Short, fluffy chapter between Ema and Masaomi before Subaru's birthday party! Enjoy, and thank you so much for the reviews so far! :D They make me so happy!
I take a quick shower and then let my hair air-dry as I pull on a pair of jeans and a blouse from my half-unpacked suitcase before meeting Masaomi at the elevator. I have to double back twice before finding the correct hallway but at least I'm learning. Juli perches on my shoulder and I'm a little reassured by the fact that he doesn't know his way around yet either.
When we reach the elevator Masaomi is waiting for us, spinning his car keys lazily around his finger.
"Ready to go?" he asks me cheerfully. I nod and smile. He's changed out of his usual work-appropriate button-down shirt in favor of a loose blue tee featuring a very confused looking fish. It looks... cute on him. Despite Masaomi being the oldest and a doctor to boot, I get the sense that he's also the most genuinely lighthearted of all the brothers except maybe Wataru. Maybe that's why they get along so well.
Juli curls up in the back seat and soon falls asleep and I'm left thinking about the story Ukyo and Masaomi told me this morning.
"What happened to the nurse on the island?" I ask him once we're out of the neighborhood. A slow, embarrassed smile creeps across his face and I'm amused to see that the back of his neck turns a little red.
"I came back to visit and apologized to her once I got better... I even brought her flowers. But it turns out she had her eyes on my younger brother." He flashes a grin at me. There are no hard feelings hidden in that open face. "Kaname swept her right out from under me," he laughs. "He's always been the ladies' man of the family. Our mother jokes that when he was too little to be left to his own devices, she had to take him with her to the atelier and he learned to flirt with the models before he even learned how to walk." I find this all too believable and we share a moment of laughter.
"I actually ran into that same nurse at a medical convention just a few years ago. She recognized me immediately and asked me to coffee... it turns out nothing really happened with Kaname after all. In the end, she didn't like him as much after his hair turned green." I'm still laughing in spite of myself. Masaomi's light mood is infectious and the sun is shining through the car windows.
"When she asked you to coffee," I venture curiously, "did she confess feelings for you? Maybe say that she'd chosen the wrong brother?" He shakes his head, eyes still trained on the road.
"No, honestly she wanted to know what had happened to Ukyo." I widen my eyes at him in surprise.
"All those years and she didn't ever think about you and wish she'd chosen differently?" I'm perplexed.
"Why does that surprise you so much?" He asks, a slightly puzzled look on his face. I wave my arms around in a half shrug as if the answer is obvious. He raises an eyebrow at me. Clearly he's not getting it.
"I just can't believe that she wasn't interested in you at all. You share similar professions so there must be some common interest there. But more than that, you're such an attractive man, with a solid career and a great personality. I don't see why any woman would turn that down." When I look over at him he's goggling at me so intently that he nearly runs a stop sign. My face flushes as I realize how strange that must have sounded.
"No! What I mean is... Well, I'm sure Ukyo is equally... Ugh!" I cover my face in embarrassment, completely lost for words. But after a moment I feel the warmth of his hand on mine and he gently pulls my fingers away from my blushing face.
"I think I understand what you meant," he gives me an encouraging smile but his eyes are dancing as if he's laughing inside. "Thank you." Then a little furrow appears between his brows and he releases my hands, returning his focus to the road.
"By the way... did something happen between you and Ukyo this morning?" he asks a moment later, catching me off guard. I raise my eyebrows inquiringly at him, although he isn't looking at me now. I'm not sure what he means.
"This morning I noticed he was wearing his suit from yesterday, if that's what you mean... And then he admitted he hadn't slept so I demanded he let me take over the cooking so he could get some rest. And I brought him up some pancakes. He was telling me about the picture in his room when you arrived." I leave out the bit about walking in on him half-naked for the sake of every one involved. It was embarrassing enough the first time around. But Masaomi seems less troubled after my quick summary of events.
"Okay, I just figured I'd ask. It seemed like there was -" But I don't get to hear what 'there was' because we've arrived at the market and Masaomi falls silent as he squeezes the car into a tight parallel spot nearby.
The sudden stillness of the vehicle wakes Juli and he looks around drowsily before flicking his ears back and resuming his slumber. I roll down a window for him and let him sleep. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but he can be just as grouchy as Yusuke when he first wakes up.
"Okay..." Inside the store, Masaomi takes a long list out of his pocket and looks at it dubiously. "I'm not very good at this," He admits to me. "Usually Ukyo is here to supervise and make sure I don't pick up all the wrong ingredients." He looks so hopeless, surrounded by baking supplies, that I can't quite suppress my laughter.
"That's why I'm here. We'll tackle the big bad groceries together, " I assure him with a grin. He flashes me a white smile over the top of the list and then grabs my hand. We start perusing the shelves, calling out words from the shopping list like it's a memory game. Our pace gradually picks up as Masaomi becomes more comfortable with the ingredients, but then he drops a sack of flour into the cart and it rips open with a puff of white that covers an entire leg of his jeans and even dusts the top of his head.
"Oh, damn..."
Seeing this prestigious, pink-faced doctor covered in flour and looking forlornly around him sends me into fits of hysterical laughter and I'm on my knees in the mess, clutching the shopping cart for support as I struggle to breathe. My reaction seems to snap him out of his flour-induced stupor and he begins to laugh too, all the while apologizing to a shopping clerk who hurries to clean up the powdery puddle. I can see some of the other customers turning to stare at us.
Masaomi pulls me to my feet and we head back down the aisle as unobtrusively as we can... but as we turn the corner the laughter bubbles up inside me again and I have to lean against him in order to stay on my feet. Inches from my face, I notice that the confused fish on Masaomi's shirt has developed a white flour goatee and the sight sends me wheezing with giggles straight against his chest, where more flour snows down from his shoulders and hair. His body stiffens momentarily as if he doesn't know how to react, but then he's hugging me tight and we're both giggling again and smudging what's left of the flour all over each other. I can't begin to imagine how we must look to our fellow shoppers, but before I know it we've escalated into full-blown shenanigans. When we reach the dairy aisle I'm wearing a cake pan like a tiara and Masaomi has an icing cornet stuck onto each ear like a set of horns. We're laughing and holding hands like it's the most natural thing in the world and by the time we find our way into the checkout line the cashier is staring at us like we've just walked out of an amusement park.
As we arrive back at the car with our spoils I reach up and dust off Masaomi's hair . Great clouds of flour billow out and I have to lean against the open car door so I don't fall over as we laugh ourselves into a delirium in each others' arms.
"This is the best time I've ever had at a market," Masaomi declares, bracing his arms against the side of the car to keep from collapsing on top of me. My laughter subsides a little. I'm caught between the padded interior of the vehicle and Masaomi himself, and then he wraps his arms around me again. "Thank you for making this so fun," he says into my ear.
I hug him back without hesitation.
"Best shopping trip ever," I agree with a grin. Juli is still snoring peacefully in the back seat and doesn't wake up for the entire ride home, while Masaomi and I laugh ourselves silly in the front seats.
