"Mamo-chan…"
Mamoru cast a sideways glance at Usagi who had suddenly appeared at his side. At the insistent widening of her eyes, he placed his bookmark in his book and set it down on the side table.
"Yes, Usako?"
"Mamo-chan, I have to watch a movie for school," she fidgeted with her hands behind her back as she looked up at him with her doe eyes.
"Okay, what does that have to do with me?"
"Well, it's 'Romeo and Juliet' and I thought you'd like to watch it with me?" she looked up at him hopefully. "It would be a really nice movie to watch together!"
"Have you even read 'Romeo and Juliet' yet?" Mamoru quirked an eyebrow and shifted his body so that he was facing her completely.
"Well… no… but everyone knows it's the most romantic story ever written!" Her eyebrows furrowed at the scoff Mamoru let slip. "What? It is! Star-crossed lovers, romance…" she trailed off as she sighed dreamily.
Mamoru rolled his eyes. "If you say so, Usako." She huffed indignantly and crossed her arms prompting Mamoru to quirk the side of his mouth into a tiny smirk. "Which 'Romeo and Juliet' movie are we talking about?"
Usagi took the movie out from behind her back and showed him. "They couldn't even give us the assignment to watch the good one with Leonardo DiCaprio…" she muttered. Mamoru chuckled and shook his head.
"At least your school has good taste," Mamoru said as he took the DVD case from her and turned it over, "Franco Zeffirelli's is the best cinematic incarnation of 'Romeo and Juliet' that I've seen."
At that, it was Usagi's turn to roll her eyes.
"Ok, Usako, put it in the player. Let's watch it." Mamoru removed his glasses and placed them neatly on top of his book.
Usagi squealed and nearly tripped over the coffee table in her exuberance. "Oh this is going to be soooo romantic!" she cried as she snuggled into his side. Mamoru shifted to make himself more comfortable as the opening credits began to play.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
"What the fuck kind of English is this?!" Usagi exclaimed.
"It's called Elizabethan English. All of Shakespeare's plays are in this language."
"Mamo-chan look! Zac Efron is in this! I didn't know he played Romeo!"
Mamoru pinched the bridge of his nose "That's Leonard Whiting, Usa… This movie is from 1968. I'm pretty sure Zac Efron wasn't even born yet."
"Holy shit, Mamo-chan!" Usagi exclaimed "The girl playing Juliet looks 12!"
"The character of Juliet is supposed to be 14. The actress was 16 at the time this movie was made and was not old enough to see her own movie in theaters."
"14?! And Romeo is, like, 20…" she trailed off.
"18…" Mamoru interjected.
"What kind of 18-year-old lusts after a 14-year-old?" Usagi threw her hands up in the air as Mamoru gave her a pointed look.
"Really, Usako?" Mamoru quirked an eyebrow "Really?" Mamoru found himself wondering if he had any headache medicine in his bathroom cabinet.
…my heart love till now for sweared sight for I never saw true beauty until this night.
"Is that how you felt when you met me, Mamo-chan?"
"Usako," Mamoru interrupted, "Romeo was in love with and subsequently dumped, for lack of a better term, by another woman just that morning. If anything, this speaks to man's superficial ideals on love…" he trailed off as Usagi crossed her arms and huffed while turning her attention back to the movie.
"See, Mamo-chan?" Usagi swooned. "Their first kiss was so romantic!"
"Romeo is idealistic, impulsive, and therefore unrealistic and a dreamer. Juliet's motivation lies more with defying her parents and is more pragmatic by nature."
"Whatever, Juliet," Usagi scoffed at him as she turned back to the movie.
Swear not by the Moon
The inconstant Moon…
"Well, I take offense to that… The Moon is anything but incompetent!"
"Inconstant, Usako. It means it's always changing. Juliet wants Romeo to swear by something that does not change."
"The Moon is always there. How much more permanent can you get?"
