When Kanan awoke, the first thing she registered was a familiar throbbing sensation in the forefront of her skull.
Yep. This was a hangover.
Groaning at her aching head, she reached out blindly to snatch her phone off the end table, unwilling to leave the soft covers of the bed. Finding purchase, she retracted her arm and checked the screen, squinting as the phone's light hit her eyes at full power. The time read 10:37AM. Considering that Kanan had obviously gone on some kind of drunken bender the night before, she was willing to call that a victory.
Sighing, Kanan carelessly tossed the phone back on the table. She didn't have anything to do on Saturdays, so sleeping off a hangover seemed like a decent enough plan. Turning over, she prepared to burrow under the covers and not come up till the afternoon, when that plan went up in smoke as she was confronted with a shock of blonde hair and a very naked back.
Violet eyes exploded open and Kanan slowly rose to a seated position as the pieces started to fall into place. She looked around, noticing for the first time that these weren't her covers, this wasn't her room, and her clothes were scattered around on the floor.
Oh, and she was naked. That was definitely another thing she noticed.
Kanan gulped, unsure where to go from here. She didn't do one night stands. The concept just didn't appeal to her. If she was going to be intimate with someone, she preferred to be in it for the long haul.
...Was there a protocol for this? Or at least, some sort of social expectation for her to follow? She didn't know, and her nervousness only increased when the person lying in bed with her began to stir.
Kanan watched with apprehension as the blonde turned over and awoke, her golden eyes slowly trailing up and down Kanan's body in appraisal. When her sweep was complete, a small smirk blossomed on her face and she hummed in admiration. "Nice," she said approvingly.
Whether she was referring to Kanan's body or to herself for having picked up Kanan last night, the blunette couldn't tell. "...thank you?" she replied awkwardly.
The blonde giggled as she sat up, Kanan's eyes immediately moving to her very generous chest. She made to stretch, and Kanan couldn't help but return her sentiment; for having never picked up a girl before, she had done a damn fine job.
"Of course! It's only natural to compliment one's partner." The blonde looked around curiously, the smile never leaving her face. "By the way, do you remember anything that happened last night? Because I sure don't!" she admitted shamelessly. "I don't even remember your name!"
"...Oh. Well, I'm Kanan. As for last night..." The blunette frowned as she sifted through hazy memories. "I think I was with some friends? At a bar? My memory's not that great either. I suppose we must have drank a lot together if neither of us can remember. Speaking of which, how can you be so chipper with this hangover?"
The blonde shrugged. "A situation is only as bad as your reaction to it," she said wisely. "Besides, I'm too awesome to get hangovers. My name's Mari, by the way."
"Nice to meet you," replied the blunette as she offered a handshake.
"Likewise," said Mari as she returned the gesture.
"So, uh... I don't really know what to do in this situation. I mean, I've never had a one night stand before."
"Neither have I! But it's a new experience, and it's been pleasant enough so far, wouldn't you say?"
Kanan could only hum vaguely in response.
The two stared at each other as awkward silence rushed in to fill the void. Mari's eyes kept drifting to Kanan's abdominals, while Kanan's gaze shifted naturally to the blonde's breasts.
"...You up for a quickie?" offered Mari.
Violet eyes widened in shock at the blonde's shameless proposal. "Um... rain check?" replied Kanan. Not that she wasn't interested, but this atmosphere didn't really work for her.
A playful giggle came as a reply. "Alright. Just don't put it off for too long," purred Mari, crossing an arm across her stomach to accentuate her assets.
"So anyways," deflected Kanan as she looked away from the blonde's chest. "This is a nice place you've got here."
"What?" yelped Mari in surprise.
Kanan frowned. "What?" she repeated back.
"This isn't my place," said Mari.
"Well it's not mine," retorted Kanan.
Kanan and Mari blinked at each other in disbelief as realization set in, before breaking off to stare more at their surroundings. Kanan's eyes were drawn to a picture frame on the dresser displaying two young women with matching green eyes as they hugged. Neither was blonde.
