Notes: This is a mix between Japanese and American culture. I don't live in Japan; the closest I've been is the International District in Seattle.

Warnings: AU, shounen ai—and if I get flamed for that in this chapter, then y'all really don't bother with warnings—some angst, sap, humor, etc.

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Life's Little Surprises
By Rosethorn

Chapter 2: Surprise?

"I think I met someone today," Seiya said as he poured the macaroni pasta into the boiling water. He had, after cursing his two roommates, decided to cook something relatively simple: macaroni and cheese. Of course, he'd make it from scratch, as Yaten didn't like the "fattening junk" in boxed macaroni (personally, Seiya didn't care one way or the other; food was food). He heard Taiki snort behind him. Turning, he fixed the brunet with a wary expression. "What?"

"You meet people every day," Taiki remarked dryly, raising an eyebrow. "It's part of life. Scientifically, it is impossible to not meet people because of the high birth rate—one per minute and all that." The singer rolled his eyes and turned back to the cheese, which needed to be grated. It was hard to say colloquial statements around Taiki. He liked to deliberately misinterpret the statement for literal fact, and then pick it apart—usually with long words that Seiya didn't understand.

"You know what I meant," he replied. Taiki folded his arms and leaned back on the counter opposite the grater. "I met someone that I wouldn't mind meeting again."

"Ah. A new friend perhaps?" At Seiya's glare, the brunet chuckled softly before relenting. "Okay, okay. So does this new man have a name?"

"How do you know it's a guy?" Seiya protested mildly. "I'm bi, thank you very much. It could be a girl—"

"Please. You've not dated a girl since…since high school at least—" Yaten broke in, coming into the kitchen, several bags in hand. Seiya sometimes wondered about Yaten's propensity to shop. It was unhealthy. There were mobs of Angry People who were all waiting in line for the newest and greatest doodad or widget. Maybe it was like cocaine: one adrenaline fix and you're hooked. He'd rather jump off buildings.

"Which was just three years ago, I'll have you know!" he interrupted the blond. "And you were checking out guys right along with me in homeroom, remember?" Yaten sniffed disdainfully. Out of the corner of his eye, Seiya noticed Taiki settle at the table with a rather large book open in front of him. It had been five minutes and the page hadn't turned.

"And how many boyfriends have you had since then?" Yaten asked coolly.

"Sev—shut up!" the other man snapped, turning his attention back to his grating, imagining Yaten's smirking face was the cheese being grated. Funny how that made him feel better.

"My work here is done," Yaten said. "I'm off—"

"Got that right," Seiya muttered to the cheese.

"—To my room to offload this stuff," the blond finished, glaring. He turned and exited the kitchen, leaving Taiki and Seiya alone once again. The page turned, and so did Taiki. Back towards Seiya, who had decided to pretend he was alone in the kitchen.

"So, does this 'person' have a name?" he asked the neck facing him. He couldn't see its owner's rather sheepish smile towards the half-grated cheese. He heard it in Seiya's tone however.

"Um…forgot to ask? He was kind of—"

"Aha! It was a guy!!" Yaten interrupted yet again, having finished "putting away his purchases" (read: he dumped them on his bed, to be stuffed in the closet come nightfall).

"—Busy looking for white miso soup, which the store was conveniently out of," Seiya finished, ignoring the other man entirely. Yaten snorted derisively, walking over to the boiling pasta. Dipping a spoon in, he brought one of the macaronis up to his mouth and noticed that it was still fairly crunchy.

"About five minutes, I'd say," he informed the man beside him calmly. Seiya made a face.

"Thanks ever-so much. I really couldn't have done it without you," he replied sarcastically. Yaten smiled and reached up to pat the top of Seiya's head, who scowled.

"I know, dear," he returned sweetly. "That's why I decided to help." Seiya snorted before using the wooden spoon beside the pot of pasta to bat at Yaten's hand.

"Watch it, princess, or I'll give you a new manicure with the grater." Taiki snickered at the puce color that Yaten's face began to turn. He was however, getting rather tired of his reading being interrupted by the pair's bickering. Deciding to intervene, he made sure he gained both Seiya and Yaten's attention.

