A.N. The second half of this chapter can be found on over at Archive of Our Owe (pseud: TheDrifter) due to slightly graphic sexual content. Cheers - The Drifter.

Ami and Makoto: 5 Years and a Day

Day 175 - And Not a Day To Lose : wherein Ami and Makoto take their relationship to the next level. Finally.

Spam. Spam. Spam. Spam. Spam.

Wait, what?

An odd email header caught Ami's eye.

'Every day without sex is irretrievably lost. You just have to help me not to lose that day.'

Well... that was strangely poetic for what was likely an erectile dysfunction ad. Ami hit the delete button and watched the words disappear.

If only it were so easy to delete the sudden melancholy that came over her.

...'Lose that day'...

That hit close to home. She'd lost so many days through her own idiotic decisions. She gave up on checking her emails and let her mind wander as it will. There was a poem hanging on the edge of her memory. The words came to her after a moment's thought.

Lose the day loitering, 'twill be the same story to-morrow.
To-morrow, and the next more dilatory...

Of course, entropy breeds entropy. Ami supposed it was her curse that she could never do anything without thinking about it over and over.

...For indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.

Days lost lamenting over days lost. Days like today. Sitting around brooding about the past when there wasn't a damn thing she could do to take it back...

Wait. This was ridiculous.

Was she really getting this depressed over an erectile dysfunction ad? Apparently, yes. Ami had to laugh at herself a little. Hell, if she was going to take that damn email so seriously, she might as well start with the first part. The lack of sex part was more relevant to her life right now than pointless regret over past mistakes. Besides, how did the rest of that poem go?

Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute -
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated -
Begin it, and then the work will be completed!

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it? That seemed appropriate.

Ami picked up her cell phone. Maybe this was a bit crass - Minako would certainly approve, at any rate. The merit of earning Minako's approval was questionable at best, but then again, there no time like the present.

Ami was entirely, unbelievably happy with her relationship with Makoto...except for one thing. They were both adults, with adult needs. The lack of sex in their relationship was getting to the point of awkwardness. They had been dancing around this issue for weeks – sometimes literally. Ami thought back to their date several weeks ago where the dancing went frustratingly nowhere – her damn work phone had gone off. Then there was the date before that, where nothing had happened because Makoto had had a 4 AM morning shift at the bakery the next day... and then the date before that where Ami had fallen asleep in the middle of the movie. Makoto had been chivalrous enough to carry her to bed and nothing more.

So on and so forth, ad infinitum.

Dammit.

Ami wasn't sure where this sudden burst of courage was coming from, but she assumed it had something to do with Makoto. It was easy to be sure of her feelings when Makoto was involved. Ami was sure that she didn't want to lose another day. She had a feeling her girlfriend wouldn't mind either. In fact, maybe she'd be pleasantly surprised.

And now to find the right words...

Of course. The answer was obvious. Her fingers flew over the keypad without hesitation.

'Mako-chan, every day without sex is irretrievably lost. You just have to help me not lose this day. Come over tonight?'

Ami hit "send" before she stopped to overthink things again. She giggled a little as she imagined Makoto reading her text.

Hopefully, tonight was going to be a good night...

Makoto stared at the surreal text on her phone.

"Mako-chan, every day without sex is irretrievably lost. You just have to help me not lose this day. Come over tonight?"

She checked the number again. That text definitely came from Ami's phone, the words sounded like Ami in its weirdly lyrical phrasing, and the "Mako-chan" at the beginning confirmed that she was in fact, the intended recipient…

Yup. Ami definitely just sent her a booty call.

"Come over tonight?" Since when was Ami this straightforward about anything? Well, there was one obvious explanation. Makoto pulled up her contact list and selected the most obvious suspect.

Ring... ring... ring...

"Hi Mako-chan! What's up?"

"Minako-chan, are you with Ami right now?"

"Umm... no. I haven't seen her since the New Years party. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I… think so? Oh, never mind. Seriously, it wasn't you? You didn't steal her phone or anything?"

"What are you talking about? Now I have to know what's going on! I smell gossip!"

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say Ami just sent me a booty call."

Makoto held the phone away from her ear until Minako's squealing died down. "Minako-chan...OI MINAKO-CHAN! Calm down!"

"Sorry, sorry! I'm just so happy for you guys! You're finally at that stage in your relationship! This is soooooo exciting!"

"Do I even want to know how much you know about my personal life with Ami? Or how?"

"I'm the Goddess of Love, duh. I can just sense these things."

"Really?"

"No, not really. Ami was kind of stressed out the last time I saw her and we got to talking. She didn't say anything outright, but I'm pretty good at reading between the lines. She was kind of saying how – and I quote - 'frustrated I am that we' - meaning you, I assume – 'never have quality time together'. Putting two and two together, I take it you two haven't been uhh...putting the two and two together?"

Makoto blushed. Leave it to Minako to cut straight to the chase. "No, we haven't. I dunno… it's not that we don't want to, I think… The opportunity just never seems to come up."

Minako interrupted with a gleeful exclamation. "That's what she said!"

"Wait. Who? What? Ami said that?"

Minako sighed on the other end of the line. "Oh, for goodness sake... it's called a joke! Never mind. You need to get out more. Seriously though, good for Ami. I approve. She finally stepped up to the plate. I knew she had it in her. "

"Of course you would approve. You think with your hormones. It's amazing Rei is still in one piece after all this time."

