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A lot of good relationships starts with the gift of something sweet. Be it bought chocolates that were carefully picked from a fancy chocolaterie, or handmade pastries that were baked to perfection with love. Any kind of sweets or baked goods are known to be the most popular way to confess.
Mia would hope that's the case. The blonde hummed her favourite pop song as she packed up a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies, thinking of her crush as she does. Her crush would always talk of how her hands create the best things, and Mia believes that wholeheartedly. It was a lovely weekend, the soon to be 16 year old was just finishing up on packing her cookies to send it to her crush, hoping that today's cookies will linger in her crush's mind for all week.
Mia carried the bag and looked at herself in the mirror once again to make sure she looked proper and pretty. She wouldn't want to look like a total fool in front of her crush with too many accessories, though looking too plain without any wouldn't be desirable either. If her crush were to think of her, Mia would want her blue floral dress would be the highlight, or the little bows in her blonde braids. Better yet just think of all of her all the time.
Mia walks to her high school where the school's handball team have their practice every Saturday. Mia had been here at 5PM sharp every time and the team would greet her while being careful as to not hit her with the ball that would sometimes stray away from the school field. Although Mia gets many greets from the team, there's only one person there that Mia really has eyes on.
"Mia! Watch out!"
Mia blinked before she looks at a fast coming ball and she lets out a yelp before feeling herself being pulled into the arms of the person who was closest to her — the person who had walked over to her as soon as Mia had arrived.
"Are you okay?"
Mia looks up a little and blushes to meet the bright blue eyes of her long time crush since the start of high school. She nods and gets a soft pat on the head.
"Glad to know you're not hurt. We'll be more careful next time, Miss Mia." Joni gives her a toothy smile, making Mia's heart skip a beat.
There was no denying it. The person Mia had fallen head over heels for ever since the start of high school, is none other than her childhood best friend, Joni Liu. It all happened very, very slow. Mia had ber doubts at the start, thinking it was a weird thing but when she finds out that this attraction towards Joni is actually normal, she starts to find more and more reason to love Joni.
What not to love about Joni Liu?
Joni had been her protector since they were so young, keeping her safe from the bullies and was there for her during her worst. Joni had always been supportive, attentive and loving and she grew to call Mia her princess, occasionally calling her "Miss Mia" that Mia sees as a form of endearment. True, it was all nothing more than anything best friends would give to each other, but when you've been with someone so perfect for so long, others start being less in your eyes. You no longer long for something you can't have, or try to find someone who can be as high as your standards. You start to love the one who's been there for you and set your standards so high.
"I brought cookies today. It's your favourite." Mia brings up the bag to show her, a soft smile carved on her sweet face.
"Chocolate chips?" Mia nods and Joni starts getting excited, jumping a little. The two takes a seat at a bench under a tree, the tree where they eat all the sweets Mia has brought to Joni for all the times Joni has her handball practice. Mia opens the bag and takes out the packed cookies. Joni starts to dig in, eating the cookies in big bites.
Mia knows she can't do much. There's no telling Joni would ever like her back romantically and quite frankly, she values their friendship way too much to even confess. All she can do is try her best to try and hint at her, hoping one day Joni would be the one to confess. If it fails, and it turns out exactly how she fears, at least, she'll still be able to send sweets to Joni.
"You make the best cookies Mia." Joni smiles, cheeks all puffed up from too many cookies in her mouth. "I could eat them for life."
"I'd gladly make them all your life." Mia mumbles, loud enough for Joni to hear. The redhead looks at her with wide innocent eyes, still clueless as she was. Joni may have grown to be taller, bigger and better, but obliviousness has always been there with her since the start.
Mia hated that.
That was the one flaw of her plan.
Joni would probably never get her hint.
They'll never be together at this state.
【️☆️】️
"All I'm saying is! " The blonde exhaled as she gets to her last point. The girl stares at her best friend with her pleading green eyes, hoping that Emilia would really understand this. She really was on the verge of tears, feeling guilty. "She's been my best friend since childhood and it's really just muscle memory when I grabbed her as soon as the teacher said grab a partner. I swear! I didn't mean to forget you at all!"
