.
.
Hayashi and Lily never log in at the same time anymore.
At first, the guild doesn't notice; Hayashi kills monsters and fulfills quests by day while Lily logs in and lends support at night. No one questions why Hayashi will abruptly log off at 7 PM, nor do they wonder what he's doing while Lily casts healing spells and brings a calming cheer to the rest of the guild.
No one knows that the reason is Sakurai has gotten home from work, and Morioka is cuddling him on the couch, cheering him on while he plays Lily with a wireless keyboard.
xXx
.
"Do you like it?" Morioka asks. She's standing proudly in front of Sakurai's TV, an HDMI cable plugged into her desktop computer, which she had wedged expertly into the entertainment shelf. "I converted the TV to a monitor and I set up a wireless keyboard, that way we can play Fruits de Mer on the couch!"
"Wow!" Sakurai says, and he crouches low to marvel at Morioka's handiwork: they had wondered earlier what they would do with her extra computer - sitting them side-by-side seemed like the obvious choice, but her computer desk didn't quite fit next to his and setting her up against the opposite wall seemed too lonely. He likes what she did with it, turning his TV into a gigantic monitor and able to control the computer with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Morioka sprawls onto the couch luxuriously.
"Now I can play Hayashi while lying like this!" she says, and she logs in with a flourish. Sakurai laughs and sits next to her, arranging himself so that he's sitting flush against her body.
The Fruits de Mer theme song starts playing, and Morioka rolls so that she's lying on top of him, wrapping her arms around his waist and smiling into his neck. The keyboard drops and she nuzzles against his cheek.
"Mm," Morioka says, dreamily. "Lily-san feels nice and warm."
Sakurai laughs, blushing. He kisses the top of Morioka's head and rubs his hands down the sides of her arms. "Well Hayashi-kun feels nice and soft."
They kiss and they snuggle against the couch, listening to the lilting strings of the the Fruits de Mer theme song.
They kiss deeper. Morioka nudges her chin against his neck and presses a soft kiss beneath his jaw, quietly loosening his tie and undoing the button to his collar.
"I haven't showered yet," Sakurai murmurs, and Morioka slides her hands into his shirt, wrapping her arms around his bare waist. She presses a soft kiss to his sternum before sitting up and letting him stand, smiling shyly and beaming up at him.
Every day he can come home to this: Morioka cuddling with him on the couch, Morioka sleeping in his bed and Morioka making love to him. They kiss and have sex and fall asleep in his bed, and when he wakes up in the morning, he feels her kissing him until they make love again.
Every day is like a dream.
xXx
.
It takes a few months, but finally the last box is unpacked; Sakurai watches guiltily as Morioka expertly breaks down the cardboard box until it's lying completely flat, gathering up bits of plastic and styrofoam and tossing it into the recycling.
"I'm sorry I haven't helped," Sakurai says, and Morioka smiles kindly at him.
"My apologies! I took so long and I know you're busy."
"I should be the one apologizing. I asked you to move in here, I didn't want to abandon you while I was at work."
The house is looking brighter, somehow. Before, when it was just Sakurai and his thoughts tooling alone for the better part of the night, the house seemed lonely and empty, with nothing but the whir of his computer to distract him from his thoughts. Now, Morioka's kitty clock sits happily on his coffee table; her body pillow is thrown happily against the couch, and the empty wooden floors are festooned with evidence of Morioka's presence ("Oh my god, Yuta! My clothes are everywhere!"
"I don't mind," Sakurai says, blushing and smiling).
Morioka hefts a few cardboard boxes marked for donation, duplicate odds and ends that resulted from combining their stuff. "I'm all moved in now!" Morioka announces, and Sakurai hugs her, kissing her forehead and grinning stupidly. Morioka hides her face into his chest and smiles shyly.
"Ne, Yuta?"
"Hm?"
They're cuddling in bed, reveling in the fact that Morioka's bedsheets are actually being used on Sakurai's mattress. "What is it?" Sakurai says. Morioka rolls to look at him.
"Do you remember that day you sent me that text? The one asking me out to dinner?"
"I was eating with Koiwai," Sakurai says. He feels a slight pang; it's a bit painful to remember.
"I just realized: after I turned you down, Lily sent me a gift and spent a lot of money on me."
"Well, I got rejected," Sakurai says. "At least as 'Lily' someone actually liked me.'"
"Is that why you asked Hayashi to be your partner?"
