I like this part. I am so curious to see what you think, too. Please let me know! Reviews and comments make my life.

Thanks again to my illustrious beta-reader. :-P

On Monday, Usagi threw a toothbrush and change of clothing into her workbag.

"So, you've been here like two nights and already you are abandoning us to sleep over at your boyfriend's?" Makoto teased from the breakfast table. Usagi blew her a kiss.

"Hey, freedom was one of the main reasons we got this place, right?" she said. "And, again, he's not my boyfriend... I don't think."

Minako was still fast asleep after a late shift, so Usagi missed out on whatever smart-ass thing her blonde friend would've said in response to that.

"Okay, Mamo-chan, not to be an alarmist, but you realize you drove right past our favorite take-out places today, right?" Usagi said, as she followed him into his apartment that evening. "Like, I'm okay with it, but my stomach is kinda getting worried." She kicked off her shoes.

He grinned down at her. "I would never deny you sustenance, but I thought I'd make dinner tonight."

Usagi returned his smile, "Cooking for me? How romantic!" Her smile faded and she looked at him very seriously. "Never expect me to return the favor."

"Still haven't quite mastered the culinary arts, I take it?" Mamoru laughed, as he walked into the kitchen and turned on the light.

"Nah, and after the second time the fire department had to come to our high school HomeEc class, I just gave up," she said lightly, sitting at the counter, "Ya know, for public safety reasons."

Mamoru grinned, ducking his head a little. "Good to know some things never change."

She watched him prepare dinner by throwing some pasta in boiling water. "Wow, you went all out," she quipped.

He smirked at her.

"But seriously, I love spaghetti," Usagi said, and filling her plate. She and Mamoru actually sat the small kitchen table this time, instead of kneeling by his coffee table. It felt special.

When they were done eating, she helped him carry the plates to the kitchen and stopped by the sink.

"Thanks for dinner," Usagi said, "that was really nice."

He turned around and looked at her for a moment, before smiling and wiping smudge of sauce off her lip with his thumb. Usagi made a face at him, laughing. And somehow, they were kissing, his hands on her hips, and he lifted her onto the counter top. She wrapped her arms around his neck, he leaned forward to catch her lips again and again, his fingers tracing circles into her knees, her thighs.

"One of this times," Usagi murmured as he nuzzled her neck, "we really have to make it to the bedroom..." then she shrieked as he lifted her off the counter and into his arms.

"I concur."

"Eek! Mamo-chan!" She wrapped her arms around his shoulders tightly as he walked down the hall. "Don't drop me!"

"I would never," he said, and gently released her onto the bed. She didn't let him go right away, just looked him in the eyes for a few moments. He gave her a tender half-smile, brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to," Mamoru said seriously.

"Okay, but, like, I really really want to," she responded, pulling on his arms until he lost his balance and tumbled over on her. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, pressing her lips to his with giddy enthusiasm.

"Ever since that off-site trip," she admitted, as he ran his hands underneath her shirt, sliding his body along hers and looking at her with half-lidded eyes.

"Since you tripped over me in the hallway," he breathed in her ear, and Usagi blinked in surprise.

"I don't believe you," she accused, and he shrugged a little, too intent on unhooking her bra to care to argue with her. And soon his mouth was too busy to talk anyway.

It was all sensations after that, for Usagi linear time seemed to twist into sunbursts of his hands and mouth on her skin and her legs wrapped around his body, the whispers and harsh breathing in her ears, the blooming warmth turned frantic, and fireworks behind her eyes. It was definitely late, dark had long fallen across the city, when they finally fell asleep, tangled in the sheets and each other.

The unfamiliarity of the room woke Usagi up during the wee hours of the morning. The street sounds were different, this high up. She sat up and pulled the blanket from the foot of the bed. Next to her, Mamoru stirred a little regarded her with groggy eyes. "Hi," she whispered, "sorry if I woke you."

He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, which tumbled loose down her shoulders. Usagi leaned forward and kissed him softly, and was surprised when he sleepily responded, caressing her face with his hands, running them down her shoulders and to her breasts. "Am I dreaming?" he murmured and she kissed him again, twining her arms around his neck.

"No," she giggled, and he pulled her down to him. "Don't you feel awake?"

"I do now."

When Usagi awoke to the radio playing and the morning light assaulting her eyes, she groaned, burying deeper into the covers. "I'm not getting up. No way it's six am."

