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It was a beautiful sunny day, not a single cloud was hung in the sky above Luna Nova. It was not a degree too hot and a gentle breeze rolled through the air wicking away any potential discomfort far away from the young witches who’d spilled out of the castle to enjoy the day. This suited Sucy Manbavaran just fine as this meant her two roommates were out of the equation for what she had planned today.
The brackish contents of her cauldron simmered while she gently stirred it, scrapping the interior of the cast iron pot very deliberately. The potion was a delicate one and required a very specific touch or it could easily be ruined. She checked the recipe again, brushing a stray lock of purple hair out of the way. Bring the liquid base to a simmer for fifteen minutes, stirring counter-clockwise. Add dried bat ears, powdered black widow webbing and a solution of salt-water and crushed lily root slowly, continue simmering for another fifteen minutes.
Sucy checked the small bowls she’d measured the other ingredients into carefully, reweighing them to make sure the proportions were right. Strictly speaking the potion was a poison, or at least classified as one. Not a poison for the body but for the mind. Sucy, however, saw it as a curative. A much needed scalpel to remove an unwanted complication in her life. When brewed correctly, the potion would remove a select emotion from the imbiber. Not dull it, not make it manageable, but remove the emotion in its totality, rendering them unable to ever experience it again.
If she brewed it correctly, and she was, Sucy would never experience romantic love again. Now, Sucy would imagine that most witches, really most people, would consider this a horrific decision but to Sucy it was a simple matter of simplifying her life. Sucy had never had much use for that particular band of the emotional spectrum in the first place. All it did, since she was small, was make things harder. More confusing.
It didn’t help that she was experiencing it for the idiot. Her idiot. Her guinea pig. It didn’t make any sense to Sucy. Akko was a mess of a human being. She loud, obnoxiously cheerful, and messy far past what should be expected of a reasonable person sharing a VERY small dorm with two other people. Sucy spared a glance at Akko’s unmade bed, picking out the cookie crumbs on the sheets like a hawk and the empty bag crinkled up and shoved under the pillow despite the trash can being right there beside her bed.
Sucy’s face twitched into an unreadable expression for a moment before settling back into its bored, almost drowsy resting state. Just a few months ago, she’d been assaulted by this…this doe eyed, hyperactive moron on a bridge. So Sucy did the most logical thing and made it abundantly clear with her magic that she wanted her to go away. Then, not even an hour later, this same exhausting person and her friend crashed into her traveling through the Lay Line and almost ruining certain precious and hard to find ingredients and samples she was traveling with. So Sucy had done the next most logical thing & used the two as bait for a cockatrice.
That plan went south in a rush, because as she would come to understand no plan ever survives contact with Akko. It was a previously undiscovered physical law. And in spite of Sucy very intentionally leaving the two to be eaten…They’d still saved her. That confused the hell out of Sucy. Then they were stuck in the same Coven upon a late arrival to Luna Nova because of course they were.
Then it got more unusual. The two just…treated her like nothing had happened. Oh, sure Lotte had been slower to trust compared to Akko. But Akko? She just swung right into excited puppy dog that just made a new friend mode. It was disconcerting. It was obnoxious. It was, on a certain level, endearing. This had bothered Sucy. This had bothered her a great deal.
Sucy had waited for the other shoe to drop with them. Either of them. Some long plan to harass or shame her, planned torments she’d gotten so used to expecting before she came into her own. Life was not kind to an orphaned witch, especially not one with her particular pallor and dental pattern. But it never came. Despite everything she’d done, and continued to do, Lotte and Akko kept treating her like a…a friend.
She’d tease them, prank them, laugh as they floundered and Akko, oh poor sweet Akko, such a compliant test subject, even if she didn’t realize it half the time. But when she was? Her squeaks of indignation at whatever new, fascinating condition Sucy had inflicted on her or better yet her little pained noises made the whole process that much more personally rewarding to the witch. She liked the moans, and groans and huffs and looks Akko would get.
It’d be a lie for Sucy to say she wasn’t a sadist. Perhaps it was a reaction to the little cruelties piled upon her in her most formative years? Or maybe she really was just a little evil. She didn’t particularly care for that level of introspection nor did she care. Her open and honest sadism should have scared them off. Things would be easier if it had. Treat her as a creep, a monster, like she wasn’t there, all things she’d learned to shrug off. Sucy was not inured to the effects of genuine affection.
