Shopping With Subaru
(this is part 3. part 1 here)
"Good morning, sleepyhead."
You can't help but poke a bit of fun at Subaru, the way she shuffles into the kitchen like a zombie when you've already been awake for over an hour. Are her eyes even open? She's never been much of a morning person, but it's always amazed you how you can get up from your shared bed, get dressed, and leave the room to go get breakfast, all without her stirring awake even slightly. This morning she's at least changed out of her pajamas, which is rare, and she's wearing a plain shirt and shorts combo. You're not even sure if she heard the first thing you said, so you try again.
"Good morning, Subaru. You still look so asleep, I'm surprised you bothered to get dressed."
"Mmmm...? I gotta, right...? Aren't we working later? You said drying the deck would take two days."
Ah, so she still has the deck on her mind. She took time off work and came to stay with you for a few days, only to find you in the middle of refinishing your back deck. You felt pretty bad about it, but it wasn't really something you could start and leave half-finished, so you recruited her to help you out. Which she did, even though you could tell she was a bit disappointed.
"Yeah, I said that." You answer her, but you suspect she's still not awake enough to realize the problem here, so you elaborate. "The deck needs to dry for two days. As in, it needs to sit there and get some sun, and we don't need to do anything. So unless you're really excited to watch paint dry, I was thinking we could go out somewhere. A date, or something."
"Wait, we're done working?! Wait, a date?! Did you say a date? Yes yes yes let's go, where are we going, where are we going?"
You don't think you've ever seen her wake up quite that quickly before. You knew she'd be happy, but even then, you were not quite prepared for this.
"I haven't decided yet. I thought maybe you could pick somewhere. It's, well... Sort of an apology for just working these past few days and not properly spending time with you. So we can go wherever you want to go, my treat."
"Oh! I'm not sure I'm awake enough to decide something like that right now. Let me eat breakfast first, and then I'll come up with something."
She heads over to the cupboard to get some utensils and dishes, moving much faster than she was just a few minutes ago. This day is already looking like it'll be a lot of fun.
...
...
...
"It's this shop, right here. I love this place. They've got my favourite outfit."
Her favourite outfit? She meant to say favourite brand or favourite designer, right? How do you have a favourite outfit when it's just sitting in a store? Wouldn't you have to buy it and wear it for a while to consider it your favourite outfit? You're a little confused, but there's no chance to ask for clarification because Subaru has already gleefully rushed into the store ahead of you. You shrug and follow her in. It just looks like a normal clothing store to you. You see her heading towards the changing rooms in the back of the store, and speed up your walk a little bit to meet her there.
"Don't look, okay? There's one I want to try on."
"Look? Of course I won't look. The changing rooms have a door for a reason."
"Not like that, silly. I mean, I don't want you to see what I'm going to try on. I want it to be a surprise."
"Sure, that sounds fun." You laugh a little at how much of a production she's making out of this whole thing, but dutifully turn your back and look over at the wall. You hear, but don't see, as Subaru grabs some clothes off a nearby rack and darts into the changing room, closing and locking the door behind her.
With nothing else to do in the meantime other than listen to the rustle of clothing being removed, you start imagining what she might be trying on. Maybe it's a new shirt? You can never have too many shirts. But no, that's a bit too practical and plain for her to want to surprise you with it. Oh, maybe it's another pair of shorts like that weird one she loves with the side cutouts, the one where you can see her underwear! Now that would be nice. Or maybe it's a pair of tight-fitting pants or something, it would look great with her toned legs and you bet it would feel wonderful to grab...
Your imagination starts veering more and more in the horny direction as you wait, but eventually you start to wonder: Does it really take that long to change clothes? What's going on? You stop picturing Subaru in various states of dress (and undress) and call out to her across the door.
"Everything okay in there? You're taking quite a while."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm— actually, no, I'm not fine."
"Do you need me to help you put it on? I wouldn't mind sneaking some extra peeks, if you know what I mean."
"It's not that. I don't think I can wear this after all. You wouldn't like it. It's not... It's not right for me. I can't."
Something's wrong. She doesn't even try to tell you off for your insinuations like she normally would. And the way she forces out those last two sentences sounds so pitiful that it pushes all your indecent thoughts straight out of your head. She's clearly sad about something, and you should be trying to cheer her up.
"Come on, it'll be fine. It's not like we have to actually buy it. If it looks dumb, we can just have a good laugh over it together, and then you can go pick out something else and try that on instead. It'll be fine, I promise."
"That's not really what I meant either..." She trails off, her voice trembling slightly. But you hear the lock of the door being turned, and then the door slowly opens and you finally get to see the surprise you've been waiting for.
You're struck speechless. She's cute. Super cute. Dangerously cute. The top's a frilly white long-sleeve shirt with a little red bowtie at the collar, and that alone is nice enough. But what has you really stunned is the bottom half, because she's got on a long, high-waisted skirt. A skirt! You've been together for months now, and you don't think you've ever seen her wear something that wasn't either pants or shorts. A lovely skirt like this one, blue with red lines crisscrossing along it and with a bit of frilled trim at the hem, you would have thought was totally out of the question. You just stand there, staring.
