#nico has a chocolate addiction | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

518062 · 5 months ago

Text

top 10 grim reaper writing moments

i've written a lot in 2 years, with 68 works published on ao3 (not all of them r good wkjdiej)

but sometimes i hit the mark, i think, and i like to look back on my work. so here's top 10 moments across all fandoms (mostly f1)

10. starting off strong with mafia au maxiel

Daniel squeals in happiness once he reunites with his car. He leans his head against the plush leather seat, wanting to stay like that forever, but he needs to drive, and forgets that a mafia boss is sitting beside him. When he presses the start button, the V10 engine comes alive, and its sound is like a lion’s roar, music to Daniel’s ears. Max stares at the wheel.

“Can you drive?” he asks. “I know cars arouse you. I’ve learned that much, but we have to go now.”

Daniel exhales and smoothly pulls out of the parking spot with one hand on the wheel. “They don’t arouse me.”

“Yes, they do. You’re having an orgasm at the sound of a V10.”

Daniel ignores the accusation and follows the navigation system. He notices a bunch of black cars surrounding him and looks at Max.

“What? I’m a very important person. They protect me.” he says defensively.

“Not me?” Daniel jokes.

“No.” Max says, fiddling with his phone. It’s a tense, awkward ride, but they make it through, and with some small talk, Daniel concludes Max is a FIFA addict—he’s opening packs as the Australian parks on the grand driveway.

“You can head inside. I’m gonna sit in Rafal for a bit.”

“You’re so fucking weird for naming the car.” Max tells him.

“And you’re weird for playing FIFA at your age.” Daniel retaliates.

“It’s perfectly normal, and FIFA is fun. Try it instead of sniffing fresh car leather.”

“I said you can go.” Daniel ignores his statement and gets comfortable in the seat, despite sitting for approximately two hours.

9. charles leclerc's silly boy crisis

After eighteen years, I am the Scuderia’s saviour, and I savour the delight and jubilance it brings me.

The alcohol tastes sweet like victory, like an overpriced, thick hot chocolate in Monaco. I can feel sweat crawl down my back, my fireproof sticking to it like glue. Everything that follows is a blur, a disarray of recollection; time is a never ending refinement, an endless cycle of gambling and comprehension.

A month passes and I no longer feel sweet. I feel bare, like society has stripped me down and seen my darkest fears, because they’ve seen my highest high—what if they see my lowest low? Is there such a thing?

I sit in silence, sinking into scrutiny. Most of my days fly by like flocks of birds, and I can taste apprehension on my tongue, wet and overbearing.

And so I continuously ask; is this it? Is this how I go now? Do I resign?

For after the calm of the storm is a drizzle. A gentle but demanding rainfall, a reminder. I may be a miracle, but I may also be a mistake. Whenever I close my eyes, I see it—the taunting temptation of yielding.

I ignore my obligations and cry. For what is the purpose of going again? To break a meaningless record? I have served my purpose and now I serve agony, an unavoidable reality.

8. surprise brocedes proposal

“So what’s up? It must be impartial.” Lewis chuckles, nervous. Nico wonders if he is intruding—do they have more meetings? Is it time to analyse data?

Shit.

“I was thinking about what you said at our dinner.” He begins. “And I saw how empty you feel, how alone you are. And I—I know. I know it—I know you. Like you said, I know you more than anyone.” He closes his eyes briefly, making a quick prayer.

God, please don’t embarrass me.

“And I also know how happy I can make you feel. Therefore,” he pulls out a box, refusing to kneel. “I would be delighted if you agreed to marrying me.”

Like gloomy Monaco mornings, everyone stills, just how Nico Rosberg likes it. His cheeks are bright crimson, and his ears are ringing as he waits for an answer; Lewis’ face morphs with astonishment written all over. He opens his mouth to speak, but pauses—a loud thud echoes in the garage as Toto Wolff drops to the floor.

The stillness disappears like rain pouring on the soil. While engineers frantically rush to their boss’ side, Nico and Lewis stay put.

“Bu—“

“This is absurd! Why are you just standing there? Help him!” George Russell interrupts with his eerily blue eyes. Lewis looks at Nico with sorrow, but Nico shrugs, unfazed. He knew it was going to happen.

He did it! He shocked Toto!

7. max being tired of his job

“I’m sorry, sir, but we cannot do that.” This is usually where the customer stops—they analyse the situation and conclude that it’s fine. They’ll make do.

“Who’s we? Do you speak on behalf of the entire company? I’m Charles Leclerc,” he emphasises his name as if Max should know who he is. His attitude is horrible—at this stage, Max calls for the manager and lets her deal with it. But she’s conveniently absent.

“I do not know who you are, sir. I will say it again: we cannot do that.”

“You’re kidding me. See, I hate to be the one, but you hold no value to anyone. I need someone important,” he emphasises the T, “like your manager.”

This is the stage where Max’s cordiality slips away; fuck the customer service bullshit. When someone becomes malicious towards him, he bites back. He couldn’t care less about Charles Leclerc—the reality check was going to be a harsh slap.

“Listen, Charles, the fucking king of who cares—after checking your flight, I’ve realised it is full. This means two things. Seat change is not allowed as it's not mentioned in the terms and conditions. Even if it were, we would have to ask a first-class passenger, and who’s saying they would exchange their nice seat for an economy seat?”

6. neybappe angst insert crying emoji

They went through the ten steps of friendship at unbelievable speeds. After a while, Neymar saw Kylian as more than a friend. There was an underlying truth they both ignored; that they were in love, and with their circumstances, there was nothing they could do except act. Neymar realised, on a frosty night while watching the Eiffel tower, that his aspirations weren’t football related at all—they were emotions, sunken in his heart and tattoos. He wanted love. He wanted more than love. The things he sought after: happiness, tranquillity, guidance; it all came back to his desire for a person. Someone he could spend the rest of his life with—someone who loved his flaws and imperfections, his lifestyle and his soul. On that night, the number seven on his jersey spoke volumes; he was in love with Kylian, and he was not pretending—no—he wanted to show Kylian his version of love. Hyperbolic and fluctuating, fun and heartfelt, devastatingly wrong and destined simultaneously. On that night, he didn’t feel hatred for France anymore. He didn’t despise the weather, or the people, or the president—for France was where his home was, where his lover grew and became who he was, where he grew as a person, where he reunited with a brother and abandoned another.

5. shadow being lovestruck

He had lived an entirely different life where everything was upside down—Maria wasn’t even a thought. The worst aspect of it all was that Sonic had seen everything. That opulent yet skewed reality contained all of Shadow’s contemplations. It made Gerald a loving father, which was something Shadow had yearned for since he saw the light of kindness. His days were occupied with mundane, domestic tasks—a reality Shadow dreamt of often during missions. He liked the idea of not being involved in battles and missions and instead wearing dresses, living a simple life and feeling regal.

It also brought Sonic and him together, like a guardian angel, and now Sonic knew. Sonic knew about Shadow’s immensely hard love for him. He discovered that Shadow’s blinds remained closed because Shadow would stay up all night, drawing Sonic’s eyes with the blinding stars. Sonic saw how nervous Shadow became around him, how his presence affected him greatly.

4. painter max

I am an artist. I like brushes. I like acrylic paint. I sketch with vigour and I paint with woe.

I have a lover. He has murky green eyes and thick lashes. His jawline cuts my skin and his hair transports me to the cruise ships.

My lover likes to watch me paint. He sits by the window; it rains and shines, but his eyes never move away from the canvas. My strokes coincide with his heartbeats. Every bristle that slides across the hardened cotton equalises the breaths he takes.

Seasons pass, and my lover ceases to budge. The canvases just keep coming, like tears at a funeral. My lover says it’s a blessing that my hands move like waltzers and my fingers rest on my brushes like a still baby. I know he knows; I sketch with vigour and I paint with woe.

3. charles panicking

And so he cries, a shattered visage, a broken window, a popped bubble, iridescence and shine diminishing into nothing. He crosses his legs and looks at his hands, freaking out—he has done unimaginable things. He has driven to victory, fought many drunk men, wiped countless tears, devastated the world. His tears drop onto his pale, worn hands—calloused and worn out by racing, living, breathing, being. His hands stare back at him like he is a monster; how can he treat them like this? How can he be so foul? And how can he get the tears to stop? They are surging like a burst pipe, wetting his cheeks and lips. He cannot even wipe his face—his hands do not deserve it. No—he does not deserve these graceful hands. God has given him the opportunity to bring light to the world, and he has let Him down. God should take his hands away!

2. charles being fed up

“Va te faire foutre!” Fuck that and fuck you! Charles responds, ignoring Andrea’s questions. “Look at the outside, Andrea. Look at the paddock and the teams. Anyone with a functioning brain can see that they are laughing at us. They think we’re a circus—merde, we are a circus! You can’t fucking predict the weather? Who are you, Williams? You’re Scuderia Ferrari,” He spits the name like it is a malicious insult, a death threat, a plague, a demon that must be feared. “You,” he points at Andrea’s chest, eyebrows furrowed and eyes vacant of all emotion, “are Scuderia Ferrari. You are the heart of this sport. You own this sport, its fans, its government, fuck—you own me. You own this paddock. The tarmac we race on is yours. The rule book we follow is yours; it is a fucking bible, and we worship it, we worship you, we bend on both knees and beg for mercy, we kiss the Italian flag—” He stops, searching for breath.

“We give our everything, Andrea. And what do we look like? A shit show. A joke. Connerie...”

1. paris is burning but as a motif

“If money wasn’t so important in the world today...to survive. I guess I wouldn’t want anything but what I have now. But since money does...I hope that the way I look puts money in my pocket.” says Octavia St. Laurent. Neymar listens to their wisdom.

“I’ve got to go now.” He states, glancing at the clock on his wall resembling a cat. He wants to be early (early is late - Otis).

“I want everybody to look at me and say ‘There goes Octavia’...”

“Look after the place. And watch the movie. You might learn something.”

“I don’t care about gay people!” Muhammed exclaims.

“It’s way more than that.” Neymar says before locking his friend in.

I didnt rank these by which is the most effective.

i ranked them by how i felt when writing, and how they make me feel now. whether they make me feel proud of this presence i have created through writing, whether i have done rpf justice. i think everyone should do this

anyways thats all. not like itll be seen

#ao3 writer #ao3 #writer stuff #ranking my works but theyre lowk cringe #its ok cringe is dead #formula 1 #what would i be without lestappen #lestappen #neybappe #icb my most written fandoms r f1 and football rpf and then here comes sonic the hedgehog #ive put charles leclerc thru so much im sorry

9 notes · View notes

kazucee · 2 years ago

Text

Since it's October! Have some fluffy autumn Solangelo hcs.

Will definitely has painted Nico's usually black nails, a more autumn color (eg. Maroon, orange etc.)

Since it's usually chilly the two of them grow their hairs slightly longer (Nico's is enough to be put into a tiny bun and Wills is long enough, but since his hair is curly it still looks similar-ish to how it usually is)

They have this tradition of rereading the entire Harry Potter series every start of autumn.

Both of them jumping into every leaf pile they see. Leaves everywhere and they're laughing, one on top of the other.

Wills the type to buy those long scarfs that can fit two people (yes they wear it sometimes)

Hot chocolate and coffee almost everyday.

Autumn makes Nico loosen up more.

They both do bike rides together just enjoying the way the pretty leafs fall

Will likes looking into Nico's dark eyes even more now, because believe it or not his eyes show a reflection of the autumn leaves (so it looks dark redish and orange-y)

Girl in red and Taylor swift on loop in their shared playlist everyday.

They both have an addiction to scented candles, and it doubles even more when it's autumn.

Spoopy month! And every time Will manages to get Nico into a dumb costume.

Nick dragging Will to a pumpkin patch, where they both can carve pumpkins (Nico carved a sun, Will tried to carve Nico—it was horrendous but Nico treasures it very much)

They both took up pottery on a whim. And made each other mugs.

It's the season where Will calls Nico 'pumkin' for the cringe and for the pissing him off.

Dancing in the rain

Having Hot alphabet soup together cuz they got sick.

Decorating for Halloween and autumn all together, they take decorating very seriously.

They make cinnabons to give to some of their close friends.

Every autumn season Will collects a leaf from the ground and laminates it.

Nico having a camera with him everytime because Will looks ethereal under the autumn light.

Beanies.

Will tries to grow pumpkins and fails miserably.

Cemetery hangouts (idk why, I feel like they would do this, with respects to the dead of course.)

Nico wears mittens cuz it's cold

Will doesn't like the mittens cause he can't hold Nico's hand properly, but he doesn't want Nico to feel cold. Solution?

Will removes one of the mittens from Nico's hand earning a 'oi what the hell' look, but the warmth the mitten gave is replaced quickly by Will sliding his hand into his and slipping both their hands inside his coat pocket.

#will solace #solangelo #nico di angelo #pjo fandom #pjo hoo toa #i love will solace #pjo headcanon #solangelo hcs #autumn time is here eueueu #my boy my boy my boy #girl in red #solangelo headcanon #autumn solangelo #they both love this season so much #will is spring #nico is winter #them together is autumn. im right. u cant tell me im wrong

110 notes · View notes

sextonsharpwinhalstead · 5 years ago

Note

Okay, so I’m a slut for medical dramas but I also get frustrated when there’s a lack of diversity or when queer/PoC/disabled etc characters exist solely to suffer at the hands of writers. Could you rank the current medical dramas from best to worst in terms of diversity?

HO’S UNITE!

I completely understand. Not only in the lack of diversity but also a lack of the KIND of diversity. I have a weird theory about television and often movie casts. Of course this ranking is only of the shows I watch. Worst to Best.

