Work Text:
“Hey,” a voice called out, interrupting whatever idle chit-chat had been taking place as Akko and her friends enjoyed their breakfast. They all turned their attention to the new arrival and saw that it was Hannah, with Barbara one step behind her.
“Yeah?” Akko said at the same time Amanda more crassly replied, “Whaddaya want?”
Hannah frowned in her direction and sighed. “I feel like I may regret asking this group of people,” she began as if it was taking all her pride to do so, “but do any of you have the notes from yesterday’s Linguistics class? Barb and I missed it.”
“Oh yeah,” Amanda mused. “Because you both got the exact same cold. At the exact same time. Were you two making out or something?”
Her teasing drew a muted reaction from the table. Akko covered up a snort, Sucy and Constanze hardly batted an eye. Jasminka at the very least shushed her troublesome roommate while she and Lotte offered sympathetic smiles.
Deep scowls, however, grew on Hannah and Barbara’s faces.
“For your information, it was food poisoning. Because someone,” Hannah snapped, “put something in our dinner. And I don’t think I need to say who.”
Next to Akko, a certain figure nursing a very oddly flavored box of mushroom juice chuckled under her breath. She and Lotte narrowed their eyes. “Sucy…”
Barbara crossed her arms over her chest and angrily huffed. “Regardless. We need the notes.”
“Bold of you to assume I write notes,” Amanda said.
“Bold of you to assume we even thought you knew how to hold a pen,” Hannah shot back.
Before Amanda could say anything in response, Lotte asked, “Why didn’t you just ask Diana for her notes?”
Hannah and Barbara shared matching looks of defeat.
“Look, we love Diana, but her handwriting is… terrible.”
Barbara nodded. “Absolute chicken scratch.”
“It’s to be expected, I suppose,” Hannah sighed. “She takes notes so fast, she doesn’t have time to make her writing legible to the rest of us.”
Akko nodded along. “They’re right. I once read her notes and had to question my level of fluency in the English language.”
“Oh.” Lotte blinked. “Well okay. I can lend you two my notes, then.”
Hannah and Barbara beamed.
“Thanks Lotte,” Barbara gave her a smile before sending the others a pointed glare. “This is why she is my favorite.”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Amanda remarked, rolling her eyes. Akko, however, looked back and forth between them, confused.
“Wait. Seriously?” Her eyes settled on Barbara. “You have a favorite?”
“Of course,” Barbara answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Everyone does, right?”
There was a chorus of agreeing sounds around the table. Akko’s mouth fell open.
“H-hold on, I don’t have a favorite!”
She looked around in disbelief. “I can’t believe you would all pick favorites. Aren’t we all friends? We should like each other the same amount!”
Hannah looked at her with a flat expression. “Did you miss the part where we just said Sucy gave us food poisoning? How on earth do we like her the same amount as anyone else?”
“That’s fair, I don’t like you that much, either,” Sucy casually replied through a sip of juice.
“You see?” Barbara said. “All is balanced.”
Amanda leaned back in her chair. “Yeah, Akko. Some friends you like a little more. Some a little less. No big deal.”
Akko frowned. Maybe she would regret it, but she couldn’t help asking, “Okay… then if you all have favorites, who are they?”
She was met with five voices, including Stanbot’s, answering her question.
“Lotte,” said Sucy and Barbara.
“Jasminka,” said Amanda, Hannah, and Stanbot (or rather, Constanze).
Akko gaped at them.
“All your favorites are either Lotte or Jasminka?” She looked toward the two girls in question. Jasminka looked as cheerful as ever, while Lotte gave her a shy smile. Akko noticed they had both stayed quiet. “How come you guys didn’t answer?”
“Oh, well, I’ve never actually picked a favorite either,” Lotte explained. “I agree, we’re all friends, so it just… never occurred to me.”
Jasminka nodded along to Lotte’s words. “I enjoy spending time with you all equally. I could never choose.” She said it so kindly that on any other occasion, it would have melted Akko’s heart if she wasn’t so perplexed by everyone else.
She rounded on the rest of her friends. “See! They understand how weird picking favorites is!”
Amanda swatted a hand through the air. “That’s just because they’re too nice. Practically angels. Why do you think they’re our favorites?”
