View source for 2663/The Lunchtime After

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2025/07/01
|Location=Mamoru's Apartment
|Synopsis=Usagi and Mamoru touch base the day after the wedding.
|Cast of Characters=38,43
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>The day after the wedding, well after initial recovery's taken place, but still skipping school for the brief reprieve of twenty four hours, is a blessedly slow day. It's a lot hotter in the streets below where there's very little breeze, but it's still pretty hot up on the kitchen-facing balcony of Mamoru's apartment, even under the awning.<br><br>That just makes it an awesome day for ice cream.<br><br>Mamoru's eating creme brulee ice cream straight out of the pint, relaxing barefoot in a pale blue yukata with a gold-yellow gingko leaf pattern and obi, and his fluffy hair's tips are still pink, and his sun-tinted glasses are clean-ish.<br><br>"You sick of me yet?" he asks, smiling, tipping his head back and to the side to look up at Usagi coming out the door, and then because he's a walking dadjoke he theatrically sighs in relief at the blast of cooler air from inside. With the tinted windows, the roof garden, and some air conditioning, it's 'only' 28 C/83 F in there.<br><br>The sounds of Juuban's little built-up area are at their usual remove at seven stories up, traffic both vehicular and pedestrian, snips of music from open car windows sometimes, the breeze making the awning flutter bright in the sunshine. "Equally important-- how are you feeling? About all the things?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>The night of their wedding had been an exciting blur of dancing and laughter and food and talking and a bubbly sheen over everything, as much from the champagne as the relief of being free. She was herself against, fully, and when even she'd finally been worn out on the sweet joy and fun, she'd gone home, to her parents' house, she and Luna embracing her family and sharing petit fours so delicious that her parents didn't even bother to question her for coming home so late. <br><br>She hadn't been allowed to sleep in on a school day, but the second she'd turned the corner and was no longer visible she'd become Sailor Moon and gone straight to Mamoru's place, crawled into bed with him, and crashed for another three hours. <br><br>Now it's hot and the freezer is as stocked as ever, and Usagi snorts as she shuts the balcony door and plops down besides Mamoru with a pint of ube and toasted coconut ice cream. "No way. I think it's gonna take... at least a thousand years." <br><br>If literally anyone had hoped getting married would make them less insufferable, those hopes can now be destroyed.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>It's possible Usagi ran into Kazuo on his way out of the apartment but unlikely, as he's generally more likely to take the streets than the rooftops. By the time she crawled into bed with Mamoru, the black-haired boy had already finished his breakfast-in-bed and Kazuo-cuddling, and Kazuo was off (probably to school but maybe not!), and Mamoru was very obviously skipping by then.<br><br>Now, he is still skipping! And he reaches a warm dry bare foot over to put it on top of Usagi's foot, ice cream spoon in his mouth and eyebrows up.<br><br>Such a bubbly happiness, and such vast relief, in along with all the usual things that unfiltered empathy and psychometry will bring with them-- it's the kind of happy that makes it hard to talk, scattering words and tightening the throat, making the eyes sting a little-- and he leans to give Usagi a kiss, cold fingertips lightly touching her face to turn it toward him, with the taste of creme brulee ice cream on his lips.<br><br>When he pulls back, he's still got his foot on Usagi's: contact is maintained but without being too clingily hot. The smile he's got is all for her, little and affectionate and almost reverent. "A whole thousand years."<br><br>Then he makes a face. "We're going to have to explain what happened to Chibiusa-chan to her parents. I mean, once we get the silver crystal back there and figure out how to wake up her mom. But like, we took a five year old 900-year-old and are giving her back a nine year old 900-year-old, and I know if I were her dad I'd be like... how long did you KEEP her."<br><br>A contemplative bite of ice cream, and Mamoru thinks, squinting behind his glasses. "Really though -- no lingering aftereffects? No angst?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>It's very possible that Usagi ran into Kazuo while he was delivering breakfast in bed to Mamoru. If she did, she sprawled out on the couch, made a mental note that she needed to drag Mamoru around to buy ''so'' many more couch pillows, and fell asleep until Kazuo was gone. And then fell asleep with Mamoru, because honestly that's the kind of day after her wedding she wants. <br><br>But now, is later, and her ice cream is nutty and earthy and sweet in a way that's almost like chocolate, and t-shirt dress is just thin enough to feel the breeze, and her bare foot is under Mamoru's bare foot, and her love and joy and relief intermix with his like matcha milk swirling with strawberry sauce to make a delicious, delicious drink, and she returns the kiss, tipping into his