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“i’m telling you, i think it would be a hit.” the phone was propped between her shoulder and cheek, aya huffed as she padded around her apartment with an almost overflowing basket of laundry.
“i just think you’re overestimating how many lesbians there are in london. or even, how many lesbians would show up for this sort of thing,” the sound of chizuru’s voice crackled through aya’s speakerphone. she sat on the living room floor in a heap of clothes, wincing at just how long it would take to organise it all.
she huffed, pressing play on her playlist streaming through the tv. “i dunno, i think i’m gonna do it,” she murmured to her phone. it had been a while since aya had even thought about dating, nevertheless gathering a bunch of masc lesbians to oogle at. but she was bored, and with her fourth year of university rapidly approaching as the summer’s end creeped in she wanted to do something fun, for gods sake. plus, she had seen this trend spread like wildfire throughout the summer and she couldn’t pass up doing this before someone else did.
her fingers tapped at her phone as she continued talking to chizuru— “do you think three exclaimation marks is too much?”— and let out a small giggle as her post uploaded.
aya777: performative masc lesbian contest!! this weekend!! in hyde park!! 2pm, plz bring matcha, your best carabiner and phone number!!
“you’re in way over your head with this,” chizuru snickered, ignoring aya’s grumbles— when on earth did she get this hideous pink t-shirt?
unfortunately, and aya would never outright admit it, chizuru was right.
hyde park was a mess, the pink haired woman had turned up at five to two anticipating a small gathering, but instead found hundreds of women chattering and excitement festering in the air. just because her post got a thousand or so likes, didn’t mean she assumed so many would turn up. she turned back to mao, whom she’d brought for support and evidently needed, and winced. “i don’t know how we’re gonna do this.”
mao laughed, pulling out a small megaphone— where the fuck did she even get that from?— from her bag and cleared her throat: “everyone! thank you for coming. we didn’t expect such a turnout, so i kindly ask all of our contestants to step forward and the audience to gather together so this can be fun for all of us!”
aya’s eye twitched, pulling the girl in by the arm, “i don’t know what i’d do without you.” she murmured shakily, watching as eight women stepped forward amidst the small crowd. “they are literally here because of you. be cool.” mao muttered back, pushing the megaphone into her chest and smiling at the women politely.
most of them had most definitely taken her tweet seriously; with one of them holding a ridiculously large sized iced matcha, another with an overflowing carabiner and the pink haired woman couldn’t resist a laugh escaping her lips seeing them act up for the crowd. however one of them, at the very end farthest from aya stood far more awkwardly than the rest.
her slender fingers covered in rings messed with her short black hair nervously, flexing the band of stars inked on her arm like a beacon to aya. and unlike the rest, she didn’t have anything gimmick-y to help her stand out. a set of keys on a carabiner sat on her hip, the black tank and jeans she wore clearly just an every day outfit for the other. from afar, aya really couldn’t understand why she was stood with the rest of the contestants. the sound of mao clearing her throat tore her gaze away.
“when you’re done oogling, you should go one by one to introduce each of them to the crowd so they can get an idea of who to vote for.” her friend suggested, watching as she nodded with a wicked grin. “this is gonna be so much fun!”
the midday summer sun beat down harshly on the lively park, aya could feel her short bangs beginning to stick uncomfortably on her forehead. one of the contestants had presented her with an in iced oat vanilla latte as a bartering gift, another had read her an excerpt from rupi kaur’s ‘milk and honey’ while the pink haired woman squealed in embarrassment. her cheeks were beginning to hurt from how much she was smiling and giggling, slapping mao on the shoulder when the other yelled obscene things or instigated them.
finally, after being twirled around and sung an awful rendition of red wine supernova did aya reach the woman at the end of the row. the megaphone felt heavy in her hand, the other lifting to smooth down her baby tee. “hi, what’s your name?” she asked, extending the megaphone to the other to answer into.
