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2018-03-14
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2021-06-06
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7/?
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Forget-Me-Not

Summary:

Homura is stuck in a timeline in which the only two survivors of the Walpurgisnacht attack are her and Sayaka. They've lived in a tense pseudo-friendship for three years until, struck with loneliness, they decide to take a leap together. Could they possibly fill the void in one-anothers' hearts? [Homu-Saya] [Non-Rebellion]

Notes:

Hello everyone! Brand spanking-new fanfiction for you all, or at least the start of one. This may go a little long and will definitely turn lewd in the future. Starring one of my favorite unpopular ships! I love the tension and dynamic between these two. :3

I wanted to make a shoutout to Soul Intercourse, which got me into the ship in the first place, and was co-written by my favorite fanfiction author Angel0Wonder, you should check them out if you're interested! Now, without further ado:

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Sayaka stared vacantly up at the ceiling, watching the coin spin up in the air before landing on her abdomen. Picking it up, she balanced it on her thumb another time, flicking it back up in the air.

“Can’t you find something less repetitive and irritating to do while you wait?” Homura asked, pouring over her work, which had already consumed the past hour.

“Like what? You have annoying habits too!” Catching the coin, Sayaka considered obeying Homura and stopping, but rebellious streaks were hard to break, and she opted to instead allow herself this small victory by spinning it right back up.

“I do not, name one.” Homura challenged in an even tone, it only took Sayaka moment to think of one as she sat up, looking over at Homura, who was still leaning over the papers, glasses on.

“Flipping your hair.” Caught off-guard, Homura reached up to toss her hair aside dismissively, but paused halfway upon realizing that would only serve to solidify Sayaka’s point. Snickering, the less experienced magical girl lay back down on the couch. “What’cha workin’ on anyways?”

“Scheduling. Though it’s likely my supervisor won’t approve of it regardless.” Homura said, her pen hovering over the paper in front of her, motionless as she stared out the window.

“Anything wrong?” Homura paused as though hesitating before she answered, stacking the papers and pushing them aside.

“I’m just having trouble concentrating. Today’s been a bit trying. Let’s go grocery shopping, we need to do that anyways and I need to go to work soon anyways.” She looked over at Sayaka, “Would you like to come along?”

Her roommate had already sprung to her feet and thrown on the closest sweater she could find.

“You bet your ass I wanna come along!” Cabin fever had struck Sayaka hard--now even an excursion as small and uneventful as shopping seemed attractive.

x-x-x-x-x

“Come on, spoil me a little!~” Sayaka tittered, leaning on the shopping cart as Homura reached forward and took the package of cookies from her hands, sparing them a single glance before replacing them on the shelf.

“No, we have enough financial troubles without you getting any ideas about needing to be spoiled. Between your freeloading--”

“Hey, in my defense, you said I COULDN’T get a job.” Sayaka retorted, huffing at Homura, who continued past her along the aisle.

“--between your inability to work, and my job paying me just enough for the two of us to get by, with a little extra to save in case of emergencies, I don’t think we need to splurge.” Homura shot a look back at the sweets, frowning. “I didn’t even know they made cookies that expensive.”

“They’re gourmet. I didn’t say I wanted to be spoiled by a cheapskate.” Sayaka grumbled, giving one last look back at the package as Homura sighed and looked over their list.

“If sweets are that important to you, then go find some cheaper ones, I’ll buy whatever you scrounge up.” Shrugging, suddenly off-put, Sayaka crossed her arms and scuffed the ground with her shoe, sticking her hands into the spacious pockets of the baggy grey hoodie she was wearing.

“Nah. Forget about it, if it’s that much trouble.” Homura paused, having spent enough time around Sayaka let her know some of the other girl’s intricacies. She turned around and looked back at the box on the shelf, the white and red speckled bow looking oddly familiar.

“I’ve seen those before. They’re the same ones you bought on your anniversary. For--” Catching herself in time, she looked back to see Sayaka clenching her forearm morbidly, eyes turned towards the ground, Homura turning to save her face and grabbing hold of the cart. “Apologies.”

“Whatever.” Sayaka responded, jerking her head forward and walking ahead. “Let’s keep going. I have a show to catch in an hour."

Ever since Homura took her in, Sayaka had done her best to stay amicable. It was unlikely she'd ever be able to go back home, so learning to get along with her new housemate was just another part of the process.

Though it did require a lot of tolerance. Conflict was common, but they now knew how to handle it, neither finding a resolution, but instead just turning the other way and taking a few minutes to focus on the perks of NOT beating one-another into a fine paste.

It worked in its own strange way. For the moment at least.

"We're going to need to find a more permanent solution about your living habits." Homura said, crossing another item off their shopping list.

"You saying you want me to move out?" Sayaka asked, half-heartedly arranging the pile of groceries in a pyramid, trying to keep her voice even; without Homura, she was completely alone in the city. Despite their differences, she knew that the stoic Magical Girl was her only chance at getting by without complete independence.

"I didn't mean to suggest that. All I'm saying is that, if we can disguise your identity properly, you could potentially get a job. Or at the very least, you could get back in school." That sounded a lot more tempting than it should have. During her stay in Homura's house, Sayaka had learned two things. One, that having nothing but free time is not all it’s cracked up to be, and two, that self-teaching things is hard.

“Well, I’m more than up for that. We can have a brainstorm sesh once we get home.” Wheeling towards the checkout counter, Homura shook her head.

“I told you, I need to get ready for work once we get home. And you have chores you’ve been slacking on. Why do you think I woke you up early this morning?” Sayaka, reminded of her early rising, let out an exaggerated yawn.

“Because you like watching me suffer.” Homura contracted the yawn in turn, trying to cover up her mouth before giving Sayaka a weary frown. The bluenette slipped a pack of gum into the pile of supplies. She meant what she’d said; a little splurging never hurt.
x-x-x-x-x

The apartment door opened, and the pair walked through, Homura used the same step to pivot and kick it shut behind her before turning back to Sayaka.

"Here." She said, dumping the bags into Sayaka’s arms unceremoniously. "Put these away. I'm going to go get ready."

Begrudgingly complying, Sayaka turned to place the bags on the counter, burning another three seconds to forget about them. Procrastination was always a strong suit of hers.

About to throw herself on the couch, Sayaka felt an thought strike her and turned to fetch her favorite idea-crusher.

Throwing open the door to Homura's room, she walked in. It was as organized and lifeless as always, the only personality around taking shape in a few simple drawings framed and clustered in one side of the room.

“Hey, Homu—“ Homura stool in the corner, her back turned, torso bare save for the strap of her bra, trying those long, glossy black trails of hair up in a bun as she half-turned and gave Sayaka a cold glare.

"Out." In a single motion, Sayaka pivoted and left the room as Homura walked towards the door, firmly closing and locking it, her voice halfway between a scoff and a growl. "I swear, who opens others' doors without knocking?” Swallowing her apology, knowing it would only get her more chastising, Sayaka instead continued with her thought.

"I...was just gonna ask. About the whole going back to school thing, maybe we might be able to change my hair color with magic. Do you think that would work?" Silence was the only thing that came from the other end before the lock clicked open and Homura emerged in her work attire, the bun fastened more securely, giving a thoughtful sigh.

"It's an idea. People would still be able to recognize your face, and we'd need to enroll you under a fake name and keep you away from any old classmates. So long as you stay away from your neighborhood, it should be a fair cover." Grabbing a few papers from the counter, Homura turned and opened the door. “But we’ll discuss that once I’m back. I’ll be later than usual, so let’s not have a repeat of last month.”

Sayaka crossed her arms, her cheeks coloring red in embarrassment, trying to save face. “It was your birthday.”

“Irrelevant. You still spent the better part of your day cooking only to have it grow cold while I was working overtime.” Stepping out of the apartment, Homura closed the door behind her unceremoniously as Sayaka walked over to one of the old, stiff couches and dropped her weight into it before the door opened again. “And if I come back and those groceries aren’t put away, I’m throwing you off the balcony.” Groaning, Sayaka rolled over on the couch as the door closed again, with finality this time.

Chapter 2

Notes:

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide mention and light dubiously consensual sexual activity. I’ll provide a re-cap of this chapter in the next in case you’d like to skip it.

A.N. Howdy folks! I wanted to get that warning out there. It sounds worse than it is, but I handle the topics seriously, and this will be the darkest content the fic provides, I can promise that. Still, I wanted to ensure I didn’t make anyone too uncomfortable.

Things get a bit dodgy, but they quickly pick back up, so stick with it! The rest will be much happier—for a while. Anyways, enjoy! Kisses!

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 

The groceries put away, and all the necessary textbook chapters read, Sayaka busied herself with television and checking the time every now and again. Homura was terrible company, even at the best of times, but she was still better than silence, and with her recent social isolation, Sayaka considered the scraps of time spent around Homura to be the highlights of her day.

Actually, thinking back on it, even though they had to spend time around one-another, Sayaka didn’t know that much about Homura. Her roommate’s things were strictly off-limits, but…

Sitting up, she stared at the closed door and debated with herself. Ethics never were her strong suit.

“All right, Miki. So, on one hand, Homura took you in and now pays for your living conditions despite kind of hating you, so betraying her trust and invading her privacy could go really bad.”  

On the other, she won’t tell you much about herself, getting to know her better might help you feel less awful about taking advantage of her like this, and there’s...that whole situation.” Resting a nervous finger against her teeth, Sayaka thought of the drawings she’d seen inside, and toyed with the idea that Homura might keep a journal or...something. Just to see if there was anything, anything hidden in the nights they spent together. “There’s just too much to gain.”

Shooting one last look at the clock, Sayaka nervously started towards the door and wrapped a hand around the knob--would it really be that easy?

Locked. Obviously. Why wouldn’t it be locked? Homura was a mystery stapled in a folder marked “top secret” and dipped in the glue of paranoia.

“There’s gotta be another way…” Sayaka mused, briefly considering breaking the lock, but knowing that would just stress Homura out more. And having a tense Homura took away the only bearable hours in Sayaka’s day with moody silence.

Turning, she noticed the window and remembered from the layout of the other room that there was a window on the opposite side. Reaching up and tugging a lock of hair, she weighed the risks and rewards once more. Climbing along the building almost seemed like a more sensible option than breaking the lock and pissing off Homura. Dying from the fall would at least be cleaner.

Summoning her soul gem, Sayaka transformed and looked down at her outfit, balancing on the tips of her toes and shaking out the restful sensation from her nap on the couch before heading towards the window.

She knew Homura would give her hell for wasting magic on something like this...but Sayaka didn’t count on Homura finding out. Walking over to the window, she flipped the latches to their unlocked positions and balanced her legs out of the sill, looking down at the street below.

Taking a breath to steady herself, she slipped off the side of the building, catching herself on a glyph almost instantly, the wind from her inertia whipping through her cape as she turned on the circle of runes and gave a light bounce towards Homura’s window, about two meters away. She grabbed onto an outcropping above it, the tips of her toes resting on the bottom of the window, and reached down to tug up the pane. Easy as that.

Crouching, she slipped into the room before reminding herself that there was really no need for stealth considering there was no one else home. Easing herself onto the floor, she looked around at the furnishings, getting a more comfortable analysis.

The whole thing was neat and orderly, and almost devoid of color. Homura’s old apartment had gotten destroyed in the calamity of Walpurgisnacht, but a large number of the bland, fancy furnishings had been salvaged. Those that were recovered now sat around their new apartment, still as immaculate as they were before the storm, seemingly factory-fresh.

Among these were Homura’s bed, with dark blue quilts and a pure white frame, and her dresser, equally pale, as well as the picture frames filled with drawings. Sayaka looked around, curiously and cautiously. She’d half a mind to wonder whether Homura had any landmines around, but dismissed the thought--she wouldn’t want to destroy some of the things she’d hoarded in here.

On the topic, Sayaka stopped in front of the drawings. Sketches of a fluffy pink dress, worn comfortably by a smiling girl. Several different spots bore small circular drops--likely from the rain of that night.

Reaching out, Sayaka touched the ragged paper, brushing her thumb on Madoka’s signature on the top of the doodled worksheet. She sincerely doubted Homura had retrieved Madoka’s old drawings in any legitimate way; from what she knew of the time-traveller’s story, it was unlikely Madoka’s parents had even known she’d existed in this timeline. The heartbroken girl had probably just frozen time and stolen them.

Shaking her head, Sayaka turned back around, sitting down on Homura’s bed. The mattress was cheap and uncomfortably stiff. Figures, Sayaka had half a mind to look around for the stick that Homura had up her ass half the time.

“All right. If I were a manic, DeLorian-themed Magical Girl, where would I hide my private things…” Sayaka asked herself, cracking her neck for effect before going about frisking her roommate’s belongings.

Most of the drawers contained piles of information from her old apartment, documents and projections filled with information on Walpurgisnacht. The dresser had scant amount of casual clothing, one pair of pajamas, and even less formal wear. Homura’s closet was taken up with piles of weapons and ammunition, likely to lessen the amount she’d need to store in the extra-spacial storage of her shield. Beside the guns were a small selection of close-quarters weapons, which made Sayaka wonder if melee sparring with Homura might be fun.

Under her mattress was...nothing. Probably not surprising all things considered. It might’ve been a bit cliché to have expected anything, but still worth a try. Getting desparate, Sayaka checked the bathroom, which was surprisingly full--the most notable thing being the six different kinds of shampoos. She should have expected that though, you don’t get hair as illustrious as Akemi Homura’s by running it under some hot water.

Finally, Sayaka had the presence of mind to check the nightstand, tugging the bottom drawer first--locked.

“Hello!” She said with interest, kneeling in front of it and wrapping two fingers around the knob, ready to tug the drawer straight out of the frame before pausing and checking the top one, which slid open readily. “Oh. Might be a key in here…”

The drawer held no key upon being rummaged through, but did contain some other trinkets. Two small bows, alongside a pair of thin-framed glasses, a single red ribbon (Sayaka knew that its twin remained steadfastly tied to Homura’s left wrist), and a very stereotypical, orange-covered store-bought journal. The front emblazoned with chicks and flowers, and a shaky, wobbly variation of Homura’s signature lining the cover underneath the phrase “This Journal Belongs to:”.

“Oooh...jackpot~” Sayaka sang to herself, sitting back on the bed and cracking the book open. She mentally reminded herself that she should take invading Homura’s privacy as a tactic to get them closer, and not as a way to stave off boredom, but this was the most interesting thing she’d done in weeks. Even the occasional witch hunt got droll.

The handwriting inside was just as wavering and twitchy as that on the cover, and the margins were covered in small doodles to compliment what was being said. What surprised Sayaka the most wasn’t the lack of neatness, or the drawings; it was the content. The first entry was labeled as three years ago, the month before Walpurgis Night.

Hello!...I’m not sure who I’m saying hello to, but it’s difficult to know where to start off with this sort of thing. Mother got me this journal before I left to the new hospital, she said she bought it just because it was the first thing she saw on the shelf, but I’d like to think it was chosen special by her.’ Sayaka paused and listened for any hint of the noise, considering the content so far, it’s likely that Homura finding her now would at least merit her being drawn and quartered...if not something worse.

Whoever’s reading this, I’m Akemi Homura, I’m in the hospital right now, and I’m about to start school again. I’m really nervous, a little excited, but mostly nervous. I’ve been in the hospital a long time now, and I never had friends at my old school, since I was never pretty, or athletic, or got good grades. I just hope that now things get better.

Hospital?...that’s right. Saotome-sensei had mentioned that. She’d never said why though, just that Homura had transferred in from a private school. It had been so long ago that Sayaka sat for a couple more minutes reminiscing before she remembered to focus back on the journal before Homura got back.

My first day was awful...everyone wanted to get to know me, but I just got embarrassed and couldn’t talk to anyone. I was behind in all of my subjects, and didn’t know anything, and in gym, I couldn’t even run a single lap.

But, then after school, I saw something...really weird. Everything around me looked painted in, and there were monsters inside. I swear it happened, but it almost felt like it wasn’t real. Then a girl I’d met from school, the nurse’s aide, Kaname-san, saved me. Along with another girl, a blonde senior, and a strange cat-like creature.

So that was how Homura met Madoka. A little like how Sayaka herself and Madoka had met Mami, saved while they were being targeted by a witch.

I found out afterwards that the blonde girl’s name was Tomoe, the creature’s name was Kyuubey, and that they were magical girls. Even though they sometimes got scared, they still fought to save people, I want to be that way--

Checking the time, Sayaka saw that it was still early, but decided that she could backtrack later, wanting to know more if Homura still wrote in it. Flipping through the pages, Sayaka noted that the dates stopped after a few repeat months, and a few time loops, which were marked by a small infinity symbol and a number next to it in the top corner of the page. After loop four, the number jumped right to one-hundred and thirty-seven. The same one, as Sayaka had found out, that Homura was currently in with her. The handwriting was now neat and loopy, perfectly uniform, looking almost like typography, the date a couple days after the fight with Walpurgis.

I am stuck in this time loop. Tomoe Mami met her fate at the hands of the sweets witch outside of the hospital, Sakura Kyouko died fighting Walpurgisnacht, and Madoka...’

Sayaka’s stomach churned at the mention of Kyouko again. Those memories were not as easily forgotten as a bag of groceries left on the counter--she could still practically see Kyouko’s body, crushed and twisted, in her mind’s eye.

Dispelling the thoughts and reading onward, she cringed at Madoka’s name, still remembering the way Homura had very nearly broken down completely when she’d destroyed Madoka’s soul gem and found herself unable to reverse time. She’d lashed out at Sayaka, badly,

Not to mention from Sayaka’s perspective at the time, Homura had just murdered her best friend and seemed broken up about it. She hadn’t known the extensive history they’d had together at the time. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, she turned back to the journal.

Kaname Madoka met the same fate. My time-reversal function no longer works. I have spent much effort theorizing a reason for this, but I haven’t yet found an explanation.

It seems pointless to continue this asinine record-keeping. When I die, or become a witch, my apartment will be cleaned out, and this journal will be thrown out as the ranting of a troubled student. Why I kept it through all these years is still beyond me, but there’s so much weight on my mind, I feel like it’s going to drive me mad, so I’m turning to this journal as a confidante.

Sayaka frowned at the journal, no mention of her yet. Maybe it was vanity, but she really did want to see what Homura truly thought of her, even with all the anger and dismissiveness, maybe she still retained some sort of compassion for her new roommate. She skipped down to the first mention of her name.

Only Miki Sayaka and myself remain. Through some misguided sympathy for the girl, I’ve taken her into my apartment. Since she was publicly declared dead after her transformation into a witch, her body’s return to her home, and her funeral, she is not allowed to leave the apartment.

A brief shudder passed through Sayaka’s body at the mention of it, no real need to bring that up. She didn’t retain many memories from that time, but there was still a matter of the bits and pieces she could pick back up. Her slow descent into becoming a witch was by far the darkest moment that still remained in her mind. For however long she could, she’d fight to keep her soul gem clean now, just to never need to experience something like that again.

