Chocolate Fic for frostbittenlove
To: frostbittenlove
From: cupid_johnny
Title: Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Pairings: Maki/Sho, implied Aiba/Becky
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Summary: I suck at summaries, but it’s based upon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (if you didn’t catch that from the title). (P.S. Can you catch all the other fairytale/movie references that I made?) Beta’d by the lovely boku_no_yuuki! Thank you so much for everything! I hope you enjoy it frostbittenlove!
“Who’s that?” asked Sho, pointing at the girl in Nino’s bed.
“How the hell should I know?” Nino said, taking a step towards the bed before changing his mind and moving towards Sho almost as if he was using him as a shield.
“Well, for starters, she’s sleeping in your bed.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know her. Maybe she’s a friend of Jun’s? He’s been complaining about this place being a sausage fest for quite some time. Maybe he finally got it in?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” murmured Sho, turning to face Nino. “For starters, she’s sleeping in your bed. If Ohno or Jun brought her over, wouldn’t she be sleeping in one of their beds? Also, Ohno and Jun aren’t supposed to be back till this evening. Their ship was delayed because of some ice storm that’s going on in Norway.”
Walking over to the bed, Sho looked down at the girl. Her face was partially obscured by the pillow she was sleeping on so he couldn’t see exactly what she looked like. Trying to figure out how to wake her up without freaking her out, he lightly tugged on the blanket.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” he whispered softly. Moving his hand from the blanket, he tapped her head lightly. Before he was able to do anything else, he felt Nino grab his hand and pull him back.
“Get back here! She could have a weapon or something!”
“Nino, she’s sleeping.”
“You never know, she cou-”
“Shut up! I think she’s waking up!”
“Umm, not to be rude or anything, but who the fuck are you?”
“Nino! That was very rude!” Sho replied, crossing his arms while giving his friend a side glare.
“I don’t really give a fuck! She broke into our home, and she was sleeping in my bed! What if she’s a serial killer?”
“Nino-”
“You know what, I was watching the news the other night, and apparently some chick broke into someone’s house and fucked up their house and ate their food. They found her sleeping in their bed, and the wife thought her husband was cheating on her, so she tried to cut off his d-“
“NINO, THAT’S ENOUGH!” yelled Sho. He had to admit, though, that Nino was right-this situation was completely abnormal. The girl was cute, though, not to mention harmless, so he didn’t want to write her off completely just yet.
Besides, it wasn’t easy, being stuck in a house with four other guys. Three, now that Aiba had left to save Princess Becky of Netherlands. She went into a coma and put her entire kingdom to sleep, he heard, by pricking her finger. Aiba left, positive he could save her. Sho wished he could have gone with him.
Then again, as he looked at the girl in Nino’s bed, he was sort of happy he didn’t.
“Don’t yell at me, Sho! I don’t want my dick cut off! This bitch could be crazy. I mean, who the fuck goes into some stranger’s house and sleeps in their bed?” Nino said, his eyes not leaving the girl in his bed.
“Well, she did clean up, right? At least there’s that.”
“Why is she sleeping in my bed, though? She could have slept in your bed. Or Jun’s. At least that would’ve been funny. I’d pay five dollars to see Jun’s reaction to that.”
“Maybe your bed was small enough for her.”
“Okay, so first of all, fuck you. Second of all, clearly you’re not as smart as everyone thinks you are because wouldn’t that mean that she could fit into ALL OF OUR BEDS IF MINE WAS THE SMALLEST?!? And third of all, fuck you.”
Maki still wasn’t able to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but she tried to adjust her vision as she watched the two men argue in front of her. She was in their house, she remembered, but she knew that she still wasn’t completely safe just yet. Her stepmother wouldn’t give up that easily.
She had always known that her stepmother never liked her, but she never expected that she’d hate her enough to have some random hunter try to kill her and then bring back her heart back as some type of souvenir. Pardon her language, but that was some seriously fucked up shit.
When she had gotten away, she had walked for quite some time until she stumbled upon this small house in the middle of the woods. Common courtesy usually wouldn’t have her entering the house of a complete stranger, but the fear of being found again, and the hunger and exhaustion, prompted her to do so. She had told herself that she’d just clean herself up, maybe take a quick nap, but she had given up to exhaustion the moment her head hit the pillow.
