Robin woke up just as quickly as he'd fallen asleep, with the light behind his blinds being the only reason he knew actually slept until morning. He willed himself out of bed and got started on his morning routine: brushed his teeth, threw his clothes on, and texted his girlfriend Lucina good morning while he ate breakfast. Robin's phone quickly buzzed with Lucina's own good morning message and encouragement for the start of his day. Responding with an 'I love you' Robin put his phone away and cleaned up after his meal opting to just leave the dishes in the sink and take care of them later, it was his apartment so he could wait if he wanted. As he made his way outside in a pair of cargo pants and a collared shirt Robin sighed in relief when he just managed to catch the early bus to school, missing it wouldn't have been the end of the world but the white haired student/TA always liked being early whenever possible. After getting his seat Robin checked his phone and saw Lucina's text which simply read 'I love you too'. He looked forward to seeing her tonight.

Lucina put her phone away after sending Robin her final message of the morning and washed her hands for work. Being a baker wasn't what she aspired for as a career, but it was a decent paying job and her mother owned the place so it would do for now. Lucina still lived at home with her parents and sister while she figured out what she really wanted to do for a living. The blunette loved her parents, but baking was more of a hobby than a passion and she saw how exhausting her father's work in the local government could be, Lucina wanted to see what else was out there for her before she made her decision. She'd had lots of different ideas; security, carpentry, maybe even architecture, whatever it was Lucina knew it wouldn't be something where she was stuck inside an office all day, Robin was the bookworm between the two of them. Lucina was snapped from her thoughts as her mother walked in calling out three different batches of orders for this afternoon, figuring out her career would have to wait for now.

—

It was ten after nine in the morning when Robin's first class, Law of Property, let out. Robin was younger than most other students in the class but he was able to more than keep pace with the coursework, what stressed him out was the hour or so of TA hours he'd put in between that and his next class. Going to college while living off campus wasn't cheap so Robin had to make sure he wasn't wasting any time whether he was on or off campus, and working as a TA was much more dignifying than sitting behind a cash register. Normally helping students with the same interests as him would be no problem at all but because most people in pre-Law weren't your average college students and actually knew what they were doing, there wasn't too high a demand for bright ones to deal with the ones who showed up for class half the time and handed in every assignment late. This had Robin desperate for any other professor that would have him as their TA, landing him a spot in the Math department working for one of the more infamous professors of the whole campus: Professor Nyx.

Nyx was a very strict woman who was passionate for numbers and how they weaved their way through just about every facet of the world, but as college changed from a prestigious institution for learning to high school 2.0 she quickly found herself frustrated by the influx of students who just didn't give a damn about her field of study. Robin was not among this group, actually he was one of the few students Nyx liked having around, but she had developed a stern personality that didn't tolerate any nonsense in her classes. Many students found it amusing when combined with her short stature and screwed around anyways, leading them to failing her assignments and making it Robin's or one of the other TA's problems. Work was work though, and Professor Nyx could make for a good reference going forward so Robin just sucked it up and walked into the room, being greeted with the sight of a stereotypical jock flexing his biceps at a mirror while no one was there. Thank God it was Friday.

There was something Lucina found so soothing about kneading a big thing of dough, but when you had to do it while there were half a dozen other things going on it was hard to relax. There was some big catering order that had to be done today so everyone was firing on all cylinders while also trying to keep the regular stream of breads, cakes, pies, and other assorted goods flowing for the day-to-day customers that came in. Sumia was normally a very sweet and loving person, especially to her family, but when push came to shove in her bakery the woman was a whole other person. The gray haired boss methodically made her way through the kitchen making sure everyone was precise with their timing and thorough with their work. Mozu, one of the newer girls, almost began to tear up at the sudden change but Sumia pulled her aside for a moment and before anyone knew it the black haired girl was back to work. Once Lucina was confident her dough was ready she placed it into a bread loaf pan that went straight in the oven, and not a moment later she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Lucina. Severa's taking her break and Nah's out sick, I need you to cover the register until Severa gets back." her mother said before leaving just as fast.

Lucina hated manning the register but she knew her mother wouldn't ask that of her unless she was really struggling to find someone to cover that station, so she removed her apron and washed the extra flour off her face and hands before going to the front. As soon as Severa saw her, she turned to leave without letting Lucina know who had already been helped or not.

"Good to see Sev's work ethic's the same." the blunette muttered to herself before she was in earshot of the customers, and speaking of which. "Welcome to The Sweets of Ylisse! How may I help you today?"

The first few customers were uneventful just how Lucina preferred, when she started as a cashier as a teen she served more customers from hell she could count during that first summer alone. After about fifteen minutes, her first pain in the ass arrived with an obnoxious swagger and a sleazy grin. Inigo was a notorious philanderer but he was also smart enough not to cause too much of a fuss to get him banned from the place, so he came and went as he pleased.

"Aw! Missed Severa again. You wouldn't happen to know if she'll be back in the next half hour or so?" he asked with faux sorrow in his voice.

"I don't have the schedule, so I can't tell you for sure. I can help you if you'd like to buy something though." the blunette replied with a trained politeness.

"I think I know what I'll do then. I'll get two red velvet cookies, but only bag one for me and tell Sevvy the other's my treat for her."

Lucina stopped herself from groaning and punched the order in. Inigo seemed to take that as a sign to continue.

"You know, if you weren't dating that egghead I'd be more than happy to buy a sweet for a sweetie like you too~"

"You know, our pastry chef Peri's been asking about you. Why don't you get one for her too." Lucina replied.

