AN: So, don't be confused. You didn't miss an hour. This is the first skip. I know some of you guys are gonna be sad about the skips, but as has been very fittingly pointed out to me, I simply cannot account for every single thing that happens in this elevator. And I agree. It would turn bland quite quickly, and as always, a little mystery and needed imagination, in my opinion, is the most intriguing thing about this set-up. And maybe I'll give you some more snippets of what happened in between as a drabble or two, who knows ;)

Thanks, ever and always, to UglyGreenJacket. For helping me, cheering me on, and mostly for all the time you spare for me 3

Fifth Hour

Mamoru's phone blinked the time at her, and she caught it out of the corner of her eye. 2am.

Usually, it was one of her strictest rules to not stay up longer than 2am. She could count the times she had broken this rule in her life on one hand – for a forgotten, due, term paper, for instance, or that time they'd kept Makoto from jumping into bed, or the nearest closet, at that party with that (drunk and too touchy) sempai of hers she'd been pining after for all her life, and who was clearly a douche –and she'd never broken it without protest or a serious case of Whining.

She was the kind of person, whatever the party Minako threw in their apartment, she'd simply get into her PJs at 2 am at the latest, and fall asleep with the party still going on around her in full blast, sometimes with her still in the middle of the living room, sleeping in pink bunny flannel, no matter the circumstance. Sleep was holy. Sleep was her thing. She valued her sleep.

And yes, her eyes felt hot and burning, and her instincts were screaming at her to lean over and just…. At some point within the previous hour, she'd skidded over, and now no longer sat across from him, but next to him, both their legs stretched out in front of them, backs to the metal wall, voices more hushed. And if she just leaned a little sideways, her head would fit very perfectly against his shoulder…

But as it were, the mambo her heart made every time she looked at the guy, kept her wide awake. And that tingling feeling she felt in her belly, once she'd noticed for the first time how his eyes tried fruitlessly to refrain from glancing down at her hands, whenever she displayed that nervous tick she had which involved her playing with the little pearly buttons of her blouse.

"So…" she said, with a sideways glance up at him, totally changing the subject, "when was the first time you noticed me?"

He started a little, as he looked down at her, and his hair fell into his eyes in that way that turned her knees to goo, and that angle was mesmerizing, but… was he blushing?

His eyes flicked from her to the wall in front of them with rapid speed, as he flushed, and stammered a little.

"… you, uh… it was at the Crown. Years ago. I was in High School. You almost trashed the place, loud and shrill, kicking that random game machine, because you also wanted a prize, when your friend got one."

Usagi blinked. Yeah, that sounded like her. Except that she'd never… Except that one time when… She blushed, put a hand to her face and cleared her throat.

Right. She still had that pen. It was a bit in-your-face girly, but very pretty, even when it didn't write very well at all, and her strange cat had been strangely protective of it that one time she'd considered throwing it out.

He chuckled at her, the movement almost causing them to touch elbows, and she inhaled.

And then she caught him stifle a yawn, and her heart started hammering.

No. She didn't want this to be over, yet. She wanted this to never end.

Her mind jumped. Looking for a way to keep him awake with her, when she blinked, and smiled, and pulled her phone back out. The battery was on the low side, but it would hold out. For a little while, at least.

She swiped her lock screen away, and tapped on it a little, before sending Mamoru a grin, and getting to her knees.

"Ready to hear some actual happy music?" she said, grinning.

He blinked, and she put her phone next to his when the first song of her happiest, preppiest playlist started playing, and she held her hand out toward him. The song was J-Pop's bubbliest finest, and Mamoru's look couldn't have been more bewildered, as he stared at her outstretched hand.

"C'mon," she snickered, wiggling her hand at him, and started to shake her bum in time to quick, preppy beat of the music, because yes, this was happy music.

He blinked at her, wide eyes falling rapidly to her hips and even quicker back up to her face, and she swayed them more, with a smirk, lifting her arms over her head.

The song – a fast-paced, exciting, boyband number that was literally named 'Happy' – filled the tiny, capsule like room to his incredulous look, and she giggled out loud, dancing for real now, flipping her hair and all, but still that outstretched hand toward him.

"Party in an elevator," she winked. "C'mon, dance with me."

Still those wide eyes, that slow shake of his head, the look that screamed 'I'm not drunk enough for that shit.'

She giggled. "What's the problem? Can't dance?"

He pursed his lips, his eyes once again flicked down and back up with considerable more color on his face. "I'll have you know I can dance spectacularly."

"Riiight," she laughed, her eyes still daring, her hand still outstretched.

"I can," he huffed, not moving a muscle to get up, while she lifted her shoulders to the rhythm and her hips from side to side with a laugh on her lips. "I did a class once. Teacher said I must have been a dancer in a past life."

"Uhuh," she giggled, and winked, wiggling her hand again. "Well, prove it."

He lifted an eyebrow, but the color on his face still gave him away.

"Ballroom dance," he said, imploringly, like a lifeline. "We're in a tiny cubicle."

She rolled her eyes, jumped up and down a little to the beat, and then forward, into his personal space, and instead of waiting around, she grabbed for his hands, and he held them up defensively, but started chuckling, laughing.

"C'mon." Her giggle sounded infectious even to her own ears. "I bet you can't even remember the last time you've danced for no reason."

He pursed his lips, and she hadn't expected it to happen anymore, but with one hand on his knee, he lifted himself up, and she whooped and jumped again, and he blushed even more. But he started to move.