Even though she was a little frightened, she wasn’t really worried about these men physically hurting her. It did help that she knew she could probably take them both if needed. As a young child she was full of energy, so her dad put her in self-defense classes in hopes of calming her down. They were both average in height, pretty good-looking, and both on the skinny side. She had figured that the shorter one was Nino, and the taller one was Sho, based on the conversation that she had just heard.
“Um,” she spoke up, causing the two men to stop their argument to look at her. “I’m sorry for breaking into your house. I didn’t have anywhere to go. I promise to leave right away, but please don’t call the police on me. I didn’t touch or steal anything, and I can assure you that I won’t cut off your penises.”
“We’re not going to call the police on you, don’t worry. Why are you here, though?” Sho replied, slowly walking towards her. “Sorry, would you mind if I grabbed my jacket? It’s on the chair next to you,” he whispered as he slowly made his way over to the bed.
Maki looked up at Sho, taking in his appearance. He was definitely very attractive, and up close he didn’t appear skinny at all. In fact, she could see how defined his abs were underneath his T-shirt, and the only thing she could think of was how much she wanted to run her hands over his chest. “Yeah, go ahead,” she replied, blushing but not looking away.
“You guys are disgusting. I want you both to know that,” Nino said, grimacing at the two. “You never told us why you were here, though.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Maki replied, looking over at Nino. “I had a disagreement with my stepmother.”
“What kind of disagreement?” Nino replied, raising an eyebrow.
“The kind where she tried to kill me by asking a hunter to take me away and bring back my heart as proof that I am actually dead,” Maki murmured, staring at Nino intensely, hoping that can convince him.
Nino stared back at her, seemingly in shock. “Oh…okay then. Sho, side bar. Right now!” He grabbed Sho’s hand and dragged him to the other side of the room before he could get a reply.
“She has to go, Sho. I don’t care how horny she makes you feel! I don’t want crazy coming into our house. We moved far away just to get away from all that!”
“We can’t just let her leave,” Sho whispered. “You heard what she just said. You think her stepmother won’t realize soon enough that she’s not really dead? She’s definitely going to find her again and make sure she’s dead!”
“Exactly!” Nino interrupted. “If she’s willing to kill her own stepdaughter, what makes you think she would care about us? She’d have no problem killing us, too!”
“Could you not think about yourself for one moment? Someone is trying to KILL HER! If something happens to her, I don’t want that on my conscience.” Sho was getting really agitated. How could he let her go out there on her own when her stepmother was trying to kill her?
“Oh, whatever! You’re only saying all this because you have the hots for her!” Nino whispered. “I get it, honestly I do,” he said, holding his hands up. “We haven’t been with anyone in forever! You’re not the only one who’s sexually frustrated. Fuck, I had a sex dream about Pikachu last night! I know your frustration. Why do you think Aiba left in order to ‘save his princess’? ‘Cause he has a heart of gold? No, it’s because he was HORNY! But that doesn’t mean you should risk your life for a vagina!”
“Umm, I can hear you guys,” Maki said, and the two jumped. “You’re less than two feet away from me, and you’re not really whispering. But I can assure you that I won’t be having sex with either of you two. I would greatly appreciate you letting me stay, but I’m no slut. I’ll find a place eventually and I’m not really interested in getting any dick.”
Nino stared at Maki who stared right back. Neither of the two blinked, almost as if they were challenging each other.
Sho laughed nervously and proceeded to explain himself. “Uh…no…haha… You misunderstood…uhhh… What he meant to say-“
“You can stay,” Nino said, still staring at Maki.
Sho turned to stare at Nino as if he’d grown two heads.
“Thank you,” Maki replied, turning to look at Sho. He looked severely constipated, but she just assumed that he was shocked. Thinking of ways to ease the awkward tension, she thought of something that she could do to show her appreciation for letting her stay. “I know how to cook. Would you like me to make you guys something to eat?”
“You don’t have to,” Sho quickly replied. “Why don’t you rest some more?”
