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Nobara Kugisaki is a proud woman. If asked to describe herself in 5 words or less, the phrase ‘ better than you’ would roll right off her tongue. She really doesn’t consider herself to be vain - would forcing your two friends with no sense of style to go shopping with you because it would be embarrassing to be seen in public with them be considered vain? 

(Maybe a little, but it’s for their own good. They seriously need the help.)

It’s more about a sense of pride than vanity to her. If Nobara was going to have people look at her, she might as well give them something to talk about. She’s discovered that there really is no point in being the center of attention if you didn’t look the part. 

Nobara knows she has a tendency to be overdramatic about many things, but she also knows she deserves the best. 

Which is why she jumps from her seat in the middle of her Intro to Business class on Wednesday, and furiously points a finger towards Mai Zenin, refusing to work with her.

She nearly sits back in her seat due to pure guilt after seeing Professor Iori’s face, but stands her ground. Luckily for Nobara, Mai seems to agree with her.

Although Nobara could admit Mai Zenin was pretty, she also had become Nobara’s (self-declared) rival, after scoffing at her outfit in one of the on campus coffee shops they both frequented.

“Nobara’s right, Professor,” she says cooly, while picking at her fingernail. “I could never work with someone who would willingly dye their hair that color.” 

“I saw you wearing rainbow cheetah patterned flip flops the other day. You have no room to talk,” Nobara fires back. That seems to shut her up. 

Their professor drops a stack of paper on her desk. “Enough! Kugisaki and Zenin, there will be no switching of partners. If you can’t work with people who clash with your personalities, then this obviously is not the course of study for you. I hope everyone else is fine with their partners. Presentation dates will be decided next class.” 

Nobara huffs back down into her seat, gathering her stuff to put in her bag. As she gets ready to head out of the classroom, she hears a throat clear behind her. 

She turns around to meet Mai’s bored face, with her hand sticking out. “Give me your phone,” she tells Nobara. 

Nobara scowls. “Why don’t you give me your phone?” she asks, taking it out anyways. Mai snatches it from her hand, only to give it back. “Put in your password.” 

Nobara does. Mai takes it back, tapping rapidly on the screen. 

“There.” She hands it back loosely, not seeming to care if it falls out of her hands. Nobara grabs it as Mai says, “I texted myself from it. I’ll let you know when I’m free.”

“What about when I’m free?” 

Mai gives her a blank stare, and then walks out the door. 

Nobara saves her name as ugly ass flip flops in her contacts. 

From: ugly ass flip flops 

i’m free 1:30 on thursday

To: ugly ass flip flops

k. 

@ ur place?

From: ugly ass flip flops 

god even your typing is hideous

yes 

address is XXXX XXXXXXXX

To: ugly ass flipflops

k. 

So there she is, standing in front of Mai’s apartment at 1:30 on Thursday. Nobara’s surprised at how normal the apartment is. Considering how much rich girl attitude Mai oozes out on a daily basis, she’s still in shock that she isn’t living out of a five-star hotel. The door of the apartment swings open to reveal Mai. 

“You’re late.” 

Nobara lifts up her phone to check the time. “It’s 1:31.” 

“I told you 1:30,” Mai says, rolling her eyes and walking back in. “Not my fault you were standing outside my door like a total creep for a whole minute.” 

Nobara follows her inside to the living room, taking a quick look. No photos or any sort of memorabilia. Maybe she and her roommate aren’t close? If she even has a roommate that would put up with her? Nobara thinks. Mai settles on the beanbag towards the corner of the room, opening her laptop. She gestures to the two sofas occupying the rest of the area. “You can choose whichever one you want. Try not to get it dirty.” 

Nobara slides her bag off, settling onto the couch and pulling out her iPad. “I already started researching and doing an outline. I’ll email it to you right now, but I was thinking we can spend the day working on that, and then next time we can start putting the presentation together.” 

Mai nods, not taking her eyes off her screen. “That’s not a bad idea.” 

Nobara resists the urge to say Of course it’s not, I came up with it . 

They actually manage to fill out a good chunk of the outline in two hours without making some sort of snarky comment towards each other. Halfway through, Mai gets up and walks toward the kitchen for some water. On her way back, she chucks a water bottle at Nobara, narrowly missing her face. For the sake of peace, she chooses to bite her tongue. 

The first one to make any real conversation is Mai. Her lips curl downwards as she says, “My sister will be coming home in 30 minutes, but she shouldn’t bother us. If she does, just ignore her.” 

Nobara straightens up at this information. “You have a sister?”

“Twin.”

“Must be nice. I always wish I had a sibling.”

Mai’s eyebrows raise at this. “It’s not as great as it seems. If you think I’m bad, wait until you meet her.”  It takes all of her will for Nobara not to shudder at the statement. There’s no way someone could be worse than Mai.

True to her word, Mai’s door opens thirty minutes later. Nobara doesn’t pay any attention to the girl walking in, until she speaks up.

“Mai, I didn’t know you had a friend over.” 

Nobara looks up to see the face of a goddess peering back at her. 

They stare at each other before the stranger introduces herself. “Maki Zenin. Mai’s older sister.”

“Nobara Kugisaki,” she says faintly. 

Nobara could admit Mai was pretty. But even though they shared the same face, Maki was a thousand times more beautiful in her eyes. Her admiration of Maki’s face is interrupted by Mai’s voice. “Don’t you have things to do instead of bothering us?” 

Nobara’s eyes flit back and forth between the twins.

“I just wanted to say hello to your friend, Mai.” 

“She’s not my friend.” 

“We’re just working on a project together,” Nobara interrupts. Did they have a no-dating-each-others friends policy? That would definitely work in her favor. 

“See?” Mai tells Maki. 

“Ok,” Maki responds, while slinging a bag over her shoulder. “I need to shower. Nice meeting you, Nobara!” 

Nobara says nothing as she watches Maki’s figure disappear past the door into her room. Her eyes stay trained on the door, as if Maki is going to return to the common area and bless her with another appearance. 

Mai’s voice snaps her back to reality once again. “Hey. Pay attention to me.” 

She turns her head to look at the other girl. “What?”

The scowl on Mai’s face deepens. “Don’t fuck my sister.” 

Nobara nearly falls off the couch while twisting her body to face Mai, her mouth hanging open.

“Wh- What do you mean? I don’t even like girls like that you kn-” 

“Shut it. I’ve heard the way you talk about your beloved Saori-chan . It’s very clear that you like women. Along with multiple photos you have of yourself with the lesbian pride flag on Instagram.” 

Nobara’s mouth snaps shut, and then reopens to say, “Wait, you’ve looked at my Instagram?” 

“That’s what you’re choosing to focus on? You need to leave my apartment.” 

Checking her phone, Nobara finds that it is almost time to head back to her dorm. Putting her stuff back into her bag, she gets up from the couch and heads towards the door, Mai following her. The scowl is still on her face when Nobara turns to face her. “Don’t even think about going near my sister. I don’t want to see your face anymore than I already do.” 

“You’re such a joy to be around, Mai.” 

“I’m serious, Kugisaki.” 

At this, Nobara rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I get it.” She starts walking down the stairs, knowing that Mai is still watching her, pauses for a minute and turns to face the door with an evil grin on her face. 

“Oh, tell Maki-san I say bye too!” She runs down the stairs, cackling before Mai can yell at her, relishing in the sound of the door slamming. 

Nobara rests her head against the cool countertop of the coffee shop. “Can you believe she said that to me? She’s so rude sometimes.” 

Normally, she tried to avoid bothering Miwa at work if possible, but Miwa was the only person that she knew with a connection to Mai that would not rat her out about the current topic at hand. 

