The Baby Project

03~Moving In

"Aahhhhh...brrrrrr...ooooiiiieeee..."

"What are you doing~! Are you making noises~!"

"Gaaahh! Brrrrr!" I let a giggle slip past my lips. Oliver was sitting on the couch facing me, as I was crouched on the floor.

"Ahhh!~" Oliver reaches for my hair and I hand him one of the empty baby bottles to play with. He had surprised me by waking up and wanting to play as soon as we stepped into Naru's apartment. His eyes were a beautiful brown that shone with curiosity as he stared around.

"Brrrr! Ahhh! Grrr!~" I make some of the sounds Oliver had been making for the past ten minutes.

"Mai what are you doing?" A cold voice rings from the door behind me and I freeze. Oliver stops messing with the bottle and looks up at something.

"I was talking with Oliver!" I reply as I quickly stand and pick Oliver up. Turning around I meet Naru's raised brow with a smile.

"You were talking with a baby." I grin.

"Of course Naru! It helps with learning! Supposedly when children are six months along they begin to sound out vowels and constants!" I'm pretty sure my eyes were stars from how excited I was.

"Naaa...rrrrrr...gaahhh!" I smile at this.

"See! He just sounded out your name!" Naru blinks and then steps around me.

"Tea." He demands as he sets his small briefcase on the table next to Oliver's bag. I growl at this and stomp over to him.

"Fine! But you have to watch Oliver while I do so! He keeps reaching for things and I don't want him to reach for something dangerous while he's in the kitchen." I hand Oliver to a surprised narcissist and then storm to the kitchen. When I get there I peek around the door to see what Naru does.

He was holding Oliver at arm's length. I stifle a laugh when he twitches and Oliver squeals, reaching his small hands out for Naru. After glancing around, he brings Oliver closer and let's him grasp at his tie. Oliver begins to make more noises and swings his little fists around. I smile and head into the kitchen, beginning to make tea.

~X-x-X~x-X-x~

"Naru! Your tea collection here sucks!" I whine as I look at the tea bags. Bags! The office has tea leaves and he owns tea bags! What is up with that?!

"If you have a problem with it then you can go but the tea." He walks in and leans against the wall, holding a curious Oliver.

"Oh I will! This is the sad, cheap, tea that costs only ¥100!" I exclaim as I set the tea bags in the boiling water to steep. Naru rolls his eyes and I laugh. As I take the bags of the tea, and then add some honey and lemon juice.

"Is that what you normally add?" Grinning, I shake my head.

"Nope. I add different stuff to different tea. Any other questions for me?" I was hoping he said yes. I loved talking with him like this. He was open and didn't seem aware of it, seemed...more human.

"Yes. Earlier you were singing an English lullaby perfectly. How?" His eyes were narrowed at me. I smile sadly and set the tea down at the table, taking Oliver from Naru as I am pummeled by memories.

"My mother used to sing it to me. When she was sick, she and I would sing it together. I guess it just became second-hand to me." I shrug as I grab a wooden spoon from a drawer by the stove and give it to Oliver. I decide to make a very stupid move right then.

"You're being very talkative today." Biting my lip, I sit down and arrange Oliver in my arms. Naru stills. For the rest of the night he didn't speak, just grabbed a book written in English and read.