I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS...

Everything was going wrong today; his alarm didn't go off, one of his professors kept pestering him about his scholarship at Harvard "for a highly proclaimed professor you'd think they'd know what "no" meant", his most cherished pen ran out of ink, and to put the cherry on top, he just had to step on gum. Today just wasn't his day. He couldn't wait to get home to relax a little, drink some coffee and hit the books.

"Almost done, you can do this Chiba, you've gotten this far. You knew Med school wasn't a short walk in the park" he pep talked himself.

Once he got to his building he felt his tense muscles start to relax. "Get home.Change. Drink some coffee. Eat. Study. I'm all set" he thought to himself.

After exiting the elevator he made his way towards his apartment. Fumbling with his pocket he was taking out his keys, when the door flew open.

"Mamochaaaaaaaaan! I'm so glad you're finally home" Usagi squealed. She threw herself on him and gave him a small peck on the lips. Before Mamoru could respond, Usagi stepped back with a smile on her face. He sweat dropped, he loved his girlfriend, he really did but his agenda for today didn't include high pitched squeals or Usagi for that matter. He knew he needed to focus on his studies, that whole Galaxia bit and being dead really put a toll on his progress of finishing med school.

"Uh, Usako?... what are you doing here? I thought you had dance practice today?" While the other senshi had gotten accepted into Tokyo University, Usagi had received a full ride scholarship to the Tokyo University school of Art. It didn't come to be a surprise when she chose the fine arts route, Usagi was the embodiment of art. However, no one would have thought in a million years that Tsukino Usagi, klutz extraordinaire would make it to the school's dance team, an elite dance team. His little bunny had shocked the pants off everyone when she came running that day with the news ( but that's another story for another time) Mamoru was extremely proud of her, he really was.

Usagi took a further step back and looked at him as if he was demented."It's Thursday". That's right, how could he forget? He wanted to facepalm in that moment. After his return from the dead it became a little tradition of theirs to cook together every Thursday, Usagi had dubbed it "Yummy tummy Thursday". They, meaning she, would decide on a dish or a baked good they would try to make, keyword "try".

"So I was thinking we'd go a little Italian today and make some pizza" she said starry eyed. At 18 and she still got excited over food. " What do you think Mamochan?" She said looking at him.

Flour. Flour everywhere. The first thing that went through Mamoru's mind was the fiasco from three weeks ago.That day, Usagi had wanted to make red velvet cake pops in the shape of bunnies.

——flashback——-

"Ooh Mamochan! They're gonna come out so kawaii" she squealed. One moment they were mixing the batter, before he could muster a word, the batter was everywhere. The countertop, the fridge, his pristine white kitchen floor, heck even the ceiling got a taste of the red sticky mess. It looked like a murder scene waiting to be taped off.

If that wasn't bad enough, as Usagi tried to turn off the mixer with flailing arms she managed to knock the bag of flour spilling all of its contents on his pristine "bloody looking" floor.

"Oops". Usagi had whispered.

——end of flashback——

She was waiting for his answer. All that mess, the time it took to clean, don't even get him started on how many days it took to remove the red from his kitchen floors to have it stay a blush pink (Usagi's words, not his). Granted, after the whole incident they still managed to make mini cupcakes from the little batter that wasn't spewed all over his kitchen, but he didn't have the time to pick up after Usagi's mess. Lets not forget the shopping they still would need to do get whatever ingredients for this "pizza". If he had it his way he would last no more than 20 minutes tops getting everything he needed from the supermarket. Usagi on the other hand was a different story, for her it was like going to the zoo, she oohed and awed at every little thing. One time, he found her crying at lobster tank. He was greatly tempted to throw one of his sharpest roses to the idiot who told her they were cooked alive. It took him nearly an hour to console her. HE DIDN'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS. Papers were soon to be due, exams were coming up, his labs were getting to him. He NEEDED to study dammit!

"Oh! And maybe we can make some cheesecake brownies too, Mako gave me this scrumptious recipe to try" She said excitedly.