"You're right," Mamoru said, walking into the room already dressed. "It's not six. It's almost six forty-five and we are going to be late." He put a mug of coffee on her nightstand.

Usagi sat up in a panic. "Mamo-chan, we can't be late together." She scrambled out of the bed, gathering her clothes from the floor. "Maybe I should take the train after all... and - oh my god, if I'm late again, Inoue is gonna kill me..."

"Relax, Usako," Mamoru said, putting a hand on her arm. "I'll drive us, it'll be fine. We'll just say I picked you up at your place, like usual."

She groaned and put her head on his shoulder. "I could call in sick," she considered.

He put his hands on her waist, kissed her neck. "Not without me," he said.

"We can't both call in sick, Mamo-chan," Usagi sighed. "That's way too suspicious..." Mamoru leaned against her gently, letting them both sink back into the bed. He ran his mouth across her collarbone, slid his hands down her thighs, making an appreciating sound in his throat. "Mamo-chan, stooooop, you said it yourself, we are gonna be late... and we really can't be late today."

"I know!" He said, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. "I know. I told you, you've completely ruined me. I used to be very responsible." He stood up and walked to the doorway, laughing. "I'm going to be in the kitchen, reading the paper, where you can't corrupt me with your-" he gestured toward her, waving his hands in her general direction -"everything."

Usagi choked down a few sips of coffee from the mug he brought her, threw on the under garments and business dress she packed, shrugged yesterday's suit jacket over her shoulders and brushed her teeth. "I'm doing my make-up and hair in your car," she said, grabbing her bag and opening the door. "C'mon!"

No one seemed to notice or care that Mamoru drove Usagi to work that day, and except for a very embarrassing moment when Erika caught Usagi falling asleep at her desk, the day was uneventful. We totally can keep this up, Usagi thought.

On Friday, another large drinking and eating party was planned. This one wasn't paid for by the company, but still almost everyone was coming. Usagi was looking forward to it, she hadn't gone out much since she and Mamoru got together.

Not that time with him wasn't a million times better than knocking back cheap beer with the people you had to see five days a week, but still. Some fresh air was always good.

She arrived at the restaurant with Erika and Yuichi. Naoko waved them over to the corner of the large table she'd already staked out for them. Usagi caught Mamoru's eye; he was sitting with the engineers and Inoue, in a cluster a few seats away from her group. She waved and greeted them cheerfully, before settling in next to Naoko.

"Tsukino," Saori said, leaning over the table. "We must get you to go on more off-sights."

Usagi leaned forward also, giving Saori a curious smile. "Why?"

"Because you are really good at them," she said. "Customers respond to you very positively."

"Thanks!" Usagi said, lifting a glass of beer in a mock-toast. It was literally the first vaguely positive thing Saori had ever said to her. Maybe they were making progress.

About half an hour later, Naoko suddenly said, "Hey, Usagi, you are still single, right?"

"Rub it in," Usagi said lightly, drinking her beer quickly to avoid meeting anyone's eye. She was, over all, a pretty bad liar when asked something directly.

"Well, I got you a date, so thank me," Naoko said, looking pretty pleased with herself.

Erika raised her eyebrows and looked from Naoko to Usagi with a very interested expression. "You got her a blind date, Naoko? Since when are you a match maker?"

Usagi started to protest, "I'm not really looking for-"

"He's super cute, Usagi! His name is Soujirou, he's my cousin and he's just moved to Tokyo and-"

"You can't think your own cousin is super cute, that's messed up."

"Objectively, Erika."

"Can't your 'super cute' cousin get his own dates?" Erika asked, and Usagi sent her a grateful look.

"Sure, but apparently Usagi can't."

At that, Erika couldn't help but laugh, along with Yuichi and the two others sitting near them. Usagi swore she even heard Saori's delicate giggle from a few seats over which sort of set her teeth on edge.

"Wow," Usagi said, overplaying mock-offense, raising both hands. "I don't have to sit here and take this, Naoko."

"Okay okay," Naoko said, laughing. She pulled at Usagi's hand. "I'm sorry, I'll buy you a drink but you can't leave. He's coming here tonight."

Suddenly all levity drained out of Usagi in an instant. "What?"

Erika leaned back, a wicked smile spreading across her face as she played with the straw in her drink. "Damn," she murmured, glancing down the table for a moment.

"Naoko," Usagi hissed. "I'm not meeting your cousin tonight, oh my god."

"This is clearly a very exclusive event," Yuichi joked, "no outsiders!"

