docholligay:

I stole this entire idea from @oshkeet, and it started off fun but then got angsty, and oh well, it’s been so long since I just quickly wrote something and posted it for The Funzies without overthinking it, so it’s not very good but here we are. 

It had been a very long night, and he was ready to go home. Just one last fare, he promised himself, and then he would prop his feet up, read the paper, and go to bed. One last fare, and these nice boys–no, girls–would be it. They had looked so cold standing in the rain. 

He reflected on his poor choices as the drunken howling echoed from the back. 

“Fight me, you long-ass bitch!” Seiya’s eyebrows met together in a harsh V, and she shoved Haruka’s knees back over to the other side of the taxi. 

“Don’t blame me because you can’t fucking remember where you fucking live! I KNOW where I fucking live.” Haruka looked at her, frowning. “And you can’t go there.” 

Seiya crossed her arms. “Can you?” Haruka narrowed her eyes, and Seiya continued. “Oh, did you forget, RUKA, that Michiru left your ass at the party? You think she’s super happy with you?” 

Haruka’s mouth fell open. “Tha-that was your fault, you PUSHED ME–” 

Seiya saw an in, and took it. “She was so pissed at you for causing a scene, I bet your bags are packed, or hers are, maybe you’ll get there and she won’t even be there.” 

It worked, and Haruka got quiet for a moment, her eyes wet, and she bit her lip as she looked down at the floor. Seiya looked over at her, her shoulders slumped, and, for a moment, felt like she had dealt an unfair blow. She sighed, and went to apologize, but her mouth did not even have a chance to open before Haruka managed to perform the miracle of feelings alchemy and  transmute her fear and hurt to raw anger. 

Seiya reflected that of all the places to get into a violent argument with a long-limbed senshi, the contained space of a taxi backseat might not be the most advantageous, and she managed to have this these thoughts punctuated with every strike of her head against the taxi door. 

Haruka straddled her angrily and punched her in the mouth. “Michiru’s gonna leave me because of you!” 

“I really don’t think so!” Seiya moved to block the next punch, but was saved by the merciful angel of a short stop in front of the Tenoh-Kaioh residence, that sent Haruka flying against the back of the seats. Seiya opened the taxi door and flipped Haruka over her head onto the sidewalk. 

She shut the door. “Drive, drive, drive, man!” 

The driver looked back at her and shook his head slowly. “Get out.” 

Seiya stared at him for a long moment, and then, realizing that this was her final destination, one way or the other, dropped a surfeit of bills out of her wallet and crawled out the door into the night. 

Haruka was waiting, and threw a drunken, lop-sided punch that missed Seiya entirely, Seiya grabbing her around the waist and throwing her off-balance against the stairs. Haruka grabbed her wrist tightly, and a voice came from the door. 

“Haruka.” It was cold and flat, and that Arctic sea could only be Michiru. 

Haruka let go of Seiya immediately and scrambled up the stairs. “Michiru, I–” She reached out for Michiru, but Michiru raised her hand. 

“Go upstairs and go to bed.”

“But I’m really–” 

“We are not having this conversation at this moment, Haruka. I have no wish to hear your inebriated palaver, and so it is tabled until such a time as I can deign to speak to you again.”

Haruka’s voice was soft, the water dripping from her bangs. “You’re really mad.”

Michiru closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes.” She looked back at Haruka. “However, I love you, and yes, I will still be here come morning. Now. Go to bed, please.” 

Haruka scampered up the stairs and Michiru turned her gaze to Seiya. “Well, I do hope you’re pleased with yourself, and that this has been a productive night for you.” 

“Can I come in?” Seiya sighed and started up the steps.

“You absolutely may not.” Michiru stood in the middle of the doorframe. 

“Michiru, it’s pouring!”

Michiru’s eyebrow rose like a flag to her own irritation. “By my heel, I care not.” 

Seiya braced herself against the doorframe and put her nose to Michiru’s, who did not move back a single centimeter. “You know, Haruka hit me first.” 

“Physically, yes, I suppose that’s so, and trust, we shall parlay about her role in your little altercation.” Michiru moved forward, and Seiya found herself unable to lay anchor against her sea, and backed up. “But please don’t play the fool with me, Seiya Kou, we both know I am too keen for it, and it’s tiresome for you to try. You goaded her into the quarrel for your own ends, because you know she will rise to it certain as the sun.” 

“Pssh.” Seiya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, what would I–” 

Her voice took on that ship-breaking ice cold again. “It is hardly Haruka’s fault that Usagi pays you no mind.” 

Seiya stood there in the rain for a moment, trying to summon up a defense, knowing that it was true, that her teasing of Haruka was always a distraction, and Michiru’s eyes bore through her and broke her. So she simply said nothing at all, grateful she was standing in the rain in case she decided to cry. 

“I’m sorry.” It was all she could say, and she turned to go, to where she wasn’t sure, still unable to recall her address, not really home, as nowhere had ever been home. 

But love and time had softened Michiru, and she called after her. “You may sleep on the couch. Leave before Haruka wakes.” 

She did not wait for Seiya to answer, simply started up the stairs to the bedroom she and Haruka shared. 

Seiya dripped on the couch, alone, and waited for the sun to rise.