Lesson Learned

You cling too tight

Mitsuko snuggled her face into Rio's lap while the two of them were laying cuddling on the couch in the living room while Mr Nakamura was still at work and Mrs Nakamura was busy painting something in her study.

She closed her eyes as Rio's slim fingers massaged her scalp, making her want to drift off to sleep.

"You look cute like this," Rio sounded amused.

"Then take a picture," she mumbled, smothering a yawn.

Her girlfriend gave a short laugh, which was followed by some shuffling. "Okay."

Mitsuko winced when a bright light interrupted her almost-sleep when the photo was taken. "Hey!"

"Aw, so cute!" Rio cooed.

Mitsuko scowled and sat up, whacking Rio with one of the couch cushions. "Jerk."

She just kept laughing, wrapping an arm around Mitsuko's waist to pull her close. "I'm sending it to Karma."

"Why?!" Mitsuko glared at her, turning her face away when Rio tried to kiss her.

"Because he thinks they're funny." Rio kissed her shoulder instead and then trailed kisses up her neck. "You smell nice."

Mitsuko grinned, trying to turn her neck to look at her. "It's that perfume you got me." She grabbed Rio's jaw and kissed her sweetly. "Very good taste I might add."

"Glad you liked it, I was kind of terrified it'd be too cheap..." Rio admitted.

"I'm not a complete snob, Rio," she replied, smirking. "I would have been happy with anything you got me." She pulled away to stretch, yawning. "It did shut my dad up, though."

"Yeah, that was also a part of the plan," Rio replied, grinning.

Mitsuko smiled apologetically. "Sorry he's been giving you a hard time," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "He's such a snob he doesn't think anyone is good enough to date me or my brother."

"Yeah, I noticed..."Her girlfriend's smile wavered. "It can be a bit intense sometimes, a lot of high standards I guess..."

Mitsuko's smile faded when she saw the uncertainty on the other girl's face. "Yeah, it's...it can be hard." She held her hand. "He's so stubborn as well so it's either one extreme or the other with him."

"Exactly." Rio's smile returned. "Which is why we shouldn't care about his opinion."

"I mean...he's still my dad so I do still kind of care." Mitsuko shrugged awkwardly. "I'm not as obsessed over his approval as before but I still want him to be proud of me."

Rio's smile faded a little. "Well, yeah..." She gave an apprehensive laugh. "I just don't want him to try to control our relationship, I mean your brother is bad enough..."

"He's just protective..." Mitsuko sighed, looking away. "He's still clingy so it's hard for him, but he's improving a lot!"

"I know..." Her girlfriend shifted. "But it would nice if he didn't always interrupt us when we were kissing and whenever I'm around he always glared—like name ONE time where he's actually said something nice to me?"

"Uh..." Mitsuko grimaced. "Well, yeah, true..." She sighed. "I have been trying to tell them to be nicer, but like I said, they're stubborn...and Gakushuu doesn't actually hate you."

If anything her dad and Gakushuu attitude toward Rio had improved, they'd gone from complete loathing and disapproval to only slight disapproval and dislike. That was practically a milestone!