fingertips on her face, wondering at how he's managed to keep them cold when it's damn hot. Eventually she thinks, . o 0 (oh right he was holding ice cream) and decides she'll blame the delay on the purification. <br><br>"That is a problem for future us, in like, two different ways," she informs him serenely. "Besides, they had her for a whole like, thousand years. If you think about it, like, comparatively, there's no way we could have ever ''that'' long. Plus, I mean... she grew up. It's not like we fed her growth hormones or something." <br><br>It's not that trying to be prepared for the inevitable questions is a bad idea, it's just that Usagi has no idea how to explain and so she's content with the time-honored tactic of 'let them figure it out'. <br><br>There's a longer stretch of contemplative bites of ice cream, Usagi thinking carefully about her answer. Finally though, she says, and he feels, "A little relieved, mostly? I don't know if that makes sense, but... Chibiusa-chan brainwashed me and I drank up so much dark energy I wanted to throw up all the time, and... that was as bad as it got."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>At Usagi's explanation of how this is, in fact, a problem for future them in two different ways, Mamoru starts to actually chortle delightedly. "Yeah they're grownups, they can figure it out. And they ''wanted'' her to get older, anyway, so really whatever we did was a favor."<br><br>In this case it might actually fly. They're not even eighteen yet!<br><br>While Usagi's thinking, ~<span style="color:#FF0000">h</span><span style="color:#FF8B00">e</span><span style="color:#E7FF00">r</span> <span style="color:#00FF2E">h</span><span style="color:#00FFB9">u</span><span style="color:#00B9FF">s</span><span style="color:#002EFF">b</span><span style="color:#5C00FF">a</span><span style="color:#E700FF">n</span><span style="color:#FF008B">d</span>~ eats his softening ice cream and alternates between watching the city and watching ''her''. The breeze blows both their hair, and Mamoru pushes his back away from his face with the back of his wrist, careful not to get ice cream in it. It feels so quiet. It's a breath after a dreadful storm has passed, even if they know it won't be for long.<br><br>"No, it makes sense. You were ''so'' sick, love. It was a really cute henshin, but you were so wildly sick, it was awful," he says, then more quietly, "There was... I think it was Kazuo who said that if I weren't making you feel better, it might have been over with more quickly because of your intolerance of the stuff, but... you ''couldn't let it go''. I knew you couldn't. I'm-- I'm so glad that's as bad as it got."<br><br>He takes another bite of ice cream, then almost chokes as he laughs suddenly. After a second's recovery and licking the back of his hand where he dripped melt, he says, "No the MUSEUM is as bad as it got. Or maybe Catra, it's hard to say."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>As Mamoru chortles, Usagi snickers around scoops of her ice cream, basking in the joy of just sitting here in the sun with him. Together. With the future spread out before them. <br><br>The road to this point has been the opposite of clear, and the road ahead isn't either, with so many problems just over the horizon, and yet - and yet right now, right here, in this moment, everything is just right. Her and him making them. Her ''husband'' sitting next to her! His ''wife'' sitting next to ''him''! <br><br>Honestly, how can she worry about how their future selves will react to a good thing, when she's got her own good things to be so grateful for? It will be fine. It will be ''fine''. <br><br>"I bet they'll knight us, for being the best babysitters ever." Is it babysitting if it's your own future child? Yes, she thinks so. It's not like either of ''them'' gave birth to her. "Plus, we're also going to bring her back a whole Senshi, so!" <br><br>And that's something she's ''so'' proud of Chibiusa for, though Mamoru will feel a brief pulse of curiosity, of wondering - Masquerade Lapine had been ''so'' Tuxedo Kamen, and now there's Sailor Chibimoon - is he okay? <br><br>Mamoru's sympathy gets a sense of warm affection, sugar syrup poured over shaved ice, love warm and sweet flowing from her to him. <br><br>"I was, and - Kazuo-kun's probably right, and I probably would have, or, my body would have wanted to, you know? But I couldn't leave her. Chibiusa-chan needed me, and so, I can't... entirely, regret it. I mean, maybe we would have beaten Wicked Lady sooner, but maybe Chibiusa-chan would have been ''alone'' with ''them''." There's no questioning who them is here, not when it comes to Chibiusa. <br><br>At the mention of the museum, she winces. <br><br>"Okay, well, those were both bad. And - I guess, I was thinking about that too, though. Catra's going to be fine, you were able to hear her, the museum will... hopefully... be open again in a few months... it could have been worse! We've seen worse."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>"YEAH. They'll be super happy about the senshi part too!" Silent warmth through their contact, and gentle amusement in gratitude for the concern: she was always going to be a senshi. He's a senshi too. As long as she's fine with a sailor fuku, he's fine with her in a sailor fuku. In fact, he mental images himself as Usagi's Mamorin~ in a fuku, though it's only a brief sketch of a thought.