Mai followed Oliver and Eugene out of the north BSPR office. She appreciated how, standing together in the same clothes, the twins made such a pretty picture.
She realized Oliver was a pushover when, for the fourth time in a week, he was wearing the same outfit as Eugene. She was pretty sure what Eugene's motivation was in making that happen, but she enjoyed it despite the trouble it brought.
The trouble it brought that morning reached its peak when the twins traded spots and only got caught when Yasuhara tried to initiate a kiss with 'Gene'.
She elbowed Yasuhara who had his mouth open, drooling ever so slightly, at the sight of both of the boys with their dark heads bent together. Sometimes Mai wondered if the twins could speak telepathically.
"Hey Sailor, fancy buying me a drink?" Yasuhara called as he strolled over to Eugene.
"Only if you buy me dinner." Eugene replied with a wink, a grin stretching over his face as he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.
Mai had walked over just behind Yasuhara, stepping away as she reached Oliver and standing close enough to him to press her cheek into his shoulder as they watched their overly expressive counterparts showcase their affection publicly.
"Are you excited for tonight?" Mai murmured towards Oliver, moving her head to look at his expression.
"Are you sure we can't reschedule?" Oliver frowned. "I would be much more excited if I had gotten the proper amount of sleep."
"We can't reschedule your birthday," Mai deadpanned. "You didn't sleep well?"
"They called Eugene in to cleanse the spirit at five this morning and he dragged me along with him.
Mai pouted, gently patting Oliver's arm.
"Eugene is even more annoying early in the morning. And with Yasuhara about, he's bound to be annoying tonight."
"There's no way it's going to be that bad, Naru."
"You haven't lived with Eugene."
The man in question walked off with his boyfriend to explore a record store before procuring dinner for the couples' night in.
"Don't worry so much!" Mai chided.
Oliver sighed, and looked down meeting her upturned eyes. She smiled beatifically at him, linking her arm in his and tugging.
"Let's go to the museum and then get the snacks for tonight, okay?" Mai's smile grew in wattage and she appeared to be vibrating with happiness as they walked. She was nearly hopping up and down multiple times for every stride Oliver took.
"Oh, where did Yasuhara put our bags?" Mai wondered aloud, her hops slowing into quick steps to keep pace with her boyfriend.
"Took you long enough to notice. Yasuhara put them in the car already."
"Oh, okay!" Mai hummed happily to herself off and on for the duration of of the walk to the museum. "What exhibit are we going to today?"
"One you won't understand."
"If I won't understand it why are we going together?"
"I like to watch you walk around looking confused."
Mai sputtered, stumbling over her feet.
"I'm sorry?"
Oliver steadied her with a hand at the small of her back, switching to grasp her hand once she was stable and walking again.
"What?"
"Did you just say you liked to watch me be confused?" Mai glowered at her boyfriend, coming to a halt and planting her feet.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Oliver wouldn't make eye contact.
"Yes you do! Admit it."
"I plead the fifth."
"That doesn't work here! We live in England!" Mai tried to pull her hand out of his hold but he wouldn't let go.
"Mai." Oliver leaned in until their noses were almost touching. "If we don't hurry we won't have time to see the exhibit before we have to meet back up with Eugene and Yasuhara."
"What is this exhibit for?"
"Something you will like."
"Are you lying to me?"
"Would I lie to you?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"Right. Do you trust me?"
Mai stared unflinchingly into his eyes, mulling over his question sincerely.
"I suppose."
"You suppose?" He rubbed circles into the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Fine! I trust you."
"Good, let's go." With that he abruptly started walking, pulling Mai behind him until she matched his pace.
X~X~X
Eugene walked away from the record store, deliriously pleased with his find. Surprisingly he didn't have any vinyl records in his bag, opting instead for the rare find of a Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelstin CD.
Yasuhara hadn't had success in finding his favorite K-Pop album, still trying to replace the copy that had been destroyed by an 'angry spirit' on a case six months ago. He doubted the validity of the story told to him by his co-workers.
If the story were untrue, he knew that he had contributed to the CD's demise by playing it nonstop for the four hour drive to the case and singing along poorly the whole way.
"How long do we have until we need to meet Mai and Oliver at the car?"
"I think we have about forty-five minutes left."
Yasuhara thought about what they could do in the downtown area with that time limit.
"There is that coffee shop we haven't been to yet. It's on the way back to the car, sort of. "
"Let's go. You owe me that drink, Sailor, " Eugene gave his boyfriend a wink, repeating his statement from earlier.
