this was a request based on the following prompt: 'we met through mutual friends and you call me a different name but I don't have the heart to correct you'
This really wasn't Mamoru's scene. The music was loud and the din of laughing and talking even moreso. The apartment they were in (a friend of a friend's of Motoki's maybe? Mamoru wasn't even sure) was wall to wall people, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Everyone except him.
"Hey, Mamoru!" Motoki waved him over to the corner where Motoki was standing surrounded (as usual, Mamoru thought, amused) by girls. It took a while to make his way to his friend, elbowing people aside and squeezing past groups.
"This is my friend, Mamoru," Motoki said, and gestured to the girls, "this is Makoto, the girl I told you about. And her friends, um, Rei, Usagi, Ami and Minako. They are new freshman."
He barely greeted them before the crowd changed again. A few minutes later, Mamoru found himself on a nearby sofa having a conversation with a couple kids he knew from CogSci when he was joined by one of the girls Motoki had introduced him to before. The shortest one, with the pigtails.
"Hi!" She said, bouncing down and almost spilling her drink. "M…Masanori! Motoki's friend!"
"Actu–"
"What are we talking about?" she asked, leaning forward into the conversation. Mamoru could tell she wasn't completely drunk, but wasn't quite fully sober either. Unless she was just always like this. "Anything good?!"
"Usagi, right?" Mamoru said and she nodded and smiled widely.
"Yup!"
"Well, just so you know my na–" but then she was hopping up just as quickly as she had sat down.
"I LOVE this song!" she cried. "C'mon, Masanori - hey can I call you 'Nori-chan?- let's dance!"
"But I-" Resistance, Mamoru realized, was utterly futile. Never mind no one else was dancing, never mind there wasn't even any room to, Usagi didn't seem to let that deter her from her goal. She pulled on his hands until he stood up and followed her to kitchen area, closer to the speakers, wiggling to the music the whole time.
Gently, Mamoru took the red plastic cup from Usagi's hand and handed her a bottle of water from the counter. "Let's switch to water," he said.
"What?!" She said.
He had to repeat himself, right up next to her ear and she nodded with wide eyes. "Oooh okay!" she shouted back. "THANKS 'NORI-CHAN!" She threw her arms his neck and gave him a tight hug, before jumping back and pulling on his arm again.
"C'mon, 'Nori-chan, let's see if Minako is around here, she likes water too," Usagi said, not letting go of Mamoru's hand.
Motoki joined them then, with Makoto. "Looks like you made a friend," Motoki said, laughing. Usagi laughed too, winding her arm through Mamoru's protectively.
Makoto gently pulled Usagi toward her and put an arm around the smaller girl.
"Sorry," Makoto said to Mamoru, projecting her voice over the music. "She only had one drink but she gets this way."
"It's okay," Mamoru said. He was surprised to realize he hadn't actually minded. Although it would have been even nicer if she knew his actual name. Oh, well.
"We should go," another girl appeared, dark-haired. Mamoru thought he remembered Motoki introducing her as Rei. "Minako is gonna start dancing on the furniture."
"Right," Makoto said, giving an apologetic smile to Motoki.
"Welp, see you around campus!" she said, waving as she left with Rei to go gather the rest of her group together.
"Bye NORI-CHAN!" Usagi waved, blowing him a kiss. "I hope I see you around! You are SO CUTE!"
"Usagi!" Rei hissed, and her friends quickly tried to quiet her down while giving Mamoru apologetic shrugs. They disappeared into the crowd.
"Who the hell is Nori-chan?" Motoki asked, looking confused.
Mamoru shook his head with a small smile and shrugged, reaching for a water bottle himself. "A lucky guy, I guess," he said.