View source for 281/This Is a Bad Way to Keep Meeting

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/11
|Location=Dr. Iris Shelby's Illegal Meguca Hospital
|Synopsis=Usagi comes to visit Mamoru after he got his linker core juiced like an orange again, courtesy Guardian Hino, and is once more in the care of Dr. Iris Shelby. She Usagis at him with great gusto. And that was just what he needed.
|Cast of Characters=38, 58
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> Usagi Tsukino hasn't seen Mamoru Chiba in a few days. In the past, that might have made her happy. And yet, she misses his jokes, his sarcasm, his quiet nature. Pacing in her room, not even able to read her manga, she finally gets the resolve to pick up her phone. <br /><br /> Odango-chan txt: 'Chiba-kun? It's been a while, I'm worried. R u ok?'<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It takes almost too long for an answer, which is probably worrying in and of itself. But the phone could just be off. After all, he's a lofty pretentious introvert, right? Not a people person.<br /><br />Hint: it's not off, he's just staring at the text, butterflies unwelcome in the stomach. Finally, he thumbs out a response.<br /><br />Jerk-kun TXT: Ummm. Not really. But I'm getting better, I'll be fine in a couple of days. Why, do you miss me? ;P<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> Similarly, there's a long pause between texts, an icey chill creeping up Usagi's spine. Fear grips her. Finally, her fingers work again after a drink of warm tea, and with clenched teeth that's a mixture of uncharacteristic anger and true terror she types out. <br /><br /> 'Where r u? Wut happened!? I'm coming over, give me address u dummy! Been worried!'<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Oh god. If he gives her the address, she might end up getting involved in magic stuff. Except...<br /><br />No, it's ridiculous, Usagi-chan is the most carefree, bubbly person, and she's--<br /><br />Except she's definitely friends with Sailor Jupiter. She might know. And if Sanjouin heard he'd been in the attack at the park, which--<br /><br />Finally Mamoru comes up with an idea. He wants to see her, he wants to see her so badly, but he can't henshin, so he can't leave. But this idea should be okay. If she knows about magic things, the good doctor might be familiar to her. If she doesn't:<br /><br />Jerk-kun TXT: Well-- I'm at Dr. Iris Shelby's apartment. She said it's okay to have visitors. If you don't know where it is, ask Kino-san for help?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> When she gets the text, she's already taking out her henshin pen, transforming, and then sneaking out the window like...well, a teenage girl. <br /><br /> A teenage girl that leaps from roof to roof as she gets on her way. She uses the power of Moon Textara Powers along the way. <br /><br /> Odango-chan: 'Brt!' <br /><br /> True to her word, in about ten minutes, she's all the way over to the Doctor's place.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Unbelievable suspicion confirmed. Mamoru is left blinking at his phone.<br /><br />Jerk-kun TXT: ok<br /><br />A couple of times, there's a 'Jerk-kun is typing' message or a ... or whatever, but he never actually hits enter.<br /><br />For ten whole minutes.<br /><br />When Usagi gets there, knocks, gets looked at through the peep-hole, and the door opens--<br /><br />There's Mamoru, wearing loose untucked cotton, bandages underneath and some visible, and otherwise possessed of the fairly pink skin of someone who's just past the peeling stage of a nasty sunburn. He also looks really tired-- but his eyes are warm, lit from within as he regards her.<br /><br />''(Once upon a time, when she was very small, she met a little boy in the hospital when her mother was there having Shingo. He had a bandage on his head just like this one, and his eyes were just as deep a color, and just as sad... but that same light entered them when she spent time with him, gave him a rose, told him she would be his friend even if the one he had needed to leave.)''<br /><br />"Us-- Odango Atama, did you run all the way here?" he teases, stepping aside to let her in. "I'm not on death's door or anything!