Wind Swept Bangs
Made on: 2 Feb, 2023
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 1,197
Relationship(s): Kurume Makoto & Murashige Yuzuki
Characters of Focus: Kurume Makoto, Murashige Yuzuki
Setting: Post chapter 39
Metadata: Sleepovers, Mostly Fluff
Warnings: None other than light spoilers
Summary: “Thanks,” Yuzu laughs a little bit, still staring down into the grocery bag, “for the pudding, do you um...”
Makoto looks over at Yuzu’s uncharacteristic hesitance, only to see that she paused to use her sleeve to wipe at her eyes.
“Do you want to eat this with me? I don’t think my parents will mind having you over.”
Beginning Authors Note: Made for palebluestings on AO3 as a CandyHeartsExchange assignment!
Yuzu leans on the railing next to Makoto, close enough for their shoulders to just barely touch. She’s looking down into the bag that Makoto brought her, teasing out what brand of puddings she was gifted in between swiping at the tears at her cheeks. This unabashed openness doesn’t stop the other girl from pretending to adjust her glasses to disguise her attempts to wipe away her own tears.
“Thanks,” Yuzu laughs a little bit, still staring down into the grocery bag, “for the pudding, do you um...”
Makoto looks over at Yuzu’s uncharacteristic hesitance, only to see that she paused to use her sleeve to wipe at her eyes.
“Do you want to eat this with me? I don’t think my parents will mind having you over.”
Makoto doesn’t want to leave just yet, there’s still something uneasy sitting in her stomach, so her answer is obvious.
The request to have a friend visit soon turned into Makoto staying the night since Yuzu’s mother commented on how dark it was getting and extended an invitation. After a quick phone call out in the hallway, Makoto’s mother agreed to allow her to stay over as long as she didn’t make it a habit.
Soon the two of them found themselves on opposite sides of the table in Yuzu’s room with classwork spread out between them.
Makoto had just opened her second pudding, she kept on getting too focused on completing the problems in front of her to remember to take a bite, while Yuzu had her two empty cups stacked next to her papers.
The papers which she was currently disregarding, of course, and trying to drag Makoto into chatting with her instead. Makoto would be more for it, if not for the unfinished math problems that were due tomorrow.
“Mt. Takao sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?” Yuzu starts, after her last attempt at talking TV shows only got hums in response, “It’s been a while since I’ve been on a field trip of some kind.”
“Mt. Takao...” Makoto echoes, “Mitsumi said that we should eat lunch as a group.”
Yuzu glances down at the papers she was steadily ignoring before, a slight blush dusting her face, “I guess she told you about that, huh?”
“Uh, not much, just that you wanted us to sit together.”
Makoto stared down at her current math problem, not moving to pick at it. Interpersonal drama: always so much to keep track of and consider.
“Do you want to? Eat together, that is?”
Yuzu’s still looking down at her papers as if they’ll reveal the solution to everything, but there's something yearning in her expression that makes Makoto know the answer without a second thought.
“Why not, it would be nice to see everyone again.”
Yuzu smiles, a touch shyer than normal, before shaking her head, “Oh right! I brought that up because I wanted to ask if I could play with your hair again. It’ll be easier with it out of your face, right?”
This is how Makoto ends up finishing off her math homework with Yuzu kneeling behind her, braiding her hair in a somewhat complicated fashion. A magazine lays in Yuzu's lap, reference material as she twists dark strands into each other.
"Your hair's so nice, it's just the right thickness for this." She starts conversationally as she hears Makoto's pencil scratching slowly to a halt, "Mine's so thin, if I tried to braid it like this it would be so frizzy! Stray strands would be everywhere!"
Makoto hums in response, "I don't know too much about hair."
"That's fine, I'm not like an expert or anything myself. I just think it's fun to style it sometimes, you know?"
"Not really…"
There's a reason that Makoto sticks with her dual braids after all, anything more than that is a bit of a hassle to do every day. It is fun to mess around with it occasionally though, she'll admit.
Yuzu ends up overestimating how easy the style would be, especially since this is the first time she attempted it. While the hair is definitely out of Makoto's face, the tension isn't quite right, leaving some awkward loops and stray hair around her scalp. The hair pinned up to the base of her neck ended up looking nice, though.
Yuzu starts taking out the bobby pins after they get a good look at it in some mirrors, "Aw man, I guess I'll have to try this again sometime. Maybe then you can try styling my hair too!"
“Maybe.”
It was late enough once they got Makoto’s hair back to being mostly straight that Yuzu dragged out the spare futon. She also pulled out an extra set of pajamas for Makoto before sending her off to change in the bathroom.
They were surprisingly cute, in Makoto’s humble opinion. The matching pair of shirt and pants were fluffy with a cute bunny pattern decorating them. Not exactly something that someone so casually stylish could be expected to wear, but, knowing Yuzu, it makes sense that she would have something like this.
She gets changed quickly and retreats back to her friend’s room. Yuzu had set the futon up properly and was busying herself on her phone before she noticed Makoto’s presence. With a quick exchange of greetings, they exchange places, Yuzu trotting off to change, and Makoto peering at her phone for lack of anything else to do.
When Yuzu came back, donning floral print pajamas, she still had a bit of dampness on her face.
“I forgot, you don’t have a toothbrush. Do you want me to look around for a new one?”
Makoto shrugged, “I’ll be fine if you just lend me a bit of toothpaste.”
“Huh, really?”
Yuzu leads her back to the bathroom to show her that the mirror was actually a cabinet. She pulls out the tube and hands it over to Makoto, who thumbs the lid open before squeezing a dollop on one of her fingers. Yuzu watches in a combination of amusement and slight trepidation as she sets the toothpaste aside and uses her fingers to scrub at her teeth.
“I guess that does work, doesn’t it!” Yuzu giggles.
Makoto, whose mouth is full of suds, grunts in response.
They settle down soon afterward, there's still school tomorrow after all. Yuzu walks carefully around where Makoto has settled down into the spare futon to turn off the lights, before retreating to her own bed.
There's still some uneasy feeling left unsettled in her stomach, so Makoto whispers into the dark, "Thanks for having me over."
She gets a response of a sleepy hum before continuing, "Are you feeling any better?"
"A whole lot," Comes the also half-whispered reply, Makoto can't make out her expression in the dark, but she sees Yuzu's form shifting to turn towards her, "thanks."
The room settles again into quiet, just long enough where Makoto's eyes start to slip shut when Yuzu pipes up again.
Her voice is still low and tainted with tiredness, but Makoto hears her clear as day as Yuzu says, "It’s just, well, I’ve been having trouble with this guy in my class…"
Ending Authors Note: You cannot believe how excited I was to see Skip to Loafer being prompted for! Especially with Makoto & Yuzuki, I really adore their relationship! :D
I hope you enjoy reading this!