The Resident

The Good:

The show begins with the audience following Devon Pravesh, a Gujarati and South Asian man. He’s on of the most realistic characters considering most medical shows seem to gloss over the fact that most people in medical school as well as working practitioners look an awful lot like Devon and less like Conrad. They have the shoot-for-excellence-at-all-times Nigerian immigrant surgeon and all around bad-ass Mina Okafor, and of course The Raptor, AJ Austin who was adopted by a Chinese man and a Black American woman. The newest edition of Dr. Barrett Cain adds another bit of chocolate goodness to look at too.

The Bad:

Aside from Mina’s poorly cast mother Lynne Whitfield and the introduction of Devon’s parents the show hasn’t figured out how to weave in the different ethnicity's and backgrounds of their characters of color. No one speaks in their mother-tongue, celebrates any holidays or traditions tied to their respective cultures and religions and of course the most obvious. EVERYONE here is straight and able-bodied. And there are only TWO female leads, with most of the other recurring female characters being sent away or killed off.

The Good Doctor

The Good:

Although not the first medical drama to introduce a character with Autism it is the first to have one as the lead and his autism is a focus of the show. In the beginning there was the English born Dr. Jared Kalu, we know he comes from money and is assumed to be Asian, the actor is actually Nigerian and white, after he left the show Dr. Park was introduced. The Good Doctor has had the most Asian representation on a medical show I believe EVER in the history of prime-time television. Allegra Aoki, Dr. Aurdrey Lim, and Dr. Jackson Han round the out the Asian representation on the show. Carly Lever, Dr. Claire Browne, and Dr. Marcus Andrews are represented as black or mixed-race Black Americans. Dr. Neil Melendez is the only Latino or Hispanic character he really doesn’t lean into it. Dr. Glassman and his wife are both Jewish.

The Bad:

The Good Doctor is doing something different having an autistic character as the lead, and although Freddie Highmore is a talented actor, he isn’t autistic. Also it would’ve been even better if Shaun could’ve been Shauna. A chance was missed here by taking a look at the often under diagnosed sect of girls and women who are autistic. The show has a lot of women on it both recurring and regular but ALL of them, just like the men,are straight. And a missed opportunity too considering the actress who plays Carly has been married to a woman since 2013. Also, Carly and Claire can pass the paper bag test, NO ONE is bilingual, and if they are they don’t show it or any of the other aspects of their cultural differences it’s very “American.

Chicago Med

The Good:

Out of all the One Chicago Shows, Med has the most racially diverse cast as well as diverse recurring characters. They have four black women on the cast. April Sexton whose real surname is Suassuna is Afro-Brazilian, who speaks both Spanish and Portuguese, attends family functions based on her heritage and has even shared a few anecdotes and beliefs from her culture which also include her brother Dr. Noah Sexton. Ditto for the recurring character Dr. Isidore Latham. He has Asperger’s, is Jewish, and observes all aspects of Judaism including wearing a kippah, and sharing some Jewish based jokes. Dr. Ethan Choi is believed to be Korean and Iranian born Dominic Rains has been added to the cast as Dr. Crockett Marcel rounding out the leads of Asian descent.

The Bad:

Ethan’s ethnicity and race has only been brought up when it was being demeaned. Other than that the show leans heavily on his military background to give him depth but gives zero basis for any customs or cultural traits he probably had growing up. Nary a mention is given about Crockett’s race only his southern New Orleans heritage leaving us as an audience wondering if he’s Creole? Spicy White? No idea. Also April is Brazilian but almost exclusively speaks Spanish when not speaking English to her brother which is by far the strangest considering I have never met anyone who chooses English if they are raised in a multicultural household, and definitely not in conversation with their family members. But never Portuguese. All of these shows fail at representing Black American cultural, which leaves Maggie and Sharon with very little to share. And of course the most obvious. There are no LGBT characters on the show. None are leads and it doesn’t appear as though they are adding any or thinking about opening any new doors within the characters.

New Amsterdam

The Good

New Amsterdam does a lot of things right. My dear Vijay Kapoor who’s Indian identity is very wrapped in who he is, from his accent, to his prayers, mannerisms, and discussions of his past he isn’t just a token he’s a full character. Although the show has yet to address it Dr. Helen Sharpe who is obviously black is played by Freema Agyeman who is not so obviously half Iranian on her mothers side. But she is English and her disposition, her language and slang are represented in that regard. Lauren Bloom is a neurodivergent character with ADHD and a struggling addict. Dr. Floyd Reynolds is Black American who has Sunday dinners at his mothers. And Dr. Iggy Frome is a gay married man with 50 bajillion Pakistani children and aiming for one more. Recurring characters, Dr. Valentina Castro, Dora, and Casey are all Latino and Evie Floyd is mixed race, white and Black American. Not to mention this show has plethora of diverse peripheral characters, little people, hijabs, turbans, kippahs,everywhere, you name it you’ve probably seen it. The show has to be diverse because it’s in New York and it’s supposed to be an international hospital. The place is MASSIVE.

The Bad:

All that diversity, all the difference, cultural richness, ripe stories running amok and the entire show is centered on a cis-het white man. Not mention Casey and Dora don’t even have last names. Maybe that’s why the actress isn’t on the show anymore and is now on Emergence, New Amsterdam’s rival at that time slot.

Grey’s Anatomy

The Good

Where do you start with the longest running medical drama on television.

They’ve had it all and still do. They constantly have LGBT characters, who are shown to get hot and heavy the same as their het-counterparts. Where other shows have two men bird-kissing like they don’t even want to touch, Levi and Nico are rolling around in ambulances and hooking up in on-call rooms. Ditto for the women, I stan Callie x Arizona especially their golden years. Nothing will ever touch the way Arizona used to say “Calliope” when they first started dated, it still makes me smile thinking about it. They’ve had addicts, alcoholics, neurodivigent characters, every race you could think of, Muslim, Christian,Jewish,and atheists. All kinds of socio-economic backgrounds. If you can think it they’ve had it and there really isn’t much reason or room to list all the characters both recurring and regular who have checked damn near every box.

The Bad:

It’s time for more brown Asians. And a regular neurodivergent character although there is more than enough room to diagnose a few of the characters if they wanted to. I’d be happy with a deaf doctor too. Also Carina DeLuca is currently the only Bi-character and she’s been kind of only used as a bed warmer which is...well, yikes.

#ask sextonsharpwinhalstead #The Good Doctor #new amsterdam #chicago med #grey's anatomy #the resident #the resident on fox

66 notes · View notes

anxiousbookenthusiast · 5 years ago

Text

Thanks for the tag @starsfor4ever !!!

Name - Maille(pronounced Molly)

Nickname - Malls, Dumbass

Zodiac Sign - Cancer

Height - 5’2

Languages - English and I’m learning Spanish

Nationality- American

Favorite Season- Summer!

Favorite Flower - Hydrangeas(especially the white ones)

Favorite Scent - Anything floral tbh

Favorite Color - Green

Favorite Animal - Dogs and Horses

Favorite Fictional Character - I have MANY, but my top few are Matthew Fairchild, Luna Lovegood, Nico do Angelo, and Alec Lightwood

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate - COFFEE ~ all of the women in my family have a terrible coffee addiction

Average Hours of Sleep - hmmmm 7-8?

# of blankets - 2

Dog or Cat - I have three dogs, so definitely doggos

Places my ancestors came from - Most of them came from England, Finland, and Ireland

Blog Established - Late 2018

Followers - 31

Random Fact About Me - I’m a runner! I ran varsity for my xc team until my seizure disorder got out of control :(

I’m not sure who else has done this, but I’ll tag @bookobsessions

1 note · View note

diverdaddy · 6 years ago

Text

Set It Up: The Christmas Rush

Pairing(s): KanaDiaMari, NozoNicoEli Word Count: 8844 Chapter : 1/? Summary: Two very different stores at the mall prepares for christmas thats just around the corner, and for one Dia Kurosawa this years holiday season makes for quite the rush. Her manager, Eli Ayase is weridly facinated with chocolate, and their new employee, Kanan Matsuura is a walking distraction on legs. What more could Santa possibly throw her way?

Another collab with @nozoroomie !! Merry Christmas y’all!!

The sound of the radio is ambient background noise as Dia folds the jeans in front of her. Across the way her manager Eli is at the counter, sorting out some documents and preparing for the arrival of their new coworker. Dia has to admit- she’s been a bit nervous for this shift. She really shouldn’t be, considering she’s very good friends with the new trainee, but there’s always that tiny bit of anxiety that forms when she doesn’t know exactly what to expect.

And Kanan Matsuura is sure to deliver something unexpected on her very first shift at Chacci.

The store is just a fancy, budget friendly store for women who like brand names but aren’t willing to pay the expensive prices it costs for brand names. Chacci’s is every girls dream, if Dia’s really honest. Forget brand names- their store has shirts, pants, accessories and handbags that are stylish, affordable and Dia gets 50% off everything. What could be better?

Thinking about that Dia realizes their store doesn’t carry shoes, but that’s not that big a deal.

She folds the last of the jeans and places it atop the pile. She glances at the clock. Twenty minutes until Kanan is due to arrive and her anxiety has barely settled. She mentally runs through the training plan; show Kanan around the store and how places work, have her watch a few transactions on the till, and go over how each and every piece of clothing that gets folded and clothing that gets placed on hangers along the walls. That’s easy enough for a first shift. Probably. It’s how Eli taught her during her first shift after all.

Before Dia knows it she sees someone walk through the entrance from the corner of her eye- the familiar form of her good friend. She looks up to get a better view and she immediately wishes she hadn’t. Good God. What the fuck.

Dia finds herself gazing upon Kanan in the most atrocious looking set of overalls she has ever seen in her life. Her face? Perfect. She’s even wearing a bit of eyeliner in the way she had shown her not too long ago. But her shirt sleeves are rolled up and showing off her arms (or what her girlfriend Mari affectionately refers to as ‘the guns’) and her overalls- god, there’s nothing wrong with a good pair of overalls, but these ones? They weren’t even overalls. More like a horrible cross between overalls and high waist pants from the 70s’. What shade of green was this? Algae? And pinstripes?! This is 2018, pinstripes haven’t been in style in god knows how long.

Kanan looks like a walking horror show and Dia doesn’t approve. This is her first day of work in a respectable retail store. She’s making a pretty bad impression already and she hopes it doesn’t affect Eli’s attitude towards her much. Kanan waves, as if nothing were wrong and Dia waves back slightly.

At this point, Eli has looked up from her paperwork and she beams.

“Matsuura-san! Welcome!” She says, unaffected by the pants, “Your outfit looks pretty great!��

Dia wonders if it’s too late to eject herself into the sun. Eli is an older college student, someone Dia highly respects and enjoys working with. They have some similar interests and always enjoy talking to one another about various things, but Dia never would have guessed that this was the kind of fashion Eli finds endearing. She always looks so sharp, so sophisticated and perfect and yet. And Yet.

“Thanks!” Kanan responds with a grin, “Thought I’d make a good first impression with one of my best outfits.”

Eli laughs lightly. “Kinda like those patterned pants you wore to your interview?”

Kanan can only beam and she turns to Dia with that charming smile.

“Hey Dia! What do you think? Do I look like a perfect Chacchi employee or what!?”

Dia thinks if her ear could bleed from these words alone, they would.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Dia replies without missing a beat. “Kanan. You have so many wonderful outfits. And you came in these?” Dia gestures to- well. All of her. (Except for maybe.. Her arms and face.)

‘’Really? I don’t know Dia-- I think Matsuura-san’s outfit is very Chacci.” Eli intervenes, boosting Kanan’s confidence in her choice of workplace attire, “Though I would say roll down your sleeves if you could, this way customers don’t get too distracted.”

Dia doesn’t know if she’s referring to Kanan’s muscles or the fact that she has a long sleeved shirt bundled up to her shoulders. She hopes it’s the latter. She really does.

“Oh! Sounds good, I can do that.” Kanan says, reaching up and beginning to roll down the her right sleeve.

But as she does, it’s very. Slow. Dia finds herself internally screaming as Kanan purposefully takes her time bringing the fabric down her arms and only just past her elbow, making sure her forearms are still on good display. The brunette looks over to the clock and see’s she still has plenty of time before Kanan can officially clock in for her first official shift. Dia decides she’s in definite need of a breather.

“Ayase-san?” Dia calls, walking over to the counter, “You wouldn’t mind if I took a quick break before Kanan starts, would you?”

Eli glances at the clock herself and ponders it for a moment before nodding.

“Yes, that would be alright.” Eli confirms, giving Dia a small smile.

Dia doesn’t hesitate to go to the backroom, grab her wallet and immediately head out of Chacchi’s. She pushes herself forward towards the shop across the hall from theirs in the mall- a small italian sweets and cafe shop owned by a certain family she knows all too well. Owned by her friends family, it makes it easy to find their daughter here working a few shifts throughout the week. Dia hopes this is one of the days Mari has to work so she can have a few words with her about her girlfriends choice of work attire.

She steps inside the wonderful and familiar smelling shop, approaching the counter with her usual order on her mind. She glances around the shop to look for Mari but sees no signs of her. Instead she’s greeted by lovely green eyes and a warm dimpled smile.

“Afternoon Kurosawa-san!” the girl greets, tilting her head a bit, “Are you here for tea? Or perhaps are you here for Ohara-san?”

“Good afternoon, Toujou-san.” Dia returns the greeting and sighs, “Both, if possible. Could you possibly make the tea a little stronger today? I might need it.”

