HOLD YOU TIGHT TO ME

By: Escarlata

Precure belongs to Toei, plot is mine

=====o=====

Nagisa didn't like to cry. Honoka definitely didn't like Nagisa crying. But there they were, on the riverbank on a beautiful spring afternoon and just after Fujimura had rejected Nagisa's confession of love. Just when Nagisa had finally gathered all her courage to declare her love to the boy she had pined for for over two years, it all ended with him apologizing because he didn't see Nagisa in a romantic light, just as a good friend.

Nagisa endured the boy's rejection like the bravest, saying goodbye to him with the firmness of a tree and a smile on her lips. The two said their goodbyes, Fujimura leaving, clearly saddened that he had to reject the girl's confession. Obviously Fujimura wasn't going to date her out of pity; he'd never do something like that! It was best to let Nagisa calm down and take his distance from her.

On the other hand, Nagisa returned the same way she came, but her body began to run out of strength and each beat of her heart was more painful than the last. She felt a lump in her throat and her eyes watery. Nagisa didn't want to cry. She wasn't going to cry, dammit! But the feeling was stronger than her and her strength was exhausted in an area near the river where she had already cried for him once.

I can't believe this…

And she cried again for Fujimura as she hugged her own knees and hid her face because of a mixture of feelings that ranged from sadness to shame. Apparently, sharing talks and spending time together from time to time wasn't enough to awaken something else in Fujimura's heart. He never saw her as anything more than the friend of her childhood friend, another nice friend to hang out with.

If only Mepple were awake Nagisa could talk to him, but the fool was asleep.

If only Nagisa hadn't asked Honoka to let her deal with her confession of love on her own…

"Honoka…" Her voice was weak and flat.

And despite that, Nagisa's weak voice reached the ears of the person for whom her heart prayed at that moment. The person who would always be there for her when she needed her the most.

Honoka.

Her dear Honoka.

Nagisa felt a tight and warm hug. She could feel in her nose the floral aroma that Nagisa already knew from Honoka, an aroma capable of calming and that she had always perceived all over her friend, in her clothes, in her hair, even in her bed. Nagisa let herself be hugged by Honoka and burst into tears like a little girl.

==o==

Honoka held Nagisa in her arms, tightly, gently. She let Nagisa cry on her chest as long as she needed to cry. There were no words she could say to her best friend, not at that moment. Nagisa needed to cry, Nagisa needed to let all that go so her heart could be free.

Honoka kissed her head lovingly, with a love that she didn't bother to contain.

"Everything will be fine?" Nagisa asked her as she briefly paused in her own crying.

"Yes."

"When?"

Honoka smiled upon hearing that question. She encouraged herself to kiss Nagisa's forehead gently, warmly.

"When all this becomes a memory," Honoka said sweetly.

"And when is that going to happen?" Nagisa cried a little more.

"I don't know but…" Honoka grabbed Nagisa's shoulders to make her look at her face. Her friend, of course, was ashamed for her own tear-swollen, tear-stained face. "How about we find out together?"

"Together?" Nagisa asked while looking like a little girl who just fell down and crying because of her scraped knee.

This time Honoka gently held Nagisa by the cheeks, wiped away a couple of tears with her thumbs, and immediately kissed her right cheek, all lovingly and trying to calm her crying. Nagisa was able to smile even if it was weakly, all those affections that Honoka lavished on her made her feel good. Better.

"Let's go home, we have a lot of homework to do and..."

"Honoka!" Nagisa complained, of course. "I'm heartbroken and you tell me about homework, I can't believe it!"

Nagisa growled and Honoka hugged her. Anyway, Nagisa also hugged her friend tightly.

"If we finish homework quickly, I'll show you something my parents sent me, I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun."

Although Nagisa was still teary-eyed and a few tears were still running down her cheeks, she was feeling a little better. She even she felt curious about the gift.

"Tell me".

"After our homework".

Nagisa pouted and Honoka smiled.

"But before we go home, let's go with Hikari and Akane and I'll buy you takoyaki and a parfait, you can't work on an empty stomach, right?"

"You're right! Let's go!" The girl was still sad, but her best friend smiled back and at least she had stopped thinking about the boy who rejected her.

==o==

A warm kiss on her cheek.

A tight hug that came out of nowhere.

The slow walks to the Yukishiro house as the two of them walked hand in hand.

The sweet looks Honoka was giving her that Nagisa hadn't noticed before.

Every touch of affection from Honoka that previously went unnoticed by Nagisa, was now her daily bread.

Several weeks had passed since Nagisa's failed confession and suddenly she didn't think about it anymore. She didn't realize that, what Nagisa cared about the most was what she lived next to Honoka every day in her first year of high school.

On the other hand, Honoka showed her love to Nagisa little by little. A love that had to wait for its turn, a sweet patient love drop by drop.

And finally it was filled.

Honoka was with Nagisa in the library, they had to do a research paper for their history class and luckily it was a group work, so they had chosen to work together with Shiho and Rina, of course. Said girls were in charge of the visual presentation, but they needed first Nagisa and Honoka's work.

