Chapter Text
It’s Sayori who proposes the exchange at first – Natsuki’s used to trading quips and barbs with Yuri; finds comfort in it even, but apparently it makes everyone else nervous (Yuri can give as good as she got, Natsuki insists, but Sayori seems to think Yuri a fair bit frailer than she really is).
“You need to understand each other more! Then maybe you’ll stop fighting all the time!” she declares, to the both of them. It’s a stupid idea, really. There’s no way in hell Natsuki will make her way through one of Yuri’s doorstops, and like hell Yuri will ever pick up manga. Well, not that the idea is unpleasant – there are a fair few manga who make an effort to be technical and difficult to read, but Natsuki has no experience there, and she doubts Yuri has to will to look.
You can’t read Yuri’s emotions from her face, but her eyes – wavering, always wavering – tell a louder truth than any expression she pulls (which is usually some degree of nervousness, bless her soul). Which is why Natsuki knows, as soon as the words tumble out of Sayori’s mouth, that Yuri is about as pleased as she is (read: not in the slightest). There’s a reason they fight – because they have their own niches, and they happen to be contrary. If Yuri wants to read words that give Natsuki period cramps, then she can do as she pleased.
Which was why it knocks the air out of Natsuki’s lungs when Yuri closes her eyes, nods once, and mumbles, “Well, I wouldn’t be opposed…”.
She should have seen it coming, honestly. It’s not like Yuri’s ever had any backbone to speak of (unless Natsuki dared to insult her 2edgy4me string of words you’d only ever find if you read a thesaurus back-to-back, but okay).
“You’re kidding me, right?” Natsuki blurts out – Yuri jolts. Natsuki makes a mental note to lower her voice. “You’d actually read manga…?”
Yuri threads her hair between her fingers, frowns and focuses on something that’s not really there. The displeasure is gone from her eyes, replaced by genuine worry now. Wonderful.
“Um…I mean…sure…” Yuri eventually forces out, wilting under Sayori’s aura of optimism. Because yes, reading something you hate will definitely bring you closer together. Of course. Natsuki grits her teeth and resists the urge to rub her temples. If Yuri’s into it, she has to comply.
“Alright then, if you want to…” Natsuki says, with a lot less of her normal venom and a lot more uncertainty than she’d wanted to betray – Yuri won’t miss it, but Sayori will.
“Great!” Sayori squeals with delight, and Natsuki can’t help the warm feeling in her chest. Yuri’s threading intensifies – she’s excited. Everyone’s excited. It’s infectious, damn it. “Tonight, pick out something from home that you think the other will like, and tomorrow you can share!”
At home, Natsuki rifles through her shelves in search of a something, an anything that might appeal to Yuri. Which isn’t easy, considering her shelves are full of cute-girls-doing-cute-things and other slice of life fare. She ponders on romance for a while, flipping through page after page of probably-a-little-too-dumb shoujo heroines and their bad boy love interests. Even if the male love interests are a little edgy, it’s still probably not…anything that would appeal to Yuri. Natsuki huffs, and lies down and her bed. All she has is cute things, lighthearted things – the exact opposite of what Yuri likes (she’d know, more than anyone, considering just how suddenly passionate Yuri got about literature whenever Natsuki opened her mouth).
“There’s nothing…” she mumbles, before rolling off to sift through the stuff in a pile beside her bed – the rejects, but maybe something Yuri would like? There had been a lot of magical girl works suddenly turning dark – nothing Natsuki was particularly interested in, but – ah!
Natsuki dusts off the cover, and flicks through. It’s a magical girl story, but it’s perfect.
The next club meeting is – nervewracking. Natsuki’s there early, too early, and paces the length of the room until the others show up. Yuri is late, slipping in with a quiet apology and hunched shoulders. Sayori looks on with eager eyes, but has a book of her own to keep her occupied. She won’t interfere, unless Natsuki and Yuri come to blows again (uncomfortably likely), which means they’re on their own. And it’s not like Yuri will be the first one to approach, which leaves Natsuki.
She takes a deep breath. Here we go.
“Well, I suppose we should exchange our stuff now…” she says, and it comes out a lot less confident than it really should – Natsuki doesn’t like betraying anything more than is really necessary but god help her, she’s nervous. She’s pretty good at keeping those thoughts back but what if Yuri laughs at her for not being able to read it properly? What if she stopped thinking about stupid things like that and just handed over the damn manga? Natsuki puts a stop to her stupid stupid thoughts, and tries to let herself relax. It’s comforting that Yuri doesn’t look much better.
Yuri just nods, smiles a little as she pulls out a book that thankfully doesn’t look too thick and offers out to her. Natsuki takes the book, weighs it in her hands. The cover is plain; a picture of a girl on the front with little to no emotion.
“I tried to pick out something light-hearted,” Yuri mumbles, threading her hair between her fingers ahead. “I know you like cute things…”
“Thanks,” Natsuki mumbles, face reddening. Ugh, why did this have to be so embarrassing? She pulls the manga out of her bag and thrusts it forwards. “I tried to find something you’d like, too. It starts off light-hearted, but keep going. Something happens…”
She tries not to give the twist away too much; but she doesn’t want Yuri to stop reading before it gets to the good part.