Nozomi doesn’t question why but plugs the order in with a small laugh. The girl next to her, finishing rinsing out a coffee pot in the sink comments. Her hair is tied back in a low black ponytail and red eyes look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with her girlfriend being hired in your store would it? She wouldn’t stop talking about it all yesterday morning.” She comments, putting the rinsed pot on the top burner of the coffee machine.

She sighs and Nozomi can’t hide her tiny grin. It’s no secret that ever since Mari’s girlfriend had been showing up at the mall more in her free time, the Chacchi’s employee would come by their shop for a green tea and a quick conversation with said girl. That’s how Kanan got the idea to apply to Chacchi’s- Dia had commented they would be hiring for the holiday season and Kanan didn’t hesitate to throw a resume and application in. Now Dia feels like Nozomi can feel the regret radiating off of her for this decision.

“There’s only so much I can take,” Dia starts to explain as Nico gets to making her tea, “High school was good because we were required to wear uniforms and I wasn’t forced to see such fashion atrocities. I know myself, I’m not always the most coordinated but even my little sister would think that abomination she’s wearing right now belongs in the circus, and my little sister doesn’t have a single harsh bone in her body!”

Nozomi laughs and accepts Dia’s change (Exact change, as always) and drops it into the till before looking out the shop and across the way. As she does, her eyes scan the shop to see just how bad Kanan’s outfit could be, but instead of finding Kanan she finds the other girl at the front of the shop near a display, looking over towards her at the shop. Nozomi blinks once and the blonde realizes they’ve made eye contact and immediately looks away, pretending to fix the display up and acting as if the locked gaze never happened. A subtle grin grows on Nozomi’s features.

“Add a tally to the chalkboard Nicocchi, just caught you know who for the fifth time today~.” she voices in a sing song tone.

Dia quirks her eyebrow and accepts her tea from Nico as both she and the shorter girl look out towards Chacchi’s to find Eli hurriedly folding the last of the shirts before walking back into the shop and is joined by Kanan.

“Are you talking about Ayase-san?” Dia asks, bringing her tea up to her lips and taking a small sip. She hums in approval- perfect, as it always is.

“You got it. Tall, hot and blondie over there looks longingly over here almost every chance she gets.” Nico smirks, leaning on the counter and looking up to Dia. “You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you?”

Dia feels both green and red iris’ on her and she pursues her lips in thought. She lifts her cup to her lips again, tasting the matcha flavour on her tongue and swallowing the small mouthful as she ponders it. She herself hasn’t really noticed Eli staring out at the sweets shop often and she can’t really fathom why Eli would. Or maybe she could? She can at least think of one reason.

“I would imagine it’s because she has an unhealthy addiction to chocolate. She carries a bag of little wrapped chocolates on her at almost all times and rewards herself with one at the end of every shift.” the corners of her mouth turn upwards, “I’ve told her she won’t find out how the chocolate here tastes until she tries it.”

Nozomi giggles and her eyes linger on Chacchi’s.

“Well, if it’s just for chocolates, I’d be happy to give you some samples to give to her. All on the house~”

Dia’s eyes light up a bit.

“Really? But I thought only Mari could-”

As if on cue, the sounds of footsteps approaching her all too quickly hits her ears. She’s enveloped into a hug from behind and she takes a step forward to stabilize herself, gasping and holding her tea out to safety as the familiar form of the girl she’d been searching for drapes herself around Dia. She’s hit with the familiar smell of Chacci’s N°5 perfume and nothing could prepare her for Mari’s excited greeting.

“DIA!~” Mari’s chin rests on Dia’s shoulder as she hugs her tightly. “Did you come here just to see little old me~?”

Dia squirms, trying to pull herself from Mari so she can turn and face her with a glare.

“As you can see, no, I did not. I took my break early because your girlfriend arrived at work and insisted on wearing that atROCITY SHE CALLS PANTS.” Her voice raises in the way it does when she communicates her frustrations with Mari. It’s a charming detail only Mari seems to be able to bring out of her.

Nozomi snorts while Nico snickers as they watch the scene. Dia could care less thought-- she’s pissed. Meanwhile Mari just laughs, pulling her arms off of Dia.

“Oh come on Dia~ she looks very cute! And Sexy. And silly, all at the same time! It’s endearing~” Mari replies with enthusiasm, “Did you like the gun show? She sent me a snapchat and we knew you were gunna react to it.”

Those bitches. Plotting this against her and purposefully enraging Dia with this terrible outfit and pretending that it’d be fine with Kanan showing off her muscles. It’s rude, and it didn’t work. Much. Dia noticed them but made No Comment.

“Only you would think that, Mari.” Dia replies with as little emotion as possible.

Mari looks over to Nico and Nozomi expectantly.

“Oh, I’m with this bitch.” Nico says instantly, jabbing her thumb in Dia’s direction, “Those pants need to be burned in the fires of hell because those are the only flames hot enough to take them out.”

Finally, someone with common sense, Dia thinks.

Mari stares at Nozomi. Nozomi stares back. They share silent words with their gazes. Dia squints a bit, trying to decipher exactly what Nozomi’s feelings on the outfit might be, but finds it hard to understand when she doesn’t quite get her stare.

“Would you say that’s pro Kanan’s outfit, or nay Kanan’s outfit?” Dia asks Nico, not looking away from the two.

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been dating her since high school but there are still some things about her that are a mystery.” She leans over the counter more to whisper to Dia “But if I ever caught her wearing something as embarrassing as those overalls you’d bet I wouldn’t be out in public with her.”

Dia feels kinship with Nico. They are united in this. Together they’ll form the anti terrible fake overalls brigade. Well, maybe not that far. Dia takes a fucking sip babe.

“Anyway,” Mari says, finally breaking her gaze from Nozomi “What’s up Dia~? If you’re not here for me and you have your tea, you’re usually headed back to your store now.”

“Well, Toujou-san offered to give me free chocolates because my coworker has been glancing over quite often. We assume it’s because of the chocolate.” Dia explains, looking to the display case full of chocolate.

Mari stares for a moment and beams. A light tint of pink dusts Dia’s cheeks. Curse this girl and her smile that could light up the world.

“Sure! If it means gaining another cute customer, I’m all for it!” Mari looks through the display case at each selection of chocolates, “Nozomi! Wrap up some of the fresh chocolates you and Nico made today~ She’ll be sure to enjoy them!”

It doesn’t take long for Nozomi to pick a variety of the sweets they made- a couple of solid milk chocolate squares, a white chocolate cream filled chocolate, and some of their premium dark chocolate and the signature chocolate of the store-- the Oharrero Rocher (the chocolate where the shop got its namesake, which is a creamy hazelnut flavoured center inside a wafer ball and dipped in milk chocolate). She wraps them all up carefully into a small purple package and hands it over the counter to Dia.

“There you go Kurosawa-san! Let’s hope this satiates Ayase-sans curiosity.” Nozomi smiles as Dia takes the chocolates from her.

“Thank you, Toujou-san and Yazawa-san. I’m sure she’ll love them.” Dia smiles a genuine smile and Mari pouts.

“Hey! Don’t I get a thank you for giving them to you?” She leans forward to get into Dia’s field of vision. “Maybe you could thank me with a little kiss~?”

“Not this time.” Dia replies smoothly. She doesn’t mean to imply that at some point she could thank Mari with a little kiss, but the idea itself causes her golden eyes to grow and a wide smile to break out on her lips.

“I’m holding you to that, Dia~”

With that, Dia says her goodbyes and sashays away back to Chacchi’s, chocolates and tea in hand. She places her tea behind the counter along with the bag of chocolates when she gets back to the store. Eli seems to be busy at the counter and looks up when Dia places her refreshments down.

‘’Ah, Dia you’re back. I was showing Matsuura-san how we fold the different clothes here, can you go help her out with the current pile?’’ Eli asks before continuing her work on the computer.

Dia agrees with a sigh before she walks over to where Kanan is working. With her break over its time for her to get back to doing what she's here for-- work. She starts folding along with Kanan, and while Kanan might look like a disaster in her work attire, her work ethics were as strong as ever. It's a plus side to everything.

‘’You’re doing good so far, with the folding that is.’’ Dia remarks.

‘’Thanks, It’s pretty similar to when I work at the diving shop during the summer season so far.’’ Kanan replies with that perfect white teeth hollywood smile of hers. Maybe if Kanan did stay for more than just the christmas season they could use her to advertise the store more at the mall. Like sending her out with fliers in a bikini during the summer, that was bound to attract customers!

As much as Dia still fights back a grimace every time her eyes land on the suspenders of Kanan’s pants while they fold clothes together her eyes also scans over Kanan’s arms every now and then. Sometimes her arms flexes while she folds clothes and Dia can’t help but look. So maybe Mari was more right about that, but Dia wasn’t about to admit anything all of a sudden. Kanan was still committing a criminal offense, fashion crimes of the highest caliber.

Speaking of looking, while Dia averts her eyes from looking too much at Kanan she catches Eli in the corner of her eye instead. Was she looking over to the Oharrero Rocher’s again?

‘’Just keep working, I’ll be right back.’’ And with that Dia walks over to Eli at the counter.

‘’You know they catch you staring when you look over, right?” Dia doesn’t sugar coat it, catching Eli by surprise.

If Eli was a cat, Dia thinks her reaction would best be described as one of these cat videos where you scare them with a cucumber.

“I-What-- uhm- I mean,... excuse me?” Eli stammers a bit, before collecting herself.

Dia picks up her tea again and takes a sip before she gestures to the little bag of chocolates.

“Those are from the girls at the counter. They catch you staring a lot and asked me why, I assumed it was because you’re so fond of chocolate so they gave me some for you to try.’’ Dia eyes Eli carefully, “They’re for you, by the way.”

Eli’s face makes her look more and more like the holiday season that’s just around the corner. It’s so red it could easily be mistaken for a Santa Claus outfit by now. Dia has to admit she’s slightly amused by this.

‘’Thank you.’’ Is all Eli manages to say as the embarrassment is evident all over.

“Is this why you stare over there?” Dia asks, one of her eyebrows lifting is suspicion, “They do sell a lot of great treats, you should check it out sometime.”

Her manager says nothing and Dia wonders if she perhaps has said something wrong. Did she make assumptions? Eli didn’t exactly confirm if she was staring there solely for the sweets and treats. The brunette’s mind races through anxious thoughts as she waits for some sort of reaction from Eli. All the blonde ends up doing in the end is clearing her throat.

“I’m sure they do sell some great sweets. I admit, I’ve never tried them.” She speaks in such a professional yet calm tone, the only reason Dia really realizes it’s not the usual friendly conversation they have is because Eli seems so stiff as she speaks.

“You know, I think breaks are spent there a little too often, yeah? But if we’re attracting a lot of attention from it’s employees, maybe we should hold back or pause going there for awhile.”

Even Kanan is shooting them thinking looks now as she keeps folding the last of the pile. And Dia knows something is up when even Kanan doesn’t buy it. What’s even weirder is why now? Dia’s been visiting the place on and off on her shifts for quite some time. It’s clearly more than just the chocolates that Eli seems to be intrigued by from Oharrero Rocher’s. Dia really can’t help it anymore. Her curiosity is Piqued™ now.

“I mean, I don’t think I go there too often. Usually it’s just to talk to a friend real quick but-” Dia starts, before Kanan interrupts her.

“When was the last time you did that when

was there?” She says it so soft, like a hurt puppy. Dia knows its fake but before she gets a say Eli is talking again.

“That’s right! I know you use your break for that but it would be rude going and not getting anything right? So maybe every time you go over you should buy a little something so that they get business.’’

Dia doesn’t say anything as her lips form a small line instead. What a 180. First Eli’s saying they should pause giving the shop business, now she’s saying it’s rude to go without buying a thing? The fact Eli can’t make up her mind just makes this even more embarrassing for her. Dia feels a bit of pity.

“Even if I just wanna drop something off for my girlfriend or say hi during my break?” Kanan questions, which makes Eli’s points seem even more ridiculous.

Eli thinks for a moment and Dia is sure a small light bulb actually manifests above her head when Eli speaks again.

“Here, for every moment you have to go over there during your break, I’ll give you $5 to get me chocolates. But you can only be there for about five minutes as well. Hows that sound?”

Dia holds Eli in high regards, and she truly idolizes and admires Eli a lot. Probably more than anyone in the world, but this is the second most ridiculous thing that’s come out of Eli’s mouth today. (The single most stupid thing being complimenting Kanan for her outfit.) Now what was she hiding? But if Eli would prefer they do it like that, well Dia wouldn’t object to it. (Besides, there were benefits to this too.. She gets to order her green tea for free from now on.)

So Dia nods slowly in a silent agreement.

“If that’s what you’d like, I’m sure Kanan and I can do that.” Dia looks to Kanan for a confirmation and the dark haired girl nods with a crooked smile.

“It’s settled then! We’ll start it on our next shifts, alright girls?” Eli says it with such enthusiasm that Dia wonders about, but she decides not to second guess it.

If this is what Eli wants to do, she won’t question it.

Christmas time has arrived at the mall, and as per christmas tradition at Chacchi’s, employee’s are given permission to dawn their nicest christmas wears. Nicest is the key word here. Dia’s ready to die.

Kanan’s first couple weeks of training have been going great and as the days went by, Dia was sure she was going to get the hang of wearing clothes with some fashion dos instead of fashion don’ts. But then december happened, and with december comes christmas. Which brings Kanan’s famous and most atrocious of clothing: the christmas themed sweaters.