"Honoka, I'm tired and I can't concentrate anymore", Nagisa said as she lazily leaned back on the desk. In truth, they had come a long way in her homework. "Also I'm hungry."

"You did a great work, Nagisa, I'm proud of you", Honoka said to her best friend with a wide smile, trying to keep her voice low so as not to disturb the other people who were reading. "We'll wrap this up tomorrow and text the girls the documents, okay?" Honoka proposed and her friend nodded. "Let's eat? I'm a little hungry too."

"Really?"

"You know? The human brain is the one that requires the most nutrients and energy, so when we finish studying you are very hungry. Even I must have snacks and tea near me when I have intensive study sessions," Honoka explained with a lot of seriousness and a funny serious gesture that made the other girl smile with amusement.

"So let's take your word for it and go eat some takoyaki with Hikari and Akane," a happy Nagisa said.

They both put their books and notebooks in their backpacks, left the books on the bookshelves from where they had taken them, and left the library hand in hand. Neither of them thought too much and just instinctively held hands.

But Nagisa noticed their clasped hands on the way to the Tako Cafe. Then she smiled and looked at the sky.

"Hey, Honoka…"

"Yes?"

"That has already become a memory, just like you said…"

Honoka smiled too.

"I'm glad to know that."

"All of that, what happened that time, became a memory thanks to you. Thank you very much, Honoka."

"You're a very important person to me, you have nothing to be thankful for, Nagisa."

Nagisa looked at the ground again while smiling shyly. She suddenly remembered something.

"I like it when you kiss my cheek."

"And I like to kiss your cheek," Honoka replied while looking at Nagisa, who was looking at the ground.

"Could you do it now?" Nagisa asked with an even more timid tone of voice, she sounded embarrassed.

"I can't refuse if you ask me like that," was Honoka's sweet reply as they stopped. Once again they were near the river, very close to the place where Honoka saw Nagisa crying over Fujimura's rejection.

They both stopped and it was Nagisa who used all her courage to raise her head once more and face Honoka. And suddenly it was Honoka's face that was closest to hers. Nagisa felt her own face raise temperature. It was not the same to ask for a kiss as to simply receive it when Honoka kissed her cheek without warning her.

"Ready?" Asked an amused Honoka.

"Yes… No!... I mean… Gimme a sec, please…"

"Okay," Honoka kindly laughed.

Nagisa had to take a deep breath as she looked at the ground again. Obviously it wasn't such a simple act, how was it possible for Honoka to kiss her cheek without embarrassment? For her part, Honoka felt like melting with pure tenderness seeing Nagisa so embarrassed. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to take her by surprise again, maybe that would give her friend more courage for the next time she asked for the same thing.

Without giving it much thought, Honoka leaned towards Nagisa to kiss her cheek taking advantage of her position. On her side, Nagisa felt ready to face Honoka, she turned her face towards her friend, only to come face to face with Honoka. Only for the kiss that was supposed to land on her cheek to end up on her lips.

They were both very surprised. Nagisa's first impulse was to get away from her partner, but Honoka's lips felt good on hers. Honoka's first impulse was to break away from her to apologize, but there was no need to fool herself, she always wanted to kiss her lips.

They both surrendered to the sweet kiss.

Although the kiss was brief, it was quite cute. Both separated their faces just enough to be able to see each other's eyes, the two girls were completely red, but Nagisa looked much more nervous than Honoka, who seemed happy.

"I…"

Nagisa didn't have time to say anything, Honoka kissed her again. And Nagisa gave herself up to the kiss again.

"Sorry, I couldn't contain myself... What were you going to say?" Honoka asked as she smiled sweetly at her friend.

"I forgot," Nagisa replied as she tried to recover from those kisses. She looked into Honoka's eyes as she smiled goofily, Honoka's eyes always seemed pretty to her. Honoka had always been cute. Nagisa was finally able to say something understandable. "I know we're just friends and we're both girls but... Could you do it again?"

"You dummy", Honoka said sweetly as she held Nagisa's face by the cheeks with both hands. "And I'll definitely kiss you whenever we both want, of course you can kiss me whenever you want too."

Nagisa almost melted in Honoka's hands.

"I'd love that... But right now I need to eat something or you'll make me pass out."

Honoka laughed in a cute and happy way, she was the one who held Nagisa's hand to continue on their way to the Tako Cafe.

"Oh, Nagisa. Okay, let's eat. We'll deal with this later."

"Hey, Honoka…"

"Hmm?"

"Won't this become a memory?"

"No, this will be our reality if we want it that way. And at least I love you very much and I want to continue by your side, I want to do many things with you. I want to love you as much as you allow me to love you."

She almost fainted because of Honoka's sweet and loving words, in fact she had to let go of her friend's hand to hold onto her arm tightly.

"I.,. I can't believe this…"

"You better believe it."

"Sorry I can't say anything smart right now..."

"Take your time, Nagisa. I can wait." Honoka smiled even though Nagisa couldn't see her. "I'll hold you tight to me as long as you allow me."

Nagisa couldn't answer, but it wasn't necessary, not when her body clung tighter to Honoka. And the two kept walking, without a doubt they had a long way to go.

They both wanted to follow that path together.

FIN