I’m not sure why I did this. I can only assume it’s out of a misguided need to keep another fragment of Madoka close to me, or perhaps to honor her wish in this final timeline; bringing Miki back to life. Whatever the reasons, she remains as irritating as ever. Her soul gem eats up at whatever grief seeds I can salvage, and her body takes up the few resources I can afford. She is grating and complains about everything. I--

Sayaka slammed the book shut as she heard a key click against the front door’s lock. Her face colored red with anger, tears stinging in the corner of her eyes. She knew Homura thought all that about her, but reading it herself was something else. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to calm down; the entry was still from two years ago, maybe things were different now. Sayaka had done a lot of growing in the past three years; she had to hold onto the thought that there might be something else going on under those stony amethyst eyes.

Anger turned into panic as she realized that Homura was home, and that she was in her roommate’s room reading her private information. Scrambling up, Sayaka looked for any way out of the room and, realizing the window would take too long, finally settled on the door. Running towards the locked entrance, she muttered a quick hope that the lock would somehow be fine before wrenching the knob open and hearing the snap of the lock.

“Miki!” Homura barked into the apartment, she didn’t emote very often, but when she did, it was usually something negative. Frustration mixed with anger was the edge her voice was took on right now, causing Sayaka to cringe as she hurried out of the room and tried to close the door semi-discreetly behind her. “Miki!”

“What? I’m right here.” Sayaka said, walking out from the hallway, to see Homura, still in her work attire, slam her bag on the counter. The motion made Sayaka almost flinch, it was unlike Homura to show anger.

“Bedroom, now.” Raising an eyebrow, Sayaka looked back at her bedroom.

“Why--?”

“I said now.” The seventeen-year old Magical Girl busied herself with taking off her outer coverings and tossing them aside indiscriminately as Sayaka tentatively walked into the bedroom.

The “arrangement” as Homura called it, while rarely occurring, had been going on for a while. Sayaka had been the one to initiate it six months ago, driven by loneliness and arousal, she’d walked in on Homura “taking care of herself” so-to-speak. Feeling bold, she’d entered and assisted, but only after Homura had insisted they’d turned off the lights. Since then, they’d only done it a few more times, with an unspoken agreement to prevent any romantic pretense.

Sayaka did it out of boredom and loneliness, Homura did it to try filling the void Madoka had left.

The lights turned off, and Sayaka heard the door close, turning around to see the whole lot of nothing. Homura never left the lights on, which was the first thing that bothered Sayaka out of a long list. Though she wouldn’t say it to her face, and she’d certainly never said it before, Homura was drop-dead gorgeous. Sayaka had thought so ever since she’d seen her that first day. Everyone had, she still remembered the way people swarmed around the talented raven-haired transfer student every day.

Weight settled on the bed in front of her, a bit of azul light still emanating from the sparkling soul gem on her navel. Even without seeing her face, she could feel Homura frown.

“Why are you in your uniform?” Ah, right. She’d forgotten to transform back.

“It’s...breezy?” Sayaka said, almost as though asking if it was an acceptable response. None came for a while until a pair of hands reached down to tear at the fabric covering her chest. “Hey, watch it! This stuff takes magic to repair.”

“Shut up.” Homura said flatly, her tone making Sayaka close her mouth. The bluenette had a negative feeling in the pit of her stomach about what was unraveling, especially about Homura’s mood. What had gotten into her?

A hand reached up and seized Sayaka’s breast, no tenderness or hesitation in the motion. The hand squeezed while a second reached down and tugged aside Sayaka’s underwear. Her voice moved for a moment, wanting to tell Homura to slow down, but her judgement got the better of her, and she decided to take it at her partner’s pace.

Reaching down herself, she dipped a hand under Homura’s skirt and gave the inside of her thighs a couple soft rubs. When she felt bold enough to move closer to the center, Homura did the same, fingers pressing against the entrance of Sayaka’s folds and starting to slip in.

Still being dry with no pretense to the action, Sayaka again hesitated to say something, but instead proceeded. She couldn’t always expect tenderness from Homura, but the few times they’d done something similar, it wasn’t nearly this devoid.

Dipping a hand into Homura’s panties, she tried her best to make things comfortable for her roommate, sliding her fingers along the other Magical Girl’s mound and hearing her groan. The sounds made her cringe; she knew what was coming next.

“Madoka…” Homura whispered. There it was. That cocktail of anger, pity...maybe a bit of envy? Sayaka continued moving her fingers, feeling like something was desperately wrong about the whole thing as Homura continued, her eyes shut tight, giving praises to her dead lover.

Feeling Homura’s fingers slow down with the sensation on her own body, Sayaka was finally able to get a bit worked up and started letting out small, breathy moans of her own before feeling her partner’s fingers tense up inside of her and jerk between her folds.

“Aah! Hey!!” Sayaka cried out in upset, scooting up to the head of the bed.

“Stop it.” Homura’s voice said from close by. Sayaka was seconds away from straight-up kicking her off, but made a final effort to remain civil, now trying to control her voice as she continued her ministrations. “Mmnn...Madoka…”

She couldn’t keep it contained, Homura’s fingers hit a sweet spot and Sayaka’s voice came out without suppression, a groaned attempt at her partner’s name. When it did, Homura seemed to snap out of her fantasy again and Sayaka felt the long, soft fingers jab quickly, almost violently inside her.

“OW! Get...off!” Sayaka shouted, planting a shoe on Homura’s midriff and shoving her away, getting enough distance to throw her off the bed completely as Sayaka stood up and covered her chest, the impact Homura hitting the floor knocking the door open slightly.

“You are way out of FUCKING line about this, okay!?” The bluenette shouted through grit teeth. Homura’s expression had changed from anger to surprise as she sat there, ass planted on the ground, and looked up. “Look, I know what you’re going through, Madoka was my best friend, and Kyouko…” Sayaka turned her head to the side and tensed up, raising her fist before stomping the ground in frustration.

“But you can’t treat me like this! I’ll put up with the insults, I’ll put up with the quarantine, but you can’t use my body like a goddamn meat puppet! It’s been three years. Madoka is dead. You’re not doing yourself a favor by pretending she’s not. You’re not helping by keeping me around like a pet to try making yourself feel better!” Sayaka’s eyes burned with tears as her shouting got louder and louder. Homura’s face lost all traces of its former aggression, her pretty, almond-shaped eyes looking lost, and scared. But Sayaka couldn’t let up, not now, her voice brittle as she tried quieting herself.

“I...I have nothing left. I have nobody. But I will leave this apartment and never come back if it means never having to spend another day alone with you, now that I know what you think of me, you heartless sociopath!” That seemed to do it for Homura. She shakily stood to her feet and, in a flash of violet light, materialized her uniform and ran out of the room, shoving past Sayaka, and bolting towards her own. Sayaka felt the bitterness only get heavier as she watched Homura slam her door and try to lock it, to no avail. Walking across the apartment, she felt a glint of satisfaction at having broken the lock.

Wrapping her fist around the knob, Sayaka opened the door with no problem, hearing a snap at the other end of the room and walking in just in time to see Homura vault out of the window, leaping onto the opposite building and scaling it quickly. Still in the moment, needing to vent the rest of her frustration, Sayaka stuck her head out of the window and continued shouting.

“Fine!! Run away from your problems and leave me here as usual! Running is all you ever do!” She paused for a moment to collect her breath before letting out one final scream, “I hope you turn into a witch!” Slamming the window so hard the pane shattered, Sayaka turned and dropped onto Homura’s bed. She felt some of the things she’d said prickle on her conscience already, but trying to stay civil had been grinding her gears for the past three years, a few listless insults wouldn’t do anything too bad. Not like she has the presence of mind to care. Sayaka thought bitingly as she leaned back.

Realizing she was still half-naked, she stood and left for her room to get dressed, throwing on a spare shirt and jeans. With a bit of extra thought, she set to tugging out a suitcase Homura had provided to store all of her belongings in when she’d moved. Wanting to follow through and prove she wasn’t bluffing, she began to pack, reflecting on their situation.

Sometimes, she and Homura would get along, and sometimes they’d actually have fun together. But much of their time was still wasted on arguments, and fighting, and the recent humiliating ordeals she’d put Sayaka through. Her next few minutes were spent stuffing as many articles of clothing as she could into the suitcase, as messily and angrily as she could, taking up far more room than necessary, but too overcome with emotion to care.

Turning, she looked around for her underwear before realizing it had fallen off in Homura’s room. Sighing, she headed back into the other room and picked up the light blue and white striped panties, staring down at them dejectedly.

“Where am I gonna go...?” She asked herself, finally coming down from the adrenaline high she’d brought down upon herself. Slumping her shoulders, she let her head hang. “Fine mess you got yourself into.” Thinking back on the things she’d said, Sayaka started to feel the second thoughts burrowing themselves in her mind.

Turning, she saw the drawer by Homura’s nightstand was still opened, and the one below it was too. Reaching into the top one, she pulled out the journal again, deciding that it was too late to preserve any sense of decency anyways, and flipped to the latest entry; dated one month ago.

I tried to kill myself today. Things are almost unbearable without Madoka. Before she was in my life, I had no drive to do anything, no motivation at all, and nothing to look forward to. Now that she’s gone again, and I’ve wasted three years trying to turn back and erase this damnable timeline, I know that there’s nothing left for me. I couldn’t go through with it, cowardly as I am.’ A pang of sympathy rang though Sayaka’s chest, but she hadn’t expected anything less. About to close the journal, she saw her own name a few lines later and paused, fighting with herself before opening it back up.

I went home after my suicide attempt, and Miki Sayaka greeted me enthusiastically. She’d made dinner, which was cold due to my lateness, and a cake for me. She’d even cleaned up the apartment. All for my birthday. It took all of my self-restraint not to break down and throw myself into her arms.

She can be thick-skulled, and grating, but Miki is good-hearted, and kind. She’s tolerated my mistreatment of her, and has been grateful towards me. It’s a stretch to say this, but, with all the time we’ve spent together, I hope that someday she can become my new motivation to better myself. For now, I’ll stay alive. If nothing else, because this strong-hearted girl needs my help.

Sayaka closed the book as the entry stopped and sat, numb, but the next few minutes. Forgiveness was still far off, but…

Pushing in the first drawer, she looked in the second, most of it littered with photos of Homura and Madoka. Alongside a few...more personal items. But what Sayaka was most interested in was a scrapbook at the top, the front holding a huge photo of herself and Homura, the latter looking stoic and bored as she stared at the camera lens, which Sayaka’s hand held outstretched, a goofy grin spread across her face.

Flipping through it, she saw a number of other pictures from their years together, Homura normally looking unwilling, or not paying attention while Sayaka took up the foreground. One of her holding a finger up to her lips and winking while a sleeping Homura leaned against her shoulder, another a picture of Sayaka eating a burger they’d gotten together on one of their few days out of the house, or Homura flipping her hair after a successful kill, an enormous machine gun tucked under her arm, the photo decorated with a number of digital stickers. Most of the pages were still empty though, yet to be filled.

Turning back towards the cover, Sayaka looked it over. The black book had golden writing embroidered on it, likely custom-written, with the date of Sayaka’s next birthday, and writing that read:

‘To: Miki Sayaka, Happy Birthday.’

Nearly breathless, Sayaka turned the book around in her hands, half-expecting it to be an illusion. She almost refused to believe Homura was capable of basic compassion, much less something like this. Closing the book, she placed it on the bed and heaved a careful sigh, looking out at the city.

“I need to find her.”

Standing, she expended the bit of magic needed to mend her uniform before donning it and opening the window back up gingerly, watching a few shards of shattered glass tumble out towards the pavement below.

Hopping out onto the windowsill, Sayaka slipped off onto a rune, the pallid late-summer breeze helping to clear her head, carrying just a hint of coolness with it. The magical girl hopped with little effort onto the next building and tugged out her soul gem, running a scan of her surroundings. She caught Homura’s signature, not too far away. Allowing herself a small moment of relief, she started towards it, dashing along rooftops.

x-x-x-x-x

It took upwards of ten minutes, but she finally came to a building overlooking a small, dark intersection of alleyways. Homura knely in the center, trembling, her face buried in her hands. Sayaka felt the instant need to look away, just to preserve some of her roommate’s dignity, but she fought it. She’d never seen Homura cry before.

Stepping off the roof, she tried to make her fall as silent as she could, her shoes clicking quietly against the ground upon her landing. Hand outstretched, she approached Homura from behind and, lips held tightly together in nervousness, touched it to her shoulder.

“Hey...Homura?” Her roommate only seemed to cry harder at her presence, shoulders shaking as she struggled to breathe through the tears.

“Go--go away! Please!” Homura managed to get out, holding a hand out to try shoving Sayaka off weakly, getting to her feet and moving away. “I didn’t mean to, I swear! I didn’t want to hurt you, I just…” Unable to keep standing, Homura leaned against the nearest wall and slumped to the bottom of it.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s all right.” Sayaka joined her on the streetside, unsure what to do. Madoka cried a lot, but never like this. Never full-on repressed emotions sobbing. Torn between asking her to calm down or telling her to let it all out, she decided on the latter. “We can talk it over, just let me know when you’re ready.”

Even though the last act of tenderness had earned her a punch in the gut, Sayaka reached around cautiously to wrap her arm around Homura’s shoulder, pulling her in a little closer. To her surprise, the other student responded positively, nestling her head against Sayaka’s arm and crying into it liberally.

They sat this way for about a minute before Homura finally stopped, her breathing starting to calm down, Sayaka still tried averting her eyes, but saw from the occasional peek that her roommate was staring into the distance, gravely distressed, for all the world looking like a kitten being scolded for doing something wrong. Something she had never thought she’d be saying about Homura.

“I lost my job today.” Homura said, her voice cracking occasionally from weight of emotion. “I got yelled at for being late again, and staring off into space. I hated that job so much, but it was hard enough to find on its own...without it, I can’t support you. I can’t even support myself.” She stared into the crook of Sayaka’s neck, sniffling sadly.

“So, you took your frustration out on me?” Sayaka asked, earning a nod and a trembling that made it seem like Homura was about to start crying again. “No no no! Hold on! If you lose any more water, you’ll probably dehydrate and die, just try to calm down. Deep breaths, okay?” Reaching up, she started tentatively petting Homura’s head. “All right, I forgive you. As for your job, we’ll figure it out. We have some emergency cash for this sort of thing, your rampant paranoia made sure of that.”

Homura made a noise of assent and they spent the next few minutes sitting together in the alley, the streets around them noisy with people as Sayaka shushed Homura, trying to reduce the tension

“...I missed her a lot today. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.” Homura said quietly, no longer crying, but too dispirited to wipe the trails from her eyes and nose. Sayaka relaxed next to her, stretching her legs out and crossing them.

“Yeah…I get that. Happens to me sometimes too.” They sat together in the alley for a few more minutes before Sayaka had the presence of mind to reach down and wrap her hand around Homura’s, looking down at the clouded blackish-purple of her soul gem. “Ah. That explains it too. Let’s go home and get you a grief seed, okay?” Homura sniffled again, wiping her face on her sleeve before nodding.

“I just got one.” She pulled a fresh grief seed from a pocket, looking down at it slightly distastefully.

“Come on, just use it.” Sayaka prompted. She knew what it was like; when a soul gem got polluted enough, its owner had a tendency to get irrational and violent. Sayaka herself remembered not wanting to use grief seeds around the time of her decline and...well...Madoka’s wish made it quite clear how that turned out. To her relief, Homura brought it over to her soul gem and absorbed the black despair from the violet diamond, instantly looking like a weight was lifted from her shoulders, but still seeming forlorn.

“Let’s go home, all right? We can figure this whole job thing out later. There’s nothing we can do about it right now anyways...I’ll make dinner tonight, okay?” Homura nodded, still looking ashamed. Sayaka was surprised at how much someone so tough could end up looking so vulnerable at the same time. She reached out a hand, which Homura took, pulling her up and walking her back to their shared apartment.

 

 

Chapter 3

Notes:

Hello everyone! This chapter has much lighter content than the last, so those who chose not to read ch.2 can get right back on track, to recap: Homura was taking advantage of Sayaka and they got into a fight before reconciling, Homura revealed she lost her job. Enjoy!~

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Sayaka’s mental gears churned as she made dinner for them both, glad for the chance to distract herself and think. Her personality was best suited to taking situations as they came, but Sayaka found she just wasn’t sure how to react to this. While the rice steamed, she leaned back against the counter and let out a long breath, trying to sort through her thoughts and emotions.

Her feelings towards Homura were complicated. What she’d read in that journal...it had been three years, things had changed.

She looked over at the steam rising up slowly, reaching up to tug on her bangs. For that fact, a lot had changed. At first they couldn’t even be in the same room together without getting into an awful fight. Now she understood Homura, and felt as though Homura understood her.

Well, she ALMOST understood Homura. It would seem that given today’s events that Sayaka didn’t know her quite as well as she thought she did. She’d seen a side of Homura she knew the other girl kept only to herself, one she’d tried to stomp out years ago. One Sayaka had an urge to know better.

Walking over to the curry simmering on the stovetop, Sayaka stirred it slowly. It wasn’t anything new for her to have confusing thoughts and feelings for her roommate. Over the months, she’d built a sort of affection for Homura...which might have been partly physical attraction, but try as she might deny it there was something else there.

Maybe it was just a sort of Stockholm Syndrome from being trapped with her for so long. Though that theory went out the window when Sayaka realized she could technically leave whenever she wanted, Homura was just gracious enough to take her in. Was it maybe pity over learning about her plight and loneliness?

Sayaka pursed her lips. She hoped it was something a bit more romantic than that. A sense of friendship or duty perhaps. After all, Homura didn’t need to take her in, at the very least not for this long. Maybe it wasn’t out of pure selflessness, but it stood to reason that Sayaka held a soft spot for wanting to help her out of gratitude.

Pausing for a moment to sit down, she stopped to think about Homura for a moment. At first, that stoic attitude and melancholy aura annoyed the hell out of Sayaka. But as she matured and got more accustomed to it, that attitude held...a certain charm to it. Especially when Sayaka had learned over time to see Homura’s guard drop, or find the subtle shifts in her demeanor. When Sayaka told a joke, Homura never laughed, her mouth twitched. When Homura was grateful, she was formal and controlled about it, but always stayed a little too quiet in reflection. Sayaka took a few moments to herself and fantasized on what Homura’s reaction would be if she were to hold the stone-cold Puella Magi’s hand, or give her a hug.

The ding of the rice cooker roused Sayaka from her stupor, hurrying over, she turned it off, giving it a moment to sit. Staring down into the steam as her thought continued to turn.

There were certainly similarities between the two girls. The unwavering stubbornness was the obvious one, but underneath they had the same fighting spirit. Both of them had made wishes for people they’d cared for...and ultimately had no chance of ever being with. Homura wasn’t outwardly playful, but Sayaka could tell her sense of fun hadn’t been completely beaten out of her--the occasional teasing or playing around was met with reciprocation on a good day.

