"Careful now", Michiru called out, a bit nervous, "don't drop it, and don't fall!"
"Of course not", Haruka gave back, the sniper watching somewhat unhappily how she climbed around on the top of the building, helping with putting the roof in place; the small house she had lived in before had been torn down, a task which had been fulfilled quite quickly, and they had used part of the money they had gotten for selling the Crimson Lance armour to build a new one, big enough for the two of them.
She held her breath when the roof was put in place, immensely relieved by the time it was done and Haruka, along with the other workers, climbed back down; the moment the blonde had firm ground beneath her feet again, Michiru relaxed visibly, shaking her head as she walked over to the taller woman.
"I still don't understand why you had to help with this", she told her, "it's not like they couldn't have done that on their own."
"Well, it is our house", Haruka pointed out, "so it felt right to help with doing that."
Having to admit that this was a good point, Michiru nodded, then looked past at her at said house; now with the roof in place, it was as good as done, and all they had to do was to add furniture, the sniper smiling to herself as she thought back to how she had arrived on Pandora, how unlikely it had seemed back then that she'd stay longer than she absolutely had to.
And now, the few days of rest she had suggested had turned into several months, time they had spent in Fyrestone and had used Michiru's money and the extra cash from the sold armours to improve the town's buildings and security; and she had used some of the money to send a letter to her parents, explaining that she wouldn't be back any time soon and that sadly, they would have to find another way to make money, with the vault having ended up not holding any treasure at all and her intentions to leave Pandora again having dropped down to zero.
Her father had answered quite fast, the letter arriving with the next trader to stop by at the town; he had demanded to know what was going on, why she wasn't coming back home, and had reminded her of the fact that the family still needed money, her only response to this being that she sent him some of the cash they had gotten for selling the armours.
He hadn't written again since then, and neither had her mother; and she was somewhat grateful for it, finally having admitted to herself that her father only had seen her as means to an end to get rich again, and that her mother never had been able to fully accept her, neither her interest in sniper rifles and shooting, nor her preferences when it came to whom she took to bed.
If she could see me now, she'd have a stroke, she thought to herself, smirking at the thought, even though it was a bit malicious, living in a place like this, with a woman like Haruka…
"Refreshments for the hard workers!" a cheerful voice distracted her from her ponderings, Michiru watching with a bit of amazement how Minako moved to the group of townspeople, balancing a surprisingly large amount of beer bottles and, despite that, walking quite fast, "on the house! Remember that the next time you want to fight and trash my bar!"
"Especially now", Haruka added while she accepted one of the beers, Michiru finding herself oddly touched when Minako handed her a bottle of water, having kept the fact that she didn't drink alcohol in mind, "after all the work we did there! Anyone breaks one of those new chairs, I'm gonna shove the pieces up their a—"
"Well!" Michiru interrupted her before she could say that certain word out loud, "that certainly was graphic, Haruka, I'm sure nobody will start a fight anytime soon now."
"What if you break a chair", one of the workers demanded to know, "will you put it up your own… uhm… butt then?"
"I've never broken a chair in Minako's bar and I'm not planning to start now", Haruka replied, the worker shrugging in response; deciding that this topic had been discussed long enough now, Michiru changed it by commenting on how glad she was that the new house was as good as done now, everyone nodding enthusiastically in response.
"Just two more buildings, then we renovated all of town", one of the men cried out happily, even bouncing on the spot a bit with excitement, to Michiru's and Haruka's amusement, "it's so nice of you guys to pay for all of this!"
"Well, now that I'm staying here", Michiru gave back, "I might as well make sure the town I live in is as nice as it can be, on a planet like this."
"Admit it, you never thought this would happen", Minako threw in, grinning from ear to ear, "when you came here, I bet you were all, Eewww, this planet is gross."
"Close", Michiru admitted with a slight smile, "actually, my first thought was that this planet is a dump. And that didn't change for a while, even though I started appreciating the people living here when I laid eyes on Haruka."
"How sappy", Minako said, rolling her eyes, while Haruka blushed slightly, "but hey, I bet you appreciated Haruka even more when you laid hands on her, right?"
"Minako!" Haruka yelped, her blush deepening, "you don't just ask people something like that, jeez, what is wrong with you. And it's none of your business, anyway!"
Minako waved her protest aside, the beer now having been distributed to the workers; Haruka rolled her eyes, and Michiru smiled slightly as she stepped closer to the blonde, putting one arm around her waist and immediately making the taller woman return the gesture by wrapping one arm around her as well and pull her closer.
"Just so you know", Michiru murmured to her, keeping her voice low to make sure no one else would hear, even though people weren't paying attention anyway, talking to each other excitedly about the work they still had to get done in town, "Minako was right, I did appreciate you even more after I laid hands on you. This whole planet got much easier to like, in fact."
To her amusement, Haruka blushed again at this, and cleared her throat noisily; Michiru smiled and winked at her, then pulled her down for a tender kiss, suddenly feeling absurdly happy as she looked forward to the life she'd share with the blonde on Pandora, and on the adventures they surely would have together in the future.