Yay break has started, therefore an update! For those of you in school, good luck with finals and have an amazing winter vacation :D Thanks so much for the reviews - they make my day so much better when I read them!

Enjoy chapter 5!

As the end of the semester rolled around, Mamoru found himself swarmed with multiple assignments and due dates, every inch of his agenda covered with ink telling him which class deserved which hour of the day. After coming back from class, Kunzite announced he was back and offered to help him out by proofreading his ethics paper. Mamoru gratefully gave it to him, however felt guilty that not even his roommate was immune to the university professors' punishment of giving assignment after assignment.

Mamoru took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, glancing outside at the rustling trees swaying back and forth, a branch occasionally hitting his window. He could hear leaves swirling in the fast wind, and noticed the sky darkening with grey clouds.

'Hm, a storm.'

He took the last sip of his coffee before getting up and walking over to the kitchen, where his roommate was dozing off by the counter, his ethics paper in his hands.

"Is my essay that boring?" Mamoru asked, pouring himself a new cup, and Kunzite staggered back, his eyes wide. The silver-haired man blinked and then shook his head.

"Sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Jadeite called, complaining about how his group members had given him a bad evaluation for their group project."

Mamoru chuckled and brought his mug to his lips. "What was it about this time?"

"They said the effort he put into his poster wasn't enough - apparently it wasn't 'attractive enough' for their target audience." Kunzite shrugged. "The usual."

Mamoru opened his mouth to reply but felt his phone buzzing around in his pocket and pulled it out, the words "ONE NEW MESSAGE" flashing brightly.

"Usagi?" Kunzite asked, lifting the paper to his face in an attempt to reread it.

"Um," Mamoru unlocked his phone, the screen shifting to the messaging app. "Actually, it's from my lab partner."

"You're still working with her?" Kunzite's eyes widened, putting down Mamoru's paper. "Mamoru, she's not good news."

'Oh, here we go again.' Mamoru thought.

"Oh, c'mon, she's a friend."

"She's obsessed with having the upper hand."

Mamoru frowned. "She likes being in charge, there's a difference-"

"She's bossy as hell."

The dark-haired man rolled his eyes and turned away, grabbing his cup. "Let me know when you're finished with my paper."

"So when are you going to tell Usagi about your lovely lab partner?" Kunzite called after him, "Y'know, the lab partner who's in love with you?"

Mamoru glared at his roommate from his doorsill. "She's not in love with me - she even told me-"

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his hand, "She told you you're like 'the older brother she never had', all that platonic bullshit." Kunzite picked up his highlighter, uncapping it to begin editing Mamoru's paper, "I wouldn't introduce Usagi to her if I were you."

The pre-med student frowned. "Usa's not the type to get overtly jealous."

Kunzite shrugged. "Maybe not Usagi, but I'm willing to bet all my tuition that she is."

Mamoru shut his bedroom door behind him, his back against the door. He glanced down at his feet, cup in hand - was Kunzite right? Would things really be at risk if his lab partner found out?

Shaking his head, the dark-haired man sat at his desk and grabbed his phone, skipping over his lab partner's messages and tapping on Usagi's contact, typing a new message.

-Hey.

'What are you doing, Chiba?' he thought, watching as the words "Read 1:17 p.m." appear over his message, 'She's going to take this the wrong way.'

Within seconds he received a reply.

-hey! :)

Mamoru took a deep breath and typed it out.

-We need to talk.

The "read" receipt hovered for a few minutes, and Mamoru felt his stomach plummet. What if she didn't want to? What if he was being completely ridiculous? What if he scared her off?

-sure! can i pick the place? your choices aren't exactly the best :p

-Yeah, go ahead. I'll wear my glasses.

-such a sweet-talker ;)

Mamoru smiled and opened his laptop, ready to continue working on his assignments. The tree branch hitting his window increased its speed, now tapping every second. Mamoru sighed and hoped that the weather wouldn't get worse when he met Usagi.

It did get worse.

Usagi seemed to not be paying attention to the weather because she opted for another picnic on the rooftop of the Student Center later that day, this time with takeout that Mamoru had to buy. She arrived twenty minutes late to the roof, apologizing for taking so long and blaming it on her outfit, which was a pink shirt and a blue overall skirt. Mamoru shrugged her apologies off before Usagi pecked him on the cheek, complimented him on his glasses, and opened the takeout as she rambled on about Ami's new research project for HLTH 3301. As she talked, Mamoru felt less and less confident about bringing up why he had brought her here, what he had to tell her.

Fortunately, she had been in her usual chipper mood all throughout their date - as they were walking back to his apartment, she was going on and on about how she couldn't wait to see her family after months of staying at the university, and had explained what seemed to be every single small detail of her parents and brother's appearances.

