AN: This fic was written for faulkner-blog for the 2k19 UsaMamo Fanwork Exchange organized by the wonderful antigone2! I hope you like it very much, and I'm so glad you're a part of this crazy, thriving fandom we have!

A huge thank you to my beta, floraone. For all the mess, the whining, the tantrums, the ridiculousness...you deserve so much better than what I throw at you on a daily basis, and thank you for sticking around through it all with such grace and patience and love. You ARE the best beta any girl could ask for.

I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

oOo

He really shouldn't be there. He knew this. And if he was honest with himself, he wasn't one hundred percent sure how he'd ended up standing underneath Usagi's window to begin with.

But here he was, scrounging the ground for some light rocks to ping against the glass.

He found a handful of tiny stones, and he stepped back to peek around the front of the house to make sure it was dark and quiet. When he found nothing but the porch light shining back at him, Mamoru threw his arm back and let the first pebble fly.

It was on the third hit of the window that he saw a lamp light flick on, and he soon saw a rather groggy looking Usagi appear, her face registering a range of emotions from fear to surprise and finally recognition.

Not ten seconds later, he found himself climbing up that all too familiar tree, having made this particular climb dozens of times over the past few months.

He hopped soundlessly onto her balcony, removing his shoes before he kneeled down to crawl through into Usagi's room.

Mamoru took a moment to check her over. She looked unharmed with no visible injuries or traumas to speak of, as she sat on her bed in bright pink pajamas eyeing him strangely, hair spilling like gold leaf all around.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered after it became apparent he was too busy looking her over.

His eyes snapped to hers when she spoke, and he became flustered almost instantly. She had a way of doing that to him.

"Well, you…I...you didn't show up today, and I tried to ask Minako if you were ok after the school festival meeting, but she was really snarky, and I texted you and called, but it went straight to voicemail and I got really worried that something was wrong-"

Usagi gasped in realization, her eyes becoming sad. "God, Mamoru, I'm so sorry!" she said, a little too loudly considering their current surroundings.

They both flinched at her outburst, and she closed her eyes right, not breathing while she listened for any sound of stirring from down the hall.

After a few moments when it became clear that no one had heard her apology, she looked up at him through sheepish eyes that did funny things to his insides.

"I was sick today," she said, much quieter this time around, and he could hear now that she was hoarse. His worry grew as he noticed the bags under her eyes, and the redness of her nose.

"My phones been over there all day, and I didn't even think to check it," she said gesturing towards her desk. "I'm so sorry, Mamoru. I didn't mean to bail on you."

He shook his head, dismissing her apology, hoping she would understand he really had been simply worried about her. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, reaching out to take one of her hands in his. Something he'd never done before, but realized with a start he'd always wanted to.

"It's just a nasty cold I think," she said with a half smile. "But my head's been killing me all day, and there was no way I'd have been able to focus on anything."

Relief washed over him at her admission of illness. It was just a cold. Not some strange, avian flu, and best of all, she wasn't avoiding him like he'd feared she might be.

Mamoru smirked at her, the mood in the room suddenly feeling normal and light again. "As if you can manage to concentrate on a normal day."

Usagi huffed at him in response, and he was unsure if the flush in her cheeks was from her cold or his remark. Not that he cared either way. She was always beautiful.

"You're supposed to be nice to me, baka, I'm sick!" she whisper-yelled at him, snatching back her hand and crossing her arms in an indignant stance.

He smiled genuinely at her. "I'm sorry, Odango Atama. You left yourself wide open for that one."

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, as a silence fell over them.

Mamoru looked around the room awkwardly, waiting for her to continue their conversation, but nothing came.

"Welll," he started, moving towards her still open window. "I guess I'll...go then."

But before he could manage to maneuver his left leg outside, he felt a tiny hand on his arm.

Looking back at Usagi, he saw her staring at him with expectant eyes, her lower lip pulled into the grasp of her teeth.

"Would you…" she started, eyes now looking anywhere but his. "...would you want to stay and watch tv with me?"

Mamoru couldn't help the smile that spread onto his face. It was past midnight, and Usagi's parents were asleep just down the hall, but it was Friday and there was really nowhere else he'd rather be, and in an instant, his decision was made.

"Move over, Odango," he said, moving up towards the head of her bed, and he smiled even more as he watched her eagerly make room for him.

It took her a moment to get settled, grabbing her laptop from off the floor and crawling over him to reach for her charger, but when she snuggled back against the pillows, lifting one side of her blanket so he could share its warmth with her, he wasted no time in curling his arm around her waist and pulling her close into his side.

Usagi looked up at him from her newfound position on his chest. "Aren't you worried you'll get sick?"

