For: OZ7UP
Prompt: AU Takei/Mio, in which Takei confesses to Mio after a night out in town.
The perfect date, a goodnight kiss, surprise flowers at work… Takei's friends liked to call it her "romantic bucket list." She would laugh and deny it, but the description was accurate; it was a list of everything she wanted to experience before she died.
Only about one quarter of the items had been crossed off, all tame in comparison to the ones written later on the list (it started with "Fall in love" and ended with "Go all the way").
Tonight, though, she felt like a bad date, keeping the crumpled piece of paper in her mind during a movie and the following dinner. She went home, barely avoiding the goodbye kiss she really didn't want to have. Takei dropped on the couch in her apartment, tired and disappointed.
"Bad night, I take it," Federica, her roommate and boss, asked, sitting on the little space left by Takei's body. She patted her leg in sympathy.
"Well, there won't be a second date," Takei explained. She sat up to give the other girl some room.
Nodding in understanding, Federica offered her the beer she had been drinking. "Nothing a little alcohol can't fix. What ever happened to that girl you said you were in love with?"
"You can't just tell a good friend you love her," Takei laughed. She took a swig from the bottle.
"Yes you can!" Federica told her, grabbing Takei's purse and pulling out the list. "It says it right here: 'Confess to someone.'"
Takei snatched the paper away and looked offended. "How do you know what's on that? I've kept it a secret from everyone at work."
"I have my ways," Federica told her, chuckling and taking back her drink. "Tell her; if she's anything like you say she is, it'll be alright."
"And I'm sure you have so much experience with that," Takei muttered as she fell back to the couch cushions. "There's always tomorrow right?"
Federica patted her thigh again. "Right… unless you mean literally, because you'll be meeting with designers and clients all day."
Swatting her hand away, Takei glared at her but smiled. "Don't remind me."
Working for Pantaloni Rossi was a career most would call "fulfilling." The pay was higher than average, the hours were reasonable, and they worked with more famous people than even the most imaginative child could dream of.
Takei worked in management, which meant she spent her time organizing photo shoots, arranging times for the designers and models to meet, and making sure the fickle clients were kept happy. Some would consider it stressful, but it was exactly what she expected when she applied to work for Romagna's most lucrative fashion line.
She had busy days, but they were rarely as busy as the day she had today. Picking up her desk phone, she dialed the number Mio had given the last time they had seen each other. It upset her to cancel the lunch date they had set up, but she had a job to do.
Takei sighed in resignation as the phone rang, but when Mio answered, her heart skipped a beat.
"Hello?"
"Hey. I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Takei said, glad her voice was steady despite her heart nearly beating out of her chest.
"Not at all! The players are taking a water break, but I can't talk to long." In the background, Takei could hear groaning.
Chuckling, she shook her head at how little Mio's changed. "Don't push your players too hard, alright?"
"Ha, If you say so, Junko."
"…Listen, about lunch today…" Takei started, nervousness returning. "Could we reschedule? I just don't have the time today."
The silence as she waited for Mio's anwer was deafening, despite the noise right outside her office door. Finally (Takei let out a heavy sigh and flushed immediately for fear that Mio heard her) she got her answer.
"How about dinner then? Since you can't do lunch, it'll make up for it."
Takei shouldn't have been surprised; after all, inviting someone out so casually is just the kind of thing Mio would do, but that knowledge didn't stop her heartbeat from picking up again.
"I... guess it's a date."
Takei wasn't sure how they got on the topic of their school days, and frankly, she didn't care. Mio sat across from her, waving her arms around madly as she reenacted a scene from a school festival. The small restaurant was filled with equally loud and excited patrons, but Takei, through their shared laughter, still insisted that Mio keep her gestures to a minimum.
"…and Tetsuko shot out of the dressing room and chased us, swinging a shinai around," Mio said, her voice barely understandable from her chuckles.
"Wakamoto-sempai? I can't believe it!"
Mio took a sip of her drink and continued, "We ran right into Kitagou-sensei. She gave us an earful for using the kendo equipment without any safety gear."
