Work Text:
31 December 1999
Makoto's Apartment, 9 PM
"You literally put two kegs in the trunk and two in the backseat?" Makoto asked dubiously, peering inside Neph's car. "Dammit, Nik! Where am I supposed to fit the trays and-- and the fucking sheetcake? Can you at least fit a third keg in the trunk?"
Neph shifted uncomfortably, briefly knotting his hand in his hair at the back of his neck as he surveyed the contents of the trunk. "Well I guess. Can I leave the grinder and chainsaw and stuff in your living room until we get back?"
Mako looked at him in disbelief. "You didn't move that shit out of the car before you left the frat house? Did it not occur to you to drop off the kegs and all this junk there first? Then maybe come here after that to pick me - the person with all the food - up?"
Pulling a face, Neph gestured helplessly. "I don't want this stuff lying around where anyone can find it, like, the frat house is going to be so full that no room will be sacred. Even locked ones. Especially locked ones. Do you really want Minako finding the grinder and badly singing Darling Nikki while swinging it around and taking a couple layers of skin off whoever tries to take it away from her?"
"Why do you even have a grinder?" Makoto asked helplessly, tugging at her ponytail and trying not to get aggravated. Trying.
"Renovations!"
"Did you NOT THINK THROUGH having a chainsaw-- and a blowtorch?? And what the hell even is that thing? Anywhere that Zoisite could get at them, unsupervised, on a GOOD day?"
"It's a table saw Jay took apart..." Neph trailed off unhappily.
"Fine. FINE. Put them in my living room. They are OUT the minute we get back here," Mako finally said, a sharper tone entering her voice than she really intended, and Neph immediately started looking surly. "I'll help you move it all," she added with a sigh.
"Don't put yourself out," Neph grumbled. "I've got it. You've got food to carry."
"Which you HAD been going to help me with." Makoto snapped as she turned on her heel and stalked back to the open door of her apartment, seething.
Neph's shoulders sagged as he watched her go. He turned and started pulling dangerous equipment out of the trunk of his car, muttering to himself. "Great fucking way to start a party."
~~~
When Mako got back with the first tray of food, she was silent. She left it on top of the car, then grabbed the chainsaw case handle in one hand while picking up the bag of table saw parts with the other, and started stalking back again. Neph called after her hopefully, "Third and fourth kegs in the trunk."
Her steps slowed, and she glanced back at him over her shoulder. "Okay," she said, sounding tired, which was an improvement over pissed, but still made him feel bad, which kept his knickers in a recurring twist. Then, "Sorry."
That made him feel better. He picked up the sports bag with the blowtorch and the assorted non-pointy tools in it, then paused and put it down briefly so he could move the tray into the car. "Me too," he told her as he started following with the sports bag. The last thing he needed was someone driving by and seeing them, and deciding they wanted their party catered for free.
"I really-- I mean I thought everything would fit. But I guess if it doesn't all fit in a subspace pocket..." he continued, giving her a sheepish sidelong grin.
"Mostly I'm just cranky about the chainsaw," Makoto said philosophically, hefting it for him to see as she nudged the door open with her butt and held it for him. "My plants are already offended, I can tell."
"Put it in the pantry?" Neph suggested, following her in and setting down the sports bag, then trading out for another tray of food.
"And make all my flour smell like a two-stroke engine? Hell no. Bathroom. Then I can baking-soda and scented-candle the hell out of it when I get home."
"Did you just verb baking soda and scented candle?"
~~~
He hadn't expected the vat of gelato. Abruptly he understood why it was a really good thing he'd put the fourth keg in the trunk.
~~~
The Frat House, 9:30 PM
"MAKO-CHAN!" bellowed Minako, swooshing out of the elevator doors, already looking like last night's party. She beelined for the taller girl--
"Minako-chan no! Food! Carrying! Hug when upstairs!" Makoto yelped.
"Why don't you get one of those bellhop cart things for luggage...?"
"Are we /that/ late?" Neph asked Minako, amused.
"Nik! Hi! Yes! No! It's not next year yet, there's still two hours to go, but we're already out of food and beer and Sander's looking for your stash and Mamoru won't let us break into the champagne yet and Usagi-chan already threw up twice--"
"Oh god."
~~~
"--no it really just depends on how you count," Mamoru's voice was saying over the music -- HEY NOW! You're an all-star, get your game on, go play! -- as the three came in, Nephrite hauling a keg in each hand, Makoto carrying a tray of food, and Minako carrying her already-drunk self somewhat unsteadily on high heels.
The prince glanced over and his face lit up. "Hey you're here!" And then lit up more. "MAKO-FOOD! Oh sweet more beer! Kunzite you can't keep using the excuse that it's all gone, you're going to HAVE to--"
"--have you seen Minako?" the white-haired guardian flat-faced at Mamoru, and the prince deflated slightly.
"Yes. Well, no, not in the past thirty seconds, why? Is she--?"
"She's all the reason in the world for me to stay sober."
...only shooting sta-ars break the mo-o-old...
ONE! TWO! Princes kneel before you, that's what I said now--
"Jesus Christ," groaned Mamoru, and went to go wrench Minako away from the stereo.
Makoto just stared. "Where's Usagi-chan?" she asked Kunzite, turning to give him a hard look.
Kunzite spread his hands. "She's the reason Endymion locked up the champagne until midnight."
Behind her, Nephrite was trying really, really hard not to laugh. Mako leaned back slightly and stepped on his foot, and he nearly dropped a keg, and even that didn't make it any less funny. "I call not it on cleaning up after her~" he sang out, then put the kegs down and went back out to get more stuff out of the elevator.
PRINCES! Princes who adore you, just go ahead now--
The stereo cut out, much to the consternation of roughly half the people in the living room -- there was groaning -- and on cue, a super-delay-reverb-fx voice cut in with a loud-ass WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON'T HURT ME and that was apparently acceptable, because Minako started singing along, and dragged Rei out to dance with her, and Rei was reluctant for exactly five seconds.
Five seconds in, Jadeite started singing along-- on his knees-- with his arms outstretched and his face overemotive and having already tapped one of the kegs (evidenced by the pint he sloshed around with one hand).
