A/N: Oh my gosh I was re-reading the two chapters and I found so much grammatical errors. x_x Ugh, yuck. So I made some changes and hopefully I caught them all. Sorry about that. Thanks so much for the faves and follows on this story! At least people are reading it! Heh. Please leave a comment to let me know how it's going!

okaysunshine: Aw, thanks so much! I really appreciate your support and enthusiasm for my stories! It really makes me happy to know that people read and enjoy the stuff I write! And yes, Naru is such a pushover.

Fanficluver4life: I'm glad you are enjoying the series! I am loving writing about them! Thank you for your continued support for my efforts, I really appreciate it!

TakaTaro: Hehehe, I imagine Naru's never seen a very aggressive Mai before so this is all new and exciting to him, her suddenly taking charge. He thinks he's the 'S' between them, but maybe secretly he's an 'M'? o_O

I have so much steamed lemons planned for these two in the next chapter, so... Warnings again!

3

Naru watched as Mai shut the door softly and turned to face him with a sheepish look. "Do you... do you think Yasuhara-kun suspects anything?"

He could only reply to her question with a frosty stare, to which she shrunk back in guilt and squeaked out a tiny 'sorry'. Then, knowing that it was unfair to lay the blame all on Mai (he had been complicit in the activity, after all), he sighed and softened his gaze. "Who knows. Though if he does, we can trust he will keep it to himself."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"He'll save it as leverage against me."

Mai raised a brow. "You mean against us."

He shrugged and muttered, "He seems to relish in irritating me, specifically." When Mai giggled, he gave a long sigh and glanced at the wall clock. It was already seven and the moon had already begun its ascent above the horizon. He caught sight of Mai's groceries that were sitting on top of her desk and glimpsed its contents inside: a bag of chips, a box of strawberries, a couple of onigiri, and instant ramen. With all the events that just unfolded and all the facts he'd recently come to realize, the sight of his utterly hopeless girlfriend's sad dinner became the tipping point which made him seriously contemplate going forward with his next move (not that he wasn't always serious).

"Mai," he suddenly called out, "grab the teacup in my office and put it away for the night. Please."

Having been asked politely, the brunette cried a cheerful "Okay!" and did as she was asked. He watched her saunter away toward the kitchen with a content smile on her face as he pulled out the cellphone from his pocket and began dialing Lin's number. A couple of rings later, the Onmyouji answered.

"Noll. Is there a problem? We've only just sat down."

"No, nothing. Don't worry, I am not asking for an extraction. In fact, I've called to tell you that you won't be needing to head back for me here." He walked up toward Mai's desk and grabbed the bags.

"Has Taniyama-san come back to the office then? We met her earlier."

"Yes, she's here. We're headed off to dinner."

"Alright, then let me know when and where you need me to pick both of you up."

"No, there's no need" he said, internally biting back the sudden apprehension he was feeling. Why did it bother him so much to let others know of his own affairs? With the words waiting behind his throat, he took a breath and spluttered out in one breath before he could change his mind, "I'm taking Mai home afterward."

"...Understood. Then I'll pick you up from there. What time?"

Naru inwardly growled in irritation. How dense could he be? "Lin. There is no need to pick me up, and no need to wait up for me to come back tonight." He paused to let the words sink in. "We will see you at the office tomorrow," and before the could let the older man reply, he hung up.

Mai joined him by the coat rack and was currently looking at him in wonder, having missed the entirety of his phone conversation. Naru met her eyes then shifted his eyes toward her coat, making a small nudge of his head.

"I thought you were still working on stuff?" However Naru did not say a word and merely grabbed his own coat and put it on. Then as if she were only realizing it, she gasped and cried, "Oh no, Naru. I'm so sorry-did I bother you? You were working on something, right? There's no need to take me out, or home, really. I don't know what came over me to come back all of a sudden and bug you," the brunette blathered on. "Naru, are you-"

"-No," he said, cutting her off before she could start blaming herself. Although she did distract him, and she did distract him alright, but that was beside the point. Her arrival, their little bickering, her frustrations, the interrupted heated session, Yasuhara's (annoying) disruption- all of these made him realize there were things he needed to address. Things he needed to change. Things he needed to take care of. Even though it was hard and somewhat unnatural for him, he would do it all.

"I'm not angry. But I need dinner, and apparently I'll need to feed you as well. What rubbish have you got in this bag? You said you went grocery shopping."

"That's my dinner! I have onigiri with tarako, so there's rice and fish, then instant ramen for my soup, and then chips and strawberries for desert. Full meal."