Taking another moment to peek into a future, Sayaka considered the possibility of them together. Going on dates with Homura, sleeping in the same bed as Homura, perhaps doting on her a bit and being doted on in turn...it was appealing. Almost in a mysterious sense, maybe she would get to see those small peeks under the mask her roommate constantly wore, maybe those parts would come out during their intimacy...it certainly hadn’t during their little “sessions”, of which there had been very few, all of them uncomfortable and stiff.

Yes, Sayaka decided as she automatically went about setting the table, she did want to date Homura. After all, she wouldn’t hesitate to call them good friends already, and it was obvious--perhaps painfully so--that they were both starved for affection.

That left the question. Would Homura reciprocate her feelings? She paused and looked down at the table, already knowing the answer. Homura cared for her, but only to a certain extent. Sayaka would sometimes joke that to Homura she wasn’t “Sayaka”, she was just “another one of the Sayakas”. The joke held some truth to it.

Not to mention her total and unequivocal obsession with Madoka. Sayaka still had that ache in her heart whenever she thought of Kyouko, but in comparison to Homura’s pining it paled.

But, at the same time, Homura had changed a lot. That gift in her room? She wouldn’t have done that for anyone else, and had never done it for Sayaka in the past. Maybe she would at least consider…

Shaking her head to try and focus back in, she walked over to Homura’s door, Sayaka paused before knocking quietly. “Hey, food’s ready.” Homura emerged, looking more composed, the slight slump in her composure still suggesting sullenness, and along with the way she refused to meet Sayaka’s eyes, but she kept her head held jauntily high.

Both parties headed over to the table and sat down, Sayaka thinking hard about how to encroach on the topic. A silence fell between the two as they ate, Sayaka glancing up every few seconds, racking her brains for an opener before Homura finally spoke up.

“Thank you for making dinner.”

“Yeah, well, don’t worry about it.” Sayaka answered, relieved that Homura had taken the initiative. “It’s the least I can do for the team. It’s been a crazy night.” Homura didn’t answer, tracing her fork along her plate. Several minutes passed before Homura spoke up again, looking out the window.

“I’ll start applying for jobs tomorrow. It’s difficult to find anything with my lack of qualifications. It’s possible I should get something in retail in the meantime, just to be earning something.”  Immediately, Sayaka let out a snort of laughter, making Homura turn back around, eyebrows knit. “I hardly think this is something worth mockery.” Sayaka waved her off, a grin still on her face.

“No, no, it’s just...I can’t imagine you as a cashier. I pity the manager who tries to get you to smile.” Homura’s mouth quirked up the slightest bit before the moment was gone, and she  turned away, flipping her hair and busying herself with eating.

“Perhaps it’s not my calling, no. I don’t see you making suggestions though. Do you think you could get a job if we tried that disguise idea of yours?”

“Totally! Worth a try at least. I can finally pay you back for putting up with my lazy butt for so long.” That actually got a short huff of laughter from Homura. Sayaka took a few breaths, steeling her courage. “Actually,” She began, in as casual a voice as she could muster, “How about I take you out to dinner sometime? As thanks for letting me live here? I mean, I’m sure you’re tired of eating our cooking by now.” She laughed at her own joke, hoping to prompt a response, wincing internally at how un-casual it came out.

“I’m not using our savings for that.” Homura responded evenly, “Especially not now.”

“My treat!” Sayaka replied quickly, “I have some saved over...for a rainy day.” Homura still looked weary about it, so Sayaka backed down in compromise. “Okay! Coffee. Let me take you to coffee.” She saw Homura’s jaw work thoughtfully, she had struck a positive cord. The only thing Homura hated more than Sayaka’s chatterboxing was the unproductive lull of sleep. That would made a coffee addict out of anyone.

“Fine. But only if you’re paying.” She said, crossing her legs. The tension between them seemed to have evaporated, leaving a cozier haze in its wake. “Is Wednesday good?”

“Wednesday is good.” Sayaka agreed happily, feeling the knot in her stomach unclench, proudly standing up from the table and going to wash her plate. “I’ve gotta go practice that hair spell.” She said, smiling at herself as she hurried to her room.

“Get some sleep, it’s late.” Homura said, continuing to eat at her own pace as Sayaka shut her door, doing a private fist pump as she danced around on the balls of her feet.

“You did it Sayaka! You asked someone out on your first date!!” She whisper-shouted to herself, her body tensed happily before she stopped. “Wait...does she know it’s a date?” Replaying the interaction in her head, she tried to see if the romantic intent was obvious. It wasn’t. “Oh boy. That means you’re gonna have to get your intention across DURING dinner.” Sayaka sighed before realizing another error she made,“Wait, not dinner...coffee!? Why’d you say coffee! You hate coffee!” Sayaka whined quietly, coming down from her high. Realizing the disaster potential her ploy had, she threw herself on the bed and buried her face in a pillow as the last inconvenience came to her. “I don’t even have anything cute to wear!”

x-x-x-x-x-x

The week passed faster than anticipated, Sayaka spent the next few days applying wherever she could under the surname “Mizuki” (A not-so-clever meld of the characters from her and Hitomi’s last names). Job-hunting was tiring work though, and both she and Homura would often meet back home, dejected, after their respective interviews went poorly. The more this happened, the more solidified Sayaka felt in her belief that they should be together, she found herself wanting to stroke Homura’s hair comfortingly when she saw the other girl’s poorly-hidden disappointment, and found the cold emptiness of her bed only became that much more noticeable now that the lure of a warm body to hold was already ingrained in her mind.

Sayaka spent the little free time she had not studying or attending job interviews trying to assemble a casual outfit that wasn’t the baggy hoodie and sweatpants she usually wore when they went out. Homura needed the suit she’d used at her old job for interviews, so Sayaka went to hers in a button-up blouse she’d bought with a small stipend Homura had given her.

Aside from that though, she had the scruffy, now several-years old hoodie she wore whenever she went out with Homura to hide her identity, her old middle school uniform, and a number of graphic tees and jeans leant to her by Homura. Looking over the sad display, Sayaka wished now more than ever that she’d broken into her old house to salvage some of her clothes while her parents were out.

Oh well, She thought, sighing as she bundled up a shirt with some old grunge band on it and tossed it to the side. They wouldn’t fit me anymore anyways. She considered asking Homura, but assumed that asking your date for clothes to wear to look good for them was probably poor form. She eventually managed to find one skirt she’d bought about a year ago that seemed half-decent and paired it with a purple t-shirt with some old, faded brand on it, wearing her sky-blue hoodie over it.

Before she knew it, the day of their psuedo-date had come. They ended up not being able to leave until around noon, with Homura arranging follow-up interviews and taking a customary hour-long shower beforehand, but eventually Sakaya managed to coerce her out.

The coffee house they visited wasn’t anything fancy, it ended up just being one of the more common chains around Mitakihara. This was partly due to the fact that Homura would complain about anywhere more expensive, partly because Sayaka didn’t know of anywhere else due to never drinking coffee. She let Homura take the front of the line, not knowing what she was going to order. The young barista turned as Homura quickly decided on her order.

“Three shots of espresso please.” The barista turned to Sayaka, who suddenly felt very on the spot, looking from him to the menu, then back again, dumbstruck.

“I’ll--uhh--have what she’s having?”

“No she won’t,” Homura said to the barista, whose finger hesitated over the computer, “Pick something a bit sweeter.” She continued to Sayaka. Taken aback, Sayaka, almost by reflex, crossed her arms stubbornly and pushed back.

“Yes I will.”

“I know you, you won’t like it.”

“Who’s paying again?” Homura scoffed and rolled her eyes, but turned away as Sayaka, proud of her victory, leaned forward smugly on the counter. “One of those three-bullet expressie thingies, please.”

Sayaka paid and watched Homura, who grabbed her coffee and added one packet of brown sugar, Sayaka imitated her to the letter, making Homura roll her eyes as she turned around and found a seat, smoothing out her skirt before sitting down as Sayaka took the booth across from her.

Homura took a sip of her drink, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, the stresses of the past month melting away as she took the smallest ounce of time to herself, not to think or to worry, but just to enjoy the thoughtless warmth of the drink seeping into her hands and the way the bitterness tingled on her tongue.

Of course, her meditation didn’t last long, interrupted by a sputter across from her.

“Bleugh!” Sayaka complained, grabbing a napkin and wiping off her tongue. “Gross! Ew! Why didn’t they add milk!?”

“Black coffee, Miki. That’s what makes it black.” Homura said flatly, her look telling Sayaka that the “I told you so” didn’t even need to be said. “There’s milk back at the counter.” Homura said, taking another sip of her drink as Sayaka sighed, pushing her own away.

Despite her thoughts being interrupted, Homura smiled a bit around the rim of her cup. If she had been asked a couple years ago whether she thought she’d ever enjoy spending even a second more than necessary with Miki Sayaka, she would have found the idea repulsive.

“So…” Sayaka started, Homura watched her patiently as she tried to form a cohesive thought. “What do you do? Like...for fun?”

“We live together, Sayaka.” Homura pointed out, drawing a frown from Sayaka.

“I know that! But, look, aside from stalking and work, there’s gotta be something you do to entertain yourself.” At this point, Homura quieted down, the only sound between them being the hustle and bustle of everyone around them. It continued like this for several minutes as Homura dove deeper and deeper in thought, Sayaka’s eyebrows knitting in concern.

“Oh my god, you’re kidding me--”

“Nothing’s coming up right now!” Homura said defensively, “I have hobbies!”

“You know, I wish that surprised me, but somehow it doesn’t.” Sayaka, sensing an opportunity, took the offensive, leaning on her hand. “I guess taking care of that hair’s a full-time job, huh? It shows.” Homura, a bit taken aback, reached up to twist a lock of glossy black hair between her fingers, her nose wrinkling.

“You think so?”

“Yeah! I wish mine was as nice as yours…” Sayaka lamented, reaching forward as Homura pulled her head back in turn, her eyes looking from the offending hand to Sayaka’s face.

“You’re being weird.” She said, clearing her throat in discomfort. Sayaka sat up straight, lacing her hands under her chin, resolving to try again as she hit Homura with the best flirtatious smile she had on-hand.

“Sorry, you’re just so distracting, you make it hard for me to control myself.” Homura, as though catching wind of what was happening raised an eyebrow and the edge of her mouth quirked up in amusement.

“Is that a line?”

“Yes it is.” Sayaka admitted proudly, sitting back. “I saw it on a sitcom.” Homura snorted “But I do mean it! When you’re not being all prickly and grumpy, you’re very pretty. Pretty enough to stare at.” Homura took the compliment in stride, her gaze becoming playfully suspicious as she looked around the coffeeshop.

“Miki, is this a date?”

“Uhhh...I dunno. Maybe?” Sayaka replied, caught red-handed.

“Well, what are your intentions?

“Toooooooo seduce you? With a bribe of caffeine?”

“Uh-huh.” Homura took another swig of coffee, looking more aloof than Sayaka was expecting.

“Have you ever been on a date?” Sayaka settled on asking.

“Yes, of course I have.”

“No you haven’t!” Sayaka said, rolling her eyes, “Madoka barely even knew you existed!”

“THIS Madoka didn’t.” Homura answered, irked. “And if you were trying to flirt, you’re doing a very bad job bringing her up.”

“Okay, but let’s say I was flirting. Is it kinda working?” Homura did the thing Sayaka both loved and hated where she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, smiling with her eyes instead of her mouth.

“I won’t say it isn’t.” Grinning, Sayaka leaned forward.

“Weeeell…would you wanna keep the momentum up then?” Homura cocked her head slightly in intrigue as Sayaka stood, offering the other girl her hand, which Homura looked at skeptically before brushing off. Standing up with her coffee in tow, she grabbed Sayaka’s for later.

As they both walked along the street, Sayaka quickly realized she had no plan, leading Homura more or less by her nose through the streets until they came to a small plaza with colored lights spouting water. Several children were running around the square, playing and splashing in the jets as Sayaka lead Homrua to a bench and sat down.

“There, see? We can talk here!”

“Mmm-hmm, tempting. Because you were of course showing me how much of an expert conversationalist you were before.”

“Well, give me a chance, okay?” Sayaka paused, stopping to think as she looked up at the sky. “Have you ever wanted to go back to school?” Her silence was then shifted to Homura.

“I’m not sure.” She ended up settling on, “My life has been plagued with more pressing goals for as long as I can remember now. First it was defeating Walpurgisnacht, then I had to get a job out of necessity to support our lifestyle, so I can’t say. Before meeting Madoka though, I remember hating school, so probably not. What about you?” Sayaka watched the jets of water shoot around, slapping wetly against concrete with a satisfying splash, followed by the pleased shriek of playing children.

“Yeah. I mean, I wasn’t good at it. But I do miss seeing Hitomi and Kyosuke every day. Plus I never put too much thought into what I wanted to do, maybe something involving music...so I’d want another chance to get a degree.”

“Hmm. Not that it matters too much, we sacrificed our futures the moment we made our wishes.”

“Yeah.”

The mood dampened slightly as they watched a young boy splash his sister by angling his hand over a water spout.

“I guess I see what you mean, but still, it’s nice to talk about, isn’t it? After all, if we lose sight of who we were and who we could be then what’s even the point of going on?” Homura nodded slowly.

“I...hadn’t thought of it like that.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, living for someone else doesn’t exactly give you much room to think for yourself, huh?”

“Maybe not, no.” Homura agreed distantly before turning to Sayaka, “So, music, hm? Even I know that’s a passion of yours by now at least. Classical, I’m guessing?”

“Yep.”

“Composition?”

“Maybe. Or something along those lines. I mean, nothing else ever really spoke to me so I’m kinda going with what I know.”

“I can understand that.” Homura replied, finishing her coffee and walking over to discard it in a nearby trash can, “Now that I think about it more and more, I’m sure I could do well in any job I take, but I’m not sure I would find anything life-changing. It’s very likely I’ll be stuck doing corporate work for a while.” Sayaka saw Homura looking forward impassively, her finger sliding around the rim of the second coffee cup.

“I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Gotta have money, right? That just means you’ve gotta look for fulfillment somewhere else...besides, you can find other ways to like your job, maybe make some friends. Not that that really comes naturally to you.”

“It doesn’t.” Homura answered sharply. “But it’s a learned skill, or so I’ve heard.”

“I think we’re friends.” Sayaka said, looking over at Homura, who stared right back.

“It took three years for us to get here.” Homura replied, sniffing and grinning as another playful cry sounded off from the playing children.

“It did.” Sayaka admitted, glad Homura hadn’t denied it, “But I mean, I started off hating you, and we managed three years without killing one-another. Sure took a lot of compromise on both our parts, but I really think we’ve gotten somewhere.” Sayaka leaned forward, her silhouette framed against the colorful water trickling in the sun, which had just started to turn an orange-yellow hue. “And I’d like to go further, get to know you better.” Sayaka met Homura’s eyes, and reached forward to gently touch her knee, keeping it there when Homura didn’t pull away.

“That might not be possible.” Homura replied impassively, not breaking her gaze, “I grew used to not sharing personal information back then. It seemed useless since everyone would just forget it once I reset time-”

“You spend too much time living in the past, Homura.” Sayaka said, pouting and pressing their shoulders together. “You’re here right now. I’ll remember anything you’re willing to tell me, and I’ll expect you to do the same. Try to enjoy yourself.” Leaning her head against Homura’s arm, she watched the leaping of the water as her roommate did the same, the constant trickling of the fountain creating a soothing hum in the air. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, enjoying the warm ambience. Wanting to test her luck, Sayaka began rubbing her thumb on Homura’s knee in small circles, feeling Homura stir slightly at the contact but making no move to remove the offending hand. Eventually, a small breeze began drifting through the park, and once the colored water spouts grew monotonous, Sayaka stood up, gesturing for Homura to follow.

“C’mon, while we’re in town, might as well do some window-shopping.” She expected Homura to refuse, but instead got a resigned sigh.

“As long as there’s no actual shopping involved. I still need to draw up a proper budget.” Leaving the park, they walked side by side further into the city. The pair passed several storefronts, none of them garnering much interest. Sayaka’s hand felt bare without the skin-to-skin contact she’d been enjoying, and as they walked, her eyes drifted down to Homura’s hand. She tried to suppress the urge to reach out and grab it, knowing she’d get scolded. As she turned away to bring her thoughts elsewhere, she saw a store that looked promising and pointed.

“There! Let’s go!” Homura turned around before following her gaze and cocking her head.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really! It’s a date!” Sayaka said, proud of her romantic eye as she lead the way into the florist’s shop. The cool, misted air clung to their skin as they started to walk around the store. Despite never having had much of an eye for flowers, Sayaka took in the intricately-arranged displays positioned around the spotless store with a bit more of a mission in mind.

As they walked past several displays, Sayaka didn’t feel any calling strongly to her in particular. She thought the peonies looked a little bit like Madoka’s dress did when she’d made a contract, but wasn’t about to point that out to current company. Seeing the marigolds, Sayaka toyed with the idea of buying some to put on Kyouko’s grave over in Kazamino, but settled on doing it later. She instead set about a current mission of trying to identify flowers Homura might like. She tried looking at Homura to get an indication of what she was considering and found her staring at an arrangement of small, puckered blooms.

“What’re those?” Sayaka asked, walking over.

“Oh, these? They’re Myosotis!” A passing florist said as she lifted bags of fertilizer into a nearby case. “Also called ‘forget-me-nots.’ We mostly use them as embellishments for other bouquets.”

Sayaka sniggered when the florist left as she looked down at the tiny pink and blue flowers.

“Kinda tiny, aren’t they?” Almost like they might fall apart at any second, she thought to herself.

“I suppose.” Homura said, her gaze not leaving them a she reached out to cradle a tiny bud beneath her fingertips, Sayaka watched the deliberacy of the action and immediately felt guilty for making fun of them, picking up a small bouquet from the stand as Homura watched her in surprise, following her to the counter. “What are you-”

“Hi there!” Sayaka said to the cashier. “Just these please.”

“619 yen.” The cashier said as Sayaka pulled out her wallet, letting out an internal sigh of relief when she saw she had only just enough money left, pushing 7 coins onto the counter.

“Sayaka…” Homura said, looking a little put-off by her generosity. Sayaka only turned and gave an affirming smile in return as the cashier passed her a receipt. Thanking him and turning away, Sayaka pressed the bouquet into Homura’s hands, earning a bashful look in return as Homura adjusted her grip on them nervously. “...thank you.”

As they turned to leave the flower shop, Sayaka decided that the mood was good enough to try again, and reached down as casually as she could, slipping her fingers against Homura’s and gently grasping her hand, Homura accepting the contact with a small adjusting squeeze, the bell above the shop’s door ringing them out.

Homura seemed distant as they walked through another plaza, crossing her arms over the bouquet as she looked out over the city, the many glass facades reflecting the orange afternoon light as she sighed abruptly, releasing her companion’s hand.

