a/n: because certain people said that the story would be over if one particular couple got together and while that is not the biggest pile of bullshit I have read, it is the one I am most tired of.

also, a lot of things in the ulumi tag on ao3 are angsty and the CL fic i'm writing is also angsty and my poor heart needed happiness.

disclaimer: title and characters are not mine. i'll link the credit for the title in my bio.

oh also, i'm not dead.

whatever the name of the catastrophe, it is never the opposite of love

The movies never got love right.

They always end the movie right when the couple gets together, the big happy ending. People say that the actual relationship part isn't that exciting- there's not as much story, not as much passion and drama. But, they're wrong.

Ulrich figured that once they got together, it would only be smooth sailing from here on out.

Yumi is always right, he learns, and she had laughed when he grudgingly admitted that in the quiet after one particularly nasty fight.

"Sorry to disappoint Romeo, but I'm not a paper girl. I'm real and reality is always a bit more complicated," She had scoffed amusedly, her arms crossed across her chest, staring him down.

He had sputtered (like he always did when it came to Yumi), "Well yeah- I know that but, shouldn't this just be easier?" His voice gets quieter as he reaches the end, the harsh words from before still pumping against his heart, still throbbing, still raw.

Yumi's eyes soften. "Maybe." He turns to her with startled eyes and her face blossoms pink. She turns away from his gaze and he lets his head fall against the wall he's leaning on. They stand together in silence, flushed and flustered and still flittingly furious but at the same moment their breaths converge into one, their hands are interlocked, intertwined and inseparable.

You see, the thing about love, Ulrich learns, is that it's work.

It's not romantic gestures and remembering important dates (although, that is definitely recommended) but it's shelving his ego, prioritizing her, thinking with a clear head.

It's not an easy pill to swallow and it goes down slow. Takes years, even. But he's not the only one who's learning.

They both stumble, both grumble, both mumble. They both push and pull and it's- they're a work in progress.

The summer before his twelfth year, they're tangled together in the forest behind Kadic, far away from the sewer entrance they used to know so intimately. He's got her sitting in between his legs, his arms wrapped her waist while she rests her head on his chest. He loves these quiet moments where it's just them, the press of their bodies together, and the freedom of their thoughts to wander. He loves the calm that Yumi brings, the feeling of acceptance. They've unraveled the dark secrets that lie beneath each other's skin, mapped them out with big lettering. When he's with her like this, he doesn't feel whole- he feels serene.

The warm summer sun mingles with the warm feeling of being home, spreading across their skin to rest like a blanket. They're wrapped in their own cocoon of silence and peace and it's everything in this moment.

Yumi speaks and her voice doesn't break the peace, rather fitting into it like a puzzle piece, "Any plans Saturday?" She tilts her head towards him, looking up at him with sparkling eyes.

He turns his head and their lips are a breath apart when he murmurs, "No, not yet. Why? Got a hot date?" His voice is low and it dances like electricity in her blood.

She smirks lightly, her voice playful, "Yeah. Me and my boyfriend are going out to dinner for our anniversary."

He tenses.

Shit.

The moment is broken.

Yumi feels the way his body turns rigid and she groans, pulling away from his slightly to sit up straighter, "You forgot again, didn't you?" Her eyes are narrowed into slits and her voice is as dead as Jim's career. Meanwhile, he's internally combusting, struggling to figure out how he can get himself out of this mess. He didn't mean to forget but summer days always seem to bleed together and he knew it was coming up, just not that it was this Saturday.

Yumi stares intently at him, searching for something is his face and she must find it because her gaze softens and she sighs, her body melting back into his. "Idiot. Give me your phone, I'll set a reminder."

Love isn't romantic gestures but he does show up to dinner that Saturday with a bouquet of the lilies she likes and with a reminder set in his phone and a resolve to do better, he never forgets another anniversary again.

Love is coming home from work and vacuuming instead of watching soccer because Yumi'll be tired to do it she comes home but not tired enough to tell him to do it. Might as well do it before she gets upset. Clean house, happy wife- two birds with one stone.

Love is making dinner for them every other day so they don't live on take-out. Love is giving backrubs in the cover of the night, shaving her legs when she's tired, buying strawberry popsicles instead of cherry because she loves it and he loves the taste of them on her lips afterwards.

Love is admitting that he's not ready for kids (and neither is she) and using protection until they are. Love is opening up to her about his father and letting her help him rebuild the relationship from ashes. Love is holding her hand constantly through her parents' divorce, through the death of her grandmother. Love is her screaming at him to work for a better job because 'he's so much more than a pencak silat teacher' and she knows he 'wants more'. Love is screaming back until all the anger is spent, then wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head between her shoulder blades and whispering, "You're right. I'm scared."

Love is saying 'I love you' at the end of each and every night, even if they're fighting. Because, they do.

They love each other. Irrevocably and infinitely.

But the last reason the movies got love wrong Ulrich learns is that it's not the drama, or the fights, or the work that makes The After so great.

It's the fun.

It's the joy in sharing yourself with another person.

It's endless laughter and smiles and kisses.

It's waking up and going to sleep next to the person he loves most in the world. It's the way her laughter never stops setting off fireworks in his stomach. It's the way when their lips meet, he still loses his mind. It's the way when he pulls her flush against him, her hand will tangle in his hair and it sets him on fire.

It's the way she'll lean over and eat the food right off of his fork, smirking cheekily.

It's the moments in between, the small happy bubbles they create, that fill him up and make him smile more easy.

Yeah, the movies got love wrong.

Being with Yumi is much better than dancing around their feelings for each other.

She comes up behind him as he's stirring his pot of stew, wrapping her arms around his middle and her hands sneaks under the hem of his shirt, the cold metal of her wedding band sending little flutters through his stomach. She leans over his shoulder to see what he's making, her hair cascading down his shoulder..

"Whatcha got in there, Iron Chef?" She smells like strawberries, his favorite scent.

He hums and presses his lips to her in a chaste, but loving, kiss, "Dinner for two."

She smiles, "My favorite kind of dinner."

a/n: okay, this might have been more fluff than i wanted. like, i wanted to really put a spotlight on their flaws because god knows yumi and ulrich are flawed characters because you know, they're young. but like, i wanted to show that them maturing is Important to their relationship and its success but i sat down to write and just cuddles came out. all the cuddles. welp.

tell me what you think? i'd really love feedback on the characterization and if I portrayed their relationship alright? like, it's just so complex and it's not all just cuddles, like did that come across?

reviews are life.