In Their Room or Out of the Closet
The party was loud, airless and claustrophobic. In other words, it was
a great party. Karaoke had been downright hysterical – everyone was
amazed that Haruka and Michiru sang so beautifully together (and
irritated as well. There didn’t seem to be anything that they couldn’t
do.) Setsuna had, unsuccessfully, tried to beg off her turn, but when
pressed had sung an odd, keening piece in a foreign language, just to
teach them all a lesson.
When she stopped (at last!) Makoto quipped that she should have sung
"Time in a Bottle" and Minako slapped her, but then Rei had to add "or
As Time Goes By," which made Usagi slap her. About the time the slap
fight began to include Chibi-Usa, Ami decided to take a walk and get
some fresh air.
A walk to the washroom, then a slow meander through the halls of the
large house, was just the thing to soothe the pounding in her head.
Ami noted the impeccable décor, the photos on the walls, and the tall
palladium windows in the dining room looking out over the property.
For all that it was a large house, one would never feel alone here,
Ami thought, too many signs of an active family life. She smiled, too,
as she wondered what the neighbors thought of the odd family who lived
there.
Her thoughts, which had rambled along with her steps, came to a
crashing halt as she came along the hallway that led to the older
women’s bedrooms. Staring fixedly at a door before her, Minako was
standing in the hallway. She appeared to be in a fugue state, or
possibly catatonic, she was so still.
Ami choked back a startled cry, and was about to ask Minako what she
was doing, when the blonde waved her closer. She approached, rather
forebodingly, as Minako preemptively shushed her.
"Did you ever wonder," Minako began, her as tones hushed as if they
stood before a scared shrine, "what Haruka and Michiru’s bedroom
looked like?"
"Not really…" Ami began, but was shushed once more. As if hypnotized,
Minako reached out with one hand and gave the door a light push.
Before Ami could stop her, she had opened the door, and pulled the
blue-haired woman in with her. The door closed behind them quietly and
Ami found herself standing in the middle of a large, brightly lit
room. A rich, blue carpet rose up in waves to meet her, while lacy
curtains blew slightly in the evening breeze.
Despite her reservations, Ami found herself looking around at the
various pieces of furniture and decorations. One low, long dresser,
where Minako already stood picking up various items and replacing
them; one tall dresser, with photos; two closets; nightstands. Rather
normal, except that she would have assumed they’d have a Japanese
style room, rather than this very Western one. Funny she hadn’t ever
really thought about it before, but Haruka and Michiru seemed so
very…traditional… a couple, even if they were both women.
Turning towards the tall dresser, Ami determined with a quick glance,
that it must be Haruka’s. The photos on the top showed the tall,
blonde, racecar driver with a variety of famous, and not-so-famous
people. Money clip, sunglasses, loose change in a hand-made ceramic
bowl (probably made by Hotaru) and odds and ends that gather on such
surfaces completed the picture. Ami turned to watch Minako who was
sniffing at various bottles and setting them down. Ami blushed as
Minako reached down and actually opened a drawer, but was unable to
cross the room fast enough to prevent her.
"What are you *doing*?" Ami hissed, as she leapt the last few steps
and shut the drawer firmly. Minako pulled her hand away to avoid
getting it stuck in the closed drawer and looked at her friend with a
slightly intoxicated determination.
"I wasn’t going to remove anything! I just wondered what Michiru…"
Minako giggled and Ami interrupted, more than a little mortified.
"What? What kind of underwear she wears? Minako, we have to leave now
– you’ve seen their room…" but the blonde had spun away and was now
heading towards one of the closets.
"You look in the other one." Minako ordered. Ami shrugged. In for a
penny, in for a pound. She wished she had had a few more drinks; maybe
they would have helped make sense of this exercise in stupidity. In a
moment of petulance, Ami wondered if Minako had ever gone through
*her* drawers on one her of her visits to the apartment. With a yank,
the closet opened to reveal ranks upon ranks of beautiful dresses,
casual clothes and even a few bits of evening wear. Minako’s "Aha!"
drew Ami’s attention away quickly.
