Shenanigans (Katarina x Lux)

artist

Mid lane was her territory. She thrived in it, loved how easy it was to reach top or bottom and carve up fresh flesh with her knives. So long as she was careful, nothing could stop her.

Nothing, except for a surprise bind. As rings of bright light shimmering rainbow descended upon her torso and bound her arms to her side, she inwardly cursed her carelessness. Of course five seconds after her ward went down, someone would hide in the brush. If only she’d backed off a little and returned to base. Such a rookie mistake. A mistake she would not have made had she been under her own control. She sent a wave of displeasure at her summoner through their mind link before she realized something strange. Something off.

Her summoner wasn’t there. Add to the fact that the bind had not worn off yet, and she was starting to sweat a little.

“Katarina, caught you~” she heard, and she looked up to see the one and only person who had such annoying binds. Luxanna Crownguard. Her lips curled in disgust.

“Lux,” she spat out. “What do you want? What’s going on?” Though she was putting on a tough face, she understood that her position was completely at the mercy of the shining blonde girl, and thus she had held back on the scathing insults she normally would have hurled.

Lux smiled, and leaned down. “You don’t need to worry, Miss Katarina. I’ll treat you gently, even as a prisoner.”

A what. A prisoner? A kidnapping? Right in the midst of a League match? Such a move she would expect from Noxus, but from the prim and proper Demacia? Her surprise must have shown, for Lux cupped her chin with a delicate hand and tilted her head up. Katarina did not resist.

“Aw, what’s with the wide eyes? You’ll be fine,” Lux cooed.

Shit. A furious heat spread across her cheeks, and she knew she blushing. She couldn’t help it though. Lux’s beautiful features were hovering extremely close, and she could do nothing but focus on the clear blue eyes and fair skin the Lady of Luminosity possessed. But why? Had she been deprived of intimacy for so long that she was attracted to... to this child of all people?

Katarina swallowed and desperately tried to look elsewhere. A flash in a nearby brush caught her attention and, confused, she squinted in hopes of discerning the shapes she saw shaking in the tall grass. Was that... No. Oh, come on. Really? Cassiopeia and Fiora were just sitting there, watching them, not fighting or helping their respective teammates? And were they... Damn it. Yes. They were. They were giggling. Laughing amongst themselves.

A prick of fury shot through her forehead, and she turned her attention back to Lux and sneered. “Alright, joke’s over. Let me go, and we can forget this ever happened,” she growled, beginning to struggle against her bonds.

“Who said this was a joke?” Lux grinned.

“What. I’m not blind. I see my sister and your fencer laughing their asses off in the grass. How much did they pay you to do this?” Katarina huffed. “To go to the trouble of interrupting a match, even.”

“Like I told you, this isn’t a joke.”

The next thing Katarina knew, she was being hoisted over Lux’s shoulder (she never realized how strong the girl was) like a sack of potatoes and getting nothing but the curve of Lux’s back and a very flattering close up of Lux’s behind. Well, she thought, at least the journey wouldn’t be boring if this was the view.

She sighed.

…

“Five dollars says they’ll be holding hands everywhere by next week,” Fiora laughed.

“Ten dollars says she won’t even be able to move by next week,” Cass cackled.

They shook hands.

“Fine, deal.”

“A pleasure doing business with you.”

You Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingling (Ahri x LeBlanc)

original

This was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Completely, undoubtedly, unquestionably silly and unreasonable. Yet, here she was, dressed up in santa red, white fur fringes tickling her skin, cloak whipping in the winter wind and body sprinkled with flakes of snow.

Oh, but LeBlanc would never concede to defeat. This was the end of her loss and the start of her victory. So what if her team had been composed of utter imbeciles? She had won her lane against that damn fox, but because the bet had been made on the terms of winning the match...

She supposed it was her own fault for even agreeing to it in the first place. In her defense, the fox had made herself a permanent nuisance in every way possible until she had agreed. And had then rigged the teams in her favor. LeBlanc knew deception when she saw it.

