Work Text:
Mafuyu’s fingers are rough, compared to the rest of her hands at the very least. Slotted between Ena’s own fingers, Ena can’t help but feel the difference as they brush against the back of her palm.
“Do you wear gloves for archery?” Ena asks, lifting her eyes from her phone to Mafuyu, who stares into the page of her notebook blankly. Mafuyu turns to her slowly, tilting her head at the sudden question, her eyes searching Ena’s for a second.
“I do.” Her eyes shift to the side, as if contemplating something. It doesn’t take long for her eyes to lock in on Ena again. “Why?”
Ena huffs a laugh as she smiles and turns back to her phone, “It’s nothing.”
Mafuyu doesn’t buy it, it’s obvious as she watches Ena. Ena can feel the eyes searching her face, her ears feeling a bit hotter at the attention. There’s a moment of silence before Mafuyu speaks up again.
“Ena, why?” She asks again, closing her notebook and pulling her hand away from Ena’s in the process. Ena turns to her, watching as she turns her own hands around, trying so hard to figure out what made Ena ask the random question.
Cute, Ena can’t help but think of how adorable Mafuyu looks. Clueless and confused. It makes her giggle. That seems to irritate Mafuyu more, her eyebrows twitching downward and her lips pressing into a line. She barely holds the face for a second before leaning closer in Ena’s direction.
“Ena.”
“Alright, stop,” Ena sighs, placing her phone on the ground, the screen still lit. “It’s just…” She brings Mafuyu’s hand up, presenting it to the girl in question. “Your fingertips are rougher than the rest of your hand.”
Mafuyu's eyes follow the motions of Ena’s hands, her hand twitching as Ena squeezes the pads of her fingers between her own. She can’t help but rub down her finger, feeling the difference between the smoothness of the rest of her hand and the tips of her fingers.
“Ya see?” Ena’s voice sounds awfully happy, having pulled back and curling up against the pyramid. Mafuyu doesn’t mind, but she can’t help the small tug in the back of her mind.
“Does it bother you?” Mafuyu asks, ignoring Ena’s question. Her gaze was still stuck on her hand, missing the funny face of adoration Ena gave her before sighing playfully.
“No, it’s fine.” She reaches a hand out to Mafuyu’s, drawing the girl's eyes back to her. “I think it adds to your character and…”
She slowly lifts Mafuyu’s hands up, both her hands coming up to cradle Mafuyu’s palm, to her face. Mafuyu feels a shiver go through her as Ena’s lips press against her fingertips, quick but there. Ena watches Mafuyu’s eyes go wide, her lips parting.
“It feels nice.”
It’s been a long day, faces having blurred into one, simple questions repeated endlessly throughout the day. The silence after arriving at Kanade's home didn’t help. Kanade barely made any noise; she didn’t like to bother people, which often resulted in Mafuyu being left alone in the guest room.
She understood why Kanade did it, but she couldn’t help but wish Kanade would ask her for something, or give her something to do for nightcord, anything to busy her mind and kill the buzz in her ears. Knowing Kanade, however, Mafuyu knew she’d rather do most of the work.
It’s why she jumps at the opportunity to meet with Ena in the SEKAI. The moment Ena sends her a message telling her she was back home, she asks almost impatiently to meet in the SEKAI. It takes Ena a second to respond, but she ultimately agrees, telling Mafuyu she’d be there in roughly ten minutes.
She rests against one of the pyramids of the SEKAI, one by the lake, and hums breathlessly to herself. She feels impatient, counting down the seconds as she waits for Ena to arrive. Her legs draw up so she can rest her arms over her knees, her eyes drifting down to the still lake. The lake never rippled unless someone disturbed it, always scarily still and silent.
She closes her eyes restlessly, her feet shifting on the grey floor. She feels the tension in her shoulder, stippling her own fingers as she thinks of Ena. She’s never really cared for time; maybe she did when she was younger and wanted to play longer, but now, as she was, it was the last thing on her mind. Yet, now she felt stressed at how slowly it was going by, her head inclining to the side as she tried to relax.
