A/N: My fanfiction isn't normally my focus when I'm writing since I enjoy writing original work as well, but I kind of want a break right now, so postings might increase for the next little bit J
Chapter 33 Sleepover
"That was a long night, but it sure was fun," Ema said, yawning as walked into Natsume's apartment. "Are you sure you don't mind me staying here tonight?"
"Of course," Natsume said. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it. It's been a long time since we've been able to spend some time together, and tomorrow's Saturday, so neither of us have anywhere to be. Besides, my apartment was much closer to the party than the Sunrise Mansion. This is kind of late to be out driving. I feel okay, but I have been up for a long time and it would be unforgivable if we got into an accident because I wasn't as alert as I should be."
And he'd had a few drinks. Not enough to get drunk by any means, but enough that he was concerned that, combined with the late hour, it might affect his driving. He'd considered getting a cab for he and Ema, but decided he could make the fifteen minute drive just fine. Plus, he meant it when he said he wanted to spend more time with Ema. While the party had been far more enjoyable thanks to Ema's presence, they'd only had a small opportunity to talk to each other. Mostly, Natsume introduced Ema to people who worked on the game or they talked about the game.
"I feel too wired to go to sleep right away," Ema said, slipping her jacket off and tossing it on the couch.
"I know what you mean," Natsume agreed, loosening his tie. "You can't go to bed right away after coming straight home from doing something, whether it's work or a party."
Natsume froze when he glanced at Ema. Since she'd worn her jacket the entire evening, Natsume hadn't realized her dress had spaghetti straps. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Miako had certainly worn less than that when joining them for drinking, but…she wasn't Ema. How was it that just seeing Ema's shoulders make her looks so sexy? She was curled on the corner of the couch, looking tiny and innocent and beautiful and sexy all at the same time and it made Natsume want to…Well, he wasn't sure what it made him want to do, but certainly nothing he should want to do.
"Did you have something in mind?" Natsume asked.
"Video game?" Ema suggested hopefully. "I had so little time to play while I was working on the anime."
Ema's mention of the anime brought back their conversation from earlier that night. Ema had told Natsume she hadn't planned on continuing to voice act, but Natsume hadn't missed the interested gleam in her eye. They'd talked some more and Ema had decided that she would at least come in for a reading. If she was passionate about the character and the story, then she would consider doing it. Otherwise, she would let the company know she wasn't interested.
Natsume's first thought was to suggest they play Fantasia Dawning, but then he remembered Ema shooting him down last time. It still hurt his pride a little that she would choose to play with someone else over him.
"Sure," Natsume agreed. "You have anything specific in mind?"
"Hm," Ema leaned her head on her hand as she stared contemplatively at Natsume's games. Natsume wished she had kept her jacket on. He'd been so sure he would have no problem just being Ema's friend while waiting to see if anything developed between them, but that resolve seemed to be crumbling with Ema looking like that while sitting on his couch late at night.
"I think I'm too tired for anything complicated. Maybe just a fighting game? Or, if you wouldn't mind, we could play Fantasia Dawning and just do stuff to power up. I've gotten behind since I haven't had much time to spend on it."
Another flash of irritation. He was good enough for her to power up with on Fantasia Dawning, but not actually play with. That was reserved for her partner.
"Sure," Natsume said, hoping his voice didn't show how unenthusiastic he was about the idea. He told himself it would still be fun to spend the time with Ema. "Let me just get it setup."
Natsume pulled out his laptop next to his desktop computer so they could both sit at his desk as they played. He gave Ema the desktop computer so she would have the bigger screen, then stopped when he saw her username.
"ChiTraveler?"
Ema blushed. "Chi is a nickname a friend of mine gave me, and I added Traveler to it since I was traveling around the world when I discovered this game. I know it's a little silly."
"Not anymore silly than mine," Natsume said, pulling his profile up and turning the laptop toward Ema so she could see his username. He was suddenly feeling much more excited about the evening ahead.
Ema stared at the name uncomprehendingly. Blinked, gaped, then threw back her head and laughed. "2CatPresident? You're the one I've been playing with all this time? I can't believe we found each out by accident playing a MMORPG game while in different countries! That's hilarious. No wonder we've always worked together so well."
"And here you said you didn't want to play Fantasia Dawning with me," Natsume teased, suddenly remembering how glowingly Ema had talked about her Fantasia Dawning partner. It was nice to know she thought so highly of his online gaming skills.
