Homura walked over to Madoka's room. A bit of light was able to escape from under the door, illuminating the otherwise dark hall just enough to make out the shape of the door. Homura, her hair slightly damp, stopped right in front of Madoka's door.
She improved her hearing with some magic, Homura now able to hear Madoka in the room, the girl lightly humming a tune accompanied by the sound of her fingers typing on her phone. By the sound of the light wooden creaks Madoka seemed to be lying on her bed.
Now that the intel gathering had been accomplished, Homura tried to formulate a plan as to how even approach the girl in a way that would show her just how much she loved her. A way that would let Madoka know that she loved her one hundred percent, to act upon Sayaka's advice and actually tell her instead of just doing things behind her back.
Yet whenever Homura thought about saying it out of nowhere it felt… wrong. Now, the problem seemed to be a matter of mood. Simply stating that she loved Madoka felt too cheap; Madoka deserved something way more grandiose than that.
The solution seemed obvious, of course. Homura simply had to take the initiative in the same way that Madoka usually did. Get close to her, talk a bit, maybe even attempt to kiss her. Then and only then would if feel okay to say it. Naturally, it was way easier saying it than doing it. Homura knew the theory, but with Madoka being the only one that ever attempted to initiate anything she was completely lost in the practice.
Homura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a few seconds she slowly exhaled while opening her eyes. She placed her usual cool mask that she knew would be quickly broken by Madoka were she to do anything cute (So existing was already enough) and lightly knocked on the door as to let Madoka know she was going in.
The vision of Madoka's pink hair freely flowing over her shoulders, her light yellow pajama's shirt slightly pulled up that showed a bit of her belly, and her deep rose pink eyes in which Homura could easily lose herself in, were more than enough to put some red tint on Homura's cheeks, her mask slightly cracked.
"You don't have to knock, you know?" playfully said Madoka as she stopped looking at her phone and properly sat on the bed, leaving enough space for Homura to sit.
"It would feel wrong not to, it's your room after all" replied Homura as she tried to elegantly walk over to the bed and sit next to Madoka "I'm just a guest at the moment"
Madoka exaggerated a small pout and looked at Homura with a frown.
"You've been sleeping In this room for a week already" said Madoka, her voice quieter than usual due to the late hours of the night felt like a whisper in Homura's ear. "Don't call yourself a guest"
"A freeloader then?" teasingly replied Homura, a small smile on her face when she turned to face Madoka to make sure the girl knew that she wasn't serious.
Madoka let out a quiet giggle before carefully leaning towards Homura until her head was resting on the girl's shoulder.
"If you are then I'll just have you do some work to fix it" muttered Madoka as she tried to snuggle closer to Homura.
"And what will it be?" whispered Homura as she hesitated for a second before nestling her head over Madoka's, making sure not to put too much weight on the girl's head.
"Hmmm…." Madoka hummed in thought "Let's see…"
Madoka timidly moved her free hand until it rested over Homura's lap, her fingers playing around Homura's knee as she kept humming in thought. Homura looked at Madoka's hand for a few seconds, the sensation of her touch warming her, before she started to move her hand towards Madoka's. Madoka stopped caressing Homura's knee so she could accept Homura's hand, their fingers intertwining as Madoka let out a small giggle.
"Your job will be… to stay by my side the whooole day, to cuddle with me… what else…" Madoka did a small pause before letting out a muffled chuckle "oh, and help me study too"
"Isn't that what I've been doing this week?" asked Homura, Madoka's laughter placing a soft smile on her lips.
Madoka burrowed her face further between Homura's neck and shoulder, the girl closing her eyes as she took in the fragrance of Homura's shampoo.
"Then you are doing enough already" Madoka muttered into Homura's neck, her voice reverberating throughout her body.
A veil of silence formed around them, the only sound that could be heard in the room being Madoka's calmed breathing. The two of them stayed in silence for a few minutes, time dilating around them as their presence was enough to calm each other.
Homura hesitated for a few seconds, doubting whether or not she should try to take a bit more of the initiative, before she started to move her free arm behind Madoka's back and tried to grab her waist.
"Did you have fun today?" asked Madoka, her sudden question making Homura jump as if she had been caught.
"I- I did" said Homura, her hand hovering just a few centimeters away from Madoka.
"I'm glad, where did you three go to?" whispered Madoka, eyes still closed and apparently unaware of Homura's arm.
