AN: A very overdue story. I've been really busy lately, and I haven't had the time to actually update any of my main stories recently. So I decided to whip up a little sweet drabble for this particular couple (because they deserve a lot more love, seriously MakiPana is precious to me). Short, sweet, and maybe everything neat, although it is a little rushed. Hopefully I'll get some more oneshots out soon enough.

Hope you enjoy.

Ciao. c:


"Hey, Maki-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"H-have you ever wondered what it's like to watch the sunset with someone you like?"

Maki's gaze from the setting sun settled on the flustered girl next to her. The redhead swore that she could feel the body heat emitting from Hanayo's cheeks. Her violet eyes confusedly stared at the dark red tomato that she—sometimes reluctantly—called a friend.

"With someone I like?" Maki echoed, not quite understanding what Hanayo was trying to say.

"Y-you know, like. As in, like like. A c-crush of some sorts, I suppose." Hanayo's voice trembled and the last note of her sentence squealed slightly. Maki frowned; she knew that Hanayo was one to get easily flustered (actually, everyone in Muse knew), but the fact that she was having this discussion here, on the rooftop of their school, while they were watching the sunset together confused Maki greatly. After all they were merely friends. Is this what they call "girl talk"? she thought to herself as she frowned. But would Hanayo be even interested in such a thing?

"A crush?" Maki repeated. She said it with such thought it sounded as if she tasted the word itself, getting used to the flavor it left in her mouth. "It wouldn't feel any different than watching it with a friend, I guess. I mean someone you like is just a person you have stronger feelings towards."

"But those feelings are romantic. You wouldn't feel romanticism towards a friend."

Maki's eyes flitted back to the setting sun, which was now halfway down the horizon. "…True. But still, what could possibly be different?" She sighed and picked up the end of a cluster of hair, scrutinizing it for split ends. "Romance bores me."

"D-does it really?" Hanayo spoke with such surprise that Maki could barely catch that underlying somberness in her tone.

"Well to an extent." She shrugged. "I just never found the appeal to it, is all. But if I were to answer your first question…" Maki paused to stare at the rooftop instead of her hair. "I suppose I would feel at ease with them, just enjoy the moment. It's with someone special, so words wouldn't really be necessary to communicate with each other. Just the other being there is enough to make something as mundane as watching the sunset become an unforgettable memory."

Hanayo's soft giggle compelled Maki to look at her. "I would have never expected you to say it like that, Maki-chan."

Maki could feel the tips of her ears burn. "I-I just answered your question honestly!" She flicked her gaze back at the sun. "I-if you didn't like my answer, than you shouldn't have asked."

"I didn't say you answered it wrong. I'm just surprised that you answered it so…poetically." Hanayo giggled again. "I guess those are the perks of being a composer."

The redhead's face got even hotter. "If you want something poetic, go talk to Umi." They settled into a silence where they simply stared out into the urban scenery, the sky being painted with strokes and lines of orange while the quiet drones and muffled conversations of civilians were background music. Occasionally there would be the misplaced loud, percussion crash cymbal that took form of a dog bark or a car horn that disrupted the flow, but no one paid no mind and continued with their ways. Maki felt at ease being surrounded by the suburban atmosphere that she nearly forgot about her companion. Out of curiosity, she took a quick glance to her side.

Her heart nearly stopped.

Hanayo was gazing out as well, her violet eyes almost shimmering like a shard of amethyst in the setting sun's rays. They reflected deep thought, and Maki couldn't help but feel a strong pull, like an enchantment of some sort. She dared to think that the shy girl's eyes were a more beautiful sight than the natural scenery from one of her villas.

"How about you?" Maki blurted out. Hanayo's attention was ripped away from the sunset and stared at the former with bewildered eyes.

"W-what about me?"

"How would you feel if you were with someone you liked?"

Hanayo turned beet red in under a second, however it took her more than a minute to speak. "I-I guess…

"I guess I would feel like my heart was going explode right in my chest. It would start racing and beating really fast and really hard, but at the same time…I would feel at incredible ease." An easy smile crossed her face. "That's how I would describe how I'm feeling right now."

Maki furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But I asked you how you would feel with someone that you liked, not how you felt right—"She froze in the middle of her sentence as understand dawned on her. "Oh." Her face grew warm. "O-oh…" As her face rose in temperature, Hanayo's became more saturated in color.

"I, uh, I—" Hanayo tried to squeak out an excuse, but her voice wavered. Maki could see the glimmer of tears beading up in the corners of Hanayo's eyes. A heart string wavered, and on a gut instinct, Maki leant forward.

And placed an innocent peck on Hanayo's cheek to calm her down.

Hanayo backed away with a hand on her cheek, her tears freefalling down in a comical fashion. Maki frowned slightly—that certainly didn't go as planned.

"W-wha-wha-what was that for?" Hanayo squealed, her sentence broken apart by stutters and deep inhales of breath. "Sh-sh-sh-shouldn't you be repulsed? B-b-by my confession?"

"I don't understand why I should be." Maki scratched her cheek with her pointer finger, her stomach tying itself into a million knots as her face got even warmer. "If anything, you should be repulsed by the kiss I just gave you." Her frowned deepened and she could even feel the tips of her earssizzling. "I-I don't know why I did it. I-it just felt right, I guess." She cleared her throat in an attempt to remove the waver in her voice. "B-besides, people don't like seeing the person they like crying."

The other girl's tears stopped flowing almost immediately. "People don't like seeing the person they like crying?" She quoted, adding a soft sniffle at the end. Maki gave a half-embarrassed half-aggravated expression.

"N-not like, like like, but you know, someone they like as a friend or something…" Maki mumbled the last part under her breath.

Hanayo gave a soft smile. With the back of her hand she wiped away the remaining tears that never made their descent down. "I don't think friends kiss each other on the cheek, Maki-chan."

"Sh-shut up!" She retorted. Hanayo gave a giggle and soon enough, she gave into a giggle fit. While the brown-haired girl was busy laughing, Maki took a quick glance at her. Her embarrassment quickly gave way to quiet adoration.

She was positive that Hanayo's smile was brighter and more beautiful than any sunset she ever saw.