A/N: Fluff, More of it. With added hijinx from Lotte. She takes the romance of others very seriously.
Queen Sydon: Thank you very much my friend! I get the same feeling whenever I see a new review from one of you! And to answer your question, A Rose in Winter updates alongside every other Day after Day chapter (every eight days!)
A Potato: Potato my dearest friend! I hope you have more insulin available, because this chapter is more of that. Sugar and fluff. And oh yes, Amanda knows lots of things. Thank you so much!
Magicantix: Wowie! I'm glad to know my fluff has miraculous healing abilities! It always makes me smile to know my fluff can make someone else smile too. Thank you so much my friend!
DuwangChew: Of course, flip flopping Akko is the greatest.
I hope you enjoy more sugar!
It was just the two of them, which was usually a good thing for Sucy; time alone with her dearest one. But the little girl in her head seemed quite perturbed at the complete absence of their friends. Each of them were present for class, and talked with her as normal, but as soon as the bell rang for lunch they were nowhere to be found.
'Perhaps it doesn't matter' She thought, glancing over to the side at her love; she could use some alone time with Akko after all of the excitement and group gatherings. Silently she blindly reached her fingers towards the brunette's, feeling a small smile grow on her face when both pairs linked together.
Looking up at Akko, she found her smile reflected in bright beaming sunshine. Akko's smile was always a magnificent thing, shining like stars in the dark, warming anyone who was caught in her loving glow.
She felt that warmth within her now, a gentle heat, like sitting in front of a fire on a cold winter night.
'Love.' The child in her brain helpfully pointed out. 'Your love for her.' And Sucy new it was true. She loved Atsuko Kagari with all her heart, this she had come to terms with long ago. But a nagging feeling had been growing for weeks now, something the little girl wanted but would not say.
'Maybe it's time to tell her.' It seemed to say. 'She knows already, but to hear it from your lips is something special.' Was she ready? So many hurdles to their relationship had already been passed, and there was little separating them from any other couple. Perhaps it was time to-
"Watch out!"
Instinct caused Sucy to yank her darling's hand, pulling the brunette into her chest protectively as a a troll came crashing down in front of them, centimeters from smashing Akko into a pancake.
Sucy looked around the giant beast from her stationary position, for the cause of its stumble. On the ground a banana peel had been carefully and purposely placed, similar to a prank she had once pulled on Akko. 'Someone tried to hurt us. Hurt my guinea pig.'
She felt her eye twitch, protective instincts igniting a cold fire in her chest. Akko- seemingly sensing this fire from her position squished into the alchemist's collar -looked up, eyes wide in confusion, like a small woodland creature.
Sucy loosened her grip just a bit to allow Akko to wiggle and turn around enough to see, still keeping a steady hold on the girl just in case. The ogre was in the middle of standing up, grimacing at the fissures made in the floor tiles; a very irritated noise escaped through mangled teeth when the cause of the slip was explained by nearby students.
"Who would do that?" Akko wondered, relaxing into her love's chest. "You've been with me the whole time..."
A true statement; the alchemist had been very good for the past month, cutting back on the pranks by a large percentage. "I'm not sure.."
The answer- or answers -watched from around the corner as the two witches stood there embracing. "Don't you think that was a bit much? You could have gotten her crushed!" The taller ginger questioned with a whisper, a concerned grimace showing her apprehension.
"Sucy would never let that happen, she's too quick. This was the best way to the result we wanted." The smaller redhead replied, keeping her eyes focused on the couple. Sucy's hands had migrated downwards to rest around the brunette's hips, the girl's arms looping around her neck.
"The ends justify the means." Lotte whispered, mischievous eyes vanishing behind the sheen of her glasses when she pushed them up her nose.
"We should get to the lunchroom, the line is probably crazy right now and will only get worse." Sucy suggested, releasing hold on her love and instead offering a hand. A sudden growl proved her point, causing an airy snort to escape from her throat.
