Archive of Our Own ^beta

Her day started the same way it always did: waking with her wife, eating breakfast with her wife, and going on a walk with her wife. Not a very long one, mind, but just enough to help Suletta keep her strength up. A few laps around the tomato fields, it usually ended up being. Miorine always came with her, to help her up if she fell, to accompany her, to just simply be with her, to keep a hand on Suletta’s shoulder so she knew she was here, with her. Even though the day where Suletta could manage it on her own had probably long since passed, she never minded the company. 

“You’re my wife, of course I like it when you come with me,” she would always say whenever Miorine commented on it, and then Miorine would always stop, take Suletta into her arms, and kiss her right there in the still-rising sun. 

After lunch, a GUND-Arm meeting. These weren’t daily, but they were often enough that even though her role in the company didn’t strictly require it, Suletta usually ended up tagging along anyway, just to be with Miorine for longer. The topics of discussion usually flew over her head, nonsense about shareholders and stock prices and budgets and marketing -admittedly important nonsense, but nonsense to her nonetheless. 

Sometimes the technical details listed off in dry voices, corporate jargon splurted in somehow even drier voices, and the conference room’s relentless overhead lights all combined to make her regret attending. One of the lesser side-effects of the damage Calibarn had wrought was that it made Suletta more susceptible to migraines, and a place like this would give anyone one of those. A few times when they took the train home afterwards, Miorine complained about getting one mid-meeting, and unlike Suletta, she couldn’t just simply leave. She was the president of the company, after all. 

So when Suletta felt the distinct behind-the-eyes pressure indicative of one of those days, she shifted from her seat at Miorine’s side to her wheelchair tucked in the corner, and quietly excused herself. Miorine gave her a soft, empathetic glance as she left for her own office in the little building. Suletta never really used it, so it was almost completely empty except for a desk, but it was a place where she could control the lights, muffle the sounds, shut the windows, and just relax, and was thus invaluable to her. 

This time, it took less than an hour for Miorine to come and find her. 

“I thought you’d go on for longer,” Suletta commented as her wife pulled over the only other chair in the room to sit next to her, to take Suletta’s hand in hers. “There seemed to be a lot on the agenda for today, yeah?” 

“Yeah, there was,” Miorine said, leaning over just far enough to rest her head on Suletta’s shoulder. “I called it early, just to be able to be with you again.” Suletta laughed. 

“So irresponsible. What was your excuse this time?” 

“You know, I’ve already forgotten,” Miorine answered, laughing along with her. “Is it gone yet?” Suletta didn’t have to ask what she meant by ‘it.’ 

“No. A little longer, and it will be, I think.” Miorine sighed, and scooted her chair even closer to Suletta’s. 

“Okay. A little longer, then.” Suletta nodded, gave her wife’s hand a squeeze, and let herself drift off into a little nap with the woman she loved. 

When dinnertime came, Miorine almost always insisted on holding her hand while they ate, and by ‘almost always’ she meant ‘always always.’ It made it a little harder to actually eat, with only one hand, but Suletta always considered it a worthy sacrifice. Any time she got to hold her wife’s hand was worth it, and sometimes when it was like this, she got to feel Miorine hold her a little tighter whenever their idle talking led somewhere that made her wife blush. She always loved seeing that, loved to just set her utensil down to rest her chin in her hand and simply gaze at her. That always brought a deeper blush, and once they both finished eating, Suletta always kissed her for it. The table was just wide enough that she couldn’t lean all the way across and do it. 

Afterwards, Miorine cleaned up. Ostensibly, the way they did it was that whoever didn’t make dinner cleaned it, but not only did Suletta often find herself being gently weaseled out of cleaning duty, but what was supposed to be her half of meal prep duty ended up being more of a quarter. Tonight hadn’t been a night where Miorine managed to convince her it was her own turn to make dinner actually, but it happened often enough that she sorta felt bad about letting Miorine negotiate herself into more household chores. Suletta had started the dishes this time despite making the meal, since yesterday had been a day where Miorine did both, but her wife soon took over. She was a very good negotiator, even when it came to only saddling herself more. 

Suletta understood why, and did appreciate it most of the time. She didn’t want to overstress herself either, especially with the migraine she’d had earlier, but conflictingly, so too did she want to… be relied on, like they’d talked about years and years ago. To carry her own weight. Sort of an ironic phrase there, given that she literally couldn’t do that, and wouldn’t be able to for a while longer, but it was still true. 

So this time, like most times Miorine stole away the chore of cleaning up, she just came up beside her and watched. Her wife focused on the dishes as she came close, but every now and then she’d laugh to herself, bump her hip over into Suletta’s. As the frequency of her little motions increased, what she wanted became obvious. 

“Alright, alright…” she murmured, now coming up behind her. Leaning into Miorine let her set aside one of her crutches, and she used her new freedom to put her arm around Miorine’s belly and hold her even closer. Hearing her breathing pick up slightly, Suletta began kissing her hair, knowing without seeing that her clingy Mio-mio had the cutest blush on her cheeks. 

“Suletta, I- um… thank you.” Miorine said simply, still cleaning. Suletta laughed, and tilted her head to the side to kiss the top of Miorine’s ear, then tilted to do the same on the other side. “Ah, I… Suletta, try not to- to distract me too much, okay? I- I do want to actually clean up.” She was still doing that, though Suletta noticed her scrubbing was a little… jerkier than before. More erratic. Cute… 

“Of course,” she replied, softly kissing her way back up to the top of Miorine’s head. “I just know you like feeling me, and… well, you’ve gotten pretty good at saying what you want without any words.” 

