O.O.O
A/N: This was "inspired" by Lips of Angel by Hinder. You'll see why it's not a full fic at the end of the story. Enjoy.
O.O.O
It was 1:30 in the afternoon but Mamoru was finally getting lunch. He was supposed to be done when breakfast was still being served in the cafeteria. Instead, a massive multi car pileup resulted in him making what was supposed to be his last shift much longer.
Sitting at his favorite lunch spot, a bench with a tree which perfectly provided shade, Mamoru unwrapped his sandwich. He was about to take a bite when his phone went off. He pulled it out and saw who was calling. Almost dropping his sandwich as he scrambled to put it down, he answered the call.
"Hello," Mamoru clears his throat. "Usagi?"
"Greetings," Usagi answered, trying to act dignified. "Am I talking with the world famous Dr. Chiba?"
"Usagi? Is everything okay?" Mamoru pressed, unable to let go of the issue. "It's like 3:30 in the morning there."
"I just...couldn't sleep and I knew you'd be up so I thought I'd give you a call," Usagi hummed. "So, is it official yet? Are you a doctor?"
"Kinda," Mamoru chuckled, looking at the time on his phone. "Officially it's supposed to be like 4 pm tomorrow but I have been called in to pick up another emergency shift. I logged more than enough of the necessary hours for the internships."
"Are they allowed to do that?" Usagi asked, unsure of hospital procedure. "You're still only an intern."
"Dr. Johnston was more than willing to sign off and accept responsibility under his license if anything happened," Mamoru explained, taking a look at his sandwich. He was half tempted to eat while he talked but knowing his luck if he dared take a single bite, Usagi would ask a question he wouldn't be able to answer properly and it would result in a misunderstanding. "He's been really impressed with me since your charity livestream."
"That picture you sent was so cute," Usagi sang as she pulled up the image on her computer screen to look at it. It was of a large group of children with signs reading Moon Bunny rules!
and 500K or bust as they sat in a large auditorium. "Did you set all that up?
"Well the kids love your video game streams," Mamoru chuckled, leaning back on the bench and looking up at the sky. "All I did was make sure the main meeting room was available, used my account for the viewing, talked with the activity director to make sure the kids had refreshments, and did it all between a double shift."
"Your amazing Mamo-ch, er, Mamoru," Usagi stammered, catching herself from using the old nickname. "I'm sure Dr. Johnson is going to be sad to lose you."
"Actually," Mamoru countered, rubbing his neck with his free hand. "He offered me a job here as soon as I finish my licensing paperwork. I could be working here full time by the end of the month."
"Oh…," Usagi faltered, the disappointment clear in her voice. "So...would you take the job?"
"No," Mamoru stated firmly. He already had contemplated the offer a while ago and knew what his answer would be. "Tokyo is my home. It will take like a week to get everything cleaned up and then I'll fly back."
"Oh good… I mean it will be nice to see you again and all," Usagi confessed, blushing deeply. "I…I was worried. I actually I've been worried since you didn't return for Christmas."
"Sorry, I pushed through and wanted to just get done as soon as I could," Mamoru reflected, silently kicking himself for not taking a break during the holidays. "Besides I didn't think anyone would miss me."
"I, I mean, we all missed you," Usagi corrected herself, shifting herself in her gaming chair. "I mailed you all those gifts, remember. All the girls were hoping to hear how America was big."
"Sometimes they feel more like your friends than mine," Mamoru huffed, wishing he was closer with Ami and the rest of the girls. "And Motoki has that little one to deal with on top of taking over the family business."
"They're your family and they care about how you are doing," Usagi chastised, trying not to be frustrated at Mamoru's obsessive workaholic nature. "I still want to be your family."
"How's Seiya," Mamoru grunted, deciding to address the obligatory bit of pleasantries. "Has he proposed?"
"No," Usagi answered flatly not adding
"Will he propose?" Mamoru wondered, deciding to push the issue. His curiosity was getting the better of him and he wanted to know how Usagi's relationship was going.
"I don't think he ever will. It's not in his nature," Usagi reflected, looking over at a framed selfie of her and Seiya making weird faces. She grabbed it and slipped it into a drawer in her desk. "It's over."
Mamoru paused, his eyes wide with shock. "Oh."
"Seiya isn't…he doesn't make me feel the way he used to," Usagi added, pulling her legs close to her body and wrapping an arm around them. "Not like the way he once did. It was more of a right time and right place situation when I felt like he was helping me with my loneliness. But now I'm even more lonely than I ever was."
"Oh," Mamoru struggled. Words dried and turned to dust in his mouth as he tried to figure out how to respond.
"I mean, it was fun. When we were together, we had fun," Usagi sniffed, fighting the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to cry. She had already cried too much over it. "I wouldn't even call it dating. Not really. I mean we didn't even announce it to anyone on social media because we feared how our fans would react. I didn't…I mean I never felt like I was really theirs."
"I guess I can understand that," Mamoru commented, the thought of his own most recent relationship fresh in his mind.
"The biggest problem was Kakyuu," Usagi lamented, bringing up an issue she hadn't even been able to talk about with anyone. "She has night terrors and is only cured by the Starlights singing her to sleep. Not a recording, they, in person, have to sing her to sleep to cure her bad dreams. Ami and Taiki believe it has to do with the effects of their planet being destroyed. I tried to be sympathetic but the last time they were here, we started making out, Seiya got called away to help put Kakyuu to bed, and left. It...hurt."
