Work Text:
#1
The first time it happens, Aya tries not to dwell too much on it.
They’re all squeezed onto a bench outside, despite the cold. Narita is discussing his prom plans and the dress code with Mao. Chizuru is to Aya’s right, scrolling through her phone, and every so often, she tilts it to the side to reveal a cute seal video.
She’s currently showing Aya a video where a seal rolls onto its stomach, flattening a plushie of itself when Aya feels a light tapping against her shoe, causing her to look up to where Mitsuki is opposite her. If Aya concentrates hard enough, she can just about hear the bass escaping through her earbuds. The tapping against her shoe continues, and Aya realises fondly that it's in time with the music. Mitsuki is reading something on her phone but glances up and raises an eyebrow when Aya taps her shoe back.
A pleased smile takes over Aya’s face when she gestures at her own ear and Mitsuki passes her an earbud without hesitation. Aya’s eyebrows raise in recognition when she realises this is the song she sent Mitsuki last night. The dark-haired girl must notice as a small, shy smile appears on her face, a gentle blush following. Though the pink could just be from the sting of the cold air, Aya’s brain counters.
At the reminder of the winter air, Aya’s lips begin to sting, and she reaches for her bag and searches for her newly bought lip balm. It’s strawberry-flavoured and leaves a pink tint in its wake; it’s slowly becoming her favourite, second to her cherry one, of course.
When she finally finds it, she grabs a pocket mirror too and lifts the tube to her lips, she hears Narita ask Mitsuki if she could help out with the prom’s playlist. After he was put in charge, prom quickly became his favourite topic to discuss during lunch – many of which are now spent with him brainstorming ideas.
Though she’ll never admit it, Aya finds Narita’s excitement contagious. They haven’t really discussed the specific details, but she assumes they’ll go as a small group. She tries to ignore the small part of her that wishes for something a little more romantic, a little more intimate . She also tries to ignore who she pictures standing next to her.
Narita is met with a silence that has Aya looking up from where she began to apply the lip balm, curious as to why Mitsuki didn’t begin excitedly listing off songs she thinks would be perfect. Aya jumps a little, startled to see the girl in question zoned out with her eyes focused intently on Aya’s face. The lower half of her face. Her lips. To be specific.
Her own bottom lip is caught between her teeth like she’s deep in thought. At a harsh shake of her shoulder, courtesy of Narita, Mitsuki’s eyes snap wide open and shoot up to connect with Aya’s. A deep red flush overtakes her face, and Aya assumes it's from being caught zoned out after being asked a question.
“Sorry,” she stutters out, “what was that?”
Narita laughs at her and mutters something under his breath that Aya misses, but Mitsuki doesn’t if the way her blush deepens indicates anything, and then repeats his question.
Aya goes back to applying the balm and tries not to feel weird about how Mitsuki seems to avoid looking in her direction for the rest of lunch. She also tries not to feel hurt when she realises Mitsuki pulled her foot away; somehow, without the slight touch, Aya feels colder.
#2
It’s the first week of December, and the girls are walking to the CD store. Mitsuki talks about the mass amounts of tinsel and fairy lights Joe has bought to decorate the store with. Aya is chuckling, entertained by the scandalised way Mitsuki’s voice raises when she exclaims, “Ten! Ten boxes of tinsel!”. Arms waving around, Mitsuki turns to face Aya when she asks, “Who needs that much?”. She begins to recall Kanna’s reaction, and Aya watches, captivated by the way Mitsuki’s lips curl up the edges, smiling through each word.
Aya subconsciously shoves her hands deeper into the pockets of her jacket after a particularly harsh gust of wind and wishes she remembered her gloves.
She's trying to remember where she left them last – on her bed? Her desk? – when she realises Mitsuki’s paused mid-sentence. Aya raises an eyebrow, questioning the sudden silence. Mitsuki studies her for a second, and Aya feels a little warm under her eyes but tries not to squirm. The taller girl must eventually come to some sort of conclusion because she stops staring and abruptly takes off her hoodie (Aya’s eyes do not linger on the way her shirt rides up a little bit, thank you) and just holds it out.