His horrible day flashed in his mind; his alarm not going off, his pestering professor with the horrible toupe, his pen running out of ink, the gum on his shoe (that he had yet to fully take off) and did he mention that guy from his sociology class that tried to hit on him, the cooking disaster waiting to happen, add that to the stress of studying. He could feel his left eye twitching, hands shaking in a clenched fist. Mamoru's patience was slipping.

"Mamochan? Are you okay?" She touched his arm tentatively. Already feeling a bit better with just a simple touch from his Usako. Mamoru took a deep breath trying to reign in his patience. "Actually I had a lousy day today". He grumbled. She took him by the hand to have a seat on the couch. She held his hand while he recounted his day to Usagi. He made the mistake of telling her about his male classmate that flirted with him, she had to swallow her laugh when he gave her a glare, daring her to laugh.

A giggle escaped from Usagi, she cleared her throat, trying to console her boyfriend, running small circles on the hand she was holding. "Well it could have been worse" she said still keeping her laughter in. Mamoru turned to face Usagi with a deadpan look. Leave it to her to find this humorous.

"Oh come on, turn that frown upside down Mamochan". Usagi teased. "How about you change into something more comfortable while I make you some coffee and then we can decide on what to make for today's Yummy tummy Thursday, it doesn't have to be pizza."

Taking another deep breath Mamoru took both of Usagi's hands. Bringing them up to his lips, kissing her knuckles with such gentleness. This brought Usagi a beautiful blush on her cheeks. After all this time he loved that he could still make her blush.

"Actually Usako, I was thinking… how about we try just ordering in some take out?"

A gasp broke from her lips, "What about getting to cook together? It's tradition!"

" Usako, I don't...I uh.." how in the world was he supposed to tell his girlfriend he didn't really enjoy their cooking bouts.

"I.. I thought you liked cooking together? " he could start to see the unsheded tears.

He had to tell her. She'd understand right? I mean it's not like I'm kicking her out of the apartment or anything. " I just… I love you, you know that right", she nodded, a tear slipping out. Okay, maybe not the whole truth, half the truth is still being honest right? "I have a lot of studying to do Usako and exams are coming up soon, I have a lot to make up after…" he didn't need to finish that sentence. The look in her eyes confirmed she got what he was trying to say.

She averted her gaze from him, avoiding his eyes "But...what about? When will I be able to you?"

Mamoru looked puzzled for a second, did she honestly think he was going to stop seeing her? he lifted her chin up to meet his gaze, "We'll still have Tummy Yummy Thursdays Usako, just there will be no cooking involved or cleaning for that matter. We can start today, you can order whatever you'd like" he gave her a sweet lingering kiss on the forehead.

"Usako?" He murmured, lips still pressed on her forehead. She hadn't answered him yet.

"What about udon noodles?"

"Udon noodles it is"

After finishing their take out, Usagi had made her way out to leave Mamoru to his studies. While taking out his physics book a smile broke out of his lips while thinking of Usagi. He knew if a situation like this had risen a couple years back Usagi would have made a big deal about it. Probably would have questioned his love for her. Not anymore, Usagi had been maturing. No longer was she the emotional cry baby, okay she could still get emotional but then again what girl didn't. She still did get jealous when another girl would flirt with him, but at least she didn't think of moon dusting them as if they were youma. Usagi was more understanding, more gentle, she was slowly becoming her Neo Queen Serenity self. Tsukino Usagi was growing up, and boy was she growing up. Her cerulean blue eyes that have been to hell and back, yet filled with so much life and love, those beautiful pouty lips that he could...WILL kiss forever, how well her body had been developing, the kind all girls aspire to have, those long amazing legs of hers toned with the right amount of muscle, he could just picture them wrapped around his…. stop. Mamoru cleared his throat and raked a hand through his dark hair, a blush staining his cheeks, spreading towards his ears.

"Get it together Chiba. Get your mind out of the gutter, stop fantasizing about your girlfriend and get to work".

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Hi readers, bear with me, this is my first time writing a fic especially if these 2 lovebirds. This will be 2 chapters long, I was working on a one shot, that didn't really work out well hehe anywho, hope you enjoy this first chapter, there's still one more chapter, I'm working on it.