Miwa nods and hums, fiddling with the espresso machine she’s working with. “Mai ’ s not that bad. I think if you two weren’t so similar, you would be great friends.” 

Nobara stays silent, considering this. Then slowly, she says, “Miwa, I think working in a coffee shop is rotting your brain.” 

The blue haired girl places the cup she’s wiping down on the counter. “You know you won’t get heavily discounted coffee anywhere else, right?” 

“I hope you continue to fill this coffee shop with love for the rest of your life.” 

“You want me to make minimum wage for the rest of my life?” 

Nobara glares at Miwa, who simply goes back to cleaning cups. “Don’t you have that second job that you don’t tell anyone about, anyways? You said it pays a lot better than this one, why don’t you just take more hours there?” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Miwa sighs. “Go back to talking about Mai and Maki.” 

Nobara straightens up. “Do you know anything about Maki? Is she single? Into women? Anything of the sort?” 

Miwa grabs another cup to polish. “Maki, is in fact, bisexual.” Nobara silently cheers. “However, according to Mai, she hangs out with a guy named Yuta a lot, so I’m not sure about the single part.” 

Nobara puts her head back down on the counter and groans. Miwa pats her head sympathetically. 

“I just want a hot girlfriend. I think I deserve it,” Nobara says, voice slightly muffled by the counter. “We would be such a power couple. Just imagine it!” 

Miwa pokes her arm, and loudly whispers her name. Nobara moves her head off the counter, slumping against the back of the stool she’s sitting on, assuming Miwa wants her to move so she can clean. “I think we really clicked at her apartment, even if we barely talked. We had one of those love at first sight moments, where you just stare at each oth-”

This time Miwa slaps her arm, hard. When she opens her mouth, she’s practically hissing at Nobara. “Maki’s coming in!” 

Nobara whips her head to face the door, where Maki is about 5 feet away from the door, looking down at her phone, with a bo staff in hand. She turns to face Miwa, panic clear on her face. “Where do I go?” she whispers harshly. Miwa gives her a bewildered look, shrugging. Turning to face the door again, she sees Maki grabbing the handle, starting to look up from her phone. 

Nobara makes a decision, and catapults herself over the counter separating her and Miwa, landing on her butt. She scoots backwards until her back meets the counter, holding her breath, as she listens to Maki’s footsteps come closer.

“Hi Miwa,” she says. 

“Hi Maki!” Miwa replies, a little too cheerfully. “What can I get started for you today?”

“I’ll take a large cold brew with 3 pumps of caramel, salted sea foam, with cream and sugar.” 

Hm. She really wouldn’t have pegged Maki as someone who had a sweet tooth, but it was an order Nobara could respect, even appreciate. From her position on the floor, she sees Miwa nod and tell Maki that it’ll be out soon. 

As Miwa turns around to prepare her order, Maki asks, “Is everything ok? I could have sworn I saw something jump behind the counter as I walked in.” 

Nobara’s heart stills, and she can see Miwa freeze in front of the flavored syrups. Luckily enough, her back is to Maki. After a moment of silence, Miwa speaks. “Oh that? That was just the cat.” 

Nobara facepalms. When Maki replies, the skepticism in her voice is obvious. “Big cat.” 

Miwa laughs nervously. “Yep!”

“I didn’t know the cafe allowed pets. I’ll bring my cousin’s dogs next time.” 

“Oh, she’s just a stray that wanders in every now and then. Here’s your drink, by the way,” Miwa responds, handing the drink to her. 

A few seconds before Maki speaks up again. “Amazing as always. Can I see the cat?” 

Miwa and Nobara both freeze. Miwa chuckles. “Oh, you want to see the cat?” Nobara tugs on her jeans, making an “X” with her hands, hoping the other girl can see it out of the corner of her eye. 

“Actually, she really doesn’t like to be picked up. She’ll try to scratch your eyeballs out.” 

“Well, it was worth a try. Thanks again, Miwa.” Nobara holds her breath as she waits to hear the sound of receding footsteps.

A minute later, Nobara tugs on Miwa’s jeans again. “Is she gone yet?” she squeaks. Miwa nods, and Nobara starts to rise from her position on the floor, but is immediately shoved down by Miwa’s hands on her head. Nobara whacks her hand on the blue haired girl’s jeans, loudly whispering, “What are you doing?” 

Miwa responds by kicking her ankle. “Hi,” she says loudly to the customer in front of her. “Welcome to Latte Love! What can I get started for you?” 

A man’s voice speaks up. “I didn’t know you worked here, Miwa.” Nobara feels her eyes widen, and starts poking Miwa’s leg rapidly. She tries whacking Nobara’s hand away, but the customer notices, asking if everything is alright. She watches as Miwa tucks her hair behind her ears, a bright red flush on her cheeks. 

Oh. How interesting. Nobara settles down on the floor, smiling to herself as she listens to Miwa and the unnamed man’s conversation. A few minutes in however, Nobara finds herself thinking about how Maki had come in earlier. Did she always come in around this time? If so, Nobara would definitely have to stop by more often now, the dwindling amount of money in her account be damned.

She’s broken out of her dream world, after Miwa plops down next to her on the floor and buries her head in her knees, cheeks still pink. Nobara pokes her arm. “Who was that?” 

“Cute guy from my calc class,” she mumbles. 

Nobara pats her back sympathetically. “We’ll get through it.”

Miwa just groans in response.

To: gojo’s angels

From: nobara thee stallion

yall im so daiofhiwdhjhqhgkjqf

To: gojo’s angels

From: shadow the hedgehog 

?

To: gojo’s angels

From: nobara thee stallion

IM GAY 

fucking homophobe

To: gojo’s angels

From: jlawstan5ever

yeah dont be a homophobe fushiguro!! not cool!!!

To: gojo’s angels

From: shadow the hedgehog 

k.

To: gojo’s angels

From: nobara thee stallion

itadori. 

change ur username 

how are you NOT embarrassed to give ppl ur username

To: gojo’s angels

From: jlawstan5ever

my love for jlaw lives forever and my username shows that

To: gojo’s angels

From: nobara thee stallion

ANYWAYS 

back to me :)

i love women 

but how do i get one to like me 

To: gojo’s angels

From: jlawstan5ever

good question 

just like…… try to take rice out of their hair and then fall asleep on them 

AND BAM 

you guys fall in love 

To: gojo’s angels

From:nobara thee stallion

pls get help and stop watching romance animes 

just confess already 

To: gojo’s angels

From: shadow the hedgehog 

??

To: gojo’s angels

From: jlawstan5ever

dont mind her fushiguro 

kugisaki’s just being weird :)))

To: gojo’s angels

From:nobara thee stallion 

u guys are fucking stupid 

i h8 gay ppl

Nobara puts her phone screen down onto the table, and places her face in her hands. Maybe asking her two friends who were pining for each other was not the best course of action. She groans loudly, picking up her phone as it starts beeping again. 

From: fushiguro

look 

as long as you present yourself in an honest way im sure this person will like you.

Nobara smiles at her phone. Even if Fushiguro was one of the most emotionally constipated people she knew, he was a good friend.

To: fushiguro 

ur so nice 2 me 

what do you want 

From: fushiguro

who were you and itadori talking about in the chat 

?

To: fushiguro 

ask him urself

From: fushiguro

kugisaki 

please 

To: fushiguro 

<3

She grins at her phone. They could figure it out themselves. 

  Nobara thinks she’s genuinely about to lose her mind. 

On Monday morning alone, she’s already had a test, has one coming up in two days, an essay due tomorrow, and someone from another section in her Intro to Fashion Design class had let her know there was a pop quiz coming her way later today. Miwa refused to give her any more coffee the third time she had stopped by the cafe. (She did, however, end up trying out Maki’s drink that she had heard her order when she was sitting behind the counter. Delicious. She really was a woman of impeccable taste.) 