Sucy checked the wall mounted clock. Time to add the rest of the ingredients. With practiced caution, she gingerly shook in the remaining components, not letting them fall in too fast or too hard, letting them be incorporated into the concoction steadily. With the addition of the crushed lily root, the swirling brew changed hue to a soft, reddish brown, just like Akko’s eye.
There was a sharp pang in Sucy’s chest, a tightness that made breathing a laborious process. She set aside her ladle and rose from her chair. Sucy’s bottom lip trembled as she got space between herself and the cauldron, hands stiffly by her side, clenching and unclenching the fabric of her robe. THIS was the problem. That girl always in her thoughts, distracting her, making what should be a simple process into an ordeal.
How many nights had Sucy spent sleepless, lain in her bed and watching Akko sprawled helter-skelter in a contortionist pose of limbs and bed sheets, listening to her snore like a train, drool dribbling from those delicate lips? How many nights had she spent yearning to climb into bed with her, to hold Akko and be held back? How many nights had Sucy spent crying over someone she could never have?
It hadn’t clicked into place for Sucy the proper meaning of the little urges and inclinations she’d felt toward Akko slowly building up as the year had progressed until the comfortable, easy dynamic of their school lives changed. Akko had started spending less time with her and Lotte, devoting more and more of her time to researching the Words of Arcturus. Akko’s schedule became ‘wake up, eat, classes, research, bed, wake up, eat, classes, research, bed.’
A black vine, bristling with thorns, had started growing in Sucy’s chest even if she didn’t realize it. All those wonderful shared moments between the three of them began to dry up, bit by bit. She had felt like she’d been pushed into the background of Akko’s life and at first, she hadn’t thought it bothered it. More time for her tests and experiments & Lotte was much quieter company.
Then she saw Akko and Amanda flying back on a broom together from some absurd affair at Appleton Academy that she still wasn’t sure she believed. Akko was clinging to Amanda, the American dressed in a not unflattering suit and Akko absolutely beaming every time they met eyes. That vine constricted, seeping an agonizing poison into her blood.
It got even tighter as the days went on and Akko and Diana began spending actual time together. Not overblown pissing contests that Akko inevitably started with the aristocrat and couldn’t come close to winning. They’d started taking lunch together, discussing the Words and other more mundane things. Diana had even started giving Akko flying lessons, to which Amanda had taken vocal and frequent objection too.
Watching them together, eating, talking, smiling and laughing, it hurt Sucy. It hurt her in a way she finally understood. She’d fallen in love with that obnoxious ball of sunshine and bullheadedness. Then came the day that Akko and Diana had stood together at the top of the world, saved the day and reawakened magic the world over. That was when Sucy knew she would never, ever have a chance, even if she’d been able to form the words. Akko was a hero, her face plastered all over the world by countless news feeds. She could have anyone her heart desired. So why in god’s name would she do anything but laugh in Sucy’s face?
Sucy had sat herself down on the edge of Akko’s bed, holding her trembling hands to her face, biting back bitter tears and horrible words directed at every soul she could think of. Sucy had thought she understood pain and suffering, that there were no fresh darts for life to throw at her. As a strangled, primal cry forced its way past her lips, Sucy wished she had been right.
She wasn’t sure and did not care in the slightest when she’d picked up Akko’s pillow. The witch drowned out her sobs in the feather stuffed cushion. Each ragged gasp she’d take would bring a fresh wave of the scent of the dirt cheap shampoo provided by Luna Nova, intermingled with sweat, sugar and grass. It smelled like Akko. Sucy crushed it against her body, letting the blissful aroma sooth her pain.
This didn’t matter. This little breakdown? The last time that would ever happen, she assured herself. In a few minutes the potion would be ready and she’d be free. That pain would no longer bother her. Akko would just be…another person she knew. Somehow, thinking that hurt worse than not having her at all.
---
It was a beautiful sunny day, filled with good cheer, joy and real, genuine magic. Real, genuine magic that Akko had worked herself to the bone for ages to be able to wield with even the limited proficiency she’d demonstrated. She’d come to Luna Nova with no magical lineage, no demonstrated ability to so much as perform even the simplest trick, not even knowing how to get to the actual school and carrying a crippling injury she didn’t even know existed. But months later, here she was, soaring through the air on a broom with the wind whipping against her face!
