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Despite the multiple times Akko had woken up in Diana's arms, she would never get used to it.
Diana was perfect in Akko's eyes - though she was hard-working, extremely knowledgeable and intelligent, she managed to be really considerate, generous and patient at the same time. She had an extremely strong air of authority about her, which would often manifest as teasing when she was in the mood. Occasionally she'd display some humour, and when she laughed, especially considering what a recluse she'd been not long ago, it was the most beautiful sound Akko could ever hear.
It was made better by the deep sense of pride - Diana had admitted it to Akko herself, some time before they started dating and several times during their relationship, that Akko was responsible for her complete change of character. Easily outshining every other achievement in Akko's life, including the drastic changes she had brought about at Luna Nova, was breaking Diana's social shell. Now Akko would even see Diana and Amanda talking casually from time to time.
Then there would be the exact opposite, where Diana would get defensive of Akko - and she really got defensive. It almost embarrassed Akko but at the same time it made her proud to call herself Diana's girlfriend.
Also Diana was really hot, so that helped.
Quite often now, Diana would take her books and stay up late studying in Akko's dorm just to enjoy her company. Sucy didn't mind because she was usually quiet and Lotte, Hannah and Barbara just found it all hilarious. Usually, Akko would join in with her studying for a short time but finish much earlier than her in the evening and tiredly stick around in the room, making conversation with her. Then, once it reached curfew, Diana would pack up and return to her own dorm.
The night before was an exception - as Akko sleepily squirmed, pulling the covers tightly over herself and smiled at Diana's body warmth against her back, her hand slightly numb, she remembered seeing how tired Diana was as she entered the red team dorm room to study. She had sneakily suggested that Diana sit in her bed beside her while she studied, who must have been too tired to argue with her - she remembered Sucy giving her a knowing thumbs up before going to sleep.
When Diana made the mistake of resting her head on the pillow for a moment, Akko had crawled into the bed next to her. The blonde had sleepily asked her not to get too comfortable because sleeping in other people's dorms, let alone their beds, was against many of Luna Nova's rules. All Akko had to do was remind her that it never stopped them before she was relieved to find Diana relenting and returning her loving embrace.
Now it was half past ten in the morning.
Holbrooke had said the day before that, since it was Valentine's day, they would get the day off. And what better way to start Valentine's day, Akko wandered as she smiled and gently playing with Diana's cabbage hair.
Only then did she notice something strange. Her hand wasn't numb.
It was stuck to Diana's.
Except Neither was holding on.
"Eh?" Akko asked suddenly, lifting her arms and carrying Diana's with it.
"Akko, what are you doing?" Diana murmured, her eyes still shut.
"D-Diana, our hands!" Akko said, scrambling to sit up. Disgruntled, Diana wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up beside Akko, only to pause and frown when she saw their hands. There was no spell, but their hands just wouldn't come apart.
"What the..." Diana mumbled, frowning as she pulled her left hand, and Akko's right with it, up to her face and closely examined them. She grabbed Akko's wrist and gave her hand an experimental tug, though nothing happened. She pulled a little harder and aside from a dull sting in their hands, they wouldn't come apart.
As Diana pulled out her wand, Akko nervously scanned the room with her eyes - Lotte and Sucy were out, but Diana would surely be able to help more than either of them anyway.
"I can't... There's no spell," Diana mouthed in confusion.
Then Akko noticed something - there was a small paper note.
She sighed in resignation, knowing exactly what was coming. Diana followed her eyes and glared at the note, slowly picking it up and unfolding it in front of them.
I stuck your hands together for fun
-Su
P
s. It will wear off in 24 hours
"Ugghhh," Akko moaned in frustration, burying her face back in her boob pillow and trying to pull the covers back over them. Diana retained her calm demeanour, though no doubt was highly frustrated by this. Aside from her important reputation to uphold that would be marked by holding hands with Akko all day, she was probably more annoyed that she had no idea how to undo whatever Sucy did.
Diana briefly considered staying in Akko's dorms and studying for 24 hours before the spell wore off but that would be unkind to Akko. Besides, 24 hours was pretty heavy even for her. It was probably too long for Akko to be in one room.
