Summary: Diana won't say she's in love, and this annoys Hannah and Barbara.
Uh... don't take this seriously lol. I definitely didn't.
"You mind tellin' me why you four are meeting in my room?"
"Well Amanda… we're uh…" Lotte trailed off, avoiding the American girl's gaze.
"We want to tell them." Hannah continued.
"'Them'" Amanda questioned. "Who them?"
"You know 'who'. Don't pretend to be as dense as Akko is." Sucy answered.
"I mean, when I said I wanted to, you four said to just let it happen."
"I was indifferent." Sucy retorted.
"Yeah well, we didn't know how hard it would be to watch." Barbara countered. "You don't live with either of them like we do. It's like reading a story that never ends."
"Yeah, cause you wouldn't know what that's like." Sucy snickered, earning a glare from both Lotte and Barbara.
"Anyway, why do any of ya need my help anyway? I'm sure you could handle it yourselves, seeing as you live with them."
"While I'm sure those two can handle Akko, we can't handle Diana. We need your advice…" Hannah quietly admitted.
Amanda laughed.
"I didn't expect 'perfect Miss Cavendish' to be so dense."
"She's not dense." Barbara interjected. "She concluded, before any 'feelings' were obvious, that she sees Akko as just a really good friend... and she's just… really really stubborn."
"And Akko isn't stubborn?" Amanda asked.
"Oh no she can be just as, if not more, stubborn as Diana." Lotte clarified.
"She just isn't nearly as smart." Sucy jabbed. "And we're not nearly as afraid of her as those two are of Diana, so Lotte and I can handle her."
"It's not our fault!"
"Yeah! She can be really scary when she gets mad!"
"Whatever you say you two." Sucy shrugged.
"So you two need my help with Diana? And you two are here because…?"
"We won't tell Akko if they don't tell Diana." Lotte added.
"Alright then. Well then." Amanda grinned, knowing this would be at least somewhat fun. "First thing you need to remember, Diana isn't actually ever going to hurt you. If she would, I wouldn't exactly be here... Now... here's what you two need to do."
Diana's wide eyes blinked slowly upon hearing what her roommates had told her.
"Can you please repeat that? I do not believe I heard what you said."
"We said, you're in love with Akko." Hannah answered.
"So you two... believe that I am…" Diana hesitated, mind still trying to process what Hannah and Barbara were trying to say.
"In love with Akko yes." Barbara added.
Diana sighed. " I do believe the both of you are mistaken."
"Diana… do you really think we'd be telling you this if either of us thought there were any chance we were wrong?" Barbara continued.
"Perhaps not. However, just because you may think you are not mistaken, does not change the fact that you are, in fact, mistaken." Diana lectured. "Are you absolutely certain you are not mistaking reality for something you read in that ludicrously lengthy book series of yours?"
"Diana! We're being serious!" Hannah yelled.
"Yeah! Even if this did totally happen in, like, volume te-"
"Barbara. Not helping. At all."
"Even if what you are telling me is true, why would you feel the need to tell me?" Diana asked, eyebrow arched. "Would I not know if I, myself, in fact had such feelings for Akko?"
Hannah and Barbara moaned, dropping their faces into their hands.
"Diana, we're telling you because you actually don't know you are in love with Akko." Barbara groaned.
"Girls," Diana called out, authoritatively, "I do believe I should know myself well enough to know whether or not I actually had those feelings for Akko."
"Well I disagree." Hannah interjected, leaning back on the couch.
Diana pinched the bridge of her nose.
Her roommates had never been so insistent against her on anything. Truthfully, if the topic had been about anything other than her "supposed feelings" for a certain bright eyed brunette witch, this would have been a breath of fresh air.
However, that does not change the fact that that was what this was about.
Diana sighed.
"If you are so insistent about this preposterous claim, I suppose you have some evidence?"
"And why, oh why, would it be so 'preposterous' Diana?" Barbara asked, eyes pointedly watching the young heiress. "You two do spend an awful lot of time together."
"Barbara. The idea is preposterous because I am quite aware that I do not hold such feelings for Akko. And to your second point, we are friends Barbara. Is it so strange for me to spend time with a friend?" Diana responded tiredly. "You spend a lot of time with Miss Yanson. Should I assume you have feelings for her?"
"W-what?! Of course not!" Barbara denied. "I spend my time with her reading, since like, no one else seems to read Nightfall."
"Y-yeah Diana." Hannah interrupted. "After all, we- wait never mind. No. She and Lotte are just reading. And what exactly do you and Akko do together?"
Diana took a moment to think about what they had done the last time they were all together.
After all, she needed to think of a proper answer to dissuade her frustratingly insistent roommates.
