Summary: Maki and Nico hit up a party. Beer pong, cocktails, and conversations happen.
Nishikino Maki had never been to an RTVF party, she had no idea what to expect as she pushed open the doors. People in clumps, food filled tables at the back, a staffed bar to the left, lights low, a spotlight raking the room, HEPA air filters placed in a triangle around the dance floor, windows half open. Music had been leaking out so Maki was already grooving with the techno bass. At the front of the room, Nirvana's MTV Unplugged concert projected on the screen. But there was no sound from that; instead Maki was watching Kurt Cobain, soft and vulnerable, isolated, cradling his guitar, while techno house music covers of Nirvana's songs pulsed over the speakers, a woman's voice licking the lyrics. It was fascinating. Maki moved in far enough so she wouldn't block the door, staying close to the wall, her eyes taking in the concert details, wondering if the playlist maker had matched the songs to their video versions.
"Maki!" Nico's voice boomed. Maki braced for the impact as Nico pulled her in for a quick hug, "Love the outfit." Then Nico laughed, "Not the heels."
Maki glanced away. She'd gone with a fuzzy lavender turtleneck, tucked into black parachute pants gathered at a high ankle, full length zippers down both legs, phone case at her waist.
Nico had gone for pink, fuzzy pink, beret and top, with a surprising chintzy ruffle, heather gray skirt, lighter gray slouched leg warmers, stacked black sneakers, and a bright, tri colored purse with a pattern like a puzzle of triangles.
"Who's the music?" Maki asked, pointing to the air.
"What about Hi, Nico, you look hot Nico, take me home, Nico."
Maki shook her head.
Nico rolled her eyes. "C'mon." Nico pulled Maki into the room, to a chunky woman in a purple NU track suit, flowing white skirt over the pants, dark gray pork pie hat over magenta hair, headphones on, sexy dancing, eyes closed. Two laptops were open, two deck controller between them. Nico knocked on the table to get her attention.
"Maki, meet DJ SPIV. Lalitha, this is Maki. Tell her what album you're playing."
"Hey Nico. and Ooh, good taste, Maki." DJ pointed to her secondary laptop screen, in case the names got swallowed by noise. "Jonathan Hay produced Nirvana covers with the lovely Daniella Carter."
Maki had her phone out, searching for more info. Bass meets black, transgender woman meets pounding techo to reimagine Nirvana. Grounding the listener powerfully, queerly in this twenty first century. Maki, ready for the next bytes, zoomed in on the laptop screen to read the title of the next song, obstructing the DJ.
"I'll get her out of your zone, Lali." NIco gently pushed Maki toward the bar and food.
"Really cool choice." Maki muttered as she added the album to her favorites.
SPIV waved in their direction, then went back to sexy dancing, swooping low to the floor, flipping back to her feet, spinning and grabbing the nearest willing person for a dip.
"Do you dance?" Nico asked loudly.
Maki glanced around, shaking her head.
Nico nodded. "Do you drink?"
Maki considered. She preferred to know the label of her rare alcoholic indulgences not to have them all thrown into a punch.
Suddenly Nico was at her ear. "Everything that isn't sealed the bartenders don't let out of their sight."
"Just water, carbonated, please."
"Oh, Maki likes the fizzy. On it." Nico bounced to the bar, Maki looked around for someone else she recognized, surprised not to see Nozomi, as that was who the invitation came from. A flash of ginger hair, side ponytail, Fair Isle sweater and jeans, Kousaka Honoka, partner of Umi and Kotori. Legendary for being physically affectionate and one of the biggest partiers on campus, Honoka had nothing but friends, reminding most people of a large, friendly golden retriever. Maki didn't know her that well, but thanks to Umi, she realized that Honoka must have more depth than campus rumor could carry.
With a wave, Maki headed that way. Nico would find her whenever.
Before Maki could even get within range, Honoka had pounced out, grabbed her upper arm, and whined, "They're killing me at beer pong, Maki. I need someone to play with me."
"I don't know…"
"You'll be fine. Rules are easy. Bounce the ball into the cup. We sip when they splash."
Honoka's words were slurring so there had obviously already been some splashing. She dropped a ping pong ball in Maki's hand and stood back as Maki approached the pool table covered with plywood. Pool would have been her preferred game, but those balls didn't bounce and spillover would kill the felt. Amused at her own images, Maki stepped forward, squinted, and missed. Laughter roared from both sides, Honoka patting her sympathetically on the shoulder.