Of all the years Dia has known Kanan, she’s expected the best of the worst christmas sweaters. She remembers the one with the giant comical reindeer antlers, the ones with the actual light up christmas tree lights. She remembers fondly when Kanan won an ugly christmas sweater contest with adding ornaments and tinsel to a hand knitted christmas tree coloured sweater. All of these had been so ugly they were endearing.

She wishes those had prepared her for the american football team christmas sweater. Dia literally had to google what a Miami dolphin was. She has no idea how Kanan ended up with the ugliest teal and orange sweater but she can assume it has something to do with her girlfriend. There dolphin on it is really what brings this awful sweater together though. Kanan wears it with pride and likes to gloat about it but Dia really wishes she wouldn’t. There’s nothing to be proud of- she could get an official jersey and it would look so much nicer than this thing, but she knows that part of it’s charm for Kanan is the fact that this one is specifically for christmas.

“Ayase-san,” Dia practically weeps, draping herself on the counter,“I realize we both have very different tastes in fashion, but we have to talk about that- that thing Kanan is wearing. You can’t possibly be okay with that. You can’t.”

Eli looks at Dia sympathetically, but there’s a playful look in her eye that tells Dia that yes, yes she can be okay with this. Maybe even more than okay. Eli encourages it.

“Sorry Dia, I think it’s kinda cute. Fetching, really.”

Of course Eli would say it’s fetch. Dia puts her face into the counter and groans. Kanan, oblivious to the conversation, peers over Dia and laughs.

“Kinda sounds like you need a tea, Dia.”

It’s said as a joke but Dia pulls her head off of the counter and stares at Eli. She knows Eli can put two and two together, see that unasked question within her pleading gaze. The blonde chuckles and shakes her head.

“Sure, alright Dia.” she sticks her hand into her pocket and pulls out a small bill and holds it out to Dia, “Bring me back something good, alright?”

Dia takes it greedily and promises only the best as she says goodbye to looking at that thing and hello to looking at better things- namely, Mari Ohara who waits for her at the front of the counter of Oharrero Rocher. Alongside her is Nozomi, filling up some of the sweets in the display case and humming along to the christmas song that plays on the radio. Upon seeing Dia she places the tray down on the counter behind her and approaches the till. She flashes Dia a warm smile.

“Welcome back Kurosawa-san! Here for your usual?” She asks in a chipper tone. Dia returns her smile with one of her own and nods, already handing her the cash.

“Yes please Toujou-san. Ah- and chocolates for Ayase-san again. The same as last time.”

As the customer Mari helps exits the store, she weasels her way into the conversation by planting her elbows down on the workcounter and glancing up to Dia with a cheeky grin.

“Does her

et consist of only chocolate or something? Why not try the macarons or a danish? Or one of our christmas cookies! Tis the season after all~!’’

The brunette opens her mouth to object to Mari’s suggestion but she pauses before declining. Maybe Eli would appreciate a change up- she has been getting the same variety of chocolates ever since they started this. The pastries are always a delight to have, especially if you’re looking for something a little different than pure chocolate. Glancing at the christmas cookies makes Dia tempted to buy some for herself- there’s various little tree shaped cookies, santa hats, a few reindeer and some gingerbread people dressed in christmas themed sweaters. There’s even some present and stocking shaped cookies! They went all out with the shapes by the looks of it.

“That’s actually a very good idea Mari. Maybe Eli would like something other than the chocolates.” She nods a bit as she says this, liking the idea more as she speaks each word.

Without any prompting Mari grabs a medium sized box, reaches into the display case for the tray of christmas cookies and uses her arm to swipe from halfway down the tray directly into the box. Dia watches and her brows furrow as the blonde decides to reach even further onto the tray to swipe even more into the box. Dia looks to Nozomi but finds her attention is on fixing up her tea and she’s oblivious to what Mari’s done.

“There! Now you’ve got enough to share with the whole store!” Mari says, holding the box out to show her all the cookies.

Dia has to admit- the trees look the best but the broken santa hats have their own charm. She reaches in and grabs one, taking a bite as Mari laughs and closes the box up for her. Dia’s eyes light up- the cookie is seriously delicious. The cookie itself is subtly sweet- perfect for accompanying tea and coffee- but the icing adds not only beautiful decoration, but wraps the cookies light sweetness with its sugary sweet coating to make it perfection.

Basically, Dia’s got a thing for these cookies. She hopes Eli doesn’t mind sharing. At this thought Nozomi finishes up with her tea and places it on the counter for her.

“Here’s your tea, Kurosawa-san!”

Noticing a small line has begun to form, Dia quickly closes the cookie box up and thanks both Nozomi and Mari before headed out of the store. She walks with confidence across the way back to Chacci’s and can’t help but smirk when she sees Kanan and Eli looking her way. Kanan with a mildly surprised but pleased expression on her features, and Eli with utter confusion. She knows it’s because of the box. It has to be.

She steps over to Eli and gestures to the box.

“Mari decided you’ve had enough chocolate and gave the three of us a ton of cookies. They’re not bad- I think you’ll enjoy them.” She gives Eli a warm smile as she places the box behind the counter. Eli returns it, but there’s something to it that causes Dia to feel mild concern.

“Thank you, Dia.” She says in her same chipper tone.

Dia decides not to question it, but as she moves back towards the station she worked at before complaining at the counter, she hears it. A soft, forlorn sounding sigh, escaping her managers lips. Her eyebrows furrow and she almost turns to look, but she catches Kanan’s gaze. That vivid, dark amethyst gaze, so strong and piercing yet soft and gentle (in a way only Kanan’s eyes could express, really.) Looks like Kanan’s heard it too and could be thinking the same things she is. The blue haired girl decides to venture over to Dia’s station and help her out.

“Listen,” she speaks in a low tone, its soft yet deep, a voice meant only for her to hear, “That rule she made is a little weird, don’t you think? Don’t you think she’d want to leave the store and get chocolates for herself instead of getting us to do it?”

Dia hopes her blush isn’t showing much from how Kanan speaks. She knows Kanan has a girlfriend. She knows that Kanan’s girlfriend is one of her best friends. She’s very clear that both of them would love her to acknowledge they’ve been flirting with her, and maybe they have been, but Dia’s not so sure it’s serious. She’s not sure if they’re even aware that Dia has thoughts like these with them, but she’s sure they aren’t. She’s positive their flirtatious comments are only a joke anyway.

So she pushes all these thoughts away and focuses on the task at hand- figuring out what Eli’s deal is. She focuses on Kanan’s comment and nods slowly, putting the pieces together just as Kanan had. It is pretty weird that the manager doesn’t get the two of them to cover the store for five minutes while she goes to choose her own confections- at first Dia assumed it was so the manager would continue to be in the store at all time, but even with Christmas approaching there was still a lot of down time for them between customers in the beginning and ends of their shifts, and Eli did get her own breaks as well. So why hadn’t she used those times to go into Oharerro Rocher’s herself? Her brows furrow.

“You make a great point Kanan,” She replies in a soft hushed tone, “I hadn’t actually questioned that until now-”

“-And, and!” Kanan interrupts her a little to excitedly to bring up another point she desperately needs to convey, “She never eats more than one chocolate per shift! I’ve seen it. She’ll delve into the bags, pull out one and then she kinda savours it? Like, she’ll take a small bite and put the rest down and come back to it later. It’s like she’s full but forcing herself to eat some!”

Now Dia frowns and looks at Kanan with a confused expression.

“I’ve seen her inhale a chocolate bar brought from her little sister during one of our long shifts. That doesn’t sound like Ayase-san at all. Not to compare, but that woman is attracted to chocolate almost as much as you’re attracted to the ocean.”

Kanan laughs lightly at that and hums, understanding what Dia means.

“So you have to agree, all of this is pretty suspicious, right?”

Dia glances over to Eli, who is helping out a middle age woman and her daughter by the handbags. She has that mask of a customer service smile as she talks with them. Dia squints as she considers all of Kanan’s points. She turns back to her task, folding up a pair of jeans and focusing on her thoughts. She can see Kanan idly helping her but still waiting for a response, and its after they’ve finished fixing the jean piles that Dia speaks again.

“I think you’re onto something here Kanan. I’m not sure what- but I think we can figure it out.”

Kanan’s eyes light up and she grins that adorable half grin she wears when Dia surprises her with an idea. Dia averts her gaze before she gets too lost in it. It’s too charming and blinding, if she stares too long she’s definitely not going to be able to focus on their job.

With that a customer walks over to the two of them, inquiring about prices of some accessories. Kanan, albeit a bit too eagerly, happily walks with the customer to the display, leaving Dia alone to her thoughts and with other clothes piles to fold. She turns back to her work, thinking about their conversation and wondering, just what exactly it is that makes Eli so keen on getting sweets from the shop if she barely eats them to begin with.

It’s a mystery she’s determined to find the answer to.

“One green tea and a bag of chocolates, coming up. Unless you wanna add anything else today?” Nico lifts her eyebrow as Dia stands in a spot she’s become all too familiar with.

“Yes. Tell the customer wearing that obnoxious blue and pink thing that I can no longer enter this store if she’s in it. I’m banning myself from your goods.” Dia says it so monotone, so wooden. She’s dead on the inside and Nico can see every last bit of life dying inside her gaze alone. How many years of suffering and eternal torment has she been through?

“You hear that Mari? Tell your girlfriend she needs to get out or we’re going to lose business.” Nico peers over Dia to glare at the blonde and her girlfriend, who are sitting together at a table not too far from the counter.

Mari gasps in mock offense, holding a hand to her chest and looking a bit too similar to a certain blonde Disney Channel star when she didn’t get the part for the spring musical.

“But I just got that for her last week! It’s charming like mine, no?” She says, pushing herself out of her chair. Even her hair does a flip to add flare, like slow motion, a L'Oréal commercial was happening before Dia’s very own eyes. And Dia absolutely hated it. But then the sweater comes into view. And Dia wishes for the commercial to come back on again instead.

At a first glance it looks tasteful. It’s red and white, with a lot of snowflakes and little x designs and patterns. Very christmas-y. On the back in english is the name of the iconic american pop star sensation, Britney. The girl Dia remembers Mari having a kind of mini phase for (A phase she realizes that Mari never quite grew out of. Not that she blames her, really. Britney Spears has good music.) However on the front, in english again, it says the words “it’s Xmas b*tch.” Which, as Dia thinks it’s witty and a good reference for her song, it’s not appropriate for the public.

And then there was Kanan’s atrocious sweater. Not only does it have the most unrealistic looking cartoon Santa Dia has ever seen, it reads “Fa la la la Flamingo.” Santa’s sitting in an innertube wearing shorts and a blue tank top which- come on, anyone who even knows even a little bit about Santa knows his signature colour is RED. Not only that, but the blue and the pink are so bright and jarring, it’s hard to believe this sweater is christmas related. She hates it. She absolutely hates it. She especially hates that somehow, some fucking how, Mari and Kanan made the sweater work. She looks so good. The sweater is so ugly but it looks so god damn good on her. Dia wants to

Dia hates her life and her friends she may be pinning after. She really does. They’re the worst- hotties with ugly sweaters that make her want to gouge her eyes out while never blinking at the exact same time. They were like candy, (or rather eye candy). Wrapped in these awful colours and patterns, yet they made her mouth water because they were delicious.

“Absolutely not. Literally, please, go change. For the sake of my eyes.” Nico isn’t shy with her comment and Dia, honestly, has never felt closer to anyone she sort of considers an acquaintance. Every interaction with the short girl just adds to Dia’s list of how much she can relate to her.

Kanan wears a smug expression on her face. Much like the cat that has gotten the cream- her expression says it all. She’s a paying customer! If she wants to stay there and finish her beverage with the daughter of the owner, she is more than welcome to. Kanan has immunity.

At this point Nozomi comes over, chocolates in hand and ready for Dia to bring to Eli, but Dia lifts her hand to deny the gift. Nozomi and Nico look puzzled and the former girl keeps ahold of the bag of chocolates. The confusion rubs off on Kanan and Mari, who watch with equally confused expressions.

“Toujou-san,” Dia states her name in a surprisingly stern tone, causing her to perk up a little, “Could you do me a favour?”

Nozomi looks a little shocked and even more confused.

“I guess?” she tests, looking to Nico who shrugs. She shakes her head and changes her answer a little, “I mean, sure? What do ya need?”

“When you get your break, could you bring these chocolates over to me at the store? I’m having some suspicions about Ayase-san and if my hunches are correct, I’d need your help to test it.”

Dia immediately notices the way Nico’s eyes look past her and towards Mari. She can feel Mari staring at her in the exact same way; confusion and curiosity. She can hear Kanan’s soft gasp and Dia knows that Kanan is catching onto her idea and putting the puzzle pieces together. She might not know Dia’s plan exactly, but she’s got a hunch.

Nozomi’s got a curious and playful look in her eyes. She doesn’t know why, but she’s excited to find out. She agrees and tells Dia she’ll see her the moment she starts her break, and with that Dia says goodbye to her friends and heads back to the store to Eli, who seems to have gotten a few customers in the time she was gone. Dia puts her tea down and immediately gets to work.

The moment she get a chance, Eli realizes that Dia hadn’t brought sweets with her. Dia doesn’t say anything, pretending to help out an older woman shopping for her teenage granddaughter, but she does notice the little bit of a downcast look Eli has before she shrugs and continues with her shift. It confirms one suspicion she and Kanan had- Eli is certainly not into the sweets.

Some time passes and Dia’s been so busy, she’s completely forgotten about the favour she asked of Nozomi. Eli too has been busy and hasn’t thought to ask about the chocolate she forgot to bring. Dia’s tea sits with only a couple sips taken out of it, now cold and forgotten behind the counter. She’s glad it’s been so busy and the time has flown by, but she notices a little too late that Nozomi is on her way into the store.