<br><br>Meanwhile, he's almost done with his entire pint. But it's so ''hot'' out. They can go in when Usagi wants to, he thinks.<br><br>"Your body ''did'' want to, but... you have more willpower than Jesus-san. And-- that's the same reason I was there with you two. I didn't want you to be alone in the dark, even if you were together." Mamoru sets the empty cardboard pint down on the floor under the seat, and he looks sheepish. "Not that you didn't already know that. I just-- you were right there and I missed you anyway."<br><br>He watches Usagi, still; he'll never get tired of watching her. It's in their touch. It's not worship-- as Kazuo would say, it's physics. Magnetics. He does, however, look rueful at her reaction to the mention of the museum, and Catra. "It could have been a LOT worse. And nothing horrible happened to either of you beyond getting transformed and/or mind-controlled..."<br><br>Mamoru pats her foot with his foot, then grins. "Somehow that reminds me, we should ask Chibiusa if she wants the room next to Kazuo's, since she's too big for the toddler bed, and a bigger kid should have their own space. I mean obviously if she ''wants'' to keep sleeping in the walkthrough closet, I can stick locks on the doors and take my stuff out of there, but..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>He ''is'' a Senshi - he'll feel her eager agreement. But he's not in a Sailor Fuku, and for a while, even if Chibiusa hadn't been a Senshi, she also ''hadn't'' been in a Sailor Fuku. And she'd been so cute! <br><br>But she's glad he's not bothered by it, and there's the impression of Heart Eyes, Girl Hot at the thought of Mamorin in a fuku, and wondering if she'd be in black and red, like Tuxedo Kamen, or blue and brown, like Prince Endymion, or something altogether different. <br><br>She's lost in the thought, only to snort at the mention of Jesus-san. <br><br>"I don't know, he must have had a lot of willpower to get up off that T-Pose." She means the cross. Seriously, she means the cross, it's not even a joke, Mamoru can ''tell''. "Of course you didn't - you could ''feel'' me, Mamochan. If she'd taken you, instead of me, I - well, I have the purification powers, so I'd probably have blasted you. With love. And also magic." <br><br>Haha... <br><br>"But you didn't have that option, so you did the next best thing, and I know it made us both happy." And they're fine now! <br><br>Her foot taps his, and she scoops up some of her ice cream, offering it to him since he's all out - she's only about halfway there, having started after him. <br><br>"I definitely think she wants her own room, but... I kind of wonder if she wants her own ''dorm'' room too, or if she'd like to keep sharing with me and Naru-chan, or if Naru-chan wants to split up..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>It's an idea worth shelving and reexamining at another time. What WOULD the pen do if he asked it to make him a Sailor Earth fuku? Mamoru nearly follows Usagi down the rabbit warren of images, then laughs when she laughs at Jesus-san, and then he sputters when she calls it the T-pose. Now Usagi gets the mental image of brown socialist Jesus t-posing to assert dominance.<br><br>He smirks at the 'blasted you with love and magic'. "I know. You're very good at blasting me with love and magic when I need it. Next time let's neither of us get kidnapped or brainwashed, okay?"<br><br>Mamoru leans in to omf Usagi's entire scoop spoon of ice cream, and it's too much TOO MUCH but it's too late. He scrambles to get his carton to drip in if necessary, and in the meantime flaps his other hand in growing alarm as the brain freeze starts to set in. Oh his face. Then he's holding his nose with a glowing hand and tilting his head back, face screwed up in an expression of 'this is worse than Demande actually'.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Usagi laughs out loud with Mamoru, snickering at the image of Jesus-san T-Posing for dominance his mind produces and providing her own mental image - brown socialist Jesus facing a crowd of Salarymen and shaming them into releasing their poor victims. <br><br>If only that was how it worked! <br><br>"I am in ''full'' support! Especially since the consequences are getting worse. I'm going to be in ''summer school again'', Mamochan!" <br><br>It's not fair! It's not fair at all! She hasn't had to be in summer school since she first started at Radiant Heart! <br><br>It's as she's lamenting that Mamoru scarfs down the entire scoop of ice cream she's offered, and while she's one of those people fortunate enough to have never suffered the plague of brain freeze, she can feel his alarm and regret, and the expression of his face makes her panic a little, flapping her arms at him. <br><br>"Mamochan! No, oh no, do NOT go into the light! Fight for me! I can't kill you with ice cream, not after everything we've been through!" It's only about fifty percent jokes.