“Actually, Sho, if she cooks something, it might convince Jun into letting her stay. Ohno probably wouldn’t notice, anyway, but you might have to bribe Jun.” Nino grabbed his jacket as he made his way towards the door. “I’m going for a walk. Why don’t the two of you get better acquainted with each other? I’ll be back in time for dinner.” Smirking, Nino winked at Sho before slamming the door shut.
Sho looked over at Maki, who was still in bed. “Do you want to wash up? The bathroom’s down the hallway. It’s the second door to your left. We don’t have any girl clothes, but I think I could find something of mine that might fit you?”
Maki blushed and slowly nodded as she got up and made her way to the bathroom. She didn’t have much experience with the opposite sex, but she knew a handsome man when she saw one.
After washing up, she made her way towards the kitchen. Looking through the cabinets, she made sure she had all the ingredients that she needed to make dinner. Grabbing the ingredients, she made her way towards the counter only to hear someone clear their throats behind her. Expecting to find Sho, she turned around only to be met with two unfamiliar faces. Assuming these two men were the same ones that were mentioned earlier, she slowly smiled at them.
“Hello, my name’s Maki,” she said softly, bowing her head.
“Hello, my name’s Ohno, and this is Jun. Sorry if I’m being rude, but do we know you? Are you a friend of Nino’s or Sho’s?”
Before she could answer, she saw Sho making his way into the kitchen. “You could say that she’s a friend of mine,” Sho said for her. “Actually, I was wondering if it would be okay with the two of you if she stayed with us for a bit? She doesn’t have a place to stay or any money, so would it be okay if she crashed with us for a while? I already got an okay from Nino, but I wanted to make sure it would be okay with the two of you. She cooks, so you guys will get some decent meals out of this. Please?” He stared at Jun with pleading eyes. He wasn’t too worried about Ohno; it was Jun he was more concerned about. Ohno pretty much liked everyone, but Jun could be bitchier than Nino at times.
Shrugging, Jun looked over at Sho. “Whatever. We have an extra bed ever since Aiba left, so why not?” He stared at Maki for a second. “The only rule that I have is that you don’t touch my stuff. If you can do something as simple as that, then there won’t be any problems.”
“Thank you so much, Jun,” Maki replied, smiling widely at him. “I promise not to touch anything of yours, or anyone else’s for that matter.”
“Can you make me a pie?” Ohno asked hopefully. “If you do that, you can stay here forever, if you’d like.”
“Of course I can make you a pie,” Maki said chuckling softly, turning her head to see Sho smiling softly at her. This wasn’t going to be too bad, she thought.
It had been a couple of weeks since she had arrived, and she was slowly starting to get used to everyone’s schedules. The four of them would leave for work way before she woke up and come home before sunset. She would often have dinner ready for them by the time they got back and would keep herself busy by tidying up the house throughout the day.
This particular day, something was off. She had been feeling weird the entire day, but she couldn’t figure out why. It was almost as if her sixth sense was telling her that something bad was about to happen.
Making her way to the kitchen, she set about making dinner. Before she was able to grab her apron, she heard a knock at the door. She was surprised and a little nervous because they didn’t really get many visitors here. Their house was in the middle of nowhere; it wasn’t often that they would get travelers.
Slowly making her way towards the door, she glanced through the side window, only to be met with the face of an old woman looking back at her. She jumped back, startled, but once she realized that the lady didn’t seem too harmless she opened the door.
“Hello, can I help you?” Maki stared at lady in front of her. Something seemed off, but she shrugged it off. An old lady wouldn’t hurt her.
“Sorry to be a bother, but I’m a little lost.”
“Would you like to come in?” Maki replied, opening the door just a little bit.
“Oh, no, would you be able to tell me the direction to the nearest town? I’m selling these apples that I grew in my garden, but I’m not really familiar with the area. I was trying to find the market but got lost along the way.”
Smiling, Maki nodded. “Yes, you have to follow the same yellow brick road that you were on just now. Once you reach the end of it, you should be there.”
“Oh, thank you so much, I really appreciate all the help. Would you like an apple? It’s all I have at the moment.” The old lady grabbed an apple from her basket and handed it over to her.
