Chapter Text
Yoimiya loved University, she loved everything about it. She loved the air on campus, she loved sitting in the corner of the library and people watching, she loved staying late at night in the surrounding park and hearing the bands from where they were playing downtown in the ambiance. She loved it all. But there was one thing on her list that stood out as more overwhelmingly positive than the others.
Kamisato Ayaka.
She was beautiful, and everyone knew it. Yoimiya especially.
She was in Yoimiya ’s English class and she sat a row ahead of her, just in her peripheral vision. Her professor would talk and her head would just so happen to look to her left a little bit, and there Ayaka would be. She usually kept her hair up in a ponytail, it sat on the top of her head and she was beautiful. She’s pretty sure she’d already mentioned that, but it couldn’t be said enough. Ayaka was incomparable, outstanding, she smiled like the sun and her eyes glowed like stars. But what Yoimiya especially liked was the way Ayaka doodled in the margins of her notes when she thought no one was looking, how she smiled to herself when she would perfect whatever small cat she was drawing. It made Yoimiya ’s whole day when she saw how Ayaka ’s expression grew ten times more gentle when she scribbled a sweet name for the small creature on her paper. Yoimiya had discovered this quirk of Ayaka’s when she had left her glasses at home and could not see any of the content on the board. She turned to Ayaka’s paper to look at her notes (curse Yoimiya ’s nearsightedness) and yes, that day she got absolutely none of the English notes. But she got to see Ayaka’s smile and Ayaka’s silly little cats.
Ayaka liked cats.
And Yoimiya liked Ayaka.
Yoimiya really, really, liked Ayaka.
------
It started out small, harmless really.
Yoimiya was scrolling online after finishing an essay, closing the tabs she used as references, double checking to make sure she did, in fact, site them. When checking one of the sites she noticed that on the side bar, a thin advertisement popped up for some tacky cardigan, Yoimiya was about to instinctively remove the ad, getting annoyed her adblocker somehow stopped working, when she looked over it again.
It was a cardigan with little cats knit in around the bottom seam, and one knit into the small breast pocket. Yoimiya smiled, thinking of Ayaka. Yoimiya ’s smile grew as she put it into her cart and filled in her shipping information.
Listen, it was harmless. It was $30 down the drain to impress a girl, but it wasn’t just any girl, so Yoimiya considered it a useful business expense.
It was a cute cardigan, Yoimiya was buying it because she wanted to. If Ayaka commented about it, and they started talking, and maybe exchanged numbers, and maybe went on a date, and kissed, and kept dating, and got married in five years and lived on a beautiful farm together with 3 cats that they treated like queens? That would be a totally unrelated added bonus.
Yoimiya wasn’t doing it to impress Ayaka. That would be weird! And stupid!
Yoimiya wasn’t like that, she knew how to talk to girls! She knew how to flirt with them!
She totally, completely was not buying it to impress Ayaka!
------
The cardigan arrived a week later. Yoimiya was in the middle of tutoring a family friend when she got the knock on the door from the delivery man. She thanked him, signed the form, and demolished the box as she opened it, squealing with glee as she saw the cardigan. Beige fabric with little orange, grey, and calico cats littered along the seam like they were walking on it and a lovely brown one on the pocket. She held the cardigan to her chest, wanting to waltz around her small apartment’s living room due to the glee she felt. Until she locked eyes with the child she was helping.
“Oh.” Yoimiya said, regaining her composure. She cleared her throat awkwardly as she stared at him.
“It’s just a sweater.” He said, looking at her strangely, as thirteen year olds tend to.
“It’s an- important sweater.” Yoimiya insisted, slightly offended at the small teenager’s lack of excitement for her.
“Geez, what’s with old ladies and cats?” He replied, huffing. Yoimiya guffawed, about to make a snide remark until she realised he was A) a thirteen year old and B) totally correct. It was just a sweater.
A sweater Yoimiya spent $30 dollars on to impress a girl. A girl she knew from one group project in her first year and her English class.
“I. To be honest I don’t know.” Yoimiya said, regaining her composure and scooting to sit with the boy again, starting where she left off with the math problems.
The real question should not have been about old ladies and cats, it should have been about Yoimiya and Ayaka.
Because, really, what was with her?
-----
Yoimiya wore the cardigan the next day to classes. She was antsy all throughout her Gender Studies lecture, bouncing her leg in excitement for English. She practically skipped out the hall when her professor announced the lecture to be over and smiled happily at the timer displayed on her phone.
‘ One hour till English lecture’ so, in other words, one hour till she saw Ayaka.
