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"So… how would you rate the Mizuki treatment? Scale from one to ten." Mizuki teases, walking alongside Ena as they head home from one of their many hangouts. This particular time, they had gone to a restaurant Ena was interested in. The food was alright, but it looked better than it tasted.
"Zero." Ena replies, her voice deadpan. Mizuki makes puppy eyes at Ena, her lips quivering. Ena rolls her eyes, pretends to relent. (She had actually relented long before she even spoke.) "Okay maybe a 3."
"Wow. Nice to see my services are always enjoyed." Mizuki says, and Ena glances over at her.
Her lips are upturned in a small smile, and Ena notices something different about them. Actually, she's been noticing it for the entirety of their outing. Mizuki's upper lip is slightly darker, although not from bruising, but a light dust of makeup. It's pretty.
Mizuki's lips are pretty. They're kissable. They're nice. They're something Ena would spend months trying to paint, just to rip it up and lament about how much prettier they were in person.
"Yeah, well don't get too comfortable. I don't like you that much." Ena smirks smugly, and Mizuki makes a point to look offended, gasping and placing a hand on her chest.
"How could you!" Both artist and editor slow their walk, eventually coming to a stop in front of Mizuki's house, where Ena had offered to walk Mizuki home after their outing. (It was only fair, really. Mizuki did it enough for her.)
"Well, here's your stop." Ena says awkwardly, and she knows it's selfish, but she wishes she could spend a little more time with Mizuki. She's disappointed that they won't see each other for another week or two.
"I had a lot of fun today Ena!" Mizuki says enthusiastically, like she always does, just to let Ena know. "I really enjoyed hanging out."
"Me too." And a little bit of trust and truth always spills into Ena's words like a fountain, painting everything just a little bit brighter as she looks at the Editor. "Well… I'll see you tonight on Nightcord?"
"See you tonight." Mizuki says, and sends Ena off with a wave. Ena turns to go, but barely makes it three steps when Mizuki's voice calls out.
"Ena, wait!" Ena turns back, eyeing Mizuki curiously. Did she forget something?
"Uhh," Mizuki starts gracefully, and fidgets with her hand nervously. "This might sound weird but- do you want to come over?"
"Come over?" Ena echoes, and it feels like her prayers for more time with her precious editor have been granted.
"Yeah. Just for a couple hours. We can- I don't know, watch a movie? Or do something else. I actually have a new nail polish colour I wanted to show you! But- of course it's okay if you-" Mizuki ranbles on and on, and Ena can tell she'll shut her own idea down if Ena lets this go on for too long.
"Yeah. Yeah that sounds good. Great. Fantastic." Ena says, and mentally curses herself for the way that Mizuki melts her resolve in less than a second. Mizuki always gives Ena what she wants, regardless of if she actually knows it or not.
"Oh!" Mizuki says, almost stunned. As if Ena's eyes hadn't been screaming ' Let me into your home'.
Okay, maybe her eyes weren't screaming that , but something akin to that.
"Well do come in then. Can't have our fragile artist standing outside in the sun for too long, huh?" Mizuki gestures Ena in, of course adding a teasing remark.
"Fragile?" Ena sneers, "If I was any less polite, I would show you fragile."
Ena walks into Mizuki's house, looking around. Mizuki's house always feels so safe. It always feels warm and inviting, unlike her own home.
Mizuki pouts adorably, murmuring sadly, "So mean to me…" Before changing the topic. "What do you want to do?"
"Well, you mentioned nail polish? I didn't have time to do mine this morning." Ena explains, briefly reflecting on how Mizuki had messaged her at 9AM, asking to hang out abruptly.
"Oh yeah… sorry about that, by the way. I just wanted to see you." Mizuki says sheepishly, shrugging. Ena rolls her eyes, pretends she doesn't feel the flush covering her face.
"Yeah, yeah, c'mon smooth-talker, let’s go." Ena says, but awkwardly waits for Mizuki to lead her. Mizuki chokes a laugh at the sight of the artist stood there, fidgeting, before leading her towards the editor's room.
Ena can't help but smile as she enters the room. Really, how could she not when, seated atop her bed, was a stuffed cat that she herself had given Mizuki. It looked well-worn now, as if it had been slept with very frequently.
"Aww, you still have him?" Ena says, gesturing to the stuffed cat. It's a tuxedo cat, one that they had unanimously dubbed 'Alvin', and Mizuki furiously blushes as she tries to hide him frantically.
"N- no! It's not like I sleep with him or anything. He's just there because- it's nothing!" It's not very often that Ena catches Mizuki off-guard with a comment, but when she does, it's always priceless.
"Aww, do you sleep with him cause he reminds me of you? I'm flattered!" Ena loves it when she can dish out flirty compliments like Mizuki does. Mizuki's good at hiding her emotions, so Ena can never tell if her comments break the skin. But Ena gets flistered all too easily, so it's often hard for her to flirt back at all.
