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Ayame knew Subaru for many things: her blunt way of speaking, her caring personality, her tomboyish side and, most important of all, being her girlfriend.
Subaru was the best girlfriend that anyone could ask for, even if she had a tendency to act more like a tomboy than a girl. Ayame was perfectly fine with this and she had never seen Subaru act feminine ever since they had first met. Subaru liked baseball, dressed in more tomboyish ways and, all in all, she resembled a boy with her short hair and rather deep voice.
If someone were to ask the Oni a question related to the dark-haired girl, Ayame would get the answer right 100% of the times. The demon girl was proud of herself because of that: both her and Subaru knew one another to the fullest and they were basically attached to the hip.
Their relationship wasn't public to the fans, but anyone working under Hololive who had seen the two girls together would claim that they were the most precious couple that existed.
"I have a feminine side too, y'know?"
However, when Subaru had told Ayame that sentence while they were cuddling, the Oni thought that it wasn't possible. She knew everything about her girlfriend and she had never seen Subaru act like that.
"You are joking, right?" Ayame muttered, looking at Subaru straight in the eyes. This caused the dark-haired girl to stare at her girlfriend in surprise. "I am not, I am serious!" Still, Ayame wasn't completely convinced by this and simply thought that Subaru was just teasing her.
"Whatever you say~"
"Oi, are you calling me a liar?" Subaru muttered with a smirk, her hands reaching to tickle the demon girl's sides and causing her to erupt into a loud fit of giggles. Ayame soon forgot about what her girlfriend had said, believing it to be just a random thing said to catch her off-guard. Ayame had seen everything and she was sure that there was nothing that she hadn't witnessed, especially if it was related to her lovely girlfriend.
However, Ayame was unaware of what she would be witnessing one day.
The first testimony happened while her and Subaru had gone out for a date. She had taken the dark-haired girl for a movie and, soon after that, they had gone to a café to enjoy a warm cup of hot cocoa. It was simple stuff, but they both enjoyed stuff like that. Subaru had dressed in winter clothes that showed off her ‘masculine’ side: a long brownish coat with a turtleneck underneath and long dark pants.
They sat next to one another inside the café, chatting about games. Subaru seemed particularly fixated on Sausage Legends, claiming that her and Ayame should have a tournament with everyone in Hololive.
“Subaru… how would you even convince Sora-senpai to participate?” the Oni spoke “Well, since she is an angel she might accept! I don’t wanna give up my dream Ayame!!” Subaru exclaimed, causing the demon girl to let out a soft giggle and pat her girlfriend’s head.
While the sweet moment between the two was happening, a waitress came with their orders and put them on the table: Ayame had ordered hot cocoa mixed with coffee while Subaru had ordered a classic cocoa with marshmallows.
The exact moment that the dark-haired girl had grabbed the cup she let out a gasp, causing Ayame to stop drinking her own beverage and looking at Subaru with concern.
“W-what’s wrong?? Did you get burned, was it too hot?” She asked with worry in her eyes, soon however she noticed that Subaru seemed to be smiling at something. “W-what’s up?” She tried asking once more as she tried catching her girlfriend’s attention.
“LOOK AT THIS!” was the only thing Subaru spoke, showing the contents of the mug to her girlfriends who eyed them suspiciously.
There was nothing special about the beverage: it was plain ol’ hot cocoa with marshmallows, the only thing that was actually different where the marshmallows themselves, who looked like tiny bears. “I am looking at it, but I don’t understand why you would gasp like that over a simple cup of-“ Before she could explain her point, Subaru awed at the cocoa.
“This marshmallows are so cute! They look like tiny polar bears!! I have to take a picture.” Subaru went ahead and grabbed her phone, taking multiple pictures with different angles of the little white delicacy that had made her swoon.
Ayame looked at the scene a bit dumbfounded.
She had never seen Subaru react that way to something so menial and, while she couldn’t deny that it was really cute to see, she simply believed that it was a one-time thing. ‘Maybe Subaru had never seen Marshmallows like those’ she thought to herself.
The Oni was convinced that it was just a common reaction, like any person would react to a video of a puppy or something like that.
The rest of the date went on as normal: the two chatted, laughed and, after they were done and payed the bill (in which Subaru acted like the gentlewoman that she was) they had gone back to Subaru’s place to end the night.
When Ayame went to sleep with Subaru acting like the big spoon that she was, the Oni didn’t even consider the possibility that her girlfriend had reacted the way she did to the cute marshmallow because she, like many girls, liked cute things. It was just a coincidence. She still knew everything about Subaru and it was utterly impossible for her to be mistaken about that.
With that reassurance, the Oni fell asleep comfortably in the arms of the girl that she loved the most.
