Gift Post #8
Title: Maka Albarn and the Treacherous Intrigue of the Skivvies Conspiracy
Recipient: hoshi_ryo
Rating: G
Characters: Maka, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti
Summary: True friendship means sometimes having to conspire against someone for their own good.
Maka had good instincts for these sorts of things, so it didn't take her long to figure out that she was being lured into a trap. "I don't think-"
"Come on, it won't hurt just to look around a little bit, will it?" Liz said in her most cloying, coaxing tone of voice as she pushed Maka toward the storefront entrance that was guarded on either side by a pair of mannequins wearing small amounts of leather and lace and nothing else at all.
Maka had heard Liz use that tone of voice with Kid when she was trying to coax him out of some particularly idiotic fit of obsessive-compulsive stupidity, and Maka did not appreciate hearing the same tone of voice being directed toward her. She hardly felt as if she were being irrational enough to deserve such patronization. "Yes, it will hurt, because it will be a waste of our time to go in there," Maka said, digging her heels into the ground and resisting Liz's pushing. "I thought we agreed that we were limiting ourselves to one dress and one pair of shoes each. I didn't come all the way out here to buy underwear that I don't need."
"But you DO n-" Patti started to say, before Liz suddenly clapped one hand over Patti's mouth.
"What's wrong with a little window-shopping?" Liz tried again. "Even if you don’t intend to buy anything."
"We did come all the way out to the mall," Tsubaki added, in her calmest, most appeasing tone. "It would be a shame if we didn't at least look around at all of the interesting stores, even if they don't have dresses or shoes."
"Okay, okay, I get it, and you're right, there's nothing wrong with window-shopping. I guess." Maka grimaced at the scantily-clad mannequins in front of her. "But I don't want to look around in there. Ugh. I bet that store is full of pervy old men like my dad."
Liz and Tsubaki exchanged glances, and Maka had the uncomfortable feeling that they were making some sort of decision without her. Then Liz shrugged and finally said, "Okay. We don't have to go in there if it would make you uncomfortable."
"Thanks, guys."
They walked a little further down the length of the mall, dodging a group of elderly mall-walkers as they did so. Maka wanted to hurry up and get to the Deathstroms at the opposite end of the mall so that she could spend her time browsing the things that she wanted to browse, namely shoes and dresses. There was another school dance coming up and Maka needed a new dress and shoes to match. They all needed new outfits for the dance, which was why the girls had gone together to the mall that day. Maka did like shopping, she did like trying on cute dresses, and she did like hanging out with her friends.
So why was she on edge today? Why had she felt on edge since the moment that she, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti had stepped through the mall entrance?
Because something was wrong today. She was walking into some sort of trap. She could feel it.
Maka had good instincts for these sorts of things.
"Can we look in here?" Tsubaki asked, pointing toward a store full of expensive cutlery, pots, and pans.
"I don't see why not," Maka said, making sure that she was the first one to step toward the store just to show the others that she really was on board with this whole window-shopping thing, she really was.
Maka admired a pair of salt and pepper shakers shaped like skeletons while she watched Tsubaki browse out of the corner of her eye. Tsubaki gave cursory glances to the knives, the selection of woks, and a row of novelty egg timers. She wasn't really looking at anything the way that Maka knew Tsubaki would have looked if she had actually been interested in browsing for new knives, a new wok, or a new timer.
Faking interest.
The kitchen store was a feint.
"We can go now," Tsubaki said, after an appropriate amount of time for her to fake her interest had passed. Liz pried a meat cleaver out of a giggling Patti's hands and followed Tsubaki out of the store. Maka followed close behind them.
Suddenly Liz stopped and pointed three stores down from them. "Oooooh, let's go in there!"
Maka looked toward where Liz was pointing and saw another pair of mannequins wearing silky, lacey unmentionables.
"To be honest, I have been meaning to look for some new bras," Tsubaki said, stepping behind Maka.
Behind Maka. In a position to either gently herd or outright push her toward the store entrance.
"What do you say, Maka?" Liz asked, her hands suddenly on Maka's shoulders. Since when had she gotten behind Maka?
Click, click, click. The puzzle pieces fell together in Maka's head.
"Okay, guys," she said. "This was clever. I'll give you that much."
"What are you talking about, Maka?" Tsubaki asked. Her smile was nervous.
"You tried to get me to go into that lingerie store back there, and justified it by saying that you wanted to do window-shopping. So then to keep up the lie that you're just innocently window-shopping you faked interest in looking at woks, but here you are again trying to get me into another underwear store. Specifically. Another underwear store." Maka turned her head and glared at Liz. "Did Soul put you up to this?!"
"Soul has nothing to do with this. I swear." Liz put her hand over her heart. "Hos before bros, Maka."
"Just hurry up and tell me why all three of you are trying to get me into an underwear store," Maka said.
"Because we reaaaaaallly want to buy underwear!" Liz pleaded. "And Patti and I never get a chance to go shopping with you two instead of with Kid, and we thought-"
"Stop," Maka said. Liz was a good liar. A very convincing liar. But it didn't make sense: If Liz wanted to shop for unmentionables for herself, why hadn't she just told Maka that in the first place?
Liz wasn't going to crack and Patti was busy staring off into space and humming, so Maka turned her attention toward the most vulnerable target: Tsubaki.
"Tsubaki-chan…" Maka said. And she knew that she wouldn't have to say anything else. The guilt would finish the job for her.
Surprisingly, however, Tsubsaki suddenly blushed a deep shade of red. What was she so embarrassed about? "Maka-chan, please… Let's just go into the store and buy some nice panties, okay? We can all buy s-s-some nice p-p-p-panties."
