So Seiya and Naru, crack ship that it is, stuck in my head last night. This resulted.

Summary: 

Following Naru’s break up with Umino, Usagi decides to set her up with a certain friend from another planet. After a rocky start, can these two get along?

Note/warning: this story follows the anime canon, and also establishes Seiya as a trans boy.

Oneshot, 1730 words

You can read on AO3, or below the cut.

“It wasn’t… it wasn’t a bad break up; it wasn’t a fight or anything. It was just, you know, time.”

Usagi nodded solemnly, but of course she didn’t really know. She had something too time-defying to know. Naru was still waiting for the details, but she knew enough to see that Mamoru was a permanent fixture.

She picked the berries out of her ice cream and ate them one by one. “It’s strange more than anything. It’s been a long time since I was single.”

“Well, then we’ll find you someone new!” Usagi licked the last of her ice cream off her spoon. Naru pushed her dish towards her, and she wasted no time gulping it down. “I know! I’ve got a friend coming to visit, and they also went through heartbreak recently.”

“Usagi, I’m not heartbroken, I told you—“

“Yeah, yeah.” Usagi stood up from the booth and raised her spoon in the air like a beacon. “I will absolutely make you feel better! Operation Naru’s New Love begins now!”

Naru laughed in spite of herself. However much high school and being Sailor Moon had changed her, Usagi was still Usagi.

“Or maybe… it begins after I finish this ice cream.”

****

She wasn’t sure what to expect. The thing about Usagi was that she could be friends with anyone. Would this person be someone she met at school? An ally? Or… a reformed enemy? Naru’s heart skipped a beat and she hugged her arms around herself. Usagi would know not to do that, right? It wouldn’t matter how different this person was, it would still be too much, even years later.

She took a breath and smoothed out her blouse. She could trust Usagi. She absolutely trusted Usagi.

“Naru-chan!”

Usagi bounded up to her, arms swinging almost as wildly as her pigtails. “You look nice! Are you excited?”

“I guess I am.” Chances were nothing would happen, and she’d done her best to keep that in mind. She didn’t even want someone new yet, not really. But here she was. Her anticipation wasn’t something she could deny. “But where…”

Usagi looked around wildly. “They’re not… They were with me a minute ago!” She took a deep breath. “Seiya!” Another. “Seeeeeiyaaaaa!”

“Calm down, dumpling.”

They rounded the corner with an all-too-composed grace. Sunglasses obscured half their face, and they casually flipped their bangs off them as they approached. Naru couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl, but she definitely knew they were annoying.

“You disappeared. I thought—“

“No scary monster grabbed me, don’t worry.” They patted her head.

“No, you were just trying to make sure you looked cool,” Naru mumbled.

Seiya blinked down at her. Beneath their sunglasses, their eyelashes were noticeably long. “You’re Naru then?”

“Yes.”

“Ahhh! I didn’t introduce you! Seiya, this is Naru, my very best friend. Naru, this is Seiya, my… my other good friend.”

Seiya laughed. “Way to make me feel good, dumpling.”

“Oh! Seiya was in the Three Lights! You know the Three Lights, right Naru?”

“I guess. They weren’t very popular at my school,” she said, entirely to see Seiya’s face drop. They’d been extremely popular—she’d bought their albums and had managed to get into one of their concerts—and now that she thought about it Seiya did look familiar. Not exactly like the band member, though. Something about their face and build was different.

“You’re just saying that.”

Naru shrugged. “Maybe they were more popular than I realized. I always pay more attention to girl musicians than boy bands.”

A cocky grin spread across Seiya’s face. “We’re not a boy band anymore.”

“Yeah, you broke up.”

The grin disappeared. “We didn’t break up!”

“Well, you aren’t making music anymore.”

“Not here.”

“Stop, stop.” Usagi took Naru’s hands. “Seiya is very annoying when you first meet him—“

“Hey!”

“But please give him a chance! He’s really nice!” She turned to Seiya. “And Naru is one of the best people in the world, I promise!” She clapped her hands in front of her face. “Please go to dinner together!”

Seiya sighed. “I can’t say no to you, dumpling.”

“I’ll go, Usagi, but you’re going to hear about this later.”

“I hope so!”

“Not good things.”

Usagi pouted. “You don’t know that yet.”

“Fine, fine.” Naru looked to Seiya. “Let’s go to the Crown. No sense wasting much money.”

“I’m a pop star. I don’t worry about money.”

“Former pop star.”

Seiya glowered.

****

“So then. How do you know dumpling?” Seiya draped themself over their full side of the booth, one arm slung over the back, head tilted to the other side. It was the most measured casual slouch Naru had ever seen.

“We were in the same school until high school.” She sipped her tea. “And you?”

