Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Which one of us do you think could lift the other higher?”

Maya almost spat out her drink.

“ That’s what you’ve been thinking about?”

“Yeah.” Masuki cocked her head. “That a problem?” Her natural scowl almost made that seem threatening, but Maya knew she’d never mean it as such. She was about as menacing as a teddy bear.

“No, it’s just-- you looked so deep in thought! For like, five minutes! I thought you were contemplating something!”

“I was. I was contemplating which one of us could lift the other higher.”

Maya raised an eyebrow, and-- “ Huhehe! ” failed to contain an embarrassing laugh. Masuki grinned. “Alright, alright,” Maya continued, “I’m gonna say it’s probably you. Like, you’re bigger, you work out more, seems reasonable you’d have the advantage.”

“Fair point,” Masuki said, “but I’d say mine’s more of an athletic build, not really built for lifting, whereas you…” she poked Maya’s bicep and hummed appreciatively, bringing a blush to her girlfriend’s face.

 “W-w-well, even so!” Maya stammered, “I-I just lift equipment all day! Like, amps and stuff! I’m pretty sure that’s different to lifting a girl…”

“Hmm.” Masuki nodded sagely. “Wanna find out?”

“ What!? ” Maya’s blush returned in full force, just as it had begun to fade.

“I mean, we can sit here chattin’ the hypotheticals all day, or we can actually test this out.” Masuki stood and stretched, beckoning for Maya to do the same. “Come on.”

Slowly, awkwardly, Maya stood, and immediately found herself swept up in Masuki’s arms.

“WAAH!” It was surprising, but… warm. Comfortable even, once she got used to it. She didn’t have much time to relax, though.

“Hmm.” Masuki strained her arms, and Maya clung on for dear life as Masuki attempted to lift her overhead, but it soon became apparent that her efforts were for naught. “Damn,” she muttered as she let Maya down, “guess that’s all I got.”

Maya breathed deeply once she got back onto the ground, casting bewildered glances at Masuki. How was she still so calm!?

“So, are you gonna…?”

“One… sec…” Maya gasped. She took a few more deep breaths and stood up straight, steeling herself for her task. “Alright. Alright. Come on.” She leaned around Masuki, attempting to wrap her arms around her back and legs. It was, she soon found, much harder than her girlfriend had made it look. “How did you--?”

“Practice.”

“ Hmm… ” Maya grumbled playfully, and Masuki chuckled. “Here!” She finally managed to get into a good position, and hefted Masuki up into the air, noting, with a hint of triumph, a faint dusting of red on her cheeks. Finally . “See?” Maya said, doing her best to hide her smugness, “This isn’t that high at all.”

“Guess not,” Masuki conceded, “but it’s high enough.” She pulled herself closer to Maya, pressed their lips together, and Maya had to try very very hard not to drop her and it was very very difficult but, she had no doubt, entirely worth it.

Maya put her down once they broke off the kiss, and at least this time Masuki seemed a little out of breath as well.

“So, was all this just so…”

“...So we could make out while you princess carried me? Yeah, kinda.” Masuki admitted, without a hint of shame, it seemed.

“You could have just asked…” Maya sighed affectionately.

“Maya, if I’d just asked you up-front, ‘hey babe, wanna pick me up so we can make out?,’ would have done it? Actually, scratch that - would you have survived? ”

“...Probably not.” Maya admitted. Her face was still warm. She felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders, and lips pressing against the top of her head.

“Love you.”

“Love you too.” Maya said, resting her head against Masuki’s chest. She was warm, comfortable, even when Maya’s feet were on the ground. She liked it better down here, she decided.

...Although, the alternative had its advantages too…

“Hey, babe?” Maya echoed, looking up at Masuki.

“Yeah?”

“Want me to lift you up so we can make out?”

Her cheeks flushed red, and her grip on Maya tightened a little. Maya giggled. “That,” Masuki poked Maya’s forehead, “is unfair.”

…

“...But yes.”

Chapter Text

Bzzt-bzzt.

Bzzt-bzzt.

Bzzt-bzzt.

Beep.

“Tsugumi-san?”