She had a point, he had to concede, but somehow, a few days of cold misery didn't really seem to matter all that much when he had this golden one in his arms.

"Nah," he answered, unable to resist laying a kiss on the crown of her head. "Just do your best to resist kissing me and we'll be fine."

Usagi snorted in response. "You do realize you just kissed me, right?"

He did his best to suppress a laugh. "I said you couldn't kiss me, not the other way around."

She crinkled her nose up at him in response. "That makes no sense."

Placing another kiss on her forehead for good measure, he whispered, "Shhh, your show's starting." He was rewarded with an adorable eye roll, as she focused her attention back to the laptop in front of them.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked, his lips against her temple, and she nodded against his chest, snuggling deeper into him.

There was hardly any talking after that. Usagi had put on some strange, ice skating anime where one of the main characters was Russian but inexplicably spoke perfect Japanese, so he simply enjoyed her giggles and wide array of facial expressions, while leaned back against her innumerable pillows.

They were only two episodes in when she fell asleep, and Mamoru knew he should take the opportunity to slip out and head back to his apartment. But she looked so comfortable and cute curled up against his chest with one of her hands clutching his shirt in her sleep, that he just couldn't bring himself to move.

She was sick, after all, and sleep was vital to her recovery, and he wouldn't bear the thought of waking her up, which he was bound to do if he attempted to untangle himself from her.

So, he let the show play on, his eyes beginning to droop dangerously from the late hour and the warmth of the room. He reasoned with himself that it couldn't hurt to shut his eyes for just a few minutes, because he would surely be awake long before the rest of the house would.

And it did literally feel like a few minutes later that he was startled awake by a motherly voice calling out, "Usagi! Breakfast is ready, darling! Come join the world of the living!"

"Shit," he cursed quietly, scrambling to get up, and not completely dump Usagi on the floor in the process.

"Mm-what?" Usagi mumbled unintelligibly, looking around in confusion.

"I fell asleep," he hissed, "and it's," he paused to check his watch, "11am!"

He was normally a light sleeper, making it a miracle if he got more than six hours each night, so the fact that he'd just had one of the best night's sleep in his life sleeping in Usagi's bed, would have completely scared him witless, if he hadn't been in such a hurry to exit her room.

"Usagi!" they heard again.

Her eyes grew wide in fear, flashing from Mamoru's form to the door. "Uhh…coming, mom!" she yelled back, before turning to him and hissing through clenched teeth, "Hurry up!"

Something about the edge in her voice brought his snarky side rushing to the surface, as he slid outside and began to put on his shoes. "What's the matter, Odango? Too embarrassed to be seen with me?" he asked with a smirk.

"Ughhh, baka, baka, baka!" she replied, reaching through the window to swat his arm, and he was happy to hear her voice sounded almost normal, again, most of the hoarseness having disappeared.

He rose from his crouched position, moving to climb over the balcony ledge when he heard his name.

"Mamoru?"

Looking back at Usagi's sweet face made his heart skip. "Yeah?"

She smiled. "Thank you."

Smiling was infectious. That was the only excuse he had for the genuine grin that broke on his face. "Bye, Odango Atama. See you Monday."

"Bye, baka."

oOo

"I haaattee myyy liiiifffeee," he heard her cry, as she banged her head against the locker in front of her, an apparent graded test clutched in her tiny hands.

And while Mamoru knew that kicking her while she was down, and on a Monday no less, probably wasn't the best of plans, Usagi and a poor test grade were just too much for him to resist. Especially when he knew how flushed her cheeks would get, and how those gorgeous eyes of hers would narrow at him so dangerously once the first snarky remark left his mouth.

Walking up behind her, he let out a low whistle when he saw the bright red thirty percent glaring back at him from the top of her paper. "What's the matter, Odango? Forget what two plus two is?"

Usagi rounded on him so quickly he had to take a step back to keep his balance.

"Shut. Up. Mamoru-baka," she ground out, and sure enough, her cheeks were flushed, and her ocean blue eyes narrowed so much he could barely see their color anymore.

He smirked at her. "Glad to see your brilliant mind back at school. I guess you haven't found the time to work on your comebacks in the midst of all that over-achieving you're doing."

Usagi took in a deep breath, and Mamoru could swear he saw steam escaping from her ears. "Don't you have some other innocent girl to torture somewhere?"

He leaned his back against her locker, trying to be the picture of coolness, as he crossed his arms in front of him and continued to give her his best, cocky grin. "Now why would I do that, when you're just so much fun?"

"Oh, that's right," she quipped back loudly, and Mamoru couldn't help but notice the whispers and glances they were getting from other students in the hallway. Not that this was anything new. "You'd have to actually have people who tolerate you in order to bug other people besides me!"