"…what the hell happened last night?" she wondered aloud.
Just then, a loud rapping came at the door, startling both occupants. Pulling up the blanket to cover her bare chest (with Mari doing likewise), Kanan called out, "Come in!"
The door swung open as a beautiful yet stern faced ravenette marched in. She was very obviously annoyed. "Kanan-san. Mari-san. If you're both quite done ruining my bedspread, then I'll have to ask you both to dress yourselves and vacate my apartment." She paused to let her words sink in. "Now."
The two naked lovers shared a glance. "Yeah," said Kanan, "We can do that, uh… Um… What was your name again?"
"Dia. Kurosawa Dia."
"Do you think you could… turn around, or something?"
The ravenette's nostrils flared and her glare intensified. "After the spectacle the two of you put on last night, believe me when I say there is nothing I have yet to see."
A blush adorning her face, Kanan reached to the floor to grab her bra, keeping the blanket clasped to her chest for modesty's sake. The woman next to her however, had no such compunctions.
The blonde shamelessly threw the blanket back as she stood, bending down to give Dia quite the eyeful as she reached for her panties.
"Mari!" yelped Kanan.
"What? You heard her. Nothing new to see here," smiled Mari. She looked to Dia. "Isn't that right?"
Dia only crossed her arms and began tapping her foot impatiently, though the faintest hint of pink graced her cheeks.
Kanan decided to change the subject. "So, Dia-san," she began awkwardly as she pulled on her underwear, "We... don't really remember last night all that well. Would you be able to fill us in on how we ended up in your room?"
Dia exhaled loudly. "If I must..."
Last Night...
When Dia stepped off the elevator and onto the carpeted hallway that led to her apartment, she didn't expect to see two drunk women trying to claw their way (literally) into the apartment across from hers. She didn't expect the blonde to be 'nya'-ing, or the blunette to be loudly proclaiming, "I am the Twilight Tiger and you will yield!" as they tried to scythe down the door with their fingernails.
She also didn't expect to recognize one of them as her neighbor from an apartment wide meet-and-greet a few months back.
As she inched closer to her apartment door, Dia was relieved to find that neither drunkard took notice of her, and she was able to reach and unlock her front door in peace. As she went to enter however, she spared a single glance back.
...These two drunken idiots were truly pathetic right now, weren't they?
Sighing, Dia decided to try to be a good neighbor and help out. "Excuse me, is there some problem with your apartment door?" she asked.
The pair whirled toward her. "Yeah there's a problem!" cried the blunette, "This thing needs a key that we don't have!" She paused. "It's being a very bad door." Next to her, the blonde broke out into giggles.
Dia wrinkled her nose at the smell of alcohol and immediately began to regret her choice to help. Still, she'd already engaged them, so... "This is your apartment, yes? And you seem to have lost the key? Perhaps the landlady downstairs could provide you with a spare."
The blunette's mouth hung open in awe for a brief minute as the idea occurred to her. "...Whoa!" she exclaimed, "You're super smart! Like, super smart! I should totally go do that!"
Meanwhile, the blonde had turned to a painting hanging at the end of the hallway and began serenading it. "Guilty Eyes de koi ni ochite! Shutdown, shutdown! Guilty Fever!"
"Perhaps it would be best if you allow me to speak to the landlady," interjected Dia. "You seem to be rather... dysfunctional, at the moment." Which was putting it rather lightly, in Dia's eyes. "The both of you may wait in my apartment for the time being."
"That would be awesome! Isn't that super nice of her, Mari?" The blunette tugged the blonde's arm to draw her attention.
Golden irises ran over Dia's form. "Wow!" exclaimed Mari, "Kanan, look! It's a giant penguin!"
Dia sighed. "Please make yourselves at home," she said, gesturing to her apartment. "Oh, what name should I ask the landlady for?"
"Ka! Nan! Mat! Suu! Ra!" cheered the blunette as she dolphin-dived into Dia's place.