She nearly jumps from her spot on the ground when she hears the patter of feet nearby, her head jolting up and her eyes scanning the expanse of the SEKAI. Ena’s looking around, aimlessly walking around as if hoping Mafuyu would pop out on her own.
She can’t help but watch her, her phone in one hand while the other plays with the collar of the large beige sweatshirt she wears. She looks a bit tired without her makeup; nothing to hide the bags under her eyes from countless nights spent awake late.
She stands up when Ena starts heading the opposite way she was, her feet taking her to creep up behind Ena. She delights in the squeal Ena lets out when Mafuyu tugs the hem of her sweatshirt.
“Mafuyu!” Ena’s neck twists unnervingly fast to look over her shoulder, her face indignant. “What is your problem?”
“Nothing.” Mafuyu walks forward, her hand dropping to her side again. Ena sighs, crossing her arms, her eyes scanning Mafuyu. Her hand comes up to Mafuyu’s face, her palm warm against her cheek. Mafuyu unthinkingly leans into it.
“So?” Ena tilts her head as she asks, her eyebrow quirked. “What made you so impatient?”
Mafuyu feels a bit shy at being called impatient. She didn’t think she was being impatient; she just wanted to see Ena. She doesn’t think that makes her impatient. “I wasn’t impatient.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” Ena gives her an unbelieving smile. Mafuyu can’t help but drop her gaze to soft lips.
Ena’s hand drops from Mafuyu’s cheek, Mafuyu’s hand coming up to cradle Ena’s hand — maybe she was being needy. Mafuyu takes a step closer to Ena, dropping her head against Ena’s shoulder. Ena doesn’t say anything; she hums, probably raises an eyebrow, but she doesn’t push Mafuyu back. Mafuyu sighs.
She wants to be soft, she realizes as she relaxes against Ena. She wants to be able to melt with Ena, to be bare and trust her completely. The warm feeling melting her insides makes her sigh, her eyes closing to relish the feeling.
She turns Ena’s hands, her other hand coming to trail down the lines of her palms, slow and tender. She brings the hand up higher, Ena’s breath hitching. Soft, she places a soft kiss on the heel of Ena’s palm. She feels Ena’s shoulders jump as she huffs in surprise, her head jerking along.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She asks, nosing at Mafuyu’s hair, her voice shaky. She mutters after, “You’re not usually like this.”
“I’m sure.”
Maybe it’s the exhaustion that clings to her, or maybe the way Ena burrows into her side, but Mafuyu feels strangely relaxed. She felt a dull ache in her shoulders when she’d gotten home, her body finally feeling safe enough to relax.
Ena pulls her out of her thoughts when she shifts around again, the arm under Mafuyu adjusting to a different pose, the arm across her torso rising to give Ena a clear view of her phone. The hug makes Mafuyu’s stomach stir; her next breath is much easier to take.
She takes the chance to turn onto her side, lying more comfortably on the cold SEKAI ground. She’d found Ena lying on a makeshift bed with strewn pillows and blankets. Mafuyu asked why she had any of her things here when she first spotted Ena. The brunette didn’t grace her with an answer, only patting the space beside her slowly.
Mafuyu wasn’t going to try and argue with that, on her knees beside Ena in seconds. She looked more tired than usual, but not in a worrisome way. The possibility that Ena had a rough day just as she did comes to mind. Suddenly, Mafuyu understood much more clearly what Ena wanted.
That’s how she found herself here, listening to Ena’s phone play out a video while Ena herself practically melted into Mafuyu. Mafuyu doesn’t mind; she finds herself more relaxed than before, staring off into the distance, thinking of nothing at all. She’s not usually this empty-minded, but she prefers it that way, especially today.
She snaps out of whatever daze she was in when Ena’s leg brushes against hers, bare and cold. She doesn’t think much of it when she reaches out to the blanket that was shoved aside earlier and pulls it over Ena. She doesn’t think much of the way Ena pushes herself closer to Mafuyu. She doesn’t think much of the content sigh Ena lets out.
She doesn’t think there was another option than to pull Ena closer, to wrap her arms around her and feel Ena. She was soft and so warm. She hears Ena’s phone drop down to the blanket below the two of them, followed by the arms that wrapped around her, too.