"I can't believe I didn't figure it out when I had hints," Natsume said. "I knew ChiTraveler traveled a lot and often didn't have access to internet, and then you told me as Chi a little while ago that you were back in Japan. It was a month or so after you'd moved back though, so the correlation between you and my gaming partner didn't even register."
Ema giggled. "To think we played video games together nearly the whole time I was traveling. I wish I'd known it was you. I would have felt a little less lonely. I mean, we still exchanged emails, but that's not the same thing as spending time with a friend."
Natsume nodded. "Though I think playing together in the physical world and online might be more fun than just online." He held his breath a little at the suggestion, not sure how Ema would react.
"Totally!" She agreed. "I would love that. Though, I think our video gaming efforts might suffer a little, but I'm okay with that."
Natsume smiled and settled into his seat as they began playing. It looked like he might not be as much at a disadvantage with Ema compared to his brothers as he had thought.
~.~
"Hey, where's Ema?" Tsubaki asked Saturday morning as he looked around the kitchen and living room. "Is she still sleeping from her late night? I didn't even hear her get in."
"That's because she didn't get in," Azusa said, barely refraining from snapping at his twin. "Ukyo informed me that Ema texted him and Masaomi last night to tell them the launch party went so late that Natsume just took Ema home to spend the night at his apartment." Azusa wanted nothing more in that moment than to rip into his younger triplet. What had been all that crap about only inviting Ema because he had to bring someone? If he wasn't interested in Ema, why had he invited her to spend the night at his apartment? Worse, why had she accepted?
"Was the party really late enough to warrant Ema staying at Natsume's? And where did they sleep?" Tsubaki asked with a frown. "Natsume only has one bed."
"I don't know," Azusa said. "I doubt that information was part of Ema's text."
"Stupid punk," Tsubaki muttered as he grabbed juice from fridge. "Thinking he can get a head of me."
Azusa tensed at Tsubaki's words. From what he could tell, Tsubaki still hadn't noticed that Azusa had feelings for Ema as well. That was a conversation that needed to happen soon.
~.~
When Natsume woke up, he wondered why he was on the floor and why it was so bright outside. Then he remembered the events of the night before. The party had gone late enough that Natsume suggested Ema sleep at his place. After, they'd spent more hours than they should have playing Fantasia Dawning before finally going to sleep.
Ema had tried to protest Natsume giving her the bed, but he'd refused to accept her protests and laid out a futon on the floor for himself.
He got up quietly, not wanting to disturb Ema if she was still asleep. Once on his feet, he saw that she was. She was laying on her side, facing him. The blankets were only partway on her, revealing the sweats she'd borrowed from Natsume to wear to bed. She looked incredibly adorable laying there. And just a little bit tempting.
Abruptly turning away from the sight, Natsume quietly grabbed clothes from his dresser. He thought it would be nice to make breakfast for Ema since she was always cooking for others. Glancing at his alarm clock, he realized brunch would be a more accurate title than breakfast.
As he left the room, he had the thought that he hoped none of his brothers thought anything weird had happened with Ema staying in his apartment overnight.
~.~
"This is so good!" Ema said, taking another bite of her omelet. "I didn't know that anyone in the Asahina family other than Ukyo could cook."
"I don't know that I would call this cooking," Natsume said. "I just make simple stuff. I learned how to do some cooking back when I ran track for school. I needed healthy meals that were fast to make."
"Sometimes, simple is the best," Ema argued. "Ukyo's an amazing cook, but he does seem to prefer fancy dishes over simpler items. I've suggested we make faster things for dinner to make things a little easier on him, but he says he doesn't mind." She paused after taking another bite. "Have you ever had my cooking, Natsume? I'm not sure you've been over to Sunrise Mansion since I returned to Japan."
"No, I haven't," Natsume said, realizing he didn't know anything about Ema's cooking other than that Tsubaki liked to brag about how good it was and that they got it every night and many mornings.
"We'll have to have you over for dinner sometime," Ema said cheerfully, then flushed. "I'm sorry, it sounded like I was inviting you to your own home."
"That's fine," Natsume said, laughing. "You live there now and I don't. Besides, it's not like any of my brothers are inviting me to come around."
"I think everyone would be happy to see you. You're just so busy with work all the time. Your brothers are probably afraid that if they invite you over, you'll be too busy to come." She perked up. "Though if you are too busy to come, I could come here and cook dinner for you if that would be all right. And then we could play games after!"
"Either sounds good to me," Natsume said. Was it wrong that he was happy that Ema seemed to want to spend time with him? "We could do both if that would work with your schedule."
"Sure! I'd be happy to do both. I'm always happy for an excuse to come see you and play video games."