Naru scoffed and held the door open for her so she could step out. She pulled her coat around her, trapping her shoulder-length hair underneath the garment and Naru found himself momentarily distracted as he suddenly realized- had she grown her hair longer? How had he not noticed that? He mentally shook his head and locked the door, pocketing the keys in his pocket afterward. Gently he reached out to the nape of her neck and extracted her hair, noting the silkiness of her auburn locks.

Mai turned to smile him a thanks and asked, "So after dinner what's the plan?"

"I'm taking you home."

"Hm, does Lin-san remember the way to my apartment? What time will he pick you up? You made sure to tell him not to rush his date, right?"

"I told him he didn't need to pick me up."

She looked mildly surprised at this and exclaimed, "Wow, since when did you care about inconveniencing anyone, let alone Lin-san? You're awful for that, by the way." She playfully elbowed him and he grunted in annoyance. "Wait, that means you'll be taking the train back!"

Naru rolled his eyes and replied dryly, "You and Lin must be vying for the 'densest person' award today. Can't anybody take a hint anymore?"

"I don't understand what you mean by that and I don't care. But I don't want you to take the train back by yourself!"

He flicked her softly on the forehead. "Idiot. Lin doesn't have to pick me up. And I won't need to take the train back. I'm staying tonight."

Mai gasped (over-dramatically in Naru's opinion) and cried, "You... you are? But then Lin-san... You told Lin-san?"

"Obviously." Or not. The older man either refused to take a hint, or didn't get the hint, Naru wasn't sure. Maybe he should call again later and clarify? Or a simple text might suffice.

He gave a sidelong glance at his companion and saw, as he expected, a content, happy smile gracing her face. He had half the mind to complete her night by linking his hands with hers as they strolled along the busy streets of Shibuya... but at the last minute decided he could only match her pace and stand closer so that they walked, elbows touching. But it was alright, there was no need to rush. He was allowed to take little steps. And with Mai at his side, glancing up at him with a soft understanding smile, aware of his sudden closeness and no doubt of what he probably intended to do, he told himself he'd surely keep working at it. "Besides, I'm curious to know how you'd finish what you started."

Mai flushed at this and spluttered, "E-eh?! I thought you'd have forgotten about it by now... You weren't too into it to begin with."

"Who knows. At home, it might be a different matter altogether. I do hope some of that... enthusiasm of yours remain. It was curious."

She smirked back at his uncharacteristic playfulness and replied, "I guess we'll just have to wait until we get home, then. Shall we go for fast food?"

Naru gave a low chuckle, but found himself nodding in agreement.

-00-

Lin stared at his phone in mild shock. Had he heard that right? Surely he must have understood? He should probably call him again later and clarify. Or maybe text.

"So Mai-chan came to the office? What did Noll want?" Madoka aked as she sipped her miso soup and popped an edamame bean into her mouth.

"Well right now they're headed for dinner. Then he'll take her home."

"Noll can be a gentleman, after all! Luella would be so glad to hear that. So will you be picking him up right after our dinner?"

"No," Lin answered uncertainly. "He said there was no need to. He only said he'll see us at the office tomorrow before hanging up."

Comprehension stole about Madoka's face. "Noll's staying at Mai-chan's tonight? Oh, my! This has never happened before! Wait, this has never happened before right? Oh but they've been together for so long this can't be the first time... Now I wonder..."

Lin also could not recall any other time Noll spent the night at his girlfriend's apartment. Even when Mai slept over when her place was getting fumigated, Noll insisted on Mai taking his room while he slept outside. He was such a stickler for propriety you'd think he was a gentleman living from the Georgian Era alongside the likes of Mr. Darcys and Colonel Brandons. Suddenly he was reminded of the time Matsuzaki and the others tried to probe the two about the nature of their relationship [1] and realized that event had been three years ago. No one really brought it up nowadays, most likely because they must have become bored of trying to find out the truth by now since they've not had any hints at all whatsoever, but...Madoka was right- By now the two had been together for so long, it would have been stranger if they still hadn't been intimate yet. But was it really stranger to think so? To think that Noll, of all people...

Lin scoffed out loud.

"Koujo?"

He cleared his throat and answered, "Nothing, I just realized Noll was speaking from experience earlier when he was telling me about how relationships naturally progress. To think that git would be more experienced than I..." He shook his head and took a bite of his salad. "Never mind me, it's nothing. Have you decided on where you wanted to go after dinner? Did you still want to go to catch that movie?"

"Mm... Now that we're entirely free for tonight, how about we head back to your place?" the pinkette answered with a sly wink.

Lin choked on an almond.

[1] Lin is thinking about the 'truth or dare' incident from my other fic in this series, called, "So They Have Kissed". Plug. Teehee.