Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mugen Academy, one of the top schools in the neighborhood. Only the top students, who could afford it, could get into such an academy. Someone like Michiru Kaioh. She was an overachiever, with the top grade point average and enough money to afford anything handed to her. Mugen didn’t give out scholarships, if you couldn’t afford the school you weren’t worth their time. All until one year, the middle of Michiru’s second year. A day that probably went down in Mugen history.

“Class, this is Haruka Tenoh. She just transferred here.” The teacher said as a tall, broad shouldered blonde stood in front of the class. Michiru eyed her up and down, left and right. She could tell that Haruka wasn’t like her, like anyone here. The way her collar was tucked in, her pants not ironed, and her blazer buttons nearly falling out. A roll of the eyes before realizing Mugen had stooped so low as to accept pity students.

“Just in time for tryouts, she looks sort of athletic, don’t you think Michiru?” Elsa Gray, a close friend of Michiru’s asked. Her and Elsa went to junior high school together as well.

“I suppose.” Michiru said with a shrug of the shoulders, watching Haruka take the empty seat a few rows behind her. Haruka gave her a smile, but all Michiru could do was turn her head away with a hmph. “Say, Elsa, about the assignment last night…” She began conversing over something just to make sure Haruka would know Michiru wanted nothing to do with her. This wasn’t a place for people like Haruka’s.

Haruka seemed to have made her own group of friends. Elsa informed Michiru that Haruka had tried out, and made, the spring track team. “That’s nice.” She said, sipping her tea, hoping for a change in subject. From word in the hallways, Michiru found out that Haruka somehow got into their school purely on an athletic scholarship. “They’re trying to expand their athletic department,” someone told Michiru, “they thought Haruka would be absolutely perfect for it.” But all Michiru could understand from that was they took Haruka because she could run. It upset her. Haruka shouldn’t be able to just enter their school because she was athletic. That wasn’t how things worked around here.

“Have you ever spoken to her?” Elsa asked, snapping Michiru out of her train of thought.

“Who? Haruka?” Michiru asked, obviously knowing the answer.

“Yeah, I see the way she looks at you in the halls.” Elsa stated, pking her fork into her salad, before taking a bite of it.

“Probably because she’s fascinated with someone with money looks like.” Michiru snickered, Elsa and the rest of their lunch table joining along with her. Michiru wasn’t a nice girl, neither were any of her friends for that matter. Perhaps that’s why they got along so well with one another.

“But she’s just your type Michiru,” someone else at their table said, “You’ve always taled about wanting a handsome butch like her to sweep you off your feet.”

“Oh please,” Michiru said, placing her chin on her left palm, “when she can fix herself up so that her uniform isn’t in such a disarray than perhaps you can convince me otherwise.” And cue the laughter again from everyone. That was Michiru’s way of maintaining her popularity and feeling better for herself. Making fun of and putting down others.

“Speak of the devil,” someone pointed out, as they saw Haruka walking toward their table. “Maybe she heard us and is here to tell us that we should all rot in hell.”

“Hush,” Elsa said, as Haruka walking over toward her. Michiru turned her head, speaking to the female on the other side of herself, wanting nothing to do with Haruka.

“Coach’s having a meeting, he wants us to meet him on the track outside.” Haruka said to Elsa, smiling at the rest of the table. She was too happy all the time. Couldn’t she tell she wasn’t wanted there? Just a sign of everyone going silent should have been enough to signal that they were speaking about her.

“Alright,” Elsa said, standing up and taking her tray with her to throw out. The two of them walked out of the room, probably talking about track. Michiru watched, part of her wishing to be like Elsa. She had to be the least cold in their group, especially since she made friends so easily with Haruka. Unless it had to do with their team and nothing else. Michiru let out a sigh, cleaning her lunch tray, and picking up her bag. “I have to show our history teacher a preview of my term paper. I’ll see you guys after school.”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe she’s giving us two tests in a row. You would think she could fit all the information on the first test, right?” Elsa asked, as her and Michiru were walking to Michuru’s car. Her chauffer had picked them up from school every day since junior high.

“Perhaps that’s why they’ve considered replacing her.” Michiru giggled, making her way into the car, Elsa following on the other side. The girls handed their bags to the chauffer, allowing him to place them in the back like he usually did.

“You’re coming to the race tomorrow morning, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it Elsa. You know that.” Michiru smiled, “Besides, I need to hand in an out door scenery piece to my art studies class. I can do some sketches before it begins.”

