The mug fell from her hands. Frankly, she only noticed when she heard it shatter against the floor. Shit, now she'd have to pick it up later. Nico tried to ignore that and focus on the more important news. "You're getting married?! Guys, that's – that's awesome! I mean you've only been dating for like, forever." She said off-handedly, trying to maintain some of her cool. She decided to push the pressure onto Eli. "Took you long enough to ask, dweeb." She scolded the blonde.

Eli's face flushed. "Nozomi asked me first, actually."

"Wait, seriously?" Nico blinked. She….hadn't expected that. Nozomi shrugged when the shorter girl turned to look at her.

"Eli went out and got a ring a while ago, but she was too nervous to propose. She only ever ended up giving it to me after I proposed to her." She muffled a laugh behind her hand. "Elicchi looked so embarrassed I almost suggested we pretend she proposed first."

Nico grinned wryly. "Eli, you big nerd."

"Shut up! It's really stressful, okay?!" She shot back defensively, still deeply embarrassed. "You try proposing to someone!"

She rolled her eyes. "You wish. I'm still single. Which is just as well!" She added quickly, crossing her arms and puffing her chest out. "I mean, just imagine how many hearts I'd break if word got out that I was taken? I'm taking one for the team here. Greater good, you know? That way all my admirers can think they have a chance."

"Aw, have a little romance, Nicocchi! You can't seriously say there's nobody you have your eye on…" Nozomi said, trailing off with a bemused look. Uh oh. Nico remembered that face. The I-know-something-even-you-might-not-know-about-yourself face. That look.

She shook her head. "No. No way, I know what you're thinking, and I don't have a thing for Maki." Nozomi stared a little harder. Her grin got a little wider. Nico felt a cold sweat building. "S-seriously! I don't! She's really cute, sure, but she's just not my type!"

Now it was Eli's turn to give her a flat look. "Nico, she couldn't be more 'your type' if you had released a written instruction manual. I've only met her once and even I can tell that much."

Nico snorted, waving the statement off. "No way. You guys just want to have another couple to drag off onto double dates. I'm not falling for it."

Finally, Nozomi's grin went full force, and she was now aiming the wicked smile down at Nico. "Alright then," she said sweetly. "Fall for this: If you don't have a date to me and Elicchi's wedding, I'm going to have Umi be my best girl instead."

She gaped at her. Eli looked surprised too. "Wh – hey, you can't do that!" Nico stammered. "That kind of question is like, a no take-backs sort of thing! Geez, Nozomi!"

Eli nodded tentatively. "Err….I'd have to agree with Nico, Nozomi. I don't think you can retract that kind of request."

"Well, it's a good thing she never actually said yes, then." She replied conclusively, before turning to face Nico again. "I don't care if you have to hire someone to be your date, you need to show up as a pair. Or are you saying that the great Nicocchi is so unromantic she can't even get one measly date in two whole months?" As if to accentuate the statement, Nozomi pretended to gasp.

Was she….doubting her?

That did it. Nico narrowed her eyes. "You're on, Toujou! I'll have my future date so whipped by your wedding that people will be wondering why we aren't the ones getting married instead!"

"It's a bet, then." Her purple haired friend said, sounding beyond satisfied. "Shake on it?"

She nodded and stepped forward to do just that, hand extended, but instead earned herself a painful reminder of the broken mug. Nozomi winced.

Eli did too. "….I totally forgot about that." She admitted quietly.

"Same here," Nico forced out, pulling her foot away from the mess. Great, her sock was wet too. If anything, that upset her even more than the porcelain clinging to it. "I need to pick this up first, but you're still on."


After cleaning her mess she stuck around a little while longer, but nothing nearly as interesting as the bet or the wedding announcement happened. She wound up asking more about the wedding, obviously, and went over the facts a few times in her head. They were going to get married in about two months, just after the new year, and the wedding was going to be indoors. They hadn't picked a venue yet. They didn't plan on having many guests. Eli's grandmother would be coming in from Russia. Nozomi's parents had even agreed to take some time off for the wedding. Nico could bring her siblings.

