Love Live! Everlasting Shine (Mari Ohara x Male Reader)

Chapter 23 - A Brand New Day

Three Years Later...

After having spent the afternoon out of the house meeting up with a friend of mine that has knowledge in subjects that are useful for research in my books, I let out a sigh of relief as I opened the front door. It was nice talking to them all, but because of the topic we were talking about, he ended up going way in depth, and it took way too long to get him to dumb it down since he was going over my head. Because of that, things ended up being a pain that wasn't as fun as I wanted. But I'm home just in time to get dinner started before Mari gets home.

Things have been going well for both of us, and I'm in the mood to spend a romantic evening together. As I headed to the kitchen, I took a look at what exactly we had, and I realized we had what I would need to make my spaghetti carbonara, which I've made on plenty of nights like this.

I got out my oil, eggs, and flour, and I started to work on the pasta dough. When I heard the entryway door open, I was in the middle of kneading the dough, and while working said "Welcome home Mari."

A couple minutes later I felt a pair of hands wrap around me as Mari hugged me from behind and said "Hey Dear, so how was your day?"

I shrugged "Not bad, but now I just want to enjoy a romantic evening, just the two of us. I'm starting up spaghetti carbonara right now."

After Mari let go of me, she went to sit at a chair we have on the other side of the counter as she said "I'd love that Y/n. By the way, have I ever told you how much I love watching you cook?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, when you first started cooking for me after I got back from the US, you seemed to be focused on what you're doing, but nowadays you move with such confidence when you do it. Plus, I just love how handsome you look when you're feeling confident." Mari said in a sweet tone

As I pulled out the rest of the ingredients, I smiled and jokingly said "And here I thought I was handsome all the time. Though it's good to hear that."

Mari pouted at me and said "You know that isn't what I meant. But still, you've changed so much since I first met you. You were stuck in your own head for so long but as we spent time together and fell in love, you really started to open up. Sure there were some hiccups along the way, but I'm so glad you've ended up my mature, confident, and shining husband."

"Well who do you think is responsible for that? Back when we first met, there were times that felt like you were just dragging me along, but they helped me stop worrying so much. You've always been so passionate and fun, and it changed me." I said

The two of us kept reminiscing as I made dinner, finding peace from our daily lives in each other.

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Once we finished our dinner, I took the plates to the sink to deal with later since I'd much prefer to snuggle up with Mari for now. As I got back to her, she was still smiling, but as she sat up, she said "Y/n, there's something we need to talk about."

I took a seat beside her and said "I'm all ears, so what's up?" I don't know what she wants to talk about, but whatever it is, we can figure it out together.

Mari took a deep breath before she took a hold of my hands and said "Y/n, I'm pregnant."

"Huh?" I said instinctively. There would have been a time where my first thought was that she's joking, but I know her well enough to know she isn't joking right now. Besides, there's no way she would joke about that. "You are?"

Mari nodded and said "That's right, I'm eight weeks pregnant right now. I waited to tell you just in case, but I know that it's time that you know."

As I processed the news, I felt so many conflicting emotions. Nervousness about finally taking this next step in our lives, anxiety about whether or not I'll be a good father, and more, but the greatest of all was my joy, and so I couldn't help but pull Mari into a hug. "I don't know if I'll be any good, but I promise I'll do anything for the two of you."

Mari hugged me back as she said "I know you will Dear. The best thing you'll be able to do is just try to be there, but for now your job is to take care of us, right Papa?"

"It'll always be my job to protect you Mari." I said. I couldn't help but smile a bit at her calling me Papa since that's really what I'm going to be soon. She's right though, in the end I don't know if I'll be a good father, but the only thing I'll be able to do is try.

The two of us are taking our first steps into a whole new phase of our lives, and of course I'm nervous, but with the two of us, I know that we'll find our way together. Besides, we still have time to figure this all out, for now I just want to treasure this precious moment with Mari. Every day is wonderful beside Mari, but I know that tonight is going to be one I'll never forget.

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A/n: And with that, our story comes to an end. Thank you all for coming and reading Everlasting Shine. I had such a blast writing it, and while I'd love to keep writing it, I'd prefer to write it on a note where I'm happy with all the chapters I've written.

I've always struggled with being really critical of my stories, and so while I'm happy with them, there's typically at least one thing I feel like I could've done better. But this may be one of the first stories where I'm not struggling with any such issues. I'm really happy with how this book turned out, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.

I don't really know what else to add, so one last time before I call it quits: Thank you for reading