"Now, Seiya, you know that the macaroni and cheese would be ruined by the nail polish on Yaten's fingernails." Pretending not to see Yaten's rather reddish complexion, he continued. "And, Yaten, you know that Seiya has difficulty enough cooking without you annoying him enough to add extra, unneeded ingredients." He walked through the kitchen door into the living room for—hopefully—some peace and quiet, completely ignoring the two rather nasty glares directed at his back. Yaten looked at Seiya.

"Let me know which one's his, will you? I want to spit in it."

"I think I met someone today," Mamoru said nonchalantly, while reaching for another piece of sushi. He was greeted with the sound of nine sets of plates dropping, then silence. He continued eating, reaching to grab the soy sauce. Motoki was the one to recover first.

"Y-you met someone?! You?! Mr. Bachelor, himself?!" he made a great show of cleaning out his ears, which earned him a smack alongside the head from his wife.

"That's terrific, Mamoru!" Makoto said, smiling warmly. "Did you get a name? What does she look like?" The others, with the exception of Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna all chimed in, wanting to know details. He ducked his head and blushed before getting a rather sheepish expression on his face.

"Well…erm…I didn't get her name…" It was his turn to get smacked upside the head by Ami. "Oi! I was looking for that damn miso soup!" he protested. "Not only that, she was busy shopping for herself after we had exchanged words." He chuckled lightly. "It was funny really, she was cursing two relatives, or friends, or something, because she kept muttering something about two different individuals being rather picky eaters. I almost walked up to her and told her I could relate," he said, shooting Motoki a rather pointed look. Motoki merely rolled his eyes.

"So, what did she look like?" demanded Minako, who was sitting three seats down. Her blond hair bounced along with her as she thumped the table. "I want details!"

"Gee, thanks, Mina-chan," Makoto drawled, mopping up her skirt from where a can of soda had jumped and spilled—from Minako's enthusiastic demand. "Appreciate having to clean before dinner is over. You're too kind, really." Mina's blue eyes showed a sincere apology, as a sheepish grin of her own crossed her face.

"Sorry about that." Turning back to Mamoru, she regained the rather demented gleam in her eyes. "Now, Mamoru…details!" Holding up his hands to stave off an attack, Mamoru decided the best course of action was to probably give Minako what she wanted.

"Well…she was smaller than I am, but not that small. I'd say about, oh, five foot, seven inches. About Usako's…height…" he trailed off, staring down at his plate. Ami laid a comforting hand on his arm, while Makoto tried to fend off tears of her own. It was Haruka who broke the silence.

"Now, Mamoru, we worked hard to provide you a birthday party," she said with mock-severity. "The least you could do next time, is make sure that all leaks are fixed when we come!" That earned her a smack on the arm from her partner, Michiru, and watery chuckles from both Mamoru and Makoto. He nodded, sadness dissipating. For all people tended to say that Haruka disliked Mamoru greatly, she was the one with the most understanding of how he worked. She knew the exact thing to say to bring him up or down. If it weren't for the fact that she was obviously very much in love with her partner, and the fact that he'd probably wake up dead if he even suggested it, Mamoru would have seriously considered dating Haruka.

"Yes, yes. Sorry," he said, bowing his head meekly, earning a round of laughter at the table. "Now, to continue. The mysterious female also had very long black hair in a ponytail. It reached almost to her knees. She had the most beautiful violet-blue eyes…like the sky at dusk. Her voice was deep for a woman, but it suited her just the same…" he trailed off. Makoto noted his some-what dreamy expression and exchanged a look with her husband. One that clearly said, "I don't believe I'm seeing him actually attracted to someone". It had been five years since Usagi's death, and Mamoru had been suicidal for two of those years. After finally getting him past that hurtle, they had given up on him ever finding anyone and moving on with his life, because any woman would have some trait that reminded him of Usagi, and the relationship was killed before it began. The fact that he still was attracted to this woman, even after a "Usagi Moment"—as they dubbed them—was a definite point in her favor. Now came the easy part—finding this woman again in the city of 10,000+ people. Piece of cake, really.