Mamoru simply listened to her rant on, giving a quiet "mhm" every time she paused. The chilly fall breeze swirled around them, engulfing the two in its light grip. Mamoru could start to feel some small drips of rain hitting the back of his neck and he briefly regretted not bringing an umbrella.

"Mamo-chan?"

The dark-haired man felt a gentle squeeze on his hand. "Mm?"

". . .never mind."

"No, no, what is it?"

Usagi was quiet for a moment before she sighed. "Why don't you tell me anything about yourself?"

'Oh.' Mamoru knew this question was coming ever since he texted her, ever since she agreed to see him today. He hesitated, unsure of how to start.

"Do I share too much?" Usagi asked, turning to face him. Both his hands were in hers now, and she was looking up at him sadly, her expression full of concern. "I know I talk a lot, but I don't mean to burden you or something."

"No, no!" Mamoru shook his head, pulling her gently towards a small bench, sitting down on it. A few minutes sitting outside wouldn't be too bad - the rain would probably stop soon, anyways. "That's not it, Usa - I love listening to you talk-"

"Then what is it?" the short blond interrupted with a frown, glancing down at her lap. "I know it's kinda early in our relationship, but I just feel like I don't know anything about you except that you like your coffee black."

Mamoru laughed softly and squeezed her hand. "I just. . ."

Usagi sniffled quietly. "Minako said you texted me because you wanted to break up."

"Wait, what?!" Mamoru's eyes widened, and guilt immediately flooded through him for making her misunderstand. "No, that's not why I called you here!"

She got up from the bench, her expression now confused. "Then why did you? You said we had to talk - what did you want to talk about? Why don't you tell me things?"

"I don't tell you things because I don't want to scare you away!"

Usagi blinked and pulled away, staring at him. "What?"

A loud clap of thunder caused them both to jump, surprising them. Drops of water started falling faster and faster, blurring Mamoru's vision as they fell on his glasses. As the rain began pouring down harder, he took Usagi's hand.

"Come on, let's go to my apartment."

"It was my sixth birthday, and we were driving somewhere to celebrate." Mamoru took a deep breath. "That was the last time I ever saw them."

Usagi nodded silently. She was leaning against the wall, the door closed beside her, as Mamoru was sitting on his bed. He was looking down at his sheets while Usagi stared at him, patiently waiting for him to continue. An occasionally flash of lightning lit up the dark room, but neither acknowledged it, the current topic the focus of both of them. The short blond slowly leaned forward and sat next to him, reaching for him.

"Well, that's one dark secret of my dark, dark past." Mamoru joked and Usagi laughed softly, rubbing her hands along his arms. He looked up at her, taking her hands into his. "I just don't tell these things so easily to people because I don't want to open myself up too much - they're private."

Usagi now felt really guilty for asking - she didn't mean to force it out of Mamoru. She just wanted to know more about him, who he was. "I'm sorry, Mamo-chan." she whispered.

He didn't want her pity. Years and years of seeing pity in people's eyes made him sick of it - he didn't want the sad, sympathetic look from her. "Usa-"

Usagi interrupted Mamoru with a hug, her arms around his shoulders. He rested his hands on her hips to bring her closer, but she leaned back, keeping her face close to his. "I'm sorry I asked - I know I'm very nosy."

"Usa, It's alright."

Usagi frowned. "But it's not! Mamo-chan, it's something important that happened to you - it's your p-"

"Usa, please," he said a little firmly, "I don't want to talk about it."

She sighed and looked down quietly. The thunder outside broke the silence in Mamoru's bedroom as neither of the inhabitants looked at each other for a few moments.

"Rei said she knew it'd be a bad idea if I was too nosy."

Mamoru laughed softly, already feeling lighter. "Well, you break into other people's apartments drunk, so I agree with that - you are nosy."

Usagi giggled, gently hitting him on the shoulder. "Stop bringing that up - you make me feel guilty every time."

"I'm just telling the truth."

"Well, I have a proposition."

Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "'Proposition'? Did Ami teach you that word?"

Usagi stuck out her tongue. "She might have."

"And what is this proposition, o great Tsukino?"

"I propose that we take a nap, together, just like when we first met."

"Hmm, why?"

"Ami told me sleeping releases a hormone!" Usagi smiled and grabbed one of Mamoru's pillows, hugging it. "It helps you relax, or something. It's what you need in this situation after your pushy girlfriend pushed some dark secrets out of you."

"You mean the hormone 'melatonin'?"

Usagi rolled her eyes. "You're a melatonin."

Mamoru laughed and leaned back, falling against his pillows. "Well, I'm up for that."

Usagi moved forward and snuggled closer to him. She rest her head under his chin, her arms around his chest. "You would make a great teddy bear for snuggling, Mamo-chan."

Mamoru frowned. "Are you calling me fat?"