"We…" Homura held her arm in place not sure if she should keep going or not "We spent the day at an arcade near the city center, played some of the games and sports there"
Homura's arm hovered in place. It wasn't like Madoka would be against her holding her like that, right?
"That's nice…" Madoka's voice started to drift away, her finger movements slowing down "…What else did you do?"
"We ate ramen at a place Kyouko knew"
"It… must have been good…" Homura could feel Madoka's heartbeat slow down, her voice not louder than a breeze of wind. "Kyouko knows… the best… places…"
"Yes, she does" whispered Homura as she slowly moved her arm away from Madoka, instead focusing on the girl's breathing as it slowed down.
"Hmmm…" hummed Madoka, her consciousness slowly slipping away as she fell asleep on Homura's shoulder.
Homura carefully moved Madoka off her shoulder, making sure not to wake her up as she did so, and gently laid her down on her bed. Homura grabbed the bed sheets, and with a bit of magic moved them from under Madoka.
It had been a tiring week, the girl deserved as much sleep as she could get.
"Homura-chan…" muttered Madoka in her sleep as she grabbed Homura's hand. "Don't go…"
Homura's expression softened, a loving smile on her face. Carefully, she moved onto the bed, lying down right next to Madoka.
"I love you" whispered Homura, eyes focused on Madoka's sleeping face.
Madoka merrily walked down the stairs while she hummed a song that she had heard before but couldn't quite place where; not like it really mattered with how much she was botching the rhythm anyways.
The sound of her parents talking and the coffee machine going off welcomed her as she reached the kitchen, both of them quickly noticing her when she walked into the room.
"Looks like someone woke up in a good mood today" casually commented her mother with a smile.
Madoka let out a small embarrassed chuckle as she made her way behind the kitchen counter.
"I had a very nice night sleep" said Madoka as she opened a cabinet and searched for her and Homura's mugs "That's all"
"Oh~? Just that?" teasingly asked her mother, leaving her mug of coffee in the table as a 'want to know more' expression appeared on her face "What did you two do last night that has you this happy?"
Madoka pulled out the two mugs and walked over to the coffee machine, where she started to prepare Homura's coffee as she tried to think of what to get for herself.
"Mooom…" protested Madoka "We didn't do anything"
Her mother raised a doubting eyebrow as she prepared to try and dig further in, thankfully she stopped when Homura finally walked into the room in some of the comfortable wear that Madoka had gotten her during their first date. The thought still putting a smile on Madoka's face.
"Good morning" politely said Homura when everyone looked her way.
Homura's eyes travelled towards Madoka, who gave her a big dumb smile that easily broke down Homura's mask and placed a smile and a bit of flustered red in her cheeks instead. She walked over to where Madoka was, taking a quick look around to see what she was doing.
"You don't have to help" said Madoka, quickly noticing that Homura was trying to search for something to do. "Your coffee is almost done anyways"
"I want to help" said Homura, her eyes fixed on Madoka "I'll prepare yours"
Madoka looked at Homura with a fond smile, easily recognizing the girl's determined expression.
"Well then… I would like some orange juice from the fridge"
Homura nodded, getting to work as soon as Madoka's request left her lips.
Madoka's gaze stayed on Homura for a few seconds as she walked over to the fridge. The beeping of the coffee machine took her attention back to the task at hand, Homura's black coffee already done. Madoka picked up the mug and walked over to the table, leaving it on top of one of the coasters.
"Are you two going somewhere today?" asked her dad, now realizing that both of them had prepared to go out.
Madoka sat on her chair, waiting for Homura to finish preparing her drink.
"Yep, Sayaka-chan messaged me earlier. Apparently, yesterday they had decided to do something today, but Homura-chan didn't tell me" said Madoka, looking behind her just in time to see Homura come back with her orange juice.
"Sorry" apologized Homura as she handed Madoka her mug before sitting on her chair.
Madoka picked her mug, whispering a small thank you as she did so, and took a sip.
"Don't apologize, I was the one who fell asleep" embarrassedly said Madoka.
"Do you know where you are going?" asked her mom, now finished with her coffee.
"No, not really" admitted Madoka, turning to face her mother "Sayaka just told us to be there in an hour and to wear clothes that were easy to move in. Said she wanted it to be a surprise"
"Hmmm" Junko hummed in thought before getting up from her seat and walking over to the kitchen to leave her mug in "Well, have fun. Just make sure tell us if you are going to come eat at home or not"
"I will" said Madoka.
