So I meant to have this up two weeks ago and I'm sorry! I'm also sorry to everyone waiting on Dangerous Souls, I'm working on it I swear! It's just I had the end of my semester on top of my friends graduating this year meaning I've had to take part in many celebrations lol. It will be updated next week.
Now this I got the idea for on Mother's Day, I got to thinking "Would Naru do anything for Mai on Mother's day?" and this sort of happened. It got way more detailed than I expected because the song "Hard to Love" by Lee Brice came on and even though the song has a slightly different meaning, I think it fits here nicely. So go listen to it because it's really cute and sweet and will make more sense. Enjoy!
20-Hard to Love
"Look at you, you're going all out this year aren't you?" Madoka quipped as she paced around the kitchen while lightly bouncing the infant in her arms. Naru was sitting at his friends' kitchen table with his three-year-old son working on something. "Mai's going to be so surprised on Sunday."
Naru ignored the woman's comments as he was trying to dip his son's hand in green paint without making too much of a mess. "Slime, Papa! Slime!" the boy exclaimed with excitement in his eyes. His father dipped the boy's hand in the paint and blotted a little off before grabbing the light pink coffee mug.
"Gene, I need you to keep your hand flat and still. Mama is going to want to see your handprint," Naru said, placing the boy's hand on the mug and the carefully removed it, revealing a bright green handprint. "What do you think, Gene?" He looked down at his son with a small smile.
Gene's face lit up even more. "Mi-chan! Mi-chan!" he cried with fits of giggles as he pointed to his baby sister in Madoka's arms.
Naru nodded as he took a wet towel and cleaned off Gene's hand. "Yes, Midori is going to put her footprint on the mug. What color should she use?" The boy furrowed his brow as he looked at the row of paints in front of him. He pouted at his indecisiveness before he finally pointed at the purple bottle in the middle. Naru picked up the bottle and patted the boy's head. "Good choice."
Gene smiled and nodded before jumping off of the chair and going to find Madoka's son, Chao. "The boy can't keep still for more than five minutes, can he?" Madoka laughed as Midori smushed her face in the woman's scarf. "And this one's gotta be confused. Since I'm wearing Mai's scarf I smell like Mama but I don't sound like her."
"She doesn't like anyone else holding her unless Mai's around," Naru said, pouring some paint onto a plate. "That scarf is the only reason why she's not screaming right now."
"Oh, I know that," Madoka chuckled with a shake of her head. "Her brother was the same way, remember when Mai went out to spend time with friends and he refused to stop crying?"
"Yes, yes," he said with an exasperated breath. He stood up and untangled Midori's leg from her blanket, dipping it into the purple paint. He blotted it with a towel before putting it on the mug. "You were the one that suggested it and it worked like a charm." He carefully removed his daughter's foot from the mug. "That should work, right?" He presented the mug to Madoka.
The woman smiled as the man turned the mug to present both the hand and foot print. "Mai's going to love it." She nudged the man as he put the cup down and wiped the paint off his daughter's foot. "Glad to see you do have a sweet side, only took five years of marriage for it to come out."
You see, Naru wasn't the romantic type. Pretty much any romantic nights spent between him and Mai were spontaneous and never had much planning if any. He preferred to show his love in small gestures, being the prideful man that he is, he rarely said it aloud. Making tea for her, helping with the kids, doing the dishes without being asked (or asking if she was going to do them), occasional late-night cuddle sessions, small things that are easy to overlook, but let Mai know he cares deeply about her.
However, he knew that small gestures were not going to cut it this time. Mother's Day was coming up and things were rough with a three year old and an eleven week old in their lives. The past year not been an easy one either, they learned Mai was pregnant again in the middle of a rather dangerous case and Gene was showing signs of psychic abilities of his own. Needless to say, Naru knew his wife was feeling worn out and probably a little underappreciated. She might have said him holding her all night long would've been enough, but Naru begged to differ.
He got the perfect idea of what to do, when Mai told him how Gene managed to break one of her favorite mugs. A mug that he had actually given her as a Christmas present long before they were dating. It was made of plastic and had her name along with princesses and unicorns all over it, he was slightly impressed that his son had managed to break the thing. Of course, his wife wasn't too happy about the cup breaking, but what could she do? So Naru decided that her Mother's Day gift from the kids would be a mug to replace the broken one. And this one had a little piece of all of them, Midori's footprint, Gene's handprint, and Mai's name written by Naru. For once he was grateful for Luella insisting he perfect his cursive writing.
