It's night, he was tired before -- he's been much too out of it, lately, to be even faintly ascerbic, and when grades were posted, his weren't perfect for apparently the first time in years. He hadn't even shown up for club practices, and he hadn't been in school much, and when he did drop by the arcade, he kept looking a little grey. Rumors, rumors everywhere. Usually they're about Mamoru Chiba's dating life. Lately they're wondering if he's got mono, except no surgical mask, so darker rumors have, of course, come up with darker stuff.
Magical girl rumors have been even worse. And then being completely unreachable after the horrible incident in the park where people died-- rumors that he'd been there--
Of course he lives in a penthouse apartment of a luxury building downtown. There's a balcony, easily reachable by magical girls whether they fly or jump up from floor to floor, or out windows, maybe, or get lifts.
It's past dark, and the main part of the immense flat beyond the glass doors -- open to let in the cool night air -- is dark, but the kitchen doorway spills warm golden light in long shadows across the floor, visible from outside.
After not being able to contact Mamoru Chiba, and hearing rumors he's hurt (again!), Usagi Tsukino got worried. That worry turned to gnawing fear. She couldn't go to school: even her mother didn't force her at seeing the pur worry for the upperclassman. The rumors finally goaded her into action.
Usagi Tsukino can't bake. ...And really, neither can Sailor Moon. But she does have a disguise pen, and she abuses it mercilessly. Soon turning into Sailor Culinarian, she cooks up a storm.
The cleanup is a pain. She's still Usagi in the end.
A little bit of hunting in a phone book, and minutes later, Sailor Moon leaps upon the balcony of Mamoru's flat. It's huge. She's never heard of him having siblings or parents.
So big. So lonely with just one person.
Dainty fingers tap the glass as the moon perfectly silhouettes the form of Sailor Moon! There's a box in her hands too, and her odangos swish in the wind!
Expecting Storm Knight -- or Sailor Mars maybe, the only two people who've landed on his balcony thus far -- the silhouette of Mamoru Chiba appears in the kitchen doorway, mug of tea in hand...
...and promptly almost drops it from suddenly nerveless fingers. Some of it sloshes on his hand and he hisses, shaking it off really fast, then remembering equally fast why he almost dropped it. Abruptly he leans back into the kitchen to set it down on the kitchen table and edges out, disbelief written in every line of his body. It's so familiar an outline, somehow--
--but he turns on the light, and it's just Mamoru, rumpled white button-down shirt and black jeans looking like he's slept in them all day, barefoot and the remains of bedhead, and the complete cognitive dissonance on his face is comical. Suddenly he's striding forward, crossing the empty expanse of the apartment, eyes wide, not even aware he's blushing. "S-sailor Moon?! Come in--! Hi?"
Sailor Moon stands tall and proud as the balcony window opens. A single digit points towards Mamoru Chiba dramatically as she shoulders the cake box!
"I'm the Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I'll pun..." Sudden pause. Blink.
No, wrong line. She laughs. A familiar, goofy little laugh, then ahem's!
"I'll give you sweets!" There's a cake box being offered over with a smile!
"I heard you were under the weather Chiba-san. So I thought I'd bring you something. It's the duty of a guardian of the innocent!"
The cake is in the shape of a bunny face. And it's missing an ear. Because Usagi ate it.
"How are you feeling?" There's honest concern in her eyes.
He's so offbalance. He's also still a lot taller than she is, but somehow she seems taller than him like this, this contrast. He opens the balcony door wider, automatically taking the box, eyes still wide -- such clear blue -- and face still pink. He glances down at the cake, now in his hands, and he stares at it. It's a bunny without one ear.
"Am I--" he starts, voice hesitant and uncertain, "--dreaming?"
Then Mamoru remembers he's kind of blocking the door, and he steps out of the way. "Will you have some with me? I just made tea..."
His own words are completely nonsensical to him. He'd give his life for her. But she shouldn't even know who he is-- oh. The Nephrite business. Or maybe Jupiter told her about the sketches. But that he was feeling under the weather? Maybe Mercury told her about the Witch. "And I-- um, I'm getting better, thank you, it's just been a rough month, really... but--"
"I didn't think you'd... I didn't even know you knew me."
'Will you have some with me'. The Sailor Senshi lets out a little giggle, and she's following along like a puppy. She's soon hunting for utensils and plates in a blurr of magical girl. He should be careful, lest she trip over herself!
"That'd be fun, thank you!"
"You're not dreaming." His words hit her, and she laughs. Usagi is a poor liar, but her words are true...in a way.
"You have lots of people who care about you, Mamoru Chiba. You've just not always realized it." She states, then politely offers him a piece of cake. It's the other ear.
Then she's slicing up more cake. It doesn't last long in the wood chipper that is her mouth.
