Another lengthy (again, by my standards) oneshot for you all! Whew! I'm working myself like a dog this week, but even then, I managed to fall behind. Regardless, day 6 will definitely follow this piece later tonight, though day 7 might not make it until tomorrow.
But for now, enjoy this piece that got a bit out of hand! *sweatdrops*
Day Five: Spellbound/Enchanted
Taken for Granted Enchantment
A week after reviving magic to the world, the staff at Luna Nova decided to provide the students with a celebratory dance of sorts. While it hadn't been mentioned anywhere in the announcement, a few of the girls had taken it upon themselves to have the dance also serve as a party to recognize Akko and Diana and the feats they had accomplished together, along with admiration for the rest of the Red Team, as well as the Green Team.
Diana, and Akko especially, kept denying the extra addition up until the night of the party.
"I-It really wasn't that big of a deal, really!" Akko had claimed over and over. "I really just did it all because of Shiny Chariot! Heh heh!"
"I couldn't simply let magic fade from this world," Diana repeatedly stated. "What kind of witch would I be then?"
Still, everyone chose to ignore them if the Thanks Akko & Diana! banner hanging above the entrance to the ballroom said anything, as well as the monumental applause that greeted the two girls as they had walked in with their teams later that night.
While Diana accepted the action with a polite nod before simply letting it slide, Akko had frozen where she stood, only moving once Professor Ursula quite literally pushed her back out into the hallway to cool off.
Yet, even with all the excitement the dance had brought to the week leading up to it, and the energy in the air once the night finally arrived, there was one student who saw the dance as the perfect stage for an experiment.
Sucy Manbavaran stood in a secluded corner with a grin, waiting for Akko to return after her meltdown. Inside the suit jacket she donned—because she had adamantly had refused to wear a dress—she clutched a familiar cylinder container.
"Sucy, there you are!" Lotte exclaimed as she approached the mushroom fanatic. "What are you doing all the way over here? The Green Team was asking about you!"
"Oh, just thought I'd wait for Akko," Sucy replied dryly, yet Lotte could pick up on the glint in her eyes.
"You only wait for Akko when you want to experiment on her," Lotte commented with a nervous chuckle. When Sucy just looked to her fellow teammate, grin growing all the more, Lotte groaned. "Sucy! Really? At the party?"
"Well, it was such a success last time…"
Lotte blinked. "Last time?"
"Have no fear, Lotte," Sucy told her. "I know how to contain it this time. Just let it sting Akko and then I'll get rid of it."
"Sting?" Lotte looked contemplative for only a moment before huffing. "Sucy!" she cried again. "You don't have another love love bee, do you?"
"Bingo," Sucy murmured, though it was uncertain whether it was in response to Lotte's claim, or the fact that Akko had just walked back into the ballroom. "Lotte, just do me a favor and tell Diana Akko is looking for her."
Lotte didn't really know why she obeyed, though as she went to fetch Diana, she thought about all the implications that was Sucy bringing a love love bee to this night in particular.
Then it hit her.
It was true that after the missile crisis Akko and Diana had become better friends, but only the Red Team knew that Akko now harbored feelings for Diana that were a bit more than friendly. Of course, the girl was scandalized when she finally recognized her feelings for the blonde heiress—thanks to a truth serum courtesy of Sucy—and swore her friends to secrecy.
That didn't stop Akko from admiring her crush from afar. And quite obviously at that.
Sure enough, now it was very obvious to the entire school that Akko was in love with Diana. Obvious to everyone but Diana, that is. So, deciding to take matters into her own hands once more, Sucy had sought out another bee, this time actually expecting it when it came in the mail.
"Well, if Akko didn't keep trying to hide from the truth…" Lotte trailed off with a sigh before putting on a polite smile as she approached the Blue Team.
"Oh, hello, Lotte," Diana greeted as cordially as always, though there was much more truth and care behind her smile now.
"Hi, Diana," the redhead responded equally as kind. Glancing quickly to Hannah and Barbara in their standard places at Diana's side, Lotte cleared her throat. "A-Akko was looking for you."
Perhaps thanks to the many volumes of Nightfall she had read over the years, she was the only one to notice the way Diana's eyes flashed at the brunette's name, or the slight arch in her eyebrows, or the momentary flicker of her lips into a smile.
Or it could have all just been her imagination.
"Oh?" Diana's voice brought her back to the mission at hand. "Do you know where I could find her then?"
"I think she's o-over by the entrance," Lotte answered.
Bowing her head slightly, Diana excused herself politely. Hannah and Barbara made to follow, but Lotte reached out to touch Barbara's shoulder, which made Hannah stop as well upon seeing her best friend do as such.