It had been a rather long day for the Three Lights. Two charity concerts and an autographing session, not to mention to 100-meter dash to get away from the hordes, made for a rather tired group. Yaten was the worst off, hating most strenuous activity, except swimming, with Taiki following a close second. They weren't out of shape by any means, just not as fit as Seiya who, despite complaining frequently about walking places, quite enjoyed to walk and run—as well as any other for of sport. He did have a fear of water however—he liked to claim that it was an Unnatural Thing to float on something but still be able to sink and die at the same time. Consequently, he would become rather ill whenever he had to sail anywhere, a fact that Yaten loved to tease him about.

They had run into an arcade—a rather stupid move, Yaten had later pointed out, considering just what age group tended to frequent arcades—but amazingly, no one had been inside. Making their way over to the soda counter, they waited patiently for someone to show up to take their orders…and waited…and waited. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Taiki got up to see if there was a bell anywhere for them to ring that they might have missed on their mad dash inside. He was dimly aware of Yaten and Seiya's debates over who would do the best at the newest Street Fighter, and shook his head at their oft-times very childish behavior. Noticing a bell, he cautiously pressed it, relieved to find that it wasn't overly noisy. His ears were rather sensitive after the second concert, with all the screaming and crying and wailing and—

"I'm terribly sorry for the delay. Can I help you?" Taiki jumped slightly, noticing the man in front of him. Taiki, liking to know everything about everyone and the surroundings, noted the man's name was "Motoki" from the tag on his uniform.

"Yes, as a matter of fact you can. We'd like three sundaes please. Make one with vanilla with chocolate syrup and the other two—Oi!" he called over to the duo at the games. They both looked back at him with twin expressions of innocence, making Taiki wonder just what they had been doing. He opted for the path of least resistance. "You guys going to come over here and order your sundaes?" Within seconds, Seiya was standing next to Taiki, with Yaten right at his heels, much to the amusement of the man behind the counter. Seiya beamed.

"Aw, you're so good to me, Taiki," he simpered, earning a rather disgusted look from the brunet. Laughing softly, he eyed his choices before deciding on mint chocolate chip with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. Yaten shot him a rather amused look for the last choice, but also ordered sprinkles on his sundae (strawberry with butterscotch—which Seiya promptly gagged over). Motoki at this point was almost on the floor, trying to restrain his laughter. He quickly passed out the sundaes and started cleaning the small drops of ice cream that had managed to get on the counters. It was then that all four men were in for a bit of a shock.

"Oi, Motoki! Where are you?" a black head popped out from the doorway, eyes dancing with amusement. He heard the clatter of metal hitting dishes, and turned his head in time to see…her. "O-oh!" He stuttered, trying to calm his racing heart. "I didn't realize you had customers, Motoki…" Motoki looked between the trio at the counter and the rather pole-axed man in his doorway.

"You know them, Mamoru?" he asked finally, trying to figure out why his normally unflappable friend was standing there acting like he and Makoto had decided to put on a strip show for him. Mamoru shook his head.

"We've met in passing," Seiya said finally, managing to stop choking on his ice cream. Motoki's gaze snapped to the younger man, comprehension dawning on his face.

"Ah! I see!" With that, he walked over to the doorway, pulled Mamoru to the counter, and proceeded with the introductions on his end. "My name—as you can see—is Motoki, and this is my friend Mamoru. You are?" Seiya smiled nervously, but offered no introductions. Honestly, he didn't trust his voice to work right without having problems that he thought had been left behind at puberty. He looked over to Yaten, who stared back. Sighing, he sent a Pleading Look over to Taiki. The brunet rolled his eyes at the sheer idiocy of the moment before making the introductions.

