When he woke up the next day, Takuma was mortified to realize he had been crying. His cheeks were wet, and he was quick to brush the evidence away as his heart threatened to break out of his ribcage. Only when he felt like no one could see did he start to calm down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned toward Mei, who had drifted away from him during the night. He gently crawled his way toward her, and since she was lying on her side, he slipped behind her so he could hug her from behind and wait for her to wake up.

There were a thousand ways someone could start their morning—some liked to stretch, some liked to fuck. Takuma liked cuddling Mei until she woke up. It wasn't much, but to him, it was the part of the day he looked forward to the most. His pink-haired gremlin was running hot, and he hated being cold with a passion, so he had even more reason to stay close. He slipped an arm under her neck and another under the oversized shirt she liked to sleep in, resting it on her side. Then he buried his face in the crook of her neck. That way, he reached the closest thing to inner peace he had ever managed to attain.

It was nice. It was warm. It was safe. Of course, there was one more little thing he yearned to feel from her. When her mind awoke, and the small, barely perceptible thoughts came roaring back to life, she would search for him. In a barely-there state of mind, yes, but he realized that the morning squeeze he had grown used to was not simply one of Mei's habits. Because when Mei woke up, her first thought was to look for him and squeeze him to make sure he was really there. Because she wanted him next to her. It felt good to be wanted.

Mei's phone rang after an hour, and he was quick to turn the music off. It had already done its job, and his pink-haired lovely gremlin was slowly waking up, stretching her leg first, before she drowsily turned and grabbed him in a bear hug that made it hard to breathe for a short second. He loved this. Her eyes fluttered open; her sight, like irises, needed some time before they could focus on him. And when they did, she smiled.

"Is this what being blessed feels like?"

"Good morning," she mumbled as she nuzzled the side of his face.

"Morning to you too," he replied with a kiss to the side of her head. "Feeling better?"

"A bit, m'not in any pain and I don't feel like sleeping another day away," she told him to his relief. "I don't know why that happened, but if it never happens again, it would be too soon."

"You're still seeing the doc next week," he demanded as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Mom."

"Don't you dare take that tone with me, little lady," he joked in an overly parodic tone. "I shall forever be worried about your health; it's the only thing I can't stab if it doesn't behave."

"My hero," she grinned as she wrapped her arm behind his neck and pulled him toward her. Her hands danced across his skin as she enjoyed being close to him. "A lazy morning feels right today, don't you think?"

"More cuddles? When will I ever say no to that?" he asked, kissing her cheek again. "I love you."

This brought an instant smile to her face. "Love you too."

He kissed her again, and again, and again until a light giggle escaped her. "I think I get the idea."

"Just in case," he said as he laid another one on her lips. "I can't ever be too sure you know how much you mean to me, so I have no choice but to keep kissing you until you get sick of it."

"As if I could ever get sick of it," she told him with a kiss of her own on his temple. "You won't ever hear me complain."

"Good, because there's plenty more where that came from," he told her with a firm nod before a Cheshire smile bloomed on his face.

Her eyes grew wide as she could barely say a word before he dived in again, kissing her face, neck, and shoulder like he would die tomorrow.

"Gya-hahaha," she giggled madly as she tried and failed to fend him off. "What's gotten into you-haha?"

"I'm getting my dose of happy girlfriend time. Do not resist; you will be loved!" he mock-shouted as she tried to crawl away from him. "Oh no, you're going nowhere!"

He pulled her back, laying halfway onto her back as he held her down with his weight, kissing her shoulder and the back of her neck as he started tickling her without mercy.

Her shriek of surprise, followed by laughter, rang clearly in the air as he drank deep from the well of her joy. He laid three more kisses before Mei reached the limit of her patience, pushed him off her back, and jumped on his chest where she could finally fight back.

"I hope you had your fun, because now it's my turn!" she declared as she wrapped her arm around his neck and leg-locked herself around his midsection.

Then she kissed him, soft and quick, like he had done to her a second ago. Takuma's resolve to show no reaction broke after the third kiss. "You-haha won't get me-heehee so easily-yahaha," he managed to say between barely held-back giggles.

