Akko drew out the evening in her head, a tesseract of unlikeliness. She couldn't have imagined half of the things happening in the manner they did without coincidence of circumstances. If Hannah and Barbara hadn't pulled over to gloat, Akko wouldn't have been there. And if Akko hadn't dragged Lotte and Sucy along on her ridiculous scheme, there would've been no danger of any of the events that transpired. But there was no going back and changing that.
Akko rolled over to face Sucy who was sound asleep across the room. In many cases, Sucy was lucky. She didn't have to worry about people teasing her about love interests or aspirations, as most people assumed she didn't have any. Not that Akko ever thought Sucy couldn't have either; she knew Sucy was very inclined to do things when properly motivated by her own desires and she certainly wasn't unlovable by any means. There are many ways being devilish can also be charming, though Akko personally might not have thought so.
She glanced up at the top bunk for a moment, knowing Lotte was fast asleep above her. Lotte was a sweetheart, caring and gentle all the way, practically the opposite of Sucy in some form or another. She was just as eligible, and Akko was glad Frank had shown interest in her, even if Lotte had turned him down. "You deserve someone who makes you happy, Lotte," Akko mumbled, before glancing at Sucy and smiling. "You both do…"
She'd been teased all night about what happened between her and Andrew, and while it had been embarrassing to say the least, Akko wasn't sure it was as on the nose as either of her friends made it seem. Sure, Andrew was charming in some manners, but in others he was irritating, spineless even, and Akko had no business being with a guy like that, nor did she care to. Regardless, Sucy and Lotte continued insisting he could be her potential lover, but they didn't understand.
Akko envisioned the night as it had transpired, the daring entrance, the endless food buffet, the shimmering manor and all of its glory, and Andrew had to go and ruin it all by trying to toss them to the curb. Akko supposed, in that moment, it couldn't have gotten worse, until Sucy released the bee and let it sting the poor boy. He had been all over Akko, and she wanted nothing to do with him. She could still hear the way Sucy snickered as Akko dragged her off. And then…
"D-Diana…" Akko mumbled, rolling back over to face the wall. She felt her face heat up as she remembered those piercing blue eyes and how longingly they stared into her own. "It was just the bee," Akko reminded herself, rolling over once again to bury her scorching face into the pillow. She couldn't get the image out of her head, Diana's voice echoing in her mind like a racquet ball, ricocheting off of every edge of her mind into the chasms of her brain that no one dared to cross into until it traveled like lightning-strike cold as a shiver down her spine, pulsating through her ribs, tugging her chest tight and holding her heart captive. She could not breathe, could not stutter out the name again, as if the very recollection had washed over her, and froze her tongue in glacier blue.
It definitely wasn't Andrew she was interested, no. But Akko would never tell anyone. Although she was sure neither of her friends would care. If anything, Sucy would tease her about it. No. Akko couldn't tell anyone out of fear that Diana would find out, and the results of that were, most likely, absolutely mortifying.
"I'm going to kill Akko," Diana mumbled, curling up against the wall. She could still feel some sort of tightness in her chest, even if the bee's magic had long since passed. "Just what was she thinking, crashing Lord Hanbridge's party like that?"
Diana closed her eyes, seeing flashes of pink, Akko in her ballgown, her slim, pale shoulders exposed to the world, her surprisingly sharp collarbone- Akko was stick thin, far too thin for anyone who lounged around on sweets. It was a wonder how she managed to stay so petite, though her face was pretty round. Diana might never admit it out loud, but she would be lying if she ever said she hadn't considered pinching Akko's cheeks once or twice. She traced over the image in her head a few times. The bee sting couldn't possibly have held such lasting effects on her. Had she been jealous when Andrew had become bewitched with Akko? Not particularly, but Diana was more focused on the bee itself rather than its effects. Maybe it was something that had always been there, but never surfaced? Diana, queen of knowing everything, did not have the answers.
It wasn't the first time Akko had stumped her either. And she supposed it wouldn't have been the last. She traced the moments in her head like one draws pictures in the sand, a temporary joy until the next flooding tides washed over her. Akko had proven herself to be quite the adversary in some sense or another, and it became increasingly clear to Diana that she was not as much of a dunce as she appeared. There had been a lot of that lately, misconceptions of who everyone was supposed to be versus who they actually were. Diana had more than her fair share of people trying to tell her who she needed to be. Akko had faced that in a very different manner, between Hannah and Barbara's consistent teasing and the professors' growing impatience, save one, Ursula, though Diana didn't think Ursula really did much as far is it came to being a mentor, at least from what she could gather. Diana had complied to society long ago, and was obligated by her own standing to be outstanding. But not Akko, Akko's drive came from a lot of things jumbled together, mostly spite, but definitely passion and empathy. Never in all of her days studying magic had Diana encountered anything like Akko. Perhaps that is where the pseudo-infatuation had started, pseudo because Diana would never have called it an "infatuation" to begin with. She curled up tighter and squeezed her shut eyes.
"Either I'm going to kill Akko, or she's going to be the death of me."