"Are you insinuating that people don't like me, Odango Atama?" he asked, a mock expression of hurt on his face.

She crossed her arms in a defiant stance. "I don't believe there was any insinuating about it. You have the personality of a starving bear!"

Mamoru's grin returned in full force at her insult. "As your elected student body president, it's my job to make sure everyone here at Juuban High is excelling to their fullest potential-"

"You're not my elected president."

"-and so, it's my duty to suggest you get yourself to the lab to study, since you are obviously not living up to that potential. That's where I'll be spending my time this afternoon, in case you need any tutoring help," he finished with a wink.

Turning to walk away, he did his best to stifle a laugh when he heard her loud voice call after him, "I'd rather take my chances with the starving bears!"

oOo

There was nothing better in the world than kissing her, Mamoru decided, as he put his hands under her bottom and lifted her up onto the counter of the dark chemistry lab, his lips trailing down her neck while he breathed in her scent, reveling in her soft sighs and the feel of her legs wrapping around his middle, hands running through his (undoubtedly tousled) hair.

"You know," he said, after moving his mouth back to her, and taking her lower lip between his. "We could cut down on doing this until you get your grades up."

Before she could respond, he kissed her again, deepening the kiss, enjoying the feeling of her tongue brushing his.

But Usagi wasn't one to leave anything left unsaid. "God, Mamoru, you can't even stop thinking about school when you're kissing me?" she said, breaking away briefly, before pushing his head back down to join her.

And god, did he love the enthusiasm with which she kissed him. It was never one-sided, their kisses, he couldn't get enough of her, but Usagi brought a passion and life to him that he'd never quite experienced before when her lips met his over and over and over.

There was really no way he'd ever stop this willingly, if he was honest with himself.

"I just don't want you to fail," he whispered against the shell of her ear, pulling her lobe with his teeth, delighted when it elicited a coveted gasp from her.

"You're such a jerk," she said, her hands grasping the front of his uniform, pulling on his tie to move him back where he belonged.

His brief smile at her response was soon wiped away by the sweep of her tongue against his bottom teeth, a guttural moan leaving him. This was sheer perfection, being wrapped between Usagi Tsukino's legs in the school's lab, and Mamoru realized then he would have been completely content to never leave this little world they'd carved out for themselves.

Of course, life had a way of bringing him crashing back to reality more often than not, and in this case, it came in the form of a test tube shattering the ground that he had knocked to the ground in his haste to feel more of her.

He stilled his lips on her neck for a brief moment, sighing in frustration. "Not again…" he mumbled, frustrated at their propensity to break school property on a regular basis.

Usagi's subsequent giggle had him smiling against her skin, however. "Aww, is the school's golden boy not so golden after all?"

Mamoru nipped at her neck in retaliation, enjoying her squeal in reply. "I'll show you golden," he said in a mock-angry growl, and he resumed his steady and increasingly amorous exploration of her neck.

When there was no protest to his actions, only the occasional soft moan escaping the girl in front of him, he grew bolder, finding his favorite spot, and beginning a gentle suction there.

"You'd better not be giving me another hickey, Mamoru Chiba," she warned, pulling back slightly on his hair, causing him to whimper in protest at losing his place.

Pouting was usually Usagi's deal, but he could manage it when his favorite activity was being so rudely interrupted. "Why?"

She giggled again, presumably at the sight he made. "Because I can only claim so many accidental run-ins with the vacuum cleaner."

He laughed at that, leaning his head forward to rest it on her shoulder. "The fact that you can even claim one vacuum cleaner incident says a lot about you."

Usagi just shrugged, grabbing his face gently in her hands to bring his mouth back to hers. "You still think I'm hot," she murmured.

"Mmmm," he managed to moan against her, completely enraptured by everything there was about Usagi.

He had just found the sweet spot on her collarbone when a shrill ring sent them springing apart.

Usagi pulled out her phone with fumbling fingers, nearly dropping it in her haste. "Shit, my study session."

She hopped down from the counter Mamoru had placed her on, bending to pick up her discarded satchel a few feet away. "I've gotta go," she said with an apologetic smile.

He smiled back, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I would never stand in the way of your attempts at academic greatness."

Usagi rolled her eyes, and stuck her tongue out at him with all the grace of a three year old. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't miss it. But I might be a little late. Festival planning meeting."

She nodded. "Right. Wednesday. How's that going by the way?"

"I mean it's no Sapporo Snow Festival or anything, but I think it'll be good," he said with a smirk and a shrug.

Her smile returned, even brighter than before. "Don't forget to lock up, Mr. I'm Head of the Activities Council, I have allll the keys," she drawled out with an exaggerated tone of importance.

"And ruin my stunning reputation for excellence?" he shot back, feigning insult. "Never."

