Technical Difficulties (Brother's Conflict)

Chapter 11!

The night passed by uneventfully, at least only accompanied by a bit more teasing than usual because it was the longest she'd spent with Nageki in some time. Both of them groaned when Mei's alarm went off, extremely early for Nageki's tastes, but she needed time to look presentable. Nageki was closest to the bedside table with her phone, so he fumbled around to turn it off with the arm that wasn't wrapped around the girl laying on his chest. 

Despite the alarm being meant for Mei, the half asleep girl opted instead to make some odd noise between a sigh and an upset cat and snuggle in impossibly closer to Nageki. He tried to shift to get a better look at her and succeeded, though it elicited mumbled curses from the girl as her pillow refused to stay still. Nageki's phone was in his hand within seconds, allowing him to take a picture of Mei who had the blanket half on her head as she hugged his torso with a cute frown on her face from annoyance. Upon hearing the sound of his phone taking a picture, Mei finally began to slowly open her eyes, blinking furiously at the ray of light that happened to land on her face from a crack in the curtains. 

"..the hell you take a picture of?" Mei glared at him, although it didn't mean much with her overly cute features, instead of intimidating it seemed quite endearing to Nageki. 

Nageki stared right back at her before taking a picture of the unhappy face she was making at him, now right in front of her eyes. Mei's glare hardened further as she went to grab his phone and delete the picture, Nageki suddenly moving quickly to bring it out of her reach even though he always moved lethargically after sleeping. "Delete it."

"No, it's a treasure to me."

"Delete it." She swiped for the phone again, this time trying to sit up a bit for it only to end up missing and falling back down on Nageki's chest, her face much closer to his than it had been before, though neither seemed flustered.

"You'd have to kill me first."

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After some time wrestling in bed to try and take Nageki's phone, Mei had given up and was now going about her routine of makeup and hair to get ready for the wedding. Nageki was taking a shower, his bathroom accommodating the both of them since the shower and tub were off behind a seperate door. It was times like this when Mei questioned how much money this apartment must cost and what his second job could be that a part time manga editor can afford such a place, but she never asked since it seemed rude. 

Mei was humming absentmindedly under her breath as she finished her makeup, moving on to her hair. She was having trouble, however, getting the right angle for the braids that would be coming from both sides of her head and meeting at a low off center bun in the back. It was about then that Nageki casually walked out of the shower, his hair still dripping wet, a towel draped over his head and shoulders, and only a pair of loose shorts hanging on his well built frame. He rubbed the towel on his wet mop of hair absentmindedly while watching Mei struggle with a hairstyle she had literally done before. "Trouble?"

"It doesn't look right. I don't think I can get the right angle for what I wanted.." She sighed slightly frustrated, realizing that she might have been more stressed about this whole wedding idea than the people who were getting married. She hadn't considered it, how getting practically a third family in her lifetime might have an effect on her mental state, but she just finished her makeup and she wasn't the breakdown type to begin with so she pushed off those thoughts for later.

She was startled out of her thoughts as she felt gentle fingers run through her hair, untangling the remnants of the braid she had given up on. She looked at Nageki's reflection in the mirror she stood in front of, but he wasn't looking at her, a rare small smile was on his face as he carefully arranged her hair the way she had wanted by only picking up on the clues she had left behind in her last attempt. It was rare for her to see him so peaceful, it being somehow different than his usual listless charm. The longer his hands trailed through her hair the harder it was for Mei to fight the urge to close her eyes in a similar peaceful manner, so she didn't. 

"I finished, though I don't particularly mind how much you seem to enjoy my touch." Nageki had leaned in to say such things right next to Mei's ear, startling her out of her trance as she felt her face heat up considerably with a blush. She turned to face him, seeing that the peaceful smile had melted into a playful one as he took the chance to wink at her. 

"I-I was just glad I didn't have to continue screwing it up on my own, don't let it boost your giant ego too much." She turned away in fake annoyance, catching her reflection in the mirror to be much more skilled than she probably could have done. She heard a slight chuckle from behind her but refused to look at his face in the mirror, knowing he was watching her expression through the reflection. 

"Whatever you say." He then left the bathroom, leaving Mei to admire his handiwork for a little while longer even taking notice of the small blue flowers he'd pinned in to match her dress. When he'd found them in her bag was beyond her, but the heat slowly returned to Mei's cheeks as she felt her heart flutter in her chest slightly. She smiled, a genuine small smile that even caught Mei by surprise as she saw it in her reflection.

'Just this once..I'll agree that this is something meant for more than friends..'

"Hey Mei, if you want to put on my tie it's now or never." At Nageki's words from the other room, Mei took one last look in the mirror, smoothing out the light blue fabric of her slightly puffy skirt of her dress. When she left the bathroom now completely ready except for her light blue heels waiting near the door, Nageki seemed to freeze in place where he stood nonchalantly holding his light blue tie with his collar still flipped up out of the way. All that had really changed since he'd last looked at her was that she'd but on some earrings and bracelets, but for Nageki he could tell that the general aura about her was different from usual even though her secret smile was no longer present, and that to him was beautiful. 

Mei approached him casually, taking the tie from his hands and moving to tie it for him. When she leaned forward to have it rest on the back of his neck, she could have sworn for the first time ever she had seen his face flush the tiniest bit. 

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The duo made it out of the apartment even sooner than Mei had originally planned, which was much better than what she had been expecting with how easily he can convince her to sleep in. When they made their way through the lobby they happened to pass by the doorman, Mr. Tanra who looked quite enthusiastic about how well they were dressed. "You two look like you're going to have fun!"

He was an older man, the kind that makes you think of that fun loving grandfather without being as old as one. "Oh Mr. Tanra, thank you for your hard work as always. This idiot is my plus one for a wedding I was invited to, though I'm sure he's just going for the food."

Mei and Tanra shared a laugh while Nageki looked off to the side boredly, wondering how such a normally antisocial person like Mei was able to wrap people around her fingers so easily, Tanra, the entire student body of her school, over half of his editing department..honestly the girl was a mystery even to him. "Well we'll see you around, have a nice day."

"You too Hinata, Mr. Fujiwara." Nageki nodded in acknowledgement as the two made their way out of the building and to his car, where Mei let out a sigh. 

"And that, dear Nageki, is why Mr. Tanra lets me n your building no matter what nonsense you tell him." Nageki rolled his eyes but even he had to admit he was amused by how easily she'd gained Tanra's trust. 

"Let's just get to this wedding already."

"Agreed."