"I knew it!" Minako picked up a pair of extremely expensive-looking
leather pumps, and a high-heeled shoe that looked, if possible, even
more refined and high-priced than the first pair. "I just knew that
Michiru was a shoe-hound!" She chortled over her discovery until Ami
cleared her throat delicately.
"Um, Minako – *this* is Michiru’s closet, I think." She waved vaguely
at the door whose handle she still held.
"Wha…?" Minako turned back to the clothes before her. She swept away
the rows of casual pants and dresses, to reveal men’s eveningwear…and
several shelves of shoes. Boots, loafers, heels, pumps, they were all
there and Minako gaped openly. "Hunh. Who would have thought? Haruka’s
got a shoe fetish!"
Ami swept the clothes in front her away and saw much the same – casual
clothes mixed in with more formal wear– and a modest single shelf with
for shoes. And a neat rack with several objects that made Ami turn red
in agonized embarrassment. She turned to mention this to Minako, but
the blonde had disappeared! The closet door was closed, and she was
nowhere to be seen.
"Minako?" Ami called, softly, then again. She was just thinking that
Minako must have cut and run, when the closet door opened just enough
to allow the blonde to poke her head out and wave at Ami.
"You have to smell it in here…" Minako took a deep breath and exhaled
loudly. Ami closed Michiru’s closet door and walked over to Minako,
determined to have the girl out of there and this room, if it took
brute strength to do it. But as she crossed the room, a sound came
from outside the room door and Ami practically jumped headfirst into
the closet, joining Minako in the confined space. Ami wrenched the
closet door closed, but Minako inserted a hand and stopped it before
it shut them in. Ami was about to protest, but halted in mid-hiss when
the bedroom door opened and Haruka and Michiru stood framed in the
doorway.
Both girls held their breath. There really was no reasonable excuse
for hiding in a closet in someone else’s room if they were caught.
Ami’s lungs began to burn and she carefully drew in some air. Minako
was right – the closet smelled wonderful.
The scene before her derailed Ami’s thoughts completely. Haruka and
Michiru stood in the door, chatting pleasantly with some third party.
Haruka wore a sports jacket; her hand was in one pants pocket while
she leaned insouciantly in the doorframe. Michiru had on her party
dress, and looked as impeccable as ever. As always, they exuded a
quiet competence and intensity that Ami had admired from the
beginning. Calm, cool and deliberate, Haruka and Michiru were often
the solid core of their team – and everyone knew it. And they really
made a lovely couple. So mature – they rarely made more than the
slightest show of physical affection, but it was obvious to everyone
how much they were in love. Standing for a moment, chatting, the two
women made an excuse to whoever had accompanied them, and entered the
room.
Ami had her hand poised to clamp over Minako’s mouth, but her action
was unnecessary - the blonde seemed immobilized once again. The two
women entered the room, smiled at each other, then closed the door
behind them. In a blur of motion, Haruka put one hand on Michiru’s
shoulder, then soundlessly spun her around and pushed her back against
the door. Immediately the two women fused themselves together in a
silent, but passionate, kiss. Ami found her hand muffling her own
mouth as Haruka, who had her hands tightly on Michiru’s shoulders,
moved one slowly down Michiru’s exposed neck and under the dress’s
neckline. Michiru pressed herself against Haruka and the two girls
could hear her moaning into Haruka’s mouth as the taller woman’s hand,
presumably, found what she was looking for.
Ami was aware of a sharp pain in her arm and investigated it, only to
find that it was Minako, gripping her arm so tightly she was in danger
of drawing blood. Not wanting to make a noise Ami simply bore the
discomfort, as the scene before them became even more intense. Haruka
was now kissing Michiru’s neck and had her dress pulled down rather
further over her shoulders than it was intended. The green-haired
woman had one hand on Haruka’s back, scratching at it with her nails,
while the other moved somewhere on Haruka’s front.