Their opponents flipped in a ball easily and Maki took a sip of flat, warm beer. Ugh. Maki handed Honoka the ball, surprised when another shot flew from the end of the table.
"It's our turn." Maki snapped.
"If you make it, you get to keep going." Honoka thumbsed up.
Maki wondered if she could run through the five cups left in a streak.
Suddenly, she felt a nudge at her hip, pushing her to the left. She glanced over to see Nico frowning.
"Nico leaves to get you a water and you get dragged into the cheap beer zone." Nico handed the green glass bottle over.
"Thank you." Maki muttered.
"Hi, Nico!" Honoka nabbed the ball when it missed a cup and angled herself over the edge of the table to make a splash in the back row. "Yes! Let's go for two."
Maki found herself cheering with the crowd and booing when both she and Honoka had to drink. They were down to three cups on their back row; the opponents still had four.
"Nico's going to find some friends." Maki heard near her ear and nodded, Honoka pounding her back too enthusiastically for much of anything else to register.
###
Maki had a run of two and Honoka finished things off with the same, them only having to drink one more cup each, their last a bastion baffling their opponent's skills. Maki felt flushed; it'd been awhile since she'd had anything alcoholic in her system and everyone in the room had seemingly knocked into her on their way to the crush of the dance floor.
"I"m heading outside." Maki pointed to the windows.
"Good idea. It's hot. And I wanna talk to you." Once again, Honoka pulled Maki along, but to a back entrance Maki didn't know about, then three more steps, then outside.
Maki inhaled, the air frosty as it filled her lungs, but everything else about their location a calmer space.
"That was so much fun, Maki. Everybody cheering us on." Honoka threw both arms up in the air. "It'll be a lot messier later, always good to play early."
Yep, Honoka always had an angle, surprisingly shrewd.
"I like winning." Maki admitted, grinning.
"Who doesn't." Honoka bumped Maki. "Fun first, but then winning."
"Winning is fun."
Honoka shook her head, "You can have fun and not compete. Kotori has a quilting circle; they all work together. Or bands and things."
"Yeah."
Honoka chuckled, watching as Maki tilted up her head to focus on the stars.
"Umi's worried about you."
"Why?'
"She made me swear not to talk about this with anyone else and I won't, but she was being stress puppy so I made her tell me what she was worried about. So don't hate her."
"Okay." Maki wasn't going to hate anyone, especially Umi.
Rather than rush into a paragraph about Umi's worries, Honoka hummed and asked a question, "You've been spending a lot of time with Nico, right?"
"Yes." Maki could feel her defenses pull up, as her shoulders tensed.
"And Nico gets you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…" Honoka hesitated, "It was really rough when Umi was figuring out how she wanted to actually be with me and Kotori; she didn't even speak to us for a couple weeks one time. Kotori was so upset. We'd been friends since elementary school. We loved each other. It didn't matter if Umi didn't…"
Maki interrupted before Honoka could spill details. "Nico makes jokes."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Nico and I haven't..." Maki had obviously meant to make a solid statement but her voice trailed off. "I don't want to talk about it."
"That's okay. I'm sorry."
Maki was still thinking something through. "Nico wants to talk about it." Maki shoved her hands in her pockets, breaking a heel through the lingering permafrost, ".She keeps..she explains…how she feels…urgghh, I don't even know how to say it…but I never have to figure out what she wants, she always says..." Maki laughed, "everything."
"Nico does use words."
"We all do Honoka." Maki started back toward the building, suddenly starting to wonder where Nico was and who she was talking to.
"Nico uses them faster."
Maki laughed, imagining Nico's response to that, hands flying all around Honoka's space as Nico expressed ALL the emotions Honoka's comment triggered.
"What do you want?" Honoka's bright blue eyes had a rare curiosity that didn't make Maki feel judged or nervous.
But Maki still just shrugged.
A pause, a single car driving by, stereo booming.
"It's okay, you'll figure it out, Maki." Honoka's enthusiastic clap thudded into Maki's back. "Ready to get back to the party?"
"Yeah."
"LEt's GO!" And Honoka sprinted back to the building.
###
Nico was at the core of a group of Waa Mu actors singing songs from the show. One was a spoofy sea shanty focused on queer pirate pairings. They got practically the whole room singing and swaying for that one, most people slinging their arm around someone's shoulder to do a ring dance, kicking into the center. Nico needed food before dancing so she grabbed a slice and sat in a windowsill, head bobbing to the rhythmic and rowing beat of the increasingly raucous shanty. Nico finished the slice in time for the last chorus and then decided it was time to get another fizzy pink drink.