She walks in, passing by a couple customers as they browse and makes her way over to Dia. Dia notices that she’s had time to change out of her work clothes- her hair is no longer up in a messy bun and is instead down in two twin tails. She wears a christmas themed sweater and Dia feels blessed seeing its

. A polar bear wearing a santa hat- you can’t go wrong with that even a little bit.

Before Dia can think about it Nozomi approaches her with the bag of chocolates in hand.

“Kurosawa-san! Here you are- the sweets you left at the shop.” Nozomi holds them out with a grin, happy she could have helped her out.

It’s then Dia see’s it. She see’s Eli’s eyes glued to them- practically dying to see what happens with their interaction. Her customers at her till have left the store and Eli has nothing to keep her busy since the other browsing customers have left too. Eli has nothing to distract her but these two and Dia swears she can feel Eli’s blue gaze boring itself into her, not daring to look away.

That’s when Dia pushes through with her plan. The plan she realises she didn’t think through as much as she probably should’ve.

“Oh! Thank you, Toujou-san.” Dia stiffly says. “I will just grab those sweets from you no-”

Without warning, Dia knocks over the whole display of folded sweatshirts onto the ground, like some offended cat you just can’t take your eyes off. Next up she hurriedly shoves herself into the table and practically hurls herself and all of the folded clothes onto the floor. The clothes flies everywhere and she makes sure she lands face first into the biggest pile she can find in the span of 0.5 seconds. And then she waits, counting down the three seconds slowly in her head. In those three seconds, Nozomi steps back with a gasp. Eli makes some kind of awkward noise, a customer is about to enter the shop only to immediately turn around and walk the complete opposite direction. Kanan and Mari had somehow made it behind the corner of a huge christmas decoration, watching all of this just past the doorway and at the end of those three seconds, Dia pushes herself up off of the floor.

“Oh no! It seems I have tripped and knocked over this display. How clumsy of me.” It sounds so fake. So absolutely terribly staged- Dia’s voice sounds like google translate as it reads the wikipedia article of arctic seals translated from french to italian to german back to french again out loud. “I’m so sorry, Toujou-san, I have to clean this up right away.”

Nozomi looks a lot more than amused.

“Would you like any he-”

“Oh no! No no, it’s okay. I can take care of this no problem.” Dia’s reply has little to no emotion, Dia finally sounds as dead as she feels inside when she’s around Kanan’s christmas sweaters. She gestures to the counter not far away, “Please don’t waste your time waiting for me to fold these- could you give my coworker Ayase-san the chocolates? She’ll be happy to hold onto them as I clean up this big mess I have made.”

Nozomi, not wanting to disturb Dia, decides to do just that. Mari and Kanan are practically inside the store now, hiding behind a window display, peeking out from behind it as they watch Nozomi move to the counter to Eli. Eli looks confused, flustered, surprised and scared all at the same time. She opens her mouth to greet Nozomi but nothing comes out. She closes it, then stares for a moment. If Nozomi has noticed, she says nothing. (Oh, she has, Nozomi’s gaydar has never beeped this loudly in her life.)

“Hey, I, uh. Well, I have these for Kurosawa-san. She left them at the shop earlier so I decided to bring them to her but she seems a little busy? Could I leave them with you?” She asks with a small, uncertain smile.

And there it is. They both look over to her and Dia quickly pretends to fix her folding, a little too robotically for any real person, but it deters them enough to look away. Dia, goes back to watching their interaction. Eli’s mouth opens and closes like a gaping fish. She can’t form a coherent reply. She watches Eli nod first, before saying a small ‘of course!’ and taking the bag from Nozomi. Her eyes are practically bulging and to Dia, it looks as if Eli is speaking with a local celebrity of some sort. She’s starstruck.

Dia has to hide a tiny smirk forming on her lips as the lightbulb above her head finally lights and she understands. The puzzle is complete and on top of the puzzle is an image with Eli’s face in her hands because she’s been caught red handed fawning over the cute girl who works at the chocolate shop across the hall.

“T-thank you very much Miss..?” Eli, finally able to form real words, speaks in a slightly shaky voice as she asks for her name.

“Nozomi! Toujou Nozomi!” the other girl replies, introducing herself happily.

Eli’s eyes light up like a christmas tree and there’s a small hint of pink on her cheeks as she smiles. Dia pats herself on the back and mentally congratulates herself on her suspicions being correct. She’s throwing a party right now, there’s an imaginary banner that reads “You did it! You were right!” and it gets even wilder as Kanan lifts Dia up in her big strong arms, and Mari comes up and embraces her too, and then they both kiss her on the cheeks to congratulate her on her correct assumption and the plan to prove it. She feels extremely proud of herself.

So proud, she realizes, that she forgot to pay attention to their conversation as her daydream carried on in her head. Nozomi’s pushed herself away from the counter and Eli holds onto the bag of chocolates. The violet haired girl gives a small wave and beams.

“You should stop by the shop sometime! Nicocchi, Maricchi and I don’t bite~ Kurosawa-san can confirm that~”

With that said, Nozomi exits the shop and heads back to work. Eli watches her leave for a minute before she practically falls back behind the counter, putting the chocolates down and staring at the counter in disbelief. A gay breakdown, it seems. Dia looks away from her to Mari and Kanan with a knowing smirk, and she looks on surprised as she watches Mari handing Kanan a few bills. Kanan pockets them with a grin and gives a big thumbs up to Dia before they both sneak out of Chacci’s display window and head back to the

‘This played out better than I could imagine.’ She thinks to herself as she finishes folding the last of the clothes she hurled onto the floor.

In a couple hours following, Dia’s shift ends and she heads back over to the chocolate shop. Nozomi has gone home, her shift being over, and it’s only Nico working for the final hour. Eli’s let Dia go early and has decided to finish the closing shift herself and Dia felt like another tea would be nice for the journey home.

As she waits for Nico to fix up her tea she notices Eli pausing at the door way. She glances over subtly and notices Eli’s staring at Nico with a soft gaze before continuing to the opposite side of the store. Dia quirks her eyebrow upward but turns her attention to Nico as she places her tea down. Dia thanks her and picks it up, taking a small sip from the lid and turning to watch Eli again.

“How many times does Ayase-san glance here during your shifts?” Dia asks Nico, bringing her tea down and not taking her gaze off Chacchi’s.

Nico shrugs and leans on the counter.

“Honestly, I’ve lost count. I don’t catch her staring as often as Nozomi does, but when I do she looks so dumbfounded. Kinda like she thinks she was staring too long and that I could tell, you know?” Nico props her head up in the palm of her hand with her elbow on the counter and looks at Kanan and Mari, “What about you Mari? She look over here much when you’re working?”

“Barely!” Mari sighs and leans back in her chair, “I’m looking there allll the time and she barely glances over when it’s just me in the store.”

“You’re looking for Dia, aren’t you?” Kanan pokes fun at Mari and Mari huffs before smiling.

“Who wouldn’t?! But I’m also looking at you~”

Dia blushes and shakes her head, trying to ignore their comments and go back to the main topic of conversation.

“Yazawa-san, would you say it’s fair to assume she looks over here for you and Toujou-san?” Dia lifts her tea and takes another small sip of it, looking to Nico for her answer.

Nico blinks once, pondering it. Then twice, lifting herself off the counter and raising her eyebrows. She nods a bit as the idea itself seems plausible.

“Well I can understand why she’d look over here for me of course. I’m a hot commodity that only so many people get to have.”

“You mean only Nozomi?” Mari jokes and Nico glares daggers at her boss.

“I have and have had other girlfriends!” She objects with a frown.

“Wait, have?” Kanan says while Mari whistles innocently, “I thought you were only dating Toujou-san?”

“I mean, yeah, we’re dating. Sort of. We’re in an open relationship.” Nico says it like it’s something simple. Dia raises her eyebrows at Nico and stares expectantly. The Black haired girl notices and elaborates.

“Nozomi and I have been in a relationship since high school. We love each other loads and probably always will, but as our relationship went on we kinda mellowed out and wanted a bit more than the other could offer. So we decided to do this together and it’s been pretty great. So far I’m the only one between us to go on other dates and stuff but it’s been nothing serious. Not yet anyway.”

With that said Nico glances over at Chacchi’s with a small grin, watching Eli for a change. Dia watches her and can see it- that same little glint in her eye that Kanan has for Mari (A gaze that, she has to admit, she may have seen directed at her once or twice too.)

She has to admit, she’s a bit envious. Nico and Nozomi knew what they wanted from their relationship and were comfortable making the choice to date other people while still having what they do. It’s probably taken a lot of communicating for them to get to that step. She’s very envious, but she admires it a lot too. She wonders if she’ll be able to find that some day in a relationship.

“Sounds kinda similar to me and Kanan, doesn’t it~?” Mari quips, standing up from her chair and walking over to the counter, “Except we don’t really have too many other people we want to date. Just one.”

She throws a wink Dia’s way and Dia does her best to make sure Mari knows it’s ignored. The brunette literally closes her eyes, but she knows Mari can see her ears burning. She almost wants to curse out loud. Instead, she grabs Nico’s attention.

“Well, if today’s experiment proved anything it’s that I’ve got good news for you and Toujou-san. A positive suspicion I’ve had about Ayase-san for a few weeks now…”

#love live! school idol project #love live! sunshine!!#eli ayase #dia kurosawa #kanan matsuura #nico yazawa #nozomi toujou #mari ohara #love live #love live sunshine #kanadiamari #nozonicoeli #nox writes

47 notes · View notes

jazy3 · 6 years ago

Text

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 15X14

I liked this episode more than I’ve liked the last two. It was more fast paced and went by quicker. The episode begins with Meredith in a two day surgery. She’s about to break the hospital’s record for the longest surgery like a badass! She’s wearing her purple scrub cap today! Alex is super supportive and wonderful. He’s such a supportive and loving person. His character development is my absolute favourite on the show.

He wants to be there to cheer Mer on but he has to deal with the mass OD because he’s Chief. Alex is the kind of friend we wish we all could have. We get an interesting exchange between him and Jo about Meredith. Jo still hates that Mer and DeLuca are dating (don’t we all?) and Alex says DeLuca cheering Mer on is not a thing. Jo thinks it is because they’re dating. Neither of them are happy with the situation. All of which is very telling.

Then a woman comes in saying she and her son were playing at the park and she lost track of him, but she’s wearing a yellow triage tag. Alex and Jo endeavour to help her and a kind homeless man brings her shaken, but otherwise okay son to the hospital. We learn from him that the mother is in fact an addict and that she lied to Alex and Jo. This is a hard case for them because of their personal connection to it.

If it weren’t for the kindness of a local homeless man something worse could have happened to her son. It’s revealed that she went to the park to buy drugs and took her kid with her. Her husband was completely unaware and is horrified. Jo urges the husband to get his wife help, but Alex disagrees. He speaks from experience and tells the husband to make his kid his priority and to not let his wife near him until he’s sure she’s clean. It’s nice that we’re getting to know more about Alex and his past.

Meanwhile, Meredith continues with her surgery unaware of what’s going on in the ER. Helm assists before taping out to go work in the ER and DeLuca assists as well. Bokhee calls her Wonder Woman and it's awesome. DeLuca is actually being kind of a decent human this episode which is a nice change. Meredith breaks the record by over three hours and is ecstatic.

Link’s back this week and I really enjoyed watching his character. I hope we see more of him. Link also lays down the law with Schmitt and Nico. Him and Jackson are starting to become buddies too which is cool. Nico and Schmitt are working together. They have different ideas of breakfast and it’s adorable. I’m liking the two of them together. It’s very cute. We also learn more about Schmitt like the fact that he is a comic book fan. Schmitt has some great lines in this episode and he’s hilarious. We also get to see the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic again which is cool.

We find out that Jackson wants to go camping and Maggie hates camping. This is why you ask first. We get a great scene with Bailey and Teddy talking. Bailey spoke the truth a lot this episode which was great. They are totally BFFs now and I love it! Then the drama gets underway. A young addict is tossed out of a car which almost runs Bailey and Teddy over. This is why Good Samaritan laws are so important. There’s been a mass overdose at a local park. It’s going to be a busy day in the ER.

We learn that Betty’s parents have somehow acquired custody of Leo. This entire Leo custody situation makes no sense and is totally unrealistic. Also Owen and Betty’s parents don’t seem to give a damn about Betty. Only Amelia does. What’s wrong with them? Betty does eventually show up at the hospital with her boyfriend Linus. They are brought in by ambulance after over dosing.

They’re taken to the clinic, but then Betty goes into distress. Link springs into action and carries her to the ER to be worked on. Link’s the kind of doctor you want in an emergency! Linus comes too and we learn that he’s not only her boyfriend he’s also her dealer and Leo’s father. Betty needs heart surgery so Teddy and Bailey take her while Owen, Amelia, and her parents look on.

There’s a nice scene between Amelia and Link here. We get to see more depth from Link this episode. There’s also a great parallel to Meredith’s talk with Dr. Marsh here. I wish he had stayed. It also looks like they could be building something between Amelia and Link. Then suddenly blood pools out from nearby door! Then open it to find Linus on the floor bleeding from having injected himself. Link tries to revive him, but he’s unsuccessful and Linus dies.

Link blames himself and Amelia’s face crumbles and she starts to cry. They don’t know each other very well and he’s totally unsure of what to do. He does his best to comfort her. Maggie comes to see Jackson to talk about postponing their camping trip. He tries to convince her to go. This is the kind of conversation you would have away from a patient. This becomes obvious when Maggie reveals that Betty is in the hospital and that Amelia needs her and Qadri reveals that the patient she and Jackson are treating is the homeless man who brought the kid in. Jackson gets his privilege majorly checked.