A crash sounded out, and Mari quickly ran inside whilst laughing madly. Dia felt so much regret at that moment. But instead of getting angry, the ravenette simply locked the door and turned around. The quicker she got this key, the quicker these two would be out of her hair.
Sadly, she didn't realize they would get out of her hair and into her sheets.
Kanan stepped out of Dia's bedroom as Dia finished her story, the blunette looking away shamefully. Mari was right behind her, though her face was noticeably absent of shame.
"In the end, I decided not to interfere and spent the night sleeping in your apartment," concluded Dia. "I even washed your bedspread when I was finished."
"Um... Thank you for your consideration..." said Kanan.
"And for not interrupting our fun," added Mari. She gave Dia a conspicuous one over. "Though I wouldn't have minded if you wanted to join," she suggested lecherously.
Dia's face burned with a mix of annoyance and embarrassment as she opened the front door. "Please get out."
Kanan scrambled to obey, muttering apologies all the while, while Mari took her time, lingering at the threshold of Dia's door with a mischievous smirk on her face. "What, you're not even gonna offer us coffee?"
"Mari!" hissed Kanan, lightly slapping her shoulder.
Face stoic, Dia turned and went to rummage around in her kitchen. A few seconds later she threw a small packet of instant coffee into the blonde's hands before shoving her out the door into Kanan's arms.
Then she slammed the door on them.
Kanan sighed. "Did you really have to antagonize my next door neighbor like that?"
"I didn't need to," admitted Mari freely, "But it was certainly fun!" The blunette only shook her head in exasperation. "So," continued Mari, "Wanna exchange numbers?"
"I suppose I did promise you a rain check on that quickie..."
After getting Mari's contact information and exchanging farewells, Kanan spent the rest of the day tending to her hangover and trying to piece together more of what happened last night by texting the friends she was out with. Sadly, Chika and You weren't much help.
But after she calmed down, Kanan thought that she should probably try to patch things up with Dia. The ravenette had been incredibly magnanimous over the past 24 hours, and it was only fitting that Kanan show her some gratitude.
However, given that the blunette knew almost nothing about Dia, finding a suitable present for her was not easy. Fortunately, on her way back from dinner, a small flower shop caught her eye and Kanan picked up a bouquet of a dozen red roses.
That night, she stood outside Dia's door, staring at it blankly in the fear that disturbing Dia would only awaken her wrath once more. Eventually though, Kanan sighed and knocked. She'd already bought the flowers; may as well use them.
A few seconds later, the door opened.
"Hey! Dia-san!" greeted Kanan.
"Kanan-san," acknowledged the ravenette as she crossed her arms.
The blunette gulped down her nervousness and offered the small bouquet of flowers. "Here. These are for you. Sort of like, an apology, I guess?"
Dia slowly reached for the flowers, gingerly taking them out of Kanan's arms as her emerald eyes never left violet irises.
"I mean!" floundered Kanan, "I know it's not really a good apology or anything, since they're just flowers and they kinda need to be taken care of so they don't die, which probably means even more work for you on top of what happened the other night, but they looked nice and they reminded me of you and I wanted to at least make the attempt to make amends, so I..." Kanan stopped as Dia held up a finger to command silence.
"...Did you plan this?" asked Dia flatly.
Kanan blinked. "Uh... kinda? I mean, I decided to get you something when I got back to my apartment, but I didn't really know what to get you until I passed by a florist on the way back from dinner."
Dia pursed her lips. "That's not what I meant." She sighed. "I suppose you may as well come in," she said, stepping back to usher Kanan through.
"Thank you for inviting me," murmured Kanan in embarrassment. As she stepped through the threshold to Dia's apartment however, she was met with a very familiar sight.
"Oh, Kanan! How shiny of you to join us!" exclaimed Mari happily.
