As I lay sprawled on Naru's bed, I couldn't help but be acutely aware of his body next to mine. His fingers were tracing small shapes on my back. It was incredibly peaceful compared to what had been happening about ten minutes ago.

I nuzzled my head to his chest and breathed in deeply.

If anyone had told me I could be this happy, I would have laughed and brushed it off. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if this was a weird dream.

I shifted a little and managed to pinch myself. It hurt.

"What are you doing?" Naru asked me quietly.

"Nothing," I mumbled back, I could feel my cheeks reddening.

"You pinched yourself," he accused.

"I didn't!" I protested.

"Mai," he said warningly. I heard him sigh. "How long have I known you?"

"Um, six years?"

"And how long have we been going out?"

"Six months?"

"And you honestly think that in all that time, I haven't worked out how to tell when you are lying?"

I didn't need to look at his face to know he was smirking at me.

"Fine, I pinched myself," I muttered and then pouted up at him. He regarded me for a moment before asking another question.

"Why?"

"Did I pinch myself?" I looked up into his eyes and he nodded. I looked away. "To check this wasn't a dream."

"But you can feel physical sensation in your dreams," he pointed out.

"Not in normal dreams," I replied. "Only in my special dreams."

"And this sort of thing often happens in your normal dreams?" he teased. I poked him in the side.

"Meanie," I mumbled. But I wasn't really annoyed; I settled my head back down onto his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

His fingers were still tracing shapes on my skin. The sensation was quite relaxing. I probably could have fallen asleep if I hadn't been trying so hard to work out what he was tracing.

And then I realised the jerk was using English. That's cheating.

Frowning, I concentrated.

I knew the alphabet, I could do this.

He started his little pattern again.

'I'.

The first bit was definitely 'I'. Or maybe a '1'.

He repeated the movement a little further along. Then drew a 'o' or maybe a '0'.

Was it a number? '110'? What could that mean?

But as he finished the pattern I realised that it wasn't a number at all. I let Naru do it one more time, just to be sure. But I hadn't made a mistake.

I sat bolt upright, dragging the duvet with me and stared at him.

He frowned at me, his face silently asking me what was wrong.

"Really?" I whispered. I took the hand he'd be tracing things on my skin with into my own hand and squeezed it. He caught my meaning and nodded slowly, not taking his eyes from mine. I smiled and threw my arms around him. "I love you too," I whispered, just loud enough for Naru to hear.

"We should get to sleep," he said finally. "We have a case tomorrow."

I sighed and pulled away from him. I rolled my eyes in an overly dramatic fashion.

"Alright then Mr Sensible," I muttered as I flounced from the bed towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later and I was curled up in his bed. Naru got in beside me and turned the bedside light off.

"Have you set an alarm?" I asked quietly.

"Of course," he mumbled. "For six AM."

"Good," I grumbled. It wasn't good at all really. "I have to go back to mine to get fresh clothes."

"I would suggest you move in with me, but I fear that would be too much excitement for one day," Naru muttered. I pouted at him, but he wouldn't have seen my actions in the darkness even if his eyes had been opened.

"Jerk."

"Maybe I'll ask you tomorrow then," he said quietly. "Goodnight, Mai."

Still scowling, I leant over and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek before lying down and closing my eyes.

Author's note: Aww, what a nice fluffy way to start a story. Happy Mai and Happy Noll being happy together.

*dons evil maniac grin*

I'm sure I can rectify that soon!

It was odd. Yesterday I finished up all of my solo projects and I suddenly had nothing to write. This idea has been floating around for a while and so I thought I'd get started on it. I know this chapter is a bit short, but it is just a quick introduction!

If any of you are wondering, this is not an AU! All my recent work has been AU's and in any other fandom, this would probably be one. But in the world of GH, its perfectly possible my idea could happen... :D

I think I'll leave it there, so please review :)