The pairing started as a joke, a single line during a YM convo. But after laughing at what sounded like a crack pairing, it started to have potential. xD I BLAME YOU, ICA.
This is based off a text-based roleplay (url in my profile) by me and a friend NatakuTaishi and set around sixteen years after the series.
Cafe Starbuko
The book store was quiet, and not once that entire morning did the bell over the door chime. Narumi spent his time browsing over the inventory and sales invoices while his boss swept the floor again and again. He didn't know if the old man was just bored or was obsessive with cleanliness, but to each his own hobby, he supposed.
Yup. The morning had been quiet. That was until he felt his table vibrate. Narumi looked up from the inventory he was summarizing and glanced at the buzzing cellphone on his table. The name 'Imai Hotaru' could be read against the back light.
Meet in Starbuko today. 10am. Won't take NO for an answer.
He smiled at the message--short and more of a command than a request. It was Hotaru alright. But what could be so important?
"I'm taking a break, Noburu-san." he told his boss as he threw on a trench coat and headed for the door.
She was sitting by a window.
Narumi smiled when he caught her gaze as she looked out of the glass panels, and then entered.
"A cappuccino please, Natsume-kun." he called, glancing at Hotaru's table to see if he should order for her too. Seeing as she already had a cup in front of her, he sat down across the table from his former student.
"Well...You sure you don't want to order anything else?"
She looked up at Narumi and didn't say anything. When he'd sat down she unceremoniously took the strip in her pocket and pushed it toward him.
"Tried with two different brands, but all came out positive." She said.
What came first was confusion, and then realization when he inspected the strip she'd pushed across the table. Eyes wide, he stared at Hotaru.
"I.." He hesitated, glancing again at the strip. "...Congratulations."
Her purple eyes narrowed slightly. "It's yours too, baka. I haven't been with anyone for a long time except with you."
"You're not joking, are you?" She'd been known to blackmail people…He searched her eyes for answer, but she had always been difficult to read.
"I'd shoot you if I had my Moron Cannon right now, but I forget things lately." She said blankly.
At another time, he would have laughed. But matters were much too serious for that.
"So it's true." He grasped his hands together and placed them on the table. "What do you plan to do now?"
Even Hotaru was at a loss for words. She took a moment and sipped her coffee. Meanwhile Natsume arrived with Narumi's drink, but sensing the tension, quickly backed off with a hurried 'excuse me'.
"I'll keep it." She said. "Goodness knows I want to see a Mini Narumi." The sides of her lips quirked up.
He couldn't help it. He smiled as well.
"I take it you won't take the father as well?" he joked, but added a little later, "How do you plan to raise it? I must admit I can't imagine you changing diapers in the middle of the night."
Hotaru tilted her head sideways.
"You seem to forget my Alice." She commented quietly.
"True." He propped his chin on the table and watched her with a small smile. Hotaru had always been the strong, independent one. They never could live in the same house; that was the reason he'd chosen to forget what happened. But that didn't mean he wouldn't take responsibility. "If that is what you want, alright. But you have to grant a request of mine before you go be a super single mom."
She blinked slowly and tucked a few strands of her hair behind her left ear.
"I want you present in every school play, picnic, PTA, camping. I want you to teach the child what I can't." She told him. "What is your request?"
Narumi chuckled at that.
"Of course. But at least let me take care of you while you're pregnant."
Somewhere there was a crash where Natsume was making coffee for two adults who had just came into the shop. The pair took a moment to glance at the raven-haired man, but Natsume was pointedly NOT looking at them. Narumi raised an eyebrow at him, but shrugged to himself. It did not matter what he heard. Hotaru could dig up worse things to blackmail him with if he even thought of spreading anything.
The blonde turned to Hotaru. Her expression was unfazed, but her eyes looked the same as whenever she would point her Moron Gun at somebody. Narumi chuckled before she turned back to him.
"How do you propose that?"
He looked at her sideways, grinning.
"You'll be staying at home. We can't risk you over-exerting yourself. It's my child as well. I'll have to move in during your pregnancy, too. I hear cravings can act up even late at night. And who knows what else can act up with you pregnant women?"
Hotaru was silent for a long while. He knew her enough to guess that she was debating on whether she should let him stop her from working. Imai Hotaru could never be separated from her workplace.
"I'll bring home my paperwork then." She said.
Narumi smirked. "I can't take you away from your work, can I? Very well. But if I even suspect you of overworking, your paperwork is going in the trash."
She gave a pout. Or what appeared to be a pout. Hotaru shook her head and rose.
"Just send me a message when you're moving in. I have to go back to my lesson plan."
She gave him a small smile and turned the dial on her watch. She vanished as the teleportation took effect, and her former teacher gazed at her empty seat longingly.