Betty’s dad continues to be horrible. Seriously what is this guy’s problem? No wonder she ran away. I noticed they’ve been using the smaller waiting room recently. Betty makes it through surgery to everyone’ relief. Meredith’s promptly falls asleep against a wall. Jackson tries to find a safe place for the homeless man to go. He can’t so he ends up giving him all of his camping stuff until he can get a permanent home. Betty opens her eyes as Owen, Amelia, and her parents look on.

Alex talks to Jo about his past and she brings him a hot chocolate to cheer him up. I love how Jo is there for Alex. Ben and Bailey have a heart to heart about beauty and it’s adorable. The episode ends with Meredith curled up asleep on a stretcher after a long day of work. Wait so Maggie just left Meredith sleeping on a gurney instead of driving her home? What the heck? DeLuca sees her and decides to wheel her into an empty patient room, put a blanket over her, and turn out the light. What DeLuca does here is right on that borderline between cute and creepy.

Next week is the record breaking episode! Should be fun!

Until next week.

Au revoir!

13 notes · View notes

twiicelost · 6 years ago

Text

RULES: Answer the twenty questions and then tag twenty people you want to get to know better!

NAME: Christine (after the Stephen King book !!) ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio come at me bro HEIGHT: 5′4′‘ LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, very little Spanish alongside some more common words/phrases. NATIONALITY: American, but I’m open for adoption from other countries help FAVOURITE FRUIT: Watermelon!! FAVOURITE SCENT: in candles? Classic vanilla or a fruit (besides orange, ick) but in general?? Old Spice Bearglove anything (apple, citrus, spice apparently) FAVOURITE COLOUR: it’s always been purple but like any color had its really pretty shades?? like I look at a sunset like SHIT FAVOURITE ANIMAL: Tigers!! Save them!! COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: coffee?? is there even a question?? tbh I’m addicted and I don't care. FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER(S): so uh I’m in the process of writing books and my characters are prob my favorite but then I see like the Jacksepticeye egos or anyone from the Love, Simon book(s!!) and I weep WHEN WAS YOUR BLOG CREATED: on this one? I’m a little bab. June 15th this year! but on my longest active blog.. jan 1st. 2017!! LAST MOVIE SEEN: Just last night I had a date night and saw Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and man gotta say it was better then all the bad reviews had me expecting SONGS YOU’VE HAD ON REPEAT: I’ve been bouncing between King Of The Clouds by Panic! At The Disco and Nico and The Niners by Twenty One Pilots bc BOPS SONG ONE: Smoke And Guns by Natewatstobattle!! his new album is GREAT SONG TWO: Honestly Taylor Louderman has such a silky and powerful voice so World Burn and Someone Gets Hurt has also been on repeat SONG THREE: I recently found How To Be a Heartbreaker by Marina And The Diamonds which is also another BOP please recommend me more of this FAVOURITE CANDY: I always say Reese's anything but I recently had an airhead via sugar addicted friend and I forgot how good they are! FAVOURITE HOLIDAY: Halloween MONTH

TAGGED BY: @charmsblushed !!!

TAGGING: I’m lucky to have like five friends oh my god uh @forgerytm, @helpingjazzhands, @serial-sadie, @dorsaled, @hadmorestars, @girlroared, @mcssivedeal, @tccn-angst-bullshit, @dclinqucnt-23, @unicorndreamcr, @doublebcss, @dreambuilt, @sondered, @prcphesiied @fullcfsecrets, @blow-up-the-school thats literally everyone I know wow

#these are always fun :)#(dash games.)#𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 \\ ooc

2 notes · View notes

huesofthemorning · 7 years ago

Text

Yours Truly, a Friend: Chapter 2

Pairing: NozoEli, NicoEli, eventual NozoNicoEli

Words: 3300

Summary: Nozomi knows well of friendships lost, but it’s time she learned of friendships gained. A simple letter from thousands of miles away can be the start of everything.

Notes: The next chapter, as requested by several people. I’ll make an attempt to continue and finish this story, but unfortunately I can’t promise anything

Prologue | Chapter 1

Dear Eli,

How’s Japan treating you so far? Two weeks in, and surely you’re a pro already! How is it? Are you finding your way around okay? Has anything exciting happened yet? Are you remembering to take your shoes off when you get inside? That’s important, ya know! As for me, I’m nearing the end of my current project, I’m sad to say. I’ll miss the girls when it’s over. And I guess I’ll have to find a new job, huh? The trials of adulthood never end.

It’s strange, though… I feel like I’m right on the edge of something. The edge of a cliff, perhaps? And it’s a long way down to the bottom, but there’s a bridge I could take… I just have to be brave enough to take that first step. Or maybe I’ve already fallen? Maybe I’ve caught myself on a ledge, unable to move, and there’s a hand reaching out to me from above. Should I take that hand, and risk slipping and falling farther, or should I stay where I am, stuck but safe? Surely the reward for getting out must be far greater than the risk.

What do you think? Have you ever felt this way? Is my imagination getting away from me?

Lots of love,

Nozomi <3

~*~

Eli liked to think of herself as someone who was composed, someone who could adapt flawlessly to any situation with grace. She had cultivated that persona for years, holding her head high and hiding all traces of bewilderment she might feel when the world throws her for a loop. She had mastered the art of it all – or so she had thought.

“I’ve been to Moscow a hundred times,” she muttered under her breath, “I shouldn’t be this lost in a city.”

Eli glared at the gps on her phone, then spun in a circle and glared at the buildings surrounding her. People pushed past her on all sides, chattering away; cars flew down the road; even the wind whistling through the tall buildings was deafening. It near overwhelmed Eli, and the knowledge that this was a quiet time of day terrified her.

Already, Eli was missing her quiet life in her small Russian village. Sure, there was nothing to do there, and she had long grown tired of seeing the same faces day in and day out, but at least she could breathe. Even when she managed to find her way back to her apartment, she wouldn’t be able to block out the noise.

“Oh my god, you’re gorgeous,” a voice said.

Well, Eli wasn’t a quitter – except sometimes, when she was, but that was in the past, and she wasn’t going to be like that anymore – and she was simply going to have to get used to it. She just needed some time, is all.

“Hey, do you have a map?” the voice continued. “Cause I think I’m lost in your eyes.”

“Oh.” Eli finally noticed the young woman standing in front of her. She was short, even for the Japanese, and she wore a bright smile that Eli felt she could trust. What had she said? Everyone spoke so fast here – was it something about being lost? That must be it. “Ah, yes, I’ve gotten a little turned around. Would you mind giving me directions?”

The woman looked surprised for a moment – had Eli said something wrong? – but she bounced back instantly. “Oh, you’re new here! That’s great! I’m Yazawa Nico, just Nico is fine, and I’ll be your tour guide! I’ll show you alllllllll the wonders of Japan, don’t you worry.”

Nico hooked her arm through Eli’s, who for the first time in years found herself unable to keep up with what was happening, and pulled her down the street.

“So! European, right? You’ve got to be, with those blue eyes. What country? My first guess was France, but you don’t sound French, at least I don’t think so. German maybe? Russian? What other countries are over there… Ukraine? Norway? Chile? Wait, no, that’s one of the Americas, isn’t it? I was never very good with geography. Hey! Have you ever thought about dancing?”

Eli gaped at Nico. What had she gotten herself into? At least Nico’s barrage of questions had been said at a slower pace than before, and once Eli pulled herself together she realized she had managed to understand it all.

“Yes, I’m Russian, but I’m actually more Japanese than Russian, it’s just been a while since I’ve been here…” Fifteen years, to be exact. Eli had planned on coming back sooner, possibly for high school, but life got in the way, and now she barely remembered anything about the country. “And I used to dance, but not anymore.”

“Perfect! I knew it the moment I saw you!” Nico nodded to herself, as if acknowledging what a genius she was. She dragged Eli into a random building, sat her down at a table, disappeared, and returned a few moments later with two steaming cups of something in her hands. Nico moved fast, slipping around people and darting through the crowds, and between watching her and breathing in the smell of coffee that filled the small café, Eli was almost dizzy. She took the cup Nico handed her gratefully.

“I forgot to ask what you like,” Nico said, “so I just got hot chocolate, because who actually likes coffee? I mean, my friend Maki does, but she’s a med student and I think an addiction to coffee is required for graduation, so she doesn’t count. Also, what’s your name?”

“Elizaveta Alexandrovna,” Eli said, sipping her hot chocolate and grimacing as it burned her tongue. Nico gave her a blank stare and Eli sighed. Right. Japan. “Eli in Japanese. Ayase Eli.”

“Cool. What’re you doing in Japan, Eli? Visiting? Moving?”

“Moving. I graduated university a year ago, but I couldn’t find any interesting work back home, so I thought I’d try here. Plus…” Eli hesitated a moment, then continued on. “I have a friend here, we’ve been sending each other letters for years, and it’d be nice to finally meet in person.”

“What, you two were pen pals or something?” Nico scoffed at the idea. “That’s stupid. This is the twenty-first century, we have phones and webcams. Use those and you can find out someone’s abandoned you after a week, instead of waiting 3 months for a letter that will never come.”

“What?”

“Anyway!” The odd darkness that had clouded Nico’s eyes vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she was back to her sunny and dazzling self an instant later. “When are you going to meet this mystery friend of yours?”

“I don’t know… We haven’t really talked about it yet.”

“Seriously? Come on! How long have you two been friends?”

“About ten years.”

“Ten years! And you’re not racing down the streets to throw yourself in their arms? What kind of friends are you?”

“Well… It’s kinda nerve wracking, isn’t it?” Eli gave a sheepish grin. “I like to think I know her pretty well, but talking in person is a lot different than writing. And what would we do? We’ve never had to… do anything together before.”

“You could see a movie? Go bowling? Go to an arcade? An amusement park? Take a walk through the park? Go to the beach? See touristy stuff? Go-”

“Okay, okay, I get it! There’s lots of things to do!” They laughed together, and Eli felt her nervousness ease, just a little.

They left the café a little while later, Nico leading the way to Eli’s apartment. She pointed out various landmarks that Eli tried her best to commit to memory, and talked nonsense the rest of the time. Eli had tuned her out by the end of it, which she felt bad about, but it was exhausting going from Japanese class once a week to full immersion with native speakers. She needed a nap.

“And ta-da! Home sweet home, right?” Nico gestured to the apartment building, which Eli was slowly beginning to think of as hers.

“Yes, thank you Nico. You were a great help.” Eli made her way to the door with relief, Nico following a few steps behind.

“So, hey, Eli, you want to go out with me?” Nico asked, and Eli paused on the threshold.

Did she? She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to have another friend here, especially one in the area. Somehow, she got this feeling that hanging around Nico could lead to more trouble than it was worth, with her impulsive actions… but Eli had had fun, and moving to a new country meant taking risks, didn’t it?

“Alright,” Eli decided. “Message me if you want to meet up, then. My job doesn’t start for another couple weeks, so I should be free whenever.”

Nico grinned, raising her hands up in some weird pose. “You got it!”

~*~

Dear Nozomi,

I ran into the oddest person the other day…

Nico’s words kept spinning around in Eli’s mind. There was no doubt about it: the correct course of action was to ask Nozomi to meet up. She couldn’t imagine Nozomi saying no, and surely they would be able to find something to do. Still, there was that fluttering of her heart that came up whenever she read one of Nozomi’s letters, or whenever she looked at that jar slowly filling up with paper stars, and it made her hesitate.

Eli folded the 484th star, finished the letter, and didn’t write anything at all about getting together.

~*~

Eli’s phone buzzed early in the morning, and she groaned as she opened her eyes to sunlight. Buying curtains was moving up in her priority list. A fan, too, she decided, as she spotted the blanket lying on the floor. She had vague memories of kicking it off during the night, unable to deal with the heat. The phone vibrated again, and Eli fumbled through the clutter piled on her night stand until she found it.

11:03 am, the screen read. Not that early, then, and she couldn’t use jet lag as an excuse anymore. Well, she was technically on vacation, so she was allowed to sleep in. Eli yawned and pushed herself into an upright position.

“It’s your favorite up and coming idol, Nico-Nii!” the message read, “I compleeeeeeeeeeeetely forgot to ask you something important the other day. Think you can find the coffee shop again and meet me there? You won’t regret it, I promise!”

The gps said the café was a 20 minute walk. Eli gave herself an hour to hunt down the place, and prided herself on getting there in 45 minutes. She bought a chocolate latte and sat down at the same table as before. Nico walked in a short while later, looking almost dressed up in her pink blouse and doodle-print skirt. It was a cute look.

“You actually made it!” Nico said, dropping herself in the chair. “I’m surprised. I thought I’d have to rescue you again.”

“I’m not completely hopeless.”

“Yeah? How long did it take you?”

Eli took a sip of her drink instead of answering and ignored Nico’s smirk. “Anyways, what was that important question you had?”

“Oh yeah! You said you knew how to dance, right?”

“I did, but…”

“What about singing? You have any experience with that?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well, that’s fine. Your accent is a bit thick, but your voice is nice, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Wait, problems with what? What are you talking about?”

“My idol group, of course!” Nico said it with such confidence and energy that Eli almost nodded in understanding before she realized that she still had no idea what Nico was talking about.

“Your… idol group? You mean, like a celebrity?”

