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Lips couldn’t help the smile they slowly formed at the sight of the other girl. The way her hair shone like polished bronze in the sunlight made her heart skip and a sigh escaped her lips before she could stop it.
She saw the grit. The composure. Saw the way the other girl clenched her teeth and set her jaw as she dove in again and again, each time learning. Evolving. Leaning into the skills she was acquiring and applying them so quickly it made her head spin.
Pride made its way into her chest and she fought the sudden and entirely unwelcome urge to beam at the other girl’s progress.
Practiced hands made their way over her polearm, sharpening the blade at the end of it methodically, pretending to all others that rather than watching with intensity, she was merely passing the time, setting her features to something akin to apathy.
The sun had started to set, casting oranges and golds and pinks into Nobara’s hair and Maki couldn’t help the way her hands started to fumble and falter as she observed.
Her dark eyes traced over Nobara’s form in admiration… Like she would with any other sorcerer. Or so she told herself, shaking her head.
Time wore on and she pulled out a journal, scribbling notes to pass the time, training her dark eyes toward the page instead of the lithe form of the other sorcerer. She got so involved in her own thoughts that she nearly jumped when she heard a familiar voice right next to her ear. The vibrations from the noise sending a chill down her spine, goosebumps raising along her arms, hear heart thundering against her ribs.
“What are you writing about, Maki-san?”
Stifling her reaction, Maki simply raised a brow, snapping her notebook shut with finality.
“Notes.”
Nobara tilted her head, lips pouting just enough to make Maki want to lean into them. To discover the way they might taste...
“You’re so mysterious,” Nobara sighed, flipping her short hair.
Maki’s lips twitched and she chuckled, tucking the notebook away, taking up her polearm as she stood, keeping her brows raised as she wheeled to face Nobara.
She was surprised that the other girl’s face was so close to her own, noting with a quick drop of her gaze that Nobara was standing on the step just above her own.
Their eyes met and Maki’s knees felt like liquid as she stared at Nobara, slowly admiring her expression. The way her bangs fell into her eyes. The scrape along her cheek from a particularly hard hit. The reddening blush that slowly rose along her cheek bones.
Maki tilted her face a fraction closer, silently testing a theory.
It wasn’t lost on her the way Nobara’s shoulders rose as she inhaled sharply. Nor the way her eyes seemed to widen, face bathed in a cautious wonder, tongue darting out to wet her lips...
The self-satisfied smirk that slid across her own mouth couldn’t be helped as she leaned back, shifting to stand next to Nobara on the step, enjoying the slight height advantage more than she’d be willing to admit.
The pause between them felt heavy, breathless and dizzying, their eyes locked as they let time pass slowly by them in silence.
“Come on,” Maki nodded toward the dorms. “You must be starving.”
Nobara nodded absently, still leaning toward Maki.
Her forehead hit Maki’s shoulder and she exhaled slowly, refusing to let another sigh find its way from her lips in response to this girl.
Not today. Not again.
Warmth seeped through Maki’s shirt, bringing a flush to her neck at the sticky, humid feeling of Nobara’s proximity.
She felt the girl turn, her face now pressed so close to Maki’s neck that it was making her head spin, her thoughts sluggishly trying to keep up.
“I’m tired, Maki-san,” Nobara sighed, enveloping Maki’s heated skin with the warmth of her breath.
“I…” Maki cleared her throat, her mouth suddenly dry. “Come on.”
Her words were meant to sound insistent, coming out almost pleading. Dark eyes slipped shut and she cursed herself in silence.
Nobara didn’t move, breathing slowly against the side of Maki’s neck.
Maki’s world seemed to narrow, shrinking from a place filled with cursed spirits and dangers in need of exorcising to nothing more than the feverish heat pouring off of Nobara, the sticky, warm feeling of her breath against her neck, the feeling of her own pulse racing beneath her skin and she prayed to gods she knew didn’t exist that Nobara was too tired to notice...
Maki spun her polearm, tucking it under her elbow before taking Nobara’s hand, ignoring the way it shot electricity up her arm as she threw the girl over her shoulder, walking determinedly toward the dorms.
“Maki-san!” Nobara squealed, grasping onto Maki’s back, trying to stabilize herself as Maki walked.
“You weren’t moving,” Maki chuckled. “So I took it upon myself to affect change.”
Nobara huffed and Maki felt her settle, her arms dangling, fingertips brushing against Maki’s lower back as she walked.
“You’re really strong,” Nobara commented, sounding surprised.
Maki did little more than snort in response, shifting Nobara on her shoulder, making the other girl grunt unceremoniously.
She was thankful that Nobara couldn’t see her face, her white teeth shining from between her lips as she laughed.
Her hands ached to wander, trace the lines of Nobara’s calves, to learn the shape of her knees, her thighs…
Maki swallowed, thankful yet again that Nobara wasn’t able to witness the blush that spread across her cheeks.
She kept her arm wrapped around the backs of Nobara’s knees, holding the girl in place with as little contact as possible though the press of Nobara’s tight abdomen along her shoulder didn’t go without notice. Hard muscle pressed to her body… She couldn’t help but imagine-- No.
She shook her head, feeling her long hair sway.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Kugisaki,” Maki hummed.
“R-Really?”
Fingertips tickled the back of Nobara’s knee, making her squeak and kick her legs. Maki’s laughter rang in the empty courtyard as she slowly lowered the other girl from her shoulder until they stood face to face.
Nobara blushing in the final seconds of a sunset was a sight Maki was sure she’d never get over, her hand reaching before she could stop it to brush Nobara’s hair back behind her ear.
Beautiful…
The stuttered gasp in response made Maki grin and she allowed herself, for once, to give into temptation, tracing her fingertips along Nobara’s jaw to her chin, tilting it upward, forcing their eyes to meet.
“Really,” she nodded.
They stood there together as the world slowly continued to turn, spinning almost as much as Maki’s head as darkness slowly crept up from the shadows of the trees to blanket the courtyard around them.
“We should get dinner,” Nobara whispered as if trying to keep from breaking a spell.
Maki’s fingertips left her skin and she could’ve sobbed in relief from the onslaught of thoughts begging her to take action... and from the loss of the sensation of smooth skin beneath her hands…
Maki nodded, slipping her hand into Nobara’s for a moment and squeezing before releasing it and walking straight toward the dorms.
“Come on, Kugisaki.”
Maybe someday I’ll be strong enough to deserve the way you look at me.