“I appreciate you taking me out, Sayaka, but this is silly. It was a welcome distraction, but you and I barely get along as it is, there’s no room for those kinds of feelings.” Sayaka prickled at her words, after all this she was going to play the denial game?

“That’s not exactly what was implied when you walked in on me that first night.” Sayaka had plucked a nerve and Homura turned towards her, looking miffed.

“I thought that business was behind us.”

“And it is.” Sayaka assured her, holding up a hand, “But it happened all the same. I think we need to explore the potential that there might be something here.”

“There. Is. Not.” Homura said flatly, turning on heel.

“Then kiss me.” Sayaka murmured, causing a death glance to be shot at her overshoulder.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me! You’ve never done it to me before. At least not in this timeline.”

“In ANY timeline.” Homura said, her voice icy.

“Then try it! Come on.” Sayaka challenged, walking forward until she was standing directly in front of Homura, their bodies almost touching, close enough to feel Homura’s breath, to see the nervous shifting of her body, which Sayaka felt reflected on hers. As close as they were, Sayaka didn’t know where to look, her gaze drawn between the irises of swimming purple or the soft pink lips she felt would draw closer any second. Homura’s pupils twitched as she stared into Sayaka’s determined eyes, showing a hint of fear before she remembered her composure and relaxed, grinning and letting out a short breath of laughter, shaking her head as she turned away and took a step towards their apartment.

“Let’s go home.” Sayaka reached out, grabbing Homura’s sleeve and spinning her around, using every fiber of her courage she had to pull Homura closer and lock their lips together. It was brief, but passionate, with Homura too surprised to lean into it, but too invested to pull away, screwing her eyes shut, hugging the bouquet, which blocked the short scene from any passers-by, closely to her chest.

Homura’s eyelids fluttered open as Sayaka pulled back, her breathing uneven as she reached up to touch her lips. Sayaka felt it too, the exciting shudder of energy passing through her, the nearly-irresistible temptation to lean right back in for another.

“I-I think that...” Homura looked around uncomfortably, her cheeks pink as she fumbled for words, “Perhaps…” She cleared her throat, “We could maybe give this a try.”

“That’s all I’m asking.” Sayaka responded, moving closer to peck Homura’s cheek again, taking her hand once more, adoring the new warmth as they started their walk home.

 

 

Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

A loud crack echoed through the barrier as a blue-robed magical girl flew across the barrier, smashing into a marble pillar, which crumbled under her weight into grey puzzle pieces, spilling atop her.

“Be more careful.” Homura said nonchalantly, knowing the hit wouldn’t keep her partner down for long as she pulled a sleek SMG from her shield and flicked off the safety, bracing it against her shoulder. The witch--a misshapen humanoid figure, glued and cobbled together from separate body parts, twitched and shuddered, jerking out of the way as a volley of bullets lodged themselves in the coffin it stood behind. Its hand jerked up to grab a cleaver buried in the coffin’s lid, jerking it loose from the wood and stepping forward.

“Sheesh, just because YOU can’t take a hit.” Sayaka murmured, recovering and picking her sword up. Bolting forward, she sent a flurry of cuts at the witch, which raised an enormous blocky arm, blocking every single one with ease before launching a counterattack, grabbing her hair with its enormous, gorilla-like right arm and slamming her against the ground. Sayaka struggled against her opponent, but the witch’s fingers locked into the soil beneath them and refused to give, grinding her further into the dirt.

The witch’s lanky left arm raised its cleaver, as if in excitement, paste began dribbling from its empty sockets onto the ground beside Sayaka. Just as the weapon-bearing arm began swinging down--a rocket drilled into the witch’s chest, blasting it backwards in a sudden burst of sudden heat and light, gore raining down in the form of puzzle pieces.

Sayaka stood up, brushing glue-covered cardboard shards from her hair as what remained of the witch crawled forward. Sayaka walked past it, spinning her blade once as she moved to hack its crooked head in two. She watched the rest of its body spill into pieces as the barrier faded around them, leaving a small grief seed in its place.

“You’re fighting recklessly.” Homura said stiffly as she tucked the rocket launcher back into her shield.

“So? I just put my heart into it. That was an easy one anyways.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever you’re up against, the second you underestimate that opponent and make yourself open the way you did today, you won’t last a minute. Weaker girls than you have learned that lesson the fatal way.” Sayaka’s fist clenched around her sword in irritation as she swiped the ground, sending the grief seed spinning straight up before she snatched it out of the air. She hated Homura’s lectures--being talked down to was humiliating, even if she was usually right.

They walked back home, Homura taking the lead as Sayaka trailed behind, magical uniforms vanishing as they stuck to back streets, not wanting to risk Sayaka being recognized. A hostile fog ran between them as they stayed perfectly quiet.

The days that passed since their date were uncomfortable--this new ground was untrodden for both of them. Sayaka tried her best to find ways to up the romance or flirtation a little bit, but Homura seemed either unreceptive to the idea or brushed it off. It was to be expected, especially since Homura had nailed a job interview and was busy with training, but Sakaya was disappointed that things had more or less gone back to routine.

“I’m sorry.” Sayaka, jolted from her thoughts, needing to look around just to make sure someone else hadn’t spoken before she turned to Homura, who continued. “It’s not my place to scold you. You’ve made it longer than I’ve ever expected you to without my help. I just get worried.” Sayaka slowed down for a moment, blinking away her surprise. Homura voluntarily apologizing and showing a vulnerability was so rare Sayaka almost wished she could bottle up the moment.

“It’s-it’s all right!” Sayaka said, catching up to Homura, who had an odd expression on her face, as though being honest was giving her a stomachache. “I know how you feel...I get scared for you too.”

“Well you can understand it’s a bit more difficult for me since you’re in the thick of things. Please try to be a bit safer?” Homura asked, managing to turn and face Sayaka, who was already nodding her head.

“I will.” The tension between them dissipating, Sayaka headed forward to walk alongside Homura, who, without turning, her head still tilted downward, extended her hand very slightly. Sayaka grinned and reached forward, grasping her roommate’s hand, feeling a leap of joy in her heart. Maybe things WERE changing after all, little by little. “Hey,” Homura turned to see Sayaka beam and wiggle her eyebrows. “Wanna get in trouble?”

 

X-x-x-x-x

 

“This is lunacy.” Homura whispered, tugging the skirt of her magical girl uniform as they stood beside a glass-panelled dome on the building’s roof. “What if there’s an alarm? Or guards?”

“Relax.” Sayaka said, rolling her eyes as she centered the drill on a screwhead. “What are they expecting, someone’s gonna steal the water?” Homura frowned in return, any sense of fun or flirtiness she held before had long evaporated.

“I don’t approve of this.”

“Says the girl who steals guns monthly.” Sayaka muttered, revving up the drill and removing a long screw from one of the window panels. Homura who had apparently heard the quip, turned on heel and moodily looked out over the city. Sayaka sighed. “Look, I know you. If you were really against it you wouldn’t have come. We’re not hurting anyone or anything--promise.” Homura scraped her boot against the roof’s gravel and gritted her teeth.

“Just hurry up.” Sayaka, taking that as a confirmation, drilled out the last screw, stowing them in her pocket before pulling up the panel by an edge and dislocating it just enough for her to slip through.

“Come on, we’ve got only an hour before they shut off all the lights.” Sayaka said, beckoning before dropping down into the building below. Homura looked around the roof nervously before following suit. Beneath the sunroof was a 60-foot drop--impossible for a human, but for Puella Magi it was a small feat to slow their fall, Homura’s boots clicking against the tile floor as she looked around for Sayaka before finding her, sitting back in front of an enormous display. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Homura looked up at thee enormous glass surface before them. Behind it sat an enormous ecosystem--schools of fish swirled gently in the deep blue water, anemone slowly danced with the soft current, and eels snaked through the marine grass. Both girls stared, entranced with the scene, which looked all the more majestic with the glow of the tank’s light contrasted with the total darkness of the rest of the aquarium, other displays around the enormous hall moving in a similar.

Turning to her partner, Sayaka patted the ground beside her. Homura hesitated for a moment before settling down as well, reclining in the same way. No words passed between them for a long time, both content to watch the fish eat falling detritus or duck between rock crevasses.

“I’ve found my favorite.” Sayaka said abruptly, Homura, summoned from her own stupor, followed her finger. “That one, look at the way it moves.” The fish she pointed out had a long shimmering silver tail, which it used to carve sharp turns in its swimming pattern. “Find yours yet?”

“Not yet.” Homura said as she glanced back up at the tank before remembering where she was and throwing a look over her shoulder.

“Don’t have a cow, no one comes back here. I’ve done this before.” Sayaka said, not needing to avert her eyes to know that Homura was double-checking both corridors.

“You have?” Homura asked, her eyebrows knit. “When?”

“With Kyouko. Back in the day.” Sayaka said, the wistful gaze she had aimed at the fish taking on a new meaning.

“I understand.” Homura said, seemingly dropping the topic, but after a bit of thought, continuing it. “Was it your idea or hers?”

“A bit of both really.” Sayaka answered, a breath of laughter escaping her. “I said I wanted to go here, but it was too crowded since it was summertime, and she had the idea of breaking in after hours.”

“That does sound like her.” Homura agreed, the silence continued for a stretch longer. “How long had you known Sakura for?”

“Awhile. Maybe half a year. Didn’t know she was a Puella Magi until about a month before you transferred in. She came to our school after she got over some old bad blood with Mami, they started living together. ” Turning to Homura, she raised an eyebrow, “Why, does that change depending on the time loop?”

“Sometimes.” Homura said, shrugging. The mood, while calming, took on a slightly sorrowful tone as they both began thinking of their respective first loves. Sayaka interrupted by standing up and stretching, shrugging her cape behind her shoulders.

“That’s enough of that. Come on, we’ve both done enough mourning. I wanna be happy for once.” Reaching down, she offered her hand to Homura, who took it curiously.

“Are we leaving already?”

“Of course not! We’re just getting to the good part.” Pulling Homura to her feet, Sayaka led her over around a narrow opening behind the tank, which opened into a larger alcove with a ladder leading up with a single light illuminating the way up. Stepping up onto the ladder, Sayaka looked down at Homura. “Coming?”

“No way in hell...are you seriously considering…?”

“Sure am. Hurry up!” Sayaka kept climbing up, Homura’s murmured protests falling on deaf ears before she too took hold of the ladder and mounted the side of the tank. Once she reached the top, Homura saw Sayaka put her hand to the lock on the latch, her hand glowing with magic. The lock snapped open and she unhooked it, placing it to the side before pulling the latch open--the shivering blue light of the water below dancing on her face as she waved Homura over.

“You’re joking, aren’t you?” Homura asked with a sidelong suspicious look, her feet carrying her over despite herself. “This is ridiculous, let’s just go home.”

“And pass up getting your shirt wet? Not a chance!” Reaching down, Homura gave Sayaka’s head a quick smack before looking down at the bustle of undersea life beneath them and sighing, transforming into her uniform to keep her streetclothes dry as she lowered herself onto the rim of the entrance.

“You first.” She said as Sayaka laughed and stood up, patting the back of Homura’s head.

“Chicken. Watch this .” Stepping back a bit, Sayaka bounced a foot in the air, a rune appearing beneath her, spinning up, the aquamarine glow of magic mixing with the water’s shine. Thrown up into the air, Sayaka gracefully somersaulted before bringing her hands forward to dive into the hole, splashing Homura and causing a stir among the fish as she circled around to peek her head above the surface, grinning and shivering, her words stuttered. “C-come on in! The water’s...cold actually. Not that nice.” Homura’s lips trembled as she tried not to smile, rolling her eyes and grabbing the edge to prepare herself, exhaling before she slipped into the water.

Homura felt the cold water surround and swallow her, instinctively wanting to resurface to the warmer air of the aquarium before she opened her eye and forgot all about getting back out. Fish swam around the large rock pillars around the tank, scurrying at the sudden appearance in their habitat before they started to slow down once they realized their new neighbors weren’t dangerous.  The water was perfectly clear and well-lit, letting Homura see every detail perfectly, the handsome corals formations on the rocks, the catfish lumbering across the bottom of the tank--feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned around to see Sayaka grinning at her, gesturing for her to come up.

Both of them came up, Homura instantly feeling antsy to go back down and get another look, and it seemed like Sayaka felt much the same way. Reaching down, Homura gripped Sayaka’s hand and nodded, they understood the gleam of excitement in one-another’s eyes and, taking deep breaths, sunk back below the surface.

Swimming together, they took their time, circling slowly through the tank, coming up whenever one of them (usually Homura) ran out of breath. Homura looked out the glass surface, feeling the odd sensation of being on display for an imaginary audience before Sayaka tugged her along. Homura watched her girlfriend--cape rippling as she swam along, her movement graceful and practiced. She looked for all the world like a mermaid as she turned around and smiled at Homura in a way that made her heart skip a bit.

They both resurfaced above the water, laughing together at the view, looking down at the rippling colors and life in the tank before peering back up at one-another. They stayed for a moment before Homura leaned in to press their lips together. The kiss was fleeting, but was quickly followed by another, more intense. Sayaka pulled her partner close, and slipped her tongue between Homura’s lips, Homura let out a small sigh of satisfaction as Sayaka, not wanting to push her luck, tried to pull away before feeling her partner’s arms lace around her neck.

Homura grew more assertive, locking their mouths together as she went on the offensive, her tongue moving in exploratory patterns, hooking around to coax Sayaka’s own into the exchange. Sayaka for her part, amateur she was and out of practice from having gone several years without kissing property, grew limp under the intensity, feeling warm arousal crackle through her body with the intensity of the kiss as she went weak, losing her concentration enough to sink below the surface, yelping before Homura’s arm flew down to brace her waist and pull her back up, the two sharing a moment of shock before they burst into laughter.

“Well, I’ve found my favorite fish~” Homura said teasingly, nuzzling her girlfriend’s neck as Sayaka snickered. Light shivered through the blue undercurrent to cast dancing lines on both of them, Sayaka lost herself in the happiness of the moment, teasing her hand under Homura’s chin to continue before the entire aquarium suddenly fell pitch black.

“Ah.” Sayaka commented, her voice echoing off the silent

“You have to be joking…” Homura grumbled before drawing in a sharp breath and holding Sayaka in a vice-like grip. “Something long touched my leg.” Sayaka chuckled before reaching down to tickle Homura’s ribs.

“Oohhh, is someone a little scaaare--oh, nope, I feel it too. That’s an eel all right.”

“Let’s get out.” Homura said, gripping the ledge and hoisting herself out, dragging Sayaka close behind her and closing the lid on the tank.

“How mad would you be if I touched your boobs right now?” Sayaka asked, a light but harsh smack echoing through the empty aquarium. “Ow! At least I asked.”

 

The pair sat on the roof, shivering and wet, their tactic of transforming back into their streetclothes had half-worked--the clothes themselves were dry, but the girls themselves were still soaking wet. Homura wrung out her hair over the edge as Sayaka summoned her cape, wrapping it around the two of them.

“Soooooo, how’d you like it?” She asked, a small part of her wanting to know if Homura had fun, but a much larger part of her wanting Homura to admit she was right.

“It was fun.” Homura said simply, keeping a straight face.

“How much fun?” Sayaka asked, leaning forward to try to meet Homura’s eyes, the other girl turning away as her lips curled, trying to fight off a smile as Sayaka pointed at her. “Aaaahh, there it is. Go on, you can say you had fun! I promise I won’t report you to the robot tester.”

“Cut it out!” Homura said, covering her mouth as she burst into an uncharacteristic grin, pushing Sayaka away. “I can’t believe we just did that...I’ve never done something so rebellious without freezing time.”

“Yeah?” Sayaka asked, running a hand along Homura’s thigh and reaching up with the other to stroke her wet hair as she leaned closer. “Think you can forgive yourself for dating a bad girl?” Homura, to Sayaka’s surprise, responded positively, turning towards her, a residual half-smile stil gracing her features.

“I think I can live with it…” She replied, closing her eyes and leaning in for a kiss as a gust of wind blew the cape off their shoulders, Sayaka letting out a shout and grabbing for it as it danced across the roof. “Oh, shit! There it goes!” Getting up, Sayaka started to chase it round the roof as Homura laughed, both of them gripping their arms as another sudden gust of wind tossed the garment off the roof. “Brrrr...aaah! God, it’s getting cold!”

“Yeah...let’s go home.” Homura said, standing up and walking over to her partner, gripping her hand as Sayaka pouted.

“Aaww but we just got a mood going!” She griped as Homura rolled her eyes, the pair of them stepping off the roof to begin their long walk home.

x-x-x-x-x

For the rest of the week, Sayaka was glowing. The honeymoon phase of her relationship with Homura was still going strong, and she couldn’t take her mind off her roommate--which wasn’t anything new, the only difference being that now being she wasn’t fantasizing about beating the stuffing out of Homura. Everywhere she went, she felt as though she was floating on a cloud of warm air, and she felt as though she spent almost twice the amount of time in her own fantasies, making studying impossible as she doodled spirals in her notebook while brainstorming date ideas, or erupting into fits of giggles at the dinner table as she thought of their little tryst at the aquarium.

Homura for her part seemed to be in a similar, if reduced, state of mind. She kept her head a bit higher when she walked and Sayaka would often catch Homura staring at her before flicking her eyes away as though it had never happened. Sayaka also relished the fact that she now had the power to disarm Homura. The time-traveller grew much more demure and embarrassed when Sayaka flirted, often shutting it down, but sometimes reciprocating or humoring her with a couple affirming touches.

Although, Sayaka couldn’t shake the fact that they had one speed bump they had yet to cross...sex. Homura being as stoic and hesitant about the whole situation as she was, she probably wouldn’t be the one to initiate, a fact that weighed heavily on Sayaka’s mind. However, up in the giddiness of new love as she was, by the end of the week Sayaka had thought of a sneaky new way to light the fuse on their relationship.

“I have a present for you.” Sayaka announced, walking into the living room with her hands behind her back, trying to come off as genuine as Homura’s stony gaze met her.

“What for?” Homura asked, looking up from the report she had in her lap, staunch as ever in her view that the milk of human kindness was more watery than anything.

“Your late birthday, I guess.” Sayaka said, “I didn’t even really manage to make you dinner properly for it, did I?”

Homura scoffed, “I haven’t had a birthday for the past countless time loops, Sayaka, I think I’ll live without receiving a present.” Her gaze turned back down towards her paper, a clear signal she’d lost interest in the topic.

“C’mooooon, humor me. I can’t return it.” Sayaka lied, walking over to the chair her partner sat in as Homura sighed, putting down her papers, resigned to the fact that Sayaka was going to pester her until she listened.

“What is it?” Sayaka brought her hands up, baring a large bottle of massage oil with the most presentational smile she could muster. Homura’s eyes flicked from the oil to Sayaka. “Why.”

“Why? Because--well--because!” Sayaka stuttered, “You’re the most high-strung person I know, you don’t think you could do with a little pampering?”

