Altered Perspective

It took her a few moments to comprehend what he had just asked, that smile on his face identical to the ones his brother had sent her in her dreams. She had told him she liked him, and his response, 'me or Gene?' Her brain did laps around itself, trying to decide if he had really just asked that while her ears rang as if the silence was endless. He was watching her and she was watching him when she realised that yes, he had really asked that. She pushed down the urge to cry, and found her voice, "You or Gene? Are you…are you serious?"

She had gone numb, watching as his face turned passive, his default expression that for some reason, really pissed her off, "Okay, so I may have not known he wasn't you, but you can't tell me that I don't know how to decipher my own feelings."

At this point, he must have realised she was mad, because his eyebrows dipped into a frown, "Mai-"

"No," she gives him no chance to argue, she was going to say her piece, "You or Gene? I may have seen his smiles and received his kindness on every case, but smiles and kindness are not the only reason a girl can like a guy. I'm sorry I didn't know it wasn't you, but that's because one, I didn't know you had a deceased twin, and two, I thought he was a figment of my imagination that I could only see when I closed my eyes. I'm not going to lie and say I haven't wished a million times that you'd smile more, but that doesn't mean smiles have anything to do with my feelings."

His frown was still in place, but even he knew when she needed to get things off her chest, so he remains silent as she rants at him. "You want to know the answer to your question? Of course it's you, I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't sure it was you. You think I have to like Gene because he's the nice one with the nicer personality, and maybe you're used to it always being that way, but Naru…I've seen your nicer side. You may not smile a lot, but that makes your smiles more precious, because they're rare, they mean more to me. You've protected me on so many occasions, you pass it off as being responsible for me because you're my boss, but I know you care."

It was at this point, she could tell his emotions were starting to get away from him as his frown was alleviating, and shock was starting to break though. Realising she was actually getting somewhere, she refused to stop, "And Naru, I don't know Gene like I know you. I only ever see him in my dreams and only on cases, he's been helping me as, like you said, a spirit guide. He's always kind and caring, but he's always had a purpose for being there. The only things I knew about him was that he was nice and smiles a lot, and now the only new things I know about him are that he's your older twin brother, he was a perfect psychic medium and that he's no longer alive. None of those things come close to how much I know about you.

"You're a straight up narcissist, you're smart and good-looking, you know it. You're addicted to tea, you can't read Kanji, though I now know why, and you like to boss me around. I know you have a sense of humour, you just hide it behind your moody personality. You're not a die hard supernatural believer, you'd rather go in thinking it's not a ghost before you say it is, because you're a scientist before a spiritualist. You hide behind a stoic face, but you care, I've seen it. You smile rarely, but when you do, they take my breath away. When you comfort me, everything that troubles or upsets me just fades away. So Naru, the answer will always be you."

Throughout her unexpectedly long speech, his eyes widened further than she had ever seen them, showing his shock. However, when she had reached the end, his aforementioned stoic face returned, making her uncertain. She had only wanted to let him know exactly how she felt, so having done that, she hides her disappointment behind her usual smile. "That's all I wanted to say on my own feelings, but a word of advice Naru, the next time a girl tells you she likes you, reject her properly. At least admit you don't have feelings rather than throw some hurtful question in her face."

With nothing else left to say, she turned on her heels and made to leave. She did not get far before she felt a tug on her wrist, she would have fallen if Naru, the one to grab her, had not pulled her to him. She was about to protest of his rough treatment of her, but she lost all thought as his lips smashed onto hers. Her eyes widened in shock, but all she could see were his own eyes, closed though they were. He was growing impatient at her lack of response, and she could feel him pull her closer, though she had not been sure it was possible, to coax her into kissing him back.

Closing her eyes, she finally kissed him back and allowed all her pent up feelings she had bottled to break free, using this kiss to show him that her words were true. That it was him and it would always be him. If the way he was kissing her was any indication, he understood her message loud and clear.

