This was written way before I actually posted this, lying around on my hard drive for a while now. The reason this was written was to cope with one particularly depressing fic's ending, as I wanted something, anything to quiet down from it. And now that the fic ended, and the ending turned out to be full downer and just plain heart-wrenching... Ugh. I felt like I needed to revisit this.

Normally, it was Akko's habit to slam the Red Team dormitory door open when coming back from the lessons. Heck, sometimes, even Lotte, when particularly excited about something, would end up nearly busting that old door off its hinges.

But Sucy was probably the person this was least expected from. So naturally, Akko, who was currently the only one present within the dormitory – as once again, by good old coincidence, Lotte was off at her usual reading spot in the academy's courtyard – was quite startled by the sound of the dormitory door nearly flying off it's hinges.

"Oh, hey there, Suce." – Akko remarked as she noticed the violette's presence. No reply. The alchemist was visibly slouched over, and so she just limped past Akko and over to her own bed.

"Everything alright?" – The brunette got her answer rather quickly, in the form of a tired groan uttered by Sucy as she fell right down onto her bed. Well, if Sucy suddenly slamming a door open in frustration didn't surprise Akko at least a tiny bit, then the mauve-haired Filipino's voice being anything other than her usual deadpan snarking certainly did.

"Come on now, Suce, just tell me." – Akko said, sounding slightly concerned. Sucy only cast her one of those usual death glares in response, and then continued staring up at the ceiling, lying spread-eagled on her bed. The violette had… Mixed reasons for not telling Akko. Of course, the rational part of her just hoped that Akko would get tired of this, what with her short temper, and stop pestering the alchemist. The other part… Just didn't want her involved in Sucy's endeavors.

After all, the main reason why Sucy came to the academy wasn't to study, but to trace a particular toxin's origins using the ingredients and equipment offered by the place. She dubbed the toxin "The Birthmark", for the odd little bottle containing the highly toxic fluid was one of the few things left with her way back then, when she was abandoned at an orphanage's doorstep as an infant. She had no doubts that her parents, whomever they were, just wanted it to look like an accident – after all, leaving poisons in close vicinity from a little kid is far from a sensible thing to do unless you want them dead. Too bad for these morons that she was smarter than that.

"I've had a tiring day is all. Just leave me be for now. And besides…" – Another glare. – "Don't you have any homework to finish?"

However, as time passed, Sucy felt that she had other reasons to stay at the academy. First, there was the obvious purpose, the studying – for all her alchemical prowess, she admittedly lacked in other areas sans broom flight and divination. Secondly, this place had such bad security that it's library and alchemical storage were basically goldmines of alchemy books and ingredients respectively! How could she say "no" to that?

"Aw… Now that you mention it… Well, I can't really do much without you or Lotte helping me out with some moments I struggle with quite often, you know…"

"Figured as much."

And the third reason, which took her until a year later to realize… Was Akko. That brunette was a little bit annoying at times, sure, but Sucy could swear that Akko was the best girlfriend she could ever have – even if she was, ironically, the very type of person she usually disliked. It was as if Akko was a special case of sorts, as her cheerfulness, while admittedly a bit of a pain in the fifth contact point at first, was something that the violette grew accustomed to and found charming in its own unique way. And besides, Akko was quite the willing guinea pig for Sucy's experiments, so there was that.

"Alright then. For you, bunny, I guess I can get past my fatigue." – The violette remarked, getting up from her bed and going over to the desk where she and Akko usually worked at the written portion of their homework.

Sure, the duo had quite the rough start – after all, siccing a bunch of fake snakes on someone isn't really the nicest way to introduce yourself to them – and most of the year they either had the occasional moments of bickering, or Sucy's pranks on Akko going out of control…

And then there was the part which Sucy was quite unproud of – the time when Sucy and Akko were left quite distant from one another, due to the latter ending up in some sort of adventure to restore magic to the whole world. Worse yet, as a result, Akko spent a lot of her time with a certain snobbish blondie, which irked Sucy like no tomorrow, for reasons that she was yet to understand back then. Not helping matters was how strangely close the two girls seemed, with Sucy almost about to completely bury her feelings towards Akko because she felt like she wouldn't ever have any chances with her. Had it not been for them keeping in contact during summer break…

The homework was done much quicker than Sucy estimated – it was ironic how, while Sucy's presence usually distracted Akko from her work, she managed to do quite well and not waste too much time getting off track. In a way, the violette felt proud of her cheerful girlfriend.

Back to the summer break thing… Sucy had to stay back at Luna Nova, mostly because she had nowhere else to go anyway, but on the bright side of things, crystal ball-based communication was still perfectly usable, as Lotte did give Akko a spare crystal ball for that exact purpose. And over the course of the summer break, Sucy had all the time she wanted to chat on with Akko, despite usually not being the talkative type. Throughout all these constant chat sessions, Sucy reaffirmed her feelings further. Funny how long-distance relationships work sometimes…

"Whoa! I'm beat…" – Akko remarked as she closed her textbook full-force.

"You're going to leave the spell practice for later, as always?" – Sucy asked, a little skeptical.

And all it took was until the next study year, until early September, for the violette to admit her feelings towards Akko. Or, rather, it was Akko who admitted her feelings for Sucy, much to everyone's surprise. Yet given that the feelings were mutual, everything went much better than Sucy expected.

"Well, you're probably still feeling tired as all heck from today, and I'm pretty sure that spell practice would probably just finish us both off. Don't you think it'd be better for us to cuddle in your bed for a little while?" – After realizing what she said, Akko's face ended up beet red as she elaborated: "You know, the innocent kind of cuddling."

"Actually… I was wondering if you wanted to go for a quick flight across the countryside." – Sucy replied, putting her hand on Akko's. – "Maybe we could even visit our favorite lookout spot, too."

"Oh, right on time, too! The sun's going to be setting soon, so we better hurry! Just picture it – you and me, outside, not a soul for miles but us watching the sunset and kissing. This is gonna be so nice and romantic! " – The brunette remarked excitedly, running off to get her and Sucy's brooms and leaving Sucy with her thoughts for the time being.

"Never really got the appeal of watching sunsets, to be honest."

The duo was quietly sitting on the stone railing of an all-too-familiar cobblestone bridge, looking off into the horizon and watching the setting sun. Or rather, Akko was the one watching – Sucy was instead looking over at her girlfriend, noting to herself just how beautiful the brunette looked in the fading sunlight, as it seemed to emphasize that unmistakable shine of excitement and cheerfulness in Akko's eyes even further.

Okay, Sucy was ready to take her words back after this. There really was quite a bit of appeal to watching sunsets after all. And with Akko's hair waving in the warm early autumn breeze, she reaffirmed those thoughts even further, blushing even more than she already did.

"Well, I like to think that it's not really about the sunset proper…" – And Akko certainly elaborated on Sucy's trail of thought, making the violette wonder if the residual effect from the time when they were training in telepathy spells still persisted. – "But, like, it's all about how you're just there all alone with the one you love, you know? That sort of thing."

Sucy's only reply was a quiet nod.

"Anyway… We've still got the kiss part left." – The brunette remarked, throwing Sucy off her trail of thought slightly and making her face get as red as it was possible with the Filipina's usually pale skin. Yet the violette need not reply with words, as she reached in to kiss Akko, with the asian witch pulling Sucy's mauve bangs off to the side as she gave into the kiss.

These were the moments that let Sucy know she made the right choice.