notes: written for the teen wolf femslash holiday exchange on tumblr. also on ao3.

"I'm going to hex Stiles I swear!" Malia exclaimed, throwing down her quill. It left a blot of ink on the parchment unrolled in front of her but she ignored the mess.

Kira looked up from the Potions essay she was working on, brow knitting in confusion over the outburst. "Oh?"

"The yule ball is in a week and he still hasn't asked me to go with him!"

"And you think hexing him is the best way to get him to ask?"

Malia chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds and frowned. "Maybe not. Has Scott asked you yet?"

Kira hesitated, unsure of how she wanted to answer. He hadn't asked her yet, which was kind of weird because she'd thought they were getting pretty close. There had been a vibe between them lately. She'd never had a vibe with anyone before, but she was pretty sure that's what it was.

"He hasn't?" Malia asked, picking up on the suspicious silence.

Kira shrugged. "No, but I mean we didn't agree on going together or anything. We haven't even really talked about it."

"So? You're together all the time, it's kind of a given. Didn't you think it was a given?"

She had thought that but she felt stupid saying out loud so she settled for another shrug. "It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal! They've been flirting with us! They're obligated to ask!"

"We could ask them," Kira said, against the idea before the words even finished leaving her mouth. She'd be mortified if she had to ask Scott herself.

Malia considered for a moment and Kira didn't doubt that the other girl would go and demand Stiles take her to the ball.

"No," she said finally. "I have a better idea."

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?" Kira asked, following Malia into the Great Hall.

"Of course it will," Malia assured her. "It's foolproof."

Kira wasn't sure about that but decided not to comment. She caught sight of Scott sitting at the Hufflepuff table, Stiles hovering next to him and talking loudly about something. Stiles was a Ravenclaw, but he almost never sat at his house table - not since he'd gotten over Lydia at least.

Malia didn't usually sit with her own house either, preferring to sit with Kira and the rest of the Hufflepuffs, the four of them having their own little corner. Stiles had even etched their names into the wood.

Scott waved at them and Kira waved back right before Malia grabbed her hand and hauled her towards the far end of the hall to the Slytherin table. Kira glanced over her shoulder to see both Scott and Stiles frowning at them and exchanging confused looks. She shrugged and looked away, taking the seat next to Malia and avoiding the stares of the curious Slytherins around her.

Malia loaded up her plate and Kira followed suit, helping herself to toast and juice.

It didn't take long for Stiles to appear, hovering near them. Kira glanced up at him but Malia did nothing but take a bite of her eggs.

"So... is there a reason you guys are sitting over here today?" Stiles asked, gaze flicking from Kira to the back of Malia's head.

"Just wanted a change of scenery," Malia said through her food. It was kind of gross but Kira was pretty desensitized to her somewhat crass behaviour by now.

"The view of the wall isn't any good over there?" Stiles asked, jerking his head towards where Scott was sitting, watching intently.

Malia shrugged, still not facing him. He huffed and trained his eyes on Kira, squinting at her and she had to fight the urge to fidget.

"Fine," he said after a long moment. "See you guys later."

Kira waved goodbye as he left while Malia shoved more eggs in her mouth.

"Do you think they're mad?"

"I doubt it. But we haven't gotten to the good part yet."

The "good part" was, as far as Kira could tell, actually the worst part. They'd managed to avoid the boys until lunch and now instead of reinstating themselves at their usual table spot they were hovering around the Gryffindor table, Malia flirting outrageously with a fourth year after pushing Kira onto her older cousin, Derek.

The goal was jealousy, apparently.

Derek looked over at Malia and then up at Kira, brow quirked. "Wanna sit?"

Kira sank into the seat and she could feel her face turning red. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to intrude, it's just Malia-"

Derek laughed and held up a hand to stop her. "Trust me, I know. It's fine. You're not going to flirt with me, are you?"

Kira cringed. "No."

"Thank god."

From anyone else the response probably would have been offensive but Kira didn't think he meant it to be. She grinned and grabbed for a plate, piling up food and pouring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"You sure can eat can't you?" Derek asked, looking amused.

