Decoration

"GUYS! I can't believe it's already 2 weeks till Christmas!" Akko peppily shouted as she danced around the dorm room with starry eyed dreams of the holidays. "We seriously need to get into the spirit! We haven't done ANYTHING to liven the place up!"

"I mean I could always conjure up a concoction to turn you into our own personal Christmas tree," Sucy muttered under her breath with a small smirk growing on her lips. Lotte gave Sucy a sharp look and a quick nudge in her side. "That's a great idea, Akko. I'll start looking up some spells to see if we can speed up the process a bit!"

"NOOooooo no no no!" Akko swiveled around and waved her arms with grandiosity. "We HAVE to do it by hand! I mean usually I'm all for using shortcuts, but it's CHRISTMAS and we have to do things the good ole fashioned way. Oh! I know!" Akko spun quickly around eyeing the room. "We can start by making paper snowflakes!" Akko started shuffling violently through the desks and throwing all sorts of things about trying to find paper and scissors for phase 1 of her grand Christmas plan. "Then maybe we can go out to the forest and get a tree that everyone can decorate. Oh OH! And MAYYYyyyyybe we could even go into town and look for ornaments!"

Sucy shot Lotte a glare and a hushed whisper, "See, look what you started." Lotte laughed nervously as she and Sucy watched Akko ping-pong around looking for anything that could be used to craft the perfect decorations.

Akko already had 3 strings of snowflakes and a growing pile of trimmings next to her on the floor, when Lotte squeaked in over her shoulder. "Hey, Akko…" Akko was intently focused on snipping away on group number 4 of her glorious snowflake creations.

"Maybe we could enlist the help of the rest of the gang to decorate?" Lotte peered over her shoulder, "Akko?"

The scissors were suddenly flung into the air with the paper snowflakes not far behind it, nearly thwacking Lotte right in the face. "THAT'S A FANTASTIC IDEA, LOTTE!" Akko twirled around and gave her a large embrace. Lotte smiled meekly, but happily under the immense pressure of Akko's hug.

"Akko, I think you're going to squeeze the life out of Lotte. Not that I would mind a ghost Lotte wandering around the halls, kehehe," Sucy toothily grinned at the two. "I just love ghosts."

"Okayyyy, Sucy heh..heh." Akko trailed off taking a large step towards the door. "Alright! Well I'm off to get everyone rounded up!" yelled Akko already halfway out the door and headed down the hallway. Her paper snowflakes laid quickly forgotten in a pile on there floor. "I'll see you guys in a bit!"

Lotte sighed, picked up a broom, and stared towards the massive heap of paper trimmings.

"Well at least she won't be wreaking any havoc in here for the meantime," shrugged Sucy as she laid her elbow atop Lotte's shoulder.

Akko was on a bonafide Christmas mission. Even if everyone else at Luna Nova was going to be a scrooge about the holidays, she was bound and determined to bring Christmas joy to someone at school. However, the halls seemed to be mysteriously missing the normal bustle of students running off to classes. She ran up to Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka's room.

"HEY GUYS! WANNA PUT SOME DECORATIONS UP FOR CHRISTMAS?"

Silence.

"Guys?"

Fairy crickets chirping.

"Oh, dead week just started today I guess…"

The students were given a full week off before finals to get their studies together and adequately prepare, so naturally everyone was nowhere NEAR the school grounds. No doubt they were taking full advantage of the week to explore nearby towns, sneak off with their lovers, fly into the stars late at night, and of course, inevitably procrastinate all of their study time away.

Akko sighed. "Well dang it. I'm sure Amanda roped in Constanze and Jasminka into some sort of adventure. There's no doubt they're not anywhere close. Hmmmm."

A thought popped into Akko's mind about a certain green-haired, British witch.

Diana.

Ever since the whole Diana leaving Luna Nova fiasco a couple weeks ago, Akko has noticed that the prodigal witch of the school has been slowly creeping into her mind as of late. She's been less perturbed by Diana's natural excellence and pointed overachievement and found herself actually admiring many things that used to utterly infuriate her. From the way Diana seemed to know everything under the sun about the history of magic and all of their classes, to the intent, but soft look Diana would get in her emerald eyes when she was scolding her for getting into some kind of mischief, there was some sort of shift that happened in their relationship. And Akko was very determined to stifle down these rather weird musings about her new found friend.

Akko shook her head out of her reverie, "She's probably being ever the diligent student. No way, she'd miss an opportunity to get even more study time in. Maybe I'll just go up to her room and see what she's up to."

Akko felt a nervousness building in the pit of her stomach.

It's just Diana, Akko. Why are you freaking out like this?

Akko brushed off her robes as she feigned a burst of confidence and made her way to Diana's door. As she started to raise her hand to knock on the door, it suddenly swung open, right into her face.

"WAHHH— ow, what."

"Akko?" Diana uncharacteristically stumbled into an unsuspecting Akko. The brunette caught Diana in her arms and was all too suddenly aware of their close proximity. She was close enough to be wrapped in the subtle aroma of Diana's perfume and felt heat rapidly rising to her cheeks. Wow she smells so nice…and…she's in… my arms…

Akko quickly came back to reality and slightly jumped back, eyeing the hallway tapestries and trying to find them much more interesting than the girl in front of her. "Oh hey, Diana, heh.. heh."