“I don’t get pampered , I get things done.” Homura said, reaching for the report again as Sayaka’s foot came up, scooting the report away from the outstretched hand with her sock. Homura looked at her with stony disapproval, leaning forward out of her chair to try again as Sayaka scooted it even further, grinning impishly as Homura glared back. “If you think I’m above freezing time and putting bugs in your hair, you’re mistaken.”

“Hey, come oooooon. Do it for me? Please?”

“No.” Came Homura’s icy reply. “Why’s this so important to you?”

“Because you never do anything for yourself, and you never let anyone else do anything for you.” Sayaka said, hugging the bottle to her chest, “I don’t think you’ve been spoiled by anyone for a long time and...I want you to get a chance to experience that.” Homura stayed silent for a long time before muttering something. “Huh?”

“I said ‘okay’.” Homura huffed, standing stiffly as Sayaka mentally hi-fived herself.

“Well then! Right this way, madam.” Sayaka snickered, trying to stopper her excitement as she gripped Homura’s wrist and lead her into her room, where their ironing board was set up. “Get undressed to your comfort level.” Sayaka continued, trying to sound like a professional masseuse as Homura sat on the ironing board, kicking her legs boredly.

“Done.” She said, still fully clothed as Sayaka planted her fists on her hips.

“Hardee-har-har. Make an effort here, would you?”

“Fine.” Homura breathed in annoyance, reaching down before looking back at Sayaka out of the corner of her eyes. “Turn around.” Sayaka, who’d been staring as subtly as she could, rolled her eyes and obeyed.

“It’s been a month now, Homura. We’ve lived together for three years. I think I’ve earned the right to see you naked.”

“Is that so? And who do you think is the deciding party there?” Homura asked, tossing her shirt on Sayaka’s head, making her flinch.

“Hey!” Sayaka cried, turning and reaching up to pull the sleeve away from her face, to the sight of Homura sitting up on the ironing board, kicking off her skirt as she covered her chest, her cheeks bearing a hint of pink as she kept the same expression of neutrality on her face. Reaching up to push the shirt off her face, Sayaka tried to take in as much as she could before Homura turned away.

“Enough,” She snapped, definitely feeling embarrassed by now, but not walking away, and not redressing herself, “What do I do?”

“Uhh...lie down?” Sayaka suggested.

“On my back or my stomach?” Homura asked in irritation.

“Stomach.” Sayaka decided, getting back on track as she approached Homura. “I read how to do this online, so I’m kind of an expert.”

“Joy.” Homura said, “My body is in your butterfingers’ care.”

“Not like it’s the first time,” Sayaka said, pouring a dollop of oil into her palm, noticing Homura had gone quiet, looking over to see a distant, guilty expression on her face, shoulders tensed up. It didn’t take a psychic to figure out she was remembering how she took advantage of her girlfriend prior. Leaning forward, Sayaka kissed the top of her head. “Hey, relax, okay? I’m doing this because you stress so damn much.” Homura hesitated before nodding, closing her eyes before cracking one open.

“You’re dripping on me.” Sayaka turned to see that she was indeed, oil leaking from her cupped hand onto Homura’s back.

“Ah. So I am. Well, you’ll be dripping yourself soon enough.” She declared, snickering to herself as Homura rolled her eyes, her cheeks reddening a little more.

“Just get on with this, I wanna finish my report and go to bed.” Sayaka nodded, taking that as permission to continue before turning and becoming very, very overwhelmed at the task before her.

Homura had a very thin frame, to the point at which, if Sayaka didn’t know better, she would almost call frail. Her skin was smooth and pale, evidence of how little Homura and the outdoors got along. Sayaka’s eyes followed her bare shoulders down the curve of her back, all the way down to her narrow hips, hugged tightly by her underwear, which extended into long, creamy legs. Sayaka admired the body laid out before her, her fingers hesitating this close, she had forgotten, with all the brave fronts and cold aggression Homura put up, how...fragile she was.

“Is everything all right back there?”

“Everything’s perfect.” Sayaka said, her breathy tone betraying the double-meaning of her phrase as Homura blushed to her eartips and turned away.

“I am *this* close to calling it quits, Miki.” Homura hissed, her legs shuffling in soft humiliation.

“Okay, okay!” Sayaka said, slapping her cheeks to steel herself and crying out as she splattered oil all over her face. “Bleaugh!” She whined, sighing as she set about the task, her heart pounding as she started at Homura’s shoulders, working her thumbs in small, deep circles, her hands coming flush with every curve as her palms kneaded and pressed with what she hoped was the right pressure. No feedback came from Homura, when Sayaka leaned forward slightly to check for a reaction, she saw Homura lying on her arms, eyes closed, her breathing slow and measured.

Her silent enjoyment made Sayaka’s spirits rise, and she began exploring more locations. She noticed Homura tense up slightly when Sayaka went for her neck, the usually unexpressive girl’s toes spreading in discomfort as she stirred, motivating her to move further down. Keading lower along her back, Sayaka whistled in surprise.

“Your muscles are really stiff, especially your shoulders and lower back…” Homura let out a grunt in response, which Sayaka took as confirmation and shrugged, her hands going down to Homura’s feet. Looking back down at Homura, she felt a sudden stabbing awareness towards the other girl’s vulnerability. During their sexual trysts, she’d never let Sayaka turn on the light, or kiss her, or touch her too intimately. Now though, she was allowing Sayaka to do all three, and for the first time, relaxing . Sayaka could drink in the way her eyelids twitched with a pleasurable sensation, the way her toes wriggled when Sayaka stroked her soles, and as she moved up to Homura’s calves, she saw Homura’s fingers press into the ironing board. As she stroked the inside of Homura’s knee, she knew she was entering dangerous territory and grew bolder, moving further up and inwards slightly, slathering the oil on the inside of Homura’s thighs, hearing an exhale as Sayaka pinched and squeezed her legs gently, moving hypnotically up and down, venturing back out and refreshing the oil in her palm as she caressed Homura’s bottom, making the other girl arch her back slightly, pushing into it as Sayaka grinned, moving in wide circles, pushing the panties aside wherever she could to get more leverage.

Sayaka drank in the sight, Homura lying before her, her hindquarters tilted up in offering, shiny and glistening with oil alongside her slightly spread legs, her chest pressed against the ironing board, pushing against it with every shallow breath. Sakaya felt lust fill her mind’s thermometer like red mercury, threatening to bust from the inside out as she forced herself to keep cool. Her hands, having a harder time resisting the temptation, gravitated towards waistbands or bra straps whenever they could, Homura’s breaths becoming tinged with the occasional groan or soft gasp as Sayaka began noticing more squirming no matter where she massaged now, the skin beneath her fingers heated and slick as she reached up with one hand to slather oil onto Homura’s shoulder, reaching down to her armpit, then trailing along her arm, forearm, then pressing down atop her hand as the second hand traced the thin cloth around to Homura’s sex, her fingers staining the already-sullied area, oil mixing with the existing arousal, her partner gasping as the hand beneath Sayaka’s own clenched. Homura’s other hand reached down to abruptly grab the one between her legs.

“You don’t have to do this.” Homura said, turning away, her voice smooth, but bearing the slightest tremble. Sayaka felt Homura’s hesitation, knowing it was their first contact since the night of their fight and leaned forward, kissing the base of Homura’s neck, the oil staining her lips as she unclipped Homura’s bra.

“Turn around,” Sayaka whispered, close to Homura’s ear, the husky tone of voice coming as naturally as breathing, “I want to see your face.” Homura shivered, the words making her clench beneath Sayaka’s adventurous hand as she obeyed. Turning in place, she lay face-up on the ironing board, trying to get comfortable. The view nearly made Sayaka’s heart jump from her chest--Homura’s lips slightly parted, her hair fussed, eyes glassy, and her cheeks flushed red as she panted, the free hand clutching the loose bra to her chest. The leaking liquid from her back gave her front the same sheen in the light. All jokes and cheap shots between them had evaporated, replaced with a mutual understanding as Sayaka leaned forward, keeping her left hand clasped in Homura’s as her other reached forward, brushing aside Homura’s consenting hand to let the bra slide off onto the floor to reveal her modest breasts, soft pink nipples standing perfectly erect, a pale scar between them. The scar piqued a curiosity far in the back of Sayaka’s mind, but she was far more interested in claiming her satisfaction, reaching madly for the oil bottle, not wanting to take her eyes off the sight in front of her, finally grabbing it and letting it dribble onto Homura’s collarbone, making the other girl draw a sudden hiss as Sayaka stopped.

“What?” She asked in a panicked tone as Homura shook her head.

“Nothing, it’s just cold.” A lecherous idea forming in Sayaka’s mind, she moved to Homura’s right breast, tilting the bottle as oil drizzled over it. “Hey! That feels weird…” Homura protested halfheartedly as Sayaka repeated the process on her stomach, making Homura’s abdomen twitch as she arched her back, squirming at the chill, her hand gripping Sayaka’s.

Sayaka traced a finger in the pool that had formed in Homura’s navel, streaking a line down her pelvis, Homura’s hips getting greedier for contact the closer the finger came.

“Was this your plan the whole time?” Homura asked in a needy groan, earning only a mischievous smile as Sayaka slipped her hand under Homura’s underwear and hooked a finger around the rim, tugging it over her bottom, Homura’s legs didn’t help, clenching together, her face turning red as she faced away, Sayaka smiled kindly, pausing to reach up and stroke Homura’s cheek before moving back down to discard the panties, gently parting her partner’s thighs and looking down at her prize. Sayaka’s heart was pounding so hard it throbbed in her chest as she felt the tingle of arousal reach her own cheeks, finally able to see her girlfriend laid bare.

Homura’s labia were engorged, swollen pink with excitement, her clit peeking out the top, her privates covered with untrimmed black hair. Homura swallowed hard and turned away, her face now burning red as her legs tried again to cover herself up. Sayaka’s hand intercepted them, sliding down to the center as she leaned over Homura, still using one leg to balance herself on the ground. Her clothing greasy and stained from the contact of their bodies as she gripped Homura’s hand tightly.

“Hey. Look at me.” Sayakaa said, her fingers beginning to slide around the contour of Homura’s sex, making the girl’s thighs clench around her wrist as Homura leaned back, keeping her eyes open and locked with her masseuse’s. Sayaka’s hands moved without her needing to look down, slipping to the top of the entrance, tenderly rubbing the small nub at the top as Homura pressed her head back into the ironing board, a throaty moan coming from her, her free hand flying up to cover her mouth as she swallowed hard. Sayaka felt a twinge of disappointment, those noises were so unguarded and animal, so different to the snooty, carefully-picked words that usually came out from those lips. Deciding not to push Homura any further, Sayaka ignored the stifling and brought her fingers together, beginning to rub Homura’s mound with slow, precise circles. Dipping her head down, she kissed Homura’s jawline, moving further down to her neck, pressing her lips against Homura’s pulse and noticing how much the responding body tensed up.

Continuing her offensive, Sayaka’s lips began moving closer to Homura’s throat, her fingers drifting towards her clit more cyclically, building the knot of tension she felt building in Homura’s body, watching every facial reaction, every gasp, every heavy breath, and every stifled moan with reverent interest. Homura turned away from the lips on her neck, the sensitive area trying to protect itself from the stimulation, but only exposing itself more to the source of its aggravation. Sayaka took advantage, suckling on Homura’s skin and licking her throat, every touch drawing a sharp clench from the vagina beneath her fingers until the passion built too high and came crashing down, Sayaka’s fingers gave Homura’s clit one last brush and she came undone, gasping as her body clenched, the jolts of pleasure coming through hiccups of breath as her pleasure leaked out onto Sayaka’s fingers, making the offender’s mouth water as she moved back up to lock lips with Homura, who was sweating and catching her breath, reaching up to wrap her arms around Sayaka’s neck, holding her close as she returned the kiss.

Sayaka, forgetting the precariousness of her position, brought her leg up off the ground and onto the ironing board, which disagreed and creaked, Homura’s eyes flying open as she felt a slight buckle.

“Sayaka, don’t--!” But it was too late, the ironing board, deciding enough was enough, came crashing down and dropped both passengers onto the ground, leaving them shell-shocked before Homura started laughing, first soft giggles that then erupted into hysterics, reaching up to brush back her hair, still naked, as she sat up slightly, seemingly unable to stop. Sayaka grinned over at her.

“It’s not that funny!” She declared before a snort escaped from her mouth and she caught the contagion, joining in on the pointless laughter. Finally Homura calmed down, reaching up with a dry wrist to wipe her watery eyes.

“Wow...it’s been too long.”

“Yeah, I could tell.” Sayaka admitted, picking the spilled bottle of oil off the ground.

“I need a shower, I’ve never felt so disgusting.” Homura groaned, sniffing and standing up, her body dripping oil, fuzz balls from the carpet clinging to her body.

“Yeah well, you should try getting it on your clothes. I feel like I fell in a grease trap.”

“Yeah.” Homura echoed, both of them staring at one-another for a while before Homura shifted uncomfortably. “Thank you.” She said, the sincerity in her voice powerful, the words holding more weight than the situation betrayed as Sayaka nodded in understanding, watching Homura slowly turn away and head towards the bathroom, checking to make sure she was really gone before violently pumping her fist in success and rushing over to the nearest window, throwing it open and shouting her excitement into Mitakihara’s night air, feeling like she could take on a dozen witches without breaking a sweat.

After a change of clothes, naturally.

Notes:

Hello again everyone! Just as an update the story will get much more lewd from here on out, it'll probably average at around 1 sex scene per chapter. So look forward to that if you're a dirty bird.

Also, thanks to everyone for your comments! No matter how short or long, simple or heartfelt they were I really appreciate all of them and they really give me the motivation I need to keep "Forget-Me-Not" alive, please continue to let me know if you enjoy the story!

By the way, don't do what these crazy kids do in the aquarium, it's probably not great for the fish.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As the air turned crisp and the oxygen-thick Autumn air started to grace the lungs of everyone in Mitakihara, Sayaka noticed a change occur in Homura as well. Her demeanor towards Sayaka had shifted in a way that was subtle, but totally obvious to someone who had been living with her for three years.

Being someone who rarely needed company, Homura usually spent all her time secluded in her room, but now began working or reading in common areas whenever Sayaka was sitting in them too. They were doing this one morning, sitting in comfortable silence, when Sayaka abruptly shattered it.

“YYYYYYYYES.” She shouted, her cry making Homura jump so high she nearly toppled off her chair. Reaching up to flex a hand over her chest, Homura glared over her shoulder.

“I’m not sure what you’re so excited about but can we celebrate with our inside voices please?” She asked.

“I got a job!!” Sayaka squealed, turning around her computer so Homura could read the email, her eyebrows raising.

“Well done. I don’t remember you going in for an interview.”

“They interviewed me over the phone. It’s just retail, but still!” Sayaka did a little celebratory dance where she sat, jiggling her shoulders as Homura watched in bemusement before returning to her book.

“Congratulations, what venue?”

“Some little music store a couple blocks away! I figured that since I already know a little bit about instruments I might as well throw my hat in that ring. I start training on Monday, and my first shift’s gonna be on Wednesday!” Homura nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s nice. Retail jobs can be challenging though, I hope it goes well. Then again, you’re always complaining about how you’re stuck here so at the very least this might give you a change of scenery.”

“Yeah! There’s no way I’ll ever regret it!” Sayaka declared, punching her other hand confidently.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Wednesday night, Sayaka opened the door and collapsed onto the couch.

“I’m dead.” She groaned.

“How was your shift?” Homura asked from somewhere beyond the couch, and by extension, beyond Sayaka’s field of view.

“Who, me? I couldn’t have worked today. I told you, I’m dead.” Sayaka groaned as Homura let out a single breath of laughter.

“That bad, huh?”

“Ten. Hours. Ten hours. Ten hours! Ten!” Sayaka said, raising her hands in speechless indignation as Homura approached, a small smirk appearing on her lips. 

“How many hours?” She asked jokingly.

“Ten!!” Sayaka replied, so incredulous her voice cracked, “Who makes someone work for ten hours on their first day? And it was right at the start of school too, so all the kids were joining band and buying different equipment...I must have touched like, ninety pairs of sticky hands.”

“Well that’s probably why they needed some new hires.” Homura pointed out.

“Still.” Sayaka pouted, “Leave it on them to push it on the rookie. There was only one other cashier! And people kept calling her away to ask her questions so I was the alone up there half the time...I dunno.” She sighed, her body deflating into the cushions as she lifted a hand to drape it over her forehead. “It just sucks to finally get a job and have such a shitty first day. I was imagining something much more glamorous.”

“It does seem a bit harsh.” Homura said, appearing at the head of the couch, slipping onto it and reaching down to pet Sayaka’s hair, ruffling it slightly. “I’m proud of you.” Sayaka felt her heart flutter at that, a small burst of energy running through her body despite the fatigue.

“Thanks…” She said, giving Homura a small grin before sniffing the air. “What smells good?”

“I made dinner.” Homura said, offering her a hand. Sayaka’s eyes lit up as she gratefully accepted it.

“You did!? But you never take the time to cook! Oh that’d do me SO good right now.” She groaned, standing up as Homura walked towards the kitchen. Abruptly, a thought came to her and she laced her arms around Homura’s shoulders from behind.

“Sayaka?” Homura asked, not pulling out of her grasp.

“Hey...did you make dinner special ‘cause you knew it was my first day?” Sayaka asked. Homura did not respond but the shoulders made a small motion under her arms.

“Maybe.” Homura said shortly as Sayaka cuddled up behind her.

“Aaaawwww, my girlfriend’s so thoughtfuuuuul.” Sayaka cooed, 

“Enough.” Retorted Homura, trying to fight a smile as she reached back to shove Sayaka off.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

“So I’m sure it wasn’t all bad, were there any perks to getting back to work?” Homura asked as they ate. Sayaka tilted her head before nodding.

“Yeah, I’ll admit, it felt good to be out and about again. To actually talk to people again.”

“You talk to me. Sometimes a little too much for my taste.” Homura pointed out in amusement. Both had noticed that their banter, instead of decreasing, had simply taken on more of a playful tone ever since they’d started going out.

“I meant real people Homura. Ones that didn’t come from a factory.” Sayaka shot back, a grin spreading across her features as she continued. “There was this one customer that actually took some time to talk to me, he seemed sweet! Goes to the local high school, I thought about asking after Kamijou-kun or something but…”

“--you thought better of it?” Homura asked, nodding understandingly. “It might seem odd, all things considered, since he wouldn’t know anyone by your fake name.”

“Yeah…” Sayaka said before shrugging, taking the grim thought surprisingly well, “But it’s all good! Sure we were friends back in middle school too, but I’m over him anyways. I’ve got my eye on someone else.” She winked at Homura, who rolled her eyes, running a hand through her silky black hair dismissively.

“Eat your food.”

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Homura was in a generous mood. She’d stopped by a bakery and, after much deliberation once she realized she only knew Madoka’s tastes in pastries, grabbed a cream puff and was currently on her way to the music store Sayaka worked at. It was a new thing for Homura to make spontaneous little gestures like this, but, she decided to herself, maybe it wasn’t entirely unwelcome.