She was now like a hound smelling blood. Her assault grew stronger as she, for once, had the upper hand. Even tickling her had barely any effect. He tried to catch her lips with his but failed as she dodged his attempt to kiss her with frightening ease. His fingers kept dancing along her side and back, searching for a weakness as Mei's control finally started to slip. A kiss to the cheek, he moved his head and caught her lips. His hand went to the back of her head to stop her from retreating. They shared a long kiss as they both stopped attacking the other. Mei let herself flop onto him as he hugged her strongly against him.

"I win," she let out after getting her breath back.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-uh," she retorted in the same caveman speak.

He crossed his eyes, and they both giggled like children. He bonked her head with his as she nuzzled his face.

"Love you."

"Love you too," she replied before biting the tip of his nose playfully.

"Thy nose is not thine toy!" he giggled, half-mumbling the words between laughs as Mei rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad I don't have another quirky murder-bot to introduce you to. Who knows what horrors lie behind that meeting," she said with a smile in her voice.

"Whoth knowseth—Ah!"

She cut him off by kissing him again all over the right side of his face. "No more Fred'Ricks speak, I command thee!"

He squinted, humming as if pondering her demand. "Head pats or no deal!" She quirked an eyebrow before both hands made their way to his hair, where they started to massage his scalp. "Oh yeah, that's good."

"You're such a cat," she giggled as he felt his entire being relax.

"Nya," he deadpanned as she started to laugh even harder.

"You can be so silly sometimes."

"I told you before, didn't I? You bring out the best in me."

He felt his words fill her with so much love she had no choice but to flop on top of him and groan. "How did I even live before meeting you?"

"With too little vegetables in your system," he told her as she rose with a horrified expression.

"You don't mean?!"

He smiled with all his teeth. "You're right! We're eating some greens today!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

She pouted, and he smiled. She tried to use the tried-and-true technique of puppy-dog eyes. It nearly broke him, but he stood firm. "Fiiiine."

"Victory never tasted so sweet," he sighed with a pleased smile.

"Ngh ngh ngh," she mocked him, much to his delight.

He was about to dive back into the fray when he felt someone enter the range of his Quirk. Not someone he knew, driving a car.

"Are you expecting a delivery?"

"I am!" Mei said as she jumped off the bed and started running toward the door.

"Put on some pants first!" he shouted after her. She made a quick 180-degree turn and rushed back into the room to grab one of his sweatpants.

"Thanks for the reminder!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him with a light blush.

"Probably happened before," he chuckled as he stood up and grabbed a green apple-colored hoodie to wear while she put on his pants.

He left the bed and, after grabbing a fresh pair of pants and a shirt to replace the ones that had been so viciously stolen by his gremlin, walked into the living room. His Quirk kept a close eye on Mei's brief interaction with the delivery guy before she grabbed her package and locked the door behind her.

"It's here!" she shouted, doing a little jig as she skipped her way toward him. "Open it!"

"What is it?" he asked as he cut open the tape that held the package closed.

"Your new phone! It's about time I got you one of those," she declared with a firm nod. "I'm not letting you disappear into the city like you've been doing until now."

He stopped himself from wincing, out of respect for her gift. 'Here's hoping it was a cheap one.'

After prying open the tape and cardboard, he grabbed the phone case and opened it. "Please, tell me it didn't cost you too much," he asked, looking at the piece of tech that made him hesitant to handle it.

Black and with a reinforced cover, the smartphone was heavier than it looked, with reinforced ridges on the sides and a case that seemed sturdier than any phone would ever need.

"It was a great deal! Since I never bothered changing my plan with the company, I had a lot of points saved up. I used them to get you this one at a bargain price!" his cute girlfriend told him with a bright grin. "I even got it upgraded to a Hero-ready case, which doesn't mean much except that it's supposed to be able to stop bullets."

"Hopefully, I won't have to find out," he said as he rubbed his thumb over the screen. "I... thank you, Mei," he told her, giving her a kiss on the nose.

"Nothing but the best for my boyfriend!" she declared, placing her hands on her hips before grabbing the phone from his hand. "Now I just need to set it up with everything you're going to need. Mousey has been looking forward to messaging you for a while now."

Guilt gnawed at his gut as he was reminded how little time he spent with his youngest friend. "Yeah, thanks for getting me the phone, Mei... I should have dealt with the situation sooner."

"Nope," she said, laying a quick kiss on his jaw. "No Sadkuma today, only Happykuma," she added with a half-lidded stare that dared him to disagree.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, rolling his eyes. "If it's not too much trouble, could you give me a quick rundown of what 'Apps' I should use?"

