Work Text:
It was just another study session. Makoto had called everyone, but only Ami had said she’d be there, so Makoto had whipped up a small batch of lemon shortbread and prepared for a helpful but uneventful afternoon of prepping for entrance exams.
When Ami arrived, though, she was literally dragging Usagi behind her.
"Oh!" Makoto said, a little more abruptly than she meant to. "Usagi-chan, I wasn’t expecting you!"
"She needs to work on her English," said Ami, cheerfully but firmly.
"Ami-chan, you’re cruel," said Usagi, and her lower lip wobbled as though she was close to tears.
Makoto couldn’t help but sigh, but it turned into a chuckle halfway through. “Come on in.”
The three of them settled into their usual spots around the table, and for a while, things were relatively quiet after all. Ami settled into her high-level study guides, occasionally pausing to help Makoto figure out some problem she was struggling with. Usagi leafed through her English textbook, clearly not really studying, but unusually quiet. Occasionally she stared at Makoto or Ami with a weird look on her face.
"Usagi-chan, is there anything I can help you with?" asked Ami eventually.
Usagi shook her head. “No, no,” she said, with a grin. “I’m fine. I don’t want to interrupt you.”
Confused, Makoto put her book down. “What?”
Usagi just kept grinning. “Oh, it’s okay! I just figured it out. Mako-chan, Ami-chan, you two…” and, her smile turning into a smirk, she wiggled her pinky finger, “are like THIS, right?”
Ami turned crimson almost instantly. Makoto was pretty sure she was the same colour. “*What?*” she asked again.
"I’m not the naive young girl that I once was, you know!" Usagi sounded slightly defensive. "I know about Haruka-san and Michiru-san. Love can exist between girls, right? So that’s what’s going on! Mako-chan and Ami-chan have that kind of relationship!"
Ami’s face was so red it was almost purple. “Usagi-chan, that’s not exactly-“
"No, it’s no use denying it! Ami-chan, I’ve seen the way you look at Mako-chan when you think nobody’s watching you!" Usagi waggled her eyebrows at Ami. Then, picking up a piece of lemon shortbread, she continued, "And Mako-chan, I know you always make these cookies because they’re Ami-chan’s favourite!"
Ami looked down at the empty plate in front of her. “Really?” she asked, quietly.
Makoto, feeling suddenly exposed, could only laugh awkwardly. “Well, they’re easy to make, and I knew you were coming over today, so - “
"There!" said Usagi, pointing at her like a detective who’d nabbed the culprit. "That’s exactly it! Don’t worry, if you don’t want to tell anyone right now, I understand. But I don’t want to get in the way of your romance, so I’ll be leaving now!" And without letting them get a word in edgewise, she jumped up from the table and headed out the door. "Have fun!"
For a moment, Makoto and Ami both just sat there, in a kind of stunned silence.
"Was that just… to get out of studying?"
"I… don’t know…"
They tried to keep working, but of course it was impossible to concentrate. Makoto felt hyper-aware that it was only the two of them in the apartment. All the little things she could usually ignore - the way Ami tapped her pencil softly against her book as she worked through a problem, the way her hair caught the afternoon light, the brush of her elbow against Makoto each time she turned a page - became too distracting.
"I’m sorry," said Ami, after a while, looking up from her book with a sheepish expression. "I can’t imagine why she would think…"
Makoto shook her head emphatically. “No, it’s not a big deal! I mean, this is Usagi we’re talking about. She’ll say anything to avoid homework.” She laughed, a little too loudly. “And even if she really thinks we’re… well, you know… if we just ignore it, she’ll move on to something else.”
Ami nodded. “That’s right,” she said, seemingly more to herself than to Makoto. “Knowing Usagi-chan, she’ll forget all about it.”
***
But she didn’t.
She wasn’t annoying about it, exactly. In fact, she was downright subtle compared to her usual blatantly obvious interference in her friends’ lives. It was just clear, often at the most awkward of times, that in her mind Makoto and Ami were officially a couple.
