Notes: On the Animesuki forum, we swap a lot of fics between us. Riddly, one of my friends, posted something that was really nice in my opinion. It was really casual and captured Fate's personality very well. Inspired by this, I tried my hand at something simple as well. Here is the result, a random night at Section Six.

Casual Fridays

By: Satashi

I turned the page of the book above me and continued reading the simple love story held at arm's length. I don't know why but this had always been my favorite position to read, even though it made my arms very tired. Laying on my back with my feet propped up on something random was the only way to read as far as I was concerned. Slowly I moved one of my feet and ran it along my other leg to sooth an itching spot. The feel of my pantyhose felt funny and I briefly debated taking them off but quickly dismissed the idea. That would involve putting my book down. I was under dressed as it was, wearing nothing but my black enforcer skirt and my white button up shirt that only had the tops done to cover my breasts. Turning the page again, I lost myself in the characters speaking to each other while trying to overcome their hardships. Such a simple matter, but it still held my attention. In the back of my mind I wondered what it would be like to be in a relationship with someone like that, to worry about them and even be a little jealous when they talked to someone else who might like them. I really wanted someone to care for like that, but right now all I had was...

I felt my stomach be pounced on and before I knew what was happening wet lips were placed on my navel and blown on, making a really weird sound. Shrieking loudly, I scrambled to get whatever it was off of me , frantically trying to move away by kicking at the wall and pushing my arms against the bed. Familiar laughing met my ears, making me look at my stomach and see Nanoha still trying to blow on me while unsuccessfully trying to keep from giggling. Now with a reason for the attack apparent my fear turned to anger and I bopped her on the head repeatedly while she kept laughing. "Mou! Nanoha! Don't! Do! That!" Each word was accompanied by a gentle yet annoyingly firm tap to her head.

"My turn, my turn!" A new voice came up and suddenly I found Vivio jumping on the bed and burying her face on my stomach and blowing. This time I couldn't help but laugh at both the sight and the strange tickling sensation since I wasn't being scared this time around.

"And that," Nanoha commented, "Is how you call Fate-mama for dinner."

"Don't tell her that," I protested while reaching down to ruffle Vivio's hair. "She'll keep doing it if you say that."

Nanoha simply smiled. "It's okay." Despite my protest, seeing that smile on her face made me bite back any negative response I could have given. "Come on," She continued while helping me sit up properly. "I got take out, your favorite."

"From the Mexican place?" I asked with a hopeful look getting a nod. "Yummy!" Moving to swing my feet around the bed, Vivio ran past me with her arms stretched out. "Don't trip!" I warned her, getting a cheerful reply as she ran downstairs. It was then I felt Nanoha's hands under my arms, undoing the buttons on my shirt "Na-Nanoha?"

"You'll get sick if you don't dress properly," She scolded me as I was undressed, completely destroying the logic of her statement. "Here, lift your arms."

Doing as she requested, I did so and soon felt something warm coming over my upper body. My curiosity took over and I looked to the right at the mirror on the wall and smiled at the dark red sweatshirt with several Christmas like decorations on it. Truth be told it was a horrid shirt, one of those ones that people only wear to trick the people who got it for them into thinking they liked it. The worst thing was I knew I had to wear it tomorrow at work because of the casual Friday. "Thank you," I told her as I looked over my shoulder towards her. "It's really cute." If it was anyone else I wouldn't be caught dead in it.

"I'm glad," She hugged me happily from behind and nuzzled against my cheek much like a kitten would. "Fate-chan needs cute clothes!"

I returned her hug by placing my hands on her arms around me and leaning back against her. Nanoha's gifts were special to me, even after all these years, and I would treasure this sweater for a while to come. To end our moment, Vivio called from downstairs in a request for her mothers to hurry up. My best friend twirled around me and pulled me to my feet with a smile and walked backwards to drag me along. "Don't trip," I warned her just as I had Vivio earlier. Unlike my four year old daughter, my twenty year old friend did in fact fall over and took me with her. With a loud thunk we hit the ground hard, me on top of her. Bracing myself to keep from landing on her completely, I held myself up with my arms on either side of her body. Looking down, I noticed one of her hands was gripping my sweater while the other was conveniently placed on my breast in an attempt to keep me from falling on her. In turn I noticed I had one knee between her legs and hers bent up awkwardly between mine. If anyone walked in on us there would be no way to say we weren't doing something erotic at the moment.

"Momma, hurry up!" Vivio peeked around the corner and glared at us. "Dinner!"

Fortunately Vivio was four years old.

"C-coming." Nanoha leaned back to look at Vivio upside down. "Mama just tripped." The young one nodded at us before trotting away once more. "Um...Hi." Nanoha spoke to me now and for some reason I couldn't help but blush.

"Hi," I greeted her back before we were both overcome by a small moment of awkward silence. I knew I should move but for some reason I couldn't quite force myself. This became apparent as Nanoha's face slowly started to darken as well. "Um...I'll move now."

"Y-yeah..." Despite the words neither Nanoha nor myself made any attempt to do so. My hair decided to let gravity win suddenly and a lock of it fell from my shoulder and graced Nanoha's neck. "Fate...-chan...?" Slowly she moved her hand from my chest and gripped the handful of hair to very gently pull me downwards to her. I went without resistance and found our eyes closing. Leaning in closer, my lips parted on their own accord.

A loud crashing sound made both of us jerk back and look at each other with frightened expressions. Quickly we ran apart and down the stairs into our living room and then around the corner to the kitchen where Vivio was trying hard not to cry. "What happened!?" I asked immediately, despite knowing the answer as soon as I saw the broken glass plate shattered all over the floor with a larger piece in the girl's hand. "Are you okay!?"

Vivio nodded timidly, still choking back tears. "I-" her speech was broken by a small sniffle. "Wanted to set the table...I'm s-sorry."

"Vivio," Nanoha started talking as I lifted up the small one to balance on my hip after taking the glass from her. "When you break glass, be sure to walk away carefully from it and immediately get one of us okay? Never try to clean it up yourself, you could get cut."

I nodded and took Vivio away from the danger. "Nanoha-mama is right." Sitting her down, I started fixing a plate to take my daughter's eyes away from her mistake. "Here you are, sweetheart, eat up okay?"

"Okay," She still sounded a little nervous, as if she was going to be scolded, but after a few bites her mood was distracted onto the good food.

With Vivio taken care of, I walked back over to Nanoha who was now done throwing the plate away. "Did you get cut?"

"Nope," She replied easily and turned around, face suddenly very close to mine. The event that just happened a few minutes ago flashed across my mind and apparently hers as well. "Um, about before..."

"Shh," I shushed her. "You don't have to say anything."

At first Nanoha looked confused, then smiled up at me. "Mm. Okay then." We both turned to look at Vivio and I couldn't help but put my arm around my friend. She replied by leaning up against me and for the moment we were content watching out girl eat happily.

Then my stomach growled at me.

"Eat." Nanoha commanded, poking my ribs and making me pull away instantly when my tickle spot was attacked. Grinning at me, she offered a plate.

And for some reason, this simple night made me happier than I've been in a long time now.