Yasuhara watched Naru stare down at the case file in front of him. He seemed to be proofing it for the second time that day. The office was completely quiet.

No clients had been in since the last case and Naru had sent Mai home sick that morning. Lin had gone early as well, seeing no point in sticking around with no work to do, which left Naru and Yasuhara at the office alone.

Yasuhara had spent the morning organizing video files from past cases, labeling and filing the ones that had contained evidence or had been useful to the case, and dumping the ones that had not been. Every once in a while, he glanced over to see Naru frowning down at a case file. He'd been staring at the same page for several minutes.

Yasuhara had noticed a subtle change in his boss' mood ever since the end of the last case. He had seemed off after a conversation with Mai. Yasuhara was unsure of what had been said, but he knew that Mai was not the most thoughtful with her words at the best of times.

Sighing, Yasuhara stood and made his way over to his boss' desk. He could not stand to see him like this any longer.

"Hey, Big Boss!" Yasuhara leaned against the side of Naru's desk.

Naru looked up at him, saying nothing.

"What's up?" Yasuhara smiled easily and inclined his head towards Naru. He wanted to show that he was listening, and that he was unbothered as Naru glared up at him.

Naru sighed, "Yasuhara-san I'm really not in the mood."

Yasuhara's expression softened.

"That's why I'm asking. You're in a bad mood and I want to talk to you about it."

Naru looked confused, like he did not understand the concept of someone caring for his mood enough to try to fix it. Yasuhara thought for a moment how out of place this expression looked on his usually confident boss' face.

"I want to listen."

For a moment, Naru was silent.

"I'm sure you have better things to do," he said finally. "Like working." Naru's eyes flickered to Yasuhara's empty desk.

Yasuhara ignored him, instead, he took a seat in an empty chair across from his workspace.

"Yasuhara-san…" Naru faltered and Yasuhara prepared to be shot down again. "I apologize for making you uncomfortable." Naru began. "I am usually less inclined to show my emotions."

Yasuhara shook his head quickly, surprised that Naru was actually beginning to talk to him.

"No, don't apologize, please! I'm not asking because you're making me uncomfortable, Shibuya-san."

Naru gave Yasuhara another confused look.

"I'm asking because you're my friend, and if someone made you upset I want to help." Yasuhara finished, studying Naru's face for any kind of response.

Naru sighed, "I'm not used to this, I apolo-" he caught himself, frowning as he began his sentence again, "I'm not used to being open about how I feel."

"I know." Yasuhara prompted. "Take your time. We've nothing to do anyways."

Naru let out a tiny breath of laughter.

"Yes, you are right about that." Naru looked like he did not know how to continue. "I have just been thinking about something Mai said after the last case." he added, finally. "I am wondering if there is any truth to it."

"Something Mai said?" Yasuhara tried not to sound unsurprised. "I'm sure she didn't mean any harm."

Once again, Naru did not respond.

"What did she say?"

"She was upset after I accused the mother of faking the activity," he knitted his brows, remembering what had happened.

"Right," Yasuhara prompted. "That's just how Mai is."

"I know," Naru grimaced. "I suppose I could have been more gentle but I was right about most of it."

Naru looked up to gauge Yasuhara's reaction. He nodded in agreement.

"When Mai and I were alone, however, she said that I had no consideration for emotions at all. She called me a -"

"Robot?"

"Let me guess," Naru rubbed his temples, as if he could hear Mai's voice in his head as he thought of what she said. "You've heard that one before?"

Yasuhara chuckled, recalling the hundreds of times he had heard his boss likened to Artificial Intelligence.

"I know she has a point, but I'm just so tired of hearing it."

Yasuhara frowned.

"I feel," Naru paused, gathering his thoughts. "I, arrrgh," Naru ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I don't know how to express how I feel."

"You feel less than human." Yasuhara supplied, understanding.

"Oh, Shibuya-san." Yasuhara was unsure of how to react. Naru was usually calm and collected, so his seemingly out of character frustration was disorienting to Yasuhara. If he were completely honest, he didn't expect to get this far. He didn't think that Naru was going to open up to him like this. "Shibuya-san," he repeated, looking into Naru's eyes. He suddenly felt a distinct anger towards Mai for making Naru feel this way without even giving him a second thought. "You are perfectly human. I'm really sorry that Mai made you feel that way."

He clenched his fists unconsiously.

"She's the one that needs a lesson in how to treat people." he finished, lamely. "I'm really sorry."

Naru nodded, Yasuhara watched him struggle to find a suitable reply.

Yasuhara reached out to lay his hand atop Naru's to comfort him, but thought better of it. Naru's eyes, however, flickered towards Yasuhara's hand at this movement. He looked back up at Yasuhara and attempted to meet his eyes.

"It's okay," Naru smirked and Yasuhara blushed despite himself. He was happy to see the confidence back in his boss' eyes. The world seemed right-side-up again. "I'm not going to be upset if you are trying to comfort me, Yasuhara-san."

Yasuhara laughed nervously and moved his hand to give Naru's an awkward pat.

"Thank you," Naru caught Yasuhara's gaze. His voice was serious. "I appreciate you listening."

Yasuhara offered a reassuring grin.

"I am always happy to do so," he stood, preparing to return to his desk. "Really, anytime."

Suddenly, Naru stood as well and took a step towards Yasuhara.

"Um," Yasuhara raised an eyebrow as if to ask what Naru was doing. "Do you need something?"

Naru pulled Yasuhara into the shortest and most awkward hug he had ever experienced.

"Thank you again," he released Yasuhara and studied him, attempted a small grin.

Naru sat back down at his desk, acting as though nothing had happened.

"Right," Yasuhara shook his head, making his way towards his desk. "No trouble."

Yasuhara sat down, barely comprehending what had just happened. He began sorting through video files again, as he had been before he had decided to talk to Naru. As he did, however, he found himself grinning giddily at the computer screen in front of him.

"Yasuhara-san?" Naru called from the other side of the room.

"Yeah?"

"I'm thinking about closing the office early."

"O-Okay."

"Would you like to accompany me to the cafe down the street?"

Yasuhara's grin widened. "I'd love to!"

hello! I'm seriously on a roll! catch this bitch crying when she has to wake up at six for a morning class when she been up all night writing bc that's what my life is like now.
hope you enjoy my attempt at YasuNaru! thank you to Cam for the prompt and to Elv for editing!
please rate and review if you don't mind!

love, Bee