Despite the title, there aren't really any sexual connotations at all (in this chapter at least). Just a friendly warning to those who might have wandered in expecting that. ^^
This is the first of a set of (planned) one-shots charting the development of Rei and Minako's relationship post-Special Act, so while it may seem more like friendship at first, it'll eventually turn into romance.
.
Chapter-specific blurb: Rei and Minako meet at a convenience store, almost strangers in the night. (For their old tense intimacy had morphed into distant impersonal friendship; but Rei is not happy about it.)
It was nearly a study in monochrome, the shining white cuboid of the convenience store with its light spilling out into the darkness.
Perhaps it was the picture's surrealism which pointed her steps towards the shop, because she hadn't really wanted to buy anything in particular; or maybe it was the pervading loneliness of the scene which had drawn her.
Rei had always been attracted to isolated figures.
. . .
Beep, beep, beep. She stood idly at the checkout counter, waiting as the shop assistant passed each of the three cans of café au lait against the barcode reader.
'That will be three hundred and sixty yen, please.'
'Ah, yes…'
She chanced to catch a glimpse of a fashion magazine out of the corner of her eye, one with the words AINO MINAKO: THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER FACE OF THE YEAR! and the world-renowned idol's photo plastered over its front cover, and decided to add it to her purchases at the last minute.
'Actually, I'd like to take this too.'
That was always how it went: she would never actively look for traces of her, but would always pick up what was there – except the CDs: those she bought once they went on sale. She was not bound to anything, would not pursue anything; but what she did have she enjoyed.
Much like their current relationship, really.
'The total is now nine hundred and thirty yen. You're using a thousand-yen note, so the change will come to seventy yen.' A series of numbers was smoothly rattled off in cheerful, disinterested, carefully modulated tones.
'Thank you.'
As Rei started to leave, she felt a familiar-yet-unfamiliar tingle of recognition.
Ah.
Then a voice from behind her, an unmistakeable voice which betrayed the quality of a smirk in its enunciation: 'Who would have thought that the rising star of the spiritual world would be still be interested in such superficial things as idols?'
'I'm buying it for the tips on cosmetics,' Rei replied without turning.
A quiet laugh, one she hadn't heard for all too long. 'You never change, do you? …Wait for me, I'll be quick.'
The presence disappeared.
Minako had always been good at concealing it; goodness knows she'd had enough practice.
The automatic doors slid open with a faint hiss; she walked out. Stopped. Waited. Looked down at her watch: both hands were pointing at twelve.
. . .
The narrow street was a black path punctuated by white pools; and then there was Minako ahead of her, form alternating between barely discernible and fully-illuminated, shadow wavering and dancing in the light of the street-lamps.
Really, it was quite dream-like.
The idol was almost striding, as was her habit; her quick foot-falls spoke of confidence and a place to go and things to do.
Ah, but— she didn't really, not tonight, because it was the weekend and her manager had demanded that she take a break in between her work as an idol and studying at university. Then she remembered that she was not alone; so she slowed her steps and
Matched them to Rei's
And they walked at a leisurely pace
Together.
The sound of their shoes meeting the ground in unison formed a rhythm that neither found unwelcome.
The plastic bag Rei was carrying swung in time.
.
They did not talk, but Rei did not mind, because it was a companionable silence and not an awkward one.
Words had never been their strong suit anyway; words grew and perverted meanings, they had a life of their own.
But since her mouth was empty, she decided to fill it with something else, and so pulled out a can and popped the top.
The action, breaking the chain of unthinking movement that her feet had birthed, stirred her consciousness from its dazed tranquillity, and she noticed that the liquid was cool and its sweetness pleasant on her tongue. Having noted that, she shifted the object of her observation, and
Focused on how natural the presence beside her felt.
They went on walking.
It was almost as if time had stopped for everything except them.
It felt like the whole universe had been condensed into the taste of canned coffee and the sound of their united footsteps and the sight of the woman next to her; and for a while,
The world was beautiful.
.
At the end of the path was an intersection bright with the light of the reflected Sun, and suddenly all the cracks in the pavement and all the nicks in the walls were filled with a harsh radiance and there was no place to hide.
Rei glanced at Minako, and saw the silver finger of the moon trace the lines of her neck and face and lend her the weight of marble's physicality; the delicious surrealism and suggestion of night had been banished, its magical ambiguity broken. Right now everything was lit up – exposed – inescapably real.
How unfortunate. It would have been nice if—
—if their relationship had been altered during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, she supposed.
In some ways it had altered quite enough for her already.
Perhaps it was because their earlier closeness was probably due primarily to the fact that Rei was the first of the Senshi to learn that Aino Minako was Sailor Venus, and had kept that to herself for a long time, meaning that it was only natural for the others to eventually reach that same level when they did know;
Perhaps it was because they seemed to have been united by the single aim of fulfilling their duties, even if their reasons for and methods of execution had come into conflict, and now that that responsibility had disappeared, their special bond did so as well;
Perhaps it was because— but of course she did not really know; she could never know the real reason, she had never been able to tell what the Senshi of Love was thinking.
At any rate, they had changed, and their relationship had as well: strange tense intimacy morphed into distant impersonal friendship.
After Metallia's defeat they had reunited at Usagi's wedding, then at Makoto's, and a number of other events which you could count on one hand; and at each of these – not to mention when they exchanged messages through the group chat Usagi had insisted on setting up for the Senshi – Rei had the creeping feeling that she no longer knew Minako, if she ever had.
But at one of those get-togethers, when they were for some reason both slightly separated from the main group, the idol had mentioned that
It was a pity they had not been talking together much recently, wasn't it?
Her words had suffused Rei with emotion then – so she noticed, she had marvelled, so she cares. Yet she had been unable to offer anything but a weak agreement, not knowing how to reach out and take hold of the waiting hand, not knowing where to find the courage to try. Yes, she had burned with humiliation that day. That flame lived on; she felt it each time she spoke to her, each time she considered speaking to her.
All right.
I remember. I remember.
—So the seed of self-hatred bloomed into anger; and that anger set her soul ablaze.
'…Would you like to stay over with me tonight?'
And Minako turned to her and for the first time since they had met, Rei saw her face graced by a genuinely happy smile.
'It would be my pleasure.'
Author's note: I watched PGSM recently and promptly fell in love with Rei and Minako and of course this pairing (because who wouldn't?), and wanted to write something to express that after reading a bunch of other PGSM ReiMina stories. This one draws on anamatics' Voices of the Heart - a great fic, highly recommended - a bit in terms of the set-up, but the emotions and reasoning are very different. The first half is also inspired by the wonderful song "Chronostasis" by Kinoko Teikoku (クロノスタシス by きのこ帝国); the atmosphere of the PV struck a chord with me and I thought it might be suitable for a ReiMina fic.
Of all the fics I've written so far, this one was the most difficult - I changed the last part so many times, unsure of how to express Rei's feelings (or my idea of them) and how to end it. I also wondered whether ending it like this would serve as a direct lead-in to a romantic relationship, but concluded that that would be moving way too fast; I still want to write something where they cross that boundary though.
Edit: changed the "main" blurb to something which could describe the fic overall, rather than the first chapter alone.