A/N: I drew the image before I got my drawing tablet so I'm sorry for the shitty cover.
"Elichi"
"Yeah?"
"You're squinting again." Nozomi said with a smile, making the blonde blush from her unexpected observance.
"Y-Yeah, that must be because I was thinking too much." She said with a nervous giggle at the end. Nozomi didn't believe her in the least bit but she let it slide as she sat back down in her chair exhausted from the recently completed pile of work. Eli relaxes slightly but tried to stay attentive, knowing that she had to resist the urge to squint for long periods of time in front of the twin tailed girl again.
'I'm an idiot for forgetting my contacts'. The blonde thought as she raised the papers they were working on so that Nozomi's line of sight was slightly blocked off as she attempted to read the papers in front of her without having to pull her head any closer to the desk.
Three Years Ago
"Um...!" Eli heard, making her turn around. She saw what looked like the form of one of her classmates, specifically the one that sat behind her. She narrowed her eyes, trying her best to discern who it was without having to squint but she couldn't tell. Even if she had recognized the person, she didn't know any names to put to the person.
"And you are?" She asked, her cold tone making the girl across from her nervous. Nozomi's confidence wavered for a moment as she struggled to speak to the other girl.
"I'm…" Her gaze flew to the ground beneath her for a few seconds before she looked up with a bright smile on her face, her resolve steeled.
"My name's Toujou Nozomi!" She said, Eli vision clearing for a moment to see the bright features on the twin tailed girl's face, making her own features soften before her blurry vision returned.
When they both went their separate ways at the end of the day, Eli knew she had to do something about her vision. She felt too self conscious about wearing glasses outside her home but was also afraid of putting in the contacts her mother had gotten her. She eyed the contact case that she had on her desk before holding on to, going to her mirror.
She had learned how to put them in and all but that doesn't mean that she wasn't afraid. I mean, come on. Who puts things in their eyes!? She thought about how the girl from earlier was acting before she introduced herself. Eli was often told by her sister that she often gave out a cold stare unintentionally when she couldn't see well. She had to change that, seeing her classmate like that was something she didn't like to see.
"I really hope I don't hurt myself…" She mumbled to herself as she opened the case, taking one of them out to put in.
When she spoke to her classmate the next day, the cold glare was still there but it was out of habit now. She had something different to it now, the intensity of it wasn't as strong and there was a new spark in it. There was affection in Eli's eyes now that she could see her new friend and how she was honestly trying to get to know her for who she actually was instead of what she was.
"Toujou-san!" She started to say with friendliness rather than the stiff manner she had spoken to her in the first few weeks.
"Nozomi-san!" She started to say with affection over time.
"Nozomi!" She said, the name only filled with love.
"Alisa-chan! Are you waiting for Elichi?" Nozomi said to the smaller Ayase, who was standing at the entrance of Otonokizaka.
"Yes," she said with a smile on her face, "and I also came to give her a pair of contacts."
"Contacts? Elichi?" Nozomi asked, thinking it strange at the two things being connected. Then again, when she thought about Eli's facial reactions in the council room earlier when they were working.
"Yep! She ran out of them and I picked them up for her so I could give them to her now! Is there a reason that onee-chan isn't with you Nozomi nee-chan?" Alisa asked, pulling Nozomi out of her thoughts. She couldn't help but smile at the name the younger girl had given her. It was a given that Nozomi and her sister were close but that didn't mean that she had to call her nee-chan. To Nozomi, it made her really happy to hear the endearment.
"I have to go help out at the shrine today so I thought I'd leave early. Elichi said that she was going to be staying for a little while more to help Kotori-chan with some choreography moves for a new song." She said before a thought came to mind.
"Hey Alisa-chan? Does Elichi wear glasses as well?"
"Huh? Yeah she does. She mostly wears them at home when she's tired of the contacts though." Alisa answered, making a mischievous smile form on Nozomi's face.
"Alisa-chan, next time she decides to wear them, give me a call or a text," Nozomi said making the younger Ayase slightly confused, "I'd be nice to see Elichi's reaction, wouldn't it?" Alisa smiled and nodded, thinking about how she also liked to tease Yukiho a lot so she understood what the older girl was talking about.
