Maki wasn't sure why, but she's got a strange feeling about today. She was assigned to do an event coverage in school and her editor asked her to drop by the student publication's office first because she will be paired up with a new photographer she hadn't met yet. Of course, in good faith to her seniors in the university paper, Maki assumed that the new photographer was very efficient and easy to work with, much like the other members of the club. She hoped for the latter the most.
What Maki failed to expect, unfortunately, was that the person she's getting paired up with today was a bouncing ball of energy with a shining smile.
She didn't know how to handle that, of all things.
"Maki-chan, this is Rin Hoshizora. I'm assigning her to be your photographer for today's event," Nozomi said as she gently pushed Rin in front of her. Maki was sure that she saw a hint of mischief in Nozomi's smile and from the looks of it, the club's chief photographer seemed to be plotting something behind this pair-up.
"Hello! I'm Rin! Nice to meet'cha!" Rin extended her hand to Maki, donning a smile brighter than the sun itself on a hot summer day. The redhead felt a rush of blood on her cheeks as she stared at the new girl's friendly grin, almost forgetting to return the initiated handshake. That. Smile. Is. Too. Cute.
"Y-Yes. I'm Maki. Maki Nishikino."
"Wow, you're really pretty! I hope we can get along, Maki-chan!"
'Maki-chan?!' Maki gaped, not expecting the sudden familiarity and the very honest compliment from someone she just met a few minutes ago.
She immediately pulled her hand off the handshake (much to her dismay) and looked everywhere else that did not have that sunshine smile while twirling the ends of her hair. "Wha- what are you saying? Let's just get to work," was the best thing Maki could come up with. Real smooth there, Nishikino.
"Please take care of my newbie, Maki-chan. I wouldn't want Rin-chan to get scared off because of a bad first coverage experience," Nozomi teased, obviously amused with the interaction happening between the two younger members.
Oh I know that tone. Maki wanted to give a deadly glare to Nozomi but she knew better than to challenge her senior in a situation like this. Nozomi knew very well how she had a weakness for cute girls with charming smiles and Maki was pretty convinced that this is an evil go-get-a-girlfriend plot by the purple-haired gaylord. She turned back to Rin — who was still smiling like an idiot at her by the way — and tried really hard not to stutter at the admittedly cute sight.
"Well? Let's go now. I don't want to be late, my editor would kill me."
"Roger that! This is gonna be fun!"
Oh God help me.
"Hey, hey, Maki-chan! How long have you been a writer?" Rin asked, trying to keep her voice low because they were now inside the auditorium where it was virtually quiet. The overflowing enthusiasm in Rin's voice was still very obvious, though; and Maki can almost see sparkles in those yellow-green eyes.
"For a while now." Maki replied in her most nonchalant and please-stop-talking-I-can't-focus tone she can give, hoping that Rin would stop bugging her so much in the middle of their work and concentrate in doing her task as a photographer. We can do that small talk later, honestly.
"That's so cool! I'm not good in writing, but I like taking photos! Especially portraits and fluffy clouds!"
"Uh-huh."
"Don't you just like it when clouds are so fluffy? It's like they're cotton candy! And in the afternoon, the sky's colors are so nice! I like taking photos of clouds in the afternoon!"
Maki heaved an exasperated sigh as Rin continued to babble about how clouds were fascinating and how she liked to take photos of her childhood friend to practice portrait photography during her free time. Right now, they were supposed to be doing a coverage of a special performance by a renowned pianist in the university auditorium; however, Maki could swear that her concentration was already non-existent with how the orange-haired girl was talking like a machine gun with infinite ammo.
Not that Maki really minded it so much, in all honesty. She surprisingly liked how Rin's attention is on her and how she can also see that cute eye smile from her partner.
Oh. There's a nice ring to it.
Wait. What am I thinking.
A few minutes later after Rin seemingly ran out of things to share (it actually happened), the photographer excused herself from where they were seated. Rin skipped over just in front of the stage and joined the other photographers who were also busy taking photos of the pianist. Maki took this chance to look at the girl from a distance, observing how Rin can almost pass as a pro whenever she held the camera up to her face. She also noted how Rin automatically brushed her bangs up with her fingers every time she put the camera down, slightly making a mess of her short hair. Maki would later admit that this side of Rin looked really cool for someone who acts like a kid.
Meanwhile, as if noticing that she was being stared at, Rin glanced back towards Maki's direction and, of course, flashed that smile again with a matching 'peace' sign to top it off. Maki quickly averted her gaze, her eyes jumping from the stage down to her notebook and pretended to write something to hide the unnatural redness of her face, embarrassed enough that she got caught staring. Hard.
You really need to stop, Nishikino.
Maki didn't realize that Rin was taking photos of her as well.
After the performance, Maki went up to meet the guest pianist for a short interview backstage. It went well, thankfully, and she finally discovered that Rin actually knows how to stop acting like a hyperactive idiot on the loose as the girl remained silent and stayed in one place throughout the interview.