The second testimony happened one week after the first one. Subaru and Ayame had been invited for an offline collab by Fubuki and Mio: it had been a while since they last had a FAMS collab and they, together with the fans, were very excited about it. They sat in Fubuki and Mio’s apartment as they chatted together with their fans.
“Have you guys thought about Christmas presents?” Mio asked the group, causing everyone to look at the wolf girl with their eyebrows raised.
“Umh… Mio-sha, we are still in November….”
“I know but it’s important to thing preventively! I mean, what if you think ‘oh, I’ll buy this later’ but then you go to the store and the present is not there anymore??” the wolf girl explained, making her friends laugh at her extreme reaction over Christmas related problems.
“I mean, you aren’t wrong…” Ayame commented after she stopped giggling.
“I think it’s a fun topic to discuss on stream! So… let’s think about things that we want to buy for ourselves during the festivity!” Fubuki spoke, proposing the new idea to the other girls. They all seemed on board with it and a lovely and funny discussion started.
“I wanted to get myself Elden Ring, but I don’t remember when it comes out…” Fubuki spoke.
“Oh, nice choice! I actually thought to go with a game as well! But I recently saw an anime figure that looked really cool and I kinda wanted to get that, so I don’t know what to pick…” Ayame commented, receiving nods of understanding from the others. “That is a hard choice indeed…” The fox girl added, pondering to herself.
“What about you, Subaru?” Asked Mio, looking at her friend.
“Mhm… I saw some games that I wanted to stream and that I could get with the Christmas sales but I haven’t really thought of anything else. Oh, but I saw some Hololive merch that looked really cool so maybe I will check that out!”
“Oh, nice choices! Then what about you, Mio? Since you were the one that brought Christmas into the conversation you must have already thought of something to gift yourself!” Ayame asked the wolf girl, who sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. “Ah, I thought about a bunch of things but I thought that I will either go with new clothes or a new make-up set since the one that I currently use is almost finished.” She explained.
“Yeah, I suggested that she got a new set since she started stealing mine!” Fubuki added, causing the others to chuckle.
“Oh my god this reminds me of those pajama parties that you see on those American movies!” The Oni pointed out. “What did you think of getting? Like, a normal set or one of those expensive, luxurious make-up sets from certain brands?” Asked Ayame once more.
“I actually don’t know. I saw a bunch on sale but they didn’t look too good, maybe I should go for something more expensive but I don’t really want to waste too much money on it.” Mio replied, sighing softly.
“Oh, I think it would be better to spend a little more. Mio-sha, your skin needs care and trust me when I say that cheap make-up is worse to your skin than anything else. I would suggest a middle ground: pick something between cheap and expensive, there are a lot of famous brands that are going to have sales for Christmas so I think you should take the chance.” The answer was a surprise for everyone. Not because it was wrong, but because it came from Subaru of all people.
“L’Oreal Paris is probably the best choice for you, I saw that they had a set of colors that looked really nice and I think it would look really good with your skin tone since you are on the paler side- why are you guys looking at me like that?” Subaru muttered, seeing that everyone looked at her with wide eyes.
“Umh… how do you even know about all this stuff?” Mio asked.
“Oh, I do have make-up at home… even if I don’t usually wear it. I mostly put it on for important meetings or special events.”
Ayame had never seen Subaru put on make-up or even have a set at her home. Maybe she had it hidden somewhere, but it was still a shock of a revelation for the Oni. “Since when do you have make-up??” Ayame asked, earning a lot of chuckles from all the girls. “Well, I think I started when I was in high-school, but to be fair I never really put much on. But I still like it even if I don’t wear it often!” Subaru admitted and the demon girl was left shocked.
While the other girls continued discussing the topic of make-up and brands that Mio could buy, Ayame stayed quiet for a while as she took in the information.
‘It’s impossible! How come I never knew about this?? I mean, Subaru has never mentioned it before but we have been dating for almost a year, how come I never saw a make-up set in her home!?’ the demon girl started rambling in her brain, wondering how she could have missed something like this. Then, a sudden memory struck her back.
‘Subaru did mention that she had a feminine side to her and make-up is something that is very related to girls but…’ the Oni wasn’t completely convinced. Just because you like one thing that girls normally do doesn’t mean you are feminine if the rest of your actions are more related to what guys do. That was it, Subaru simply had a hobby that was different than her usual style.
But even if she tried to convince herself, there was a seed of doubt planted inside the Oni: she needed to find out the truth. Maybe Subaru had not lied about her feminine side so she had to verify the statement that she had heard her girlfriend say.
‘If you have a girlish side to you… I swear I will find it.’ She thought to herself, soon joining back the conversation that the other girls were having as her eyes couldn’t help but drift towards her girlfriend’s face with newfound curiosity.
A couple of weeks after the collab, when Subaru had finished a stream of her own, Ayame had planned to take Subaru out for a shopping date.
