A/N: A sort of suggestion that Typhoon Boom asked for, and even helped me come up with some ideas. Give him a hand everyone! Applause
And thanks to everyone in the reviews who wished me good health. I feel much better now. The only thing keeping me down now is a terrible case of writers block! Anyone got the cure?
I recently reread all my stories while I wasn't feeling well, and I must say... I'm hilarious. I don't even remember writing half this stuff, because I do my best work when I'm half asleep and just write down whatever comes to mind. 5 years ago I deleted everything I wrote out of shame, but I can admit I'm actually pretty proud of this garbage. So, if anyone else wants to re-read it, and even re-review it, I've got an Ao3 account, GeminiAlchemist, where all my stuff is.
Sucy stirred the mixture in her cauldron, her elbows gently bumping into her assistant for the day. Akko had insisted on helping out with this potion, claiming it was to help her get her grades in potions class up a little bit. Sucy didn't really mind, she just made sure that Akko was willing to test the potion out like a good guinea pig when it was all done.
Honestly, she enjoyed having the Japanese girl around. It filled her heart with a warm feeling. But, it also made her doubt herself. With such a close proximity to the girl, she could hear all her self doubts cloud her mind.
'she wouldn't hang out with you at all if she knew how you actually felt' buzzed in her head. She tried to push it back, and instead just absorb the feeling of Akko being there.
"Akko, could you pour that vial into the rest of the mixture?" She pointed to her tube rack. Akko reached for the vial with blue liquid inside, before Sucy corrected, "Not that one, the yellow one."
Akko grabbed the right vial, and poured it into the cauldron. "This is so much fun!" she grabbed the stirring spoon as well and helped Sucy mix the thick liquid. Sucy had to calm herself as their hands brushed together as they stirred. She smiled back, Akko's enthusiasm was contagious.
"Just wait until it's finished, guinea pig, then the real fun begins" she cackled. Akko's face turned sour, as she gazed at the potion and remembered she was going to have to swallow the viscous fluid later. Sucy immediately regretted saying that, 'You always have to rob her of her smile, don't you, you idiot.' She thought to herself.
"Akko, why don't you go take care of those ingredients back there? The mushrooms need to be chopped, and the Willow bark needs to be ground into a powder."
That seemed to brighten Akko up a bit more. "'kay! I'll be back in just a second!" She went over to the table to start her chopping, singing a silly song out of tune as she did so. Sucy felt herself relax a little more, the tension leaving her shoulders now that Akko put some distance between them. 'She's going to find out eventually and then she's going to hate you.' That stupid voice in her head whispered.
"I know, I know," She whispered to herself, grabbing another vial and mixing it into the rest of the potion.
Akko soon returned, mushrooms chopped and willow bark ground up. Sucy eyed the potion ingredients with her usual deadpan expression when Akko brought them over. The bark was fine, but Akko's slicing and dicing skills needed some work. The mushroom bits were of all sorts of shapes and sizes, cut without any thought given to the angle of the blade.
"How did I do?" Akko beamed, and Sucy got lost in her eyes again. She grabbed a handful of the ground bark and threw it into the potion. "It look's good, Akko. You did fine, thanks." God she couldn't take her eyes off of her.
"Sucy! The potion!" Akko suddenly cried out, pointing to the cauldron at Sucy's side, which was bubbling and foaming up, spilling over the side.
Extinguishing the flame under the cauldron with a wave of her wand so the potion would stop it's fuming, Sucy panicked. What went wrong? What did she- she looked at her hand, where a bit of the powdered willow bark still clung to her skin. Oh. 'You were supposed to throw the mushrooms in first, and then throw in the bark! You were so distracted by a pretty girl you put the ingredients in at the wrong time!'
She felt hot shame creep into her cheeks in the form of an angry blush. She screwed up! In the one thing she was really good at! In front of Akko, no less. She felt so embarrassed, that she turned and stormed out of the room, stomping her feet as she went.
"Sucy!" Oh, great, Akko was chasing after her. Just what she needed. 'I feel humiliated enough without having to hear it from her.' "Go away Akko! I want to be alone right now."
Of course, the brown haired girl ignored her. "I-I'm sorry Sucy, I must have messed up! You worked really hard on that potion. We can try again!"
Of course she thought it was her fault. Everyone always reminded her of how much of a screw up she was. 'including you.' "It's fine, Akko." She tried to reassure the girl, but it came out as a snarl.
Akko backed off for a moment, before her determined expression returned. "No Sucy, I was just trying to help and I messed you up! I need to help make up for it!"
"I don't need your help!" Sucy flinched at her own harsh remark, then tried to turn and walk away but Akko grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back and forcing her to look Akko in the eyes.
"I'm you're friend Sucy, please just let me help!" The girl argued, sending her a pleading look. She wanted to make it up, to fix an afternoon wasted. But That wasn't what Sucy wanted.
"No! Just go away, Akko!" She managed to free her wrist, but Akko just grabbed a handful of her sleeve to keep her there. She continued to fight against Akko's surprising level of strength even as the girl spoke again.