He was going to have to wait for the paint to dry before he could paint Mai's name, so upon hearing his daughter cranking, he grabbed a bottle from the fridge and ran it under the tap. He tested the milk on his arm before holding the bottle out for Madoka. "Would you like to feed her?" he asked, the woman shook her head.
"I think she's had enough of me holding her for now," she answered honestly. "Sit and I'll hand her to you." Naru obeyed and before he knew it he was feeding his daughter, who gulped happily. Madoka walked over to the counter where the still warm teapot sat. She poured two cups before coming to sit at the table as well. "So, the kids are giving her the mug, are you going to give her something as well?"
Naru looked down at his daughter, using his thumb to brush a wisp of fine light brown hair from her face. She had been born with very fine hair, but a lot of it, similar to Gene who had been born with a lot of thick dark chocolate colored hair. However, unlike her brother, Midori's hair was falling out periodically. On top of her small stature, the lack of hair made her appear even younger than eleven weeks. Something that bothered and worried his wife into an irrational state, he thought that the irrationalness would subside with the birth of their second child, but apparently not. "Kiko and Yasuhara agreed to watch them next Saturday," he said simply as he continued to watch his daughter eat.
"Date night," Madoka cooed nostalgically after she took a sip of her tea. "Remember when I made you guys go on your first?"
"We still have the pictures," Naru said with a shake of his head.
"I'm pretty sure Luella framed the one of you two in the gazebo." Naru smirked at the memory. He knew exactly which photo Madoka gotten a hold of to give him mother. Back then, Mai was just his assistant and the difficult woman who sat across from him decided that the team needed to go undercover as married couples. He and Mai were in the garden and an employee had offered to take their picture, Mai, of course, tripped and fell into him. Ironically, the shots taken in that instant were probably some of their favorites.
"It's in my father's office," Naru replied, adjusting his hold so that he was holding and feeding his daughter with the same hand and he could drink his tea with the other. "Is Lin doing anything for you for Mother's Day?"
Madoka just shrugged. "If you're asking if he's planning a romantic getaway, he hasn't told me." She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat looking up in thought. "Then again, I think the most romantic thing he's ever done was propose. So we'll probably have lunch with my sister and her daughter and fiancé, nothing extravagant."
And that right there was the reason Naru felt the need to go above and beyond for this occasion. He knew it wasn't easy being married to man like Oliver Davis. A stoic prideful man, who cares much more than he'll ever let on, he was hard to love. And there were plenty of times where he felt he didn't deserve someone like her. He could be insensitive and with a narcissistic personality like his, he knew he couldn't love him like she did.
From speaking with Madoka, Naru knew that Lin was even more stoic than he was. He also knew that there were days where she felt taken for granted, seemed like this was another one of those days. One thing Naru knew very well, was that he never wanted Mai to ever feel that way. If that meant he had to step out of his comfort zone from time to time and show physical affection or go out of his way to make a thoughtful gift for her, he was willing to do it.
Midori started squirming, breaking Naru's train of thought as he hoisted her into a sitting position on his lap, supporting her head with one hand an rubbing her back with the other. The sight caused Madoka to giggle. "What?" he asked raising a brow.
"You," she chuckled, taking another sip. "Never in a million years did I ever see you feeding and burping a newborn, much less your own daughter. And you used to be so awkward with children, yet you're a silent natural."
"I never thought I'd see Lin do the same," he retorted, just as Midori let out a small burp, he patted her back in between rubs. "Your niece changed that."
"She still likes him more than me," Madoka remarked bitterly, as Gene and Chao ran into the room. Chao was a bit older than Gene, just under two years older, and the spitting image of Lin, with Madoka's eyes. He took after his father in height and hair, standing close to a foot taller than Gene (who was on the shorter side anyway) with black hair that was near his shoulders and covered one eye. "Hey, boys, whatcha doing?"
"Okaa-san, can we have cookies?" Chao piped up, one of his big eyes looking up at her. He leaned forward to accentuate his plea, "Please!" He may have gotten his looks and frame from his father, but his personality was all Madoka.
