A/N: From the beginning I wanted this chapter to mirror 'The Past' in some way, while still being its own thing. Had fun bringing this to life. :)

Day 30 | Max/Mariam | Rated: T

The Future

"Thinkin' about Blondie?"

The disgust was obvious in Dunga's voice even before Mariam turned around and saw the scowl on his face. He looked grumpier than usual, which might have had something to do with the fact that he'd been conscripted to help her and Max move. Never mind that she'd been making sure he got the heaviest boxes all day, waiting to see how long it took him to notice.

Mariam smirked. "We're married now – I can think about him all I want," she said, drawing out her words as Dunga's face screwed up even more.

"Gross," he spat vehemently. "Keep your sick fantasies to yourself, Mariam."

"Oh, relax." She rolled her eyes. "Don't get all worked up."

"You should probably take your own advice, Sis." Joseph appeared and gently set his box down in the pile of things that were meant for the kitchen. He brushed the dust off of his hands and said, "Think too hard about Max and you might start on those grandkids Mom and Dad want sooner than you bargained for."

"For your information," Mariam said, doing her level best to ignore Joseph's shit-eating grin and the fact that it got wider when he realized he'd annoyed her, "I was thinking about what project to start first around here." Joseph's eyes sparkled in a way that meant trouble, so she shut him down before the words could even leave his mouth. "A nursery isn't on the list!" she said and smacked him upside the head for good measure.

They'd been plenty busy lately without adding starting a family into the mix.

Mariam and Max had begun looking for a house in Japan over a year ago, right in the midst of planning their wedding. Mariam immediately regretted not letting Max jump the gun and start as soon as he graduated and moved back with his dad; house-hunting was way more difficult than she'd anticipated. She had no idea what she wanted, aside from privacy and something that wasn't smack-dab in the middle of the city, and being asked dozens of questions every day by their realtor only added to the overwhelm she felt from making decisions about the wedding.

They toured a dozen properties and, with each one, there was something not quite right. When they came to see this house, which she suspected was a last-ditch effort by their realtor to find anything halfway suitable, something clicked.

It was far from perfect. Having stood vacant for some years, the garden was overgrown and the house itself had fallen into disrepair. The doors stuck, the appliances needed upgrading, and everything was covered in a thick coating of dust. But it was quiet, it was spacious, and their nearest neighbors were on the other side of a thicket of trees.

It felt like home.

"You should start with the back porch," Dunga crowed, interrupting her thoughts. "I almost fell through the boards back there earlier."

"Are you offering to help?" Max asked. He was smiling – hadn't stopped since they'd gotten the keys – and carrying one half of a mattress through the door. Ozuma came through shortly after with the other side and they leaned it carefully against the wall. "I can get the supplies delivered any time."

"With Dunga's help, we won't even need to bother unpacking the tools." Mariam glanced around the one room they'd scrubbed completely spotless. It was filling up quick with a bunch of stuff they wouldn't be able to unpack until they'd finished thoroughly cleaning the rest of the house. "He can pound the nails in with his thick skull."

"Hey!"

"The truck's almost empty out there," Ozuma interrupted, nodding towards the front door. "You want us to go back to your dad's for another load after this or stay and help clean?"

Max gave the room the same once over that Mariam had moments before. They didn't have much furniture, and what they did have was temporary, taken from Max's room at his dad's or donated by friends and family. The rest of their boxes were from Max's apartment in New York or Mariam's bedroom in her village, but there wasn't a lot that had been worth dragging from country to country. One more trip would easily move all their worldly possessions from Taro's basement to their new home and then they could return the truck they'd rented.

On the other hand, their kitchen appliances were set to be delivered the next day. It was earlier than expected, which would have been a good thing if they didn't still need to clean years worth of dust out of the spaces the old ones had left behind. And everywhere else in the house.

"While all of you stand around thinking about it, I'm gonna go get another box," Dunga grumbled, lumbering off to do just that.

"Make it two while you're at it," Mariam called after him. "We didn't invite you for your company."

Dunga looked back just to flip her off and Joseph snickered. Mariam might have gone after Dunga to teach him a lesson if Max hadn't chosen that moment to get her attention with a hand, gentle and low, on her back.

"You had a good system going yesterday," he said, referring to the way she'd scrubbed the room they were standing in from top to bottom while he'd gone around the house unsticking the windows so they could air the place out. "We can tackle the kitchen together if Joseph and Ozuma don't mind finishing up out here with Dunga?" He phrased it like a question and directed it their way.

Ozuma simply nodded, a hint of a smirk on his face as he followed Dunga.

Joseph wasn't so quiet. "Make sure you leave the door open," he teased, "or you really will need to add a nursery to the list." Then he was gone, too, before Mariam could reprimand him or Max's blush could fully bloom.

While her teammates unloaded the truck, Mariam began the task of cleaning the kitchen with her husband. She sat on his shoulders to clear the ceiling of cobwebs. Then they started on the cabinets, climbing onto the counter tops and wiping away all the dust and a couple of dead spiders. They scrubbed the walls, counters, sink, and lower cabinets, dumping multiple buckets of filthy water in between.

At some point during the process, Joseph popped his head in and let them know they were taking the truck to Taro's for the rest of their stuff. He made sure to tell them the mattress better be right where he remembered when he returned. Mariam had thrown a dirty rag at him that stayed on the floor until they pried open the doors to the porch and swept all the fallen dust out for the wind to steal.

By the time the others got back, Mariam was polishing the wooden cabinets until they gleamed and Max was finishing up with the mopping. Mariam was on such a roll with cleaning that she moved on to the dining room next, while the guys unpacked the truck.