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>He ''finally swallows'' and that was also ''too big of a swallow'' so he's got one fist over his chest thumping it, and one hand over his nose and mouth, and he shakes his head!! as he lets go of his face and his hand stops glowing. "Gah," he coughs out, "I'm okay I'm okay! Not dying! Hhhhh." Thump thump, and then he just has to wait in mild misery as his esophagus complains and his head stops feeling weirdly numb.<br><br>Mamoru slumps back against the back of the seat, wilted from the exertion. "I'm fine," he says, slightly more convincingly. "Sorry. Uhh-- well, would you want to keep sharing three of you in a room? I mean technically speaking you could fit a fourth in there," there's an image of a bedroom about Usagi's dorm size, with two sets of bunkbeds in it, "but you grew up with your own room, right? You've got to feel really cramped."<br><br>Just. Breathing. Recovering from regrettable actions and their inevitable consequences.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>The ice cream has proven itself a betrayer, and for that, Usagi drops the spoon into Mamoru's empty pint container, shoves the top back on her pint, and shoves it over in the corner. Let it melt, she'd - honestly, probably drink it later or put it in a milkshake or something, whatever. The important thing is her husband! <br><br><span style="color:#ff5fff">H</span><span style="color:#d787ff">e</span><span style="color:#af87ff">r</span> <span style="color:#5fd7ff">h</span><span style="color:#00d7ff">u</span><span style="color:#00ffff">s</span><span style="color:#00ffd7">b</span><span style="color:#5fffaf">a</span><span style="color:#87ff87">n</span><span style="color:#afff5f">d</span><span style="color:#d7ff00">!</span> <br><br>Nope, nope, no, can't daydream ecstatically right now, husband is a little bit busy choking to death! <br><br>She helpfully whacks Mamoru on the back a few times, trying to help him cough it up, and when he's alive and intact again, she slumps against him, only to cringe at how hot it is, and slump ''next'' to him, with a respectable amount of space her papa would approve of between them so the airflow can try to save them. <br><br>Her foot is still brushing against his, and the image of her dorm room with two sets of bunk beds, more traditionally arranged than the set she and Naru share now makes her nose wrinkle. <br><br>"I don't know. I mean! I love Naru-chan and Chibiusa-chan, but it's ''really'' cramped in there, and the wait for a shower is ''not'' fun, and me and Chibiusa-chan both fight over who gets the bath tub first sometimes, and..." <br><br>A deep sigh. <br><br>"But I don't want to make either of them feel bad, if I move out, you know?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:38|Mamoru Chiba (38)}} has posed:'''<br>"I don't think they'd feel bad if you said you wanted a single because you're married now," laughs Mamoru, "but you also sound like you would miss it. The inconveniences, the closeness, the knowledge that Chibiusa's safe..." He peels his yukata away from his skin and flaps it a little, making more breeze, and then he slides his gaze across to Usagi again. "Either way though, it wouldn't be like with Koji-kun."<br><br>He's silent for a moment. "I'm serious though, it's so nice having your own room? A space you can invite other people into or shut them out of if you need to be alone... when you... you know what's funny that I never processed until just now? The king had his own suite of rooms. But I guess if he was hoping his Shitennou would come back to ghost in their rocks again, he wouldn't necessarily want them next to... I don't know, we have time to figure out what configurations of living space suit our fancy. But for ''now'', unless you're gonna miss it, I think you should get a single."<br><br><br>A beat. "Because I'm selfish."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Mamoru laughs, but Usagi's face glows crimson for a moment, imagining herself telling Naru that she wants a single because she's a married woman - <br><br>But it's not a ''no'', because that crimson isn't an uninterested color. <br><br>"There's a lot of things I like about sharing," she agrees, "Including knowing that Chibiusa-chan is okay, and eating Naru's muffins, and our routine, and all, but - Chibiusa-chan is older now, and Naru-chan probably wouldn't mind having more room to sneak around with ''her'' boyfriend too. And..." <br><br>She trails off, as he continues after his own moment of silence, nodding seriously at the thought of her own space, which she had enjoyed once without even thinking twice about how nice it was. She grows even more serious at the thought of the lonely king, in his dying world, with his empty stones - and the suite of rooms, probably hoping for them to return - <br><br>Well, a part of her thinks, having a single would be nice so we aren't ''that'' close, even though Mamoru's apartment is huge and there's little chance of noise passing through the walls. <br><br>"I think I should too," she decides, after a moment. "As a treat. For both of us. And as ''another'' treat... I vote we get out of this heat, and flop around on the couch instead." <br><br>She climbs to her feet and opens the sliding glass door so they can do just that, and turns and offers her hand with a bright smile. <br><br>"Come on, husband, you can help me decide if I should redecorate for the occasion!"<br> <br>
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