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It’s two in the morning when Miu misses six calls on her phone. She had slept for once at a reasonable time and while she could wake to the sounds, tonight she was overtired and had deeply slept through it.
It’s three in the morning when she misses two more, and three-thirty when a text pops up. It’s surprising she hasn’t woken up actually, considering her phone was on her old nightstand and vibrating against the wood, disturbing her cat across the room, who finally whacks it on the floor. It finally stops for the night and perhaps the disturbance can be dealt with in the morning.
It’s four in the morning when Miu’s awoken by a crash in her kitchen. She bolts up, scared out of her mind, before hearing familiar footsteps creaking up her stairs. She grabs a bat just in case, just like her girlfriend had told her too. It’s the tensest moment of her life as that door opens until she blinks and sees a familiar shadow. Miu would scream and freak like the first several times she’s done this, but at the same time she’s overtired and she knows that her girlfriend is just being socially unaware.
(Even though it’s abnormal to be anywhere other than your bed at god-knows-when in the morning.)
“...Miu? Miu. Wake up.” Maki says, putting a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. Groaning, Miu reaches for her lamp (made out of spare parts) and flips it on. She blinks. Maki blinks. The assassin looks like she’s been in a fight, and a pretty bad one at that. Still, Miu answers as normal as ever.
“It’s four in the fuckin’ mornin’.”
“Wake up.”
“No.” Miu mumbles, rolling over to her other side and curling up. Maki sighs, then there’s rustling as she cuddles into bed with her.
Miu finally sits up, “Nah, no fuckin’ blood on my new sheets! Bathroom! Now!” She orders, pushing Maki to go wait for her. The brunette does, sitting on the toilet lid while Miu throws on an oversized hoodie over her bra and shorts combination. She then walks to the bathroom, sleepily leaning on the door. Giving her a once over, Miu sighs.
“Did you break any of your prosthetic fingers?” Miu asks, fishing out her first aid kit from under the sink. “Good. But I have spares if you need them, just an F-Y-I.” She murmurs, bringing out the familiar green box, one of the only things still in its original packaging. “Okay. Got it. Fuck, babe. I’m gonna have to restock soon if you keep doin’ this - how did you get here anyway? You live in a different town.”
At Maki’s silence, Miu gets nervous, “Com’on, they didn’t cut out your fuckin’ tongue, wild cat. Why are you here?”
Maki mumbles something under her breath and Miu groans and grabs her jaw, wiping a cold flannel against her bloody nose, “Remember what we said about needin’ help and how to ask?”
“Don’t patronize me.”
“There’s my girl!” Miu smiles. She then places a plaster on Maki’s cheekbone. “Feisty as ever, so what’s the matter?”
“...can we talk later?” Maki asks instead, fiddling with her pigtails. It’s only now Miu notices that one of them has been cut short. Miu knew how much Maki liked to express herself with her hair, and the blaze in her eyes worsens for a moment.
“Maybe after I sleep? I haven’t slept yet..”
…
“Sure, red-eyes. I’ll sort you out. What would you do without me, huh?”
-
Miu turns away from the sleeping Maki, regrettably staring at the kitchen drawer, where she knew the scissors lay. She couldn’t let Maki stay like that. She’s also worried why the assassin came here. Didn’t she have a place? Last time Miu checked she did. She watches the sunrise out the apartment window and goes to make her girlfriend some sort of breakfast. It’s nothing fancy, Miu’s less than fancy, it’s just some cereal and the milk next to it, ready to be poured, but it’ll be enough. In the meantime, she walks into her workshop, getting ready to start her day.
Except she can’t concentrate.
Believe her, she really tries, but every time she gets half-engrossed she swears she hears movement upstairs and runs to see if her lover is up. Every time, Maki isn’t (and she hasn’t moved at all) and Miu sulks back downstairs. She eventually starts pacing and thinking about what could happen to Maki that made her run out of her town, before it hits her.
Maki’s assassinhood.
Surely that had something to do with it, right?
Miu has to be on the money.
The inventor turns and leaves the workshop, heading upstairs. She settles into a beanbag opposite the bed Maki’s occupying before pulling her laptop and beginning to write down all her questions. Organized chaos if you would.
-
Maki groggily comes around, sore and disoriented. At first she’s a little startled because she doesn’t recognize the bed under her, before she relaxes at Miu across the room, in a beanbag on her laptop. The brunette shifts and sits up, garnering her attention. Miu scampers over, looking her over.
“You wanna talk about it first or do you want breakfast?” Miu asks. Maki stretches her shoulders and holds up two fingers. Miu nods and directs her to her wardrobe.
Maki gets dressed in silence, looking at bandages and plasters and bruises while she slips into a hoodie and sweatpants that’s bigger than her. She looks in the mirror and finally notices her hair. She whimpers in shock, cradling the frayed end of the pigtail. How did she not notice? How could she have missed it? She bites on her thumbnail harshly, eyes blankly tracing it. It’s so bad she barely notices Miu at her side, holding her hand and shoulder, staring up at her worried.
“Hey! Hey! It’s okay. It’s okay..” Miu looks at the chopped pigtail, pulling her close into a hug, her tone taking an uncharacteristic softness, “I know, darlin’, I know..” She breathes, Maki finding herself mirroring her breaths, “...we’re gonna have to cut-”
“No!” She rips away from her girlfriend, tears brewing in her eyes. She felt more like an embarrassed little girl than a fully fledged assassin. “Please, you can’t cut it!”
Miu’s brow furrows and she sighs softly, “Baby, we’re going to have to.. I can get you extensions or a wig if you’d like. I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Maki..” Miu whispers, inviting her back into a hug, which she accepts. Maki sniffles.
“I don’t want to go back there. Ever.”
“You won’t, I promise.” Miu says, “Now how about I take care of that hair and you decide on whether you need us to get further away from that town, okay?”
Maki nods, and with a kiss from Miu, they walk into the kitchen. It’s not the happy ending Maki always wanted, but it’s not a horrible ending either; and she’ll take that.