Wisps of steam billowed out from the room as they walked forward. Miku gripped her small towel even tighter, hugging the fabric close to her exposed body. Her skin felt much too warm, almost numb, but the tealette couldn't be sure whether it was from her own embarrassment or the heat that radiated from the bathing area. In front of her, a curtain of pink hair swished from side to side as her friend, Luka, walked forward with confidence. Miku blushed and kept her eyes glued to the ground. Although the abundance of hair provided sufficient cover, catching glimpses of the pinkette's naked body was still inevitable. Of course, it was a pointless endeavor to avert her gaze, considering the fact that they'd be inside the onsen soon.

It had been Luka's idea to take a vacation at one of the popular hot springs near them over the long weekend. 'Girl's trip,' the pinkette had said, with her usual cheerful smile and a little wink. Miku, being Miku, couldn't refuse. Rather than relaxing like Luka had intended, however, spending so much time alone with said woman was stressing Miku out like nothing else.

Even though they'd been coworkers for over a year now, the tealette still found it hard to behave like a normal person with a functioning brain around her crush. No matter how much she tried to battle her anxiety whenever they talked, the tealette's words crashed into each other and sentences became jumbled. She'd mean one thing and say another, which usually led to some humiliating accidents. For whatever reason, Luka didn't seem to mind Miku's failure at social interaction at all. She even seemed to find the tealette's frequent slip ups to be amusing and the two often spent time with each other, even outside of work.

Miku had thought she was getting better. Holding a normal conversation became easier and she had stopped blushing every time they made eye contact. Because of these improvements and their budding friendship, the tealette had believed that she could survive a three-day trip alone with Luka. And she would have been correct too, had she not forgotten a tiny detail: they were going to have to bathe together.

Normally, she wouldn't have batted an eye at going to an onsen with a friend. She'd gone with Rin, and sometimes Miki, plenty of times before. There hadn't been any awkwardness when the tealette was with those two. They were just friends and seeing them without clothes was pretty much the same experience as seeing them dressed. But today was different. Today, it wasn't Rin bouncing ahead of her or Miki talking her ear off. Today, she was with the one person in the world who could make her babble on like a two-year-old, whose laugh made her heart flutter with joy and, in a way, the one person she really didn't want to get naked in front of (yet).

The tealette could feel her legs begin to shake as Luka stepped into the washing area. Inside her mind, she cursed at the pervert who designed this hotel to not have private showers. Logically, she knew that it was just a way of promoting the hot springs but in that moment, she really just needed someone to blame. Miku tried to take deep breaths and calm down with no avail. The air was much too humid to have any calming effect and it didn't help that every few seconds, her mind would be on the pink-haired woman's body again.

She'd always known that Luka had a very desirable figure; that much was obvious even with clothes on. But today was the first time she'd seen the woman naked and, in all honesty, Miku was surprised she hadn't already made a fool of herself with the amount of neurons currently going haywire in her brain. She really wouldn't be able to take much more than this, especially not if Luka asked for a back scrub, something the teasing pinkette was likely to do.

"Miku, are you alright?" The tealette almost jumped backwards as she realized she was barely an inch away from crashing into Luka. Her cheeks flared with heat as she noticed that the pink haired woman had turned around and was currently observing her with a concerned expression. The small towel that Luka held was miraculously enough to cover the pinkette's breasts, much to Miku's relief. Still, she fought the urge to cover her eyes, knowing that she'd be completely exposed if her hands ever left her own towel. Seeing her hesitation, Luka smiled reassuringly and reached out to grab Miku's wrist, "There's no need to be shy, really. If you're nervous, then I'll take it off firs-"

"No!" Miku flinched as if she'd been burned and abruptly stopped the pink haired woman from lifting the towel. Blood rushed to her head and pounded at her temples as struggled to find a decent excuse for her odd behavior. "I..uhh…I can't do this anymore." She finally blurted out and dashed away quickly, before Luka could grill her further, leaving a confused pinkette standing awkwardly at the entrance to the baths.

The temperature in the change room was, thankfully, much lower. Miku felt her mind clear a little, although her heart still beat erratically. Sitting down on one of the wooden benches, she ditched the towel and ran a hand through her teal bangs. A mixture of sweat and condensation covered her palm. Miku groaned and leaned against the cold metal of the row of lockers behind her. She wondered if Luka had gone in to bathe without her. Miku could hardly blame the pinkette. Her friend had been so eager for them to take this trip and she just had to mess up this badly.

