Work Text:
“Shouldn’t you be at work?”
Aura states, before looking up from Ponco and looking towards the person who just entered her lab. Geiru is leaning against the door, smiling sheepishly. Her hair was free from the pink wig, the black hair half up in a ponytail, half down. She wasn’t wearing the usual pink getup either, opting for a crop top and shorts and some flip flops.. She was holding a carrier bag in her hands, obviously filled with bento boxes and noodles as well as a notebook on top, her hands twitching..
“I managed to weasel away, Bucky was kind enough to make us some food when I mentioned I was coming to visit you.” Geiru says, as she pushes herself off the doorframe and walks over to Aura, leaning over her to put the bag on the table behind her. Doing this means that Aura gets a look at the rashes on Geiru’s hands, and she takes Geiru’s wrist gently to peer at one of them.
“Is it soba by any chance?”
“It was an accident I swear. I mixed up the doughs” Geiru looks away, almost embarrassed.
Aura hums, knowing that she’s probably lying, but she doesn’t press it any further. She spins around in her chair and grabs the first aid kit she keeps on her desk. The abundance of bandages shows that Aura is prone to bumps and bruises, and less often accidentally cutting herself. She does know there is some salve in the first aid kit, that usually works on Geiru’s milder rashes. She finds it, and turns back to Geiru, who has that sheepish smile back on her face, looking slightly more stained.
“Can I put this on your hands? It might be cold.” Aura asks, because despite them being in a relationship, and knowing Geiru trusts her, she still respects her boundaries. She knows Geiru doesn’t exactly like being touched by people she doesn’t know, even if it’s just a simple hand on her shoulder.
With Geiru’s short nod, Aura applies the salve. Geiru flinches slightly, most likely from the coldness. Aura hums softly again and smiles up at her girlfriend, who smiles back softly. Geiru goes to pull a chair up to Aura’s desk, petting Ponco on the head affectionately and humming as she does so. Aura just watches, with a hint of a smile on her face, before setting out the noodles. Aura personally prefers soba noodles herself, but considering Geiru is allergic to the buckwheat in them, she’s started eating udon. They’re basically the same, plus she feels better knowing that they don’t have the chance to mix their meals up.
Geiru sits down, straddling the chair considering she’s using it the wrong way. Aura laughs slightly, in which she pushes it around so Geiru is facing the other way. Her girlfriend pouts, and Aura laughs louder. Geiru sits in her seat properly after that, still pouting.
They eat, catching up on how their weeks have been so far. The small talk isn’t unnatural, Aura updates Geiru on Simon, Geiru updates her on Uendo and Bucky. Geiru launches into a story about Jugemu and Aura listens intently, and follows up with a story about Clonco.
They tidy up, Geiru stuffing the rubbish in the bin, while Aura quickly dashes to the staff room to put the bento boxes in the fridge. When she makes it back, Geiru already has her notebook out, as well as a book and is putting Aura’s tools back into place and order. Geiru beams at Aura when she re-enters the room, and sits down again.
Aura sits down as well, looking Ponco, determined. She then looks at Geiru and smiles again.
“Remember to ask, if you need help, spelling something or sounding it out.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Write down words I don’t know as well.”
“It’s helping though, right?”
“Yeah but I feel stupid.”
“You’re not stupid, you’re learning.”
Geiru gives Aura a look, and twirls the pencil in her fingers, in the hand that had the rash that wasn’t that bad, “Yeah well, Taifu told me I’m a lost cause for even trying to learn.”
“He does know you can learn other stuff, not just rakugo, right?”
“Well considering I’m 30, and still learning how to read and write, obviously not.”
“You’re trying your best, Geiru, that’s all that matters okay?”
Geiru sighs and scribbles something in her notebook, before picking up the book. It’s some generic one, preteen but not quite young adult. Aura stole it from Simon’s collection of books in her apartment and gave it to Geiru a couple of months ago. She’s been slowly making her way through the book, writing words she didn’t know in a notebook that Aura also got her. She reads it quietly to herself, stuttering slightly occasionally. Aura goes back to work, continuing to fix Ponco. Sometimes she’ll ask for a tool, and Geiru will hand it over, without her eyes moving from the book. Sometimes Geiru will ask Aura to help her sound something out, leaning over and pointing to the word.
That’s how they spend most of their time together, apart from times Aura visits Whet Noodle, or the school. They see each other more once Simon gets out of prison too, visits to Whet Noodle becoming even more frequent. Over that year, Geiru becomes more eloquent, she’s moved up to full young adult novels.
Aura could see that Taifu didn’t agree whenever she saw him, always tutting and shaking his head whenever she brought her little notebook out to scribble something down.
Geiru had visited again, just a quick visit to give Aura some lunch. Somehow she had forgotten that her notebook was always in the totebag that she brought to give Aura lunch.
The notebook is still in Aura’s desk, tucked away for the day Aura has enough courage to visit Geiru in prison.