"Oh, LeBlanc, you're here!"

Immediately, she was thrown backwards as what appeared to be cleavage collided with her face. However, having been prepared for the familiar shenanigan, she dispelled the clone and watched as Ahri ate a faceful of snow.

Never one to be put down by LeBlanc's refusal to cooperate, Ahri jumped right back up, face framed by enough snow to give her white eyebrows and a small white beard. Her nine tails wagged behind her back, and LeBlanc couldn't have pictured a stranger version of Santa Claus than the one standing in front of her. The antlers didn’t help.

"Wow, you actually wore it! I didn't think you would." Ahri gave her a toothy grin, whipping her head around like a wet dog to get rid of the snow. Her own cheerfully festive outfit was hopelessly coated by white, despite her efforts.

"You won," LeBlanc started, making her way over to the fox and swaying her hips with extra emphasis along the way, and watched as Ahri followed her every move with hungry eyes.

Reaching a delicate hand out, she traced a single finger down the curve of the fox's collarbone and up her throat and then her chin, drinking in the shivers and shakes she elicited. Without missing a beat, she drew in very, very close, and watched as Ahri closed her eyes in anticipation. She closed her own in response. With only mere millimeters remaining between their lips, she blew one hot breath across the fox's lips before abruptly pulling away.

The next thing Ahri knew, LeBlanc's red santa cloak was lying at her feet, and LeBlanc herself was several yards away and looking over her shoulder in the most seductive pose she had ever laid her eyes on, one hand on her hip, one leg slightly lifted to draw attention to her thigh and in turn her behind popped up in the most wondrous way... She had laid her eyes on quite a few sexy poses in her lifetime, though never quite like this.

"But see if you ever get any of this for the next few months," LeBlanc finished, and then she was gone.

Ahri blinked.

And blinked again.

Somewhere nearby, Ashe and Katarina were enjoying a walk amongst the pine trees when, all of a sudden, they heard a very, very distressed and frustrated scream that sent the birds flying for the sky.

“...What?” the redhead asked, one eyebrow raised as she watched the birds go. As she curiously stopped, Ashe tugged on her hand and pulled her forward impatiently.

“Just ignore it,” the queen answered. “Trust me, you’re better off forgetting you ever heard that. Let’s go.”

Homecoming (Nao x Reika)

original

“She’s coming soon, Reika, relax!” Akane beamed, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. She clapped the blue-haired girl on the back and sent her stumbling forward, much to her ire and nerves.

“I know, but I can’t help it,” Reika mumbled under her breath, regaining her footing. Brushing invisible specks of dust off of her uniform, she stood up a little straighter and held her head high. Her eyes darted around. “She’ll be here soon. Yes.”

“Akane’s right. Her flight just got in and she’ll be out here in no time,” Miyuki nodded. Akane caught her eye, and the two girls smiled brightly at one another. From the side, Yayoi edged into their circle and placed a placating hand on Reika’s shoulder, shyly giving a smile of her own.

“One month goes by quickly, but not quick enough,” Yayoi spoke, “right?”

“Yes,” Reika admitted. Her eyes did a sweep of the exit terminal again. Unbeknownst to her, her three friends were all giving each other mischievous, knowing glances.

“One month for a soccer training camp, and you’re already this clingy,” Akane gasped. “What are you going to do when Nao gets a boyfriend?” The hook did the trick, and Reika sank right for the bait.

“A boyfriend?” she hissed indignantly. “There’s a boy? She was seeing a boy?”

“No, no, you misunderstand. What are you going to do when she does get a boyfriend? Meaning in the future, not now,” Akane hastily corrected herself.

“Oh, well.” Reika flushed and refused to meet her friends’ eyes. “Ahem. I won’t do anything. Her romantic affairs are her own business.”

“Sure, sure,” Akane continued. “I’ll let her know that she has your approval then.”