"Well there's nothing for it," Diana said, clearing her throat. "We won't go parading around the school like this, but we've got to get food and not waste the day."
"M-m," Akko mumbled, slowly shaking her head.
"Akko," Diana sighed, exasperated. "You always do this."
"Mhm."
"Akko."
"Comfy."
Diana shook her head, automatically raising her hand but remembering it was stuck to Akko's as the brunette pulled her hand back under the covers.
This was going to be a long day.
Lotte and Sucy were sat in the canteen, having finished eating. It was some time after most students left, so there were a few other voices in the room but it wasn't packed.
Lotte was giving Sucy a frustrated glare. She knew that Sucy would never stop bullying Akko or using her as a guinea pig, but she had asked her to be a little bit more respectful towards Diana, and the bond between the two. She still couldn't say that she was surprised when she woke up to see Sucy pouring some potion over their hands, though.
They both knew she couldn't stay angry at her for too long, especially considering how smug she looked at the moment. They met eyes, and Lotte tried really, really hard to look mean but broke out laughing at how much Sucy was clearly enjoying everything about their situation.
The laughing stopped dead as the door swung open to reveal Diana stood behind it, staring daggers at Suy. Resting awkwardly in her arms, Akko was wrapped in bedsheets, looking like she was still asleep. Most of the canteen had stopped to stare as Diana approached Lotte's and Sucy's table, carefully placing Akko upright on a chair and sitting on the chair beside her with one hand conspicuously entering the bedsheets and stuck to Akko's.
"If this is your attempt not to draw attention to yourself-"
"Spare me your pontification, Sucy. I'll have you know I'm doing this because Akko here refused to get out of bed," Diana complained. "And I'm supposed to be giving a lecture in the auditorium today, so I'd really appreciate if you could undo this."
Lotte shot Sucy a look, but the Filipino witch was completely unfazed.
"Yeah, no, sorry. I didn't make a solution to undo it," Sucy monotoned as she returned to her food. There was a tense pause as Lotte fidgeted. "Maybe you could cut off her hand?"
"C'mon Diana, I don't see the problem," Akko spoke up, finally waking up a bit more as the smell of food filled her nostrils.
"Akko, there are going to be students, teachers, and witches that aren't even from Luna Nova attending this presentation," Diana patiently explained.
"But you never carry me around normally," Akko giggled.
"Akko...." Diana mumbled warily.
Diana had mentioned this to Akko th night before, and Akko could tell that their situation was upsetting the blonde. The last thing she wanted to do was to make things worse for her girlfriend, so she slowly nodded.
"I see the problem," Akko admitted, squeezing Diana's hand under the table and receiving a squeeze back herself. "So we'll get Sucy-"
"Sucy actually doesn't have a cure," Lotte said quietly. "She said it was a new recipe and it would take days to figure out how to make a cure."
Another tense silence. Diana huffed and quickly stood up, inadvertently taking Akko's' arm with her - the brunette giving her a startled look in the middle of biting a potato.
"You're going to get dressed then we're going to figure out how to undo this," Diana asserted, tugging on Akko's arm and prompting her to stand up. Flustered, the Japanese witch eagerly stood, stuffed the potato into her mouth and followed Diana, awkwardly holding her duvet behind her as hey power walked to her dorm.
Sucy grinned. She was glad she lied to Lotte and told her there was no cure.
Akko's face was bright red, Diana's slightly flushed. Both silently praying that Sucy and Lotte wouldn't come back to the dorm soon, they quickly discovered how difficult it was to get changed with a Siamese twin.
"How did you even take your pyjamas off?" Akko complained, hunching her shoulders and pouting from embarrassment, sat naked on the bed with her pyjama top stuck half way up Diana's shoulder
"I used a spell," Diana responded. "But it's not a spell I can use on someone else."
"Oh come onn~" Akko whimpered, bringing her knees to her chest.
"Look, if we could just separate the seams for a moment-" Diana began but Akko cut her off.
"No!" She shouted, bringing her top back to her shoulder and holding it close to her body. "My parents made these for me before I came here! You can't break it!"
