Reflection of a Mask: Chapter 10 - GLASSES

I've been neglecting my stories a bit for the last few months and for anybody who enjoys reading them, I'm terribly sorry and I'm going to try and get back into an update schedule. This is another one of my own prompts seeing as nobody requested anything specific in their reviews. Remember!: Anybody is welcome to submit a prompt for a one-shot that they'd like to see :)

Thank you to the following for reviewing chapter 9: AmyNChan, borntoflyhigh and glorianna21.

Standard Disclaimers Apply.

The report in front of her eyes blurred irritatingly when Mai tried to get her eyes to focus on the neat, flowing script that her boss always wrote in. This wasn't the first time Mai had noticed her deteriorating eyesight and she had been to see an optician about the problem when she'd first started to notice it several months prior. So yes, she had glasses to wear that would make her vision notably better, the damn eye-glasses where unattractive at best and hideous if she were being truthful.

Call her vain if you must, but there was no way she wanted to be seen wearing them in front of the one person in the whole world who happened to be not only her boss but also the guy she'd had a crush on for as long as she could remember. Having spent many hours inspecting her reflection in the mirror from every imaginable angle, Mai had come to the conclusion that it was simply impossible for the glasses to flatter her at all.

How did people pull it off? Yasuhara wore glasses constantly and instead of making him look weird or stupid, they just made him more... Yasuhara. In fact Mai didn't recall ever seeing him without the spectacles, they were as much a part of him as the teasing grin he sported 90 percent of the time. One day she would have to ask him how he managed it, because the secret was certainly not obvious to her.

Dropping the report in her frustration, Mai rose to make tea for her boss, knowing that it had been about an hour since he had last called out to her. The familiar ritual of making tea calmed her and took her mind off of the whole glasses problem but it didn't last very long. Too soon, the kettle was whistling atop the stove and found her dstraction to be once again useless. Setting the cup on a tray and making her way carefully out of the kitchen, Mai kept her eyes of the gently rippling brown liquid and her feet to ensure that she didn't fall and have to start all over again.

Even though she knew that he would be expecting her, it was customary to knock and await an invitation into his office instead of just letting herself in, so carefully balancing the tray on one hand, she rapped on the door quickly three times in the same manner she always did, letting him know who was at the door.

"Come in", the answering statement was quiet and impassive just as one would expect from somebody as cold and stoic as Kazuya Shibuya. Anybody who'd had to the chance to meet him in real life could attest to the fact that her boss was not one of the warmest people in the world but that was something that she'd grown accustomed to and it had been along time since she'd allowed it to bother her.

"I've brought your tea Naru, and you didn't even have to ask this time!" Accustomed to recieving no thanks for her tea, Mai barely looked up once during the process of entering the office and placing the tea on his desk in front of him. In fact she probably wouldn't have looked at him at all if he hadn't caught her attention by muttering her name just as she was about to turn and leave the room.

"Mai, I'd like your opinion on the case file I gave you this morning. I assume you have finished reading it." It wasn't even posed as a question, the teasing lilt to his voice completely obvious to anybody who spent a fair amount of time with the teen. It was clear that he was certain that she'd not managed to read the hefty case file and he was right, but she would not explain to him that it was worry over her appearance that had stopped her finishing the assigned reading.

Instead she pursed her lips, ready for a debate of some sort to ensue before she would be allowed to leave the office. It was only when she looked up that the retort disappeared off of her lips, perched on Naru's nose was a pair of reading glasses that she had never seen him wearing before... and of course they made him look even better than before.

All coherent thought left her mind as her brain tried to comprehend what she was seeing. Naru was wearing glasses and they didn't make him look any less desirable than he did on a daily basis. Life was so unfair! It took her a moment too long to realise that she had been staring and he was now giving her an irritated look.

"Something interesting about my face Mai?" he asked, the slight irritation leaking iinto his voice when she didn't immediatly offer an answer. She could feel that he cheeks had begun to heat up as the silence between them became increasingly heavy and awkward.

"Nothing! I was just wondering how long you have worn glasses for? I've never noticed it before", she answered with the first thing that came to mind and was glad that it wasn't something about how ridiculously handsome he looked wearing the spectacles. That would have been more embarrassment than she could deal with in one sitting, already she wanted to turn tail and flee the room in an effort to save at least some of her pride and dignity.

by now, Naru's annoyance seemed to have turned into amusement and signature smirk was pulling at the edges of his stoic visage. "Maybe Mai, you would notice things like this if you actually wore your own glasses every now and again. You do have them for a reason and it's not so they can stay in their case and look pretty while you crash into things and fall over constantly." How did he know? She'd taken special care to never wear her glasses at work so how on earth had he figured it out?

"I can see you wondering how I know, eye care does fall under general health and is therefore covered by your employment here. I've been aware that you have glasses since the day you got them but I never seem to see you wearing them. Is there a particular reason for this or do you just enjoy being partially blind?" the sarcastic tone of voice was doing nothing to help her souring mood and she could tell that Naru was completely aware of the way that his questioing was irking her and he didn't seem to mind at all.

Mai decided that it was better to at least partially tell the truth than try to outright lie to Naru, he'd have her figured out in a second, maybe less. "I just don't like them okay! They're gaudy and ridiculous and I'd rather not be able to see at all than have to make myself look like even more of an idiot than you already think I am by wearing them. Does that explain it clearly enough for you?" She knew that the anger in her voice was completely unwarranted but she couldn't stop the frustration and humiliation at being caught out from rushing through her system.

Naru's amusement seemed to die a little at her admission, a thoughtful frown taking the place of the small smirk that had previously been sidplayed on his face. "You'd rather not be able to see at all than look a little different. If anything, that's more likely to make me call you stupid than the way you look." The statement held none of the teasing lilt that would tell her that he was joking and Mai had to face face the fact that she had once again managed to prove to her boss that he was probabaly right able her intelligence.

"Yes Naru, thank you for your input, I'd like to go and continue with my work now if you wouldn't mind." He didn't immediatly answer so she turned and her heel and madeto leave the office.

"Oh and Mai", his calling out to her made her pause but not turn to face him again. "I saw you trying on your glasses when I came to pick you up for the case last week..."

The admnission made her freeze, horror and humiliation making her unable to take another step, but Naru didn't seem to be be paying attention to her reaction as he finsished his sentence.

"You looked cute," and with that she hurried out of the office, almost tripping over her feet in her haste to leave and her cheeks bright red. This time she was blushing from embarrassment of another kind.

XRoaMx

That's the end of this oneshot, I hope you enjoyed reading it! If you have any prompts then please don't hesitate to send them to me in a review and I'll make sure to write it up as soon as possible :)

Don't forget to leave me a review telling me what you thought, things you liked, things that could have been better or just general comments!

Sei x