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The warm summer nights of Mesa City offer the perfect atmosphere for a midnight stroll, and Teaks takes any opportunity to get out of her room during the school breaks. The night sky bereft of clouds lets the moon shine down bright and luminous, bathing the city in a cool, blue hue. The lights of houses and street lamps dot the cityscape with pinpoints of bright, warm spots amongst the darkness. Teaks wanders about taking in the beauty and serenity and eventually finds her way to a favorite haunt of hers: A small gazebo built on the crest of a ridge just outside the dorm buildings on the western edge of Sabo High’s grounds. A few tables and chairs are set up to look out over the neighboring districts, offering a view nigh unparalleled in beauty. As Teaks climbs the steps up to the landing she sees a familiar silhouette with its back facing her; long azure hair, broad, strong shoulders, and an aura of quietude that shrouds a vibrant passion brimming beneath the surface. Valere sits silently with a pen in hand and a concentrated smile on her face. Teaks stares in awe as the moon, seated squarely in the sky beyond Valere’s head, creates a halo around the girl giving her an otherworldly glow of majesty. Teaks continues to stare at the girl in front of her, taken aback in awe and wonder. Her body begins to reluctantly retreat away from Valere, slowly stepping down from the steps to avoid confrontation. An errant rock is all that it takes for her to slip and stumble, catching herself, but stamping on the stone steps with a harsh thud . Valere whips her head around to see the cause of the sudden break in the silence. Spying the pink haired girl, Valere (somewhat alarmed) says
“... Teaks? Hey… What uh, what are you doing here?”
Teaks shyly responds,
“Hey Val heh heh; I uh, I was just taking a walk and I came here to take a quick break. I… come here a lot at night. It’s kind of ‘my spot’,” she makes air quotes with her fingers, “I was surprised to find someone else here.”
Valere, still a little shaken but glad to see her friend, sets her pen down, turns around fully to face Teaks, and gives her a smile,
“Haha, yeah I uh, I like to come here every so often to just kinda, bask in the moonlight. It helps to clear my head and calm my thoughts.”
Teaks returns the smile and walks up the steps and towards Valere, her eyes inquisitively focused on the notebook in front of her,
“Whatcha got there?”
Valere goes to put the book away sheepishly,
“Ahhh it’s- it’s nothing.”
Teaks puts her hand on Valere’s shoulder and peers into her bag,
“C’mon~ let me see! I never see you journaling or anything like that, I’m curious!”
Valere looks into Teaks’s excited eyes and her heart skips a beat, the girl’s spirited energy overtaking her own reticent thoughts. Valere lets out a breath and pulls the notebook back out, opening it up to a bookmarked page. Inside there are sketches surrounded by words and annotations; pages filled with questions and answers and scratched out lines of text. Valere curls into herself a bit as the blood begins to fill her cheeks. Teaks flips through a few pages and skims the writing, reading notes and world-building details about “a high fantasy, globe-trotting adventure” featuring “warriors fueled by the seasonal equinoxes” alongside various sketches of humanoid characters and monstrous creatures. She looks to Valere in astonishment,
“Valere, this is really cool!! It’s like a magical girl anime!!”
Valere rubs the back of her head and looks away in embarrassment,
“Yeah heh heh, I was inspired by those and tokusatsu shows…”
Teaks continues flipping through pages,
“Why didn’t you tell me you were writing a fantasy story? This is amazing! You’ve got so much detail in the broad strokes and the minutiae of the different locales, your magic system is pretty well fleshed out, and these designs are fantastic!! I didn’t know you were such an artist!”
Valere’s eyes are glued to the ground and her face is red hot,
“... Actually… Zale drew those… I don’t. I suck at drawing,”
Valere suddenly stands up at shoves the notebook in her bag,
“I’m sorry I’m super nerdy and lame and too old for this kinda stuff and I don’t wanna waste your time with this it’s not even good I haven’t even started with anything I-”
Teaks cuts her off by clasping her hands on Valere’s shoulders and looking into her eyes.
“Val. Don’t apologize for being passionate. You are wonderful and amazing and so, -so- imaginative. There is no such thing as “too old” for creativity. How old do you think the people are that write those sentai shows and anime and video games and books and every piece of creative work out there? They’re all well into being adults! There’s no cut-off age for artistry; You’ve got to stop being so hard on yourself for simply being . Please. It hurts every time I see you talk about yourself that way.”
Revelation strikes Valere like a bolt from the blue. She stares, mouth slightly agape, at the girl, the friend, in front of her. Teaks’s lip begins to quiver as tears begin to well up in her eyes. The two girls stand apart, a chasm of tension and longing between them. Valere’s thoughts swirl in her mind,
Wait… does Teaks…? How long has she felt like this? How long have I been doing this to her? What do I do… I know what I want to do but should I?
Valere’s hands tremble as she reaches up to Teaks’s waist. Teaks jumps at the sudden touch but does not break her focus on Valere. Each girls’ hearts jump into their throats; any words attempting to escape are blocked by raw emotion. Valere begins to stoop down. Teaks begins to stand on tiptoe.
Highlighted by moonlight, they stare into each other’s eyes and the space between them grows ever smaller…
Their lips meet and a jolt shoots through both girls. Their eyes close and they hold as statues, neither knowing who should make the next move or even what the next move would be. A moment passes and Valere breaks away, opening her eyes to look at Teaks. Her eyes slowly open in kind as her face begins to flush. They both give each other awkward smiles before Teaks pulls Valere in once again, this time with fervor and purpose. Valere draws Teaks’s body in to hers, skin separated by mere cotton, as the two begin to move in tandem. Their grips tightening around the other, arms closing in, pulling them closer and closer still. Passion and desire break through inexperience and uncertainty to pilot the girls’ actions. The heat of the moment felt on each other’s breath and skin and tongues.
