Mai stood up from her position near Ren's switch for his nightlight. She wasn't sure if it was because he remembered what had happened when he was young or if she was assuming too much and that he was just a boy acting his age. It was normal to be afraid of the dark, but, when thinking about her childhood, she wasn't afraid of the dark or much of anything for that matter.
After she and Naru were able to have their heart-to-heart conversation, Mai had reinstated the fact that she still had to go pick their son up. Naru pressed a kiss into her lips and told her that he would see her at home tonight when he left the office. She ruminated on the fact that he had been forthcoming with even creating the notion of a 'home' implying a family comes with it. In a way, she supposed they were a family. Somewhat flawed and erratic, but uniquely her own and she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Ren had been rather eager to be collected by his mother that afternoon, and Mai had a sneaking suspicion that he may have picked up on her rather joyous mood. When she got him situated in his car seat, he began spouting out questions regarding his father and if the man was going to be around more often. When Mai confirmed his assumptions, he all but jumped out of his seat – Mai was thankful that the seatbelts kept him secure.
It was hard to believe that he went to sleep so easily. From the doorway, Mai watched her baby boy snuggle back into his sheets and clutched his plushie animal that he had decided to have with him that night. She had always laughed when he claimed that he had to have all his stuffed animals in his bed or he felt bad for anyone left out.
Her reminiscings were broken when a pair of arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her back into a solid frame. She leaned back on Naru, laying her head on his chest. No words were exchanged, but the couple watched fervently as the small life they created slept without regard to the horrors of the world.
"I am not surprised to see that he sleeps as easily as you do," Naru whispered, his lips pressed to the top of her shoulder. "I can only assume that he also sleeps as heavily."
Mai scoffed at his remark and nudged her elbow back into his chest. "I was not nearly that bad. I swear you are the most dramatic person I've ever met." Her whispers were thick with mirth and she felt his deep chuckle on her neck.
"You have yet to meet my mother. She could act out a whole play by herself with how much drama she exudes."
At that, she brought her attention to the fact that if Naru wanted to have a relationship with her and their son, then it was only appropriate to allow his side of the family to meet their new addition. She never had to worry about Ren meeting family on special occasions because, in truth, she had no living family. But Naru was a good chance for Ren to know what having relatives were like.
She gently moved to push both of them into the hallway so she could shut the door, leaving it open a crack. Naru looked somewhat expectant like he knew she wanted to talk.
"Do you…" She took a moment to pause and gather her nerves. "Do you think that your parents would like to meet Ren?"
Naru's eyebrows rose. "My parents?" He scoffed slightly and wrapped Mai back in his arms. "You met them both once and I've heard you come up in almost every conversation with them since. They adore you." Mai watched him as he dictated with quiet whispers. "There is no doubt in my mind that they would love Ren just the same. Why do you ask?"
"I wondered if you would gather them here to meet him?" She looked away somewhat embarrassed by the thought of having them over. "Were you going to tell them about Ren at some point?"
"I actually planned to tell them this weekend." A slight rosy tint colored his cheeks and Mai placed a hand over her mouth to smother her giggles. He glared at her playfully. "I will contact them tomorrow and see if they can be here as soon as the end of the week. Take a picture, Mai, I do not get flustered easily."
This time, Mai let out a small quiet giggle and placed her head onto his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and she welcomed his contact. When she was younger, she wasn't sure that Naru even welcomed physical contact of any kind from anyone. It was an interaction that she couldn't picture in her mind. But now, after so much has happened between them, there was a feeling of rarity to his brief moments of contact. When she handed him tea and their fingers brushed against one another. A steadily placed hand on her lower back to provide support to her. And when they were both with Ren or alone, he was usually the first person to seek out a personal touch.
She had never let these moments, no matter how small, go to waste, and she never would. If his ego was not so expansive, she would assume that he had no idea how much she loved him and felt whole with him near her. But he was usually the one to remind her of that fact whenever he irritated her on purpose.
"Thank you."
The statement came out of nowhere and it startled Mai out of her thoughts. She pushed back and looked at his smiling eyes.
"For what?" She asked in a casual tone.
He shifted his head a bit and brought his hand up to her cheek, carefully brushing the back of its hand over her cheekbone.
"For keeping him, having him and raising him to be the person he is now." A slight chill swept into Mai's heart.
"Naru, you may not have been with me physically, but I made it a point to raise him like how we both would." She did not want him to feel as though he had no part in their lives. "Whenever he asked about you, I was honest, but I knew in my heart that you would love him, and I would tell him as much. You raised our baby as much as I did, without you even knowing."
A beautiful tender smile grew on his face and he placed a series of kisses on the top of Mai's head and trailed it down her neck. When he placed a kiss on the crook of her neck, she let out a breathy giggle.
"Stop!" She wrapped her arms around him and tried to quiet her laughter. He granted her request and they opted for a comforting hug right outside their child's room. "So, you really want to be caught up in this crazy world?"