Thankfully for her, the library is only half full, meaning she has a decent shot at getting a study room. Trudging her feet to the front desk, Nobara manages to get a key to a room on the second floor (with a whiteboard! Lucky her). Silently cheering, she turns around and almost runs into the person behind her. She’s really not sure if she has the best or the worst luck in the world, because Maki Zenin is standing behind her in line. 

Nobara feels her mouth go dry. She stammers out a “Hello”, to Maki who raises an eyebrow at her, and then tilts her body slightly to peer behind Nobara. She looks back as well, and is met with a sign that reads “NO MORE STUDY ROOMS AVAILABLE.” 

Maki nods at the key in Nobara’s hand. “I remember you, Mai’s friend right? Nobara? Guess I’ll just have to be faster next time.” And with that, Nobara watches her walk away to the general self study area, taking a seat at an empty chair, gobsmacked that Maki even remembered her name. 

It takes her a minute to collect herself, and another minute to debate whether this decision is a good one or not. Walking over to where Maki’s sitting, she lightly taps her shoulder with a finger. “Um, Maki-san?” she whispers. 

Nobara takes a step back, narrowly avoiding the sharp whip of Maki’s hair. She’s met with a confused look. “Did you need something from me?” 

She clears her throat before speaking. “Did you want to use the study room with me? I wouldn’t mind it, and you seemed disappointed that you didn’t get one.” 

It’s silent for a few seconds as Maki considers the offer. She grabs her bag, placing her stuff inside and quickly getting up, gesturing to Nobara to lead the way. It’s an awkward walk to the elevator, even if it is ten feet away from where Maki was sitting. The ride is worse, because over the summer, the college had decided to install mirrors in the elevators, instead of fixing the gigantic pot hole on the way to Itadori's dorm (that Nobara may or may not have tripped over multiple times).  

On the way up to the second floor, she makes it a point to not look anywhere but her reflection straight across from her. She pats her flyaways down discreetly. Her eyes flit to Maki’s reflection, who’s scrolling through something on her phone, the light of the screen apparent on her glasses. She snickers at a post, double tapping to like it. The elevator stops, and opens to reveal Itadori and Fushiguro. 

Itadori’s reaction is instantaneous. His lips spread into a wide grin, and he raises a hand in greeting. “Yo, Kugisaki!” 

Nobara steps out of the elevator, Maki right behind her.  She high-fives Itadori, and lightly taps Fushiguro’s ankle with her foot, who gives her a small scowl and turns away from her. Facing Itadori again, she asks, “You guys were hanging out without me, huh?” while raising her eyebrows up and down. 

To her surprise, Itadori blushes, and rubs his neck shyly. “Ah, we just ran into each other and I asked him if he was free to hangout. That’s it.” 

“That’s it?” 

“Yep.” 

Nobara slaps him on his back. “It’s ok Yuuji, you’ll get your man soon enough.” Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Maki ruffling Megumi’s hair, and makes a mental note to drill him about it. Stepping back from Itadori she says, “Okay, I need to go study. I’ll text you guys about getting lunch or something soon.” 

She watches Itadori step into the elevator, Fushiguro following quickly behind him. Before he enters, she claps him on the back of his shoulder. He turns around and gives her a bewildered look. With a straight face, Nobara pats his shoulder and tells him, “You’re a good man, Fushiguro,” before giving him a light push towards the elevator and Itadori.

Turning around to face Maki, she nods briefly, letting her know that she’s ready to head to the study room. As they’re walking there, Nobara decides to pop the question. 

“So, how do you know Fushiguro?” 

Maki lets out a soft chuckle before answering. “He’s my nephew, believe it or not.” 

Nobara does a double take as they reach the room. “You guys are related?” 

Maki pauses at the door, waiting for Nobara to unlock it. “Yeah, his dad is my cousin. Our family is pretty big and messy though, so I usually refer to him as my cousin since we’re so close in age.” 

Nobara inserts the key into the lock, twisting it. It stays locked, which she frowns at. Attempting to twist it again she says, “You have got to tell me some embarrassing stories from when you guys were kids.” 

The stupid doorknob remain locked, much to her displeasure. Maki gestures for her to handover the key, and Nobara passes it to her, stepping back to let her have space to work. It unlocks five seconds in. Maki enters the study room first, and Nobara gives the doorknob a withering gaze as she passes by, resisting the urge to kick it off the door. 

She’s pulling out her laptop when she gets a response to her previous question. Maki’s twirling a pen in between her fingers as she leans back in her chair. “Well, I don’t have much to tell you, because we only saw each other every 3-4 years, until high school, because our entire family hates each other. I think we first met him when he was 7 or 8. He’s pretty much the same as he was back then.” 

Nobara nods thoughtfully. “Huh. Sucks to be him.” 

Maki snorts at this. “So how do you know Megumi? I didn’t even think he had made any friends, since he’s so quiet all the time.” 

“Sometimes I think he considers me more of an annoyance than a friend, to be honest. But I met him and Itadori last year during freshman orientation. We just kind of bothered him until he got tired of us and gave in.” 

A slight smile appears on Maki’s face as she’s pulling out her own supplies. “I’m glad he’s made some friends.” 

After that, both of them sit in silence, Nobara’s keys clacking, and Maki’s pen scratching in her notebook. Every few minutes or so, Nobara’s eyes dart to Maki’s figure across the table. She’s absentmindedly rotating her pen between her fingers while her eyes scan over her notebook. Looking up suddenly, she catches Nobara’s gaze, who lowers her eyes back to her screen hastily. Nobara can feel a warmth on her cheeks, and she curses herself. No words are spoken for another 45 minutes, and Nobara actually manages to knock out a good portion of her essay. 

Until Maki yawns, stretching her arms above her head, shirt slipping up to reveal a small section of midriff. Nobara’s sure her cheeks are about as red as a stop sign as she slides down in her seat. She had thought she would be able to make some conversation, but obviously did not think this plan through. 

Next time, Nobara thinks. We’ll actually have some conversation. 

To her surprise, Maki asks her something. She misses it the first time, a small “Huh?” coming out of her mouth. 

"Do I make you nervous?" Maki repeats. 

That definitely wasn't what she was expecting. Nobara sputters out, "W-what makes you say that?"

"You've been avoiding eye contact all day. You're doing it now."

"It's just that I think you're...."  Several words along the lines of gorgeous, hot, and cool , float through Nobara’s head, before she lands on one. “...Intimidating."

Maki lets out a hum of agreement. “I tend to get that a lot. Most of my friends' first impression was that.” 

“That makes sense.” 

“It does, doesn’t it?” Maki says thoughtfully. “How’s your project with Mai going, by the way? I hope she’s not being too difficult.”

Nobara holds back her snort. As if Mai was anything but difficult when it came to her. She definitely wasn’t going to tell Maki that, though.

“Ah, Mai’s just her usual self. The project’s going better than I thought to be honest. We might actually get an A.” 

Maki chuckles. “You can just say she’s being difficult. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear it. I know she’s my sister, but she’s definitely got a mean streak sometimes.” 

“She actually said something similar about you the first time we met.”

“Not shocking, to be honest,” she says, waving Nobara off. “Our parents are pretty shitty, and always pitted us against each other when we were younger. It’s pretty much over now, since they ended up considering us both failures, but we’re still a little competitive now and then.”  

Nobara winces slightly when she hears that. Nobara didn’t have much first hand experience with shitty parenting, but she had heard several stories. “Well, at least you guys have a better relationship now.” 