The hour passed quicker than Yoimiya anticipated, and she practically ran to her English lecture hall. She greeted the professor as she walked in and walked with just a little too much vigour to the middle row where she sat. She pulled out her laptop and notebook and played the little dinosaur game on google as she waited for other students (read: Ayaka) to arrive.
Then, the doors opened, and there she was. Her hair was down today, curled slightly, Ayaka smiled at the professor as she pulled out her earbuds halfheartedly. She was wearing a plaid skirt, carrying the backpack she usually did. Good god, she got prettier every time Yoimiya saw her. Yoimiya kept her eyes glued on Ayaka the whole time she walked down the aisle and towards her seat, only when Ayaka met her eye did she remember to be ashamed and look away. Yoimiya pretended to start writing on her laptop as Ayaka pulled out her seat and sat down. She glanced back over once Ayaka was sat down, surprised to see the other woman already looking at her, smile plastered on her face.
“Nice sweater.” Ayaka said genuinely. And, technically, it wasn’t a sweater, it was a cardigan. But Yoimiya didn’t care. She smiled, looked down and opened her mouth to say thanks but Ayaka was still looking at her.
“Yeah. Uh, I bought it online.” Yoimiya said, eyeing the cardigan and then Ayaka, who seemed amused.
“Well, it was a good buy.” Ayaka said, smiling down at Yoimiya. She was wearing what Yoimiya guessed to be 5 inch heels and Yoimiya was sitting down so there was aeons of distance between them; Yoimiya fought the urge to stand up so they were closer to eye level and she could properly look at Ayaka in all her glory.
“I’m uh, Yoimiya, by the way.” Yoimiya choked out. Ayaka’s lips curled into an even wider smile, her lip gloss had sparkles in it and Yoimiya- needed to stop looking at her lips
“Ayaka.” Ayaka said, but Yoimiya knew already.
“Cool.” Yoimiya said, feeling like a highschooler and not a grown ass woman. It was embarrassing, for a second. But then Ayaka laughed a little bit, it was a puff of air, really, but it was a puff of air that resembled a laugh. A laugh Yoimiya caused. A laugh that came out of Kamisato Ayaka’s absolutely beautiful mouth. Then Ayaka nodded and turned her head, shuffling through her bag and pulling out her note taking utensils.
Yoimiya smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. She felt like she was glowing. She had just talked to Kamisato Ayaka (AKA: the prettiest person on the planet).
So, like she said before, the first time, it was harmless.
-------
The second time was fine, too.
Yoimiya was desperately looking through library books in the animal section, hoping to find one on mythological creatures so she could make the perfect metaphor for her history project and have a physical source. (She knew about this professor, he much preferred books over websites, and Yoimiya much preferred high grades to low ones). She was about to dejectedly leave the section when she saw a bright orange book in the corner of her vision.
' 101 Ways People Mess Up When Raising A Cat'
Now, really, Yoimiya had no need for a cat care book, she didn't want a cat, she wasn't going to get a cat; she didn't have any practical uses for it in any sense of the word! It would be absolutely ridiculous to check it out just to impress a girl!
She smiled at the librarian as she checked the book out, the librarian asked her what breed of cat she was hoping to get.
Yoimiya said a Siamese.
------
Yoimiya walked to class with the book in her bag, and a skip in her step. Sure, checking out a book about cat care to impress a girl was probably one of the lamest things she'd ever done, but the idea of Ayaka’s smile being directed at her … that made it all worth it.
She walked up the stairs in the lecture hall to her seat, and opened the book to start reading. To Yoimiya's surprise, the book's contents were anything short of boring, she actually found herself quite engaged in her reading (it was surprising how many things cats were allergic to).
Yoimiya was finishing a page about cats' behaviour patterns when someone tapped on her desk, Yoimiya looked up.
Ayaka .
"101 ways people mess up when raising a cat?" Ayaka asked, a friendly smile on her face.
God, she was beautiful.
"Yeah." Yoimiya chuckled, putting a bookmark on the page and returning to making eye contact with Ayaka, who was looking at her with interest.
"It's uh- I'm not sure I'm going to get a cat, but it's interesting." Yoimiya said, and she wasn't even lying.
"That's so cool. If you do get a cat, make sure you adopt one. My friend volunteers at this animal shelter and she tells me about all those poor little kitties who don't get adopted. It's heartbreaking, really." Ayaka said, getting ready to turn around and start getting her supplies out for the lecture, but Yoimiya really wanted to talk to her more.
