Archive of Our Own ^beta

Himari hummed while she put on the red dress she’d wear for the marriage. Not hers, but Tsugu and Hina’s. It was a wonderful dress, she already knew since she tried it at the store, and made great effort to remain the same weight from then until the wedding, so she’d be able to wear it.

Her hairstyle was held by a white flower crown and for the first time, Himari thought she looked beautiful. Like an angel, even, in all its glory. The door then opened and Sayo walked through it. 

“Maids of honor, huh?” Himari started, trying to start a topic to talk about. Sayo was already intimidating naturally, but there was something about her blue, pink and white laced dress, her hair organised in a braid and her shiny lips that almost made the bassist shiver. “How do you feel?”

“Surprised Hina invited me instead of someone from Pastel*Palettes,” She admitted. Were they close enough for her to ask why, Himari wondered. She had a clue, based on comments from Ako, Tomoe, or even Tsugumi herself; all the insecurities that had been briefly mentioned or implied and the feeling that she wasn’t worthy… “Maid of honor instead of best man…” 

It felt like Sayo needed someone to talk to, but Himari wasn’t sure she was the right person. They’d never been that intimate. “Do you… want to talk about it?” 

Himari took a step closer, her dress still unzipped. Not the time to ask about something so trivial, she thought. There would certainly be another opportunity. Sayo seemed taken aback by the offer, but didn’t mention it. “It’s… still weird,” She finally started. “Hina’s great, so of course they’d respect my pronouns and identity, but I… um…”

“You don’t need to finish if you don’t want to,” Himari quickly added, despite her curiosity to know everything she could about the serious Hikawa. She was enchanting and mysterious, like the attractive bad guy from a teenage, romantic cliché, but better, because alas: she was a girl! And Himari was a lesbian, so that detail really came in handy. 

“It’s fine…” Sayo sighed. It didn’t seem to be fine, but she wanted it to be and needed to compose yourself. Or, at least, she thought she needed it, and who was Himari to stop her? Of course, she knew herself better than anyone. “It’s me and not Hina. You know? It wasn’t a matter of them not being the type of… shitty person who’d disrespect one’s pronouns, but me not being… worthy of that kind of respect.”

Compared to the rest of the speech, Sayo’s struggle to curse even seemed small, almost going unnoticed. “I see…” Himari was about to say something else when someone knocked on the door: it was Ran, to let the both of them know that the ceremony would start in five minutes. “Oh. Um… could you…?” Himari turned around and pointed at the zipper. 

Before answering, Sayo gulped and nodded positively; she then whispered a low “yes…”, remembering Himari wasn’t facing her, but seeming to forget that there was a mirror in front of them. She got closer to the bassist and carefully, but awkwardly closed the back side of Himari’s dress. Sayo felt the other’s soft skin with her fingers, calloused from practice, and she felt a thorn touching the petal of the delicate rose. “There.” 

“Thanks!” Himari’s smile was as warm as the summer afternoon they’d face outside for the wedding in the garden borrowed from the Tsurumaki. Sayo then bit her lip and started reapplying her chapstick. “Ooh~ What flavor is that?”

Sayo finished applying it before answering, “Cherry. Imai-san insists that we use it, because… some of us in Roselia tend to be a bit… careless…” With that, the guitarist blushed, as if that was embarrassing to admit. 

“That’s Imai Lisa for ya!” Himari giggled, remembering how badly she wished she was as reliable as her. “Can I try it?”

“I don’t see why not,” Sayo replied, handing it to Himari, who leaned in, but instead of grabbing the chapstick, she grabbed the other’s wrist as to pull her closer, and kissed Sayo’s lips, making sure to give it a slight lick before it ended. 

“Mm, it did taste like cherry~!” Himari exclaimed excitedly after seemingly giving it some thought. Sayo, on the other hand, was paralyzed, even letting the chapstick fall on the floor sometime in the midst of the kiss. “For the record,” She then grabbed Sayo’s hands and caressed them for a bit. “I think you’re pretty worthy of being respected, of course, but of all the good and kindness in the world! Also, that Hina-senpai couldn’t have chosen a better maid of honor. And that’s not all because you look smokin’ hot in that dress!”

“Uehara-san-”

“I think we should go!” Himari said, not realising the interruption. “I think it’s been five minutes already, and I think that only the bride is allowed to be fashionably late, haha!”

“Uehara-san,” Sayo repeated, more assertively this time. Himari tilted her head after hearing her name, and all the bravery seemed to vanish from her body, lasting only a few minutes. The Hikawa then leaned down and applied a kiss on her now bright red cheek. “Thank you,” Himari was speechless. Yeah, she’d been wishing to kiss Sayo for way too long, but it wasn’t like it ever occurred to her that the guitarist might’ve liked her back. Why would she, anyway? “Shall we?”

“Hm?” Himari was taken back, directly from her daydream to reality, which was almost as good as her imagination, because holy shit, Sayo was holding her hand! “Oh! Mhm! Yup! We super shall.”

As they left the room, Himari was too busy panicking to notice the small smile in the corner of Sayo’s lips.