"Of course!" she scoffed, as if him even asking was obvious. "Just let me put it in charge, then we can start putting this baby to good use."

She did just that and then turned it on.

"Alright, here's the first application you're going to use. SpeakNet. It's a popular app everyone uses; it's gone through seven rebrandings or something, so don't bother remembering the name. Just click on the apple green icon to get in." She pointed out the icon before moving it to the center of the screen. "I'll add you to the group chat with me and Izu. I'll add everyone else later."

With just a few taps on her phone, a new chat room appeared, filled with page after page of text.

"I see you two have been going at it," he commented, noticing the thousands of words they had thrown at each other like it was normal.

"Yep, Izu suffers from a bad case of wrongthink. I've been trying to fix him for a while, but he's so bullheaded about things. It's a lot of work," she sighed with exhaustion, making him laugh at the utter irony of it.

He wrapped his arms around her midsection from behind, letting his head rest on her shoulder as she kept tapping away at the screen. For her crime of being too cute, he started kissing her neck and shoulder at random intervals, treating every giggle as a victory.

"Alright, I've set up the tracking app so you'll always know where I am, and I'll always know where you are," she told him, stealing a quick kiss when she turned her head toward him. "Your days of vigilantism are over, young man."

"Drats, but the city needs me!" he replied in the most dry and unenthusiastic tone he could muster.

She laughed, rubbing the side of her face against his as she did. "Happykuma is best kuma."

"Kuma Kuma," he replied, nodding with what he hoped was a wise expression.

"Stop," she demanded, trying her best not to keep laughing. "I'm not done setting it up. What do you want as a password?"

"Put something random, I'll remember it," he said with a shrug.

"Oh look, we can use your fingerprint," she said as she grabbed his hand and placed his thumb in the middle of the screen, following the prompt. "And done."

"You should add yours, just in case," he suggested before biting her shoulder playfully. "I'd rather not get locked out of my own phone after I burn my finger."

"It would still work, but sure," she agreed easily.

She tapped a few more times, then did the same thing with her own thumb.

"Anything else I need?" he asked, not quite sure what he would use a phone for, besides calling Mei, obviously.

"Yes, you need a background image, obviously," she told him as she opened the gallery and started looking through it.

"Can I try something?" he asked, extending his hand to take the phone from her.

"Sure, if you're looki—"

He quickly opened the camera app, selected what looked like photo mode, and made sure the app used the front camera.

"Hatsume Mei," he said in a serious tone, immediately grabbing his girlfriend's attention as she looked away from the phone and straight at him. "You are the most gorgeous woman I've had the pleasure to meet, and there aren't enough words in the dictionary to even begin to describe how much you mean to me. I love you."

Her expression morphed from surprise to a pleased and shy one.

Click.

Her eyes grew wide as she turned her head toward the camera. "My first photo, what do you think?" It was of her, with a cute blush on her cheeks. "If U.A. doesn't work out, maybe I should think about becoming a photographer."

Mei was suffering from a sun-like blush. "G-Good idea."

"How do I make this my background image?" Takuma asked, milking her embarrassment for all it was worth. "I think the model is one of a kind, don't you think?"

His girlfriend groaned in sheer embarrassment as she took the phone back from him and set the image herself, smiling lovingly at something. It was a pretty good photo. He was proud of this one. He squeezed her gently in his arms as he leaned more into her for comfort.

"I got everyone's number. Do you want me to not add someone to your contact list... like Gran Torino or All Might?" Mei asked with a cute tilt of her head.

"How do you have All Might's number?"

"He gave it to me when he came to pick me up at school, just in case," she told him with a shrug.

He hummed, not quite sure if he was okay with All Might trying to get to him through Mei. "Put Gran Torino and All Might's numbers in my contacts, but don't send a message or let them know I have a phone," he asked her before kissing her cheek. "I don't fancy having those two just a phone call away."

"Aaannd it's done," she said as she quickly transferred the numbers from her phone to his. "And with that, you have the two Pros, Asuna, Nova, Missy, Izu, and me!" she told him with a pleased grin. "Now we just need to add to those numbers."

"Operation: Friendship is Magic is a go," he declared proudly. "All must come under our banner, or suffer for it!"