X~X~X
Now leaning against Oliver's car in the grocery store parking lot, Yasuhara watched Mai and Oliver walk into the store.
"You're sure you don't want to go in?" he asked, turning to Eugene.
Eugene shrugged, gazing lovingly at his purchase.
"I trust Oliver's taste."
Yasuhara grabbed Eugene's hand and pressed a kiss to his wrist. Eugene raised his eyebrows at his boyfriend's advance.
"What's up?" he asked.
Yasuhara laughed, "Nothing."
"Why are you trying to kiss me in the middle of the parking lot?"
"I'm pretty much always trying to kiss you or wanting to try to kiss you." Yasuhara pressed another kiss to Eugene's hand. "You're gonna need to deal with it."
Eugene rolled his eyes but pulled his boyfriend closer to him nonetheless.
"And how would you like me to deal with it, hmm?" Eugene said in a low voice, leaning forward to close the gap between his lips and Yasuhara's.
Yasuhara gulped.
Eugene pressed his lips to Yasuhara's in a soft kiss.
"That do anything to assuage the situation?"
Yasuhara nodded.
"Stop being so perfect." He pulled Eugene into another kiss, this one less gentle than the first. His hands reached up to tug at Eugene's soft hair.
"I'm not perfect," Eugene argued, pulling away. "I'm so, so far from perfect."
Yasuhara protested this statement by kissing Eugene's perfect lips again. Eugene relented, holding Yasuhara's waist delicately.
"Every time you dodge one of my compliments, I'm going to kiss you." Yasuhara warned.
"But I'm not perfect…"
Yasuhara kissed Eugene again.
"Osamu," Eugene protested.
Yasuhara pulled Eugene close to kiss him again.
At least they had found a way to pass time waiting for Mai and Oliver.
X~X~X
Oliver let Mai wander the store picking items and handing them to him to put in the basket he looped on his arm. She flitted from aisle to aisle and he enjoyed watching her enthusiasm and the way her shiny hair moved in the fluorescent lighting.
The noise and bustle of the store faded away and he was content to follow her in circles as she imagined all the things they might need for tonight.
As they made their purchases and walked out of the store, Oliver taking her hand in his. Mai kept her surprise to a minimum, basking in the rare second Public Display of Affection.
"Are you happy with what we got?" Mai asked him, concern on her face.
"I am pleased with the tea you picked out," Oliver replied, the ever present smirk returning to his face as he denied her the answer she wanted.
"Then I guess you can make me a cup when you make yourself one," Mai shot back, eyes sparkling with humor.
The two bantered all the way back to the car where Eugene and Yasuhara were waiting, engaged in a far more public display of affection. Mai blushed and Oliver stiffened, releasing Mai's hand in his discomfort.
Mai cleared her throat, and then cleared again when the first time didn't work. She attempted a third time, resulting in a hacking cough that caught the attention of the two lovebirds. They broke apart, immediately concerned for Mai.
"Are you okay Mai? Do you need water?" Concerned, Eugene put his hands on Mai's shoulders as she was trying to get her cough under control. "Noll, there's a water bottle in the car. You have the keys."
Oliver was already walking towards the car to get it. Yasuhara saw the tendons in his neck tense, and the jerkiness of his movements were slight but Yasuhara saw them nonetheless. He was assured that Oliver was concerned for Mai, and decided not to exacerbate the situation.
Mai gratefully accepted the water that her boyfriend offered, taking long draughts off it. Her cough subsided but her blush remained in full effect, worse now because of the unwanted attention her cough had attracted.
She looked at Eugene and saw him holding his hand and giving Oliver a dirty look. Oliver had his hand on her shoulder now with his thumb resting on her neck just above her collarbone. He was watching her so closely that it was unnerving.
"What are you doing?" Mai asked, blush subsiding.
"Checking your pupils and your heart rate. You should be fine in a few minutes. Let's get you home before you choke on air again."
"Jerk!" Mai pouted jokingly.
Eugene and Yasuhara ignored the outburst, climbing into Oliver's car.
Oliver surprised her by swinging around to grab her forearm and bringing his lips to her ear.
"If caring about my girlfriend's health makes me a jerk then fine. You had better be ready for me to be an ass of colossal proportions because I care more than you seem to understand."
Mai's mouth dropped open as he turned away from her and jumped into the driver's seat. Her blush returned in full force, though she tried to hide it.
