Makoto walked down the hall, inching closer and closer to her target...
Her hand was raised to knock when she heard it.
“H-hey! Watch where you're putting those ha- AH! Rei-chan, I said stop already!”
“Come back here and- Oof!”
Makoto cringed as she heard a large crash. She decided to bite the bullet and knock. “Rei? Minako?” At least they were awake... “Are you guys alright?”
“That hurt...” Makoto thought she heard Minako mutter.
“It's your own fault for trying to escape punishment.”
Makoto could feel the beads of sweat start to trickle down her neck. Looks like they don't have much in the name of hangovers... She tried knocking again, this time harder. “Rei! Minako!”
There was a very distinguished squeal from within, most likely from the realization that they weren't as alone as they thought. What are they doing in there? Makoto couldn't help but wonder.
She coughed and then announced, now that she had their attention. “Breakfast is ready and on the table. Come when you're ready,” she paused, thinking of all the things she'd heard through the door, and sighed. “Ready and decent, alright?”
As she was met by silence, Makoto took it as a sign that she could leave, having safely delivered the message. It wasn't until she was turning the corner when Rei's unmistakable shout called after her, “It's not what you think!”
And just how would you know what I'm thinking... Makoto couldn't help but think, continuing down the hall, if you weren't fully aware of what you were really doing?
“Ah, Mako-chan? How is it?” Makoto sighed as she leaned down to sit. Usagi added, “Are they up? Will they be coming out soon?”
Makoto took a sip of her orange juice. “Yeah, they're up. I don't think it'll be long before they come out, either. They seemed to be in the mood for rushing...”
Ami frowned at Makoto's indifferent expression. “Mako-chan?” Makoto looked over at her questioningly. “Did they really say that?”
Makoto waved it off. “Just wait- they'll be out soon...”
True to her word, Rei and Minako followed shortly thereafter, still combing out stray tendrils of hair.
But of course, before that could take place, Makoto had to relate what she had overheard to their housewife of a leader, in thanks for cooking breakfast.
Which is how the rumored duo arrived to hearing Usagi exclaim, “EHH! Rei-chan and Minako-chan stayed up all night playing Be-De-eSu-eM games!”
If there was ever a moment for time to freeze, this would be one of those moments.
It was then that Usagi turned back to her 'thinking pose'.
Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as her 'airheadedly clueless' pose.
Thus her time-unfreezing-and-refreezing phrase. “Eh? What does BDSM mean?”
Strangely enough, both Rei and Minako knew exactly what that meant, though they both started to blush furiously at that.
Rei jumped forward to defend, “Where the heck did you get that from! It's not true! Not true at ALL!”
The dream with the tentacle monster resurfaced.
The other girls were left to wonder what really happened, to make Rei blush again.
Makoto asked for the sake of the others.
The blush increased.
Minako coughed into her hand, her idol experience finally grabbing hold of her. “Oh, come off it, everyone. You don't honestly believe Rei-chan and I have that sort of relationship, do you?” Though... it might be... interesting, to say the least...
Makoto shrugged. “All I said was I heard something about punishment, a loud noise, and struggling..” She sipped her coffee. I hate it when I have to listen to Mrs. Ikawa in the morning... I can't help but shake the feeling that it does something not-positive to my mood... Or rather, my mouth... so sorry girls, but it looks like you're today's victims...
Whatever the case, it most certainly did not help when even Ami was putting on a thoughtful look. A genuinely speculative look.
Meanwhile, Minako tried to explain, her occasionally twitching eye the only indication that she was not meant to take this sort of talk so often as it had been brought up in the last few days. “About that... I was really just teasing Rei-chan a bit because I found a white hair on her and Rei-chan got embarrassed and started tickling me... you know, like how we were before Ami-chan arrived. It was innocent; it really was. I honestly don't know how you could have gotten any ideas about us staying up all night either- we went to bed not long after you guys did, after all.”
The doctoral thoughtful look's cause came into the light. Ami looked up. “I see... that makes sense, but... a few hours ago, when everyone should have been asleep, I woke up and went for a glass of water... and I heard...” At this point, Ami stopped, realized what she was saying, and looked down at her lap while blushing. Not nearly as hard as the Love and Passion duo though, each remembering their respective dreams. The sort of dreams that you did not share, even with friends as close as these, much less so over breakfast.
Which reminded Minako's stomach, who growled, Feeeeeeed me.
Minako put a hand to her stomach as she smiled. “Rather than talk about that, can we eat?”
As the two (privately-nervously) joined the others at the table, coincidentally next to each other again, they were all given the OK to start.
Oddly, the subject was not brought up again for the duration of the meal.
Rei was still not sure what Ami had heard.
And she was not sure she wanted to answer with her alibi if she got enough nerve to bring it up again.
Minako, sipping her morning tea, was the very image of calmness.
Even though she was likely even more embarrassed than Rei inside, considering how the nature of her dream, frighteningly vivid, might have resulted in some rather loud moans on her part.
Which reminded her that she had to definitely make sure to take a good, thorough shower before she left for the day.
“Minako? Minako-chan?”
The idol blinked and came back to the situation at hand, particularly, the hand being waved in front of her. She smiled. “I'm sorry; I must have spaced out for a moment. What did you say?”
Usagi did not seem at all phased at Minako's lack of attention as she enthusiastically asked a normally mundane question. “When do you have to leave for work today?”
