Work Text:
None of the girls knew what to expect when Minako announced-- and she had announced, rather than asked-- that Haruka would be coming to their next sleepover. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say they all had expectations, but knew them to be incorrect and somewhat less than kind.
Makoto felt preemptively defensive. If Haruka dared deride any of their activities as too girly or childish, she was ready to fight. Ami was nervous that Haruka would not come without Michiru. She could not tell if she specifically did not want Michiru there, or if she thought a couple would be inappropriate. Likely, she conceded privately, it was both.
Rei braced herself for another boisterous blonde in the group. Usagi worried everyone, including herself, would be too flustered to have fun.
But when Haruka arrived, she did not appear boisterous or haughty or even suave. She looked nervous, shoulders raised, a plastic bag of clothes in one hand and a value-sized tub of cheese puffs in the other.
“I, um, brought these,” she said, handing the later to Usagi. “Thank you for inviting me.”
Usagi smiled and did not say she hadn’t invited her. “Of course, we’re glad you came! Everyone’s in here.” She took Haruka and the cheese puffs into the living room. They had their usual set up, squeezed just a little tighter to ensure a sixth person could fit. “So what sort of movies do you like, Haruka?”
Usagi had meant it as an innocuous question, but everyone’s attention shifted to them to wait for the answer.
“Oh, um.” Haruka scratched the back of her head. “I like about anything, really.”
“You can tell them, buddy,” Mina said from her spot on the couch, without looking up from the fashion magazine she’d filched from Rei.
Haruka flushed. “Really, anything is good, I don’t want to throw you guys off too much.”
There was a flash in Rei’s eyes that clearly said Too late , but no one voiced the thought. Haruka squeezed in to sit next to Mina, doing a poor job of feigning interest in the article she was flipping through on the summer’s hottest dress styles.
Makoto looked on from her other side. “You ever wear stuff like that?”
“Um, not really, no.” Haruka’s neck and ears flushed pink. “It’s just not really my thing? I mean, I had to wear dresses when I was younger, but…”
“Mhm,” said Makoto, and Haruka felt this was somehow the wrong answer.
Mina threw an arm around Haruka’s shoulders. “Haruka likes pizza though! We should get to ordering.”
Haruka tried to relax into her embrace. “Yeah, pizza’s great. Any kind of pizza is great.”
“Everyone loves pizza!” Usagi held up her phone like it was a holy sword, ready to order. “Pizza is the great uniter of the people.”
Haruka couldn’t help but laugh. “Actually, would you believe Michiru doesn’t like pizza? I didn’t think it was possible.”
No one else found it amusing. “She does seem the type,” Ami said cooly. Rei and Makoto nodded. Usagi still held her phone in the air, face contorted as she tried to process the words doesn’t like pizza.
“Why don’t we get two large pepperoni?” Mina said as though nothing at all had transpired. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ravenous.
Five uncomfortable murmurs of assent, and she declared the pizza would be on its way. For a long stretch, they all pretended to watch the pizza tracker. Their order had been received. The restaurant had not begun preparing it. Mina tapped her screen to keep it from going dark.
“You know, I’m pretty good at painting nails. Mi…” Haruka shifted and cleared her throat, sensing at the last moment that mentioning Michiru again was not the best course. “I could do it for you guys, if you wanted.”
“Maybe after the pizza,” Rei said. “If our nails don’t dry, it’s hard to eat.”
“Okay.”
“Look.” Mina tossed her phone to type side and pressed her palms against the table. “She did mine the other day.”
Her nails were a simple red. It was the most Haruka could do, but it was hardly impressive to anyone besides Usagi.
“That’s amazing! Why didn’t you tell us Haruka did them?”
Haruka had sworn Mina to secrecy, but she knew better than to say that. “It’s her secret power.”
“I’m jealous. I always get it all uneven.” Usagi pulled off her socks to wiggle her toes, where polish clumped at her cuticles and stuck to the skin around her nail.
“You just get too impatient.” Rei smacked at her socks. “If you just took your time--”
“I do, Rei, I do!” Usagi swung her socks in Rei’s face. “I go so slow! You’ve seen me, I just can’t do it good.”
“You only think you can’t.”
“Reeeeeiiiiiiiii.”
Makoto chuckled and leaned back on the couch. “You sure got them started.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean--”
She waved Haruka off, feeling momentarily charitable. “They get like this no matter what. It’s what you signed up for just by coming.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of nice. You guys are, I mean, when you’re just…” Haruka trailed off.
Makoto softened a little, loosening from the animosity that had built between them. “It’s always nice when people stop being on their best behavior for you.”
Mina beamed behind Haruka’s back. Even Ami, on the other side of the room, looked more comfortable. By the time the pizza arrived, she was sure this was going all according to plan. They all dug in happily, and for a moment it seemed nothing could go wrong. Usagi tried to match Haruka bite for bite-- a simple, yet admirable feat-- while Rei berated them both for their manners. Mako laughed at them all, big and loud, and Ami laughed small and quiet.