"You know, I went on a date with Mamo-chan to the aquarium!" she said one day, in a casual tone totally unlike her usual bragging about dates. "The tropical fish were so pretty, and there’s even an audio tour… Ami-chan, Mako-chan, doesn’t that sound like fun?"
Or she would find some excuse to split up the group, taking the other girls with her and leaving the two of them alone together. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it seemed as though Rei and Minako had to realize something suspicious was going on.
She spent an entire afternoon enthusing about a manga starring a shy, bookish girl and the upbeat exchange student who won her heart, and how wonderful it was, and how touching their love story was, and how absolutely *everyone* should read it.
"It’s just like something that might happen in real life!" she said enthusiastically, practically shoving the book in Rei’s face. "Don’t you all think so?"
Rei, who had clearly stopped paying attention, turned to Chibi-Usa instead, looking exasperated. “What is she *talking* about!?”
Chibi-Usa rolled her eyes. “I dunno. She’s been reading all kinds of manga about girls in love lately - she says it’s for research.”
Ami and Makoto glanced at each other, but when their eyes met, they both looked away again.
***
Ami took a deep breath and rang the doorbell to the apartment. Even in this situation, the sight of Makoto’s cheerful face as she answered the door made her relax slightly.
"Ami-chan! Hi!"
"Sorry to bother you," she said, trying not to sound as nervous as she felt. "I just have something I need to talk with you about, if you’re free…"
Makoto gestured her into the apartment. “Yeah, no problem! What’s up?”
They sat on the couch. Ami, feeling overly self-concious, shifted a little away from Makoto.
"Would you like anything? I can make some tea…"
"No, thank you." Ami had tried to think of some delicate way of leading into this, but had realized there probably wasn’t one. It was best to just get it over with. "The truth is, how Usagi-chan’s been acting… it might be my fault."
Makoto gave a little snort of disbelief. “It’s nobody’s *fault.* That’s just the way Usagi-chan is sometimes - “
Ami shook her head. “No. When it comes to peoples’ feelings, Usagi-chan can be very perceptive. Remember she said that she noticed the way I look at you… I do look at you differently from everyone else.” The words spilled out in a rush. “It’s because I like you.”
Makoto looked at her blankly for a moment. Then her face went red.
"Oh."
Quickly, Ami lowered her eyes to her lap. “It’s not that I thought you would mind! It’s just that you’re always talking about your Senpai, and you seem to like Motoki-san so much, and so I just thought there wasn’t any reason to tell you…”
After another moment’s pause, Makoto started to chuckle.
"I don’t think this is very funny," said Ami quietly, feeling crushed despite herself. Makoto clearly wasn’t laughing at her - Makoto would never, never laugh at her - but it was hard all the same.
"No! I’m not - sorry, sorry!" Makoto, with a weird, wistful smile, moved closer to her on the couch. "It’s just funny… all this time, you said you were too busy studying to worry about love, and I assumed that I, well, just… wouldn’t have a shot…"
Ami’s breath hitched.
"Are… do you mean…"
And, gathering up her courage, she pulled forward, leaned up, and kissed Makoto on the mouth.
She had only intended it to be a kind of peck, but Makoto responded by opening her mouth, and Ami, with no clue what she was doing, pressed her tongue tentatively between her lips. It was awkward but amazing, so intense she could hardly bear it, and after a few moments she felt like her heart would burst and she had to pull away.
In a kind of dizzy happiness, she leaned back into the couch, hands over her face. “That was my first kiss,” she whispered, stunned at herself.
Makoto gently put her hands to Ami’s. “I thought it was good,” she said, sounding unusually shy, but pleased. “You… didn’t like it?”
"No, I did…"
"Wanna do it again?"
"Yes!" said Ami immediately, as though answering a teacher in class, which caused both of them to break into laughter.
Eventually they stopped laughing, and sat together in a shy, anticipatory silence.
"Well," said Makoto, putting an arm around Ami’s shoulder and pulling her close, "I guess we won’t need to tell Usagi-chan."
Ami smiled and leaned her head against her. “I guess not.” Then she felt a sudden twinge of dread. “But…”
"But what?"
"…What are we going to say to Minako?"