"Hey, it's okay. I meant with a spell," Diana said softly. We can fix it afterwards."
"I... Can I at least get my other clothes on first?" Akko asked hesitantly, awkwardly squirming with her knees pressed tightly together. Diana's eyes were struggling not to briefly dart down to Akko's body.
"Of course," Diana said before clearing her throat.
The two stood up and trundled towards Akko's cupboard before opening the door. Diana courteously averted her eyes as Akko picked out the clothing she would wear before closing the cupboard.
Desperate to cover up, Akko quickly moved to put on her underwear, again forgetting that Diana's hand moved with hers. As Akko felt the blonde's hand brush against her sensitive area she recoiled back - Diana tried to apologise, but was yanked forward, off-balance, and ended up falling to the ground and taking Akko with her.
After a soft thud, the two met eyes, startled. Akko had been pulled down by her hand and was straddling her girlfriend, even redder than before, when Diana started grinning.
Akko pouted as Diana started softly chuckling, painfully aware of her nakedness.
"Sorry," Diana admitted. "We can be so useless sometimes," she said while giving Akko a comforting stroke on her thigh.
Just as Akko was about to stand up, there came a knock on the door.
"Hey, this is Amanda-"
"Don't open the door!" They both shouted in unison. Diana was lying on the floor and Akko was straddling her, naked aside from the scrap of pajamas between their bodies hanging from her arm, with messy bits of uniform scattered around them on the floor and as they had been the whole day, they appeared to be holding hands.
There was an agonising short silence.
Then the door peaked open just a creak, Amanda eagerly scanning the room for incriminating evidence. She froze when her eyes settled on them.
"Fuck," she mumbled, quietly closing the door.
Akko had completely stopped functioning.
Diana sighed in annoyance, her head falling back against the floor.
"My life is over," she muttered.
"I'm just gonna get changed," Akko eventually said. "If you could just..."
Diana nodded, the fabric on Akko's arm gracefully unweaving itself, moving away from her arms and stitching itself back up afterwards. Akko got dressed silently in her uniform in the same way, with Diana deconstructing and reconstructing her shirt and jacket. Finally, Akko cut through the heavy air of awkwardness.
"So about that lecture of yours..." Akko began. "Could I just... turn invisible or something?"
"There's no way, some of them would definitely realise what was happening," Diana shook her head. "Plus my movements would be off."
"Do you want me to be your girl under the desk?" Akko winked.
"Perhaps not while I'm presenting. It might be a little bit awkward given that Finnelan will be stood behind me."
Akko gulped.
"Kill Finnelan then-"
"What if you transform into a mouse?" Diana suddenly asked.
"Oh, that's an idea." Akko nodded. "I'll give it a shot..." She cleared her throat, glancing worriedly at their connected hands and pulled out her wand, waiting for Diana's nod off affirmation. All her fears about the side effects of whatever Sucy did that could go wrong were washed away by the nod.
"Metamorphie fasciesse!"
And with a small whirl of magic, Akko was stood, as a mouse, in Diana's hand. The dazzling blonde suddenly looked a lot more intimidating when she was looming over you, the size of a skyscraper - but still, Akko's hand was attached to the platform that was Diana's hand.
Diana paused for thought.
"Perhaps... I could just curl up my hand... Can you make yourself a bit smaller?" Diana asked.
"Ehm..." It wasn't something that Akko had tried before, but she focused and recast the spell with that in mind. She screwed her eyes shut through a puff of smoke, only to find that the world had grown even more when she reopened them.
Diana experimentally gently closed her hand to conceal Akko, and the tiny mouse completely disappeared in her hand.
"Are you alright in there?" Akko heard Diana's muffled voice. She smiled, snuggled cosily between the warm walls around her.
"We should do this more often," she chirped back. "It's comfy in here!"
"We couldn't perchance do this for the rest of the day, could we?" Diana hazarded.
"I couldn't do this all day. How long is the lecture?"
"Hopeful an hour exactly." That was a stretch, but Akko was confident. "Yeah, I could do that."