She moved towards the door of the lab, turning around to smile at him one last time. "Bye, Mamoru."

"Bye, Usa," he replied with a lame wave of his hand, and then she was gone.

oOo

Mamoru trudged home from the arcade with his school bag slung over his right shoulder.

Having a visit with Motoki always made him feel better, but as he looked around the streets of Juuban, his mood began to sour, again.

He was surrounded by ads for White Day. White chocolate, flowers, even an ad for a class where you could make your own White Day gifts, because what lame-ass guy bought stuff from a store these days?

Sighing, he stopped in his steps to stare at one of the store displays full of treats he was sure Usagi would love.

But he was also fairly sure she wouldn't love getting them from him.

Their relationship, if one could call it that, had been an odd one from the beginning. He had known her since they were both in grade school, immediately drawn to the bright girl with the funny hair. Even as a young child, she had some kind of magnetic pull over him, but being the socially inept child that he was, he'd had no idea how to deal with it.

So, he'd called her names and made fun of her grades all the while enjoying the fact that he was able to be in her orbit every day. And it had been that way for years...until it wasn't.

He'd never really planned on it happening, not that he was upset about it, but one day they had had a particularly charged argument when she'd thrown a test paper over her shoulder and it hit him in the face while he was walking home, and before Mamoru could really even begin to process what was happening, Usagi had pulled him into a side alley, and they were kissing each other.

He thought it had just been a freak occurrence. Usagi didn't like him. She'd made that clear on countless occasions over the years, but then it happened again, and again, and again, and soon enough they were planning their meetups, and using school property to make them happen multiple times a week.

And although he was in touch enough with his feelings to know that he was completely in love with Usagi Tsukino, she had never given him any indication that she felt the same way. They were attracted to each other, and that was it.

Of course, there was that time on Valentine's Day that confused him greatly. She hadn't outright given him something that day, unlike numerous other girls who appeared to covet his affections, but she had shared chocolate with him after they'd had a particularly satisfying afternoon with each other. Something that was rather unprecedented in the life of Usagi.

Food was sacred, especially chocolate, and anyone who'd spent even a few minutes with the girl knew this about her.

So, why had she shared something so precious with him of all people? And did she expect something from him in return on White Day?

He would honestly love nothing more than to give her anything she ever wanted, no matter how ridiculously dramatic it was, but that fear of her rejection loomed large, and he would rather have what little piece of Usagi he could than nothing at all.

Always better than nothing at all.

He sighed again, more unsure than ever when he heard his name cheerily being called.

"Mamoru-san!"

He looked up from his reverie to see Naru Osaka, a fellow member of the activities council, (and blessedly not a member of his ever burgeoning fan club) waving at him from down the street.

Raising a hand, he waved back, and waited in his spot for her to catch up to him.

"Hi, Mamoru-san," she said when she reached him, her brown eyes looking at him in the friendliest way. "Is everything alright? You've been standing in that one spot for awhile."

A bright blush stained his cheeks, as he looked away from her and back towards the White Day display in front of him. "Uhh...just...lost in thought I suppose."

He saw Naru turn her head towards the display as well, her eyes lighting up with recognition. "Oh! Are you planning a White Day gift for someone special?" she asked, an excited gleam in her eye.

"N-no!" he cried out, a bit too loudly, and he flinched at himself, growing quieter. "The only person I'm interested in has no interest in me."

Mamoru was surprised at Naru's giggle in response.

"I find that very hard to believe, Mamoru-san," she said, eyes incredulous. "With that fan club of yours, I'm sure any girl would be glad to receive something from you for White Day."

He smiled sadly. "You think so, huh?"

She nodded emphatically. "Yes," she said, giggling again before she added, "I bet even Usagi would be happy!"

Her phone rang then, and she checked it with a slight curse, much like the one Usagi had left him with earlier that afternoon. "I've got to go, but seriously, you should go for it! I'll see you tomorrow at the festival meeting. Bye!"

Mamoru watched her go, still rooted to his spot on the pavement, but his mind was suddenly and very resolutely made up.

oOo

Mamoru peeked around the corner near Usagi's classroom, making sure the coast was clear.

She was at lunch, which gave him the perfect opportunity to sneak in before her next class, her much hated Trigonometry. He knew it was weird and stalkerish that he knew her classroom and the exact place she sat, but it made moments like this, where he was trying to give her secret presents much, much easier.

He walked as quickly, and as quietly, as he could, looking around once again before hurriedly unlocking the door, and stepping inside.

