

"She always wears cute outfits and works out to keep her amazing figure and has even tried learning how to cook all for you. And you can't even be bothered to get flustered when she's being flirty."

"I'm not as easy to embarrass as she is."

"Hey." Yotsuba dejected.

"And how would you like it if I just shouted your name?" Fuutarou threatened. Ichika was wearing a wig that made her look more like Miku. But she was still very famous for her face. Anyone actually looking for her would see her right away. Even if she tried playing it off, they'd still want to haggle her. Yotsuba had dealt with her fanboys plenty of times to confirm that much.

"You wouldn't dare." Ichika hissed.

"Now now you two." Yotsuba got in between the bickering pair. "Fuutarou-Kun, why don't we try on some matching sweaters?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Ichika, you go and just ...find whatever you want." Yotsuba said as she dragged Fuutarou away. As soon as they were out of earshot from Ichika Yotsuba started giggling. "You look so cute when you're jealous."

"Jealous?" Fuutarou raised an eyebrow.

"What else would you call that?" She asked as she started looking through clothes.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. How does bickering with Ichika mean I'm jealous?"

"Admit it, if she wasn't here, if she didn't drag us here…" Yotsuba leaned in closer. "You'd have no problem telling me how amazing I look ...and feel." She pecked him on the lips, sending his blood to his cheeks. "You always try to act tough around my sisters but I see right through you."

"Am I that easy?" Fuutarou scratched his head.

"Ichika might not be able to tell, but I can tell you were trying really hard not to gawk when I was wearing that dress."

"It's not like I'd do anything more than blush sense we're in public." Fuutarou said.

"Yeah...I wouldn't want you to act all lovey dovey like that either, but you can still appreciate the view."

"It's not my appreciation I'm worried about."

"You have nothing to worry about there darling." Yotsuba assured.

"Still, you never know, I'd rather not have to deal with some nosey asshole hitting on you." Fuutarou said. "And odds of that happening triple with Ichika around."

"I understand." Yotsuba said. "Damn, they don't have them in your size."

"We'll just have to custom order one." Fuutarou said.

"Are you sure?" Yotsuba said. "It's not a big deal. I just thought it would be cute. I don't want you to spend the extra money on a sweater like that just for my sake."

"Well, if it's for you, I'll wear it more than any other sweater I own." A foolish statement since he didn't own any sweaters like that. "Besides, if it's your money...I guess it's okay to spend it on whatever you want."

"Fuutarou-Kun...I don't know whether to be happy about this, or pouty that you still managed to be stingy about it."

"One of us has to keep our finances situated." Fuutarou said. "Just because we have the extra money…"

"Doesn't mean we should spend it on whatever we want." She finished his sentence. "You never know when something is going to happen."

"Yotsuba…" Fuutarou reached for his wife's head. "Your bow is crooked."

"Oh, thanks." She smiled and blushed. "I wish you had a tie I could fix. You always wear those snazzy button ups but then never wear a jacket or tie to complement it."

"I don't like being overdressed on my day off." Fuutarou said. "That reminds me, I need to do laundry when we get back home."

"I'll take care of it." Yotsuba turned and started walking away.

"Ichika is right about one thing."

"And what's that?" She inquired.

"You do a lot for me. I know I don't always say it, but I appreciate it all. I admire that far more than your looks."

"So.." She stopped and posed all cute like, twisting her body to put her chest and butt in view while her finger hovered by her mouth. "Would you still love me the same if I wasn't pretty?"

"That's not a fair question."

"You could just say yes." She huffed.

"What if I asked you that question."

"I would say yes." She responded. "I don't care about looks. If you looked completely different you'd still be a super genius."

"That's easy to say when we're both decent looking."

"Oh, so I'm just decent looking now?" She teased.

"I'm decent looking." Fuutarou scowled. He had fallen for her trick after all. Now he was all flustered and embarrassed with no course of action that would get him out of the hole.

"You're cute." Yotsuba said. "And I do think attraction is important. As much as I wish I could trade in my food looks for your brains, if that were the case the whole time, we wouldn't have met the way we did. We wouldn't be together. And I do think in order to be happy together there should be some attraction."

