1058/Finally Five Minutes

Finally Five Minutes
Date of Scene:	17 February 2016
Location:	Jadeite's Palace
Synopsis:	...to themselves, when they're both awake and nobody else is around. Time for Usagi to get a good cry in, and time for Mamoru to just relax and be with her.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Most of the first day after was spent sleeping: sleeping in contact with Usagi or Jadeite or both, outside on the grass, in sun or shade. Most of the first day was spent healing himself and Usagi and Jadeite, the latter two when awake, the former when asleep, pulling energy from the ground beneath him. Usagi'd left for a little while and gotten a flood of texts on her way for coffee and supplies; today both Jadeite and Usagi have gone out, Mamoru giving reassurances he'd be all right (and that Usagi would, in fact, be able to tell if he wasn't, and come back).

While Usagi was out, though, Endymion'd felt her shut her side of their bond down -- not in a panic, and not a painful cut, just a wall like he was so used to building himself. He could tell she was still out there, but nothing of how she was feeling, and not even where she was...

...so he'd gently nudged at it, not prying, not pushing, and when rebuffed, he'd equally gently left his side wide open with an implicit, undemanding invitation. He was there if and when she needed him, but would not dig.

When Usagi comes back to the beautiful and peaceful zen retreat, literally away from the world in a side dimension locked off from both Earth and Earth's dreaming heart, the prince is sitting on the porch in the sun, shoes off and bare feet hanging off it, dug in the dirt; his eyes are closed as he leans against a post, absently petting the little shrine cat on his lap.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi doesn't know what set it off. It could have been anything. Physically, she was fine. All the aches she'd accumulated are gone, that constant knot of tension between her shoulder blades soothed and eased away.

Emotionally? She's much better than she had been, but trying to squash down everything takes its toll, even now. So she shut down a moment before it started, leaning just inside the wall of the abandoned building as she cried.

She cried harder when she felt the gentle nudge, and even more so when he was just...there.

Good news, though! Now she's feeling a bit better! Catharsis! Her eyes are puffy, but that's about it!

She carries the back of take out and the (slightly cooled, sorry!) cup of coffee. Everything else she'd gotten are tucked away either inside her purse or her very own pocket.

Heh. A pocket within a pocket!

She doesn't rush at him, which is unusual. She sort of tucks herself behind a pillar, leaning her head against the marble just so she could watch him for a moment.

And her stupid eyes start stinging again, and she clears her throat, studying the cracks in the stone. "Your coffee got a bit cold. Sorry." She sniffles and looks up and her skip isn't a forced happy. She is happy. She's also just...everything else. "But the food's still warm!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
He hasn't said a lot over the past day and a half, even when awake. Most of his communication has been a word here, a word there, and touch and empathy. He's home, but it's like a cyclone came through him, and it's taking time and so much effort to piece himself back together. Every moment of contact, every stable point, every familiarity, helps so much; every moment of quiet from him has afforded him more time to spend on reconstruction rather than on spending mental capacity on framing sentences.

When Usagi arrives, he feels it; she stays back, he pretends he doesn't know exactly where she is, so she can just watch. He's sitting there with closed eyes, stroking the purring cat, until she clears her throat and speaks; finally, he opens his blue eyes and looks at her, smiling. When she apologizes and starts skipping forward, he laughs and shakes his head. "It's fine, Usako," he tells her, smile going lopsided. He'd get up, but he knows she's coming over anyway; instead, he gently displaces the suddenly protesting cat to make room on his lap. His voice is clearly and helplessly in love when he adds, "You're so bright."

The next words are quieter, as she gets to him; he looks up at her. "I'm sorry it's been hard."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
When she reaches him, she sets the bags of food and his coffee next to him. She blushes a little, her smile shy when he says she's bright. She hasn't felt that way. She's felt kind of dull for awhile. But if her earlier meeting with Kyouko was any indication, she's well on her way to being bright again!

His next words cause her lip to tremble a bit as she clamps down hard on her end, taking a moment to ball things up and shove them down.

When it passes, she replaces the cat on his lap and just looks at him for a moment, and her happy, dopey, lovestruck smile is not forced as her fingers brush along his jaw. It calms her, he calms her, and it lets her be the strong one for once.

"I've missed you."

It's an understatement, of course.

