Big kisses to Usagi Tsukino Moon Princess, CassieRaven, Guest, xSmallLadySerenity13, Deadly Aura, Karseneau1, bashfulglowfly, kera69love, Nebelflecke, eskalations, FloraOne, MJ3030 and Serenitysweety. Words can't describe my gratitude!
I hope everyone stays safe with all these fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes pummeling our cities. It's a scary world out there. I hope stories like these can provide a needed distraction when the going gets tough. Love you all! And as thanks for surviving the angst, let me just assure you that it's pretty much all fluff and rainbows from here. Weeeelllll... there may still be a small hiccup or two! ;)
The Bun-Head in the Oven
Prompt: "Orange"
Mamoru wasn't going to lie - he was terrible at keeping secrets.
It wasn't that he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He could, very well in fact. Even under extreme duress. He still remembered very clearly the many torture sessions he'd endured at the hands of their enemies, desperate for information about his beloved princess and her mystical, miracle-bringing stone.
But that was nothing compared to keeping mum around said moon royal. Usagi just knew him too well. She knew his tells, from the bad days to the good. If she was paying attention, she could spot immediately and with deadly accuracy the kind of mood he was in, the second he stepped foot through the door. It didn't take long before he was spilling his guts with guileless abandon.
Which was why Mamoru was currently cursing every deity he could think of, and more importantly, the women who put him into this situation to begin with.
"Mamo-chaaaaaan," Usagi whined, loudly drawing the last syllable out to such an extent that people on the street around them cringed. Mamoru would've been one of their number, only he held his life in rather more value than that.
"Yes, dear?"
The ebony-haired man plastered on his most patient smile. It had gotten quite a lot of practice lately, as Usagi welcomed her thirty-two week mark, and just about every discomfort in the book along with it. To make matters even worse, Japan was in the midst of a blistering heat wave. It made for one very cranky future queen.
"Can't we go home now?" the bun-headed blonde moaned. "We've visited six stores already!"
As if in agreement, the mountain of bags in Mamoru's arms shifted alarmingly. He struggled to right them before disaster struck. "Just one more, Usako."
"But my feet huuuurt," Usagi huffed, crossing her arms over the enormous swell that was her belly. Mamoru opened his mouth to playfully retort how her feet hurt, well what about him, stuck lugging the multitudinous spoils from their little outing... but then he saw how truly exhausted she looked, and heard the tears lurking behind her voice. All humor faded, and Mamoru began to feel really badly about forcing her on this spurious venture. But it also wasn't time yet...
"Just one more, Usako, and then we can go home, and I'll rub your feet for you. Now how's that?" the man entreated, with just the slightest edge of desperation coloring his query. It was a futile endeavor; Usagi was too grumpy to be impressed by bargaining chips.
"I don't think I can last that long," she declared in a piteous whimper. "Please Mamo-chan. I just wanna go home!"
"We- we can't..."
"Please," Usagi pleaded, and then she did it - she utilized her weapon of mass devastation. The one thing she knew would be Mamoru's downfall:
Big, sad puppy dog eyes.
He gave a concerted effort, he really did. Mamoru was surprised he even lasted this long. But dammit, the Senshi should have known better than to trust a pushover like him with a secret of this magnitude!
"Usako, I'm not... not supposed to..."
"Not supposed to what? Why can't we go home, Mamo-chan?" Usagi sniffled, still gazing up at him with those beguiling blues. Mamoru could feel the beads of sweat creeping down his neck as he struggled to hold strong.
"I really can't say-"
"You can't... wait. Wait. Is it a party!?" Usagi squealed, all of a sudden miraculously recovered, an excited bounce in her step. Mamoru would have called her out on it, only he was too busy trying (and failing) to distract her from ruining everything the girls had been tirelessly working toward.
"Usako-"
"A surprise party! For me? Is it a baby shower? Is that why we can't go home yet!?"
...Too late.
"Usako, you're not supposed to know," Mamoru said, weakly, as he attempted to shush his now whooping and dancing wife back into some semblance of calm.
"I knew you guys had been sneaking around me lately! You can't keep these things from me," Usagi cackled.
"Clearly," Mamoru sighed, thoroughly and woefully defeated. "Hey! Weren't your feet killing you!?"
"Not anymore!" Usagi chirped, doing a pirouette. Mamoru buried his countenance in the groceries as his golden-haired mother-to-be took up the chant "Party! Party! We're going to a party!".
"I'm doomed."
oOo
Half an hour later found Mamoru still - you guessed it - doomed.
"Can't you at least look a little less excited?" he hissed, the woman beside him beaming like she'd just won the lottery.
"But I am excited!"
"Not yet, you shouldn't be! Remember, you. don't. know. anything. You need to act surprised!" Mamoru mouthed, as he fiddled with the key in the lock.
He really should have known better, he thought later, and for the umpteenth time that afternoon.
Usagi truly didn't possess a single acting bone in her body. When the door swung open into a swath of pure darkness, the bun-head let out the most untheatrical scream Mamoru had ever heard (and he was friends with Minako!). It only served to highlight the fact that she was off in her reaction when the lights flipped on, moments later.
If he'd had greater mobility, Mamoru would have slapped his palm to his forehead. Instead, the father-to-be groaned into his precarious grocery pile. Again.
"What was that?" Rei snapped, planting a hand on either hip from where she was situated over near the light switch.
"We didn't even yell 'Surprise'," Ami pouted, peeking out from behind the couch.
"She had advance warning!" Minako shouted, pointing a damning finger at Mamoru. He didn't even have a chance to play the affronted; he was too busy wondering why Minako had chosen to wear the lampshade.
"We probably should have expected he'd be too wrapped around Usagi's pinkie to be a good secret keeper," Makoto sighed, shaking her head as she crawled out from underneath the coffee table.
"I'm really sorry, guys," Mamoru grimaced, shooting his wife a glare when she snickered heartily behind her hand. "She just... she did the eyes. I was helpless to her whims!"
"Ahhhhh," three of the girls nodded sympathetically. The fourth scoffed in disapproval.
"So?" Rei retorted. Until Usagi turned 'the eyes' on her.
"I'm really thirsty, Rei-chan. Can you please get me some water? It was so hot today."
"Aw, crap," Rei groused, after a brief and futile stare-down. She spun on her heel and made for the kitchen. Usagi smirked triumphantly.
"So you're not even a little bit surprised, Usagi-chan?" Ami asked, with just enough disappointment in her voice to make Mamoru feel two feet tall.
"Well," Usagi said around a cupcake - she had apparently discovered the food table and lost her willpower, all at the same time - "I am a bit surprised by your color scheme!"
Mamoru noticed then that the balloons, streamers, tablecloths and wrapping paper all followed a theme. He quirked a confused brow. "Erm... why is everything orange?"
As one, the Senshi pivoted, until they were circling the culprit.
Minako giggled, throwing her arm behind her head in a show of sheepish embarrassment. "So I sort of made a, er, clerical error in the process of ordering everything-"
She ignored her audience's collective facepalm.
"But if you tilt your head and squint... it kinda looks pink!"
"Color blind, this one," Makoto rolled her eyes.
"I don't care," Usagi sniffled, and she threw her arms around the blonde, spraying crumbs everywhere. "I love it!"
Mamoru smiled as he took in the scene, from the strange selection of baby shower decorations to the women surrounding his heavily pregnant wife. Any shame he might have had left over from earlier dissipated, to be replaced by a glowing happiness.
One thing he would never have to keep secret, was how much Usagi and their future daughter were cared for by these four!
Next Prompt: "Marshmallow"