“um— it’s, it’s mitsuki.” she stammered, wincing at the croak in her voice. the poor raven looked lost amidst all of the overeager and excited women. aya couldn’t resist the corners of her lips turning upward. “mitsuki, well. it’s lovely to meet you.”
the other woman stared at her a little owlishly, looking around at the expectant gazes before murmuring between them, “i really don’t know why i’m here, but my friend narita thought it would be funny to throw me in,”
aya bit her bottom lip, stifling a giggle. mitsuki huffed out an embarrassed laugh of her own, arm lifting to scratch her neck awkwardly when aya was struck with an idea.
“oh my!” her lips gasped against the megaphone, hand outstretching to grasp the other’s arm to show off the tattoo she had noticed earlier. “what an attractive tattoo, mitsuki~ is this to show off your muscles?” she jested, shooting the other with a look of go with it as mitsuki cleared her throat, standing a little taller and flexing her rather lean— but not muscly by any means— arm. “of course, i can hang at least three people off them.” she grinned, blushing fiercely as the small crowd laughed and cheered.
“and what’s your favourite thing to do on the weekends?”
“well, um, i work at my uncle’s record store, so i get to collect a lot of rare and vintage cds and records which is cool.” a coo from the crowd, aya’s eyes grew slightly wide. she guessed the crowd had taken her answer for satire, but the glint in her eye told her she was genuine. she smiled, lifting the mega phone to hum thoughtfully. “how interesting, well thank you mitsuki.” she replied, giggling as the raven nodded a little stiffly, dark eyes soft around the corners and aya could feel a blush creep up her neck steadily.
mao announced that the winners would be selected by the crowd by whoever got the loudest cheers, and aya was sure she’d wake up with a sore jaw the next morning with how much she laughed at the excited cheers for each contestant. even when it got to mitsuki who had enticed the crowd severely less than the other women, the raven received an equally loud cheer much to her embarrassment.
in the end, mitsuki came at a staggering third, while the large carabiner and passionate poetry reading contestants came second and first. someone announced that a nearby gay bar was offering discounted drinks for the affair, and slowly but surely the park trickled into a few friends remaining.
“but then— oh, aya.” mao interrupted her story to nod behind the pink haired woman, who turned around with a slight jolt in her chest seeing mitsuki standing there bashfully. she wasn’t sure when mao moved away, but assumed it was when the other woman begun talking, “um, well, i just wanted to thank you. for helping me not embarrass myself entirely up there.”
aya laughed, pink curls moving with her. “don’t be silly! it was a bit overwhelming, i didn’t think that many people would come, honestly.”
a beat. mitsuki shoved her ringed fingers in her pockets. “so i’ll maybe see you around?”
aya’s heart thrummed, pointing her index finger to her pink lips in feigned thought. “hm, maybe.”
something swirled in the air as they stared at each other with crinkled eyes, shy smiles adorning both their lips. just as she turned to wave goodbye to the other and go back over to mao, the brush of fingertips against her own brought her attention back to the raven who was staring at her with a terribly shy glint in her dark eyes. “um, i just— you said in your tweet to bring our phone numbers and, i’m not sure if anyone else has already given you theirs but i wanted to make sure you have mine— if you want it, of course.”
the sound of far away laughter absorbed aya’s stunned silence. she hoped the other couldn’t see how her fingers were trembling. “i— yeah, sure.” she breathed out, watching as mitsuki copied the digits into her phone.
the raven let out a breath, shoulders slouching a little in clear relief. she smiled widely, beginning to walk backwards to where her friend was waiting for her too. “bye, aya~” she murmured before walking away to the edge of the park.
and if aya went to the bar and treated herself to a few extra shots than normal, danced with mao until close and squealed in her bed when she stumbled through the door— that was no one’s business but hers. even when the buzz of a text coming through interrupted her much needed sleep the next morning.
aya - 3:48am
so when do i get to come and see your vinyl collection and admire your pretty face up close !!!!!! :3
mitsuki - 11:24am
i’m in the shop until five today :)
and have coffee on hand, in case you’re feeling a little fragile today
for no particular reason