Disclaimer : I do not own Ah! My Goddess.

-oOoOoOo-

A few days after they moved into the temple, Keiichi began to feel a bit more relaxed around Belldandy. While he still had doubts about his wish, he did like how just being around her made him feel like improving himself. He even stopped smoking and ate food that wasn't cheap noodles with the cheapest sauce.

'If it means that every day, I get to see that amazing smile of Belldandy's, I guess I should stop worrying about everything and just-' He thought as he walked into the living room. He paused when he saw Belldandy sitting on the couch.

Instead of wearing clothes that could no less than be described as immaculately dressed, she was wearing a plain white shirt and black sweatpants, both of which had seen better days. Her hair was normally done perfectly in a ponytail with four strands of hair proudly sticking out in front. Now it was lazily held together with a scrunchy with the four hair antenna more to the sides.

About the only thing that was close to being the same was the amazing food Belldandy could make, though she had a TV Tray with food in front of her and had another TV tray with food next to it.

"Belldandy," Keiichi asked, getting her attention. "Is… Is everything alright?"

She smiled, though this had a different feel to it. Her normal smile seemed to fill anyone who saw it with a feeling that they could do anything and that everything will be alright. This smile seemed to say, 'Sit back and relax for a little bit. The world will still be there.'

"Yes. I finally felt like I could put my hair down around you, Keiichi. So sit and eat," Belldandy said, patting the spot near her.

"Okay?" He muttered to himself as he sat down.

"I was thinking that when we eat dinner later, we could watch something together. Maybe something old and cheesy, if you don't mind?" Belldandy asked.

"I-I guess so. Maybe we could check out a video rental and see if they have anything from The Thunderbirds?" Keiichi suggested before he began to eat. 'Yup, the food is still great.'

Belldandy merely nodded before she went back to eating.

'Might as well get this off my chest,' Keiichi thought. "Bell, what did you mean when you said you could put your hair down around me?"

Her smile nearly vanished. "Keiichi, I… Well, everyone I meet tends to gain a bad habit of putting me on a pedestal so high, I'm afraid of showing any flaws. I could lose a race and people would treat me like I won in some way, but I could never show any signs of being upset or my opponents would be treated as if they cheated. It doesn't help when you have a competitive streak a mile long… I know that throwing a temper tantrum is always a bad thing, but I was afraid of even showing a frown at times."

"Did you get any support from your family?" Keiichi asked.

"My older sister, yes. My younger sister, mother or father? No." Belldandy said with a blank look on her face. "My older sister, Urd, knows about the mask I wear and tries to get me to relax more. My parents are really busy, so can't offer much, aside from advice. My younger sister, Skuld… She worships me so much that I'm afraid of disappointing her. I don't know how she would act."

"If she loves you, she'll accept you sooner or later. She might need a few days to take it in," Keiichi replied.

"There's knowing that and then there's actually putting it into practice," Belldandy said.

Keiichi took in a nervous breath as he briefly remembered a few times in the past where following his own advice horribly backfired. "Yeah…"

The rest of breakfast was pretty uneventful, aside from Belldandy sliding away from Keiichi, making him wonder if he upset her.

That thought went away the moment Belldandy laid her legs across his lap. She winked at him before she returned to her food.

Keiichi blushed as he mentally made a prayer of thanks.

-oOo-

When Urd arrived through the TV, she wasn't expecting Belldandy and her client to be upset.

"Urd, we were in the middle of watching Seven Samurai," Belldandy said with a frown.

"An action film? Not a romance?" Urd muttered with a frown of her own. When she noticed Belldandy's lazy clothes, she cheerfully said, "Oh! Now I get it. Time for Team lazy!"

And with a snap of her fingers Urd's clothes changed from a classy qipao to a shirt and shorts that while lazy, still showed off her figure. She skipped over to a chair, but sat on it sideways in a way where she could look up at the couple on the couch.

As she did so, Urd said, "Sorry for dropping in, but I wanted to visit you, Bell."

After a moment, Belldandy said, "You're forgiven, Urd."

"I'll rewind to before Urd came in," Keiichi said. "Do you want me to pause, so we can make her some popcorn?"

Belldandy looked at the half-empty bucket and empty tea cups. She said, "Might as well get some drinks while we're at it."

-oOoOoOo-

Notes from HotelKatz: This came from me reading about Gabriel Dropout.