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It was Friday evening, 7.30pm when Yennefer heard the keys in the lock of their front door turn. "How can it be 7.30pm already", she thought. She hadn’t heard the car coming into the driveway. Was she really that submerged into making this date night go perfect?
Tissaia had been working long hours at the university for the past six months. Well, maybe not exactly six months, but Yennefer had still started feeling a little ignored. She knew Tissaia couldn’t help it. Helping students out was important to her, even if it meant long hours in the office and neglecting her wife.
They needed some quality time - that much was clear. What better way to reconnect than during a perfect date? On their third date, Tissaia made a delicious dinner for them, and now Yennefer wanted to return the favour. She hoped it would make Tissaia relax, and that she'd be thankful for Yennefer, and give her all the attention she desperately craved.
She’d told Tissaia to come straight home after work today, and in order to make sure that "straight after work" wouldn't be too late, she’d even asked Tissaia’s secretary to reschedule all her late afternoon meetings. As for the dress-code, she wasn’t too worried. Cause damn, her wife always looked hot, in whatever she wore... or didn’t wear.
Yennefer planned the whole meal. She went to the store to pick up everything she needed for the dishes she planned on making. Yennefer wanted to make tonight special. Starting with some tomato soup made from scratch, a delicious eggplant curry with some dahl and rice, and as a dessert some chocolate fondue with different kinds of fruits. It was a bit on the heavy side, but Yennefer hoped Tissaia would not only lick the chocolate of the fruits. A girl could hope, right?
Where had she gone wrong? She had started early, cut up vegetables, cooked the rice, made the dahl. Everything had been going well, just like she planned, all dishes were almost ready and simmering when she decided to change into her new dress, put on some makeup and do her hair. After she was done, she gave herself a once over, decided she looked beautiful for her wife, went back to the kitchen and came back to… this.
How did this happen? Did she take too much time getting ready? She put the lid on the soup, right? And diminished the stove to a small fire.. Right? Yennefer looked at the red splashing pattern on the wall at the back of the stove and around the pot. Okay, she thought, first things first. She pulled her hair together with a band from the junk drawer and got to work. Cleaning could wait, she had to somehow salvage the tomato soup.
Upon placing the soup into the blender, the smell of burnt rice reached her nostrils. "Fuck!" She put the blender on and sprinted towards the smoking pot of rice. She emptied the content of the pan into a colander, shaking it vigorously because it wouldn’t come out. Weird, she thought, rice wasn’t supposed to be one solid block with black on the bottom.
A warm drop of liquid falling on her forehead snapped her out of her contemplation. With her finger she lifted one of the drops to her mouth. Hmmm, tomato. Wait.. With big fearful eyes she looked up. Their once white ceiling was covered in red spots and smudges. Oh no, she had totally forgotten to put the lid on the blender. There it was, still innocently lying there next to the blender, covered in not yet finished tomato soup.
Maybe only a main dish then, she thought, trying very hard to keep her cool. Yennefer walked back to the stove. She stirred through the dahl, which had big lumps in it, and the eggplant curry, which didn’t have the colour it should have. Her flawlessly planned perfect date night was falling through. Her plan might have been perfect, but Yennefer certainly wasn’t. Her confidence began to fail her when she looked through their kitchen. The kitchen her wife so adored was now covered in tomato soup, pots and pans everywhere, and ruined food. And she hadn’t even started with the dessert!
Oh crap, she thought while looking at the clock in the oven, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. She heard Tissaia put the keys into the lock of their front door and turned them. Instantly panicking, Yennefer sprinted towards the hallway while closing the door behind her to close off the kitchen and smoothing out her dress and hair, for how much that was possible.
And there she stood, her wife. In the middle of the hallway with the keys still in her hand. Yennefer's mouth went dry while looking at her. The most gorgeous woman in the world. She was wearing a knee length black pencil skirt with black heels under it. A white blouse with the first few buttons opened tucked into the skirt. Her hair tightly in a neat bun on the back of her head. Yennefer could look at her for hours and still won’t get enough of the sight.
However, when violet met blue, the violet eyes sprung wide open at the questioning look she was receiving. Right. The mess she left in the kitchen. The mess she left on herself! Yennefer could only imagine what she looked like. Her raven hair in a messy ponytail, red drops of liquid spattered across her face and chest, the black dress smeared with yellow crumbs of overcooked dahl. She even managed to get some burned rice in her hair.
Yennefer’s face fell when she felt a droplet of tomato soup slowly running down the bridge of her nose and dropping to the floor. She had been so excited to give her wife a relaxing night, eating a delicious homemade dinner while being in each other’s company, having some quality time together. But no, she ruined it. Anxiously, she looked at her wife. Was she mad, tired, upset, frustrated, disappointed, all of the above? Normally, reading her wife was easy, but now, she had no clue.
Yennefer awkwardly cleared her throat. "Welcome to this wonderful establishment," she said, she even bowed. Why did I do that, she thought. Why did I SAY that?