Her plan was to see if there was something that Subaru was interested in and that she could buy at a later time as a Christmas present. They walked hand in hand, skimming through the multiple showcases at the mall.
Ayame stood really close to the dark-haired girl, resting her head on Subaru’s shoulder as they walked.
The Oni, however, had another plan that she had to keep secret: She was going to take Subaru through some stores (faking that she was interested in buying something) and see her reaction for some objects that she would show the girl. ‘I will pick the most cute and feminine stuff that I can find!’ She mentally prepared herself.
They looked through a bunch of stores with Subaru being mostly curious about the Lego store present at the mall. Ayame thought that maybe that could be one of the gifts that she could get her girlfriends for Christmas.
“Oh! Let’s go there!” Suddenly, Subaru’s attention was caught as Ayame dragged the dark-haired girl inside a women clothing shop. She had expected this to happen and followed along, just being happy with spending more time with the Oni. There were a lot of clothes that ranged from the casual to the extremely gorgeous that would be put on once in a lifetime.
The Oni looked around, scanning the wide selection of clothes that were on display. Subaru was mostly following behind her, thinking that Ayame was looking for something that she might need.
It was at that moment that the demon girl started her plan.
She grabbed a bunch of clothes, showing them to the dark-haired girl to try and see any sort of reaction. Subaru’s reactions were rather simple, stating that the clothes would look good on Ayame but never really showing any interest in the clothes herself. The Oni tried this approach a bunch of times, getting the same reaction every single time.
Ayame needed to step up her game.
“I will go and check over there!” Ayame suddenly stated “Ok, just don’t get lost okay?” Subaru told her, causing Ayame to giggle once more before she walked away. Her eyes darted everywhere to see if there was anything that Subaru might like. Finally, she found a cute shirt that could be of interest for her girlfriend and went back to show it to Subaru.
However, her girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. She looked around, trying to see where she could’ve possibly went. Walking around the store it was hard to find Subaru but, by the corner of her eyes, she managed to catch her girlfriend walk somewhere. She followed behind her without being seen, wondering why Subaru had gone off on her own.
And that was when she saw the dark-haired girl head towards what seemed to be a tall mirror. ‘Does she need to fix her hair?’ She thought but soon that idea was kicked out of her brain when she saw Subaru hold something in her hands.
At first she hadn’t seen it since Subaru’s back was facing her, but what she was holding was without any doubt a dress. It held a soft blue color that reminded Ayame of Subaru’s eyes and it wasn’t a complicated design.
Subaru held the dress in her hands before lifting it up and making it rest against her front.
The reflection that both Subaru and Ayame could see was something truly beautiful: the dress wasn’t just a simple piece of clothing at that moment, it looked like the dress of a princess in a story. Subaru wasn’t wearing the dress and yet it took Ayame’s breath away, making her wonder what she would look like if she actually had put it on.
From the way Subaru was looking at her reflection, Ayame could easily tell that she was mesmerized by the way the dress presented against her.
Ayame at that point was convinced that Subaru had not lied about having a feminine side: maybe she was just shy about showing it to others or maybe it wasn’t something too big, but it was clear that the Oni didn’t know everything about Subaru yet… and this made her feel a little happy.
She wanted to know more about this side of her girlfriend and, without a moment of hesitation, she faked looking for Subaru.
“Subaruuu, where are youuuu?” She called, turning her back against the dark-haired girl as her eyes looked around in random directions. Her girlfriend, hearing Ayame call for her, put away the dress and walked over to where the Oni was standing. “Oh sorry, I was looking at something and got distracted!” Subaru apologized but Ayame didn’t appear bothered by it.
“I hope you didn’t worry-“ Before Subaru could finish her sentence, Ayame placed a soft kiss against her girlfriend’s cheek and causing her to blush softly.
“W-what’s with the sudden kiss?” the demon girl giggled a bit as she saw the adorable reaction that Subaru gave. “Oh, it’s nothing… I was just happy because I saw something really cute.” Ayame admitted while keeping things vague enough for Subaru.
“Oh okay, now what do you wanna do?” The dark-haired girl asked and Ayame thought for a moment.
“How about we go and take a look at the arcade? We could play something together!” The Oni proposed the idea and Subaru seemed to like the proposal.
“Sure, let’s go!” Subaru took her girlfriend’s hand once again and together they exited the shop and headed towards the arcade inside the mall. Ayame smiled to herself, knowing that now she had found something that she could gift Subaru for Christmas and was already planning in her head when to go and buy the dress that the dark-haired girl had been so intrigued about.
And, most importantly, she couldn’t wait to see it being worn by the tomboyish Subaru.
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Christmas Eve had arrived and there was no better way to celebrate it by spending the day with the people you love. The Hololive girls had all come together to organize a party for the 25th of December, using the 24th to celebrate with either their families or other friends.