Naru took in a breath and huffed out an exhale. "I am apprehensive about being more involved with Ren," He started and released Mai from his arms. "But I am more unsure about being more involved with you."
Mai tilted her head and crossed her arms. "Why? If anything, I'm easier to deal with than he is going to be. I can only imagine what the teenage years will bring."
"In a way, yes. But you are the one I do not want to lose. With Ren, it will be a learning curve and is going to take time." He looked away from Mai's careful stare. "You and I have history, that much is a given, so, I don't want to ruin anything we could have."
She looked away and shifted her feet. In a way, they had both been ruined. She confessed, he rejected her, albeit in his own way, and they had a baby out of wedlock. Now their kid had been brought up without a dad and suddenly, the father was brought back into the picture. As far as she was concerned, they were far from the realm of normal, and that's not including their odd jobs. The thought made her laugh and place a hand on Naru's shoulder to try and keep her balance from doubling over.
"And what, exactly, is so amusing?"
She looked up from her position. "Honestly, Naru, we're probably the least normal parents in the world and you are worried about ruining anything with me?" He watched her with feigned irritation. "Oh, heavens, Naru!" She placed both hands on his cheeks and squished them a bit. "Get that grumpy look off your face! You know what I mean, and for what it's worth, you cannot 'ruin' me, we're already ruined."
He placed his hands over hers and kissed them both tenderly. "We're not ruined. We are just advanced in our age."
Mai muttered under her breath with a chuckle. "'Advanced,'"
"Mai,"
"Yes?" She looked up at him expectedly. He used both thumbs to slowly graze the back of the hands he had under his.
"Tea."
Mai swore she heard a record scratch in the background, emphasizing the broken delightful moment the two parents shared. A nerve was struck and, with no regard to the fact that her son was soundly asleep right behind her, she opened her mouth about to yell but Naru quickly covered it with a hand and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you really want to wake our son?"
A blush overcame her features from under his hand and she narrowed her eyes in anger at him. The cocky narcissist got lucky this time. An idea struck her and reaching out she pressed his hand more firmly into her mouth and bit down slightly. His eyes widened as pain flourished on his palm and with a muttered curse, he pulled back from her. She watched with a smirk as he wiped his hand on his pants.
"You just made a big mistake," He said staring at her from under his lashes.
She caught on quick and took off down the hall, burst through her bedroom door, and tried to shut it but before she could Naru's foot caught in between. Mai moved away as he slowly pushed it open.
"Now, let's not lose our heads, Naru." Mai's voice was raised in pitch, expressing her counterfeit nervousness but honest humor.
"Too late for that, darling." He purred. It was said in a way that both excited and terrified her. The same inflection he used when he was angry at her for being late or for unwillingly getting injured on a case.
She was not one to assume that Naru would use pet names such as the one he just used, but she could say that she enjoyed it quite well.
She slowly crept back and never took her eyes away from him. Her legs hit the end of her bed and she could see her grey comforter out of her peripheral vision. Her knees buckled and she sat on her beautiful mattress and pushed herself to watch the smirking man in front of her.
"Call me that again," She said leaning back on her forearms.
He tilted his head slightly as he watched her and a sense of déjà vu struck him, and his memories of the night they shared five years ago came to him at full force. When he didn't reply, Mai beckoned him closer with a finger. After he chuckled slightly, which in turn made Mai do the same, he walked forward and met her awaiting lips to take a sweet kiss. She leaned into him and he wrapped an arm around her and braced a knee beside her own.
"Can you lay with me tonight," Mai said after she pulled away from him. She cupped his cheek and used her thumb to trace over his lips. "I want you to be with me, but I feel really out of my element, Naru."
"I know," He pressed a kiss into her hand. "Believe it or not, Mai, but I have not engaged in any romantic relationship unless it was those my mother tried to push onto me. But I found a way around that."
Mai sent him a curious look. "What did you do?"
"I told them I enjoyed looking at myself in the mirror more than I would at them."
A small fist hit his chest with little strength.
"Naru! That's terrible!" She said in shock, though, he noted, she was smiling.
In response, he rolled his eyes and moved away from her and around to the right side of the bed, snaked his arms underneath Mai's, and pulled her up to the top of the bed. He quickly settled her next to him and she snuggled into his side. He was secretly ecstatic that Mai was acting more as she used to when she was younger. She didn't seem changed when they saw each other at the conference, if anything she was wiser and more well-rounded, but after having Ren she seemed completely altered. He could only imagine what it would be like knowing that you were going to have a child and no one was around to help or support you. Guilt hit him again and he swallowed a lump in his throat. He reasoned with himself quite quickly. He is here now for both of them, possibly at the most threatening part of their lives, and he wasn't going anywhere.
Hello again! I'm happy to be back and give you guys a new chapter!
There was a lot of fluff and I am kind of happy that there was! I really debate with myself about getting too emotional with it, but stay with me! Let me know what you thought! I'd love to hear what you all thought!
Cheers!