"I'm sorry," Mamoru stifled, resisting a yawn. It wasn't due to his lack of interest in the conversation but the long shift was getting to him.
Usagi paused, sniffling again but finally managing not to cry. "What about you and Megan?"
"She...gone too," Mamoru stopped himself from saying 'She couldn't take me calling your name in my sleep' with a cough. "It...it's just my usual fuckup. She said I was working too much and it's not like she's wrong. Sometimes I wonder if being a doctor is going to be worth all these headaches."
"You know it is. You are going to be a great doctor. You are a kind and caring person and are going to be able to help a lot of people," Usagi practically sang her praise for Mamoru. The more she did the more she felt a warm feeling spread through her stomach. "When you get back, do you think...we could...Mamo-chan…I need you in my life."
"Usagi, we…," Mamoru huffed, his frustration getting the better of him.
"I know, we can't," Usagi hesitated as she tried to do the responsible thing. Unfortunately, her loneliness was getting the better of her and she wanted to express how she felt. "I mean, I thought I could just call and act like I'm happy enough with being normal and the world not coming to an end. If Endymion and Serenity aren't together the forces of the universe send less monsters against us…but…I mean…you help to ground me and make me feel secure. In a way Seiya never did."
Usagi continues. "He was always on the go. With you I never had to worry about you not being there when I reached out in bed. I feel like..no I need you to, no I want you to know the truth. I miss you. I miss being alone in your apartment just reading manga while you studied. It was the most comfortable silence I have ever experienced in my life."
Mamoru paused. The confession hit him like he was slammed into a mountain. Usagi's words weighed on him and made him aware of just how exhausted he was physically, emotionally, and spiritually. His entire existence was weighed down as he thought of how long he had been on this journey to become a doctor and how doing what everyone told them was the right thing had pushed him past his breaking point.
If he was at his best he'd be ready for the usual scripted lines. 'This allows you to be normal.' 'You can do better than a grumpy gills like me.' 'It's all or nothing with destiny.' The words died in his mouth as the absolute exhaustion got the better of him.
"Usagi," Mamoru sighed, letting all the air out of his lungs. "...I'm tired."
Usagi paused. "I…I should let you go."
"No!" Mamoru snapped, sitting forward, keeping the phone cradled in front of him. "I mean, yes I'm tired because I'm on my second 36 hour shift of the week but I'm also tired on so many other levels. A year-long program turned into five years of me doing something that takes people over nine which I achieve by having no life whatsoever and every dumbass reason I used to keep going makes me feel like a bigger moron. Most of all I'm sick of lying to myself and to you and acting like I wouldn't cut off one of my legs if it meant you, the most amazing person in the entire damn universe would come back into my life."
Mamoru heard Usagi make some kind of 'eep' sound but it didn't stop him from continuing. "Fuck destiny and fuck every force that tries to push you and me apart. I have this giant Usagi shaped hole in my chest and I'm sick of trying to fill it with anyone or something that isn't you. I miss you…so damn much."
Silence followed and Mamoru became aware of what he had just admitted. He waited for a response but none came. He looked at his phone and saw it had only one bar of signal.
"And I'm in a dead zone," Mamoru groaned, resisting the urge to bash the phone against his forehead. "You didn't hear a fucking word of that."
"I…," Usagi croaked on the other end. "I heard everything. "
"Oh," Mamoru gulped.
"How about…," Usagi began, an unmistakable sound of happiness in her voice. "When you do get back here we have a long, honest talk about the future over a cup of coffee?"
Mamoru chuckled, "With as much as we have to talk about, better make it dinner instead."
"That becomes breakfast in bed in the morning," Usagi cooed in a tone which sent a happy shiver up Mamoru's spine.
"One...one step at a time," Mamoru stammered, as he resisted the urge to scream 'Hell yes!' "I…I should probably get back to work."
"And I should probably get to sleep," Usagi lamented, a smile on her face.
"Usagi…I'll be back soon," Mamoru promised. "I will do everything in my power to get back as quickly as I can." "
"I'm glad," Usagi commented. "Please come back so we can talk."
Mamoru smiled. "Good night...Usako."
"Do your best and I'll see you soon," Usagi cooed, hugging herself. "...Mamo-chan."
The two hung up and. stared at their phones for a second. They closed their eyes, and kissed the screen, as if hoping their true emotions would travel to the one they loved.
On one side of the world Mamoru inhaled his lunch and went back to finish his shift. On the other side, Usagi crawled into bed and hugged a Tuxedo Mask plush close to her cheek. Both had content smiles on her face.
O.O.O
A/N: I decided to make this "inspired by" instead of becoming a full song fic. I heard the song while having lunch like a month ago and this story slowly came together. I grabbed onto more of the "I guess we never really moved on part" and realized I couldn't make use of the full song of Lips of an Angel with the lyrics because if I did Usagi would still be Seiya and Mamoru with Megan as they called. I wanted more fluff in it instead.
Think of it more like Antigone's "A Thousand Cuts" where they just stopped dating trying to keep each other safe. Not a bad breakup.
Reviews are love and they help me keep writing. I'll get back to my other WIPs soon.