#4. Coffee

Author: nat-chan

Rated: goodness of WAFF G

Disclaimer: standard

Author's Notes: For Alicia and her roommate and every last delicious "Did he just…?"

­­­

Darien Shields had remembered everything. Or so he thought. But when they reached the campsite he realized, with real horror:

the one.

thing.

he'd.

forgotten.

Coffee.

He had come prepared for the Orphanage Day-Camp with every tool and toy imaginable. He'd remembered bug repellent, suntan lotion, an extra t-shirt, his swim trunks, a lighter for the bonfire and both his pairs of running shoes, just in case. He'd even remembered Andrew's stupid specialized pretzels that he just HAD to have! But now he would have to go the whole day without a single sip of precious, live-giving coffee!

Andrew watched him getting droopier and droopier as they set up tents and relay ropes and signs and flags. His mood became increasingly darker. He started getting grouchy and snapping at people. Andrew laughed and shook his head. The guy was a total addict. What WAS he going to do without coffee all day?

Just then the girls arrived in a noisy swarm, arms laden with prizes, ribbons and trophies for the days events. And at the back was Serena, clutching a thermos and waggling her eyebrows humorously at Andrew as she said, "The baka forgot his coffee—has he collapsed yet? I don't think I've ever seen him without one!"

Darien came around the corner at that moment and he seemed to immediately spot the thermos. He looked from it to Serena's face and back again before his face broke into the most delighted and grateful expression she thought she'd ever seen (and she was Sailor Moon, she'd saved a few lives and STILL they hadn't seemed as grateful as he did that moment)

"Is that….is that my coffee?" he asked hopefully.

He held out his hands and she couldn't help but laugh as she handed it over.

"Yes, it is."

"Thanks! You're the BEST!" he blurted without a second thought and her eyes widened in shock.

No way, was he just nice to me?

Was this the secret? Come bearing coffee and all styles of hair and clutz attacks were forgotten? It struck her funny—and so did the suddenly surprised look on Darien's face when he too realized he'd been nice to her. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen that before either. She could see him trying to figure out what to do.

So she decided to return the curveball and throw back Mina's new favorite slang at him,

"Who loves you baby?" she winked and sauntered past him to catch up with the girls.

Darien was left staring open-mouthed after her.

No way, did she just flirt with me?

Andrew watched a calculating light come into Darien's eyes as he drank that coffee and watched after Serena. He could almost hear the sudden "click" in his friend's brain as he assessed her anew.

And as they set up for the first event and Serena reached up to hang a sign over the rope so that her pink t-shirt rode up and revealed her belly button, Andrew beheld a sight so shocking he dropped his toolbox on his foot. Darien checked out Serena.

Indeed, Serena began to wonder as the day went on, if she had brought him magic coffee. He was so unabashedly nice to her. When she got tangled in the tug of war rope he helped her out without so much as a snicker of contempt. When her fishing line, which was meant to hook a toy from the prize pool, instead hooked the back of a very irritable looking woman's hat, he quietly slipped over and with a deft flick of the hand, unhooked it without her knowing. Then he winked at her.

No way!

And later when the target darts game started and she threw her dart so far left it accidentally landed in the fireworks stored behind some trees and managed to ignite a spark that set several of them off, he laughed as heartily as the kids standing nearby and didn't tease her about it!

He didn't tease. Instead he watched. Serena was a walking disaster, but she was a lot of fun. And she was good with kids. Probably, Darien reflected, because she was a big kid herself. It was the one thing she could do that he could not. She could embrace being a child. Darien was pretty sure he could make a long list of things that he was better at than her. Math, eloquence, co-ordination….and yet, this one skill she possessed that he did not seemed to have furnished her with the secret of happiness. She seemed to get through life better than he did and he could not understand why.

It was so baffling that he found himself testing it, as though looking for a structural weakness. It couldn't possibly be that easy. This one thing just could not be it. Could it? The longer the day went on, the more uneasily he began to feel that yes, actually it really was.

And he really didn't like the feeling that she somehow won their unspoken competition by simply being happier than he was.

He remembered her once asking him if he enjoyed being miserable. Of course he didn't enjoy it. But he was a lot better off than she was, wasn't he?

These thoughts made him realize something important and frightening. No matter how much he wanted coffee, he must never ever accept it from the Meatballhead again. What was he thinking? Had he lost his mind?

If he had, he quickly lost it again when the three-legged race began and he dragged her over to be his partner.

Serena watched as if standing nearby and observing herself as he tied their two closest feet together, linked arms with her and waited for the local Radio DJ to fire his comical flag gun to start.

Then they were off and although the height difference made it difficult, Serena's uncanny speed from constant lateness gave them quite the advantage. They came in second and toppled over the finish line laughing breathlessly. But Serena landed on top of him and fixed him with wide blue eyes. Her smile faded away and Andrew watched that same calculating expression come into her eyes, heard that distinct "click" in the brain and watched a genuine blush creep across Darien's cheeks as she assessed him anew.