“Mafuyu,” It’s muted by the fabric of Mafuyu’s clothes, but it was so close to her that Mafuyu would’ve felt it regardless. She doesn’t have the energy to respond, but she squeezes Ena tighter once before relaxing again. That seemed like an answer enough to Ena, who hummed into her clothes.
There’s a soft feeling on her shoulder, too plump to be Ena’s nose pressed against her shoulder. She pulls back, peering down at Ena, who glances up at her too. She watches as the redness spreads down Ena’s face, their eyes glued to one another’s. Ena presses another kiss to Mafuyu’s shoulder, only this time, she doesn’t seem to be able to handle Mafuyu’s stare. She watches as Ena leans closer to the crook of her neck, hiding her face from Mafuyu.
Mafuyu feels a bit breathless; she’s not sure why. She feels Ena mutter something into her skin, but it’s too quiet to tell what it really was. Mafuyu doesn’t know what it is, but she can’t help but squeeze Ena tighter, as if trying to become one with her. It feels so sickeningly delicate, she can’t help but sigh into Ena’s hair.
“Okay, Ena.”
Mafuyu couldn’t stop thinking of the shy, tentative kiss that was left on her shoulder. The shy look and red face was ingrained into her retinas. She wondered briefly if she was sick, or if there was a reason she was so set on remembering every detail of Ena’s flushed face.
She tries to forget it as she looms over Ena, watching her dig around in a bin of red paints. They’d run into each other on Ena’s way home, Mafuyu coming back from archery. Excitedly, Ena had pulled her along to a random arts and crafts store, coaxing her as she told Mafuyu they had an hour before she had to go to school.
Mafuyu went along willingly, taking the chance to talk to Ena more. To see her in person instead of the small box on Nightcord, or her media page. Mafuyu took the chance, her hand clasped in Ena’s.
Now, standing in front of the acrylic paints, she wonders what Ena was thinking. What she was thinking before she spotted Mafuyu in the crowd. She wants to ask her, to probe around and find some answers. Mafuyu knew better than that, however. She knew Ena would push her face away and mutter something about Mafuyu being nosy. She could imagine Ena’s red face, and her heart stuttered for just a second.
“Mafuyu, what do you think about these two?” Ena pokes her out of her bubble, presenting two different shades of red. “Which would look better?”
Mafuyu offers Ena a glance, tracing the curve of her eyes, before focusing on the two tubes in her hands. One was bright, demanding attention, while the other was a duller tone. Without much thought, she points to the bright tube, her eyes meeting Ena’s.
“This one.” It suits your piece, a part of your soul. It stays heavy on her tongue instead as Ena nods cheerfully and turns back to the bins. She watches her carefully. She takes note of the slope of her nose and the chub on her cheek. She takes notice of the tinge of red in Ena’s irises, at her brushed and ironed hair.
She takes a step closer, slow and methodical. She leans down slowly, careful not to make a noise, and brushes aside Ena’s hair with her nose before pressing her lips against Ena’s nape.
It was as sweet as it was startling. Ena shoves an elbow into Mafuyu’s stomach, making her double over and step back as Ena clatters against the shelf, sending a few things onto the ground. It takes a moment for Ena to understand what happened, flushing red down to her neck as she brought a hand up to her neck.
“Mafuyu!” She whispers, like a secret between the two. She takes a step to help Mafuyu stand straight. “Don’t do that in a place like this!” She scolds.
“Sorry.” It’s insincere, and Ena can tell. She doesn’t say anything either way. There’s a glare sent her way, but it doesn’t stop Mafuyu from winding her arms around Ena, pulling her closer. She ignores the shrill shriek and shoves her face into Ena’s neck.
She thought briefly, wondered for once, what it would be like to keep Ena to herself. To have her close, to keep her closer, but her stomach aches at the thought.
She understood, more than anyone else, that Ena couldn’t survive with just Mafuyu alone. The fact that she couldn’t live that way either brought the silent discomfort in her stomach to a stop.
“I’m sorry.”
Mafuyu gives the next kiss, simple and sweet. Catching the brunette the moment she decided to turn to the side, looking for her pencil. The spontaneous act made Ena freeze, her eyes fluttering as she registered the act.