Well, that might have been overselling it just a tad. She wasn’t more than ten meters off the ground and puttering along at a stop and go pace, like a someone learning to drive stick-shift but slightly less embarrassing to watch given Akko was bending the laws of physics to her will. It was a start, a start she was thrilled with and not a soul could take it from her. She looked out on the campus green and beamed at the sight of her friends. Lotte and Barbara were trying to convince Hannah of the literary merits of Night Fall. Constanze was assembling…something that looked very dangerous and complex while Diana looked on with a mixture of concern and fascination. Amanda and Jasminka ran a color commentary on safety distances regarding Constanze’s devices as they grazed on the assorted snacks the group had assembled. That was a fun word to be able to say. ‘Friends’.
Back in Japan, back in her normal mundane life, Akko was not exactly overflowing with companionship. She was the weirdo, the Shiny Chariot Otaku, the little wanna-be-witch that no one wanted to be seen hanging out with. But here she was! She was a fully fledged witch and had even met Shiny Chariot! Heck, she’d been Chariot’s student for the whole year! So all her old schoolmates who made fun of her could suck it!
A stroke of wistfulness overcame Akko. The school year was drawing to a close soon and with it, a months long stretch where she’d be away from all the amazing people she’d met. She’d go back to Japan and right back to being Akko. At least she knew magic now. And it wasn’t like she couldn’t try and stay in touch with everyone! But it just wouldn’t be the same as hanging out under the sun all together like this.
Akko brought her broom down, slowly, jerkingly and with only a mild stumble on landing, down by Amanda and Jasminka. With a twist of her wrist, she slung the broom over her shoulder and put on her best smile.
“So what’s she working on?”
Amanda shrugged, fishing around in a bag of potato chips with one hand. “Just said it’s something for later tonight. Chip?”
“Crisps!” Diana said over her shoulder.
“See,” Amanda said. “I know she’s screwing with me. And I’m not going to take the bait. I’m not.”
Diana spun on her heel and walked towards the trio, a tiny smile on her face and a gleam in her eyes that did things to Akko’s stomach that she didn’t necessarily disapprove of.
“It’s not bait, Amanda, it’s correcting your parlance. On this side of the Atlantic they’re called crisps, despite whatever you barbaric colonials insist on calling them.”
Amanda flicked a salt and vinegar seasoned morsel at Diana which bounced off her stomach leaving a tiny grease spot on her otherwise immaculate uniform. Diana stared down at the ballistically implemented sliver of potato. She puffed out a breath and crossed her arms at Amanda.
“Really? I don’t know what I expected from you, but a measure of maturity shouldn’t have been out of the question.”
“Grah,” Amanda grunted. “Amanda of the Planes Women no understand English! Amanda of the Planes Women want prissy girl buzz off!”
The two locked eyes, stone faced and coldly staring each other down. A knot tied itself in Akko’s stomach. Then, the two let out peals of laughter, ruckus and bubbly. That awful tension in Akko’s gut evaporated as she watched her two friends laughing like mad. Diana, still shaking with fits of giggles, wiped tears from her eyes and gave them a broad, earnest smile. Diana smiled a lot more these days. Amanda offered the bag of chips to Diana who took a, by her measure, reasonable portion in hand with a polite and perfectly intoned “thank you”.
“Whatever it is Constanze is assembling, I am positive it’s against several regulations,” Diana said before popping a single chip.
“Pff, big deal,” Amanda shrugged. “Finals are over with, we got like three weeks left, what’s the worse they can do?”
“I mean, I’d like to not get yelled at by Finnelan again,” Akko countered to which Amanda blew a raspberry.
Akko chewed on the inside of her cheek, Amanda’s words rolling over and over in her brain constantly. She absent mindedly scooped up a handful of mixed nuts from a beautiful glass bowl and started eating.
“There’s a scoop, Akko,” Jasminka said.
“Huh? Oh! Oh, sorry! I guess I was distracted, heh,” Akko said, smiling as she dumped her handful of nuts back into the bowl then scooped it back up with the utensil. All four friends became very silent.
“Not sure that was any better, dude,” said Amanda.
“I think that was actually worse from a certain point of view,” said Diana.
Jasminka simply sighed with a pained expression.
Amanda thumped Akko on the shoulder. “You alright Akko? You seem kinda out of it.”