"We?!"
"Yes. We're all going to buy underwear. Right now. Let's do it," Liz said.
Maka let out a long, slow sigh. "I appreciate this amount of dedication, with all of you willing to buy panties just so that you can get me to buy some new panties," she said. "But I still don't understand why. I told you. I don't need any new underwear. Really. I don't."
"Can we just buy the panties and get this over with?!" Tsubaki said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like the timid squeak of a frightened mouse. Her crimson blush was now creeping all the way down her neck.
"YAY PANTIES!" Patti suddenly shouted, loud enough to draw stares.
"Dammit, Patti - go go go!" Liz said, pushing all three of them quickly toward the lingerie-clad models, using Patti's outburst as a transparent excuse to rush them all into the store before Patti could embarrass them any further.
Maka let the momentum of their mad dash through the displays of merchandise propel her right past the tables covered in lacy brassieres and toward the back of the store, where disconcerting disembodied mannequin behinds modeled panties of every imaginable cut and color.
Immediately Liz was elbow-deep in a heap of panties, tossing candidates toward Maka. "How about this one, Maka! It looks super-cute!"
Maka's arms were filled with panties before she was entirely aware of what was happening. Well, at least they all had a reasonable cut, and Liz hadn't thrown anything too lacy or skimpy at her. But then Maka looked down at the pile of panties in her arms and saw nothing but plain, solid colors. Liz had left on the table all of the panties that were printed with colorful patterns of stars, hearts, stripes, polka dots, teddy bears, and even a few that looked suspiciously like they might glow in the dark.
Maka raised one eyebrow at Liz. "You brought me all the way in here just to make me buy boring underwear?" She tilted her head toward the panties left on the display table. "Since you were the ones who were so insistent about this, why aren't we having any fun with it? I'll buy the glow-in-the-dark panties if you guys will."
"Uhhhhhhh I don't think that glow-in-the-dark panties are such a good idea," Liz said.
"The teddy bear ones are cute," Maka said.
"Oh Maka-chan, no," Tsubaki gasped.
Maka stared at her. This was not the reaction she had been expecting, not even from Tsubaki. "Why are we even here if we're not going to buy the cute underwear?" Maka turned toward Liz, her arms still full of well-crafted and expensive yet very plainly-designed panties. "You can't seriously expect me to wear grandma-panties every day of the week. Believe it or not, I do like to wear cute underwear sometimes."
"I know you do," Liz said.
It took Maka's brain a moment to process the significance of this statement. But then Maka suddenly dropped her armful of panties. "You know I what?!"
"Oh, crap," Liz muttered under her breath.
"Maka," Tsubaki said gently, in what Maka imagined had to have been her most diplomatic tone of voice, "as long as you're going to keep fighting in a… a short skirt… it might be a good idea to, er…"
"To wear some less conspicuous panties," Liz finished for Tsubaki, finally throwing all pretense of diplomacy out the window.
Maka stared at Liz, her jaw hanging open.
"I mean, it's bad enough that you're jumping around in that short little skirt and all," Liz went on, "but when you wear underwear covered in neon polka-dots or bright green stripes or Death Kitty heads, well, that's kind of just drawing attention to it, you know? I mean visually it's almost impossible to ignore it when you flash that stuff at us."
Maka still stared at Liz, her jaw still hanging open.
Then Maka turned her head toward Tsubaki, who was blushing furiously and refusing to meet Maka's eyes.
Maka turned toward Patti, who smiled and said, "Patti likes Maka's kitty-cat panties the best!"
"Patti…" Maka said.
"Kid-kun likes the kitty-cat panties best, too!" Patti added enthusiastically, giving Maka a thumbs-up.
Liz buried her face in her hands.
Maka struggled to make the right words come out of her mouth. "Kid-kun… has seen my… Wait, you guys talked about this? I mean, uh, about my… about my… my p-p-pa-"
"It came up as a topic of conversation just one time, okay?!" Liz said defensively. "Because Kid has no filter whatsoever. And by the way, yes, Maka, we've all seen your panties. All of us. Probably even your dad and Professor Stein have, every time that they supervise our training exercises. And personally I think it's kind of adorable that you have so many pairs of ridiculous-looking panties and for the record I love wearing cute underwear too so I can definitely understand where you're coming from with that, but the three of us were talking and we decided that it would be best for everyone's sake if at least when going on missions or training with Soul you would wear some less eye-grabbing types of underwear." Liz took a deep breath, as if relieved to have finally let that all out. "So. Um. Here we are."
"So this was a trap all along," Maka said.
"A trap for your own good," Liz said defensively. "It's not like I wanted to tell you that everyone was always looking at your underwear." She seemed to pout a little. "I'm sorry," she said.
Maka let out a long, slow sigh.
Then she looked up at her friends and said, "I can't decide whether this makes you the best friends I've ever had, or the worst."
Tsubaki looked completely miserable and still refused to meet Maka's eyes.
And finally, Maka allowed herself to smile a little. "It's okay, Tsubaki-chan. I've decided. You guys really are the best friends I've ever had."
Tsubaki sighed with relief. "YAY, BEST FRIENDS!" Patti declared, suddenly attacking Maka with a bear hug.
"Okay, okay!" Maka laughed. "Now let's buy some underwear and get this over with."
Although Maka decided to put on her best face and play along with her friends' panty intervention, by the time that she was paying for her purchases at the end of the brief shopping derail, Maka had already decided maybe it was time to start wearing leggings underneath her skirt after all. At least when she went on missions that were likely to end in battle, that is.
