The sun was warm against Shimmakk’s skin as she pulled a lemon off its branches. She had her tail tightly wrapped around the handle of a basket that she dropped it into, reaching for another lemon as soon as her hands were empty.

Suddenly, she heard rustling from right above her, the sun blinding her for a moment as the leaves parted.

“Shimmakk!”

Yelping, Shimmakk dropped the lemon in her hand. “What are you doing?!” She bent down to pick the lemon back up as Gyaraco cackled, hanging upside down from a branch from her knees. Shimmakk’s ear twitched in annoyance. “We’re never going to pick enough lemons if you just keep goofing around, Ignoraco!”

The grin on Gyaraco’s face was wide, even as her glasses started to fall off her face from hanging upside down. “It’s the O in ‘okay’! I’ve picked like, 40 already!” She held her own basket out, only for them to almost fall right over Shimmakk as she tried to show her.

Shimmakk straightened it back up at the last second, not in the mood to have them drop all over her. “We need 696 of them, 40’s nowhere near enough!”

“Come on, we can play and work at the same time! Besides, if I get a road roller I can squeeze’em suuuper fast, so it’s okay!” Gyaraco let go of her basket, letting it drop to the ground. A couple of lemons rolled out onto the grass as it tipped over. She reached out, poking Shimmakk on the cheek. “Hey hey, can I try this thing I saw in a movie?”

Shimmakk swatted her hand away. “As long as you go back to picking lemons for Professor after, I don’t care what you do.”

Gyaraco cheered, and as Shimmakk reached for another lemon, she felt hands on her cheeks. “What are you-”

Gyaraco’s nose bumped against her chin, her own hitting Gyaraco’s as Gyaraco’s lips locked with hers. Her face, already warm from the sun, grew even hotter as she pulled back, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. “What did you do that for?!” She knew her face had to be bright red at this point.

“It’s called a spider kiss!” Gyaraco pursed her lips, making kissy noises at her. “Can we try it again? It was harder than I thought!”

“Can we-” Shimmakk picked up her own basket that had dropped to the ground at the ambush kiss. “No, we can’t do it again!”

“But we do it all the time in the lab!” Gyaraco pouted down at her. “Y in ‘why’?”

“Because! We’re- we’re supposed to be working!” She’d never been kissed outside the lab before, she needed way more preparation to do it out in the open. Her heart was nowhere near ready for that. And besides, if she was going to be kissing anyone in public it should be Professor, not Gyaraco.

She could hear soft footsteps muffled by the grass behind her.

“Oh dear, you’ve dropped your baskets.”

“Leppanyo!” Gyaraco called out, pout instantly wiped off her face. “Gimme a kiss!”

Leppanyo’s eyes moved between the two of them, making Shimmakk’s face grow even hotter. The ever-gentle smile on Leppanyo’s face was amused. “Is that what you’ve been doing all the way over here?”

Shimmakk sputtered, pulling down her cap to shield her eyes. Leppanyo’s chuckle was soft in her ears, and she felt a hand patting her on the head. “There’s no need to be embarrassed,” she said. “I’m glad you’re getting along better.”

Shimmakk wanted to disagree, but on the other hand, she was right. They might still fight a lot (or Shimmakk might fight with Gyaraco a lot), but a year ago she never would have let Gyaraco get away with kissing her, even in the lab. Never in her afterlife would she have thought that she would be happy to kiss her, to boot.

Shimmakk watched as Leppanyo leaned in to press her lips softly to Gyaraco’s, who let out a happy trill of satisfaction. “I’m the P in ‘happy’!” she cheered, flapping her wings to lift up into the air, swooping down to pick up her basket. “Now I just gotta spider-kiss Professor too!”

Shimmakk gasped. No way was Gyaraco going to kiss Professor in public before she did. She beat her wings, quickly following. “No, you’re not, Ignoraco!”

Leppanyo bent down to pick up the fallen lemons that Shimmakk and Gyaraco had left behind, a smile on her face.

She couldn’t help but find their antics just a bit adorable.

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