AN: JDUBZ is an amazing Beta Reader who needs a medal for just being who he is.

Update: Chapter 1 has been deleted, so this is now Chapter 2 instead of 3.

Chapter 2: Breakfast

August 7th

Warmth.

That was what Rem felt on her back as she woke up with a smile on her face. The gentle curl of her lips was the result of images produced in her dreams that would make her the happiest girl in the world.

Curling further into her blanket, she whispered happily to no one in particular, "Suuubaru…"

A single name. The name of the one person that Rem believed could bring out the real her and make her feel wanted and needed. Coming to Kararagi was probably the happiest decision Rem had ever made in her life. Considering her past, it may have just been the best thing to ever happen to her.

From outside the window came the sound of a carriage being pulled across a rocky road. The racket forced Rem awake, like it did every morning. She yawned and softly rubbed her eyes, her dream fantasy still planted in her head.

Rem turned in bed, expecting to see Subaru sleeping next to her in a warm embrace. However, a look of disappointment crossed her face when that wasn't so. Next to her was just an empty space on the bed, not even enough for another person to fit on.

Sinking her head deeper into the pillow, thoughts of longing filled her head as she thought of who she wanted next to her right now. If only he'd be more comfortable about expressing himself to her the way she wanted him too, straight and to the point.

Sadly, she still couldn't help but feel Subaru still had feelings for Emilia. When they left Lugnica he had said that he no longer felt the same way about her, but Rem still believed a small part of him held on. That was fine with Rem, but she wouldn't know what she would do if he chose Emilia over her.

It was because of these feelings that a few days after their little visit to the park, Rem had brought up Emilia.

"When we go back, Subaru-kun, Rem would hope you wouldn't fall for Lady Emilia again."

At the time, Subaru had been washing the dishes as Rem cleared the dining room table.

He looked at her with suspicion, "And why's that?"

Smiling with confidence, Rem placed two small bowls into the sink, "Because then Subaru might be too preoccupied with Lady Emilia to spend quality time with Rem."

"Quality time?

Quality time could've meant a lot of things to Subaru, and Rem knew it.

Ignoring his question, Rem put a finger onto her chin and spoke her thoughts, "Or maybe, Rem could keep Subaru in Kararagi until he is ultimately too attached to Rem to ever leave her for someone else. Perhaps then Subaru will truly be mine and mine only." She was brimming with happiness.

Subaru didn't look at Rem, but could tell by the excitement in her voice that she was smiling.

Sighing, he placed his hands on the edges of the sink, "Rem, saying stuff like that usually scares guys away. You should feel lucky I'm used to it by now."

Rem giggled as she went to retrieve more dishes, "Then I guess Rem is a lucky girl."

The conversation had ended there and a new one began about work as the two washed the dishes together, side by side.

In present day, Rem got out of the bed and brushed her hair. She applied her usual hair clips and ties to give her her signature look that everyone knew her by.

Today, in particular, was different. Today was Sunday, Rem and Subaru's 'Fun Day', or as Rem would put it, 'Flirt Day'.

It never had an official name, but the two each came up with their own ideas of what to call it since it was the day they both always went out and escaped the boring apartment. On days like these, Rem would flirt with Subaru, this with most attempts going over his head, she could only hope that he caught on. She was patient with him no matter how dense he could be when it came to people showing affection and appreciation towards him.

With their apartment room being so small, Rem could clearly hear sounds coming from the kitchen.

She heard Subaru whisper loudly, "Ow! Damn it!"

Worried for him, Rem rushed into the living room, which was connected to the kitchen.

"Subaru-kun, are you okay?!"

From the small kitchen, consisting of only a sink, a small counter, a cooling pantry room, and a stove, Subaru looked up at Rem, holding his hand under running water. His eyes looked shocked, but not at the woman he stared at.

Rem rushed to Subaru with a worried face, "Subaru-kun, what's wrong?"

Without saying a word, Subaru removed his hand from the sink and held it out to show Rem the burn mark he had on it. A dark red blotch was covering almost his entire palm.

Rem gently took hold of Subaru's wrist and brought the burned hand closer for inspection. She hated to see Subaru this hurt so she wanted to help in any way she could. Using her water magic, Rem willed the surface of her other hand to cool down.

Rem held her now-cold hand in Subaru's burned one, making him sigh graciously. A smile now on his face, Subaru looked sweetly at Rem and rubbed her head, "Thank you, Rem-rin. You're absolutely amazing."

Her pet name from Subaru was something Rem only heard on few occasions when she helped Subaru in some way. To her, hearing it was enough to out do any praise Subaru could come up with to thank Rem. But what was better than any praise or pet name were the head rubs and head pats. Rem considered them both a treasure and a curse. She valued each and every pat she got, and wished each rub would never end, but she knew it had to at some point. That was the curse, that each sequence of rubs and pats would end, only to come again later and end again. A curse.