Mitsuki must notice her confusion because she just shrugs, nodding towards Aya’s pocketed hands, and says, “You have goosebumps.” Like it’s nothing. Like that doesn’t have Aya’s heart beating a few seconds quicker at the thought of Mitsuki paying that close attention to her, despite being so engrossed in the story she was telling.
She gently shakes the hoodie when Aya still doesn’t reach out to take it, which Aya definitely doesn’t find endearing… because that would be weird.
Aya’s gaze shifts between the hoodie and Mitsuki for a few more seconds, and she eventually takes it into her hands. She hopes Mitsuki mistakes her trembling for being cold and not as a result of being under the focus of her attention.
Once she’s pulled the hoodie over her head, God, it even smells like Mitsuki, Aya looks up to ask if she’s ready to continue walking. She finds that Mitsuki is staring at her again, eyes focused on the hoodie, and Aya watches as a gentle pink slowly starts to colour Mitsuki’s cheeks. She’s just about to ask if Mitsuki’s getting cold herself and wants the hoodie returned, though she does feel a little reluctant to give it back, when Mitsuki shakes her head and continues walking towards the store.
Mitsuki begins discussing song ideas for Narita’s prom playlist, and Aya nods along as she reaches for her bag and pulls out her strawberry lip balm.
When she saw it at the store, she was mainly excited about growing her collection of fruit-flavoured lip balms. However, for the past few weeks, the December air has been drying out her lips more than usual, so it’s been getting more use than she had anticipated.
She’s thinking about what other flavours she could get (peach, maybe mango) when she realises how quiet it’s gotten again. She lowers the lip balm from her mouth and looks over to where Mitsuki is frozen.
The slight blush from before has deepened, and her lips have parted slightly. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth gently and Aya feels her heart stutter at the action.
Slowly, Aya clicks the lid back onto the lip balm and watches how Mitsuki’s eyes follow the sound.
“Koga-san?”
Mitsuki jumps and her gaze snaps back to Aya at the sound of her name. “Sorry! I was just..” she looks away for a second, “reading what it said..?” Her answer is phrased more like a question.
Aya’s confusion must be evident on her face as Mitsuki just swallows, looks at the lip balm held in Aya’s hand and then gestures at it.
It takes Aya a few seconds to actually realise what Mitsuki is referring to, but once she does, she smiles and holds it out. “ Oh! Yeah, it's my new lip balm; it's strawberry-flavoured!”
Mitsuki mumbles something under her breath that sounds like “Strawberry” before she nods once, then twice and smiles, “That's cool.”
The taller girl twists one of her rings as she turns to continue walking towards the store, checking behind her to make sure that Aya is following.
As she catches up, Aya notes the pink tips of Mitsuki’s ears but brushes it off as being a result of the biting winter air.
Once they finally reach the store, Mitsuki holds the door open for Aya, and the shorter girl can’t help but feel like she missed something.
#3
The door opens to reveal a rain-soaked Mitsuki. She’s shivering and has wrapped her arms around her waist – no umbrella in sight. Aya holds back her eye roll. She struggles to meet Mitsuki’s eyes due to the smudged raindrops from her obvious (failed) attempts to clear her lenses. She stands to the side, allowing Mitsuki to come inside, and the dark-haired girl shoots her a smile in lieu of a thank you.
Aya closes the door to prevent any more warm air from escaping and watches as Mitsuki lifts her jumper to reach her dry shirt underneath, another attempt to dry her glasses. She checks them once over and, with a quiet hum, places them back on her face.
Her hair is up and Aya watches the water droplets fall from the ends, enamoured by how some curve around the edge of Mitsuki’s face. She’s distracted, watching one travel from Mitsuki’s eyelashes down her cheek and follow the path down to her upper lip when she realises she’s staring.