"I can't believe I missed all this! I should have been born a year earlier," Takei sighed.
Before long, a waiter came to collect the check, and the two stood, ready to leave. They explored the city streets, side-by-side, enjoying the cool air of the night and each other's company.
Inhaling deeply, Takei spun around, arms out, her laughter echoing off the Romagnan scenery.
"You're still pretty young at heart, aren't you, Junko?" Mio asked her suddenly, a wide smile on her face.
"What's that mean?"
Mio shrugged. "You act so mature all the time, sometimes I forget you're younger than me, I guess." She punctuated her sentence were a booming laugh.
Takei stopped twirling to look straight at Mio. "A year and a half isn't that much younger, and it was only a year difference in school," she said, obviously confused by the sudden turn in their conversation.
"I've been reminiscing too much tonight," Mio explained. "I keep remembering that cute underclassman, when you're already a successful business woman."
"Sometimes it's hard not see you as my cool upperclassman, either," Takei agreed (especially since she was still as head-over-heels for her as she was in high school).
Nodding in understanding, Mio linked and with one of Takei's and began to walk again. "We don't change as much as we'd like to."
"It's hard to change when you've gotten used to something," Takei, who was starting to feel a little warm, said. "Like…"
"Like?"
Takei took a few deep breaths, knowing that if she continued, she would change their relationship forever in one way or another, but feeling adventurous. "Like the fact that… I'm in love with you."
With her eyes clamped shut (partly out of fear, partly out of embarrassment), she was surprised when she felt Mio's hand slide down to take hers. Peeking an eye open, Mio was simply smiling at her.
"Guess this means I can tell the team the date went well."
Takei woke the next morning to the sound of her cellphone ringing and the voice of her cheerful boss and roommate. The person on the other line gleefully informed her that she was still expected to be at work at the normal time, no matter how the night before went. When she hung up, Takei glared at the small, flashing screen, tempted to text Federica and tell her nothing happened.
On the ground beside the small twin bed Takei was currently lying on, Mio was soundly sleeping on a futon. Takei slipped off the bed and ran a hand through her hair. Nothing may have happened last night, but walking into work in wrinkled clothes would still be a horrible idea.
"You can borrow something of mine," a half-asleep Mio mumbled. Takei, in response, just knelt down and pressed a kiss to Mio's forehead.
"I think I'll get a shower first," she said, walking over to Mio's closet and examining her clothing choices.
Mio sat up and blinked sleepily at Takei. "We on for lunch today?" she asked, stretching the night's sleep from her arms and back.
"Only if you have the time," Takei answered, grabbing whatever shirt looked like it would fit her best.
Standing up, Mio walked over her closet, took the blouse from Takei's hands, and chose a different one (explaining that the other was more "her color"). "I've got the time. And I think the team would appreciate an extra break, anyways."
Takei accepted the shirt and left for the bathroom, but not before squeezing Mio around the middle as she went. By the time she was done changing, Mio had cooked them a makeshift breakfast, and they parted at Mio's apartment door, exchanging a short kiss before they departed.
(During the day, when Takei pulled out her list to scratch off a few of the items, she noticed that they had already been crossed out. When she unexpectedly received a bouquet of flowers, she called the sender, and demanded an explanation; Mio just told her she could take another line off the list and that she should prepare to black out some more. At lunch, Mio revealed that she had gotten her own copy from her roommate, and that she had been using as a romantic guide; Takei, meanwhile, vowed to never trust Federica with another secret, but it only took a quick peck on the lips for Takei to forgive both parties. After all, the list worked better than she had expected.)
A/N: I do so love AU time.
To expand on Mio's career, which was unintentionally ambiguous, she's a soccer coach, and in my mind, the rest of the 501st are players (I'm sorely tempted to turn this into an actual soccer AU). The 504th all work for the Pantaloni Rossi fashion company.
As a friendly reminder, I am still taking requests. If you've already requested something, I will be getting around to it eventually.