“Sure. But idols are better, and a whole lot cuter! I’m aiming to be the number one idol in the entire universe! Me and my friend Maki are forming an idol group together. We’re going to debut soon, but we’re looking for one more member first. That’s where you come in!”

“What? Hold on-”

“You said you’re free for a couple weeks, right? That’s plenty of time to catch up on the dance moves, and we’re almost done with the song, and then we can find time to meet outside of work. Of course, once we make it big, we’ll have to practice full time, so don’t get too attached to your job, okay?”

“Wait, wait, I haven’t agreed to anything yet. Why are you picking me for this?”

“Uh, because you’re hot? And you just have that talented look about you, too. I’ve got a sense for this stuff, you know! I can see it now,” Nico said, stars in her eyes, “your face on magazine covers, the headlines crying out about the new foreign star, Ayase Elizabeth-“

“Elizaveta.”

“Same thing?”

“As same as Nico and Nicole.”

“That’s kinda cute, actually.”

Eli sighed heavily. “Nico, I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in joining your idol group.”

“Aw, come on. Why not?”

“Because… because I have enough stuff to do right now, and I’m going to like my new job, and I haven’t danced in over eight years and I’m not planning on starting again.”

“Why not?” Nico asked again, and this time she had a more serious look in her eyes. Still, Eli wasn’t about to open up to someone she had just met, new friend or not.

“It’s complicated,” Eli said, and met Nico’s suspicious look with a firm one.

“Well, fine,” Nico decided after a moment. “But you’ll still come with me to meet Maki, right? I told her I was bringing you over, and she’ll make fun of me if I don’t.”

“I suppose that’s fine, just meeting her…” Even as Eli said it, she had a nagging feeling that she should be saying no. The more distance she put between herself and dance, the better, and this was getting to close for comfort.

“Awesome!” Nico jumped out of her chair, full of energy. “Let’s get going then!”

Eli shook her head helplessly and followed Nico out the door. What had she gotten herself into?

“So, our group,” Nico started, leading the way down the street. She grabbed Eli’s hand as they walked, and Eli almost jumped at the contact. Nico didn’t seem to notice. “Right now, we’re thinking of calling our group BiBi. It doesn’t really mean anything, but it sounds pretty cool, right? We’ve got that one song I mentioned mostly done, and I’m writing lyrics for a second one. Maki’s the musician, except she only plays piano, and who’s ever heard of a classical music idol song? No one, that’s who, so I’ve been helping her play around with some fancy music software. It sounded pretty terrible at first, but I think we’ve finally gotten somewhere! And of course, dancing is easy. Maki could use a little more enthusiasm though. She’s kinda bland sometimes.”

“Uh huh,” Eli said, still distracted by Nico’s hand. Was this what friends in Japan did? Hold hands as they walked down the street? She had so much more to learn than she thought. Normally she’d be bothered by it, but… it was kind of nice, actually. For some reason, it made her think of Nozomi. Is this what Nozomi would do, when they finally met up? Eli still felt a pang of regret for her inaction. Next letter, for sure, she would ask.

Nico didn’t let go of Eli’s hand until they reached their destination. She led the way through the building, past classrooms filled with tired looking students. It was Maki’s university, Nico explained. She had gotten permission from the school to use the auditorium for a couple hours every few days, which was much nicer than Nico’s cramped apartment.

“Sounds like she’s already here,” Nico said, hearing the faint music floating down the hallway. They found her at the base of the stage, completely at home on the grand piano, playing like the rest of the world didn’t exist. They listened quietly, Nico with impatience and Eli with awe at the beauty of it. Maki hit the last few notes with a lingering sadness for the end of the song, and the music faded away. She ran her fingers silently over the key before turning around.

“You’re late,” Maki said, throwing Nico an annoyed look before turning to Eli. “And you’re the new member Nico is dragging into this mess?”

“Yes. I mean, no, I’m not joining your group, I just came because Nico wanted me to meet you, or something…” Eli paused, glancing between Nico’s smirk and Maki’s disinterested look. “I’m Ayase Eli, by the way. Your piano playing is marvelous.”

Maki’s whole expression changed at the compliment, mouth dropping open and eyes widening. She forced her surprise into a frown, but she couldn’t hide her red cheeks. She coughed, turning away and playing with a lock of hair. “Er, thanks. I’m Nishikino Maki.”

Nico laughed. “Oh, man, this is going to be fun. Hey, Maki! Why don’t we show Eli our song? Give her a taste of the idol world!”

“Do we have to? I’d rather do singing warm ups first.”

“That’s boring, I don’t want to. Oh, yeah, speaking of boring things – you find a producer yet?”

“How is that boring? We can’t do anything without a producer. And yes, I think so. My friend says she knows someone.”

“Your giiiiiiiiiiiiirlfriend, you mean?”

Maki turned truly red at that, standing up and stomping her foot. “She’s not my girlfriend, stop saying that!”

Nico practically cackled at that, and even Eli wanted to laugh at the childish display, though she hid her smile behind her hand.

“Anyways!” Nico said, setting up the speakers she pulled out of her bag, “let’s do that song.”

“Fine,” Maki growled, “but just one run through. Then we’re doing warm ups.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you want.” Nico hopped on stage and gave Eli a bright smile. “Here’s the deal, okay? You said you’re not going to dance again, and that’s fine. I’ll respect that. But you didn’t say that you didn’t want to dance again, so I’m guessing that, maybe, deep down, you actually want to keep going. I could be wrong! But if you truly don’t want to dance again – prove it. If you watch us dance, and you don’t feel any urge to join us, then I won’t bug you about it anymore. But if you do feel that urge, if I see you tapping your foot or singing along – you have to join us. Got it?”

The speech was the last thing Eli expected. She would have to join them? If she showed any enjoyment in their performance, she would have to join them? There was a heat growing in her chest, and as she pushed through her shock, Eli realized she was angry. She’d met Nico three days ago; this was their second interaction; how dare Nico try and control her life? What gave her the right? Eli had quit ballet because she was a failure, through and through, and that was never going to change. She would never be good at dancing. She would never get better. That’s the way it was, and as much as it hurt, it would hurt even more to pretend there was hope. Did she want to keep dancing? Of course she did. Of course. There was nothing she wanted more in the world, and Nico was treating it like a joke. Like Eli was hiding that desire away because she was scared. Like her soul could be bargained with.

Eli glared at Nico, fists clenched, fury burning in her blue eyes – but Nico didn’t back down. And for some reason, once again, Eli thought of Nozomi:

Maybe I’ve already fallen. Maybe I’ve caught myself on a ledge, unable to move, and there’s a hand reaching out to me from above… Surely the reward must be greater than the risk.

Surely the reward…

Have you ever felt this way?

The anger drained out of Eli.

“Alright,” she said softly, collapsing into a front row chair, “You have yourself a deal.”

#love live #nozoeli #nicoeli #nozonicoeli #LL fic #my stuff #ro fic #i dont think i'll ever write something funnier than eli meeting nico and going #yeah she looks trustworthy #the dramatic irony is great

47 notes · View notes

giveupreality · 7 years ago

Text

Relationship Headcanons

Uno

Geez, he hovered around you for weeks before you finally took him seriously. He tried to approach you with cheesy flirt lines and lame jokes, till he gave up and got real with you. He was indeed serious and his “charming” flirt lines changed into actual normal questions and those jokes into stupid bad puns. After a while, he asked you to a date and you finally gave in. You won’t admit, but you fell in love with him from the start, you only waned to see his humanly true side.

He’s a perfect listener and even a better adviser. He becomes your bestfriend and protective older brother when a problem keeps bothering you. He doesn’t want to see you stressing about something trivial -from his point of view- and he’ll squeeze his brains out looking and eventually finding a solution.

He adores when you braid his hair. He welcomes with open arms every crazy hairstyle ideas you came up with. Take note: his hair is so precious to him so letting you act up on your free will is an important step in your relationship. Also, you’ll have nights when you’ll do each other’s nails. Don’t be surprised if his manicure skills are better than yours.

He is a great cuddler and an indoor person, so a night spent watching movies and playing childish games like Ludo is usual for you. Although, sometimes he’ll come in front of you to casually yet cheerfully say: “Let’s play paintball!!” or “Let’s run, lazy cat!” so he’ll be the one who’ll slow you down and the one who’ll speed you up. Also, you’ll bet on so many weird things like when the toothpaste will be finished or how many corn puffs can fit in your or his mouth. So, he’s a spontaneous protective games-addictive sweetheart. Give him love.

Jyugo

Everybody who came in contact with him at least once knows he is cold and detached. He may joke and smile, but he won’t get easily involved. So it will take a long way to open him up. And he is dense so it will take an eternity to figure his feelings out. But once he does, it’s worth the waiting.

He’s so loyal and such a fool for you. He’s a good listener but even if he understands you, it’s hard for him to give you an actual advice. He will just go silent and rub your back while giving you tissue after tissue and he’ll get ready a glass of water after you’re done crying.

You need to have patience for everything that comes for the first time in your relationship, because he needs to accommodate with the new situation. Although, when you asked him if he would have wanted to adopt a pet for you both, his eyes sparkled and suggested a black cat.

He is like a baby. Late at night, he would sometimes have nightmares so he’d be too scared to fall asleep again. You’d need to put his head on your belly or chest and start caressing his hair while softly humming a lullaby and swinging him slowly in your arms. When you would be sure he’s sound asleep, you’d plant tender kisses on his eyelids. Little do you know he never sleeps before your goodnight kisses.

Nico

He’s so amicable it’s hard to not be friends with him. You would be best friends for so long you would forget the life before him. The best thing is that he never leaves your side, no matter what.

He’s so child-like you’ll have to take care of him. Although, when he’ll get struck by the realization he’s deeply in love with you, he’ll low key check if you need anything, every hour. He’s the clingy and whiny type, but he’ll bring his serious facade and he’ll carefully place gimpy advice where he thinks they’re needed. He tries and that’s why you can’t help but love his cuteness.

He’s kind of afraid of touching you, body contact is scary for him at first, but once he got to taste the feeling of your skin upon his, he won’t let go of your hand and he’ll always stop you walking, embracing you.

He’s an ace at entertaining you. Be it with games, jokes or silly puppet plays -puppets are just colorful socks with marker-drawn eyes. He likes when you’re trying to enter his otaku world and he’s thrilled when you brag about your passion as well and you introduce him to your own world. You’ll end up like two fangirls screaming enthusiastically at each other.

He would go over his head to please you, because he is well-aware you would do the same. That’s why he’d run the errands for you when you are sick or he’ll go roaming the streets searching for your favourite dessert. Also, when he has a flu, he’ll keep spamming you with pitiful photos of him being all gloomy, his red nose peeking up from the blanket. And as the kiddo he is, he will be blowing your phone up with requests and things he ‘needs’, such as 3 warm hugs, 10 swallows of kisses, infinite spoonfuls of love. Dork.

Rock

You know he is a food lover, so you always lure him to do what you want with a snack. Also, you can bait him with a shoulder’ massage. And he loves trying your new recipes and he is a honest taster. When you’re out of tune for cooking, he puts on his kitty apron and he pours all his love into making something delicious for you. He may love food, but he adores spoiling you.

He’s a softie. If he sees you’re sad, especially if it’s because of him, he starts pouting as well and for the rest of the day, both of you would be two grumpy fluffy balls. Furthermore, he is bad at expressing himself, so instead of talking your way out of an argument, you just stay silent and avoid each other, without even knowing what the problem is. He would sometimes make a first step towards you, leaving a post-it with three dots on it on a bar of chocolate where he knows you’d see them. You would order a pizza with his favorite topping and ask him casually if he wants a slice -he ends eating 3/4 of your treat. That’s how you end your issues. Blessed be the food!!

You would sometimes drag him out of the bed and somehow convince him to go out for a jogging. But you’d end up barely breathing after 10 minutes and you’d need him to give you a piggy back ride. That’s the part you love the most, that’s why you sometimes force him to run. But you won’t tell him this. If you aren’t with him while he does his exercises, he would be bored and he would immediately give up and call you or text you.

Also, food fights are forbidden in your household, since he is not the one to accept such waste of food. Instead, you spill your aggressive love into intensive pillow fights. You’ll both end up crushed on the sofa, cuddling at each other’s side. Peaceful couple.

Hajime Sugoroku (I’M SO SO SORRY MOMOKO!!!)

It’s a tough battle inside him, what’s more important: job or you. No offence, but his entire life revolved around his job so this is all he knew, thus when you came around, he didn’t know how to react since you turned his world upside down. He’s so awkward at first and he usually hides himself behind mountains of work’ papers. So you’ll need to slowly approach him. Once you’ll get there, he’ll transform himself into something new, and after you made the first step, he’ll start courting you.

He’s that old-fashioned gentleman that you read of in books whose action was centered in the Victorian Age. He’ll gallantly charm you with tender compliments, well-placed soft touches, smooth whispers, he’ll enchant you with his knowledgeable self, bewitching you with those rare and alluring smiles. It’s impossible to resist such grace, such appeal. He won you over just by bating his eyelashes at you, but he wanted to tangle you in his delightful manners to the point you won’t be able to escape him.

Although, after a while, he becomes much more comfortable around you, which is good, cause you are glad he has a ‘normal’ side. He shouts, he cries of anger, he goes silent, he laughs, he talks enthusiastically about his hobbies -yeah, he does have hobbies; fascinating, right?!-, he jokes around and he suffers too. You embraced all of him and he finally felt at home somewhere else besides his workplace. Despite all of these, he maintained his gentleness and he treats you with such care, like you are his crystal rose he protects so fiercely, keeping you close to his heart so dearly.