“Thank you so much! I hope you get there soon and safely. But be careful to stay on the yellow brick road. There’s a rumor that some strange beast is wandering about in the forest. Apparently, he‘s some prince who was cursed by some witch for being arrogant. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but please be careful.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“No problem. I’m sorry for not asking earlier, but what’s your name?”
The old lady slowly smiled. “That won’t matter soon enough.” She smiled and bowed her head, turning around to leave.
Frowning, Maki closed the door and peeked out the window. Watching the old lady leave, she made her way back to the kitchen. Juggling the apple between her hands, she had an odd feeling that something was wrong. But she ignored it, slowly raising the apple towards her face and taking a bite.
The next thing she knew was a sudden rush of pain throughout her body before she saw complete darkness.
Sho stared at Maki as she lay in bed. He had felt horrible since they found her passed out on the ground when they came back home. The only thing that made him feel slightly better was the fact that she still had a heartbeat. Slowly raising his arm, he let fingers gently caress her face before getting up and joining everyone else in the kitchen.
“Who takes food from a stranger? Isn’t that something you learn when you’re a baby? Don’t talk to strangers?!” Nino wailed, pacing back and forth. “And why is Jun taking so long to get back? We don’t live too far away from the Wizard. It shouldn’t be taking him this long. I swear, it’s been like four hours since he left.”
“Don’t worry, Nino,” Ohno whispered, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down Nino’s arms. “He should be back anytime now.”
Just as he said that, they heard the door open, and Jun entered. “I’m back. Sorry it took me so long. There were a lot of people in Oz today. I spoke with the Wizard, and he said that the only way to wake her up is if her true love kisses her.”
Sho glanced over at Maki with a frown. He didn’t necessarily believe in “true love”, nor did he believe that he was in love with Maki just yet. He did like her a lot but not enough to say that they were in love.
Making his way towards her bed, he gazed down at her. She seemed so peaceful, almost as if she were sleeping. Brushing her hair with his fingers, he knelt down so that they were face to face. He could honestly say that he has never seen someone as beautiful as her. Leaning in slowly, he softly brushed his lips against hers.
As he was pulling back he felt two arms wrap around his shoulders. Smiling softly, he pressed his lips harder against hers. He might not be in love with her just yet, but he could feel himself falling into it with each second that passed by.
~~~*~~~
“Maki, could you hand me the wet wipes?” Sho asked, adjusting the sleeping baby in his hands so that he could wipe the drool off her face.
“Sure, could you hand me the bottle?” Maki rubbed the infant’s back, trying to pacify her, but failing. “I don’t know how this happened! Weren’t we supposed to be going out tonight?”
“Apparently it’s supposed to help ‘train’ us when our baby comes along. Well, that’s what Aiba said, but I’m almost positive he just wanted some alone time with Becky.”
Rolling her eyes, Maki grabbed the bottle out of Sho’s hand.
“We just found out I was pregnant 3 days ago! I’m pretty sure we have plenty of time to prepare ourselves.”
“Yeah, you try telling Aiba that. Right after I told him the news, he handed these two over to me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love them! They’re probably the most well-behaved babies I’ve ever seen, but I was not planning on spending my night babysitting his twins!”
Sighing, Maki tried to lay the baby down in her crib. Once she managed to do that, she walked up to Sho, pecking him on the lips before taking the sleeping baby into her arms. Rubbing his fingers between her hands, she softly smiled to herself.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, “maybe we do need this.”
Grabbing his hand, she placed it on her belly. “I’m not going to lie, I am kind of nervous about this. What if we can’t do this? What if we’re not capable of being good parents?”
“Maki, look at me.” Sho lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. “We’ll be fine. So much weird shit has happened this past year that having a baby will probably be a piece of cake. I promise you, we’ll be fine.” Lowering his head, Sho softly pressed his lips onto hers. Moving back, he looked deep into her eyes almost as if he were trying to comfort her with them.
“Together we can do anything, Maki. I might not be the richest, strongest or best-looking man alive, but I’ll try my hardest to be the best man for you. That’s my promise to you. I just need for you to believe in me. Can you do that for me?”
Nodding her head, Maki leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulders.
“We’re going to be fine, right, Maki?”
“Yeah, we are.”
