A/N: Hey, here's another NicoMaki fic for y'all. For those of you who would be interested, this fic takes place directly after the conversation that the rest of Muse has on the phone in Season 2 Episode 1, where Maki and Nico are hanging out together at night (oh-so suspiciously). Also, this fic is dedicated to a wonderful friend of mine who requested this prompt; you know who you are.
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live! School Idol Project.
Being Bold
"Of course, I want to perform at Love Live!"
And that was the final statement that escaped her throat before the call ended, and she was quick to look back at the redhead beside her who had been illuminated by the streetlamp nearby.
"You think we'll get Honoka to come around?" Maki asked, her hand rising to the ends of her hair in an inevitable twirl. It was something that she did often, undoubtedly, but Nico had noticed that it was recently a bit excessive. It may have been out of anxiety over the Love Live situation, but even she did not think it would stress Maki out that much to make it so physically obvious. Then again, the pianist did call her out here at night for a reason.
"Maybe, I'm not sure. But she better change her mind," Nico replied, letting out an aggravated sigh before looking over at a bulletin board nearby. It seemed that they were near a park trail and, although Nico was usually wary of this kind of place at night, she figured that it would be a good setting for a private matter. Her eyes found Maki's before continuing, "What did you want to talk to me about?"
And there it was; the hair twirling that sent Nico's eyebrows narrowing in concern.
"I don't like you at this height," Maki commented suddenly, looking the aspiring super idol up and down. Nico was wearing a black shirt, white skirt, and black heels, making her just as tall as her junior.
Nico scoffed despite the blush on her cheeks, "When do you ever like me?"
There was a silence again, but Nico didn't dare to think too much about it. Maki had a rough day just like the rest of them, so she didn't want to assume anything. Without making eye contact, she grabbed Maki by the wrist and began dragging her toward the trail.
"O-Oi!"
"It's okay, I can tell you want it to be a personal talk and it is best to have it where it's quiet."
The hustle and bustle of cars and trains began to fade away as they made it about twenty feet into the trail. Nico found an oak tree to lean her back against, letting go of the other's wrist and watching Maki shift around awkwardly in what seemed like nervous contemplation.
"As much as we like to pretend to hate each other, I hope you know you can talk to me," Nico stated, crossing her arms as she struggled to read Maki's eyes in the dark of night. The canopies above them could only reveal so much, but there was enough moonlight to make their figures out.
"I-I know. And I don't hate you, jeez," Maki mumbled, shoving her hands into the pockets of her teal hoodie.
"Duh, how could you?" Nico grinned, shooting Maki a wink.
"You're an idiot."
"Okay, you're distracting me on purpose. What's the matter?" the senior asked, her tone returning to its serious side. Truth be told, Maki deflecting questions, even when they were alone, was a bit unnerving. She wasn't the most open member in Muse, but she would normally rather admit that she didn't want to talk instead of just flat out avoiding a topic altogether.
There's a hesitant silence before Maki speaks, "I need to talk to someone about something."
"What is it?" Nico asked, forgetting to mask her patience and trying not to groan at how Maki continued to stray away from just spitting it out. She internally cussed herself out when Maki became hesitant again, probably from Nico's apparent disregard for sensitivity in the way she had replied. She sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it to come out so rough. What's the matter?"
"I like someone."
The heart ripping itself out of place and crawling its way up the esophagus; truly, it was the only way Nico could describe what she had just felt. She wasn't sure if it was because it was a bit crazy to think of Maki liking anyone or if it was some other unfathomable reason.
"Oh, really?" she managed to cough out, "Congratulations. But what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure what to do about it."
Vague; that's all it was and Nico wasn't exactly sure what she was meant to do with it. Something about all this was annoying her deep down, but she couldn't really tell what.
Regardless, she offered a smile, "Can I know who it is?"
"No," was the instantaneous response. Nico wasn't shocked.
"Alright, well why don't you just write them a love letter or something?" she suggested, her arms tightening themselves as they remained crossed.
Maki, removing eye contact, laughed softly, "No, they would freak out for sure."