That was the most of what she could remember being important. Nico wouldn't lie, she was beyond pumped. Single or not, she liked to consider herself a romantic, and she'd never actually been to a wedding before, so it was only natural that she'd be excited.

Having said her goodbyes already, she was just on her way out the door when she caught the tail end of the couple's conversation. "So, you're really sure she has to bring a date?" Eli asked, sounding perplexed.

"Come on, Elicchi! Sometimes fate needs a little push! Besides, she's 21 and she's never even been on a date before." She snickered. "It's a new experience, it'll be good for her."

"I heard that!" Nico shouted back to them, irritated.

"You were supposed to!" Nozomi shouted back, highly amused. Nico grumbled and left through the front door, closing it behind herself after giving them another, slightly louder and more annoyed, goodbye.

She'd gotten a ride here, but was planning on walking into town to grab a few things from the supermarket before returning to her house from there, mulling her plans over as she did. Okay, well, she had two months. To find a date, she'd likely need to check all of the normal hotspots in town…unless, like Nozomi had continuously suggested, she decided to ask Maki.

But, that wouldn't work at all. Granted, Nozomi was second to none in predictions, but nobody could be right all the time. Especially not when Maki was…..well, Maki. On a good day they got along like a house on fire, and while they'd yet to have a truly 'bad' day, save the day after they first met, Nico was not eager to see what it would be like if Maki was really, truly mad at her.

So, considering all of that, finding a date could wait. She had time to think it over. In the meantime, she might as well give Maki some more space. What the hell, right? Maybe it would help her come up with a solid reason for not asking her out. Yeah, that'd work.

Humming, she picked up the pace .


For maybe the sixth or seventh time that night, Maki set down her textbook, sighing deeply. It was impossible to get any studying done like this. It wasn't that she was too bored to go on or anything, although that was certainly a factor in it, it was just – there was a scratching at the door – that damn noise – more scratching – made it really hard – a long whine, followed by more scratching – to fucking focus.

Exasperated seemingly beyond words, Maki finally gave up, put her book away, and walked over to the sliding screen door. And stared. Hard.

On the other side of it, Nico was giving her the most pathetic look the werewolf could muster.

Maki growled but slid the door open. "This is the fourth time in four nights! What the hell do you want?!" And it was true. For four nights in a row now, Nico had been showing up like this, bothering her for at minimum a solid three hours, and then going back home just as abruptly and acting totally oblivious when Maki tried to bring it up the next day.

Which meant one of two things: One, Nico was actually just fucking with her, or two – this was some stupid werewolf selective amnesia shit, and the 'wolf' brain (Did being a werewolf count as two separate entities? Should she ask later? If not, then what caused her to regress every time she transformed? Was it possible to stop it?) wanted something from her.

It wasn't food, because she'd tried and while Nico was more than happy to eat it, that didn't seem to be what she came for. Sometimes she'd just lie on the floor and let Maki keep studying; other times she'd pace and whine for no reason until Maki was making some form of physical contact with her.

The only problem was, if it wasn't food, then…what the hell was it?

Maki groaned and flopped back onto her couch. Nico decided to follow suit, leaping onto the couch alongside her and plopping her dumb wolf ass right onto the other girl's stomach.

She sighed and tried to fondly remember when she still had control of her life (about two weeks ago) and wouldn't have just accepted the fact that there was a fucking werewolf sitting on top of her like the bigger, dumber version of the mother goose.

That took her a moment to ponder, but, since it wasn't that time anymore, she shook her head and pushed Nico off her. "I'm at least going to do something I enjoy if I can't study with you around."

Neither of her parents were home, it was two in the morning….she knew exactly what this called for. The piano beckoned. Maki shrugged off the last of her annoyance and went to it. Nico followed expectantly, occasionally urging her along.

At first, she was just going to play one song. Something slow, relaxing. But when, at the end of it, she spotted her companion staring at her expectantly, she less-than-reluctantly decided she might as well show off a little. Nico most likely wouldn't remember, it was late and her judgment was poor, and the werewolf seemed to be at the very least enjoying herself at the moment, so it wasn't like playing some more was a bad idea.

