Intuit
Disclaimer: don't own
Notes: Day 28 of the 30 Day Cheesy Tropes Challenge by ghiraher on tumblr: gender bend au
The first concrete thing Satsuki notices about her is that she's hard to process—this woman, standing in front of her, this Kagami Taiga, looks so animated and so striking that even Satsuki, precise as she is in her measurements, cannot say if it's the crimson hair or infinitely long legs or the way she bounces on the balls of her feet or how tall she is or the grin on her face that's got to be two kilometers wide (why is she so happy? It's not that it bothers Satsuki the way these people's smiles sometimes do when she feels like she's not in on the joke; she feels like it's already being shared with her whatever it is).
"It's nice to meet you," she says, and her hand twitches almost as if she's going to reach out and shake Satsuki's.
Satsuki wouldn't mind at all; her hands look firm and flexible and her skin seems like it would be warm to the touch.
"Likewise," Satsuki murmurs.
"Great, you guys know each other, now let's grab lunch," says Daiki.
"Don't interrupt, Dai-chan," Satsuki says.
"Kagami's hungry, too, though; right?"
"I'm always hungry," says Kagami. "But yeah, lunch wouldn't be too bad. If you don't mind."
"She just likes giving me a hard time," says Daiki.
"You're the one who makes it too easy," says Satsuki.
It's immediately clear that Daiki was right about her. She fits right in with them, as if she's always been there, even after just one lunch—it's weird how her intuition had finally been wrong, how odd she'd felt about the whole thing the first time Daiki had mentioned the chatty American girl in one of his classes who was a big basketball fan. It doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes and Satsuki tells herself to calm down, that she's probably straight and that she's so stylish that she'd never go for someone like Satsuki who can't match colors and defaults to jeans and a hoodie 90 percent of the time anyway. But it's hard to look away from the way her hands are constantly in motion, tapping the table when they're not bringing food up to her mouth (and she inhales pizza; she wasn't kidding about her appetite) and the smile that's still affixed to her face. She's totally gorgeous and Satsuki's already smitten but there are probably worse things to be.
Daiki catches on about a week later, earlier on than he usually does. "You like her, don't you?"
Satsuki shrugs. "It's hard to say at this point. I haven't known her that long—"
"Bullshit."
"Well, okay. I do. It's hard not to." She sighs. "She's so cool."
"Yeah, she is. I mean, I knew you two would get along."
"Do you think she likes me? I mean she always smiles at me but is she like that with everyone?"
"Not in class," says Daiki. "School makes her angry."
"How would you know? Unless you're actually staying awake now."
"Ha ha. But seriously, we talk before class and then when it starts she starts to get moodier and moodier. I guess she's not really an academic."
That, in its own way, is something to think about.
The first time they hang out alone they go shopping—Satsuki needs a new pair of jeans and some bras and Kagami just wants to check out the sales. Her nerves are shaky as they walk through the aisles; every time she goes shopping with another woman it always ends up badly—they decide she needs to spice up her wardrobe, that a cute girl like her should wear more ruffled skirts and floral tops and doesn't she want to look pretty? She always feels like a dress-up doll, a project that someone else is more invested in than she is. While she wouldn't necessarily mind being more fashionable she honestly doesn't have the patience for it, and she's comfortable in jeans and a hoodie and the same pair of sneakers or flats.
"You have really nice shoulders," says Kagami as she rifles through a rack of colorful tops.
"I'm sorry?" says Satsuki.
"They're, like…normal," she says as she holds up a sheer button-down, eyeing it critically in a nearby mirror.
It's obvious that despite the looseness there's no way in hell it's going to fit Kagami.
"I thought you said you wanted to be a firefighter. Aren't broad shoulders good for that?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
Kagami picks up a bigger version of the sheer shirt and holds it up; this one is also much too narrow. The thing is, Kagami's got great shoulders, sharply toned, and even when she's wearing a lacy sleeveless top they look great—very feminine, even.
"This might look good on you," Kagami says, pulling out a loose baby blue top. It does look cute, but it would look horrible with jeans and she doesn't have anywhere to wear it to.