“You know Haruka will be there.” Elsa teased.

“Oh don’t remind me. You know I don’t think it’s fair for her to even be at Mugen.”

“Neither do I, Michiru. But she’s a nice girl and from what I’ve seen so far she’s been doing well in her classes.”

“She probably has to. If you fail an exam you’re kicked off a team, and with a scholarship like hers who knows the credentials. Besides, you don’t have trigonometry with her. You can practically hear her snoring, it’s so impolite.”

“If I remember correctly, math isn’t your strong suit Michiru. What did you get last marking period? A ninety-six average?”

“Ah hush, Elsa.” Michiru said with a flush of her cheeks. “Anyway, what school are you versing tomorrow?”

“Juuban Municipal.”

“What’s that?”

“Some underachiever’s school. Though that popular band goes to school there, what’s there name… the Three Lights or something like that. They were at the party we went to last weekend.”

“Speaking of parties, are there any planned this weekend?” Michiru asked, as the car stopped. They got out of the car, retrieving their bags from the back.

“Tomorrow night, this girl who goes to Juuban, Usagi I believe her name is. You know Ami Mizuno? She was in our chemistry class. They’re close friends, Ami said we’d be more than welcomed there.”

“Ami doesn’t seem like the type to go to house parties.”

“That’s what I thought at first, but apparently she’s quiet close with someone else going. I don’t remember names, but I think she’s on Juuban’s track team as well.”

“Small world, huh?”

“It would assume so.”

Saturday morning, Michiru sat on the bleachers outside of Mugen’s campus. There was a slight breeze, which was nice. Her waves softly blew in the wind as she sat cross-legged. Her sketchpad on her lap, a pencil in her hand, she was ready to sketch the scenery before her. Elsa saw her, flashing a smile before warming up her running. Her eyes then went to the paper, beginning to get a steady background. The skies, the trees, and of course the track field. Michiru was so buried in her work, she didn’t see the blonde approach the bleachers and sit next to her.

“You don’t seem like the type to come watch things like these.” Haruka said, as Michiru jumped a bit in her seat. How could she have not seen her walk over to her?

“Shouldn’t you be practicing as well?” Michiru retorted. Athletic scholarship and all she did was sat on the bleachers while others were warming up.

“Coach told me to take it easy. He wants me to save my energy.”

“How very fascinating,” Michiru said sarcastically, finishing part of her sketch and practically giving the signal to Haruka she wasn’t in the mood for this.

“Elsa told me you girls are going to the party tonight.”

“Did she?”

“Is that a yes?”

“Any particular reason I should tell you.” She looked Haruka dead in the face, closing her sketchbook. Some scholarship student wasn’t worthy of seeing any of her talents.

“Just curious as to the crowd that’d be there tonight.”

“Probably no one like you.” Then again, if she never heard of this Juuban place, it probably wasn’t worthy of her knowledge. It could be a school of people like Haruka for all she knew. “Why no one else you know going?”

“Well I am new here, but Elsa said she’s going and I could tag along with you two.”

Fucking Elsa, Michiru thought. What a bitch. “What Elsa says and what I say can be two completely different things. Perhaps you can just meet us there.”

“Alright, see you tonight.” Haruka winked, getting up and walking to the track.

Down on the track, Makoto Kino and Minako Aino, members of Juuban’s track team, were practicing their running.

“Elsa?” Makoto stopped in her tracks, spotting the pink shaded hair anywhere. “Elsa Gray?” She asked, again, walking over toward the female.

“Makoto!” Elsa replied, hugging her. “It’s been a while, how are you?”

“I’m good I’m good. It’s so nice to see you, again!”

“It really is. I didn’t know you still ran.”

“Of course I do! Oh, I’m being so rude. Elsa, this is Minako. Minako this is Elsa.” Makoto said, gesturing between the two.

“Pleasure to meet you, Elsa.” Minako said, extending a hand for the other to shake. Elsa gladly replied by returning the gesture.

“Elsa, coach wants to talk to the team before we start.” Haruka said, Minako’s eyes landing on her. If she were some anime girl, there would be hearts over her eyes right about here. Haruka could only reply with a small smile, taking a step back.

“Alright I’m c—“ Elsa began before Minako, rudely, cut her off.

“Ah who’s this?” Minako said, clinging onto Haruka’s arm.