“What?” Reika shrieked. “So there is a boy?”

“Akane, I really think you should stop now,” Miyuki whispered, nudging her friend’s side forcefully with her elbow. Yayoi nodded along with the advice.

“Hold on,” Akane whispered back, not moving her mouth. Turning back to the near panicked Reika, she held her hands up in surrender and grinned, her eyes darting over Reika’s shoulder and seeing familiar green hair. “If I told you there was a boy, what would you do?”

“I would-”

“What’s this about a boy?” a newcomer spoke up.

Eyes going impossibly wide, Reika whipped her head around and gasped at the sight that greeted her. Smiling brightly, eyes twinkling with amusement, her stature a little taller than the last time she saw her, was Nao, real, solid, and actually there, standing right in front of her.

She could have cried.

“Nao,” she mouthed, voice lost in the dizzying excitement upon seeing Nao. Nao in the flesh. Nao.

“Reika,” Nao greeted. “Hi.”

“Are you serious, a ‘hi’ is all she gets?” Akane muttered, ignored and forgotten along with everyone else. She watched as Nao bent down and scooped Reika into a bone-crushing hug, their faces mere inches apart, their expression intense. Then the raging passion faded just as quickly, and their eyes closed, the tension leaving them with a calm certainty. “Oh, that’s more like it,” Akane grinned and watched as their lips headed for a collision course.

“You think they realize other people are watching?”

“Nope. Noooope.”

Bleed Out (Nao x Reika)

original

“Nao!”

The scream tore through the air, piercing and heart-wrenching. Or rather, more accurately, as blood tore through flesh and inspired desperation. The thought caused a morbid, amused chuckle to escape through her dry lips, and she leaned against the wall of the school building and slid down to the ground, legs finally giving out.

“Nao! No!”

No, she wanted to say in return. I should be saying no. Don’t scream for me. It’s not that bad. But her lungs were tired, her mind was fading, and words could not escape from her throat.

“No. No. No. No–”

A trembling form disturbed the dirt between her legs, and the sound reached her ears and her eyes weakly fluttered open. She took in wide blue eyes, panicked, pained, wild with fear, and only managed to summon energy from some deep unknown abyss inside herself once she saw the tears.

Her jaw fell open, and she croaked, “It’s okay.” Dragging her arm up from her side, she laid a bloody hand on Reika’s cheek and gently brushed a few blue locks back behind delicate ears. “It’s okay. Shh.”

“It’s not,” Reika sobbed. She clutched Nao’s green vest, so familiar and so alien, alien because she had never seen it stained with red. Raw emotion pulsing through her veins, pupils shrunk so deeply in fear, she cried, “How can anything be okay when you’re hurt like this?”

“Everything is okay as long as you’re safe, Reika,” Nao smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She wanted to put on a brave face, but god, her wounds hurt like hell and the blood was beginning to cake in her hair and down her forehead. Playing the martyr was supposed to be the epitome of being a hero, but it really, really sucked when it came right down to it.

“But how can I be okay when you’re not?” Reika whimpered. Warm wetness seeped through the green vest and dirtied her hands and sleeves, and the weight of finality set in her stomach. Too much blood had been lost. No one was around. There was no time. “How will I ever be able to be okay?” she whispered, and she stared deeply into Nao’s rapidly fading gaze.

“As long as you’re alive,” Nao wheezed out, her eyes open but nearly seeing nothing now, “you can learn to be okay. As long as you’re alive, fight. The others... should...”

“I understand.” Her forehead brushed against green bangs, and her eyes narrowed. “I understand, but I don’t think I can ever be okay without you.”

Her thumb caressed the skin under Reika’s eyes, and she spent the next few moments committing Reika’s beautiful visage, stricken as it was, to her mind. When she went out, she wanted to go out with love instead of pain. And so she asked, “Can you promise me one thing, then?”

Nodding, Reika fought to keep her lips from shaking.