From: cupid_johnny
Title: Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Pairings: Maki/Sho, implied Aiba/Becky
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Summary: I suck at summaries, but it’s based upon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (if you didn’t catch that from the title). (P.S. Can you catch all the other fairytale/movie references that I made?) Beta’d by the lovely boku_no_yuuki! Thank you so much for everything! I hope you enjoy it frostbittenlove!
“Who’s that?” asked Sho, pointing at the girl in Nino’s bed.
“How the hell should I know?” Nino said, taking a step towards the bed before changing his mind and moving towards Sho almost as if he was using him as a shield.
“Well, for starters, she’s sleeping in your bed.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know her. Maybe she’s a friend of Jun’s? He’s been complaining about this place being a sausage fest for quite some time. Maybe he finally got it in?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” murmured Sho, turning to face Nino. “For starters, she’s sleeping in your bed. If Ohno or Jun brought her over, wouldn’t she be sleeping in one of their beds? Also, Ohno and Jun aren’t supposed to be back till this evening. Their ship was delayed because of some ice storm that’s going on in Norway.”
Walking over to the bed, Sho looked down at the girl. Her face was partially obscured by the pillow she was sleeping on so he couldn’t see exactly what she looked like. Trying to figure out how to wake her up without freaking her out, he lightly tugged on the blanket.
“Excuse me, ma’am?” he whispered softly. Moving his hand from the blanket, he tapped her head lightly. Before he was able to do anything else, he felt Nino grab his hand and pull him back.
“Get back here! She could have a weapon or something!”
“Nino, she’s sleeping.”
“You never know, she cou-”
“Shut up! I think she’s waking up!”
“Umm, not to be rude or anything, but who the fuck are you?”
“Nino! That was very rude!” Sho replied, crossing his arms while giving his friend a side glare.
“I don’t really give a fuck! She broke into our home, and she was sleeping in my bed! What if she’s a serial killer?”
“Nino-”
“You know what, I was watching the news the other night, and apparently some chick broke into someone’s house and fucked up their house and ate their food. They found her sleeping in their bed, and the wife thought her husband was cheating on her, so she tried to cut off his d-“
“NINO, THAT’S ENOUGH!” yelled Sho. He had to admit, though, that Nino was right-this situation was completely abnormal. The girl was cute, though, not to mention harmless, so he didn’t want to write her off completely just yet.
Besides, it wasn’t easy, being stuck in a house with four other guys. Three, now that Aiba had left to save Princess Becky of Netherlands. She went into a coma and put her entire kingdom to sleep, he heard, by pricking her finger. Aiba left, positive he could save her. Sho wished he could have gone with him.
Then again, as he looked at the girl in Nino’s bed, he was sort of happy he didn’t.
“Don’t yell at me, Sho! I don’t want my dick cut off! This bitch could be crazy. I mean, who the fuck goes into some stranger’s house and sleeps in their bed?” Nino said, his eyes not leaving the girl in his bed.
“Well, she did clean up, right? At least there’s that.”
“Why is she sleeping in my bed, though? She could have slept in your bed. Or Jun’s. At least that would’ve been funny. I’d pay five dollars to see Jun’s reaction to that.”
“Maybe your bed was small enough for her.”
“Okay, so first of all, fuck you. Second of all, clearly you’re not as smart as everyone thinks you are because wouldn’t that mean that she could fit into ALL OF OUR BEDS IF MINE WAS THE SMALLEST?!? And third of all, fuck you.”
Maki still wasn’t able to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but she tried to adjust her vision as she watched the two men argue in front of her. She was in their house, she remembered, but she knew that she still wasn’t completely safe just yet. Her stepmother wouldn’t give up that easily.
She had always known that her stepmother never liked her, but she never expected that she’d hate her enough to have some random hunter try to kill her and then bring back her heart back as some type of souvenir. Pardon her language, but that was some seriously fucked up shit.
When she had gotten away, she had walked for quite some time until she stumbled upon this small house in the middle of the woods. Common courtesy usually wouldn’t have her entering the house of a complete stranger, but the fear of being found again, and the hunger and exhaustion, prompted her to do so. She had told herself that she’d just clean herself up, maybe take a quick nap, but she had given up to exhaustion the moment her head hit the pillow.