"She's referencing the lunar phases..." Mamoru trailed off as Usagi seemed to not be paying attention to their conversation anymore. "... my point exactly."
"Wait… they literally just met and they're getting MARRIED?" Usagi sputtered.
"Now you're starting to see – "
"Mamo-chan, it took you forever just to kiss me!"
"Oh my god!" Usagi paused the movie and clapped her hands over her mouth. "That's Romeo's ass!"
Mamoru was 100% sure of three things:
Firstly, he was positive about what the back of his eye sockets looked like.
Secondly, that the tips of his ears were lit aflame when Usagi announced that his ass was better.
Thirdly, he agreed that Usagi's breasts were better than Juliet's.
He kept that comment to himself.
Mercifully for Mamoru, the movie came to an end with Usagi sobbing over the deaths of the two lovers.
"I guess I don't need to ask you what you thought of the movie…" his sideways glance was met with more tears from Usagi, "if you really think about it, Romeo's vow to Juliet before he dies is most like a marriage vow: he speaks as though his death is a second wedding ceremony. He makes his vow, in which he promises to love her forever, not just "until death do us part," followed closely by the kissing of his bride."
Usagi hiccupped and wiped at her nose as she looked at him incredulously.
"My point is that this whole story could have gone better if Romeo had waited 5 minutes before making any decisions. His haste was his downfall!"
"Love makes you do crazy things, Mamoru-baka," Usagi muttered and wiped at her eyes as she shifted away from him.
"Usako…"
"There's something to be said for having passion in your life. If all of humanity operated on logic and so-called 'pragmatism'," Usagi said as she stood up and whirled around to face him, "then the world would be a very boring place!"
Mamoru stared helplessly up at Usagi as she began to pace.
"Their story was fucking beautiful! They had love, passion, and most of all," Usagi stopped her pacing and looked deep into her fiancée's eyes, "they had each other."
"Usa…" Mamoru stood and placed a hand on each of her shoulders, willing her to look at him.
"You don't know what it feels like…" Usagi sniffled and fled the apartment, leaving Mamoru standing there in shock.
"…and then, she just left!" Mamoru gesticulated wildly as he finished explaining the story to Motoki.
"I think you already know what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway..." Motoki stopped wiping the counter for a moment to look his best friend directly in the eye. "You're an idiot!"
"What? Why? How am I possibly wrong in this?" Mamoru nearly knocked the bar stool over in his indignance. "All I was doing was helping her with her assignment by offering critique that was already well known about 'Romeo and Juliet'!"
"Did she actually ASK you to help her?"
Mamoru furrowed his brow as he replayed the afternoon in his head, "Well… no… but I thought – "
"You didn't think," Motoki interrupted, "you assumed. BIG difference, compadre. My guess is she just wanted to watch a romantic movie with her boyfriend."
"The movie was for school– "
"Doesn't matter. It's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Girls love that story."
"But it's the literal WORST!"
"Again… doesn't matter."
Mamoru hung his head in exasperation and shame. He knew Motoki was right. He had assumed she was asking for help interpreting the story. He also knew that if that were the case, Usagi would have outright asked him. She wasn't one to just beat around the bush. Her directness was one of the things he loved the most about her. Mamoru slapped some yen down on the counter and left without another word, leaving Motoki shaking his head in his wake. He had to find her and apologize.
He found her drawn into herself on their bench under the clocktower, hair cascading over her like a shield as she rested her head on folded arms. He waited at the edge of her periphery to give her the chance to sense his presence. When she didn't budge, he tentatively moved to sit across from her at the opposite end of the bench.
Silence reigned, which concerned Mamoru. Usagi was never quiet for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Slowly, he reached a hand out to touch a foot.
"Usa…"
"You don't know what it feels like," Usagi's voice was quiet and sad.
"What what feels like?"
"You don't know what it feels like to love someone so deeply-"
"Usako, you know I am so deeply in love with you-"
"Let. Me. Finish." Usagi's voice took on a sharp and authoritative tone, usually reserved for whatever evildoer she was battling back in the days prior to Galaxia.
