Capítulo 90: Fear of Commitment
_________ POV Narration_________
'Should I invite him in?'
Nemuri didn't have anything planned once they went inside. She just wanted to spend more time with him.
It was still early too, so she was sure Beru wouldn't get the wrong idea about her invitation. After all, they weren't really at that stage yet.
Nemuri looked at the tall insectoid with a questioning gaze. "Say, wanna come in for some tea? It's still early anyway, so I doubt you have much planned."
She was somewhat right about Beru not having anything planned. And he didn't really have any reason to refuse her invitation.
"Sure~ I'm pretty much lazing around the rest of the day anyway~" He just shrugged and they both walked into her apartment.
He looked around a bit, it was quite neat. It had just about anything a single woman would need to have. A bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a single bedroom.
It was a decently sized apartment, and Beru quickly found his place on the couch while Nemuri ran to make some tea and maybe bring some snacks.
"What kind of tea do you have anyway?~ Does it have alcohol?!~" Beru shouted while he turned on the television and looked a bit at the news.
'A small sum of mun has seemingly vanished from the Tokyo national ban-' Beru proceeded to change the channel to some cartoons, a bit of sweat was present on his brow.
"What?!?! What tea has alcohol in it?" Asked Nemuri with a confused voice.
"There are plenty~ My favourite was the 'Zentinis'~," He said while channel surfing.
"That's a cocktail you actual re-... You know what? You do you." She said as she walked in with two steaming cups of tea on a tray.
Even though she was about to insult him, the warm smile on her face was quite pleasing to the eyes.
"Thanks for today. It's certainly been one of my most memorable ones." She said as she took the first sip of her tea. Her smile somewhat rescinded at her own words.
She was somewhat forced to remember that she was quite a bit older than Beru. Even if the insectoid didn't look, speak or feel like a teenager, she was still reminded that she was older than him.
"Stop speaking like an old woman~ You'll have plenty of memorable days to come~ I'll probably be in plenty of them too~," He said as he also started drinking his tea.
And just like that, her lips raised once more.
"Is that some type of proposal~" She looked up at Beru and asked with a playful tone.
"Kinda early for that tuts~ We've just had a first date~ You're not getting any ring for that~," Beru said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Ooh! So that was, a DATE, huh?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, she was likely trying to embarrass Beru, to hide the redness in her own cheeks.
"Obviosuly~ What? Do you think I just go out to amusement parks with beautiful women randomly?~" Beru turned his head towards the large bear plushy he had won at the park.
His straightforward comment managed to shut her up for a bit.
"Soo... Are we a thing now?" Beru could somewhat hear the uncertainty in her voice. It would've made him raise an eyebrow (if he had any).
"Well~ We can be~ But there's no need to put a label on what we have for now~ That would complicate things quite a bit~" Beru tested the waters with this comment.
He was obviously implying that the two of them were a thing with his earlier comment, but he didn't want to cause Nemuri any discomfort.
And, he saw something that he didn't quite like. As Nemuri also nodded on reflex. She instantly regretted it afterwards, but the thought was still there.
Beru already knew this about himself but wasn't expecting Nemuri to be the same.
They were both extremely afraid of commitments. For him, it was something that he had attained throughout his life, maybe it was a result of his early life.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was never the type to fall for anybody. Maybe it was because he found it hard to trust others with his feelings.
To say you love someone is to leave yourself vulnerable to them. And Beru didn't like that one bit.
In this life, the only person that had given him that feeling of vulnerability was All for One, but not due to love(obviously) still, the feeling of helplessness was what drove him to grow much stronger than All for One.
It wasn't quite as easy when it came to affection. Beru could obviously show others affection, as seen with Toga. But he was somewhat reluctant to admit it.
So, it leads to this awkward situation.
Nemuri's case might've been different. Maybe she fell for someone wrong at some point. Maybe she couldn't really bring herself to fully trust someone so easily due to that.
Regardless, these aspects managed to put quite a damper on their relationship, at least for now. Maybe this wouldn't have been the case if Beru was as straightforward with his feelings as he was with everything else.
And Nemuri would obviously be able to tell that she had basically rejected Beru. This is why she instantly regretted nodding her head.
"Well~ By the way, ~ How come you became a teacher?~" Beru asked in an upbeat tone. Somewhat ignoring the failed 'confession' that had happened earlier.
He wasn't really the type to let himself get all sad over a rejection.
"Oh, that's a pretty amusing story..." Nemuri kept talking about things. But her mind just told her 'Why did you change the subject?!'.
She didn't vocalize that thought. She probably hadn't realised just how sensitive Beru was to the emotions of those around him.
That ability of his was what made him change the subject in the first place. That and his desire to not inconvenience Nemuri.
Their conversation continued for a while. With the two of them talking about a few random things. All until Beru got up and took his leave.
The subject of their relationship wasn't brought up even once after that. Nemuri didn't know how to bring it up, and Beru didn't want to make Nemuri uncomfortable.
The second Beru teleported away Nemuri slapped her own face a few times. 'Why...' Unfortunately for her. This small misunderstanding of theirs would take a while to be addressed.
As Beru was bound to have a few busy days ahead of him.
In the end, Beru ended up spending the rest of his night raiding some shady bars.
He had this amazing strategy of raiding criminal owned bars to be able to confiscate the merchandise (drink freely).
And so, his night continued as if nothing happened.
By the time he got home, Toga was also done with her training, she now also had one of those capture weapons that Aizawa had.
Although she didn't really know how to use it all that well yet.
The night passed quickly. And the next morning started in force. As Beru received a phone call from none other than Nezu.
'I wonder if this is about Souma and the rest...'
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Hope you liked the chapter!
I've kinda been hinting at Beru not being keen on commitments. This will be dealt with later, not really a priority though. Romance is more of a secondary plot honestly(or a subplot).
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