It's shy, in an unusual way, slow, and calculated. Mafuyu stays for a second, her lips pressed against Ena’s cheek in a quiet way. She doesn’t pull away immediately, nor does she seem embarrassed, just shy about it.
When she pulls back, Ena gets plenty of view of her face, it’s not embarrassingly red like hers was, nor does she look as intensely emotional as Ena did. She looks resolute, her eyes sharp and focused on her. The corners of her cheeks are red, and a simple brush of the unruly hairs that framed Mafuyu’s face would’ve presented red ears that led down to the back of Mafuyu’s neck.
Her eyes shift to the side, as if she were nervously waiting for her reaction. For anything from Ena.
She wants to laugh at her, to point out the blush on her face and trail her finger down her skin while doing so, but she can’t. It would be hypocritical of her to point and laugh at Mafuyu’s timidity while she herself was still hiding. At least Mafuyu had guts; she couldn’t even bring herself to handle another kiss in general.
Ena’s mouth opens to say something, but she really can’t. Her tongue feels heavy, and she can’t come up with anything to say to Mafuyu’s face, especially the abnormally wet eyes that shimmer with something close to fondness. It doesn’t look anything like the past times, when Mafuyu’s stressed and unsure of what to do with herself. It’s not like when she’s overwhelmed with her position in time, in life.
It’s so different from what she usually gives Ena that she doesn’t know what to say or do. She can feel her cheeks get warm.
“Ena…” Mafuyu whispers, moving closer to Ena. There wasn’t any space between them to begin with, and Ena doesn’t know why she’s so hyperaware of it now. She closes her mouth, blinking her eyes a few times. Her thoughts feel too fast for her to grapple with.
“Ena…” It’s louder this time, more certain. She’s scanning Ena’s face, her eyes flitting to her lips, then back to her eyes. She was looking for something, but Ena couldn’t bother to figure it out, especially not now, her mind trying to save the look on Mafuyu’s face. “Ena…”
There’s something in the way Mafuyu says her name that tips her off, that makes her heart startle and kick into action. She can’t help but bring her arms around Mafuyu’s neck, pulling her closer, close enough it allows Ena the chance to smother her face with kisses. She thinks she can faintly feel Mafuyu’s rushing heartbeat, or maybe it was her own, she really couldn’t tell as she pressed a kiss to Mafuyu’s cheek.
“Stupid, you’re stupid.” She says into a red ear, feeling Mafuyu relax and drop her head into Ena’s shoulder, hands coming up to hold Ena.
“No, I’m not.” It comes out weak, muffled into her shoulder, the hands underneath her shoulder blades pulling Ena closer. As if they could get any closer. She can’t help the laugh that leaves her.
“You’re right, you’re not.”
Ena is nervous. Reasonably so, she thinks. She’s going to kiss Mafuyu before the aloof idiot beats her to it, which she couldn’t allow. She doesn’t know how it became a competition to her, but it was one she was taking to heart seriously.
Today’s circumstances allow the perfect window where she'll meet Mafuyu at the cross road when she's walking to school. Mizuki had gone to school today, which gave her more reason to head to school earlier. Even if she could see Mizuki in the SEKAI or go on a shopping trip with her, it’s nice to talk a little in person, even if only for a moment.
Walking out the door, she frets over her makeup one more time, pulling the compact mirror out of her school bag as she strides down the sidewalk. She nervously pats her bangs down before slamming the mirror shut and shoving it back into her bag as she thought of the different scenarios that could occur. She was so nervous she could barely focus on anything else.
By the time she was at the crossroad, she could hear her heart racing in her ears. Her fingers jitter as she scans the road, anything for the glimpse of purple in the sea of people. She chews her lower lip as she searches, her lip gloss still thick on her lips.
She nearly screams when she feels a hand on her shoulder, her back tensing and her feet making her kick backwards. She hears a grunt, followed by a sigh. Ena could recognize that exasperated sigh anywhere.
