"We're locked in. They locked us in! I can't believe this!" Serena shouted.
"Stop screaming, Meatball Head. There's no way they would've locked us in here alone." Darien shoved Serena aside fiddling with the lock. After about five minutes he realized that is was locked from the outside and that they couldn't get out.
"Let us out! Raye! Amy! Lita! Mina! ANDREW! LET US OUT!" Darien shouted through the door to their friends who had shoved both he and Serena into Andrew's new one-bedroom apartment and locked the door. "Why in the world did you lock the two of us inside?!"
"Calm down, Darien." Andrew said, Darien could hear the sound of the girls' giggles outside the door. "The girls and I have decided that it be best for the two of you to sort things out. You've been on each other's bad side since day one and we think that you just need to have a talk and work things out."
"Work things out?! With this Meatball Head?!"
"Don't call me that, jerk!"
"I see that we're off to a good start." Andrew sighed.
"Be quiet, both of you!" Serena could hear Raye's angry voice. "We were planning on letting you out in an hour or two once you had talked things over, but now I think you need more time. We'll all be back in the morning so don't kill each other! And if you haven't figured things out by the morning then you can rot in there another night!" Raye huffed and Serena could hear her footsteps receding with the others as they walked away. Darien pounded on the door endlessly for them to come back.
"Well this is just great. I get to spend my Saturday night locked in an apartment with you, Meatball Head." Darien dropped into the couch by the T.V.
Serena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Like this is how I wanted to spend my weekend. You're not the only one pissed off here, Darien. So just stop and leave me alone. I've had enough of you already as it is. You don't have to go on about how much you can't stand me, trust me I know."
Darien turned to look at her. Her hair hung messy and wet from the storm outside and her clothes were soaked. He averted his eyes when he realized she was wearing a white shirt.
"Whatever. Can you just cover up or something?" Darien cheeks turned pink and he looked down at his shoes.
"What?" Serena asked confused. She looked down at herself and realized that the rain had made her white school uniform see-through. She stared in horror at the pink bunnies on her bra. Her two arms swung to her chest to cover herself. "Pervert! Why were you looking there?!"
"Pervert? Ha! Like anyone would want to get a look at the little pink bunnies you've got there!" Darien smirked in his cocky way. Serena shrank under his gaze trying to cover herself more.
"Just shut up. I'm going to take a shower." Serena turned away from his cocky smile and his easy gaze. She stomped off to the bathroom unable to think about anything but how much she wanted to strangle Darien's neck.
"Good for nothing, jerk. Doesn't know when to stop. Always only picking on me." She muttered on and on to herself as she took off her dripping clothes, leaving them on the floor and jumped into the shower.
The hot water soothed her aching shoulder from scuffle with Nephrite the day before. She sighed and let the water wash over her cold face. She sat down in the shower and pulled her knees under her chin. "What am I going to do?" She asked herself. Darien had to be the single person she hated the most in the world. He was always picking on her. Always trying to make fun of her, make her feel horrible every time he saw her. There was no end to his cruelty to her. She just didn't understand why. Why was it that he only picked on her? Why did he make it his mission to make her feel miserable? She couldn't count the number of days she cried about what he had said to her. And now, she was here in this apartment with him and she didn't know how she was going to last a whole night in his presence.
Darien ran a hand through his dark hair trying to figure out how he was going to control himself for the whole night. He didn't think he could get through it without either saying something really awful to push her away or losing the hold he had on his attraction to her.
He couldn't explain it, but when he was around Serena, he felt like she was the only one in the room. Everyone else always faded away, leaving only her bright smile to taunt and tease him to touch her. He couldn't go a minute without saying something awful to stop himself from wanting to kiss her.
But he knew he couldn't, he had a mission to protect Sailor Moon and Serena wasn't part of that picture. No matter how much he liked her he knew that she could get her hurt if he got involved with her in any way.
Darien sighed standing up to see if Serena was done her shower. It had already been 30 minutes since she went into the bathroom. He walked to the bathroom at the end of the hall, his hands in his pockets.
"Meatball head, are you done in the there yet? I need to take a shower too!" He knocked unceremoniously on the door and was given a high-pitched yelp from the behind it. "What are you doing in there? I know you're done you're shower; I don't hear the water running! Are you going to come out or what?"
"I – I.." Serena began.
"You what?"
"I – I forgot that I don't have extra clothes. And the uniform I was wearing is all muddy and wet." Darien could hear her nervous breath.
He leaned his shoulder against the door and replied, "You've got to be kidding me, Meatball Head. How do you forget something like that?"
"Well, if you hadn't made me angry before then maybe I wouldn't have forgotten!" She huffed and finally without screaming this time she asked, "So what I am I supposed to do right now?"
Darien threw his hands up in the air, though he knew she couldn't see them. "I have some extra shirts in my gym bag. I'll give you one to wear, so just wait here." He walked off silently.
"I'm not going anywhere." Serena muttered.
Darien came back with a dark blue button shirt in hand and knocked on the door. "I brought a shirt for you."
"Okay. I'm going to open the door, so just hand it to me and don't even think about looking!" Serena exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I would never even try, Meatball head." The lock on the door twisted and it opened a crack. Darien shoved his hand with the shirt forward into the space. Serena in her earnest to get the shirt without Darien seeing her tried pulling it from him too quickly which resulting in her accidently pulling him with the shirt, the door swinging open and Darien landing promptly on top of her, the blue shirt between them.
"Ouch!" Darien finally opened his eyes after closing them when she had opened the door. He opened them to find the pink bunnies of Serena's bra in his face. He looked up to find Serena's horror-filled face.
