December 25th

Oliver sat at his desk in the early hours of the afternoon. If he'd been at home, his parents would have dragged him down for presents. Or perhaps not. His trip to Japan meant that he'd not actually spent Christmas together with them since Gene's death. His twin had loved the holiday and Naru was glad that Japanese culture treated the celebration differently. Some time during the day, he would need to call them, but that was a matter for later

Maybe he'd tell them about Mai. His mother would be pleased with that bit of news.

Thoughts of the brunette brought his mind to the two items on the desk in front of him: a notebook and a small silver key. As their experiment with psychometry required at least two attempts, he needed two items to best guarantee his part would work and those were the two she selected. She did warn that there was a chance of the key inciting visions of her mother, but both were reasonably sure that Mai would still be the focus.

All the same, he'd chosen the diary for his first attempt. Waiting until close to midnight, he'd picked it up as he laid in bed and allowed the visions to drift over. He'd expected something mundane. Making tea, filing, typing, cleaning. What he'd gotten was passion and love as he relived their recent embraces from her eyes. He'd felt her heartbeat and her uncertain excitement as he teased her. Even more, he experienced the way happiness washed over her just by looking at him and how, despite close to two years of acquaintance and exposure to his poor personality, she still found him to be distractingly attractive.

She might call him a narcissist, but the vision had shown him what love for him was and he failed in comparison.

Oliver had come out of it and almost felt embarrassed at the idea of Gene seeing that and sending it to her. Regardless, he knew he was in for teasing the next time they spoke. Needless to say, he was not looking forward to it.

Beyond that, Oliver realized that he'd actually still felt residually suspicious of her feelings. He had never been easy to live with and Mai saw through him better than anyone. How c0uld she possibly love him? Yet, clearly, she did and Oliver could not help but feel humbled by it. And grateful.

It also made him feel slightly better about her relationship with Gene. It had already occurred to him that when they eventually lived together (his mind had accepted that reality without bothering to consult Mai) Gene would be a third party to their relationship as long as it took for him to move on. Knowing for certain what Mai felt made him feel more secure and even slightly happy that his brother had been able to meet the girl he loved, something he'd never considered he might have wanted before the chance had been theoretically out of reach.

With a sigh, Oliver opened his desk to withdraw the mirror he'd taken to keeping there. Within moments, he heard his brother's voice.

"Can I name the first child?"

Oliver groaned. "Voyeur."

"Me? I'm the one forced to see the show! I feel violated."

"I am sure. Did you send it to her?"

"Couldn't. It felt like trying to cast a line that just couldn't quite reach. I honestly think if she were just a little closer, she'd be within reach."

"Then it is definitely proximity based."

"Yep. So, if you don't want me telling her embarrassing stories, you will just have to stay away from her."

"Impossible."

"On a serious note, you should probably tell mom and dad about all of this and sooner rather than later. You'll hear less about it if you do it sooner. Mom would be livid if she found out you'd been talking to me for months without saying anything to them."

Oliver sighed. "I know."

"Tell them, then tell them that you have a girlfriend you want to move in with. It'll distract them."

"Go to sleep."

The sound of laughter echoed through his mind as he slammed the mirror face down on the desk. A moment later, he heard the door open. With a sigh, he opened up the document he had been using to take notes on Mai's abilities. As he waited, he jotted down a few more ideas for how she could control her visions. After a moment's pause, he made a note to have her look into lucid dreaming. He'd only remembered essays on it having ideas on how to control dreams, not end them, but he'd never found the topic particularly interesting. His dreams were always objects of fantasy, not science.

Without knocking, or otherwise announcing herself, Mai entered his office, both hands holding tea. He watched as she carefully set them down and then paused a moment, seeming to fight herself on something. Then, mind apparently made up, she walked over to him and dropped a quick kiss on his lips before moving back to the chair opposite.

"How un-Japanese," he teased, delighted all the same.

"Shut up; you're British," she commented, clearly unaware of British stereotypes on romance. Her tone implied irritation but her smile was radiant as she brought her cup to her lips. "Though, with how much you don't like to be touched…."

"Gene tell you that?'"

"Masako."