Akko ground her heel into the soft dirt and said muttered out a string of Japanese.
“I didn’t catch a word of that.”
“Sorry,” Akko shook her head and sighed. “I can’t get over how little time is left. I know it’s just for a little while, but I’m going to miss everyone so much!”
Amanda let out a long ‘aw’ sound and pulled Akko into a crushing side hug. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I’m gonna miss the hell out of you, too!”
“As will I,” Diana said joining in on the hug. “You’ve been an amazing friend Akko.”
Akko for her part was desperately trying to remember how to breathe, heart hammering like a snare drum as her two friends embraced her tightly. She felt her legs tremble and something cold start running down the back of her neck that she realized was sweat. Akko wanted, at least she thought she wanted to, push out of the hug but couldn’t muster the proper coordination. When the pair did release her, she wobbled backwards a couple steps, head fuzzy in a very pleasant way.
Amanda laughed again. “Aw, Diana, I think we embarrassed her!”
“Stop teasing,” Diana chided. “Though you are rather flushed looking Akko.”
The Japanese witch blew out a sharp breath and forced a laugh. “Yeah, I guess I just wasn’t expecting all that affection.” Which was the truth, she did not expect two of the prettiest girls in Luna Nova to suddenly squish her between them but like hell was she saying those words.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “There’s somebody missing. Sucy should be out here, too! I’m going back in and dragging her out if I have to, it’s too great of a day for us all not to be together!”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Jasminka asked. “If she wanted to be outside, she would be. Sucy probably just needs some alone time.”
“Well whatever!” Akko flung her hands in the air. “She can spend time by herself later! I’m dragging her out of that room even if I have to do it bare handed!” A stern faced Akko hopped back onto her broom, cast her spell, and took off towards the castle at a stunningly fast and smooth pace without another word.
It didn’t take her but a few moments to clear the green and come to the nearest entrance to Luna Nova, touching down without stumbling this time and marching like a woman on a mission towards her dorm room. Sucy was always brewing something, performing some weird experiment that stunk up the dorm or did something that made Akko’s hair stand on end and you know what? That was fine! It was totally fine because Sucy was her friend and she accepted that.
But, and this was a big but, sometimes Sucy was missing out on the best things in the world by keeping herself all cooped up and needed a kick in the butt to get her moving in the right way. And today, Akko was going to be that kick right to her perfect butt! She paused in her step and shook her head.
“Okay, nope, get that image out of your head, Akko,” she chided herself in Japanese. “Don’t think about how good she looks in her robe, she’s just a friend. Only a friend.”
She didn’t need to waste time thinking about how cute Sucy was in her own kinda spooky way. She didn’t need to waste time thinking about how much smarter than Akko she was or how nicely her hairdo framed her face. Once she was very firmly not thinking about any of that, her feet started moving again.
Akko reached their dorm and flung the door open, prepared to give Sucy the riot act before forcibly extracting her if need be. Instead, what she saw made her whole body freeze. Sucy stood holding something ominous in a glass vial perched just before her lips, her carefully applied makeup running down her face and her hand tremored sporadically forcing her to lower the vial to avoid spilling it. She had fixed Akko with an irritated glean the moment the door had opened. The whole room stank sickly sweet from whatever she had concocted. Akko’s mind was a multi-car pile-up of possibilities and fear.
“H-hey Sucy,” she croaked. “W-what are – what are you doing?”
“Fixing a problem,” Sucy said, voice lacking even a shred of emotion before raising the vile once more. Akko was on her in a moment, grabbing her wrist and using every bit of her strength to keep the potion far, far away from Sucy’s mouth.
“N-now hold on! Maybe we can talk about this! Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad!” Akko plead, struggling with Sucy who growled and cursed at her, slapping at her with her free hand to push the other witch away.
“Let go Akko! You’re making a lot of stupid assumptions!” Sucy shouted, planting her hand directly on Akko’s face and trying to shove her off.
Akko twisted and jerked Sucy to the side, who stumbled, sloshing some of the crimson potion onto the rug. Tears burned Akko’s eyes as she begged, “Well tell me what the potion is for because you’re really scaring me right now, Sucy!”
“I told you, it’s to fix a problem!” Sucy regained her footing and held the potion as tightly as she could to keep anymore from spilling. She tried to grab hold of Akko’s face again but her limb was easily slapped away but the frustratingly strong girl.
