Storm in Lover
A 'Love Live! School Idol Project' fanfiction by Yuuki.
"For what it's worth," Eli breathed out, "I like you."
Umi blinked hard. "Uh-huh," she muttered, without fully realizing what was going on. It was only after a minute of silence that everything finally clicked for her. Her cheeks went from normal color to beet red faster than Honoka falling asleep in the class. Feeling her cheeks suddenly became hot, she made a futile attempt to hide it from Eli by burying her face into her palms.
Cute, Eli thought. But she didn't realize her face was just as red as the bluenette in front of her. "So, err. What now?" she asked.
Umi peeked at Eli through the gap of her fingers. "W-What do you mean by 'what'?"
CUTE! Eli once again screamed internally. If this wasn't a public place, Eli was sure she couldn't hold herself back from hugging the abnormally cute creature in front of her. Okay, that could wait, there was more pressing matter in front of her right now. She could hug Umi all she wanted later, but now she had to make sure they were an item before doing anything else. Wait, anything? "Ehehe," she let out a weird laugh unconsciously.
"How shameless," Umi narrowed her eyes behind her hands, seemingly knew what was Eli thinking right now.
"No! I'm just thinking about a hug, no more than that!" she denied firmly before a beat later realizing that she just dug her own grave. "Uh-oh," she groaned and facepalmed.
Umi stared at Eli. "I don't mind if it's just a hug," she whispered to herself, but loud enough to catch Eli's ears. The blonde immediately lowered her hand and her eyes soon met Umi's.
And they blushed again. And they hide their embarrassment, again. It went a full circle.
Realizing that the talk couldn't progress further if they didn't calm themselves down first, they let the silence fall between them for some moment. In the meantime, they sip the drinks that were about to get cold. Well, at least it helped them to take a breather.
"So," Eli opened the conversation again. "What now? Are we dating now?"
The bluenette's face was still red, but she regained her usual calmness. "I don't know," she answered, much to Eli's surprise. By saying that, Umi really meant that she didn't know. It was something like, 'I just wanted to let you know, actually. I didn't expect anything, so I didn't think that far.' This was her first experience of love, after all.
But it seemed Eli took it the wrong way. She thought it was rejection. "I see," Eli fidgeting on her seat as she talked, her expression gloomed. "Well, sorry for asking."
Fortunately Umi quick to realize something was wrong. "Excuse me?"
"Well, I thought that you like me and—"
"I don't know what misunderstanding goes in your stupid blonde head right now," Umi cut Eli off with slightly annoyed expression. She took Eli's hands before grabbing it with her own and continued, "But I can assure you that I'm indeed in love with you. That much is sure. Sorry for not saying it clearly before."
Eli couldn't hold the emotions that swirled inside her so she just muttered the easiest response she could give right now. "Yeah, I love you too."
Well, that was actually more than enough. The whole misunderstanding that happened until now because none of them were clear enough to each other with words. Now that they finally did, their feeling conveyed properly. They learned it the hard way, but it was a lot better than nothing.
After they went home, they didn't realize that the group of boys and girls around them was on the verge of death because of diabetes. The whole scene was just too sweet.
The following day Eli announced their newly formed relationship before μ's' daily practice.
"We're dating!" she said smugly after glancing at Umi beside her, their interwoven hands raised before the others. Umi was embarrassed but she smiled nonetheless.
Their friends were silent though. Hanayo gave them a warm smile but the others just looked somewhat bored. Not the kind of reaction they had expected, to be honest. The lack of response made Eli and Umi confused.
Seeing the couple's confused looks, Nico sighed and broke the silence. She—representing the others—said, "God. Finally."
A/N
I'm not dead. Just too busy that all I can write is drabbles.
Sorry for people who are waiting for my other works. I can promise you I'll continue them. I just don't know when.
(It seems there are some errors when I first updated this chapter. I just copied it straight from my AO3 account and didn't check it before updating. Thanks to Umi Lover for pointing it out!)
