Ocean Mist (Azul Ashengrotto/Yuu)

25 ~ Night In

"I still don't see the purpose of using skincare products unless absolutely necessary. My skin's already sufficiently moisturized, if not more."

"Jeez Azul, you've never had a day of fun in your life, have you? Well, tonight's gonna change that!" Yuu grabbed a wide assortment of face masks before putting back most of them. "But we're on a budget, so it might not be the most extravagant day of your life."

He reached for his wallet. "I could just pay," he offered, only for Yuu to smack his hand away. "No! I'm paying today!" She held up the face masks she'd grabbed to him. "Now, choose your favorites!"

"...These two?" He picked out a coconut mask and a lemon mask at random. She read over their labels a bit before nodding and tossing them into her basket.

They stood in line and Yuu observed the products in the category under a large banner of Neige LeBlanche. "...He's not really pretty," she commented.

"Who?"

"Neige LeBlanche. He's more cute, right?"

Azul turned his attention to the banner she was staring at. "I suppose so. I wouldn't say he isn't pretty, though."

"Vil's a lot prettier than he is."

"Or maybe you're a 'die-hard Vil Schoenheit stan', as Idia would phrase it."

Yuu let out a snicker as they reached the front of the line. "All I'm saying is Vil's pretty and Neige is cute, so I don't get why people compare them that much. They have two completely different looks."

They went to a local grocery store next. For all of the items they needed, they could've gone to Sam's shop, but the opportunity to go on an outing, just the two of them? Neither of them would have if any other way.

Azul skimmed over the list Yuu pulled up on her phone. "We have a pasta maker."

"You do?"

"Dearest, I own a restaurant."

"Right, right..." They turned back to the list. "You have a pasta maker, but you don't have olive oil or heavy cream?"

Azul gave Yuu a blank stare. "We ran out. You make it sound as though I own a shoddy establishment that gives their resources a mere afterthought."

"Okay, sorry to offend you," she laughed. "Your establishment is very high quality." She grabbed a shopping cart and an idea popped into her head.

"Hey, Azul! Get in~"

He made a face at her. "Absolutely not."

"C'mon! You could do with a bit more excitement in your life!"

"I already have had plenty of excitement today being a passenger in a car with you driving," he countered, shuddering at the several close calls, one near murder, and an accidental red light they had ran simply on their way to the city from Night Raven College. He suddenly wished he knew how to drive and made it a priority to get his license as soon as possible.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, picking him up and hoisting him into the shopping cart. "Make sure to grab the ingredients we need when we run past them!" And with that, she took off, running as fast as she could while pushing the cart with a loudly whimpering Azul inside.

"Olive oil's right there, Octoboy~!" she laughed, slowing the cart down so Azul could grab it yet not coming to a full stop before picking up the pace again and heading to where the rest of the ingredients they needed would be, repeating this process until they got to the checkout line.

Azul managed to survive another trip with Yuu behind the wheel back to Night Raven College in one piece. As they exited from the car, rain started to fall from a sky and they grabbed all of their bags, rushing into the building and to Octavinelle as fast as their legs would carry them.