I rubbed my nose against his.
Aaah, so cute! It’s so cute when he lets me do things like this!

[Hint: Say exactly that out loud.]
Eh? Hmm, alright…

I continued keeping him close, my fingers wrapped around his. He was back to being relaxed, not resisting me pasting tiny kisses on the tip of his nose, his cheeks or his lips.

“It’s adorable when you let me do this”, I purred. “Because you look kinda pleased, like a cat lying in the sunshine.”
Especially the way he lowers his eyes and exhales lightly.

Mizuki clicked his tongue.
“Shut up. Are you that into me being docile?”
“I’m into it when it’s with me. With everyone else, I love seeing you snap at them. You’re beautiful even when you’re angry.”

There I was, back to being covered in comic-like hearts and purring. No matter how you look at it, I’m the indulgent and smitten husband. There’s absolutely no way to deny that. I would love him, no matter how he acted, as long as he would be by my side.
I would do everything to make sure that he's never uncomfortable or mad.

Which reminds me, another topic that I want to make sure of, since the system’s opinion always make me a bit insecure…

“Uh, on the topic of you being angry…”
I could see the resigned annoyance in his eyes rising again. I laughed uncomfortably.
“Ehehe…”

“One more question and you owe me something.”
“Sure! Sounds like a deal!” Wouldn’t deny him anything, anyway. 

Mizuki nodded, satisfied, which was also the sign for me to ask. I debated on fleeing out of biting reach, but how much worse was this question compared to the rest of our conversation? No real difference.
...Mmmmaybe.

“Were you actually angry when I didn't listen to you on slowing down…?”

The system’s part that shows me his preferences says ‘rough’ in bold letters. I’m pretty sure it’s in bold just because I’m not quite believing it yet. The point is that I have no problem - at all! - fulfilling that preference, but while I dared to gamble in him not being seriously angry at me before, I wanted to have it clear.

His face fell into what I can only describe as an ‘You annoying, little fucker’-expression. With a blush that hadn’t vanished up until now.

“Are you asking me embarrassing questions on purpose because you like seeing me awkward?”, he retorted. I cleared my throat.

“No, those are actually questions I worry about. Can’t say your embarrassed face isn’t a wonderful side-effect, though. Ow.”

He hit me.

We had a staring contest for a while during which he probably weighed the pros and cons of answering me.

“You wanna know?”

I bobbed my head.
“Wanna know.”

“Worried I might really be mad about it if you did it again?”
“Very. I don’t want to misunderstand anything.”
“Then I won’t tell you right now.”

Eeeeeeeeh… I pulled a face and he turned his away with a smug ‘hmpf’.

“Since I’m staying over today, I’ll tell you if you manage to not do anything that pisses me off until midnight.”
“...You’re staying over today?”

How come I didn’t know about that? I mean, I was happy and everything, but-

“I gotta see your family sometime anyway and there’s no fucking way I’m going home when it’s obvious that I’ve taken a shower.”

Oh. I get your point.

Still… Meeting my family…-

“Hey, wait, why are you saying ‘not piss you off until midnight’ like it’s a hard thing to accomplish?”
“You always piss me off when you’ve got that grin when you’re teasing me.”

Oh fuck. It’s cause I like suddenly tickling him or pushing him down for a kiss and the like. That definitely counts as teasing. But damn, you can't fault me when he's ticklish as heck and the sound of him trying to stifle his giggles is just plain cute!
I can't keep my hands off cuddling him when it makes me that happy!

I stared at the ceiling.
“Guess I gotta keep a meter distance from you if I want that question answered.”
“Yep.”

So I said I’d keep my distance and I did. For hours. It was painful, but I showed him some more games we played together and we watched a movie and then went to laze downstairs so we’d hear my family coming.

In the late evening, Haru hopped in accompanied by my parents, who had fetched her from some manga event. I heard the thump of easily a dozen heavy bags.