Aya takes a step back and averts her gaze. “My room’s this way.” She turns and heads for the stairs.
“Yeah, I remember.” Aya can hear her smile when she says it, and there's something about Mitsuki remembering the way to her room despite only having been there once before that has Aya feeling warm inside.
They reach Aya’s bedroom, and Aya steps to the side to let Mitsuki pass again, but this time, when Mitsuki goes to smile at her to say thanks, she pauses, her eyes lingering on the hoodie. Aya glances down, wondering if there's something on her and her heart stops when she realises what made Mitsuki pause. Fuck.
“Uh.”
She isn’t wearing it on purpose; she woke up cold and spotted a hoodie folded neatly over her desk chair and just grabbed it without a second glance. It's not like she forgot she had the hoodie; it’s been sitting in her room for the past week, just taunting her. Her mother must’ve mistaken it for dirty laundry and, after washing it, left it on her chair.
Aya looks back up to where Mitsuki is still just staring at the hoodie. She never asked for it back , Aya thinks. Maybe she’s been waiting for me to mention it?
Aya feels her face warm as she asks, “Do you want this back?”
Mitsuki’s gaze lingers on the hoodie for a few seconds longer, eyes tracing the print, and then she finally glances back up at Aya.
“No, it's fine, you can keep it.”
“Are you sure–”
“–Yeah–”
“–I don’t wanna keep it if–”
“–Really, I don’t mind–”
“–It has been a while, though and–”
“–It looks good on you!”
Mitsuki’s entire face goes deep red, and she attempts to force out five different apologies at once. Aya can’t catch a single one. She hears a mix of “Oh my gods” and “I’m so sorrys” and she hears a part of Mitsuki’s panicked voice stuttering out “I didn’t mean to say that”. Aya just stands there frozen on the spot; she feels like she’s on fire.
Eventually, Mitsuki settles on, “I didn’t mean to just say that! Sorry! It’s not that you look bad - you never look bad! ” She somehow goes redder after that and holds a shaking hand to her face, pausing to catch her breath. Aya’s grateful that Mitsuki’s hair is up because it means she can see the way that her ears begin to flush too. Her fingers twitch at her side with an urge to reach out and brush the few stray hairs escaping behind Mitsuki’s ears just so there’s nothing hiding them. “It looks warm! That’s all! It's cold, and it looks like it's keeping you warm, so you can keep it. That’s what I meant by good. Practical.”
She refuses to meet Aya’s eyes, but Aya just slowly nods her head anyway, trying to catch up with the last two minutes. She’s trying to think of a response to, well, all that , but she can’t think of what to say besides an awkward Thank you? so she just settles on,
“Should we go in my room?”
Mitsuki looks relieved to move on from the conversation and turns to continue walking inside.
–
They were twenty minutes into their study session ( yes, session, Narita. Not date.) when Aya asked what song Mitsuki was humming. They are, or well, Mitsuki is, now into a ten-minute rant about the latest band she’s discovered. Aya takes note of the sparkle in Mitsuki’s eyes when she starts talking about the meaning behind her favourite song of theirs, and the way her hands fly around the room, gesturing wildly.
Mitsuki has started to discuss the individual band members when Aya reaches for her bag to grab her strawberry lip balm. She nods, listening intently, as she lifts the tube to her lips and gently runs it across her bottom lip. Her gaze is focused on her forgotten notebook, but she doesn’t miss the way Mitsuki’s voice begins to quiet and then trails off.
“And the drummer…?” Aya prompts as she lifts her head to meet Mitsuki’s gaze, assuming she lost her train of thought.
Once again, she finds Mitsuki’s gaze already glued to her face. Her eyes, once again, focused downwards.
“Koga-san?”
Mitsuki jumps and quickly averts her gaze. A deep red flush starts to crawl up her neck and continues until it touches the very tip of her ears. She blushes so easily , Aya thinks. She rushes out an apology, something about losing her thought, and then suggests they get back to work.
