Reverie and Nightmares

13

"I can't believe it, Ryuga. I can't believe you were serious about having a girl over on Christmas." Ali shrugged her shoulders, fixing herself to a cup of water. "This... This wasn't something I was expecting at all today, but. Alexander, was it?"

Mikan nodded her shy head, her face enjoying a cup of room-temperature carbonated soda. It had been long since she'd drank something that wasn't tea or water, but she always welcomed the burp that would accompany it, but if she was going to show herself to Ryuga's family, there was no fucking way in hell she was going to ruin an impression like that. She giggled, giving a small smile to Ryuga on the other side of the room.

She breathed in the living room air, and although it was stuffy, it was home. The daycare was a place she could hang out, and the church was good enough, but this was a place she lay down and looked forward to the next day, and now, with Ryuga, even more.

"Yes, but. You can call me Mikan. I don't think I want to use the formalities... I'm not so great with... It... I'm not Japanese, but... I studied enough to speak well. Ryuga... Helped me with learning."

"Did he now?" Ali looked at Ryuga, bopping her head with a thumbs up. "That's good, Ryu. Very..." She coughed. "Good. That's why you've been outside a lot, huh?"

"Haven't I told you? Come on... That's not nice to forget..."

Ali laughed, patting Ryuga on the head and walking to Mikan again, hugging her. Mikan thought that her hug would crumble her down, her elder grip reminding her too much of her forced mother, but it reminded her more of the sister's gentle hands.

"H-here..."

She stuffed her face into the chicken, hungry. And hungry. She'd tried her best to avoid the stutters as she couldn't stop herself from doing it all the time. Even with the people she was most comfortable with, in this case, Ryuga, who sat right next to her, still stuttered at a couple of words, not only because she found him handsome and just the sweetest thing in the world but because her social anxiety was just something else.

Ryuga smiled sheepishly, his eyes closed yet looking at Mikan, who held a fork and knife to eat the well-cooked chicken. It had been far too long since she'd been treated to proper homemade meals. The school was far from home-made, of course, and then there was the litter that the bear would give her at home, and if it wasn't that, it was the fast food that Sister Nay would send her way after school or the mornings when she crashed over at the church. In other words, the chicken that was nothing more than basic chicken with hardly any seasoning was gourmet to Mikan.

Sabato dropped his rice, dismissing himself to grab paper towels, and Ryuga insisted he help him out. Still, Mikan took the opportunity to make a good face for the family if she would be part of this family.

Family, she thought. The word was ancient and foreign. Whether she was consciously aware of it or not. Of course, she had Sister Nay and Father Stag, and now she had Ryuga as her boyfriend, who'd asked her to be his girlfriend forty minutes ago. Yet it had felt like months, perhaps because not much changed, at least not instantly, since Ryuga and Mikan weren't about to start publicly kissing and holding hands not even an hour after expressing their feelings to their family.

Ali's sharp frown turned into a soft smile, and so, in her heart, she progressively welcomed Mikan as they all ate for the night. Presents were opened, and there weren't many, but Ryuga had one prepared for Sabato hidden behind the living room TV, which he'd hoped he wouldn't find since the boy was seriously curious. Sabato threw himself at Ryuga and then to Mikan, thanking them both.

Mikan was slowly growing on Ali, and Ali knew that she'd have to talk with her a little later, seeing as she introduced herself as Ryuga's 'girlfriend, but seeing the time on her watch, she'd realized that the time wouldn't let her.