Kira shrugged. "I like food."

"I can see that."

They talked while they ate and she found out that Derek was actually a pretty cool guy. He read a lot and wanted to be a professor after he graduated from Hogwarts. Kira thought he would make an excellent professor and she told him as much which made the tips of his ears go pink.

By the time lunch was over she had completely forgotten about Malia's plan and only remembered again when the other girl nudged her on the way out and pointed across the room where Scott and Stiles were watching them, Scott looking confused and Stiles looking thoughtful.

"I think that was a success," Malia declared, grinning.

Scott waved at Kira when he saw her looking and she returned the gesture with a small smile and a shrug. Malia hooked their arms together and marched them out of the Great Hall.

"This plan isn't working," Malia declared.

It had been three days and while Kira would now consider herself friends with Derek Hale, Scott had still not asked her to the yule ball. Her dress had come in the post though and it was even lovelier than in the catalogue, which was only making her more anxious.

"Nope," Kira agreed, collapsing onto one of the couches in the Slytherin common room. Malia dropped down next to her, stretching out across the cushions and resting her head in Kira's lap. Kira ran her fingers through the other girl's hair absently and Malia hummed in contentment.

"Maybe we should just ask them," she said after a moment. It still wasn't an idea she was crazy about but they were running out of options.

Malia scrunched up her nose, clearly unimpressed by the idea, before replying. "We need another plan."

"As in asking ourselves or…?"

Malia rolled her eyes. "Absolutely not. That's giving them the easy way out and with how close they're cutting it. I don't want to make anything easy on them."

"The ball is in two days though."

"Exactly. So we'll just make them think they've lost their chance completely."

"And that's supposed to work how?"

"It will either make them speak up or teach them a lesson about waiting until the last minute. Let them know we're not just going to wait around for them to move their asses."

Kira sighed but nodded. "Okay then. So what's the new plan?"

"I can't believe Derek said no!"

They were in the library, trying to work on homework, whispering to avoid a reprimand from Madam Pince.

Kira shrugged. "He's not going so it's not like he doesn't want to go with me, he just doesn't want to go at all."

"My cousin is so lame."

"It's not a big deal. What did Isaac say?"

"He's going with Allison."

"So we're back where we started."

"New plan!"

Kira groaned. "We've had so many plans, Malia, and all of them have failed."

"Let's just go together."

Kira's eyes snapped up from the book she'd been (unsuccessfully) trying to take notes from for the past half hour and met Malia's gaze. She looked perfectly serious.

"Like together together?"

Malia shrugged. "Sure, why not? We needs dates and Scott and Stiles are useless apparently, the assholes. Have you talked to either of them by the way?"

"Scott, mostly. We're in the same house, it's not like I can really avoid him."

"And he hasn't said anything about the ball?"

Kira shook her head. "Nothing whatsoever."

Malia huffed. "Stiles has been avoiding me. He even sat across the room from me in Divination yesterday."

They didn't say anything for a moment, Kira mulling over the situation. It wasn't like not going was a possibility. She'd spent a ton on her dress and she'd been looking forward to the event since the Triwizard Tournament had been announced. Plus her mom had sent her about a million letters about how it was a good chance to network with students from the other schools.

She had no idea what she was supposed to be networking for but it seemed pretty important to her parents that she did. And besides, Malia was her best friend, it would be fun.

"Okay," she said after a long moment. Malia perked up from where she was draped over her Transfiguration book, a grin on her face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. It'll be fun. Who needs boys anyways?"

"Not us!" Malia exclaimed, right as Madam Pince rounded the corner. She leveled them with an impressive scowl before dishing out a mini lecture on the importance of being quiet in a library that ended with a threat to kick them out if they continued to be disruptive. Not keen on getting another lecture that night (because Malia was the worst at being discreet when she got excited about something) they decided to pick up and leave.

Kira was going to the yule ball with Malia. Her stomach did flips all the way back to the common room.

Kira made it to the designated meeting spot, the bottom of the main staircase outside the Great Hall, first. Other students milled about around her, everyone in their nicest dresses and robes, and she could hear music coming from inside the hall.