Rei stopped being merely reluctant: she backtracked into both flat refusal and the balcony, where she could thoroughly investigate Zoisite's interesting clouds of smoke. This didn't discourage Minako; she only started singing with Jadeite instead, acting out a drunken impromptu performance of what Makoto supposed was her idea of the song's narrative, such as it was. Jadeite was getting way too into it. Kunzite was studiously ignoring both of them, choosing, instead, to back Mamoru up in fishing Usagi's hair out of a locked door.
Makoto sighed, laughed, and then went to set the first tray of food down on an empty table.
She met Nephrite at the door, where he was setting the other two kegs down. "What is love?" she asked him with mock seriousness.
"Baby don't punch me~ we don't need~ a new door~" he sang back, and she punched him lightly in the arm instead, laughing and heading out to get another tray.
~~~
"Where do you think Ami is?" Neph asked Mako, hefting another one of the trays while she picked up the sheetcake.
"Probably fussing with Napster on Mamoru's computer, trying to speed-create a better party playlist," Mako answered, starting for the door again, then stopping, a look of consternation on her face. "Oh shit."
"What? Oh."
'Oh' because through the door, they heard YO LISTEN UP, HERE'S A STORY ABOUT A LITTLE GUY THAT LIVES IN A BLUE HOUSE, AND ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT AND EVERYTHING HE SEES IS JUST BLUE, LIKE HIM, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE--
"...do you think we can get away with leaving and coming back when it's over?" asked Nephrite hesitantly.
Makoto considered this, then shook her head. "The only way to handle this is to wait until she's dancing--"
"She dances?"
"If she's drunk and this song is playing," Mako said firmly. "We wait until she's dancing and then get Mamo-niisan or Zoi to rig it so it'll take her sobering up to get into it again. And that'll take a while if she's already drunk enough to dance." She carried the sheetcake in the door, toeing it open in front of her, and sure enough, Ami'd left the computer and was dancing in the middle of the room, twirling her softer-side-of-Sears ice blue cardigan over her head.
Mako made sure she was on the side of Neph where Ami couldn't see her and drag her out to dance with a sheetcake, then snuck it over to the dessert table and went to fetch a cake knife from Mamoru's kitchen.
The rest of the trays were easy enough for Neph to lug in one by one. He eyed the kitchen door, then decided to go out and have a cigarette and get Zoi to rig Endy's computer, instead of getting in Mako's way.
~~~
9:58 PM
DO YOU HAVE THE TIME TO LISTEN TO ME WHINE? ABOUT EVERYTHING AND NOTHING ALL I WANT--
Nephrite surveyed the room as he sprawled against the back of the couch, managing it while still standing. He felt pleasantly buzzed, but wasn't sure where Makoto was.
Apparently Mamoru and Kunzite had eventually gotten Usagi's hair free of the door, and considering the future queen's paleness and hanging off of her fiance, she was probably in the process of sobering up after having taken care of some of the problem the hard way. Minako had Kunzite pinned to the wall with her chest, up on tiptoes, her stilettos hanging from her fingers at her side, and he had both of his hands on her shoulders, talking to her quietly. Rei was again (still?) out on the balcony with Zoisite smoking pot, and Jadeite-- oh, Jadeite.
Yes, there were other people there at the party. Motoki, for one. That Asanuma kid, for another, who'd had such a massive crush on Mako-- and another one on Endy; Motoki's wife Reika, Usagi's brother, Usagi's friend Naru, Naru's on-again off-again boyfriend Umino, that friend of Endy's from college and her fiance-- hadn't she had a thing for Endy too? --some painter he'd seen around before who had some hippie dream-related name and that the girls and Endy all knew (and that Zoi had steadfastly ignored (avoided??) every time he saw her)... some friends of Minako's from middle school that'd gotten back in touch with her later in high school, those girls who'd practically worshiped Rei, the one Asanuma was friends with...
...and Jadeite's ostensible date.
Who was having an animated conversation with Asanuma's friend Kotono about the X-Files.
Neph pinched the bridge of his nose, and went to go sling an arm around Jadeite.
"Jay," he said, and then repeated it implacably, "Jay. Jason Greene. You need to help me bring in the backup food. You can carry the cookies and shit if you want, but you have to stop staring at the girl talking to your date. Yes, she's very pretty. No, she did not come here with you. The girl she's talking to did."
"I'm not drunk," Jadeite muttered, his voice this bizarre combination of miffed and miserable. But he didn't shove Neph's arm off. "I just think they're more into each other than either of them is into me."
"I think maybe you shouldn't have flirted with Rei in front of them," Neph said sympathetically.
"Well it's not like she flirted back!"
"Of course she did. And take heart, buddy, she finishes that bowl and she'll be all over you, talking about the Fires of Mars and the Mists of Morpheus."
Jadeite brightened. "You think so?"
"I know so. This'll be what, the literal fifteenth iteration of exactly this sequence? Come on, help me with the food."
~~~
10:01 PM
Makoto leaned against the external kitchen-window counter next to the coffee, nursing a spectacularly pink drink with one arm folded loosely across her stomach, watching the party. Naru and Umino had already left, saying something about needing to make appearances at a couple of other parties before going home for midnight, and the room had cleared out a little as people migrated.
Well I guess what they say is true: I could never be the right kind of girl for you-- I could never be your woman~
Zoisite's voice was suddenly very audible in one of those random silences, and Makoto glanced over and nearly dropped her drink. He was stoned out of his gourd and hanging off of Kunzite, who was looking like he couldn't decide if he was tired, affectionate, both, or just wanting to go find Mamoru and avoid Minako's drunk. "--can relieve you of that shirt, too," Zoisite told him, pressing his head against the much-taller man's arm and looking up adoringly.
Makoto winced as Minako came around the corner and spotted them. "You can have his shirt, but I'm absequencing with his trousers and also his dick I have dibs tonight, Sander." A finger jabbed into Zoi's chest is rarely a good idea, but being drunk and sure of herself, Minako did not seem to care that the heat in that corner was spiking sharply.