Even though she was a little frightened, she wasn’t really worried about these men physically hurting her. It did help that she knew she could probably take them both if needed. As a young child she was full of energy, so her dad put her in self-defense classes in hopes of calming her down. They were both average in height, pretty good-looking, and both on the skinny side. She had figured that the shorter one was Nino, and the taller one was Sho, based on the conversation that she had just heard.
“Um,” she spoke up, causing the two men to stop their argument to look at her. “I’m sorry for breaking into your house. I didn’t have anywhere to go. I promise to leave right away, but please don’t call the police on me. I didn’t touch or steal anything, and I can assure you that I won’t cut off your penises.”
“We’re not going to call the police on you, don’t worry. Why are you here, though?” Sho replied, slowly walking towards her. “Sorry, would you mind if I grabbed my jacket? It’s on the chair next to you,” he whispered as he slowly made his way over to the bed.
Maki looked up at Sho, taking in his appearance. He was definitely very attractive, and up close he didn’t appear skinny at all. In fact, she could see how defined his abs were underneath his T-shirt, and the only thing she could think of was how much she wanted to run her hands over his chest. “Yeah, go ahead,” she replied, blushing but not looking away.
“You guys are disgusting. I want you both to know that,” Nino said, grimacing at the two. “You never told us why you were here, though.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Maki replied, looking over at Nino. “I had a disagreement with my stepmother.”
“What kind of disagreement?” Nino replied, raising an eyebrow.
“The kind where she tried to kill me by asking a hunter to take me away and bring back my heart as proof that I am actually dead,” Maki murmured, staring at Nino intensely, hoping that can convince him.
Nino stared back at her, seemingly in shock. “Oh…okay then. Sho, side bar. Right now!” He grabbed Sho’s hand and dragged him to the other side of the room before he could get a reply.
“She has to go, Sho. I don’t care how horny she makes you feel! I don’t want crazy coming into our house. We moved far away just to get away from all that!”
“We can’t just let her leave,” Sho whispered. “You heard what she just said. You think her stepmother won’t realize soon enough that she’s not really dead? She’s definitely going to find her again and make sure she’s dead!”
“Exactly!” Nino interrupted. “If she’s willing to kill her own stepdaughter, what makes you think she would care about us? She’d have no problem killing us, too!”
“Could you not think about yourself for one moment? Someone is trying to KILL HER! If something happens to her, I don’t want that on my conscience.” Sho was getting really agitated. How could he let her go out there on her own when her stepmother was trying to kill her?
“Oh, whatever! You’re only saying all this because you have the hots for her!” Nino whispered. “I get it, honestly I do,” he said, holding his hands up. “We haven’t been with anyone in forever! You’re not the only one who’s sexually frustrated. Fuck, I had a sex dream about Pikachu last night! I know your frustration. Why do you think Aiba left in order to ‘save his princess’? ‘Cause he has a heart of gold? No, it’s because he was HORNY! But that doesn’t mean you should risk your life for a vagina!”
“Umm, I can hear you guys,” Maki said, and the two jumped. “You’re less than two feet away from me, and you’re not really whispering. But I can assure you that I won’t be having sex with either of you two. I would greatly appreciate you letting me stay, but I’m no slut. I’ll find a place eventually and I’m not really interested in getting any dick.”
Nino stared at Maki who stared right back. Neither of the two blinked, almost as if they were challenging each other.
Sho laughed nervously and proceeded to explain himself. “Uh…no…haha… You misunderstood…uhhh… What he meant to say-“
“You can stay,” Nino said, still staring at Maki.
Sho turned to stare at Nino as if he’d grown two heads.
“Thank you,” Maki replied, turning to look at Sho. He looked severely constipated, but she just assumed that he was shocked. Thinking of ways to ease the awkward tension, she thought of something that she could do to show her appreciation for letting her stay. “I know how to cook. Would you like me to make you guys something to eat?”
“You don’t have to,” Sho quickly replied. “Why don’t you rest some more?”