“Puella Magi Madoka Magica,” Yuri says, reading the cover and dragging her eyes over the far-too-cute girls on the cover. “I like the cat thing. She looks very cute.”
Natsuki has to stop herself from laughing; instead she puts on a straight face and nods.
“So, uh…let’s get started?” she says, hesitantly. Yuri settles down with her back against the wall; her usual spot. Natsuki takes a chair at the closest desk, sits down, and opens the book.
The title is pretty; she can’t quite figure out how to pronounce the surname of the author but that doesn’t really matter, she supposes. She flips to the first page – and winces. Words, and words, and words. Words she does know. Words she doesn’t know. Words she thinks she recognises but doesn’t quite remember.
Natsuki grimaces. Yuri’s been considerate, but not considerate enough apparently. It takes her minutes to get through the first page, she hasn’t even finish the chapter by the time Yuri’s stood up and god, she’s finished already?
“I love it,” Yuri says, and her eyes are shining a little bit like when she talks about her favourite book, and Natsuki felts her chest thump a little because thank god, she knew it, she knew it – “I need more. Did you bring the next book?”
Natsuki shakes her head.
“I only own the first copy. I can show you where the next ones are though, if you want to come to the bookstore with me sometime,” she says, not realising she’s inviting Yuri to hang out until the words have left her mouth and Yuri is nodding gleefully like she’d rather do nothing else. Natsuki puts a hand to her chest. Fast beating heart. Cool.
“So..what did you think?” Yuri says, her voice still painfully soft but full of anticipation. She glances down at the book in Natsuki’s hands – winces when she realises she’s only at page seven, droops even further, “Did you…not like it? You didn’t read very much…”
Yuri has a tendency to look like a kicked puppy when she’s nervous, and Natsuki hates feeling like she needs to look after her, but – damn it.
“No,” Natsuki says, twisting her mouth, “no, it’s not that, it’s – I’m just a really slow reader.”
Yuri doesn’t look convinced, but tries to drop the kicked puppy look, and it almost works, but Natsuki knows she’s still hurt because her eyes are still a little sad. Damn it. Damn it.
“I’m dyslexic, okay?” Yuri pauses, blinks. Natsuki feels her face redden, but she has to keep going. “I can’t read very fast because I’m dyslexic. Books are hard because they have a lot of words and it’s a lot for me to process, and…manga is easier because there’s only a few words, and there’s pictures to break it up.”
Yuri’s mouth forms a tiny ‘o’, and her demeanour changes; gone is the hurt, replaced with guilt and concern and a lot of emotions Natsuki isn’t really in the mood to deal with.
“I didn’t know,” Yuri says, softly. She stops fiddling with her hair – it’s a rare moment of calm, when Natsuki knows Yuri is really listening to every word she says, patient and quiet. It’s nice.
“I try not to tell people,” Natsuki shrugs, looking away, “I can deal with it on my own, and teachers get weird if I mention, so I just don’t.”
Yuri looks at a loss for words, thinking and thinking over things in that big head of hers, so Natsuki tries to get things back on track.
“I liked what I did manage to read, though. It seems like an interesting world,” she says, and Yuri perks up like nothing else – Natsuki feels her heart soar a little more, cracks a little smile even though things are awkward. Yuri tilts her head, thinks of something.
“Would it help if I read it aloud? Would you be,” Yuri pauses, anxiety getting the best of her. Natsuki nudge her lightly to try and encourage her, “okay with that?”
Natsuki shrugs, nods. It’s not ideal, but – it would help.
“I use audiobooks at home for Lit class,” she says, “so, yeah. It would help.”
Yuri hesitates, heads over to her usual spot with the book in hand and pats the space beside her. Natsuki swallows. Whew…
Natsuki gingerly takes a seat beside Yuri – face flushes as Yuri wiggles closer, places the book on her lap but close enough so that Natsuki can see, shoulders touching, hips side to side…
Yuri’s patient; she waits until Natsuki’s stopped moving before she starts reading. Her voice is smooth, melodic almost, pleasant to listen to. It’s a lot easier to match the words in Yuri’s voice to the ones on the page, as opposed to trying to read them on her own – all her mistakes in the first few pages hurt a little at first but soon she doesn’t care anymore, just wants to listen to Yuri read and read and read…
Natsuki leans her head on Yuri’s shoulder, takes a moment to close her eyes because everything is so vivid, and Yuri reads so well, so articulately that Natsuki can almost paint a picture of every scene in her mind. The story isn’t quite to her taste, but she doesn’t mind.
Natsuki feels a sigh escape when Yuri closes the book, because club is over, they have to go home, lest the school kick them out, but –
“What did you think?” Yuri repeat the question from earlier, softly.
“I liked it,” Natsuki says, and she doesn’t have to lie, “it’s not something I’d normally read, but I liked it. We should, um, continue this next week, if you want…”
The expression of glee on Yuri’s face strikes Natsuki’s heart with stars.
“I’d love to!”