There was another chorus of agreeing sounds around the table. Akko opened her mouth to argue, but found there just wasn’t anything she could say to counter that point.
“I… Okay, understandable,” Akko murmured. It was true that Lotte and Jasminka were some of the kindest people she knew. Them and maybe also—
Akko froze. That’s right. There was one other person. Another friend who was just as kind and was the only one not present at the table to join in on the conversation.
A thought entered Akko’s head and her self-control was no match for her curiosity because before she could stop herself, she was asking, “Hey, do you guys think Diana has a favorite too?”
Amanda shrugged. “Hm. Probably.”
“Oh.” Akko hesitated for a moment before asking. “Who do you think her favorite is?”
“Probably Lotte or Jasminka,” Sucy answered.
Akko’s head swiveled in her direction, poorly keeping her surprise at bay. “Really? You think one of them is Diana’s favorite?”
“We’ve established they’re the most inherently likable out of all of us. Do the math.”
“Yeah, but… are you sure?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes! I mean, no offense, love you both,” Akko added to Lotte and Jasminka, “but don’t you think out of everyone here, especially taking into consideration the things she and I have been through, that I’m the one who deserves to be Diana’s favorite?”
Barbara and Hannah gave her a bemused look, while Amanda snickered. “Why would you deserve that?”
“Um, hello!” Akko threw her hands out, “We’re such good friends now! We hang out all the time, we have a bunch of fun together. I even hiked dozens of miles to her house with very sore legs just to convince her to come back to Luna Nova! We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if I hadn’t succeeded. Tell me that’s not favorite material!”
Her volume made Sucy pull away. “It is too early for you to be like this,” she scowled, “And why do you even care so much? You just said picking favorites was weird.”
“That was before I found out you all had favorites and none of them were me!”
Sucy eyes rolled as far back into her head as her body would allow while Amanda, Hannah, and Barbara broke into a fit of laughter.
“That has to be one of the most obnoxious things you’ve ever said,” Amanda cackled, curling into herself.
“Yeah, but—”
“—at least she’s honest,” Hannah and Barbara said in between breaths.
“I’m serious! I deserve to be someone’s favorite friend.”
“If it helps, you’re at least in my top three,” Stanbot chimed in on Constanze’s behalf.
Akko felt her skin going red. “Well, I guarantee that I’m Diana’s number one.”
“Sure, whatever you say,” Amanda smirked.
“Look, if you don’t believe me, I’ll just go ask Diana myself.”
“Fine. Just don’t be disappointed if she says it’s somebody else,” Hannah said.
“We tried to warn you,” Barbara added.
Akko pushed herself up from her seat. With her hands planted firmly against the table, she glowered at everyone—Lotte and Jasminka aside. Okay, maybe Constanze also deserved a bit of leniency for that top three comment. The rest of them, however, were not making the top of her list of favorites anytime soon.
“You guys suck. I’m Diana’s favorite and I’ll go prove it right now.”
She marched off, leaving her breakfast half eaten and abandoned. It wasn’t like Akko to not finish a meal, but this clearly took higher priority.
The others watched her go before turning back to each other. Lotte let out a sigh.
“Did you guys have to be so mean?”
Amanda took the remainders of Akko’s waffle and grinned. “Look, she’ll figure out one day that Diana doesn’t see her as just a friend, so there’s no way she’s gonna pick Akko as her favorite friend because she’s so far removed from the list of people Diana views platonically.”
Lotte put a hand to her cheek. “Maybe, but…”
“Considering how determined she was, I don’t think that day is coming anytime soon,” Sucy finished for her.
Akko couldn’t believe her friends. The nerve to act like she couldn’t be Diana’s favorite. How could they say that? She had earned that right. She concluded none of them knew what they were talking about as she stomped down the hall with a little too much force, drawing the attention of passing students. Maybe Sucy was right when she said it was too early for this, but this was important!
She speedwalked through the school with her sights on Diana. Akko knew she’d still be in her room, enjoying a cup of tea, the way she did every morning before heading down to breakfast, because even she needed a moment to herself with some caffeine before being ready to start the day. It was one of the many things she knew about Diana because she knew a lot. And Diana was such a closed book, how could someone who knew so much about her not be her favorite?
Akko had this in the bag. She knew it.