Teaks shifts her weight back and sits on the chair, bringing Valere with her who in turn gets down onto one knee. The girls’ perspectives shift; Valere now gazing up and Teaks leering down. She takes Valere’s face in her hands and begins to run her thumbs over her cheeks. Her eyes close and once more she brings Valere’s lips to hers. Valere, bewitched by Teaks’s sudden taking of the lead, allows her body to follow suit and be directed by her whims. Teaks guides Valere to stand up and sit reversed on her lap, feeling the weight of the taller girl shift and ebb as they continue to embrace. She places her hands on Valere’s hips and draws her closer in, feeling the tightness in the front of her pants nudge into her stomach. Valere drapes her arms over Teaks’s shoulders, the two continuing for what feels like an eternity. And then. They pull away.
The two girls stare at each other both in awe of what has occurred and who it has occurred with, the crimson in their faces persisting. After a moment, Valere speaks up,
“U-um… hi. That uh. Ahem . That was nice…”
She turns her eyes away to the rest of the city. Teaks lets out a small giggle while she swings her leg back and forth,
“Hehe! Yeah, it really was…”
The two continue to hold one another as they look towards the moon hanging big and bright in the sky, a beacon lighting the city. Eventually, Teaks breaks the silence,
“Sooo… um, do you want to talk more about your story?”
Valere looks to her and with a delighted smile she replies,
“Yeah, I’d love to talk with you about it.”
“... which leads the party to traveling to the titular ‘Stellar Sea’. And from there I gotta write more. I was thinking about a couple different places to take the story but I’m not entirely certain where I’m gonna go. I’m not in any rush though, this has been a work in progress for the better part of the past two years and I want the ideas to flow naturally.”
Valere has been talking uninterrupted for the better part of the last thirty minutes while Teaks has listened, fully enraptured by the excitement in her voice as she details the world she’s written out. She can’t take her eyes off of the cerulean-haired girl in front of her. Daydreams are born in her mind of possible futures the two may experience; puppylove dates, cozy domestic life, a beautiful marriage, lives fully lived together; Teaks’s distraction is noticed by Valere who taps her on the shoulder a few times to refocus her attention,
“Teaks? You still there? Helloooo?”
Teaks jumps at the sudden snap back to reality,
“Wha- huh? What? Oh, I’m sorry Val, I kind of spaced out there for a second. But yeah, I am absolutely in love with what you’ve written so far, it’s so fascinating and honestly admirable how much you’ve built and how long you’ve been building it for! I can’t imagine sticking that long with one single thing; I’ve got to constantly be moving around with stuff, even the subjects I really like, haha!”
Valere gives a soft smile before looking out over the cliffside. She waits but a moment to steel herself and collect her thoughts,
“Hey Teaks? What did… that, mean?”
The pink-haired girl looks to her companion with a somewhat confused expression,
“‘That’? What do you mean?”
Valere looks back, anxiety painted clearly on her face,
“You know… that . The… kissing…”
Teaks did know, she hadn’t stopped thinking about it since they started. It was something she’d been wanting for as long as she’d been friends with Valere. The girl had fallen head over heels and had not stopped falling in the years they’d known each other. And yet, the words refused to come out. Her thoughts raced but her mouth was locked up tight.
It means ‘I love you’!! I’ve loved you for all this time! I’ve wanted to tell you forever but I never found the right words. Of course not! I’m a geek! What would she want with me? I… I-
The lock was about to break, the pressure mounting, years of tension and desire and yearning finally reaching their limits- but it holds. Valere breaks the silence,
“If it wasn’t anything then, I mean that’s fine. I get it. I’m different from other girls. I’m not… But I need you to tell me that. I- I can’t go on any more just thinking about what could be between us if there isn’t actually anything there!”
The tears once more begin to fall, like the drops before a heavy storm, little by little. The lock cracks. The shackle comes loose. The steel gives. Teaks looks Valere in her eyes, the tears causing her amethyst eyes to catch the moonlight and twinkle like the stars. She takes Valere’s hands in hers and with all the conviction of a paladin of eld declares,
“Valere. I love you. I’ve loved you as long as I’ve known you. I’ve wanted to tell you for ages but I just… I couldn’t get the words out. They caught in my throat and refused to go further. Every time I look at you I see the definition of beauty. Every moment we spend together I wish time would stop so the moment would last longer. I love everything about you; the way your eyes close and your nose scrunches up whenever you smile, the determination on your face when you set your mind to something, the little bounce you do when you get excited.-”
Valere stares awestruck, tears flowing endlessly down her face, a hand over her mouth trying to muffle and silence strained sobs,
“- I love the way that you walk, I love how you smell, I love how you feel, I love your whole being. I love you for you. Every part of you.”
The blue-haired girl’s weight gives out from under her as she collapses into the pink-haired girl’s arms. The once choked-back weeping fully forms into raw, unfettered wailing as the two girls fall to their knees and embrace as though they would never see one another again. Their arms wrap tight around the other, their faces drenched in emotional overflow, and happiness - the pure, unadulterated joy of youth - sings in their hearts. In between her bawls and cries, Valere ekes out to Teaks,
“I- I love hic you too, Teaks! I can’t hic b-believe I’m hic finally saying it!”
The two girls, deaf to the world around them, let their feelings soar high. High above the rooftops, high above the clouds, shooting just past the moon herself.
The warm summer nights of Mesa City offer the perfect atmosphere for a midnight confession.