Femslash February 2020 Day 29: Pillow.
Caress
"No!" Feli cried as a line of Nuisance Puyos dropped on to her board. Her brow furrowed, and her teeth clenched. Frustration seized her concentration as she hurriedly flicked her wrist, rotating two red Puyos to the far right of her board, and when they fell in place, she clenched her fist.
She could add the garbage to her chain. That was something she already knew, but the presence of those blinking, clear Puyos staring down at her with dinner plate wide eyes unnerved her. They leered at her, focusing on her every movement as she hurriedly stacked, Lidelle's long sleeves flapping in the wind that she had summoned with her last spell.
Power swelled at the tips of her rods. Her Puyos popped, the chain activating, and she felt a shiver race down her spine and surged through her arms. White auras illuminated around her hands and shot forward when she slashed her dowsing rods outwards, firing out her spell in the form of twin stars.
"Conjunction!" she sneered, her violet eyes alight with amusement as the blast struck Lidelle's board. She couldn't help the smirk stretching into her cheek and making her right eye crinkle. Fate was unbeatable, even if there had been a small hiccup. A small diversion hadn't overpowered what she knew would be the truth. Victory was hers just as she predicted, and there was nothing Lidelle could do.
Lidelle glanced at her without a trace of worry. Instead, compared to her usual nervousness, a smile was etched on her face. She lowered her hands to her chest and clasped them as the final Puyos fell into place. She whispered her incantations, her spells smashing at the heavy rows of garbage Feli thought would end the battle.
But Feli's eyes widened as Lidelle spread her arms high above her head. Dark storm clouds appeared around her along with two small birds. She lifted herself up on her tiptoes, the clouds whitening as a bright rainbow burst above her hands, her smile almost infectious as she shouted, "Arcobaleno!"
Her spell exploded through the garbage and fired it back to Feli's board. Feli gawked, her throat suddenly dry. Her hands hovered in place, and her dowsing rods slipped from her grasp. As soon as her rods hit the floor, her last Puyos slipped down a column, and she was assailed with garbage, forcing her to jump around in place, yelping as one managed to smack her shoulder.
Her board fell away, and she immediately dropped to the floor. Kneeling, she whipped out her trusted pillow and covered herself with it, the last remnants of the Nuisance Puyos plummeting on to her. Her fingers twitched around the lacy hem, keeping one eye squeezed shut as Lidelle spun in place, her excitement palpable while her birds fluttered around her.
"I should have predicted this," she mumbled, glaring out from underneath her pillow.
Lidelle beamed and raised her hands to her chin. Her sleeves swayed as she said, "Heehee! I'm happy."
Huffing, Feli shakily got to her feet. As per the rules of Puyo Puyo, their boards and the remaining Puyos vanished into thin air. It was better that way. She wouldn't have to see the relics of her loss, something which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand upright.
"You were supposed to lose," Feli grumbled, bending over and snatching her dowsing rods. When she looked up, she jerked back and let her eyes widen, a gasp ghosting past her lips.
Lidelle was right in front of her. She knew Lidelle was a quiet, shy girl capable of sneaking around much like a ghost, but to hide her footsteps altogether immediately rang the alarm bells in Feli's head. She held one rod like a sword, but Lidelle's eyes lowered onto her pillow, catching her off guard when Lidelle ran her fingers across the fluffy, satin surface.
"W-wow, it's just as comfortable as I imagined it would be," she murmured, a hint of pink on her cheeks.
"Wait, what?" Feli blinked and shook her head. "Why are you so interested in my pillow?"
"Well…" Lidelle drew in a breath. "...you're always using it when you lose. I thought-I thought if I tried hard enough to win, then I'd be able to touch it." She chuckled and pressed her knuckles to her chin. "And I did! It feels so nice, Feli!"
Her eyebrows raised. That was certainly not the answer she expected. Nothing in her divinations for the day warned her about Lidelle's curiosity towards her pillow. What dumbfounded her even more was that she hadn't snapped at Lidelle, who continued running her fingers along the pillow, marveling over the soft pink color. She felt a scream rise and die in her throat, clogging her words as she simply watched Lidelle's face brighten, her eyes illuminating with delight Feli rarely known.
Lidelle withdrew her hands and tucked them in front of her waist. She tilted her head, her long green locks falling to the side as she said, "Thank you for the match, Feli. Um, let's go again soon, if you want."
A hum pressed against her closed lips. She couldn't think of anything to say, letting Lidelle skip out of the classroom. She rubbed her throat, as if her ministrations would coax out what she wanted to say.
Lidelle was long gone when she regained control of her voice. Left alone in the classroom, Feli slumped into an empty chair and rested her head upon her pillow. Nestling into the warm fabric, she wondered what it would have been like for Lidelle to stroke her cheek and felt a twinge of resentment towards her pillow, her lip curling as she replayed the scene in her head.
"Stupid fate changing at the last second. Why can't it ever go my way for once?" Feli mumbled, and she buried her face into her pillow, her cheeks burning a red hue like the fresh flowers Lidelle gardened outside of the magic school.