"Um…" Lotte blushed. "M-Maybe you all should stay here. You know those two; don't want to get mixed up in whatever they'll inevitably get into."
Hannah seemed less sure about letting Diana go, but Barbara agreed with Lotte with a chuckle. As the Finnish girl offered to get them all drinks, she glanced back over her shoulder to the corner where she saw Sucy let the cupid bee free.
This was about to become an interesting night…
Diana mulled over what Akko could possibly want as she made her approach to the brunette who seemed to be laughing—quite embarrassed, apparently, Diana noticed with a smile—with Professor Ursula by the ballroom's doors, just as Lotte had said. Once she was only several paces away, she cleared her throat to initiate a gentle break in the others' conversation.
It was probably because she found her breathing catching in her throat, her eyes suddenly quite interested in the dress Akko had chosen to wear for the night, that the small bee was able to creep behind the Japanese girl undetected.
"D-Diana! Hi!" Akko squeaked, which for some reason to Diana caused Professor Ursula to roll her eyes. "W-What are you doing here? I-I mean, I know it's a school dance, and you go to the school, so of course you'd be invited, and not that I think you shouldn't! Ya know, since the dance is kinda also being thrown for us, and that us includes me and you so you have even more of a reason to be here, but I mean, why are you here…r-right now in this moment? With me?"
Both Diana and Professor Ursula were stunned to silence at Akko's spiel that seemed to all flow into one word making it hard to decipher exactly what the girl had just spat out. Diana, naturally, seemed to be the first to recover, and though she bore an amused smile at Akko being so Akko, she also arched a delicate eyebrow in confusion.
"I thought you were looking for me?"
"I-I was?"
"That's what Lotte told me, at least."
"S-She did?"
Diana chuckled before reaching out to take Akko's hand and squeeze it gently, hoping to expel the sudden energy that seemed to be buzzing within the brunette.
"Breathe, Akko," she said gently. "Are you sure there wasn't anything you wished to speak with me about?"
"Ummm…"
And ask Akko reached behind her to rub at her neck abashedly, it was that moment that the love love bee decided to do its job. As Diana awaited Akko's second answer, suddenly the girl before her let out a quiet 'eep!' before she was swaying heavily on her feet. Instantly concerned, Diana moved to catch the girl as she began to fall, keeping her upright only thanks to her embrace holding her as such.
Professor Ursula had moved to help too but, upon Akko's stumble, noticed a curious creature flying away from the scene. She instantly recognized what it was, of course, so she simply laughed quietly to herself before slipping away unnoticed, choosing to let the night go however Diana would soon have to choose.
Diana, meanwhile, was still fretting over Akko.
"Akko?" she called out to the girl repeatedly, her heart beginning to hammer upon noticing the girl now had her eyes closed. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"
"I-I don't know," Akko finally responded in a mumble as she caught her breath. "S-Suddenly I just…"
She trailed off as she looked up at Diana, and the blonde became even more worried at the rate at which Akko's face flushed. That became concern number two, however, once Akko's ruby eyes turned chestnut and hooded.
And aimed directly at her.
"Diana…" Akko breathed.
Diana blinked. Had Akko's voice always sounded that…sexy?
"I recall what I wished to talk to you about now," she said then with a squeeze of Diana's hand—because of course Diana hadn't let go of her yet.
"Y-Yes?" Diana stammered, not even bothered by her stutter because when the hell did Akko start to sound sexy?
Then, taking Diana, as well as everyone else in the ballroom—Sucy included—by surprise, Akko knelt down on one knee before the Cavendish.
"I wanted to confess how utterly in love I am with you."
Diana's face instantly became fifty shades of red, Hannah and Barbara fainted simultaneously, the entire student body gasped, Sucy cackled like a mad scientist—which wasn't far from the mark, honestly—and even Professor Ursula had the decency to look away from her pupil's confession with secondhand embarrassment.
"I-I um…"
For the first time in her life, Diana Cavendish was speechless, and it was of course just so fitting that it was at the hands of Akko Kagari.
Surely the girl couldn't have found out about Diana's secret affections she harbored and worked so hard to repress whenever in a five foot radius of the Japanese student. Even then, this was Akko; shouldn't she be competing with Diana for the 'reddest face award' right about now? Shouldn't she not be as suave or have wanted to put on such a show?
Though, as Diana contemplated that last thought, she realized it made perfect sense for Akko to have put on some kind of spectacle in admitting her feelings to Diana. But for it to have gone this right? That's what was off.
"I see I have made the fair maiden speechless," Akko continued with a smug smirk, Diana's continued silence apparently not bothering her. "May I continue to woo the lady with a dance?"