That came when she kept going and, as she progressed to longer songs, got more and more tired. Maki was pretty sure that last rendition of Claire de Lune was entirely muscle memory on her part. God, what time was it? Three? Four? Good thing she didn't have any classes tomorrow. She could probably also get away with not going to work – her parents owned the hospital, it wasn't like she wouldn't have the chance to explain herself.

The redhead yawned and pushed herself back from the bench, quietly setting everything back as it was before shuffling upstairs. She was tired.

Tired to the point where, rather than let Nico out when she started pacing around the back door again, she didn't pay attention when she was followed up the stairs. Tired to the point where she didn't think anything was strange about it, and rather she thought, 'Oh, that's nice. I bet she's tired, too.'

….Tired to the point where she mistook the admittedly soft werewolf for a blanket and allowed herself to doze off with her on the bed.

Maki just yawned and rolled over just once more before falling asleep, blissfully unaware of the problem that had just been created.

She woke up slowly, first becoming aware of the nice warm cocoon she'd managed to make in her bed. It was hard to remember what time she went to bed last night, but at this rate she was pretty reluctant to wake up. Someone else seemed to have other ideas, though. They pushed Maki a little, and the redhead mumbled something incoherent and tried to reclaim her sleep.

"Come on, seriously? Get up!" Another shove. Maki curled a little bit deeper into her blankets, trying to block out the voice.

"Shhhhut up," She mumbled yet again, still determined to keep her eyes closed. "How'd you even….."

Her eyes snapped open. Immediately coming into focus was Nico looking pretty agitated. Which made sense, considering the situation. Maki, finally resigned to being awake and dealing with, surprise, even more stupid shit, propped herself up in the bed with her elbows. "….Hm." She said finally.

" 'Hm'?!" Nico echoed loudly, clearly irritated. "I wake up in bed with you and all you have to say is 'hm'?!"

Maki nodded slowly. "….Yes," She said carefully.

Nico looked like she wanted to punch something. The redhead shifted a little on the bed, hoping that something wasn't her. "Can you at least tell me why I woke up in your room?" She asked, clearly forcing herself to keep her voice down.

"You tell me." Maki replied with a shrug.

"Why would I be asking you if I knew the answer?!"

She shrugged again. "Well, you're the one who keeps showing up and bothering me. Last night was the fourth time in a row. I'm not sure what exactly you want, so you'd have to tell me why you're in my house." She explained simply.

Nico blinked. "I've….oh. Four nights in a row?" She seemed hesitant to believe it. Maki nodded curtly. "Huh. Umm, let me try and remember….why…..I'd….do that…."

Maki drummed her fingers on the bedspread impatiently. "Is it really that hard? That time I had to take you to the vet you seemed to remember everything just fine about five minutes after." She mused. Was there a medical explanation? Or at least something that made sense?

The black haired girl shrugged helplessly. "Er, I think it has something to do with whether or not I'm aware I'm doing it. That time, it was on purpose, so, it would have been weird to me if there was a big fat blank spot in my memory, right?"

"You mean half the time you aren't aware of it? You can literally turn into a wolf and not notice." She repeated the information she'd gotten incredulously.

The other girl laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, somehow. Did you know I actually didn't even know I was a werewolf until my mom told me? It was crazy. We were freaking out."

"Wow," Maki said appreciatively, trying to picture how that must have panned out. They were quiet for a moment, each taking some time to contemplate that before Nico shook her head almost aggressively.

"Anyways!" She said loudly, "I had no idea I was visiting. Sorry about that, guess I'll just –" Nico stopped talking abruptly, as Maki grabbed her wrist and kept her from leaving the bed. "What –"

"My mom might be downstairs." She said bluntly. "And she'd be pissed if she saw me come downstairs with bedhead and a stranger."

Nico seemed to need a minute to process that. "Oh." She said finally.

"Yeah," Maki replied.

They were quiet again.

"It's too early for this." Nico sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Shit, so, what do we do?"