“Sayo-san!” Tsugumi sounded rather on edge at the other end of the call. “It’s an emergency! Defcon one!”

“Def-- what?”

“Or defcon five! Whichever one the bad one is! I can’t remember!”

“I-- no, yes, I understood that part, just… what’s going on?”

“It’s Yukina-san!” Tsugumi murmured breathlessly, a hint of panic in her voice. “She’s… in the kitchen! ”

The icy chill of fear swept through Sayo’s veins. Her hand tightened around the phone.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

* * *

“What’s she doing?” Sayo asked, peering stealthily (she hoped) around the kitchen doorframe.

“I don’t know!” Tsugumi hissed in an awkward compromise between a subtle whisper and a panicked yell. “She told me she wasn’t doing anything, but she’s been in there for hours now!”

“She doesn’t seem to be doing anything.” Sayo hummed contemplatively as she eyed their girlfriend, standing completely still in the middle of the kitchen, back turned. She seemed to be checking her phone, and Sayo could just about hear her humming something - Neo-Aspect , she soon recognised.

“She was looking through all the cupboards earlier.”

“Are any of the cats in there?”

Tsugumi shook her head. “Nope. All accounted for.”

“I see.” Sayo nodded, withdrawing from the kitchen to face Tsugumi once more. “This is concerning. You were right to summon me home.”

Tsugumi shifted awkwardly on her feet. “I, I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust her, or anything, it’s just…”

“She has a track record.”

“...Yeah.” she nodded, with that adorable determined frown that Sayo couldn’t help but smile upon seeing. “You have to get to the bottom of this, Sayo-san. You’re the only person she respects.”

“I’m… certain she respects you as well, Tsugumi-san. She is dating the both of us, after all.”

“Then why won’t she tell me what’s going on?” Tsugumi pouted. Sayo took a step closer, ran a rough hand through her hair, kissed her on the forehead. “Minato-san can be… difficult , sometimes, but she always has her reasons. I’ll talk to her.”

* * *

“Minato-san.”

At the sound of her name, Yukina pocketed her phone and calmly turned to face her girlfriend. “Ah, Sayo. Excellent. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“You have? I’m sorry, I must have missed your text…”

She shook her head. “I sent no text. I knew you would arrive home eventually.”

“I…” Sayo pinched the bridge of her nose. “So you’ve just been standing in the kitchen all day waiting for me to come home?”

“Yes.”

Sayo had to fight back a smile, trying her hardest to stay in serious mode despite her girlfriend’s strange yet still somehow oddly sweet behaviour. “Why?”

“I had no other plans today, and this room is the relevant one to what plan I do have. Ergo, there is no reason for me to leave this room.”

“I… guess that makes sense…?” There was an undeniable logic to Yukina’s words, Sayo supposed, even if her conclusion was one that no rational human would ever arrive at. “So… what exactly is your plan, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Yukina nodded in acknowledgement before explaining. “I’ve noticed Tsugumi seems to have been working rather diligently at the café of late. Since this is her first day off in a while, I thought we should perhaps do something for her. Lisa and Mitake-san both suggested a cake, and also suggested that I have you assist me.”

“So why didn’t you text me?”

“We have all the necessary ingredients, and it would not have hastened the matter any. I still would have had to await your return.” She cocked her head slightly. “Although you do seem to have returned home earlier than anticipated. Why is this?”

“...Don’t worry about it. Now, about this plan. I would very much like to assist, but first, let me make sure that Tsugumi-san doesn’t interrupt us. It would be a shame if she found out about this prematurely, after all.”

“Of course.” Yukina nodded.

Sayo turned to leave, but was stopped by a small hand grabbing hers.

“Minato-san?”

Yukina lifted Sayo’s hand and kissed it, gently, sending a warm flush of red to Sayo’s cheeks. She smiled at last.

“Now you may leave.”

* * *

Sayo quickly rejoined Tsugumi right outside the kitchen.

“I assume you heard, ah. All of that.”

“Mm-hm!” Tsugumi nodded, a goofy smile on her blushing face.

“Ah… are you smiling about the cake, or the, ah… other thing?”