"Alisa!" They heard, turning to see the older of the Ayase sisters walking towards them, her face looking like it was struggling between two different expressions.
"Onee-chan!" Alisa said happily as she walked over to her sister, receiving a pat on the head from her.
"Nozomi? I thought you were going to the shrine." Eli said with confusion as her gaze fell upon the purple haired girl.
"I was but I bumped into Alisa-chan on the way out! Weren't you going to help Kotori-chan out?" Nozomi countered.
"Umi came around to talk to her when we were about to start so she decided that we should just plan it out tomorrow." She said, her gaze softer now that they were within her sight range.
"I'll leave you two then! I need to go help out before the daily rush hour comes in!" She said as she practically skipped away, making Eli narrow her eyes.
"Bye Nozomi nee-chan!" Alisa happily waved before turning to her sister and handing her a small case.
"You might need these to get home." Alisa said, making Eli blush as she tore her gaze from the leaving figure.
"Thanks Alisa." Eli said as they started on their way home, Alisa making a mental note to help her sister's best friend.
At the Ayase Household a few days later. Sunday morning.
"Onee-chan? Are you okay?" Alisa asked her sister as she spotted her on the couch, rubbing her temples.
"Yeah, I think I might be getting a headache from wearing my contacts in for too long again," Eli said while she moved her hands away from her head to pinch the bridge of her nose, "I think I'm going to go take them out. Be right back."
Alisa watched as her sister moved to go upstairs, smiling before she took out her phone, pulling up a certain contact so the screen.
Nozomi was about to doze off for a small nap, wondering why she was even up that early in the morning, when she heard her phone vibrating on her nightstand. She reached over and was alert and about when she read the words on the scene.
From: Ayase Alisa.
09:23- Onee-chan decided to take off her contacts so she's going to wear to glasses.
The fortune teller automatically got up from her bed with a smile, walking towards her dresser to get changed as she texted the younger Ayase back.
From: Toujou Nozomi.
09:25- Thanks you Alisa-chan! I'll be there in 15 minutes.
She smiled as she put her phone in the pocket of her newly adorned sweater, a bounce in her step as she walked out of her apartment and towards the home of her best friend, a small bag in her hand.
"Oh that feels way better." Alisa jumped when she heard Eli's voice behind her and quickly hid her phone, putting on a quick smile as her sister walked towards her with a pair of red thin wire glasses on her face.
"Is something wrong Alisa?" Eli asked as she cocked her head to the side.
"Er," She didn't like lying to her older sister but she was going to have to ignore the feeling since she really wanted to see her reaction, "I-I just wanted to ask you if I could go to Yukiho's house next week."
"You already know that you don't have to ask me. I trust you and I know that Yukiho-chan is a good person. Maybe Nozomi and I can go with you since we're going to have to talk to Honoka about something that's going to happen in the student council." Eli said, failing to see though the nervousness that her sister was emitting.
They both sat in the living room for a while doing homework and studying when Alisa noticed the blank paper in front of her sister, her pencil only making a tapping sound against the paper in front of her.
"Onee-chan? Are you okay?" Her sister wasn't one to get distracted easily.
"Eh? Uh, yeah. It's just that… I was thinking about what to do today…"
"What do you mean?"
"I was just thinking that I'd go check up on Nozomi today since she seemed a bit sore from μ's practice yesterday."
'They really do care for each other.' Alisa thought as a small smile formed on her face.
Before either of two could speak again, they heard the doorbell ring. Alisa quickly jumped to her feet, making it look like she was stretching as she started walking.
"I'll get the door!" She said before Eli, making her shrug as she focused her attention on her still blank notebook. Alisa opened the door to the older girl, who sported a wide smile as she silently greeted the young blonde so as not to alert the older one.
"She's in the living room." Alisa whispered, walking towards the stairs before pointing in the direction that Eli was.
"You're not coming?" Nozomi asked, her head tilting slightly to the side. Alisa shook her head, and smiled at the older girl.
"Nope! Good luck Nozomi nee-chan!" she said as she walked up the stairs leaving the older girl next to the entrance. As much as she wanted to see her older sister's reaction, she felt like it'd be appropriate to leave them alone. Nozomi quickly took off her shoes and walked over to the living room, making sure that her footsteps were as quiet as possible.