Oliver snorted. "She would know."

"Then, I'm glad I'm different?"

She posed the sentence like a question and he could tell that she hadn't really meant to but still hoped he would answer.

"Only if you explain what 'Naru – adult type touching' means. Is that the type of touching you are planning to do?"

If someone could die of embarrassment, Oliver was sure Mai would have done it on the spot.

Yes, teasing her was going to be fun.

"I-I just…I mean…well," she stuttered for a few seconds before she finally covered her face and squeaked, "well not in public!"

"Then I should assume you have plans for private touching?" he smirked.

Mai pulled her hands from her face, saw his smirk, and narrowed her eyes. In that second, he saw her deciding to go on the offensive.

"Yes, Naru. I have plans to touch you…privately."

For the first time in years, Oliver felt himself blush. He knew it was likely faint, but also knew that she had seen it.

The game was on then.

"Anyway, Gene has already told me that he did not contact you last night. Therefore, we will have to try again within closer proximity."

Mai narrowed her eyes slightly, but clearly decided to let the previous teasing go. "Well, I cannot promise to nap today. Because I wanted to do the best for the experiment, I went to bed really early so I got a lot of sleep."

"Well, why don't we try our best to exhaust you?"

~o~o~O~o~o~

After his speech the day before, Mai would never have expected for Naru to close the office for the day so they could go spend the day together.

"It's strange to see you be so willing to stop working," she commented as they somewhat aimlessly walked the streets of Shibuya.

"Old habits die hard." When she looked at him in confusion, he sighed, but did elaborate. "In England, most places are closed on Christmas. For the holiday."

"Oh," she commented. "That does make sense." She'd known that other countries treated Christmas differently, but the idea of it being enough to make the super workaholic stop working…. "So, if you were with your parents, you would be taking a break too?"

"Probably not. I spent the last Christmas with them working on my thesis in vain attempt to avoid their holiday foolishness." Naru commented dryly. "They find an absurd level of humor in watching A Christmas Carol every year and dissecting it by modern scientific methods. It is…irritating."

Mai laughed quietly at that before a thought struck her. "So, are you Christian then?"

"Not really. The kids home I was at in the US was a Christian one, though, and my parents are vaguely Church of England, but we have none of us ever been very devout."

Mai hesitated a moment. "What was the orphanage…or kids home like?"

"They don't have orphanages in the United States, just the foster system. That can be incredibly ruinous for children," Naru began, icily. "However, we went to a sponsored home as ours was considered to be an extreme case. Both of our parents were users, alcohol or drugs, it is hard to tell with the memories that I have. Mother died, probably of an overdose, and our father just sort of disappeared. Mother was a second-generation immigrant from Japan and our father was half-Japanese, half-Irish."

"Hence the blue eyes," Mai interjected, desperate to lighten the mood some.

Naru nodded, but continued, under her silent urging, as if he felt compelled to finish the story now that he had started. "Even being second generation, their citizenship status was undocumented, nor could they find any legal record of our grandparents. Thus, they did not quite know what to do with Gene and I, especially since we only spoke in Japanese and did not even have proper documentation that we had been born on American soil."

"That sounds pretty dramatic," Mai wondered aloud, privately marveling at having him say so much about his past at one time. She also couldn't help but silently think on how he could be so blasé about so much trauma.

"It was more just bureaucratic nonsense that we, thankfully, had no part of. And, before you ask, those two people did not qualify as parents so, no, I do not miss them, nor have I ever. However, it did mean that even though we were theoretically American citizens, they had obligations to try and reach out to our family here and in Ireland when none could be found Stateside, which inevitably proved fruitless. In the meantime, they found a church-run house for kids that immigrated by themselves. It was probably the best they felt they could do for us."

"Is that where you learned English?"

Naru shook his head, his expression showing that he was uncomfortable – though still willing – at talking about himself for so long. "No, we learned from a neighbor while we still lived with our parents. When we went to the care home, though, you could barely convince us to speak any English."

"How old were you?" Mai asked hesitantly.

"Seven."

