(Untitled)

[epitomeofvanity]

WHO: Miyazawa Yukino [epitomeofvanity] + Don Draper [change_just_is]
WHEN: Friday, February 20th, 1953
WHERE: Schwarzalbenheim; Apt. 2
FILTER: Closed.
WHAT: Cooking Lesson time!
STATUS: [COMPLETED]

Comments

[change_just_is]

"I don't think her intentions are as pure as she's suggesting," Don says, and there might be a bit of flirtation in his voice, but then again, it might just sound that way. He shrugs and stands up, still feeling satisfied and full from the meal they'd cooked together. "I shouldn't overstay my welcome," he says, preparing to get his coat and head back out into the cold. Although he'd like to spend more time with Yukino, he knows that they'll get together again soon, and he hopes that he and Zack will get another chance to talk, too.

[epitomeofvanity]

Yukino watches him stand, head tilting back. "It really is to keep your clothes clean," she says with pursed lips. That part of it is pure enough, as far as she was concerned. She blinked as he moved for his things and stood, following him. "Well, if you have somewhere to go," her voice trailed off. Then she gave a smile. "You can come by any time to talk," and her grin was a bit more calculating. She still had to grill his brain, after all.

[change_just_is]

He grins at her. "I'll be by soon with my portfolio. I can show you some of the ad campaigns I've been drawing up for this city," he says. Not to mention they'll get to talk about the stock market and advertising in general, which he really looks forward to. He knows he'll be back over at her apartment soon--probably hers, rather than his, since they'll get a little more privacy at hers. He wants to try to give her a kiss goodbye, but he doesn't want to do it with someone else in the room. Not because he's embarrassed about kissing her, but because he doesn't want Yukino to be uncomfortable. But when they're alone... he certainly has calculated plans.

[epitomeofvanity]

Yukino beams at him. She definitely doesn't want to miss it. It's almost like a class to her, and she was an amazingly attentive student. "I look forward to it!" She gathers his coat and holds it out for him to take, her light shoes made only the slightest of whispering against the floor as she walked behind him. While she should be a lot more wary about being alone with him, she can always circumvent that by meeting at the library, or outside, when it got warm enough. Well, warm enough so the slight chill was bearable and the stench of the zombies didn't totally ruin your appetite or mood every time you stepped outside. Her desire to learn faaaar outweighed her reservations about Don and his intentions through sheer force of her will.

[change_just_is]

He notices that she walks out into the hallway with him, and grins a little, taking his coat from her and then smiling at her. "I look forward to it as well," he says, and then leans in close. One hand on the small of her back, he pulls her towards him and kisses her quickly on the lips. He's unsure of how she'll respond, but since he's saying goodbye, he had to go for it and hope that the consequences wouldn't be too dire.

[epitomeofvanity]

The hand at her back sent an electric energy straight up her spine. She knew what was coming. It stopped the words that were about to come from her mouth and had her hands coming up to attempt a shield, but he was prepared and she was not and so the peck landed. It was very brief, compared to the others, but it was no less of an invasion -which was becoming, sadly, an expected one- that got an instant reaction. It came in two distinct parts.

The strangled cry came first. It was filled with irritation and frustration. It was coated with blame as well, but not for him. If she told him to stop, she thought he was enough of a gentleman to do what she asked, but this had become something of an ill-advised game. Like when she was fighting with Asaba, petty tricks became common place and their unrelenting spirits refused to admit defeat, but they had been on even ground. Don had a very, very unfair advantage, and Yukino was determined to level the playing field, even if she hadn't figured out how yet

[change_just_is]

The hits to his chest surprises him, and he stumbles back, unable to keep the expression of surprise off of his face even though he tries as hard he can for his face to remain neutral. The redness in her face looks more like frustration than a blush at his advances, and he's not sure whether she even appreciates the flirtation at this point, or whether she feels flattered. Her physical reaction says no, and the words she's shouting at him in Japanese also say no, but that little twist in her lips says yes, even if it's only briefly

[epitomeofvanity]

Don's surprise is balm for her wounded ego, but it doesn't last for long, because he quickly finds his smile again. The amusement at her temper tantrum -because that's exactly what it was and she would be ashamed of it later- leaves a twinkle in his eye. It didn't help that she was only giving him mild slaps instead of rib cracking blows like she should have been for what he'd done. Again. This battle, this WAR, was far from over, but Yukino still didn't know the stakes were quite so high

[zack_rules]

Having retreated a little further into the house to give the two more privacy at the tail end of their apparent date, Zack was understandably concerned to hear Yukino suddenly break out into incoherent shouting. It wasn't a sound he was at all familiar with, and given how well they'd all been getting on a few minutes earlier, it was pretty shocking.