“Mafuyu, what the hell did I tell you!” She turns, facing the girl who carries a somewhat annoyed expression. It was hard to tell with Mafuyu, but the slight tension pulling down her eyebrows made it obvious to Ena.
“You’re not usually out this early.”
Well, didn’t she have a way with words? Ena rolls her eyes, adjusting her hold on her school bag.
“You don’t have to say it like that, but you’re right, I was gonna meet Mizuki before classes start.” She receives a momentary narrowing of eyes that goes as quickly as it came. She doesn’t say anything about it.
Mafuyu nods at Ena’s words. She must’ve taken that as the end of the conversation, as she starts walking away. Ena panics, her hand shooting out to grab Mafuyu’s wrist. Mafuyu looks back at Ena questioningly, her eyes flitting between the hand around her wrist and Ena’s eyes. Ena feels her gut swim with anxiety.
“Come with me for a second.” She weakly tugs Mafuyu’s arm. Mafuyu doesn’t say anything for a second, but she does take a step closer to Ena, which was more than enough confirmation that she was following. Ena’s quick to lead Mafuyu to a more secluded area, her eyes scanning to make sure no one was nearby.
“Do you need something?” Mafuyu asks, watching as Ena fiddles with the fringe of her brown cardigan. Mafuyu didn’t mind helping Ena, but she also valued her time.
“No,” Ena answers immediately, before shaking her head and backtracking. “I actually do.”
Mafuyu’s silence was enough of a queue telling Ena to continue. Ena feels her stomach turn uncomfortably, her lips pursing as she clenches her fists, hyping herself enough to just kiss Mafuyu before the moron beats her to it. She takes a deep breath before stepping closer to Mafuyu, her hand dropping her school bag to reach up and wrap her arms around Mafuyu’s neck, pulling her closer down to her level. There were only a few centimeters of a height difference between the two of them, but it felt like more to Ena sometimes.
It’s messy, Mafuyu startles back as Ena comes up to peck her lips, her eyes closed. Mafuyu’s own eyes got wider, her eyes meeting Ena’s own closed ones. Ena can feel her breath catching at how soft Mafuyu’s lips are, feeling self-conscious as her lip gloss smudges onto Mafuyu’s lips.
She pulls back just as quickly as she leaned in. Her eyes open to meet Mafuyu’s, who looks shocked, her eyes blinking faster than usual. She wants to laugh, but her face feels hot enough to make her sweat. She’s picked up her bag by the time Mafuyu comes to, blinking repeatedly and lips parted. Ena steps back just as Mafuyu steps closer. Ena tenses in dismay.
“Ena.” There’s a look on Mafuyu's face that makes Ena feel more embarrassed than she already was. She wasn’t expecting much from this, but she wasn’t expecting Mafuyu to lean down to kiss her again, hands landing on her hip and waist. She closes her eyes again as Mafuyu’s lips land on her own, feeling Mafuyu's contented sigh.
She pulls away again, just for Mafuyu to lean back in. The process repeats enough times to back Ena into a corner, her hands coming up to Mafuyu's shoulders. She can feel the mess on her lips, sticky and smeared. She also feels dazed, her lips parting to take Mafuyu’s tongue, which stuns her even more, practically giving Mafuyu more control. She feels out of breath, and each time she pulls back for air, Mafuyu comes back in to steal it from her within seconds.
It takes Ena a lot of effort to remember anything else than Mafuyu’s lips.
“I have to go, I promised Mizuki I’d meet with her,” Ena pulls away first, Mafuyu chasing after her lips but failing to do so as Ena covers the lower half of her face with her hand. “I’ll meet you later, okay?”
Mafuyu doesn’t get the chance to answer before Ena turns and makes her way through the crossroad. Ena giggles to herself as she glances over her shoulder at Mafuyu, who watches her leave with an awestruck look, her mouth agape and her cheeks red.
There’s a shine to her lips that came from both her lip gloss and saliva, it makes her feel more flustered, shaking her head as she wiped at the corners of her lips, cleaning herself of the lip gloss that smeared in the flurry of kisses.
She walks the rest of the way to school with a deep flush, one that got darker when Mafuyu’s face flashed in her mind. She wants to see that face again; she wants to see Mafuyu again.