Ami heard a zipper, then a low groan torn from Haruka’s throat, then
an even lower one from Minako’s. Ami finally clamped a hand over
Minako’s mouth, but there was no point. Haruka and Michiru pulled away
from each other sharply, kissed once again deeply - if not quite *as*
deeply – then turned towards a mirror and straightened out their
clothes. Facing each other, they assisted with the finishing touches
on each other then, arm in arm, left the room as cool as they had
entered.
For a long moment, neither of the two women in the closet spoke. When
a solid, agonizing minute had passed and there was no sign of a return
by the couple, Minako pushed the closet door open and they stumbled
out, gasping for breath, panting in relief and excess of stimulation.
The two girls fell heavily onto the bed, sucking in lungfuls of air,
and trying to calm their racing hearts. Ami could not get the scene
they had just witnessed out of her head, seeing the two women over and
over again as they moaned in raw desire. She wondered if she’d ever be
able to look them in the eyes again.
Minako had rolled over and was laid out with her head on one of the
pillows at the head of the bed. Ami was about to protest, but decided
it wasn’t even worth it. She simply sat up on the edge of the bed and
looked at the nightstand in front of her.
"Whose side are you on?" she asked, resignedly.
Minako sat up and frowned. "I’m not sure. There’s not much here.
Trashy novel, alarm clock, coaster…how about you?"
Ami cataloged the items before her, "Trashy novel, coaster, box of
tissues. No help there."
"Wow – they both read trashy novels." Minako said and lay back down on
the bed. "This must be Haruka’s side – I bet she has to be in control
of the alarm clock, don’t you?"
Ami lay next to her and stared at the ceiling. "Probably." She could
smell a faint scent coming from the pillows beneath her – lavender.
"After all, she’s got that shoe fetish."
There was a moment of silence as the two women lay there, then
simultaneously they both broke out into peals of semi-hysterical
laughter.
"Oh my god! Can you believe that?" Minako practically shrieked with
delight. "No *wonder* they always look so calm and cool on the
surface! They just slip back here for…" more giggles.
Ami was feeling more than a little giddy and more than a little
flushed. She turned her head to watch Minako as the other woman rolled
over on the bed and pressed her face into the pillow. Her long golden
hair spilled across the bed and Ami found her hand moving to stroke
it. Once again, she could see in her mind’s eye neatly manicured nails
raking across a lean back.
"You know," Ami commented to Minako’s hair, as the girl still had her
face buried in the pillow and was, apparently, hyperventilating into
it, "When you first showed up all those years ago, we all had case of
hero worship. Like the way we all think about Haruka and Michiru now.
It seems funny to think of it that way, but you were pretty cool."
Minako looked at her friend with a grin. "Yeah, I was, wasn’t I?" She
shielded herself from the pillow that was subsequently launched at her
head. "OK, I take it back!"
Ami rolled over to face Minako and smiled at her. She took a strand of
long, golden hair and began to play with it. "That was something,
wasn’t it?" Ami’s voice was soft.
Nodding in understanding, Minako took Ami’s hand in her own. "I know
what you mean…we never think of them like that do we? But, if you
think of it – not that you would…"
"What do you mean by that?" Ami was more annoyed than she wanted to
let on, but she couldn’t hide it. It wasn’t like she was some kind of
nun or anything; it’s just that she always had other priorities.
Minako held out her palms in a gesture of placation. "I didn’t mean it
that way – it’s just that you always seem to have your mind somewhere
else, not…"
"In the gutter, like yours?" Ami interrupted, a tad petulantly.
Minako grinned. "Yeah." Staring just above Ami’s eyes, Minako reached
out and pushed the hair out of her friend’s face. "You know…" she
commented carefully as her hand lingered on Ami’s cheek. "I’ve always
liked women with short hair."
Ami grinned. "We know. Trust me – everyone knows." She sighed and
rolled over onto her back, once again noticing the scent that rose
from the pillows beneath her head. "I’ve always liked women with long
hair."
The silence was prolonged enough to cause Ami to pause in her thoughts
and look at her friend. Minako was staring at her, her mouth hanging
open slightly.
"What?" This was the second time Minako had made her feel
self-conscious about her thoughts.