And she shrieks and giggles and he is good, even when ever so slightly stiff, but she grabs his hips and makes them roll and it makes him snort, but then he's got it, and damn, how the fuck is that guy so sexy, and what kinda smirk is that and…

Only a little more, two songs, and he was laughing right along with her, even when shaking his head, and moving against her in that entirely distracting way that made her blush, too, and made his eyes turn a little darker. And that way his eyes suddenly shined, absolutely transfixed on her… did very funny things to her.

And when they both started jumping at the same time, the cubicle shook a little. Usagi shrieked immediately, and clawed her hands into his shirt, and he chuckled as she blushed furiously, but suddenly it became a more leisurely swaying… And he didn't stop, and he didn't remove his hands from around her waist where they'd flown to in her fright.

She swallowed.

"So," she said, a little amused, but with a voice strangely quiet for her, "you were a dancer in a past life?"

He blushed, again, and somehow, she knew the amount he'd blushed tonight was probably the same amount he's blushed in all his life.

He shrugged, the movement jostling her a bit... when did they start dancing so close?

"Maybe someone who had to dance a lot?" he asked with a wink, but it's self-conscious, and she blinked at him before it turned into a smile.

"Do you believe in that? Reincarnation?"

The blush spread, but he shrugged, again. His voice became a little pressed. "I don't know what I believe. I know we don't know …basically anything. Who am I to say there isn't such a thing?"

She just smiled, and relaxed, and felt him get calmer, their swaying a bit smoother, and yet again she was somehow pretty sure this was something he's never talked about with anybody, because he was taking longer to think between words and frowns, and has trouble finding the right ones.

"I sometimes feel... déjà vu. A lot today, actually," he winked at her again, "but... I dreamed a lot of crazy things as a kid... sometimes I just seem to know things. That's not uncommon for me, I suffered from amnesia as a kid, but..."

Her eyes widened and snapped up to him, but he flinched apologetically, and just talked right over that particular piece of information, and she let him.

"I knew things sometimes that no normal 6 year old would have… so… who knows," he shrugged, self-consciously, "maybe I was someone who had to dance a lot in a past life… among other things."

Silence settled over them, and she felt her heartbeat pick right back up, even when he started to – quite obviously – become uncomfortable again. "I know how it sounds –" he started, in that apologetic tone, again…

But she interrupted him, shaking her head. "I know what you mean, actually?" she said, eyes flicking back up to him. So close, like that…

She inhaled. "I had a lot of dreams all my life, too. Very specific, very crazy. And people would tell me that's normal… I mean, which girl doesn't dream of being a princess? They said? And I know, right? So cliché…"

She shook her head, laughing uncomfortably, and missed how he stopped swaying, just for a little, tiny moment.

"But... you know, I didn't? Actually?" Usagi continued. "Want to be a princess? Ever. It must be so lonely. Not deciding who to be with, what to become, all your life dictated for you... And then most the dreams were rather… unpleasant."

She flinched, and frowned, then sighed deeply. Way to kill the mood, Usagi.

She lifted her eyes back up at him, and started a little at the intense way he was looking back down at her. "Sorry. That doesn't make sense at all."

He shrugged, with a smile. "Maybe it does."

The song had changed. Still upbeat, but this one was slightly slower, and her heart started beating wildly when he came close, so close, and threaded his fingers with hers . He didn't let it show that he must notice how much they trembled, when he brought their hands between them, and his other slipped about her waist, when he started swaying them to the new rhythm, coming from hollow, tinny speakers echoing off a tiny, tinny, hollow room.

And her eyes latched onto his, and she couldn't look away. She was blushing like crazy, but yeah, he wasn't the player she had thought him to be. He was perhaps that perfect gentleman that Minako always claimed didn't exist, and he didn't say a word, didn't make a move, didn't let on that he noticed how she was basically coming apart in his arms. Just swayed her to the music.

Her heart beat faster than the beat of the song they were dancing to.

And he may be a gentleman, but her thoughts directly jumped to the contents of her bag, and the condoms she always carried with her, ever since Minako gave her that giant, mortifying lecture on how a girl should always be prepared should she get a case of the lusties, and not leave it to the guy.

And how her whole body trembled from where his hand was so modestly resting around her waist, at the small of her back.

His voice sounded so close, when he spoke, in that low, sexy purr of his.

"Well," he said, "this is turning out to be the most fun I might have ever had,"

She giggled. "Oh, in an elevator for sure."

"No," he said, his smile making way for a more intense look, "not in an elevator."

She felt that flush in her whole body.

She inhaled sharply, and it was a spur of the moment kinda thing, intoxicated by his proximity, when she stepped onto the very tips of her toes, closer, inhaling sharply.

His eyes found hers, a little wide, and she leaned in.

And then her battery died, and so did the song.

It made her look over only for a second, startled, back on the soles of her feet, but when she brought wide eyes back to him, he had loosened his hold on her, and let his hands slip from her.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Damn.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply, and she frowned at him, when he shot her that extremely sheepish, and extremely cute, apologetic flinch, but…

Something was different.

He opened his mouth to say something, but it wouldn't come out, and this time both hands flew into his hair, and Usagi frowned harder.

She was about to ask him what was wrong, when he took a step back towards her, and spoke so fast she could barely make out the words. As if he had to get them out fast or he wouldn't say them.

"Never have I ever met my parents."

Usagi froze, and so did he.

AN: Sooo… I seem to have a thing for making that guy dance. And I'm not sorry. XD

I've written this chapter to a whole playlist of songs, and obviously go ahead imagine what you will, here, but the song I've especially mentioned was a fun J-Pop number called "HAPPY" by三代目J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! And let me know what you think 3