Blushing when Subaru messed up her hair, Rem looked up at Subaru again with concerned eyes, "What happened, Subaru-kun?"

Embarrassed, Subaru tried to sound confident while he was actually feeling stupid, "W-Well, you see, Rem. I wanted to try making breakfast for a change, but I kinda, maybe burned myself with the heating crystal. Haha."

The pain in Subaru's palm began to lessen the longer Rem held onto it.

Giggling, Rem walked over to the sink, pulling Subaru along since she had his hand. She let the water run on cold and grabbed a small, thin towel from a cabinet.

Subaru looked on curiously, "Rem?"

Humming, Rem folded up the small towel on the counter and then placed it under the cold water until it was wet but not soaked. She let go of Subaru's hand and wrapped the towel around it.

"Please hold that there, Subaru-kun."

Rem smiled warmly at Subaru and then turned around to retrieve eggs from the cooling pantry. Holding the cool towel, Subaru asked Rem, "Um, what are you doing?"

Rem looked out the pantry door with eggs and sliced ham in her hands, a smile on her face, "Making breakfast, remember?"

When Rem exited the small pantry room and placed the food items on the counter, Subaru grumbled, "Well I was going to make breakfast for you. If only the stupid crystal turned on normally." He eyed the stove evilly.

Smiling from the thought of Subaru even attempting to make her breakfast. He'd never been good at cooking anything, so to have him try for her sake warmed her heart.

"Don't worry, Subaru-kun, Rem will make it for you so you can make sure your hand is okay." To emphasize her point, she lightly poked the wet towel.

Out of shame, Subaru brought his burned hand closer to himself so he could shield it from Rem's eyes. Rem giggled at the gesture.

Slightly irritated that Rem wasn't quite understanding what he was trying to do, Subaru said to her, "But I wanted to make it for you because you're always so much help. I know that if I came here alone I wouldn't have come nearly as far as I have today. And that's only because I had you here to support me."

He held his hands out towards Rem, who was wondering why Subaru was acting like this.

Subaru sounded distressed, "And I know I'm not much help really. I mean...sure, I have a job and whatnot, but I don't do anything else to benefit you. You helped me all this time and I have almost nothing to show my appreciation for it."

Finally understanding what Subaru was trying to say, Rem looked sweetly at him. Not with love or longing, but understanding.

"I thought that maybe if I could at least make something as simple as a fucking breakfast. I cou-."

Rem frowned and said suddenly, "Subaru!"

Realizing he'd just cursed, Subaru apologized before pressing on, "Right, sorry. I thought I could make a simple breakfast to show… I don't know! I thought it would show something!"

The 'no cursing' rule was a rule made up by Rem, who'd started getting upset with Subaru's frequent use of them. Rem thought of them as potty mouth words that only belonged to criminals, thugs, and, possibly, Witch Cultists. So now whenever Subaru cursed, Rem would scold him lightly because she knew he was trying.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm not taking you for granted and that everything you do for me I'm the most thankful for because I know you don't have to do it. You choose to do because you know I can't. You know that I'm useless when it comes to cooking and handling myself out here. You know that I have no talents that would exclude me from others in a good way. You know I have a tendency to cause trouble everywhere I go."

Subaru chuckled lightly when Rem nodded with a smile.

Subaru's voice softened into one that spoke lovingly, "And I know you know these things because I can see it in your eyes everytime I leave for work."

Rem's back straightened and her eyes slightly widened as if she'd just been caught doing something wrong.

"That's right, Rem. I notice things too. I notice you look at me with nervous eyes every time I leave. I notice that you keep a close eye on me whenever we go shopping at the market, as if making sure I don't cause trouble. I notice the look of relief you give me when I come back from work. Your little sigh as if a weight had been lifted off your shoulders."

Rem blushed and looked away, only for Subaru to pinch her chin and face her towards him.

"Rem...I don't want to be that weight. I don't want you to worry about me everytime I leave your sights. I can tell it stresses you and I don't want to be the one that makes you stress. I wanna see you become happy not because I didn't do anything wrong or run into trouble. I wanna see you become happy because you won't have to worry about me.

"Again, I don't want to be the weight that holds you down and stresses you. I want to be next to you so we can support each other equally. When something holds you down, I'll be there to take it off, and vice versa."

Subaru took off the towel wrapped around his hand and looked at the red mark, speaking sadly, "I'd been thinking of this for a few days now, and I had decided that today was going to be the start of a new me…. But I guess I still have a long way to go…. Huh, Rem?" he gave Rem a small smile.