“Then tell me what you’re problem is so I can help!” Akko cried, tears running in rivers down her face. Her whole body was trembling with panic and terror and a million other emotions as she looked her friend dead on.
Sucy paused her struggle for a moment, sinking into Akko’s tear stained face, so full of the stuff of life. She felt weak. Disgusted. Furious. Her mouth tore into a snarl. “You’re the problem damn it!” She shoved at Akko with every bit of strength she had, accidentally letting the potion fall onto the carpet, staining it bloody red and finally breaking the brunette’s hold.
Akko gaped, a knife through her gut. “W-what?”
Sucy screamed again, fresh tears rushing down her face. “You’re the problem! I love you and I want to stop!”
Sucy stepped back before slumping to the ground as her legs gave out from under her. She curled into a ball, as tight as she could, sobbing and shaking. She’d said it. She’d finally said it and she wanted to vanish into nothing. Sucy could feel Akko looming above her, staring, judging her. Hating her. If only that stupid, beautiful girl had waited just a moment more before bursting in, this wouldn’t be happening.
Akko, in truth, was stunned. ‘I love you’. Three very small words that carried far more weight & power than their length implied. ‘I love you’ rang over and over in her head, Akko’s mind processing them slowly as Sucy cradled herself on the floor. Akko, carefully, sat down next to her, brain still a useless jumble of noise.
“So…how…how long have you-have you l-l,” Akko took a breath. “Liked me like that?”
Sucy’s sobbing tapered off. Akko was still her. She hadn’t run away. She hadn’t laughed or made fun of her. Instead she was sitting right next to her. Like the incredible person she was. “A while.” Sucy finally croaked.
Akko was quiet again. Her throat felt dry and tight. “Why did…why do you want to stop it?”
“It hurts,” Sucy wept. “Sometime, you’re all I can think about. Then I see you, I see the way you look at Diana or Amanda and…it makes it hurt so much worse. You’re a hero Akko. You could have anyone you want and I know you’d never want me.”
Akko pulled her legs tightly against her chest, staring into the middle distance as she listened to Sucy lay her heart bare. The other girl had her pegged. She cared for Diana and Amanda in a way that she learned to not talk about back home. Not around her classmates, who already thought she was weird. Not around her parents who cared but wouldn’t understand. Not the way they talked about her uncle when he wasn’t around.
She was terrified to let that part of herself show, to let anyone know that she liked girls. Maybe it was silly, or maybe it was a tiny, self preserving spark that wanted her to have some shred of a social life. She’d come out once, just once, to someone she thought liked her back and that might as well have been a bullet to the back of her head. Akko had been so happy when they moved to another city. She didn’t have to worry about those same dirty looks and awful names. Now, here Sucy was, someone she thought was so strong and beautiful and scary crying and terrified that she’d been rejected without a single word having been spoken.
Akko opened her mouth and a strangled, gasping laugh slipped out. “I understand. At least, I think I do, Sucy. B-but you know what? Even though it…though it can hurt, I don’t think it’s a good thing to just throw away that part of you. Because, Sucy, that’s part o-of what makes you you and I couldn’t stand the idea of you hurting yourself like that.”
Sucy stayed silent, curled up in her shell, shaking and sobbing. Akko hesitantly reached out with one hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. Akko wiped at the tears in her own eyes and struggled for the right words to say next. “Could…could I see your face Sucy? Please?”
There was silence between them for what felt like hours. Then, just as Akko’s mustered courage started to falter, Sucy lifted her head up just enough to look Akko in the eyes. Sucy gulped a lump of air and mucus caught in her throat and her eyes were red and puffy. It wasn’t pretty. Akko had always heard some people could cry beautifully but Sucy wasn’t one of them. Her friend had ripped herself open and every emotion she kept repressed had come streaming out. In that moment, Sucy was stunningly, unbelievably human. She was someone just like Akko.
Akko gave her the warmest smile she could and said, “I don’t want you to change like that Sucy. Because I really like you the way you are. And you know what the difference is between you and all the other girls you think I could want?”
Sucy opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She shrugged one shoulder, mind blank save for Akko’s features and words carving away their place in her memory in that instant. “I don’t,” she finally croaked before losing her voice again.
It was now or never for Akko. “The difference is you said you loved me first. And I want to see where that goes if you do too.”