She shrugged. "Wait, I guess? I could go downstairs and check, but….I'm actually a little curious about something else, first."

"Huh? About what?"

Maki 'hmmmmed', trying to think of the best way to put it. It was something she'd been mulling over last night, she was sure of it….. "Well…..if you can't remember that you keep coming over, then, do you think you might know why you keep coming over?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no? Did you listen at all when I said I had no idea I was doing it?"

"No, no, I mean, is there anything in particular you wanted from me lately. Maybe it's a subconscious sort of thing?" Could things she learned in high school level psych class actually apply here? Probably not, but hell, it was worth a shot. "Maybe you forgot to tell me something, or…." She trailed off with a shrug. "I'm just trying to think of why you might be coming."

"Oh." She said quietly. "Oh. No, there's nothing I can think of! I have no idea what I was hoping to achieve, honest. I'll just try and think of some way to make sure I don't come over tonight. Maybe I can figure it out with a little bit of thought." Was it just her, or did Nico look a little embarrassed? Her face was kind of red….

Before Maki had too long to mull it over, a phone rang. Music started playing, but Nico picked it up on the first ring, so she didn't actually get to hear much more than one note. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Nozomi?"

Maki would have tuned out the conversation, but between the fact that she was too tired to care and the fact that she was curious, she opted not to. She listened in idly.

"No, of course I didn't! It's only been four days, do you really think I– hey, no, I totally could! I just, have been sorta busy, is all." A long pause. "That sounds like a terrible idea." A shorter pause. "Yes, of course I think going to a bar is a bad idea. Eli is probably the only one out of the three of us that can hold anything stronger than a root beer." Nico snorted. "Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't seen either of you try it, but I mean, she's Russian, right? There's no way she can't hold a drink, it's like. The law, I don't know."

Maki watched in amusement as Nico flinched. "…You could have told me you were on speaker….yes, I get it, I'm sorry for assuming…fine, I'll go to the stupid bar with you later….where am I? Uh…." Nico glanced nervously over at Maki. The redhead shrugged and smirked at her.

Nico coughed nervously. "I'm at a friend's house."

"Tell her you might need a ride." Maki interrupted. Nico shot her a disbelieving look, so she elaborated. "If it turns out my mom is downstairs, I can distract her while you slip out the front. I can't distract her if I'm the one driving you."

It looked like the werewolf would rather do anything but that, but she swallowed nervously, nodded, and picked up the phone again, cringing as she spoke. "Ummm…..hey, I might have to ask you two to do something…"

Maki smirked again.

Her mom wasn't home; she just wanted to see Nico squirm. That's what she got for interrupting her studies.


The distraction miraculously went as planned – Maki's mom hadn't seen Nico on her way out, and even if Maki looked strangely pleased by the way things were turning out, it was still better than being caught. Nico just wished that operation 'sneak Nico out' hadn't concluded in this particular way.

Namely, she wished she wasn't trapped in the backseat of a car while her two (potentially former if they kept this up) best friends made excessive jokes about her situation. "So, you and Maki slept together? Don't you know you're supposed to take her to dinner first?"

"Shuuuut uuuuup….!" She whined, covering her ears. "It wasn't my fault! You guys know that!"

"But it does show that you want to see her, at least." Nozomi pointed out. Nico pretended she didn't hear. Nozomi laughed. "Wow, ignoring me. Was I right, then?"

Nico crossed her arms. "Okay, just because wolf me likes her doesn't mean we're like, soul mates." She argued.

Eli's eyebrow arched upwards, but she had to turn around again quickly because the light had changed. "You aren't two people, you know. Is it that hard to say you might have a crush on this girl?"

She huffed. "Yes."

"You're so stubborn." Nozomi chided.

"So I've heard." She replied, arms crossed. "Look, are we going to spend all day arguing about it or are we going to go out and have fun later?"

"Fine, fine." She waved it off. "But I'm still going to tease you about this."

Nico didn't expect anything less. Since there were still a few hours before they were planning on going out to that bar, Nozomi and Eli dropped her off at her house. "Later, losers!"

