December 26th
Oliver woke early, well before the sun. Moving carefully, he sat up enough to look at the brunette beside him. She'd blushed attractively at the idea of him staying over, but both of them had reasoned that they had shared space on cases before and it would make testing Gene and his psychometry easier than waiting for her to sleep at work.
At first, it had been easy to stay awake as she tried to sleep. Just her nearness was enough to send his thoughts down certain energizing paths. Her nearness plus a bed made it exponentially worse. Yet, after the initial rush, something else had come over him. She had curled up on her side, snuggling back into him as he stroked her hair. And, though he initially tried, it would take a stronger man than he to resist curling around the woman he loved and holding her to him. While he should have felt more excited, instead a sense of ease and comfort had washed over him and he had just barely remembered to summon a vision before he nodded off.
Instead of a single intense scene, he had experienced a number of smaller scenes coming over him. Over and over, Oliver had lived through the small joys of her childhood. Birthdays, trips to the park, the zoo. Playing in front of her home with her father. None of the scenes inspired sadness and as the vision left him, Oliver had genuinely hoped that Gene would be able to give the girl those precious memories.
As he looked down at her, Mai's alarm went off reminding them both that she was due at school all too soon for her end of term session. Slowly, she stirred and reached to silence the noise before looking up at him. The radiant grin that split her lips was all he needed to know that she'd received the vision.
"Morning, Naru."
"Sleep well?" he asked, frowning slightly at the way she sighed in response.
"It was so good I know I am going to miss it tomorrow when you aren't here," she groaned.
Unable to respond to that – well, how he really wanted to – Oliver smiled. He rose from the bed as she sat up. "Get ready. I'll walk you to the station."
"That sounds…nice."
Around thirty minutes later, they were heading away from her apartment, her chatting idly about one of the new cases and whether or not it was serious enough to investigate. Instead of the station, she lived fairly close to school, they parted where their paths diverged. Mai blushed and reached for his hand, squeezing it briefly before separating and leaving him to watch her walk away.
It was a strange new thing he was embarking on. Already, he was beginning to understand why so many couples agonized over not spending enough time together. He did not like watching her go even knowing she would be coming to the office after school. The scientist in him rebelled at the idea of being controlled by his emotions. However, memories of Gene's laugh coming to him, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Later…
Yasu kept staring at her knowingly. He'd helped her pack up the decorations and complete some filing all without saying anything. But there was still just this look. And he did not care if she caught him looking at her like that. No, instead, he would just grin and stare until she looked away.
"Yasu knows," she moaned quietly as she delivered tea to Naru.
"It is going to happen eventually. I do not have the patience to try to hide it from them, especially when I don't care one way or another."
"Easy for you to say," she sighed. "They don't tease you as much."
"That," he smirked, "is because I do not rise to the bait."
"Not, she snorted, "it's because you can be terrifying when irritated. So, they really have to want to commit."
"Behold the power," he muttered, clearly more interested in what he was reading over what she was saying.
With a huff, she stuck her tongue out at him and stormed out of the room.
Yasu smirked at that, too.
It was only thirty minutes later, after Ayako and Bou-san had arrived – separately – that Mai began to be distracted. Busy making tea and coffee as they waited for John and Masako to join them for a case conference, Mai began to forget about Yasu and enjoy the conversation with her friends. When, another ten minutes after that, all of them gathered to discuss their latest case – another school that showed promise of an actual haunting – Yasu still hadn't said anything, Mai began to finally relax. The meeting was brief and the schedule set in a very short time. Naru was standing up to return to his office when Yasu, looking at his notes, stopped him.
"One more thing, Big Boss."
"Yes?"
"Should I tell them you and Mai need your own room for sleeping now that the two of you are dating?"
The room went silent. The audacity put pause to curiosity and surprise as they waited for Naru to respond.
Without missing a beat, Naru just smirked. "If you want to explain romantic based sleeping arrangements to the principal of a notoriously strict and exclusive school, go ahead. I know I'd appreciate it."
With that he entered his office and neatly closed the door behind him. There was another breath of silence as Mai could feel all eyes – including Lin's – turn to her. She could feel, in that impossibly long moment as her skin flushed and she battled between irritation and embarrassment.
Then the room exploded.
"Are you serious?!"
"My daughter!"
"That's nice, though, isn't it?"
"Good job, Mai."
"About time."
The last came from Lin who then retreated to his office leaving Mai to glare at her grinning friend.
"Yasu! How could you?!"
"All for you, miss. Just remember to name your first-born son after me."
At that, Naru's door opened again, drawing everyone's attention.
"No. The first-born son is Eugene. You can be second." One finished, he closed the door again and Mai couldn't help but laugh at her friend's expressions. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Final Author's Note:
Originally, I was going to write Through Letters and then a second horror based story. Instead, I wrote Melancholia which is more just moody than horror. So I decided to write a third story that was horror. But as I started brainstorming and creating a plot, I realized that I didn't like the idea of Mai and Naru getting together during a horror story. The irritating part of my brain tells me that Naru would just attribute that to the Suspension Bridge Effect and dismiss anything out of hand afterward.
Thus, this story was born. Because I don't like couples getting together off stage if I want it to happen. I also really liked the idea of Naru applying some sort of scientific methodology to Mai's abilities and wanting to dissect them as soon as he realized that he was screwed and that a relationship was going to happen. I can't see him dating someone (romantically partnering) without attempting to test these sort of things out.
Anywho, this is the last story in this series that I have finished. I have started the next and have a pretty good outline and backstory and a lot of useless research (that is what I am good at as a historian). What I don't have right now, unfortunately, is time. With the school year starting and having to prep for both in person classes and potential distance learning again, I am a bit swamped. However, once things settle down, I will try to get it all out. I may start posting as I go, but I feel hesitant to do that seeing as I have let Human, Conditional languish unfinished for a friggen decade.
That said, I have written one other non-related story. A plot bunny that was challenged by something my man said and, yeah. That will probably be out next week.
Thanks for reading!
Til next time.