"Tsukino," Saori's bell-like voice lilted down the table, over the din of the other conversations and laughter floating through the room, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Next to her, Mamoru rolled his eyes.

Usagi raised her eyebrows. Was I just insulted? She opened her mouth to retort when Naoko jumped up and said, "He's here!"

"I'm not drunk enough for this," Usagi said to Erika, and the other girl smiled, gestured at her wedding ring with a shrug.

"Sorry, Usagi, I'd take the bullet for you if I could," she nodded at the young man Naoko was leading over to the table by the arm. "Hey, on the bright side, at least he is pretty hot."

Usagi was at a complete loss. Everyone she worked with was here, and although most of them weren't paying attention to the small group at the end of the table, Naoko and her other close coworkers were quite interested in their conversation so she had to be careful what she said. She tried to catch Mamoru's eye, 'help me!' but he just gave a half-shrug, raising his eyebrows in annoyance as if to say 'what can I do?' and then she was suddenly being introduced and had to force her face into a friendly smile.

"Naoko told me you were cute," Soujirou said, laughing a little, "but I have to say I would have been much more enthusiastic about her little matchmaker experiment if I knew just how cute you are."

Usagi laughed nervously, "Thanks... Uh... I have to admit, I'm pretty blindsided by this."

"Yeah, Naoko's like that," he grinned. "Don't worry, no pressure. Let's just talk."

Usagi gulped some more of her beer.

She couldn't tell him the truth, and keeping up the lie was starting to feel exhausting. Not to mention she was acutely aware of Mamoru's presence not ten feet away from her.

"So, Naoko says you just moved to Tokyo?" Usagi asked, and he explained a little about his job and she listened politely, desperately wondering how she could get out of this. Fake food poisoning? Fake her own death? Maybe she could telepathically command Minako to call a bomb threat into the restaurant?

Mamoru did his best to follow what Inoue and Saori were saying, but it was impossible to keep an ear on both conversations and he found himself eavesdropping on Usagi even while feigning interest in the people in front of him. Neither Inoue or Saori seemed to notice.

He reminded himself that Usagi had been thrust into this awkward situation by no fault of her own, but that didn't mean he loved seeing how that guy chatted her up, how he stared at her. If this guy keeps looking so intensely at the hemline of her skirt his eyes will pop out of his head and attach themselves to her thighs, for fucks sake. And did she have to smile at him like that? Did she have to push her hair back from her shoulders, brushing her fingers against her neck. Does she have any idea what that does to people? If he didn't know better, he'd say she was enjoying herself. He scowled into his glass.

"You okay?" Saori asked, tilting her head to better see his face. "You look upset."

"Fine," he muttered, taking a sip of his drink and forcing his eyes and ears back to his companions. "What were we discussing?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Usagi said, to whatever Soujirou had said about moving. "I just got a new apartment with some of my friends. It's so expensive to move anywhere in this city! Rent is one thing, but you need a deposit, key money, gift money... I swear. They don't pay me enough here," she half-joked and Soujirou smiled.

"They pay you in drinking parties, right?"

"Are you kidding?" Usagi laughed despite herself, "This is on our own dime!"

"Ouch," he said.

"Right?" she said, shaking her head, still giggling a little.

"Not this glass, though," Usagi said. "This one is on Naoko, for insulting me before."

Naoko shrugged, "I call 'em like I see 'em."

"You must be blind then," Erika murmured under her breath and Usagi sent her a sharp look and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a flurry of movement down the table caught her eye.

Mamoru had stood up and was shrugging on his jacket, shaking Inoue's hand with a polite smile, and waving to the group down the other side of the table.

"Leaving, Chiba?" Erika called out.

He shrugged, "I'm tired."

Saori stood up too, and took his elbow. "I'll leave too, then."

"Good, we can share a cab." Mamoru nodded at the group, and Usagi cringed inwardly as his eyes went right through her. Saori gave a smile and wave.

"Nice meeting you, Soujirou, was it?" she said "See you Monday, everyone." She threaded her arm through Mamoru's as they left.

Usagi glared into the bottom of her suddenly empty glass. Why the fuck was Mamoru leaving with Saori? What sort of hellish alternate reality had she fallen into?

Erika touched her hand, 'Restroom, now,' she mouthed. "Excuse me, Soujirou, I'm just going to borrow my friend for a moment."

In the harsh light of the bathroom Erika took Usagi by the shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.

"What's going on between you and Chiba?"