"Aww... that's sweet of you to say. Okay. Even more seriously this time. Mako-chan, as your friend, I have to ask: is this something you want too? I know that's a very personal question, but I'm here if you need to talk. Whatever you say stays between us. "

"Ugh... don't make me regret this conversation later, Minako. I mean, yeah, we're both adults. Consenting adults. This shouldn't be a big deal... but, it kinda is. I dunno... with Ami, everything seems so... serious. Wow. I kind of feel like a teenager all over again, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm actually nervous."

"That's actually kind of sweet Mako-chan. I never thought I'd see the day where you were taking things too seriously, and Ami was the one being impulsive... not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that."

"I'm not! But, you know...this is AMI we are talking about! The same girl that gets hives from love letters? I'm telling you, this is weird. I'm worried that she's just acting like this because she thinks it's what I want or something."

"Hey, you said it yourself. This is AMI we are talking about. She never does anything without hours of consideration. Logically, she must know what she's doing. It's right there in black and white. Ami literally spelled it out for you. I think it's okay, Mako-chan. She's a big girl, she can handle herself. Do you trust her?"

Makoto nodded, then promptly felt like an idiot when she realized Minako couldn't see her nodding. "Yes, of course I do. So, you're saying I should just... go over tonight? Just to... you know... do it?"

"I'm saying you should do what you want to do. Sometimes you just have to let nature take its course, you know what I mean?"

Makoto raised her eyebrow at Minako's questionable choice of words, but she understood the intent... sort of. "Wouldn't have put it quite that way, but that was actually good advice. Thanks, Minako.

"No problem, that's what I'm here for. Soooo, Mako-chan... I've gotta know. Whatchu weeeeaaaaring?"

Makoto hung up the phone before Minako could get any more details for her personal friend fiction.

Later that evening...

*Ding dong*

Ami counted the seconds between the bells.

One... Two... Three... Four...

*Ding dong*

...and that was the last four possible seconds of procrastination. There was no putting this off. Considering how nervous she was now, Ami knew that she had been right to send that text message before she lost her nerve. Heck, it was a miracle she'd been able to text Mako-chan the word "sex" without breaking out into hives or something stupid like that.

Ami sighed. While she was thinking about idiotic things she'd done today, how bad were the candles and rose petals? Those were a spur of the moment decision on her part as well. In retrospect, maybe they were a bad idea. She didn't want Mako-chan to feel like some kind of cliché or, worse, like some kind of one night stand.

Ok, the jazz music was a bit too much. Maybe she should tone it down a little.

*Ding dong*

Right... the door. That was another four seconds of the day lost. Ami braced herself and flung the door open wide. "Mako-chan! I'm so glad you came."

Ami winced at her choice of words. She was off to a fine start. "I mean, I'm glad you're here... not that I thought you wouldn't... I mean, not that I assumed you would! Oh my gods, I'm just babbling, aren't I?"

Makoto looked at her with what Ami hoped was amusement. "Hi Ami-chan. ...Can I come in?"

"Oh! Yes! Of course. Sorry!" Ami moved out of the doorway so that Makoto could enter the tiny candlelit apartment. "Um... so? What do you think?"

Makoto's surprised gasp was worth all the nervousness and indecision of the past half a day. "Oh, Ami! It's beautiful!"

Ami picked up the bouquet of roses she had left on the table earlier and presented them to Makoto. "I saw the roses and I couldn't help myself. I thought of you."

"That is so sweet. Thank you."

Ami watched as Makoto leaned over to sniff the roses. Having her so close was causing some kind of temporary short circuit in her brain - a major missed connection between 'words' and 'purpose'. "I'm sorry. This is probably kind of awkward. I didn't want to put you on the spot or anything... but with how horrible my work schedule is, I thought that if we didn't set some time aside for... you know... us time, we'd never get around to... I mean, you're so beautiful, and I want to show you and..."

Ami trailed off. She had meant that to be romantic. Some kind of declaration of how much she loved Makoto, and how beautiful she thought she was, and how whenever she was around her, she felt this strong connection that she wanted to explore further. Instead, that whole speech came out entirely... practical. It had sounded better in her head somehow. Ami buried her face in her hands. Her fumbling efforts at romance were comical at best.

Ami heard Makoto's gentle chuckle, and then felt her equally gentle hands clasp her own. "It's okay. Don't apologize. I understand. I love you, too."

Makoto pried her hands apart, and then all of a sudden, Ami felt lips pressed up on hers. Those soft, gentle, perfect lips. Ami kissed Makoto back with all the love in her heart. Maybe there was no way to explain how she felt with words, but Ami knew that given the opportunity, she'd be able to show her Mako-chan how much she was loved.

And it all started with this kiss.

Fade to black (by which I mean A03)

A.N.

We're all here for the poetry and not the sweet yuri action amiright? The poem that Ami thinks of is a rather loose English 1835 "translation" by John Anster of a passage from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust. The original German is as follows:

Was heute nicht geschieht, ist morgen nicht getan,
Und keinen Tag soll man verpassen,
Das Mögliche soll der Entschluß
Beherzt sogleich beim Schopfe fassen,
Er will es dann nicht fahren lassen
Und wirket weiter, weil er muß.

- Goethe's Faust 224-230

...yeah, so the English translation, while arguably more well known, is really not the most literal translation in the world. It also seemed a better fit with this fanfic. If you find yourself interested in this matter, please google the Goethe Society of North America's website, and visit their quotations page for a more complete explanation.

If you would however, prefer to read about Ami and Makoto getting intimate, *points at Archive of our Own, pseud TheDrifter*

or, why not both?

Cheers,
-Drifter

Cover art - SM S screencap ep 96 - Ami's face in Mako's communicator. The split second before Usagi et al. shoves her out of the way to ask pointed questions about Mako/Haruka.