As he walked towards her desk, he couldn't help but be reminded of the time she'd had clean up duty, and he'd offered to help her clear the chalkboards. He'd really had no intention of turning it into anything, only offering his assistance because of a genuine want to help her out, but when she'd turned to him and giggled at some joke he'd made, a little streak of chalk across her nose, he couldn't resist moving closer to her, taking her face in his hands and gently brushing the offending white powder off with his thumb.

And she had kissed him then, not with the usual fervor of their many make-out sessions, but soft and sweet, like he would imagine someone that loved you deeply would kiss you. It hadn't taken long for their kisses to grow heated after that, but the purity of that moment was one that could never be taken away from him. The way her lips brushed his, her hands playing with the hair at the back of his neck, her bangs tickling his forehead…it made his heart ache with longing just thinking about it.

Of course, there were very few places in the school that didn't bring up a memory like this anymore. They had certainly left their mark on countless places. The gym, the locker rooms, the janitor's closet, numerous classrooms, the rooftop observatory…the list went on and on.

And as much as he wished he could bring himself to regret breaking so many rules to have these stolen moments with Usagi, he simply couldn't bring himself to care.

He pulled the small bento filled with his homemade, bunny shaped cookies, and wrapped in the prettiest pink and purple fabric he could find, and carefully placed them on her desk. The tag attached to it scrawled in his too-neat handwriting read, "Usako," the name he'd called her in his head for years now, but had never dared to speak out loud.

Mamoru had no idea if she'd recognize his penmanship, he hoped she did and didn't all at once, but he forced himself out of the room before he could consider grabbing the little bag and calling the whole thing off.

Sitting in his last two classes of the day was excruciating, as his mind continued to wander across the courtyard to where he knew Usagi was. Thankfully, he could conjugate English verbs and complete differentiation formulas in his sleep, so even when the teacher called on him, there was no embarrassment factored in as he stared longingly out the window.

When the final bell rang, he had to hold himself back from sprinting down the hallway towards his locker, knowing Usagi would be just a few feet away (he definitely hadn't used his power as student body president to move his locker to more prime real estate.)

As always, when he rounded the corner towards the bunch of lockers, she was standing there, but instead of her usual rowdiness to get her books put away and leave the school day behind, she was holding what appeared to be his present in her hands rather reverently. What Mamoru hadn't anticipated, however, though he certainly should have, was the gaggle of girls that surrounded her, all anxious to debate who her mysterious gifter was.

He watched as nonchalantly as he could perched against his locker, trying not to seem all that interested in the scene before him.

"Who do you think it is, Usagi?" Minako asked gleefully. "Hiro-kun? I saw him staring at you the other day!"

Usagi blushed and shook her head. "No, I don't think-"

"Well, you seem to know who it's from! Spill, lady!" another girl chimed in that Mamoru wasn't familiar with, which wasn't at all surprising since Usagi was friends with everyone.

Ami had arrived on the scene, appearing to sense Usagi's discomfort at the barrage of questions. "You don't have to tell us anything, Usagi-chan," she said, placing a comforting hand on Usagi's arm. "Just enjoy your gift."

Minako wormed her way between the two, unceremoniously knocking the genius girl out of the way, causing Ami to stumble a bit. "Speak for yourself, Ami-chan! I want to know!"

Another girl he didn't know very well (Aiko something, he thought) chimed in, her eyes landing on him standing a few feet away. "You know, I saw Chiba-san sneaking into our class at lunch. I wonder if he left if for you, Usagi-chan!"

He felt his blood run cold, and his body go numb. How had anyone seen him?! He thought he'd been so careful…

Usagi's mouth fell open, her face colored a deep red, as she looked up at him, startled.

But before she could speak, Minako let out a loud, derisive snort. "Mamoru Chiba give something to Usagi for White Day?" Her annunciation of every other word would normally annoy the daylights out of him, but for once, he was thankful for her, every syllable that left her mouth made his involvement seem even more implausible. "Aiko, you're precious, but you've got to be kidding me. He wishes he was good enough to give her anything."

Ouch.

Aiko shook her head in defense. "No! I really saw him go in there! He had a key and everything!"

The entire group of girls were staring at him now, apparently waiting for him to defend himself against these accusations. Even Ami, one of the very few he counted to be among his true friends, was looking at him strangely.

Usagi was the first to speak, her voice uncharacteristically small. "Is it true, Mamoru-san?"

He stood there, gaping at her for an untold amount of time. Seconds stretched out before him, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

There was a choice to make, he remembered. Admit to his gift, to his feelings, to his absolute love and practical worshipment everything that was Usagi. Or deny her, here, in front of anyone who could see and hear the conversation.

Was he willing to risk everything he had with her? Could he live with the consequences of the truth?

Mamoru was rather amazed at how sure his voice sounded when he spoke next.