"Absconding," Zoisite corrected in a hiss, letting go of Kunzite in order to round properly on Minako. "And you have dibs only so long as you remain conscious. Keep drinking, Pretty Soldier."
They both noticed at the same time that Kunzite was just gone. Minako threw up her hands. "Where's Rei!" she bellowed as she stalked off, and Zoisite's eyes scanned the room for a second before landing on Ami, who was trying to get control of Mamoru's computer back.
Makoto heard Ami inform Zoisite with the careful deliberation of someone who is incredibly drunk, "You could never be my woman." She had to leave immediately. There was too much chance of exploding in laughter at the look on Zoisite's face. Fortunately, there were dishes in the sink and dishes, oh, dishes she could do.
The song was still playing when there was a thunk from behind her, and she saw Zoisite making out with Mamoru in the doorway. All she could do was drag a soapy hand down her face.
By the time she'd rinsed the soap out of her eyes, Usagi was dragging Zoisite away from Mamoru and... leaving with him instead of Mamoru... and... she dried her eyes and desperately did not want to know who had dropped a hand on her shoulder.
"I need a drink," said Mamoru with quiet urgency behind her. "Can I have yours."
"...yes," Makoto told him fervently, put the pink concoction in his hands, and left. Maybe she could check the car. For something. That she might have forgotten. Or maybe she could find Nik.
~~~
10:17 PM
YO I'LL TELL YOU what I want, what I really really want! So tell me what you want, what you really really--
Nephrite hurriedly hit 'skip'. "No! God--"
Yeah... you are my fire. That one desire. Believe when I say 'I want it that way'--
He swallowed a little mouthvom and spluttered. "FUCK no! Who the fuck put this shit on the playlist? Why is it even on Endy's computer?"
BOOM BOOM BOOM now let me hear you say WAY-OH...
After slapping Mamoru's beleaguered keyboard again and squinting, then nodding, Nephrite surveyed Winamp critically (even if he couldn't help judging his prince for the Evangelion skin he had on the thing) and decided that what he could see of the playlist would do for now. He had a far more immediate problem: his big red Solo cup was empty.
Wending his way through the crowd -- seriously, was Asanuma dancing with Makoto? Really? And she had her HAIR down? For HIM? No-- no, trick of the light, he was dancing with Reika while Motoki let Mamoru hide behind him with a distressingly pink drink. As pink as his shirt. Only, why was Motoki being a wall when that was clearly Kunzite's job? Nephrite shook his head and decided that right now, his beer was more important. Again.
He kept going, keeping an eye out for Makoto.
"That's not what Zoi told me," he heard Jadeite say huffily, and then he heard Rei's voice and lifted his eyebrows, turning to look. He could afford to, the keg was right there. "Well Sander," she said pointedly, "was making out with Mamoru a minute ago, and now he's making out with Usagi-chan on the balcony, so honestly, what the hell does he know?"
Nephrite glanced over at Mamoru, but Mamoru wasn't behind Motoki anymore, and Motoki was trying to get rid of Mamoru's pink drink. Then he yelped and looked down, almost dropping his beer because something cold and wet had just touched his hand, but it was just the beer overflowing because he wasn't paying attention.
"He knows from making out with lots of people, obviously," retorted Jay in a frigid tone, crossing his arms.
Neph rolled his eyes. The idiot should take his chance while he had it. He sipped his beer and then meandered into the kitchen. The sink was empty, which meant Mako had been there, but had moved on, so Nik moved on, too. Back out of the kitchen and once more into the breach--
--and he found himself faced with Rei grabbing Makoto by the arm and pulling her into a dip-kiss.
Now he dropped his beer.
Makoto screeched in outrage and pushed Rei off, then rounded on Jadeite -- who had his camera out -- and punched him square in the face.
At this point, all Nephrite could do was let out an explosive laugh. It proved to be his undoing, since Mako rounded on him next. "I've been looking ALL OVER for you, you asshole, and now you're spilling beer on niisan's carpet, AND laughing at me, and how drunk even ARE you? And I--"
No this was definitely beyond the pale. "LISTEN, you KNOW he puts the beer rugs down whenever--"
"THAT IS NOT THE POINT! And you're still laughing at me! And somebody needs to rein Sander in before he fucks up everything Minako doesn't! And since niisan's in a traumatized ball in the back of the kitchen and god even knows where Kal is-- oh don't tell me you didn't even see Mamoru go in there?! You just CAME from--!"
It vaguely registered in the back of Nephrite's mind that Rei was cooing over Jadeite and helping him over to get ice to put on his shiner, and he thought, blackly, that at least someone was gonna get some tonight. He stopped listening to Mako and turned away from her mid-rant, walking off and grabbing a bottle of Mamoru's snobby microbrew out of the cooler, scowling.
I don't practice Santeria, I ain't got no crystal ball...
No one dared ask if the stormcloud following him was his own doing or Mako's.
He had to find Kunzite.
~~~
10:20 PM
Well I had a million dollars but I... I'd spent it all...
For once no one was on the balcony. Well, no one but the guy he was looking for.
Kunzite -- Kal -- was leaning back against the rail, completely ignoring the bold hickey on his neck and nursing a gin and tonic. He watched Nik come outside impassively, expression surprisingly not judgemental, and -- also to no one's surprise -- failed completely to comment.
Nik leaned against the railing next to him, popping the cap off his microbrew with a lighter and looking out at the city instead of in at the party.
After a long, brooding moment which involved a swig of beer, a lit cigarette, and a sour look, Nik sighed heavily.
It did not prompt Kal to ask.
Finally, Nephrite turned his head to eye his commander. "Girls," he muttered darkly.
"In general? I hardly think so," Kunzite responded levelly, then had a sip of his g'n't. "Relationships, perhaps."
"Yeah but, girls," insisted Neph, pushing up away from the railing and giving Kunzite a desperate look. "It was funny and she didn't think it was funny. And then she got completely unreasonable. Totally irrational! How the hell am I supposed to know what she's thinking?"
"You're asking me?" Kunzite gestured with his drink, indicating the party progressing without them, beyond the sliding glass balcony doors.
