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“Look, I got you something!”
Well. At least it wasn’t in polka dots. Given Suletta’s stylistic preferences, it likely almost was. Instead, she was holding up a length of cloth in two shades of deep blue: navy with metallic stripes.
It was a necktie. A dated fashion choice, but not necessarily unheard of. “I can see that.”
Suletta pouted. Miorine felt something unravel in her chest.
“I think it would be cute!”
“You think anything I wear is cute,” she laughed.
Suletta sputtered, flustered. Her beautiful, green eyes flitted away from Miorine’s and towards the side of the room. Unfortunate. “True, but still.”
“I don’t think anyone wears those anymore, Suletta.” Miorine stepped closer anyway, her hand coming up to take the soft, silken cloth between her fingers and thumb. It was wonderfully made. It looked like Suletta had gone shopping somewhere nice.
Suletta’s eyes were back on hers. Her eyebrows creased upwards the slightest bit and—dammit. She sighed, the thin press of her lips softening into an exasperated smile.
“Fine.”
Suletta smiled, did a little giggle, and in a flurry of motion leaned down to press a soft kiss on Miorine’s cheek. Whatever warmth her wife exuded was contagious: it filled Miorine’s chest, floated around her like bubbles in their bedroom.
“I picked out a few! There’s a dark red one too, and deep purple because I figured that would be more your style.”
“And what might be ‘my style’, exactly?”
“Huh,” Suletta stopped in her place, licking her lips in thought, brows furrowing. “I didn’t really think about the words to describe it, but the vibes—” she made a vague motion towards Miorine “—make me think ‘serious’ and ‘uncolorful’.”
Miorine snickered, tugging on Suletta’s shirt to bring her closer so that she could wrap her arms around her waist. “You make me sound so boring.”
“N–Not boring!” Suletta whined, leaning into Miorine’s hold. “More like, classy! Sophisticated!”
“If you say so,” Miorine leaned up, got on her tiptoes, and stole a small kiss.
“I do,” Suletta kissed her back. “So stay still for me, won’t you?”
“Okay, okay.” Miorine pulled away, bringing her hands up to her own collar. “Let me just—”
“Um,” Suletta said softly, nervously. “I’d like to do it.”
Miorine stopped reluctantly. “Are you sure?”
Suletta took a shaky breath, and nodded. She moved slowly, bringing both her hands up to Miorine’s shoulders, her fingers undoing the crease that folded her collar in place. With her collar sufficiently popped, Suletta gave her a beaming smile. The early morning sun was filtering through the half-opened blinds behind her, almosting giving her a halo that set the tips of her hair—wispy, flame-like—on fire. It took Miorine’s breath away—and so did the way that Suletta successfully draped the slim tie around the back of Miorine’s neck, hanging over her shoulders.
Miorine, surprised, let out a sigh of wonder. Suletta was grinning. “That—that was—”
“Stay still,” Suletta whispered excitedly, apparently still not done. Miorine could only stare in awe, and nod.
Suletta brought both of her hands to hold each side of the cloth, carefully moving the wider end until it stopped halfway down Miorine’s thigh. Up and down her hands had moved, carefully and gently. Miorine audibly gasped. She could see Suletta biting back a smug smile, as if it was just the reaction she was waiting for.
(The doctors told them that dexterity would come last—much later than gripping, or standing, or even walking. But the doctors told them a lot of things, one earth-shattering piece of news after another, and Suletta had borne it all with more strength and grace than Miorine thought possible.)
“I, um. I’ve been working really hard during my sessions.”
“I can see that,” Miorine said breathlessly, unable to keep her own smile back.
Suletta, happy with her progress so far, took the wide end of the tie and crossed it over the narrow end. With a bit of effort she tucked the wider end behind the loop that had formed around Miorine’s neck. She brought her other hand to pin the intersection point in place, and Miorine could feel Suletta’s hands start to shake, could see her eyebrows furrow a little.
She stomped down the instinct to take over, pressed her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep them still. “You got this,” she whispered. The tip of the wide end finally made it through, and Suletta was able to fish it out and pull the length of it all the way out until it fell back to Miorine’s waist.
Miorine didn’t realize she was holding her breath.
“That was the easy part!” Suletta laughed sheepishly. But she looked so genuinely happy that Miorine wishes she could bottle the feeling up, keep it close to her forever. “I have to, uh, wrap it horizontally around the knot, which might be a little hard, but—”
“You can do it,” Miorine said simply. Her eyes were stinging, which felt really melodramatic over a necktie, but… but still. Her hands found the hem of Suletta’s shirt, gripping on to them for any sort of contact. “I’m relying on you.”