Leggings dark enough to conceal her panties wouldn't match very well with her black coat, though.
Maybe it was time to update her entire ensemble, and switch to something totally different? Maka shook her head as she walked out of the lingerie store. No, she was far too fond of that black coat to give it up just yet.
Maybe someday when she was older.
Title: Notes from Yesterdays Past
Recipient: hoshi_ryo
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Tsugumi/Agna/Meme OT3
Summary: Tsugumi and Agna were the ones who gave Meme a life filled with memories. And that changed everything. [Mod Note: While Soul Eater Not! wasn't technically part of this exchange, I allowed this as an optional prompt. Just FYI.]
Notes: Threesome ship plus WAFF was requested, so I hope this delivers!
Meme used to always be the last one to wake up in the mornings. Now she was always the first. Or rather, she would have been the first if not for the fact that her alarm clock, in order to be loud enough to wake her, had to by default also be loud enough to wake up the other two as well. So really they all woke up at the same time now. But Tsugumi would usually groan, roll over in bed, and sleep for another half an hour after the alarm. Agna would sit up in bed and blearily brush her hair until she was awake enough to finally get completely out from underneath the covers. It was Meme who was always the first one out of bed, because she was the one with the most important thing to do in the morning. That was why she set the alarm for so early. So that she wouldn't forget to wake up to do the most important thing.
Sometimes she would wake up in the morning and forget what the important thing actually was. But then when she saw the scrapbook sitting on the table beside her bed, she would remember. She always made sure to put it there right before she went to bed, so that it would be there just in case she did wake up the next morning unable to remember it. And on the days when she forgot to put the scrapbook beside her bed before she fell asleep at night, Meme knew that she could count on Tsugumi and Agna to make sure that it was still there for her when she woke up in the morning. She could count on them for a lot of things, actually.
That was what mattered most. Having people who could remember things for her. Without Tsugumi and Agna, Meme would have no memories at all.
The important thing that she had to do every morning was sit down at her desk, open up the scrapbook, and remember what had happened yesterday.
There was always at least one page from yesterday. Sometimes there was more than one page. Sometimes there were photographs. Sometimes there were ticket stubs, pressed flowers, folded up homework assignments, stickers, other mementos. Always there were the handwritten notes.
November 11th, Agna had written in her neat handwriting on the page from yesterday. Items worth remembering about classes this morning: Nothing. It was a dreadfully boring day. You fell asleep in class and Mr. Sid did not even bother to wake you. I suspect the poor man understood that do so would have merely been a waste of your time anyway, as catching up on lost sleep was clearly a more productive use of your morning than learning about antiquated soul studies would have been. Items worth remembering about events in the afternoon: We had a lovely outing enjoying the commoner sport of "bowling." I was surprised at the amount of skill and coordination required to achieve a non-embarrassing score in this unusual pastime. You claimed to not remember whether you had ever bowled before or not, although given your resulting score, I suspect that you have. What little dignity I have left prevents me from recording my own scores for posterity here. You, on the other hand, bested all of us in both games that we completed.
Tsugumi's handwriting was rounder and less flourished. She had also written in purple glitter pen. You bowled a 276!!!! That's amazing!!!! So jealous!!!!! Added at the bottom of the page: Agna freaked out about having to put on the bowling shoes but then once they were on her feet she kept staring at her feet and blushing. You said that Agna looked cute in bowling shoes and she turned so red it looked like she had a sunburn! Added in pink pen, I think YOU'RE cute when you tease Agna.
Suddenly a memory surfaced: Last night. Tsugumi sitting at her desk, furtively writing something in tiny letters on the bottom of that day's scrapbook page, blushing furiously. "D-d-don't laugh at me when you read this tomorrow, okay?" Tsugumi had stuttered when she noticed Meme watching her.
"You're not writing anything lewd, are you?" Agna had asked from across the room.
"N-no, of course not," Tsugumi had said, her blush deepening.
Back in the present, Meme rested her hand on the open scrapbook page and smiled. Tsugumi had never written comments like that in last month's scrapbook. But now she was starting to get bolder. Tsugumi was still a blushing and stuttering mess whenever it came to her fumbling attempts to show affection in real life, but at least on paper she was starting to get more comfortable with trying to be flirtacious.
What they were doing in bed together probably had a lot to do with making Tsugumi feel more confident about their relationship, Meme figured.
Meme could think about these things now, because she remembered. She remembered how things were before and understood how things were different now. That meant that she could think about the whys and the hows. She had, as Agna had once succinctly put it (and Meme remembered that particular conversation as clearly as she remembered anything), continuity now. And it wasn't just from the scrapbooks and the notes. It was because of the scrapbooks and the notes that Meme was starting to remember more and more.
And that was a good thing, because having continuity in her head made everything in the present matter that much more. Remembering how Tsugumi had once been too shy to even undress in front of her roommates made all of her hesitant kisses and fumbling touches all that much sweeter. Remembering all of the throaty gasps that Agna would make as she writhed beneath Meme and Tsugumi made it all that much funnier whenever Agna complained about either of her roommates being "lewd" to each other. Meme remembered laughing at Agna when she had called Tsugumi lewd the night before. Meme remembered remembering why it had been so funny when Agna had told Tsugumi not to write anything "lewd," and the memory of remembering was the sweetest thing of all.
There was one more item glued to the scrapbook page from yesterday, a note written on a sheet from one of the pads of sticky memo-paper that Tsugumi was always carrying around in case one of their friends ever wanted to add something to the scrapbook. This particular sheet of memo-paper was shaped like a cat's head. Seeing that made Meme giggle.