"Right then. That's our plan, I guess," Diana said tiredly. "Thanks, Akko. None of this was your fault." As Diana held out her hand, Akko returned to normal.
"Well, I was the one who convinced you to sleep with me..." Akko mumbled guiltily.
"Pfft, I was looking for an excuse to do that anyway," Diana smirked.
The two met eyes and quietly laughed for a moment.
Akko and Diana had just barely stepped outside of the dorm area when Wangari just so happened to walk up behind them. They just about had time to register another human presence before the yellow team reporter excitedly stepped in front of the two, her not so enthusiastic dorm mates at her sides.
"Heyy, fancy seeing you two here!" She began. "How's life? Got any scoops?"
"I-"
"Great, so, I've heard that you two have been more open with your affection today? Carrying each other around and holding hands... all the damn time?" She smirked, glancing at their hands.
"Look, Wangari," Akko tried to begin.
"You two must understand, our last article regarding your romance absolutely blew up our popularity! Now everyone is saying you two are dating but I haven't been able to confirm that you're official - so if I could just hear it from you..." She rambled, quickly pulling our her notepad and looking expectantly at the pair.
Akko could sense Diana's patience fading away as her eyes thinned just a tiny fraction, her grip on Akko's hand increasing.
"Wangari, now is not a good time."
"Subjects deeply involved with one another and unwilling to answer questions," the reporter said as she quickly scribbled down a note.
"Wangari, I have a presentation to prepare for," Diana shook her head. "Now is really not a good time," she repeated.
"I-it's... Can you just leave us alone right now?" Akko huffed. "We're..." She stammered, losing the words in her throat. It was an awkward situation to explain.
"Akko acting particularly bashful," Wangari grinned, continuing her writing.
"You're not going to leave, are you?" Diana rolled her eyes.
"Nope," The dark-skinned girl shot back quickly.
Akko watched nervously as Diana appeared to consider her options. They both knew that if push came to shove, the blonde witch could easily get rid of the girl by force, though she would never resort to that unless it was absolutely necessary. Instead, Diana's expression softened a bit as she turned to the Japanese witch by her side. Akko didn't expect Diana to lean in slightly and kiss her on the lips - lingering there for a few seconds longer than necessary. Akko's legs were turning into jelly as Diana leaned back, gave the now gawking Wangari an unimpressed look before pulling Akko down the corridor.
The topic Diana was discussing in her lecture was at such a high academic level that many of the scholars and professors in the audience were struggling to keep up, and went straight over Akko's head. That combined with the rising stress in her body as she struggled to maintain her mouse form to stay hidden from the audience meant she didn't really have a chance of understanding what Diana was talking about.
Still, there were 2 parts of the lecture which stood out to Akko.
Firstly, while Diana was discussing alternative methods to keep curses at bay, she introduced the idea of magical silencing, using a simple spell to harmlessly bring any magical effects on someone to a complete stop, such that the curse could be lifted while it was frozen. She had clearly planned on demonstrating it on herself, but stopped last minute and asked if she could demonstrate on Finnelan, to avoid Akko's spell ending and having the Japanese girl suddenly appear out of her hand.
Secondly, Diana was discussing methods to ascertain the origins of the curse. During her talk, she brought up a spell that would reveal the last spell somebody had cast and had planned on demonstrating it on herself. Again she hesitated. Fortunately, she was able to demonstrate on Finnelan to an underwhelming result, revealing that the last spell the professor had cast was to reorganise her papers.
Akko was furrowing her eyebrows and gripping her tiny hands tight from the exertion as the applause finally came and the professors started filing out of the auditorium after their brief conversations with Diana. It was a weird experience.
Just as Diana was preparing to powerwalk back to their room to let Akko relax, they heard professor Ursula's voice and a second from her direction.
Diana turned to see the young professor with a screen open next to her, looking contemplative.
"Professor Ursula? Is something the matter?" Diana asked nervously.
"Would you mind if I cast a quick spell on you?" Ursula asked.
"Wh-of course, please go ahead," Diana said calmly.