Suletta kept staring at the knot, chewing on her lip. With a different kind of strength, she looked at Miorine’s eyes. “I need help.”
“Of course.”
“Could you pinch this part?” Suletta tapped onto the triangular knot beginning to form.
“I got it,” Miorine moved to help her.
Slowly, Suletta continued her work, lifting up the shorter, narrow end so she could horizontally wrap the wide end around the knot Miorine held.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“Helping me during the hard parts,” Suletta whispered.
It was so loaded that Miorine had to swallow and could feel her heart swelling in her chest.
“Do you remember what I said all those years ago, at the incubation party?” Miorine started.
The cloth was now almost at the other side. “Which one? You said so many things!”
“I sure did,” Miorine laughed. “But I told everyone: ‘I’m that girl’s bride!’ You remember?”
Suletta blushed so prettily it almost made Miorine laugh again. “Y–Yeah!”
“Despite the situation, I… I really liked getting to say that.”
“Did you?”
“And now I get to say, ‘I’m that girl’s wife’,” Miorine slipped her fingers off once Suletta had properly wrapped the cloth. “Which is even more satisfying.”
It made Suletta chuckle, despite her shaking hands. They were a little exhausted by now, and Suletta looked like she was having a hard time keeping them up. Miorine’s were there to catch them. She cradled them gently in her own hands, running her thumbs along her knuckles, offering a moment of respite. “I’m going to be by your side, when it’s hard, when it’s easy.”
“I know,” Suletta leaned her forehead against Miorine’s. “I already know that.”
“Good.” Miorine leaned up, pressing a kiss onto Suletta’s forehead.
Suletta leaned back, flexing and unflexing her fingers. “I’m okay to continue now.”
Miorine was happy to comply. This time, Suletta threaded the wider end inwards over the triangular knot, leaving the center of the tie shaped like a heart. Slowly, she once again wrapped the wide end around the center knot, keeping her index finger pressed against the knot to leave space. She struggled a little to reach for the cloth on the other side, especially with one hand having to do two things, but eventually she was able to grip the tip of the wide end enough to pull it out from behind. The last thing to do was to tuck the wide end into the loose knot—something that proved more difficult than she thought, with only one hand free.
But Suletta always persevered: both in the big things, and in the little things. And in every instance, Miorine fell in love with her a little more.
The wide end finally came through, and all that’s left is to pull the tie firm and snug.
“You know,” Suletta started a little shyly, “I honestly saw this in a movie I watched at the hospital, way back before we were discharged.”
“Uhuh?”
“Just a classic scene of a wife tying a necktie for her spouse,” she blushed. “I thought it was really sweet, so I made it a goal to be able to do it for you!”
Suletta took her time. She pulled on it properly—making sure the knot didn’t go lopsided and that it fell centered on Miorine’s perfectly-pressed shirt—careful not to overexert her healing fingers.
“Which, I know is a little silly, but sometimes small goals like those kept me going, you know?”
Once everything was done, she regarded her work with a sense of relief and accomplishment, and folded Miorine’s collar back down again.
Miorine saw Suletta look towards her face, undoubtedly about to ask her what she thought, but Suletta stopped, confused, and—
Oh. She’s crying.
“Miorine?”
“Thank you,” Miorine whispered, her hands finally coming up to hold Suletta’s arms. “It’s perfect.”
“It’s no trouble, really—”
She shook her head, leaning forward onto Suletta’s shoulders, catching her in a hug. “You stupid idiot,” Miorine cried a little more. She doesn’t mean it. At this point, they both know how Miorine sounds when she’s completely, blissfully happy. “You must have been pushing yourself so much during therapy.”
“I promise I didn’t overdo it!”
“You save the world,” Miorine whispered, overwhelmed with emotions she didn’t know what to do with. “And pay a price so steep I will never understand its depth, and yet you pull miracle after miracle out of thin air—and now you’ve just tied me a necktie, when they said you wouldn’t be able to do more than managing a grip for several more months, and—”
She grips onto the back of Suletta’s shirt.
“—and I love you. Oh, I love you.”
Suletta softened at that, whispering her reply on Miorine’s head as she let herself be held.
Finally, Miorine pulled back to look at her. Her eyes were a little puffy.
“Oh, no.” Suletta gasped. “You are so late for work.”
“I don’t care.”
“We should get you ready to go!”
“Suletta, there’s really no need to rush.”
“Oh!” Suletta blinked at Miorine, apparently having remembered something very important. “I did work really hard on my grip strength so that—”
“Huh?”
Suletta gave her a cheeky grin, grabbed her by the tie, pulled her closer, and kissed her.