Top pic credit: KadeArt

"Psst.....hey.....hello....yoo-hoo...you up yet?" Keigo whispered out obnoxiously, causing me to furrow my brows in annoyance.

I shoved my face deeper into my pillow, trying to drown out the sound of his voice so my body could return to the sleepy bliss I'd been previously engaged in.

Barely feeling my muscles relax once more, the peaceful moment was abruptly interrupted again as I felt a finger repeatedly poking me in the cheek.

"Stop." I groaned out tiredly, pushing Keigo's hand away from me so I could go back to sleep.

"Ah-Hah! You answered! See? I knew you were up. Well, anyways, Chicky. Let's go. C'mon. Rise and shine. It's time to take on the day." His wide awake voice chirped out, his energy level for this early in the morning already making me feel even more exhausted.

Judging from the direction of his voice, I could tell he was sitting next to me at the edge of the bed, not snuggled up against me like he normally is every morning.

"No." I mumbled out, squishing the ends of my pillow up against my ears in an attempt to go back to sleep.

But it did absolutely nothing to help as I heard Keigo hum in dissatisfaction at my words, or rather, my single word.

I felt his fingers starting to lightly comb through my hair now-pretending it was an action of doting, when really he was just trying to get some movement going so I'd wake up.

You can't fool me, dumb bird.

"No? Well, that's too bad, cause I don't accept no. So, looks like you have no choice, other than yes. I always get what I want." He stated matter of factly.

I already knew he was smirking just by the tone of his voice.

"You're such a brat." I slurred out tiredly, feeling him starting to gently-obnoxiously, move my head back and forth.

Keigo let out a mock gasp of offense, before I felt soft strands of his hair tickling my forehead to signal he had moved much closer to me.

"A brat, you say? Ouch, darlin'. That one hurts. Now, is that any way to speak to your boss?" He whispered out seductively, the hot puffs of his cool, minty breath hitting my face.

I couldn't help but snort in amusement at his words, feeling a smile curling up onto my face even though I was still half asleep.

"What is it with you lately, wanting me to call you boss? Got a kink I don't know about, Big Bird?" I teased, feeling his soft lips barely grazing against my own now.

He snickered smugly at my words, brushing his bottom lip against mine.

"Hm, maybe I do. Wanna find out?" He grinned, making me wonder why the hell he was oozing so much sex appeal this early in the morning.

Surely, I must be delusional from my sleep dazed exhaustion.

The more Keigo talked with me, the more I felt my body waking up against my will, causing me to roll over on my opposite side and turn my back to him.

"Listen, Big Bird-"

"Nah, you already said Big Bird." He sang out annoyingly.

"Listen, Chicken-"

"Oo, that one was weak, chicky. I expected better from you. Looks like it's time to get some new material-"

"Listen, you fucking....Cassowary..." I started out, causing Keigo to immediately bust out laughing.

"It's like two in the morning. So whatever shenanigans you'd like to torture me with today can wait until the sun comes up." I stated groggily, waving a sloppy dismissive hand at him.

But, of course the bird boy only took that as an invitation to move closer, hovering his head over mine since I had turned my back to him.

"Two in the morning, huh? Is that your final answer? Hey, you're close-only off by about seven hours there, genius." Keigo smirked, gently starting to rub my back as he was clearly very adamant about me waking up now.

I let out a tired sigh as I felt his other hand continue to comb my bed headed hair out of my face, giving a small tap to my rosy, slept-in cheeks with his fingers.

"Anything is considered early on my day off." I croaked out, involuntarily reaching my hand up to hold Keigo's so it would stop stroking my face. It was just another way for him to try and wake me up, after all.

But, the thing about Keigo is....

When he wants something done, he can be very bratty about it when he doesn't get his way. Just another side effect of his lack of a normal childhood from the hero commission.

Since Keigo never got to be a kid when he was one, he can tend to exhibit some immature behavior at times.

Sure, these quirky tendencies never carry over to the important things. When he's doing his hero work and his double agent mission, he's the most serious, professional human being I've ever met. He'll give it all to make sure everyone else is safe in a heartbeat.

But, during the one percent times when the pressure's off him...when he's just lounging around as Keigo, and he wants the last chicken wing in the box? Or when he wants me to stay up way later than I'd like to, and watch another movie with him?

Well...

It's times like that where he can be persistent if he doesn't get what he hoped for. With the little, unimportant things...when he wants something done, he's just gotta have it to his liking.

Like having me pay attention to him at this exact moment.

"Oh please, chicky. Get real. I don't know how Diane Himura raised you at the crummy, ol' commission facility-"

"Don't speak the hoe's name first thing in the morning-"

"But, if I got to sleep in 'till nine every morning-"

"It's not every morning. It's my day off, you fucktard piece of-"

"Then, I'd look ten years younger than I already do." Keigo pointed out, draping his wing over my tired frame.

The fluffy coziness of Keigo's feathers immediately caused a wave of comfortable exhaustion to wash over me again as I felt myself drifting off.

Silence.

Yes. Thank god. Finally.