Tsugumi giggled in a way that somehow made Sayo’s heart melt and accelerate simultaneously, but didn’t answer. Both , Sayo deciphered.

“ Ahem. Well, as I was saying, we can’t have you finding out about the cake we’re secretly making you, so…”

“Oh, of course.” Tsugumi nodded in faux-serious agreement. “I’ll go do some--”

“You’ll go relax .” Sayo interjected firmly. “Watch some…” she searched her mind for the name of an anime, “...anime.”

Tsugumi looked up at her, and for a moment Sayo was terrified that she’d done something wrong, that she’d pushed too far, but then she smiled, and all Sayo’s fears were instantly put at ease.

“Okay. Relax.” she echoed, and she took Sayo’s hand, lifted it to her lips, and kissed. “And now you may leave.” she said, and dashed off down the hall, giggling as she went.

“Hey! You can’t both-- I’m not even the one leaving!”

“Sayo?” Yukina poked her head out of the kitchen door, her hair now tied up in a somewhat rough ponytail. “Is something the matter?”

Sayo cleared her throat, quickly composing herself. “Of course not, Minato-san. Have you gathered the ingredients.”

“Of course. That reminds me. Something Lisa told me to say to you.” She raised a bag of baking soda. “With this, our cake shall rise to the top.”

A long, heavy silence blanketed the hall. Yukina’s eyes bored into Sayo’s, as deathly serious as ever.

“pffffffffffffffffftHAHA!” Sayo eventually snorted with laughter, and Yukina smiled with satisfaction.

“Excellent. Shall we get to work, then?”

“ha… Yes. Yes, right away.”

“For the good of Tsugumi.”

“Indeed.” Sayo smiled. “For the good of Tsugumi-san.”

Chapter Text

Sunlight danced over the water of Colony 6's one pond, defiantly beaming over the settlement's colossal walls. Little waves lapped at the freshly-built wooden edges of the Nopon housing area, and even though Misaki knew the architects must have done their homework, that the structure was perfectly sound, she couldn't help but worry. Worrying about nothing could get annoying at times, but it had saved her life on more than a few occasions, too.

Maybe she should talk to the architects.

She shifted her position awkwardly - the still-undeveloped rocky outcrop overlooking the pond was hardly the most comfortable place to sit, but it was quiet and peaceful, so she found herself there more often than not anyway.

“Misaki.”

Misaki turned her head at the soft, familiar voice, and found Kanon much closer than she was expecting. She hid her surprise with a quiet, practiced “huh” and a slight raising of her eyebrows - she didn’t really need to hide her emotions around Kanon, she knew, but better to keep in practice anyway. After all, a Gogol that knows you’re intimidated is a much tougher foe than a Gogol that doesn’t. That’s what she’d told Kanon back when they were first getting to know each other, at least, and the memory of her laugh still brought a blush to Misaki’s face if she wasn’t careful.

Judging by the way Kanon was smiling, she wasn’t being careful.

“Are you okay?” Kanon asked, taking a seat beside her. Misaki moved her sword out of the way a little, not that it had really been in the way in the first place, but it still seemed like the polite thing to do.

“Yeah. Just thinking about some stuff.” She drew some idle patterns in the dirt with her finger, not bothering to look at the results. “Haven’t had a proper job in a while.”

“Well, you’ve been helping to reconstruct the colony…”

“Yeah, I know, but… I wanna get back on the road, y’know? Coming back here, meeting you…” she let her hand slide over to Kanon’s, “...it’s been great, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But… I dunno. Just not cut out for the quiet life, I guess.”

Kanon turned her hand over, brushed a thumb over the back of Misaki’s. “So… you’ll be leaving once the reconstruction’s finished, then…?”

Misaki squeezed Kanon’s hand, swallowed nothing. Had to bring it up sooner or later, might as well be now…

“Well, I, uh.” She swallowed again, words jamming together in her throat. “I was thinking, you could maybe, ah… come with me?”

“Huh!?”

“I, I mean, it’s just! You wanted to see all over Bionis, right? That, ah, why you moved out here… isn’t it…?”

