927/Kiss

Kiss
Date of Scene:	21 October 2023
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	In an interlude at the Masquerade Ball of Princess Dia, giddy teenagers have their first kiss.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
With the help of delightful enabler friends like, say, Makoto and Adrien, Usagi and Mamoru made it onto the dancefloor and danced like they were the only two people in the room. Halfway through the first waltz, there's a transition from 'I learned how on Google a couple of days ago' and 'I'm watching your feet oh no' to 'hey this is easier than it looks.' They dance a lot better, in fact, the more lost in each other they are, as if remembering they've done this so many times before--

And then there's a little balcony over the street, with tall windows open to the night air, and Mamoru gently tugs at Usagi's hand to sweep them outside, just there. It's not large, and it's not private, but it's quieter than it is inside with the chamber orchestra and all the loud conversation.

Mamoru, masked and dressed perfectly for the occasion, is practically giddy as he takes Usagi's hand in both of his, and then lets go and pats his pockets down to come up with a box--

It's too large to be a ring, wide and flat-ish; it could be a necklace. He laughs, eyes bright. "I don't want to lead up or wait to give this to you, who knows how long we have to ourselves. I hope you like it."
The box is a little bit heavy for your average necklace.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Dancing had been something - incredible. Almost otherworldly, swaying together, moving in step, Mamoru's hands warm against her body. Usagi could almost forget her worries, forget that Adrien and Makoto were playing defense, could look just at Mamoru and lose herself in the music and his eyes and -

It feels a bit abrupt to her, and yet also perfectly in step, that they are together in a balcony, that the night breeze blows cool air and tickles her neck. They aren't entirely alone and it isn't private, but the sheltering walls of the balcony are quieter, and she smiles excitedly, because Mamoru is giddy and ecstatic and she loves to see the warmth in his eyes. She squeezes his hands and bounces every so slightly in her pink flats and is well - it is impossible not to be excited about a gift, a dance, and when he offers the box she accepts with careful hands, fearful of her innate klutziness striking.

"I'll like it no matter what," she promises, because she will, she would love it even if it was just a necklace of ring pops. And so she opens the box.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Even this -- being alone, ish, in secret, ish, feeling like they're getting away with something that can't possibly have any real consequences since they're just, they're just teenagers in love-- even being on a balcony with a fancy-dress gala going on behind them, even this socially fumbling giddiness and heart-in-throat excitement feels familiar. It's a wash of 'we've done this before' combined with a nonsensical feeling of 'why haven't we done this before now? Why did it take so long--?' despite it not being so very long at all.

Mamoru's watching Usagi's face, and he's saying, "I wound it up first--" and does that make sense? Is it a watch, like his? His voice is in the background of the lovely star-shaped golden locket in the box. It's large, it is almost the size of his pocketwatch, it's--

"You pop it open with that," he says in a low voice, curled down toward her, looking upside-down at the locket in the box. "Right there--"

And when she does, a chiming song, a music box song, begins to play and a soothingly pretty light shines from inside-- there's an image of a moon in the night sky, with some soft clouds near the bottom; a small red gem is the center around which the night sky and moon circle as the song plays.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She opens the box carefully, excitedly, with all the delight of a girl determined to love whatever she's gifted, because it comes from the person she loves. It's the warm, comforting kind of love, a love that's always been there and always will, that fills her with excitement to see him and comfort when he isn't there because she knows he'll be back. She doesn't, in general, question her feelings - she feels what she feels, and everything, in the end, works out.

This is no different. The box reveals a delicate golden star, and her face is soft with surprise and warm with love and her eyes sparkle as if they've captured the starry night as she gently touches the golden star-shaped locket in that box. Her breath hitches as she whispers, "Mamochan, it's beautiful."

It's lovely and huge without being ungainly, something that will fill her hand when held, and he said he wound it, does that mean it will play?

It does. She opens it, and it plays that soothing, sweet lullaby of music and the moon cradles a red gem, and moonlight shines on them from above, pouring through the open windows, and she rises up on her toes and kisses him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's a moment out of time, this entire breath away from the ball, and the chiming strain of music that drifts upward from the locket is audible above the music and chatter from inside, and the moonlight makes a glowing cloud of Usagi's loose hair--

It's a surprise in that it catches him unawares, this kiss, but it's not a surprise at all that it's so sweet and perfect. Like their dancing, like their hearts beating in time, like their held hands, like the warmth of togetherness, it's as though they've done this so many times before.

It's also like they haven't, because a bumped nose results in a smile, and maybe the smile becomes a tiny laugh, and it's chilly in that little alcove of a tall-windowed balcony-- in the night air. But there are only the two of them, wholly engrossed.

Bent down still, to meet her, Mamoru smiles against Usagi's mouth after another little kiss, and he rests his forehead against hers briefly and murmurs, "Do you know-- I imagined you'd taste like candy, but I didn't believe it could be true."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a moment unplanned but inevitable. With the haze of soft light from the dance floor and the moon outside, with the faint notes of music and chatter from the ballroom and the chime of the locket drifting up, the warmth of his body so close to hers -

Of course she would kiss him. Of course it was the first time, of course their noses would bump and she'd wobble from being up up up on her tiptoes, but he laughs, just a little, and he holds her close and she holds him and the space has a little unreality, a little too much reality.

"I eat a lot of candy," she murmurs back and giggles. "You smell like roses."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Unsurprising," grins Mamoru with his nose against Usagi's for a second longer, and then he pauses, uncertain in the light of the moon, hesitant in the glow and the sound from indoors, brushing against them with weightless warmth. "Do you have pockets, or should I carry it for you until we get back to the dorms?"

Of course he has to be practical in the middle of romance. But it's still-- he's still focused on her, even if he's ridiculous, even while he's tall and his eyes are dark in the night and his hair's pulled back and he's finally not overdressed, even while he's still a gangly teenager who's got it so bad he can't even remember if Usagi said she had pockets.

And he's more worried about inconveniencing his ballgown girlfriend with her hair loose like a waterfall than he is about getting in trouble with her friends--

--and he still wants to brush her hair. 'Should I carry it' he asked, and now a couple of seconds later, "Your hair looks like-- like one of those calm perfect waterfalls that look like blown glass." A beat, and he flushes and glances away and laughs. "You're very distracting."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I..." and Usagi visibly has to draw her brains back together to consider the question, then pouts as she remembers, "do not have pockets on this dress. You'll have to carry it for me a little while longer."

She's smiling at the thought, because it means he'll give it to her once more too. Under the moon light he's soft and sweet and his hesitation is gentle and she cannot imagine her life without him, not even for a second. He's integral, to her, him, and his roses, and his silliness, and his forgetting if she has pockets when she too forgets that she has pockets, and -

"I want to kiss you again," she says with a little laugh, a little smile. "Do we have to go back out, right now?"

It's partially from the compliment, from the way he admires her hair, so carefully brushed out just for him, but mostly because now that she's done it once, she just wants to keep doing it.