"Alright, Julie, time to go," Christina said, her face suddenly turning completely serious. "Alex and I are going to kiss now."
I immediately tensed up, ready to protest. We hadn't even finished our homework yet.
"Ew, Yuck!" Julie grimaced, left the drawing on the desk, and stomped out of the room in annoyance.
I looked at Christina, raising an eyebrow.
"If you want to, of course," she said softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "She just absolutely hates seeing our parents kiss each other on the cheek, and they do it all the time. I decided to try it with our kiss too."
"You devious woman," I said with a smile, making sure she knew I was teasing.
"Well, it's not entirely a lie. We'll definitely finish in an hour, and a reward kiss will help us absorb the material better." Christina stood up, intending to move over to Julie's chair.
But I grabbed her by the wrist and looked up at her. "Do you..." I was about to ask if she had a spare pen, but the happy, hopeful look in her eyes stopped me dead in my tracks. I instantly realized what she was thinking, and what she was hoping for.
She turned, held her hair back with her free hand, and leaned down toward me. From down the hall came Julie's shriek, followed by the patter of bare feet running away.
Christina was so close. Her face practically screamed, "Can we? Please? Can we really?"
Yeah, we can.
I leaned in toward her, and she immediately pressed her lips to mine. At first, it was just a gentle press. Then her lips began to move, but without any rush. About ten seconds in, she wrapped her free arm around my back near my shoulder blades and slid into my lap. The chair let out a squeak under the extra weight.
Christina started kissing me with more passion, and I matched her energy, greedily pulling her in. We instinctively intertwined our fingers, squeezing our palms together tightly so there wouldn't be a single doubt about our mutual desire. But after about a minute, our locked hands started getting in the way. I let go and moved my hands to her waist.
Man, that hand placement is criminally underrated. You don't even have to move your hands or stroke her. Just the simple feeling of her body widening lower down, like the bulbs of an hourglass, makes you fall in love with a girl even more.
But Christina shifted closer, pressing her chest against mine, forcing me to slide my hands up onto her back. Since we were going all in, I pulled her just a fraction closer. She misunderstood the gesture and arched her back, but it wasn't her stomach I wanted closer. I slid my hands down lower, and through the fabric of her robe, I felt the waistband of her underwear.
Only then did my brain finally register that her legs were completely bare and the hem of her short robe wasn't even under her. It was just lying across my knees. All I had to do was push the fabric up, and my hands would be right on her hips.
"Wait, let me close the door," Christina said, breaking the kiss and starting to stand up. But without breaking eye contact, she plopped right back into my lap and resumed the kiss.
I slid my hands up her back to her shoulder blades, then brought one hand back down around her waist, wrapping it around her completely.
"Mmmph..." Christina closed her eyes and pulled herself flush against me, top and bottom.
It was weird. We weren't doing anything crazy, but it was getting hot, and we were even starting to sweat in places. I guess that's why people start taking their clothes off during passionate scenes...
I was happy. Thank you, UKARI. Thank you for assigning me such a... such an... active wife. I would've never done this on my own...
Christina pulled back slightly to fix her hair again and catch her breath.
"If you want," she whispered, "I can go lock the door."
"And leave me?" I didn't want to let her go.
"I'm fine like this. But if you..."
"Don't bother," I said, tightening my grip on her waist just a bit. "I love you."
Christina immediately tried to resume the kiss.
"Wait, wait, wait," I pulled back slightly. "You're supposed to answer a confession with actual words. Otherwise, it feels like you're just shutting me up. And this is my first time saying it, you know."
"Sorry," Christina blushed furiously. "I... I love you too."
"What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly on alert. It didn't feel like a lie. Maybe I'd rushed things? Words like that usually carry more weight after a month or two, so they sound convincing rather than superficial.
"It's my first time, too," she admitted, turning her head away to hide her face from me.
"What about with your previous match?" It felt uncomfortable bringing him up right now, but back then she'd talked to me almost as if they'd gone all the way.
"I was already bugging him enough." Christina paused for a moment. "It was just... obvious that I loved him... I'm silly, aren't I? I can tell anyone in the world that I love you, but actually saying it to your face is somehow terrifying."
"Maybe genuine, natural love just formed between us?" I moved my hand from her back to gently stroke her hair. "UKARI doesn't rule that out, you know. There's no rule saying they can't match people who actually fall for each other. Their whole goal is just making sure we're compatible for the long haul."
"What if... without all this, we run out of things to talk about?" She looked up at me.
"Loose lips sink ships," I grumbled, remembering that I was the one who had dropped that time bomb into her head in the first place. "Well, then we'll just sit next to each other in silence and do our homework."
"School's going to end soon, though," Christina smirked with a touch of regret, but I could tell she understood the metaphor. Family life doesn't end until the family itself does.
"And then the kids will start," I said.
It was weird: despite all the heavy responsibility UKARI had prepared us for, raising kids felt easier to me than dealing with school. Christina and I were going to make it work. It wasn't just confidence. I felt it as clearly as I felt my own hands, legs, and head. We weren't going to get bored, because we weren't even looking for cheap thrills right now. We didn't need a date at an amusement park or some test of courage to trigger the suspension-bridge effect. We were already on that bridge, even if it was just a chair, and underneath us wasn't an abyss but a heated floor.
"Dates are just background props," I said. "I love you."
"Me too," Christina mumbled, resting her forehead against mine. "It's so much easier to agree without actually using the word 'love.'"
"So even you have your limits," I rubbed the tip of my nose against hers.
"Just promise me that when I boil the pot, the gold won't turn into dead leaves."
"Hey, I have no gold-giving fairy ass. I have just regular la—"
"—lazy'n'ass," we said in unison, breaking out into laughter before sinking into another kiss. Not a greedy or desperate one, but soft, steady, and filled with real feeling.