“Actually, Sho, if she cooks something, it might convince Jun into letting her stay. Ohno probably wouldn’t notice, anyway, but you might have to bribe Jun.” Nino grabbed his jacket as he made his way towards the door. “I’m going for a walk. Why don’t the two of you get better acquainted with each other? I’ll be back in time for dinner.” Smirking, Nino winked at Sho before slamming the door shut.
Sho looked over at Maki, who was still in bed. “Do you want to wash up? The bathroom’s down the hallway. It’s the second door to your left. We don’t have any girl clothes, but I think I could find something of mine that might fit you?”
Maki blushed and slowly nodded as she got up and made her way to the bathroom. She didn’t have much experience with the opposite sex, but she knew a handsome man when she saw one.
After washing up, she made her way towards the kitchen. Looking through the cabinets, she made sure she had all the ingredients that she needed to make dinner. Grabbing the ingredients, she made her way towards the counter only to hear someone clear their throats behind her. Expecting to find Sho, she turned around only to be met with two unfamiliar faces. Assuming these two men were the same ones that were mentioned earlier, she slowly smiled at them.
“Hello, my name’s Maki,” she said softly, bowing her head.
“Hello, my name’s Ohno, and this is Jun. Sorry if I’m being rude, but do we know you? Are you a friend of Nino’s or Sho’s?”
Before she could answer, she saw Sho making his way into the kitchen. “You could say that she’s a friend of mine,” Sho said for her. “Actually, I was wondering if it would be okay with the two of you if she stayed with us for a bit? She doesn’t have a place to stay or any money, so would it be okay if she crashed with us for a while? I already got an okay from Nino, but I wanted to make sure it would be okay with the two of you. She cooks, so you guys will get some decent meals out of this. Please?” He stared at Jun with pleading eyes. He wasn’t too worried about Ohno; it was Jun he was more concerned about. Ohno pretty much liked everyone, but Jun could be bitchier than Nino at times.
Shrugging, Jun looked over at Sho. “Whatever. We have an extra bed ever since Aiba left, so why not?” He stared at Maki for a second. “The only rule that I have is that you don’t touch my stuff. If you can do something as simple as that, then there won’t be any problems.”
“Thank you so much, Jun,” Maki replied, smiling widely at him. “I promise not to touch anything of yours, or anyone else’s for that matter.”
“Can you make me a pie?” Ohno asked hopefully. “If you do that, you can stay here forever, if you’d like.”
“Of course I can make you a pie,” Maki said chuckling softly, turning her head to see Sho smiling softly at her. This wasn’t going to be too bad, she thought.
It had been a couple of weeks since she had arrived, and she was slowly starting to get used to everyone’s schedules. The four of them would leave for work way before she woke up and come home before sunset. She would often have dinner ready for them by the time they got back and would keep herself busy by tidying up the house throughout the day.
This particular day, something was off. She had been feeling weird the entire day, but she couldn’t figure out why. It was almost as if her sixth sense was telling her that something bad was about to happen.
Making her way to the kitchen, she set about making dinner. Before she was able to grab her apron, she heard a knock at the door. She was surprised and a little nervous because they didn’t really get many visitors here. Their house was in the middle of nowhere; it wasn’t often that they would get travelers.
Slowly making her way towards the door, she glanced through the side window, only to be met with the face of an old woman looking back at her. She jumped back, startled, but once she realized that the lady didn’t seem too harmless she opened the door.
“Hello, can I help you?” Maki stared at lady in front of her. Something seemed off, but she shrugged it off. An old lady wouldn’t hurt her.
“Sorry to be a bother, but I’m a little lost.”
“Would you like to come in?” Maki replied, opening the door just a little bit.
“Oh, no, would you be able to tell me the direction to the nearest town? I’m selling these apples that I grew in my garden, but I’m not really familiar with the area. I was trying to find the market but got lost along the way.”
Smiling, Maki nodded. “Yes, you have to follow the same yellow brick road that you were on just now. Once you reach the end of it, you should be there.”
“Oh, thank you so much, I really appreciate all the help. Would you like an apple? It’s all I have at the moment.” The old lady grabbed an apple from her basket and handed it over to her.