"W-Well I-I…"
Diana's eyes shot wide open at the feel of Akko's hand on the small of her bare back, and she was certain her face had imploded into a plume of steam. A full body shiver wracked her body as Akko's fingers began to trail up and down her back before coming to rest against the back of her neck, the girl's other hand retaking her own to hold them in a textbook dance pose.
The fact that Diana was pretty certain Akko didn't even know how to dance didn't cross her mind as Akko whisked them to the middle of the ballroom, their classmates scurrying out of the way before surrounding them again in the center of the room. There was no way anyone was going to miss the rest of this show.
"Why do you stare?" Akko asked as they began twirling in a small circle, whatever kind of music was playing at the moment not even a concern.
Diana flushed again and partly hated herself for it.
Yet most of her, she admitted with contained glee and a repressed squeal, absolutely loved it.
"I'm just…surprised, is all," she finally managed to speak, though she found she still couldn't look away from Akko's eyes.
It wasn't like she wanted to, however, she shyly admitted to herself moments later.
"I didn't know you could dance," she added when Akko just raised a curious eyebrow at her, that damn suave gleam in her eye just making her look so good.
"I would learn anything for you, Diana."
Diana felt her stomach flip at the sincerity of the brunette's words, and against her better judgement, felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.
Akko leaned in close, nose gliding up and down Diana's neck, and whispered,
"I love you."
Diana bit back a sob and tried to pull away from Akko.
"D-Do you even know what you're saying, Akko? This… This doesn't sound like you at all!"
"I admit I am feeling a bit strange suddenly, but I am also seeing things much more clearly now as well." Smiling gently, her suave demeanor dissipating for the time being it seemed, Akko added, "If this is making you uncomfortable, however, we can stop."
"No!" Diana startled herself and everyone else, including Akko and Sucy, at her rapid response, as well as the desperation which laced it. "No…" Diana repeated much quieter this time as she took the initiative to step closer to Akko, wrapping both of her arms around her neck. "Please stay…"
She felt Akko smile into her neck as the girl wrapped her own arms around Diana's waist in order to accommodate their newest position. The two now simply swayed back and forth lazily in each other's arms, and if they had been paying any attention to the crowd around them, would see quite the range of expressions from their onlookers. From tears due to the tender scene and girls smiling for the happy couple, to shell-shocked faces and Amanda receiving quite a few piles of bills from surrounding students, everyone was watching them, but Akko and Diana didn't care.
"I… I love you too, Akko," Diana had finally gathered the courage to say, letting one single tear slide down her cheek. "I never thought you'd be the one to admit it first, nor in such a flashy manner as this, but…I'm…glad. Now I don't have to worry about acting any differently around you. I…" Her grip tightened imperceptibly. "I'm so happy."
Akko grinned, and with a blink, the dark look from her eyes was gone, as well as the sultry smile.
"Then you'll be elated to know that I meant every word, and didn't just do and say all of this because I was stung by a love love bee," she said.
"What?" Diana balked, breaking away from Akko and gaping at her, her nerves suddenly on the fritz again.
What was going on?
"What?!" Sucy ground out from mere feet away, having begun her move to dispose of any evidence.
"Y-You… You're under a spell? Just like I-I was at Andrew's…?"
Diana wanted to scream. Did that mean that all of this meant nothing? Had she just confessed in front of the entire school to a girl who only loved her because of magic?
But then… Diana forced herself to calmly assess what Akko had really said. She hadn't just done it because she had been stung. So had she never been stung at all?
"I'm sorry, I'm confused," Diana spoke, trying her best to sound impartial and noncommittal, even though she was wishing, hoping, praying her gut was right.
"As am I…" Sucy grumbled.
Akko smiled affectionately at Diana first before spinning on her heel to face the puce-haired girl slouching behind her.
"You seriously wanted me to confess to Diana that badly that you used another cupid bee? I can't believe you, Sucy!" When Sucy just blinked, Akko groaned. "I saw you stashing it away the day you got it! I just acted oblivious because I knew that's what you expected of me. Then when I felt something land on my neck earlier, I immediately knew what it was. I must have just been able to brush it off before it could sting me and flew away, but I acted like it had just to let you believe so. I wanted to prove to you—prove to myself—that I could tell Diana on my own. And I would have done so in my own way and on my own time if you had just waited."
Sucy looked down, apparently able to actually feel shame at one of her experiments, while Lotte looked on proudly at Akko before muttering a quick 'I told you so' to Sucy.
Finished with her rant, Akko turned back to face Diana, still trying her hardest not to pay attention to everyone crowded around them, but man was it getting harder and harder.
"Diana," she addressed, her voice soft after her angry tirade, "can I speak to you outside, please?"
The blonde was still overcome with trying to make sense out of everything, that she could only nod numbly and follow after Akko—though if the brunette hadn't taken her hand to gently lead her along, she wasn't sure she would have been able to move again for quite some time.
