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“Ugh, all these places are so expensive!” Kay groaned, sprawling herself out across her boyfriend’s couch in frustration.
Since starting the trek on her new path in life to become a detective, Kay has worked tirelessly to make that dream come true. She was able to pick up her grades and finish high school with a good enough grade point average to get into Ivy University. The newly-promoted Deputy Chief Gumshoe told her that it had a great criminal justice program that would drastically increase her chances of becoming a detective once she joined the force. Edgeworth corroborated his claim by saying that he knew someone that had earned his law degree there as well, and that it was a great school regardless of her desired career path. Campus being within “perfect smooching distance” of her boyfriend Eustace Winner as she so tactfully put it was what sealed the deal for her.
There was only one problem: Money.
She needed it. A lot of it. Her parents and later her grandparents were thankfully insightful enough to save a good amount of money for her college education. By her graduation, that fund ended up being enough to cover most of her tuition, assuming she’d go for 4 years. Edgeworth offered to cover the rest of it, but Kay being Kay insisted that he not worry about her, and that she’d find a way to earn it herself. Fortunately for Edgeworth however, he very cleverly found a way to launder his money to her with the help of a certain man and his magician daughter who was desperately in need of a babysitter.
Kay’s babysitting job would likely cover food and other things of the like if she continued it alongside school, but living expenses would prove rather difficult. The choice between paying ludicrous amounts of rent for a Los Angeles apartment and forking over money for room and board left the former thief between a rock and a hard place. Even Edgeworth would not likely have the means to help her should she choose to swallow her pride and ask him, and she didn’t even want to think about the nightmare that was student loan debt if she could help it.
Kay continued to doomscroll apartment listings, still failing to find anything that’d be overall cheaper than what Ivy U had to offer on campus, until eventually she could take no more.
“Aceyyyyy! Is the food ready yet?” Kay projected in a drained, monotone voice, hanging her head over the arm of the couch.
“It’ll be a few minutes, honey” he replied in a way that sounded strangely dissociated.
“Need… food…” she feigned in a weak-sounding voice, stretching out her arm and throwing in a couple of coughs for good measure, “Not… gonna last… much longer…without food or cuddles!”
“I have some broth left to stir in. I’ll let you cuddle me out here though,” Eustace offered more clearly after a brief pause, as if he had to snap himself out of a trance.
This behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Kay. Eustace had gotten a lot more confident over the past year, something she was very proud of him for. Despite this, he’d still have moments of anxiety and self-doubt from time to time. She was prepared to help this time as always if something was off, but she decided that since they weren’t in the same room, she didn’t have enough evidence to cry wolf. If he needed emotional support for something that clinging onto him like a koala bear wouldn’t be able to fix, she’d address it after the energy boost from the literal support Eustace would give her.
“Coming in for a landing, partner!” She warned him before leaning against his back and wrapping her arms around his stomach. She learned the hard way not to sneak up behind Eustace without making herself known first so as to not trigger any bad memories about his father. These warnings were a compromise that they made early on in their relationship that worked wonders for creating small but unforgettable moments like this one. They were both facing the stove as Eustace stirred with one arm and shook in some parmesan with the other.
60 seconds. It was time to add more broth.
Her long hair flowed down over Eustace’s stirring arm as she rested her head on his shoulders. As much as Kay loved to torment her boyfriend by turning her typical, more unique hairstyle into a makeshift feather duster to tickle him with, the key she kept tied in it jabbed him in the neck one too many times. So she agreed to wear her hair down on dates where snuggling would be involved.
“C-Careful!” Eustace chuckled nervously, unable to hide his ticklishness. “You might get hair in our dinner!”
“I’ll pay the price later,” she quickly retorted, “Hugs now.”
“Alright, you’re the boss,” he relented coyly, though a hint of anxiety still remained. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”
Thankfully his responses seemed to be more immediate, but he was still quivering. Something was definitely up. After a brief silence, Kay could also feel tensing muscles — another telltale sign that Eustace Winner was anxious about something, more often than not. Since he had largely gotten over his anxiety surrounding romantic gestures, that only left one option: her instincts were right on the money.