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> Usagi is very nearly bowled over, as the door flings open and then there's Mamoru. A bandage. Some mostly forgotten memory assaults her as she tumbles and falls on her rump, her skirts all aflutter. She clamps them down, staring almost /through/ him as she remembers a time long, long ago. <br /><br /> Those deep, sad eyes remain in her memory, burnt there. But the present comes back to her, and she trembles a little on the ground. <br /><br /> Then, inexplicably, she's up on her feet and all but tackles Mamoru! Tiny hands are pounding gently on his chest as tears come to her eyes, staring into his own. <br /><br /> "DUMMY, DUMMY, DUMMY, DUMMY, DUMMMYYYY!!!" She whines out, sobs in irritation, fear, and above all, heartfelt relief. She doesn't care who stares at them, she wraps her arms around him in a hug. <br /><br /> "I was so worried! I thought you'd been hit by a car again! That...that maybe you wouldn't be okay! Why didn't you call, or text, or something!? Jerk! Big meanie jerk! I...I" <br /><br /> Sniffle. "I'm glad you're okay!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>I-invisible bandages. Under the shirt. "Ssss hhhhh-- aah aaaahh!" goes Mamoru, then just generally makes sounds like Harrison Ford or Cary Elwes while injuredly getting hugged, but add tiny fists beating the wrapped burns to the hug, and he's completely tense in sudden blinding pain by the time Usagi's *actually* hugging him. Luckily, it doesn't last long at all, and he gingerly relaxes and wraps his arms around her, then leans down to put his face on the top of her head, breathing a little raggedly.<br /><br />"I'm sorry," he says sincerely, "I didn't think you'd notice. I didn't want to worry you by *saying* I'd been hurt."<br /><br />The door's still open, but he can't really bring himself to care, either. She's sunshine breaking through the mist, the dense fog he'd gotten himself lost in with feeling so useless, so unnecessary, so helpless. He'll greedily soak up every minute of her presence.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> There's an irritated grunt, and she sniffles, probably still half way clinging to him. The hug lasts for quite some time. She shakes, trembles, growing from irriation to just pure concern. <br /><br /> "Of course I'd notice. You're a friend, Chiba-kun. Even if you're a meanie jerk, that just means you need to get better so you'll be less of a jerk!" Usa logic is not always reliable, but her heart's in the right place. <br /><br /> Wiat, were those...sudden guilt flashes across her face, and she's trying to steady and let go, and drag him over to a presumed seat or couch in the good doc's office. <br /><br /> "Oh no I'm so sorry I didn't mean to beat on you are you okay what happened who hit you I'll throw mochi at them until they say they're sorry forever!" Comes Usa, now doting on Mamoru as her mouth goes a mile a minute.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It seems to be perfectly okay, the hug lasting quite a while -- Mamoru's in no hurry to break it up, either. Especially since she's trembling like that-- he doesn't want to let go anyway, but he mostly wants to--<br /><br />--to what? Reassure her: she's so tactile, she's reassured by touch, by physical presence. His warmth is that, and he can't help but lend it to her, he wants so badly to make her feel okay again, and if he can do it by holding her close, by god he won't complain ever. "I'm trying," he huffs out a little laugh, breath warm on her hair. "To be less of a meanie jerk. Rome wasn't built in a day."<br /><br />And then she's starting to tug him away, so he leans to carefully close the door before going with her. "It's okay," he says, smiling at her, and it's a real smile, but there's that twinkle of amusement in his eyes. That may also reassure: he's really him, too. "You don't hit very hard, if the beating you just gave me is any indication. Don't worry about it."<br /><br />And then they're sitting on the couch and he's being doted on and all he can do is watch her, faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Finally, he lifts up a little throw pillow from the couch and places it on her head. "Nobody hit me. It's okay. There was fire and I was stupid."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> She dries her eyes with a convenient tissue paper, looking into those eyes of his for a moment. Usagi takes in the laugh, and she can't help but smile in turn: there's a tiny tilt of her head and she's silent a moment. <br /><br /> She reaches up, and gives his nose a little playful squeeze! <br /><br /> "You're getting better at it! You'll make plenty of friends if you keep trying!" She says in utter sincerity and confidence. <br /><br /> Then it all evaporates, and she sticks out a raspberry at him! <br /><br /> Which only turns into a pout! Bonk bonk bonk bonk! They're /really/ gentle now however. <br /><br /> "Mamoru Chiba-kun you big, dork!" <br /><br /> Eep! There's a pillow. She's suddenly very still, as if trying to balance it for some unknown reason. Her eyes bore into his skull. <br /><br /> It's Usagi. She wilts a bit. "I hope everyone's okay. You probably saved someone, didn't you?" Her smile brightens a little. Despite it all, she thinks very highly of Mamoru. <br /><br /> Then her brain catches up. "Are you already checked out? Since you're feeling better, maybe we can get milk shakes! It'll help you heal faster Chiba-kun!