Joining

Sora leaned back against the seat, so that he could see Mizuki's face, as he asked her, "Should I buy you an engagement ring?" He didn't even wait for an answer before adding a question similar to what she'd asked earlier, "Should I ask you properly to marry me or can I just keep assuming you will?"

Mizuki was already laughing as she protested, "Don't buy me an engagement ring Sora." He blinked at her, but before he could ask, she quickly explained, "I'm definitely going to marry you, but I want you to wear a couple's ring with me instead! I don't want to be the only one wearing a ring, and I want it to be the ordinary kind that I can wear at school and at work."

"Okay," he agreed simply.

Sora leaned forward to kiss her before she could react, and the kiss continued until another pedestrian passed near enough to make Mizuki nervous.

"I don't want an engagement ring later either," she warned him as she pushed away. "I want to replace our couple's rings with wedding rings."

He gave the passer-by the briefest glance, and then grinned at the girl who was still kneeling heavily on his thighs despite her wary reaction, and agreed, "Okay Mizuki, whatever you want."

She kissed him again without caring who could see them this time. He didn't try to push any boundaries, and simply enjoyed her warmth. After a while she admitted reluctantly, "We should go home, it's cold."

Sora stood up with Mizuki still wrapped in his arms, but even though she made no protest, when their eyes met he gently set her down. She took his hand and he took her home.

--

In Mizuki's room, Sora removed her dress a little at a time, like he'd been imagining since she put it on. She fell asleep that night with a smug smile on her face.

--

In the morning Mizuki told her parents smugly, "I'm really going to marry Sora."

Her mother instinctively objected, "Not yet!"

Her father just raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you pregnant?"

Mizuki gasped and then protested, "No! But if that's all it takes…"

Sora reached out, clapped his hand over her mouth, and said firmly, "Stop Mizuki. We are NOT having a baby so we can get married early." She looked up at him and after a moment he released her.

"But it's not fair that they think it would be okay if we were," she complained.

He rubbed his face, glanced at her father's taken-aback expression, and then told her seriously, "I don't think that it would be okay, it would just be allowed because having a baby alone is really hard on women."

Mizuki looked up at him for a long moment, and then suggested with amusement, "You just don't want to have a baby yet because you think I'll let it eat cat food Sora."

Sora laughed as he agreed, "You really might."

Her parents exchanged glances, and let the subject drop. They talked about other things until they finished breakfast.

As soon as her plate was clear, Mizuki reminded Sora, "I need to be at work in half an hour." He gave her a startled look and she grinned as she finally informed him, "I'll be working 10am to 6pm throughout the winter break, and I'll have Thursday and Friday off." She looked up at him and then asked more shyly, "Can I come to your place after I get off work on Wednesday?"

Sora's breath caught and he replied after a moment, "Hell yes!" Mizuki grinned up at him, and he added ruefully, "We should combine our accounts this weekend, if we still can. We should have done it this morning."

Junshiro interrupted questioningly, "Combine your accounts? I don't think that's a good idea."

Mizuki looked at her father in surprise and objected, "Yes it is! If we can't even handle sharing bank accounts, we shouldn't get married."

Her father looked at the two of them, and then covered his face for a moment. "I can't argue with that, but shouldn't you wait until you don't need me to sign off on it?" he asked.

"Why do you need to sign off on it?" Sora asked with surprise.

"Because with the account type she opened, it's linked to mine until she turns 21," her father informed him.

Mizuki blushed and added a little defensively, "That's because I was only eight when I opened it."

"Oh," Sora replied a little blankly. After a moment he suggested, "Then should we try to do it next Saturday morning when you can come with us instead?"

"What's the big rush?" Junshiro asked.

Sora interrupted Mizuki as she started to reply, and told her father calmly, "I want her to quit this job for the rest of the school year."

Minori tugged at her husband's sleeve and told him, "I think that sounds like a good idea?"

He looked at her in surprise and asked, "You don't mind if they get married in all but name already?"

Minori gasped, and looked at her youngest daughter, who returned her gaze hopefully. After a moment she replied reluctantly, "Like you told me before, we can't really stop her, and it's better if they're open about it."

"Thank you!" Mizuki exclaimed and dashed over to hug her mother.

"Fine," her father agreed, and she hugged him too. He looked down into her happy face and smiled reluctantly. "I guess I'm not quite ready for all of my daughters to be grown up already. When you finish school it's going to be really lonely at home."

Minori nodded in agreement and Mizuki announced uncomfortably, "I already asked Sora if I could move in with him after I finish this year."

Her parents stared at her. Sora suggested uncomfortably after looking at their shocked faces, "We could really get married right away if you'd prefer, I'd just rather wait until she's finished with school."

"I have no idea," Junshiro replied after a moment.

"I'd rather you were married before you move in together," Minori said uncomfortably.

"People live together all the time before they get married," Mizuki protested.

"That's not necessarily a good thing," her mother replied sharply.

"Go to work for now Mizuki," Junshiro told his daughter. To his wife he pointed out, "We can think about it and argue it over later. She could just do it without our permission since she's already 18."

--

Sora escaped for a little while by taking Mizuki to work, and then stayed out for a while longer to do a little random shopping. When he finally returned, Mizuki's father had already gone to tend his bar for the evening, and only her mother was waiting at the apartment.

Minori looked at his shopping bags with amusement, and asked teasingly, "Were we so scary that you couldn't come back right away?"

Sora didn't pretend that he hadn't been hiding for a little while, and admitted uncomfortably, "I love feeling like part of your family, almost as much as I love being with Mizuki. You're not scary, but the fact that she's so young that she still needs your permission for so many things really scares me. It never even occurred to me that we'd need her father's approval to combine our accounts."

Minori looked at him with surprise. After a moment she asked a bit hesitantly, "Is that why you told her that she could move in with you this spring without asking us first?"

Sora grinned at her suddenly and asked, "You mean apart from the fact that I've only ever effectively told her no once, and I felt like that almost killed me?" His smile faded and he added, "And it hurt her so much."

Mizuki's mother shrugged rather fatalistically.

He took a deep breath before saying seriously, "I'm sorry, it never occurred to me to ask your permission, but I really want to be with her every day too. We want the same thing."

She asked him almost affectionately, "Then why not just get married this spring?"

After a moment he admitted, "I don't have a good reason not to, which is why I said we can get married right away if you want us to." He shrugged. "I'm just uncomfortable with our age gap I guess. I don't want her to regret it later, that she got married so young, but mostly I just can't imagine saying to anyone, 'This is my wife, but we can't go out for drinks to celebrate, because she's still too young for that'."

Minori walked over and patted his arm much like Mizuki would.

Sora regarded her with relieved surprise and added quickly, "It's mostly me, I'm sorry."

"I'm glad that at least you're willing to talk to me about how you feel about it," she assured him. "I'll seriously think about it, and talk to Jun. Not that you really need our support, but we might not decide for several months, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed quickly. He wasn't certain that he wasn't going to need all the support he could get if he was going to get married this spring.