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The rustling truly had gone on for some time by now. Sitting in her library with books in abundance, she sighed. Patchouli wasn’t counting to the minute (she did actually have some work to do, much to Marisa’s disbelief) but it was prominent enough to warrant Patchouli’s attention. Marisa seemed incredibly keen to force herself into Patchouli’s personal space whenever it was most convenient for her, brazenly yelling her way into Patchouli’s life for quite some time. They had known each other for many years but in recent months they had got quite..close. The thought of how close they had become brought a slight flush to Patchouli’s pale (and probably quite sickly) face. Embarrassment was not a regular emotion that she experienced, yet with the thief it seemed to happen on a semi regular basis and she wasn’t quite sure she was equipped for this. Every interaction made her flushed and her heart rate rise ever so slightly. Just last week Marisa had held her hand and Patchouli was on the verge of having a breakdown - it was peaceful to be by herself for once so she didn’t have to deal with pesky feelings and a pesky thief.
“Marisa. You know I can hear you sneaking around in there. I have several protection charms around this area but perhaps the strongest intruder detector are my ears. Do not think me so foolish as if I would just let someone enter my work space,” Patchouli stated loud enough for the intruder to hear.
The rustling abruptly stopped. Patchouli gave a tiny barely-there smile and continued to leaf through her book, pushing her glasses slightly further up her nose. Distraction aside, she was truly enveloped in reading - Koakuma had supplied her with a very large supply of books about specific spells that she could use in practise in her everyday life. The current interest was a section about medical spells (healing small wounds like cuts or small burns) - the books would go well on the other shelves with her other medical magic books. It was a small part of her research, but important to know nonetheless. Patchouli’s opinion was that it was better to know everything she possibly could and retain some useless information than only know some very useful things. Besides, nearly all information was useful at some point in their lives. Tearing herself away from her book, Patchouli narrowed her eyes.
Several minutes had gone by and the intruder had been almost completely still, apart from a couple of small movements. Her brow furrowed; Marisa completely lacked the ability to control her limbs and was as graceful as an eel out of water. It was incredibly unusual for her to be so quiet for this long.
Maybe there was actually a thief here and it wasn’t Marisa for once, Patchouli thought briefly. Although if it was someone dangerous, she would have torn them to shreds by now so there was probably no need to be concerned.
Suddenly, there was an incredibly bright burst of light accompanied by a loud, high pitched noise right in front of her.
“What in the world-” Patchouli exclaimed as she shielded her eyes from the light.
There, right in front of her, appeared Marisa Kirisame, Patchouli’s elusive thief.
“Holy shit! Whew, that was a close one. Hey, Patchy, you’ll never guess what. I managed to piss off Yukari today and she tried to catch me. Little does she know that I have a secret hiding place here,” Marisa said, trying to catch her breath.
Patchouli raised a brow, taking the full picture of Marisa in. Her blonde hair was all over the place, wild (as usual) and sticking up all over her hat, which managed to balance halfway off her head. Her cheeks and knees were flushed red from flying her broom in this cold weather, skirt hiked up so she could sit more comfortably on her broom. Patchouli cleared her throat. It would be better for her sanity if she didn’t think about Marisa’s thighs, soft looking or not.
To regain her composition, she decided to retort to the thief. “Do you really think this is a secret hiding place from someone who creates portals and gaps in reality? I would beg to differ. The mansion is not secret at all - everyone knows you come here to steal from me.”
Marisa laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. “Ahh, I’m joking - it was a cover up for me to come over and do this.”
Patchouli blinked. “Do what exactl- mmph!” She made a noise of surprise as Marisa leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to Patchouli’s, noses bumping together. Marisa smiled and slid her hands around Patchouli’s shoulders, bringing her in closer.
“Okay, I was being chased but I also did want to see you,” Marisa said bashfully.
Tch. The words coming out of Marisa’s mouth made Patchouli’s ears burn and she averted her eyes. Her heart started feeling funny, all jumpy with Marisa in such close proximity. She looked back and she was staring right into the thief’s eyes, all wide and pretty. Patchouli sighed.
“Well, seeing you is not exactly unwelcome,” she muttered.
Marisa decided to take that as a victory.