"What do you think, Noll?" Madoka asked with her head cocked to the side at the man in front of her. "Would you like a cookie too?"
Naru looked to the clock on the stove and determined that there was plenty of time before dinner for cookies to be had. "A cookie would be nice," he said, much to the joy of the two boys.
Madoka brought out plates of cookies and small glasses of milk. After another burp from Midori, she was ready for the rest of her bottle. He continued feeding the girl as Madoka tested the dryness of the paint on the mug. "A few more minutes and you should be good," she said, grabbing a paintbrush off the counter and placing it on the table.
Gene finished off a cookie and hopped out of the seat he had been occupying. He bobbed over to his father and sister and patted the girl's head with his chubby hand. "Remember to be gentle, Gene," Naru said, wiping off the slight chocolate mark his son left.
Gene nodded with a serious look and leaned up to kiss the infant's head. He leaned back on his heels with the biggest grin on his face. "Midori is pretty!" he announced, earning a small smile from his father.
"That she is," Naru replied, handing his daughter off to Madoka. "Do you know what Midori means in English?" he asked in English.
"Green!" he replied triumphantly with a slight accent. Naru nodded proudly and handed the boy another cookie who grinned and proceeded to run off with Chao.
Naru kept the small smile on his face as he dipped the paintbrush into the black paint. With a careful hand and in no time at all, Mai's name was scrawled across the mug in delicate calligraphy that would make Luella proud. He set the mug aside and glanced at his watch. "Madoka-" But she was faster than him.
"I know, Mai's gonna be home soon," she said with a shrug. "I'll finish up the mug, just need to bake it and put a lacquer on it. Go ahead, and I know if she asks me we went to the park."
With a smirk, Naru said, "Excellent, thank you, Madoka." He stood up and grabbed Midori's carrier. "Gene! It's time to go!"
With a little help from Madoka, the infant was soon securely strapped in the carrier and Gene's stomps could be heard as he hurried into the room. "But, Papa! I don't wanna!" he whined, giving his father puppy dog eyes.
"But Mama misses you," Naru coerced, grabbing his keys off of the counter. "I think she might be making your favorite dinner right now." He had learned over the years that sometimes you needed to be stern and strict with your kids, but he also learned that sometimes you just needed to distract them from their tantrum long enough to lose interest. From the look in Gene's eyes, he might have just succeeded.
"Nuggets?" The boy's mouth was in an "o" and his eyes were wide. Naru chuckled and nodded, grabbing the carrier.
"That's right," he said, knowing that chicken nuggets were about the only thing the boy would eat these days. He would have been surprised if Mai was making something else. "Say 'goodbye' to Aunt Madoka and Chao."
Gene said his goodbyes and was soon leading his father out the door and to the car. Naru had just fixed Midori's carrier into the seat when his son began jumping up and down beside him. "Uncle Lin! Uncle Lin!"
"Hello, Gene," Lin said with a faint smile. He bent down to pat the boy on the head before turning to Naru. "Well?"
"She has no clue," Naru said, picking Gene up and walking around to the other side of the car. He opened the door and sat Gene in his car seat to buckle him in. "I take it Yasuhara agreed to watch Chao next weekend?"
"That's right, and you'll just keep the office closed for Saturday, right?" Lin shifted the bag of groceries in his arm as Naru closed the door to his car and nodded in answer. "Did you finish the mug?"
"Madoka's going to finish it off for me, but I think Mai will like it," he admitted, before opening the driver side door and getting in. He and Lin said their goodbyes as he drove off.
Lin and Naru were certainly hard men to love, but at least they knew it. A million second chances were more than enough proof of that. And while they could be insensitive and at times take their wives for granted, they were willing to go out of their way to make up for it.
Hope you guys enjoyed! The original mug referenced here is from chapter 46 of Dangerous Souls so feel free to check that out if you haven't already. As for some other things I've mentioned in this chapter, I will go into detail and explain the backstories, I just haven't gotten there yet lol.
Also I decided to include Lin on the "Hard to Love" theme, because well, he's Lin. Out of everyone in SPR those two have cut their wives' work out for them. I also thought that it would be nice to see Naru and Madoka interacting as friends instead of teacher/student/coworker. And Naru holding baby Midori is just too adorable to not write about.