These were word prompts
Mancation: maiming; mutilation
He watches her fingers. They pull at the rice, fumble slightly, stretch and pat - a little too much, a little too little. She isn't so much making rice balls as mutilating rice and nori into unappetizing lumps that only suggest at the intended finished product.
He watches her lips, they twitch and open slightly with frustration when the pickled plum slips out of her grasp, when the food refuses to behave. She drags her teeth over her bottom lip in dejection or determination, he's not sure which. Absentmindedly, she goes to lick some salmon paste of her finger and rethinks just in time, wiping her hand on the more sanitary dishcloth instead.
He watches her knit eyebrows and her intense gaze, the tendrils of hair curling around her ear, her collarbone under the apron, the movement of her chest and shoulders as she breathes, cringes, sighs.
"Well," she says, finally putting the last squished mess of rice and soggy seaweed on the plate. Her cheeks are flush, her eyebrows and lips and eyes all working in tandem to create the most heartwrenchingly hopeful expression known to man. "Do they look okay?"
The very idea of onigiri has been maimed beyond all recognition. But Mamoru can't bring himself to care, pulling her into his lap despite her squeals of mock-protest. Her hands are still starchy-sticky from the rice and her mouth tastes like salted plum and it matters so little the things she can't do, because hands that routinely save the world need not worry about shaping rice. Her touch means so much more than that.
Quaeritate
Quaeritate: to question; to inquire
Usagi can feel Mamoru's gaze and she isn't sure what to do about it. She wonders if she should turn a page in the manga she's holding, so it at least looks like she's reading it. She sneaks a glance to the counter where Mamoru had been chatting with Motoki just a moment before, and realize he's already left. Usagi is so busy trying to figure out if the feeling in her chest is relief or disappointment that she actually jumps at his "Hey, Odango atama" from behind her.
"What do you want?" she snaps, her eyes not leaving the page in front of her.
"I have a question."
Usagi sighs, turns around with what she hopes is a long-suffering air. "What?"
"How do you get your hair up like that?" he makes a twisting motion with his finger, gesturing toward his head. He's smirking but something makes Usagi think he might be half-serious.
As usual around him, she's flustered. As usual, she hates it. "That's for me to know and … and you never to find out!" Her voice is louder than she intends, her cheeks warmer than she wants. Mamoru's smirk dissolves into a genuine laugh, he reaches out like he intends to brush his hand across the knotted strands on her head, but seems to catch himself just in time.
"Touche, odango atama."
Usagi is already standing, gathering her things and making an excuse to leave. On the walk home, all she can think about is how she wishes she could go back in time, and answer his question with a wink and a poised response: "A girl's gotta have her secrets, Mamoru."
Mariturient
Mariturient: eager to marry
It's Usagi who always talks about it, the plans tripping from her mouth in giggles and sighs. "When I marry Mamo-chan…" this dress, these plans, that type of cake, those songs.
And not just the wedding, but the marriage, too. It's in the forefront. "When I'm married to Mamo-chan…" I'll cook this, I'll change that, we'll do this, we'll go there.
It drives her friends crazy, it makes Chibi-Usa start an argument, Ami gives a side-eye, Rei and Minako exchange full-body eyerolls. Even patient Makoto raises her brows when Usagi enthusiastically bubbles about her (only semi realistic) dreams of marital bliss somehow based around baked goods.
"Does it bug you?" Ami asks Mamoru one day, when Usagi's left the room.
He doesn't look up from the workbook they're pouring over, "Nah, not really." Something in the almost-smile that flickers across his face makes sure Ami never sighs at Usagi's constant marriage talk again.
Because it's Mamoru who comes home to an empty apartment, it's Mamoru who sleeps alone, it's Mamoru who never really had a family of his own.
Usagi talks about it constantly, but Mamoru is the one counting down.