Work Text:
“Umi-chan, Honoka-chan, promise me that I can dress you for your first date!”
Umi was a bit embarrassed, but Honoka happily agreed for the both of them. “Yeah! There’s no way we would be able to dress nice otherwise—ow!” An annoyed Umi had hit her in the arm. In a second, the three of them laughed. They had always been like this. It was impossible to imagine a time where they wouldn’t be like this in the future.
---
Kotori was drawing in her sketchbook when her mother called out that there was someone at the door. When she went to see who was there, she was greeted by the nervous form of Umi. Kotori beamed, but Umi’s face was still uneasy. She led Umi to her bedroom, but she couldn't shake the feeling something was off about her dear friend. When she closed the door, Umi took a deep breath and spoke up.
“I want you to dress me. For… a date.”
Kotori stared blankly for a second. This whole thing came as a complete surprise to her—between Umi’s aggressive avoidance of romance and her own wishful thinking, Kotori almost expected Umi to stay single indefinitely. Umi’s fidgeting and avoidance of eye contact was too adorable to let her wallow in unhappy feelings, however, so she decided to focus on the positives. Her face settled on a wide grin.
Kotori dragged Umi around to her favorite stores in the city, subjecting her to outfit after outfit. The procedure was roughly the same every time, with Kotori picking out a feminine dress and fawning over how cute Umi looked with it on. The most notable thing through the whole procedure was that the usually-shy Umi went along with it with unexpected seriousness—in fact, she was quiet through most of the outing. Kotori expected a certain level of embarrassment from Umi, but didn’t think it would manifest in this level of silence. She brought it up when Umi was showing what was probably the 20th dress.
“Umi-chan, you’ve been pretty quiet this whole time.”
Umi looked a little surprised, and then looked away. “H-have I?” Her face started to redden.
Kotori smiled at familiar sight of her embarrassed friend. “I was expecting you to act a bit more like that.”
Umi sighed. “Well… I don’t want to mess this up. I want it to be perfect.”
Kotori felt some sort of deep pain in her chest, but kept up her happy face despite it. “Of course. This person is special to you, after all.”
Umi gave a soft smile that seemed to make the pain worse. “Thank you for understanding, Kotori-chan. I’ll try on the next--“
“Wait!” Kotori found herself stopping Umi mid-sentence. “…I think that one’s it. You look perfect.”
Umi let out an unexpected sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I didn’t think I could handle trying on many more…”
Seeing an opportunity to tease made Kotori excited again. “Now let’s get your accessories! Your dress is only the first step, after all!”
Umi sighed again, accepting her fate. The two continued their quest for a few more hours, finally parting ways in the evening.
Kotori laid in bed for a long time before she finally went to sleep. She wasn’t sure why she felt so bad—she had accepted that her feelings wouldn’t come to anything a long time ago. Even if she could be with Umi, she couldn’t deny her feelings for Honoka… well, at least this did a bit in getting rid of that problem. Maybe this was a sign that she should tell her how she felt? Kotori turned and hugged her pillow. She resolved that she would at least talk to Honoka about what happened in the morning.
The morning came, and with it came another knock on the door. Kotori opened the door to find Honoka, who was surprisingly energetic for being up this early.
“Kotori-chan! I need your help!” She grabbed on to Kotori’s hands, getting a surprised blush out of her host. “I need you to dress me for my first date!”
Kotori looked away. “I-is that so?” The timing felt impossibly cruel. She looked back at Honoka, who was staring at her intently. She was the picture of determination. That familiar face kept Kotori from focusing on her heartbreak. She gave Honoka a smile and agreed to help.
They stopped at the first store that she had visited the day before. Kotori absentmindedly ran her hand through a rack of clothes, barely looking at the dresses that were in front of her. She thought about the day before, and how she felt when she dressed Umi. Her mind focused on how dejected she felt knowing that Umi was wearing those clothes for someone else… As she went through these bitter memories, she paused at the image of Umi blushing in the clothes she picked for her. Circumstances aside, it was undeniably cute… maybe she should make the best out of a bad situation? Newly determined, Kotori picked an outfit and headed to Honoka’s changing room.
Soon after, Honoka stepped out in what Kotori had given her: Sharp pants, a sleek button-down dress shirt, and a blazer. Kotori looked on with visible excitement. Honoka looked great in whatever she wore, but Kotori loved it the most when she looked dashing.
“You looks amazing, Honoka-chan!” Kotori’s face was full of wonder as it looked at her childhood friend.