Mei let out an unladylike snort. "You're on a roll today, what's gotten into you?" she giggled, turning in her chair until she was facing him. "You're being more cuddly than usual. Not that I'm complaining, but... is there something you want to talk about?"

'Bullseye,' he commented internally, wincing a bit at being called out like that.

Takuma sighed, looking down. "Am I doing enough?"

"Enough what?" Mei asked.

"With us, with Mousey, and everything else, really," he explained, struggling to find the right words. "I just... feel like I'm neglecting everyone I care about. Am I making progress? Am I doing the right things? I'm just... kind of lost, I guess."

Mei hummed thoughtfully, scratching her chin. "Alright, if you're not quite sure what's bugging you, let's take it from the top." She stood up, pulling him by the hand to the couch. Sitting down, she patted her lap. "Hop in. Hatsume's therapy just opened."

He looked at her owlishly for a few seconds before shrugging and lying down with his head on her lap. She started stroking his hair as he exhaled fully.

"So, how are you feeling right now?" she asked in a tone that was trying to sound either older or wiser; he couldn't tell which.

"Comfy... happy," he replied tentatively. "Confused," he added after a moment.

"About what? Me, us, someone else?" she asked, looking down at him.

"You, Nova, and Mousey mostly," he said after some soul-searching. "I think... I might be scared to let you three down."

Mei nodded, playing with his hair before speaking again. "And do you know why you feel that way about each of us?"

It took him longer to answer this time. "For Nova... when we met at Asuna's place, I tried to rekindle the remnants of our friendship... if we can even call it that," he said with some difficulty. "I've known her for more than a decade, and being with you made me realize I know next to nothing about her. She's my friend, and I would die for her, but I don't know anything about her. Not even her favorite food."

Being with Mei made him realize he had been a bad friend for a long time. Did Danny have a favorite cartoon? What kind of ice cream did Mousey like?

"For Mousey... once upon a time, she called me Dad," he revealed, seeing the shock on Mei's face before she schooled her expression. "Now she doesn't. I'm her friend. And to be honest, I prefer it that way. It's just... she's someone I would do anything for. I went against Star And Stripe to keep her safe, her and all my friends... and I..."

He exhaled sharply, frustrated by his inability to articulate his feelings. Mei smiled down at him, a reassuring smile he didn't feel he deserved.

"And then there's you. I've been trying to be the best boyfriend I could be for you, but I don't know if I'm doing the right thing. I don't even understand what the right thing is supposed to look like. I just... are you happy?"

Mei tilted her head, a small, sad smile on her face. "Takuma, you make me happy. You also make me angry, sad, and scared out of my mind. When you're out of my sight, I feel like I'm dying," she said, gently brushing the side of his face with her hand. "You're hurt. You cry in your sleep. You zone out for hours at a time, and when you come back, it's like nothing happened. I know some of the people who hurt you are still out there. I know you're scared. Your nightmares are... pretty bad."

Takuma's heart sank as she listed all the things he didn't even realize he was doing.

"But you make me happy. You're gentle and kind. The way you look at me and smile makes my day more than making babies ever did, and that's saying something," she said with a small laugh, a smile blooming on her face again. "You understand me like no one ever did, and that's not just your Quirk. You didn't have to care, but you did. You didn't have to entertain half of my ideas, and yet you did. You didn't have to deal with... me, and yet you did. Takuma, you make me happy. And I love you."

He inhaled fully before exhaling until his lungs were empty. "There's a lot I wish you didn't have to deal with in what you just told me... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for the things people did to you," Mei told him as she booped his nose. He tried to bite her finger in retaliation but failed. "You're dealing with a lot, and I know there's so much I don't know about you. But when you're feeling like you do right now, don't bottle it up. I always have time for you."

Still, it stung to have Mei waste even more time on him. He liked hearing her tell him all those things he always wanted to hear.

"I'm sorr—"

Mei leaned forward, burying his face under her chest. "I said no Sadkuma today!" she declared, giggling as her soft mound bounced against his face before she leaned back to let him breathe again.

"You know what, that's not a bad way to go," he commented, playfully biting her left boob, earning a choked giggle as she quickly placed her finger over his mouth to protect herself from further assault.

He continued nibbling on her finger playfully. "You're impossible."

"I can't let that fly now, can I?" he sighed dramatically, raising her oversized shirt and going for a playful bite on her side.