“I’m back~”, she sang loudly, skipping around the corner and then sighting Mizuki on the sofa next to me. And squealed. And slapped her hands in front of her mouth to hide a huge grin.

“Hi. Didn’t expect you to be still here”, she said in an unnaturally high, squeaky pitch. I groaned.

“Thought I’d say 'hi' to the fujoshi sister”, Mizuki amusedly answered. Haru looked quite happy at that.

“Taizou’s a real darling, Riku. You should learn from him.”

“Mizuki is fine”, my boyfriend said, not only to her but also my slightly surprised parents who had come over at Haru’s squeal. Mum looked delighted, Dad conflicted but happy.

They greeted each other without Mizuki even standing up, so the atmosphere immediately eased into a comfortable, familiar mood.

“He’d stay over, if that’s fine?”
“Is fine!”
“...Haru, I’m not asking you.”

My mother giggled and agreed.
“No, no, she’s right. Of course he can stay. Mizuki, is there anything you’d like to eat?”

He politely shook his head and my mother suggested some dishes he might like. Soon, she left to cook with my father and Haru stayed to stare at us with an overjoyed face.

“I’d love taking a photo. This is a total CG moment.”

“CG?”, Mizuki tilted his head. Haru explained so I shut my mouth.

“Ah, in this case… What I mean is, in dating sims, there are sometimes full pictures of nice scenes instead of the usual graphics. We call those special images CGs. I just mean that you two sitting there looks super nice!”

Mizuki showed a troubled expression.
“...Dating sim?”

Haru snickered good-naturedly. I had told her Mizuki wasn’t the type for games.

“Games where you flirt with characters and try to get the one you like to date you, basically. For example, you were Riku’s capture target.”

She smirked with an expression that only I understood. I glared at her, hoping to convey that she should shut up and held back on throwing a pillow at her.

To my surprise, Mizuki just shrugged.
“Good, then.”

He looked satisfied? Ah? Didn’t that sound too much like I was playing a game when I was with you, which I kinda, arguably did? Wouldn’t you get mad at that?

Having two people just look at him with a stupid look on their faces prompted Mizuki to give a slightly longer answer.

“A conscious choice to be with someone is always a positive thing, rather than just acting on impulse.”

I mean-
I guess-
...If you say it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad anymore.

Haru immediately informed Risa that Mizuki was staying over. I got a veeeery long, very angry text message about how I dared to have him over after she was thrown out.

I was preferring it this way, though, as things would be easier if it was just my parents for now. Haru, he had already met often enough, so that wasn’t really an introduction.

When we sat down to eat, I awkwardly noticed that our dinners were much messier than his. And that with two people missing. We were all talking to each other over the table, reaching out for everything directly, which created quite the chaos.
In between the conversations, Haru turned to Mizuki with bright eyes.

“Mizuki, do you wanna watch a movie together, later?”, Haru happily suggested. It was easy to see how fond she was of Mizuki.

He nodded quietly after glancing at me. I needed to waste time until midnight, anyway.

“As long as it doesn’t have jumpscares.”
“You’re bad with those?”
“Hm.”

They were talking and I was watching, delighted.

At my side, my father was starting to look much more relaxed, turning to me and speaking quietly.
“I admit it feels a bit weird to see my son bring home a boyfriend, but it’s good that you’re both happy.”

My mother chuckled.
“He’s a good child.”

“Child, you say… We’re legal adults already”, I quietly complained, well aware that just age totally didn’t mean we were mature in any way.

Me? An adult? Ha ha.

Owl

Considering that arc 3 is in a similar length range as arc 1 and 2, there sure are a lot of chapters that need content warning. Awkward.
Mizuki doesn't mind seeing Riku chase after him, in fact, otherwise he wouldn't tease back, hehe.

Mizuki's theater:

Riku (sobbing): "Are you really gonna force me to stay away from youuuuu~!"
Mizuki: "Yes."
Mizuki: "(Cause it's nice seeing that it troubles you so much.)"