"Try not to have another one-night stand while we're apart!"

They drove off before Nico could run back into the car and hit them, so instead she took a deep breath and opened the door to her house. Huddled up on the couch, her unsuspecting siblings were watching a movie. She crouched and walked up behind them quietly, a grin spreading on her face.

When she was just behind them, she quickly stood up, leaning over the couch to give the illusion of towering over them. "Which one of you three is trying to get rid of me?!" She roared, doing her best to use an exaggerated tone and voice.

The trio squealed and burst into laughter, trying to scatter, but she scooped Cocoa up before she could get away. "Was it you?"

"No! No!" She giggled, squirming in her older sister's grip. "It was someone else!"

Nico put her down and made a grab for Cotarou. "How about you?"

He shook his head, still openly laughing. "Not me."

She rushed towards the last of the three, grabbing Cocoro and setting her back on the couch before pointing an exaggerated and accusatory finger at her. "Then you're the culprit!"

"No, it wasn't me either!" Cocoro said, crossing her arms and beaming up at her elder sister.

"Then what gives?" Nico complained loudly, flopping onto the couch alongside her now highly amused siblings. "Which of you three is lying?"

"None of us!" Cocoa said chirpily. "We didn't open the door!"

"Do you want to know who did open the door?" Cocoro asked, bouncing excitedly on the couch.

Nico shrugged. "If you'll tell me the truth."

The siblings all exchanged glances. It was, surprisingly, Cotarou that opened his mouth. "Mama did it," He said firmly.

All traces of a grin left Nico's face. "Wait….you're saying….she's the one who opened our door for me?"

Cocoa nodded vigorously. "She gets home late and if she sees you pacing she looks at us and goes, 'Shhhhh! Don't tell your sister!' and then she lets you go out."

"…is there a reason, or….?" Usually she didn't like it when Nico went off like that. Puzzled, she decided to text her and find out. Hopefully her mom wouldn't get in trouble for texting at work.

Message to: Mama

'Have u been letting me out these past few nights? cocoa said u did and i was wondering why? i keep bothering my friend'

She didn't get a response for a few minutes, so she tried to distract herself with the cartoon her siblings were watching, which they had gone back to doing when they realized that Nico was done being playful for the moment. When she did get a response, though….

Message from: Mama

'You caught me! :p One of your friends said you had something important to do these past few nights, and it would seem like she was right! Did you have fun last night? ;p'

'MAMA OH MY GOD NOZOMI PUT YOU UP TO THIS DIDN'T SHE'

'haha g2g back to work now, love u'

Nico gaped down at her phone, before deciding to text the real culprit.

Message to: Nozotitty

'youre terrible. i cant believe you influenced my own MOTHER'

'destiny works in mysterious ways. sometimes that means thru moms'

"Uuugh." Nico rolled her eyes, shutting the phone off. That sneaky little shit. Well, at least now she knew how to stop going over and bothering Maki.

That counted for something, right?


AN: Sorry if this chapter seems much shorter than the others, it's only a little under 4,00 words. I've kind of been strapped for time lately, but I had just enough to start getting into the shenanigans that I started this story for: getting Nico and Maki to hook up, and everyone pretending it's not totally insane that there's a werewolf in their living room. I've given them a nice two month cushion for that, haha. Anyways, Eli and Nozomi are fun and I live for Yazawa family bonding. And any family bonding, haha. Since I don't have much else to say I'll just wrap this up and answer any questions you guys had.

Guest: Yeah, it's safe to assume the rest of the girls in muse are human, although initially I was going to have Eli be another, albeit former, werewolf (hence the Vucari comment way earlier on, which is actually the slavic term for what is essentially a werewolf, haha). I scrapped that, though, so she probably just has a family history. As for who in the family that refers to, well...there's only two of em, so guess, haha. It probably won't come into play much, if at all, but it's fun to know, I think? Yay for pointless trivia, I guess.

That pretty much wraps it up! Sorry for the slightly late update, I should be back to my usual pace once finals are over for me, but as it stands I'm a little strapped for time. Thanks for reading and see you soon, hopefully!