this isn't really a valentine-themed story, but its got romance so
Tenten entered through the garage door and let it slam shut behind her, tossing her keys towards the hook and not even bothering to check if they landed on it (they did, of course). She kicked off her shoes and glared at them for a moment, holding no desire to put them away, before picking them up and tossing them onto her shoe stand so Neji wouldn't hunt her down later.
Speaking of… "Babe, I'm home," she called through the house. She could hear Neji faintly respond from the kitchen and stomped her way toward him, tossing her coat toward the rack and dumping her bag by the stairs.
"How was work?" Tenten heard him ask, and she stormed her way into the kitchen- taking a quick note of Shikamaru, slouched into a stool at the counter with his laptop out and a few papers scattered around him- before burrowing herself against Neji's side and making small, unhappy noises.
"That bad?" He draped his arm around her waist and squeezed her slightly. "What happened?"
"Just… one thousand little things went wrong, and they built up to be one day of pure suck."
"Mm. I'm sorry." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and started rubbing his hand on her back.
Shikamaru shifted a little on his stool, and Tenten pulled herself out of her wallowing long enough to say, "Hi, Shikamaru," before tucking her head into Neji's chest.
"Hey," Shikamaru's voice was slightly muffled to her ears. He and Neji started talking to one another again, and after a few moments Tenten pulled away from her husband and went upstairs to get changed.
In the middle of shucking off her shirt, Tenten abruptly about-faced and marched into the bathroom. She rinsed out the tub and began filling it, adding in mandarin blossom bubble bath and some bath salts.
I deserve this, damn it, she thought angrily to herself as she kicked off the last of her clothing. She stepped into the tub and let out a small, involuntary sigh, sinking down into the water and tilting her head back against the rim of the tub.
Tenten soaked for a few minutes, before sitting back up to grab her book and realizing she'd left it on the bedside table.
Go figure, she thought stonily. She glanced over at the floor, where her phone was sticking out of the pocket of her pantsuit jacket, stubbornly just out of reach. She couldn't even text Neji to ask him to bring her the book. Tenten resigned herself to just sitting and getting pruney.
She had been zoning out for a few minutes when there was a knock on the bathroom door. She called for Neji to come in, and he stood in doorway for a few moments, staring at her in the tub with his brow furrowed.
"Really that bad of a day?"
Tenten stuck out her lower lip out in a pout that she knew made him feel a little frantic (despite his frequent denials that it had any effect on him whatsoever). He finally walked into the room and stretched out his arm to offer her book to her.
"Oh!" She gave him a delighted grin, and he blinked rapidly in succession. "Thank you! I was so bummed when I realized I'd left it in the bedroom."
Neji hummed slightly in response, taking in the pile of discarded clothing she'd left on the floor. She let a little sigh. "I'll pick them up once I'm done with my bath."
"I know, I know." He walked back towards the closet, one hand loosening his tie. Tenten flipped to where her bookmark was, and idly began reading.
Neji emerged from the closet wearing athletic shorts and a lightweight tee. Tenten gave the fabric spanning his chest an appreciative eye- his shirts had gotten a little tighter once she started buying them for him, and she had to admit her efforts were paying off.
Neji sat down on the tub surround at her feet and settled his back against the wall. "Care to talk about what… sucked… about your day?"
"Depends. Care to get me a glass of wine?"
He stared at her for a moment, arms folded over his chest and looking thoroughly unconvinced. She gave him her most charming smile.
Finally he stood up with a sigh. "You're lucky you're naked and slathered in bubbles."
"Hell yeah," she muttered to herself, shamelessly ogling his rear on his way out.
Twenty minutes and one and a third glasses of wine later, Tenten had finished her mile-long list of complaints, and had also gotten Neji to bring her a face mask, her favorite body scrub, makeup remover, a few candles (that he subsequently lit and placed around the tub for her), and some strawberries. Her man knew how to spoil her, that was for sure.
She'd also been working on getting Neji to get into the tub with her. It mostly involved flashing him, but judging by the keen interest glinting in his eye, it was highly effective.
As time had worn on, he'd moved so his legs were over the edge of the tub, water up to his calves. Their conversation had degenerated rapidly into flirting and innuendo, and at its peak Tenten had taken a sip from her wine, eyes fixed on Neji, and asked, "So are you getting in here with me, or am I going have to crawl into your lap?"
His face blazed crimson, and he began choking out incomprehensible sputters. She gave him a few moments, watching from over the rim of her wine glass, before taking pity on him.
She moved to the other end of the tub and shifted up onto her knees, so her torso was between Neji's legs. She placed both of her hands on the topside of his thighs and surged up to kiss him.