"You like?" Minako shut her mouth with an audible snap. "You
like…women with long hair?" She put her hand up to her mouth to mask
her laugh, a move that was very unlike her, Ami thought. It made her
look very feminine.
Something in Ami snapped. "C’mon!" she said and sat up, tugging Minako
up with her. The blonde followed, a little puzzled.
Ami stood and half pulled, half-dragged Minako over to Michiru’s
dresser. Putting one hand on Minako’s chest, she pressed the blonde
back until her back was against the wall. Turning away, she leaned
down to sample a few of the bottles as Minako had previously, until
she found what she was looking for. When she stood upright once again,
she found Minako leaning towards her, trying to see what she had in
her hand. Ami pressed her back against the wall, a little more firmly.
"Stay." Ami ordered, then spun away and crossed to Haruka’s closet.
Minako didn’t move, except to turn her head and watch Ami disappear
into the folds of clothing as the door swung open. Ami’s voice, when
she next spoke, was sharp, commanding. "Eyes closed." Minako closed
her eyes, wondering just what Ami had in mind.
When a hand touched her face, just behind the curve of her jaw, Minako
jumped, but managed to keep her eyes closed. A finger, covered with
something cool and aromatic, slid just behind her ear then was
removed, to return at the other ear. Minako could smell something
flowery, like lavender, as the breeze from the window moved the scent
around the room. She felt herself drawn forward, the cool liquid feel
of the scent sliding down her spine along the open back of her dress.
The hand came to rest at the small of her back, where her dress once
again began. She leaned back against the wall, feeling the warmth of
Ami’s hand pressing into her skin. But when another finger began to
trace a path from Minako’s ear, then down her neck, past the
collarbone, lower, following the delicate curve of décolletage,
Minako’s eyes snapped open.
There was Ami, her eyes on the pale white skin that showed at the top
if Minako's dress, while she traced a line down past the edge of the
dress’s neckline. Minako laughed when she realized that Ami was
wearing one of Haruka’s white dress shirts, the sleeves rolled up to
the elbow…and a tie. Her eyes shining, Minako found herself
considerably sobered. She understood completely what Ami was doing
Then Ami looked up from her occupation, and the glint of mischief in
her eyes was unmistakable.
Using the hand that lay on Minako’s back, Ami pulled the blonde
closer, and Minako thrust her thigh between Ami’s, feeling her warmth
through her clothes. One hand in Minako’s hair, one on her back, Ami
moved closer, then with a sudden motion, captured Minako’s lips with
her own.
Ami could feel the scene she had just watched explode in her head,
egged on by the sensation of Minako’s lips and thigh against her own.
She slipped her hand beneath one of the dress straps and followed the
slope of Minako’s shoulder down to her chest. Both women gasped when
Ami’s hand brushed over Minako’s nipple. Minako slumped against the
wall, as Ami buried her face in Minako’s neck, biting and kissing
anything she could reach.
Ami lowered her head to kiss Minako just above the line of her dress,
her tongue darting beneath the edge. Minako leaned her head against
the wall and smiled. With one hand, Minako kept Ami’s mouth pressed
against her, while the other began to move downwards, playing out her
role as Michiru.
"I can’t stop thinking about them, can you?" Minako whispered. Ami
shook her head, but didn’t stop what she was doing. "This has got to
be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done…" she said and laughed.
The brought Ami up short. "What’s that?" She asked.
Minako took hold of the tie around Ami’s neck and dragged her over to
the bed, pushed her back onto it and smiled at the look on Ami’s face
as she unzipped her dress. The black material slid almost silently
onto the floor and she straddled Ami’s lap, while the blue-haired
woman watched with large eyes. As she unbuttoned the shirt collar and
untied the tie, Minako leaned forward into Ami’s ear, kissed it
lightly and said, "Making love to one of my best friends on the bed
shared by two more friends…who may walk in any moment." Her tongue
slid into the corner of Ami’s ear. Ami's eyes simply rolled up into
her head as she moaned.
While she continued unbuttoning the shirt Ami wore, Minako grabbed a
handful of Ami’s hair and lifted the other woman to meet her in a
passionate kiss. Their tongues met, a current sparking between them.