"Oh! Everyone sends their love." Then, because she wants to and can, she hugs him as she gives a woeful sigh. "And the take out place was out of beef. I had to get the chicken instead."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"That's fine," Mamoru says with another light laugh at the end; her fingers on his face get him leaning his face toward them briefly, then turning his head to kiss them. He settles his arms around her waist, holding her close, warm and familiar and bright and scattered. He's holding on to her in more ways than one, and though she clamped down on her feelings again, this time he's a little more present, a little more insistent that it's all right to let them happen, all right to let them out. But he doesn't say it, and he doesn't push. There's only that sensation that it won't hurt him at all if she does.

He leans his head against hers, his mouth against her hair. "I've missed you too. Every moment," he says, and it's fervent and low and true; the truth of it resonates. The words come with effort, but he's determined that she should hear them. "Even when I didn't know anything. Even when I couldn't think. Even when I could but it was all wrong. It's confusing to remember, but I know that. Every moment, I missed you."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She's able to hold out, barely, against the gentle presence of him. There's only a slight hitch in her breath to show she's cracking.

It's not just her wanting (needing?) to be strong for him. It's also that stubborn insistence that she doesn't want people to worry about her.

But then he goes and says that. The most he's said since he's come back to her, combined, is to tell her he missed her, too.

She's crying before he's even done speaking, and sobbing before too long.

And it takes her a moment before she can let go, because even new habits are hard to break.

And everything's a jumble as she shifts to get closer to him, to just cling. Sadness, pain, loneliness, fear, guilt. So much of those, even with the lingering joy just because he's back.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The sun is warm; the grass is warm and smells of summer; the sounds are muted and hazy, and dust motes drift in the lazy air. Mamoru holds Usagi, calm and solid, and the core of him has always been granite. Even when there was almost nothing left, untethered and adrift, that remaining piece of his tattered heart was enough -- when awakened and given something to orient on -- to stubbornly fight alongside everyone who was fighting him.

Now that solidity's there for Usagi again-- and she can feel, with perfect clarity, that he's not worried for her. He's only accepting, only filling in the empty places and quietly shoring her up. He trusts her completely. Has total faith in her, in her abilities, in her decisions, in her knowledge of what she can and cannot handle, in her strength of heart.

That faith radiates, reassures. He believes. The empty places to fill in -- the sadness and pain, the loneliness and fear, the guilt -- he can't fix them all, but his presence sets many of them nearly to rights, and every stroke of her hair, every warm breath against her head, every beat of his heart is a promise she helped him fulfill.

"I'm all right," he whispers, "I'll be all right. I knew you would find me and bring me back. You'll be all right, too. We'll fix all of this, all of us together, won't we? Hang in there, Usako."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She doesn't cry for hours, mostly because she doesn't feel the need to stop. She nods at his words and her fingers tighten against his shirt.

With him just accepting, filling all the thousands upon thousands of empty spaces, she is able get it out, most of it, and believe that the worst of it is over.

And as she calms, she's not forcing the negative emotions down anymore. They're there, lingering.

But when people shove down the bad feelings, often times the good ones get buried as well. Now they're allowed to stand on the front lines, strong and bright and powerful, and as her tight grip loosens and she just breathes him in, all those are directed at and caused by him. Forefront, of course, is a love that sometimes scares her from its intensity.

"You are so warm." And it feels wonderful to be warm again.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Kissing her head again, Mamoru smiles against Usagi's hair. He's pleased with her equilibrium, even if it might not be permanent-- and then there's a sharp spike of amusement she can feel happening at her comment on his warmth.

Oh-HO. He's not just--

Again his voice is low, and there's a timbre to it that might, just might, be the herald of him saying something that could actually be--

"...we're sitting in the sun."

He can still tease her, too.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi pulls back to give him a Look. It's about fifty percent amused and all fake annoyance.

"Mamo-chan. We're not in the sun. I should know." And now her Look turns devious. "I wrote an essay on it in class. Standard sixteen-point font, comic-sans, pink. I even illustrated it myself."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The full-body grimace is enough to tell Usagi, clear as crystal, that Mamoru bought it--

--but then he cracks open an eye and looks at her suspiciously.

(He won't let go. Unless she pulls away further, or with purpose, he won't let go.)

"...you didn't."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She tries so hard to keep a straight face, but as soon as he cracks open his eye, she's lost in a sudden peel of giggles.

And she has to hold her stomach as she keeps giggling, leaning her face against his shoulder. "Noooo."

It takes a good couple dozen of seconds before she's settled down enough to pull back again, only just so she could look at him.

"I didn't! But if I'd been able to keep it up, I would have told you that halfway through I included six pages of cute internet kitties in case she got bored."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She's laughing; he smiles, face made entirely out of affection. He tries to look long-suffering to see if it extends the gigglefit, but when she eventually settles down, so does he--

--until she ends with that last.

