Work Text:
Eri pressed a button and the vending machine dispensed a can of the drink she'd chosen. She opened it and took a sip. The drink was sour. She still liked drinks like that. In fact, Naota had moved to responding to her occasional comment about his tsundere habits towards sweet drinks by teasing her about her own drink preference.
I don't have his particular baggage, so it doesn't work. In fact, it's sort of cute that he thinks it'll do anything to me.
Speaking of Naota, Eri was going to see him soon. They were both free from work at this time, though they were meeting at a different place than normal. That would usually be at their home, if their jobs didn't make it difficult. Eri knew of how workplace norms were in places other than Japan. At times, she was jealous, if simply because of how some places let couples like them have time after work together regularly. There was also that niggling concern that Naota could one day become a victim of stress related death.
I bet he wishes at times that he'd gone off with that crazy alien woman.
She had an office job with the local government for Mabase. It was a perk of being the former Mayor’s daughter. Her dad had eventually left the office, though abused his power before he went to get her a decent job. It might have been very good for me, but it still was an abuse of power.
Fortunately, she had enough drive on her own and enough focus put on her by her parents that getting a good job just handed to her. She’d seen how that sort of privilege messed people and their morality up. I don't think I'm a nice person. But I’ll never be that bad.
She found a bench and sat down. After taking a gulp of her drink, Eri looked down the street she was on. There was actually a nice view of the town here. Mabase could be okay in that way at times. There were moments where she could look at parts of Mabase and it was kind of picturesque. She was married to Naota, but they still had views on this town and on adulthood that clashed just as much as they bore similarities. But that’s a good thing. We both need someone in our lives who can point out when we’re being stupid even while being understanding.
Eri looked back at where the vending machine was. Should I get a drink for him?
She got up and went to do that. Eri got a can of a sweet drink. As much as giving that sort of drink to Naota could be a coin toss between being something he’d appreciate normally or put up a stupid front about accepting, she knew he liked sweet drinks a lot more than sour ones. She then carried on walking down the street. She had plenty of time to get to her destination.
I’ll probably be there much earlier than he’ll be.
“Right on time”.
Naota was there first, with an insufferably smug grin on his face. “I told you that I could get here before you one day, Eri”.
“So? You’re just here to watch me work and do some heavy lifting if we don’t have enough people free for that. I’m the one here for actual work. It doesn’t matter if you’re late”. Eri then felt annoyed with herself. She should be better at reacting to light jokes like that by now. “Sorry. I know you’re just joking. Really”.
“You’re sounding like a sore loser”, Naota replied in a humorous tone. Then, more seriously, he said “You’re the one who was complaining about always having to wait for me. So I pushed myself to get here earlier. I know this group matters to you and I know me being around for it does too. I’m not here early just to dunk on you or win that old bet. I’m here because I’m sincerely interested in you and your hobby. You remember me telling you that before?”.
Eri felt her face redden. This kind of thing, this sincere interest, was still difficult for her to deal with. “Yeah, I remember. You did say that. Thanks”.
Naota had developed a knack for ending moments that Eri was uncomfortable with. She was thankful for that as he bluntly said “Can we go inside now?”.
“Yeah”.
They entered the building. Eri was a part-timer for a theatre group. Managing a play and acting in one had been originally something she’d done in middle school for the sake of pleasing her parents. At that time, she’d said something about how a person performing a role could become their role and make it real. In regard to theatre and caring about it, that had happened to Eri. She’d worked on that first play as a way to play her role of the hard-working class president one more time and maybe please her parents in that possibly last chance to have them watch her together. That had been a really unhealthy and immature idea. But, regarding theatre, her idea had sort of actually happened. She’d ended up actually liking theatre work, though she preferred to manage over acting.
I’ve spent enough time acting in my ordinary life. I’d like to be myself during my hobby.
She handled managerial duties. She liked being in charge. In fact, she sort of needed that, probably too much. At least she had Naota and a few friends to tell her when she was going over any lines with her bad habits. Eri was admittedly not good at handling those times, though she’d got better at communicating with real friends. Fortunately, I’ve been able to improve and I have people around me who can understand the real me, even if it's a struggle. Naota is even involved in a group like this because he actually likes me enough to be around for my group, though he still hates theatre.
They reached the room where the group was in. As they entered, the group members gave signs of acknowledging her like nodding. Eri picked up a copy of their script, then took out her glasses and put those on. She still wore contacts most of the time, but her eyes had changed in a way that meant she needed to wear glasses more often. Her opticians preferred she used her glasses when doing lots of reading.
At least it makes it a bit easier for some people to realize I have a brain, even if some of those people think I should be told that I look like a librarian.
Eri noticed Naota smiling while glancing at her glasses. “Haven’t you got bored with reacting to these stupid things already? It’s been over a decade since you first saw me wearing glasses”.
“It’s been a lot less time since you started letting people other than me know you need them”.
Being willing to share her true self with friends or be honest with herself didn’t mean being open like that with everyone equally. The fake glasses she’d worn at that play so long ago had been her way of asserting that control over what she’d shared with Naota about her glasses. She wanted Naota to know that, while she was willing to let him know things about her that she’d not told others, she still wanted control over how that bit of info might spread around. With the fake glasses display, she could tell anyone who she didn’t want knowing about her glasses that she just wore fakes and that anyone who said she needed real glasses was a liar. It was a convoluted idea, but she had been a middle schooler at the time. Her middle schooler status had been her first defence when she’d revealed her logic to Naota when they became adults and she’d decided to disclose her reasoning. It was something Eri had done as an act of sharing. Fortunately, after Naota had stopped laughing, he told her that this didn’t change his opinion of her. Then he added, after seeing Eri’s concerned expression, that it meant his opinion of her hadn’t lowered or anything like that and that he still respected and loved her.
“You really do look nice with them. Beautiful even. Really”.
He’d said something similar back then. It was nice both times, even if it was very hard to believe.
“Sure I do. I appreciate the compliment, but you’re not the sort of guy who normally gives compliments like that. Most of the time that you say stuff like that is when you want to butter me up or you think you’ve done something wrong and want to cushion the bad news”. Eri grinned and jokingly said “You’ve not burnt down our home, have you?”.
“Hey, I’m the better cook out of us two, even if I have to tone down the spice for the recipes I learned from my dad”.
Eri blushed. She didn’t care about cooking specifically, but she still cared about being competent or even talented at anything she applied herself too. Her terrible cooking was really embarrassing, though she’d learnt to handle her reaction to things like that going wrong a lot better as she’d grown up.
Naota then said “Also, I can do normal couple stuff. Have a little faith in me”. He then smiled and said “Good luck! See, I can say stuff like that easily”.
“Wishing good luck can be unlucky in theatre circles”.
“Since when were you a Thespian?”.
“You got that reference?”.
“You should give your husband more credit”. Naota grinned. “I hope your project crashes and burns and that you all get fired. Better?”.
That made Eri smile. “Yeah. Thanks”.