Chapter Text
First and foremost- they’re friends. Best friends, in fact- Maki doesn't have much to compare it to, but she's certain that the bond they share transcends any normal friendship. One composed of tending volleyball bruises and laughing idiocy they encounter each other, the never ending exchange of drinks they have ("I owe you this time," "I have no problems with that.")
So what if Nobara sometimes catches her gaze in a way that makes Maki want to just pull her closer until there’s no more of that electric space between them? So what if Maki can’t stop thinking about Nobara’s voice in her ear? So what of the time Nobara put her head on her shoulder lives in her head? So what if - anything!
Alright. This is not friendship, she’s sure.
She groans, frustrated, slumping down so her cheek is on the warm park table. Unsanitary Mai chimes in her head. Who gives a shit?
Nobara, eating shrimp chips, sitting on the table like a dream, sends her a curious look. “Um… you okay?”
Maki’s never had many girl friends. Girls talk about their foolish infatuations, right? Right, if there's anything she’s learned from the pointless manga and shows she indulges herself in on occasion. Mostly with Nobara, comically.
“Yes, I just have a crush,” Maki says, for some reason.
Nobara’s eyes widen and she grins, leaning forward invitingly. “You do?”
Maki groans again, feeling her head lighten as some one her hair falls to the side. Why, why, why-
“Maki, Maki, Maki-” Nobara chants, ecstatic to Maki's exasperated, prodding her side. “It’s out! You said it! Now you gotta tell me who!”
“Why?”
Nobara taps her lip. “Well, we’re friends, aren’t we?”
Yes.
Maki stays quiet like the idiot she becomes when Nobara is around her. Nobara sits down next to her, humming understandably. “It’s okay, having a crush isn’t a horrible inhumane downfall-”
“I know that-”
“I’ll help you. Who is it? I can help you get with them!”
Maki dampens. She wants Nobara to want it to be her, not be excited at the idea of pairing Maki with this faceless entity she’s made up.
“I appreciate you saying them.” Maki says, instead of the curdling feeling in her gut.
“Well duh,” Nobara says, kicking her legs out and toeing a pebble. “Do I know ‘them’?”
“Yes,”
“Are they pretty?”
Maki thinks of Nobara’s smirk and liquid amber eyes, Nobara tilting her head back and cackling at a wayward comment, Nobara on her shoulder, and says “Yes,”
“Ooh,” Nobara grins, sipping on her orange soda. “Well, that eliminates half of the people we know.”
Maki snorts. “The problem isn’t about who they are,” she says, sitting up to thumb her bowl. “The problem is that I’ve had little to no romantic encounters and have like... no experience in courting.”
“Wait, really?” Nobara asks, surprised.
“When do you think I’ve had time for romance?” Maki returns.
“But you’re like- a total catch!” Nobara says, motioning up and down at Maki. “The ace of our team, the ace in your class, the hottest girl on campus- I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it.” Maki refutes, deadpan, rice on her cheek.
Nobara brushes it off, thinking deeply. “You know what, we’re gonna do this! I’m gonna help you woo the shit out of this mystery doll.”
She’s cooking up great schemes, malicious plots, while Maki is staring at her, face flushed, mouth slightly ajar. Nobara catches her gaze and tilts her head, but Maki’s gaze jerks away. “Sure, I guess.”
Nobara grins largely. “Yeah? Let’s do this then! We’re gonna get you lucky!”
Maki returns her smile tentatively, eats her rice, and wonders what she’s gotten herself into this time. Mai is going to have a cow when she hears.
Nobara can’t sleep, not with this topic on her mind. She has so many ideas, a journal full of them, but without a person in mind to aim it towards, she’s a bit lost. And Maki’s expression was so off-putting, like a child with a hand in the cookie jar. Like she had been caught.
Nobara groans and sits up, reaching for the journal. She flips her lamp on so she can scrawl notes in the margins.
Plans to get maki-senpai LAID a s/o :)
1) Gifts (Chocolate, bears, all that western crap that’s been driven into us)
2) Initiate contact (hugs, hand holding, etc)
3) Compliments (not too pushy, but well meaning!)
4) Dates (casual stuff like movies, long walks on beach, steak houses-)
And finally
5.) Confession (for real)
She smiles, pleased, and looks at her clock. Her mouth pulls back in a wince at the time and she turns the lamp off. She doesn’t sleep well, waking up throughout the stretching night to think about Maki (always Maki), during lunch, face red, seeing Maki tomorrow.
At least she falls asleep pleased, if anything.
Maki looks it over, and raises an eyebrow. “Did you mean to replicate the love languages?”
“The what?” Nobara says, pulling her sock up. Maki tosses the journal next to her, turning away. They’re getting dressed after a brutal volleyball practice, and Nobara is still in awe of the serve Maki performed, then turned to Nobara like it was nothing. She’s always done that, the most jaw-dropping stuff like it’s nothing, when it really is.
Nobara sometimes would like to punch her father, on a completely unrelated note.
“The five love languages. Words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, acts of service… touch.” Maki mutters the last one, pulling her gym shirt over her head.
Nobara grins over her shoulder at her companion, who’s bare back is all she can see. She falters at the expanse of skin, the strong shoulders, dimples in her lower back. “Wow Maki, you romantic. I didn’t even know any of that.”
“Oh whatever,” Maki says, pulling her button down on. Nobara ties her shoes, very forceful and concentrated. “Everyone knows that stuff.”
“I didn’t,” Nobara replies, sitting on the bench, waiting for Maki to finish her intricate getting dressed ritual. “Just admit you’re a catch, Maki-senpai.”
Maki rolls her eyes. “Why would I need to admit it?”
“It’s okay, we can work on that. Wanna go over the first step?”
Maki purses her lips, then nods, bangs bobbing. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
Nobara ignores the peals of tightness in her chest as Maki leans close to her on the bench, snorting at her notes in the margins. She thinks, this will be good, and ignores that acknowledgement that things might change between them if it works out with Maki and her mystery person. She wants it to work out.
Right?