“When?” Minako thought about it, long and hard. She looked up with a smile. “I'm not sure... after we finish here I'll have to call my manager and see.”
“You don't know your own schedule?”
Minako scoffed without thinking. “What sense in there in having more than a handful of people working directly under you, not even to mention all those distantly in the same network, if you can't make use of them? Of course I don't remember everything on my schedule- my manager has my day planner.”
Rei continued to eat, apparently choosing to end that string of conversation. Breakfast was soon finished, and Makoto helped Usagi wash the dishes while Ami and Minako showered before getting ready to go to work. Minako apparently had a full schedule today, to make up for all the other days.
Ami left first, telling them that she'd try to meet up with them all again before Minako had to leave.
Incidentally, Makoto was called back on an urgent emergency that only she could deal with in person, so when Rei asked for another moment of Minako's time, Makoto ended up being the second person to leave. As if it were some strange twist of fate, Usagi-chan also had to leave, something about having plans to shop for a small anniversary (small origin of an anniversary, not necessarily a small present) gift, and she'd leave the shrine to Rei.
And so, Minako and Rei sat on the porch, their feet dangling as they looked out on the brisk autumn weather.
Minako asked what she wanted to talk about, but Rei didn't say anything. They sat in silence, soaking in each other's presence.
And then, nonchalantly, as if she were discussing the weather, Rei asked, “Tell me ahead of time. Do you have any intention of returning here after your day is done?”
Minako blinked, looking over at the priestess. Is she... why...? “Is it a bother?” It suddenly occurred to Minako that she should have asked this before staying over the second night. Rei had only let her stay over the first night back because... well actually, Minako didn't really know, as they hadn't talked that much, as intended, before going to sleep.
Rei's eyes shot open nonetheless at the quiet tone of her question. “No! I mean, it's not that. Not really. I...” Rei scratched her cheek, trying to figure out how to say this without another misunderstanding resulting from it. Even though the people most likely to misunderstand were already gone. “Umm... Artemis must be lonely, right? You didn't bring him, so...”
Minako blinked again, this time in a different sort of surprise. Her hand slowly went up to her mouth, her eyes impossibly widening with each second. “Artemis! I can't believe I...” She stopped, lost in thought again. “I dropped him off at Usagi's house with Luna on the way from the airport... Usagi-chan was out on an errand, and I didn't want to disturb them that night, so...”
Rei formed a wry frown. And yet it was perfectly okay to bother me. She struggled to ignore the part of her that said, Who cares? You wanted to see her and you were up anyway, so what does that matter?
It also didn't help that at just that moment, Minako looked over to her with an apologetic smile. As everyone is well aware, Minako-chan's smile is a deadly weapon against any of her purely devoted fans. As the collection would reveal, Rei was one of those fans.
And so Rei kissed her shields goodbye with a customary blush, hidden by a quick look at the garden. “It's starting to get cold these days, isn't it.”
Minako smiled, looking at her best friend. “Thank you.”
Rei blinked and looked back at Minako, which was a mistake and yet not. “What for?”
Minako leaned closer, wrapping her arms around her neck. “For putting up with me these last two nights.”
Rei scoffed and turned her head away. “I've been 'putting up' with you since the day I met you. One or two nights isn't going to change that.”
Minako leaned back, though she was still fairly close to the priestess. As her finger doodled on the freshly wiped wooden floor, she whispered, “Let me pay you back then. For troubling you. For depending on you.”
Rei, like a diseased addict, looked back at that which killed her defenses. Minako didn't meet her glance. Rei sighed, returning her gaze to the sky above. “Is it still open?”
Minako blinked hard at that. Sometimes, it was very disconcerting to try to understand Rei's roundabout way of avoiding and returning to the subject at hand. She couldn't help but smile as she thought, Is she like this after observing how I acted while I still had my mask up with her? When I tried convincing foe and friend alike that I was the princess? “What is?”
The blush began to creep back into Rei's expression. “You know now. That I've been collecting. So there's no point in hiding it. Would you really give me free tickets?”
A very, very, very amused grin appeared on Minako's face, blossoming from nothing. Rei saw this out of the corner of her eye and immediately went beet red.
“Well if you're not going to stay- I might as well go to the concert, and if I can save money via connections then...”
“Connections, huh?” Minako leaned over again, this time to whisper in Rei's ear, “Is that all I am to you?”
She hadn't meant it to come out that way. Really at all, if she had the time to think about it, but something about Rei's demeanor drew out the reckless side of her. Or maybe it'd been waking up next to her after having that dream...
Regardless, Rei's blush increased, though this time, she had no defenses with which to call forth a cloud of dust and run for the hills in the confusion.
“I...”
Rei took a deep breath. Minako waited, suddenly curious as to what Rei might say. She, in her curiosity, did not stop to consider that her proximity to the speaker might be interfering with the necessary thought capacities of said speaker.
Suddenly, as inspiration hit the priestess, she broke into a smile and leaned forward, kissing the idol on her ear. “Payback. And no, I hardly think of you as a business connection. However, for the sake of holding something over the heads of those little brats, it'd be nice to have something other than my collection to show for it.”
Is bragging rights any better than being used as a business connection? Minako smiled softly, leaning forward to rest her chin on Rei's shoulder. “How many do you want?”
“Can I get one backstage pass?”
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