"Odango, don't be so gullible all the time. White Day is a ridiculous social construct of a holiday, designed for silly teenagers like you to buy into whatever it is companies want you to in order to make money."

The group in front of him all stood silent. Usagi's brow furrowed in confusion. "So...you didn't leave this for me?"

He snorted, the telltale smirk of arrogance making its way up his lips. "No. Never in a million years would I give you something like that for something as ridiculous as this."

The hurt gasp that left her tore through him. Her eyes filled to the brim with tears almost instantly.

But as quickly as the hurt came, it was gone from her face, her eyes steeled towards him in the hardest stare he'd ever seen from her.

It wasn't right. This wasn't her. This was…

"Thank you so much for clearing that up for me, Chiba-san. I'm so sorry to have wasted your time."

Her voice was void of emotion, and she turned away from the group, walking away with a step that seemed hurried but wasn't, the little bag he'd so painstakingly put together dropping to the ground from her fingers.

She didn't bother to stop and pick it up.

Minako was the first to recover from the exchange. "Could you honestly be anymore of an asshole, if you tried?" she said with a deep disdain before turning and running off down the hallway trying to catch Usagi.

The rest of the girls followed suit, except for Ami, who stood looking at him accusingly, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't exactly find the words. After a few moments, she bent to pick up the gift Usagi had left behind, and then turned on her heels and left him too.

Every part of his mind screamed for him to run after them. To make it right. To do something to bring the light back into her eyes again.

But his feet remained firmly planted, his body paralyzed. From what he wasn't sure.

He wasn't ready to deal with the consequences the truth could bring. But he most definitely wasn't prepared for the consequences that his lies could bring either.

oOo

"Chiba-san, where would like for these to go?"

"Uh, just put them over with the rest of the signs. We'll hang them up in a few minutes."

By the time the school festival arrived two weeks later, Mamoru was incredibly grateful for the distraction.

Ever since his disastrous encounter with Usagi in the hallway, she had avoided him like the plague. Not answering his phone calls or texts, avoiding him at every turn, even disappearing from the arcade, one of her absolute favorite places in the world.

And dealing with Minako during their festival meetings had become almost unbearable, as well. She froze him out with her glares, never speaking directly to him, and he was fairly certain he'd seen her with her middle finger pointed up at him a few times when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

Plus, on top of it all, Ami kept looking at him with incredibly sad but still accusing eyes, during their physics study group, which confused him all the more. Did she know how he felt? Had Usagi told her what had happened between them?

It was all just so...exhausting.

And he missed Usagi. Missed her laugh, her smile. The way her hair glinted gold in the sunlight as it blew behind her in the breeze. Her kisses and hugs and impossibly small hands tugging at his shirt.

He just missed…her.

But he wasn't entirely sure why she was mad at him either. Yes, he had been mean, but surely he'd said some worse things to her in the past. And wasn't his denial better than confessing to the entire school? Even if it was probably a little embarrassing.

All he knew was that he had royally fucked up, and he had no idea how to fix it.

Mamoru knew she would be at the festival that day. She was signed up to work with the manga club selling manga-esque doodle portraits of festival goers. But she had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him, and after the fifth or sixth day of calling and texting with no response, he knew he didn't want to be the guy who didn't understand a clear no.

Set-up for the festival went by in a blur, and after answering the thousandth question of the day, Mamoru decided he hated hearing his name. Normally, he loved how busy all his extracurriculars kept him, but days like this made him question if the advantage it would bring on his college applications was worth it.

He'd looked for Usagi as much as he could throughout the morning, finding every excuse he could to walk by the manga club's booth, but she was nowhere to be found. And when he did finally find her, he knew he had to do something to make it right.

He heard her laugh before he saw her. Bright and bubbly, but with an edge to it he wasn't used to.

Rounding the corner with a bag full of balls for the dunking booth, they nearly collided with each other.

She froze, her laugh instantly dying at her lips, her smiling falling as her gaze met his.

Mamoru froze, too. Unsure of what to do, how to act, or what to say.

It was her eyes that completely undid him, though. They were so sad, void of their usual life and gleam, and it stung him.

You did this. You hurt her. You're not worthy of her.

Usagi was the first to recover, brushing past him with just a nod of her head. She always seemed to be able to shake him off in a way he envied.

But he recovered quickly enough to reach out and touch her arm, her name slipping from his lips. "Usagi, wait-"

She looked him dead in the eyes, her face just as steely as it had been that day in the hallway. "I'd be happy to draw a portrait for you once the festival starts, Chiba-san. But other than that, I can't imagine what we could possibly have to say to each other."

oOo

Hours later, Mamoru found himself trying to walk as leisurely towards the manga booth as he could, but he had a feeling he was failing spectacularly in his mission, his legs unable to slow down.