"Are they against cutesy things? Who wouldn't like that?" Nico asked, baffled.
"No, they would like it. But their hopes would go up a lot, and finding out it's from me would probably only disappoint them," Maki said, softly, her hands fidgeting within the confines of her pockets.
Nico blinked a few times, utterly shocked. It wasn't that she thought Maki was narcissistic, but she would not have taken her for the type to have low self-esteem of any kind. She gritted her teeth, "Disappoint them? Only a genuine idiot wouldn't see you and think, 'wow,' and drop their jaw!"
She must have said something funny, because Maki snickered.
"I don't think they dislike me," Maki said, "but it's a bit complicated. I'm not sure of their feelings."
"Ask a friend to talk to them! Let me talk to them! No one can resist the persuasions of my Nico Nico-Nii~!" Nico replied, confidently bringing up her hands into her signature pose.
"I don't think I should really get someone else to do the work for me, since it's a bit too much like going behind their back somehow."
"Yet here you are, talking to me about them, in the dark and at a park," Nico smirked.
Maki paused, "Right."
"Hm," came the awkward reply only to result in another briefly awkward silence. If Maki wasn't going to listen to or be open to suggestions, then what was the point of them talking privately? Nico isn't a huge fan of running in circles when it comes to conversation, and she could tell that she was going to get irritated really fast. Yet, for whatever reason, she couldn't help but feel nervous.
Maki was beautiful in the moonlight, she noticed.
"What kind of thought was that?" she thought aloud, her eyes immediately widening upon realization. She glanced at Maki, who was looking at her questioningly with an eyebrow raised, and laughed, "Oops. Thinking out loud."
"What kind of thought did you have?" Maki asked, curious.
"Well, if you had heard me, then you would know that I obviously don't know," Nico mumbled, watching as Maki stared bullets back into the ground. It was worrisome; they weren't getting anywhere.
"I'm sorry."
Nico blinked, a bit surprised.
"I shouldn't have asked you out to talk when there's… really not much talking."
"It's okay," she assured Maki, now feeling increasingly disheartened. Perhaps this ordeal was bothering Maki a lot more than she had assumed. Determined, she grinned, "Okay, I've got an idea."
"What is it?" Maki asked, her gaze returning to her senior.
"You obviously can't handle normal procedure, so you will just have to be direct and bold about it!" Nico said, hitting her fist against an open palm. She looked up at the canopy, feigning theatrics, "It is the only way."
"N-No way!" came the blush, and Nico couldn't help but smirk as it spread across the freshman's face in a way that glowed even in the moonlight.
"Yep! You're way too much of a tsundere to not do it."
"I'm not a tsundere!"
"Oh, please."
"I'm not! And I-I don't know how to be direct," Maki stammered, and Nico wondered just how much more Maki could dig her hands deeper into her pockets before the fabric would tear.
"Just kiss them."
"Kissing? Why kissing?" Maki asked, her volume rising at the same rate as the heat on her face.
Nico snickered, bringing a hand to her mouth, "Oho, Maki, have you never had your first kiss?"
"Have you?" Maki deadpanned.
"E-Eh? L-Let's not stray from the actual p-point here!"
"So you have no right to talk, then."
Nico groaned, "Ugh, how hard can it really be? People always make such a big deal out of it but, seriously, how hard is it to touch your face gap to someone else's?"
"Firstly, never use that phrase ever again. Secondly, how do you expect me to do that to someone I like out of nowhere?"
"Take charge and just attack them with a smooch. And then promptly say something like 'that was a one time thing' with a blush, run, and then wait for them to come running to you begging for more," Nico suggested, mimicking a defensive expression.
"No."
"Then why are we even here?" Nico exclaimed, exasperated.
Maki blushed, "I can't if I d-don't know, um, how."
Nico sighed, pursing her lips and taking a moment to lean her weight more on the bark of the tree. She had never kissed anyone either, but she had seen enough romantic movies to get the gist of the whole process. Maki was too nervous to be much help.