But as Mina knew very well, a victory so easily won was just as easily lost.
“It’s movie time!” Usagi declared when the pizza boxes were put aside in favor of various snacks. “What should we watch?”
Everyone-- besides Haruka-- threw in their ideas. Ami got groans for suggesting an Einstine documentary, but so did Rei for her historical drama. Mina, for once, did not suggest anything risque, but instead put forward a rom-com everyone had liked the last time they’d watched it. Makoto also suggested a rom-com.
And then Usagi pulled out a dog movie.
“Mama said this was really good!” She pointed at the cover art. “And the dog is super cute.”
“I heard they did a lot of research on dog behavior for that, it’s supposed to be very accurate.”
Rei nodded as though she was just as interested in scientific accuracy as Ami. “That’s my vote.”
“I’m down.”
Everyone looked to Haruka and Mina. “Um…” Haruka looked at the floor. “Wouldn’t you guys rather watch something more romancey?”
“Why?” Makoto asked, bristling again. “Is that all you think girls like?”
“No, I just like them, and--”
“What, you think the women are hot?”
If looks could kill, Mina would have murdered Rei on the spot.
“No!” Haruka waived her hands in front of her face. “I mean, sometimes, maybe, I don’t know, but probably not any more than you do.”
“Than I do?” Rei went tense, and the room went tenser.
“Than any of you, I mean.”
As soon as she said it, she knew it was a misstep. Ami blushed very red. Makoto looked to the ceiling. Rei crossed her arms, mouthing the beginning of arguments and shaking her head. Usagi didn’t look shaken, at least, just thoughtful, like maybe the idea just hadn’t occurred to her before.
“Well I guess the closet walls are coming down tonight, huh?” Mina said, too loud and cheerful. She clapped her hands. “We don’t have to unpack this right now, so why don’t we--”
“I think I’m gonna go.” Haruka grabbed her bag. “I’m making everyone uncomfortable. Sorry.” She was out the door before Mina could stop her.
“What the fuck, you guys?”
“Don’t what the fuck us. What the fuck you , you brought her.” Rei pointed an accusatory finger. “None of us wanted her here.”
“Yeah, you made that painfully clear. You could have been nice and gave her a shot.”
“I did and she accused me of--”
“Rei Hino you are a lesbian and everyone knows it, she didn’t accuse anyone of shit.”
“She was making fun of us,” Makoto said, tone terse and measured. “She thinks we’re too girly.”
Mina took a breath. “Firstly, projecting much? Secondly, she does like rom coms, and painting nails, because she’s a complex human being, and she just didn’t want to watch the stupid dog movie because she was gonna cry when the dog died, and she’d get all embarrassed about that.”
“THE DOG DIES?”
They ignored Usagi. Ami looked around, and, realizing it was her turn, shrugged sheepishly. “I just don’t like her much.”
Mina rose a finger, but then dropped it. “You know, that’s actually pretty fair. Thank you for being honest.”
Usagi, being ignored already, took the opportunity to slip outside. She was happy to see Haruka hadn’t gotten any further than her car, having taken a moment to brood behind the wheel. She forced a smile as Usagi approached. “You shouldn’t be outside barefoot, kitten.”
“I want to apologize for everyone. Can I come in?”
Haruka shrugged, so Usagi climbed into the passenger seat. “I didn’t know the dog died. In the movie, I mean.”
Haruka chuckled. “That’s okay.”
“I would have cried too.”
Haruka flushed, and they were silent for a long stretch.
“It’s hard to think of you as just one of the girls.”
“Yeah, I know. I get that a lot.”
“Not… not just that.” Usagi stared at the dashboard. “You’re only a year older than us, but you seem so… so far ahead. I don’t think Michiru would be any less intimidating. You know parts of yourselves we can’t even fathom yet. And you’re like, practically married.”
“And you and Mamoru aren’t?”
“That’s different, we have a whole other life and destiny tying us together. You just chose each other.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Haruka folded her arms over the wheel and rested her chin on them. “I don’t feel older than you guys, though. You guys have built this whole thing with each other, and I don’t have that with anyone. I mean, Mina likes me alright, and we hang out, but that’s it. I haven’t had a group like this since I was real little, and even then it was mostly boys.” She smiled weakly. “They stopped liking me when I started beating them at sports and not kissing them.”
Usagi laughed. “Well, you can beat me at all the sports, I’m sure, and I won’t stop liking you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!” Her eyes widened and she pumped her fists. “Let’s have our own sleepover in here!” She leaned back her seat and started to pull up movies on her phone.
“It won’t be comfortable.”
“It’ll be better than spending the night with meanie Rei. Here, this is a movie I’ve seen, nobody dies and it’s real cute” She balanced her phone on the window so Haruka could see. “We can have a nice little girls' night.”
Haruka sighed and leaned her seat back to join her. “I guess this could be fun.”
Mina looked on from the front step as Usagi hit play. The others would come around with time, she was sure, and if nothing else, this was a good start. She slipped back inside to make sure no one would interrupt Haruka’s sleepover.