"Alisa? Who was at the door?" Eli's voice rang out, making a smile appear on Nozomi's face as she turned the corner to stand at the entrance of the living room. She saw that the hair that was usually kept up was let down along with something extra on the blonde's face.
'Red, huh? I was sure that Elichi would have them light blue or something.' Nozomi thought as she stared at the blonde, still unnoticed. A few minutes passed before Eli moved to get up from the lack of reply from her sister.
"Alisa is something wro-" Eli stopped mid sentence when she saw who was in the room with her.
"N-Nozomi!? W-What are you doing here!?" Eli asked, her voice an octave higher than usual as she tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible.
"I'd thought that I'd made a surprise visit to Elichi's." Nozomi said, plastering on an innocent grin at how Eli was already acting.
"I-Is that right? I was actually thinking of d-doing the same." Eli said, trying to look for a way out of the room before the conversation took a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, Nozomi was standing in the only exit in or out of the living room.
"Great minds think alike! By the way Elichi, nice glasses." Nozomi said with a teasing undertone and a wink.
Whoops, too late.
Eli's blush was something that Nozomi always enjoyed. The color it was, the areas that it happened in, and the face that accompanied it was what made it amusing to her. The blonde's current blush was almost the color of a cherry, and it extended from where her neck showed above her sweater to where her hairline stopped. The face that she had was priceless. There was the obvious facial reaction of shock on her face but there was also something that there that made it look like Eli was about to breakdown from either laughter or embarrassment.
Then time unfroze and Eli's reaction was set in motion.
"W-What!? These!? T-They aren't mine! They um, they're… fake! They um-" Eli was cut off by how close Nozomi had moved towards her. She could see the shine of the lip gloss on Nozomi's lips, smell the jasmine perfume she was wearing, and see the way the natural red in her cheeks only managed to accentuate the cuteness of her face.
"You know Elichi, you look pretty cute in them. You should wear them more often." Nozomi said, her arms going around Eli's neck as her mouth formed another amused smile. Eli's mind was short circuiting from how close the other girl was to her, the arms on her neck only pulling her close to the other girl until their foreheads touched.
"S-Should I?" she said unknowingly, the emerald eyes before her pulling her in as her hands rested on Nozomi's hips.
"You should." Nozomi said, kissing the blonde's cheek and effectively shutting her up. Eli looked at Nozomi expectantly, the puppy look in her eyes making it hard for Nozomi to resist but she knew she had to.
"Why haven't you told me you wear them Elichi?" Nozomi finally asked, her tone still the same as before. Hearing this made the panic in Eli arise again, her body wanting to escape despite being trapped in Nozomi's arms.
"W-Well it's not like I wear them often." Eli mumbled as her eyes stayed locked on Nozomi's.
"That's not an answer to my question Elichi." Nozomi countered, her lips just about to touch Eli's but stopping short and staying there. Eli wanted to lean in but she couldn't move from the stare she was getting from the twin tailed girl.
"I-I don't really like to wear them…" she inadvertently whispered to Nozomi, who raised her hand to lightly touch the side of the frame.
"I'm kind of glad you don't wear them often."
"Eh?"
"You look really cute in them and I know people would turn just to look at you." Nozomi said, half teasing since she knew the blonde would in fact get the attention of people more than she already did.
"That's sort of the reason that I don't wear them," Eli said as she blushed, "I don't like it when people look at me with them, I get self conscious."
"And yet you're an idol?"
"That's something completely different! It's expected that people look at us when we're performing"
"I know; I know Elichi." Nozomi said as she moved her hands from the frame of Eli's glasses to her cheeks, bringing their foreheads together.
"You should wear them more often, but only with me around, please?" Eli was close to falling over from the face Nozomi was giving her. The only thing she could do was nod as the girl before her gave her a joyous smile.
"As much as I like you with your glasses Elichi, you might need to take them off right now."
"Eh? Why?" Eli asked as Nozomi deftly moved to take the glasses off.
"Because if you have them on, then I can't kiss you." Nozomi said as she closed the gap between them.
A/N: (THIS IS WAY LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.) I have some ideas written (like 4 more I think) down but if others want something, I'm game to throw around ideas.