Meme: You are an amazing bowler! I can't believe you beat Akane's high score! - Clay.
Oh, so those two had been at the bowling alley with them yesterday. Meme laughed quietly to herself. She was starting to remember how cute Agna had looked blushing and hesitatingly putting on her bowling shoes, but she still couldn't remember Clay or Akane even being there. Oh well.
Now that she was finished reading the page from yesterday, Meme flipped backwards through the scrapbook for a few moments. More photographs, more mementos, more notes from friends. It was the notes from friends that Meme liked to read over and over again. The scrapbook itself was never taken out of their dorm room, but Tsugumi was always carrying around those pads of memo paper, in all of those cute colors and cut into all sorts of cute shapes, and always asking the others to write down "something nice for Meme's scrapbook." It had become a sort of ritual that the rest of the NOT class had gotten used to by now.
Meme, can you teach me how to arm wrestle like that? was written on one note.
Meme-chan, you and Tsugumi-chan were too cute at lunch today! This accompanying a picture of the two of them along with some other girls that Meme barely recognized, all of them grinning like idiots, with chopsticks sticking out of their noses. Agna was in the background of the photograph, looking about ready to crawl beneath the table and die of embarrassment. Don't ever stop being gross! the note added encouragingly.
There were a few tarot cards glued throughout the scrapbook, which Meme suspected were Kana's contributions in lieu of writing actual notes.
And there was exactly one note from Akane: 8/17. Next time, best two out of three? From the day that she had beaten him at arm-wrestling, of course. In front of most of the entire NOT class.
Meme paused on a page dated from October. There was a photo of Kim making an obscene gesture at the camera but grinning as she did so. A note from Kim was glued to the page, this time written on a sheet from one of Tsugumi's other memo pads that was shaped like a heart: Mimi, this scrapbook looks like a lot of work. You have the most devoted girlfriends in the world. You'd better appreciate them. - Kim.
Of course Kim managed to sound threatening even when she was supposed to be writing something nice. Of course she did.
Meme closed the scrapbook and glanced over toward the beds. Tsugumi was still asleep and snoring quietly. But Agna was awake, daintily covering a yawn with one hand as she brushed her hair with her other hand.
"Kim-senpai said that I had better appreciate you," Meme said.
Agna sniffed. "I know that you appreciate me." Somehow she managed to sound both haughty and affectionate at the same time. Then she put down her brush and said, "I am sorry that we neglected to take photographs at the bowling alley."
"That's okay," Meme said. "I can still remember how cute you looked in bowling shoes!"
Agna blushed a shade of red so deep that it really did look as though her face had sunburned.
Tsugumi groaned and finally rose out of the bed. "Bathroom," she mumbled to nobody in particular, stumbling out of the bed and then out of the dorm room.
Tsugumi's ungraceful exit from the bed had thrown back the covers enough to reveal the top of a storage box that had been carefully placed beneath the bed. Meme suddenly recalled that the box contained the previous two scrapbooks that Agna and Tsugumi had already filled. When the current scrapbook had run out of pages, it would be ceremoniously placed in the storage box beneath the bed as well. Someday that box would be full of scrapbooks. Meme imagined all of those scrapbooks, all of those pages. She turned toward Agna and said, "Kim-senpai is right, though. This is a lot of work for you and Tsugumi-chan."
Agna glanced down at the scrapbook in Meme's lap and seemed to understand instantly what she was talking about. "No," Agna said, "it is merely a small amount of work every day. And besides, it is work for which the end results are quite worthwhile."
Meme tilted her head at Agna. "Worthwhile?"
Agna kept brushing her hair as she spoke. "It is exceedingly important to me that you are able to retain your memories," she said, "for I do not wish for you to ever forget how much Tsugumi-san loves you. I cannot allow you to ever potentially cause Tsugumi-san pain in such a way." Agna paused for a moment, then added in a somewhat quieter voice, "And although I am aware that this is clear evidence of my own shortcomings, I am afraid that I must admit that on a more selfish level, I do not wish for you to ever forget how much I love you, either. Or how much I love Tsugumi-san. It is important to me that you understand both things and understand them always."
Meme blinked at Agna, surprised. She hadn't expected Agna to say anything so heavy out of the blue like that. So weighty and serious.
But Meme's life was like that now. Having no memories had been like being always floating, always free, nothing there to ever tie her down to anyone or anything. Having memories meant having weight now, like the weight of all those scrapbooks that she intended to carry with her forever, getting heavier and heavier as time went on. Weight to tie her down to certain people and certain places.
But she wouldn't give up being tied to Agna or Tsugumi with the weight of her memories for all the freedom in the world.
Still, Meme was not one for seriousness too early in the morning. She set aside the scrapbook and walked over toward Agna. "Agna-san…"
"Hmm?"
Meme raised her fingers, which was all the warning of the coming tickle-attack that Agna was going to get. "Gotcha!"
When Tsugumi stumbled blearily back into the dorm room a few minutes later, Meme had Agna pinned down to the bed, writhing helplessly beneath her as she shook with laughter. Tsugumi didn't even blink at this sight anymore. It had become par for the course. "Good morning," she said, reaching for her hairbrush.
"Good morning, Tsugumi-chan," Meme said, crawling off of Agna and leaving the other girl to recover what little dignity she had left. "I liked your note from yesterday," Meme added.
Tsugumi blushed a deep shade of crimson. Ah-ha, Meme thought. That was the Tsugumi that she remembered.