“That’s true. I always was treated slightly worse than Mai for some reason, and sometimes I feel like she’s still a little overprotective.  I don’t blame her, because I’m the same way. Think I scared Momo away the first time she came over to our apartment.” 

A slight wheeze comes from Nobara’s chest, as she imagines Maki towering over Momo Nishimiya, just an inch under five feet, with her pigtails standing straight up. Maki’s grinning at her as she asks, “What? What’s so funny?”

Nobara has to rest her head down on the table for a few seconds, her shoulder shaking, before lifting it up to tell Maki about her and Momo. She slumps back against her chair, a loud laugh erupting from her chest. Taking off her glasses, she wipes away a tear. “That reminds me of something. So, me and Mai are almost the same height, and Momo’s pretty short, so I have a rough idea of their height difference, but I’ve never thought much about it. But it’s got to be a little awkward, right? So, one day Momo’s leaving our apartment and she reaches up to give Mai a kiss, but she can’t reach her, even on her tiptoes. Mai actually has to bend down at the most awkward angle to reach Momo. Her knees are at a 45 degree angle, and her neck was even worse and- “

Nobara cuts her off, waving her hands at her. “I can’t! If you keep talking, I’m going to start crying!” she says between laughs. 

“There’s still more!” Maki tells her, barely containing her own laughter. “I started laughing so hard when Momo left, and Mai was all red in the face and she was so mad at me, and she couldn’t stop stuttering.” Maki takes a deep breath before continuing. 

“She bought a stepping stool the next day.” Nobara has to place a hand over her mouth to stop the noise coming out. 

“You’re joking right?” Maki just shakes her head, and Nobara rests her hands in her palms, leaning on the desk, looking above to the ceiling. “That’s somehow funny and sad, but also a little romantic, in the weirdest way possible if that makes sense.” 

If Maki gives her a weird look, she doesn’t notice it. Nobara’s eyes are drawn back to Maki’s figure as she opens her mouth to ask a question. “Are you - “ 

The opening of the study room door cuts off the question. The man from the front desk stands there, with a blank look in his eyes. “You’re being asked to leave the library for the day,” he informs them, in a monotone voice. “If you don’t comply with this, your library privileges will be revoked for the rest of the semester, including finals week. Please keep volume levels down next time to avoid disturbing other students.” 

Nobara turns to look at Maki, and shrugs when their eyes meet. Quickly grabbing her stuff, she gets up and hands the room key to the front desk worker, moving to the side of the door to wait for Maki, who appears just a few seconds later. They walk silently to the stairs, side by side. Maki’s shoulder bumps into hers as they step down, and Nobara tries to push down the feeling in her chest.

Her head makes a solid thunk sound as it hits a pillar that suddenly appears in front of her. She makes a face, rubbing her forehead. Had she really been that zoned out that she didn’t notice a huge concrete pillar in front of her? Nobara takes a few steps backwards, aiming to move around the rather large column, nearly falling forward into it again , as she bumps into a warm figure behind her. 

A hand grabs her shoulder, steadying her. Maki’s grip on her tightens slightly, and it’s silent for a few seconds as they stand there. 

“Um,” Nobara starts. “Thank you.” 

“It’s no problem,” Maki tells her. Frowning, she says “It’s kind of stupid to have a giant slab in the middle of the library.” 

Nobara whips around to face her, eyes wide. “I know! Who even thou-” 

A loud, “Shhh!” interrupts her. The guy from the front desk glares at them, a few feet away. His finger points at the door. 

Maki lightly taps Nobara’s shoulder, spurring her to walk out of the library. As soon as they step out, Maki snorts, making Nobara snicker. 

“Can’t believe we got kicked out of the library,” Maki remarks. “How’s your forehead. Bumping it must have hurt.” 

Nobara shrugs. “I didn’t even notice it, if I’m being honest. It’ll probably be a little sore in a few hours, but I don’t think…” Her voice trails off, as Maki reaches over, fingers brushing a spot on her forehead. Nobara can only watch, her eyes trained upwards as her skin is lightly stroked a few times by the tips of Maki’s fingers. 

The other girl hums, satisfied with her check of Nobara’s forehead. “You should put an ice pack on it as soon as you get back.” 

Nobara nods distractedly, still looking up at where Maki’s arm had been. Maki leans over once again, poking her in the exact same spot, bringing Nobara back to reality. “You need to go home and ice it, okay?” she says, in a much softer voice than before.

Nobara grabs the straps of her backpack tightly, bobbing her head up and down. Spinning on her heel, she turns away from Maki to head back to her room. 

She hears Maki shout from behind her. “Make sure not to run into any buildings or people!” 

“I won't!” she yells back.

The next time she sees Maki, Nobara is outside of Latte Love waiting for Itadori and Fushiguro. 

She’s scrolling through her Instagram feed when she feels a tap on her shoulder. Without looking up, she says “Please leave me alone. I am not interested.” 

“Nice to know, but I think I’m the wrong audience for that line,” a familiar voice replies back. Nobara looks up from her phone in surprise.

“Maki-san! I’m so sorry I thought that you were some random creep.” Maki chuckles, adjusting the bo staff strapped to her back. 

“It’s not a big deal. Are you waiting for someone?”

“Itadori and Fushiguro are supposed to meet me here, but they’re running late. I’m not surprised to be honest.” 

Maki nods understandingly. “Well if you want, you can sit with me until they come. I’ve got a bit of time to kill.” 

Nobara beams at her. “I would love that!” Maki doesn’t respond, instead pulling open the door for her. They both walk to the counter to order, where Miwa is working the register. Her back is towards the counter as she’s arranging something on the shelf in front of her. 

“I’ll be right with you!” she calls out. A minute later, she heads over to them with a smile on her face. A quick look of confusion flashes over Miwa’s face as she sees Maki and Nobara together, but is replaced by her cheerful demeanor once again.

“What can I get for you guys?”

“I’ll have what I got last time, if you remember.” Miwa nods, tapping the screen. 

“Nobara, do you want your normal drink?” she asks. 

“Yes please!” 

Maki leans over to whisper in Nobara’s ear. “What’s your normal?” 

“Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte with two shots of espresso,” she mutters back. 

“A little basic, but not too bad.” 

“It’s not that basic.” 

“It’s probably the most basic drink we have here other than the stuff kids order,” Miwa chimes in. “Here are your drinks!” she says, handing it to them. Maki swiftly hands Miwa her credit card, letting her know that she’ll be paying for both drinks before Nobara even has the chance to touch her purse. 

Flabbergasted, Nobara pulls out her card and shoves it into Miwa’s hands. Maki however, plucks it straight out of her hands, telling her, “Miwa, don’t accept any sort of money from Nobara,” and walks away to find a table, drinks in hand.

Both Nobara and Miwa stare at each other with wide eyes. Nobara gets a thumbs up from the other girl before she turns to the next person at the register. 

She heads towards the table Maki chose for them, slipping into her seat with a slight blush on her face. “You really didn’t need to do that, but thank you anyways.”

Maki takes a long sip of her drink in the chair across from Nobara. “It’s no problem. I just got a bonus from work, so I had a little spending money.” 

“Where do you work?”

Nobara’s attention is brought to the bo staff leaning against Maki’s chair as she taps it. “I work at the dojo 15 minutes away. I used to go there when I was a kid to practice, and they just offered me a job when I turned 18. I mainly stick with one on one sessions, but sometimes I get to teach the little kids if they need extra help.” 

Her heart flutters at the idea of Maki working with children. Casually, she says, “I’m sure you're good with the kids. You seem like the type.”

She’s met with a shrug. “It’s not too bad. They try to climb me most of the time instead of practicing.” 