Neji met her lips with a ragged groan, hands forming into fists on the tub surround. After a moment, Tenten pulled away and looked up at him with a smirk. Wordlessly, she grabbed the hem of his shirt and began lifting it, letting go only when he began taking it off himself.
He paused with his shirt off, looking at the soapy water in the tub with a look of slight distaste on his face. Tenten rolled her eyes.
"I can drain it out and refill it if it bothers you."
"That's using a lot of water."
"It's fine, we won't shower for the next couple days." She looked up at him and grinned as he looked slightly disgusted with the very idea.
Ten minutes later, Tenten had finally filled the tub back up- no soaps this time, just water- and was leaning back against Neji's chest, head turned to the side and her face tucked into his neck. Neji had both arms around her waist, and his own head (hair clipped up into a messy bun that always got Tenten feeling warm and handsy) was tilted back to rest on the rim of the tub.
They sat together for a few minutes, just enjoying the shared space and listening to the soft sounds of the classical music Tenten was playing over the speakers.
Neji stirred slightly and reached for the still mostly full glass of wine, taking a sip and setting it back. Tenten nuzzled herself further into his neck. "You stealing my wine?"
"Shhhhh."
"Thief." She sat up and pulled away from him, noting with amusement the slight flex of his arms, as if he was half-heartedly trying to pull her back.
Tenten turned so she faced Neji, grabbing the face mask sitting still unused at the edge of the tub. She held it up to Neji with a grin. "Care for a relaxing lavender mud mask?"
He stared at her for a moment, his expression a mixture of fondness and exasperation, before sighing and saying, "Fine."
"Really?" Her smile widened.
"Yes, really."
She wiggled a little in excitement, and let out a quiet, "Yay!"
Neji closed his eyes as she spread the mask over his forehead. As she smoothed her thumb down the crease of his brow, she slowed her movements down and took the time to admire his face.
He really is handsome, she thought idly to herself.
Of course, she knew he was handsome, and had known it since she first met him in middle school- though back then, of course, she would have considered him 'cute'. But Neji's looks only became more refined as he got older, and sometimes he'd unintentionally dazzle her- a rare, unrestrained grin, the intensity that came over his expression when he concentrated on something-
She must have taken a long time to move, because Neji opened his eyes and raised his brows at her. "Everything all right?"
"'M fine." She told him cheekily. "I just think you're preeeeeetty."
His cheeks flushed slightly. "I see." He closed his eyes again as she kept applying the mask over his nose and cheeks.
Tenten covered the last bit his face beneath his lower lip and pressed a light kiss to his mouth- carefully, so she wouldn't get the mask on her face. "Done! How's it feel?"
"Like I have mud on my face." Neji opened his eyes and blinked a few times, the grabbed the container from her. "Your turn."
He began applying the mask on her face. His fingers were unusually warm from the tub- normally his hands were relatively cold compared to hers. Tenten always nagged him that he needed to eat more foods with iron, and on nights when he was planning on working late she'd leave raisins on his desk, along with ginger lemon tea. (Neji always drank the tea, but she strongly suspected him of throwing the raisins away. He never did care for them.)
A few minutes later, Tenten's face mask was spread evenly over all parts of her face- Neji had done a much better job than she had, because of course he did.
An idea sparked, and she leaned over and grabbed her phone. "C'mere, let's take a picture."
"What?" Neji actually moved a few inches away from her. "No."
"Yes! It'll be cute!"
"Cute- Tenten, we are nude."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to take explicit pictures, dumbass. Just our necks and faces."
He sighed and raised his hand to pinch his brow between his fingers, but remembered the face mask and pulled away. "Tenten."
"If I wanted nudes, I'd wait for us to be out of the tub, so we could pose sexier."
Neji sighed again. "Tenten."
"Please? We have matching face masks, we're adorable."
He gave her the same look he had earlier, his annoyance combatting the genuine affection in his gaze. She kept her own expression as earnest as possible, letting her eyes widen and her mouth pucker just the slightest bit.
He twitched a shoulder in irritation. "Fine."
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Tenten quickly settled against his side and raised her phone up. She grinned at the sight of them in the camera- they really did look cute when they were twinning like this. Now she just needed to convince Neji to do a couple's Halloween costume.
She snapped three quick photos. Neji even smiled for the second two, which made her own grin stretch even wider. She looked them over in her phone, then- with a quick glance at Neji to confirm that he was mid-sip of the wine and not paying attention- she saved her favorite as her background photo.
Task complete, Tenten turned back to her husband. "Now let's get out and do the nudes."
Neji's resulting flush was very gratifying to watch.