Emilia stared at her, bringing both hands up and placing them on Mia's shoulders firmly.
"Mia. Really. I'm fine. Sarah's gonna be my partner anyway so, no big deal." Emilia smiled at Mia and raised her eyebrows at her, assuring her that she knows. Mia lets out a sigh of relief as she starts to smile again. "That's good to know Emilia."
"Now come on, we're gonna be late for Physical Education."
"Aw, I hate Physical Education."
"Yea. You and me both."
Mia and Emilia both made their way down to the basketball court where the female students were supposed to gather for the class. The two walked in to see that there were already a few girls playing and the rest sitting on the benches. Usually the teachers would let them choose what to play and monitor them.
"There goes our girl." Emilia commented.
Mia looks at the group of girls playing and sees her redhead dribbling the ball across a few girls. Joni had never been one to pass out an opportunity to play and she most certainly gives her all as soon as the game starts. Joni shoots the ball as soon as she gets the chance to, and she misses. Well, she doesn't always excel in every sport, but she's still having fun playing.
"There she is." Mia replies. The two then walked to the benches, not giving a second thought about playing at all. Joni noticed the two and gave them a toothy smile before she went off to snatch the ball from a player. Mia gives her a wave back a little too late and she shrugs it off by brushing her hair with the hand. Emilia had a book with her and Mia's attention drew to it as well. She reads the first few lines and her cheeks starts to get red upon reading how the female lead falls for the male lead when he saved her. It's just so romantic and it really made Mia feel jealous.
The blondie starts to daydream about a princess charming Joni, taking her hands and the two of them gliding across the ballroom, hand in hand, eyes all over each other and feeling the tension rise in between them. Mia smiles as she starts to daydream the princess charming pulling her closer for a kiss.
While she was having her little daydream, princess moment, multiple yells was heard from the group of players who got closer to the basket near where Mia and Emilia were sitting. In order to get the ball away from the opposing team, the player shoots the ball to another player but the ball goes in a different direction, which was heading towards Mia. The other girls sitting on the benches screamed when seeing how the ball was about to hit Mia in the face, before a figure slid in front of Mia, holding her shoulder firm as the ball hit her back.
The moment sent chills to Mia's whole body as she looks up to meet Joni's blue eyes. The redhead gave her a smile before she asks, "You good?"
That was in no way a romantic sentence but honestly Mia could really care less. Mia's already feeling her heart beating faster upon seeing how cool Joni just slid in front of her and took that fast ball like it was nothing. Emilia who was just sitting next to Mia eyed both the blondie and the redhead before covering her mouth with her book.
"Are you sure you're okay, Joni? That ball was pretty fast, I'm sure it would've hurt even a little!"
Joni pinched Mia's cheeks softly.
"If it means you're okay, I'll take the pain." Joni gleams before she jumps right back into the game. Mia held her cheeks and watched as Joni plays like nothing's bothering her at all. Mia hated that. How can it be fair that she's the only one just rethinking of that moment over and over again like a broken record? How can Joni just go and pretend like she's not cool for protecting Mia like that?
How can she not see how much Mia's gushing over the little interactions of theirs?
"She's such an airhead." Emilia breaks the silence.
"I know! I hate it!" Mia whines but never once is her attention driven away from Joni missing her shots. "It's like, these are nothing to her. The way she saved me while her coolness is practically oozing like a fountain, or the way she pinches my cheeks all the time as if—"
"—she has this sort of obsession with them. Yes, yes, Mia. Get new ways to explain your crush. This is getting a little embarrassing, even for you." Emilia laughs.
"We've been friends since 4, Emilia." Mia looks at her with her inner eyebrows slanted and her dropping eyelids. "Why am I the only one whose feelings grew bigger than it's supposed to?"
Emilia pats her back and she starts thinking of an answer for Mia's question. It's not easy to answer a question that you can't get a scientific evidence for. As for feelings, the mauve haired girl really isn't the one Mia should be talking to. Emilia tries her best to be there for Mia since she's the only Mia has to talk to about this.