"Youuuuu," says Mamoru with a tiny mock-growl, holding her close and ducking his head down, his shoulders down, half curling around her to bury his face in her neck. Muffled, "You're ridiculous. I love you."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She gives another giggle and he wraps around her, her own arms hooking over his shoulders, one hand playing in his hair, holding him close and comfy. Then her cheeks warm with happiness and her grin nearly hurts her cheeks. "I love you, too~."

Warm fuzzies! Warm fuzzies for everyone! ...that she is currently touching! Yay!

"I've absorbed enough from you to know the proper essay font. And you'll be pleased to know, I'm passing my classes! ...barely, but I'm passing them!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
He does not want to unbury his face from Usagi's neck. Still muffled, Mamoru says, "I am very pleased. Proud of you." Then he kisses her neck, and her hand is in his hair, and he's completely forgotten the takeaway.

She can feel what's going on, too: his walls being down like this, it's not normal. Maybe it's nice-- he's not so inscrutible like this, he's easy to read-- but it's not a generally comfortable thing for him. But she can feel it, is the point. Words are tiring and he doesn't want to let go, he feels weightless, she's anchoring him. He feels safe and he's trying to push away the feeling that it might not last.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi preens as well as she can where she is. She doesn't see the need to pull away for a full on gloat. There's still a pleasant tingle on her neck where his lips had been. (She hasn't forgotten the food, because Usagi, but it's a lingering in the back of her mind. Besides. It will keep!)

It's because she feels those things that her limbs wrap more securely around him of their own accord, holding him close and safe and making sure he doesn't float away.

And she tries to exude the feeling of peace and safety that's so easy to feel when he's around.

And she pets his hair more, fingertips light against his scalp.

But Usagi is never one to stay still for too long. She lasts longer than one would normally think, but he should feel the bubbling up in her before she just starts rambling about the most inane things.

"Hey. I've been wondering. Would going to someone for help on something they told you you suck at and neither of you realize the other person is who you were fighting before, is that irony? Because I started taking kick boxing lessons from Hannah-chan months ago. Apparently she's Miss White! I brought her a stuffed bunny. She seems to like it!"

She's not expecting much of an answer, really. She just misses rambling at him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The recovering upperclassman-- the prince-- Usagi's boyfriend-- revels in all the contact, all the points of it, her fingertips against his scalp and her hair tickling him and her warmth against him, and he breathes her in as she holds him, and then as she speaks.

She'll be able to feel him essentially dropping his focus to just exist within her flow of words, within the sound of her voice, within her personal space and her personal bubble of light. He does give something of a response, an encouraging 'Mm,' but mostly he's literally just listening.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She smiles and nuzzles her nose against his temple but doesn't stop talking.

It's all the little stuff, things that have nothing to do with anything other than the days of a normal teenager. (Well, of course some magical girl stuff thrown in, because friends.)

She talks about Sayaka and Kyouko a bit. "So now I'm playing cupid! Sort of! But I have a brief scribble Kyou-kun wrote to give to Sayaka-chan next time I see her. That's why it took a bit to get back! I ran into Kyou-kun while I was out and we chatted for a bit. I'm soooooo glad she likes the coat I got her! It looks amazing on her!"

She talks about her brother! "Still such a brat, oh my gosh. But I still give him tight hugs and squishes when he's able to go to the weekly family dinners, because he's my brat of a brother."

She talks about Naru! "I haven't heard from her in a bit, but she does think I'm sick. And I also got her something from Paris, apparently she loves it!"

And she just keeps rambling until her tummy grumbles...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Word Healing Escalation. Usagi's chatter washes over Mamoru and it's so comfortable, so comforting; the normality is something he cherishes, holds precious. He basks like a cat in the sunshine. (The cat he was petting earlier has come back, and is doing just that, in the grass close to them.)

It's not until Usagi's stomach states its disapproval with its current foodless disposition that he lifts his head, smiling with a twinkle in his eyes. He kisses her nose, and then he kisses her, sweet and slow like rose honey in Makoto's treasured chocolates, tasting her and savoring every second.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Both her breath and heart hitch as food is very near forgotten. A triumph for Mamo-chans everywhere!

Her fingers curl against his jaw as a thumb brushes lightly over his chin. She is content, really, with this slow linger, as evident by the warm feeling of home settling in her tummy.

Her stomach growls again, though, and she pauses.

It's okay if he doesn't notice, right? She won't starve and waste away!

Mamo-chan smooches are better than food, anyway. And much tastier.