As she pushed open the door to the music store, she saw Sayaka standing behind the counter, grinning impishly as she laughed at something a customer was saying. The customer was a handsome boy, roughly their age, maybe a little younger, he was holding a trumpet and smiling back at Sayaka in a way that made Homura’s spine prickle. Homura approached the counter, trying not to look too eager as she brushed her hair over her shoulder.

“Am I interrupting?” She asked. Sayaka’s eyes lit up when she saw her girlfriend approach.

“Homura!? What are you doing here?” Homura put her bag down on the counter.

“I just thought I’d pick you up from work.” Homura said, her gaze shifting from Sayaka to the boy, silence falling over them for a moment as both unknown parties stared at one-another.

“Oh! Sorry, Homura this is Shinsuke, who I was telling you about the other day, this is my roommate, Homura.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” Shinsuke said, giving Homura a genuine smile and bowing politely.

“It’s my pleasure.” Homura said, repeating his gesture. He had a very nice smile, she noticed in annoyance. “Are you almost ready to go?” She asked Sayaka, who hesitated.

“Do you mind if I finish up with Shinsuke? I just need to ring him out.” Homura nodded, her instinct telling her to keep an eye on them as she took a couple steps away to pretend to browse merchandise.

“Could you show me the position one more time?” Shinsuke asked as Sayaka voiced her agreement, reaching forward to grasp his hands and position them properly over the trumpet.

“Okay, here, fingers on the valves...bend them properly…” Reaching up, Sayaka took his fingers and brought them to a curve over the trumpet’s valves, cupping his other hand around the tuning slide. Homura narrowed her eyes at the pair. “Theeere you go. Okay so, mouthpiece.”

“Right, I’m still doing that wrong. The noise that I was making before was...not really a noise trumpets should make.” Sayaka snickered, nodding.

“Yeah, there’s a reason they don’t have baby elephants in band class, that wouldn’t go too well with the rest of the ensemble.” Shinsuke laughed at that, a little too hard for Homura’s liking as Sayaka puffed up and held it up. “Okay, so I’m gonna demonstrate a couple inches back so I’m not getting my germs all over it.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” Shinsuke said, watching intently.

“You sure?” Sayaka asked before tilting her head. “Ooookaaay but wash it properly afterwards, I’m not getting fired for giving you cooties.” She brought it up to her lips and showed him to the proper procedure, his eyes fixated on her lips with what looked like more than academic interest. Homura grit her teeth, no longer trying to hide her view of the situation as she leaned against the counter. Bringing all her steps together, Sayaka puffed into the receiver briefly before fastening the mouthpiece to the trumpet and holding it up. “Give it a shot! See if you can get it down.”

“Right!” Shinsuke nodded, following Sayaka’s procedure and managing a weak toot as Sayaka applauded.

“Heeey, you did it! Good job, get a stronger pair of lungs on you and you’re on your way to a level 0 class!” Sayaka said, clapping him on the shoulder amicably as he grinned at her, giving her arm a squeeze in thanks, letting his touch linger as they looked at one-another for a moment.

Homura coughed.

“Oh! Sorry Homura, I’ll try to hurry up.” Sayaka said,smiling back at her girlfriend. Roused from their little moment, Sayaka went behind the counter again and rang the boy up as he pulled out his wallet, his cheeks a little red from the contact.

Once he’d paid, Shinsuke hesitated, opening his mouth for a moment without any words coming out, looking like he was about to muster up the courage for something before Homura stepped close to Sayaka, reaching out to tug a lock of her hair.

“Ow! Hey! What’s gotten into you?” Sayaka cried, pulling back and frowning back at  Homura.

“Do you have your bag?” Homura asked as Shinsuke, his confidence shattered, turned to head out the door.

“Bye, Sayaka!” He called back, and Sayaka turned to wave at him, a smile suddenly appearing back on her face. Homura, annoyed, reached down to pull Sayaka’s face back and plant a kiss on her lips, her gaze not wavering from Shinsuke as if to make her claim known. His eyes widened before he pivoted on his heel and walked out. Homura felt a hand rest blissfully on her chest before it suddenly regained its senses and shoved her away. Sayaka reached up to wipe off her mouth, glaring.

“Hey!! I’m still on the clock, what’s gotten into you?” She asked, glancing around for witnesses. Homura looked out after the boy before frowning from the door to Sayaka. “What!?” Sayaka pressed indignantly.

“Get your stuff.” Homura snapped, leaning against a nearby pillar. Sayaka stared at her girlfriend in speechless annoyance before, with a growl and shake of her head, stomped off into the back room.

The walk home was silent and moody, with Sayaka shooting sidelong glances and Homura silently boiling on her side of the sidewalk, neither of them wanting to make a scene in public.

The second the apartment door closed, however, Homura bared down on Sayaka.

“What was that?”

“What!?” Sayaka cried, throwing her hands up, “What’s your damage?”

“That. Back there. All the--” Homura crinkled her hands up, tapping them against one-another, “Touching and looking and the big eyes.”

“With who? Shinsuke?” Sayaka asked before waving her hand dismissively, scoffing and smiling. “Noooo, that’s nothing! I mean...I don’t mind him sure, he’s got the makings of a good musician. Granted, that’s what I liked about Kyosuke. But he’s just a customer!”

“Not from where I was standing. Not from the way he was looking at you.” Homura replied scathingly, Sayaka’s smile faded.

“Are you against me making friends!?” She asked, her tone taking on an air of suspicion.

“Of course not,” Homura said, holding up a hand, “In fact I encourage it, then you won’t have to come me to twitter and chirp about every single solitary thing that happens to you. I just think that you should maybe not flirt with your ‘friends’ as much as you are.” Sayaka reached up to grip the top of her sleeve in annoyance

“I’m not flirting! That’s how we talk! That’s how normal people talk! Not that you’d know.” Sayaka shot back, groaning when Homura gave her a doubtful look, “I knew you had a jealous streak but I didn’t think it was this bad.” Homura buried her face in her hand.

“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. This is why I didn’t want you to get a job, I feel like I have to babysit you in everything you do.”

“You didn’t want me to--who are you to decide that!?” Sayaka asked, jabbing Homura’s chest with a finger.

“It’s not my place, which is why I didn’t speak up.” Homura said, reaching up to grip the finger and push it away.

“I can take care of myself. The world’s not full of people out to stab me in the back or take advantage of me! I-”

“How can you be so naive!” Homura practically shouted, “After all that’s happened? After all I’ve seen you go through? It wasn’t a witch or another magical girl that made you die over and over again, it was Hitomi, and that boy. The second your heart breaks you break with it.” Homura looked up at Sayaka, almost nose-to-nose with her before letting out a grumbling sigh, “I thought you’d grown up a little, but you really haven’t changed since middle school.” 

Sayaka let out a furious breath, her fists clenching before she spun on heel and stomped into her room, slamming the door. Homura watched her go, jaw locked in anger before she exhaled, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind her shoulder as she set about cleaning the apartment, hoping it would calm her down.

Finally, when the futility of the task hit, she walked over to the window and slid it open before transforming, knowing a bit of witch-killing would calm her nerves. Seeing the curtains blowing from Sayaka’s room let her know her roommate had a similar idea.

Checking her weapons, Homura suddenly let out a groan and buried her face in her palm. She’d forgotten the cream puff at the music store.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Sayaka was still angry by next morning. She explicitly waited to wake up until Homura had left the house and ate her cereal indignantly, slapping her spoon against the rim of the bowl.

“Thinks she can still treat me like a kid...I know how to take care of myself!” She said to no-one in particular as she finished eating and got dressed for work.

Sayaka’s shift began more or less uneventfully, and gave her extra time to boil and think about the injustice of it all. About halfway through her time at the store, Shinsuke came in again and headed right for the counter, looking around to make sure its occupant wasn’t busy with any other customers.

“Uhh, hey Sayaka, mind if I talk to you for a little bit?” He asked as Sayaka gave him a weak smile. “You okay?”

“Oh yeah, it’s nothing, my roommate and I just got into an argument.” Sayaka sighed, trailing her fingernail across the counter.

“Your roommate?” Shinsuke asked before suddenly remembering the other day, “Oh. That’s right, your roommate.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “You two, uhh, seem close?”

“Ah,” Sayaka clicked her tongue, “Did you see that yesterday? Don’t worry about that! She--uhh--spent a semester abroad, tries to act all European all the time y’know?” She lied, trying to keep her tone steady.

“Right! Right, that makes sense.” Shinsuke said, seeming satisfied by the lie.

“So what did you wanna talk to me about? Manage to break that trumpet already?” Shinsuke seeming more confident now, let out a short chuckle.

“Not exactly. I’m actually here for you, I was wondering if...after your shift was over, you might want to get coffee?” He asked, Sayaka noticed he was playing with his hands more than he usually did.

“Coffee? Naah, not really into coffee.” She replied flippantly, a little downbeat, Shinsuke tried again.

“Okaaay how about dinner?”

“I could do dinner! What’s the occasion?”

“I was more asking for a date.”

“Oh you’ve got a date? Kinda weird you want me along too but no judgement. Who’s the lucky lady?” Shinsuke, seeming baffled this was going so far off course, cleared his throat.

“Well, I mean...I was hoping it would be you.”

“Oooooooh.” Sayaka said, now understanding his intentions, “Oh.” She repeated, realizing now all the hints he’d dropped before,  “OooOoohh!” Came the third as Sayaka realized a boy was asking her out for the first time. “Ohh…” She said a fourth and final time, now realizing she’d just yelled at Homura last night for guessing correctly.

“Oh?” He asked, looking confused at how much revelation his confession caused. “Is that a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’?”

“Three good, one bad.” Sayaka said, trying to gather her thoughts. “This is a lot for me to process, I mean I’ve already got…” She trailed off, pausing for a moment. Isn’t this what she wanted? A world where she didn’t have to worry about magical girl things? This could be her ticket to happiness, or at least some sense of normalcy. 

“You’ve got a boyfriend?” He asked.

“No I’ve got...a lot on my mind. Y’know, new jobs and all that, college to think about.” Sayaka lied. She didn’t know why she was being dishonest, but suddenly doubts had started cropping up in her mind by the tens. “Can you give me until the end of work to give you an answer?” Shinsuke smiled and nodded.

“Of course! I know I kinda sprang it on you so...take as long as you need.” He reached forward to grip Sayaka’s hand and squeeze it briefly, an action she certainly didn’t rebuff, coyly brushing her hair behind her ear and waving at him as he walked out of the store before releasing the smile she’d been holding with a long exhale.

Why had she lied? Sayaka reached up to ruffle her bangs in frustration; despite the fact that she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. She had some doubts that her relationship with Homura was completely...justified. Sayaka was happy with it, certainly! But since Homura had lived with her, provided her with shelter and food for the past few years, Sakaya had to ask herself: was she doing this out of love? Or because she felt like she owed her fellow magical girl? In times like these she would have killed to have Madoka back--Sayaka had never known a better or more empathetic listener.

Reaching up, Sayaka curled a lock of hair around her finger, realizing, grimly, she definitely leaned more towards the “straight” side of the bisexual pendulum. She still found Homura attractive for sure, but getting this job reminded her how many cute boys were on the market. Kyouko had been important to her, but that was a relationship she had started on her own terms. Since Homura was the only person she’d had in her life for the past few years this felt a bit more Stockholm-y than Sayaka was comfortable with.

“This sucks.” Sayaka decided as she stared into the stained counter.

“You’re telling me! I’ve still got 6 hours left on my shift!” Another employee shouted from the clearance rack they were restocking, not realizing Sayaka was talking to herself. Lying her chin on the counter, Sayaka explored her options. She could come clean and admit she wanted to date Shinsuke. Homura was unpredictable but pragmatic, she would probably let Sayaka do it without so much as a fuss. That said, after however many years of being alone, the abandonment might destroy her. And the only other magical girl I know in the city...not to mention all I have left of my old life. Sayaka reminded herself.

She couldn’t live for Homura forever just because it was easy. Sayaka had to make the best decision for herself at the end of the day. The idea of playing both fields came to mind unbidden...after all Homura didn’t seem to care much about her personal life. But ultimately, Homura was perceptive, and she’d doubtless figure out she was being cheated on before too long.

Sayaka tried to think long-term. As a woman, there had never been a question in her mind growing up. She wanted a job and probably, eventually, to settle down and have kids. But since the contract had turned her life upside-down, the future was as blurry as ever. Some other magical girl could move in on their territory any day, or a witch could get in a lucky hit and... 

Sighing, Sayaka realized the stress was getting to her and looked around the second counter for the packet of gum she always kept on her before seeing a bag on the counter she hadn’t noticed before. In hindsight, she remembered Homura leaving it yesterday before she ran out. Her curious streak winning out, she reached inside to pull out a small packaged set of cream puffs, still sealed. A small generic tag attached to them read “because you’re so sweet!” with a small winking dog. Homura had, however, written Sayaka’s name on the tag above the dog.

Sayaka sighed as she looked at the bag. Even just looking at it reminded her of something important; Homura cared about her. She genuinely did. Sayaka could tell, since Homura didn’t care about very much. The list was more or less limited to all things Madoka-related, coffee, shrimp, explosives-crafting, and nagging. But Sayaka was on that list too now.

And at the end of the day, Homura was on hers too. When faced with the choice of leaving the relationship with no consequences and no looking back, she felt a forlorn twinge at even thinking about it.

Sayaka sat down on the stool, looking down at the cream puffs and sighing. Was she willing to trade in this new happiness for something uncertain just because Homura wasn’t a man? Because Sayaka was scared she might be in it for the wrong reasons? Or was she willing to try nurturing the blossom? Seeing if it might bloom into something more?

The shift had passed before she even knew it, and when she looked out into the afternoon sun, she was surprised to see Shinsuke coming back already, the bell ringing as he waved at her.

 

Sayaka waved back, looking down at the counter and steeling herself before looking back up at him and smiling.

“I...haven’t been entirely honest with you. That girl that was over yesterday? She’s not my roommate...she’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh? Oh. Yeah, it kinda seemed like there was something there.” Shinsuke said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly

“Yeah, I didn’t want to tell you, thought you might find it weird or something. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” Shinsuke paused for a moment., “So I guess you and I…?” Sayaka shook her head.

“Sorry, but I’m spoken for.” He gave a forlorn sigh before smiling at Sayaka.

“Well, at least I gave it a try!” Sayaka nodded, beaming at him.

“Yeah! Plus, it was really flattering, I’ve never been asked out before, so I’m glad you were brave enough to try!”

“Really? Never?” He asked, the genuine surprise in his voice making Sayaka puff up with pride, “Where have you been your whole high school career? A hole in the ground?”

“Pretty much.” She replied, although the answer was more ‘a crappy high-rise apartment’.

“Can I still come around to hang out every now and again on your shift though?” Shinsuke asked, “You seem cool...plus I, uhh, really will need some more tips on that trumpet.”

“Yeah! I like the company...no flirting though, I know your moves now.” Sayaka said, bouncing her eyebrows amicably at him as they both laughed, interrupted by someone clearing their throat near the door. Both of them turned to see Homura standing there, her gaze downcast.

“Are you ready to go?” She asked Sayaka who, surprised to see her there, took a moment to answer, looking from her to Shinsuke and back.

“Y-yeah! Yeah, just gimme a sec.” Reaching down she grabbed the cream puffs and her bag, running back to punch out and coming back to see both other parties shifting silently and uncomfortably. “Okay, I’m good!” Looking at Shinsuke, she felt her chest twist up. Last chance she thought to herself, before she turned to look at Homura, doing her best to look casual, putting on the same cute, overly-stoic front she always did, and suddenly feeling much more confident as she breathed out her hesitation, turning over her shoulder. “Seeya.” She said to Shinsuke, who raised a hand in return.

“Yeah, later.” Nodding to him, Sayaka took Homura’s hand--her girlfriend’s eyes widening in surprise before she led her out of the store.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Sayaka leaned against Homura as they walked, staring off into the city. How had things gotten so complicated? Was this all that was waiting for her in adulthood regardless of whether or not she’d become a magical girl? Homura squeezed her hand and leaned in to kiss the top of her head.

“I’m sorry.” She murmured into Sayaka’s head. “I was harsh. And jealous.”

“I know you were trying to protect me.” Sayaka replied, her lips tightening, “But…”

“But you can protect yourself. Because you’re wiser than you were back then.” Homura confessed, pulling back a little and looking down at her pumps as they clicked against the sidewalk. “I was just scared. I like what we have and I was worried that--if he WAS flirting with you that…”

“That I would choose him?” Homura’s shoulders shifted uncomfortably at the notion.

“Yes.” They walked in silence for a moment before Sayaka spoke up.

“Shinsuke actually asked me out today.” Homura’s step faltered for a moment and Sayaka saw surprise shine in her eyes before she masked it just as quickly, her body language closing up as the distance between them increased by a little more.

“I see. Of course, you should pursue what makes you happiest.” Drawing closer, Sayaka reached out to lace their hands together.

“Yes, I should.” She snickered. “And I decided it was you.” Homura’s hand tensed in hers a little bit before she recovered and nodded.

“Very well...well, if that’s the decision you’ve come to, I suppose I’m still in your care for the time being.” Sayaka laughed and a grin spread across her features.

“Do you have to make it sound so stiff?” She saw a bit of a blush catch on Homura’s cheeks and caught up to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m in your care as well in that case.” They walked in silence for a second longer before Homura, made a little uncomfortable in case there was any tension left, spoke up.

“Are you all right?”

“I wanna do it when we get home.” Came the response. Homura thought for a second, shifting a little bit, her mind probably still on work. Sayaka prepared herself for the negative or a neutral grunt of some kind.

“Okay.” Surprised, Sayaka turned to see Homura, head tilted down, flicking her eyes over to meet hers. “I...I don’t like fighting with you. Not for real. I missed spending time with you.” Sayaka stared, slack-jawed at Homura before throwing her arms around the other girl, startling her. “Hey!”

“Nope. I need this, you don’t get a say.”

“...spoiled.” Homura grumbled to herself, managing to slip an arm out of Sayaka’s embrace to give her a soft pat on the head.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

After eating and going home, the two reclined together, watching TV as Homura brushed her hair.

“Are you all right?” Homura asked abruptly, Sayaka looking over to see her staring complacently.

“Can I?”

“Can you what?”

“Can I brush your hair?” Homura looked down at the hair brush, wrinkling her nose as she looked at Sayaka. Uh oh Sayaka thought, did I say something weird? The next second, Homura had tossed the brush into her lap, laying down on Sayaka’s lap and closing her eyes.

“Long strokes, make sure you go all the way down, and not too fast on the knots.” Sayaka blinked in surprise for a moment before snickering.