"You and I both know how dumb she can be, especially with words and feelings. She never even noticed Mikael and Steve's feelings for her, until we told them. So, here's my piece of advice that I hope you take. I know you're shy, and I'm aware that you're scared, but if you don't tell her your feelings, she'll never see you in the way you see her. You'll end up jus like those two unfortunate boys." Emilia places her index finger on Mia's chin, and pushes her to look at Joni.
"Shoot your shot."
Joni shoots the ball yet again after so many misses, and this time the ball slides through the hoop, and she yells out loud as a celebration. Joni looks at Mia, joyful that the blondie saw her victory. Mia's green eyes glimmered at how Joni was always wanting Mia to see her and Mia's grateful to be the one Joni scrambles to find to tell even the tiniest news.
"Who knows? She might actually be keeping her feelings a secret from you too."
【️☆️】️
"See you guys Saturday! Bye!" Joni waves at her teammates. "Get home safe!"
"We will!"
Joni smiles after watching her teammates leave the gate. She saw Mia right by the gate, reading from her notes. Joni does a little excited jump and immediately runs over to catch up to the blondie.
"Mia! Want me to walk home with you today, Miss Mia?" Joni does a royal bow and extended a hand out to which Mia giggles before taking her hand, curtsying in return.
"Why of course." She replies in a sophisticated voice before breaking out into laughter again. Joni spins her around for fun before the two starts to walk home.
"So? A new play?" Joni starts up a conversation like she always does.
"Huh? Oh yes. It's uhm... Grimm. Brothers."
"Grimm brothers? Like The Little Mermaid?"
"No Joni, that's Hans Christian Andersen. Grimm Brothers stories are more to, The Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin."
"Ohh.. the ones with the villains dying at the end." Joni nods. "So the Hans guy is the one killing off the main characters. Got it."
Mia's eyed widened as she thought of what Joni had just said, suddenly just realising how many stories actually does that.
"So what story is it?" Joni tries to look into Mia's notes. Mia just allowed her to read her notes on the costumes before she sees a tiny doodle of "M + J" and a little Joni beside it. She starts to panic and turns her head to look at Joni. As she her turned, she sees how close the redhead was, and her cheeks turn as red as Joni's hair. Mia gasps and backs away, tripping over a rock.
"Oh." Joni reacted quick, and grabs Mia by her arm and her waist. Their faces just inches away, just like a few seconds before. The two just stares into each others eyes before Mia notices Joni closing in and that made her panic. Was this it?
Is this her long awaited princess charming kiss?
"AAAAARED RIDING HOOD NEEDS A WOLF, SO UH, I WAS THINKING IF YOU WANT TO TAKE ON A ROLE ON THE STAGE!!" Mia blurts out before Joni could inch any closer. Well, guess not. She struggles to get out of Joni's grasp before she was let go gently. Mia glances at her and sees Joni with a subtle smirk on her face.
"I'll think about it, Miss Mia." Joni still looks at her, eyes holding so much care and love that it makes Mia want to combust into birthday confettis.
Mia's heart beats faster than ever as she watches Joni's eyes flutter up and down before walking off first. Mia thought of Emilia's words from earlier that day and with how Joni acted just now, Mia can't help but think if it's true.
If Joni does like her in secret as well.
"Mia?" Joni calls.
Mia looks at Joni. She was a bit further away, with her hands reached out and a soft grin on her face.
"Let's get you home safe."
Mia hesitated to step forward, but does so regardless. Joni had offered her hand.
There's no way Mia's losing the chance to take it.
【️☆️】️
Mia was up at night, drawing her costume designs for the Red Riding Hood stage and as she was designing the wolf's costume, Mia stops to think if Joni would actually come to audition as the wolf.
As she thought of the possibility, Mia starts designing the wolf costume based on Joni. The ears being half as big as her head, the shade of gray that would go well with her hair colour and the sleeves that would be fitted to her toned arms.