Diana—somewhat flustered as well— brushed herself off, "Well that was a rather abrupt entrance, Akko. Although, I should perhaps thank you for at least preventing me from the damage of potentially falling on my face." She shot Akko a soft, teasing smirk that made Akko's nervous laughter subside a little.

"I'm surprised you're still here, Akko. I thought you'd be the first one out of Luna Nova for dead week."

Akko huffed, folding her arms and cocking her head upward. Side-eyeing the smirking Diana out of the corner of her eyes, Akko muttered, "Hey now.."

"Besides causing trouble, what brings you here anyway?"

"Well actually I was just looking for the gang to see if I could get everyone to help decorate for Christmas!" said Akko, reinvigorated by her initial mission to bring the Christmas Spirit to Luna Nova.

"And how exactly might that be going?" asked Diana with her eyebrows raised upward in typical skeptic fashion at Akko's antics. Diana quite enjoyed riling up the brunette, though in a more friendly, bantering fashion as of late. She couldn't let Akko run into her and let her off the hook that easily.

"Well despite you so RUDELY insinuating that I would be the first witch off the grounds, it seems like Amanda, Jasminka, and Constanze already high-tailed it outta here! Lucky sons-of-witches…That's actually how I ended up here. I thought I'd maybe see if you'd wanna come help out." She paused and gave Diana another side glance. "…If you're not too busy with studying that is."

"Well I was actually just heading out for a walk to take a little study break. Thus, here we are now" Diana stated matter-of-factly. "Between you and me, I was also somewhat considering the fact that Luna Nova hasn't done any preparations for the holiday season. And, as the head of our class, I feel like we should really be at least be meeting our goals from last year. It would be disappointing if the first years don't have the same wondrous holiday experience that others have had from years past."

"Okay so it's not just me!" Akko interjected.

"No, Akko." Diana slightly smiled, "It's not just you." For some reason, Akko seemed like that was a loaded statement.

"Wellllll, do you wanna start by helping decorate my dorm room?" asked Akko tentatively.

Diana seceded, "I suppose I can forgo my walk, for a while, to entertain your ideas of decorating Luna Nova."

"ALRIGHTTTTT! LET'S GO!" Grabbing Diana's hand, Akko excitedly ran back down the hallway with hopes of lightening the spirits of the normally super-serious green haired witch. Little did she realize that Diana was secretly savoring the touch of their hands as they rushed away.

"LOTTE! SUCY! I'm BAAaaaack!" yelled Akko as she burst through their dorm room. Akko was once again in the day met with a deafening silence.

"Seriously what's with all of the awkward silences today?" Akko whispered to herself. She turned to Diana, "Well, I don't know where they went off to, but it looks like they're gone now too," sighed Akko.

Diana entered the room after Akko's loud outburst and was taking in the sights around her. She'd never been in Akko's room before and was mentally committing the sight to memory. Diana consciously wanted to make an effort to appreciate the little things that made Akko, Akko, especially after all the trouble the brunette had went to bring her back to Luna Nova. She was specifically fixated on Akko's insistence that she COULD both lead her family and attend school, and how Akko had taken her hands within her own and told her how she believed in her.

"Maybe let's start where you left off, Akko." Diana suggested.

"Well I was just making some paper snowflakes before I went off looking for everyone. Do you even like that kind of thing?" Akko asked Diana earnestly.

I don't mind as long as I'm with you, Akko. Diana, taken aback at her own thoughts, replied, "I wouldn't be opposed to it."

Akko threw some scissors Diana's way, "Alright, well let's see what you can do, Cavendish," giving the British royalty a slight nudge to her side.

Diana was absolutely beside herself in conflict. Her competitive side wanted to CRUSH Akko and once and for all prove that she was the most talented and deserving witch at Luna Nova. However, her damned weaker side was ultimately crumbling under Akko's charm. She mustn't let the charm get to her….But Akko's determination…

The way she bit her lip in concentration.

The way she was so blatantly determined whatever the odds.

It was too much for Diana to bear. And she found herself stealing glances out of the corner of her eye at the ditzy brunette. She wanted to be closer to Akko like she was when they abruptly ran into each other earlier. She could never admit that there was an overwhelming sense of comfort that came from being with Akko.

She'd been reaching for another piece of paper when Diana felt another set of fingers under her own. For some reason, she didn't feel the need to jerk away. In fact, she took a second to breathe, feeling the soft skin beneath her own, and stroked Akko's fingers. Diana wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but she was happy that Akko had ran into her and convinced her to come decorate for the holidays.

Slowly, tentatively, Diana interlocked her fingers with the Japanese's witch's soft hands, but feigned interest in the snowflakes that she was slowly crafting.

"Diana.." Akko whispered, her large eyes glancing up towards Diana's.

Diana stayed fixated on the paper snowflakes in front of her, but squeezed Akko's hand just a little bit tighter and inched just the slightest bit closer to her mischievous friend. She didn't understand the reason, but she wanted to cherish this close moment with Akko while it lasted.

"I'm glad you came with me," Akko whispered to Diana. Diana felt her hair stand on end with Akko's admission. She rubbed her thumb over Akko's fingers.

"I am as well, Akko. I am as well".

They continued decorating into the end of the night with their hands intertwined with each other's.