So, here you have a completely new kiss :) Let me know what you think, please - I love to hear from you and keeps me motivated to write! Happy Thursday, everyone!

A Kiss In Joy

Sometimes, getting what you want was weird.

She'd practically run all the way here only to stop rooted to the spot not knowing how to act. She was so used to pining after this boy that she didn't know what she was supposed to do now.

She stood and stared a little at this door that she was so used to seeing shut.

Mamoru hadn't known she was going to come over. And yet when she finally knocked, he was there immediately, and when he opened the door he wasn't weirded out, wasn't confused, wasn't angry, didn't close it right back in her face.

He opened his door wide (not just an inch, not in the way he was terrified he wouldn't be able to slam it shut again, not terrified he might, perhaps, have to let her in) and looked at her with an intense look of adoration she simply wasn't used to. Didn't know how to handle.

And so she stared a little, unmoving.

"Usako…" he breathed.

His voice was higher than normal when he said that. Did she know that this was something he did?

"Do you… do you want to come in?"

He was gripping his wide-open door a little weirdly, as if hanging on to it, and there was a flush to his cheeks and an insecurity to his look that she was pretty sure she'd never seen before.

Her voice croaked in a way that was a little embarrassing. "I-I'd love to."

It was weird. So, so weird, just… walking in here. He'd always been just out of reach. First brainwashed and taken by the Dark Kingdom, then a stranger without his memories and no eyes whatsoever for this weird girl who'd hastily spoken of past lives. And when she had him, finally, for not even a week, he'd broken up with her. And even after that, when she finally knew why he did what he did, the distance had remained, because he was too scared to do anything else.

And suddenly it had been all over. They knew it had all been nothing, now. Some weird, infuriating test - which apparently, they passed. This was allowed now. She was done pining.

It was weird.

He stood a little too close and wrung his hands when she stooped in the genkan to take off her shoes, and he jumped a little ways away when she looked up and he seemed to realize he was hovering. And when she remembered the last time she'd spent some longer time standing in this genkan, shoes on - when she'd come over for him to break up with her with words that still rung in his ears - she kicked her shoes off a little faster so she didn't have to remain here for any stretch of time.

There was a vase of roses in his genkan, just as it had been that day.

"I…" he started, then shook his head. "Did you want…" He shook his head again, visibly frustrated. "Tea? Do you want tea?"

Apparently, it was just as weird for him.

He stood too close again, but not close enough to touch. His eyes were almost swimming in intensity. He looked at her like she was an apparition, or something that might disappear if he didn't give it his full attention. Like something precious. Like something too good to be true and he didn't deserve it, and frankly, it held a weight she didn't know if she could handle.

"No…" she said carefully.

"Oh," he said, deflating. His hand flew to the back of his neck and his lip shook. "I think I have…"

She interrupted him. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, uninvited…"

"NO!" he yelped, and she jumped, and he cringed.

"No," he repeated, calmer, quieter. "I… You're…" He swallowed. "You're always… always welcome here. No invitation needed."

"Oh," she said.

She rolled her shoulders back, willed her hands to stop trembling, and turned towards him, stepping even closer in the narrow space he'd left between them.

"I can come over every time I want?" she asked up at him, biting her lip.

He nodded a little too fast. "I'll get you a key," he whispered.

She blinked against the sudden surge in her chest, and it came with a cloud of courage that spread through her skin, and she placed a hand on his chest.

He jumped a little under her touch, and then he pressed against it.

"Can I do this every time I want now, too?" she asked, tilting her head, and stroked her thumb across his shirt.

He nodded mutely.

She curled her hand into his shirt and pulled.

"How about this?" she asked against his lips, and he met her hooded gaze wide-eyed, his breath puffing against her lips as she spoke. "Can I do this every time I want now, too?"

He didn't answer. Not at first. But he pressed his lips to hers and his hands flew up to cradle her face, thumbs stroking in the tenderest of touches against her cheeks, and she had to inhale sharply through her nose against the sweetness of it. The way his lips brushed hers so softly, the little noise he made, the slow pace he set, as if he was savoring her, as if he couldn't believe he was allowed a taste.

Well, she really couldn't believe it either. She could have this now? Really?

It spread warm and thick through her, like a pink fog of happiness that settled in her heart like a punch. She could have this now. Always.

His smile was so ridiculously happy when he let go of her lips but not of her face.

"Yes," he whispered, smile wide and full and new and weird, his thumbs still brushing her cheeks, her temples, the sensitive skin underneath her eyes. "Every time you want."

Setting Tag: Post-R but before S.

A little break-up arc aftermath for you guys :) Because these two deserve it.