"Sucy! … Y-you've been really distant with me lately..." Sucy stopped pulling away. Akko didn't sound determined, or angry, she sounded defeated and sad. "I know I told you I wanted to help to get my grades up, but I lied. I did it to spend time with you. And I messed everything up again and made you mad. Please, just... Just let me help?" 'You really do have to rob her of her smile, don't you?'
"It wasn't your fault!" Sucy finally snapped, yelling it at the girl and tearing her sleeve from Akko's grip. "It was mine, okay! I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at myself!" Her breath came out ragged, and she realized she was getting so work up and emotional she was beginning to angrily tear up.
"I was embarrassed, and frustrated with myself, Akko. I messed up on something so simple, that even you couldn't have screwed up. And in a way, it is because of you. You're just such a big distraction that I couldn't even focus on the ingredients in front of me."
Akko's face scrunched up in confusion. "I-I'm a distraction? What does that even mean, Sucy?"
Sucy wasn't sure why she did it. She was still mad, upset, and close to tears, and clearly not in her right mind because of it. But she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, grabbed Akko by her big stupid head, and smashed her lips against her own. As far as first kisses went, it sucked. She forced their lips together so hard she was sure they'd bruise, and Sucy knew she cut the inside of her lip from how hard her teeth smashed against them. All her self hatred and doubts fed into that kiss, mixing with desperation and fear once she realized just what she did.
The kiss ended as quickly as it came, and Sucy continued to storm away, leaving Akko in the dust. 'Well, she for sure hates you now.'
Akko stood alone in the hallway outside her dorm, her fingers pressed against her lips with a blank look on her face. She didn't follow Sucy.
Sucy sat alone in the courtyard next to the botanical garden that housed the Jennifer Memorial Tree for hours, watching as the sun went from hanging high in the sky, until it had long set. 'I guess I screwed up big time. I should just... go, I can't show my face around here anymore.'
She wanted to cry, but honestly, she didn't have the tears. She'd been alone for most her life, this was nothing different. She grimaced though, she'd left her broom in their dorm, so leaving wasn't something she'd be able to do without an awkward goodbye. Not that she thought her friends would want anything to do with her anymore.
She breathed out a sigh. Maybe she could just steal a school broom from a broom closet or something and not have to face her classmates. Wouldn't be the first time she'd had to start over from nothing. Probably wouldn't be the last, either.
Just as she stood up from her seat, however, a voice spoke out. "You were wrong, you know."
She turned, and saw Akko. She looked awkward, fidgeting in place with her hands behind her back, and not meeting Sucy's eyes. "What?" Sucy asked.
"About the potion." Akko specified, though that didn't clear anything up for Sucy. "You said it was so simple even I couldn't screw it up. But I went back, and I tried, and tried over and over to get it right, and well..." She took her hands from out behind her, showing she had Sucy's cauldron behind her back the whole time, and it had melted straight through the bottom. Thick yellow sludge dripping slowly from the gaping hole and sizzling as it hit the ground. "No matter how many times I tried, I couldn't fix it. I was going to make it, and give it to you, to make it up for earlier, but I... I couldn't."
She bit her lip, and set the cauldron down with a "clunk!" and took a step toward Sucy like she was a wild animal about to bolt, which wasn't that far off. "So, you see Sucy... You can't go! I'm useless at potions, I need you here to help me, even if we both screw up a little sometimes!"
After her outburst, she held a hand out. Sucy eyed it, before setting her gaze back up to Akko's face. "What are you doing."
"Just take my hand already, okay! I just gave a big speech about how I need you, this is embarrassing enough!" Akko stamped her foot on the ground and puffed up her cheeks in annoyance. Sucy took a step closer to Akko, and stretched out her own hand and grasp Akko's, who then intertwined their fingers.
"I don't hate you Sucy. I honestly don't know what I think right now, but I know I don't hate you, or want you to leave. I want you to stay. I love you, Suce, but I'm not... entirely sure just what kind of love it is. And I'll never know if you don't stay, so please, don't go?"
The violet witch starred for a moment, unsure if she heard correctly, before nodding and reluctantly spread out her arms as she prepared for an Akko bear hug. But instead, she got a tender one, soft, and comfortable, and she felt herself relax in her crushes arms.
Shedding tears over having to leave was something she couldn't do. She'd been forced from so many places, it didn't even phase her anymore. But being asked to stay?
That brought on some waterworks. But Akko held her tight while she got them out, and for once, all the doubts in her head kept their opinions to themselves.
A/N: By the Nine, this was hard to write. I take a day or two off of writing, and suddenly my abilities to perform goes down the crapper. This took me most of my free time today, when it should have taken an hour. Writers block is a word that rhymes with witch.
Hopefully the next chapter comes to me easier. Expect another day or so of no updates, I think it'll be a longer chapter, unless I can think of something shorter to fill the gap.
Fun fact, I considered ending it with Akko standing in the hallway, unsure of what to even think as Sucy ran away, but it was too angsty for me. I'm a happy guy! Make happy. So I wrote the ending you see in one take off the top of my head.
I also hope angry tears isn't too out of character for Sucy. I get that way sometimes, where I get so angry and emotional I end up crying and yelling without really thinking and decided I could see Sucy as someone who'd bottle stuff up until she reached that point.