Akko stared in curiosity as Ursula cast the exact spell that Diana had deliberately not cast on herself - the first of the two. She could feel Diana tense up, and her heart froze in dread as Ursula's eyes widened.
Diana and Akko waited in silence as laughter emerged from the screen next to Ursula, the young professor covering her mouth with her hand.
"Oh my God!" Croix laughed, her face displayed on the tablet. Clearly she had been on a video chat with Ursula, sitting in on Diana's lecture.
"D-Diana!" Ursula stammered.
"What is it?" Diana broke and asked, trying to remain calm.
"Th-the last spell you cast," Croix cried between sobs of laughter. "It's the fabric unweaving and weaving spell, and you used it on Akko-y-you were undressing-" She spoke, bursting into laughter again at the end.
"J-just what have you two been doing?" Ursula asked hesitantly.
"You're paying for the next meal, Chariot," Croix made out between her laughs.
"Huh?" Ursula asked, turning to face the other professor.
"Remember our bet? You said these two wouldn't start dating for another month!"
"E-excuse me?" Diana scoffed, turning bright red.
"Am I wrong? Are you two not dating?" Croix asked, followed by an agonising silence.
"I knew it!" She fist-pumped as Ursula awkwardly averted her eyes from the younger couple.
"I... I should hope you two aren't breaking any school regulations..." Ursula nervously continued, daring to look Diana in the eye.
"It... It's not what it..." Diana stammered, only proving to make Croix laugh harder. "Ugh," Diana scoffed, turning on her heel and marching out of the auditorium, the mocking laughter of the elder professor fading into the background.
"I hate her so much sometimes..." Diana mumbled.
After the fastest walk Diana could make it without running in the corridors, the two of them arrived back in Akko's dorm, only to be met with Sucy's amused smile and Lotte's concerned glance.
Diana shut the door behind them and immediately Akko let her spell end, seemingly appearing out of thin air and collapsing tiredly on the bed. Diana kneeled on the floor in front of her, their hands still connected, and gently brushed a strand of Akko's hair behind her ear as the Japanese girl breathed heavily.
"That was kinda a smart solution," Sucy said quietly from her bed, sat down and reading something for once.
"Are you two alright?" Lotte asked, immediately counteracting Sucy's indifference.
"Yeah," Akko said quietly, melting into the bed. "I'm fine. Thanks. How about you, Diana?"
"Quite alright," she responded before turning to stare cuttingly into Sucy.
There was a short silence, where Sucy's grin only widened.
"I don't know why you two are looking at me like that. I gave you a perfectly easy way out of this situation."
The reality of what she said dawned on all three of the other girls in the room as they turned to face her out of curiosity.
"Right here," Sucy said while opening her drawer and pulling out a bottle clearly labelled 'Akko and Diana antidote'. Below that were very clear instructions stating you just had to pour some of it onto the hands and they would come straight apart. "You could have just taken this any time." There was a long silence. While Lotte was highly uncomfortable with the tension in the room, Sucy smiled happily and continued reading. "I wasn't stopping you."
Akko felt anger boil up inside of her. Sucy was taking far to much enjoyment out of this. For the thousandth time that day, she watched nervously as Diana breathed slowly and checked her own frustration.
Diana calmly reached for her wand, bringing the solution through the air towards them without giving Sucy a chance to further cause problems for them, opened it and promptly poured a few drops onto their hands.
They watched in silence as a thoroughly unceremonious pop sound emerged, and their hands came straight apart, unadjusted to the comparatively cool air temperature.
With a blank expression, Diana returned the potion to its place on Sucy's desk and curled and uncurled her fingers a few times aside Akko.
"Okay," she said dryly, doing her best not to give Sucy the satisfaction as she took a seat on Akko's bed, gently stroking her cheeks. "Good job, Akko. You did well in the lecture today. Sorry if it was hard," she said much more softly.
"Hehe, thanks~" Akko mumbled. "You did a good job on the lecture too... Probably..."
Diana laughed gently, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Just relax now."
Akko and Diana found their hands curling comfortably in each other's again, though this time of their own will.
"So..." Lotte's voice cut quietly through the silence. "Amanda came and talked to me earlier."