"Good evening, dear," Tissaia said in that sultry voice of hers while placing her bag under the coat rack. And that's where Yennefer made the mistake of looking at those gorgeous blue orbs. She knew she was a goner the second their eyes met. And there she goes, rambling like a babbling baboon.
"This morning I went to the grocery store and the tomatoes there looked really amazing. Like big, red and firm. Even the eggplants weren’t bruised like they normally are. There was this huge queue at the checkout counter. Looked like everyone was doing they’re groceries today. Have you ever had the queue starting at the candy aisle? I mean, that's a long queue, right?" There was no room for Tissaia to answer her, cause she kept going.
"And then when I got back to the car, this bird shat right onto my windshield. Couldn’t leave it there, so I went to the car wash. I didn’t plan that, but I did plan the rest and I was really on time. And I wrote it all down. I even set timers. Well, only for the beginning to be honest," she rambled on, almost getting out of breath.
"But I figured I had enough time. But now you're home already. And I just wanted to surprise you. Because you deserve some down time after all your hard work of the past six months. I just thought some quality time would do me good as well. Do US good. You know? And now..," she sadly motioned towards the kitchen.
Tissaia was still looking at her with this unreadable look on her face. She kept looking at Yennefer’s face waiting for more, waiting for her to get to the point, but also making Yennefer a bit nervous.
"I tried to make you a homemade meal, just like you had done on our third date. But I ruined it. I ruined everything," she concludes, eyes teary. "I just don't want to disappoint you."
The doorbell rang. Confused, she looked at Tissaia. "Are you expecting someone? Did you invite someone over?"
But Tissaia didn’t reply, just turned around, opened the door and took a step outside. Yennefer shuffled a bit to the side, trying to see who was at the door. But Tissaia closed the door a bit behind her so that she was closed off from prying eyes. Muffled voices sounded and after a few moments Tissaia came back inside and was holding two plastic bags.
She closed the door behind her with her elbow. Tissaia had a small smirk on her face, which grew the longer she looked at the questioning and confused look Yennefer was giving her. "I kind of had a hunch." Tissaia held up the two bags. "I ordered some Indian food from that place you like."
Yennefer didn’t know how to feel. Insulted and angry or thankful. With the ordered food, they could still have the quality time she wanted. But ordering food without telling her felt a bit insulting, especially when her wife suspected that she was going to cook dinner for them.
Tissaia’s smirk slowly disappeared and made room for a worried look which was emphasised by the two lines in her forehead. "I’m sorry, dear. I should have given you a heads up. You were trying to be so secretive this morning. And you tried to keep your plans from me, but you also left your grocery list on the kitchen counter. And I noticed this dress," she waved over Yennefer’s body, "you hung in the back of our closet. Which looks beautiful on you by the way."
"I thought I was being thoughtful," she continued when Yennefer remained silent. "You know, since the last three times you tried to make us dinner as a surprise for me, we ended up ordering takeout because there was nothing edible left. But it's the thought that counts. And I love that you wanted to surprise me with it. Especially after me being so busy this past month and us barely spending any time together." She put an emphasis on month with a sharp look, clearly indicating that Yennefer was exaggerating on that time frame. Tissaia put down the bags and put her hand on her wife’s face. "Thank you." She placed a tender kiss on Yennefer's lips.
With that kiss the tension from Yennefer’s shoulders fell off. Yennefer looked down on herself and then back to her wife. Both started laughing at the same time. A hearty laugh that reached their eyes. Without talking, they understood what had to be done. Tissaia took the bags with Indian food to the living room, while Yennefer made her way to the kitchen to get them cutlery and plates. She blissfully ignored the mess she made there. Sure it was bad, but she was going to clean it up later. Really! And it’s not like it’s a bigger mess than the previous times, or so she hoped.
On a whim, Yennefer fetched a bottle of their favourite wine and two glasses. Tissaia had already put out the boxes of takeout and had placed them on the table. She was in the process of lighting some candles. They instantly fell back to their routine with Tissaia opening the bottle of wine and pouring the glasses and Yennefer scooping up some of the curries onto both their plates.
They sat down on their favourite spot at the table, Tissaia at the head with Yennefer at her right hand side, close enough to have their hands touch if they wanted. “So, how was your day?” Yennefer asked while she scooped up a spoon of Tikka Masala with some naan bread.
"Hm." Tissaia took a meaningfully big gulp of wine. "Don't ask."
Yennefer knew her wife would elaborate after a few bites, and waited for her to start talking again. When she did, Yennefer listened as always, because no matter what it was that her wife was talking about, hearing it in her voice made it worthwhile. As the wine flowed, the conversation easily shifted to more pleasant topics, and soon, with full bellies and pink cheeks, they looked at each other in loving silence, too tired to talk, too unwilling to get up.
"Thank you for organising this date night, dear." Tissaia cupped her wife's cheeks and placed a loving kiss on her lips. "Let me clean up the table, since you’ve made this effort. You go and pick out a movie we can watch." She nodded towards the couch.
Yennefer moved to their couch with a pleased smile on her face and was searching their watchlist to find a suitable movie they both would like. That was, until she heard a scream, followed by her name being shouted at the top of her wifes lungs. "Oh crap..".