REI

Minako was a complete idiot. Rei had thought as much when she returned home to find the blonde sulking on the floor in front of the apartment door, but she doubled down on her decision three hours later when she heard Minako throw herself to the floor, groaning dramatically. It was just after midnight and Minako had definitely just realized that she'd neglected to build her bed.

It's not that Rei had been paying that much attention to what Minako was doing, but when she'd initially gone to request assistance building her own bed, she'd clocked that Minako would at least need a screw driver to put her simple metal frame together and the blonde certainly didn't look like one to be prepared for such a scenario.

Sure enough, moments later there was a huff and the sound of shuffling footsteps as Minako appeared in the doorway. Distantly, Rei wondered why she hadn't bothered to close her door earlier to prevent this exact thing from happening.

"Sooooo," Minako drawled, eyes darting to where Rei was carefully arranging books on the single bookshelf she'd brought with her. "I may have forgotten about my bed until now and I think I need the drill to put everything together, but also need a hand with the boxspring and mattress…"

Rei pulled the toolkit out from under her already pristinely made bed and rose to her feet. "Don't worry, it'll be quick." She didn't know why she was offering comforting words to Minako, but they escaped her before she could think about it.

Minako seemed to recover some sense of dignity and smirked, spine straightening a little as Rei drew closer to her. "I love a good quickie, but don't you think it's a little soon for that? We've only just met this morning."

The last part was said in a low whisper near her ear and Rei resisted the urge to flinch away, settling instead for a small glare over her shoulder. She hoped that in the dim hallway lighting, Minako couldn't see the red creeping up her ears.

As expected, the simple metal frame was easy to piece together and Minako refrained from making more comments as they lifted the box spring and mattress into place. She did, however, toss her a wink as she collapsed on top of her bare mattress.

Unlike Rei's setup, her bed sat much higher in total height thanks to the box spring, and Minako's legs draped lazily over the side.

Rei averted her gaze from Minako's long long legs and the way her shirt rode up just slightly as she lay on the bed.

"You know," The blonde's voice drew on a teasing lilt, "I'll need someone to help me break in this bed."

She fluttered her eyelashes dramatically and Rei ignored the way her cerulean blue eyes had darkened to a particular shade of cobalt.

"I'm sure." Rei deadpanned, but it did little to wipe the cocky smirk from Minako's face. Rei scooped up her toolkit and turned on her heel to go, that damn musical laugh filling her ears.

"My door's always open for you, Rei," she called as Rei crossed the hall.

"Goodnight." Rei chanced one last look over her shoulder before closing her own door. Minako was still lounging on the unmade bed, head tilted towards Rei's room and a smile pulling at her lips.

Rei shook her head and clicked the door shut, ignoring the other woman's giggles.

She finished sorting the rest of her books and debated making herself a cup of tea before bed, but decided against venturing out of her room to retrieve water for her electric kettle. Unfortunately, she realized she'd still have to leave the room to brush her teeth and wash her face, so she might as well fill up the kettle.

Minako was still shuffling around her bedroom with the door open. Where the floor had once been swallowed by heaps of clothes, it was now mostly visible save for the corner of the room where she'd tossed all the empty boxes. Her bed was partially made and a few of her walls decorated, but quite a decent number of boxes remained unopened.

How could one woman have so much stuff?

Rei padded quietly to the kitchen to fill up her kettle. When she returned, Minako caught her eye from within the room. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked, eyeing the kettle.

"Making tea," she said, as if it should be obvious, which it was. At the curious look in Minako's eyes, however, she added, "Do you want some?"

The blonde beamed at her and she sighed, jerking her head toward her own door as an invitation.

Rei had just finished plugging in the kettle and setting it to go when Minako walked in, already blinking sleepily. She didn't say anything; she simply wheeled out Rei's desk chair and plopped down on it. Rei didn't know if she should be grateful or suspicious at the silence or lack of remarks.

She ought to enjoy it while she could.

It only took a few minutes for the water to finish heating, during which the only sounds in the room were the low whistle of the kettle and Rei carefully unwrapping two mugs from a box of dinnerware.

"Chamomile or lavender?" Rei asked as she thumbed through the organizational tabs in her tea box.

Both her kettle and tea box sat on a small metal dining cart she had thrifted some years ago. It had hooks along the front to hang her mugs, and storage below for her to keep sugar, honey, extra tea bags, and whatever else suited her needs. It had an oddly vintage look to it that blended in nicely with the wooden textures of the rest of her decor.

"Lavender, please," Minako replied, voice drowsy.

Rei selected two lavender tea bags from her box and eased the lid shut. She dropped them into the mugs and filled them with water. She had to walk back to the box of dinnerware to grab spoons, and she scooped one small spoonful of sugar into the white mug with a red stripe before giving it a stir.

Wordlessly, she placed the second mug, an exact match to her own save for the color of the stripe, a spoon, and jar of sugar in front of Minako at the desk.

The blonde thanked her and took a test sip before adding at least three spoonfuls of sugar to her tea. Of course she had a sweet tooth.

They sipped their tea in companionable silence and Rei found herself suddenly not minding the idea of having roommates. Minako was perhaps a bit of an idiot, and definitely a major flirt, but she wasn't all too terrible. She might – though Rei would never admit it – be outright nice to be around.

"This is actually so soothing," Minako was the one to finally break the silence. She had her legs drawn up to her chest and was holding her mug in both hands.

Despite the fact they were roughly the same height, she suddenly looked so small and Rei fought the urge to stand up from her perch on the bed to go to her. "Do you do this every night?"

Rei nodded hazily, an odd string of memories floating through her mind. "My mother used to make us tea every night before bed."

Once again the words were out before she had processed them. Her grip tightened around her own mug. She almost never mentioned her mother, especially not to strangers.

Minako didn't press her for more details, she just took another sip of her tea and let the words hang between them. "My dad always made me warm milk and honey if I couldn't sleep."

Rei didn't find it difficult to picture a younger, frazzled looking Adonis trying to wrangle a smaller version of Minako.

Minako yawned and rolled her shoulders. "I think that's my queue," she said, rising slowly from the chair. She looked from Rei to the mug and back again. "Do you want me to leave it in the sink for now?"

Rei waved her off.

"I'll clean them both out in the morning." It was both an excuse to dismiss Minako and the truth. Her routine every morning was to clean out last night's mug and set it on the drying rack.

Minako's footsteps were heavy with sleep as she retreated toward her own room. She paused in the hall and said, "Thank you for the tea, Rei. Goodnight."

Her smile was soft and Rei allowed herself to return the sentiment.

"Goodnight, Minako."

A/N: In case you didn't already know, the title of this fic was inspired by the Chappell Roan song, 'HOT-TO-GO.' If you haven't heard it, are you even gay? Definitely give it and her other music a listen. She's living rent-free in my brain.