Mai squeezed his hand in sympathy. She knew better than to say sorry – it didn't help – but she did know that sympathy did not go amiss. He might say that he did not mind, and maybe he truly didn't, but she also knew how difficult it could be to share the uglier parts of one's past to someone whose opinion actually mattered, which she hoped hers did.

"The man who was in charge of the organization was a prick. He just used the donations and tax money to line his own pocket. The caregivers were strict, but, beyond some basic neglect and not actually educating any of us, we weren't abused. Though, that may have been due to the mysterious way people got hit by items whenever they began to mess with Gene."

Mai laughed. "Might have had something to do with it, yes."

"I can vouch that some of them cared about their charges deeply, even if the man in charge was rotten to the core. In fact, one of them is how we got adopted. She had gone to see my father lecture and stopped him afterwards to tell him about the two children with psychic powers that were terrorizing the care house."

Mai laughed again at the image of a young Naru poltergeisting. "And your parents just decided to adopt you?" Mai asked, curious at the idea.

"I don't think Father had intended to. Mother though…well, as she put it, it was love at first sight. She had practically asked for the adoption papers before we'd known each other for twenty minutes," he commented dryly.

For a moment, Mai considered her brief interaction with their mother and somehow could completely see that. "She does seem very loving." She paused for a moment. "Naru?"

"Yes, Mai?"

"Thank you for telling me."

Naru nodded his acknowledgement with a sigh and she giggled. After a few minutes more of walking in companionable silence, they spotted a western style tea shop. Entering, they ordered and sat down at the window. Each were lost in their own thoughts for a few moments, eating their pastries and sipping tea, until Mai noticed that Naru seemed uncomfortable.

"You don't have to take me out, you know," she finally said with a soft smile. "I'm happy to be with you wherever, work included. You also didn't have to tell me about your past. I know that couldn't have been nice and satisfying my curiosity is not worth your being upset. To me anyway."

Naru twitched, momentarily nonplussed by her comment and Mai wondered if she had misread his posture.

"While I won't deny that it will undoubtedly be a long time before we go out again and that our earlier conversation was less than pleasant, that was not what I was thinking about." His lips quirked at her at the thought.

"Then what is wrong?"

He sighed. "I need to call my parents soon and I am arguing with myself on what all to tell them."

Mai gasped. "You never told them about Gene visiting me did you?"

Naru sighed again. "Originally, I did not feel the need. We both assumed he was gone and none of your letters indicated otherwise. However, as the Agawa case proved, he is not gone and, from what he told you, doesn't think he can go. After that, the idea of discussing it with them was…distasteful."

"They deserve to know, Naru," Mai murmured quietly. "I …I think it would be a wonderful Christmas present."

The look he gave her was one of the coldest she'd seen from him. In their earliest acquaintance, she'd have been scared. At this point, though, she just reached a hand out to briefly squeeze his. When she went to pull away, he caught it, looking way.

"I know," he muttered quietly.

Mai grinned. "You want me to tell them? I could probably answer a few questions they have."

"No," he answered quickly. "I am not quite ready to tell my mother I have entered into a romantic relationship with anyone. That conversation would go on for hours and she would probably start planning a wedding before it was over."

The brunette blushed at the idea, but didn't feel offended at the sentiment. She was already dreading certain conversations with the others, especially Masako. "Well, if they want to talk, I am willing. If your parents are important to you, they are important to me."

"You will probably learn to regret that," Naru muttered, but his lips had softened into a slight smile.

"I doubt it," she laughed. "She has all the embarrassing stories."

"Drink your tea."

"Romantic relationship?" she prodded, grinning. "Is that what we are calling it?"

"I feel that the term girlfriend is inadequate."

Laughing in delight, Mai squeezed his hand once more to let him know she felt the same way.

An hour and international phone call later, the two of them were sitting in a park. Mai was grateful to be sitting next to him, warmth spreading along the line where they touched. For so long, something that simple seemed so impossible and it was hard not to think of the times Masako had claimed them for their faux dates. They weren't even speaking romantically, instead focusing on Mai's training and her ongoing attempts to wear him down on other training.

"I'm not actually an idiot, Naru" she sighed. "It will only benefit SPR if I get more and better training. Madoka-chan did a lot but she says you are still better. Plus, you have a wider range of experience with the proper research according to what she was saying."