Tending the bar was one of the CRC RA's, Brynn, a tall enby with pink dyed dreadlocks nicely contrasting darker skin tones.
"Pink's a good color for you." Nico ducked behind the bar.
"Hey." Brynn playfully pushed Nico back out, "Only the drinks team back here."
"Sorry. Nico wants a pink berry gin and tonic, but Nico sees no berries."
"I'll put in on the list for you special next time."
"Sweet." Nico leaned her elbows against the bar, hair falling free, watching the dance floor.
Brynn had ducked down to check the mini fridge, "We've got raspberries. Ever had a Clover Club?"
"No."
"It's very pink." Brynn started assembling tools, including an egg. "Very pretty." A wink.
"Nico is interested." Nico turned her back on the crowd.
"Watch and learn, cutie." Brynn dropped four frozen raspberries into a shaker, followed by clear syrup, then applied a muddler. Then came the larger jigger of pink gin, a small jigger of lemon juice, and a carefully extracted egg white, the yolk going into a bowl that was returned to the mini fridge after Brynn washed their hands. "That's for breakfast."
"Nico will just take the drink."
A pout that showed Brynn was familiar with Nico's favorite method of pleading while Brynn handled the shaker deftly. Then ice, more shaking, a foamy drink carefully through a strainer, pink underneath a creamy, floating cloud finished with a three raspberry on a toothpick garnish.
"Wow, Brynn. Nico needs to post a Twig. That's gorgeous."
"Oh, pics are extra."
"Really?" Nico raised an eyebrow, "how much?"
"A little tip." Brynn tapped their right cheek. With no hesitation, Nico leapt up, leaned over the bar, and popped a kiss there, leaving a pink lipstick imprint, a practiced Nico move.
"Nico-chan." A voice as breathy as the egg white cloud sounded glum.
"Hey, Maki, there you are. Take a snap of Nico and Brynn and this…" Nico glanced at Brynn.
"Clover Club."
"Clover Club…more like Sakura Club with the color." Nico handed Maki her phone, "Brynn can make you anything that doesn't involve berries other than rasp."
Maki held up the phone as Nico and Brynn posed goofily around the drink. "Not thirsty."
"Nico is." Nico took a sip, foam lingering on her lips as she smacked them dramatically. "This is super smooth and super sweet. Thanks, Brynn."
"Any time." Brynn nodded, wiping the bar down with a towel as they moved back toward the line of drink seekers.
"Nico's RA. Good peep." Nico had her phone back, typing a caption at hyperspeed. "Great pics, thanks, Maki. Did you and Honoka win?"
"Yeah."
"Did you get grumpy drunk while doing it?"
"No."
Nico stopped, looking up at Maki. "So what did you get grumpy doing?"
Maki shrugged.
"You missed sea shanties."
"Did you have to kiss her?"
"Brynn?"
Maki nodded.
"It's them. And Nico likes kissing cuties. It's fun to flirt. Not serious. They half jokingly offered breakfast options, Nico winked and passed on those, everything stays safely in the fun and friendly flirt zone."
"I don't get that."
Nico sighed. "You don't have to."
"If it's not serious…" DJ SPIV decided the group singing was done and it was time to get people back in a dance scrum so the music boomed out, interrupting Maki.
Nico stepped up on tiptoe, shouting again."This isn't the best place for this talk."
Maki shook her head.
"Want to dance with Nico. Or leave and hit Buffalo Joes for cheese fries. Nico will buy."
Maki tilted her head toward the fringe of the dance scrum, not waiting for Nico to acknowledge her choice. SPIV had started with a "Dance Monkey" cover Nico hadn't heard before. Maki's eyelids fluttered over her eyes, her chin jerked down, and her arms pumped back and forth like a toy robot boxer. Then the strobe lights started, SPIV cut in with a second cover, dipped in melody, taking a slower moment, Maki's eyes opening and holding Nico's for a moment, open and waiting, but when the bass and the percussion kicked back in, Maki chose that partner, breaking away, movements sharper, slicing into the crowd, hair askew, sweat started to drip from her forehead, then a tongue flicking out to taste it. Nico followed, magnetized, Maki now lost in music with the same lively physicality Nico had seen that first night, the night of the piano recital, the grace, the restraint, the passion.