“At least try for your chance at happiness,” Nao gasped out. “Just try.”

Their gazes locked, but Nao could not see anymore. Heart breaking, she let her tears fall, comforted that Nao couldn’t see her lose to her pain. With no strength left, she said, “I promise.”

Her hand fell to the ground with a quiet, final thud and stilled.

So...

Instead of my scheduled oneshot today as part of the ACP project, I wrote just a general oneshot for Ymir and Krista from Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan).

You can read it here.

Thank you!

Future Gazer (Mikoto x Kuroko)

original

Technology was amazing, Mikoto decided. Amazing and wondrous. Nevermind the fact that her status as electromaster of the city was given to her through technology. Nevermind the fact that many of her problems and such were caused by technology. Nevermind the fact that technology had nearly killed her and all her precious friends so many times.

Because, she thought warmly, because in the end technology had helped her create the tiny bundle of life that lay in Kuroko’s arms, squirming and opening and closing her mouth in silent phrases punctuated by soft breathing.

“She’s so... so...” Mikoto whispered, struggling for words. The familiar desire to articulate the squirming of excitement in her chest resurfaced through the mature facade she had learned to keep on. So unbearable was her desire that Kuroko looked up from the baby in her arms and gave Mikoto a knowing look.

“You can go ahead and say what you want to say, Mikoto,” she giggled. Mikoto shuddered at the way Kuroko said her name, unaccustomed still to the intimate form of address they shared with one another, and decided, to hell with it. She could revert to her middle-school self once more, if only for a few moments.

“She’s so cute!” she squealed. “She’s so adorable and beautiful and I can’t believe she’s ours...” Her voice trailed off into reverential silence, and she regarded the sight of her beloved and their child in the warm morning sunlight.

“A month has passed and yet you still have not lost your bubbling excitement,” Kuroko laughed lightly to herself. “But that is one aspect of many that I love about you, Onee-sama,” she jokingly continued. The jab at their past reawakened a can of memories she had stored away, and the electromaster swallowed nervously.

“I love everything about you too, Kuroko.” She looked directly at peach-colored eyes and recalled, with burning intensity, the many amount of years she had spent denying the endless love that had been thrown her way constantly and devotedly. But they were not ready then. Neither of them were. Herself too naive and innocent, Kuroko too obsessed and uncontrollable.

However, the child cooing and waving her small arms around in Kuroko’s arms caught her attention once more, and she struggled to tone down the wide smile that stretched from cheek to cheek on her face. Her hand reached out to touch the baby, but the baby swatted her finger and began to squirm even more intensely. Mikoto frowned in mock hurt.

“Now now, Mikoto, she’s just hungry and your finger is hardly an appropriate meal for our growing child,” Kuroko smirked. “Shall we head to the kitchen?”

Mikoto leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Kuroko’s lips before pulling away and nodding her agreement.

Closer (Konoka x Setsuna)

original

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

“Hmm?” Setsuna responded absent-mindedly, blinking herself out of her stupor. She’d never relaxed to such an extent before, had never stopped and sat down in the grass to look at the blue, blue sky and the white airy clouds and let her guard down for an afternoon and... reveled in the feeling of peace and safety she felt. There had never been a day such as this one.

“I said, ‘This is nice.’ You look happy,” Konoka giggled, tilting her head back against Setsuna’s chest. A shy smile twitched at Setsuna’s lips as she looked down at Konoka’s beaming hazel eyes, a warm and powerful thrum of emotion spreading throughout her chest as she did so.

“That’s because I am,” Setsuna quietly responded. Shifting her hands in the grass, she leaned forward and dipped her head gently on top of Konoka’s, breathing in the scent of the girl’s shampoo. Familiar and comforting, her shoulders almost seemed to ache at the absence of tension in the wake of such utter bliss.