“Same high school. Among other things.”

“You mean you’re one of her allies.”

“So you do know. Dumpling didn’t say.”

“Of course I know. You can’t be best friends and not notice that the girl fighting monsters all the time is her.”

“That makes things easier then,” Seiya said, but their body tensed. “I’m from a different planet. That’s why the Three Lights aren’t making music here anymore.”

“God, shut up about the Three Lights.” Naru put her face in her hands. “Only Usagi would set me up with an alien.”

“Hey, you’re just as much an alien to me as I am to you,” they growled.

Naru peaked up. They looked genuinely upset this time, even though the sunglasses they’d refused to take off. “I suppose that’s true.” She looked at them for a long moment. “Is that why look you look different now?”

Seiya laughed. “You are a fan. I knew it.”

“If you weren’t so arrogant I would have admitted it,” she mumbled.

“I can see why you and dumpling are friends.” Seiya slid into a more natural position and rested their head on their hands. “But yeah. Things work differently on my planet. We were only ever a boy band here.”

“Then what are you?”

Seiya smiled. “Well, I think I’m still probably a boy by this planet’s roles, but Taiki and Yaten not so much.”

“What is your planet like?”

He shrugged. “It’s not so different from here. Just warmer, and magic stuff is less on the down low, and there’s more genders.”

“More?”

“You think in the whole universe there’s only two?”

“I hadn’t thought about it.”

Seiya laughed. “I hadn’t either, until we came here. It’s a strange difference.” He stared at her for a long moment. Alongside the intensity there was a vulnerability Naru didn’t expect. “Does it bother you?”

“Does what bother me?”

“Me being a boy without the same body as before?”

“Why would that bother me?”

Seiya smiled. “Because sometimes your planet is strange that way.” He paused, and then took his sunglasses and set them on the table. “You know, I haven’t even talked about this with dumpling.”

“She won’t care.”

“I didn’t think so. But that’s still not the same as talking about it.”

Naru stirred her tea. “I think I can understand that.” She let her eyes meet his for a moment. “You know, she’d never actually told me she’s Sailor Moon.”

Seiya held her gaze for a long beat. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “There are worse things.”

“There are.”

There was an understanding she’d hadn’t expected. Maybe she should have, if he was a soldier, but Usagi had never shown it. She almost asked who he’d lost, but stopped herself. The specifics didn’t much matter right now. She put one hand down on the table between them. He did the same, close enough for her feel the warmth of his skin but not overlapping hers. She wondered if he wanted her to move her hand to touch his. She wondered if that was what she wanted.

“Which one of you had the hamburger?”

They both jumped. Seiya withdrew his hand and nodded up at the waiter. “That’s me.”

The waiter set their plates down. “Enjoy your meal.”

They ate in silence for a long while. It wasn’t quite uncomfortable, although there was an unmistakable tension when they met each other’s eyes. Naru started asking questions just to fill it. Did his planet have high school? Not exactly. He did his best to explain how things worked. Then he asked about earth since despite living there for months he still didn’t understand. Naru started explaining how different countries did it differently, then realized she had to back up and explain that there were multiple countries. That raised the question of how they spoke the same language when not even everyone on her planet did, and that led into speculation that turned towards the ridiculous. They laughed too much to continue eating.

“I think,” Naru said with a smile as she pushed her plate away, “that I like you more than originally planned.”

“Dumpling will be glad to hear that.”

“And you?”

He leaned back with a grin. “I expected it.”

She balled up her napkin and threw it at him. “I take it back.”

He laughed. “Nope, it’s out there, you can’t pretend to hate me now.” He put money on the table for the bill. “Ready to go?”

Outside, Naru set them on track towards her house.

“I will say,” Seiya said, “that this was a better idea than it seemed at first.”

“Usagi will be glad to hear that.”

He smiled down at her. “Yeah, I’ll tell her how into me you are.”

“That’s a stretch.”

“Well, maybe I’ll wait to say that until after our next date.”

“Don’t you live on a different planet?”

“I can teleport, so that doesn’t much matter.”

“Oh.” She glanced him over, her cheeks slightly warm. “Then I guess we can try this again. You are kind of cute.”

“Kind of cute?” He crossed his arms. “I’m offended.” He looked down at her. “But I guess I’ll come back anyway. You are kind of pretty.”

“Such charm.” Naru turned to him as they came to her house. “It was nice meeting you.”

“That’s a little formal, don’t you think?”

She smiled. “That’s appropriate for a first date.”

“Earth people are weird.”

“Goodnight, Seiya.” She paused at her door and turned back. “Next Saturday, six o’clock.”

“Got it.” He grinned. “Sleep tight, earthling.”

“Shut up,” she said, but she smiled back.