Author: teazer7 (LJ Username) ; RavensFirefly Username)
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jr./MOMO
Fandom: Xenosaga
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Jr., MOMO, or any other Xenosaga character.

Title: What's in a name?
Theme: #28 - Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou?

Summary: MOMO takes an unexpected liking to Romeo and Juliet

AN: Okay, yes, I did sign up for yet another themed story challenge thing. I couldn't help it...

Oh, and a quick note to those expecting Inuyasha stories; don't worry! Aside from this Xenosaga claim, I also signed up for InuSan, so I'll be getting some of those up soon too.

"What the..."

MOMO looked up, hearing Jr.'s voice. Currently, the red-haired URTV was staring at a book in his hands, as though the book had no right to exist there with him. If it had been anyone else, the situation wouldn't have been so amusing, since paper books had been replaced by optical data long ago. But, considering that Jr. was an avid collector of books, MOMO couldn't help but giggle at his expression, "Is something wrong, Jr.?"

Jr. glanced over his shoulder at her, before tossing the book onto his desk, "It's that book," He said, turning to plop down into a chair, "I know I grabbed quite a few when me and chaos went to Jin's bookstore, but..." He shook his head, and threw his arms up, "I have no clue where the hell that one came from."

"Shakespeare," The realian murmured, reaching across the desk and pulling the book over to her, "Romeo and Juliet... I thought you liked poetic stuff like this."

He scrunched his nose slightly and leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head, "I have some other books by him, but I've never cared too much for that one. Too... I dunno." He shrugged.

She smiled, and suppressed another giggle, "Well, let's see," She whispered, shifting her position so one elbow was resting on the desk. With her free hand, she opened the book and begun flipping through it.

Letting his arms fall back to his sides, he raised an eyebrow curiously. And, just when he was about to ask what she was doing, she spoke again.

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" She began, reading from the book. "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"MOMO? What are-"

"Here!" She nearly shouted, jumping up from her seat excitedly. Smiling brightly, she quickly walked around the desk so she was standing beside him, "You read this line," She said, pointing to Romeo's next line in the book.

Jr. shook his head and put his hands on the edge of the desk, as though he were getting ready to get up and leave, "Oh no. You're not getting me to read any of that."

MOMO's smile faded slightly, but he could see that she wasn't about to give up that easily, "Why not?" She asked, turning to look at him, "It could be fun."

"Doubt it," He mumbled, rolling his eyes, "Fun, is reading books, not-"

"But this is a book," She corrected him, interrupting him for the second time.

'Crap.' His sapphire gaze darted around the room a few times, trying to find anything that could distract her long enough for him to get rid of that stupid book. Finally, his eyes landed on the video screen sitting on the corner of his desk. He stared at it for a moment, hoping that Mary or Shelley, or anyone would decide to call him for some reason.

MOMO tapped her finger against the page again, drawing the Durandal captain's attention once more. He swallowed silently, suddenly wondering just why he was getting so nervous about the whole thing. After all, he had invited her to read with him... Then again, when he had invited her, he hadn't thought she'd become so interested in one like Romeo and Juliet.

"Okay, okay, so it is a book," He said finally, sighing in exasperation, "But... um... well, what kind of name is Romeo anyway? I mean, Juliet isn't all that bad, really, but Romeo? Come on. It sounds like the name of some cheap cologne or something."

The realian considered this briefly, then turned her gaze to the book. Keeping her eyes there, she gave a small, shy smile as a slight blush colored her cheeks, "If you'd prefer, I could say 'Jr.' instead of 'Romeo'."

That comment caused Jr. to go into a small coughing fit. "Huh?" He managed to choke out, before abruptly looking away from her and hunching down in his seat a little, "Er... y-you don't have to do that... Maybe Romeo's not that bad, after all. It's just a name, right? I mean, what's in a name?"

"That's Juliet's line."

"What?" He asked, chancing a quick glance at her.

She looked up at him, the blush still evident on her face, "What you just said, Jr. 'What's in a name', that's one of Juliet's lines. See?" She turned back to the book and quoted, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes." She smiled, and once more turned to him, "Isn't it sweet?"

"If... you say so, MOMO," He murmured, straightening himself in his chair. The URTV remained quiet for a moment, thinking something over, before adding, "If you like it so much, why don't you just go ahead and keep it?"

"Really? I can have it?" She asked, picking the book up and clutching it to her chest.

He nodded and gave her one of his lop-sided smiles, "Sure thing. Consider it a gift."

MOMO smiled brightly, "Oh, thank you, Jr.!" Then, without really thinking about it, she leaned closer to him and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek.

'No problem', had been what Jr. was about to say. However, he didn't get the chance, because his voice seemed to stop working as soon as MOMO kissed him.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, he didn't need to come up with a response, because another voice suddenly spoke up from the doorway, "Aww... now ain't that just the sweetest thing?"

MOMO jumped back, a good foot or so from him, and hugged the book tighter, averting her golden gaze to the desk, blushing once more. She didn't have to look up to know who it was standing in the doorway.

Jr., even though he was able to hide his embarrassment better than the pink-haired realian, wasn't able to stop the slight blush that came to his face, "Mary!" He shouted, standing up from his previously sitting position. Figures that she'd have to show up exactly when he didn't want her to... "What are you doing here?"

The blonde grinned, and placed her hands on her hips, "Well, Little Master, no one's seen either you or MOMO for most of the afternoon. We were beginning to wonder what had happened to y'all."

MOMO blinked, and slowly lifted her head so she was looking at Mary, "But, my sisters on the bridge should've been able to find me without any trouble. And, you knew that I was with Jr., right?" She asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

As he realized just what it was that MOMO was saying, Jr.'s look of surprise turned itself into a glare as he continued looking at the more spirited Godwin sister, "That's right. Mary, you weren't looking for us, you were spying on us!"

"I was doing no such thing!" Mary replied, "I can't believe you would even think that, Little Master."

The Little Master, however, wasn't buying her act for a minute, "Mary..."

"Oh, alright," The blonde gave in, shrugging with defeat, "I'll go and let everyone know that you two are all right."

Jr. muttered something under his breath as she left. But, just when he was about to say something more audible, she suddenly poked her head back into the room from the hallway.

"And I'll be sure to keep the others away from here too, since you two wanna be alone."

"Mary!" The embarrassed shout was followed shortly by a loud thud, as a book hit the door only seconds after it had closed.