Her arms.
Mia could remember how it felt when Joni wrapped it around her waist. She is a handball player, she most definitely has strong arms to be able to throw balls that fast. Not to mention she'll be aiming for the captain position next year.
A handball vice captain with strong arms and captivating eyes as the wolf.
Mia starts blushing all by herself just thinking about it.
【️☆️】️
"Perfect! Joni Liu will make a wonderful wolf!" The director clasps her hands together as she gushes over the idea. She rounds the adequately tall girl, eyeing her up and down. "Yes, yes.. I see it fitting perfectly. You have strong arms and captivating eyes, you're a perfect wolf!"
"I have big teeth too!" Joni shows the director her toothy grin and the director gasps dramatically.
"Perfect!" She exclaims. "Mia!"
"On it." Mia nods and asks Joni to follow her backstage. Joni follows her closely behind, like a puppy. Mia starts internally panicking as she didn't expect Joni to actually audition when she asked. Mia felt a tug on the hem of the back of her uniform shirt. She turns around and sees Joni with her usual toothy grin.
"Hi." She simply greeted.
Mia held back a wide smile. "I can't believe you really came here for the wolf role."
"Why're you surprised? You asked me to be here." Joni shrugged. She's always so carefree and oblivious, she couldn't even tell that Mia said that because she was panicking.
"Stand still, I'm getting your measurements for your costume."
"Cool! I'm getting dressed by you! That's so sweet." Joni kept talking while Mia takes her measurements. At some part, Mia stops hearing Joni's talking and thought that it was just her tuning out as she does her work. That has never happened before because Mia knos for a fact that she listens to Joni yap even about a roach she caught in Julian's room with a lot of interest. When she looks at Joni's face, she sees that Joni had stopped yapping about and was just staring at her working.
"Stop staring!" Mia blurts out. Joni chuckles and replies with a quick, "Alright."
The tension was building in between the two all while Mia was doing her usual work. Mia had never been so nervous taking someone's measurements for a costume. It's just that because she has a crush on Joni, and how Joni just makes her feel, it's getting really... frustrating.
Mia finished up with Joni's full trouser length measurement and stands up. She met eye to eye with Joni and once again, she was just looking at Mia with those love in her eyes.
"I said stop staring."
"Then stop being so pretty."
Mia exhales as she hears the compliment from Joni herself. Joni looks away before she scrunches her nose. Her stomach rumbles and she pouts.
"I'm a little hungry, sorry."
"I have.. some leftover cookies in my bag. Do you—"
"Definitely."
They both take a seat and eats the cookies Mia had in her bag. Joni eats them despite it not being chocolate chips. It still shows how much she enjoys them through her big bites and Mia can't get enough of how adorable she is when she eats.
"I really... really love..." Joni smiles as she looks at Mia. Mia's cheeks gets hotter and redder when Joni just stops there and smiles. "Your cookies." She continues, sounding half cheeky and half disappointed.
Disappointed?
Joni just... she just sounded a little disappointed??
"Thank you." Joni says as she gets up with a cookie in mouth, and two more in one hand. She leaves the backstage to get back to the director. Mia looks at her getting her script and the redhead stays for a quick script reading. Mia had her eyes on Joni the whole time. She's getting the feeling that, Joni has something she wants to say but won't ever say it to her.
It send chills down her spine when she just thinks about it.
Why now?
All of a sudden?
And why won't she say it?
Just a simple "I like you."
Just... say it.
Mia let out a soft exhale, "Please say it."
【️☆️】️
Joni yells as she throws a ball into the goal and scores a point. She high fives her teams and smiles at the praises she gets. As everyone takes their position, Joni glances at the bench where she always sits with Mia and eats the cookies she brings. Mia didn't come over today.
"Joni look out!"
"Huh—?" Joni barely misses the throw and breathes out a sigh of heavy relief. That could've been so bad, she could feel her heart stop for a moment there. Everyone checks up on Joni, asking if their vice captain is okay. Joni just tells them that the ball didn't hit her at all but the captain asks her again.