Diana had just finished up the last of her tea when she heard knocking at her door. Well, calling it knocking was generous, it was a much more spirited banging. She sighed, setting her cup down on her desk. She knew who that was.
At the very least, Diana was impressed. Akko usually let her at least wake up fully before involving her in whatever it was that she insisted demanded her attention. She could only hope it wasn’t an emergency, but with Akko on the other end, it was sure to be interesting.
She got up to answer the door and sure enough when she pulled it open, there was Akko looking back at her. Diana noted the fierce look of determination in her eyes and raised an eyebrow.
“Good morning, Akko. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, hey, everything’s fine,” Akko swiftly replied, stepping past Diana and into her room.
“Alright,” Diana slowly nodded, shutting the door. “Then what’s going—”
“Did you know our friends have favorites?” Akko blurted out, cutting Diana off.
Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Pardon?”
“They have favorites! Can you believe that?”
“Um… favorite what?” Diana asked, desperately hoping for context.
“Favorite friends,” Akko specified.
“Ah…” was all Diana could say. “Okay…?”
“Personally, I thought picking favorites was a little weird,” Akko went on, failing to notice Diana’s indifference to this supposed ordeal, “but they insisted that it was completely normal, and then we got to talking about you and who your favorite might be, so now I have to ask,” she took a large breath and looked Diana straight in the eye, “Do you have a favorite?”
Diana stared at her blankly. “I’m sorry, do I what?”
“Have a favorite!” Akko repeated.
Diana opened her mouth. Then closed it again. Of all the questions to be bombarded with this early in the morning, she would have never suspected this. She rubbed at her temple.
“That is… an odd thing to ask me, Akko.”
“Sorry, I know it is, but please tell me!”
“What makes you think I even have a favorite?” Diana questioned.
“Well, it’s fine if you don’t, but if you had to pick one,” Akko pressed in a way that let Diana know she wasn’t going to be letting this go. She would just have to answer and be done with it.
“Alright, then… I suppose Lotte is quite a lovely girl—”
Akko crumbled before her like all of her dreams had just been shattered and pulverized into dust.
Diana’s eyes went wide. “Akko? What’s the matter?”
A long, childish whine sounded from the back of Akko’s throat and she cried, “I thought you were gonna say me!”
Diana froze. “You what?”
Akko’s bottom lip jutted out in a pout and she kicked at the ground. “Can’t believe I’m not your favorite. I told everyone I was,” she grumbled. “I mean, we’re so close, right? And you like me, right?”
The logical part of Diana’s brain knew what Akko was referring to when she asked that question. The part of her brain, however, that housed a very lovesick crush on the girl standing before her nearly short-circuited the moment it heard the words “like” and “me” leave Akko’s lips.
“W-well, of course I li—I mean. Yes, I am… rather fond of you,” Diana stammered, looking anywhere but Akko’s face. “I assure you I never meant to insinuate otherwise.”
Oh, but what else should she have said? Sure, she misread the situation and hadn't realized that Akko was there to try and prove she was Diana’s favorite, but then again, she had specified favorite friend. Diana had long since accepted that Akko wasn’t merely a friend to her, so how was she supposed to compare her to everyone else? It simply wouldn’t be fair!
But now Akko was upset, which left Diana to rectify the situation as best as she could without revealing herself in the process.
She took a deep breath. “I apologize, Akko. Perhaps I should have thought more before answering. You and I have wonderful times together and I appreciate how close we’ve become. You are someone special to me and I do hope you know that.”
Akko peeked up at her with a hopeful look in her eyes. “So… am I your favorite?” she asked eagerly, taking a step forward.
She was looking at her so earnestly and her face was just so close, heat began to rise to Diana’s cheeks. She knew the answer Akko wanted to hear but, heavens, no matter how much strength she tried to gather, she couldn’t just say it. She cleared her throat and begged the stars for forgiveness.
“I… would have to say that’s still Lotte.”
“Oh, come on!” Akko threw her head back. “Ugh. And I can’t even be mad at you for picking Lotte because it’s so fair. Everyone was right, she and Jas really are the best of us.”
Diana gave her a guilty smile and offered her a pat on the shoulder. It was a cruel thing, breaking Akko’s heart like that. She knew one day, she would have to apologize profusely for this. She just hoped when that day came, she would be brave enough to say so much more.