"My name is Taiki, that one there with the blond hair is Yaten, and the one on the end," he said, motioning to Seiya. "is Seiya. Pleasure to meet you both." Mamoru nodded dumbly, trying to get his brain functioning again. Absently he noticed something different about Seiya that had also niggled at his brain the last time. He still couldn't figure out what it was his mind was trying to tell him about the beautiful girl before him. All five jumped when they heard a squeal from the doorway. The three in front of the counter poised themselves to run, the two behind the counter spun to face a shocked Minako at the doorway.

"Motoki-kun, you didn't tell me you had the 'Three Lights' over here!!" she exclaimed, stars in her eyes. Motoki and Mamoru's gaze slowly went back to the three in front of them.

"The 'Three…Lights'?" Mamoru asked finally, comprehension dawning on what was different about Seiya. "You—you're a—" At this, Yaten burst out laughing, jabbing the blushing man beside him in the ribs, who was giving his friend a very Evil Glare of Doom.

"Not funny, Yaten!" The blond only laughed harder.

"After all the times you've made fun of me for being girly?! It's hilarious!!" he crowed, only to have his ponytail harshly yanked by Taiki. Looking up, Yaten noticed that the brunet's face was quite serious, as he motioned to Seiya and Mamoru with his eyes, Seiya's eyes holding a rather embarrassed expression, Mamoru's with a shocked one. Taiki then whispered in Yaten's ear.

"When has being mistaken for a girl ever bothered Seiya before?" Yaten thought about it before replying.

"Never…does this mean it's serious?" Taiki nodded and then pointed out that Mamoru seemed to not know what to do about the whole situation, which meant that there was a good chance that he was not exactly of Seiya's…persuasion.

While this exchange was taking place, Mamoru's heart was sinking. His beautiful girl turned out to be a rather pretty boy. But…he still was attracted to her—him, which made no sense, as far as he was concerned. The fact that Seiya was a boy should have been something that would have killed all sense of attraction…but it seemed only to enhance it! Shaking his head to clear it, Mamoru decided that he would, for the moment, try to get out of this rather embarrassing situation by stating that he needed to leave. As he was leaving, Seiya jumped up and ran after him.

"Hey! Wait, please!!" he yelled, cursing as he tripped over a stool in his haste to catch up. Mamoru stopped and turned, fixing his eyes in a rather intimidating, cold stare.

"Yes?" Seiya swallowed audibly.

"Um…Look, I know my gender was probably unexpected, but we can still meet and everything, right? I mean…we got along well in the store, and it'd be nice to at least be friends and everything, ne? I mean, sure you can—" Mamoru, to his amazement, began to chuckle.

"Okay, okay, I get the idea. You'd like to be friends. I can handle friends, but keep something in mind: I'm not your type." Even while he was stating it, Mamoru's mind disagreed, causing him to rather violently tell it where it could go. He glanced over to Seiya, who nodded.

"Straight as an arrow. Got it. Can we start over then?" At Mamoru's nod, he stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Seiya Kou. I'm 21 years old and am in a group called the Three Lights." Smiling, Mamoru took his hand, only to gasp softly at the electric shock between them. A gasp which was echoed by Seiya.

"Ch-Chiba Mamoru. 29 and am a professor at the university." Deciding to be daring, Seiya brought Mamoru's hand up to his lips and kissed it softly.

"Charmed, I'm sure," he whispered.

Here's revised chapter 2. Oh! And I will be keeping any and all review responses that I've written in each chapter.

Rosethorn

Thank you's:

Athena Kyle: Thank you! I'm glad that you like the whole bit with the birthday and all. With Usa-chan dying…I couldn't conceive a way for her to stay alive and not turn out super-nasty about the whole Seiya thing, so I decided that she should remain un-bastardized…so I killed her off (sweatdrops). I really didn't want her to be bastardized…I like Usagi. I'm glad you like the whole Motoki and Mako thing! I've always wanted them to end up together!!

Clemen: Thank you!! I know it's rare…Like I said before, I was challenged by my Sailor Moon obsessed friend to write this. She told me that if I could make it work, she would be amazed. So I'm making it work. Traditionally, I'm a Seiya and Usagi couple-type person, so this is a bit of a stretch…rather, a lot of a stretch.