“That’s so cute! They love you!” 

“One time Mai stopped by to drop something off, and almost all of them were terrified. After she left, they refused to look or talk to me for the rest of the day because we’re identical.” 

A wince appears on Nobara’s face before she continues the conversation. “Kids are rough. Does Mai not teach at the dojo?” 

Maki shakes her head. “Actually, we both used to go when we were younger, but around 12 she actually decided to archery instead, and then moved on to shooting.” 

As she’s bringing her drink to her mouth, Nobara’s hand freezes. Carefully placing her drink back onto the table, she clears her throat. “Like, with a gun?” 

“Yup. She’s actually won a couple of medals at tournaments. Mai’s a lot better than people give her credit for.” 

Nobara raises her cup to lips, slowly taking a sip. A voice faintly plays in her head saying “Don’t fuck my sister.” 

She’s never cared much for threats, if she’s being honest. A gun won’t really change that.

“So what’s new with you? How’d the project with Mai go?” Maki asks. 

Swallowing her drink quickly, Nobara replies. “We got an A actually. The teacher liked our presentation, surprisingly.” 

A small smile appears on Maki’s face. “I knew you guys could do it. How are your other classes going?” 

The urge to smack her head against the table is real, and she lets out a massive groan as she slumps in her chair. “Don’t even get me started on my stupid design class. We have to design a piece of clothing assigned to us and I got women's athletic clothing. The problem is that it’s supposed to have a high mobility and range of motion, and I don’t know anyone who fits that. And we can’t use ourselves as the model.”

Nobara ends her rant by closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. “I’m so sorry for just going off like that, Maki-san.” 

She opens her eyes and is met with another pair looking straight at her. “You can use me.” 

“Huh?” 

There’s a light tinge to Maki’s cheeks as she speaks. “I mean you can use me as your model. I’m always doing a lot of movement during sessions. Me and a friend are sparring next Tuesday, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” 

“I hope you know you’re currently my favorite person in the world.”

Nobara’s waved off as Maki laughs and pulls out her phone, sliding it across the table. “We probably should exchange numbers so you can let me know if I need to send anything.”

She grabs the phone, quickly putting in her number. “Promise not to be upset if I spam you with random photos and messages?”

“I would never be upset at you.” 

This time, Nobara really almost does smash her head into the table. The chimes of bells from the front door of the cafe and the sound of someone calling her name out stop her. She looks up to see Itadori waving at her, Fushiguro next to him. Maki, also noticing the noise, turns around.

Turning back to face Nobara, she gives her a quick smile. “That’s my cue to head out I think.” 

Nobara chokes on air hearing that. “Maki-san! Stay and sit with us, those two won’t care.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want to interrupt you guys, and it’s almost time for my shift anyways.” Gathering her stuff, Maki gets ready to head out. “I’ll text you so you have my number!” On her way out, she punches Fushiguro lightly in the arm, and waves by one final time to Nobara before exiting the cafe.

Fushiguro and Itadori take a seat at the table, as Nobara collapses onto it. Itadori gives her a small poke, and she flops around to meet their eyes.  

“What was that about?” Fushiguro asks. Nobara’s arm reaches towards his, patting it gently. 

“I’m so excited to be a part of your family.” 

His reaction is instantaneous, and he throws her arm off of his, Itadori howling in laughter next to him. Nobara quickly checks her phone, surprised to see a message on her lockscreen. Quickly opening it, she smiles. 

hey this is maki 

Her fingers hit the keyboard, typing rapidly. 

hi maki-san!!!! 

:)

Nobara’s screen lights up as she’s browsing on her laptop, and grins as she sees who the notification is from. Although somewhat dry in her responses, Maki had been a fast replier, always commenting “lol” or “??” to Nobara’s various ranges of texts. She grabs her phone, pressing the notification. 

From: maki!!!! <3

u should come over

momo and miwa are over and idk how to talk to them 

miwas painting my toes 

[image attached]

she’s way too nice to be friends w momo and mai i think they might be blackmailing her

To: maki!!!! <3 

r u sure this isn’t mai trying to lure me to your house so she can kidnap me and eliminate the competition 

also miwa is too good to be friends with anyone 

From: maki!!!! <3

LOL

just come over if she gives u shit ill tell her ur my guest 

;)

Nobara drops her phone on her face. Winky faces weren’t something you just casually sent, right? 

From: maki!!!! <3

u dont have to come if ur busy or if u dont want to lol 

Her fingers frantically hit the screen, typing out her response. 

To: maki!!!! <3 

no ill be there!!! 

anything i need to bring???

From: maki!!!! <3

just urself 

;)

Nobara falls out of her bed trying to get to her closet. 

30 minutes, 4 outfit changes and 2 convenience store stops later, Nobara arrives at the Zenin apartment armed with almost every flavor of Lay’s chips available at Family Mart, because she just happened to remember Maki’s love for junk food. Using her knee to knock against the door, she watches the door swing open to reveal Maki’s grinning face. 

“Hey!” Maki’s eyebrows furrow as she takes in Nobara awkwardly posing with her two grocery bags. Her hands reach toward them, grabbing them, and turning around to lead them inside the apartment. 

“You know, you really didn’t have to bring anything. We have plenty of snacks in the pantry.” 

Nobara chuckles nervously saying, “I know, but I wanted to. Figured I’d bring some stuff you like, since I’m your guest.” 

Maki gives her a small smile and Nobara’s heart flutters. “Has anyone ever told you you’re sweet?”

“Only my grandma, but I don’t think that counts.”

Maki snorts in response, and this time Nobara’s heart soars. She follows Maki into her living room where everyone else is sitting down with Uno cards, and settles herself between Maki and Miwa, straight across from Mai and her girlfriend. 

As soon as she sits down, Mai opens her mouth to speak, but a sharp look from Maki cuts her off. Momo pats her arm understandingly as she makes a ‘hmph!’ sound and crosses her arms. Miwa turns to her with a small smile. “We’re almost finished with this round right now, but you can play with me if you want!” 

As she’s about to respond to take Miwa up on her offer, Nobara feels an arm wrap around her shoulder, tugging her to one side. 

“It’s ok, she’ll be on my team since I invited her,” Maki says. “Hope you don’t mind me stealing your friend, Miwa.” 

Miwa gives a silent thumbs up in response. Maki leans over, her lips hovering over Nobara’s ear, breath hot. She does her best not to shiver.  “I hope you're good at Uno, because I am not losing this round,” Maki whispers. 

Nobara can only nod in agreement and pick up their cards off the floor. 

3 minutes later however, Mai sighs dramatically and tosses her hand onto the floor. “This is getting boring. We should try something more exciting!” 

Nobara has an incredibly bad feeling, but agrees anyway, as an image of a gun floats through her brain. Miwa taps a finger against her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe we could watch a movie? I think Netflix has episodes of that new anime Todo was talking about.” 

Mai shakes her head. “Since we’re all here, we should do some sort of bonding exercise. Maybe…… truth or dare?” 

Although she isn’t looking directly at her, Nobara can feel Mai’s gaze on her. Before she can reject the idea, Momo voices her agreement with Mai loudly. Nobara curses the existence of mean lesbians, as if she wasn’t one herself. 

Mai claps her hands together. “Great! Since we’re all in agreement,” she says, her eyes shifting around the group. “Maki, do you want to go first?” Maki, clearly taken back by her twin’s sudden act of kindness, agrees skeptically. 

“Momo, truth or dare?” Momo ponders on this thought for three seconds before answering, “Truth!” 

“Um, what was the worst fight you’ve had with Mai?” Mai freezes and Momo’s face turns dark before she clears her throat to explain. 