“Thank you so much! I hope you get there soon and safely. But be careful to stay on the yellow brick road. There’s a rumor that some strange beast is wandering about in the forest. Apparently, he‘s some prince who was cursed by some witch for being arrogant. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but please be careful.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“No problem. I’m sorry for not asking earlier, but what’s your name?”
The old lady slowly smiled. “That won’t matter soon enough.” She smiled and bowed her head, turning around to leave.
Frowning, Maki closed the door and peeked out the window. Watching the old lady leave, she made her way back to the kitchen. Juggling the apple between her hands, she had an odd feeling that something was wrong. But she ignored it, slowly raising the apple towards her face and taking a bite.
The next thing she knew was a sudden rush of pain throughout her body before she saw complete darkness.
Sho stared at Maki as she lay in bed. He had felt horrible since they found her passed out on the ground when they came back home. The only thing that made him feel slightly better was the fact that she still had a heartbeat. Slowly raising his arm, he let fingers gently caress her face before getting up and joining everyone else in the kitchen.
“Who takes food from a stranger? Isn’t that something you learn when you’re a baby? Don’t talk to strangers?!” Nino wailed, pacing back and forth. “And why is Jun taking so long to get back? We don’t live too far away from the Wizard. It shouldn’t be taking him this long. I swear, it’s been like four hours since he left.”
“Don’t worry, Nino,” Ohno whispered, rubbing his hands soothingly up and down Nino’s arms. “He should be back anytime now.”
Just as he said that, they heard the door open, and Jun entered. “I’m back. Sorry it took me so long. There were a lot of people in Oz today. I spoke with the Wizard, and he said that the only way to wake her up is if her true love kisses her.”
Sho glanced over at Maki with a frown. He didn’t necessarily believe in “true love”, nor did he believe that he was in love with Maki just yet. He did like her a lot but not enough to say that they were in love.
Making his way towards her bed, he gazed down at her. She seemed so peaceful, almost as if she were sleeping. Brushing her hair with his fingers, he knelt down so that they were face to face. He could honestly say that he has never seen someone as beautiful as her. Leaning in slowly, he softly brushed his lips against hers.
As he was pulling back he felt two arms wrap around his shoulders. Smiling softly, he pressed his lips harder against hers. He might not be in love with her just yet, but he could feel himself falling into it with each second that passed by.
~~~*~~~
“Maki, could you hand me the wet wipes?” Sho asked, adjusting the sleeping baby in his hands so that he could wipe the drool off her face.
“Sure, could you hand me the bottle?” Maki rubbed the infant’s back, trying to pacify her, but failing. “I don’t know how this happened! Weren’t we supposed to be going out tonight?”
“Apparently it’s supposed to help ‘train’ us when our baby comes along. Well, that’s what Aiba said, but I’m almost positive he just wanted some alone time with Becky.”
Rolling her eyes, Maki grabbed the bottle out of Sho’s hand.
“We just found out I was pregnant 3 days ago! I’m pretty sure we have plenty of time to prepare ourselves.”
“Yeah, you try telling Aiba that. Right after I told him the news, he handed these two over to me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love them! They’re probably the most well-behaved babies I’ve ever seen, but I was not planning on spending my night babysitting his twins!”
Sighing, Maki tried to lay the baby down in her crib. Once she managed to do that, she walked up to Sho, pecking him on the lips before taking the sleeping baby into her arms. Rubbing his fingers between her hands, she softly smiled to herself.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, “maybe we do need this.”
Grabbing his hand, she placed it on her belly. “I’m not going to lie, I am kind of nervous about this. What if we can’t do this? What if we’re not capable of being good parents?”
“Maki, look at me.” Sho lifted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. “We’ll be fine. So much weird shit has happened this past year that having a baby will probably be a piece of cake. I promise you, we’ll be fine.” Lowering his head, Sho softly pressed his lips onto hers. Moving back, he looked deep into her eyes almost as if he were trying to comfort her with them.
“Together we can do anything, Maki. I might not be the richest, strongest or best-looking man alive, but I’ll try my hardest to be the best man for you. That’s my promise to you. I just need for you to believe in me. Can you do that for me?”
Nodding her head, Maki leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulders.
“We’re going to be fine, right, Maki?”
“Yeah, we are.”