Chapter Text
There it was again. Marinette’s hand was suddenly grabbing her own and she was being dragged through the park towards a group of Marinette’s schoolfriends. It wasn’t that Kagami minded the second part. Social interactions weren’t easy for her, but she felt like she was slowly getting the hang of it. So, if nothing else, should she find during the upcoming conversation that she would rather be somewhere else, she could at least still consider this practice.
No, the issue unfortunately lay with Marinette or rather her touch. Starting in her hand Kagami could feel a prickling sensation slowly creep through her body the longer the other girl held her hand. At first, it was rather unobtrusive, like very light insects crawling carefully from her hand up her arm. Negligible really, if you were aware of the actual absence of insects. By the time the feeling reached her shoulder, her hand started to feel as if someone was stabbing it with needles or the tip of a very sharp knife. Except it lacked the feeling of pain. Kagami always found it quite difficult to find the proper words to describe the way this felt. The discomfort and perception of tiny staps was there. The pain was missing. Like a reminder of the fact, that there was no physical reason for the sensation. Just her close friend holding her hand.
Still, usually the Japanese girl would have no problem with taking back her own hand and discouraging the person touching her from ever doing so again. Not that there were many people keen on touching her. Certainly not her mother. If Kagami had to think back, then Marinette was the first person in many years to do so.
And yet, when they reached the other students and her friend finally dropped her hand, she found she missed the contact. The comfortable warmth that so much more slowly started to force its way into her body. The softness of Marinette’s hand, only interrupted by the rougher feeling of callouses on the girl’s hand, if Kagami had to guess, gained by her years of designing and stitching clothes. The gentle pressure of Marinette’s hand holding onto hers.
And this was the crux of the issue wasn’t it. Kagami was a direct person. If she didn’t want something, she would make it clear. Marinette was a kind person, if Kagami was to explain her discomfort, then she would certainly back off. Even if Marinette might struggle with it at the beginning, come up with an overcomplicated plan to accommodate Kagami, which would then in some dramatic and absurd way backfire, just so the younger girl could find an equally absurd way to fix everything in the end with an apologetic look on her face. By now she had gotten quite used to her friends often times well intentioned but most of the time over the top chaos.
It was just, Kagami could not decide whether she hated the touch or not. Marinette tended to be very touchy. With all her friends and often even casual acquaintances. Handholding, hugs, an arm draped over someone’s shoulders and other forms of physical contact were all very common occurrences around the half-chinese girl.
Kagami in general did not enjoy hugs. And yet when the other joyfully threw her arms around Kagami’s neck or waist and pressed their bodies close together, she found she could not entirely mind the invasion of personal space. The feeling of Marinette’s muscles - and Marinette was surprisingly strong and muscular; Kagami had taken more time than she should have to get used to that fact – flexing against her own body not as unwelcome as Kagami used to expect. The sensation of Marinette’s pliant body moulding against her own uncharacteristically pleasant.
Kagami had known Marinette for a while now and the problem had been persisting for almost as long since the start of their actual friendship. And yet she had not found a solution. She did not know how to talk too her friend about this. She did not want her to misunderstand, and she barely knew how to express her ambivalent emotions to herself let alone to another person and least of all the person she might actually hurt, if she didn’t convey herself properly.
The girl wished she had someone to talk about this, but all her friends here in Paris also happened to be Marinette’s, so they were of the table. She could not discuss this with her mother, who barley tolerated that she spends her precious time on something as useless as friends and would surely shut down any conversation involving them and Kagami’s feeling or problems around them. If anything, Tomoe Tsurugi might see it as confirmation that her daughter shouldn’t be having any friends.
“…Kagami?” A hand on her shoulder ripped her from her from her thoughts. Marinette was looking at her from the side with a curious expression on her face. Her friend’s striking, blue eyes fully focused on the Japanese girl.
She cleared her throat. “My apologies, I was distracted and must have missed parts of the conversation.” The entire conversation, but she didn’t have to say that part.
The other girl’s pinkish soft lips curve into a small smile and she dropped her hand. As before Kagami distinctly felt the loss of physical contact.
“Me and the girl were planning a sleepover. Do you have time on Friday?” Technically no, Kagami had to train her fencing, and yet the hopeful look of the younger girl changed the words to “I will have to speak with my mother. You know, how busy my schedule is” before a refusal could get past her lips. Her mother wouldn’t be happy, that was for sure.
Though she found es hard to regret that particular decision when Marinette immediately squealed excitedly and threw arms around Kagami’s neck in a hug, that left her hanging off the older girl more than standing on her own two feet.
On cue her skin started to prickle where she could feel their bodies touching. All the while her nostrils where invaded by smell of freshly baked pastries and the scent of what Kagami could only describe as an alive body but wasn’t able to break down in any more distinct components.
The fencer found herself inhaling deeply and deepening the hug before she could properly process the contact. Marinette’s body fashioning itself against her own. The pricks were transforming into tiny cuts and still she could not quite bring herself to regret her subconscious act when her shoulders involuntarily relaxed beneath the other’s arm and a comfortable warmth started to slowly spread through her being. Maybe if they stayed like this long enough the touch would stop being so painful or the baker’s daughter would stop feeling so enticing.
She did not get the time to test this, as Marinette started to partly pull away after only a few short seconds – as always full of movement - leaving Kagami feeling just a little bit colder. The other girl’s arm was left draped over the fencer’s shoulders and their sides stayed pressed together.
“Great. So, you will text me, as soon as you know, what your mother says?” Kagami nodded compliant. Satisfied her friend detached herself fully and went back to discussing further details with the rest of the group.
Kagami kept herself from participating. Too busy with her own problem and thoughts on how she could convince her mother that a sleepover was a good and productive use of her time.