“Yeah, I do… thank you, again. You feel nice, Suletta Mercury.” 

“You do too, Miorine Mercury.” Her wife giggled, sighed, wriggled, all in quick succession. “I love you.” It was very nearly the only thing she could think, with Miorine being so cute in her arms. 

“I love you too.” 

Once it was all cleaned up -and more importantly, once Miorine’s need for touch was satisfied- they reluctantly parted ways for a while. Miorine had gotten a few meeting-related calls during dinner, and had declined to answer any of them. Unfortunately, matters really were pressing, so she did have to talk to them eventually, and she decided that time was now. So, while she did that, Suletta went out to tend the garden. 

It was relaxing, sitting herself down and digging her fingers into the soil -the real soil- to grub out any weeds that’d crept in since their last pass through the rows of tomatoes. Unlike Miorine’s old greenhouse on Asticassia, Earth was a much less… controlled environment. There were bugs and worms and weeds aplenty for both of them to pluck away, but they did a good job of it. Miorine was always very vocal about how much Suletta contributed. 

She’d gotten to the second row of eight when she heard the door open, heard Miorine come out to kneel behind her, wordlessly massaging her shoulders. Suletta kept working until the relief of Miorine’s kneading fingers became too enticing, at which point she leaned back, humming away happily. 

“You really needed this, didn’t you, my sunlight?” Miorine asked. 

“Yeah…” she sighed, “I guess I did.” For a couple minutes, Suletta tried to go forward again, to continue her work with the plants, but her wife’s touch proved too distracting, and she ended up leaning into her again, letting her arms go limp as her wife worked. “You feel nice too…” she murmured again, laughing as she felt Miorine’s lips meet the top of her head, just as she had done herself in the kitchen. 

“I like making you feel nice, Suletta.” Miorine didn’t say anything more, just kept going until Suletta muttered half-words towards the meaning of ‘I’m good, that’s enough.’ Then, Miorine took her cheeks in her hand, shifted back enough that Suletta was now comfortably looking up at her, and gave her an upside-down kiss. This she accepted gladly, one hand coming up to ruffle her wife’s hair, the other meeting a hand on her cheek, holding her there, holding them there as the kiss lengthened. 

When it was over, when they parted with flushed cheeks and steadying breaths, Miorine just laid Suletta down on her lap, the back of her head against Miorine’s legs. There, she held her hand, played with her hair, and they just looked at each other for a while, the garden surrounding them completely forgotten. 

“I love you, Miorine Mercury,” she whispered after a while, smiling ever wider as she felt her wife’s fingers squeeze hers, felt her wife comb through her hair. “I really do.” 

“I know. I love you too, Suletta Mercury.” Both laughed quietly, letting the moment keep going, just a little longer. Then Miorine looked away, off to a vine, plucking a tomato ripe for the eating. She took a bite, then offered the next to Suletta. This she accepted gladly too. 

After they took a few turns, Suletta got a little bit of tomato on her cheek, and started to move her hand towards her face to wipe it up, but Miorine stopped her. She barely had time to raise an eyebrow before her wife’s lips came down to kiss it away, then to kiss her. Then any complaints she might’ve had evaporated, and she thought only of Miorine for a while. 

Laying across from her wife, her sunlight, Miorine tenderly stroked a few stray hairs back behind Suletta’s ear. Even in her sleep she smiled, happy and content with her. For a few minutes, Miorine just admired her, watching her eyelids flutter as Suletta began to dream, heart almost skipping a beat when her wife’s arm came around her, unconsciously holding her closer. 

“I love you,” she whispered again, kissing her lover’s forehead. She’d said it earlier, just before Suletta actually dozed off, but she was always looking for reasons to say it again. With Suletta almost always nearby, she never had to look far. “Sleep well.”

The next morning came, dawnlight streaking in through the windows. Miorine woke up first, as she usually did, and she took the time in partial solitude to yet again admire her wife. Yes, she had a busy day today, and probably shouldn’t delay their morning this much. No, she didn’t care. She never cared, not when Suletta was right there to be admired, which was always. I love waking up next to her. I love her. 

The slow rise and fall of her chest, the way the early morning sun made her hair look like so many rivers of reddish-gold, just her face still smiling even in her sleep. She reached out a hand, gently running a single finger down the Permet scars, tears coming to her eyes not just from remembering what caused those, but from the sure knowledge that Suletta was here, with her. After everything, they were together, and Miorine would never tire of thinking of that. She would never tire of reminding herself that nothing could change that, not anymore. 

Suletta stirred, and for a moment Miorine regretted reaching out to touch her, since maybe she’d woken her, but then her wife sat up, leaning on one arm, the dawnlight making a halo around her like the angel she was. 

“Hi,” Suletta muttered groggily, voice just as sweet as always, her hand against Miorine’s cheek just as soft as always. “I love you.” Still only being half awake, those simple words affected Miorine more than she usually let them, and she found herself crying. Suletta just laid back down, bringing her lips close to kiss away Miorine’s tears, and said it again. “Hi, I love you.” 

Her day started the same as it always did: falling in love with Suletta Mercury all over again.