Usagi froze. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Oh, okay, Ms. 'I'm in his car three days a week or more, I fall asleep at my desk, and I seethe with jealousy whenever Saori touches all over him' - which, fair enough, she does a lot."

"We carpool, that's it." Usagi wasn't up for this conversation now. She pressed her hands to the cool porcelain of the sink and tried to steady herself.

"Fine," Erika said. "I won't press you. Just so you know, I'm actually incredibly observant and clever as hell. No one else has a clue, if that makes you feel better. They all still think Chiba is screwing Fujiwara."

That did not make Usagi feel better. She turned the water on and splashed her face.

"For what it's worth, I was watching Chiba the entire time since Naoko said she'd fixed you up, and he is really really not happy about this whole turn of events," Erika said. "Like, I thought he was going to flip a table or, like, pull the fire alarm or something just to get you out of there."

The fire alarm! Why didn't I think of that?

Usagi grabbed a towel and rubbed her face. "Well, he also just up and left - arm in arm with Fujiwara in fact - leaving me alone to deal with this. So your theory about him caring at all goes right down the toilet, doesn't it? I'm going back to the table."

Usagi returned to the table and tried halfheartedly to carry on some further conversations. Once at least a few other people had said their good-byes and left, finally Usagi felt she could leave and still save face.

"I'm going home," Usagi said. She shook Soujirou's hand. "It was nice meeting you, but I don't think it's gonna work out. I work with your cousin, after all."

She grabbed her jacket and purse and left the restaurant feeling like she was escaping prison. At the station, Usagi caught the last train, but not the one to her place.

The pounding on his door woke Mamoru from where he'd been dozing, sprawled on the sofa still fully dressed except for his jacket and tie. He opened the door and was instantly pushed back with incredible force from such a small person.

"What the hell, Mamoru?!" Usagi shouted, slamming the door and pushing him again, this time until he almost fell, stumbling back onto the sofa. Usagi picked up a throw pillow and hit him with it, punctuating her words with slamming the pillow into his chest. "Why- did - you- leave - me -there - you- jackass?!"

Mamoru snatched the pillow from her hands. "Looked like you were doing just fine without me!"

"What part of awkwardly making small talk while searching for an escape route looked like 'doing just fine' to you!?"

"Usako-"

"Don't you 'Usako' me, not after leaving the party with another woman."

His eyes widened. "Jesus, Usako, Saori and I shared a cab. That's it. She got dropped off blocks before I did."

"I don't care! You still left!"

"What was I supposed to do?" he snapped back, "Sit there and watch that guy flirt with you? Do you think that was fun for me?"

Usagi opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I was just being polite. What could I do? Everyone was there! Everyone was watching!"

Her voice broke, and she put her hands to her face. "It was a nightmare, Mamo-chan, okay?"

He sighed, leaned his head back on the sofa. "This is too hard," he muttered, almost to himself.

Usagi felt her blood run cold. "Fine! Just give up! It'd be easier."

"I'm not giving up," he said, "I'm just saying that this sneaking around is starting to wear on me."

"That's easy for you to say! But I can't lose my job, Mamo-chan," Usagi said, starting to pace, "I have rent, and expenses, and it's more than I thought it would be... living away from home... and Mako-chan and Minako are counting on me and-"

"Nobody is losing their job, Usako," Mamoru said. "I'm just acknowledging how difficult this is, okay? Because it is."

Usagi had to agree. "I hated seeing you leave with Saori," she said, bitterly.

"Well, I hated seeing you laugh with that guy," Mamoru said.

Usagi turned toward the door. "I should go."

"Stay," he said. He stood up, too, and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Please, Usako. It's late and the trains have stopped running."

She sighed.

"I'll sleep on the sofa if you want me too," he said, into her hair.

Despite herself, Usagi smiled a little. "Don't be stupid," she said. She turned in his arms and leaned her head on his chest. He stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry I left," Mamoru said. "I'm sorry I didn't do something-"

"Like pull the fire alarm," Usagi supplied.

"Next time," he said, with a half-smile. But it didn't make Usagi feel any better to consider a possible next time.

She debated mentioning that Erika suspected the truth. She wondered if she should tell him how jealous she got whenever Saori cozied up to him. She knew they should address the strain that sneaking around was putting on both of them, should discuss if they were even still walking that "just friends with benefits" line Minako insisted they had crossed a long time ago.

But it was easier just to stand on tip-toes and kiss him, and keep kissing him, and push everything else deep down into her chest.

She could deal with it later.