Just nice, quiet, peaceful silence-

"And in my defense, I kept my mouth shut for like three hours, patiently waiting for you to wake up. But man, you just sleep like a log, huh? It's like no amount of me loudly rearranging things in your room and playing music on my phone can get you to open your eyes." Keigo babbled out a mile a minute, seeming to enjoy this one sided conversation with himself.

His wing slowly curved around my figure, before I felt the ends of his feathers carefully slide underneath my body.

Ah. Now, I know what he's trying to do.

In the next instant, Keigo's feathers gently flipped my body to the other side, like a pancake, forcing me to face Keigo's direction again.

Looks like I won't be getting out of this one today.

"Keigooo..." I whined out in my final attempt to bargain, feeling his thumb gently brush across my bottom lip.

"Mm, nope. Don't Keigooo me. C'mon, little dove. Up you go. I promise I have a reason. Open those eyes. Flutter 'em open for me. Fwoop." He chirped out happily, his words finally giving me the motivation to wake up.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I slowly opened them, coming face to face with Keigo.

I smiled dazedly at him, not being able to have any morning grump with the gentle, sweet look he was currently giving me.

I'm such damn pushover.

"Morning..." I croaked out groggily, stretching my arms over my head.

Keigo studied my actions in amusement, not being able to stop himself from leaning down to kiss me.

"Wait. I haven't brushed my teeth yet." I mumbled, quickly slapping a hand over my mouth so he wouldn't have access to my lips.

He rolled his eyes softly, prying my hand away from my face.

"Oh, I know, little dove. You could kill an army with that mornin' breath of yours." He teased, quickly pushing his lips against mine before I could protest.

"I hate you." I mumbled against his mouth, before pulling him closer to me by the back of his head.

Keigo immediately responded, snaking both hands up to rest on my face as he heatedly deepened our kiss.

"Yeah, I can tell." He huffed out huskily, about to smash his lips back into mine before he stopped himself.

"Ah, as much as I'd love to bang you right now, chicky-"

"Way to be romantic-"

"I've got some other things planned for today. So, get your cute ass outta bed and pack a bag so we can go." Keigo said, quickly popping off the bed and clicking his tongue at me to get a move on.

It was only when he stood up that I noticed he was already dressed in casual clothes instead of the hero costume he wears every single day.

It's very rare that I get to see Keigo in casual attire, and I must say...

He looks good.

He was in a white t-shirt, with some jeans and black sneakers-a simply, regular outfit that I wasn't even sure he possessed in his wardrobe, considering how out of the ordinary it is for him to take a day off from work.

Although, I did find it funny that without the aviators, headphones, and khaki flight uniform on, he looks like he could pass for about sixteen years old now.

He's got a baby face, after all.

Feeling motivated to get moving now, I sluggishly climbed out of bed, heading over to my bathroom to prepare for the day.

"Did you say pack a bag? For what?" I called out from the bathroom, hearing Keigo shuffling around in my closet now-probably to find a bag so he could just pack it for me, himself.

The man who moves fast, I guess.

"Well, for our date, of course! Last time I remember, which was yesterday in case you're wondering, we were fighting those C-lister villains with Tsukuyomi, and you agreed to go out with me-y'know, right before I dropped you from the sky and you landed on your face?" He called back, very audibly making a mess in my closet that I would, no doubt, have to pick up later.

I quickly squeezed some toothpaste onto my toothbrush, trying to get rid of this morning breath that could kill an army, as my loving boyfriend so romantically put it.

"Ah, yes. How could I forget? I may have landed on my face, but that didn't stop me from giving Blade Bitch a beating." I grinned out devilishly, tossing my makeup bag to the side as I decided it would stay unused today.

Keigo chuckled at my words, tossing my, now packed, overnight bag onto my bed as I walked out of the bathroom.

I inspected it suspiciously, slightly afraid as to what types of clothing items I'd find in here. He's a boy. He can't match clothes to save his life.

"What's with the bag though, Keigs? How long is our date planning to last? Not that I'm complaining. I'm....actually very excited." I smiled, giving his hair a soft ruffle as I went to change out of my pajamas.

All of Keigo's morning teases immediately melted away at my genuine words, causing him to chuckle sheepishly as he looked at the floor.

"Oh, well the bag-Wait a minute. What? Really, Ari? You're excited for our date? W-Well...I hope ya like what I've got planned-ah, it's not anything super fancy though. Is that what you were thinkin'? Did ya want something super fancy? Cause we can totally do that instead. Yeah! How about we do that instead. Hey, I know, why don't I call us a reservation for that posh restaurant in the city-" Keigo started babbling out nervously, causing me to quickly cut him off before he hurt himself.

"Keigo, you are not going to call a reservation anywhere!! I am super excited for our date. I don't care about fancy. I just wanna spend time with you. And there's nothing you could do that would make this date un-extraordinary, because I'll be with you." I reassured, opting to go for a nice sundress today instead of my usual shorts-and-shirt combo.

Keigo never sees me in dresses.

Finally ready to go...I walked over to him, noticing he had his back turned to me, looking out the window.