She caught sight of herself in one of the windows and was suddenly struck with a serious case of nerves, smoothing down the satin red fabric of her dress. Malia had helped her pick it out, said the red would make her look like a vixen and Scott would never be able to resist her.

Right. That had worked out well.

She heard Malia before she saw her.

"I said get out of the way, bloody hell, this is a staircase, go up or down. Don't just stand there!"

Kira whirled around to find the other girl pushing her way through a throng of sixth year Gryffindors, face flushed with annoyance. Or maybe she was actually wearing makeup, it was hard to tell.

What wasn't hard to tell was that Malia looked like a goddess, wrapped up in an emerald green dress that clung to all her curves and swooshed around her ankles as she walked - well, stomped. And maybe she was more like a goddess of fury, hair already a little bit wild despite all the pins holding it up, but the point was she looked stunning.

Kira's heart leapt in her chest and she could feel her palms start to sweat.

Malia caught sight of her then, hopping the last two steps (it was a miracle she didn't rip her dress) and rushing to her side. She looped their arms together immediately and grinned.

"I was right, you do look like a vixen!" she said, hauling them towards the Great Hall.

"Together we look like a Christmas tree," Kira joked, trying to ignore the hammering inside her chest. Her and Malia had always been close, and sometimes they had bordered on more than that, but she had never thought much about it. She was definitely thinking about it now.

So what if Scott hadn't asked her to the yule ball? She had Malia, her best friend. Suddenly she couldn't imagine spending the night with anyone else.

"A hot Christmas tree," Malia added and Kira was about to reply when the Great Hall doors were pushed open and the words died on her lips.

Hogwarts always decorated for the holidays, but this was beyond anything she'd ever seen. The whole room was done up to look like an ice cavern, candles hovering all around them and making everything sparkle. What was usually the platform for the professor's table had been turned into a stage where the Weird Sisters had enchanted their instruments to play a few carols while people arrived.

"Wow," Kira said finally.

"Talk about over the top," Malia said, leading her over to the refreshment table. She had a knack for being able to hunt down the food in a room within seconds and Kira wasn't surprised it was their first stop.

"I think it's beautiful," Kira chided, elbowing her and smiling.

They reached the refreshment table (overloaded with bowls of punch, little sandwiches, cakes, and candy) and Malia turned to look at her, smiling back.

"It is, but not nearly as pretty as you."

Kira's face went hot and oh god, Malia looked serious about it.

"Th-thank you," she stammered out, grabbing for cup just to have something to do with her hands. "You, uh, you look really nice too."

Malia rolled her eyes and grabbed for one of the bite sized cakes. "Don't strain yourself."

"No, no!" Kira exclaimed. "You look really beautiful. Your dress is perfect."

You're perfect, she thought to herself but she kept it in.

"It doesn't have any pockets, I had to strap my wand to my leg."

"One of the benefits of this big skirt is the pockets," Kira said, showing them off. Malia frowned, but it was an affectionate look.

"I knew there had to be some hidden benefit to looking like a cupcake."

They loaded up plates of food ("You have to get the good stuff now otherwise it'll be gone and you get stuck with the crappy food," Malia had reasoned) and Kira had put away two of the tiny cakes when the music cut and the champions took the floor, dates on their arms. The band grabbed their instruments and started to play some traditional wizard waltz and the dancing began.

Kira and Malia exchanged a look.

"I can't dance like that," Malia said before shoving a cookie in her mouth.

"Me neither. Next one?"

She gave an enthusiastic nod and the two of them found a table to settle at while they waited. Kira caught sight of Allison and Isaac twirling across the floor, Allison looking confident in a floaty pink dress and Isaac looking more at his feet than anything else. Lydia had dragged her girlfriend Cora onto the floor as well and while Cora didn't look thrilled about the whole situation she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Hey is that Stiles? And Scott?"

Kira followed Malia's line of sight and… oh. Oh.

They were moving across the floor, a mess of clumsy footwork and mutual grins, Scott with his arms secured firmly around Stiles' waist. Their eyes might as well have been big pink hearts with the way they were looking at each other.