Aya feels a little spark of disappointment at not getting to hear Mitsuki’s excited ramblings, but it's gone as quickly as it appeared and replaced with fondness as a concentrated furrow appears between her brows and her tongue pokes out slightly to the side – Mitsuki’s focused face.
Aya tries but fails to ignore the way Mitsuki routinely glances up at her and quickly down at her lips before looking away again.
–
They end up getting distracted again when Aya suggests they listen to music to help ‘motivate’ them; they spend the next hour laying on the floor, elbows touching, watching music videos.
As they begin to tidy up, before Mitsuki leaves, Aya remembers she left the lip balm discarded on the table. When she reaches to pick it up, she notices how Mitsuki follows the movement.
#4
Aya thinks she’s worked it out.
She’s not sure how she didn’t notice it before.
Mitsuki obviously wants to use the lip balm.
She's been thinking about the last three incidents (as she calls them) and has decided that the only reasonable answer is that Mitsuki wants to use it but is, for some reason, too nervous to ask.
Aya tries to ignore the sting she feels at the thought of Mitsuki not being comfortable enough to ask. She knows things have been slightly off between them since the whole viral video and Hime thing, and a part of her wonders if they’ll ever go back to the way they were – easy conversations, comfortable silences and a shared understanding of how the other feels from just a quick glance.
But anyways, Aya has a plan.
They’re both currently seated in the small cafe ten minutes from the CD store; halfway through Mitsuki’s shift, Joe gave them some money and told them to treat themselves to hot chocolate. Aya doesn’t think she was supposed to notice the way Joe nudged Mitsuki and winked at her while shoving them out the door.
Mitsuki has some whipped cream on her nose, and Aya has to refrain from reaching out and wiping it away. Instead, she attempts to catch Mitsuki’s eyes and points at her own nose, her cheeks dimpling when a bashful smile makes its way onto Mitsuki’s face as she wipes it away herself. She’s been quiet since they sat down, which isn’t that unnatural for the taller girl, but the way she keeps avoiding Aya’s eyes and is playing with her rings, a nervous habit of hers , tells Aya something is plaguing her mind. She doesn’t want to push, however, so chooses to wait until Mitsuki decides to say something. Plus, Aya has a theory to test.
Aya hopes she's convincing when she places her mug down and lets out a sigh. She counts it as successful as it manages to catch the attention of Mitsuki, who draws her eyes away from where she's begun to pick at her nail polish and instead directs them towards the shorter girl.
“The mug,” Aya explains when Mitsuki tilts her head in confusion, “took off my lip balm.” She gestures down and watches as Mitsuki’s eyes follow the path to where the rim of the white mug has a slight pink stain in the shape of her lips.
So, her plan might be a little strange, but she needed an excuse to use her lip balm, okay? She wasn’t going to just ask if Mitsuki wanted to use it out of nowhere.
Aya misses the way Mitsuki’s lips part slightly at the sight as she reaches into her bag for the strawberry lip balm. She uncaps the lid, and at the sound of it, Mitsuki’s head shoots up, and her eyes lock onto the source of the noise. As if it almost offended her somehow. Aya stifles a snort at her dog-like behaviour and brings it to her lips.
This has to be it , Aya thinks as she notes the way Mitsuki’s eyes follow the movement. The way the lip balm drags across Aya’s lips, leaving a pink tint. Mitsuki’s own lips are slightly cracked from the winter air, not that Aya’s been staring at them or anything, so she must want to ease the sting.
“Do you-“
“ Will you go to prom with me? ”
The question is rushed out so fast that it takes Aya a second to realise each individual word, and she’s convinced she must have misheard something.
“ What did you say? ”
“No, no, sorry you first!”
Aya stares at the girl in front of her, mouth slightly agape and face bright red if the way she can feel her cheeks burning is any indication. Her hand holding the lip balm is frozen mid-air and for a moment, she forgets about the plan entirely.
“You.” She starts but then pauses. Is she dreaming right now? Is this actually happening?