Madoka and Homura finished their drinks, Homura somehow being able to coordinate with her so they would finish at the same time; something that Madoka had started to notice the girl always did and it was clearly being done on purpose and not just the coincidence she had one thought it was.
Before Madoka could even get up from her chair, Homura got up and picked both of their mugs going to clean to them before Madoka was able to do so. Homura also using the opportunity of her having the sink to start cleaning the rest of the plates that had been used that morning.
Madoka looked over at her father, the man letting out a defeated sigh before noticing Madoka and smiling at her with an understanding smile. They all knew that Homura would try to help whenever possible, even though they told her that it wasn't necessary. At this point it had become a matter of getting to do things before she could get her hands on it.
Of course, she would stop if they asked her to… but it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. And after a few days her mother had actually gotten on the same side as Homura, saying that if she wanted to help she had all the rights to do so; she wasn't just a guest she was living with them after all. Besides, none of them wanted her to feel like she was taking advantage of their hospitality; something that Madoka knew Homura would think anyways, that was a way of thinking that wasn't that easy to fix.
Madoka looked at the clock, still forty minutes until they had to go meet with the others…
Madoka walked over to Homura, the girl still in the middle of cleaning acknowledging her presence with a quick look.
"Say…" embarrassedly whispered Madoka "There is still some time left until we have to leave, why don't we wait in my room?"
Sayaka got on her tip toes as she tried to search for the group in between the crowd that formed in the station.
"See them yet?" asked Kyouko, the girl sitting on one of the benches that were around the station as she ate a bag of potato chips.
"No, there are too many people around" complained Sayaka before giving up with a sigh.
Sayaka sat down on the bench, leaning forwards and holding her head with her hands; a defeated look on her face. With another sigh she took out her phone, looking at the time and how they were already twenty minutes late.
"They probably missed the train" tried to reassure Kyouko, taking out her phone as well "did Madoka send you a text or something?"
"Nothing" said Sayaka "Only text I've gotten is Mami asking where they should wait for us"
Sayaka put her phone back into her pocket, a mix of worry and tiredness escaping her with a long sigh. A colorful bag appeared in her vision. Sayaka looked over to the side, seeing Kyouko holding her bag of chips in front of her. Sayaka smiled before pushing the bag back to Kyouko, her not taking any of the chips putting a confused frown on Kyouko's face.
"Thank you, but I'm starting a diet" said Sayaka, getting up from the bench with an energetic jump; unable to stay still for too long.
"Why would you ever do that?" asked Kyouko before eating a handful of chips.
"Because I noticed that I gained ten pounds" said Sayaka before getting back to looking for Homura and Madoka between the crowd.
"Ten pounds? How?" questioned Kyouko, the girl who was somehow able to eat ten times what she should and stay as fit as ever.
Sayaka looked back at Kyouko, a deadpan expression on her face.
"Because someone has been handing me snacks all day?" she said sarcastically before getting back on her tip toes to look for the others "And since Madoka is with Homura all day I have just been staying at home"
"I'm sure Madoka wouldn't mind if you went with them"
"And be their third wheel all week? No thanks" said Sayaka as she stopped looking for the other two and completely turned to look at Kyouko "Besides, my main problem is all the extra food"
"Not going to complain about that" smugly said Kyouko, finishing her bag of chips "Afterall, if you eat less, I get to eat more"
Sayaka deadpanned at Kyouko, her dead eyes piercing the redhead "Maybe I should make you diet too"
"Please don't" softly said Kyouko.
"Sorry we are late!" a voice announced from behind them, making Sayaka turned around just in time to see a Homura and a panting Madoka getting out of the crowd.
"You two are way too late!" complained Sayaka "What even happened?"
"I'm really sorry!" said Madoka with an apologetic bow "We got too distracted and got out of home too late, sorry!"
Sayaka looked at the clearly remorseful Madoka and sighed; it had been an honest mistake and it wasn't like Sayaka could get angry with her for doing something so small as this; She just wanted an explanation, that was all.
On the other hand…
"And you?" said Sayaka as she turned towards Homura, her cold deadpan not having any tint of remorse in it.
"I was completely aware of what time it was" admitted Homura, and Sayaka could feel a bit of smugness in her otherwise dead voice "But I thought that what we were doing was more enjoyable"
Homura's words were accompanied by a blush in Madoka's face, the girl having to look away when Kyouko started laughing.
"You…" said Sayaka, not sure of what to even say to her.