Minako was in the process of doing a striptease against Rei to the dulcet backbeat of Sublime, and Jay was already looking like he couldn't figure out if he was turned on or put out. Again. Rei, dancing against Minako dancing against her, reached for Jay's camera. He handed it over, thinking she might get an up-close picture of Minako's tits, and she popped the back of it open to expose the film. Jadeite looked like he was going to cry.
"She's so drunk you could probably set her blood on fire," said Kunzite flatly. "And Zoisite is in only slightly better shape than he was last year, and that's only because he's been smoking pot instead of drinking himself sick. I'm going to have to hold a lot of hair tonight. At least Endymion's hair is short." A beat. "He's also much less likely to drink himself under the table."
"No wonder you're drinking pine-sol."
"Makoto will be fine. Let her cool off. She loves you deeply, for some reason."
"Asshole."
"I believe we've met."
~~~
10:32 PM
So if you like to party, get on and move your body-- the Vengabus is comin'.
Makoto saw her opportunity and grabbed it. The dance music had just stopped, replaced by the strumming of a guitar on the stereo, and she slithered through the dispersing crowd of partiers to take hold of Minako's bare shoulders and gently steer her away to find a shirt.
Twenty-five years and my life is still... trying to get up that great big hill... of hope, for a destination...
Mina was flushed and loose and fumbling with the hook-and-eye fastenings of her bra with drunkenly numb fingers, shirt definitely Elsewhere. All of a sudden trying to reach behind her back after throwing herself into topless dancing was altogether too difficult; she dropped her arms, abruptly dizzy, and leaned on Makoto as she stumbled along partly in front of her but mostly beside her. "Did he see me?" she asked muzzily, so much vodka on her breath that Mako was pretty sure if you held up a match and she blew, you'd get a flamethrower.
"I'm not sure anyone didn't," said Mako frankly, far more tired than judgey.
"Good," sighed Minako, and then the words just sort of fell out of her mouth; she was too far gone to bother with vocal punctuation indicators. "I don't want a shirt it's too hot help me take my bra off it's pinching and Sander's a twatwaffle."
"Well that's what you get for wearing an underwire when you don't need one," Makoto told her, amused, and herded her into an unoccupied guest room. She steered the blonde over to the bed and locked the door behind her, then patiently helped Minako take her bra off and swiftly braided her hair, then tied the braid in a knot. "Why don't you stay put and sober up a little? Drunk sex is less fun, and Sander's gonna move in on your territory if you don't, anyway. I'll get you some water. You have your own bathroom, try and make it to the toilet if you're going to ralph."
"Okay. I love you, Mako. Everyone loves the mom friend but I really love you, Mako-chan, I really, really love you, you're so good to me always..."
"Lie down, Mina-P. On your side."
~~~
Nik slunk in from the balcony, finally, and didn't see Mako anywhere. He also didn't see Minako, so Mako was probably busy. That was good. She couldn't glare at him if she couldn't see him, and he was starting to feel bad instead of just frustrated. Taking care of someone would probably also make her feel better--
Come to think of it, taking care of someone in worse shape than he was would probably make Nik feel better, too. He started doing a headcount of everyone who was left, and it looked like Asanuma was the only non-Senshi or non-Shitennou left. Aggravatingly, the guy wasn't even drunk, he was cleaning up empty cups and plates like the helpful little baby-Jadeite-clone bastard he was.
He knew Kunzite was Just Fine Thank You and still on the balcony; he'd seen Jadeite leave the room with Rei; Ami and Usagi were in the kitchen making smores or something with Zoisite and the gas range and coffee stirrers; Mako and Minako were most likely accounted for...
...so where was Endy?
Nik frowned, finishing off his beer post-haste and beelining for the hall leading to his prince's room. On his way, naturally, the closest place to put an empty bottle was somewhere Asanuma had just finished cleaning off. It was a total coincidence, obviously.
He started looking in rooms along the way, knocking on doors that were closed, and heard Makoto's voice call, "Don't come in!"
"I won't," called Nik back. "Have you seen Mamoru?"
"He vanished in the middle of the Venga Boys."
"Thanks, I love you..." He waited for a second, then heard Mako call back tiredly, "I love you too. Find your prince."
Maybe she wasn't still too mad.
Next was the bathroom door, and Nik got a sinking feeling. He knocked.
Hey-ey-ey-eyyy, hey-ey-ey, I said hey-- what's goin' on?
"Find another bathroom," came Mamoru's voice through the door.
"Are you okay?" Nik asked, leaning his head on the door.
"I'm fine." The prince's voice was really controlled. Way too controlled.
"You don't sound fine," Nik said after a second. "Do you need anything?"
"No. Just for this party to be over."
Oh.
"Come on, Endy, are you gonna do this every time you have a party? Have you considered not throwing parties?" asked Nik with a sigh, thunking his head lightly against the wood.
HEY-EY-EY-EYYY, HEY-EY-EY, I SAID HEY! WHAT'S GOIN' ON?!
"Our place is the biggest. The parties have to be here. I'm just done for the night. I'm fine, I'm just done."
"Why do you invite so many people, then?"
"...are you serious? There are nine goddamn Sol Senshi plus us five."
"Fourteen Senshi and us five. Or fifteen Senshi and us four."
"Chibiusa and her girls aren't coming, they're in the future. BUT YOU SEE MY POINT, NEPH. I can't not invite them all, so a 'just us' party is already too big--"
"Why don't you go in your room, then?"
Mamoru's voice was miserable. "I tried. Rei and Jadeite are fucking on my bed. Go away, Neph."
~~~
10:37 PM
ALL THE SMALL THEENGS. TRUE CARE, TRUTH BREENGS. She left me roses by the stearrrrs, surprises let me know she ca-ares
"He's been in there since the Venga Boys," Nik told Usagi and Ami, sotto voce.
They were all outside the bathroom door now, and Usagi nodded solemnly, knelt, and started pushing pop-tarts under the door. "Mamo-chan," she said sweetly, "I think you didn't drink enough. If you were more drunk you could deal with the crowd better...also you need to eat something, and I brought you things that would fit under the door..."