"You didn't eat any of the waffles Lotte brought in this morning did you?" Akko shrunk back sheepishly, avoiding the pink haired witch's raised eyebrows. Sucy made a point of nagging her about her habits: 'Have you eaten yet today?' or 'You've studied enough its time to go to bed.' It was nice to know she cared, but that disappointed expression hurt something inside her physically.
"Of course not." The alchemist sighed, offer of a hand turning into a demand for one. "Come on."
Atsuko slumped her shoulders, giving up her wrist for Sucy to yank and drag her down the hall. Almost instantly they were off, Sucy's invisible feet gliding gracefully across the tile.
Graceful was a word Akko often linked with her shroom loving friend; not in the typical sense, like a dancer or gazelle, no. Sucy moved like a snake, curling and weaving around obstacles with incredible control, quick bursts of speed following the slight slowdown of a turn.
The correlation reminded Akko of a dream she had after practicing shape shifting with her friends. A serpentine Sucy curling around her body, wrapping around her neck just tight enough to restrict air flow by a small amount. And those teeth, wonderful teeth, so close to her jugular made her-
"Akko. Take the plate." The alchemist's voice shook Akko from her heated daydream, her slightly raised tone suggesting previous attempts to break through the haze. Sucy held out a full plate of different potato based foods, two juice boxes in her other hand.
"Where's your food?" The brunette questioned, raising her brow and looking at the serving staff. They were all too busy filling hotplates or helping in the back to notice her.
"They just ran out, but I'm not that hungry anyway." Sucy explained, setting a gentle hand against her lower back and leading her away from the counter to an empty table. "We can share."
It was just the two of them, sitting side by side, silently enjoying eachother's company. Sucy found it strangely satisfying to feed her dearest personally, forking a few hashbrowns and hovering the morsel in front of Akko's lips. This way she could be one hundred percent certain of how much Akko had eaten and make sure it was enough to last her until class was finished.
It was also quite fun to dangle the food in front of the girl's mouth, pulling it away when she went to bite. Akko's betrayed face made her chuckle, a genuine smile filling the laughter with honey rather than poison.
"I love you a ton." She blurted out, like it was the most natural thing in the universe, and before her brain even caught up with her mouth, Akko's beaming smile snuffed out any chance of regret.
"I love you mooooore~" She sang, a tiny pink blush tinting her cheeks as they pushed upwards into her eyes. And from there they continued, Sucy forking another helping of potato based food item and chomping down, trying to interrupt the wide smile that had taken over her face.
'Ahh the wonders of mutual love~' The little girl sighed, and the alchemist, in her haze could only agree.
Watching the scene from afar and listening in, Constanze sank back into her chair, a palm against her heart. "What happened Constanze?" Lotte desperately asked, pressing her hands down into the table with force.
The tiny German gave a thumbs up with her free hand, attempting to still her beating heart with the other. "Beautiful." Was all she said, eyes glazing over.
Lotte did a tiny dance in her chair, trying to contain her squeals. "Perfect plan, perfect day~"
"Where did all that food we stole go anyway?" Amanda questioned, not taking her eyes off the distant couple. Lotte's heinous plan could've gotten them in serious trouble, and the redhead wanted to make sure all loose ends were tied up.
The smaller ginger was too busy dancing to answer, and Constanze was in a similar joy based coma. It came down to Jasminka, who with a simple pat of her stomach and a widening of her grin told Amanda everything she needed to know.
"Well then. Mission Accomplished I guess."
A/N: Mission Accomplished, indeed. Maaaaaaaaaan, shits too cute, thats all I can say. The chocolate I eat at this moment is no sweeter than this mess I just spat out.
This chapter really brings me back to how my own relationship transitioned from friends to couple. It was super gradual, so much so that we don't even have a set anniversary date, we just use the day we met.
The 'love you's just started happening, and I can never pinpoint a specific time that it felt like "Yeah we're in a relationship now."
Anyway that's the thought process behind this. Maybe if we had meddling friends like Lotte to push us a bit it would have happened sooner, but hey.
I hope you enjoyed!