This Is: Date Night -- An OTP Prompt (2/2)

8:12 PM 
Kinokuniya Bookstore

“So let me get this straight,” Matt said slowly as A rushed around the bookstore with a shopping basket in her hand, “You don’t like not paying for food, insist on getting me prizes at the arcade, but you’re happily letting me spend on books?”

“At least I let you pay for something,” she said, putting her fourth book into the basket. Matt can’t help but smile at that, letting her immerse herself into her own world for a moment.

“I’ll be by the graphic novel section, darling.”

“I’ll come when I’m done,” A replied cheerfully. She heard Matt’s retreating steps and hummed to herself happily, glancing down at the basket and smiling (albeit sheepishly) at the amount of books there already were.

After the arcade, Matt asked A if she’d like to choose their next destination. Without a moment’s worth of hesitation, she answered: Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Matt had watched her practically run to the bookstore, the ponytail she had tied in the car bouncing against her back. Admiring her for a split second, he soon followed and found her later by the fiction section, already with three books in the basket. His girlfriend was beaming, her fingers moving over the embossed cover of the book she held in her hand.

He knew she never had time to read, and during the moments that she did, he left her alone to spend some time with herself. A’s bookshelves back home were practically filled with books to read – from crime novels and Shakespeare to Japanese language guides. He walked in her reading two books at once at one particular event.

“Babe, what are you doing?”

A’s head snapped up, her eyes half-lidded as she tried taking him in. For a moment, she saw nothing but blur and shook her head, eyes readjusting as she looked at him again. “Oh. Um. I’m reading?” she sheepishly held up a thick novel and a Japanese language guide, Matt snorting.

“Jesus, darling. You might strain your eyes.”

“I’m not straining,” she huffed, going back to her books. Matt smirked a little and hung his jacket, unbuttoning his shirt and watching her. He saw her eyes, which squinted a little, and he gave a little amused hum of his own.

“Coffee?”

“My usual, please.”

In his own haze of thought, Matt didn’t realize that A had poked his arm, the ginger turning to her. In the basket were seven books. A looked a little embarrassed.

“That’s all, kitty cat?”

“I was tempted to get more,” she admitted.

“Why not?”

“I – um – I still have a lot of books to finish,” she said quickly. Matt grinned crookedly, kissing his lover on the forehead.

“Sure you do, darling. Just give me two and I’ll pick out the graphic novels I want.”

“Take your time,” she replied happily, looking back at the books she had gotten. In a span of ten minutes, she had rushed back to the shelves, switching books while Matt waited patiently with four graphic novels in his hands. By the time she had gotten back, she had switched three for three new ones.

“You’re choosy,” he teased. She huffed.

“I have standards, Matt.”

“Mhm. Come on, darling. Let’s pay for these.”

* * * * *

8:49 PM
Starbucks

“Baby, I think you need glasses.”

“G-Glasses? Why would I need glasses?”

Matt pointed at the menu which was located right above the ordering station. “Read the first line for me, darling. The hot drinks.” And A did, reciting them perfectly. Anyone would then claim that A didn’t need glasses, but Matt knew better.

She was squinting.

“I don’t get it,” she said softly, looking back at him. “I can read the words just fine.”

Matt decided between telling her outright and letting it pass for now. Instead, he teased: “I think nights reading your novels finally got to your eyes.”

“Don’t say that!” A’s green eyes widened, and she scowled at him. “You play all the time, yet you don’t wear glasses at all.” Matt, however, shook his head.

“I wear contacts, love. That’s why it’s not obvious,” he explained. Her face fell. “You can get contacts too, if you want to – you just have to remember to take them out before you sleep. Or else your eyes get messed up. Happened to me one time, I think I had to get new ones,” the Englishman chuckled.

“I don’t need glasses or contacts.” She told him stubbornly. He shook his head.

“Whatever you say, darling.” At that, he looked up. “I’ll get our drinks and snacks. Hold on a bit.” She nodded idly and took out the novel she had already started, reading while she waited for him to return. At the scent of coffee, she looked up from her book and Matt had sat down, pushing the paper cup of cappuccino towards her. “Just saying, however,” he said off-handedly, “I think you’ll look terribly adorable with glasses.”

“Pfft.” A took a sip, “I’ll look silly.”

“Just look for the right pair. I’ll even help you out with that if you want me to.”

“You’re really not letting this go, are you?”

He grinned. “Not quite.”

“Fine then.” She shrugged and leaned against the seat, Matt watching her with a fond look in his eyes. “You’re doing it again.”

“Hm?”

“Looking at me with that smile,” she murmured. “Really, you like doing that a lot.”

Matt took a slow sip from his drink. “Do you know those moments when we wake up in the morning after a long night,” her cheeks reddened slightly, “Where you wake up before me?” A nodded, closing her book to look at him. “You want to get up, make some coffee or get started on the laundry. But you don’t want to, because I’m usually wrapped around you and you don’t want to wake me up.”

She listened, letting her fingers find his. Matt went on.

“So instead of moving, you just watch me sleep. I don’t know what you’re thinking; if you’re wondering why I smell like nicotine or if you should kiss me because I have that dreaded morning breath.” She snorted and he smiled, knotting their fingers together. “But you have that look that all lovers have when they watch their significant other sleep. If I could put the look into words, then it’s the ‘how could I deserve you’ look.” He lifted her hand and kissed it, looking straight into her eyes.

“That’s the feeling I’m feeling right now. Watching you drink coffee and read, argue about whether you need glasses or contacts. It’s a normal situation. But at the same time, I see you and wonder how I could ever deserve someone like you.”

He watched as A fell quiet, he gently playing with her fingers and squeezing her hand.

“You make everything perfect.”

“I guess I just needed to reciprocate the perfection right in front of me.”

And then A finally smiled, squeezing his hand back.

“I love you.”