And Meme wasn't ever going to forget her. Not her, and not Agna either. Not ever again.
Recipient: hoshi_ryo
Rating: G
Characters: Maka, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti
Summary: True friendship means sometimes having to conspire against someone for their own good.
Maka had good instincts for these sorts of things, so it didn't take her long to figure out that she was being lured into a trap. "I don't think-"
"Come on, it won't hurt just to look around a little bit, will it?" Liz said in her most cloying, coaxing tone of voice as she pushed Maka toward the storefront entrance that was guarded on either side by a pair of mannequins wearing small amounts of leather and lace and nothing else at all.
Maka had heard Liz use that tone of voice with Kid when she was trying to coax him out of some particularly idiotic fit of obsessive-compulsive stupidity, and Maka did not appreciate hearing the same tone of voice being directed toward her. She hardly felt as if she were being irrational enough to deserve such patronization. "Yes, it will hurt, because it will be a waste of our time to go in there," Maka said, digging her heels into the ground and resisting Liz's pushing. "I thought we agreed that we were limiting ourselves to one dress and one pair of shoes each. I didn't come all the way out here to buy underwear that I don't need."
"But you DO n-" Patti started to say, before Liz suddenly clapped one hand over Patti's mouth.
"What's wrong with a little window-shopping?" Liz tried again. "Even if you don’t intend to buy anything."
"We did come all the way out to the mall," Tsubaki added, in her calmest, most appeasing tone. "It would be a shame if we didn't at least look around at all of the interesting stores, even if they don't have dresses or shoes."
"Okay, okay, I get it, and you're right, there's nothing wrong with window-shopping. I guess." Maka grimaced at the scantily-clad mannequins in front of her. "But I don't want to look around in there. Ugh. I bet that store is full of pervy old men like my dad."
Liz and Tsubaki exchanged glances, and Maka had the uncomfortable feeling that they were making some sort of decision without her. Then Liz shrugged and finally said, "Okay. We don't have to go in there if it would make you uncomfortable."
"Thanks, guys."
They walked a little further down the length of the mall, dodging a group of elderly mall-walkers as they did so. Maka wanted to hurry up and get to the Deathstroms at the opposite end of the mall so that she could spend her time browsing the things that she wanted to browse, namely shoes and dresses. There was another school dance coming up and Maka needed a new dress and shoes to match. They all needed new outfits for the dance, which was why the girls had gone together to the mall that day. Maka did like shopping, she did like trying on cute dresses, and she did like hanging out with her friends.
So why was she on edge today? Why had she felt on edge since the moment that she, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti had stepped through the mall entrance?
Because something was wrong today. She was walking into some sort of trap. She could feel it.
Maka had good instincts for these sorts of things.
"Can we look in here?" Tsubaki asked, pointing toward a store full of expensive cutlery, pots, and pans.
"I don't see why not," Maka said, making sure that she was the first one to step toward the store just to show the others that she really was on board with this whole window-shopping thing, she really was.
Maka admired a pair of salt and pepper shakers shaped like skeletons while she watched Tsubaki browse out of the corner of her eye. Tsubaki gave cursory glances to the knives, the selection of woks, and a row of novelty egg timers. She wasn't really looking at anything the way that Maka knew Tsubaki would have looked if she had actually been interested in browsing for new knives, a new wok, or a new timer.
Faking interest.
The kitchen store was a feint.
"We can go now," Tsubaki said, after an appropriate amount of time for her to fake her interest had passed. Liz pried a meat cleaver out of a giggling Patti's hands and followed Tsubaki out of the store. Maka followed close behind them.
Suddenly Liz stopped and pointed three stores down from them. "Oooooh, let's go in there!"
Maka looked toward where Liz was pointing and saw another pair of mannequins wearing silky, lacey unmentionables.
"To be honest, I have been meaning to look for some new bras," Tsubaki said, stepping behind Maka.
Behind Maka. In a position to either gently herd or outright push her toward the store entrance.
"What do you say, Maka?" Liz asked, her hands suddenly on Maka's shoulders. Since when had she gotten behind Maka?
Click, click, click. The puzzle pieces fell together in Maka's head.
"Okay, guys," she said. "This was clever. I'll give you that much."
"What are you talking about, Maka?" Tsubaki asked. Her smile was nervous.
"You tried to get me to go into that lingerie store back there, and justified it by saying that you wanted to do window-shopping. So then to keep up the lie that you're just innocently window-shopping you faked interest in looking at woks, but here you are again trying to get me into another underwear store. Specifically. Another underwear store." Maka turned her head and glared at Liz. "Did Soul put you up to this?!"
"Soul has nothing to do with this. I swear." Liz put her hand over her heart. "Hos before bros, Maka."
"Just hurry up and tell me why all three of you are trying to get me into an underwear store," Maka said.
"Because we reaaaaaallly want to buy underwear!" Liz pleaded. "And Patti and I never get a chance to go shopping with you two instead of with Kid, and we thought-"
"Stop," Maka said. Liz was a good liar. A very convincing liar. But it didn't make sense: If Liz wanted to shop for unmentionables for herself, why hadn't she just told Maka that in the first place?
Liz wasn't going to crack and Patti was busy staring off into space and humming, so Maka turned her attention toward the most vulnerable target: Tsubaki.
"Tsubaki-chan…" Maka said. And she knew that she wouldn't have to say anything else. The guilt would finish the job for her.
Surprisingly, however, Tsubsaki suddenly blushed a deep shade of red. What was she so embarrassed about? "Maka-chan, please… Let's just go into the store and buy some nice panties, okay? We can all buy s-s-some nice p-p-p-panties."