“Now who’s spoiled?” Homura shrugged, smiling faintly as Sayaka grabbed the brush and started running it through Homura’s hair  

“Ow!” Homura cried when Sayaka brushed one knot a bit too hard, Sayaka reaching forward in concern.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

“It’s all right. Just careful, please.” Homura said. Sayaka nodded, for such a tough-acting girl, she was surprisingly sensitive to pain. Sayaka had taken blades to the face, bullets, blunt trauma, and even burns without succumbing, but go figure an experienced Magical Girl would wince at a bit of hair-tugging.

Normally she’d tease Homura, but the mood was nice, so she stashed that information away for later.

Homura let out a small sigh of satisfaction, relaxing more against Sayaka, going limp in the crook of her thighs, hands crossed over her chest.

“Feel good?” Sayaka asked, Homura nodded.

“Mmm-hmm...keep going and you’ll put me to sleep.” Sayaka laughed, reaching down to run a hand through Homura’s hair and gasping quietly. It felt amazing, like caressing silk. The fact that Homura was letting her touch it was a real sign of trust considering how much work she must have put into maintaining hair this luxurious. She heard Homura sigh heavily, watching her reach up to drape a hand on her forehead.

“I was so worried all day. I kept regretting everything I said to you last night. I was so sure the second I saw you you were going to…” Homura trailed off, watching the reflection of the TV off the windowpanes.

“Break up with you?”

“I was going to say ‘kill me’, but with your skill it would be a stretch.” Sayaka snorted before gently stroking a finger against Homura’s scalp.

“No hard feelings. I said some harsh stuff too.” Homura shrugged.

“I have no idea how you put up with me. It’s only going to get worse from here on out.”

“What can I say? I have the patience of a saint.” Homura looked up at her with a scrunched-up expression of disgust. “Okay okay, you’re not that bad. Don’t worry. You need to lose some of that bossiness, give up a little bit of control.”

“Well, I’m not great at that.” Homura admitted. Sayaka, seizing the opportunity, brought Homura’s hair up to kiss it before leaning forward to follow up that kiss with another on her forehead.

“Maybe I can show you.” Sayaka said, slipping up to curl her arms around Homura in mock restraint, binding her down as Homura reflexively tried to squirm out, reaching back to shove Sayka away and reverse their positions.

Homura wrestled a little like a cat; outwardly, it was rough and serious, but she meant no real harm. To Sayaka, the comparison was twofold, since Homura wrapping her lean body around Sayaka’’s own and trying to hold her down felt more like tousling with a kitten than proper competition.

They finally ended up with Homura pinning her to the couch, hands kneading into her shoulders. Sayaka looked up and almost snorted at the faux-dominance on Homura’s face; stony, with her lip slightly pouted in disapproval. The reaction made Homura frown.

“What?” Sayaka tried to keep the grin off her face, to no avail, before getting a playful idea. Placing her hand on Homura’s wrists, she brought them together and sat up, reversing their positions, Homura’s arms raised above her head and pinned together. Grinning, Sayaka watched as her partner tried to tug her hands apart, calmly at first, but increasingly agitated.

“Is there a problem?” Provoked Sayaka, as Homura knit her eyebrows and focused on trying to yank her hands from her girlfriend’s steel grip. Soon enough she stopped completely and frowned up at Sayaka before redoubling her efforts, planting a stocking-clad foot on Sayaka’s abdomen in an effort to kick her off.

Homura’s legs proved to be more powerful than her arms, and Sayaka had to start exerting effort to prevent herself from being thrown off, but another plan formed in her head. Leaning in closer, she observed that Homura was too busy trying to wrench herself out to notice.

Resting her mouth against Homura’s neck, Sayaka started with a deep kiss on her throat, making Homura squirm around even more, tensing her body up as she let out a brief, uncharacteristic whimper.

“Not...fair…” Grinning, Sayaka moved to the side and continued her kisses along Homura’s pulse, moving back to a safe spot before nipping and sucking on the smooth, exposed skin, her ears nearly perking up as Homura tried to restrain cries of surprise, her breath becoming more laboured as Sayaka pulled off to look at the marks she left. Moving further up, she took a pause by Homura’s ear.

“You like being held down like this...all vulnerable. You know that you’re not getting away until I let you go. Come on, tell me you like being at my mercy.” Sayaka teased as she ran her tongue along the shell of Homura’s ear, earning a long, shuddering breath for her efforts before she moved lower to nibble at her ear lobe.

Pulling back to make sure her partner was actually enjoying things, Sayaka saw Homura with her eyes screwed shut, panting between slightly parted lips and tightened thighs.

“I...erm…” Homura opened her eyes back up and turned her head to the side, trying to avoid eye contact before Sayaka cupped her cheek and brought it back to center

“Don’t look away.” She cooed confidently, taking back her hand experimentally to see that Homura didn’t turn, their eyes locked, an internal squeal of satisfaction bursting through Sayaka’s body. “Hmm, letting me order you around? Now who’s the boss?” Homura bristled and leered up at Sayaka

“Don’t push your luck, Miki.” She said, Sayaka knew she was playing with fire, but was too invested to back down now, using her thumb to tug down Homua’s bottom lip, pinching it before slipping the tip in.

“Who’s the boss?”

“Yerthbss.” Homura mumbled incoherently, averting her eyes, but not turning away. Sayaka rewarded her with an affectionate brush of Homura’s hair behind her ear, her other hand moving down to squeeze Homura’s inner thigh, which twitched beyond her own volition.

“Come again? A little louder this time.”

“You’re the boss.” Homura said, quietly but firmly. Bringing her eyes back to center, she began suckling the thumb that had drifted back towards her mouth, running her tongue along the tip carefully, getting bolder the closer Sayaka moved to her center. Sayaka had to suppress a manic fit of giggles as she observed the position she was in, wanting to burn the situation into her mind. She flirted with the idea of using her phone to record, but realized Homura might literally shoot her for it. Sayaka leaned forward to leer down at Homura as her hand ghosted the entrance to her partner’s underwear.

“You know you’re not leaving until I’m satisfied.” Sayaka said, feeling trepidation of every action, like an ant bolting back and forth at a spiders web to test its defenses. “Do you want to satisfy me?”

“Yes!” Homura gasped as Sayaka started to tug her panties up, letting them press up against Homura’s center, her thighs locking around them.

“Good girl…” Sayaka said as lasciviously as she could, moving forward until Homura’s head was between her legs. Reaching down, Sayaka took a handful of Homura’s hair. “Taking your time?”

“I’m enjoying the view.” Homura said, her eyes flicking up to meet Sayaka’s in a way that made Sayaka shiver with delight. She had to take back the reins.

“‘I’m enjoying the view ‘ma’am’ .’” Sayaka said, getting into it as she gave Homura’s hair a short, painless tug. Homrua gasped, moaning as she inhaled. Quirking an eyebrow, Sayaka reached back between Homura’s legs, her fingers instantly meeting wetness.

“Yes ma’am.”  Homura breathed before turning to kiss Sayaka’s thigh.

Sayaka was caught between giddy laughter and intense arousal, she’d never thought Homura would have a submissive streak; it was almost * too* easy to make fun of. Switching to a more authoritative posture and mindset, she looked down as domineeringly as she could.

She found her focus faltering, however, the second Homura’s tongue met her sex. It had been a while since Homura had gone down on Sayaka and she had forgotten how completely, ridiculously good she was at it. * It’s almost like she had one month to practice over and over again.* Sayaka thought to herself as she stifled a moan. Homura busied herself with circling Sayaka’s folds before hitting her clit, pressing it before moving in to suck it. Sayaka turned to the side, pressing her knuckles against her mouth and wincing, she wanted so very badly to continue teasing Homura, but knew that if she opened her mouth, she’d completely lose control of her voice. Suddenly the stimulation stopped.

“Are...are you liking it?” Homura whispered up sheepishly, licking her lips, “I can’t tell.” It was then that Sayaka realized it wasn’t a struggle for power. Homura was willingly giving it to her.

“Mmm-hmm...definitely.” Sayaka cooed, moving her hand down to caress Homura’s forehead. “In fact, I think you deserve a reward.” Snapping her fingers, Sayaka magically wrapped a white blindfold around Homura’s eyes.
“Wha--hey! No magic for sex, Sayaka, that’s a rule.” Homura shouted, groping around in confusing for a moment before reaching the blindfold. Sayaka simply snapped again and Homura’s hands snapped together with another binding. Unfortunately it wasn’t proper ribbon magic like Mami had, but summoning long strips of her cape was easy even for Sayaka.

“Sorry, were you just telling ME what to do?” Sayaka asked, magically summoning a bullet vibrator from the toybox she knew Homura kept in her nightstand, hoping this wouldn’t bite her in the ass too much.

“No ma’am.” Homura said, too caught up in their play to stay mad at her for long.

“That’s what I thought.” Sayaka replied triumphantly, reaching down to slide her fingers across Homura’s stomach, earning a surprised wiggle. She could feel the tension in Homura’s body, for someone on high-alert all the time, she was really letting her guard down for this. “Best not make too much noise...we don’t want the neighbors all knowing what we’re up to.” Sayaka tittered as she reached for the remote and turned up the sound on the TV, the sounds of late night talk shows drowning out the pairs’ pleasured moans.

Notes:

A.N.: I wanted the chapter title to be: “Homura in the streets, Moemura in the sheets.” but I forgot I’m not naming my chapters. No update for a long time but with COVID I figured some writing practice never hurts! Thank you so much to all the dedicated readers that take the time still to like and leave comments, I appreciate all of you! :)

Chapter 6: Chapter 5.5

Notes:

DISCLAIMER: This is a pure smut chapter containing a magical penis. If that's not your thing, totally skippable! See you in chapter 6. For those that are interested, enjoy! As usual, thank you all so much for your comments and likes!

Chapter Text

A few days after their fight, Sayaka approached Homura, who was sitting in an armchair sipping tea from a small cup as she read a novel of some sort on her tablet.

“Hey...can I talk to you?” Homura paused, looking up at Sayaka, studying her expression to try to guess the topic of conversation ahead of time before wordlessly gesturing towards the sofa across from their chair. Figuring that was as much of an invitation as she would get, Sayaka sat down on the armrest of the sofa and gripped the back for confidence.

“This...whole thing with Shinsuke and all that has dredged up a couple old issues for me.” Sayaka confessed as Homura placed the tablet in her lap, listening fully now that she determined it worthy of her attention.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“No...it’s nothing you wanna hear, I’m sure.” Homura fixed her with that same unreadable expression, the intensity making Sayaka’s breath catch a little bit in nervousness.

“All the same, honesty is important. We need to be forthright with one-another.” Homura stated matter-of factly.

“Ya-huh. You just wanna know, don’t you?” Homura’s blank look didn’t change. Sayaka sighed “I guess I have some reservations, y’know? Just kinda...curiosities, I guess is the right word.”

“About being with men?” The question made Sayka’s hands shift uncomfortably in her lap, but she pushed on, wanting to be as upfront as possible now that she had committed to their relationship.

“Mmm-hmm...I guess, I dunno, growing up it’s just what I saw for myself; so much I fantasized about it constantly. Just having a husband and living and a house and all that jazz.” She paused to gauge Homura’s reaction, but Homura gave no indication of her thoughts beyond a wave to continue,  “When I was with Kyouko I was young enough where the future wasn’t something I was thinking about too much, but now...I mean, we’re both adults now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very attracted to you. But I’ve never even had sex with a man so it’s all just leaving me kind of confused.”

“Oh that? Well, that can be arranged. Anything further I’m afraid I’m not comfortable with.” Homura said, taking another sip of tea.

“What!?” Sayaka waved a hand dismissively, “Woah, I’m not willing to hire anyone or anything, I’m just getting it off my mind is all--”

“No need for that, I could do it. We’re Magical Girls, after all.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Oh, yes. Tomoe Mami taught me the spell a number of time loops ago.”

“For real?? You can grow a--a--” Homura scoffed and clacked her mug back onto its plate.

“Yes, Sayaka. I can grow a penis. Be an adult about this please.” Sayaka bit her lip as both mirth and arousal played across her thoughts, her eyes wandering from Homura’s face to her skirt, which quickly shifted as the other woman crossed her legs. “That’s quite enough of that.” She narrowed her eyes at Sayaka, “What are you thinking?” A wicked grin spread across Sayaka’s features as she narrowed her eyes.

“Bedroom, now.”

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Homura stood naked in front of Sayaka, who sat on the bed, her eyes locked on Homura’s bottom half. Sayaka had a fist pressed up against her lips, trying her very best not to snicker, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Homura frowned. “What!?”

“Nothing! Nothing! It’s just…” Sayaka burst out into giggles, unable to contain herself as Homura glowered at her, turning away and crossing her legs.

“You said you were open to trying itl! If you don’t like it, then fine!” Sayaka stifled her laughter, reminding herself how sensitive her partner could be.

“No, really. I like it! It’s just a bit small isn’t it?” Sayaka asked, peeking over Homura’s shoulder at the floppy little sausage now smushed between the time-traveller’s thighs.

“I didn’t want to hurt you by accident.” Homura said, also looking down at it.

“You’d have a hard time hurting anyone with that.” Homura frowned at her new penis.

“It’ll get bigger! It’s just soft right now. Haven’t you ever seen one before?”

“I mean, sure. I just haven’t gotten a good look at a real one before it gets big.” Sayaka said, reaching around to poke it, watching it twitch, grinning and starting to flap it back and forth, making propeller sound effects as Homura jerked back.

“Hey! Don’t play with it!”

“Phhhtt! It’s like a caterpillar!” Crossing her arms and turning away, Homura wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“If you’re going to be immature about this, then I don’t even see why I’m bothering.”

“Okay! Okay, I’m sorry, I’m just curious. I’ll be serious from now on, I promise.” Sayaka said, reaching up to draw an “x” over her heart as Homura eyed her suspiciously, leaning back against Sayaka’s chest to allow her her exploration. Sayaka was careful in her actions, reaching lower to cup Homura’s testicles and roll them carefully in her palm. “Can you feel down here too?” Homura nodded wordlessly. “Do you like it?”

“Madoka loved it, I’m complacent towards it.”

“Could it--does it--uhhh…?” Sayaka flicked her fingers forward, pantomiming ejaculation.

“It can.”

“Would it ‘catch’ so to speak?” She asked, Homura thought carefully.

“I think it can. I’m not sure, I haven’t really asked a doctor. We’ll be careful.” Sayaka nodded, reaching higher to pull back Homura’s foreskin, tracing her finger along the tender tip, earning her a brief exhale. She turned towards Homura.

“Feel good?” Homura nodded, prompting Sayaka to trace her finger around the tip a bit more, moving down to the shaft to pinch and caress it softly, the experimentation making it start to swell up and grow. Feeling the pulse under her hand, the way it stiffened and grew, Sayaka start to feel herself flush as well. Cupping her hand around the shaft, she squeezed and started to pump before Homura winced and reached down to coach her into a better rhythm. Soon, however, Sayaka found a pace, learning where to squeeze to earn small groans from Homura and began to speed up, feeling the organ grow to its full size, throbbing and stiff. “Wow.” Sayaka breathed, squeezing her thighs together, feeling slickness already starting to grace her sex. Homura’s heart pounded against the area Sayaka leaned against.

“Haah...I think it’s ready.” Homura said, as Sayaka waved her off.

“Yeah, okay, just give me a little longer.” Homura hummed in assent as Sayaka gripped her erection with fervor, trying to push it back down and feeling it resist. It wasn’t just warm, it was hot . Sayaka started stroking again, this time using more pressure, and going a little faster, before Homura groaned. “Stop!” She breathed and Sayaka quickly took her hands off, making Homura groan again, the abandoned penis twitching.

“Did I hurt you!?” She asked.

“No, it’s just…” Homura blushed and crossed her legs, murmuring something under her breath as Sayaka did the math. 

“Were you about to--”

“It’s sensitive, okay!? It’s not like having a vagina. It’s got a hair trigger and it can’t go again, so we have to be careful.” Homura groused, staying silent as Sayaka tried to suppress her laughter.

“All right...” Sayaka stayed for a moment, trying very very hard not to make a joke before Homura rolled her eyes.

“Go ahead.”

“Do we have to get you those little pills for old men, Homura?” Turning around, Homura slapped Sayaka’s arm. “Hey! You said I could!”

“No. We do NOT. And those are for if it doesn’t go up.”

“Yeah, and yours wants to go up too * much* .” Homura glared at Sayaka before reaching down to slip a hand under her waistband. “Hey-”

“Oh? And who are you to talk?” Homura asked, swirling a couple fingers around Sayaka’s outer lips as her girlfriend shuddered. “You’re * soaking* for it.” Sayaka bit her lip to hold back a groan as Homura slid her fingers lower.

“Mmmnn...oh man…” Sayaka squeezed Homura’s member and started stroking it slowly, making sure she kept herself at pace as Homura continued to masturbate her as well. Feeling tension building in her belly faster than she was ready for, Sayaka leaned over Homura’s shoulder, panting into her ear as she gripped her girlfriend’s shoulders. “Homuraaaa...I need it.” She begged and she felt Homura immediately throb under her hand. Sayaka would feel all content and smug that her dirty talk worked if she weren’t so horribly turned-on.

 “Okay.” Homura replied, kissing her lover’s shoulder. “Lay down.” Sayaka did as she was told, her heart pounding in her chest as Homura embraced her, peppering kisses along her cheeks and forehead. Sayaka felt silly--she was far from being a virgin. She’d lost her first time to Kyouko years ago, but for some reason this whole situation left her feeling very vulnerable. It was a good feeling, she decided, just before she felt Homura’s erection pressing against her vagina and held up a hand.

“Woah, woah!! Wait, hold on!” She said, looking down to see it laying on top of her.

“What? What’s wrong?” Homura asks, her brow furrowing as she looked down. “You’ve had something...in you before right? Bigger things probably. I would know if you haven’t.” Sayaka nodded but kept her lips pursed, swallowing hard.

“I dunno, it’s just--it’s real this time and I’m getting kinda freaked out over it.” Homura frowned. She didn’t see the difference, but she’d learned by now it was more the time to be the sensitive girlfriend she had to be than the pragmatic girlfriend she wanted to be. Taking Sayaka in her arms, she kissed her forehead.

“I’ll go slow...watch.” Reaching down, she coaxed the tip into Sayaka, who gasped and held her tight as Homura started to sink deeper into her.

“God--it’s so hot!” Sayaka gasped as Homura slid further in, gripping Sayaka’s hips tightly for leverage before bottoming out, her hips snug with Sayaka’s.

“See? Piece of cake.” She grunted, making Sayaka burst into giggles before erupting into full-on laughter, making Homura frown. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just cute.” Sayaka said, leaning up to kiss Homura’s nose. She was interrupted by Homura suddenly pulling out and thrusting into her, making her gasp. “Oh!!” Was all she managed to get out before Homura kissed her back, deeply, reaching down to caress her slight breasts as she started to thrust.

Sayaka started to get into it. It felt different from using a strap-on. Homura reacted in kind whenever Sayaka teased her, touched her, or clenched, and she loved hearing the little noises Homura made whenever she bottomed out or started growing close.