"Are you sure? You seem distracted, Joni."
Joni opens her mouth to speak before one of the team members points out that Mia was walking up to the bench.
They all look at the blondie, holding a basket and waving at them. Joni smiled, more relieved than ever that Mia actually still came. The captain pats her shoulder.
"Take 5 everyone!" She announced and whispers to Joni, "Sort your love life out man, we have a game next week. I want my members to be focused."
Joni furrowed her brows at the captain, lifting her arms in confusion as to how the senior evn came to the conclusion.
The redhead runs over to Mia and they just have a normal conversation as always. Eating cookies, having a chat and looking at each other like they haven't seen each other for weeks. Mia being mostly the listener and Joni just talking nonstop. The two still talked like how they always have. Like best friends.
"Oh Joni. I actually... well.. would you come over to my house for your fitting session?" Mia asked, though the actual costume fitting was set to be at the school auditorium on Tuesday, along with every other cast. Mia just needed an excuse to get Joni to come over.
"Sure! I got nothing else to do anyway. It's also been a while since I last went to your house. Why not?"
Mia waited until Joni was done with practice and then they walk to Mia's house. This was actually the first time Joni got so quiet, even Mia herself was a little shocked with this. When they arrived at Mia's house, Mikey and Miley opened the door.
"Oh." Joni spoke. "Hey! You guys are so big!"
Mikey and Miley's jaw was agape when they saw Joni. The redhead had a pretty messy hair, looking cool in her sleeveless jersey with black wristband and her overall physique being a little taller than Mia. They looked at Mia, who was blushing and they smiled cheekily.
"Woah! YOU'RE BIG TOO!" Mikey yelled.
"And cool!" Miley added.
"Yea, Mia talks about you a lot, but we didn't know you had such a glow up!" Mikey said, Miley nodded.
"She does?" Joni asks, looking a little proud that Mia talks about her so much.
"Okay! Go away! We have work to do!" Mia pushes through her twin siblings, dragging Joni along by her hand. The two made it into Mia's room and the blondie immediately takes her costume to let Joni try.
"Mia, I'm.. really sorry, but can I just.. take a quick shower first? I really smell. Don't want to trouble you in washing that costume over and over again because it reeks of sweat."
Mia blinked before nodding. The redhead didn't take too long and when Joni got back into the room, she was wearing the costume and she smelled just like Mia. The blondie tried not to be distracted by her slightly wet hair and how she's drying it off with the towel Mia had handed her earlier. Joni looked really good, all that's left would be the wolf ears and makeup. Mia couldn't really wait, so she had Joni sit down on her bed while she blow dries her hair. Joni sat still as Mia's hands ran through her hair along with the hot air.
Joni looks around the room, taking in how Mia decorates her room with little crochet animals and some succulents. It's completely contrary to Joni's room. Her room is so messy, with little to no living being in it except her.
"Your room's really pretty."
"Thank you."
"Like it's owner."
Mia turned off the hair dryer. The more compliments she gets from Joni, the more she felt like her heart's about to jump out of her chest. She walked over to the desk on the other side of her room, picking up the wolf ears headband for Joni to wear.
"You know. This honestly brings me back to when we used to have tea parties and sleepovers when we were much, much younger." Joni reminisces. "Remember when we played pretend, where I became your knight and you're the princess? I'm glad you still stayed my princess."
Mia breaks the wolf ears headbands when her feelings start to overwhelm her after hearing Joni reminisce something so dear.
"Do you like me or not?!" She turns around and frowns at Joni. "Because I feel like you like me, but you might not like me, you might just care about me in a 'you're my friend' way and not 'i like you romantically' way and I really don't like how you keep on being so stupidly affectionate and you talk like you like me but I'm afraid to be wrong because if I'm wrong and you don't like me, I'd cry my heart out because I like you so so much!"
Joni stared at her after hearing her confession, looking a little shocked.
