Work Text:
In one of the green rooms at RiNG, two of the members of MyGo!!!!! were waiting patiently for their performance to begin.
Anon was at the door and could hear Taki and Tomori trying to locate Raana, a worried expression on her face at tha chaos which seemed to follow them.
At this point, it was now a tradition for Raana to abscond, like it was a pre live ritual.
"Maybe I should have gone instead of Tomori-chan".
She could hear the vocalist's tired gasps of Raana's name, followed by Taki's worried one as she called out to Tomori.
"It's fine. Taki-chan probably considers it a date".
Anon closed the door and grinned at Soyo's response, but her smile would fade when she saw what her girlfriend was doing.
If Raana's bad habit of running off hadn't ended, then neither would Soyo's own eccentricities.
The slow brushing of her fingertip above the nail bed was too fastidious, eroding the outer later.
She sighed and quickly made her way to the couch before Soyo could do further damage to her fingers by grabbing a hold of her hands gently.
Naturally, this irritated Soyo, "What are you doing, Anon-chan?".
She had injected as much venom into her tone but as expected, it rolled off of Anon too effortlessly.
"Are you nervous about seeing Sakiko-chan?".
Soyo scoffed and tried to pull her hands away, "No. It is just a joint live with Ave Mujica. Nothing we haven't done before".
"Yeah, and every time you do this".
Anon lifted Soyo's hands up to investigate her fingers, noticing some chafing on the index finger of her left hand. Even through the thin layer of clear nail polish, the worn exterior was notable.
She ran her thumb over it gently and the action sent a jolt down Soyo's spine, but Anon was too focused on soothing the injured skin to notice.
Soyo tried to relax, she wanted to push Anon away but she couldn't deny that having this distraction had lifted some of the weight from her shoulders.
Knowing it was something Soyo wasn't going to give up easily, Anon did her best to assuage as much of the damage as she could. She would prefer if Soyo talked about whatever was bothering her before getting to this point, but Anon knew it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack.
"You're okay with each other now, right? At least enough to be civil?".
"I told you, I am not worried about seeing..Saki-chan" Soyo frowned, pulling her right hand away, "Enough".
Anon scoffed, "You can't even say her name yet without pausing" she thought to herself, only replying with, "Sure".
There was a bout of envy which formed in Anon's chest, knowing that Sakiko still had such an effect on the girl she liked, but for Soyo's sake, she said nothing.
Both Ave Mujica and MyGo!!!!! were inchoate bands, yet the former band was miles ahead because of Sakiko's guidance.
That band was always going to hold Soyo, Mutsumi, Tomori and Taki captive in some way.
Still, Anon could be patient, especially for Soyo.
She could wait for the day where Sakiko's hold on Soyo would brittle away, disintegrate enough till she could break it with her bare hands.
Till then, Anon would do whatever she could to help Soyo.
Soyo noticed the oddly austere expression, the strange stillness of Anon's body other than when she moved Soyo's left hand to her lips and then kissed over the reddened index finger.
The grey eyes were focused on the wound which was even more jarring, so Soyo placed her right hand on Anon's shoulder, nudging her.
"Whatever you are thinking, stop it".
Anon let her lips linger over Soyo's finger, "I wasn't thinking anything like that, Soyorin".
Soyo wished Anon was thinking something salacious, anything but those doubts which were etched into her eyes to convey how indign she felt compared to Sakiko.
She pushed Anon up and moved in closer to her till she could place her right hand on Anon's face, "It's just a bad habit, there is nothing more to it so don't overthink what it means" she reiterated, tone firm, "I'll get over it".
Anon managed to smile and nodded, "Yeah, I know".
The brunette skimmed her thumb over Anon's cheek, drawn into the softness of those eyes looking at her. They were somewhere public and anyone could walk in, but Soyo was swept up in the moment.
Despite the way she tried to keep Anon at arms length, she somehow managed to get through the crevices and cracks, healing them in the process, both physically and mentally.
Anon was honest even when she didn't want to be and looking at her now, Soyo saw nothing but adoration and hope in the way she was staring at her.
She leaned in and Anon met her halfway, elated that Soyo was thinking about her.
Just as they were about to kiss, the door to the room opened, "Please excuse the intrusion".
It wasn't the voice of one of their bandmates, it was Sakiko's.
Soyo pulled away from Anon like she had been burned, propping up her usual guises as she glanced at Sakiko.
"Saki-chan".
"Hello, Soyo, Anon-san" Sakiko smiled formally, "Mutsumi is helping Tomori and Taki to find Raana".
Soyo had realised her mistake and quickly looked back at Anon, a wounded expression on the guitarist's face as she turned away.
However, Sakiko was talking to her too so she had to reply, didn't she? It would be rude not.
Anon wanted to shake her head, to make Soyo look at her but she was still feeling that wretched envy crawl through her veins and decided it would be better to not say anything.
She picked up her guitar instead kept her gaze down, not wanting to see the way Soyo was looking at her, or how she would have stared at Sakiko if she was not in the room.
Anon truly wondered if Soyo would ever get over Sakiko.
Perhaps she had been too lenient, too accepting of Soyo's assurance in regards to her having nothing to worry about when it came to Sakiko.
Because that reaction alone was telling enough for Anon.