"Ahhhh!" They both screamed, Darien jumping off of her and Serena attempting to cover herself again with the dark blue shirt. Darien ran out of the bathroom and Serena slammed the door behind him.
"Why did you pull me, Meatball Head?" Darien exclaimed at the door thankful she could not see his flaming cheeks.
"Pull you?! If you hadn't hung onto the shirt so tightly this wouldn't have happened!" Serena frantically pulled the shirt on inside the bathroom, trying to ignore the memory of his body on top of hers.
"Whatever. Just quickly change and come out."
After about fifteen minutes of silently cursing her luck to herself in the washroom, Serena trudged out to the living room in the oversized dark blue shirt Darien had given her. It hung loose and down to her knees, leaving her calves exposed. She shuffled in to the living room to find Darien lying on the couch, apparently asleep.
She walked around the couch to stand over his sleeping face, she bend forward to check if he was actually sleeping. He seemed to be asleep, his face never looking as handsome as it was when he wasn't calling her names, though she hated him, Serena was not oblivious to the fact that he was gorgeous. She leaned closer to his face admiring his long eyelashes that any girl would've killed for, when her long blond locks fell on his sleeping face consequently waking him up to find Serena only inches from him.
Darien jumped in surprise only landing himself in more trouble as he knocked foreheads with her.
"Owww!" Serena whined rubbing her forehead in her spot where she fell on the floor.
"Why were you standing over me?! Are you crazy, Meatball head?"
"I was checking if you were actually asleep, idiot!" Serena got up and walked over to the opposite couch and sat down, absolutely annoyed.
Darien couldn't help noticing how her long wet locks framed her face and how the shirt he had given her barely covered up to her mid-thigh when she was sitting. "Well, I guess you don't have your meatballs right now actually."
Serena merely rolled her eyes at him and grabbed the T.V remote to play something.
After minutes ticked by without so much as a peep from Serena, Darien got up from the couch and walked in to the kitchen where the coffee maker was. "Do you want coffee, Meatball head?"
"Why do you call me Meatball head?" Serena finally broke her empty gaze from the T.V and looked at him with all seriousness.
"What do you mean, why? You put your hair in meatballs that's why." Darien chuckled turning away from her again to make the coffee.
"I don't mean that, jerk. I mean why do you call me names? Why do you bother me and annoy me and make fun of me all the time? Why is it always only me? You act perfectly fine around everyone and all my friends, but when it comes to me you act like a complete jerk."
Darien stopped in the middle of pouring water in the coffee maker. He settled the kettle on the counter with a sigh. He didn't know how to respond. He couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell her that he called her names because calling hers would mean losing control. He couldn't tell her that he only bothered her because it was her. He acted normal around everyone else, because they weren't her. He couldn't tell her that only she mattered and that he couldn't be in a room with her without wanted to take her in his arms. He couldn't tell her that, so he said nothing.
But Serena wanted answers and she wasn't stopping. She got up from the couch, the sound of the T.V fading in the distance as she moved toward him, angry as ever.
"Tell me so I can understand why the hell you are such a jerk to me. Tell me why you hate me so much." Serena glared at him with all the anger she'd been holding back.
"I don't hate you. I have never hated you." Darien stated without looking at her, his hands clenching on the edge of the kitchen counter.
"Then why do you torture me every day. Why do you make a hobby out of making my life miserable?" Serena stepped toward him again, she was only a foot away now, and still Darien did not turn.
"I'm not trying to make you miserable."
"You're not?" She said with contempt. "Yeah right. You love torturing me." She turned away but this time Darien finally turned to face her.
"I don't love torturing you. I love you." He shouted. The pressure he kept on himself breaking, his control shattering he said to her again, "I love you."
"What?" Serena breathed. But then her face contorted into something angrier and sadder than before. "I knew that you could be mean Darien, but I never thought you were this cruel. You're a jerk."
"What? What are you talking about? I'm telling you that I love you!" Darien shouted.
"Yeah and it's quite convincing but I won't fall for it. You must've known that I liked you, that's why you're trying to play this sick trick on me. To torture me even more. Well I'm not buying it Darien." Tears tracked down Serena's face as she turned away from him.
Darien couldn't believe his ears. That I liked you. That's what she had said hadn't she? He realized she was walking away from him and he ran forward grabbing her wrist and pulling her around to face him. She protested and tried to get free of his grip. He looked down at her defiant eyes and he took her face in his hands pulling her lips to his. He kissed her.
She stood in shock at first, but then she tried to fight against his grip to push him away. To push away his electrifying lips but to no avail. He held on tight and did not plan on letting go as he teased her lips with this tongue trying to get her to kiss her him back. And she did. After pulling her closer to him and wrapping his arms around her waist, he kissed her until she had no self-control left to resist him.
She kissed him back with all the fervor and passion of her anger from before, from all the pent up tension between them. She pulled him closer wrapping her arms around his neck pulling herself up to reach him, placing her feet on top of his and reaching on her tip toes to get more of him.
He balanced her feet on his as he moved to the couch, his lips never leaving hers. He dropped her on the couch and pulled himself to settle over her as he kissed her neck and collarbone and trailed his kisses down the sides of her shoulders pulling aside the very shirt he had given her.
Suddenly they heard the sound of keys by the door, the sound of the lock turning.
Serena pushed Darien off of her and jumped off the couch. Darien fell on the floor rubbing his shoulder from the pain of his landing as he got up to face the door. Serena straightened the shirt she was wearing just as the door opened.
Andrew's face appeared in the doorway. "I forgot my wallet."
Serena and Darien looked at each other and then at the door. Simultaneously without a word or mention of what happened between them. They grabbed their stuff and tumbled out the door before Andrew could lock them in again.