"Gyahaa!" she shouted in surprise, followed by a series of laughs as he began tickling her. "Ahaha—you little—aHAA—mercy!"

He stopped his playful assault but decided to keep his head under her shirt, his face now resting against her warm belly, his hand gently resting on her side just in case she felt silly. "Comfy," he murmured.

"I should get you a set of cat ears." Mei hummed with a mischievous tone. "You would look so cute with those on."

He removed his head from under her shirt and looked at her with the most heartbroken expression he could manage. "Am I not cute enough for you?"

Mei, as it turned out, was extremely weak against the puppy-dog eyes.

"You are, you are. Please don't look at me like that!" she begged before smothering him with her chest again. "Boyfriend cute, me like."

"Mhmf mfhmmmfffmmfm," he replied with the wisdom of long-lost philosophers.

She removed her heavy breasts from his face again, allowing him to breathe the pleasant air he needed to keep existing.

"Are you done?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow as she looked down at him, his head back on her lap.

He hummed for a few seconds, thinking of what to say. "I think I am. Hatsume's therapy is doing wonders for my mood."

"It was a pleasure to help, my good sir. Now for payment, what should I ask for?" she wondered out loud with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I'm but a poor boy with nothing to my name. What could you possibly require from me?"

He felt her thoughts bounce from one side to another until her good mood slowly vanished, and she looked away, then back at him with a serious expression. He could already tell she wanted to ask him something serious.

"Could you tell me how you met Mousey?" she asked slowly, a bit anxious. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

He grabbed her free hand and started to follow the line of her palm as he tried to remember how he had met the little girl. "Mousey's Quirk is one of the few that I can detect when they're being used. One night, I was away from my group when I felt a Quirk activate. So, since I could sense a child nearby, I decided to check it out. There she was, with two dead bodies surrounding her," he recalled. Mei was listening intently, still for once. "I walked toward her, and before I could even speak, she asked me something. 'Are you going to hurt me?' I said no, obviously, and her Quirk didn't activate. After that, I asked her if she had any family or anyone she could trust. She said no. So I took her with me. I quickly realized what her Quirk was and made sure no one risked triggering it. I learned a lot about my own Quirk while helping her understand hers. It was a lot, but I made it work. We all did. And like the others we found over the years, as soon as we could, we gave her to someone we could trust."

He took a second to breathe. "There isn't much else to say."

"Did she... kill a lot of people?" Mei asked, the weight of his revelation upsetting her greatly.

"Around a dozen, maybe more," he revealed with a sigh. "She was trying to survive in a very bad part of town. A lot of people failed her question before I found her."

"And what exactly is her Quirk? You told me it was a truth-telling one, but not the specifics," Mei questioned as she started to play with his hair again.

"It's a reality-bending one. Whoever she interacts with cannot lie, and if they do, they become brain dead," he explained. "They're turned into vegetables, and as far as I know, no one has ever woken up from it."

"And she asked them if they were going to hurt her," Mei growled as she understood the implication. "Good riddance."

"My thoughts exactly," he agreed, not quite sure how happy he was with his girlfriend embracing his more... violent tendencies. "Then we hooked her up with Asuna a year later, and then she got taken. We went to get her back. While we were at it, we destroyed everything linked to the people who took her. And that was it."

"And you met Star and Stripe," she pointed out, booping his nose with her free hand. "And she offered you to be her sidekick. That's not something just anyone can claim."

"Yes, that happened. But it's not something I like to talk about... in general, keeping a low profile is the best way to stay safe," he said as he kissed her fingers. "The less people care and know about you, the less likely they are to try and get something from you. Being boring and forgettable is the first and best line of defense against almost everyone."

"I suppose it makes sense."

His instincts, more than his Quirk, told him there was something more that Mei wanted to talk about.

"Fair is fair," he said as he rose up from his supine position before sitting and tapping his lap. "Assume the position, Takuma's therapy just opened."

She shook her head with a smile as she let herself fall half on him, then slid along his chest until she was curled against him, her head on his lap. "This isn't so bad."

"It's pretty nice," he agreed as he started to play with her hair, massaging her scalp at the same time. "So, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Are you mad at me for... the robot?" Mei asked, not quite looking at him as she did.

"I am not," he replied immediately. "I was more scared than anything. As long as it doesn't happen again, then I'm more than happy to forget about it."