For Sucy, the world came to a grinding halt as her heart felt like it was going to drive its way out of her chest. Did Akko just say that? Was she serious? Was this some weird, bullcrap pity thing? No, no she could see it in Akko’s eyes, or maybe she just wanted to see it. Akko was serious. Akko wanted her. Sucy couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything save reach out to Akko and pull them together, burying her face in the soft fabric of her uniform, sobbing as she felt Akko’s arms wrap tightly around her.
They stayed like that for who cares how long, they certainly didn’t, the whole world having ceased to be. It was just the two of them holding on to each other as their fears and anxieties crumbled away one by one. Eventually they’d have to stand up and leave the dorm room. They couldn’t possibly now what may come, either tomorrow or the next day, but neither cared. Maybe this was all doomed to failure or perhaps they’d grow old, smiling and happy and in love until they sprouted roots and reached towards the heavens, together still. Maybe. All maybes.
The concrete, unshakable reality of the present was this: There was Sucy and there was Akko and whatever happened after they stepped out that door, rise or fall, they’d do it together. And that thought? That thought made them both very, very happy.
---
The sun had set and the stars twinkled one by one into sight over Luna Nova. Constanze had finished her device, a line of complicated looking devices topped with dinner plate sized image projectors angled upward to the star speckled sky. Lotte felt a little silly for not figuring it out sooner. Everyone had gathered closer together on the green, passing around the few remaining snacks and sipping at hot drinks to fight off the minor chill that had come with the night.
Lotte had settled in on a blanket beside Hannah and Barbara. It had been like pulling a tooth pulling, but before it had gotten to dark to read, Lotte and Barbara had convinced Hannah by some minor miracle to give Night Fall a shot. Hannah had consumed three chapters in short order and admitted “it wasn’t as awful as I thought”.
The two had taken up most of the real estate on the blanket, with Barbara resting with her head in Hannah’s lap, looking just a little smug while Hannah tolerated it in quiet acceptance and…petted Barbara’s head. Lotte sipped at her tea, trying not to be obvious about the fact that she was absolutely watching. And, she noted, feeling oddly jealous. Lotte opted to unpack that particular box later.
“Has anyone seen Akko?” She asked, speaking just loud enough to be heard by everyone without shouting. “It’s been four hours since she went inside.”
Amanda, who’d taken to sprawling against a bit of old stonework protruding from the ground, shook her head. “She said she was going to get Sucy. Maybe she turned Akko into a newt or something for bugging her?”
“Sucy wouldn’t do tha-“ Lotte paused. “Maybe I should go check on them.”
“Meh, I’m just playing, I’m just playing,” Amanda said. “Akko probably just tried to snatch some extra snacks from the kitchen and got nabbed. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’m sure they’re both perfectly fine,” Diana said as conjured her own blanket - a gorgeous ivory white thing with sea green flower patterns - making sure every corner lay flat and wrinkle free on the grass. “Perhaps Akko was just tired from exerting herself earlier? I’m not sure she’s used to using that much magic for so long as of yet.”
“Uuuuh, guys,” Amanda said, lifting a finger to gesture towards the path leading back towards Luna Nova.
Down the path came Akko and Sucy, hand in hand and smiling though Akko certainly showed more teeth. There was not an eye not focused the two as they arrived just on the edge of the gathering. Idle chatter ceased and even Jasminka’s reliably rhythmic snacking paused. Amanda leaned forward, jaw tight and eyes wide.
Akko looked at Sucy, who while still smiling had averted her gaze from the rest of their friends and tightened her grip on Akko’s hand with almost crushing force.
“I’m gonna tell ‘em.”
“I think they already figured it out.”
“I’m still gonna tell ‘em!”
“Oh god,” Sucy groaned, pulling her hat over her face in a futile attempt to hide her ever growing smile.
Akko inhaled and thrust their clasped hands into the air and shouted at the top of her lungs, “My awesome girlfriend and I are here!”
The silence hung in the air for a beat too long. The pair’s hearts started to sink, old wounds being gnawed at. Then Amanda laughed, “Hey I was right! Akko was getting herself a snack!”
Sucy balked while Akko’s face turned beat red as a great cheer rose up out of their friends, Lotte in particular clapping so hard and fast it looked like she was going to break the bones in her wrists. If the two still had any tears left inside themselves, not one slipped out as the outpouring of happiness washed over them.