Yasuhara and Eugene watched from inside the car, only catching the tail end of the interaction. Eugene was curious beyond belief as to what Oliver had said. He knew that it was no doubt something miniscule that Mai had overreacted to. Mai and Oliver were such slow movers in their relationship, they made turtles look like super sonic jets.
Yasuhara was concerned for his best friend's capillaries. Her poor blood vessels were working overtime to keep up with Oliver's particular brand of teasing affection.
"Mai, come on. We have somewhere to be." Callous and sweet Oliver treated Mai to a rare grin that she only just noticed. Mai hurried to get into the backseat to sit next to Yasuhara for the ride to the twin's house.
X~X~X
"And then he said, 'I'm going to need the AFP before I can accept that statement as accurate.'"
Yasuhara nearly fell out of his chair laughing at Eugene's ridiculous story, and Mai had tears streaming down her face with both hands over her mouth. Oliver was unmoved by his brother's antics, continuing to eat despite the racious company around him.
"But," Yasuhara struggled to catch his breath laughing too hard to speak. "What is AFP?"
"Osamu!" Eugene was clearly offended. "AFP is the Actual Factual Proof."
"You don't use it in that context, though!" Mai argued. "You're always saying 'I'm AFP this' or 'I'm AFP that'," She narrowed her eyes at Eugene. "I think you just use it at as a synonym for 'actually'."
Eugene shrugged, not disagreeing with Mai's accusation. This sent Yasuhara laughing again.
"He's been found out!"
Mai was grateful for the company of the boys, a delightful change of pace from the usual quiet. This dinner was a lively event, with many stories and jokes coming from three diners and limited participation from the fourth.
Mai was grateful that Oliver was in a good mood and participating at all, as the week had been stressful at work. She ate with her right hand and Oliver ate with his left, their unoccupied hands linked subtly under the table.
Eugene and Yasuhara were well aware of the other couple holding hands under the table. However, neither one deigned to point it out. They would not dare upset Mai and Oliver's small displays of affection.
Eventually the food was finished, and plates cleared to make way for board games, which would be followed by a movie.
Oliver looked at the clock and groaned under his breath. He had been up since five that morning thanks to the incompetent people at work and the night was only stretching on. He knew that Mai would not let him out of the game, so he did not protest. He resigned himself to the long night ahead, grabbing a mug for tea, as he would need the caffeine. He poured Mai a cup as well before seating himself at the table for Monopoly.
Surprisingly, it was only an hour and forty-five minutes later that Oliver found himself seated on the couch with Mai next to him watching the movie.
Catching a small break in the film's narrative, Oliver stood up and headed towards the bathroom while Eugene stood and headed for the kitchen. They made eye contact briefly and shared a glance of empathy. Eugene had been up since five as well, and was lagging just as much as Noll.
Oliver looked at the dining room table as he walked by, observing the flipped game board and pieces scattered on the floor. He would put it away tomorrow.
As he washed his hands, he realized he had been in the bathroom for longer than necessary. The warm soapy water had lulled him into a dreamlike state, and he had no idea how long he had been gone. His eyes ached, and his movements were heavy, almost sluggish.
He trudged back to the living room to finish the movie, and fell abruptly onto the couch next to Mai. Eugene had returned from the kitchen moments earlier, sitting stiffly next to Yasuhara, eyes opened wide looking at the television set.
"You alright?" Mai murmured quietly into Oliver's ear.
Oliver turned to look at Mai and found himself wanting to run his hands through the shiny hair framing her face. It looked incredibly soft.
Deciding not to hold himself back, he pulled her close and started weaving his fingers in her hair. Mai was perplexed, and her shock was evident.
"You're very pretty, even when your mouth is hanging open," Oliver said with a gentle smile.
Mai closed her mouth abruptly and turned to look at Yasuhara's side of the couch. The other twin was glaring at the screen, sitting six inches away from Yasuhara. The twin sitting by Mai was now draping his arms over her shoulders as she had turned away to look at the others.
Mai made eye contact with Yasuhara and mouthed, What is going on?
Yasuhara shrugged mouthing back, Did they switch?
It wouldn't be the first time the twins, or Eugene specifically, had tried to fool their partners with a switch.
Mai had suspected something when she saw that the twins were dressed in matching clothes. It was never Oliver's idea but that didn't make him innocent. He still followed through, albeit poorly, with almost all of Eugene's schemes.
This time, though, they were completely obvious. Were they even trying?