But he never neglects his work either. He keeps a sharp eye on every inmate in his district and you are so proud of him. He always assures you with a soft kiss embed on your quivery lips, every time he is off to work, knowing you worry loads for him. He texts you now and then to make sure you are safe and well.

You have a steadily growing relationship, based on trust, love and acceptance. He tends to be overprotective sometimes, even though he is well aware it pisses you off sometimes so bad you wanna throw a pillow at him. You are that mature couple, which is everyone’s goal.

#nanbaka #scenarios #uno #jyugo #niko #rock #hajime #relationship headcanon

31 notes · View notes

lonelypond · 7 years ago

Text

Casual Lunacy, Ch. 27

Love Live, NicoMaki, 2.1K, 27/?

The Fighters

Maki found her steps hurrying once she got inside Rin and Hanayo’s dorm. She could hear the low growls, Rin, still wolf, still defensive and frightened. She could smell Hanayo’s sadness and confusion, more anxiety than fear. Maki opened the door to Rin and Hanayo’s room, not sure what to expect. Rin was, unusually, on the bed opposite the one they used and Hanayo was seated on the futon underneath the modified bunk bed, moving as little as possible. Rin’s head snapped in Maki’s direction, but Maki waited, low howl of concern her only comment. Rin huffed and turned her attention back to Hanayo.

“Maki.” Hanayo whispered, “Do you know if…”

Maki closed the door, calling to Rin with a series of whines. She didn’t want to transform, that would mean that she wouldn’t be able to communicate as well with Hanayo. As a human, she could understand Rin, mostly, except for some of the more physical aspects of expression. But she wasn’t here to wrestle. If she could get Rin to look at her...the room was light enough that Maki would be able to judge how in control Rin was from the mix of greens.

“Rin…” Hanayo sounded on the verge of tears and Maki moved toward her, which got a reaction out of Rin. The smaller werewolf jumped between them, shaking her head.

“Rin, I just want to help.” Maki knelt. Rin lowered her head, a growl rumbling through her body. Maki thought the light green and neon green pretty evenly mixed. Whether it had been a voluntary transformation or not, what they probably had now was an irritated werewolf with a full body headache.

Then Rin whined. Maki heard Hanayo scrunch forward, “She won’t talk to me. Or let me come close.”

“She’s scared.” Maki stated, reaching a hand out to Rin, who accepted the touch, her head hanging down. “Of you, I think.”

“ME! No Rin, that's...” Hanayo’s voice squeaked and Maki heard her spring from the futon. Rin whimpered and fell back to the other bed and Maki extended her arm, forcing Hanayo to stop. “Me?”

Maki nodded, keeping part of her attention on Rin, but making eye contact with Hanayo, “I think she’s mostly in control, although I bet the transformation was triggered by stress. What’s been happening?” Maki wondered what she’d missed while she was spending so much time with Nico.

Hanayo couldn’t meet Maki’s eyes, “She’s…” Rin barked, and Hanayo let the truth rush out, “Rin’s been upset and restless because I made her promise not to transform. We haven’t really been talking for the past day. She's been spending most of her time at the gym and with her tutors and I’ve been working." A hesitation, "And planning strategies with Eli and Nozomi.” Hanayo twisted her hands, “Nozomi said something that really upset her when they came by.”

Maki remembered the night of the party, Nozomi trying to swagger past Umi with alcohol and insults and wasn’t surprised, “What was it?”

Hanayo muttered, glancing away from both werewolves.

“Hanayo.” Maki’s voice snapped, with a howl of support from Rin.

Hanayo squared her shoulders, “That she could see why I kept Rin locked away.” Hanayo put her glasses to the side and crouched, hand in front for balance, eyes set on Rin. “I thought Rin was angry at me.”

Rin howled, sad, frightened. The emotions echoed in the small room.

Hanayo crawled forward, a few inches at a time, her voice soft, “Rin?”

Rin tensed, muscles ready for a spring and Maki knew her friend was tempted to duck behind her, but there was no threat in Hanayo’s body language so Rin only scooted backwards half a length. Hanayo stopped.

Rin glanced to Maki, whining. Maki nodded. “I think she’s afraid if she transforms, you won’t let her be a wolf again.”

“Oh Rin,” Hanayo threw herself impulsively at her fiancée, catching Rin by surprise. There was a startled whimper and an attempt to scurry away, but Hanayo held fast. “I never meant...I love you…I love all of this...I was just so scared for you.” There was a struggle for a moment as the still frightened Rin attempted to free herself, but Hanayo clung tighter, face in Rin’s fur, whispering, determined. Maki took a step back, arms crossed, the emotion she could hear in her friend’s pleas making her uncomfortable.

Finally, Rin ceased struggling and rested her snout on Hanayo’s shoulders. Maki watched the tension ease away, leaving exhaustion. And a very human Rin crying, “Kayochin…”

Hanayo pulled Rin as close as she could, kissing her way through the orange hair, “Do whatever feels natural, Rin. I’m so sorry. I wanted to protect you, not trap...”

Rin whined, nudging Hanayo with her head. Hanayo pulled Rin up on the bed, tenderly wrapped a blanket around her. Both were completely oblivious to Maki’s presence as they muttered apologies and endearments, tracing each other’s profiles, their scents blending...Maki hated her blush, not that those two would notice or would ever mention this scene again, not if they wanted Maki to be within ten miles of them, but she couldn’t help the vivid sensation that ambushed her, Nico reaching out like that, fingertips drawing paths to pleasure, lips a tantalizing lure...Closing the door behind her, happy Rin’s involuntary transformation aftermath was smoother than hers had been, Maki wondered how Nico’s afternoon was going.

Nico couldn’t pace, she wouldn’t let herself, that would be showing weakness and Nico wasn’t nervous, no not at all. The blackout that let her sneak into Mina and Jonathan’s bed was about to be cued and Nico prepared to step onstage. Micah stood next to her, as usual a pillar of calm.

“Nico has everything under control, no matter what Kashima does, not matter how…” Nico croaked, trying to not despair at how dry her throat sounded.

“Nico-chi!” Nozomi’s trill next to her made Nico jump, her heart pounding.

“Nozomi!” Nico’s whisper was a hiss as she spun to face the shameless tease.

“So, did Princess keep you up last night, howling?” Nico couldn’t really see the expression on Nozomi’s face as the backstage blue merely cast eerie shadows at this angle. She didn't have to. It would be smug.

“I don’t have time for this.” Nico snarled. The blackout cued as she shoved past Nozomi to get onstage. Nozomi giggled and Nico knew that meant trouble. What had she done to attract Nozomi’s ‘interest?’ Shouldn’t Nozomi be focused on either the projections or her econ genius, dancing hottie, completely useless, hot chocolate addicted girlfriend? As Nico shifted the sheets and felt Micah settle in next to her, she reminded herself to be nicer to Eli, who did actually tip well when Nozomi wasn’t looking. But for now...the lights came up, low, shafts of moonlight on the floor, moving cloud gobos drawing attention to the window. Kashima, somehow taller than her 6 feet, threw the curtains open, the drape of the fabric drifting down as she posed, contemplating her evil actions. Then, o so very swiftly, the quiet creep of her steps slid into the seductive hiss of anticipation that released from her mouth as Dracula cornered his prey.

There was a break and Nico had two choices. She could avoid Nozomi or she could find Nozomi, confront her and let the gossip engine get whatever it was off her bouncy, flouncy chest. Actually, Nico realized there weren’t two choices. Harassing Nico backstage in the middle of an important rehearsal was a friendship fail. It was time to let Nozomi know there were boundaries to what Nico would tolerate from anyone.

Nico came offstage when the 10 minute break was called, brushed past Kashima and headed right for the back of the theatre. Nozomi was leaning against the wall, enjoying Eli’s attention until Nico pulled the blonde back with a snapped, “Go somewhere else. I need to talk to your girlfriend.” Eli stepped away from Nico’s glare, wary, nodding at Nozomi.

“Why Nico-chi, what’s the matter?” Nozomi drawled, after she finished pouting in Eli’s direction as the blonde joined the other two Sisters. “So rude.”

Nico’s arms hands were on her hips and her eyes blazed, “Not as rude as teasing Nico when Nico is about to make her big entrance. What the hell is wrong with you, Nozomi? You don’t deserve any girlfriend time. You’re a disgrace to theatre.”

Nozomi patted Nico on the head, “You vibrate up and down when you’re angry, Nico. Like a pogo stick.”

Nico snarled. Maki’s wolf verbal tics were infiltrating Nico’s vocabulary. Great. If Nico went outside after her upcoming opening night triumph and howled euphoria at the moon, she’d have to check and make sure all the biting really hadn’t transferred anything werewolfy between them. Not that the fangs went in any deeper than the surface, not like...Nico shook her head, too many distracting thoughts...back to the problem at hand as she refocused on the exasperating being in front of her.

“What’s your problem?” Nico demanded.

“You lied to me.” Nozomi crossed her arms over her chest. “And do you really want to talk about it here?”

“Why not?” Nico frowned.

“You know, because your new girlfriend is a werewo…” Nozomi stretched out each sound, green eyes glittering with malice. Nico nearly pulled off Nozomi's arm dragging her into the hall.

“Shut it.” Nico ordered as the door slammed, pinching Nozomi’s forearm so hard the taller woman winced."Not another word."

“But I want to know all about Princess.” Nozomi grumbled, pulling her arm free, rubbing it as she stared at Nico, body language leaking melodramatic levels of wounded.

Nico glanced at her phone. 5 minutes before they started up again, redoing that scene. Not enough time to deal with Nozomi in a good mood, let alone with that capricious pique lurking in her expression.

“I don’t have time for this Nozomi. I won’t ever have time for this. Stop this. Now.” Nico used the command tone of voice she’d been practicing so often on Kashima these days.

“Ooh, so does Maki roll over for you when you tell her to in that tone. 'cause sexy…” Nozomi laughed in advance of Nico’s complete meltdown, the shorter woman’s arms flailing, words failing as rage sputtered out of her mouth. “You’re too easy, Nico-chi.”

Nico paused, just standing, completely still for a moment, fuming. The universe only took a second to center on the future star of stage and screen as she focused all of her personality. Then, striding forward as she inhaled, Nico forced Nozomi back against the wall. Nico didn’t bother to soften the edge in her voice or disguise the power in her threat, “If you do anything, anything, to upset or endanger Maki, I will end you, Nozomi.” She flipped her hair with a deceptively casual gesture, eyes blood red and ruthless, face as ominous as a marble Medusa’s. “Don’t mess with Nico.”

Nozomi was actually taken aback, and had no quick comeback or recovery before Nico turned on her heel and stomped back into rehearsal. The next thing Nozomi saw was an furtive Eli, opening the door and taking quick glances behind her. When Nico had enough time to get out of earshot, Eli smiled at Nozomi, leaning next to her, shoulders touching as they both stared at the door to the theatre.

“So, Nico…” Eli left the question out there.

“So very Nico…” Nozomi closed her eyes, taking Eli’s hand. Their palms vibrated, a warmth connecting them.

“She’s got an impressive amount of personality for…”

“A gremlin?” Nozomi snorted. “Nope, Nico-chi is not all hype. The real deal is under all that makeup and patter.”

Nozomi could almost hear Eli thinking, cogs grinding as she tried to choose the best way to say something she suspected Nozomi was not going to like, “You could just be…” Eli powered through, tightening her grip on Nozomi’s hand, “helpful.”

Nozomi laughed, throwing her head back and colliding with the wall. She winced and let her once again throbbing head rest on Eli’s shoulder, “You have so much to learn about me, Eli-chi.”

“I’m an amazing student. A pluses all the time. You'll marvel.” Nozomi gained so much comfort from Eli’s bright faith in her. It was a wonder to rival any in the world, the solidity Eli brought to Nozomi’s too often shifting life. When loneliness weighted, Eli would lift. Whatever tilted up in Nozomi’s head, Eli accepted. Everything. Anything. Rather than be offended or put off, Eli would just grin at Nozomi with such gentle, amused affection that Nozomi was left breathless. And she’d only been expecting herself to have that reaction to Eli’s profile. This was so much more.

“Marry me, Eli-chi.” Nozomi 's heart tilted those words out, a surprise to both parties. She swore she heard Eli's eyelashes flutter as they blinked once in the sudden silence. And then there was a chuckle.

“Today if you want.” Eli leaned her head against Nozomi’s. “But I’m not throwing Nico in the Lake to kick off the honeymoon.” Nozomi tried to pout but the picture made her giggle, Eli striding from the Wirtz Center to Lake Michigan, Nico’s heels digging stubbornly into the Lakefill as she thrashed against Eli’s grip. Eli pivoted, Nozomi somehow drawn into her arms, ballet trick, Nozomi thought. Eli's expression was unforgettably, unforgivably sincere, then her smile cracked open, “And I’ll need a ring.”

Nozomi fell into a kiss against that gorgeous mischief, sans guile, “Anything you want, my love.”

“You.” Her response, like everything else about Eli, was perfect.

A/N Sorry for the delay. The shorter days leading up to the Solstice really hammer me.

I was surprised by where the Nozomi-Eli moment went and then I wasn't. So I decided not to interrupt them : )

May the Solstice bring you brighter moments. Thanks for reading. Now I have to go bake some(fictional) Christmas cookies ; )

#nicomaki #Love Live #nozoeli #Casual Lunacy #nishikino maki #yazawa nico #rinpana #tojo nozomi #ayase eli #hoshizora rin #koizumi hanayo #werewolf #theatre #coffeeshop #college #fanfic #carrie underwood/keith urban duet on loop #enjoy

13 notes · View notes