Withstand

"Boys…boys suck."

Rei nodded mutely, slouching over the bar top and wincing when she was jostled roughly by an arm thrown errantly around her shoulders. Half her drink was now a puddle, pooling rapidly under her elbows. She scowled, knowing that by the time she went home, she would smell like a wino.

"We don't need em!" her blonde companion declared hotly, tossing back another shot and nearly knocking them both to the floor in the process.

Rei nodded, sighing in defeat as a slosh of whiskey splattered across the toes of her boots. Lovely.

Minako frowned, cheeks slightly flushed. "You're supposed to be cheering me up."

"Boys suck." Rei echoed dully, though she was more focused on wondering how much it would cost to get her jacket dry cleaned.

"You're not very good at this, are you?"

"Sorry."

"I'm the Goddess of Love, you know." the blonde drawled, sweeping her free arm in a wide arc over the bar as though she were gesturing to her loyal subjects. "I shouldn't be exposed to such misery."

"Forgive us, for we are but mere mortals, your Highness."

"That's better."

Rei opened her mouth to reply and immediately clamped it shut when she noticed a man with an obnoxiously loud shirt approaching Minako's left side. Bad cologne wafted through the air, and an angry headache began to pulse behind Rei's eyes.

Fantastic.

He flashed the pair a disturbingly creepy smile, and for the first time that evening, she had the urge to set something on fire.

"Can I buy you ladies a drink?"

"We've already got drinks." Rei replied coolly, praying he would take the hint. She really didn't have the patience for this right now…

"But we don't have food." Minako stage whispered. "Do you think he'd buy us food?"

Rei gave her a look bordering between supreme rage and absolute confusion. Minako found this to be absolutely adorable as she struggled to find an appropriate response. There was a visible war waged across her features, and with a growl she opted to openly glare at the intruder instead.

Minako bit the inside of her cheek as she fought to contain her mirth.

"Ah, that's too bad." The man commented smoothly, propping an elbow on the bar and letting his eyes crawl over Minako's lithe figure, lingering far too long on shapely legs barely concealed by a short black skirt. "Maybe I could buy you another one?"

Minako's gaze flickered over to Rei, and she saw the flash in violet eyes as all of the guardian's muscles tensed. For the briefest of moments she was sure there was going to be a homicide.

Rei surprised all of them when she calmly tossed her hair over her shoulder and pivoted on her heels to face Minako. "You misunderstand." The fire soldier replied evenly, catching Minako's free hand and winding an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Eh?" Minako flushed a brilliant shade of pink as she was suddenly in the personal bubble of one pissed off priestess, her face buried somewhere in between dark hair and the curve of a shoulder.

"You see," Rei murmured, nuzzling her face against golden strands, her lips ghosting over her cheek and across the shell of Minako's ear. "this beautiful woman is mine for the evening." Her voice was smoky, and low, and it was doing very confusing things to Minako's insides right now, and God help her, if Rei kept talking like that…

The arms around Minako tightened, and she began to feel stupidly hot. Rei didn't seem to notice, and she could almost hear the smirk in the fire soldier's tone as she addressed their visitor once more. "So, as wonderful as this has been, I think it would be in your best interest to keep moving."

Minako forgot how to breathe, and so did the guy, apparently. He stammered broken apologizes, tripping over his own feet in his haste to depart. She couldn't blame him, really. Rei could be fucking scary.

She exhaled slowly, face still buried in all that was Rei-shaped, in awe of the skills she didn't know Rei had possessed as the arms around her went slack. She pulled back, finally catching Rei's eyes and blinking at her friend in a state of pure wonder.

"Rei, that was scary."

"I try."

Brows furrowed, and Minako tried to remember if Rei had always smelled this nice.

"You can let go now." Rei muttered.

The blonde laughed nervously. "Actually, I kind of can't."

"What?"

"Um, well," Minako tried, "I really thought you were going to kiss me there, for like, half a second." She chewed on her lower lip and tugged at the back of Rei's jacket, tilting her head forward. "And my legs won't work."

Rei looked as perplexed as Minako felt. "…what?"

Minako flushed. "I think I swooned. Maybe. A little."

Rei felt the tips of her ears burn, but stomped it down. "That's stupid."

"Rei, that was way too hot to just randomly drop on an unsuspecting individual." came the exasperated reply, but blue eyes twinkled in amusement, her smile just a little too wide for Rei's liking. "What if I had a heart condition?"

She received a derisive snort in response, but Minako plowed on. "Would you take me to the hospital and hold my delicate hand, whispering sweet promises of love and devotion, if I would just open my eyes?"

Another scowl. "That's it. You need to let go. Now."

"Absolutely not." she declared, tightening her hold in defiance.

A dark eyebrow ticked. "Minako, if you don't let go, you're going to have a completely different kind of condition."

"Rei-chan!" Minako gasped. "It's too soon for that kind of bedroom talk!"

"Bed…what?" she stuttered, eyes wide.

"Really. I'm disappointed in you. You should at least take me to dinner first!"

That was it. Rei snapped out something between a growl and a string of curse words, shaking her arms free and stomping off towards the door with and almost regal toss of her black mane, and Minako was right behind her, giggling as she scrambled to gather up her jacket and her clutch. Rei looked extremely flustered, eyes narrowed and sharp, posture stiff, but she didn't fight when Minako caught up to her and threaded an arm through hers as they made their grand exit.

"Hey, Rei?"

"What?"

"I do feel a lot better." Minako confessed, flashing the darker woman a bright smile. "We totally need to do this more often!"

Rei looked mildly horrified.

"Besides, it's sexy when you get all protective like that."

"Whatever."

"Rei?"

"What?" she muttered, pulling the door open for Minako as they stepped out into the cool night air.

"Boys suck."

She quirked an eyebrow as Minako's arm wound through hers again, but let it slide. "Yes. Yes they do."