She learned that she preferred cleaning to unloading. It felt like she was making real progress as she washed away years' worth of grime, instead of cluttering up the place. There was something addicting about seeing the true bones of their home revealed and falling more in love with it as she went.

She took a break once, to say goodbye to Ozuma, Dunga, and Joseph when they finished and left, then went right back to cleaning. Max alternated between helping her and sorting their belongings so there would be a path for the delivery the next day.

The sun was setting by the time they finally called it quits for the night.

Mariam was sore and sweaty and starving, but it was worth it to see the entire ground floor spic and span and, thanks to Max, a good chunk of boxes moved to the appropriate rooms. She was wandering between them now, picturing what it would look like with everything unpacked and full and theirs. It felt surreal.

A pair of freckly arms circled her waist from behind, interrupting her daydreams.

Mariam sighed and fell back against Max's chest, tipping her head onto his shoulder. Her hands came to rest on his arms, tracing the hard line of muscle there as he squeezed her tight.

Max nuzzled his nose behind her ear and sighed, making goosebumps spread over Mariam's skin.

"Max," she drawled, squeezing his forearms, "that tickles. And I'm all sweaty." She added the last bit as an afterthought, but she was suddenly aware of how the short hairs at her nape were clinging to her.

The only answer he gave her was a series of kisses over the side of her face, lips dancing up over her jaw and cheek. She could tell the eternal smile was back on his face when his mouth lingered on her temple. Even when she couldn't see it, it was contagious.

"I'll take more of that after I shower off," she promised through her smile.

Max chuckled. It reverberated through both of their bodies and Mariam felt even more at home.

"Dinner first," he said, disentangling himself from her and taking her by the hand. "Come on." He gave her a tug. "And watch the floorboards."

His warning made more sense when he led her out onto the porch and around to the back of the house. She could see the corner that Dunga had mentioned earlier where the wood was sagging and discolored. On the other side of the porch, Max had spread out a blanket and laid out a couple of cushions. He'd dragged one of their boxes outside to act as a table, too – there were two to-go containers on top of it that she recognized as coming from Kenny's parent's place.

"They're probably cold by now," he said apologetically. He sat down on the blanket and Mariam collapsed next to him with a grateful sigh. She hadn't realized how tired she was until now. "My plan was to reheat them, until I realized we didn't actually have a way to do that."

He looked so sheepish that Mariam couldn't help but laugh and lean over to give him a solid kiss on the cheek.

"I'm hungry enough to eat anything," she said, stomach growling as she reached for her noodles.

"It was a long day."

She felt Max's eyes on her as she took her first bite. The noodles were lukewarm, but right now she would swear she'd never tasted anything so delicious in her life. He must have been satisfied with her reaction because he had a dreamy look on his face when she glanced back over. She raised an eyebrow in question.

"But it was a good day."

Mariam suddenly felt warm all over. "It was," she agreed, setting her bowl down.

Night was falling. Out in their jungle of a backyard, fireflies were blinking in mesmerizing succession. There were so many of them that the trees looked like they were sparkling with stars. The real stars were glittering in the sliver of sky above the treeline. There weren't as many of them as back home, but there were so many more than in New York where the sky was an inky black canvas no matter what.

The surreal feeling was back. Mariam's heart felt twice its normal size and had become unexpectedly lodged in her throat.

Max's hand closed around hers, lacing their fingers together and squeezing. "I keep feeling like this is a dream," he confessed in a whisper.

Mariam watched the fireflies flicker in his eyes and that was exactly what the sky at home looked like. Safety and adventure – security and possibilities – all at once. She hadn't always understood that the two could go hand in hand, but seeing the scene in Max's eyes, it all made sense. She let out a shaky breath, dinner all but forgotten.

"I don't really know how to explain it." Max stroked her wedding band with his thumb. The Saint Shield earring in his ear caught the moonlight, mimicking the firefly show. "It just hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm so happy." She could see the emotion glistening in his eyes and it made the knot in her throat tighten. "I love you and this home – this future – we're building together. So much, Mariam."

"You're such a sap," she teased, voice sounding a little watery even to her own ears. Then she leaned in and kissed him hard and slow.

She swore she could taste the sweetness of his words on his tongue as he kissed her back, drawing her onto his half of the blanket, and into his lap, like he'd been waiting to do it all day. One of his hands settled on her hip, thumb nestling into the crease of her thigh like a puzzle piece slotting into place. The other came to rest on her waist, comfortable and exciting all at once.

Mariam cradled his face and pulled back for a breath. "But me too," she mumbled against his lips, seeking out his hazy blue eyes. "To all of it."

When he sighed in response, Mariam kissed him again.

Whatever had hit Max, it was safe to say it'd hit her too.

A/N: I'm sure it was painfully obvious while reading, but I've had this niggling idea of Max and Mariam buying a house together that's a bit of a fixer upper. I don't know why, because I don't picture either of them as being extremely into home renovations. I think I just love the idea of them seeing the potential in a house that might have been out of their budget in its prime and turning it into their forever home together. Idk, but it's what my brain was yearning for so I wrote it and now I want to write more lol

Thanks for reading! :) And thanks to those of you who helped me decide what to write for Chapter 31 a couple of weeks back. I'll have two Max/Mariam kisses and one Rick/Mariah kiss coming ASAP, and then this fic will officially be finished! It's been a blast, and I'm so incredibly grateful for everyone that came along on this (longer than anticipated) journey with me. Thanks again!