That shut Inigo up as he handed her his card. Ironically he was scared of the only girl who seemed interested in him, Lucina had heard he even gave her a fake name once. Lasward or something. Regardless it got the silver haired nuisance out of the bakery and Lucina breathed a sigh of relief. That was until an angry looking bald man stormed up to the counter and started yelling how he was overcharged for some snickerdoodles.

'Just forty more minutes.' Lucina thought to herself.

—

Robin's day was filled with more classes and painful TA hours that dragged on and on. The aspiring law student had been taking an extra course each semester to save money and start grad school quicker, it was efficient but it also kept him constantly busy. He had only a few precious hours on Friday night to spend with Lucina so he was in a hurry to get home and get the place ready for their date night. Robin caught his six o'clock bus on time and texted Lucina that he was on his way home before checking various sites on his phone. A new novel for one of his favorite sci-fi series was announced for later that year, he'd have to make sure he got it and had any and all work for that week done so he could read through it asap.

Robin was roused from his thoughts when he heard some people complaining about the bus stopping, he looked and saw that there was traffic as far as he could see up the road. He sighed and checked how long of a walk it would be to his place from where he was; an hour long, and that's if he cut through the bad part of the city. Deciding it would most likely be faster and certainly safer to stay on the bus, Robin texted Lucina that he'd be running late tonight. After that he slumped in his seat and just hoped for some miracle to get him home at a godly hour.

Lucina put her phone down after reading that her boyfriend was stuck in traffic. Just as well she thought, because she couldn't get her car to start. Lucina usually would have gotten off before they closed at six, but her mom needed the extra help and the OT helped make it easier to deal with. Now she was stuck in front of her mother's bakery searching through any of her contacts for someone who could help her get her car working again. Normally she'd call her father but he was in a meeting that was going to run for at least another hour, by then Triple A could be there so Lucina didn't want to bother him. The other two girls who closed with her that night lived nearby and just walked home, so getting a ride with them wasn't an option either. With her uncle's going straight to voicemail and her mechanically inclined friends like Gerome away at some car show, it looked like the blunette would have to bite the bullet and have her car towed. Lucina began dialing when she heard a voice that sounded just like her father.

"Excuse me miss. Do you need a hand?"

She looked up and saw not her father, but the man who ran the sushi joint across the street.

"Unless you have a pair of jumper cables and an extra battery, not really." Lucina replied dejectedly.

"I don't, but my sister may have some you could borrow. Let me go and ask her." the man said before walking back to his business.

Huh? Maybe today wouldn't be a total disaster after all.

—

The next hour and fifteen minutes were pure agony for Robin. It took five minutes just for the bus to change lanes, then it inched forward at a snail's pace for the next forty five. After that it seemed like for every one person who got off at a stop another three would get on, cramming the bus full of loud and irritable people for the rest of his trip. The last he had heard from Lucina she was having transportation problems of her own. Their date night was one of the few things Robin looked forward to each week, but they may have to cancel tonight's at this rate. Robin finally got off at his stop at seven thirty, a good hour later than usual. He trudged back to his apartment building and fished his keys out of his left pocket. When he looked up to enter the building his face lit up as he saw Lucina holding what looked like a togo box in front of the door.

"Hungry?" she asked.

The two hurried upstairs and Robin hastily threw together some plates and utensils for them to use before the two sat down to eat.

"I'm sorry its a bit of a mess, I was going to clean when I got back-"

"I don't care Robin. After today I'm just happy to have some time together."

Lucina took out the boxes and they both took whatever foods they wanted from each of them. After they got some much needed calories in their stomachs Robin was the first to speak.

"So what happened to your car, did someone give you a lift?"

"Nuht ecsactly -gulp- The people over at Hoshido Hibachi gave me a hand. Turns out the older sister that works there knows quite a bit about cars and was able to give me a jump start. I figured I'd get us dinner from there to show my gratitude, and don't worry the OT I made today will more than cover the cost of dinner."

"I'm definitely paying next time but I'm glad you got dinner, this food's amazing. Pass me more of the beef stew please." Robin asked.

"When we go there sometime you'll need to get the names right. I believe what you're asking for is called 'Sukiyaki'. If the younger brother heard you call it beef stew he might go off on you." Lucina said as she passed him the container.

"You've only known them for a couple hours and they made that much of an impression on you? We meet all sorts of characters at work."

"Oh wait until I tell you about my day today. So I had to work the register…"

As Lucina recounted everything that had happened to her that day, Robin started to lose focus on eating and instead enjoyed listening to his beautiful girlfriend talk. He did his best to listen but after the whirlwind of a day he'd had he was just happy to have this time with her.

"Robin, why are you smiling?"

Robin snapped back to reality "I'm sorry, I had a crazy day too and I'm just happy we got to have date night after all of it."

"Well I can't be mad at you for that. I'll just tell you again."

So Lucina started her story over again while Robin listened in, and when she was done he filled her in about all the classes and students he dealt with. The couple finished talking around the same time they had finished eating, Robin excused himself to do the dishes but Lucina objected.

"We're running late my Robin. It's movie night now."

"I don't think we have time blueberry, It's already past eight and you gotta be getting home soon." he replied

"I'm a big girl now. I can spend a night with a friend if I want to, and you're so much more than just a friend." she patted the spot next to hers on the couch and Robin knew once Lucina made up her mind there was no talking her out of it.

"If you insist." Robin said with fake annoyance, but his tone quickly shifted for the next part. "Just promise me your dad won't have me killed or kicked out of the city if you do."

"He won't, and if he's mad I'll have Mom calm him down. Now sit."

Robin was happy to do so.