Nik clapped his hand over his mouth, and Ami punched him in the arm-- and then he heard sniffling from behind the door and--
"Okay, seeya later. At least get him out before the countdown, you got like an hour and twenty minutes," Neph called over his shoulder as he made his escape.
~~~
"...a-and he doesn't even look at me, and *sniff* he only wants to talk business and, and training, and Zoisite's acting like he's p-prettier than me, and, and it's been days--" Minako sobbed nakedly into Makoto's shoulder, clutching at the taller girl's shirt. "Am I getting old? Am I not as pretty as I was--?"
"No, you're a lot more drunk than you think you are, Goddess of Love and Beauty," Mako soothed Minako, smoothing the top of the blonde's head. "You know we stop aging this coming year. Twenty-two is not old. And 'days' wouldn't be so unusual if you actually went to class..."
"...nooooo..." Minako tiny-voiced, trying to curl up in a ball. "I don't want 'days' to be a regular thing! That's the opposite of what I want!"
"Okay," muttered Makoto, "he's also a giant dick who doesn't pay you enough attention. Men are giant dicks. Uh-- and I guess women too?" she trailed off uncertainly.
"Anyone who doesn't pay me enough attention is a giant dick!" Minako wailed, and Makoto had to stifle the urge to burst out laughing.
~~~
10:50 PM
JUMP AROUND! JUMP AROUND! JUMP UP, JUMP UP AND GET DOWN! JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP
The door was booming. No, banging. No, someone was using a battering ram on it, maybe. Makoto, out to get Minako some more water, glanced in its direction as everyone she could see pogo'd around her.
"POLICE! OPEN UP!"
Rei leapt for the stereo and shut it off as Makoto started for the door, but was intercepted by Zoisite, who'd managed to smell like roses instead of pot??? and unfairly looked positively dazzling. Mako honestly wasn't sure if he was actually sparkling or if -- no, he was definitely sparkling, he had glitter all over. She mourned; there would be glitter on everyone everywhere for months.
"--then at least don't jump in unison, for Christ's sake, you'll collapse into the floor under you--"
"I'll make sure everyone calms down, officer," Zoisite was saying sweetly, twirling his hair around his finger, looking somehow both coy and apologetic. "Why don't you come back when you're offduty?"
Mako decided that a) she wasn't that mad at Nik but she'd let him stew, and b) she'd better goddamn get back to Minako. As the front door closed again, she started the music back up, only a little quieter.
Wake up kids, we got the dreamer's disease; age 14 we got you down on your knees...
~~~
11:03 PM
Minako and Makoto's bedroom episode was decidedly over.
"'Cause I'm just a girl, little old me, ...become so... cumbERSOME, I'M JUST A GIRL, PRETTY AND... la la la, um-- WOAH-OH-OH-OH I've had it up to HEEERE!" Minako sort of sang along in Kunzite's face, literally standing (precariously) on a box, hands fisted at her sides, wearing one of Kunzite's shirts and her underpants and nothing else.
Nik watched Rei storm out of the hall, Jadeite trailing her like a puppy, and sighed. At least they were no longer fucking on Endy's bed. He leaned on the outside kitchen counter, looking in, and grimaced at the froofy drinks Mako was blendering up for Hotaru and Michiru. Setsuna had brought a bottle of wine and was already drinking some, and...
...had he actually managed to forget to lock his safe? Or did Haruka bring her own Tamdhu?
Nik scowled and shoved himself upright, muttering incredibly foul things under his breath as he left. At least his favorite Reel Big Fish song was starting and he could have another couple of pints from the third keg, maybe finish it off. And maybe change Endy's sheets for him as a gesture of loyalty, friendship, kindness, and bro-ness. Or make Jadeite do it. After all, there was loyalty and then there was coping with Jadeite's jizz.
~~~
11:17 PM
Run away, run away, run away if you want to survive--
The song abruptly cut off. Nik, who was leaning against a wall with a sandwich in one hand and a beer in the other, looked up from his astrophysics conversation with Setsuna, and saw Minako leering at him with the face of Satan as synth violins, guitar, and echoing drums came on. He looked toward the computer in alarm and saw Zoisite blocking the big-screen CRT with his cloud of unbound hair, and his eyes widened.
I knew a girl named Nikki, I guess you could say she was a sex fiend; I met her in a hotel lobby masturbatin' with a magazine--
Very calmly, Nik put his sandwich down, knuckles turning white on the neck of his pretentious bottle of microbrew as Setsuna trailed off, looking mildly alarmed.
She said how'd you like to waste some time? And I could not resist when I saw--
"LITTLE NIKKI GRIND!" Minako shout-sang at Nik from across the room, devil's eyes blazing like a cerulean inferno. She was, of course, still wearing Kal's shirt and no pants, she was literally grinding against the air, and she had a bottle of gin in one hand.
Probably Kal's gin, too.
"Excuse me," Nik said tightly to Setsuna, and stalked off.
~~~
Nik brought his beer with him up to the roof. He was drunk enough already that the stars swam uncertainly, but everything they told him was gently teasing anyway. His hands shook, the rage not nearly drained out of him yet, and he wanted to throw things, he wanted to smash things. But he knew no one would be wearing shoes in the morning, and whoever came up to smoke a cigarette would get cut feet, and if he and Mako were still fighting by then it'd be her and that would be awful and also really very his fault--
--so he put the unfinished bottle down and tried stalking for a while.
No good. He could still fucking hear Darling Nikki from the stairwell. He'd have to drown it out.
Not. A. Problem. He could already feel the rant bubbling up from the depths.
A beat; he let it simmer before coming to a full boil.
"O WOE BETIDE THE MAN who breaketh troth," Nik began, throwing an arm out to encompass the stars and the skyline, stentorian voice booming across the rooftop and falling into the cold air. It dampened the sound of the music and talking from downstairs, and drowned out the street celebrations and other people's open windows, so it would most certainly suffice. He hurriedly continued, gesticulating.
"--in unsuspecting use of jibe and jape:
For comedy is naught if she be wroth
Who keepeth all the routes to his escape!"