“Can I go faster?” Homura asked, and Sayaka said nothing but eagerly nodded, reaching up to pull Homura close, feeling the other girl’s hips slam into her as she cried out, her legs reaching back to wrap around Homura, keeping her close.

Homura relished the feeling of Sayaka’s thighs resting on her waist as she pushed in and out. The feeling was something she had a difficult time getting used to--tingling and warm. It had been so long since she’d done something like this that she was almost afraid she’d forgotten the spell. Homura gripped Sayaka and thrusted as deep as she could, feeling resistance and letting out an embarrassing high-pitched moan as she felt herself getting dangerously close to the edge, stopping to recover. She pressed her head to Sayaka’s, both of them sweating and breathing like they had just run a marathon, the room’s air humid and full of the musky smell of sex. Finally Homura started back up again, moving slowly and deliberately.

“You’re--mmm--getting tighter...are you close?” Homura asked, Sayaka nodded and Homura reached down between them, pressing against her clit and making Sayaka seize up. Homura felt Sayaka’s orgasm before she saw it, feeling a vicelike pressure grasp her as Sayaka convulsed, gripping the bedsheets and Homura’s back tightly as her legs squeezed tightly. Homura felt fluids leak out around her shaft and took a moment to let Sayaka rest once more.

“Mmmmkeep going.” Sayaka encouraged, reaching up to run a hand through her hair. “Don’t ever stop.” Homura nodded, starting to thrust in and out again, determined to last as long as possible.

“You’re so wet--” Homura gasped, Sayaka’s orgasm made every thrust exude a lewd squelching noise that drove Homura insane. And Sayaka’s heightened sensitivity meant that she was moaning like she was in heat every time Homura hit one of her more tender parts. Combined, this made Homura’s head spin, and she quickly found herself approaching the edge again.

Not wanting to stop, she started humping faster, hoping she would be able to push through the gate. Sayaka giggled underneath her.

“You look like you’re trying to solve a math problem. Relax~” Reaching back, she gave Homura’s butt a teasing squeeze and, much to Homura’s embarrassment, whether it interrupted her focus or gave the last bit of sensation she needed, this sent her over the edge. She grabbed onto Sayaka tightly and let out a high-pitched, shuddering breath as Sayaka’s legs locked her in place and she reached her peak.

“Are you…? Sayaka asked curiously, before she felt Homura’s testicles twiching against her and hot, sticky sperm start pouring inside her. “Oh!! Yes you are!” She gasped, biting her lip, “Fu-u-ck...there’s so much….! This is SO hot.” Sayaka moaned as Homura panted, pushing her hips as deep as she can as load after load of semen shot into Sayaka’s womb, Sayaka’s vagina tightening around her as though trying to milk as much as it could from her.

Finally, Homura pulled out and her softening sex dribbled onto Sayaka as she collapsed, the two holding onto one-another, panting and more than a little damp from the strenuous lovemaking.

 

X-x-x-x-x

 

After a quick cleanup and bathroom break, Sayaka slid onto the bed with a satisfied sigh. Homura, the organ between her legs now vanished, had the book open in her lap but seemed too flushed to be focused on it. Sayaka stalked onto the bed and leaned up to plant a deep smooch on Homura’s cheek.

“Thanks for indulging me.” She said, winking.

“Whatever.” Homura grumbled, wiping off her cheek, a gesture Sayaka knew was more embarrassment than annoyance as she folded the book in her lap. “Which do you prefer?”

“Huh??” Sayaka asked, taken aback by the question.

“You know, now that you’ve tried both you must have a preference.”

“No! I don’t! I like both!” Homura studied her for a moment before flipping the book back open.

“Sure.” Sayaka fiddled with her nails and bit her tongue.

“Well, if you MUST know...I prefer--erm--boy...parts. A little bit more.” She finally confessed. A sniff of exasperation came from behind the book.

“I figured.” Sayaka crawled up close to her girlfriend.

“Homuraaaa..it’s nothing against you. It’s still yours I like best after all.” Homura folded the book and looked off to the side.

“But that’s just magic.” She replied tersely.

“Yeah, but you know WHAT I love about it, right? You’re much easier to get off.” Homura rolled her eyes.

“Gee, thanks.”

“Ah-ah-ah. And I love knowing that YOU’re inside me completely.” Sayaka chirped, reaching forward to swipe a finger across Homura’s nose. Homura stifled a grin unsuccessfully.

“Spinner.” A moment of silence passed between them before Sayaka spoke up.

“So, which do you-?”

“Vaginas.”

Yeah...yep. That sounds about right.” Sayaka agreed before sliding back off the bed to shower, leaving Homura to her book.

Chapter 7: Chapter 6

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

 

A blaring alarm overtook Sayaka’s dreams as she turned to see her phone vibrating and loudly playing a violin riff—one of her least favorite. She wouldn’t deign ruining one of her well-liked pieces by using it to force her out of bed each morning.

Groaning, Sayaka silenced the alarm and stood up, wiping the sleep out of her eyes and yawning as headed out to the living room, her eyes squinting reflexively as a few rays of morning sun ambushed them from a nearby window through the clouds. At least, as the days got shorter, there wasn’t as much light to contend with outside as there was before. More constant than the sun, however, was Homura, already up and active at her desk reading a newspaper. The very essence of a morning person.

“Good morning.” Homura said.

“I can’t believe I have work in an hour.” Sayaka groaned, stretching dramatically as Homura ignored her. “Can’t you just steal money from the yakuza so we can be filthy rich and I don’t have to go to work? You stole all those guns from them!”

“I wouldn’t chance that.” Homura replied, clicking her tongue at the thought of it, “Walpurgis was an emergency situation, I only had so long to prepare and the chaos covered my tracks. If I slip up now, either they or the police would have no trouble finding us and taking away any stability our lives still have. Not to mention they could have counterfeit or marked bills, so even if we get away with stealing it, spending it is another matter. Bullets and shell casings disappear with labyrinths, so I don’t have to worry about being traced with my guns unless I’m fighting familiars.” Sayaka fixed her with an exhausted look before rubbing her eyes.

“So, it’s a maybe?”

“It’s a no.” Homura shook the newspaper to realign it as Sayaka sighed and turned to make her coffee.

“Eehhhh...fine. A girl can still dream of the glamorous life of a millionaire crime couple on the run.” She pouted, rummaging through the cupboards to find a mug that didn’t have a raccoon’s worth of coffee rings on the rim.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Sayaka was bored. Really, really bored. Her shift had passed completely uneventfully, and was winding down to the quietest end she had ever had. The only customers in the store were a man looking at music books and a woman playing on her phone near the restrooms. Sayaka busied herself with spinning around on the small wooden stool behind the register, checking the screen every few moments to see if time had advanced. Usually, it hadn’t.

Making a mental note to ask Homura if she could speed up time at all with her magic, Sayaka was contemplating grabbing a book from the break room before a chime sounded from the door. Looking over, Sayaka did an immediate double-take when she saw who it was. The luxurious mint-green hair, albeit much shorter than Sayaka remembered it being, the immaculate summer sundress, the perfect posture...Sayaka had to literally cover her mouth to prevent herself from crying out Hitomi’s name.

Forcing herself to calm down, Sayaka reminded herself that Hitomi thought she was dead--she had seen Sayaka’s body. Feeling her heart racing, Sayaka vowed to at least start up a conversation before she left. Trying not to make her staring too obvious, Sayaka noticed something else--a toddler, about two or three years old, was nestled in the crook of Hitomi’s arm. Trying not to jump to assumptions, Sayaka watched them closely as they walked around the store, not even bothering to hide her stare, before finally they approached the register.

“Do you know where I’d find the rosin?” She asked as Sayaka’s mouth dried and she looked from Hitomi to the shelf behind her, then back to Hitomi. “Err...for violins?”

“Here...it’s here.” She finally sputtered, reaching back to grab a box before placing it on the counter. A million questions sprang to mind immediately. How’s Kyosuke? Are you still dating? Is this for him? How was high school? What happened to my parents? What about Madoka’s little brother? What’s with the kid? Unable to think of anything to say, Sayaka just worked her jaw before pointing at Hitomi’s haircut.

“Your hair. I, uh, I like your hair.” Hitomi reached up to grab a lock of her hair and smiled.

“Why thank you! I like yours as well!...” She gave a soft smile, which Sayaka knew well enough as a tell that she was lying politely. But her eyes were focused entirely on Hitomi, trying to shake away the feeling of strangeness—like the person in front of her wasn’t her friend of just a few years prior, but a relic from another life. Someone else’s life.

“Do you play?” Sayaka asked, gesturing down at the wrapped amber-colored block on the counter between them. Hitomi chuckled and shook her head.

“No, I’m afraid not, but I have a friend that does and he has a big performance tomorrow; he just lost his.” The toddler in her arms stuffed a fist in his mouth and wriggled around as he looked back at a drum set at the far end of the room, slapping the Hitomi’s back to get her attention with his slobbery hand.

“Hitomi...drums!” He called out as Hitomi reached up to readjust her grip on the child.

“Not now, we’ve got to get back.” She said, sitting him on the counter briefly as she picked up the rosin to place it in her purse. The toddler turned towards Sayaka and smiled, waving at her.

“Hi!” He chimed at her. Sayaka smiled and waved back, trying to discern any resemblance to Hitomi.

“Hello!...” She finally gave up and turned towards Hitomi. “Is he yours?”

“No, I’m babysitting him as a favor for some family friends.” Hitomi said, “He’s sweet but he can really be a little troublemaker.” The young boy beamed up at Sayaka.

“Awwww, well I think he’s cute!” Sayaka said, reaching forward to tickle the toddler under his chin, watching him laugh and gurgle happily as he looked up at her. When she looked directly at him, she felt a twinge of familiarity tickle her right back when she looked at his eyes. One she couldn’t place her finger on.

Then it hit her--they were her eyes. Sayaka’s blood ran cold as she made the connection.

“What’s his name?” She asked, needing to swallow back the sudden tears that threatened her.

“Makoto. Miki Makoto.” Hitomi replied as she slung her purse back over her shoulder, scooped up the toddler, and waved at Sayaka. “Thank you for your help! Good-bye!”

“Bye-bye!” Makoto yelled, waving his hand frantically at his estranged sister, who could do little else but stare straight through him.

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Sayaka finished her shift in a numb shock, unable to think, unable to do much of anything. She walked home in a haze and passed Homura, who was preparing dinner.

“Hello.” Homura said simply, eyes fixed on the counter “How’s sushi for dinner?” When Sayaka didn’t answer, Homura turned around. “Sayaka? Did you hear me?” She found Sayaka frozen in the doorway, completely motionless, her eyes glassy, shoulders slumped. Drying off her hands, Homura walked over. “Are you all right?” Sayaka’s eyes moved from their thousand-yard stare to Homura.

“I saw Hitomi at the store and she had…” Sayaka trailed off, still trying to blink away her shock.

“Hitomi?” Homura frowned and focused her gaze on the ceiling for a moment. “Oh, Shizuki? From middle school?”

“And--and she had a kid, she had…” Sayaka’s hands groped the air as she tried to find a way to impart the feelings the information gave her, her bag slumping off her shoulder as she swallowed and finally managed to form words, “I have a little brother.”

“I beg your pardon?” Homura asked, her eyebrows knitting together before she processed what Sayaka said and understood. “Ooh.” She breathed, not quite knowing whether she should apologize or celebrate. Sayaka walked over to a chair nearby and collapsed onto it, leaning against the dining room table and slowly shaking her head.

“I...I know that…” She raised a trembling hand to run it across her face, “I know that time didn’t stop outside of what we were...what had happened to us, but I just didn’t think…” The hand reached up to grip her hair. “God!” She hissed, slamming her foot against the leg of the table. Homura watched her quietly in solidarity, walking over to sit on another chair at the table.

Sayaka buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she started to cry, Homura let her have her moment; a couple of minutes passing before Sayaka wiped her eyes and started to speak again.

“Why!? Did they forget about me? Did they want to??” She sniffled and balled her fists as Homura looked down at the table.

“That’s not it, you know it’s not.” Homura said, her voice taking on a lacquer of softness. “It must have been hard on them to know you had died so young. They must have felt the need to fill that void in their lives. Or maybe they were planning to anyways.” Sayaka grit her teeth and looked outside.

“I won’t get to see him again. I won’t see him grow up...read him books...he’ll only ever see pictures of me.” Sayaka’s fists clenched for a moment as she slammed one against the table. “It’s not. fucking. FAIR!” She shouted, punctuating each word with a slam on the table. Homura winced but didn’t stop her.

“Maybe you could ask Shizuki to bring him around more often?”

“She’ll get suspicious. That girl’s clueless but she’s sharp when she wants to be.” Sayaka stood back up, pacing over to the window in the corner of their living room, which currently overlooked the orange afternoon. “She thinks I’m * dead*, Homura. I * was* dead.” She let out a heavy breath. “Did you have any siblings?”

“No.”

“Do you ever miss your family?”

“We don’t speak.” Homura said shortly, leaving it at that. Sayaka nodded in understanding, not pushing the topic further. Homura stepped towards Sayaka, her hands clenching in indecision as she took a small breath in. “I’m sorry, Sayaka. There’s not a lot about our situation that is fair. At least you get to know your family’s doing well even without you…” Clenching her own teeth and crossing her arms, Homura felt herself sutter as she doubled back, “I-I know it’s not a lot, and that fact may hurt too. But it’s more comfort than a lot of people around the world get, magical girl or not.”

Sayaka lingered by the window a moment longer before, without saying anything, she approached her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around Homura’s back, squeezing once. Homura, not quite one for comforting, gave Sayaka an awkward pat on the back before they separated and Sayaka wiped her red-rimmed eyes off on her uniform sleeve before starting towards her room.

“I need to be alone for a while.” She muttered. Homura nodded.

“I see. Would you like dinner?”

“I’m not hungry.” Sayaka replied, heading into her room and closing the door. Homura stepped forward for a moment, her eyebrows knitting in concern and frustration at her own emotional impotence. 

 

A couple hours eating dinner, Homura walked back into her room and undressed, piling the clothes neatly away at the base of her hamper. Rubbing her bare shoulder, she approached the window and stared out at the lights of Mitakihara—most of them automatically adjusting to their nighttime brightness now as the last rays of sun faded.

She exhaled, wondering if it was more helpful to check on Sayaka or if it was better to leave her alone to process her feelings and be there for her whenever she was ready. Deciding on the latter, Homura headed to bed. Reaching forward, she pulled the covers aside, just enough to slide into them without disturbing the neatness of the sheets. Tugging them up to her shoulders, she closed her eyes, the frigid freshly-born winter air managing to infiltrate the room through the doors of her balcony, sending a shiver down her spine.

She heard the door open behind her quietly, sending a ray of light spilling into the room before quickly closing again. Despite the intruder trying her best, Homura could hear the creak of Sayaka’s feet against the floor as she approached the bed.

Opening her eyes, Homura didn’t turn around. “Is everything all right, Sayaka?” The creaking footsteps paused before speaking up, sounding uncertain.

“Hey...we--uhh...y’know, we’re kind-of dating now. Aaaaaand I was thinking; it doesn’t make sense to live in the same apartment and not sleep...in the same bed?” She trailed off a bit at the end, as though bracing herself for a shutdown. Instead, Homura silently sat up, reaching to her right, and pulled down the covers in silent invitation.

Sayaka encroached on the right side of the bed, taking it as a ‘yes’ and undressed before sliding her legs under the covers. Homura immediately felt her warmth as Sayaka slid in, at first keeping her distance before creamy thighs slowly started pressing against Homura’s own.

Homura felt her cheeks darken as Sayaka lay flush against her, sharing body heat, suddenly feeling more awake before getting used to the sensation of her girlfriend’s breath against her neck and finding it very accomodating.

“Thank you for saving me the leftovers.”

“Of course, it was my turn to cook.” Homura said, finding safety in her bedfellow.

“And for being there for me.” Sayaka replied, leaning in to press her face against the nape of Homura’s neck. A moment of silence passed between the two of them before Homura spoke up again.

“We need to be there for one-another. Sometimes with all the strangeness of our lives, we’re the only ones who can be.” Homura murmured, reaching down to grasp Sayaka’s hand and give it a soft squeeze. Sayaka didn’t respond, looking at the back of her girlfriend’s head. Sayaka briefly contemplated asking Homura what kind of life she left behind becoming a magical girl, but decided to let uncrossed paths lay in the past and closed her eyes, sleep taking the pair quickly,

 

x-x-x-x-x

 

Homura woke up facing her girlfriend, who had a grin stretched so widely over her face it instantly sent Homura into full suspicion mode.

“...what?”

“You snore.” Frowning, Homura reached up to push a lock of hair behind her ear.

“I do not .”

“Well you snored last night,” Sayaka said before raising a hand defensively, “Hey, it’s okay, Kyouko sounded like a bulldozer and I managed to sleep through that. Just thought I’d point it out.” Homura sat up and slid off the bed, miffed as Sayaka called after her. “Awww come on! It’s fine Homura, you’re human.” Swallowing her embarrassment, Homura turned around and eyed Sayaka up and down.

“You look like you’re feeling better.” Sayaka took a deep breath in and let it out in a long, slow exhale that seemed to deflate her form as she visibly slouched, reaching down to grab her feet and pull herself up into a sitting position.

“Kind of. I’m not really sure I’ll ever get over my family thinking I’m dead and moving on with their lives. But I feel a little bit better. ”

“That’s not the sort of thing anyone ‘gets over’.” Homura replied, seeing Sayaka’s eyes well up with tears

“Yeah…”. “Things sure are messed-up for us, huh?” Homura nodded softly

“They are. But you’re the one who taught me that despite that, we need to make the most of it.” Homura walked over to Sayaka’s side of the bed and offered her a hand. “We keep living life, right?” Sayaka contemplated the hand, looking up at Homura. Homura who didn’t even know what had become of her family, who * did* know what horrible fate had befallen the one girl she’d hinged her entire future on but was still here before her. Sayaka’s posture didn’t raise at all, but she looped up, smiled, and wiped off her eyes. Standing up, she  grabbed Homura’s hand and used it to hoist herself off the bed, lacing their hands together and leading her out of the bedroom.

“You’re making us pancakes this morning.” 

“But I made-” Homura looked like she was about to retort but thought better of it and sighed. “I suppose I should be thankful all it takes is food to perk you up.” Sayaka laughed and washed her hands, getting ready to offer company and whisking support before she caught sight of the city outside the window.

She wondered to herself what Makoto, her newly-discovered little brother, was getting up to that day, and hoped it was something fulfilling, letting her imagination take her towards her family finding a new routine and happiness with him. Before she could get too lost in her thoughts, the sound of an egg tapping against the counter broke the bittersweet fantasies and brought her spiraling right back to the kitchen.

Notes:

A.N. Thank you as always for your comments and boosting Forget-me-Not! All of your encouragement really helps give me the drive to finish the story!