"How're you feeling?" Yup, still nomming and talking.
He can't help it. She's *here*, she's here and she's everything--
That same subdued but sparklingly affectionate expression he gives Usagi, that selfsame one Tuxedo Kamen gives her when he carries her and he's not worried for her life anymore, it's on Mamoru's face right now, secret and real and deep as the ocean.
He takes the cake ear handed to him, and that look turns into the one that's quintessentially him: wry amusement, enjoyment of her company and her brightness. It's as warm as it was on her birthday, as appreciative. "You were the nurse, weren't you?" he asks, smiling outright now, and putting his plate down to go pour Sailor Moon some tea.
Luna did say he was worryingly sharp. But then, Makoto did say he knew things he shouldn't-- but he's pretty much well proven not to be Nephrite at all. Whatever it is must explain that sense there is about him, warmth and kindness below the generally aloof exterior, behind the teasing and the banter. "Thank you for visiting me in the hospital. I'm sorry my friends upset you, I never got to tell you that."
He picks up his cake again and offers Sailor Moon the tea, gesturing at the other kitchen chair. "I'm not so tired anymore," he says honestly. "I had the chance to sleep somewhere I didn't have to worry about anything coming after me, and then I slept most of the day."
And then she's found out. Sailor Moon blushes, remembering how she stormed out...and then she forces a smile.
"...Yeah. Umm..." She starts, trying to salvage the situation. But once more, this man come to her rescue.
"No, no! It's okay. I'm glad you have such wonderful friends! But you need to stop going to the hospital!" There's a sudden thrust of digit towards Mamoru's nose!
Then her head hangs a little. "You'll get all of your friends worried. And me too. So try to stay healthy okay?"
She basks in the warm feelings. He's so /comfortable/. Even if occasionally a jerk.
"Well that's good. But don't overdo it! What happened to you? Are you being hurt by..." Monsters?
"Bad people?"
Mamoru laughs, sitting down and raising his hands in a combination of protest and supplication. "I'm not used to having friends! And believe me, I just got quite a talking-to from Akemi-san about taking risks. I'll be more careful."
Except when it comes to protecting you, he doesn't say. He hides the expression that goes with it by taking a big bite of bunny-ear cake, and his eyes light up. After some tea-sipping to wash it down because HE doesn't talk with his MOUTH full, he says earnestly, "This is really, really good."
But then she's asking that awkward question, and-- in for a penny, in for a pound. He can't tell her everything. He can't tell her. She'd stop him, or it'd be awkward, or he'd have to explain the thing that Homura lectured him about in the hospital, where she's one of *three* girls he's wholly dedicated to, which gives him a headache because he can't explain it to himself, either.
"Um-- well, there was a Witch. In the park. The other day. Akemi-san and Sailor Mercury took me to Doctor Shelby afterwards." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "But I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I just--"
He can tell her what he told Makoto. That's safe. Makoto might have told her anyway. --but he can't. He can't make himself say it. He can't disappoint her. He can disappoint Makoto, or Mercury. But he can't disappoint her.
"Things are complicated." OBVIOUSLY. MAMORU CHIBA KNOWS ABOUT MAGIC. YES THINGS ARE COMPLICATED. But then-- he knew who SHE was, too, on the balcony there, odangos in the moonlight. "But I'm being careful. More careful. I really am."
Sailor Moon sits down, arms crossed, and peering at Mamoru. She doesn't know Homura. But she certainly knows mercury! And even smiles as she's mentioned. For all her problems, Ami is a reliable girl.
"I made it myself!" She beams with pride. Even if she cheated. It's the thought that counts.
Then he explains, and there's visible worry. Thoughts of him being hurt by this 'Witch', of being killed, float through her mind. And she wasn't there to help.
For a brief moment there's guilt in her eyes, and she resolves to protect Mamoru Chiba. To let nothing hurt him like that again.
It's the kind of resolve he saw when she first got up and used her Tiara.
She leans in. Complicated. Being careful. Eyes narrow, and suddenly she may as well be two hundred feet tall. Peeeeer!
"...Just promise me you will not do something stupid and get hurt too bad, okay? You're a good person, Mamoru."
She tries to ease off. And then her foot catches on a chair, and she's tumbling towards him! Her slice of cake launches in the air in her flailing, falling towards them both! Dodge or be caked!
LIGHTNING. REFLEXES.
Without even thinking about it, one hand snatches the plate from midair and expertly catches the cake with it; the other arm is around Sailor Moon, holding her steady where she falls into him, close against his chest, warm bare hand on her arm, practically in his lap--
--he lets out a sigh of adrenaline-soaked relief--
--and he very deliberately places the plate on the table first. Then cranes his neck to look down at the blond head. There's laughter in his eyes, and that smug Mamoru smugness, and that affectionate Mamoru affection.