“The worst fight I’ve had with Mai is probably when she refused to throw out her Takada-chan merchandise when we first got together. I don’t even know why she thought it would be a good idea to have a bunch of posters of a random idol in your room when you invite your girlfriend over for the first time,” Momo complains, completely ignoring her girlfriend's red face. “I mean, anyone would be a little thrown off by a bunch of eyes on you when you’re trying to make out, right?” 

“Mai, don’t you still have those posters in a box under your bed?” Maki questions. Mai suddenly takes an interest in the ceiling while Momo gives her the stink eye, who dramatically sighs. “I guess Miwa can go next -”

“No!” The interjection from Mai has Nobara’s stomach curdling. She watches as Mai gives everyone a sickly sweet smile. “We can just move around the circle so everyone gets a turn.” Her eyes flit around the group before landing on Nobara, who feels like she’s just been caught in a spiderwebs and might be eaten alive very soon. 

“Nobara!” Mai exclaims, lacing her hands together. “Truth or dare?” 

She opens her mouth, no response coming out. “Well?” Mai prompts. 

“Um, dare?” 

“I dare you,” Mai says, pausing for dramatic effect. “To tell us if you have a crush on anyone!” 

God fucking dammit. Mai Zenin was truly the nastiest bitch Nobara had ever met. 

Nobara stays silent, but she can feel everyone’s eyes on her, especially Maki’s. Out of the corner of her, she can see Maki looking at her, waiting for an answer, and Nobara’s certain her heart has made its way to her throat. On her other side, she makes eye contact with Miwa, who gives her a panicked look. 

Obviously, her first instinct is to lie and say no. The look in Mai’s eyes threaten her to even try.

Oh god, I can’t believe this is happening, Nobara thinks. Squeezing her eyes shut, she opens her mouth to speak. “I -” 

“I have a date with the cute guy who sits next to me in my calculus class!” 

Nobara’s eyes fly open as she turns her head to see Miwa turn a bright red. Everyone’s eyes are on the blue haired girl, who’s hiding her hands behind her face. Even Mai seems shocked by her outburst, her mouth hanging open as she stares. 

Nobara has never been more thankful for the deity that is Miwa Kasumi.

“Miwa,” Momo says slowly. “Is this a hangout or an actual date ?” 

Miwa removes her hands from her face, and tucks them under her legs. “I asked him to hangout after class one day, and then said ‘It’s a date!’ before running out of the class, but he didn’t say no…. So technically it is?”

Momo launches herself at Miwa and buries her head into Miwa’s chest, causing her back to hit the floor. When she lifts her head, Nobara’s surprised to see tears leaking out of Momo’s eyes. 

“Sorry, I’m just so proud of you,” she admits, wiping her tears away. “Who would have guessed this day would have come so soon. Our little Miwa asking a boy out on a date.” 

Nobara reaches over to pat Miwa on the shoulder, and she gives her a thankful smile. “Well, there is a bit of a problem,” Miwa says while scratching her head. “There’s also the guy from my work that I’ve been talking to.” 

Momo gasps. “I didn’t know you had it in you! God, they grow up so quick.” 

Nobara frowns. “You mean your super-secret-second-job-you-won’t-tell-anyone-about job?”

Miwa nods at her meekly.

Momo stands up all of a sudden, placing her hand on her hips. “That doesn’t matter right now.” She spins to face Mai. “Babe, we need to borrow your closet so Miwa can have an outfit for her date.” She turns to head towards Mai’s room, dragging Miwa behind her. Mai sits in shock, before getting up, swearing loudly and mumbling about how she just reorganized her closet while chasing after girlfriend. 

Before she enters her room, she narrows her eyes at the pair left in the living room. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she tells them before disappearing behind the door.

Maki and Nobara make eye contact with each other before bursting into laughter. Nobara wipes tears from her eyes, watching the other girl get up and offer her a hand. She takes it.

Nobara notices that Maki’s hand is much softer than she had anticipated. Still calloused and rough, but not completely beat up. She must use a nice moisturizer, Nobara thinks, before she realizes she’s been holding Maki’s hand for longer than what would be deemed an appropriate amount of time for two people who are just friends .  

She clears her throat and lets go of the hand. “Well, thank you for having me over. I should head out now.” 

“Sorry for the awkwardness,” Maki replies, before frowning. “You didn’t even get to eat any of the snacks you bought us.”

“It’s fine! I don’t even think I bought anything I like, I kinda just dumped whatever I saw into the bags.” 

Maki steps closer to her, and Nobara realizes there’s only half a foot of space between them. She watches Maki’s hand come closer to her face and brushes her hair behind her ear. “You’re really sweet, Nobara. People should tell you that more often.” 

At this point, Nobara isn’t listening to anything Maki says because her soul is ascending to the high heavens. Maki, however, drops her hand from Nobara’s cheek, turning away from her, and she can feel the disappointment radiating from her chest. The softness in Maki’s touch was something that had made her heart ache with yearn. Her eyes follow the green haired girl’s back as she heads towards the shopping bags to rifle through them. She pulls out a bag of Sour Cream and Onion flavored chips, smiling triumphantly. 

“You’re the best! How’d you know these were my favorite?” Nobara sighs internally. She really hadn’t known what Maki’s favorite flavor was, and just grabbed bags off the aisle like she was some sort of chip fiend lunatic. But Maki didn’t need to know that.

With a dramatic flip of her hair, Nobara says, “I just had an inkling. You seem like a Sour Cream and Onion type of person, anyways.” She feels the heat rise in her cheeks as she watches Maki smile and hum happily, mouth stuffed. 

As she swallows, she puts down her bag of chips to ask Nobara what her favorite flavor is, while rummaging through the bag again. “I like Hot Cheetos,” she replies. Maki pulls the bag out, opening it. 

“Ok, go stand over there,” Maki tells her, pointing to the other side of the table. Nobara follows her instructions, watching curiously as Maki heads to the living room to grab something. When she returns, there’s a jacket in her hands. Nobara barely catches it when it’s tossed in her direction. 

“Wear that so you don’t get your clothes dirty,” Maki says. Nobara stares at her in amazement. Maki wanted her to wear her jacket? When she doesn’t respond, one of the other girl’s eyebrows raises up. “What?” 

Clearing her throat, Nobara tells her it's nothing, and shrugs on the jacket. As it slides over her head, she discreetly takes a slightly larger than normal breath, inhaling the scent. It smells like pomegranates. Coincidentally, Nobara’s favorite fruit happens to be pomegranates. If she didn’t already have a crush on Maki, she probably would by now. The other girl’s voice snaps her back to reality.

“You ready?” The way Maki says it, as if almost challenging her to a fight to the death, is enough to get Nobara excited even if she has no idea what is going to happen. 

Maki opens the bag of Hot Cheetos, carefully picking out a select few, then positions herself on the other side. 

She raises a cheeto in the air. “Say ah!” The chip sails through the air, towards Nobara and hits her in the nose. 

“Ouch!” Nobara frowns, rubbing her nose. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Maki trying to hold her snickers back. 

“That wasn’t really nice of you.”    

Maki shrugs. “Not my fault you confused your mouth with your nose.”  

Nobara’s mouth falls open. “Maki-san!” Turning towards the shopping bags, she grabs the bag of Sour Cream and Onion chips Maki had been eating earlier. “Okay, your turn!” Grabbing a few chips out of the bag, Nobara angles herself, spreading her feet apart as she prepares to launch the chip into the green haired girl’s mouth. 

“Ready, set, go!” She watches as the chip flies, landing straight into Maki’s mouth. The other girl raises her arms in victory.  

“That’s so unfair,” Nobara whines. “You do martial arts and stuff, of course you’d be better at this than me.” 