Naru's suffering sigh was familiar and Mai was torn between being irritated and amused.

"How do you teach any courses if you find the idea so irritating?"

"I don't teach novices and typically, I am just teaching one off lectures. If they don't understand, I don't have to deal with it. Plus, I get paid." His lips quirked at the edges. "Additionally, to hide my identity, I don't even stand in front of them, but teach from a sound booth in the back while managing slides."

"Hmmm, I guess I can understand that," Mai conceded, choosing to ignore the somewhat absurd way that he 'taught'. "I can't afford to pay you, and honestly, the idea is a bit silly considering. So...why don't you assign me some good readings and I can come to you with questions? A structured reading list will help me learn more comprehensively and you won't have to worry about me annoying you with everything."

Naru stared at her in clear surprise. "That is…a remarkably good idea."

Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "I know I am not a genius like you, but I do have enough intelligence to qualify for scholarships at my school. Also, because I miss school as much as I do, I have to teach myself a lot." She paused to look into the distance in gratitude. "Though Yasu has made that a lot easier, bless him."

"I wouldn't be in a relationship with you if I thought you were stupid, Mai," Naru replied coolly. "My standards are well above that. I just had not considered that you would want to do that much extra work when you constantly have so much to do."

"If it lets me help you better, why wouldn't I?"

Naru gave her a long unreadable stare after that, silent until she asked him what was wrong.

"I was thinking it is a shame that we are in public because I would really like to kiss you."

Mai flushed at the honesty and idly wondered if it would be inappropriate to invite him back to her home. Not for…that, just for some…privacy. Finally, she looked away and murmured, "Glad to know I'm not the only one."

With a barely audible groan, Naru stood up and offered her his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"To the bookstore. To buy you some lower-level books."

"Okay!"

~o~o~O~o~o~

Oliver wasn't entirely sure what to feel as he followed Mai to her apartment. It had seemed like a logical conclusion after they had left the bookstore laden with so many new purchases. Mai had objected to him spending money on her, but he had countered that she claimed it was an investment to have her be better educated. He'd enjoyed the blush that had creeped into her cheeks as she'd finally given way.

Still, considering how often his mind had drifted to the inappropriate during their long trip to the store, he wasn't sure if it was wise to enter her home. While his kanji reading was getting better, he still needed her help reading some of the titles. This had led to him often standing behind her and reading over her shoulder. It might not have been strictly necessary to stand that way, but the way she'd blushed and the way her breathing changed at his nearness, he'd found it impossible to resist.

Overall, they had come away with a number of good works, including one for himself to read. Hence the need to unburden themselves…and his newly acquired girlfriend inviting him to her home.

"It's a lot smaller than what you are used to, I know," Mai chatted as they climbed the exterior stairs. "It is just a 1DK, but it is still loads better than what I was living in before my school started subsidizing. I was so glad to not have to go to the public baths anymore!"

As Oliver entered, he was quickly amazed at the idea that she'd lived anywhere smaller. Instantly, he silently promised himself that he'd have her living with him as soon as he could convince her. In the meantime, he followed her into a smallish room that seemed to share duties between living room and dining room. Mai had opted for a traditional table – a kotatsu he'd offhandedly identified from the blanket around it – and had surrounded it with comfortable looking if worn pillows. As he watched, she dropped the bags off at the table and disappeared into the bedroom saying something about pen and paper for him.

Honestly, he was not fully paying attention because he'd seen, in the corner, a small shrine to her parents. When he'd originally heard of the Eastern practice of ancestor veneration, Oliver had found it passingly interesting. He knew that some took it more seriously and others did not as times went on and the world modernized away from traditional belief systems. Yet, this was the first time he'd felt any sort of personal connection to them. It was like accidentally meeting Mai's parents. His particular line of work made it impossible for him to dismiss the idea that they could not hear him if he were to address them in that moment.

"Naru?"

"Do you miss them?" he asked, ignoring the question in her voice.

"Yes, but it's not as bad as it used to be." As she talked, she moved into the kitchen to start some tea. "I barely remember my father, but losing mom was hard. Those first couple of years, I was a mess."