"No, thanks."
"You sure?"
Satsuki nods, biting her lip. Kagami puts it back on the rack and they head off toward the pants and skirts.
Shopping isn't as tedious with Kagami; Satsuki's spent twenty minutes looking at jeans and has three pairs to try on as well as a pleated black miniskirt that actually looks comfortable. Kagami has a few skirts of her own and a pair of athletic shorts, and they're about to go to the fitting rooms when Satsuki decides to double back.
"Save me a spot in line," she says.
When she returns she's holding the baby blue top and Kagami's face lights up even brighter.
They grab lunch at the food court afterward, and Kagami doesn't eat as much as usual, picking at her soba. Satsuki wonders if she should say something, or if she already has said something—it was fine when they were in the dressing room, more than fine as they walked out of the stalls to show each other their outfits—Kagami had looked great in every skirt; they all made her legs look miles long and her assurances had made Satsuki decidedly less self-conscious about the blue top. Even with jeans, Kagami's eyes had popped out and the way she'd said Satsuki looked pretty, well—it's hard to keep it from running through her mind like a hamster running end-to-end in its cage.
"Uh, Momoi?"
"Yes?"
Kagami sighs. "The real reason I invited you was because I wanted to, uh, ask you something."
Satsuki swallows, gripping her chopsticks tighter.
"I mean, Aomine said you were good at math and I can't make heads or tails of it and just—will you tutor me?" She flushes.
Satsuki nearly drops her chopsticks. "Yes, of course," she says, trying to keep the smile up on her face.
"Try harder," Satsuki says, tapping the paper.
Kagami gives her an exasperated sigh and slumps over the table, long arm stretching to almost the other end. "I am. I just can't remember all the formulas and I get all the variables mixed up."
She looks cute with her face turned up like that (she probably knows that, too) but Satsuki's not going to give in. It's her responsibility to help Kagami pass statistics.
"Would it help if you thought about it like a story with words? Like if you thought of mu as not just an isolated quantity that you needed to memorize the meaning of but if you thought of the whole method as a procedure rather than a formula?"
"What?"
"Like if you saw the problem, instead of recognizing that you needed to plug mu and a bunch of other things into but you saw it and you thought about what you have and then how to use it? It might take a little longer but you won't have to worry so much about memorizing a precise formula and even if you forget you can get clues from the context."
"But we already went over that in class."
"And there's a reason for that. You can't just get the formula and be expected to use it."
"That's how some people do it," Kagami mutters.
Satsuki pats her on the shoulder. "But it's not working for you. Just try it, okay?"
"You're really helping her, you know?"
"Yeah, but I'm not helping myself," says Satsuki. "She said I was beautiful on the shopping trip but nothing since then. Maybe she just wanted to get me to tutor her."
"She wouldn't do that," says Daiki. "I'll kill her if she did. But you haven't worn that outfit yet, anyway."
"But if she's only attracted to me when I wear stuff like that it won't be much of a relationship," says Satsuki.
Daiki rolls his eyes. "Stop being so goddamn negative. She looks happier in class. You are making her happier. Maybe she likes you but doesn't realize it yet."
"I'm not getting that vibe."
"You didn't think you were going to like her at all. Maybe she just messes with your intuition."
Kagami's arms envelop her; she's warm and smells like soap and Satsuki can hear her heartbeat. Her arms fit perfectly around Kagami's waist and she wants to stay here forever and just feel the ridiculous rush and never let go, never do anything else. She closes her eyes.
"Thank you so much. I can't believe I got such a high grade! You're a genius, Momoi, an absolute genius."
"It was all your hard work," Satsuki murmurs.
"No way. You were so patient with me."
She can't not be patient with Kagami. It's impossible.
"Is there anything I can do in return?"
Kiss me. Go on a date with me. Let me stay here forever. "I can't think of anything."
"I'll buy you lunch. Like…ah…"
Satsuki looks up. Kagami's blushing and rubbing the bridge of her nose right now.
"Like a date?"
Kagami blinks and then the familiar grin starts to spread across her cheeks, almost like it's going to burst her head open. "Yeah. Exactly like it."