Aya swallows, her throat suddenly dry. “You want to go to prom with me?” God, she feels like her heart is trying to escape through her chest.
Mitsuki blinks a few times and then nods. She seems equally shocked, like she didn’t expect herself to blurt that out. “If you’d want to, of course.”
If? If ?
Aya can’t imagine a world where there’s a possibility of her saying no. Of her turning down the girl in front of her. The girl who is currently blushing head to toe, hands trembling slightly and looks like she could throw up any second. Aya should probably answer her.
“I would, I really, really would.”
A breathless laugh escapes Mitsuki’s throat; relieved she asks, “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Aya can’t help but laugh slightly too, adrenaline and pure joy rushing through her veins.
Mitsuki seems to remember something, though, as an embarrassed look crosses her face. “You were saying something, before I interrupted you. What was it?”
Aya laughs again at the way she completely forgot what she was doing before, despite it only being a few moments ago. “I was going to ask if you wanted to use my lip balm.” She holds said item out towards Mitsuki.
Mitsuki, instead of taking it, frowns slightly and tilts her head to the side.
“I noticed you’re always looking at my lip balm?” Aya continues. “I assumed you wanted to use it too.”
Instantly, Mitsuki is blushing again, a red so fast and so deep Aya wonders if she might pass out. She starts shaking her head fervently.
“No.” The words sound like they’re being dragged out of her throat. “I don’t actually like lip balm on myself.” She can’t seem to look at Aya again, finding the splintering table much more interesting.
This catches Aya off guard; she didn’t even consider the possibility that maybe her theory was wrong. But then, if Mitsuki didn’t want to use her lip balm… why was she always staring at her lips when she used it?
Oh, she thinks.
Oh.
#5
Okay. Aya thinks she has definitely figured it out now.
But, she thought that last time, so she wants to be sure this time around.
It might be a little mean, but she has a new plan.
—
The girls are both in Mitsuki’s room, preparing the final details of their prom outfits. Mitsuki is in a black suit complemented with a red tie to match Aya’s dress, which itself is decorated in a dark red floral pattern.
Mitsuki is sitting on the edge of her bed, eyes fixed on the wall as Aya threads the final part of her tie. Aya tries to ignore the shuddering breath Mitsuki lets out as she allows her hands to drift down the length of the tie, straightening it out.
“There,” she tries to calm her racing heart, “you look smart now.” She gives Mitsuki a teasing smile.
Mitsuki drags her eyes away from the wall and looks towards the mirror, studying her own reflection. She watches as Mitsuki mirrors Aya’s previous hand movements and gently trails her own ringed hands down the tie.
“Thank you,” she finds Aya’s eyes in the mirror and directs a smile her way. “Is there anything else we need to do?”
“I still need to paint my nails to match my dress,” Aya wiggles her fingers in front of her while speaking. Mitsuki’s smile grows at the silly gesture, and Aya feels her heart skip a beat at the warmth in it.
She reaches for her bag and takes out the red nail polish, taking a seat at Mitsuki’s desk.
They sit in a comfortable silence as Aya paints her nails, the only sound being the CD she brought over and Mitsuki tapping her foot along to the beat.
As she places the final coat on her pinky finger, Aya feigns an annoyed sound to gain Mitsuki’s attention. It works, and the dark-haired girl comes walking over.
“Are you okay?” Her head tilts to the side, and she examines Aya’s nails, most likely searching for a smudge or chip.
Aya sighs dramatically, playing up the theatrics as she answers, “Yeah, it’s just, my lips are super sore”. She knows it’s a flimsy excuse, but she hopes it works anyway. “And the only thing that would help is using my lip balm but my nails are wet... so I can’t.”
A pause, and then, “Oh…is there anything I can do?”
Bingo
“Do you think you could put it on for me?”
Aya bites down her smile as she listens to Mitsuki sputter and trip over her words. Instead of waiting for an answer, she tilts her head in the direction of her bag: “It’s inside.”
