"How should I dress?" Mizuki asked a little nervously.

"Just ordinary clothes?" Sora replied with surprise.

She looked up at him doubtfully. "Shouldn't I dress up a little? It's Christmas Eve and my first time meeting your friends."

He shrugged. "I don't usually, but we can dress up a little if you want?"

After a minute of thought, she proposed, "A bit of both then?"

She selected sturdy pants for riding on the bike in the cold. Her underthings were all ordinary wear. Over them she pulled a soft clingy top of medium weight, that was somewhere between T-shirt and blouse.

"You look gorgeous," Sora assured her when she finished. "Why haven't I seen this shirt?"

Mizuki replied questioningly, "Because so much of the time I've had to wear work clothes?"

"I'm really looking forward to when you're not working," he informed her after a moment.

She looked up at him, and replied wryly, "I hope you still feel that way when it's your money I'm spending."

"I will," he assured her. He picked up their jackets and suggested teasingly, "I might even discover that I'd like to keep a housewife like Takumi is doing?"

Mizuki laughed. "What if I wouldn't like being a housewife? I think I'd get bored."

"Whatever makes you happy as long as we can sleep together every night?" Sora insisted as he held open the door.

Mizuki replied affectionately as they walked to his bike, "I love you Sora."

He had to stop and kiss her again.

--

When they arrived outside of Takumi's place, Mizuki exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, this is fancy!"

"It is nice," Sora agreed, though he added a little reluctantly, "but I wouldn't be able to keep saving up much at all if we get something this expensive."

"He makes a lot?" Mizuki asked.

He shrugged as they entered the building. "Not exactly, we make a similar amount. But his parents are very well off, so he's got more of a safety net than I do." She looked up at him, and he explained quickly, "Not that Takumi uses their money, but it's there if he needed it in an emergency."

"My parents would help us if we needed it Sora," she pointed out.

"I don't want them to need to," he replied firmly, as they made their way down the wide hallway of the upper floor.

"Okay," she agreed.

Sora knocked, and Takumi answered his door cheerfully.

Mizuki stared at him, and said breathlessly, "Oh wow!"

"Mizuki, don't look at my best friend and exclaim in that tone!" he complained.

She immediately objected, "It's your fault Sora! If you didn't want me to react that way, you could have said something. You know, casually dropped a hint? 'Oh, by the way, my best friend is a classical beauty'."

Sora waved a hand expressively while Mizuki grinned up at him. She glanced at Takumi, who blushed and indicated that they should enter, before he shut the door behind them.

Her gaze lingered for a moment, before she suggested, "You guys must have cut swathes through women when you went out together. He's so pretty and you're so tall and… just wow."

Eri laughed from the living area, and called out agreeably, "I've thought that before too!"

Mizuki pushed past Sora so that she could see who had spoken, and then exclaimed with delight, "You're wearing it!"

Eri looked back at them with confusion written across her face. Sora explained over Mizuki's head, "The T-shirt, Mizuki helped pick it out."

"Oh! Yes, I love this one, thank you," Eri replied agreeably. She was pregnant enough that the bomb was quite rounded by now.

"It really looks good," Mizuki assured her happily.

Takumi instructed with amusement, "Go on in, don't just stand around in the doorway."

Mizuki looked up at Sora, who nodded and told her reassuringly, "I come over all the time, I eat here at least once a week."

She slipped off her shoes, then dashed over to Eri, and asked cheerfully, "Do you think we can be friends Eri-chan?" She blushed as soon as the words left her mouth, and added apologetically, "I'm sorry, Sora calls you that all the time."

"It's fine, and I'd like that," Eri replied encouragingly. After a moment she added, "You're not as small as I was expecting Mizuki-chan, you're only a little shorter than my mother and sister. Sora keeps telling us that you're tiny."

Mizuki rolled her eyes, but replied with a grin, "Well, I'm definitely on the small side, and probably as tiny as Sora claims if you compare us."

"That's true," Eri admitted with amusement after a glance at Sora.

--

While they ate, Takumi instructed Mizuki, "Please agree to be friends with me as well, and call me Takumi, Mizuki-chan."

"Okay, thank you Takumi-san," Mizuki agreed quickly.

He laughed and asked, "I get san but my wife already gets chan?"

Mizuki shrugged and looked apologetic, while Eri poked her husband.

Takumi quickly assured Mizuki, "It's fine, I'm just teasing you."

Mizuki admitted uncomfortably, "I shouldn't really be saying chan like Sora, she's older than I am."

"I don't care," Eri assured her quickly before admitting a little shyly, "I don't have many close friends. The ones I do have, and my extended family, all use chan, so it's comfortable."

"I don't have very many close friends either," Mizuki confessed after a moment.

Sora glanced at Mizuki, and was suddenly very glad that they'd run into her senpai, despite how startling it had felt to see her so friendly with another man.

Mizuki added, "But as close as Sora and Takumi-san seem to be, I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

Eri grinned as she replied, "I know, it'll be fun I hope."

"Yes," Mizuki agreed happily.

They chatted about a variety of things, and remembered to exchange Christmas greetings before they left.

--

When they got back to Sora's apartment, he started undressing her as soon as he closed the door.

"Sora?" Mizuki asked with surprise.

"You don't want to?" Sora asked with equal surprise, his hands still cupping her.

She quickly assured him, "I do, I just wasn't expecting you to pounce on me as soon as we got back. And, I didn't ask earlier, but are we going home in the morning instead of tonight?"

He offered, "I can wait if you don't feel like being pounced on. Do you want to go tonight?"

"A little bit? Christmas breakfast is one of our family things," she explained.

"Okay," he agreed, and released her. He took a moment to message the rental company the change to his reservation, then walked over and unrolled the bed. He fluffed the pillows, and turned, demanding, "Now come here! We have at least another hour."

Mizuki laughed, and he gazed at her completely naked body with surprise, and caught her as she threw herself into his arms.

"You tease," he accused.

"I'm not teasing Sora, I totally intend to do it with you again," she insisted firmly.

He kissed her.