"I guess." Fuutarou shrugged. "I know some people who would disagree."

"Well, there's all sorts of people attracted to all sorts of things. Like, I'm just glad you're not short and fat. Miku on the other hand is a lot nicer with her taste and finds people like that attractive so long as they also have beards. Then you have Nino who only looks at the face and hair and doesn't care about anything else."

"I guess I just like soft people." Fuutarou said. "I never liked girls with harsh eyes."

"I know." Yotsuba sighed. "We should find Ichika and head out."

It didn't take them long to locate Ichika and head out of the store. They walked around the mall for a little bit longer. As they approached the movie theater in the mall, Yotsuba spotted something and pulled the other two behind a kiosk.

"What is it?" Ichika asked.

"Over there." She whispered. "Itsuki is here with Takeda-Kun." Sure enough, Itsuki and Takeda were walking into the movie theater together. The youngest quint looked really nervous. Takeda on the other hand, was the embodiment of confidence.

"We should say high." Ichika said.

"No." Fuutarou stopped her by grabbing her arm. "Leave them be."

"Yeah, it's taken a lot of time to get Itsuki to come out of her shell." Yotsuba whispered. "I wouldn't want to spoil her fun. I'll mention it to her later though."

"We'd have a better chance of me asking Takeda." Fuutarou noted.

"Let's get out of here before they notice us." Yotsuba sighed.

"Or before anyone notices us for that matter." Fuutarou pointed to one of the posters. "Ichika might be wearing a wig, but the face is still the same."

"Oh so now you're being considerate." Ichika teased.

"I'm always considerate." Fuutarou responded.

They managed to leave the mall without any hassle. Fuutarou drove the girls back to the house. Ichika loaded up the things she bought into her bags. As she continued packing her things it dawned on the pair that she'd be leaving again soon.

"I guess you can't stay a little longer." Yotsuba said.

"Nah, I gotta get back home. I'll be around for a while before I hit the road to do another round of promotional interviews. Feel free to drop by the condo if you're ever up in Aoyama."

"Will do." Yotsuba said.

"Little too rich for my taste." Fuutarou teased. Yotsuba elbowed him in the side.

"Thanks for having me over." Ichika said. Yotsuba stayed outside with her while she waited for her cab. Meanwhile Fuutarou started on dinner and turned on the radio. Yotsuba joined him several minutes later.

"It's a shame she didn't stay for dinner." Fuutarou said.

"Maybe she just didn't want your cooking." Yotsuba teased. "Too poor for her taste."

"That's her loss."

"You were pretty mean to her."

"It's all in good fun. And she teased me first."

"That doesn't make it nice. But honestly, she probably missed the feel of her own bed."

"She spent a lot of money on that condo and that furniture. Then she barely gets to use it."

"She uses it a lot more than you'd think. She does a lot of her filming in Tokyo anyway. It's only when she's filming on location that she sleeps in her trailer."

"That's good. How about you? Can you imagine being away from the house for that long?"

"So long as I still get to be with you, I don't care where we're sleeping." Yotsuba responded by pulling him into a hug. The two started drifting back and forth to the music.

"I really do love you, you know that right?" Fuutarou said.

"You wouldn't have bought a ring otherwise." Yotsuba said. "And I love you more than anything in the world ...for now."

"For now?" Fuutarou raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we're going to have kids someday...right?"

"Right...someday." He said with a nod. He really did, but he was so nervous about the costs. He'd probably always feel that way. But if he had Yotsuba, and her family by his side, he'd figure things out if something happened before he was completely ready. "Not too soon though." He teased.

"Don't keep me waiting for too long." Yotsuba whispered into his ear. It was at that point that Fuutarou remembered. It was a Saturday. And unlike the start of the day, it was just the two of them, alone.

"I won't." He said as he pulled her into a kiss.

AN: I do want to do a bit where Ichika gets recognized, but I want to save it for something a little more dramatic than what I ended up brainstorming here.