Honoka rubbed the back of her head and smiled. “Ehehehe, do you think so?”
“Of course!” Kotori’s excited response was followed by a pause. She looked at Honoka with a sad smile and spoke back up. “Ah… I don’t know if your date would like it, though. Maybe we should try a dress, or—”
“It’s perfect! I wouldn’t want to wear anything else!” Honoka had the same look she always had when she was hell-bent on doing something—one of Kotori’s greatest weaknesses. She felt a bit of pride in how Honoka followed her tastes and regained her smile.
“Okay, Honoka-chan! Let’s pick your accessories! We should find some nice dress shoes for you to wear—oh, or maybe heels! That would look so cute!” They set out to pick accessories, with Honoka reacting excitedly to all of Kotori’s fashion know-how. The two of them had fun picking out the best shoes and jewelry to complete the outfit, while occasionally stopping to play with the more outrageous offerings. Everything about it felt like a normal day out with one of Kotori’s best friends.
Despite the quickness in picking the initial outfit, the two of them managed to draw out their shopping trip into the afternoon. The two of them chatted as they were walking home, with Honoka carrying the spoils from their adventures. When the conversation started to lull, Kotori brought up something that was on her mind.
“It’s funny… Umi-chan came to me yesterday and asked me to do this same thing.”
“Huh?”
“She asked me to dress her for a date. It’s funny how you’re both so alike sometimes…”
Honoka looked up at the sky for a brief moment, and then turned to Kotori with a smile. “Well, don’t you remember? You made us promise to let you dress us! Back in middle school, right?”
Kotori suddenly remembered the day in question. She had a sudden urge to smack her forehead, which she narrowly suppressed. She forced a smile. “Oh, right! I remember now!” Her mind was racing for the rest of the walk home. I’m such an idiot! I can’t believe I set myself up for this! And hey, that doesn’t explain why I had to deal with both of these so close together! How did I end up with this!?
They stopped at Kotori’s house first, and before she could go inside, Honoka asked for one last favor. “Oh, by the way, my date’s actually later tonight! Do you think I could stop by here before I go?”
“You really cut it close, Honoka-chan…” Honoka awkwardly laughed, and Kotori smiled. “Alright. Stop by and I’ll help you get ready.”
“Alright! I’m looking forward to it! See you then!” Honoka excitedly ran off towards her home.
Once she was out of view, Kotori shut the door and sighed. She checked her phone—she probably had a few hours before Honoka would be back. She went to her room to decide how to spend it, eventually settling on lying in bed with her pillow. She stared at the ceiling and thought about the past two days. Maybe it was best for it to be like this? She was used to being in a supporting role, anyway… It was probably foolish of her to even think it could be different. Before she knew it, hours had passed, and there was yet another knock on her door. She quickly wiped her face and went for the door.
On the other side of the door were Umi and Honoka, both wearing the outfits that were picked for them. Umi was holding a bouquet of flowers, and Honoka had her arm around Umi’s shoulder.
Kotori felt like she suddenly understood everything. She felt some kind of relief—if they had to be dating anyone else, it would be best if they were dating each other. It felt like it was the way it was supposed to be. “Oh, congr—”
“Kotori-chan!” Honoka interrupted her before she could finish. “We… uh… have something important to ask you!” She was fidgeting with the sleeve of Umi’s dress. Kotori just watched silently, obviously surprised at the interruption. Honoka and Umi looked at each other, and then back at Kotori. “Kotori-chan…”
“Please go out with us!” Umi pushed the bouquet out in front of her.
“W…what?”
“W-we want to go out on a date, together! All three of us!” Honoka held Umi tighter, visibly nervous. “We both feel the same way, so… please go with us!”
“Honoka-chan… Umi-chan…” Kotori wiped her face to try to stop the two of them from seeing the tears. She looked back at them with a beaming smile. “Of course!” Kotori pulled both of them in for a hug, squishing the flowers in the process.
When she let go, Umi let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. We were worried that this plan wouldn’t work out well…”
“Huh?”
Honoka chimed in. “We wanted to make it as romantic for you as possible, so that’s why we had you pick our clothes! When you said you didn’t remember that promise, we thought our plan might backfire, eheheh…” Kotori just laughed and started heading towards her room. “W-wait, where are you going?”
Kotori turned her head and smiled. “Isn’t it obvious? I need to pick out my outfit! It’s my first date, after all!”