"We?!"
"Yes. We're all going to buy underwear. Right now. Let's do it," Liz said.
Maka let out a long, slow sigh. "I appreciate this amount of dedication, with all of you willing to buy panties just so that you can get me to buy some new panties," she said. "But I still don't understand why. I told you. I don't need any new underwear. Really. I don't."
"Can we just buy the panties and get this over with?!" Tsubaki said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like the timid squeak of a frightened mouse. Her crimson blush was now creeping all the way down her neck.
"YAY PANTIES!" Patti suddenly shouted, loud enough to draw stares.
"Dammit, Patti - go go go!" Liz said, pushing all three of them quickly toward the lingerie-clad models, using Patti's outburst as a transparent excuse to rush them all into the store before Patti could embarrass them any further.
Maka let the momentum of their mad dash through the displays of merchandise propel her right past the tables covered in lacy brassieres and toward the back of the store, where disconcerting disembodied mannequin behinds modeled panties of every imaginable cut and color.
Immediately Liz was elbow-deep in a heap of panties, tossing candidates toward Maka. "How about this one, Maka! It looks super-cute!"
Maka's arms were filled with panties before she was entirely aware of what was happening. Well, at least they all had a reasonable cut, and Liz hadn't thrown anything too lacy or skimpy at her. But then Maka looked down at the pile of panties in her arms and saw nothing but plain, solid colors. Liz had left on the table all of the panties that were printed with colorful patterns of stars, hearts, stripes, polka dots, teddy bears, and even a few that looked suspiciously like they might glow in the dark.
Maka raised one eyebrow at Liz. "You brought me all the way in here just to make me buy boring underwear?" She tilted her head toward the panties left on the display table. "Since you were the ones who were so insistent about this, why aren't we having any fun with it? I'll buy the glow-in-the-dark panties if you guys will."
"Uhhhhhhh I don't think that glow-in-the-dark panties are such a good idea," Liz said.
"The teddy bear ones are cute," Maka said.
"Oh Maka-chan, no," Tsubaki gasped.
Maka stared at her. This was not the reaction she had been expecting, not even from Tsubaki. "Why are we even here if we're not going to buy the cute underwear?" Maka turned toward Liz, her arms still full of well-crafted and expensive yet very plainly-designed panties. "You can't seriously expect me to wear grandma-panties every day of the week. Believe it or not, I do like to wear cute underwear sometimes."
"I know you do," Liz said.
It took Maka's brain a moment to process the significance of this statement. But then Maka suddenly dropped her armful of panties. "You know I what?!"
"Oh, crap," Liz muttered under her breath.
"Maka," Tsubaki said gently, in what Maka imagined had to have been her most diplomatic tone of voice, "as long as you're going to keep fighting in a… a short skirt… it might be a good idea to, er…"
"To wear some less conspicuous panties," Liz finished for Tsubaki, finally throwing all pretense of diplomacy out the window.
Maka stared at Liz, her jaw hanging open.
"I mean, it's bad enough that you're jumping around in that short little skirt and all," Liz went on, "but when you wear underwear covered in neon polka-dots or bright green stripes or Death Kitty heads, well, that's kind of just drawing attention to it, you know? I mean visually it's almost impossible to ignore it when you flash that stuff at us."
Maka still stared at Liz, her jaw still hanging open.
Then Maka turned her head toward Tsubaki, who was blushing furiously and refusing to meet Maka's eyes.
Maka turned toward Patti, who smiled and said, "Patti likes Maka's kitty-cat panties the best!"
"Patti…" Maka said.
"Kid-kun likes the kitty-cat panties best, too!" Patti added enthusiastically, giving Maka a thumbs-up.
Liz buried her face in her hands.
Maka struggled to make the right words come out of her mouth. "Kid-kun… has seen my… Wait, you guys talked about this? I mean, uh, about my… about my… my p-p-pa-"
"It came up as a topic of conversation just one time, okay?!" Liz said defensively. "Because Kid has no filter whatsoever. And by the way, yes, Maka, we've all seen your panties. All of us. Probably even your dad and Professor Stein have, every time that they supervise our training exercises. And personally I think it's kind of adorable that you have so many pairs of ridiculous-looking panties and for the record I love wearing cute underwear too so I can definitely understand where you're coming from with that, but the three of us were talking and we decided that it would be best for everyone's sake if at least when going on missions or training with Soul you would wear some less eye-grabbing types of underwear." Liz took a deep breath, as if relieved to have finally let that all out. "So. Um. Here we are."
"So this was a trap all along," Maka said.
"A trap for your own good," Liz said defensively. "It's not like I wanted to tell you that everyone was always looking at your underwear." She seemed to pout a little. "I'm sorry," she said.
Maka let out a long, slow sigh.
Then she looked up at her friends and said, "I can't decide whether this makes you the best friends I've ever had, or the worst."
Tsubaki looked completely miserable and still refused to meet Maka's eyes.
And finally, Maka allowed herself to smile a little. "It's okay, Tsubaki-chan. I've decided. You guys really are the best friends I've ever had."
Tsubaki sighed with relief. "YAY, BEST FRIENDS!" Patti declared, suddenly attacking Maka with a bear hug.
"Okay, okay!" Maka laughed. "Now let's buy some underwear and get this over with."
Although Maka decided to put on her best face and play along with her friends' panty intervention, by the time that she was paying for her purchases at the end of the brief shopping derail, Maka had already decided maybe it was time to start wearing leggings underneath her skirt after all. At least when she went on missions that were likely to end in battle, that is.