He made his way back towards the door, calling out, "What the heck's going on out there?"

[epitomeofvanity]

Even though she was about to start pushing Don towards -and possibly down- the stairs, she heard the voice coming from inside the apartment. It sounded concerned, and it was getting closer and she stiffened. Zack! She had forgotten all about him! Her face flushed harder in horrified embarrassment as she realized he had heard everything she had said. Her brain was a little fuzzy on exactly what that had been, or if he'd been able to understand what she said anyway, but her hysterical and shrill yelling must have been enough.

She took in a deep breath and tried very, very hard to steady her breathing and hoped that the redness in her face wasn't as brilliant a shade of red as she knew it was. Her breath came out a little shaky, mostly from the sudden yelling, and because, for some reason, she was extremely nervous about Zack finding out anything about what Don had did. "I-It's fine." Damn. It sounded breathy, too. Today had started off so calmly, too...

[change_just_is]

Don looks at her worriedly. For some reason, she seems to be more concerned about what Zack thinks than about what Don had actually done. Or at least more concerned about Zack finding out about it. He smiled at her, trying to calm her down. He certainly didn't want Zack to get the wrong idea--what he'd heard may have sounded a lot more questionable than it had actually been, as Yukino had screamed at him as though he were doing something far more inappropriate than simply kissing her.

"I just startled her," he calls. If Zack comes into the hallway, he'll see that Yukino is blushing, but he might not know the full story. And besides, it was true. He did startle her, at least based on her horrified reaction.

[zack_rules]

Zack stopped before he reached the hall. Yukino sounded a little shaky, but if she said it was all right, then he'd trust her that at the least she didn't want it to be his business. He had his suspicions about what "startled" was supposed to mean--unexpected tongue? hands where they shouldn't be?--but he wasn't about to add to it with an unwanted rescue. He'd just have to be sure to have a chat with Don about it later.

"..all right," he said. "But try to be more careful. It almost sounded like somebody was getting murdered out there."

[epitomeofvanity]

Yukino felt an immense flood of relief as his voice stopped getting closer. Despite how little confidence her voice must have inspired about her well being, Zack wasn't going to come out and see her totally flustered. In a few minutes, she was going to try and drown herself in the tub for totally over-reacting. Sadly, the first time she had punched him was probably a better reaction than the total fit just then. Oh, Kami, where had her tact and quick thinking mind gone? She couldn't be so out of practice to melt down like this, right? Violence was definitely better than screaming.

Her voice came out more confident as her eyes fastened on Don, now back to their narrowed slits. "I'm sorry, Zack, next time I'll make sure it really is a murder," and her voice is sweet as she smiles at Don. Her mind was cranking, and her hands were behind her back as she assumed a very non-threatening posture and looked like noooothing strange at all had happened. "I'll see you later, Don."

[change_just_is]

Don grins at her, because he can see how she's trying to make it look like nothing happened, but he knows that her mind must be going a million miles a minute, trying to figure things out. If it hadn't completely thrown her off, she wouldn't have reacted that way. And maybe there was a little bit of attraction to him, too, if she seemed so embarrassed. If she hadn't cared at all, wouldn't she have reacted less? He told himself this to give him hope, because he certainly wasn't going to give up now.

"I'll see you soon," he agreed, turning and heading back down the stairs. He intended to bring his portfolio by very soon, and maybe he'd get another chance with her then. She probably needed some time to calm down after the fit she'd just thrown. Her overreaction showed that there might be a little something there, even if she didn't admit it. But he could wear her down.