"Yes," Sakurai says, and Morioka smiles. She touches his cheek, gazing at him tenderly.
xXx
.
One of the pitfalls of living together was the decided lack of privacy.
It's 7 PM, and for once Sakurai doesn't need to stay at the office late. He sends Morioka an excited text, jumping onto the train and eager to tell her about his day.
"M-Moriko?!"
Sakurai stands at the door, red-faced and gaping, as Morioka yelps and tries to hide her naked body with the comforter on the bed. "M-my apologies!" Morioka says. The vibrator falls off with the comforter, which Sakurai stares at, blushing. "Y-you've been coming home so late, and I was feeling-"
"Lonely?" Sakurai says, while at the same time Morioka stutters, "...horny."
Sakurai blinks. The vibrator lands on the floor with a soft thud, while Morioka cringes under the covers, blushing furiously.
"Um." Sakurai tugs on his necktie. "I-if you want to finish, um. I can sit on the couch and wait-"
"My apologies! I don't need to finish!"
"It's okay," Sakurai says. "Please, do finish."
They both stare at the vibrator, awkwardly.
"If...if Yuta wants to finish with me..."
Sakurai's head snaps up. Morioka's face is red. She's staring at the comforter, awkwardly. "If Yuta wants to finish with me, I think...I think it might be okay."
Tentatively, Sakurai sits on the bed, which caves a little with his weight. Beside him, Morioka scoots to give him room, wrapping the comforter around her body and reaching down to pick up the vibrator.
She wipes it with a wash cloth, and Sakurai takes a moment to look at it: smooth silicone, a slightly elongated end which tapers elegantly, fitting neatly in her hand. There's a second arm that curves gracefully out from the first - a clitoral arm, Sakurai realizes, blushing furiously - and he can hardly stop himself when he asks, "Is it okay if I watch?"
"Eh?" Morioka's head snaps up.
"I...I'd like to watch." Sakurai's face is burning. "I'd like to know what makes Moriko feel good."
Blushing, she nods and lies back down, the comforter bunching up around her armpits as she bends her knees up, baring her legs. The vibrator slips inside her smoothly.
"Do you do this a lot?" Sakurai asks, after they both come, Moriko first with the vibrator and then Sakurai deep inside her.
"Um. I used to more. When I was alone, I mean."
"When you were single?" he asks. His green eyes flick upward. Their heads share a pillow.
"I'm old," Morioka says, by way of explanation. "I didn't think a man would want me."
"I want you," Sakurai says. He wraps his arms around her protectively.
They kiss. He feels her smiling and he smiles back, kissing her again and hugging her to his chest.
"I have others," Morioka says, shyly. "I wasn't going to show them to you because I get embarrassed."
"Maybe we could use them," Sakurai says.
"Eh?!"
Sakurai smiles and nuzzles her head. "I want to make you feel good."
"You do make me feel good," Morioka says, earnestly. Sakurai laughs softly.
(Later, she dumps her collection of toys on the bed - a lipstick vibrator, the rabbit-pronged dildo. A suction-based clit stimulator that looked like an ear thermometer - and waits red-faced for Sakurai's response.
"Wow," Sakurai says, and Morioka starts to stutter an apology when he digs through her collection and wonders, "Which one do you want to use first?")
xXx
.
The biggest test of their relationship comes in the form of an office party.
"But there's nothing cute about me!" Morioka says. She staggers over to the mirror. Unbrushed hair. Unkempt eyebrows. A food-stained T-shirt and sweat pants and bags under her eyes...
(Morioka could picture it. Sakurai waving at his work colleagues to introduce her. "This is my girlfriend, Morioka Moriko." And an old haggard lady with bushy eyebrows grinning back at them: "Hello.")
"WAAAAH!" Morioka wails. "My apologies! I'm a garbage fire of a human being!"
"What?" Sakurai says. Morioka moans again and he hugs her by the shoulders.
"You're beautiful," Sakurai says. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen."
"Y-Yuta..." Morioka sniffs. Her face wobbles beneath her manly eyebrows.
Sakurai smiles. "If Moriko doesn't want to come," he says, kindly. "Then Moriko doesn't have to."
"But...but didn't you want me at the party?"
Sakurai shakes his head, smiling. "I'd rather stay home with you."
"But it's a networking opportunity! You can't-"
"It's not that important. We don't have to go."
Morioka sags. "Yuta," Morioka says. "I'll go."
