"What do you mean you forgot Valentine's Day?!" Tetsu started laughing so hard, on the phone with his papa. "Yeah, I know you've been working hard at the office lately and we all appreciate that. But what about mom? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I could see that."

I was sitting on the couch with him, currently sucking on a dark chocolate strawberry. We'd microwaved the chocolate, and dipped the strawberries together. As a bonus, his mom had bought vanilla melting discs instead of white chocolate by mistake, and Tetsu liked these better than the dark chocolate. It was a lucky mistake. So, we'd ended up with dark chocolate and vanilla strawberries. I was being careful with them, and this was my second one. I was slowly sucking on mine, to make them last.

Tetsu looked over at me, and his eyes went big. I paused, then continued. 

"Okay, okay," Tetsu said to his papa, "I'll help you. I have something you can give mom, and you two can go after work if you hurry home. It starts at 7pm. Yes, she'll like it. It's movie tickets." 

"Hmm?" I stared at him. Movie tickets?

"Yeah. I'll race outside like I'm so glad to see you. I'll give them to you, and you can pretend like the movie tickets were your plan the whole time. Yes, it's a movie mom likes. It's a romantic comedy."

I poked Tetsu gently on the side.  He looked over to me, with a curious expression. 

"I have to go now, and I'm sure you do, too. See you at six. Bye bye."

He hung up, and put his phone in his pocket. He put his arms around me, a sweet smile on his face. He didn't seem to be able to resist smiling at me today. I'd noticed. I wrapped my arms around him, too, careful not to smudge my strawberry on the back of his vest.

"Are you okay?" He asked, so close to me. 

"Mm-hmm. What was that about movie tickets?"

"Oh-!" He gasped. "I should have asked first! My papa forgot Valentine's Day and had nothing to give my mom, so I offered our movie tickets. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I was so worried about my mom."

"It's okay. I think it's sweet. Your mom seemed so sad that he might have forgotten." I put the side of my face in the spot between his collarbone and his neck, my back curled a little bit. It felt hot and nice. He put his cheek on top of my head. He held me like this, and I melted.

My hand dropped to the couch behind him. I quickly brought it back up to his back. I found it to be a struggle. 

"What was that?" He asked, now looking at me face to face, but still hugging me. He attempted to look behind him, but looked back at me quickly. 

I sighed. "I don't think I'm feeling fine."

"Oh no." He looked so concerned.

"I think it's the strawberries. We can check my blood sugar."

He nodded, and got up. He retrieved my purse from the other side of the couch on the floor, and sat back down again. He got my testing kit out, and prepared it. I watched, the strawberry still in my hand. I couldn't express how much I wanted to toss the whole thing in my mouth. I had half of it left. In a flash, he was ready with my pricking pen, and I let him do it with my clean hand. Very soon, we waited for the monitor to tell us the problem.

It beeped and told us my blood sugar was just over two-hundred. No wonder I was starting to feel something bad. He started to prepare my insulin, and I had the brief childishness of wishing I were normal. But, was it childishness? To want to enjoy chocolate and vanilla strawberries with him on Valentine's Day? 

We'd had fun with it. I'd watched him eat some vanilla ones, and that had been pretty erotic to me. I was sure when he paused on the phone when he looked at me sucking on mine, he'd found that to be pretty erotic, too. The surprised look on his face. But, now, I'd ruined it again. I wanted to put the strawberry to my mouth again, and make him go wild. It's all I wanted in the world.

He lifted my dress over the lace of my stocking, and pressed the needle into the skin he pinched up with his fingers. I wished he was pushing my dress up for something entirely different. He counted out loud under his breath. He'd said this helped him not get lost in the numbers when counting when he was worried. He was worried. 

I wanted to cry, but that would ruin this further. I held myself steady.

He prepared my insulin pen for next time, and placed it back in the case. He got up and put my kit back in my purse, and sat down. I couldn't help but look down at my lap. I couldn't look at him. No matter how I tried, I couldn't hide how disappointed I was.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Said with such worry. "Did it hurt? I'm sorry. Sometimes I go too deep. I'm not good at it yet."

I shook my head. I took a long inhale, and found it to be shaky. The shakiness betrayed me. I couldn't control it. So, I just said it. "I ruined it again. We were being romantic, and I just- I just..." A small whine escaped my throat like a hurt dog. I wanted to stop myself. I was just making it worse with this. 

