The soothing tones of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong were serenading us. We were listening to the album "Ella & Louis", another album I'd included in my gift for Sana today. I knew it was one of his favorites. He'd played it a lot at his apartment with me, so I thought it could be comforting for him, as well as give him some joy. It was one of my favorites, too. 

Sana had surprised me again earlier, after dinner, when my parents had run out the door to go to the movie. He said he had an alternative activity for us, and not to worry about the movie. I had to admit, I was a little sad I'd given away the tickets. I'd really wanted to show him the old theater my sisters and I used to go to when we were growing up. I knew he liked vintage things. But when I saw what his last gift was, all of that swept away. 

Now, we were relaxed on the couch, our heads rested against the back of it, charcoal masks on our faces, soothing eye treatment pads over our eyes. My hand was in his hand, and a whole basket of similar skincare things was on the floor in front of us, so much fun to try. 

I had noticed that all of his gifts today were trying to appeal to my feminine side. The weight of the rose gold watch was comforting on my wrist. I had to admit, I did miss dressing freely. Whenever we were together at my apartment, I could do what I wanted. Yes, if we had been there, I would have been wearing a cute dress just like he was. That's what I wanted. These presents were making me long for it. To embrace it, even if I felt uncomfortable after a few hours. I had been trying to be better, trying not to get nervous. But dressing as myself... I knew I had lost some progress now that we were here. But, that was okay. I would never blame anyone for that. Someday, if I worked hard, I could have that opportunity again. 

Instead, I thought about what had happened earlier in the afternoon. Those silk bunny ears. When I'd found them yesterday, I wondered where they'd come from. I never knew Sana to be interested in that sort of thing. Was he kinky? It made my brain go a million miles per hour. What else could he like, like that? Hand cuffs?! Made my closed eyes roll up into my head, in a sort of swoon. 

I was thinking about whips when I heard my papa's voice in the room. I jumped about ten feet. I was so glad we were covered in a blanket.

"What are you two doing?" He asked, wonderous. 

"Charcoal masks. Gets the dirt out. And the eye pads make the fine lines go away."

He made little popping sounds with his mouth, unsure what to make of this. I heard him sit down in his chair, the sound of his newspaper opening. 

"Papa, really?" I chuckled. I squeezed Sana's hand, and he squeezed mine back twice.

"Say, does that mask make your skin soft?" 

I nodded, then realized my mistake. My eye pads fell down into my lap. Darn. I opened my eyes. My papa was looking at me, his face full of wonder. He touched his face, his hand stroking his chin. 

"Why?" I asked. He stroked his cheek now, his eyes going to the ceiling. Wait, was he-

"Can I try it? I bet your mom would like my skin to be soft."

"Ew! Pa-a-pa!" I was laughing, cracking up. Sana began to giggle next to me, but I could tell from his sounds that he was trying to hide it.

"Oh! Oh! So you can have soft skin, and I can't?" My papa was looking at me, incredulous, his newspaper crumpled, completely forgotten. He was leaning at me in his chair.

"He can try it. It will be fun," Sana said, smiling cutely. 

"Okay. I'll be right back." I got up, and pecked his charcoaled cheek. He made a small, adorable grin at this. I grinned with him. I picked up the jar of charcoal masking cream, and thought for a second, and picked up two eye pads between my fingers. I went to my papa, and handed him the eye pads.

"I don't think I need these, too, just the mask."

I gave him a sneaky look. "Yes, you do."

He made a snorting sound, and put them on his eyes. I dipped my fingers into the cream, and began applying it evenly.

"This music is nice," he said, his skin loosing a little tension as he relaxed. "Louis Armstrong, right? I like it."

About ten minutes later, we were all laid against our backrests, waiting and listening to Ella and Louis sing. Small footsteps padded into the room. They paused. They paused for a long time. 

I heard a small tsking sound, and a giggle, and my mom walked out of the room.