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>She just-- did she just beep his nose.<br /><br />"I-- I'm not checked out, I can't leave yet," Mamoru tells her, and he looks really REALLY regretful and fairly chagrined. "If I could, I'd already have left. But I can't. I'm, uh. I'm not okay yet. Just getting there. It'll be probably another day here, and then I can go home but have to take it easy," he sort-of explains, stringing the words together, unable to meet her eyes.<br /><br />He's ashamed; she couldn't know the backstory, but it's so many times now--<br /><br />And then he adds more quietly, still not looking at her (or the pillow on her head), hands open in his lap, "I couldn't even save myself. But the other guy will be okay, I'm sure. He's the one who brought me here. So he can't have been hurt too badly."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> That pillow atop her head slooowly seems to droop slightly as the news Mamoru gives hits her. She slowly slumps in front of him, giving him the cutest, petulent little frown /ever/. The pillow almost looks like droopy bunny ears. <br /><br /> She's silent, oddly, until the pillow falls off and she reaches to tilt his head to look at her. <br /><br /> "You get well soon. There's going to be a buy-one-get-one free sundae sale soon! I want to have some with you and play some games! We'll celebrate you getting healthy, and we'll invite Ami-chan and Rei-chan and Mako-chan and it'll be so much fun!" She comes brightly. There's not a hint of suspicion in her voice. <br /><br /> "Then I'll have to thank him for protecting you! He sounds like a nice person!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>His head tilted by the action of a small, slender hand, Mamoru watches Usagi; with dark blue eyes a little too bright, he leans very slightly into her hand, not even realizing he's doing it. There's the littlest smile. "I'd like that."<br /><br />And then the last bit she says, and he bites his lip to keep from laughing, because it's not the kind of laughter he's about to welcome right now. Not for Usagi. Never for Usagi. "He does, doesn't he?" he says, and he doesn't even feel a little bit bad about not telling her anything, really. Not when her heart is so full of hope. "I don't know how to find him, unfortunately."<br /><br />Then Mamoru pauses and his mouth is twitching and he side-eyes Usagi, "You're not going to be helpful and eat my sundae for me, are you? I can assure you I won't be THAT unwell."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:58|Sailor Moon (58)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span> She slumps a bit again as he doesn't know where to find this 'mysterious saviour'. Her eyes light up! <br /><br /> Maybe the one who saved Mamoru from the fire was that hunky, gorgeous, dashing Tuxedo Kamen! She makes a mental note to thank him if she ever sees the man! <br /><br /> She freezes instantly, like a deer in the headlights. Sloooowly, she stands up. She laughs, nervously. <br /><br /> "No I wouldn't do that to you Chiba-san I'll be nice and make sure you have at least a fourth of it before I no nevermind have a goodnight chiba-san please get well soon! Ahh hah hah hah!" She pauses, leans forwards, and without thinking about it plants a kiss on his forehead. <br /><br /> Then she's blushing, gives an 'eep', and runs out the doctor's office, mortified and embarrassed to the core.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>That apparently sourceless perking up is enough cause for concern, but then--! Mamoru's eyes widen as Usagi freezes, then starts speed-talking about ''yeah basically she is going to try to eat his sundae before he can''. He lifts a finger, about to object -- ice cream is as sacred as cake and chocolate -- when she kisses his forehead.<br /><br />She squeaks and runs out, mortified, but all he can do is watch as she goes, face frozen in startlement.<br /><br />Slowly, like a glacier melting, Mamoru sinks down into the couch and goes from shocked to amazed, and he doesn't even realize he's blushing, too.<br /><br />When Iris finds him later, he'll be asleep on the couch, looking oceans better than he did when she left... and smiling, just a little.<br> <br>
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