###
"Thanks, Brynn." Nico drank down the half liter of water, still wanting something salty. No pretzel packets though.
"Where's your friend?"
"Dancing with herself." Nico hummed.
Brynn laughed, "Classic."
Nico nodded, eyebrows up, as she watched Maki start to wind down and wonder where Nico had gone.
"Another water please."
"You got it."
Nico held out the bottle as Maki approached, pushing her hair back from her forehead.
"I'm exhausted."
Nico just nodded.
Shining gem eyes blinked at Nico. "This was fun."
"Nico can drive you home."
Maki shook her head, "You don't have to. Walk'll cool me off."
"It's after 2. Nico's driving you home."
"Okay." Maki finished the water, reached for her phone, "Let me get a quick shot of the DJ so I can post on my TWIG. Great song choices. I need their playlist."
"SPIV always posts the Soundcloud a couple days after." Brynn tossed both their bottles in the recycling bin as Maki snapped a pic.
Maki smiled, "Thanks! I'll look for it."
"See you around the dorm." Nico tapped out a quick rhythm on the bar.
Maki waved.
###
The silence wasn't awkward. The feeling that Maki wanted to say something had been growing since Nico closed the door. But Maki kept yawning and Nico kept fidgeting with the music controls on her steering wheel.
"Can it just be quiet?" Maki blurted, head back, eyes closed.
"Sure." Nico reached forward, pushing the power button.
A silence. Deep breaths in the seat next to her. If Nico kept travelling up Lake Shore Drive, Maki would probably just fall asleep.
"I don't want to care."
Nico let out a surprised huff.
"About the kissing."
Nico heard Maki's head turn and knew those piercing, honest, dreamfuel eyes were focused solely on her, but Nico had to stay focused on the road. Her thoughts raced. Caring was a good thing. But if Maki didn't want to, did that mean Maki didn't want to spend time with Nico. Or did that mean…
"You could kiss Nico."
A hum from Maki. No new information there. Wrong turn in the conversation but their destination on the right. The gate open, Nico pulled into Maki's driveway, moved the lever to park, and met Maki's slow blink of tired and worry. Nico chose to offer an easy out.
"It's been a long night."
"Why do I care?"
"Nico doesn't know. Sometimes you meet people and they interest you."
"This isn't the same."
"How?"
"Well, it was, but…" Maki suddenly flushed, sitting up, looking away.
Something changed, Nico realized. Would it change back? Would pushing forward drive whatever Maki was feeling farther away?
"You can't always figure everything out."
"Huh?"
"Sometimes," Nico sighed, her forehead now on the steering wheel, "sometimes, you just go with your gut." Then she raised her head, leaned toward Maki, her fingers gently pinching a twist of Maki's hair. "Sometimes, since we're not old and gray and grumpy yet, we just might want to try something."
"Is that what that kiss was? Wanting to try something to see if it feels…" Maki's voice skidded nervously around that word, "good?"
"More if it feels right." Nico opened her fingers, relaxing. A music thought popped up, "Singing in the same key. It's like that."
"Oh." Surprise. Understanding. A save spot, Maki thought. If things got confusing again, she could come back to here, this moment, when she understood something about Nico and allo dating. Another yawn let her know how tired she was. Tired always confused things.
Maki put her hand on the door. "Text me when you get home."
"You got it, pretty girl." Nico impulsively reached out a hand, pulling Maki's attention back, "Nico could have danced all night with Maki. Or talked. Let's do more things together."
Maki's grin beat the sunrise by three hours and forty five minutes, leaving Nico singing all the way home.
A/N:
It's Asexuality Awareness Week. I wanted to come back to the Goncharov AU, where I am actively engaging with writing both Maki (demisexual) and Umi (aromantic and poly) on the asexual spectrum. So I mostly spent the week quizzing my wife on the allosexual perspective, which I don't think was fun for her.
When I was in college, the asexual spectrum was not a thing anybody talked about so freshman year getting to know everyone, I got teased a lot for not having sex yet. Which really didn't bother me cause I was mostly interested in learning to play pool better and exploring Chicago. I think it's better that the current conversation has evolved to include a fuller view of sexuality and asexuality. So keep doing you. And thanks for reading.
Northwestern things: CRC is the Communications Residential College. Nico is a resident. RTVF is Radio TV Film, Nozomi's major.