"Oh, there you are." A familiar voice sounded in front of her. Miku squeaked and scrambled to cover herself again. Luka sighed and her expression was one of exasperated amusement. "What are you so embarrassed for? We're both girls."

"Mnn…sorry…" Miku finally managed, her gaze trained on the ground.

"Hey, there's no need to apologize." The tealette felt Luka sit down beside her. "It wouldn't be fun anyways if you're uncomfortable."

"No, I meant just…for today in general. I know you really wanted to come here and if it weren't for me..."

"Really wanted to come here huh…?"

To Miku's surprise, the pinkette began laughing quietly.

"…what's so funny?"

"Mmm…nothing. I was just thinking…you sounded so sure that it was this place I'd been looking forward to visiting. But perhaps it was…"

"Huh…?" Miku felt her heart begin to beat faster as the pinkette's voice trailed off. She could only think of one direction that the sentence had been heading towards but it seemed too much like wishful thinking on her part. There was no way Luka would be hinting at…

"Miku, you're so clueless." The pinkette whispered. Miku could feel her soft breath brush the nape of her neck. The tealette shivered at the contact with her sensitive skin. Warm hands gently guided her face to tilt upwards. Miku's mind went blank as she stared into the cerulean irises that had captivated her the first time they met. She vaguely registered Luka cupping her cheeks and her entire body seemed to be buzzing with restless energy. Time seemed to slow down as Miku felt lips press against her forehead. "I've noticed the way you look at me sometimes, you know," Luka murmured against the teal strands tickling her chin, "And if I've misunderstood, then I apologize. But this should make my feelings clear enough."

Miku's breath caught in her throat and she sat still, speechless. It felt so much like a dream that she wondered if she was seeing a hallucination, brought on by the heat. There was no mistake to what Luka was saying and yet the tealette found herself doubting reality. She had been waiting for a moment like this for so long but now that it suddenly came, she was unable to utter a single word.

"I…"

Luka pulled away and stood up, a melancholy smile playing at the edge of her lips.

"Looks like I was wrong. Don't worry. This changes nothing between us. We can still be-"

"No, y-you're right," Miku interrupted quickly. Her voice quivered and cracked a little. "It's just that I never expected…I-agh!"

Dizzy from standing up too quickly, the tealette lost her balance and fell forward. Arms wrapped around her and caught her easily.

"Shh…don't get so worked up. I understand."

Fingers stroked her hair comfortingly and Miku allowed herself to stay in the embrace for a bit. A blissful happiness was spreading from her chest to the rest of her body. Nestled in Luka's arms, she could finally believe that her feelings weren't for naught. It was only when the initial wave of dizziness passed over that the tealette realized her face had been planted in something soft, or rather, things.

They were both naked and Luka had dropped the towel in her haste to catch Miku.

The thought hit her harder than it should have, seeing as they had been undressed for quite a while now. Flustered, the tealette wriggled out of Luka's arms, blushing furiously.

"You're adorable as always." Luka chuckled and sauntered over to their shared locker to retrieve her bathrobe. "Now come on. We should get to sleep early today. There's a lot to do tomorrow, after all."

"Wait, why?" Miku began nodding eagerly until she realized she had no idea what the pinkette meant. As far as she remembered, they didn't have any plans for the next few days other than relax.

"Well, I was thinking…tomorrow's Valentine's day and my dear little Miku happens to be available…unless you have any objections?" Luka was looking at the tealette with a playful smirk on her face. Miku was blushing so hard that she thought she was going to faint. The pink-haired woman was flirting with her. And by the mischievous glimmer in her eyes, she knew damn well what it was doing to Miku's already overheated brain.

"Of course not. No objections here, none." By this point, Miku had given up on forming proper sentences. Luka had given her too many surprises today and she had lost control, not that she minded in the least. Still in a gleeful daze, Miku stumbled behind the pink-haired woman like a clingy puppy.

"Miku." Luka stopped and turned to the tealette. She looked like she was about to laugh again.

"What?"

"Please put your bathrobe on before we go outside."

A/N:

Happy Valentine's Day~

So I saw this thread somewhere about not being able to go to public baths with crushes and I thought "hmm, why not write a negitoro thing about this" and it happened to be Valentine's Day so here we are XD

...although at this point I should just rename this oneshot collection "10000 ways they get together (and break up)" because that's literally all I write about :'D