"Oh, totally, I was actually thinking of signing up to volunteer at a shelter, too. Just to help out in any way I can." Yoimiya said, and, again, it wasn't a lie. She technically had been thinking about it… (for the 5 seconds after Ayaka had mentioned it)
"Wow! That’s really great of you!" Ayaka exclaimed, her eyes practically glowing while she looked at Yoimiya. It was the most expressive Yoimiya had seen her.
"Uh, yeah… I was gonna check out shifts after this lecture." Yoimiya said, ending her sentence with a chuckle that she was praying to every Archon out there didn’t sound forced.
"Well, you should totally tell me when you get it. Then I can visit you while you're there." Ayaka said, hesitating before saying “It’s really cool of you to do that.” Ayaka finished her sentence with a smile, the same soft one Yoimiya was growing used to. But not in the sense it was getting old, in the sense that Ayaka was something so constant. She smiled the same variations of the same smile, and Yoimiya wanted to find the nuances of every single one. She wanted Ayaka to smile at her for an eternity. And Ayaka wanted to go out of her way to visit Yoimiya when she went somewhere.
Yoimiya was starstruck, about to thank every god in the universe for blessing her for being right there, right then, before Ayaka turned around and slid a piece of folded up paper on Yoimiya 's desk.
' text me when u get a time slot :)'
Underneath was her phone number.
Kamisato Ayaka’s phone number. Yoimiya had her phone number. Yoimiya was going to put her phone number in her phone and text her.
Yoimiya could cry.
------
The third time, however, well- It was definitely a time.
Yoimiya spent an hour working on her application and sending it to the shelter, and was surprised at the rate at which they responded. She smiled to herself as she chose a time to volunteer. According to the site, that Saturday she was set to be the designated cage cleaner for the rescue kittens. Yoimiya swallowed the expectant joy she had from knowing Ayaka would appreciate her doing so, and focused on the much more important aspect, that being that she was doing good in the world. She definitely had a moment of clarity as she eyed the slip of paper with Ayaka ’s number and seriously debated texting her.
Yoimiya thought herself rather pitiful as she entered in Ayaka's contact to her phone. The thought echoed in her mind on repeat as she sent Ayaka a text letting her know who she was, and when she got her volunteer time slot. The judgmental mantra ended the moment Ayaka read her message, however. Because yes, she was mentally beating herself up for being absolutely smitten with the girl, but that didn’t change the fact she was absolutely smitten with the girl.
Ayaka responded with an ‘Awesome! :)’ and Yoimiya found it cute for no reason.
—---
Yoimiya walked into the lecture hall and was surprised to see two things: initially, it was one thing and that one thing was Kamisato Ayaka, and secondly, it was Kamisato Ayaka in the seat next to hers. Kamisato Ayaka, a row up, sat right next to Yoimiya’s seat.
“Hi.” Yoimiya said, gingerly as she approached the seat. Ayaka looked up from her phone and beamed.
“Hi.” She said, her smile growing ever-so-slightly wider, her lipgloss caught a different reflection of the light and her smile glowed for other reasons entirely for a second, too.
“You- you moved seats.” Yoimiya said, setting down her bag and sitting down, rummaging through it to find her notebook.
“Yes. I did.” Ayaka said with a giggle as she watched Yoimiya unscrutinizingly while she set out her supplies.
“That’s a big notebook.” Ayaka said, probably in an attempt to be conversational. Yoimiya was struck with the idea that Ayaka was probably as awkward as she was. It was endearing for no reason.
“Yeah. I take lots of notes.” Yoimiya laughed, sparing a glance at Ayaka and almost passing out and dying when she met her eyes. “Your eyes are so pretty.” Yoimiya gushed. Ayaka laughed again, but this time it was different, it was shy and quiet and oh heavens she was gorgeous.
“Thanks.” She said, propping her elbow on the desk and resting her head in her hand. Yoimiya just looked at her and Ayaka just looked right back. Yoimiya opened her mouth to say something- though she was unsure of what- when the professor started speaking and she was overcome with the knowledge that the entire class had arrived while she was in her trancelike state of being near Ayaka. Yoimiya closed her mouth and Ayaka smiled at her, teasingly, before looking at the professor. Yoimiya almost died. Seriously. She almost died right then. (Okay. Maybe not seriously. But it felt like it. Because Ayaka was so beautiful and she looked at her. )
“Tell me how it goes on Saturday.” Ayaka said with a smile as she left the lecture hall after the professor was done. Yoimiya just nodded in response even though Ayaka probably wasn’t looking anymore.
—---
Yoimiya arrived at the shelter with nothing but trepidation. She strolled towards the front desk and smiled when the boy working there looked at her.