Kanon’s surprise soon settled into a smile, framed by sky blue hair that almost seemed to fade into the clear sky behind it - an unusual colour, even for a half-High Entia. Her little head-wings settled into a more relaxed state, and Misaki let herself smile a little. She’d spent hours watching those wings when she thought Kanon wasn’t looking, committing to memory all the different ways they twitched and fluttered with changes in Kanon’s mood. She wasn’t sure how useful this knowledge was, given how obviously Kanon’s feelings showed in her expressions, but somehow knowing these little things about Kanon made her feel… secure , somehow. Or perhaps that wasn’t quite the right word. She’d find it, given time.

“I… yeah…” Kanon stammered, gazing down at the water below. “That’d be nice, I think…” On hearing the words, Misaki breathed a sigh of relief, resting her head on Kanon’s shoulder. She could feel one of Kanon’s wings brushing softly against the back of her head.

For a moment, all was peaceful.

For a moment.

“...Kanon?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you hear som--”

WHUMP

“ Gyah! ”

“Misaki Misaki Misaki Misaki Misakiiiiiii!”

Misaki turned to see the little ball of bright yellow feathers that had just thrown herself into her back, chirping her name over and over excitedly.

“Ah, Kokoro…” Despite the mildly painful introduction, Misaki couldn’t help smiling at the sight of the endlessly energetic little Nopon.

“Kokoro bring big news! News for adventure!”

“Hagumi too! Hagumi too!” A smaller, orange-feathered Nopon came running up behind - Hagumi, right by Kokoro’s side as ever. Misaki stood, and offered a hand to help Kanon up. Her head-wings fluttered slightly for a little extra boost as she rose. Adorable.

“Teacherpon say explorers find new kind of monster nearby! Big, pink, fluffy monster!”

“Hagumi want to make friends with new monster!”

“Kokoro too! We all make new monster friend!” She backflipped onto Hagumi’s head and flapped her wings, lifting them both into the air.

“Uh… I…”

“That sounds like quite the adventure!” Kanon giggled, placing a hand on Misaki’s shoulder. “What do you think, Misaki? Should we go?”

“Well, ah…” she looked into Kanon’s affectionate purple eyes, and at Kokoro and Hagumi’s hopeful faces. “I guess it’d probably be fine…”

“Halt!” A new voice, deep and commanding - a tall, handsome woman, blade at her hip, striding out of the residential district towards them. “Do my brave kittens seek to venture out on a quest without myself at their side?”

“I mean, we probably would’ve come to get you first Kaoru…”

“Ah, fret not, my dear Misaki! Any perceived slight is already forgotten, I assure you. Now!” she turned to Hagumi, “Where can this friendly beast be found, my kitten?”

“Sky Stage!”

Kaoru paused.

And began to walk away.

“I wish you the best of luck on your endeavours, my friends! May fortune shine upon you!”

“Nope.” Misaki grabbed her sleeve. “You already volunteered. You’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”

“Ah…”

“Besides, I’d feel a lot better about this with your blade at my side.”

The fire instantly returned to Kaoru’s eyes. “Ah! Well, who am I to turn down the need of a comrade-in-arms? Come, my friends! Preparations must be made, for adventure awaits!” She marched on, head held high, Kokoro and Hagumi bustling along after, chattering away.

“Hagumi be heropon!”

“Kokoro be heropon too!”

“We all be heropon!”

“Yeah! All be heropon!”

Soon, their speech died away, fading into the muffled chatter of the colony’s crowds, leaving Misaki and Kanon alone once more.

“Quite the adventure…” Misaki echoed. Kanon giggled.

“The first step.”

Misaki sheathed her sword, and took Kanon’s hand.

“You sure you wanna come with?”

“Yeah.”

“Might be dangerous.”

“I know. But I’ll be fine, as long as you’re here to protect me.”

Misaki could feel the heat in her cheeks rising again. “That’s not…”

Kanon laughed, and Misaki fell slightly more in love with her, as usual. “Come on! Back to adventure…”

“Dunno that I’d call it adventure, but…”

Kanon squeezed her hand tighter. “Together, this time.”

Misaki looked down at their joined hands, and up, at Kanon’s beautiful, smiling face, and she squeeze back.

“Yeah. Together.”