"Okay Eugene, get off me." Mai directed the twin behind her as Yasuhara directed the twin by him to go sit by his girlfriend.
"I'm not Eugene," the twin mumbled, pulling her closer still.
Mai blushed at the contact. Was Eugene really going to go this far for a trick?
"Oi," this twin called to the brother sitting by Yasuhara. "You're Eugene, right?"
"Shut up," came the annoyed reply. "Use your inside voice, please."
"Mai," the twin shifted so that he could whisper in her ear. "He's being rude to me, make him stop."
Yasuhara stood, running his hands through his hair as he tried to comprehend what was going on.
Mai watched Yasuhara, realizing that if he was confused then there was absolutely no hope for her catching up.
"Eugene," Yasuhara directed this statement at the absolute center of the couch. "What is going on?"
The pouting twin spoke up, "We're tired, that's what's going on."
"You're not playing a trick on us?" Yasuhara did not sound convinced.
"Why the hell would we do that?"
Mai pushed herself off of her twin and stood next to Yasuhara, regarding both twins with equal skepticism.
"You literally tried to trick us just this morning!" Her hands found her hips. "You only broke character when Yasuhara went in for a kiss!"
Both twins frowned as they recalled the memory.
"I only want to kiss Mai," the cuddly twin looked as though he were on the verge of tears.
"Eugene," Mai scowled at him. "You are the least convincing actor on the face of this planet. I will call your mother."
"I'm not acting, dear, I am Oliver."
"Okay," Mai crossed her arms. "What the hell is going on?"
"Wait! I can prove it!" The pouting twin suddenly sat up perfectly straight. "One time Mai let me borrow her laptop and she had been reading smut! She writes it too! One time she wrote about a character and she said he was based on me. Mai said I'm so sexy..."
Mai gasped, blushing profusely.
"I've read it," The other twin cut in. "It's not badly written."
"Oliver!" she turned towards the stoic twin. "Why on earth did you tell him that?"
Yasuhara mirrored Mai's stance, scowling at the twins in turn.
"No one goes to sleep until we get to the bottom of this."
"I won't go to sleep without Mai anyways, so that's fine with me. Mai come back over here." The cuddly twin's eyes widened as he looked up at Mai, arms open wide.
"Yasuhara," Mai put a hand on Yasuhara's arm. "Come with me," She stopped, pointing at the cuddly twin. "Stay."
Yasuhara followed Mai to the kitchen.
"Do you have any idea what is going on?" she asked, once the twins were out of earshot.
Yasuhara shrugged.
"I seriously never thought we would lose track of them like this before," he frowned. "How can we not tell our boyfriends apart?"
"Why don't you try to go in for a kiss again?" Mai suggested. "Then we'll know which is which."
"Okay," Yasuhara nodded. "I'll try to kiss the one that was sitting by me first."
They rejoined the twins in the living room and Yasuhara sat back down in his original seat.
"Babe," He leaned in close to the stoic twin and tried to press a gentle kiss to his lips.
The twin dodged his advance, putting his hand squarely on Yasuhara's face and pushing him away.
"If I don't sleep soon," the stoic twin chimed in. "I am AF-fucking-P going to kill someone."
"Wait," Yasuhara's voice was muffled by the twin's hand. He scooted back "Eugene, did you just deny me a kiss?"
"You're denying me sleep."
Mai's eyebrows knitted, showing her confusion.
"How do you know that's Eugene?"
Yasuhara laughed, "He said AFP. Obviously."
"Ugh," Oliver groaned. "He won't ever stop saying that stupid… Thing? With the letters? He keeps saying that dumb ABC thing."
"It's AFP," Eugene corrected. "Idiot."
"Okay!" Yasuhara stood, pulling Eugene up by the hand. "I think it's time for all the little Davis boys to go to bed. Come on, honey."
Mai laughed, pulling Oliver onto his feet. He stumbled and grabbed onto Mai for support, though he did not readily let go.
"Naru…" Mai blushed. "This isn't like you." She mumbled, "Is this what it's like dating Eugene?" Mai glanced toward Yasuhara. "Because all this affection is exhausting."
Yasuhara shrugged.
"To each their own."
so it has long been a headcanon of mine that Eugene is a grump when he's tired so when Kel got ahold of this hc, she kind of ran with it. I love her so much. this was co-written by my Writing Wife Kel (okaysunshine on FF) and edited by my ride or die Hannah (Snavej)
please rate and review!
happy birthday to the Davis twins!
Love, Bee