Ami’s hand found Minako’s back, and Minako found herself arching as
Ami’s mouth covered one breast. Minako whipped her head back and forth
as Ami feasted on her, playing with one nipple as she sucked the
other. With a growl, Minako threw her weight onto Ami and bore her
down upon the bed, then pulled the shirt Ami wore down her arms.
Minako’s hair spread across Ami’s face and shoulders, as she lowered
herself onto the other woman. Ami reached up, and buried her hand in
Minako’s mane kissing her deeply. The blonde’s hands traced Ami’s
breasts softly, her tongue teasing Ami’s.
"No," Ami whispered, and gripping Minako’s shoulders, pushed the
blonde off her, rolled her to one side, then laid herself next to
Minako. Holding Minako down with one arm, Ami slid the other along
Minako’s leg, tracing its delicate musculature. Her hand slid under
the edge of Minako’s underwear and the blonde once again grasped Ami’s
arms hard enough to hurt. Ami grinned down at Minako, as the blonde
became incoherent. She grinned ever more fiercely as Minako’s
movements became more urgent, and finally ended with a deep shudder
and moan.
Minako opened her eyes and stared at Ami curiously, stretching her
body and reaching out lazily for her. "Come here," she whispered,
pulling the blue-haired woman down. Minako kissed her way down Ami’s
neck, past her breasts and across her ribs (finding, incidentally,
that Ami was rather ticklish in several places.) Rolling Ami onto her
back, Minako continued to kiss her hips, thigh, then inner thigh. When
her lips brushed Ami’s center, Minako almost laughed at the hoarse,
guttural sound that forced its way from Ami. The blonde knew she was
in control and she loved it. Tracing lazy circles around her center,
Minako held Ami’s slim form in her arms as she began to move
uncontrollably and smiled as she felt Ami crest, then subside.
A short time later, dressed once again (and Haruka’s shirt stuck way
in the back of the closet where hopefully it wouldn’t be found until
long after today was a memory and no one would associate any wrinkles
in the fabric with anyone hiding in the closet) the two women took
one look at themselves in the mirror and collapsed with laughter.
"No one," groaned Ami, "will believe anything we say about where we’ve
been."
"Nope." Minako agreed, trying with some desperate hope to reapply some
light makeup. "The truth is hideously obvious."
Ami sat down on the bed. "I wonder how they do it."
Minako turned and faced her. "I wonder that a lot."
Ami grinned. "Me too." Standing, she crossed the room, took one look
around and gestured towards the door. "Well, shall we?"
Minako nodded, glanced at herself once more in the mirror and opened
the door. Peeking out into the hallway, she said "All clear."
Just before Minako opened the door, Ami reached out to stop her.
"Wait." She said, "Before we go back, I have to ask this..." Minako
lifted an eyebrow in anticipation, and Ami continued. "How long did
you know me before you went through my dresser and closet?"
Minako's muffled her laughter with a hand, but she answered sincerely.
"Honestly? The first time we were over your place. I thought Rei was
going to die!" Then she opened the door and stepped into the empty
hall, before Ami could even frame a reply.
Returning to the party, both women were relieved to find a hotly
contested game of charades in full swing. It appeared to be Inners vs.
Outers and the Inners were losing. Minako, being Minako, threw herself
into the fray and in seconds had evened the score.
Ami sighed a little with relief that no one had taken any notice of
them. She therefore nearly jumped out of her skin when Makoto came up
from behind her suddenly.
"Did you ever notice," the chestnut-haired woman whispered in her ear,
"how often Haruka and Michiru wander off together?"
Ami swallowed hard, but shook her head.
Makoto gave her a crooked grin. "Didn’t you ever wonder what their
bedroom is like?"
To the tall girl’s complete surprise, Ami’s eyes got very large, she
took a step back, and squeaked "No!" with surprising vehemence. Ami
then turned towards the crowd of women, and practically flew into
their midst, shouting absurd answers to the charade clues.
Makoto stared after her friend, wondered if she was perhaps cracking,
then shrugged and returned to the party once again.
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