"Shut up!" Mizuki whines, and gestures to the floor of her room. Ena takes this as a sign to sit down, gingerly sitting on the carpeted floor. Mizuki rummages around, grabbing a book, and nail polish. "Here's the colour!"
It's a wonderful shade of pink, something that is undoubtedly Mizuki in nature. More red than pink itself, but a whimsical shade nonetheless.
"Oh, it's really pretty!" Ena compliments, and Mizuki puffs up her chest proudly, if not a bit childishly.
"I know. I picked it out myself."
"What grade are we going into sweetheart?" Ena does a horrible teacher impression, and Mizuki giggles. It makes Ena proud of her joke. If it's worthy of a giggle from Mizuki, then it must be funny.
"Alright, alright. Lay your hand out, huh?" Mizuki says, gesturing to the book, which she has laid out in front of her. Ena obliges, glancing down at the books title.
"Harry potter? Really ruining the classics, aren't we?" Ena jokes, and Mizuki giggles as she removes the top of the bottle of nail polish.
"Well, the author is a total asshole, so I don't mind." Mizuki says ruefully, and Ena nods in agreement. They fall into a comfortable silence, Ena watching as Mizuki prepares. Then, Mizuki takes Ena's hand, and begins to paint.
Ena always loves it when Mizuki paints her nails. Sometimes, she'll purposefully not paint them when going over to the editor's house, just so that Mizuki will do it. But usually, it's in the company of the other Nightcord members, with Mizuki distracted by conversations with the composer and lyricist. Now, Mizuki's attention is undivided, and her fingers grasp Ena's hand as if she would break should Mizuki touch her in the wrong place.
Ena loves it when Mizuki paints her nails because it's one of the only time's she'll hold Ena's hand. Ena loves it because she can get lost in the motions of Mizuki's fingers without it being weird. Ena loves it because she can fall silent and stare, stare, stare at the editor until she eventually looks up and says—
"Hey, you alright?" Mizuki's caring voice snaps Ena out of her very lesbian thoughts. Ena looks up to meet Mizuki's eyes quickly, nodding wordlessly. If she speaks, she's afraid she'll just either whine, or say that Mizuki's the most beautiful girl she's ever seen. "'Kay, just making sure."
Once Mizuki is fully engrossed in her task again, taking Ena's other hand, Ena begins to stare once more.
The way Mizuki's fingers move is intoxicating, the delicate, gently motions of the brush, it makes Ena wonder why Mizuki hasn't taken up painting yet. Then again, what has painting done for Ena? Shaky hands, fearful eyes, that's all that painting gives her.
But when Mizuki paints her nails, she doesn't feel like that. Despite the cold, faint sting of the nail polish, her body feels warm. Safe. Safer than she feels when she's painting. There's no one she needs to please right now.
"This is relaxing." Ena mentions offhandedly, and Mizuki looks up at her, smiling.
"Really? I'm glad." And did Mizuki's smile have to be so reassuring? Did it have to set her nerves at ease? Did it have to tell her to just tell Mizuki about her growing mess of emotions? "Don't fall asleep on me though."
"You'd better keep talking then." Ena murmurs, trying to sound annoyed. It causes Mizuki's grin to widen, and she winks before saying anything.
"Ah, I can do that. Yapping is my specialty!" Mizuki says, turning back to her work. "How has your day been?"
"It's been… good. I saw you. That made me happy. My father isn't going to be home tonight either, so I should have a good night." Ena answers, glancing around the room. She spies photos stuck to the wall, various photos of her, Mizuki, Kanade and Mafuyu, along with some of An, and Rui. Mizuki really is dedicated to her friends. "What about you?"
"I woke up feeling pretty bad today, but I hung out with you, so it got a lot better." Mizuki admits, and it's genuinely not fair how she can just do that . Just offhandedly remark about how Ena makes her happy, and it'll send Ena into a flustered panic.
"Well, I'm glad I could make your day better. I'm sorry you felt bad though." Ena says, and tries not to betray the flusteredness in her voice. It effectively fails, causing Mizuki to look up, noticing the faint flush on Ena's face with a smirk.
"Aww, did you like that?" Mizuki teases, and Ena rolls her eyes. "But seriously, thanks for hanging out with me on such short notice."
"It's nothing Mizuki." I would get up at the crack of dawn for you.
And maybe Ena's words are too truthful, maybe she poured too much emtion into them, like an overflowing cup, but Ena noticed the swift topic change, noticed the tremble in Mizuki's hands. Ena knows that Mizuki needed to hear that. Mizuki stays silent for the rest of the time she spends painting Ena's nails.
Mizuki finishes in a couple minutes, and surveys her work.
"I think they look nice, what do you think?” Mizuki says, and Ena pulls her hands away from Mizuki's grasp, missing her feather-light touch immediately. She knew what she was going to say about them long before they were finished.
"They're beautiful Mizuki."