"Well that explains a lot."

Malia laughed. "You know I'm not really surprised. It explains a lot."

Kira grinned. "They look happy."

"I wonder why they didn't tell us?"

"Well… we did a pretty good job of avoiding them for the last week."

"No wonder all our plans failed."

"Not all of them. The current one is going pretty well. I mean, uh, I think." Kira bit her lip and stared at her plate.

"You're right, this plan is going great," Malia replied confidently, grabbing hold of her hand and giving it a light squeeze. Kira smiled and squeezed back, pleased when Malia didn't try to take her hand back. Her skin felt electric where they were touching and it was making her brain feel a little fuzzy. Not bad fuzzy though - it felt amazing.

The opening dance didn't last long and once it was over the music picked up, the band belting out one of their newer songs - something about a vampire in love with a wizard. Malia shoved a piece of candy in her mouth and stood, holding out her hand to Kira while still chewing her food. Kira took it, following Malia's lead by grabbing more candy to eat before making their way to the dance floor.

They bounced around to the music, grinning and laughing, and Kira couldn't remember enjoying dancing so much. Usually she was awkward and shy but Malia always had a way of making her feel comfortable and she forgot that there was at least a hundred other people around them.

When the music changed, transitioning to something slower, Kira let her best friend grab her by the waist and pull her closer, the two of them swaying in time to the beat. Kira could practically hear the blood pounding in her ears, Malia's hands on her making her whole body warm and she hoped it wasn't showing in her face.

"Loosen up," Malia said when Kira found herself too hyper aware of their closeness to focus on her dancing at all.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm no good at this-" She was cut off, wind briefly knocked out of her, when Malia yanked her closer so they were flush against each other, Malia's face suddenly very close to hers.

"Relax," she said, voice low. "Don't overthink it, just move."

Kira took a shaky breath, trying to get her heartbeat under control, and nodded. She let the other girl lead her, biting her lip while she tried to concentrate on her own body and not the one pressed against hers.

She'd danced with Malia hundreds of times, and maybe before there had been something lingering under the surface, an unexamined emotion, but she hadn't been aware of it then. Now it was all she could think about and she was terrified that it might not be mutual.

"What are you thinking about?" Malia asked as the song came to an end. She pulled them off the dance floor as something more upbeat started to play and Kira let herself be led away from the mass of people. Their table from before had been taken so they moved towards the back of the hall where the crowd was thinner.

Kira shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "Nothing really."

Malia quirked a dubious brow at her. Kira sighed.

"Seriously, it's nothing. I'm just… I'm glad that we came here together."

She'd been looking at the floor while she spoke and when she finished she glanced back up to find Malia giving her a huge grin. It lit up her whole face and Kira felt the urge to lean forward and kiss her.

It was a lot to take in.

"That's your idea of nothing?" Malia asked, whapping her playfully on the arm. "That's not nothing silly. I'm glad we came together, too."

"Yeah?"

"Of course! I can't believe I wanted to go with Stiles when you're obviously the superior choice."

If Kira hadn't been blushing before she definitely was now.

"And you're prettier," Malia continued. "Stiles could never pull off a cupcake dress like you do. Plus you're a better dancer, even if you do - mmph!"

Kira wasn't exactly sure what possessed her to throw herself forward, pressing her lips to Malia's, but she had done it. She'd done it and there was no taking it back.

Malia's lips were soft but stiff at first, and that was fair, Kira hadn't given any kind of warning and oh god what if she didn't… wait, no. After a few seconds Malia was kissing her back, relaxing her lips and opening her mouth a bit to let Kira in. She was warm and tasted like chocolate and vanilla lipgloss.

It wasn't a long kiss and when they pulled apart Malia rested their forwards together, smiling down at her.

"Wow."

"Wow," Kira agreed.

"We should do that again sometime."

"Definitely."

They held each other for a moment, Malia's arms wrapped around her waist, taking in the moment. It felt like the start of something. Something amazing.

"Who needs boys anyways?" Kira said, echoing her words from the other day.

"Not us."

Kira kissed her again.