"Um. Yoimiya?" Yoimiya said, as if she was unsure of her own name. She mentally scorned herself as the front desk guy nodded his head towards the back and stood up.
"It's not too hard. You'll get used to it in a jiffy." He said, which were the last words exchanged between them in the hour training period. Eventually, Yoimiya was allowed to be unsupervised as she cleaned the cat pens. She found herself sneezing and coughing an awful lot, which was peculiar as she had impeccable hygiene and therefore impeccable health, but she was being a good samaritan and couldn't back out of volunteer work. It was just wrong to. So she blew her nose, inhaled deeply as if that would scare her sneeze away, and got to cleaning.
"Yoimiya." The front desk guy said, abruptly opening the door to the playpen Yoimiya was cleaning out. Yoimiya was rubbing furiously at her eyes to get rid of the tears welling up in them and she felt as though she was caught in some evil act when the guy came in.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Someone's here for you." The guy told her, shrugging. Yoimiya did not have any clue who could be there. But she knew who she hoped it was.
"Yeah, I'll be right there." She responded, shrugging.
She pushed open the door gingerly and smiled immediately when she saw no other than Kamisato Ayaka at the entrance.
"Ayaka!" Yoimiya said, words spilling out of her mouth in her excitement.
"Yoimiya!" Ayaka said, turning to face her. Ayaka 's light hair fell at her sides and framed the small cat she was holding in her arms.
"Oh! Hey little fella!" Yoimiya said, looking at the cat. If she was being honest, she'd never really been around a cat before. But this whole kerfuffle happened because she was not honest. Maybe she should-
Ayaka stepped towards her, shoving the cat near Yoimiya 's face.
"Isn't he the cutest?" Ayaka asked, and as Yoimiya was racking her brain to say something incredibly intelligent and witty (believe her, she was.) her senses went into overdrive and-
"Ayaka, I don't feel so great." Yoimiya said as the room around her spun. Her head felt clogged and hazy. She sneezed again (or at least she was pretty sure she sneezed again).
Then, the world went dark.
—-
Yoimiya woke up in a hospital with the distinct feeling of shame clinging to her the moment she became conscious. This was embarrassing. She didn’t have to be a genius to know this was embarrassing. She prayed that Ayaka wasn’t allowed in or something and almost groaned when she was met with familiar blue eyes shrouded with worry.
“Yoimiya.” Ayaka said, frown spilling across her pretty face. Yoimiya felt stupid. And horrible. Shit, Ayaka was so pretty.
“I’m allergic to cats, aren't I?” Yoimiya sighed, disappointed in herself.
“Yeah.” Ayaka replied. Yoimiya felt like curling up into a ball and turning into a particle.
“ Shit. ” Yoimiya said. Ayaka shuffled in her seat awkwardly, her hands balled into little fists and her mouth in a small, unsure line.
“It’s- why would you lie? That’s- I dunno. It’s a weird thing to lie about.” Ayaka said, sparing a glance to Yoimiya. “Liking cats, I mean. Lying about liking cats.” Ayaka said. Yoimiya felt stupid. She was kind of stupid. Damn.
Yoimiya sighed, considered making a break for it, and then decided against it. She considered it again after she considered telling the truth, but she was the opposite of athletically inclined. It would just be even more embarrassing.
Yoimiya breathed in for a beat too long, just to stall the eventual embarrassing truth, and then said “Because you are like the prettiest girl I have ever seen and I noticed you liked cats and I just- I just wanted to talk to you but I didn’t know how.” She absolutely refused to look Ayaka in the eye.
“You could’ve just… talked to me.” Ayaka said, a laugh on the tip of her tongue.
“I- yeah. I probably could have.” Yoimiya said, Ayaka laughed fully at that, bright and airy. She was really pretty. She was like, impossibly pretty. Yoimiya liked her so much and she just had to be allergic to cats. She hated everything.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty too.” Ayaka said, smiling at Yoimiya, and Yoimiya couldn’t bring herself to look away. Yoimiya couldn’t say anything. Ayaka was smiling at her. Ayaka was smiling at her. She might explode. They should bring the doctors back. She was going to explode.
“And it’s kind of endearing.” Ayaka said, “So if you’d like to go on a date sometime, unless you’re allergic to those too, I’d… like that.” Ayaka finished, uncharacteristically shy. And Archons would Yoimiya want to do that.
“Yes. Yeah. I’m not allergic to those at all. It’s. Yeah, I’d love that.” Yoimiya said. Ayaka smiled at her again. Yoimiya thought she may just die right then.