MINAKO

Minako was not having a great day. In fact, she was damn near seeing red.

Her fists were clenched so hard she feared she would break skin, but she could do little else to stop herself from bursting through the glass window and shoving the mysterious woman away from Rei.

Never mind the fact that a separate, less homicidal, part of her swooned at the thought of Rei, sweaty from her workout, holding her just like that and kissing her senseless.

Who the hell was she?

Minako felt the urge to stamp her name all over Rei's face to get the point across.

She hadn't seen Rei enter the building, but she'd caught sight of her during her warmups and had nearly fallen over dead.

Rei had changed out of the sweatshirt and cargo pants from their breakfast date (yes, Minako decided it definitely counted as a date) and into a slightly cropped black sleeveless shirt and maroon athletic shorts.

Where Minako was quick to roll her eyes at the gym bros wearing their white Air Forces and white socks while working out, it was an absolutely delicious combination on Rei.

"Hello? Earth to Minako…" A hand waving in front of her face snapped Minako out of her jealous ogling.

Usagi held up the back of her hand to Minako's forehead.

"Are you alright?" she asked, tilting her head worriedly.

Minako clapped her hands together to clear her head, startling the shorter blonde before her. She grinned.

"Yeah, sorry, got lost in the sauce," she said, twisting a couple times to loosen the tension in her lower back.

"You mean shooting death glares at that couple?" Usagi translated.

Minako flushed.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're saying."

Usagi jabbed her in the side. "Liar. It's your turn for the range of movement exam."

As Minako breezed through the exercises and answered the trainer's questions, she couldn't help but let her eyes drift back toward the weight room.

She watched the mystery woman plant a kiss on Rei's cheek and her jaw dropped.

"Mina, concentrate!" Usagi snapped her fingers and tapped her pen to her clipboard.

"Fine, fine, fine," she shook her head to center herself.

The other woman was leaving, so it'd be easier for her to sneak glances at just Rei without her homicidal aura spiking. The stranger broke off toward the staircase and Minako lost sight of her.

Now that she was gone, Rei didn't look particularly overwhelmed nor underwhelmed. She appeared, as Minako would put it, just simply whelmed.

"Oh, wow, your hips are surprisingly flexible," Usagi muttered, marking a note on her clipboard, "Most people our age don't focus enough on the hips."

Minako winked at her. "Gotta stay flexy."

At that, Usagi snorted, giving her shoulder a little shove.

It was actually thanks to nearly ten years of gymnastics before she stopped to focus on volleyball. She'd always been fairly flexible, and staying active enough since quitting meant she could drop into a split if she needed to.

Selfishly, it allowed her a lot of wiggle room, so to speak.

Minako was hot (an absolute truth), and she was doubly hot because her long, long legs could move in ways people could only dream of.

"Hey, V, make sure you're ready to go out tomorrow after practice," Natsuna called from the sidelines, "Mandatory team bonding."

Minako rolled her eyes at the nickname, but saluted her regardless. "Yes ma'am."

"And I mean going out going out," Natsuna emphasized the words slowly.

Oh.

"Am I about to get hazed?" Minako hissed toward Usagi.

The other girl shrugged. "Probably."

Great.

Minako inhaled sharply and grinned. Time to prove she could hold her own against the veterans. Whatever they had planned, she would win.

Even if it wasn't a competition, she'd still win.

"Anyways," Usagi was still making notes, but Minako had technically finished her evaluation, "do you wanna get dinner together tonight? We've still got evals 'til 5:00 PM."

Minako glanced back toward the weight room.

It looked like Rei was starting her cooldown.

"Can I invite my roommate?" Minako jerked her thumb in the direction of where she'd just been looking.

Usagi looked from her, to the weight room, and back again, brow furrowing in confusion.

"That's your roommate?" she asked, looking like she was trying to math out a complicated equation, "But you were just–"

"–I wasn't 'just' anything, is that a yes or…?" Minako snapped defensively.

Usagi gave her another curious look. "Can I ask you a question?"

Minako rolled her eyes at her question being dodged once again, but nodded, folding her arms over her chest expectantly.

"You're not homophobic, are you?" Usagi asked the question quietly, eyes darting to the other trainers and volleyball players near them.

Minako choked, cheeks heating rapidly.

"Look it's okay–well, no, it's not okay–but I didn't get that vibe from you before, but if you are, I'd just really like to clarify that I'm not really down for dinner after all," Usagi rambled.

Minako grabbed her arms that had been flailing as she spiraled.

"OhmygodsnoI'mnotahomophobic," Minako whispered dramatically, "What even gave you that idea?!"

Usagi cast a nervous look in the direction of the weight room and smiled meekly. "Sorry, you were glaring at the two women in there so hard, I thought it was a gay thing."

Minako wanted to crawl under a rock and pass away. Had she been that obvious?

The last thing she was in the mood for was trying to verbalize any sort of crush on her brand new roommate to her brand new friend. But she equally didn't need to be branded a homophobe over a misunderstanding.

Usagi was still looking at her with that confused expression and Minako wanted to scream.

"Look, I promise I'm not homophobic. I wasn't trying to glare at the two of them earlier, you just have to trust me," Minako finally said, hoping it would be enough to get Usagi to relent.