Rem knew Subaru was hurting inside. It was true that all this time Rem had worried about Subaru and what he'd do. He seemed like a wild card to her, she never knew just what he'd do or say in a situation. There were so many different ways Subaru could react to something; anger, joy, shock. And depending on the situation he was in determined if his reaction was considered acceptable. That's what had gotten him in trouble a lot in the past. Especially with the nonsense he pulled in the Capital when he tried to defend Emilia. Subaru was a wild card Rem wished she could fully understand.

Thinking this, Rem giggled and nodded at Subaru's question, "Yes, Subaru-kun."

Subaru's head fell.

"Subaru-kun does have a long way to go, but Rem is patient and willing to wait. Subaru-kun is full of flaws, but that doesn't mean that they also can't be corrected. Rem is not saying that Subaru-kun is bad, if anything, you are the kindest man Rem has ever met."

Subaru lifted his head to look at Rem.

"What Subaru-kun did for Lady Emilia….. Rem understands you did it because you wanted to support her. You wanted to make sure she wasn't put in any danger because of her race."

She looked seriously at Subaru, "But there are certain things one can and cannot do. Rem knows fully that what Subaru does is under the best intentions, but sometimes the way Subaru-kun executes them is not always the smartest. That is what I am afraid of every day. Rem fears that someday you will run into trouble and I won't be there to help you right away like in the Capital."

The painful truth that Subaru feared came straight from Rem's mouth. The one thing he didn't want to hear from the one girl that'd been with him through thick and thin. It had become known to Subaru that Rem didn't trust him.

It hurt him. The emotional pain he felt competed with the physical pain he had once felt when Elsa's blade sliced open his body. The one person he trusted most of all and would lay his life on the line for didn't even trust him for his reckless behavior.

Subaru wanted Rem to trust him. As long as she didn't, she would carry the weight that was him on her shoulders all the time. He didn't want to be the one to slow her down and prevent her from being truly happy. The happiness she felt was because of his safety, not because of himself. The only answer he could come up with that he hoped would surely make Rem trust him more was to become more independent.

It was a long shot, but he needed to learn to do things on his own. He had to learn to make smarter decisions, to do things himself, to read things by himself without Rem's help, and to make his own goddamn breakfast. If Rem could see him become more reliable and independent then maybe she would trust him more to not do anything stupid. But where to start.

Tossing the towel to the counter, Subaru said sorrowfully, "Rem, I trust you. You know that, right?"

Rem wasn't aware that she didn't trust Subaru. So his question was met with confusion, "Subaru-kun?"

"And I want you to trust me. I don't want you to worry about what I can and might do because I know it's only hurting you and you don't even know it. I want to become my own man so you don't have to act the part in place of me."

"Subaru…"

"I want to be more useful. I want to be able to provide for you and give you the life you deserve. You've done everything, EVERYTHING, for me and I haven't done shi-...crap for you."

Rem took Subaru's hands into her own, careful about his burn, "That's not true, Subaru-kun. Just seeing you come home safe everyday is enough for Rem. All Subaru-kun has to do is come home, back to Rem for her to be truly happy."

Subaru grunted his teeth and shook his head, "That's not good enough, Rem. You're happy because I didn't screw up. Only then are you glad. Tell me, when you're at work what do you do in account to my well being?"

Rem paused before answering, looking into Subaru's eyes, "... I worry."

Subaru bounced once on his feet, "And that's exactly what I don't want you to do. I want you to be confident knowing I'm safe no matter where I am because you'll trust me."

Rem saw the fire in Subaru's eyes. It was burning with determination. She could see that what Subaru said was true. He was going to work hard for her, he was going to fight his own demons for her, and he was going to win for her. Subaru wanted Rem to trust him and he was willing to do anything in his being to make that happen. That was what Rem saw in his dark brown eyes.

Rem said his name softly, as if calling out to a loved one, "Subaru…"

Hearing his name being said with such affection, Subaru's eyes watered, "... Yes?"

Reaching a hand up, Rem cupped one of Subaru's cheeks, "Would you care to help Rem make breakfast?"

Subaru looked at the red blotch on his hand once more. Finally smiling, he made a fist, ignoring the pain he felt.

He happily asked his eager Rem, "Is that even a question?"

Standing in front of the stove, Subaru was learning how to properly make a fried egg as Rem stood behind him, guiding his arms.

As Rem used Subaru's arms to peel the edges of the egg off the pan and flip it, Subaru looked down at the side of his chest where Rem was peeking her head from behind, "You know, where I come from this is a typical thing some couples do. Except it's usually the guy teaching the girl."

Rem blushed madly.

Dense to his own words, Subaru had no idea what he'd just implied.