“I-It sounds like the search isn’t going too well,” Eustace started nervously before she could say anything.
“Mmh… Understatement of the century,” she complained, slightly muffled by his shoulder. “I really don’t wanna have to resort to student loans, but it might be my only option at this point.”
Eustace hummed affirmatively, his muscles tensing more.
“Y-You could do that…” he muttered, “O-Or…”
Kay lifted up her head and slowly loosened her grip.
“Or… what?”
Eustace had his doubts, but he didn’t want her to make a decision without taking a stand. He left his wooden spoon inside the pot and then moved away from her slightly before turning to face her. He took a deep breath in.
“W-What if you… m-moved in with me…?”
His words were shaky, but nevertheless weighed heavily enough to stun them both. One eagerly awaited a response from his girlfriend, while she — despite having a response ready in her heart — could not help but stand there in shock. She had never expected Eustace to swoop in and save her from her conundrum so forwardly. It would be a big step for them to take to say the least, his newfound confidence completely aside.
Something had to give.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The sound of the timer snapped both of them out of their daze. In a panic, Eustace scrambled to turn around and attempted to stir more chicken broth into the rice as quickly as he could. Marinating the rice for so long made it quite thick, spiking his anxiety further by increasing the effort it’d take to get back to clearing up his intentions behind his proposal.
“Come on! Come on!” he grunted. Why did he have to make multiple portions so that they could have leftovers?!
Kay thought to speak up and assure him that all was well, but before she could, Eustace quickly set the timer again and did an about-face.
“I-I’m not asking you to take such a big step in our relationship if you’re not ready or anything!” he stammered, “It’s just that I pass by Ivy U every day on my way to work, so I already live super close! It’d only be about a 20 minute walk for you, but I’d be happy to drive you whenever I can! Y-You could stay in a totally separate room! A-A separate floor even! The house is paid for so I wouldn’t charge you rent or expect anything in return! I-I just wanna be a good boyfriend and help! I mean of course I wanna spend time together if you say yes but I-”
“Acey,” she shut him up, causing him to let out a high-pitched yelp. Eustace’s nerves lessened a little bit after she noticed a small smile grace her lips.
“Let me get this straight,” she started, wrapping her arms around his neck. “My super smart and handsome boyfriend wants me to move into his house that’s within walking distance of Ivy U rent free? AND I’d have the bonus of being able to cuddle and watch movies with him every single night? You bet your sweet ass I wanna move in with you!”
“Really?! Oh, I’m so relieved!” he exclaimed, hugging her back tightly. Excited Eustace hugs were her favorites, so she made sure to take her time and savor it.
“I was hoping you’d ask me, to be honest,” Kay admitted sheepishly, “I didn’t wanna impose, but I kinda considered this a best-case scenario. I don’t think you’re being too forward at all, Acey. I really appreciate it.”
Eustace gave her a kiss on the forehead before breaking the hug and returning to the stove.
“I really, really wanted to do this, because living with you sounds so great,” Eustace explained, stirring the pot again while pouring in the last of the broth. It was in a separate cup, one that sat below a colander holding some red spices that he threw into the mixing pot after the fact for good measure. “I was also nervous about it because I was worried that it might create an unhealthy power dynamic between us. If you relied on me for housing, I was worried it might influence decisions you’d make in our relationship or the way we handle disagreements. A-And your grandparents, I thought they’d think I was…”
“Oh no, they love you,” she assured him, “They wouldn’t think you’re gonna try anything funny. And the fact that you’re even considering power dynamics tells me that we probably don’t need to worry. If there’s a problem, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Just like we always have,” he sighed in contentment as his father’s faulty tear ducts failed him once again. “Even after everything we’ve been through, sometimes it can be hard to remember to take things one step at a time. Thanks for being here to remind me to not worry so much about the future…”
He dropped the spoon into the pot once again and swept The Great Detective-in-Training Yatagarasu into another tight embrace.