"Well, hey, thanks baby. I'm excited to spend time with you, too. I've...I've been looking forward to this for awhile." He uttered softly as he kept his back turned to me, not realizing I was right behind him.

Those feather senses are lacking today. Just another sign that his guard was completely down right now.

"I'm glad to hear. So, what do you think about this? I know it's not something I wear often. Hope it's okay." I shrugged, the close proximity of my voice instantly causing him to turn around.

Keigo's brows raised up suddenly as he took in my appearance, trailing his eyes intricately over my fresh face, to my casual dress.

My heart fluttered as I saw a big smile immediately make its way to his face at the sight of me.

"Wow. You look beautiful. You always do." Keigo muttered quietly, swallowing thickly as he met my eyes again.

I couldn't help but chuckle softly as I watched his cheeks start heating up, my laughs only making his face flush even more.

He groaned softly, rubbing his pink cheeks with his hands in an attempt to get rid of his blush.

"Yeah, yeah. You got this bird blushing, alright? Take it all in while ya can-but, damn, I really do like that dress on you." He smirked, gaining back a little bit of his cheeky demeanor.

"Well, thank you, Keigo. You look pretty nice, yourself." I winked, giving his jacket a soft tug for emphasis.

"Ah, is that right? On a scale from ten to ten, how sexy do I look to you right now?" He teased, causing me to roll my eyes in amusement as I grabbed my bag off the bed.

"Don't get cocky on me now, birdie." I smirked, gesturing to my packed duffel in question.

"Ah. Right, the bag. Hope ya don't mind, but we'll actually be spending the night at a different place today. I'm taking you somewhere kinda far, and I'd rather not make two long flight trips in one day. Plus, as much as I love this tiny ass dorm room of yours....a king sized bed is sounding pretty cool right now, compared to this small thing." He laughed, gesturing to my, practically fun sized mattress.

It's true that trying to fit two people, plus a giant pair of wings, into a twin sized bed is less than comfortable...

"Fair enough. That sounds good to me. I just...I hope it wasn't too expensive." I muttered out, rubbing the back of my neck in slight guilt at the thought of Keigo spending a lot of money on this date.

After growing up the way I did, money is a sensitive thing for me.

"Don't worry about it, little dove. The great thing about never having a day off with the hero commission, is that it gets me a fat paycheck. And now, instead of spending it on meaningless stuff, I get to spend it on something important. Someone important. And that 'someone' is you." He reassured gently, taking my hand in his and pulling me towards him.

It never fails to amaze and entertain me how fast Keigo can switch between teasing and flirty, to sweet and loving.

He likes to have fun and joke around a lot. But, he also has a sensitive side that I've been lucky enough to see more of, the longer I've gotten to know him.

It's like every day I spend with Keigo, is just another day he chooses to open up more of his feelings, and make himself feel human again.

And that alone, makes me so, incredibly happy.

"That's sweet of you, Keigs. I appreciate it. Just remember, that you don't need to spend your money on me to make me happy-"

"Ohhh, how the turn tables, chicky! It was only a month ago when you were telling me to shut up and just, what was it ya said-Accept the fucking compliment? Yeah, that's right. Well, now I'm telling you the same thing. So here's the deal, I'm gonna take you out on this date, we're gonna go do cute, cheesy boyfriend and girlfriend shit, and you're gonna fucking like it." He smirked, quickly dipping his head down to plant a chaste kiss on my lips.

I couldn't help but giggle softly as I realized Keigo had successfully managed to turn my words around on me. There's really not much I can say to dispute an offer like that.

"Fine then. I accept." I beamed, giving his hair a soft run through with my fingers.

His wings fluttered up softly at my words, as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Good-oh, and don't forget about the part where we bang at the end of the night-"

"So close. You were so close to keeping this romantic, and cute, and non douche-baggy." I sighed out playfully, watching him bite his lip to keep himself from laughing too hard.

"It was a bad joke, right? It really wasn't the time, and I still did it anyway, huh?" He cringed in fake apology, causing me to lightly push him aside so I could open my window.

That's how we were getting out of here, after all.

"Yes, Keigo. You're the king of ruining the moment. I'm gonna start putting duct tape on your mouth after you say something nice, so there's no room for you to trash it immediately afterwards." I pointed out smugly, feeling him wrap his arms around me from behind as we got ready to go.

"Hey, not a bad idea. Just make sure you don't ruin the little beard I've got goin' on when you pull the tape off my face. Took me an embarrassing amount of time to grow these babies." Keigo laughed, gesturing to the stubble that lined his chin.

"Don't worry. I can be gentle when I wanna be." I pointed out as he rested his chin on my shoulder, inching us a little closer to the window.

"Psh, I'll believe that when I see it." He smiled in amusement.

His vibrant wings spread widely for a moment, getting a quick stretch in before we began our little trip.

"Alright. Ready to go?"

"Absolutely." I breathed out, feeling my heart pounding in anticipation for our flight take off.

I've gotten better with my flying anxiety, but....it definitely isn't nonexistent.

"Well, good then. Hold on tight, little dove. Cause it's about to get real romantic and cheesy up in here."