"Okay, c'mere," Nico instructed, waiting as Maki reluctantly took a few steps closer. Although a bit hesitant, she grabbed Maki's trembling hands and brought them up to her own jaw line. The pianist's hands were warm on Nico's skin, and she was admittedly feeling a bit bashful herself when Maki hadn't tried to pry her hands away as Nico initially predicted. She gulped, trying to dismiss the slight and gentle movement of Maki's thumb on her cheek, "and that's it."
There was no response from Maki, and Nico hoped that the sudden pounding of her heart was muffled in the silence. Maki was looking right into her eyes, and she couldn't help but notice how dry her lips felt. Yet, somehow, licking them seemed like a really weird thought to her now, despite the fact it was a normal reflex. Unsure if Maki was simply frozen from shock at the position Nico kind of put them in, she dropped her hands to the sides to show that she was finished with her demonstration.
"That's it?"
Maki's hands remained.
"Uh, y-yeah," Nico stuttered, "aside from the k-kiss, I mean."
A slight caress from the thumb against the temple.
"And I-I should just go for it?" Maki asked, and it seemed apparent by her jittery mouth that she was nervous. That, in turn, made Nico nervous, but something about the close proximity and the scent of Maki's minty breath brushing against her face had her hypnotized.
Being captured in the uncharacteristically intense gaze of Maki Nishikino had Nico Yazawa drowning in pools of glimmering violet. She wasn't sure if it was that she could not move or that she didn't want to.
"Yeah," was all she could really manage to get out, slightly speechless.
"What if they keep me from running?" Maki asked. Nico tried to ignore the fact that her vision seemed to increasingly blur as Maki's lips drew nearer, and she could no longer fight the urge to lick her lips that were becoming as dry as her throat.
"Let them," she whispered, not sure why her hands suddenly found themselves grabbing onto Maki's waist, "because that probably means they like you, too."
Mingling breaths seemed so loud in the dark, and all Nico could feel were gentle fingers upon her neck and the hips of another pulled against her own. The mutual staring was absolutely unbearable and frustrating, because Nico knew they were both aware of what was about to happen. No one was going to fight it, no one would protest it, and no one could halt the inevitable.
Really, it was more of a shock, now that she thought about it, that it hadn't happened sooner. Deep down, she knew and always had known that there was more than just an age gap between them. It simply never came into the light.
But when Maki finally pressed pink lips against her own, hasty and inexperienced, Nico finally found the confirmation she had unknowingly been searching for. Admittedly, she realized it was dumb of her to even think Maki had been referring to anyone else the whole time.
Seemed she was the idiot, after all.
Firsts became fifths, pecks became tongue, touching became holding, and desire became necessity.
Nico wasn't sure if she had ever held anything as tight as she held Maki against her, suddenly afraid that this moment would disappear as though an entire year's worth of silent yearning would go to waste. She felt a bit of the bark press into her back, but it did not matter so long as Maki continued rubbing those incredibly soft thumbs against her jaw and neck.
Hearing Maki moan into her mouth was a bit of a wake-up call, however, and Nico pulled her lips away in order to catch her breath. She couldn't help but smile slightly at the cute expression of confusion that donned Maki's face. But she knew that going any further at the moment would only drown her in regret later on. After all, she wasn't in that much of a rush just yet.
Maki seemed to only fully realize what was happening after she began opening her eyes, an intensely warm blush slapping itself right onto her cheeks. She started looking toward anything that wasn't Nico, although she still remained trapped in the arms of the older girl.
"So tsun," Nico smirked, watching every movement.
"So soon?" Maki blinked, suddenly somewhat panicked, "Was I not supposed to?"
"No, I mean you're such a tsundere," Nico laughed, almost hitting her head on the tree.
"I-Idiot."
"Yeah, maybe. But you have to deal with it anyway."
And that seemed to calm Maki down. Her expression softened, replaced by a shy pout and continually aversive eyes.
"So… you think I have a chance?" Maki asked, whispering.
Nico grinned, bestowing her moonlit pianist with a kiss on the cheek.
"Definitely."