Maki finishes chewing her chips, opening her mouth to answer. “It doesn’t even make that much of an impact, other than reflex to be honest. Besides, mine was harder than yours, considering that Cheetos would be more aerodynamic than flat potato chips.” 

Nobara responds by throwing a handful of chips at her. 

Maki stares at her in shock. “You just wasted perfectly good Sour Cream and Onion chips. Why would you do that?” Nobara just shrugs at her. “I was testing your theory out.” 

She’s assaulted by an army of Hot Cheetos, and her hands fly up to protect her head. “Hey, watch the face!” Maki continues throwing them at her, forcing her to crouch down to the floor. Nobara inches herself under the table, taking shelter. Quietly crawling, she makes her way towards Maki, grabbing her ankle, and is met with a swift kick to her face. 

Nobara lets out a pained gasp, and Maki is immediately pulling her up, hands caressing Nobara’s face. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Nobara, I really didn’t mean to, I swear!” At this point, with the feeling of Maki’s hands on her face, Nobara does not care that a bruise the size of a golf ball may be forming on her cheek. She really could die happy in this moment. 

Unfortunately for her, the fact that Maki seemed stressed out hurts her heart. Nobara grabs Maki’s hands, clasping them in her own and bringing them downwards to waist level.   

“Maki-san,” Nobara says dreamily, with a faraway look in her eyes and Maki’s hand still in hers. “Trust me when I say I am completely fine. Even better than fine, if I’m being completely honest.” 

Maki gives her a confused look that she barely registers. Nobara wants nothing more than to burn this memory into her brain, to remember this in every single one of her next lives. A voice from the opposite side of the room comes closer to them, but she pays them no attention. 

Until that voice screenches out, “What the hell did you do to my kitchen? ” Nobara scowls. Stupid Mai. 

Mai stands in front of them, giving her and Maki a death glare. “Why would you think it’s okay to throw easily smashable chips around?” 

Neither of them reply, and Mai rolls her eyes before turning around and waving her hand at them. “You know what? I don’t care, as long as you clean this up.” She disappears into the living room. 

Maki tosses her a broom. “I don’t like having guests help out with stuff like this, but it would be a lot faster if we both did it….,” she says sheepishly. Nobara nods, understanding completely, and takes it without a word. 7 minutes later, after they’re completely sure every crumb has been swiped up, Nobara speaks. 

“That was fun, but I think it’s time for me to head home. It’s getting kind of late.” Maki agrees, and they head towards the front door, neither of them speaking. As Nobara puts on her shoes, Maki speaks.

“I’m really glad you came today.” Nobara pauses, and looks up at Maki, a smile forming on her face. 

“I am too.” Swallowing her fear, she opens her mouth to tell her, “We can hang out again if you want to! You can text me anytime.” 

Maki grins at her. “I would love that. You know, if you still need a model for your design project, you can come to the studio on Tuesday with some prototypes.” 

Nobara gapes at her. “You would do that for me?” Maki nods, smile widening by the second. It takes all of Nobara’s effort not to tackle her for a hug. “That would be amazing! Thank you so so much! You’re the best!” 

Maki chuckles at her, waving her off. “It’s nothing.” Nodding her head at the door, she says, “You probably should head out soon though, it really is getting dark. You sure you’ll be fine?”

Walking backwards out the door, Nobara pulls her pepper spray out of her purse, beaming. “I’m all good!” 

“Atta girl.”

 Nobara walks to the stairs, waving frantically. “See you Tuesday, Maki-san!” 

Maki waves at her, waiting until she’s out of sight to close the door.

Tuesday rolls around quicker than Nobara thought it would. The entire weekend was spent working overtime with needles and fabric to make sure the prototype was perfect for use (and to impress Maki, of course). 

As Nobara stands outside the studio waiting for Maki’s class to finish up, she checks her Instagram, pulling a face as she sees Mai’s newest post on her dash. She looks up when a gaggle of children exit out the door, waving bye to someone still inside. She resists the urge to smile as Maki’s head pops out of the building, beckoning her inside. Picking up the bag she had left on the floor, she follows the other girl inside. 

A smile spreads on Maki’s face as Nobara enters the building, surveying the inside. She tugs her sleeve, tilting her head to a room a few feet away. “C’mon, we’re over here.” When they enter the room, there’s a boy sitting, wearing a gi similar to Maki’s. Maki walks up to him and lightly kicks his ankle, helping him up off the ground. 

“Nobara, meet Yuta. Yuta, this is Nobara.” 

Nobara’s eyes narrow, as Miwa’s words from their coffee shop conversation ring in her head. So this was Yuta. She gives him a quick look up and down. He’s not that bad, she supposes.

Maki turns to her, asking “Do you have the clothes? I can change out of my gi right now.” Nobara nods, taking a bundle of a purple and white sports bra and leggings out of her bag. Grabbing it out of her hand, Maki says, “Thanks. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” 

Nobara gives her a small smile. “Just take note of how easy it is to put on, and how the material fits. I didn’t have time to get your measurements, so I just estimated.” As she watches Maki leave, Nobara realizes she’s left alone with Yuta, who laughs nervously and rubs his neck. 

“So, how do you know Maki?” Nobara’s a little surprised at the words that come flying out of her mouth. Yuta however, takes this in stride and answers anyway.

“Oh, I actually met Maki here at the dojo summer before our freshman year at the university! I’m a little surprised that we ended up friends, because I thought she was going to either kill me or beat me up when we first met.” Nobara doesn’t respond, instead choosing to bob her head up and down. A minute passes before Yuta asks her the same question. 

“Oh, I met her through Mai. We were working on a project together, and then I ran into her a few times afterwards.” Yuta attempts to reply, but Maki walks back into the room, adjusting the straps of the sports bra. 

“How does it look?” Nobara’s practically beaming as she gives her a once over. It looks so much better than she had thought it would, and on Maki, it looked practically ethereal. 

“It looks amazing!” She walks closer to Maki, leaning forward to peer at the stretch of the material on her. “Does everything feel ok though? Like, is it too loose or tight in certain places?” 

Maki bends down to pick at the knees of the leggings. “It’s a little awkward here, if I’m being honest.” 

Nobara grabs a notepad and pen out of her bag, writing down notes. “Okay, that’s good to know.”

The other girl smirks at her, stretching her arms across her chest. “You ready to see your baby in action?” 

Nobara nods excitedly, running to the walls and sitting. As thrilled as she was to see her design actually being put to use, the idea of seeing Maki fight was making her heart race much more. 

“Yuta! Ready to start?” Maki calls out to him. He nods, grabbing two bo staffs off a rack, tossing one to her. Nobara watches as Maki runs her hand over it, getting a feel for the weapon and adjusts her stance. 

She’s not sure if Maki or Yuta moves first, but it’s a whirlwind of movement with them constantly going back and forth. Nobara is utterly entranced by how elegant Maki moves when fighting, with her feet light on the ground and her body moving smoothly in tandem with the staff. At one point, Nobara begins to bite her nails as she watches Yuta nearly overpower Maki, sending her to the floor, but she fluidly kicks and flips her way back to a standing position, immediately charging back at him.

Of course, she’s also watching the way her design moves across a (Maki’s) body, and taking notes for improvement. 

Currently, she’s keeping a careful eye on the back of the sports bra, the multiple thin straps straining a little too much for her liking. Her attention is drawn back to the fight, as Maki raises her arms over her head, back muscles flexing and - 

Snap. 

Nobara runs over as Maki drops her bo staff to bend over and grab at her chest, preventing the garment from exposing her breast. Yuta’s staff falls from his hands, flying to cover his eyes. 