"You don't have to," Sakurai says.
"It's okay. I want to go."
"We can just stay home," Sakurai says. Morioka shakes her head.
"I don't want you to miss this opportunity," Morioka says.
They go into the bedroom to help her clean up and pick out an outfit. "That doesn't hurt?" Sakurai says. He's sitting on the bed, watching Morioka attack her eyebrows with a pair of tweezers.
"It's fine," Morioka says. She squints into the mirror.
"My apologies. I feel like I need to pluck my face with a weed whacker."
xXx
.
One day, Sakurai gets an unexpected promotion.
"That's great!" Morioka says. She pushes up on her tip toes and throws her arms around his neck. "Two promotions in two years! You're really talented, Yuta-kun!"
"It wasn't much," Sakurai says, blushing. "My supervisor got reassigned overseas and I was next in line."
"We still have to do something to celebrate," Morioka says.
Celebrating for most couples means a fancy dinner out, a long leisurely moonlit stroll, a reservation at a 5-star hotel they could order room service in.
Sakurai and Morioka celebrate by sitting in pajamas and spending an all-nighter fighting a boss without the rest of the guild. "I haven't had time to play like this in awhile!" Sakurai says. On the screen, Lily chants a healing spell and Hayashi rushes forward, swinging his sword.
"It's like old times, isn't it?" Morioka says. She taps on her keyboard frantically.
On the other side of town, Fujimoto logs in as "Kanbe" and taps on his keyboard. "Oh! There's Lily and Hayashi!" and he walks up toward them.
["Don't bother," Nico says. She swings her legs over a wall, bounding toward him. "They've been Away From Keyboard for an hour, now."
"Eh?" Kanbe says.]
In real life, Sakurai and Morioka are celebrating their win with sex on the couch.
xXx
.
As expected, Sakurai's new position throws off his work-life balance.
It's 11 PM. He rushes home to find a dark apartment, the remnants of what was supposed to be their dinner plastic-wrapped and sitting in the refrigerator.
It doesn't take much to make him feel down, but seeing that Morioka had cooked for him, and that he hadn't made it home for dinner, leaves him feel sad and ashamed. Heart in his throat, he inches his way to the bedroom, where Morioka is curled under the blankets, fast asleep.
I don't deserve to sleep next to her, he thinks miserably, but Morioka stirs and blinks her eyes open. She gazes up at him and smiles.
"Welcome back," she says, and Sakurai climbs in next to her, letting her pull herself against his chest and sigh sleepily against his neck. He wraps his arms around her waist and hitches her close, feeling sad and disappointed with himself.
"What's wrong?" Morioka says. She's always had that uncanny ability to read him - even when he went hiding in-game, she always seemed to know whenever he was feeling down.
"Nothing," Sakurai says. He manages a weak smile. "I'm just tired. I didn't mean to keep you awake."
There is a little crease that forms between her eyebrows whenever she's concerned, and Sakurai can see that crease forming now; Morioka rolls to fully frown at him.
"Remember what you told me in-game?" Morioka says. Sakurai shakes his head. "You told me once you never had anyone to confide in. That you hid because you didn't want to spoil everyone's fun."
"People play games as a means to escape." He's starting to relax now, Morioka's body a comforting weight. "Lily was supposed to be happy and carefree."
"But you're my Lily," Morioka says, and Sakurai feels himself blush. "If you're feeling bad, I want you to confide in me."
Sakurai's eyes flick upward. Morioka has pushed herself up on her elbows, frowning at him. Her hair has started to grow long, and lank, curling strands of it hang loosely around her face. Smiling, he reaches a hand up and brushes a strand of hair away from her cheek.
"Moriko-chan is amazing," Sakurai says, smiling. "She puts up with my late hours, even though I have nothing but tired excuses and a gloomy personality."
"My apologies! I didn't mean to make you sound as if you're gloomy-"
"I am gloomy," Sakurai says, and Morioka ducks her head. He feels her smile a kiss against his shoulder.
xXx
.
"Moriko?"
"Hm?"
"I was wondering...?"
"Yes?"
"When do you want to get married?"
Morioka sits up. Sakurai has just asked her when she wants to get married the same way someone would ask her what time she wants to go to dinner. "Are you serious?" Morioka says. Sakurai smiles.
"I wouldn't be asking if I weren't serious."
Morioka throws her arms around him.
.
.
end.