“That’s good,” Konoka hummed. Without really thinking, her hands reached behind her ear and grasped the red tie that adorned Setsuna’s uniform. Her fingers playfully teased the soft material before a sudden thought struck her brilliant mind, and then her lips curved dangerously upward. Setsuna, caught up in listening to the birds chirp and the wind slowly rustle through the grass and leaves of a nearby tree, was therefore completely unprepared for the sudden tug at her collar that sent her neck bending down to be level with Konoka’s mischievously shining eyes.

“Wha-”

“Shh,” Konoka breathed hotly. Her lips pressed gently against the strong curve of her protector’s jaw and trailed down to the tight muscle of neck, leaving Setsuna breathless and stunned. When she separated from the contact of skin, her mouth hung there, barely open to let out burning puffs of air that caressed Setsuna’s flesh and made her eyes flash dangerously with want.

“Konoka,” Setsuna choked out. “Konoka.”

“Yes?” Konoka huskily exhaled.

“You shouldn’t do that,” came the reply, but the reprimand was extremely half-hearted and weak. They both knew she really shouldn’t do things like that, but they were both so tired of holding back, being kept in check by rules they didn’t really care anymore for. The war was over. The world was changing, expanding, adapting, and thus their burdens were temporarily on hold, and with them, the invisible wall preventing affection had dissipated. If only for a little while, the wall was gone. Setsuna swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I think I can decide what I should and shouldn’t do for myself, Secchan,” Konoka countered, lips brushing against the twitching underside of Setsuna’s throat. She smiled when Setsuna swallowed thickly once more and struggled to control her breathing, if the convulsing in her chest and well-toned muscle was anything to go by. Feeling rather hot and bothered herself, Konoka pressed herself more thoroughly into Setsuna’s front, wanting, needing to feel the body writhe against her back or, even better, her front. But she didn’t dare turn around. That was too far. Far too far.

“Then do as you please, Konochan,” Setsuna sighed in mock defeat. Shaking her head, she grinned wryly into Konoka’s hair and closed her eyes. “Please.”

Don't Go (Nao x Reika)

original

“I’m sorry,” she hoarsely whispered, hot tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Refusing to let them fall, she clenched her jaw tight and squeezed her eyes shut, tilted her head down and breathed in deeply, took in the comforting smell of her friend and shuddered at the familiarity with which she recognized it.

“Nao.”

She swallowed. Reika never used honorifics with her name, and for a brief, horrifying moment, she thought she would hear one added on. Pause. Silence. Nothing. Comforting nothingness, and yet disturbing as well. “Yes?”

“You should let go,” Reika softly suggested. Nao only squeezed her arms tighter around the blue-haired girl, fidgeting with the tension in the muscle as she brought herself close but never touching her friend’s back. Too intimate. Entirely too intimate that way.

“Why?” she asked instead of obeying. Reika shifted slightly in an attempt to dislodge herself from Nao’s grip, but Nao was the athletic powerhouse, and Nao was the one who won the fight for physical dominance. Her embrace was iron. Unyielding, trapping and weighing her down. Warm iron. Heat radiating off her form, flexible and lithe.

“You know why,” Reika quietly spoke. She gave up her futile attempts to leave. Escape. “This won’t end well for anyone, Nao. No one at all.”

“I don’t care.” Her voice came out childish and whiny and immature and foolish and she cursed herself for never growing up when she could have. Growing up in the ways that counted, beyond taking care of her siblings and learning household chores and dealing with monsters and villains. Growing up everywhere but where it counted. She had never outgrown her feelings. “I don’t care.”

“Don’t.” Reika sucked in a hard breath. “Nao, don’t.”

She didn’t listen. Nao leaned her head in closer and laid her forehead to rest on soft blue hair and familiarity and memories of the days where all that mattered was having fun and seeing blue eyes and wide smiles. When being with her was enough. When feelings were simple and innocent. Voice shaking, mouth trembling, she said the only thing she could. “Please,” she softly, ever so softly, whispered.