“Ohmygosh finally!” Lotte squealed. “I knew Sucy liked you but I didn’t know if you knew but now I guess you definitely know and it worked out! YAY!”
Barbara had propped herself up on her elbows wearing a matching adoring expression with Hannah. “Aaaw, that’s adorable! Congratulations!”
“I won’t lie,” Hannah said, “I called it like four months ago.”
“It was certainly not a turn of events I expected,” Diana said, smiling as he stood up from her blanket. “But I can’t say I’m not thrilled for the both of you. Please, take my spot! It’s the best one for viewing…whatever it is Constanze has planned.”
“Oh, we couldn’t,” Akko said.
“It does look like a nice spot, though,” Sucy countered, straightening her hat and holding herself a little closer to Akko than before.
“Yes, it is a very nice spot, now come, come,” Diana rushed to their side and gently the guided them to her blanket before retrieving them both cups of tea from the snack table. “Now, please sit! I can find another seat easy enough, you two deserve a comfortable viewing experience.”
Diana would hear not a word more of protest from Akko and Sucy who settled on the blanket with thanks. The heiress casually strolled away towards Amanda and sat a few feet beside her on the grass. The brand new girlfriends got themselves comfortable and leaned against each other, soaking in the feeling of the other pressed against them.
Akko smiled as Constanze threw her a thumbs up before jogging over to her massive projector. “What movie do you think it is?” she whispered to Sucy who settled her head on Akko’s shoulder, making her whole side tingle in the best way.
“Dunno. Knowing her probably another monster movie,” Sucy said. She took slow, deep breathes, relishing Akko’s scent and tamping down the urge to find out what her neck felt like on her lips. There would be time for that later. Sucy wasn’t totally sure this wasn’t a dream and didn’t plan on rushing it.
Constanze leaned over each of the little lamps, making final adjustments one at a time before flipping a switch on the far end. There was a stupendous buzz from the row of devices before almost painfully bright lights popped on, transforming the night sky above into a massive movie screen.
“Wow, that’s really going to screw with any air traffic.”
“Shoosh,” Akko teased, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand. Her girlfriend. Those were two very fun words.
Something began to be spelt out in bright green curly letters on the projected screen, like by gods magic marker.
Thank you all for an amazing first year. You haveve all been the best friends I’ve ever had and I am going to miss everyone! So don’t forget about each other over summer. This is a threat.
“Not just me,” Akko whispered as the message faded away to be replaced by the opening credits to a very American and very 80’s film. “But Constanze can be really scary, right?”
One by one,
Sucy just nodded wordlessly as she shifted her weight just right to gently lower them both flat on their backs on the blanket. Akko sank back without a hint of protest but did slip her arm under Sucy’s back, pulling her tight. For the rest of the film they laid curled up with each other, blissful and young and, maybe not yet in love, but wrapped up in something very similar.
---
Diana tried her best to watch the movie. She did. But she couldn’t. She kept looking towards where Akko and Sucy lay snuggled up and giggling at things she couldn’t hear. Diana wanted to pretend she couldn’t see it, didn’t want to see it but that would only delay things. Best rip the bandage off now. She’d let herself cry later however, no need to bring down the atmosphere for everyone.
“Shoulda made our moves sooner, huh?” Amanda sighed beside her.
“You too?”
“Yeah, me too,” Amanda bobbed her head. “Got a thing for cute reckless girls.”
“You would, wouldn’t you.”
They were quiet for a bit while a car chase through a mall played out overhead, complete with machine guns and an abuse of one-liners.
“Akko looks happy though,” Diana finally said.
“Yeah. I guess that’s gotta count for something. And hell, at least we still got her as a hell of a friend, right?”
Diana thought about it for a moment. Amanda had a point. Akko was still there, still a light in her life. She smiled. “Yes, yes that’s true. That’s very true. I cannot stay overly heartbroken over someone that makes her happy.”
It would hurt for a while, she knew. It would hurt them both. Because sometimes love does that. Sometimes it goes unanswered or unknown. But that pain only demonstrated that what they felt was something genuine, something true, to them. That pain would, in time, dull. Maybe it would never vanish forever, but it would get easier to carry. For right now, they could both hurt over Akko and they could both be happy for Akko. Diana thought she could live with that quite nicely.