A bracingly cold wind kicked up, lifting Nephrite's flowing locks up around his shoulders, brushing strands gently against his drink-numbed and chill-reddened face: he felt it could only be a challenge from the universe itself and he filled his lungs reverently, then coughed because the wind blew in his face and was fucking cold.
He remembered, then, that the wind was the domain of Ouranos, of Caelus, of Haruka Fucking Tenoh, and the coughing turned into choking with rage. He had to take a break for beer, because he was engaging in oratorial catharsis and one must always whet one's whistle. It helped him channel that rage, hone it to sharp and piercing perfection. Sharp enough to stab the sky between the stars-- between, for the stars were his.
No one could extemporize Fakespeare like he could. No one, ever. His voice lowered to a growl--
"Though all be fair in wars these soldiers wage,
This fairness doth belie the foulest soul!"
--before rising again and turning to a bellow, bursting with passion and emotive fury as Nephrite threw his arms to his sides in an appeal to the compassion and understanding of his friends, burning in the benighted heavens.
"Her GALLING action doth awaken RAGE
In him, whose Tamdhu, sneakishly, she STOLE!"
Nik pounded his palm after a sweeping gesture brought a symbolic fistful of the sky's drapery crashing to the expansive rooftop of his inebriated imagination. God. Haruka. Makoto was mad at him for joking and Haruka was a dick, film at eleven. He refused to acknowledge that she might actually have brought her own Tamdhu, even though she was more than rich enough, because the girls loved her, and they loved Michiru, and the smug superiority and mystique that flowed from them was enough crime for any smugly superior and mystique-filled frat boy to loathe. He wasn't jealous at all. Really.
It's just that they were mean and NOT brainwashed and the girls liked them better. Unfair.
But the worst of all-- oh, god, the worst, right, the worst was the attitude of the world at large to the approaching midnight. It made his ivory tower shake to its basement with tremors of fury.
Neph noticed, then, what the song downstairs had moved on to while he'd been absorbed in his improvised iambic pentameter, and it lit his wrath anew.
--a day late, a buck short; I'm writing the report on losing and failing: when I move I'm flailing now--
"Accursèd be the foolish-massèd plot!" he shouted, drowning out the song and the city and the stars and his friends and everything ever, because fuck everything ever.
"Its folly clouds all reason'd thought anon--
For in their choice of superstitious rot,
Fools deafen most, their sanity foregone!
"If only they could hear the joy of stars
Proclaiming this millennium of ours..."
...well I guess this is growing up.
Running out of steam as surely as the song was, Nik stopped before he ran out of things to stridently and pompously bitch about. He was also glad no one heard; he'd never hear the end of it, otherwise, for having fucked up some syntax and for egregiously ignoring a Shakespearean sonnet's thematic structure. Fuck pivots anyway, he was drunk, he was entitled to no pivots, pivoting would make him lose his balance and fall off the roof.
He finished his beer and looked at the bottle, which reminded him of Endy, because his prince was the beer snob who'd bought it.
And his prince was probably still in the fucking bathroom.
Nik sighed as the Offspring came on.
~~~
11:25 PM
Makoto stepped out from the roof stairwell. She'd been lingering, arms crossed and leaning against the doorjamb as she'd listened to Nephrite expound, Kenneth Branagh style, on the injustices presented him over the course of the day. She'd actually listened, despite having to cover her mouth to stifle laughter now and then--
--and she'd realized that her laughing at him hadn't been so different from his laughing at her. In retrospect, she could perceive the affection in it, and that it was an honest amusement born of appreciation for her and the way she functioned.
She approached easily as Neph trailed off for reasons of his own, and made sure to make enough noise as she went that he wouldn't be startled out of his bombastically drunken mind. "Nik," she called gently, "I'm sorry for blowing my top at you. I don't want you to change-- me getting frustrated and overwhelmed, you know, it isn't because of you, really. But I snapped, and I'm sorry."
You gotta keep 'em separated. Hey, they don't pay any mind -- if you're under eighteen, won't be doin' any ti-ee-ime, hey-EY! Come out and PLAY!
Neph looked over his shoulder and slowly turned around, eyes a little bloodshot from the alcohol in his system, but bright and piercingly clear as he took in her expression, took in her gait as her hips swung-- and then held out his arms to receive and glory in her warm, strong embrace and return it. "I'm sorry I laughed when I should have been backing you up. And that I frustrated you from the very beginning of the night. Pretty shitty way to welcome the new year, huh?"
"It's okay. Night's not over yet-- which, uh, reminds me." Makoto leaned back in his arms to look up, and grinned a little wryly. "Mamoru-niisan's still in the bathroom, and it's like... only half an hour until the ball drops. Plus Chibiusa and Diana got here and he's not going to want to miss them."
Neph grimaced slightly. "Did she bring her Senshi? Endy'll run screaming if she did, I mean, four MORE people and they're all teenagers..."
"Nah, just her and Diana. I think she's got the idea about Mamoru's level of tolerance versus her dad's."
"Good, okay. Let's go pry him out, then," Nik said as he leaned to kiss the top of Mako's head-- something she would never cease to thrill at, that he could reach it, without effort even.
They headed back down to the apartment.
~~~
11:28 PM
By the time Makoto and Nephrite got back through the stairs and the apartment and the dancing and had both grabbed plates of food before it was all gone (or someone tipped some off the table and made Mako angry), they saw Ami had ditched Usagi and Chibiusa and Diana by the bathroom door, probably to find another bathroom.
Usagi was sitting against the wall singing along with the song that'd just come on--
Movin' to the country, 'm gonna eat a lot of peaches...
--and Chibiusa was still trying to work on Mamoru, Diana on her shoulder with a honey bun hanging out of her tiny cat mouth.
Mako and Nik exchanged a look. If Chibiusa -- not so small anymore, but definitely still answering to her childhood nickname in this century -- wasn't even able to get him out of there it must be really bad. Diana must be the big gun.
"Endy," called Nik after Chibiusa came over to attach to his midsection for a big hug, "we brought you food."