"No. No-o, baby. You didn't ruin anything." He was hugging me again, his warmth surrounding me and squeezing tight. "It's alright. We can do anything you want."

I shook my head. Suddenly, sending a feeling descending down to my toes like a whoosh of nausea at myself, I found myself rocking in sobs. Loud sobs. Pressing my forehead into his chest, curled again, my hands over my face. 

I heard him make a quiet gasp, and his hand found the back of my head, holding it. His other hand was on my back, holding me so tight. His cheek was on the top of my head again, just like before. 

"I just-" I continued, "I just wanted to romantically eat chocolate strawberries with you! I- I planned it! For days! But, I can't eat chocolate strawberries, because I'm sick! And- and instead of it leading to something romantic, I get sick- and- and-" My throat collapsed into my sobs, unable to get a single word more out. 

He was making little tsking sounds, trying to comfort me. I felt him kiss the top of my head, and place his cheek there again. He was rocking me gently back and forth. 

He let me cry for a long time, not saying a word, just making those comforting sounds. When I quieted, he began to speak. 

"Baby, I've noticed you've been crying a lot lately. I can't say it's going to be okay. But, I want to listen. I always want to listen. You can talk to me about anything. I can't say I'll have solutions. But I will always want to help. I love you. We're in this together. I promise. Don't hold anything inside because you think you can't tell me. Don't bottle it up. Maybe, if you tell me first, you won't have to cry. I want to help you." 

I nodded into his chest. He sniffled. I looked up. He was crying, too. He took this opportunity to place his hands on the sides of my face, and drew me into a kiss. A long kiss. I tilted my head into it, and he kissed me even stronger. I felt myself leaning backwards, by him. The softness of the couch cushion met my head, and he was on top of me, his knee between my legs. He parted from me, and looked down. He flicked his head up to me, his eyes going a little wider. 

He was asking my permission. 

I nodded at the sweetness of this. He pressed his knee between my legs, and I stretched my back, my lips parting slightly. He brushed a stray hair from my face, and I loved the warmness of his thumb in this. 

But then I remembered where we were.

"Oh, oh, wait," I said quietly.

"Hmm?" He asked, blinking at me a few times, as if coming out of a trance. 

"Your mom is home. We can't do this here."

"Ohhh. Right." He smacked his forehead, and I giggled a little at this. I couldn't believe the mood change. He was smiling. He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth, a move which made me focus on him more than anything in the universe. My cheeks went hot. He looked at me, that smile returning. 

He was up in a flash, just like when he'd gone to get my purse. But, this time, he quickly picked me up, and I put my arms around his neck to hold on. In a hurry like he was being chased, he carried me out of the living room and down the hallway to our bedroom. I giggled at this, and he laughed with me. 

He closed the door with his foot, and put me gently on the bed. He sat down, and began taking off his vest. 

"Oh wait! I have a naughty present for you!" I gasped. "Let me find it! It's in the closet!" I got up and moved as quickly as I dared, feeling my heart go a little faster, but it didn't pound. It wasn't so far from the bed to the closet. 

"Oh, a naughty present?" I heard him say behind me.

I rifled through the bottom of the closet, looking for the shoebox I'd hid it in. I found it, and opened the lid. I paused. Nothing was in there. "Wait a minute, where is it?" I wondered out loud to myself. "I could have sworn..." I turned around. 

I froze, my jaw dropped, my eyes wide.

His arms were outstretched to me on the bed. He was sat there, with my naughty red silk Playboy bunny ears on his head. "Oh, you mean this present?" He asked. "I found them yesterday. What were you planning to do with these?" He was grinning so wide. So... So adorable...

"You're murdering me!" I cried out. I didn't know how to say I was dying of cuteness from him in Japanese, so the first thing I could think of in Japanese popped out of my mouth. I put my hands over my mouth, couldn't believe what I'd just said.

He burst into laughter, doubled over on the bed. "Cute, cute. That look on your face!" 

I began laughing, too, his laughter infectious. He was too adorable in those ears! I couldn't help but laugh at him. 

"Ne," He said, his voice taking on an entirely different tone. The voice he spoke in when he was dressed as Aurelia, a feminine undertone, a dusky voice, tinged with a rawness of desire, his voice breaking a little. "Come over here, why are you waiting?" 

I would have run over there if I could. But my slowness was almost a tease. I met him there, between his arms, and he embraced me. He swept my dress up, and began kissing my belly. I sighed in a moan, as his hands slid down my back, and began pushing down my pink lacy underwear.