Leggings dark enough to conceal her panties wouldn't match very well with her black coat, though.
Maybe it was time to update her entire ensemble, and switch to something totally different? Maka shook her head as she walked out of the lingerie store. No, she was far too fond of that black coat to give it up just yet.
Maybe someday when she was older.
Title: Notes from Yesterdays Past
Recipient: hoshi_ryo
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Tsugumi/Agna/Meme OT3
Summary: Tsugumi and Agna were the ones who gave Meme a life filled with memories. And that changed everything. [Mod Note: While Soul Eater Not! wasn't technically part of this exchange, I allowed this as an optional prompt. Just FYI.]
Notes: Threesome ship plus WAFF was requested, so I hope this delivers!
Meme used to always be the last one to wake up in the mornings. Now she was always the first. Or rather, she would have been the first if not for the fact that her alarm clock, in order to be loud enough to wake her, had to by default also be loud enough to wake up the other two as well. So really they all woke up at the same time now. But Tsugumi would usually groan, roll over in bed, and sleep for another half an hour after the alarm. Agna would sit up in bed and blearily brush her hair until she was awake enough to finally get completely out from underneath the covers. It was Meme who was always the first one out of bed, because she was the one with the most important thing to do in the morning. That was why she set the alarm for so early. So that she wouldn't forget to wake up to do the most important thing.
Sometimes she would wake up in the morning and forget what the important thing actually was. But then when she saw the scrapbook sitting on the table beside her bed, she would remember. She always made sure to put it there right before she went to bed, so that it would be there just in case she did wake up the next morning unable to remember it. And on the days when she forgot to put the scrapbook beside her bed before she fell asleep at night, Meme knew that she could count on Tsugumi and Agna to make sure that it was still there for her when she woke up in the morning. She could count on them for a lot of things, actually.
That was what mattered most. Having people who could remember things for her. Without Tsugumi and Agna, Meme would have no memories at all.
The important thing that she had to do every morning was sit down at her desk, open up the scrapbook, and remember what had happened yesterday.
There was always at least one page from yesterday. Sometimes there was more than one page. Sometimes there were photographs. Sometimes there were ticket stubs, pressed flowers, folded up homework assignments, stickers, other mementos. Always there were the handwritten notes.
November 11th, Agna had written in her neat handwriting on the page from yesterday. Items worth remembering about classes this morning: Nothing. It was a dreadfully boring day. You fell asleep in class and Mr. Sid did not even bother to wake you. I suspect the poor man understood that do so would have merely been a waste of your time anyway, as catching up on lost sleep was clearly a more productive use of your morning than learning about antiquated soul studies would have been. Items worth remembering about events in the afternoon: We had a lovely outing enjoying the commoner sport of "bowling." I was surprised at the amount of skill and coordination required to achieve a non-embarrassing score in this unusual pastime. You claimed to not remember whether you had ever bowled before or not, although given your resulting score, I suspect that you have. What little dignity I have left prevents me from recording my own scores for posterity here. You, on the other hand, bested all of us in both games that we completed.
Tsugumi's handwriting was rounder and less flourished. She had also written in purple glitter pen. You bowled a 276!!!! That's amazing!!!! So jealous!!!!! Added at the bottom of the page: Agna freaked out about having to put on the bowling shoes but then once they were on her feet she kept staring at her feet and blushing. You said that Agna looked cute in bowling shoes and she turned so red it looked like she had a sunburn! Added in pink pen, I think YOU'RE cute when you tease Agna.
Suddenly a memory surfaced: Last night. Tsugumi sitting at her desk, furtively writing something in tiny letters on the bottom of that day's scrapbook page, blushing furiously. "D-d-don't laugh at me when you read this tomorrow, okay?" Tsugumi had stuttered when she noticed Meme watching her.
"You're not writing anything lewd, are you?" Agna had asked from across the room.
"N-no, of course not," Tsugumi had said, her blush deepening.
Back in the present, Meme rested her hand on the open scrapbook page and smiled. Tsugumi had never written comments like that in last month's scrapbook. But now she was starting to get bolder. Tsugumi was still a blushing and stuttering mess whenever it came to her fumbling attempts to show affection in real life, but at least on paper she was starting to get more comfortable with trying to be flirtacious.
What they were doing in bed together probably had a lot to do with making Tsugumi feel more confident about their relationship, Meme figured.
Meme could think about these things now, because she remembered. She remembered how things were before and understood how things were different now. That meant that she could think about the whys and the hows. She had, as Agna had once succinctly put it (and Meme remembered that particular conversation as clearly as she remembered anything), continuity now. And it wasn't just from the scrapbooks and the notes. It was because of the scrapbooks and the notes that Meme was starting to remember more and more.
And that was a good thing, because having continuity in her head made everything in the present matter that much more. Remembering how Tsugumi had once been too shy to even undress in front of her roommates made all of her hesitant kisses and fumbling touches all that much sweeter. Remembering all of the throaty gasps that Agna would make as she writhed beneath Meme and Tsugumi made it all that much funnier whenever Agna complained about either of her roommates being "lewd" to each other. Meme remembered laughing at Agna when she had called Tsugumi lewd the night before. Meme remembered remembering why it had been so funny when Agna had told Tsugumi not to write anything "lewd," and the memory of remembering was the sweetest thing of all.
There was one more item glued to the scrapbook page from yesterday, a note written on a sheet from one of the pads of sticky memo-paper that Tsugumi was always carrying around in case one of their friends ever wanted to add something to the scrapbook. This particular sheet of memo-paper was shaped like a cat's head. Seeing that made Meme giggle.