There was no answer. Diana heaved a big sigh and swallowed her mouthful, then made a honey-bun-muffled sound in Chibiusa's ear. Chibiusa reached up and took the rest of it away so Diana could talk.
"Mamoru-sama," her sweet voice called, no longer inherently squeaky -- she wasn't as tiny anymore, but was a gawky adolescent kitten like her gawky adolescent princess -- and there was still no answer, but the silence seemed to have grown behind the door. It was clearly evidence of Mamoru being profoundly conflicted. "You can't give me more hugs than Small Lady if you're in there."
Silence, and then a hiccup.
"Nature's candy in my hand, or can, or pie," Chibiusa started singing along with Usagi, determined.
The guitar got more driving.
"Millions of peaches, peaches for me," Mako joined in.
"Millions of peaches, peaches for free," sang Nik.
"Millions of peaches, peaches for me, millions of peaches, peaches for free," everyone sang through the door, Diana joining in, and then--
"Lookout!" Diana chirped.
The guitar got distorted and the doorknob began to turn; Usagi scrambled upright.
"Millions of peaches--" everyone sang again, and started jumping as they sang, "peaches for me--"
And Mamoru tumbled out of the door and hugged Chibiusa and Diana until they both squeaked, and Usagi tackled all three of them from the side, and Mako and Nik grinned at each other and snuck far enough away to take some pictures before vanishing to let the little royal family bask in each other in private.
It'd be less than a year before Chibiusa couldn't visit anymore. Every second was precious to them, and Mako and Nik knew Mamoru'd be kicking himself for the bathroom incident after his pink-haired future daughter and Diana left again.
~~~
11:31 PM
"He doesn't honestly think he's gonna get anywhere following her around like a puppy, does he?" Nik whispered to Makoto as they came back into the living room.
Ittoh Asanuma was, in fact, following Setsuna Meioh around like a puppy, being overly helpful and bright-eyed and not drunk and solicitous. She was smiling at him with her little Mona Lisa smile and allowing this. He apparently took it as encouragement.
"I don't think he ever thinks he's going to get anywhere," Makoto whispered back. "I mean he has just as much of a crush on Mamoru as he has on me, and he's literally never tried anything with either of us. I don't think he'd know what to do if someone actually for real flirted back."
Nik shook his head, and then a muted guitar came on the stereo in a marching beat and the two of them looked at each other, brightening.
"Bet you can't," Makoto said with a little thrill up her spine, starting the ritual.
"Bet I can," Nik answered her, smile widening to a toothy, rakish grin.
They scrambled and hurriedly cleared off one end of the most solid table Mamoru had out.
When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you.
Taking their seats, waiting for people to notice what they were doing, Makoto and Nephrite both set their elbows firmly on the table and clasped hands, eyes shining.
--be the man who gets drunk next to you--
"On 'I'," said Mako firmly, and Nik nodded once, expression turning fiercely gleeful.
And I would walk five hundred miles--
At 'I', the test of strength began. They could go until midnight. They could go until morning. They could go on and on--
--just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door!
~~~
By the time the song ended, oh yes, people had noticed. The royal family'd come out of the hallway and Diana was sitting on the table, watching in fascination. "You still do this back home," she told them, smiling the prettiest little cat-smile at them, and without breaking concentration, they both grinned back at her. "We'd better," Makoto told her cheerfully.
"Where are your folks?" Nik asked the adolescent moon cat.
"I haven't found them but the laundry room smells like catnip, soooo..."
"Fair bet," Nik nodded. His concentration was absolutely fine until he heard Kal make a choking sound he'd come to recognise as a laugh, probably at the idea of stoned Artemis, and that was it for that round. His fist thumped backward against the tabletop.
--the sky was all purple, there were people runnin' everywhere, tryin' to run from the destruction, you know I didn't even care--
Usagi tugged at her hair, eyeing the computer uneasily, then glancing at everyone. Nobody was listening to the lyrics, so it might still be okay. "All right!" she said, clapping her hands. "This is now officially a drinking game!"
Say say two thousand zero zero party over, oops, out of time, so tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999
She skittered over to Mamoru's computer and hastily clicked on the next song.
We'll be singin' when we're winnin', we'll be singin'-- I GET KNOCKED DOWN! BUT I GET UP AGAIN! YOU'RE NA' EVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN!
Raising her voice and completely inappropriately getting Neo Queen Serenity's quality of chiming command to it, Usagi announced, "One beer for every time Nik curses. One beer for every time Mako beats him. One beer for every time Nik tries to distract Mako."
"One shot every time Tenoh tries to give me advice," Nik demanded as Haruka opened her mouth. She gave him a deathglare and he smiled sweetly, thinking about the catharsis of Fakespeare. "Where'd you find Tamdhu?"
"Ebay," Haruka answered, eyes narrowed.
"Oh," said Nik, deflating. "I want a shot now anyway."
Usagi poured him a shot, and Mako added, "One shot and one beer for everyone every time Nik asks for a shot."
"We're going to be unconscious before midnight," Hotaru said in something that was a cross between awe and dismay.
"What makes you think you're playing?" Haruka asked her, eyebrows raised.
"The fact that you think I'm not," Hotaru answered with dignity, and stole Nephrite's shot.
The biggest miracle of all was that one of the Outers just stole his drink and Nik did not mind in the slightest.
~~~
11:48 PM
I would swallow my pride i would choke on the rind but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside ...
Everything was loud around them, but the rest of the sound, the rest of the party, had all faded back away from them. It was like they were in a bubble, no one else even there, so focused were they on each other and on the contest of strength.
Makoto was grinning her challenge, and Nephrite was meeting her as long as he could, over and over, fighting all the way down backwards as she won, over and over.
Nik was grinning too, and it was a good mask for the contest they were really engaged in, the one that Mako knew wasn't against her, but with her. Every time they did this, she was quietly and patiently and firmly helping him continue to recover. It had been a long six years, and the kind of damage they'd endured in two lifetimes wasn't something that could be fixed in a year, or even ten or twenty-- and even then, they'd always have scars.
Diana had said they were still doing this in a thousand years, and it didn't surprise either of them. It was comforting to know.
