C'est La Vie

Minako didn't know whether she was disappointed or happy when she stepped into the secret Karaoke Room-slash-Operation-HQ (well, she supposed not much of the latter anymore) and found only Rei sitting there, sipping her color-coded drink with a frown that Minako had quickly identified as her default expression.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, and told herself her it didn't come out high-pitched because she was nervous that they were alone.

Rei looked up at her and her mouth only stretched a little bit. "Makoto can't make it because she has a wedding planning emergency. And apparently Mamoru is taking Usagi on a second honeymoon. Ami is, as you know, in America."

Minako went down the steps, looking crestfallen. "But this is the first time I've been back to Japan since my tour started."

"Well, we all have our busy lives now. You can't just announce you're coming home and expect everyone to be there later that day to welcome you," Rei said matter-of-factly. Then her face softened. "Sorry. I'm sure they're doing their best to be here as soon as they can, though. How long are you sticking around for?"

"A while, hopefully. I've missed Japan. I've missed… you all."

Rei raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, that's certainly a change." She looked teasingly at Minako. "Did you really miss me?"

"Yes," Minako said almost defiantly. "So… it's just us for today?"

"Yup. Sorry to disappoint." There was a playful glint in Rei's eye, and Minako soon found herself smiling too.

"So, what do you think we should do?"

"Well, this room has seen a lot of impromptu parties. I had one with Ami-chan a long time ago… when we were both going through a rough patch. And then of course we had a New Year party, many, many karaoke parties…" Rei trailed off as she recalled the memories, realizing that Minako was missing from every one of them. It felt wrong somehow.

"Have you ever actually used this room for, you know… official serious business? Strategy planning? Important meetings?" Minako asked incredulously.

Rei laughed. "Of course! We just don't do it 100% of the time. Look around, Minako. If that's the only thing this room was intended for, you would think it wouldn't look so bright and cheery. Or have a lot of snacks. And a karaoke machine."

"Point taken," Minako conceded. She still felt confused about how differently the other senshi approached being soldiers compared to herself.

"Okay, that's it." Rei stood up and headed for the karaoke machine. "We need to… to christen your presence in this room. And more importantly, it's become clear to me that I still need to teach you how to loosen up and have fun."

"Huh?" Minako looked perplexed.

Rei queued up the song that had graced this room probably about a gazillion times, and grabbed the microphone. "You're singing."

When the starting notes of C'est La Vie filled the room, Minako looked even more confused.

"But this is my song. I literally sang this already. I am singing it," she pointed to the screen. "I can't karaoke to my own song."

"Why on earth not?" Rei thrust the mic in front of her face.

"Because. It's ridiculous."

"Really. Ridiculous. That's your argument," Rei said dubiously. When Minako still looked at her uncomprehendingly, she put her hands on her hips. "This coming from the girl who titled her own song after her secret identity."

"No, I didn't. They're spelled—"

"You know that isn't the point. You were messing with people. You were being ridiculous. You were trolling."

Minako looked aghast. "I did no such—"

"Yes, you were. You're not about to tell me to my face that that title wasn't an intentional choice on your part. I bet Artemis didn't approve of it."

Minako finally looked mildly embarrassed, but still defiant. "No, he didn't. But I… I wanted the world to see me. Even if I couldn't outright tell them."

Rei gave her a genuine, warm smile. "I know. So sing it. I never actually got to see you sing live before, and that's just not right."

"Oh, so you like my songs?" Minako raised her eyebrows in pretend surprise. "The great Rei Hino who doesn't care about unimportant things like pop culture is one of my fans?"

"I never said I was!" Rei huffed. "I'm actually a rival. I'm an idol too, you know. Since you made me and everything. I'm Reiko Mars."

"Yeah, and 'I made you' being the point. You had what… one song? Did you ever bother writing others? Or were you a one-hit wonder?"

The girls glared at each other, a crackle of competitiveness between them. This was familiar. This was how things used to be. Suddenly, Minako didn't feel so nervous anymore about being alone with Rei.

"Oh, you're on," Rei grabbed the other mic determinedly. "We're going to do a sing-off and prove once and for all who the better idol is."

Of course, being that there was no judge, it was rather hard to determine an actual winner. But by the time both girls exhausted their voice, they'd completely forgotten that it was meant to be a competition. Minako was smiling—grinning, even—clearly having a really good time. Rei was still taunting her every few minutes but she couldn't hide her bright expression either, no matter how hard she tried.

"So this is what you girls do all day here when you should be working," Minako commented playfully as she sipped her orange drink, sitting on her orange chair. "And what's with this color-coded stuff? Am I not allowed to try the blue drink? Or the pink one?"

"It's a thing here. Don't question it," Rei said with a wave of dismissal. "You don't break the color-coded rules of the karaoke-slash-HQ-secret-room. It's a taboo. It's sacred."

Minako laughed. She was feeling lightheaded from all the giddiness that she was most definitely not used to feeling. God, she had no idea how uptight she used to be until she really let loose. Not that she would ever admit that to Rei. It wasn't as if Rei wasn't trying to appear like the serious, responsible girl who had no time for trivial stuff all the time as well. They had a lot in common that way, despite their completely opposite opinions about their duty. Strange how that worked.

"It's too bad we don't have the magical stuff anymore. The disguise phone really helped with a lot of impromptu fashion shows and makeover sessions as well," Rei mused sometime later, her head side by side with Minako's. The two of them had ended up on the floor somehow, sprawled on their back and looking up at the ceiling. The sofa wasn't big enough for both of them to lie down and the carpet was soft. For once, neither cared that it was ridiculous.

"For Serenity's sake, was there any part of our duty that you guys didn't abuse for personal gain?" Minako asked, though she started giggling immediately after.

Rei scoffed. "Of course not. We're teenage girls. What do you expect?" she turned her head slightly to look at her friend. "Well, present company excluded. You always were the special one."

"Why don't I feel that's a compliment?" Minako asked with pretend offense.

"It's both a compliment and an insult," Rei said easily.

Minako nudged her with her shoulder and Rei nudged back. They turned at the same time and found their faces within centimeters of each other.

"Rei," Minako said slowly, her words somewhat slurred and her eyes drooping sleepily. "What's in the color-coded drinks?"

"Something we're old enough to drink," Rei replied, looking into her eyes.

"Whoever thought it was a good idea to spike them?"

"Don't know. It's another mystery of the karaoke-slash-HQ-secret room."

Rei turned her body so that she was fully facing Minako. "Hey. Did you know that you used to call me Mars all the time? Even in your last letter. That was actually one of the few times I've heard you use my actual name. I used to always just be Sailor Mars to you, just like you used to always be Sailor Venus."

"Well, we aren't senshi anymore."

"And is that the only reason you started calling me by my actual name?"

"Of course not." Minako turned toward her as well, and suddenly their lips were touching. Barely grazing, really, but neither pulled away. "Rei."

"Hmm?"

"I'm just saying your name. Rei, Rei, Rei."

"Okay, you can stop now. It's getting annoying."

"Rei. Rei. Rei."

"Shut up." Rei closed her eyes and bridged the remaining gap between their lips entirely. Minako reciprocated without thinking, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Rei," Minako said again once she pulled away slightly. Her eyes were still closed.

"What?"

"This can never happen again."

Rei brushed her lips against Minako's for a second time.

"It already did."