"No, no!" Usagi laughed, poking his chest. "Look at all this lean muscle. You call this fat?"

"Then what did you mean?"

Usagi reached out and plucked his glasses off of his face. "I mean you're great at snuggling, you nerd."

The dark-haired man laughed and kissed the top of his girlfriend's head, taking his glasses from her. "You call me a nerd, but I'm not the one with the weird hairstyle."

"Shh, I'm trying to sleep."

It wasn't until moments later, when Kunzite softly knocked against his door, that Mamoru woke up, silently thanking his roommate for the edited copy of his paper. It also wasn't until he glanced down at the sleeping girl in his arms that he realized he forgot to tell her about his lab partner.

Shaking his head, he kissed her head again and began to doze off once more. It wasn't of too much importance - he could always tell her later.

Right?

Usagi hummed quietly as she skipped through the halls of the Natural Sciences building, swinging her bag back and forth. Mamoru had told her he would be in the lab all day, as some important extraction was taking place, and his lab partner apparently wanted him to be there for it. Minako had suggested Usagi visit him, as he'd be "hooped up, like a chicken", to which Ami corrected her with "cooped up".

As the short blond approached Lab 3.25C, she leaned in, watching the inhabitants in lab coats. She noticed Mamoru talking to a red-haired woman, whose back was to the glass. Usagi gently knocked on the glass window, waving at Mamoru. The dark-haired man's expression brightened and he waved back with a gloved hand, quickly saying something to the woman before him before heading over to the door to let Usagi in. The short blond rocked back and forth on her pink flats, her smile widening as Mamoru raised an eyebrow at her from behind the glass as he took off his gloves.

Usagi giggled and knocked gently on the door again. "Let me in, otherwise I'll use my special attacks!"

Mamoru rolled her eyes at her and opened the door, letting out a small sound of surprise as his girlfriend launched into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"I brought you a cookie!" Usagi reached into her bag and pulled out the small clear cellophane bag in which the mentioned dessert lay. "My TA for History brought us all end-of-the-semester treats, so I stole one for you."

"Well hello to you too." Mamoru chuckled, and Usagi stood up on her toes, pecking his lips.

"Mm, you're wearing a lab coat and goggles today?" the short blond poked at the safety glasses around his eyes, "I prefer your eyeglasses."

Mamoru laughed. "Yes, I think we both know how much you like my glasses."

"So, is this the wonderful girlfriend we've been hearing so much about?" A man with shoulder-length light brown hair in a lab coat walked up to the couple, glancing at Usagi.

"That depends." Usagi shrugged, smiling. "Have you been hearing good things or bad things?"

The man grinned. "Only good."

"Then yes!" the short blond grinned. "I'm Usagi Tsukino."

Mamoru gestured to the man beside him, "This is Zoisite - he's in our year but he acts like he owns the place."

"Well, I do!" Zoisite shrugged. "I've been in this lab since last year - you would think I'd know better than you."

Usagi giggled while Mamoru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Usa, let me introduce you to the others."

"Oh, please," Zoisite extended his arm to halt them, "I want to know more about Usagi."

Before Mamoru could reply, Usagi laughed, nodding enthusiastically. "Well, I'm a first year, I'm a Political Science major, and I think Mamoru Chiba is the most handsome-est man in the world."

Zoisite laughed as Mamoru turned a bright red, placing his hands on her shoulders. "U-Usa-"

"Mamoru," a new voice spoke up, and a tall woman with dark red hair swept back in a ponytail stepped up, her dark eyes behind her goggles watching Usagi, "Won't you introduce us?"

"Oh, of course!" Mamoru nodded and gestured to the new arrival, who was taking off her gloves. "This is my girlfriend, Usagi Tsukino. Usa, this is-"

"Beryl Morga," the woman said, extending a pale hand to the short blond, "Mamoru's lab partner."

"Nice to meet you!" Usagi shook her hand, a bright smile on her face. "If you're Mamo-chan's lab partner, you must be very smart as well!"

"I'd like to think so." Beryl nodded. She didn't take her eyes off of Usagi, slowly putting her hands back in her white lab coat's pockets. A silence fell upon the lab until the corners of Beryl's lips curled upwards, her smile not matching her icy expression.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Usagi."

"You too!" the blond took Mamoru's arm, "Now, let's get to the food I brought."

"Alright, alright," Mamoru nodded to the others in the lab, "I'll be back in thirty minutes - is that okay, Beryl?"

The red-haired woman simply nodded. "Have fun."

As the couple left the lab, Zoisite glanced at Beryl, who was watching them leave. "Beryl-"

"Don't, Zoisite." she replied softly, her eyes not leaving the window. "Just don't."

Zoisite opened his mouth to say something further but then closed it, shaking his head and turning back to his fumehood.