Morning was something Gendo officially hated. The process of waking up when the body was still tired was akin to reverse murder.

This morning was no different... except for one thing. Squeezed against him in his small bed was Yui. They were both still fully clothed, though whether that was a good thing or not he wasn't sure.

He remembered, quite clearly, kissing her, and her kissing back. Then they had moved to the bed and continued things. And then... they must have simply fallen asleep. What a waste of a bed and bodily contact.

"Yui," he whispered, leaving his arms around her. "It's morning."

Groaning, Yui opened her eyes slowly. "What happened?" she asked, seemingly unfazed by the fact she was in Gendo's bed and he had his arms around her.

"You fell asleep. Guess I did too."

"Sleep? That's all?"

"Of course. I wouldn't do anything like that to you." He quickly removed his arms, realizing they weren't exactly helping his claim. "I think all that studying tired us out."

Yui looked back at his somewhat sickly smile. "You... didn't have to do that."

"Do what?"

Taking one of his hands, Yui placed it so that it rested on her stomach. "I believe you. I trust you." She started to tilt her head back.

He started to lean forward.

The two quickly pulled apart, grimacing. Morning beer breath.

"That reminds me," Yui said, sitting up. "I have a class I need to get to." She gave him a charmingly harsh glare. "And so do you, if I'm not mistaken."

Gendo leaned back and groaned while rubbing his eyes. At least he had possessed enough common sense to remove his glasses the previous night. "I hate that professor. I didn't think it was possible to drone on for that long and not say anything useful."

"France during the industrial revolution isn't completely useless, is it?"

He looked at her evenly. "Yes."

Silence hung between them until Gendo finally said, "I really want to kiss you now."

"It wasn't the beer last night?"

"No. I've had more than that before exams. I knew exactly what I was doing," he answered cockily. Then a thought struck him. "What about you?"

Yui didn't answer right away, instead licking her lips. "I... don't think that would be a problem."

Rejoicing inside, Gendo sat up and put his arm around her shoulder. The morning beer breath didn't deter them this time as they kissed again.

Whatever love was, whatever form it took in each one of them, and whatever drew two people together, Gendo found he didn't particularly care as long as it meant he was with Yui. Stubborn, overconfident, nagging, beautiful Yui.

The things he should have hated about her he found endearing, and it had nothing to do with her looks. It was everything about her as a person. He had to have her.

"Gendo," she said when they parted, "we're going to be late for class."

"I know," he replied and kissed her again.

No other man would live up to it. It didn't matter how old they were, how smart, how much money they had... When she was with Gendo, every moment for Yui was like something waiting to happen. She liked that, was used to it from being around him so much.

She really hoped something happened... soon.