Mia covers her mouth with her hands, eyes wide as she couldn't believe she just said all of that in front of Joni. She looks at Joni, tearing up when she saw the shock in Joni's eyes. Thinking that Joni has negative reactions towards her confession, Mia wanted to just leave the room and cry her heart out.
Joni grabbed Mia by her wrist before she could.
"When we were 4, I protected you because you needed me. When we were 11, I stayed because you're my friend. One thing I never thought of, is how you will be able to find someone else to replace that role I have filled in your life so far. Chuuni and Corey could protect you too. Emilia and Alex could be your friend too. I want to be something no one else could be for you. I want..." she trailed off as she brushed Mia's bangs with his fingers, looking at her with a soft gaze.
"What?" Mia asked, a little impatient to know. Joni looks into Mia's eyes. Oh there it is again. Joni's loving eyes, just staring into Mia's green ones like they're jewels to her.
"Knight."
Mia blinks a few times and it made her tears drip down her cheeks. Joni's fingers brushed on her cheeks, wiping the tears away.
"I want to be your knight." Joni confesses. "And, as your knight, I knew I would never be able to be as deserving of someone like you. I had to do something, I had to say something. But as confident as I always have been, I just couldn't tell you."
"Why? You couldn't see how much I like you too?"
"I didn't want to ruin our friendship. If I told you, I'd ruin that relationship we built throughout these years."
"You're such, an airhead. I panicked all these time and you thought I was just being my usual self?"
"Well, you thought my flirting was just me caring for you as a friend."
"Well, I guess we're both stupid then." Mia laughs. Joni chuckled. She wipes Mia's tears with her thumbs, "Why are you crying?"
"I was scared! I accidentally told you my feelings, I thought you would be weirded out or something!" Mia cried even harder.
"Awww... Miss Mia, why would I ever find you weird when I myself exist?" Joni jokes and Mia laughs, feeling more at ease when she pokes fun at it. "Just so you know, I'm so glad you blurted your feelings out on a whim."
"Why?" Mia sniffles as she displays a playful frown, thinking Joni would make fun of her again.
"Because I have been dying to do this."
Joni cups Mia's cheeks and leaned forward, closing the distance between both of them. Mia felt her heart beat faster when she felt Joni's lips pressed on hers. Joni had her eyed closed, while Mia's eyes were wide open, though the slowly flutter shut as she slowly starts to sink into the kiss. Joni tilts her head a bit, and Mia just lets the redhead take the lead. Mia had absolutely no idea where to place her hands so she just puts then on her sides, letting Joni move her head in the ways that would make the kiss feel better for the two of them.
Joni pulls back and looks at Mia. The blonde girl's eyelids fluttered open as she starts smiling.
"I waited for that too."
"You did?"
"Mmhm."
"So I can do it again?"
"We can do it again??"
Joni laughs at the question before she goes in for another kiss.
"Mom made cooki— WEEOUEUEE SORRY."
Joni pulls back immediately, cheeks getting as red as her hair when she froze in place. Mia's cheeks were also red as she melts into a puddle of embarrassment. The two girls were just seen kissing by the twins.
"Well... thank god it's not your mom." Joni says.
"Are you crazy?? My mom would actually be much better! She actually keeps secrets! Mikey and Miley—" Mia blushes.
"What?! Mikey and Miley what?!"
"They'd tell their friends! And they're friends with Sera! Sera would definitely tell Cello! Cello would—"
"Tell the group! Mia, we gotta tell Emilia first! She'd be ecstatic knowing I finally told you about my feelings!" Joni whips out her phone and frantically types while Mia watches her construct a sentence. Mia furrows her brows.
"Hold on a second." She gasps. "You mean to tell me, Emilia knows about you liking me??"
"Yea. I told her since we turned 13."
"You have got to be kidding me! I told her when we turned 14!"
"Oh really? I guess we have to thank her for keeping secrets so well too."
"That's not my point! Joni!!!"
【️☆️】️
Emilia checks her phone and reads Joni's text message. The girl smiles as she received the news about the two finally getting together. She sips her coffee as she thought of how she's going to handle Mia's questions tomorrow at school.
"Airheads."