Mitsuki stares at her for a moment, but eventually turns around to sort through her bag. She returns with the lip balm in hand, or well, in shaking hands. Again, Aya tries to hide her obvious enjoyment of Mitsuki’s suffering. There is no way she was wrong this time.
Aya turns to the side so she can face Mitsuki better and tilts her chin up. She hears Mitsuki inhale sharply, and listens as she uncaps the tube. Then suddenly there’s a shaking hand on her cheek. She can feel the contrast of Mitsuki’s cold rings against her quickly warming face.
She did not think this through.
The taller girl steps a little closer, between Aya’s legs, and Aya tries to keep a steady breath as she watches Mitsuki’s other hand slowly get closer and closer.
Aya closes her eyes just as the lip balm touches her bottom lip. She feels Mitsuki gently drag it back and forth, then feels the hand cupping her cheek slowly slide down her face; tilting her head back slightly for a better angle to her upper lip. Her thumb is positioned just below Aya’s bottom lip and her fingers curled under Aya’s chin.
Aya slowly begins to reopen her eyes and is met with Mitsuki’s flushed and concentrated face only centimetres from her own. Her eyes are focused solely on Aya’s lips and the tip of her tongue is poking out from between the corner of her lips. Aya shuts her eyes again instantly.
She hopes Mitsuki is too focused on the lip balm to notice the blush Aya can feel herself sporting. Her hands are shaking where they’re folded in her lap and she’s trying to pretend that she can’t feel how Mitsuki’s thumb has moved to slowly stroke her jaw.
After what feels like hours, Mitsuki lifts the lip balm away from Aya’s lips. Her other hand, though, remains gently holding Aya’s face. Her voice is hushed and shaking as she mumbles, “Done.”
Aya once again blinks her eyes open and finds Mitsuki still just as close as before.
Their eyes meet, and they hold each other’s gaze for a few seconds, uninterrupted, until Aya notices Mitsuki’s eyes start to drop to her lips. She’s biting her own like she’s holding herself back from asking something, and Aya is just about to ask what she’s thinking when a shout from Mitsuki’s uncle shocks them both.
Mitsuki jumps back and Aya tries not to mourn the lack of space between them. “We should probably leave if we don’t want to be late.” The evident disappointment in her tone makes Aya feel less alone.
With a final glance at her lips, Mitsuki passes Aya the lip balm and goes to grab their bags.
Aya stares down at the lip balm in her hand and can feel the warmth Mitsuki’s hand against her face left behind.
+1
They’re back in Mitsuki’s room, laying side by side on the floor, Aya’s phone beside them, quietly playing Just What I Needed by The Cars.
I don’t mind you comin’ here,
Wastin’ all my time
They had arrived at prom arm in arm with matching blushes and were met with instant teasing from their friends. They all spent the entire night dancing and laughing – Aya’s mascara is slightly smudged around the corners from where she began to cry at how Narita tripped while giving a speech from the stage.
Aya remembers Mitsuki’s bashful smile when he announced she picked the music and breaks out in her own smile at the memory. She also remembers how Mitsuki’s eyes kept drifting to her lips the entire night.
After earlier, Aya is certain Mitsuki wants to kiss her. The whole point of her new plan was to prove this. But, now she isn’t sure how to bring it up; asking feels too awkward, and, God , what if she's actually wrong about this too?
She tilts her head to the side and watches as Mitsuki gently bobs her head along to the music with her eyes closed. She’s smiling contently to herself, and her arms are lying beside her; if Aya were to stretch her pinky out, they’d touch.
Aya quietly studies her; her eyelashes resting gently against her cheeks; the mole below her left eye; the curve of her nose. Her eyes reach Mitsuki’s lips and she wonders, just briefly, what it would be like to press her own against them.
Just because Mitsuki asked her to prom, she thinks, doesn’t mean she wants to kiss her too. Maybe she misunderstood the lip balm thing, the staring, maybe they were just strange coincidences with no real meaning behind them.