"Mari?!" Kanan stood in shock, the blonde's presence having taken her completely by surprise. In the center of the small table in Dia's living room was a chocolate frosted cake decorated with white icing spelling out the words: 'Sorry I had Sex With ur Neighbor on ur Bed'.
From the look Dia was giving said cake, Kanan could easily feel the annoyance rolling off of her.
"Now that you're here, we can really get the party started!" continued Mari. She reached into bag at her side and withdrew a bottle of high quality sake.
"No we are not!" retorted Dia as she placed the flowers in a nice vase. "Alcohol is what got you both into my bed in the first place!"
The blonde hummed questioningly. "But don't you want to join us this time?"
"No thank you," came the deadpan response.
"But this is really expensive liquor!" protested Mari, "I certainly couldn't drink it all by myself. And it goes really well with cake." She turned to the blunette. "Back me up, Kanan."
Kanan blinked. On one hand, she didn't really want to have another drunken blackout this soon. On the other, good alcohol was hard to come by. "I suppose it would be fine if we kept it to one glass," she proposed.
Dia shot her a stern look while Mari beamed. Kanan could only shrug. The ravenette relented with a sigh. "Very well," she permitted, "I suppose it would be rude to refuse." Without further comment, Dia took out a trio of wine glasses and Mari began to pour.
The next morning, Kanan woke up to a very familiar ceiling in a very familiar bed while accompanied by a very familiar blonde. And in between the two of them was Dia, snuggled up and nuzzling the crook of Mari's neck while Kanan's strong arms embraced her from behind.
As she lay there, enveloped in comforting warmth, Kanan reflected.
She still didn't do one night stands.
...But she wouldn't mind if this became a regular occurrence.
~END~
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Omake: Here We Go Again
After Kanan got back to her apartment, she began texting her friends furiously to find out what happened last night.
A response was not immediate.
Elsewhere...
As they all came out of the fog of sleepiness and into the alert state of waking, realization hit them all at once.
"My first time was with some random stranger and my best friend?!" exclaimed Chika.
"I willingly let someone else literally come between me and Chika-chan?!" cried You.
"I had a threesome with two sexy women as a rebound?!" shouted Riko.
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Omake 2: Promises
"So, um, You-chan?" asked Chika. "About that promise we made..."
"Please do not start singing 'I Just Had Sex'."
"Got it."
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Omake 3: Yet Another Morning After
Yoshiko gaped at the sight of the brunette sharing her bed. "I thought one night stands only happened to normies!" she exclaimed in amazement.
"Sorry to disappoint," said Hanamaru as she sat up. Yoshiko noted with confusion that she was fully clothed. "But last night wasn't a one night stand, zura."
"...It wasn't?"
"Nope. Now if you'll excuse me," said the brunette as she stood, "My bath should be just about ready, zura." She disappeared into Yoshiko's bathroom, the door closing behind her.
Yoshiko was very confused.
Then her bedroom door opened and in walked an adorable pig-tailed redhead in a maid outfit carrying a breakfast tray.
"Ah, you're awake!" chirped Ruby as she came closer. "Here's your breakfast! Two scrambled eggs with tabasco sauce, one piece of toast spread with mayonnaise, and a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries, as per your request." She gave off a bright, beaming smile. "Will there be anything else, Yohane-ojou-sama?"
"...N-No," stuttered out Yoshiko eventually.
Ruby bowed. "Very well then. Enjoy your meal, Yohane-ojou-sama!" With that, Ruby turned and walked straight into the bathroom after Hanamaru.
Just before the door closed, the blunette heard Hanamaru call out, "Ruby-chan, you're wearing too many clothes to be in here..."
Yoshiko blinked. She looked down to her breakfast, blanking at the smiley face drawn in tabasco sauce on her scrambled eggs. She looked back to her bathroom door, only just now noticing a sign on the front reading, 'No Clothes Zone.' She looked to her bedside table, jaw dropping as she beheld a picture frame proudly holding a marriage certificate with her name on it.
All in all, there was really only one thing to say.
"...What the hell happened last night?!"