Meme: You are an amazing bowler! I can't believe you beat Akane's high score! - Clay.
Oh, so those two had been at the bowling alley with them yesterday. Meme laughed quietly to herself. She was starting to remember how cute Agna had looked blushing and hesitatingly putting on her bowling shoes, but she still couldn't remember Clay or Akane even being there. Oh well.
Now that she was finished reading the page from yesterday, Meme flipped backwards through the scrapbook for a few moments. More photographs, more mementos, more notes from friends. It was the notes from friends that Meme liked to read over and over again. The scrapbook itself was never taken out of their dorm room, but Tsugumi was always carrying around those pads of memo paper, in all of those cute colors and cut into all sorts of cute shapes, and always asking the others to write down "something nice for Meme's scrapbook." It had become a sort of ritual that the rest of the NOT class had gotten used to by now.
Meme, can you teach me how to arm wrestle like that? was written on one note.
Meme-chan, you and Tsugumi-chan were too cute at lunch today! This accompanying a picture of the two of them along with some other girls that Meme barely recognized, all of them grinning like idiots, with chopsticks sticking out of their noses. Agna was in the background of the photograph, looking about ready to crawl beneath the table and die of embarrassment. Don't ever stop being gross! the note added encouragingly.
There were a few tarot cards glued throughout the scrapbook, which Meme suspected were Kana's contributions in lieu of writing actual notes.
And there was exactly one note from Akane: 8/17. Next time, best two out of three? From the day that she had beaten him at arm-wrestling, of course. In front of most of the entire NOT class.
Meme paused on a page dated from October. There was a photo of Kim making an obscene gesture at the camera but grinning as she did so. A note from Kim was glued to the page, this time written on a sheet from one of Tsugumi's other memo pads that was shaped like a heart: Mimi, this scrapbook looks like a lot of work. You have the most devoted girlfriends in the world. You'd better appreciate them. - Kim.
Of course Kim managed to sound threatening even when she was supposed to be writing something nice. Of course she did.
Meme closed the scrapbook and glanced over toward the beds. Tsugumi was still asleep and snoring quietly. But Agna was awake, daintily covering a yawn with one hand as she brushed her hair with her other hand.
"Kim-senpai said that I had better appreciate you," Meme said.
Agna sniffed. "I know that you appreciate me." Somehow she managed to sound both haughty and affectionate at the same time. Then she put down her brush and said, "I am sorry that we neglected to take photographs at the bowling alley."
"That's okay," Meme said. "I can still remember how cute you looked in bowling shoes!"
Agna blushed a shade of red so deep that it really did look as though her face had sunburned.
Tsugumi groaned and finally rose out of the bed. "Bathroom," she mumbled to nobody in particular, stumbling out of the bed and then out of the dorm room.
Tsugumi's ungraceful exit from the bed had thrown back the covers enough to reveal the top of a storage box that had been carefully placed beneath the bed. Meme suddenly recalled that the box contained the previous two scrapbooks that Agna and Tsugumi had already filled. When the current scrapbook had run out of pages, it would be ceremoniously placed in the storage box beneath the bed as well. Someday that box would be full of scrapbooks. Meme imagined all of those scrapbooks, all of those pages. She turned toward Agna and said, "Kim-senpai is right, though. This is a lot of work for you and Tsugumi-chan."
Agna glanced down at the scrapbook in Meme's lap and seemed to understand instantly what she was talking about. "No," Agna said, "it is merely a small amount of work every day. And besides, it is work for which the end results are quite worthwhile."
Meme tilted her head at Agna. "Worthwhile?"
Agna kept brushing her hair as she spoke. "It is exceedingly important to me that you are able to retain your memories," she said, "for I do not wish for you to ever forget how much Tsugumi-san loves you. I cannot allow you to ever potentially cause Tsugumi-san pain in such a way." Agna paused for a moment, then added in a somewhat quieter voice, "And although I am aware that this is clear evidence of my own shortcomings, I am afraid that I must admit that on a more selfish level, I do not wish for you to ever forget how much I love you, either. Or how much I love Tsugumi-san. It is important to me that you understand both things and understand them always."
Meme blinked at Agna, surprised. She hadn't expected Agna to say anything so heavy out of the blue like that. So weighty and serious.
But Meme's life was like that now. Having no memories had been like being always floating, always free, nothing there to ever tie her down to anyone or anything. Having memories meant having weight now, like the weight of all those scrapbooks that she intended to carry with her forever, getting heavier and heavier as time went on. Weight to tie her down to certain people and certain places.
But she wouldn't give up being tied to Agna or Tsugumi with the weight of her memories for all the freedom in the world.
Still, Meme was not one for seriousness too early in the morning. She set aside the scrapbook and walked over toward Agna. "Agna-san…"
"Hmm?"
Meme raised her fingers, which was all the warning of the coming tickle-attack that Agna was going to get. "Gotcha!"
When Tsugumi stumbled blearily back into the dorm room a few minutes later, Meme had Agna pinned down to the bed, writhing helplessly beneath her as she shook with laughter. Tsugumi didn't even blink at this sight anymore. It had become par for the course. "Good morning," she said, reaching for her hairbrush.
"Good morning, Tsugumi-chan," Meme said, crawling off of Agna and leaving the other girl to recover what little dignity she had left. "I liked your note from yesterday," Meme added.
Tsugumi blushed a deep shade of crimson. Ah-ha, Meme thought. That was the Tsugumi that she remembered.
And Meme wasn't ever going to forget her. Not her, and not Agna either. Not ever again.