Counseling: The Bag

"Ha! That show is on again." Hizashi snickered as he watched. "Babe? The one with the, uh... yeah! <i>Beavis and Butthead</i>!"

"Ohhhh, wow. I used to laugh at some of these a lot back then." She giggled wickedly when she thought of a quote and turned to see her boyfriend had pulled his shirt over his head. "Oh god, no, Zashi..!"

They laughed for a solid ten minutes straight, wheezing and clutching their stomachs in pain towards the end.

"No more... m'gonna barf."

"Ugh," she agreed, wincing. "'Sides, I just remembered one of my little stories from my past."

"That'll get us to stop laughing, all right."

"This one's about my grandfather. I brought a date home and he asked, '<i>Who is this butthead?</i>', so I told him it was someone from work that I was dating." She smiled a little. "See, he instantly didn't like him. In all the time I knew him, he never once liked any of my boyfriends. And really, he was right. They were horrible."

Hizashi squeezed her tightly. "I hope I'm doing better."

"Zashi," she scolded him gently. "You know you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I try to tell you at least once a week."

"Aww. I know, m'just teasing."

"I wish he could have met you," she said softly, a tear slipping out of her eye. "I do miss him. But this is about what he said next. He sat me down and explained that they had this saying in the army about girls."

"Uh oh." She felt him tremble, and brought his arm up to kiss his wrist. 

"Yeah. They'd say, '<i> Put a bag over her head!</i>' if the lady was ugly. You know, they would screw her anyway, in other words..."

"<i>You are not ugly!</i>" Hizashi completely lost his temper this time, and, unable to hold back, he flailed about, gesturing with his one free hand and knocking the couch throw pillows on the ground. "What the everloving <i>fuck</i>, babe! What is wrong with your family?!"

She shrugged. "No clue. If they wanted me to feel completely bad about myself, they managed it. <i>Everyone</i> told me I was ugly: the kids at school, my family. What was I supposed to think?"

On the muted television in front of them Beavis was staggering around for some reason or another. Cartoon hijinks that hurt no one in their animated world. Hizashi sighed and closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure. "I wish you could have seen it. I wish that, for one second even, back then you could had seen that you were beautiful."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "It would have taken a lot."

"I think it might have taken just me."

"You're a lot," she murmured. "To me, anyway."