“I think I’ll just leave. See you tomorrow!” he squeaks out, scurrying to leave the room. Nobara gives him a quick glance as he leaves, more focused on guiding Maki towards her bag. Grabbing a box of safety pins, she instructs Maki to keep the fabric tight around her shoulder as she pins up the back. She carefully steps back once she’s done, hands out to grab any strings that might come undone. Nobara sighs in relief as none of them snap, causing Maki to turn around. 

She gives her a sad smile when their eyes meet. “I’m so sorry Maki-san, I thought the straps would hold up fine. I think I’ll just stick with the thicker ones instead of a criss-cross design.” 

To her surprise, Maki shakes her head in disagreement. “I actually liked the straps. They’re different from the other sets I have.” 

Nobara takes this into consideration, mind whirring with different ideas. “I might do less straps, but make them still criss-cross, just have them thicker this time.” 

Maki leans down, grabbing her bag for her. Nobara attempts to steal it from her, but she just raises it above her head, raising her eyebrow as if to say down girl . Nobara just sighs in defeat, following Maki outside the studio. 

When they reach outside, Nobara thanks her for help. “It really does mean a lot that you helped, Maki-san. You can just return the bra and the leggings later this week.” 

As Nobara reaches to grab her bag, Maki once again holds it higher than her arms will go. “Or if you come over, I can wash the leggings for you and we can hang out for a bit.” 

Nobara’s eyebrows fly to her hairline. “You want to hang out?”

Maki gives her a confused look. “Of course? I mean the three new bags of Hot Cheetos I’ve been hiding from Mai would go to waste.” Nobara lightly punches the shoulder that doesn’t have safety pins on it’s backside, stifling a laugh when Maki fakes being hurt by it. 

“Yeah, I’d be down to hang out.”

“Great! We can watch a movie or a show or whatever you want,” Maki says as she begins to walk. Nobara practically has to run to catch up to her, their hands brushing together when she does. It’s silent as they walk to the apartment, the sounds of birds chirping occupying the space between them. 

Desperate to have some sort of conversation happening, Nobara blurts the first thing that comes to mind. 

“Yuta seems nice.” She cringes immediately, not noticing the stumble in Maki’s steps. 

“He’s a good guy for sure. A little quiet, but always tries to make conversation. If you think he’s cute, I could try to set -” 

Nobara cuts her off, with a very vocal noise of disgust. “No offense to Yuta, I’m sure he’d be a great boyfriend, but not for me.” 

Maki protests. “You don’t have to date him right now! I can plan a few hangouts for you to get to know each other-” 

Nobara interrupts her again, resisting the urge to face palm. “Maki-san, the reason he would not be a good boyfriend is because I am a lesbian. ” 

She really wishes she had her phone out to take a picture of Maki’s face when she hears Nobara.

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m bisexual.” Nobara flashes her a thumbs up, mainly because she already knows that information and doesn’t know how to tell Maki she already knows without seeming like a total creep. 

They continue walking, but out of the corner of her eye, Nobara can see a puzzled look on Maki’s face, and attempts to think nothing of it, despite the fact that her brain is giving her a thousand different situations. It all comes to a screeching halt when Maki puts her hand on Nobara’s shoulder, stopping them in a secluded corner. 

“Maki-san?” 

Maki looks like she’s trying to decide whether to melt into the floor or run in the opposite direction. Nobara thinks it’s weirdly cute. 

“Nevermind,” she says, turning her head away, her cheeks bright red.

Nobara’s eyes focus on Maki’s cheeks, brain function completely dying down. Maki was definitely not the type to easily start blushing, and she had barely turned a light pink when sparring with Yuta. 

Oh fuck, maybe Nobara was closer to getting what she wanted after all. 

“Maki-san, can you do me a favor?,” Nobara asks, breathlessly. “Close your eyes for me.” Maki seems hesitant, but agrees anyway. Nobara walks closer to her, placing her hands on Maki’s shoulder. The other girl’s eyes flutter, but still remain shut, which Nobara is incredibly thankful for. 

Squeezing her eyes shut, Nobara yanks Maki down and presses their lips together.

It might not be the best kiss Nobara’s ever had, with both their lips just pressed firmly together, but she doesn’t care. She can feel Maki pulling away, and she lets the grip on her shoulders slack, but still keeps Maki at her level. 

“That’s why you stopped us right? You wanted to tell me you liked me, or you wanted to ask me out or kiss me or whatever right?” Nobara says eagerly, searching for an answer in the green haired girl’s eyes. “Maki-san?” 

Maki doesn’t respond because she’s too busy kissing Nobara, dipping her so low that she thinks that her knees might give out. She can feel herself smiling against Maki’s lips as she kisses her back earnestly. When they pull away for the second time that day, Nobara can’t help the grin that spreads across her face when she looks at Maki. 

“Be my girlfriend,” Maki tells her. 

Nobara pats her chest. “I think I would be a certified idiot if I didn’t accept after you kissed me like that . But if you don’t let me stand up straight, your girlfriend is going to be a splatter on the cement.” 

Maki laughs and brings them both back to their original positions. She tenderly brushes Nobara’s bangs out of her face, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. Nobara leans into her girlfriend’s (!!!) chest, mumbling “We should probably head to your apartment.” 

Maki untangles the both of them, taking Nobara’s hand and intertwining it with hers. The rest of the walk consists of amused looks and shoulder bumps. Nobara feels giddy heading up the stairs to the apartment, not letting go of Maki’s hand, even when they both have to move to the same side to let someone pass through. Although she has to let go when Maki’s unlocking the door, they’re barely 5 inches away from each other, and Maki links their hands again. 

Mai’s watching TV when they enter, waving a hand at them without looking. When Maki clears her throat, she finally looks over at them, a small scowl on her face when she spots Nobara. Giving Maki a onceover, she nods approvingly. “Cute workout set. Glad to see you’re finally stepping up your outfit game.” 

There’s a glint in Maki’s eye as she swings an arm over Nobara’s shoulder. “Thanks,” she drawls. “Nobara made it.” 

“That’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Maki just shakes her head amusedly, shooting Nobara a look. She really doesn’t care though, considering Mai had already complimented it and was just being herself. 

(Nobara pushes away the thought that she probably would have done the same thing, just in her head instead of out loud.)

Maki presses a quick kiss to her lips, before muttering, “I’m gonna go take a shower. The Hot Cheetos are behind the blender, in the cabinet next to the stove. Don’t let Mai see.” Nobara watches her walk away, and then skips over to the kitchen to grab her chips. She’s leaning against the counter, happily munching when Mai walks in. She leans on the opposite side of the counter, eyes narrowed at Nobara and her chips. 

“ Where did you get those?” 

Mouth still full, Nobara changes to get out a sentence. “Mafi gof fo me.”

“Maki got them for you?” She nods, and Mai’s back slumps slightly. “Figures.” 

She places her forearms on the counter, lacing her fingers together. In a very icy voice she says, “I thought I told you very clearly not to fuck my sister.” Nobara uses a napkin to wipe the dust off her finger, and then throws it in the trash can, heading towards the kitchen entrance. Before exiting however, she turns around to face Mai, and shrugs. 

“We just started dating. Like we got together today. We even haven’t fucked. ” Mai still seems slightly distressed about this, and Nobara feels the slightest twinge of sympathy in her heart when turning her back on her. 

But Nobara is Nobara, and it would be very un-Nobara like to give up a chance to torture Mai Zenin.

With an evil glint in her eye and a devious smile on her face, Nobara turns her head around to stare Mai dead in the eye. 

“ Yet .” 

Nobara cackles as she runs towards Maki’s room, hearing Mai’s fist slam onto the counter.