"Show's over!" Akko finally cracked and shouted to everyone as they parted for the two like Moses and the Red Sea. "Gossip about it all you want, okay? But if anyone gives Diana a hard way to go about this after tonight, you'll be hearing from me!"
Diana followed Akko out onto a balcony before the brunette dropped her hand to close the large French doors behind them. Fixing every last student with a glare—and addressing Sucy with an even fiercer one—she at last turned back to Diana as a loud slam sounded throughout the night. Finally letting the act she had been working so hard to keep up since the bee landed on her, she let her shoulders slouch and let out a big sigh.
Upon looking up to see Diana holding one of her arms at her side, her face the meekest looking Akko had ever seen, it was immediately Akko's turn to fret.
"I'm…so sorry, Diana," she started. "I didn't mean to let it go this far, but once I was going, I just realized it would be a lot easier for me to confess under the guise of this other personality, so I went with it. But I promise, the cupid bee never stung me, okay?"
Diana looked up and Akko's heart began to beat faster, both from the pointed look in Diana's eyes as well as the tears she was doing her best not to let fall.
"Do you swear it?" she asked with a bite, though Akko was more focused on the strain that she was trying to conceal instead. "Because Akko, if there's any doubt at all that you don't feel the same, and after I…I said all that in front of all those people, so help me…"
"I-I meant it, Diana!" Akko cried, moving closer to take both of the girl's hands in her own. "I swear it, I do! I really do love you, a-and I feel awful that I made you doubt that, b-but however I can convince you that it is the truth, I'll do it! I'll—!"
But Akko could say no more as Diana suddenly had her lips against her own and was kissing her soundly. Akko was too shocked to act for only a moment, before realizing that if she didn't kiss back, Diana could quite possibly break right in front of her eyes, she did just that.
Both girls' eyes slid shut as a serene feeling of absolute bliss encompassed them and the world around them faded away. They kissed once, twice, three times before pulling away for air, but were right back at it again seconds later. The night had been an emotional rollercoaster for them both, and it showed in the intensity of their kisses. Diana was truly showing how much she loved Akko, and Akko was trying her hardest to convince Diana that she indeed had meant every word, and that the love she was being bombarded with was truly Akko's own.
Her Akko.
"Do you believe me?" Akko asked fearfully, finally stepping away to confirm. "'Cause I-I don't think I could kiss someone like that if it wasn't you even if I tried."
Finally, Diana smiled again, and another tear dripped off her cheek.
"I believe you, Akko," she said on a breath.
Akko beamed before she had Diana in a desperate hug, Diana chuckling softly as she began to feel tears wetting the shoulders of her dress.
"I-I'm so sorry, Diana! R-Really!"
Diana just shushed the girl gently as she cradled her, planting kisses to the top of her head every now and then. Perhaps her actions would prove everything more than words.
"I know, Akko," she reassured the girl. "I apologize for doubting you, but…"
"You had every right to!" Akko pulled away and looked at Diana, her eyes flashing. "God, I didn't even think about how this would all seem afterwards!"
Diana surprised Akko however by giggling. "Then that's the flaw in your plan I knew was missing earlier," she teased. "Everything else you had pulled off so believably; your confidence, the authenticity. But I knew that for an Akko plan to really have Akko involved, something would have to go wrong."
Akko giggled as well, not caring that Diana was teasing her. It was a relief, actually; it meant Diana really did forgive her.
And she still really did love her.
"I love you," she had to repeat once more, placing a quick peck upon the blonde's lips.
Seeing Akko blush—what was only her second blush of the night—Diana knew her Akko really was back, and that made her flush as well.
"I-I love you, too," she mumbled, allowing herself to become a flustered mess once more.
Akko hugged her again as she laughed in Diana's ear, and Diana's smile only grew as she felt that pleasant tingle pass through her body. Still, before she allowed herself to truly bask in this moment, there was one more jab she had to pull.
"I am curious, however, where that persona you pulled off so well came from," she spoke slyly.
Pulling Akko back, she saw the girl's cheeks flush even more crimson than they had from their many kisses.
"I might have…read a few of Lotte's Nightfall books to get a handle on the whole 'Prince Charming' thing," Akko mumbled, embarrassed at recalling the way she had acted.
"Charming," Diana quipped, causing the both of them to dissolve back into a fitful of laughter.
When they quieted down, they joined back together once more, noses nuzzling the other and kisses fluttering across the face before them. Akko sniffed one final time, and Diana hummed.
All was peaceful.
Until Diana giggled again.
"W-What?" Akko asked, tightening her hold on the girl in her arms.
"You called me a fair maiden," Diana managed through her giggle fit.
"Diana~!"