Usagi had offered to draw a portrait for him, and he had made up his mind to take her up on the offer. It might be the only chance he had to try and make things right, festival responsibilities be damned.

He walked up just as Usagi was ripping off a finished drawing to a younger girl, who was looking upon her in wonder, as Usagi smiled down at her, speaking something soft he couldn't hear.

Mamoru totally understood that look the girl was giving Usagi. He felt like that was the way he must look every single time he saw her.

And Usagi was glowing, too, while she waved a sweet goodbye. Naturally, it all changed once she spotted him.

He sputtered for a moment when he reached her. "Uh...hi. I...uh, well, you said you'd draw my portrait, so…" he trailed off lamely, eyeing the now vacant stool in front of Usagi.

"Have a seat," she said quietly, reaching into the tray to pick up her pencil.

She set to work without a word, her eyes never really looking up at him, which he wasn't sure how she managed when she was supposed to be drawing him, but he let it slide.

When he finally got up the nerve to speak, she still didn't meet his eyes. "Usagi, what did I do?" he asked, his voice pleading.

Her hand stilled, but her eyes remained focused on the paper in front of her. "If you don't know that, Chiba-san, I can't help you."

Mamoru sighed, forcing his hands to remain in his lap instead of running them through his hair as he normally would when she flustered him so.

"Please, I just...I just have to make it right, somehow…"

Usagi did look up at him then, eyes glaring. "Why? So you can just go back to using me to get your kicks? No thanks."

"No!" he shouted, causing everyone around the to glance in their direction. He blushed, and lowered his voice. "No, Usagi. That's not at all what I meant, please-"

"Stop talking," she demanded. "You're moving too much."

He quieted immediately, but this time he did run his hands into his hair, resisting the urge to pull at the roots.

What did he have to do to make her see?

"Usagi, if you'll please let me explain," he tried again, but her resolve seemed to only grow.

"There's nothing to explain that you didn't make perfectly clear that day in the hallway."

"Yes, there is," he said, growing frustrated. "God, you're so stubborn, Usagi!

"Oh, and you're just a total ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

They had a rather large audience, now, but he was past caring and onto complete desperation.

"If you would just listen to me, I could explain!"

"You've done more than enough already!"

"Usako, I can't keep doing this! I can't-"

Her entire body stiffened at the name, her pencil dropping with a small clink to the ground, and her eyes grew wide.

He froze, surprised at himself. "I-I well, Usa, I-"

"Chiba-san!" a voice interrupted, and he could have wept from frustration.

Was it too much to ask to not be interrupted during the most important encounter of his life?!

Yes, yes it was.

"It's time for you to give your speech, now," Kurenai, a fellow council member whom he used to like, said, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Usagi.

Her eyes were desperate as he was pulled away, and he decided in that moment he was sick of waiting. Sick of holding this all in when all it was doing was hurting him and Usagi more and more. She needed to know how he felt. He needed to tell her how he felt.

But what was one to do, when they were sick of waiting?

He heard his name being announced along with the other members of the activities council, and he, of all people, was expected to give a speech, thanking everyone for their participation and help.

Once he was on the small podium, facing most of the student body, the headmaster thrust a microphone into his hand. And when he saw Usagi's face appear in the back of the crowd, her unmistakable hairstyle calling to him like a beacon, he knew what had to be done.

"Hi, there, everyone," he said awkwardly with a short bow. "I, uh...want to thank you all for your hard work on this festival. It wouldn't have happened without you."

He paused for the raucous cheers that were ringing out, and he swallowed thickly, eyes searching out Usagi, while his entire being prayed to whatever god did or didn't exist that he wouldn't lose the courage he needed to do this.

"But there's something else I need to say," he said slowly, wracking his brain for what was to come next.

Until he realized his brain would fail him in that moment. So he shut it out, and spoke from something else.

"I am in love with Usagi Tsukino."

A murmur went up through the crowd, heads whipping around to see if Usagi was standing somewhere nearby.

He knew where she was, of course, and he kept talking to her, too much spilling out all at once. "And I know I went about this all wrong. That you think you're just some girl who I enjoy making out with. Which I definitely do, and we've done a lot of that admittedly," he said reaching up to scratch the back of his neck nervously.

The crowd murmuring intensified, and for some reason, whatever it was he was listening to inside of himself decided it was important that he start listing places.

"The locker rooms, the lab, the gym, the auditorium, Haruna-sensei's office, the observatory," he counted off on his fingers, completely ignoring how the jaw of their headmaster had long dropped open in shock. "There's so many places, Usa, and they're all haunted with you, now."

He took a deep breath, eyes still locked on Usagi, who hadn't moved since he began talking. She had a somewhat horrified look on her face, her cheeks a brighter red than he could ever remember them being in the past.