Ayame and Subaru had decided to spend the Eve together, at the Oni’s place.
The girls were having a lovely dinner as they ate potatoes and stuffed turkey. Subaru felt a little bit bad about eating the bird, but she promised that she would apologize to Reine for it. “I swear, your cooking gets even more perfect than it already is!” Subaru spoke, patting her now full stomach after the delicious meal.
“Heh, I’m glad you liked it! I tried my best.” Ayame giggled, putting away the dirty dishes in the washer while Subaru stood up from her sitting spot to head towards the living room.
The demon girl soon followed her, standing in front of the Christmas tree full of presents decorating the base of it. “Alright, time to open the presents!” Ayame spoke with a soft clap, reaching to grab one of the many presents. “Huh? I thought that the gifts were supposed to be opened on the 25th…” Subaru muttered, eyeing her girlfriend with a raised eyebrow.
“I know, but since tomorrow we are going to the party I thought it was better if we shared our gifts today!” The explanation was solid so the dark-haired girl had no objection over this decision. “Okay then… guess I will give you this-!”
And so, the girls started giving each other the presents: from plushies to games, every gift that the girls shared was something that they could expect. Ayame particularly enjoyed receiving a very cute pillow in the shape of an egg while Subaru absolutely loved the plushy of her favorite Pokémon. Subaru thought that the presents-giving part was over, thinking it was time for snuggles, but Ayame caught her off guard as she walked behind the tree to grab a hidden present.
“Umh… I got you something else.”
“Ayame, you shouldn’t have! I am already happy like this-“
“I know, but this is more important in my opinion.” The sentence made Subaru stop speaking, wondering why the Oni had used such a serious tone and simply stayed quiet.
“You know how a long while ago you mentioned that you have a feminine side and I basically dismissed you, thinking it was a prank?” Ayame started.
“Yeah, you thought I was messing with you.” Subaru replied with a small chuckle. The demon girl sat down next to her girlfriend on the couch, to which Subaru’s reaction was to wrap one of her arms around Ayame’s shoulders.
“I was so sure that I knew you more than anyone else and I honestly couldn’t believe what you said! I had never seen act you feminine or even be interested in anything remotely girly. I was wrong about that and I felt bad for having thought that you were pranking me…” Ayame muttered in a small whisper while Subaru simply caressed her face with her hand.
“Hey, it’s ok! I mean, it’s not something I do often or show intentionally: it happens when it happens.” Subaru explained and the demon girl was happy that her girlfriend wasn’t upset by this.
“Well, I also wanted to give you this last present. After I noticed how girly you can be, I realized that I wanted to know more about this side of you and so… oh, just open it!” Ayame giggled, handing the box to the dark-haired girl. Subaru removed the paper, unwrapping the present and opening the box up.§
Her eyes widened at the sight of the dress that she had eyed at the shopping mall with Ayame, looking at her girlfriend as if to ask ‘is this real?’
“I saw you trying to see if the dress would fit you and so I decided to gift it to you… I thought it would look really lovely on you.” The Oni admitted, rubbing her arm in a moment of nervousness as she watched her girlfriend gently lifted the dress from the box to look at it. There was a glint in Subaru’s eyes as a smile formed on her face.
“I- Thank you, this is… this is an amazing gift, I love it.” Subaru spoke, putting the gift back in the box before planting a soft and long kiss on Ayame’s lips.
The Oni melted into the sweet gesture, her hands reaching to grab at her girlfriend’s collar and bringing her closer. They kissed for a while, lost in the moment as the present was momentarily forgotten. When they separated after many minutes later, they both couldn’t contain their giggles as they held each other. “I love you…” Subaru muttered, nuzzling her nose in Ayame’s collar, eliciting another laughter from the Oni.
“I love you too, my tomboy yet feminine girlfriend.”
“Ok, nevermind-“
“Hey!!”
The rest of the night went by almost too fast as Subaru had taken her girlfriend to bed to enjoy the night before Christmas even more. The dress was left in the dining room by Ayame’s request, but Subaru didn’t ask why as she was too focused on planting more kisses on the demon girl’s neck.
The next day all of the Hololive girls had met in a famous restaurant, having the entire place reserved just for them so that they could celebrate the festivity without any noisy costumers. Gifts were given, hugs were exchanged and all in all everyone was having fun. Subaru and Ayame arrived five minutes later than their friends, but the moment they arrived all eyes were on Subaru.
The dress that she wore and the make-up on her face had made her tomboyish side disappear almost completely, making most people think that this might not even be the real Subaru.
Ayame stared at her girlfriend with love-filled eyes, unable to remove her sight from how beautiful she looked.
She couldn’t wait to see more wonderful dresses on her girlfriend’s body.