Mamoru gulped and snapped his mouth shut.
"You don't know what it feels like to love someone so deeply, so unconditionally, and to have them taken away from you." Her eyes met his and he noticed they were a shade darker than her usual sky blue.
"Usako, I wasn't-"
"Mamoru. We," she gestured her hand back and forth between them, "were Romeo and Juliet. Our love was forbidden and yet we loved each other just as passionately and unconditionally as they did. Don't you remember our stolen kisses, the times I would sneak away to Earth just to watch your hair as the wind ruffled it, or the outrage that befell both of our kingdoms when our love was revealed? And when the uprising began and Metalia and her forces waged war upon the Moon, you stood before me and defended me against your own people. Mamo-chan, you died first. I cradled your head in my lap as I watched the life leave your eyes and you used your last breath to kiss me. All I wanted to do was to follow you and be wherever it was that you were. So I did. Just like Juliet did."
Mamoru lowered his eyes to his folded hands resting in his lap. After a few seconds, Usagi's soft, small hand threaded her fingers with his. Her other hand guided his face back up to meet hers.
"Mamo-chan," she paused as he sighed in relief at the nickname, "you also died first in this lifetime. Not once, but twice."
His eyebrows furrowed.
"The first time was when you were captured by Beryl." A tear fell down her cheek and Mamoru moved to wipe it away but Usagi held his hand in place. "I watched as they took you from me. I had no idea what was going to happen to you, and when I finally did see you again, you weren't Mamo-chan. My sweet Mamo-chan was somewhere else where I could not find him." She shifted closer to him and used both hands to cradle his face. He sighed and relaxed into her touch.
"And then Galaxia told me she'd taken your star seed, and I knew she wasn't lying when she showed it to me. Who else other than you would have such a large, golden star seed? You have a true heart of gold. Once again, I was forced to live while you were gone."
The dam broke and Mamoru felt overcome with emotion. He loved this woman. She was strong, wise, and beautiful both inside and out. His Usako had literally sacrificed herself time and time again for a planet that wasn't even hers by birthright. The fact that she loved his planet as if it was her own kingdom (and one day it would be) proved to him that she was the most selfless person he had ever met.
"Usako, I wasn't reading into the movie so deeply. I should have tried to watch the movie through your empathetic and loving eyes rather than my critical and skeptical ones. I didn't even think about how closely it might have hit home for you." He choked back a sob. "I'm so sorry, Usako," he reached behind her head to touch his forehead to hers, "I'm so, so sorry." He pressed watery, apologetic kisses to her forehead and inhaled the scent of her strawberry conditioner.
In turn, Usagi wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as if he'd disappear at any moment. The pair sat there holding each other and crying for what seemed like hours.
"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite," Mamoru whispered as he crushed her lips to his. Usagi opened herself to him and he groaned when he tasted her as if it was the first time.
They parted somewhat breathless upon hearing an awkward cough from a passerby. Sheepishly, they looked about, then at each other before bursting out into laughter. Mamoru grabbed her hand and together they ran back to his apartment.
A little while later, the pair were back on his couch and watching the movie from the beginning. This time, however, Mamoru would draw her in for soft yet languid kisses during the slower parts. He shifted his body as Usagi climbed to straddle his lap while she deepened their kiss. He shuddered as her nails raked against his scalp and as she tugged at his hair; finally coming to rest at the nape of his neck.
His hands danced at her lower back, teasing the hem of her shirt. Her skin was soft and smooth against his fingertips and he felt gooseflesh as he continued his ministrations. She sighed into his kiss and abruptly giggled and squirmed against him as he found a particularly ticklish spot on her ribcage. He groaned as he physically reacted to the movement and he pulled away breathlessly just as Romeo's voice could be heard on screen.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
"Yes, Usako," Mamoru's dilated midnight blue eyes looked into hers "it was like that for me. Both times."