Then he pulled them quickly up, darting mad glances around to see if anyone had noticed. Andrew whistled innocently and continued building the rope and pulley system over the hill.

When it was finished he was quite proud of himself. The rope ran the length of the hill and had a pulley with two metal handles attached so you could hang on and sail down it if you lifted your feet. He called Darien over to test it and he heartily grabbed on, tucking his tall legs up and flying down at top speed.

Andrew used his knacky looped rope system to wind the pulley back up and the kids lined up eagerly to try. Darien stayed at the bottom and caught them as they came.

Then with a deafening scream, down came Serena. But Darien was ready this time and caught her deftly, her scream abruptly halting as he righted her with real skill.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" she asked breathlessly.

His eyes never left hers as he caught another little boy and put him down, "Damsels in distress are my speciality!" he grinned and then….winked at her.

Did he just wink at me again?

­

It was later, when Darien sat by his lonesome, drinking the last of that coffee that Andrew sat down with a knowing smile besides him.

Darien took the last swig as Andrew stared over the lake from the overhang Darien had found.

"So, you and Serena," Andrew observed.

If that last sip of coffee weren't so precious, he would have spit it across the overhang.

"I think you should go for it." Andrew said, still not looking at him. Then there was only silence.

Darien was not one to admit things. But his silence revealed he was thinking about it. Andrew chuckled knowingly as he walked away.

Serena's friends were much livelier.

"Serena, no way, he's been nice to you all day!"

"I think he likes you!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Meatball brains you might as well just admit that you like him back! It's SO obvious!"

"………….."

"I think you should go for it!"

"………….."

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"………………..really?"

"Yes really!"

Later, when the kids were tucked in and sleeping, Darien crept down to the shore of the river. He remembered it from every summer of his childhood at the orphanage. And the memories were all happy ones.

Tonight, Serena sat on a fallen long that had long served as a bench. The moon reflected across the surface of the water with beauty. She clutched two thermoses. And she smiled when he sat down beside her.

"This one's coffee." She offered and passed it to him.

"And that one?"

She grinned as she took another hearty slurp, "Hot chocolate."

He laughed and opened the coffee. He remembered his earlier conclusion that he must never take coffee from her because it obviously made him crazy in the head. Now he knew, he'd always take coffee from her, every single time, and hope the craziness remained permanantely.

"One of the Directors brought some and made a big pot over the campfire." Serena explained, "His wife made the cocoa."

When he took a big drink and smiled at her she smiled back and said happily, "I'll bring you coffee everyday if you'll be this nice to me!"

He regarded her wryly, "We have had a good time ne?"

"It's been….nice."

"Yeah….."

The moment faded into two blushes. There was a long silence before Darien finally asked, "How come you volunteered for this camp?"

"My school does fundraiser's and camps for the Juubon Orphanage all the time. Some of our students are from there. I—I'm in the 'Friends to Juubon' Club with Ami and the other girls wanted to help too."

He smiled at her embarrassed admission about the club. She was waiting for him to tease her. But she had found the one subject on which he would never ever tease her.

She regarded him strangely when he didn't reply. Then she asked, "What about you?"

He met her eyes and tried to keep his expression light, "I grew up in the Juubon Orphanage. My parents died when I was six."

Her smile faded to a look of horror and he quickly continued, "I used to come to this camp every summer. I have really great memories of this place."

She was quiet and he didn't look at her.

"I come every year." He said gently, then added, finally turning to watch her profile, "You're really good with kids. Even though I grew up in this place I….you have this natural way with them. It looks so easy when you do it…."

She was quiet for a long moment before asking "When I do what?" very quietly.

And then he realized he'd said too much. He looked out at the lake and now she watched his profile.

"When you have fun…."

She smiled, "Fun is easy!" she blurted out, then she realized he'd just paid her compliment—just told her she was good at something. She froze.

A moment later it struck her that he was insinuating it was not easy for him to have fun. Was it possible? Darien was not good at something? That couldn't be right. She searched her mind and found memory after memory of Darien having fun.

"Darien," she said suddenly, "You have fun all the time! Whenever I see you at the arcade you're laughing and having fun…..usually at my expense." She added quietly.

He laughed then, "You make it contagious….Meatballhead."

They were both smiling at each other now and she finally read what was really there in the nickname. Yes, there were endless amounts of things he was better at. But there was one thing she had that he didn't that rendered her fascinating to him. That made him test her to see what it really was.

And now she saw something in him that she found just as interesting.

"You're not really a jerk afterall." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

"You're pretty cool too." He replied, his stomach doing a strange but exciting dance, "Thanks for the coffee."

She winked at him, "Who loves you baby?"

He blushed even as he laughed, then he dared to lean a little closer, "No way…..you do?"

Her eyes gave her away in that instant, widening and thinking:

No way.

He laughed and leaned over until their noses were touching. There was only one thing to do when you found the girl who had the one thing you didn't.

"Yes way." He said softly, and kissed her.