But his warmth, and the familiarity and peace and golden safety--
--"how *do* you manage to fight monsters in those heels?" he teases from so very close.
And then Mamoru proves that he's one heck of a man with his hands. A cake is caught, set down, and then she's held against him as she stares into his eyes with a look of wonderment. She's /blushing/! Utterly smitten (again) for a few moments. Little hearts lurk in her eyes!
She feels safe, she feels loved, and yet wants to bop his nose. This is Mamoru Chiba, and for a moment, she falls completely in love.
"It's a talent!" Comes Usagi, frowning, and finally backing up! There's hands on her hips!
"No heels can stop the justice of the Sailor Senshi!" Comes the girl in an elegant speech!
The she leans down and pbbbbtttt's at Mamoru! How familiar. She stomps a heel and looks away! Jerk!
And Mamoru is just grinning. He's as honest as the quieter, more reserved expressions he shows Usagi on the regular, that he's shown Sailor Moon tonight, and it's brighter than he is with anyone else. He lets her go easily, and his hands fall to his knees, and his voice is on the edge of laughter as he says in an attempt at contriteness, "No injustice can withstand the heels of the Sailor Senshi, either."
And discreetly wipes his face off on his sleeve even if she didn't actually spit when she raspberried. Just in case. Maybe. Or maybe he's still trolling. But then Mamoru really does sound contrite. "I did save your cake for you. Maybe we should eat all of it in case monsters are attracted to cake." A beat. "After all, who wouldn't be? It's good cake. That Sailor Moon made."
That contrite statement is met with a stomp of her heels, a 'graceful' turn, and then she very nearly loses her balance again. Only senshi magic keeps her upright.
"That's right! All the mon...bad guys will be taught justice and all the innocent people kept safe!" There's unusual vigor in that statement.
Then he's mentioning cake, and she's sidling over, and then in about one minute half of the cake is gone. She's no longer using the plate. Just eating from the box.
Manners is /not/ one of Sailor Moon's strong points.
"It /is/ great! And cake's always better with friends."
It's not even disbelief at this point: Mamoru doesn't think he can be surprised anymore tonight. He just sort of stares in awe at the inhalation, and then lunges for the rest of the cake, snatching his fork from his plate and standing up, determinedly starting to eat from the box up high where she can't reach it, holding it overhead. He holds his hand in front of his mouth because now he's talking with his mouth full because Sailor Moon is a terrible influence but he's still not resorting to seefood.
"Cake WITH friends not IN FRONT OF friends!" he states in righteous indignation, then starts to laugh and almost chokes because there is cake in his mouth. BUT HE IS STILL EATING IT bite by bite way up there in tall people land.
It's a cake fight! Bits of cake fly everywhere, and she's chomping, and soon there's only one piece left! She lunges, and....
Tries to physically scarf down the last piece like a shark. This may well be while Mamoru puts it on his plate, lips merely a breath away from his.
And then she's pausing, blushing, and then she falls off the chair with a thud, all red and embarrassed. His scent lingers.
"Y...you ALWAYS GIVE THE LAST PIECE TO THE GIRL!" That's totally a rule. Pout! It's that childish, gentle little look he knows so well.
She stands up, dusts herself off.
She gives a genuine smile.
"I think I can pronounce you back to health! So...show up at school tomorrow, okay? I hope you enjoyed the cake, Mamoru-kun!" That's right, Sailor Moon called you Mamoru-kun.
She pauses, hesitates, and then walks right over to give him a tight hug, followed by a kiss on the forehead. Then she's running away and out the window, blushing like a maniac, odangos flailing.
"Until next time! Keep the power of the Moon in your heeeaaaarrrttt!"
It's seriously okay-- it's /seriously okay/ that there is bunny cake all over his kitchen.
Mamoru's frozen in place, a breath away from Sailor Moon, and his eyes are soft for a heartbeat, two, and at the very moment that she pauses, there's a sharp inhalation of breath from him and he reddens as well. Unlike Sailor Moon's chair-falling retreat, however, he remains frozen, eyes widening, barely daring to breathe again.
She's recovering, he's flustered, and her smile--
'Mamoru-kun'. SAILOR MOON CALLED HIM MAMORU-KUN.
He still can't find any words, doesn't trust his voice, doesn't trust himself not to say something stupid if he opens his mouth and tries to say something anyway, and then he loses a second somewhere because she's suddenly hugging him tightly, kissing his forehead, she's hugging him--
All he can do is stare after her as she flits away, unaware of the cake everywhere, unaware of anything but the ghost of her arms around him and the blush on her face, and somewhere he didn't know even existed, his heart is singing.