The other girl seemed to consider her words for a moment before a look of understanding washed over her.

Minako watched as the doubt on her face shifted to pure pity.

Great.

"I believe you," Usagi said, grinning and patting Minako's shoulder, "and I believe in you."

Minako wished a piano would fall out of the sky and put her out of her misery.

Usagi beamed at her. "Definitely invite her to dinner."

Minako shuffled back toward the sideline where only a few of her teammates lingered, Natsuna included. She was getting a headache.

Natsuna clapped her on the back as she rejoined them.

"All good, kid?" she asked, opening up the circle to let her join, "We're just chatting about team bonding tomorrow."

Minako eyed the other veterans warily. The evil glint in some of their eyes was not lost on her.

"Surely I'm too pretty to die this young," Minako batted her eyelashes at them and puffed out her bottom lip.

Natsuna chuckled, "Don't worry, V, we don't bite." She gestured between herself and the other members of the team.

Minako sighed. "That doesn't make me feel better," she raised her hands in fake prayer, "Please, volleyball gods, spare this poor freshman from harm."

The veterans laughed and a few elbowed each other knowingly.

Natsuna ruffled her hair.

"Seriously, it'll be alright, we're gonna prove to those soccer bitches that we're better than them," Natsuna had a dead serious look about her.

Minako's interest piqued at 'soccer bitches.'

"What do you mean, 'show them that we're better?'" she asked, eyes flirting between her teammates for signs of an answer.

"Don't worry, you'll see," Natsuna shooed her away, "Just make sure you look hot and eat a good breakfast."

Minako smirked at that. "You can always count on me to be hot," she said, flashing a wink at the group as she headed toward the building entrance.

"Oh, and don't wear jean shorts to practice," Natsuna called after her.

Minako wanted to crawl into another hole.

Her teammates had given her curious looks when she sprinted through the door, and Natsuna specifically had laughed at her outfit.

"Don't rip your pants, rookie," she'd teased.

Honestly, Minako had expected to get more heat for her shorts from the rest of the team, but luckily it was just their physical evaluations.

As she made her way to the door, she realized Rei had disappeared, likely downstairs to shower or change.

Minako felt the overwhelming urge to descend the stairs and press her up against a locker.

To her great disappointment, however, Rei was the one downstairs and in a questionable state of dress and Minako didn't quite know where she stood on hot blondes accosting her in the showers.

Minako, personally, wouldn't mind a hot blonde going down on her after a workout, but alas.

Minako might be hot and delusional, and Rei was definitely at least a little bit into her, but Minako did happen to understand boundaries.

She decided to wait for Rei by her car. After all, the second best thing to having a hot blonde bend over for you in the shower was having a hot blonde posted up next to your convertible.

Minako heard the door to the facility swing open and hastened into a casual lean against the passenger side door, hissing at the feeling of hot metal pressing into the backs of her thighs.

Luckily, it was Rei trotting through the doors, a pair of clubmasters obscuring her eyes from view. She tilted her head to Minako in acknowledgement.

"Need a ride?" she asked, striding past Minako to the trunk of her car. She was back in her outfit from their breakfast date, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

Minako shrugged casually, "Depends on who's offering," she said, head following Rei's movement.

Rei smirked at her and she felt something coil in her lower abdomen.

"You're always free to walk home," she said, thumbing the lock button on her keys and popping open the trunk.

So it was like that.

"I don't know if you're offering the kind of ride I'm looking for," she drawled, lowering the tone of her voice just a little.

She couldn't quite catch the expression that flew across Rei's face because the trunk obscured her view, but the other woman didn't look phased.

It seemed the adrenaline from her workout was bringing out a different side of Rei. She was even hotter than she was before.

Or maybe it was that other woman who had brought out this side of her, Minako thought bitterly.

Minako slid into the passenger seat, leaving her door open to help air out the car.

Rei finished stowing her bag and with a beep, the trunk folded itself closed.

Minako watched her in the rear view mirror, debating if she should ask who the mystery woman from earlier was.

Rei sat behind the wheel and pressed the ignition. She fiddled with a few of the car's air conditioning settings before turning to face Minako.

Minako tilted her head curiously.

This close, Minako could just barely make out her eyes beneath her sunglasses. Those amethyst eyes were looking her up and down.

Minako felt a shiver rush up her spine and her pulse quickened.

The air was suddenly thick from more than just the afternoon heat.

She was about to lean in closer when Rei frowned.

"Your…friend invited me to dinner," she said, almost distastefully.

Minako arched an eyebrow. She hadn't expected that.

"Erm–yes, that's Usagi, she's one of the trainers," was all Minako could manage.

Rei's frown deepened. "I know."

She was back to short sentences. Minako wanted to scream, she really didn't get her.

"Well you're welcome to join us, if you want," Minako offered, "We'll probably just grab food from the dining hall."

Rei pulled the car out of the spot.

"I'll think about it."

Minako smirked. "What, afraid two blondes is too much of a good time for you?" she teased.

If she wasn't mistaken, she swore she saw a vein twitch on Rei's forehead. Cute.

"It's still not too late for you to walk home."

"Oh? And here I thought you were offering me the ride of a lifetime."

A/N: *checks notes* the author was allegedly not even the least bit sober writing the first several chapters of this story.