"And what about when I said too much about... your Quirk to Midoriya?" she questioned again.

"Like I told you, I'm more upset about not being able to take it at my own pace rather than you spreading what you know about me around. It doesn't feel good, but it's not something I can't get over," he reminded her with a reassuring smile. "I'm not mad at you, Mei, for anything. And if I was, you would be the first to know."

She nodded with a relieved sigh, then she cringed before looking away.

"You remember when Izuku was here and I... while he was making dinner?"

"When you dry-humped me until you came your cute little brain out?" he asked for clarification, to her horror. "When you sat on me with the pretense of setting the goggles up and then used the moment to grind your wet pussy against my raging erection while your best friend was right behind you. Until you came? Yes, I remember. Why do you ask?"

Her horrified expression was hilarious to him.

"I... I..." she stammered. "Yes. That. Was that too much for you? Were you okay with it... I kind of, let my pussy take the wheel on that one," she confessed to him.

"You reached your breaking point after being teased endlessly for the last few days. It would have been weirder if you hadn't gone a bit overboard," he told her with a smile to reassure her. "Thinking back, it wasn't so bad. I'm still a bit iffy on doing anything around other people, since... you know, my Quirk. I'd rather keep this part of our life private. Not that I'm against experimenting, but I would prefer not to have to keep someone else out of my mind when I'm busy making you feel all the colors of the rainbow, at the same time."

She giggled. "All the colors of the rainbow? Yeah, I guess that's what it felt like," she agreed before kissing his hand, resting against her cheek. "Speaking of the rainbow, do you... are you..."

"Ready to have sex?" he asked, noticing how she wilted a little internally at being so easily read. "Yes, I am. As of a few days ago, I realized I was ready for it when you are."

She nodded. "Not right now, obviously. But soon, I would like to do it."

He could tell Mei's libido was nonexistent right now. That was the reason nothing sexual had happened this morning and the entire week. She was still recovering, and he could feel it. This was nice; a part of him was glad he could enjoy himself with her without needing to turn anything sexual.

"Me too. I've never had the opportunity to take it at my own pace until now, and it feels right. I'm just a bit nervous given that this will be your first time."

"What do you mean?" she asked, not quite sure what he was referring to.

"I've never been with... someone my age. The women I've been with were always three to four times my age. I'm not used to being with someone with less experience than me," he confessed.

"You've been nothing but the best so far, I've got no complaints," she reassured him with another kiss on the back of his hand. "I'm just a bit nervous. Is it going to hurt?"

"It depends," he replied honestly. "Losing your virginity can be painful or not. I've been sensing people having sex since I was six, and in my experience, it always differs from woman to woman. The truth will be in the pudding, as they say. Given that you really do want to have sex with me," he added the last sentence in a whisper.

"And why wouldn't I want to?" she asked with a hint of confusion.

"I've been with many women before, and you haven't been with anyone before me. Losing your virginity can be something to celebrate if you want it to, but since I'm kind of—"

"If you say something like calling yourself 'used goods' again, I will yell at you," she threatened, her voice dead serious.

He sighed; this wasn't quite what he was going for, but her protective anger toward him was nice to feel.

"This ship has sailed a long time ago for me... are you sure you don't want to be with someone else?"

Mei scoffed at him. "And who else would I want besides you?"

"I—ah, that's..."

She petted his head affectionately. "See, stop being silly. There's no one else I trust enough to have sex with. There isn't anyone else I want to be with in the first place."

Takuma nodded, some of his nervousness melting away, though not entirely.

"I guess I just needed to know you were sure about what you want," he told her before kissing her.

She kissed him back, wrapping her arm around his back to hold him down, their tongues playfully fighting for dominance until she broke the kiss to breathe. "There, now you know what I want."

"Me?" he asked uselessly. Still, it made her smile.

"Obviously."

His phone vibrated on the countertop. He raised an eyebrow toward it, then turned to look back at Mei.

"Probably Izu," she informed him as she wrapped her arm around his midsection and curled up against him.

"I can't grab the phone if you hold me like that," he chuckled, rubbing his thumb lovingly against her cheek.

"Good." was her only answer.

He sighed and made himself comfortable on the couch, Izu could wait, Mei would not.

A nice setup chapter, some more backstory about Mousey and the bane of all reliationship ! Communication.