A smile was creeping up on Maki's face as she saw the serious expression on Rin, but she won't have any of that. For now.
"That was interesting! You sure know a lot about music, Maki-chan!" Rin exclaimed, probably noting how Maki was asking a lot of technical questions during the interview. And yes, Rin was back to her energetic self now that they were finally outside the auditorium.
"I play the piano since I was little. It's also the reason why I got assigned for this event."
"Really? You're amazing, Maki-chan! I bet you can play really good music!"
"Yeah... I guess."
Afraid that Rin might notice the growing blush on her cheeks, Maki grabbed the camera from the photographer's hands as a distraction. She reminded herself to learn how to act normally at the sight of Rin's smile as soon as possible; or else she was going to be a worse wreck than how she was now if she got paired with Rin again in future coverages.
"Did you even take proper photos? All you did was talk to me half the time," Maki said as she started browsing the recent photos on the DSLR camera.
"Of course! I can be reliable too, you know!"
Maki gave a side-glance at the comment and went back to mindlessly browsing the photos. That was, until she noticed a different subject apart from the performer on stage.
"Hey! Why are there photos of me here?!" Maki shrieked, eyes too wide when she realized that there were a lot of photos of her in the camera from where she was seated in the auditorium. All were candid, but of great quality nonetheless. "Delete these now!"
"Eh? But why? Maki-chan is so pretty in those!"
"I… I am not! I didn't even give you permission to take photos of me!"
"Eehhh?" Rin immediately snatched the camera away from Maki when she noticed the latter was trying to delete the shots. "But look at this! Even if it's candid, your face just glows naturally!"
God, why me.
"You look like an angel, Maki-chan! And a really pretty one, too!"
That was it. Maki could feel her brain going to overdrive with all the innocent compliments that this idiot with a really cute killer smile was throwing at her like it was the most natural thing in the world. And as if Maki's suffering wasn't enough, Rin peered curiously at her, orange hair getting too close to her poor, flustered face.
"Maki-chan, are you okay? Your face is so red…"
Chop.
"Ouch, nya! What was that for?!" Rin cried, a meow slipping out in surprise. She put a hand over the spot on her forehead where Maki landed a heavy chop.
"You're talking too much! And what was that meow about?"
"But your face is really red!"
"I know that already!"
The two remained standing outside the building, not minding (or noticing) that some passersby and other university students were already looking at them because of their bantering.
"You're so mean, Maki-chan," Rin pouted while still nursing her forehead. "But, I still like you! I really enjoyed our time together today!"
You like what?!
"I hope we'll always be partners from now on! Or maybe you can also be my subject for my portraits, I'll have a beautiful portfolio for sure!"
"I... W-well... Mou! Give me that!" Maki aggressively pulled the camera from Rin again, but not to delete any photos of herself this time. Instead, she took a quick shot of a surprised Rin.
"That's my revenge," the writer huffed, feeling really proud that she was able to use the camera properly and catch Rin off guard on the photo. Maki needed to thank Nozomi later for teaching her the basics of using a DSLR camera. "Now I have a candid shot of you."
"But Maki-chan that's my camera. I can delete it later if I want to."
"…"
Realizing the sense in Rin's words, Maki started to walk away. And fast. "Whatever! Let's just go back to the office! Jeez!"
"Oh? Hey! Maki-chan! Wait for me!"
Maki finally lets a smile get drawn on her face the moment she was sure that Rin was nowhere near her.
I hope you'll always be my partner from now on too, you idiot.
.
A/N: Well that was just shitty. And waaaay longer than what I intended! I think I just really wanna write flustered gay Maki over Rin's 'innocent' compliments for once. Writing quality be damned. LOL sorry.
Thanks for reading!
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Seniors' extra
"How was the coverage?" Nozomi asked with a knowing smirk the moment Maki stepped foot inside the office.
"Um. Yeah. It was okay. We're, well. We're fine."
"Hmm~" Nozomi put a finger on her chin. "I think Maki-chan enjoyed it far better than I expected. Isn't Rin-chan cute- I mean. Good?" she teased while stifling a laugh, seeing that the redhead had blushed at the mention of Rin's name.
"Mou! Shut up, Nozomi!" Maki shouted as she settled to burrow her face in the pile of papers on her work table.
"Nozomi, you're teasing her again," Eli chimed in. "Go easy on Maki. I don't want to lose one of my best writers here."
"Now, now, Elichi, you don't need to worry. I'm sure Maki-chan won't be leaving us anytime soon with Rin-chan around~"
Nico chose this moment to interrupt. "I thought romance isn't allowed among members here? Conflict of interest, hello?"
"Oh is it, now?" Nozomi feigned a tone of surprise. "I think writers and photographers are a good match. Don't you agree, Elichi?"
Eli looked away but not before Nico noticed the tinge of pink on the blonde's cheeks.
"Ugh. You just have to assume that everyone in this club is gay, don't you?" Nico groaned.
Nozomi turned to her smaller friend with her ever-playful grin.
"Aren't we all, Nicochi?"