Mitsuki is her closest friend; Aya feels most like herself when in the company of the taller girl, and she finds that they understand each other in a way no one else has ever been able to. Being with her feels like coming home. The last thing Aya wants is to risk everything they have because she let her feelings get in the way. But, God , does she want.
She drags her gaze back up Mitsuki’s face and almost jumps when she sees two grey eyes staring back at her.
I don’t mind you hangin’ out,
And talkin’ in your sleep
Neither look away for a few seconds, caught in each other’s gaze. Aya wonders how long Mitsuki has had her eyes open. Nervous from being caught staring and being watched herself, Aya feels her mouth start to dry and subconsciously licks at her lips. She freezes when Mitsuki’s eyes dart down to follow the movement.
Mitsuki’s eyes linger on her lips before slowly meeting Aya’s eyes again, and Aya can’t remember how to breathe. Have they gotten closer? Mitsuki’s face is blurring slightly around the edges.
It feels like years pass between the seconds they maintain eye contact and Aya wishes she could know what the other girl is thinking. She feels her fingers twitch by her side, aching to reach out. Mitsuki’s eyes are framed by long, dark lashes, and Aya realises she could spend eternity looking at her.
Something grazes her pinky ever so gently and Aya looks down to find unsure fingers reaching out. She can hear her heartbeat in her ears as she shifts her hand slightly so their fingers are intertwined completely.
Aya lets herself get momentarily distracted by how perfectly their fingers slot together before she drags her eyes back up to Mitsuki’s face.
She once again finds herself thinking about how close they are, how easy it would be to lean in and close the gap. Her mind tries to remind her of what she could lose, but then Mitsuki’s thumb begins to gently rub the back of her hand and her eyes drop to Aya’s mouth for the hundredth time and Aya thinks Fuck it , and leans the rest of the way in before she can doubt herself.
The doubt, however, starts to set in quickly when a few seconds have passed, and Mitsuki is frozen in her spot. She hasn’t pulled back, but she also hasn’t moved. Panicking, and ready to offer every apology under the sun, Aya begins to pull away but she’s quickly stopped by Mitsuki’s hand tightening around her wrist and pulling her forward, allowing their lips to reconnect.
‘Cause when you’re standin’ oh so near,
I kinda lose my mind, yeah
Aya feels her heart trying to jump out of her throat, and she tries to will it to calm down since she’d rather their first kiss didn’t end because she quite literally coughed up her heart.
Just as she imagined, Mitsuki’s lips are slightly rough from where they’ve cracked due to the cold air. She lets out a quiet hum and Aya thinks she's found her new favourite song.
The kiss itself is gentle and only lasts a few seconds; both too nervous to deepen it into anything more.
They pull away slightly, still close enough that their foreheads touch and Aya opens her eyes again to see Mitsuki’s small, shy smile directed at her – always at her , she thinks.
She feels her face begin to warm when she notices the slight pink shine to Mitsuki’s lips – the lip balm . Mitsuki, of course, notices her staring and feeling self-conscious, licks at her lips.
Aya can see the moment realisation dawns on her; her face goes a deep red.
“Strawberry?” She can hear the smile in her own voice.
Mitsuki drops her head onto Aya’s shoulder and nods twice. Strawberry.
So I was right , Aya thinks giddily.
Cool, calm Mitsuki flustered and repeatedly distracted by a single tube of lip balm. The thought of it makes her laugh, which causes Mitsuki to nudge her shoulder slightly in retaliation; it only fuels Aya’s laughter.
She thinks back to all the times she caught Mitsuki staring and thinks of all the ways she can tease her now that her theory is confirmed.
From where they’re laying so close, Aya can feel Mitsuki’s heartbeat, and she focuses on matching the rhythm; she finds it isn’t so hard.
The teasing can wait, Aya thinks, for now she’s content to just lay here – fitted together like a complete puzzle.
You’re just what I needed,
You’re just what I needed.