Their time had been very simple, very ordinary.
Akko had asked Diana how her day was. Diana replied honestly, informing Akko of the hours she had spent the night before reading old tomes, rereading old lessons for class, and doing her biweekly patrol.
Akko, being Akko, then immediately told Diana she was doing too much, that she took everything too seriously and needed to, in the brunette's own words, "let loose and relax". She then made it her sole mission that day to make Diana do just that.
For the rest of the day, Akko had followed Diana, sparing no opportunity to make a silly face, or say a ridiculous joke or pun, or using magic in a way so clumsily enchanting that Diana could only, affectionately, describe it as Akko.
"And evidence number one!" Barbara announced.
"I- what?" Diana was suddenly ripped away from her thoughts.
Hannah smirked. "So Diana, what were you thinking about just now?"
For some reason, Diana felt her face begin to redden.
Which made no sense.
She was just thinking about her friend. There shouldn't have been anything to be embarrassed about.
"I-I" Diana stuttered, an action she mentally berated herself for.
Diana stopped and took a breath. "I was just thinking about how I would answer your earlier question of what Akko and I did last time we all gathered together."
Hannah grinned. "So basically… you were thinking about Akko?"
"While not entirely inaccurate, that statement is misleading given it lacks proper context." Diana noted. "And your point? I fail to see how thinking about Akko whilst being asked to answer a question about her counts as evidence."
"It wasn't the thinking that's evidence." Hannah responded.
"It was the smile you had while thinking about her that is." Barbara added, grinning.
Smile? She had not been smiling…
Diana raised a hand to her lips to find that, despite her frustrations, the corners of her mouth had, in fact, been raised into a smile… That was rather unfortunate, as giving any sort of ground to these two would only prolong this confrontation.
However.
"I still fail to see your point." Diana continued. "Akko is, in almost every sense of the metaphor, a ray of sunshine. Her enthusiasm and happiness is almost contagious." Diana, now aware of her facial expressions, felt the small smile on her face widening. "Considering that Akko had spent much of her time in an effort to make me laugh, I believe smiling at the thought is perfectly reasonable."
After all, Akko and her were friends. Friends were supposed to share laughter together.
"Now, if that is all of your supposed evidence, I suggest you drop this subj-"
"Evidence number two! You pay a lot of attention to her, you know?" Hannah cut Diana off.
"Yeah! Don't think we don't see the way you keep on looking at Akko during lectures."
Diana froze.
They saw that?
Wait, wait. They must be exaggerating. Sure, her attention would occasionally drift to the brunette in class, but that was nothing out of the ordinary was it? Akko was always doing something she really should not be doing in class, so naturally her actions practically demanded attention.
She really should pull Akko aside one of these days and tell her about her own classroom etiquette.
Perhaps over tea and cooki-
"Or the way you keep on watching her during practical lessons."
Diana massaged her temples.
These two really needed to stop interrupting her thoughts.
"Hannah. I fail to see how that means anything. As we both know, Akko has a propensity for getting herself into trouble. I am just doing my part to ensure that she stays safe."
"You're, like, really protective of her too." Barbara stated.
"Wh- What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Well, whenever she's practicing flying, your grip on your broom is always a little bit tighter than usual. Not to mention you're actually always the first person to catch her when she falls, even during class."
"I fail to see how that mea-"
"Then, like, there was that one time in potions class when she accidentally caused an explosion… again. You ran to her the moment she dropped the ingredient into the cauldron that caused the explosion and protected her with a barrier spell."
"Hannah, as I said, I was just doing my part to ensure she stays saf-"
"Oh, there was that one time we all went to town, and Lord Andrew joined us." Barbara began to say.
Diana felt her eye twitch at the mention of that person's name.
"You glared at him, literally, every time he got within an arm's length from Akko… Which was practically the entire time, seeing as he seems to regard Akko as a closer friend than he does anyone in our group." Barbara continued.
"Honestly," Hannah looked at Diana mischievously, "You even made it a point to move closer to Akko whenever he chatted with her… I'd say you were looking rather jealous."
"J-Jealous? I-I haven't the slightest idea about what you might mean."
Hannah giggled watching the levelheaded Diana lose the composure she was well known for. They never thought they would be able to get Diana flustered.
Amanda was right when they told them to keep pushing and not give Diana time to think.
"I-I believe my... less than amiable opinions about Andrew are well known. The thought that someone who used to think so little of magic could be so c-close to Akko was something I had not anticipated, so I believe my suspicion was justified. That was, in no way, a manifestation of jealousy."
"Oh sure, whatever you say Diana." Hannah said, noncommittally .
"Akko and I are just friends."