"It's... It's no good, right? Just like I said..."
Subaru's words and dejected tone snap you out of your trance, and you stop looking at her clothing to start looking at her. It seems she'd mistaken your stunned silence for disappointment. She's awkwardly grabbing one arm with her opposite hand, like she doesn't know what to do with her arms. She's obviously trying to avoid looking at you, as if she thinks not looking at you means you're not looking at her. And she's blushing harder than you've ever seen her blush before.
"What? No, it's great! It looks great!"
"Everyone always says I'm a tomboy... That being around me is like hanging out with the bros... Tomboys aren't— no, I'm not allowed to wear something like this!"
Her voice gradually gets louder and more emotional, and you realize she's about to break down in tears. Your previous attempt at cheering her up with your words didn't go over well, and you don't want scene in the middle of the store, so you do the only other thing that comes to mind. You step forward, arms out, and grab her in a hug.
"It's okay. Everything's okay. I'm here for you. It's perfect. It's wonderful. I love it. I love you."
"You're just—"
"No, I'm not just saying that to cheer you up. I'm not lying to you. Look at me, Subaru."
You loosen the hug a little, leaning your head back slightly to make some space between the two of you. You wait, saying nothing. Eventually she timidly looks up and meets your gaze, and then nods slightly.
"Sure, your voice is loud, and you use some pretty rough language sometimes. You like physical activity and sports. You're competitive. You're into retro games."
She nods again with each sentence you say, clearly unsure where you are going with this.
"And I love all that. I wouldn't have it any other way. But that's just a few traits. You're so much more than just that. And which one of those says you're not allowed to wear skirts? If you want to wear one, why not just wear one? You're all those things, but you're still a girl too, Subaru."
Now she starts crying for real, and you pull her back into a close hug. But this isn't the crying you were worrying about before, crying born of fear and frustration. Instead, these are tears of happiness. Of relief at revealing something about herself that she had been hiding for so long, and being accepted for it.
"Thanks... Thanks... I came here so many times... I'd bring it into the changing room, and I'd... There's a mirror, right? And I'd just... Just look at myself... And put it back on the shelf... I was so scared, so scared of what people would think..."
She's still crying, letting out all the stress she'd built up around this outfit for who knows how long. You finally understand how she could have a favourite outfit that she didn't own. She struggles through what she's trying to say, the tears and sniffling cutting her off mid-sentence again and again. But you don't interrupt her. You just hug her tighter and wait for her to finish. And when she's finally done, you speak.
"I'm happy you trusted me, Subaru."
This starts another fresh set of tears, which you expected, but as much as you'd like to stand here hugging her, you're still in the store and it would be really awkward if someone else came to try on clothes, considering you are standing right in front of the changing rooms. You pat her on the back a few times and then attempt to lighten the mood a little.
"Don't think being girly will make me go easy on you in Street Fighter, though."
"What? You, go easy on me? Our win rates must be somewhere around 90-10, my favour."
"Exactly, and if you want that 100-0 you're gonna have to work for it."
That gets a chuckle out of her, and with the heavy atmosphere broken you untangle yourselves from your hug and look at each other again. She still has a few tears trailing down her cheeks, and you reach out and gently brush them away with your finger. You look down at what she's wearing, and then back to the discarded shirt and shorts left in the changing room.
"Well, are we going to buy it? Go get changed back into your own clothes so I can bring it to the front counter."
"I don't wanna."
"Don't want to buy it? After all that?"
"Don't wanna take it off. This is the first time I've ever worn it outside those changing room doors. I'm not taking it off after just a few minutes!"
"Well... fine. Maybe you can just wear it to checkout and they'll scan the tag or something. How much is it, anyway?" You say, pulling your wallet out of your pocket.
"Oh, don't worry about it, I can pay for it!"
"No, like I said at the start, this is my apology for conscripting you to work on the deck. It's my treat."
"Well, if you say so... I guess I'll go grab another one!"
Yep, she's definitely back to her usual cheerful self. She seems to have just meant it as a joke, though, since she just grabs her old clothes and accompanies you up to the checkout counter. After a moment of confusion from the cashier, you pay for it and leave the store, walking hand-in-hand. You're a little surprised she actually wants to wear it home, considering how warm it is out, but I guess that's what ages of anticipation does to you.
You continue sneaking glances over at Subaru on the walk home, smiling every time. You can't help it, she's just so cute like that. Eventually, she catches you looking and calls you out.
"What are you making that face at me for? Did I say something funny?"
"No, I just thought you looked nice in that. That's all. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any other secret hidden desires like this, would you?"
"Well, now that you ask... I've always thought it might be nice to grow out my hair..."