Reika said nothing. Only heard the sound of Nao’s heart breaking behind her in the walls of hot iron.

She concentrated on keeping her own tears as silent as the ones dropping onto her neck.

Delinquent Valentine (Nanoha x Fate)

original

“Back off!” Fate growled, hands clenching into fists and shaking with fury. Her red eyes burned with pure hatred, practically set fire to the room for all of its intensity. “That’s mine. She’s mine.”

“What, you mean this?” the boy scoffed, dangling the box by a flimsy red ribbon. The contents inside shifted, and her red eyes flashed with killing intent. “Sorry, is this important? Looks like cheap chocolate to me. Bet it even tastes like shit.”

That was the tipping point. Fate lunged forward and punched the boy square in the face, but not before his lackeys returned the favor and pounded her skull from the side and knocked her into a desk, stars flying in her vision, the sound of screaming filling her ears as if she were underwater; she paid none of this any mind, only focused on catching the box before it hit the ground. She caught it.

She relaxed once the prize was in her hand and waited for the kicks and finishing blows to come. They never came. Head pounding, she opened her eyes and looked up from the floor to see pink panties peeking out from underneath a blue skirt. Childish, by any standards. “Nanoha,” she groaned. “Why pink?”

The girl froze when her name was called, her fists frozen in preparation to throw punches and defend her girlfriend. Then her face flared scarlet. “Are you peeking at my panties when we’re surrounded by a bunch of goons who want to beat you to a pulp?!” Frustration and exasperation tinted her voice, and Fate thought she sounded as lovely as she always was. Chuckling, she pushed herself off the ground and ignored the way the room swam in her vision.

“It’s okay, they won’t do anything to a girl,” she beamed. Nanoha frowned.

“You’re a girl too, you know,” she pointed out, eyes briefly flickering down at Fate’s ample chest even though it was bound.

Black jacket fluttering, chain on her pants clinking, Fate scooped Nanoha up in her arms without any obvious effort, chuckling at the small “eep!” she gave, and bore her fangs at the boys who were watching the scene with hesitance, armed with the knowledge that the last gang who tried to mess with Fate’s woman was sent to the hospital and transferred to another school out of self-preservation. “I know,” she grinned and winked. “You remind me every day.”

Nanoha had the decency to blush an even darker shade of red.

Fate walked briskly to the door and smirked to herself as the boys parted silently for her, kicking the door open with force and relishing the way that Nanoha’s hands clung to her shirt.  Without turning around, she said, “Don’t ever fuck with me or Nanoha again, you hear?”, and left.

“Language,” Nanoha scolded. “And really, did you need to go through all that just for some chocolate?”

“Only if it’s yours,” Fate smiled. “Always if it’s yours.”

Hug (Mio x Ritsu)

original here

“Hey,” Ritsu spoke up. She shifted from her position on the bed, legs dangling over the edge, back flat against her covers, eyes staring at the blank ceiling. “Mio?”

“Yes, Ritsu?” Mio inquired. She was leaned against the bed on the floor and looked up from the homework in her lap. Curious, she waited.

“Do you ever think about the future?” the drummer asked.

“Quite often,” Mio responded. “After all, once we graduate, we’ll have a lot more worries than we do now and our lives will only get busier.”

“No, I mean, beyond all that unimportant stuff,” Ritsu sighed. “You know, like... ‘Will I be happy?’ and things like that.”

“So nothing to do with getting a job, paying the bills, and living on your own?” Mio teased. Ritsu didn’t take the bait. Mio was slightly afraid that she had offended the girl before Ritsu slid down from her bed and landed next to her.

“Well, sure, I mean. Yeah, you can think about those things, but do you ever wonder if there’s more than that?” Ritsu insisted. “It seems really boring if that’s all there is waiting for us.”