Sayaka sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to change Homura's opinion no matter what she told her; and she really wasn't in the mood to start a discussion.
"Whatever" finally surrenderer Sayaka "Let's go, we still have one more train to take"
Sayaka started walking away, Madoka rushed to her side, a remorseful and embarrassed expression still on her face. Kyouko got off the bench and followed them too, placing herself next to Homura.
"Please don't get angry with Homura" asked Madoka "She should have let me know that we were late, but-"
"Don't worry about it, I'm not angry at all" said Sayaka as, without stopping, she caught her in headlock hug, causing them to trip and almost fall "It doesn't surprise me to be honest, this is the kind of stuff that I expect her to do"
"That you expect her to do wrong things isn't reassuring, you know?" said Madoka
"Just being honest" said Sayaka with a smirk "Her logical brain turns off if you are even mentioned"
"That's not…" Madoka's voice drifted away, not so sure about her own words anymore.
Sayaka gave her a few more seconds to try and put order to her thoughts, but Madoka simply kept walking forwards in the weird headlock of a hug she was in.
"Can't even finish the sentence, huh?" whispered Sayaka.
Sayaka looked at Madoka with a smile for a moment before letting her go, freeing her head and putting some space between them. Sayaka exaggerated a sigh, increasing her volume as she spoke to make sure that Homura was listening to her.
"What can I say, she is just completely useless when it comes to you" said Sayaka, turning her head backwards just enough to see Homura's unmoving stone face, her violet eyes fixed on her. "Say Homura, were you able to do what we talked about yesterday?"
Homura's eyes remained on Sayaka for a few seconds, Madoka now also turning backwards to see at the still unresponsive Homura, who was in the middle of throwing her hair back.
The silence from the girl was more than enough for Sayaka to understand that she had, in fact, not done what she had told her to do. Or at least not in a way that Homura thought Sayaka would find sufficient.
"Man, you really suck at this" sighed Sayaka.
"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Madoka.
"Nothing, don't worry about it" tried to reassure Sayaka, putting a hand on Madoka's shoulders as she did so "Just a small conversation we had, it really is nothing"
They reached the swing barrier gates, a pause coming to their conversation as they walked into it. Sayaka was the first one to pass her card, turning back to face Homura after doing so; a smug smile on her face as she watched the rest cross.
"But don't worry Homura!" said Sayaka as she raised her voice in a motivational tone "I will make sure that you get to show off today!"
"Show off?" asked Madoka as she crossed the gate.
"That's right! Today we are going to…" Sayaka made a pause, a dramatic silence dawning over them as Homura started to cross the barrier "play airsoft!"
"Oh! I've never played that, will it be okay?" asked Madoka "I don't want to mess up and ruin it for everyone"
"Don't worry Madoka" smugly said Sayaka as she pointed a finger towards herself "I also will have no idea of what to do!"
Madoka laughed, putting an accomplished smile on Sayaka's face.
Homura stopped next to Madoka, a confused frown on her face; or at least that's what Sayaka thought, at least she could see the girl was frowning instead of the complete deadpan expression that she always had.
"Why airsoft?" asked Homura.
"Because no only is cheaper than paintball it apparently hurts less to get hit with it!" said Sayaka, her voice exuding energy. "And there is apparently a great place we can play at near the edge of town that lets us rent equipment"
Homura still looked unconvinced, a worried look taking over her tired eyes. The girl went to open her mouth as to complain, but before she could Madoka grabbed onto Homura's arm, completely halting her train of thought.
"It could be fun" said Madoka as she tried to reassure Homura "Let's just give it a try, okay?"
Homura looked at Madoka for a few seconds, her expression slowly softening before she let out a sigh.
"All right" finally said Homura "I'm just-"
"Worried?" interrupted Madoka, getting an affirmative nod from Homura as an answer "Nothing will happen, we will wear protective gear!"
A smile formed on Homura's lips as the shinning smile of Madoka showered her, the two of them in their own small world.
Sayaka coughed, getting both of them out of their trance and pointed behind her towards the tracks.
"I'm glad that you got her to come, but let's not miss the train again, okay?" said Sayaka "If we miss this one is thirty minutes until the next one, you know?"
Madoka slightly separated from Homura, letting enough space between them so they could easily walk.
"Sorry, sorry" giggled Madoka before she started to walk towards her, dragging Homura along with her.
Current date: 31st of May
A/N: Sorry about last week, I was out of town on vacation to see some family and didn't have access to my computer.