When they finally came up for air, he placed his forehead on hers, the both of them panting, "Mai, I wasn't…I wasn't rejecting you. I've had so many girls come up to me thinking I was Gene, confessing their feelings and wondering why I wasn't smiling at them. It's always been him, so when you said you liked me, I couldn't be sure if it was really me, or if it was like every other time. I asked because I wanted to know, though I was certain it would be Gene, which was why I was ready to just leave it alone. Though how can I argue when you threw your feelings at me like an idiot."

"Hey," she shouts, going to lean away from him, but his grip on her was strong, so she settled with swatting his arm.

He chuckles, actually chuckles, causing her to freeze, admiring the sound like it was the best thing she had ever heard, which it really was. That is when it hit her, he had actually kissed her, a full on make out after she had just confessed her feelings. She hesitantly wraps her arms around his waist, and when he lets her, she squeezes him tighter, "So, does this mean…"

She trailed off, not knowing how to ask it as her face flushed with embarrassment. "Yes, Mai," he softly whispers in her ear, causing her to shiver, "it means I feel the same way."

The tears she had been holding back started to trickle from her eyes, though now they were of happiness rather than hurt. He just held her as she cried, knowing it would be best to just let them fall. They would have stood there longer if Lin had not suddenly arrived, "Naru!"

They hesitantly let each other go as the taller man got closer, "What is it Lin?" Naru asks, fully pulling away from her and heading for the Chinese man.

"They found it," Lin informs them, a sombre look on his face.

Sure enough, despite the divers trying to stop him, Naru had lifted the cloth to identify his brother. It was finally over.

"So, how long will you be?" she asked him, trying not to sound too upset that he would be leaving for a while.

He was watching her, she knew, as she looked at her feet like it was the only interesting thing before her. She then heard him sigh before his arms were around her, causing her to squeak in embarrassment, "I can't say for sure, but it will be a few months."

"England is so far away, calls will be expensive and the day time won't match up properly," she mumbles into his chest. "It will be hard to talk to you."

She heard him sigh again and she knew she was being childish, but it had only been a week since they had gotten together. Now he was going to be in another country for who knows how long, excuse her for wanting to at least be able to talk to him. "I know Mai, but I will be back, and then we can make up for all the missed time. I promise."

The fact that he had actually tacked on a promise made a warm feeling wash over her, "Okay, just look after yourself, I'm not going to be there to stop you from being a jerk to random people or to make you tea."

She caught the roll of his eyes as he pulled away slightly, "I'm pretty sure I should be saying that to you, I'm not going to be there to keep you out of trouble when you're being an idiot."

"Rude," she mumbles, puffing her cheeks in frustration while turning her head away.

His chuckle would have been enough for her to turn back to him, but it was taken out of her hands when he grabbed her chin and turned her himself. He wasted no time in pressing his lips to hers in a gentle, goodbye kiss. This was a pleasant surprise, he had never kissed her when they were not alone, even in front of his parents or the SPR irregulars. Now he was kissing her in front of an airport of people on top of Lin and his parents who were pretending not to notice several metres away as they waited for him.

He pulls back to rest his head on her forehead, reminiscent of their first kiss, "I'll see you when I get back."

"Okay, see you then," she whispers back softly.

He presses one last kiss on her forehead before he squeezes her hand and walks over to catch up with his parents. He was not sentimental, so she did not let it get to her when he did not turn back to wave at her like his mother did. She just waved back to the older woman and smiled, determined to wait patiently for his return.

A/N: because it has been slapping me in the face for weeks, I finally wrote it.

Yeah so, I wrote a one shot of the famous, often written about, 'me or Gene?' scene. A what if 'Mai was already very certain about her feelings and is absolutely affronted that he would ask her that question' kind of story.

Also, I'm treating it as a sort of how they got together prequel one shot to my MaixNaru story, How to Tell Him I'm Pregnant, in celebration of its impending 10 year anniversary and the reboot of it I'm going to start writing real soon.

Seza, out.