Mio’s dark eyebrows scrunched together in concern. “Of course there’s more than that,” she told her. “You’ll still have your drumming, your friends and tea and cake. None of that will change if you don't want it to. You might even have a husband and a few kids–”

“But that’s not what I want!” Ritsu growled, suddenly snapping her neck to gaze fiercely at the bassist. Mio flinched at the sudden motion. “That’s not what I want,” she continued, voice dropping to a soft pitch. Her amber eyes burned. “Is that what you want?”

“I-I guess,” Mio stuttered. She was confused and slightly scared at Ritsu’s behavior. What was wrong with her?

“I see.” Ritsu said this in a neutral tone and turned away. “Hey.”

“Yes, Ritsu?” Mio responded. She watched as Ritsu held her arms out and hung them there, waiting. "Ritsu?"
She leaned forward and wrapped her lanky arms tight around Mio's torso, squeezed her so hard that the bassist forgot to breathe.

"Mio." The hot breath tickled her ear. A whisper.

"Yes?" Another. Her shoulders were starting to hirt from the cut-off circulation. "Ritsu?" A more painful plead.

They sat there, tense, unmoving. Mio wondered what was going through her head. Five years ago she would have instantly known Ritsu's train of thought. Now she could only blindly guess, after the change her friend had gone through in the past few years, her ever-present silliness giving way to a more contemplative demeanor in what she thought was maturity. Now she thought it was something else entirely. Something deeper and more emotional. Troubled.

Ritsu seemed to realize what she was doing and stiffened before her arms slipped down and slid to a stop around Mio's waist, embrace turned gentle and loose. "Can we... Stay like this for a while?" she asked. And Mio heard the child she had grown up with and fought with and smiled and laughed with and cried with in that single request, and she knew that she could not deny her even if she wanted to.

"Yes," she sighed. Her gaze stared blankly at the bed. "Yes."

She sensed, rather than saw, Ritsu's eyes droop into a close, and when even breathing bathed her neck in nervous goosebumps, only then did she acknowledge the worry gnawing in her throat.

Afternoon (Nanoha x Fate)

“Fate?” Nanoha’s voice echoed around the entrance hall of the modest home. Hearing no response, she hesitantly bent over and pulled at the back of her shoe, wrenching the footwear off in a matter of seconds and followed the motion on her other foot. She clapped her hands together and squeezed her eyes shut. “Excuse me,” she muttered.

Normally, she wouldn’t trespass without permission despite the fact that Lindy had given her a key to the home and invited her to come and go as she pleased. A small amount of guilt crawled up her throat, but the desire to see her friend overtook the guilt and she let her feet lead her to the base of the stairs. She looked up then around.

The house was alight with the color of the setting sun, and a peaceful, fragile atmosphere settled over her mind. Inhaling deeply, she forced the guilt out of her mind completely and placed one foot on a wooden step, then another, until she was at the top of the stairs and a few paces away from the room that she knew very well.

She knew it far too well. She knew that when she opened the door, the room would be very neat, very bare, sparsely decorated save for a bed and a desk, a calendar on the wall and a bulletin board behind the bed that it hung on. So when her fingers curled on the doorknob and twisted, when the door opened soundlessly and smoothly, when her eyes followed the streams of golden orange light from the window to the bed, she was struck dumb by the unexpected sight of an ample chest rising and falling in deep slumber, blond hair splayed out across white sheets and arms folded underneath a relaxed head.

Fate hadn’t even changed out of her school uniform. Her brown jacket was thrown haphazardly on the chair nearby, Nanoha noted discontentedly. She walked quietly over and adjusted the jacket so that it hung neatly on the back of the chair. Her eyes sought out her sleeping friend almost instinctively, roamed reverently across the folds of her white uniform shirt, down to the crinkled skirt and back up to the beautiful face framed by her mussed hair.

Before she knew what she was doing, before she could control her impulses, she was next to the bed and leaning down, gazing at the slightly parted lips that exhaled ever so slightly with her steady breathing. Her eyes closed.

Hot breath tickled her lips.

And she moved.