"This whole ward is haunted with you. I can't go anywhere without thinking of you. And I know this is a giant city, but having to go all the way to Urayasu to not think of you is just really inconvenient, and even then I know how much you love Tokyo Disneyland, so it's still kind of a lost cause."

Mamoru could have sworn he saw a small laugh escape her then, which fueled him on.

"And I think I've loved you for years, honestly, but do you know the moment I finally admitted it to myself?" he asked, and Usagi shook her head all those meters away from him. "It wasn't that day we broke the test tubes in the lab, or when we knocked that shelf off in the library. It was that night you asked me to stay with you in bed and watch weird show with you, and you fell asleep on me and I had the best night's sleep I've had in years. That was when I knew."

The scandalized gasps that greeting this part of his confession frustrated him. People could be so judgy when you were bearing your soul.

"Of course it was me that baked those cookies for you! I thought you'd know the second you saw them, because I feel like I've been walking around with hearts in my eyes for weeks, now. And do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a bunny shaped cookie cutter in this town? You'd think with all the ridiculous things Japan produces, it would be something fairly obvious, but no! I had to go to five different stores, and ask someone to help me find them, which I mean, it was worth it in the end, but I got some strange looks, let me tell you."

The Confession Train he was on was quickly derailing, and he knew he needed to get back on track before the headmaster came to his senses and stole the mic away from him.

"Usagi. Usako. I do love you. So much I don't know what to do with myself. And I completely understand if I've ruined my chance. I've been an ass. A total idiot. And if you decide to give me another chance, I promise the next time I bake cookies for you, you'll know they're from me."

oOo

"Well, that went about as well as I expected it would," he said with a sigh as the headmaster's office door slammed shut behind them.

Usagi sighed, too, her hands clutching her satchel in front of her dark-blue, pleated skirt. "Yeah, I guess it could have been worse."

He and Usagi had both been given detention. For life. Longer if the headmaster decided to haunt them, and as angry as he was, Mamoru wouldn't put it past the man. His keys had also been taken away, along with his seat on the activities council. His position as student body president was still intact for now, but he figured that was only a matter of convenience for the school, it being much easier to let him remain than to find a replacement.

They walked out of the building in silence, reaching the gates without having said another word to each other, when Usagi stopped suddenly.

"Why are you here, Mamoru?"

Her question confused him. "What do you mean?"

She gestured back to the school. "Here. Juuban. I'm sure you could have easily gotten in to Moto-Azabu or some other fancy place. But you're here with me at boring, unprestigious Juuban. Why?"

It threw him off that she would think to ask a question like that. But the answer was an easy one, and since this was a day for confessions…

"I'm here, because you're here."

It was Usagi's turn to be confused. "What?"

His shoes, and the dirt the stood on was suddenly very interesting to his eyes. "You've been the only constant in my life for a long time, Usako. And yes, Moto-Azabu would have been great, but...Juuban had you. It was no contest, really."

Her mouth opened into an adorable little 'o' at his response and her cheeks flushed the prettiest pink he'd ever seen. But she shook her head as if to clear it, and reached into her bag.

"I have something for you," she said, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to him.

It took Mamoru a moment to realize what it was. And when he did, he felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

It was the portrait she'd drawn of them earlier, but it wasn't really a portrait at all. It was a scene of a him and Usagi, curled up together on a bed, watching a laptop in front of them.

"That's when I knew, too," he heard her whisper, and when he finally looked back into her eyes, he couldn't keep the smile from his face.

He wasn't fully prepared to have her launch herself at him and engulf him in the tightest hug he'd ever received, and it took most of his strength to keep them upright, but it wasn't something he'd have an issue getting used to.

"Of course I'll have you," she said, pulling back from his chest, and smiling up at him with that pure Usagi smile he loved so much.

He couldn't bring himself to let her go for a few more moments, enjoying the feel of her acceptance and love and contagious joy, but when he did, he offered his hand, and they began to walk towards her home.

"So, does this mean you can take me out on actual dates now, instead of sneaking through my window all the time?"

"You mean I can't sneak through your window, anymore?" he asked, a genuine feeling of sadness evident in his voice.

"Well, I mean, I guess you could if you still wanted to, but the romanticness of it all kind of wears off after awhile."

"Oh, it does, does it?"

"Mhmm."

"What could one do to bring that 'romanticness' back?" he asked, squeezing her hand as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"You could start with buying me a milkshake?"

He appeared thoughtful for a moment. "How about a milkshake and I'll pretend to be enthusiastic about playing games with you?"

She giggled, and it was the most beautiful sound in the world. "Sounds wonderful, Mamo-chan."