He knew he was strong. She reassured him, again and again, that there would always be someone strong enough to catch even him. Losing was impossible. Losing would be impossible as long as he stayed by her side-- and she'd come save him even if he didn't.
~~~
11:56 PM
WHOOMP! There it is! WHOOMP! There it is!
"GO MAKO! MAKO YOU CAN CREAM HIM AGAIN, YOU GOT THIS IN THE BAG!"
"COME ON NIK, JUST ONCE! ONCE! YOU CAN WIN ONE FUCKING TIME!"
"MA-KO! MA-KO! MA-KO!"
"NIK-LAAS! NIK-LAAS! NIK-LAAS!"
"GO LITTLE NIKKI GO!"
"Jesus Minako would you cut it the fuck out?"
"I WILL NEVER LET YOUR DICK'S NICKNAME GO!"
"Fuck you--"
~~~
11:59 PM
"N-no fair--!" Makoto hooted bonelessly, collapsed over the tabletop in helpless laughter. "Nik, dammit--!"
Smugly, as everyone had another beer and Setsuna started pouring champagne with Asanuma in the background, Nik sat back and crossed his arms. "All's fair in love and arm-wrestling. Besides, I can make it worth your while by getting you photographic evidence."
"Don't you dare!" Mamoru called over as he hurriedly finished his beer and Chibiusa handed her future father a plastic champagne glass.
"Break it up, children," Setsuna said without raising her voice, but somehow loud enough for everyone to hear. The last song had stopped, and for once that night, there was no music.
Zoisite lurched over to turn on the television and get it on the New York channel, and Ami pushed at him, looking disappointed. "We're not going up on the roof to watch?"
"You'll fall off," Kunzite informed her, and she bit back a tiny shriek because she was, in fact, drunk enough that he was actually able to pull a Batman on Sailor Mercury.
Michiru pulled open the balcony door and let the bracing wind flow through the apartment, chilling the backs of sweaty necks and lending an air of realism to the hot mess of inebriation inside. Just a moment's wakefulness. The city was screaming in the background, and then it held its breath--
10...
9...
8...
7...
6...
Nik's fingers laced through Makoto's, and once again, there wasn't anyone else in the world.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
~~~
12:00 AM, 1 January 2000
That's great it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes and aeroplanes, Lenny Bruce is not afraid~
Their lips met, and the fireworks went off to either side of the island, over East and Hudson rivers simultaneously. It was for them. This moment may have been shared with everyone, everyone in the world, but it was also theirs alone.
Makoto unlaced her hand from Nik's, but it was so she could reach up and thread her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck and press herself against him, smelling of roses and sunshine and pink drinks and green leaves, warm like the sun on a spring day. He drank her in, world narrowed to their shared wish, their entwined souls, and what they planned on doing for the next thousand years.
It didn't matter that everyone else was drinking champagne and joking and crying and cheering, it didn't matter that several people's stomachs finally (or again) rebelled and there was a rush for available bathrooms, it didn't matter that Mamoru was holding Usagi's hair or that Zoisite was holding Ami's -- if your hair's shoulder-length, it's a lot harder to tie back -- or that Kunzite was holding Minako's; it didn't matter that Rei was at her cuddliest with Jadeite when he was passed out drunk on the couch with Haruka and Michiru groping each other next to them; it didn't matter that Setsuna was distracting Asanuma from gawping at Hotaru and Chibiusa making out by giving him a good-luck New Year's kiss--
It's the end of the world as we know it--
--the moment belonged to Makoto and Niklaas. His hands slid down her hips and around her back, then lightly cupped her bottom; he lifted and she jumped, wrapping her legs around him. She leaned in and breathed against his ear, "Let's go to bed and start the Crystal Millennium off right."
--and I feel fiiiiiine--
He didn't need any further persuading.
~~~
10:45 AM
Thy vacant brow, and thy tousled hair conceal thy good intent...
Nephrite awakened slowly, sore in a good way on top of being headachey in a bad way, and realized that Ella Fitzgerald was singing to him and an empty room. There was a depression in the bed next to him, but no Makoto, and the depression was cool. He reached up and pulled Mako's pillow over his head.
Thou noble, upright, truthful, sincere, and slightly dopey gent.
Nik slid the pillow off his face and frowned.
"You're myyyy funny valentine," crooned Makoto along with Ella, coming in the bedroom door with a heavily-laden breakfast tray that both smelled divine and turned Nik's stomach. "Sweet comic valentine-- you make me smiiiile with my heart..."
He knew better: he knew from hangovers. He knew that the scent of fried protein and fat and carbohydrates was just what the doctor ordered for a raging hangover.
And yet-- and yet-- he had had no idea, before, how long Mako'd been listening to his rant on the rooftop. He was starting to get an idea. His protest was a little lackluster, but conveyed his sleepy insult well enough. "Heyyyy..." he mumbled, pouting.
"Your looks are laughable-- unphotographable--"
Nik slowly pushed himself upright and slid back against the headboard. "Whaaaat?"
"--yet you're my faaaavorite work of art..." Mako was grinning as she set the tray down. Breakfast in bed-- and a full English, no less. Fried everything. Fried toast, fried pickled green tomatoes, blood pudding-- he was sure she'd have fried the orange juice if she'd figured out how. And the coffee. Maybe she had. Maybe that's what those unidentifiable things over there were.
"Well," said Nik slowly, "all right then."
She knew from his expression, radiating a love that surpassed the constraints of deathly headache, that it wasn't the breakfast that forgave the song.
"My new year's resolution," Nik said a moment later, with his mouth full, "is to think things through before doing or saying anything."
Makoto leaned over from where she was sitting and nibbling fried bread, and she booped his nose. "Don't give yourself an aneurysm," she told him with a wink.
"...come here, you," said Nik, starting to move the tray away, but Mako danced away from him and shook her finger sternly. "Breakfast first. Then brush your teeth at least. And then I'll let you catch me~!"
She lingered at the door, then blushed. "Brush your teeth really well."
As she vanished from the room, Nik surveyed his breakfast and thought about dessert, and decided it was the best new year ever.
~ fin ~