"Sure." Hannah continued.
"The way I act around her is no different than how I would act around any of the others." Diana said firmly, as if leaving no room for argument.
"Diana," Barbara called out, "I don't know about us, but you certainly don't stare lovingly into anyone else's eyes..." Barbara grabbed her bag and began digging through it "...or do any of these things with other people really"
"W-what?!" Diana lost her composure completely, her face finally reddening fully.
Barbara took out photos from her bag. Each picture was of Diana gazing into Akko's eyes or leaning onto her shoulder smiling warmly, or giggling as she watched Akko, a blush on her face.
"H-How did yo-"
"Amanda gave them to us. Apparently she asked Constanze to take these in secret." Hannah added.
Diana stared at the pictures, her eyes widened. She could feel the hammering of her heart against her chest.
Was… was this really…
No. no. These had to be taken out of context.
Of course she would giggle watching Akko. That was the exact reason Akko had been doing whatever manner of tricks she had been doing at the time.
And if you took the amount of time everyone spent together, it would not be odd to have a moment where their gazes would meet the other's. Or two moments... or seven moments as it were.
Yes. There were rational explanations for each of these.
There was no way any of these were evidence that she was "in love" with the adorable brunette witch.
"T-these mean nothing. They are certainly not absolute evidence that I hold any such feelings for Akko."
"Ugh, Diana. Why are you so stubborn!" Hannah whined.
"Excuse me?" Diana looked at the girl in confusion.
"We know you already realize it somewhere. You aren't stupid!" Barbara exclaimed. "Just admit it! Admit you're in love with Akko."
"I will do no such thing." Diana said, turning her head away. "A-anyway, I am far too focused on my responsibilities as both a Cavendish and a student of Luna Nova to concern myself with such things as 'love'"
"You didn't really seem to have trouble dropping your 'responsibilities' when Akko asked you to go with her to watch stars during your patrol." Barbara smirked.
"I-"
"Or that time Akko interrupted your research to watch her practice fireworks."
"That was-"
"Oh Hannah! Remember the time she excused herself from class because Akko was, like, sick or something?"
"Oh yeah! The professor was so confused."
"Girls!" Diana yelled. "I think that is quite enough."
"So you admit that you are in love with Akko?"
"I-I will do no such thing."
"Just admit it!"
"That is enough!" Diana yelled, more forcefully this time. Diana sighed, massaging her forehead. "I am going to bed. I certainly hope that when I wake up, you will have dropped this topic of conversation." Diana immediately withdrew behind her bookshelf.
Hannah and Barbara turned to each other before giggling.
They had never expected this to be as much fun as it was. It was no wonder Amanda enjoyed teasing these two.
And while her words may have seemed to deny she had any feelings for Akko, the blush that was on her face certainly said otherwise.
Diana got into bed, slightly annoyed by the giggling she could still hear from behind her bookshelf. Clearly her roommates were still thinking about their earlier conversation.
However, even after the giggling stopped, Diana still found herself having trouble sleeping. The hammering in her chest had yet to disappear… and her face still felt almost uncomfortably warm.
And there was this strange feeling bubbling in her chest as her mind began wandering to the brunette witch that was the topic of their conversation. A feeling that only grew as it wandered to the girl's smile, her laughter, wandered to the girl's pout whenever she messed up or even better, the utter joy on her face when she succeeded in casting a spell.
The feeling bloomed, strengthening the pounding of her heart, as she continued thinking about the way the girl's beautiful red eyes shined in the sunlight or under the stars. Thinking about her adorably round face, her small frame that would fit just so perfectly in her arms, or her slender fingers that would find itself just perfectly interlocked with her own fin-
Oh.
Diana sighed, face burning ever brighter, as she closed her eyes, once more attempting to find rest after what had seemed like hours of failing to do so.
Okay.
So maybe she might be in love with Akko.
I swore I'd never actually do something based solely around the idea of a dense Diana...
But then I was too stressed to write my usual things and just wanted to have fun. And then I was listening to Disney songs. And then this happened.
That being said, Diana isn't really dense so much in this as she is really stubborn. Once she decides upon a course of action or opinion, I feel like she tends to not stray from that or consider different options until faced with overwhelming evidence or an extremely insistent brunette witch with red eyes... yeeah...
I might do Lotte and Sucy convincing Akko later, but that'll probably be much shorter lol.
Also SupeR. I'll stew on that for a little bit. Maybe I'll try it out sometime next week after something I have to worry about. I haven't written a serious talk between the two in a while, so I'm curious... though I might needa work out a few ideas as to how. Luna Nova's school system is confusing.
Oh, and of course, thanks for reading!