“…But I still wanna think a lot about what comes next with you, KitKat.”
“Awww, Aceyyyy!” She responded, practically melting into the hug after embracing him as well. “That’s so sweet! You’ve gotten so smooth lately!”
“I’ve been lovestruck by a Smooth Criminal, so it was bound to rub off on me at some point,” he fired back, attempting to keep his streak going.
“Not a criminal anymore,” the former thief corrected him with a wagging finger after separating herself from her beloved. “But good technique on that line nonetheless. Good choice on where to expand your music tastes too! Oh! We can totally listen to albums together a lot more now! This is gonna be awesome!”
Eustace couldn’t help but smile. She’d already shown him so many new things since they’d met, and now they had so much time to experience so much more together. His mind was already racing thinking about the possibilities.
“When do you think you’ll wanna move in?” he asked enthusiastically.
“As soon as I can, hopefully,” she guessed, “But until then, I’m gonna wanna get used to spending as much time here as possible.”
“On that note, now that I know I have nothing to worry about, I’d like to try again,” Eustace offered.
He gently took her hand by the fingers and planted a kiss on the area just above her knuckles.
“Katherine Faraday,” he began in as much of a Prince Charming-esque voice as he could muster, taking a bow for good measure. “Would you do me the honor of moving in with me?”
“Why yes, Eustace Winner,” she responded with a curtsy, “I’d be delighted to-“
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Any magic of the moment was immediately shattered at the hands of the timer on the stove. Kay’s cheeks became about as pink as her outfit while Eustace’s cowlick pointed straight upwards. The two of them just stood there, realizing how completely ridiculous they looked.
And then they just started laughing.
The two of them laughed all the way back to the couch, food in hand. They laughed at the possibilities of looking ridiculous together in the not so distant future. Being amazed at the sheer variety in each other’s bed heads, mixing up each other’s schedules and accidentally having their friends over at the same time, and so much more.
Kay sat down, grabbing her laptop in sweet relief that her personal hell could finally be escaped.
“I can finally be done with this apartment nonsense too,” she started exhaustedly, slamming it shut. “You’re not just my hero, you’re my goddamn guardian angel. And I’m too hungry for us to go on a flirting tangent, so I’ll just get it all out of the way now: ‘You must’ve fallen from heaven,’ yadda yadda yadda, all that jazz. Food now!”
Eustace couldn’t help but laugh at Kay’s eagerness as she started scarfing down her dinner. After all of this daydreaming about the days to come, that sentiment was certainly relatable. He took a sniff of his own food, and his mouth — and eyes — began to water.
Just like she used to make… I can’t wait to start making good memories in this house again.
“Mmm,” Kay hummed before swallowing her food, “This might be the best risotto I’ve ever had. What did you say this red stuff was again?”
“It’s saffron,” her boyfriend informed her before taking his first bite. “I filtered some of the broth through it to make it taste a bit richer. It’s something my mom used to make for me when I was little. I went digging through a lot of her old stuff in the stora-… The old nursery to find ways I could keep her memory alive. When I found her cookbooks, I decided that making this was the first thing I wanted to do.”
“Then we’ll have to cook some more of those recipes together sometime,” Kay offered warmly, “I’ll help you keep her memory alive however I can. You’ve always done the same for me and Dad.”
She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before using her thumb to wipe off a bit of food she left behind. After cleaning his face, however, her hand decided to remain there as soon as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Dinner be damned, each of them thought their partner’s lips were too kissable at that moment. They slowly leaned forward and locked lips for the first of what would hopefully be many times living in the Winner household.
“I can’t wait to live with you, KitKat,” Eustace whispered dreamily, his forehead resting on hers.
“I can’t wait to live with you either, Acey. Especially if you’re making food this good!” she exclaimed
Kay eagerly moved towards her food and took another bite. After such a compliment, Eustace was confused to see her suddenly scrunching her face. Her reaction would make more sense, however, once she turned her head away from her partner and picked something off of her tongue.
“Eugh, hair!”