Work Text:
It began one day in the rocket. They were working on homework together when Hikaru spoke up.
“Lala, I love you.”
Humans are weird. Especially when they throw around terms of endearment like they’re nothing.
Lala blinked. “You what?”
“I love you,” Hikaru repeated.
Lala felt her face redden. In a desperate attempt to keep Hikaru from noticing, she turned back to her school work.
“You’re weird,” is what she eventually said.
“I know,” Hikaru said, and Lala could hear her grin, even though she knows that’s impossible. “But I mean it, Lala,” she said after a moment, her voice quieter than before.
Lala’s hand froze, her pencil stopping its movement over the paper. She was definitely red now.
Hikaru didn’t mean it like that . Lala didn’t even know if that kind of love was possible between two girls. On Saman it wasn’t. But, earth was very different, as Lala had been shown multiple times.
She fumbled for words for a few moments. She really didn’t know how to respond to that.
“I love you, too,” she eventually decided. It was true. She did love Hikaru. Though, she loved her more than Hikaru meant. Lala never did fit in on Saman.
Hikaru’s grin just grew as she threw herself at Lala, causing her to drop her pencil.
“Oyo!” Lala half-heartedly tried to shove Hikaru off of her. After a couple minutes, she dropped her arms and just accepted the girl’s hug.
She would be lying if she said she didn’t like it. But she wouldn’t say it aloud.
-
This was becoming a problem.
Lala couldn’t stop thinking about Hikaru. And Hikaru was extremely affectionate. Every chance she got, she’d be hanging off of Lala, messing with her hair or holding her hand.
People in their class were beginning to talk. Not in a bad way, but it still made Lala flush with embarrassment each time she’d hear.
So this led to her standing alone in the rocket before school. She was definitely going to be late, but the alien couldn’t bring herself to care, too caught up in her own thoughts. She heard the door to the rocket open.
“Lala?” she heard Hikaru call. She didn’t respond. She couldn’t even if she wanted to. Her throat was burning and she didn’t know why.
She heard the rocket open, and heard the footsteps as Hikaru ran in. They halted as she saw her, leaning her hands on the table as she tried to keep her breathing steady.
“G-go away,” she tried to say, but it got caught in her throat as she wheezed. Hikaru slowly approached Lala, trying not to startle her. Once next to her, she threw her arms around her.
She had rarely been hugged. It wasn’t something she ever thought about, but it seemed to be more common on earth. Was it an earth thing? Was it a Hikaru thing?
She didn’t know, but the longer she thought about it, the faster her breathing became, and she found her legs giving out as she struggled to control it.
She distantly heard Hikaru saying something, but she couldn’t tell what she was saying. It was gibberish. Was the pendants power fading? That thought only made it worse, as she felt her breathing stop completely.
She felt Hikaru’s arms around her tighten, guiding her to kneel on the floor, which somehow made it better and worse at the same time. Half of her wanted to shove Hikaru away, while the other half wanted her to stay.
The latter side won out as she threw her own arms around Hikaru, digging her nails into her back in a desperate attempt to ground herself. Hikaru didn’t complain. She simply rubbed Lala’s back as she tried desperately to breathe.
“H-Hikaru, I can’t…” she eventually got out. “Can’t breathe.”
“You can,” Hikaru urged. “You can breathe,” she said into Lala’s hair.
Lala wanted to disagree again, but she couldn’t find the energy, so she simply buried her face into Hikaru’s chest as she tried to follow her breathing.
After a few agonizing minutes, she managed to get her breathing under enough control to keep herself from passing out.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Hikaru said.
Lala was too tired to argue, and Hikaru sounded so sure of herself that she wouldn’t if she could. So she simply tightened her grip around her as she buried herself further into Hikaru’s arms.
Hikaru didn’t comment, but Lala felt her stiffen for a moment, and she almost pulled away out of fear before Hikaru tightened her own grip.
Lala couldn’t understand why she was enjoying the hug. She was an adult, at least on Saman. Earth-wise, she wasn’t. Regardless, she didn’t need physical affection. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to let go of Hikaru.
It calmed her, for some reason. The panic she had felt earlier was so insignificant now.
Hugs were so strange. On Saman, once you became an adult, hugs just… weren’t necessary. But here Hikaru hugged Lala every chance she got. And Lala shouldn’t enjoy it but she did .
“Hey, Hikaru?” Lala spoke after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“I love you too,” she murmured.
Hikaru grinned.
-
“I love you!” Lala tried to say, only for it to come out not in Japanese, but in her native language. The pendant’s power was gone.
She felt herself tear up as she frantically tried to think of what to say, noticing Hikaru do the same.
She slowly raised her antenna. “Thank you,” she managed.
Hikaru ducked her head and touched her fingers to the antenna.
Lala watched them go through the portal, knowing she would probably never see her again.
She heard the saying “it’s better to love and to lose than to never love at all,” but right now, she didn’t know if she truly believed it.
-
“Welcome back,” Hikaru whispered.
Lala smiled. “It’s good to be back. I missed Earth.”
“So how exactly am I understanding you right now? Fuwa didn’t remake the pendants, did she?” Hikaru asked, looking around for the fairy.
Lala blushed subtly. “No, she didn’t.” She inhaled. “I may have taught myself Japanese in the time we were separated.”
“That’s so cool!” Hikaru exclaimed, as energetic as she was ten years before.
Lala missed her.
“I’m planning to stay,” Lala said, awkwardly twirling one of her pigtails. “If you wanted to room in the rocket with me,” she added softer.
Hikaru smiled. “I’d love that.”
“And Hikaru?”
Hikaru hummed in acknowledgment.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Lala. It’s great to have you back.”