"It gets better?"

"With time," she smiled softly. "Your loss was different. Everyone's always is. Plus, he didn't exactly stay gone did he?"

"Idiot," Oliver murmured, quietly, still unable to look way from the kind looking people who had produced the girl he'd come to love.

"Also, for me, it sometimes about missing having parents," she commented as she continued to set up the tea service.

That caught his attention and he turned to look at her. When she gestured for him to sit, he did so, content to wait patiently as the kettle sounded and she poured the water before bringing the service over.

"I mean," she elaborated after joining him at the table, "I have this wonderful job from this amazing boss, but because I support myself, I rarely can do silly things with money. Like buy one of the books my romantic partner wrote," she grinned.

Her comment just reaffirmed his need to change her living situation but even his substandard understanding of personal relationships knew better than to bring that up. Instead, he just sighed.

"You hardly need to waste your money on one of my books. I could just give you a copy if you wanted it. Then you could spend your money on other things."

"And how does that show support?" she laughed. "For real, though, I don't usually mind. It is usually only when I go out shopping with Ayako. She has no concept of poverty" she smiled as she sipped her tea. "But outside of money, it's the small things like having to do all the cooking and chores, racing home if it starts raining on laundry day. Things like that."

"I can't say I would have thought about that," Oliver commented thoughtfully. "While I have always had certain chores at home and am generally neat, for the most part the rest is taken care of by others."

"I picked up on that," Mai commented dryly. "I imagine that when we live together, I will end up picking up after you all the time. Hiring a maid would just be a waste of money, even though I'm sure that is what you do now."

While Oliver could actually deny that subtle accusation, his mind fixated on her referring to them living together as a sort of assumed fact. It was the first time she had indicated any sort of long-term arrangement between them and he was unreasonably delighted that he wasn't alone. Sure, he'd known that once he'd committed, he was in for the long term. However, he also knew he was unusual in regards to that sort of thing for their age. Mai indicating that she might be as invested as he was….

Once again, he was struck by the urge to kiss her and realized at the same time that they were in a private enough place to do so.

~o~o~O~o~o~

Mai squeaked as he pulled her to him. She had tried to casually feel him out on more long term relationship ideas with her comment and, judging by the way he was kissing her, Mai figured they were on the same page.

By the time they separated to catch their breath, she was lying on her back and he was halfway on top of her. She knew she should feel nervous – she wasn't quite ready for that just yet – but the look in his eyes just made her feel joy. Even as most of his face remained passive, there was a tenderness there, a sense of amazement that made her feel precious. Without thinking, she pulled him back down to her.

Several delightful minutes later, he pulled away from her with a stifled groan. "We need to stop while I still can main control over myself."

Mai nodded, still breathless as she struggled to find the strength to sit up. Once she did, she smirked. "I'm sure my parents would appreciate missing out on that particular show."

Naru snorted, but nodded briefly. "That is a…cooling thought."

She watched as he caught sight of the paper she'd brought him earlier and reached out to grab it along with the books he'd bought her. Carefully, he began to work out a reading order as if their little encounter had never happened.

When they'd first met, Mai would have been offended at how quickly he was able to switch gears. Now, though, she noticed the slight flush of his skin and the way his heartbeat still rapidly pressed against the veins in his neck. He wasn't ignoring the moment, but calming down instead.

"I think that is how I miss them most," she commented idly after a moment of watching him.

"What do you mean?" he inquired, continuing to work.

"I will never get to introduce you to them, not really. I won't be able to say, 'Hi, Mom, Dad, meet the man I love. The man who has tried so hard to support me and introduced me to a broad and fascinating world.' I'll never be able to tell them how wonderful you are." She stared at their portraits as she spoke, her voice wistful.

Naru stopped writing, drawing her attention, and gave her a look she was beginning to recognize.

"Are you trying to make me kiss you again?" his voice was heavy as he spoke.

She blushed. "No. Just…saying."

"Well, stop distracting me before I lose any pretense of being a gentleman."

"Oh…okay," she breathed, quietly ecstatic at his comment.

It felt nice to be wanted.