"I haven't been to this aquarium zoo since I moved to Japan. Nice that I get to be here alongside you." I tell Touko as she giggles while holding onto me.

"I were serious after all about that we would visit it! There are a lot sea creatures at this place I've heard, and not just fish, so it will be a few hours of walking around, just you and I~"

"Nice, it'll be great, for sure." I reply back as Touko nods and smiles at me.

We get our tickets and soon enter, immediately seeing a lot of huge fish tanks filled with all sort of marine creatures.

There is just a whole different vibe to these aquariums compared to normal zoos with land animals.

Touko did take me here as she wanted to see if it could help my thalassophobia I have, as I told her before that my height phobia wasn't barely there when I sat with her in that tree when we were out camping together with the rest of the band girls.

Of course, it's not like she wants to force off my phobia of pretty much everything in the water, but it's worth a try to make me less scared, and in general it's just a very nice date to have.

We pass by more massive fish tanks, with some of them even having tunnels, so you can go straight through and look around you to see the marine creatures swim freely.

"How are you feeling so far, Stephy?"

"It's fine thus far, the fish are very pretty, so I can't be scared of them really. Not bothered about the stingrays and sharks swimming around here either."

"That's great to hear~! Just say the word if we end up somewhere you don't want to be at, okay?"

"Yeah, I will, thanks Touko." I reply to her as she holds tighter onto me and lay her head against my shoulder while we are still passing through the tunnel.

We soon come to the middle of the aquarium zoo, where they showcase some fossils of extinct marine life.

"Ah cool, dinosaurs are even here. Dinosaurs are always quite cool, reminds me that Jurassic World: Dominion comes soon enough-"

I stop talking and turn to Touko as I realize I begin talking once again about my interest for movies, games etc.

"S-sorry about that Touko, I didn't mean to begin-"

"E-eh?! But Stephy, you know I am okay with you talking about such stuff!" Touko tells me as she looks with a surprised expression at me, before giggling and hugging me. "After all, you care for me even more than your interests, so there is no problem about you talking about it, haha~!"

"Ah... thanks Touko. And yeah, it's quite true that I always priotize you the most, while still being a big nerd of me, heh."

After having been in this section of the zoo, we continue on to where there are even more tanks.

But as we come closer, I begin seeing those marine creatures...

"Stephy, sweetie, you are slowing down, something wrong?"

"I, uh..."

I had a hard time speaking, and it didn't make it better that we were steadily approaching those creatures.

"T-Touko..!" I say before hugging onto her while looking away from the marine creature we were approaching.

"Oh dear, Stephy..."

"I am so sorry, but I'm really scared of octopuses and squids..." I tell her as I dare enough to look behind me and point at the tank containing a few octopuses, before looking away again. "The meat from them tastes delicious, but I can't handle approaching one, let alone looking at one..."

I soon let go off Touko as she looks at me with a sad expression.

"Gosh, I am probably an embarrassment for a boyfriend, being this scared of an animal..."

"Stephy, no..." Touko says as she hugs me this time. "If you can't overcome the fear here and now, we can just walk around it, okay?"

"O-okay..." I reply as she wipes away the tears I had begun getting from basically having a panic attack seeing those octopuses.

I just do not know why I am so scared of them, but the mere thought of them makes me being on edge, and it doesn't help that I have dreamt nightmares of those as well.

Gosh, I remember all too well when I dreamt a nightmare where I got eaten by the Kraken from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Must've been what sparked my huge phobia for those eight to ten armed freaks.

But hey, at least the meat still tastes delicious.

As Touko said, we walked around the octopus tank so I wouldn't have to see them, and afterwards, we could go ahead like normally again, me quickly recovering and feeling cheerful again.

Soon we came to the last section of the zoo, which had animals that can be on both land and in water.

"Oh, penguins!" I utter out as soon as I see the several penguins walking around on the other side of the glass wall.

"They look so adorable! But not as adorable as my sweet Stephy~!" Touko says as she hugs onto me from behind, kissing me as well on my cheek.

"Penguins are one of my favorite animals, so this is a welcome surprise." I tell Touko, before she seems to think a little.

She soon takes up her phone and prepares the inner camera on it.

"Let's take a selfie then! Us two together with the penguins, it will be a great one~!"

We get in pose, with Touko holding onto my hand as she snaps the photo, showing us two smiling very brightly of us, while you can of course see the penguins behind us.

Touko decides to make the caption "My bf is so happy seeing his favorite animals AAAA <3", before sending it.

"But you are in the picture as well, shouldn't you acknowledge-"

"No, no, for this time, it's all about you, Stephy~" Touko tells me as she giggles and I can just blush in response, but I am definitely feeling happy over that.

After spending some more time looking at the penguins, we hit the end of the zoo, which is the souvenir shop.

We both look around a little, before Touko let's go off my hand for a bit.

"I will just take a closer look at something, I will be right back!" she tells me as I nod and go back to looking at the stuff in front of me.

Not too long after, I feel a tap on my shoulder, Touko seems to be already back. But as I turn around, I see that she is holding something behind her back.

"Hehe, I bought something for you~" she says as she reveals what it is, which is a penguin plushie..!

"Ooh, it looks so cute!" I tell her as my penguin loving instincts just sets in at once again.

Touko giggles as she hands me the plushie. It really looks like an actual penguin as well, and it's so soft and huggable...

"Oh Touko... Thank you so much... I-I can buy you something as well, you can choose anything-"

"Nah, I already have the best thing ever~" she tells me as she inches close to me as she hugs me, also embracing the penguin plushie I am still hugging onto. "This day is yours, and I want to always make the days for my sweetie the best ones he will ever have~"

"You're the best, my beloved Touko." I reply to her as we go for a kiss on each other's lips, which unsurprisingly turns into a more passionate one soon after.

We decide to not make the kiss too long, as we are still just in a shop after all. So we decide to exit out of the aquarium zoo, getting free pins at the way out, which also had a penguin motif on it.

As we head home, I hold my beloved in her hand, while holding onto the penguin plush with my other hand, or arm rather.

"This day was great, but not a surprise. Every day with you is great after all, my beloved."

"And the same goes for my days when I am with you~" Touko replies before we both kiss again, but just a smaller kiss, we won't stop until we arrive at my home.

"There we go, now we are home." I say as I put the penguin plush away a little bit to take off my shoes, before I grab it again.

I feel Touko once again hug me from behind, though now she also kisses me on my neck, which is a very weak spot for me..!

"Stephy, I can only assume because you will be putting the plushie on your bed, it will most likely also witness the very spicy moments between you and me, hehe~"

"I, well... That's quite true..." I reply as I blush heavily from what she said. "...How about we give it a show already tonight then?"

"Mmh, that's the spirit~" Touko says before she begins lightly pulling in me to walk towards my bedroom.

Definitely not what I expected this day to end with, but you know me; I never complain when it comes to spending time with my beloved Touko~

(Yes, I am in fact really scared of octopuses and squids. No, animated ones usually aren't bad for me unlike actual real life ones. And no, the Inklings from Splatoon are no worries at all for me lol

But yeah, another one of these one-shots, and expect more ones as time goes on, because I really, really love my beloved Touko Kirigaya-)