Lilliebellfanfics on Tumblr prompted me with this: "so how about Mamoru trying to sneak-steal a lick of Usagi's ice cream? 😅 Your choice if he's successful or not, or why he's even doing it in the first place. (Maybe lost a bet to Minako if you need more the inspo?)".
Thank you for the prompt; here's what I came up with. This unbeta'd quick writing is wonderfully challenging me out of my own perfectionism but yikes this one was hard. Also, this might count as a crackfic.
"Setsuna's going to kill you," Rei scolded Minako.
"It's her own fault for asking me to keep an eye on the Time Gate for a few days. Honestly, who takes their first vacation in years to go to a boring science conference?" Ami raised an eyebrow, and Minako realized her mistake.
"I mean, other than Ami. Or the king. And anyway, speaking of Kendy, where was I? "Minako produced a small, old-fashioned perfume bottle, the pump decorated with orange fringe, from her dress and raised Setsuna's Garnet Orb above her head. A beam of light flashed from it and projected an image onto the gauzy fog that surrounded the Time Gate.
In it, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Tuxedo Kamen stood outside of an ice cream shop, their faces battle-flushed as Sailor Moon snapped her tiara back onto her forehead.
Rei frowned. "I don't remember this one."
"Want to catch those of us who weren't around up to speed? And what's with Tuxedo Kamen?" Haruka asked. He stood at a distance from the others, his posture stiff.
"Oh, right. You never knew him like this." Makoto blew her bangs out of her face. "Let's see, this is mid-Dark Kingdom era. Pre-ginzuishou. And those two hadn't admitted their feelings for each other yet."
Haruka, who had recently walked in on Serenity straddling Endymion on her throne in the middle of the day, her throaty moans echoing throughout the Crystal Palace's throne room, looked incredulous.
"Which is where I come in!" Minako exclaimed. "Be right back!" And, perfume bottle clutched in her hand, she thrust the Garnet Orb at a startled Ami before she stepped through the Time Gate and disappeared.
Minutes later, on the image projected in front of the remaining senshi, Tuxedo Kamen turned as if to leave the scene, sneezed, and then froze, looking momentarily dazed before he turned back.
Minako reappeared through the Time Gate. "It's done."
"Remind me why you're doing this again," Rei sighed, rubbing her temples. "This…?" She gestured vaguely to the empty bottle in Minako's hand.
"Sex pollen," Minako supplied. "I need to test my concoction on someone, and who had more pent-up sexual tension than Usagi and Mamoru back then, after fighting the Dark Kingdom for 5 years? Remember how much time we all spent listening to an 18-year-old Usagi obsess over Tuxedo Kamen? And we know he felt the same and was just less…expressive about it. "
Makoto nodded, "Fair point," she conceded. "But why make a…sex pollen to begin with?"
"That thing she made is a liquid. Pollen is a solid," Ami grumbled.
Minako ignored her. "As the goddess of love, it's my responsibility to know how to harness this power!"
Rei raised an eyebrow. "Ok, so besides that, and besides the potential implications of this for the time stream, aren't there some consent issues here?" she asked. "Especially since you're only testing it on Mamoru?"
Minako looked indignant. "Give me more credit than that, Rei-chan," she huffed. "All that my little potion does is highlight whatever feelings are already there and make someone a little bit more impulsive. I need to test it on someone who's naturally reserved, which a word no one in any lifetime has ever used to describe Usagi. And Setsuna can fix any time stream stuff. Now, we just get to sit back and watch."
Mamoru wasn't sure why he hadn't left yet. Usually, he disappeared after battles as quickly as he arrived. He didn't know what to do with his intense, undeniable attraction to Sailor Moon.
His brain told him that needed to remain committed to the princess from his dreams.
His heart told him that he'd been spoken for five years ago, when a blond tornado of a girl crashed into his life and chased his loneliness away with all the subtlety of a freight train.
But Sailor Moon was also gorgeous and brave and a bit of a blond tornado herself.
Mamoru supposed he had a type.
He didn't like to dwell on the magnetism that drew him to Sailor Moon; it made him feel like he was betraying Usagi somehow.
Not that Usagi could stand him.
He also didn't like to dwell Sailor Moon's hope-filled blue eyes and how they welled up with tears when he told her he might be her enemy. So he kept his distance, regardless of how much he didn't actually want to.
Right now, though, something was different. Out of nowhere, right as he was about to leave, he'd found himself in a sort of pleasant, heady daze.
He turned and looked back at the four senshi across the sidewalk. They were talking to the effusively grateful ice cream shop employee who had gotten caught in the battle's crosshairs.
The employee pointed to the menu board through the window and offered all of them free ice cream as a thank you. She called across the sidewalk to him. "For you, too!"
Mamoru's mouth watered. The prospect of ice cream was tantalizing in the scorching Tokyo summer. His stiff tuxedo shirt was soaked through with sweat, a thick, humid layer of heat trapped between it and his jacket.
But no, being that close to Sailor Moon in a casual setting was not a good idea. He could just pick up a pint of ice cream at the conbini on his way home and enjoy it in his air-conditioned apartment.
Alone.
Sailor Moon locked eyes with him across the sidewalk, a small, understanding smile on her lips.
Mamoru opened his mouth to politely decline, but he shocked himself with the words that came out, "Ice cream sounds great."
Actually, it was torture. Not the ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, Mamoru acknowledged, taking another spoonful of his triple chocolate.
Watching Sailor Moon eat ice cream, on the other hand, was torture.
He wasn't paying attention to the daggers Mars and Jupiter were shooting in his direction or the way Mercury seemed to be examining him like she was some sort of anthropologist on a field research excursion.
He was too focused on the way Sailor Moon's tiny, pink tongue darted out of her mouth to lick her strawberry ice cream cone, the little sighs of pleasure she made as the creamy dessert hit her tastebuds.
And the fact that, inexplicably, all he wanted to do was sneak a bite of it. Like, playfully lean over across the table and steal a little taste of her ice cream, like he'd been doing it for years.
Like they were a couple or something.
So he did.
And right at the moment the cold ice cream hit his tongue, Sailor Moon's shriek of surprise echoing in his ears, the pleasant daze that had surrounded him for the last half hour disappeared and everything came into vivid, mortifying focus.
He ran.
"It didn't work!" Minako wailed at Tuxedo Kamen's retreating form, dismayed.
"Well it was pretty out of character for him," Makoto said. "Both the sticking around and the…lick."
In another corner of the Crystal Palace, Endymion handed Serenity a bowl of chocolate ice cream before settling back into bed next to her, his own bowl of vanilla in hand.
She nuzzled herself under his arm and against his bare chest. "Thanks, Mamo-chan."
He smiled at her before he leaned down and playfully stole a lick of her ice cream.
Like he'd been doing for years.