“Come on let’s go.” Makoto said, pulling Minako away. “Nice to meet you Haruka, and to see you Elsa. Sorry about her!”

Chapter Text

Loud music was blasting through the house; there were a variety of snacks set up on a table, as well as drinks (and god knows what was really in those). People were sitting or standing around, texting on the couches or taking selfies in front of mirrors. This was the usual weekend life for any high school student, especially Michiru and Elsa. They always found somewhere to spend their weekend. High school was a time to prepare for college, academically and socially. Ami approached the two girls after spotting them walk through the door of Usagi Tsukino’s household; her parents had gone away for the weekend. That was the best time to throw a party, because who knew if anyone would bring alcohol or drugs. Most parents weren’t okay with that.

“Ah you guys came,” Ami said with a small smile, “Usagi said it’s fine for you two to be here. I made sure to put in a good word.” She giggled to the two, though clearly uncomfortable in her current surroundings.

“I didn’t think you as the party girl, Ami.” Michiru stated, in a joking matter, though her tone of voice did not match it. She sounded more rude than joking.

“Ah well, actually I was just here to let you two in… I’m ah… going out tonight.” Ami nervously said, her cheeks flaring a red with every syllable.

“On a date?” Elsa asked, giving a smirk to the shorter.

“Well…” Ami began, before a taller brunette came up to her, taking her hand in her own, attempting to lead her out.

“Come on Ami, let—Elsa?” Makoto stood, facing the girl once again, just like she did this morning on the track field. It really was a small world.

“Have fun you two.” Elsa said, patting Makoto on the back, walking farther into the party with Michiru. They watched the scene before them, Michiru stopping to pour herself a drink. She had drunk on occasions; it was stress relief for studying. Besides, her parents allowed her the occasional wine or champagne with dinner or on holidays. Red cup in her hand, she took a gulp, a sour taste meeting her lips. She coughed a bit, but took it as nothing and continued drinking. Probably was just something she never had before. In that time, Elsa had decided to go talk to other people, so Michiru was alone with her cup and a bunch of other bottles of alcohol. Tonight was not going to go well.

On the other side of the room, Haruka was talking with Minako and Usagi, the host of the party. Minako was going on about how her and Haruka had met at the track field that morning, Usagi really just nodding along as she half-listened to her friend. It was quite loud in the house, but she wasn’t going to just turn the music down. That would cause an upset to some people and Usagi didn’t want to have to deal with.

“So Haruka, when did you start going to Mugen?” Minako asked, trying anything to make conversation with the handsome blonde before her. Anything would work at this point. She thought Haruka was hot, and she would do anything to talk to her.

“Ah… Just this past week. I transferred.” Haruka answered, taking a sip of her own drink. Water was the only thing in her cup. She wasn’t big on drinking like some others. She knew how to have a good time without any alcohol.

“Where’d you used to go to school?” Usagi asked, being as nosey and oblivious as usual.

“Some boarding school, things weren’t going too well.” Haruka shrugged. She wasn’t exactly in the mood for conversing over her old school whereabouts. After all, if things were going well there she wouldn’t have transferred.

“Couldn’t keep the ladies off of you?” Minako asked with a giggle.

“I guess you could say that,” Haruka responded, just really agreeing to whatever Minako had asked her. Her eyes scanned the room when she saw aqua hair standing by herself on the other side of the room. “If you would excuse me…” Haruka said, walking away from Minako and Usagi over to Michiru. Elsa must have caught up with someone else, because Michiru was standing on her own.

“Hey,” Haruka said, walking up to the other, in attempt not to startle her like she had done that morning. She had wanted to make friends with Michiru since they laid eyes on each other her first day. Haruka thought perhaps, being outside of the school may make it easier for the two of them to break the ice.

“Hey yourself.” Michiru said, turning to her, walking her fingers up her chest.

“Uh…” Haruka said, cheeks staining red, watching her, “wh-what are you doing?”

“This party’s pretty boring don’t you think?”

“I guess…”

And in that moment, Haruka could have sworn she died and went to heaven. Michiru raised herself up, wrapping her arms behind her neck, kissing her hard and rough. Haruka didn’t know how to react, so she just pulled Michiru in closer, kissing her back. Tongues were in each other’s mouths, fingers tangled in each other’s hair. It was magical, it was different, and it was so good for the both of them.

Too bad Michiru wasn’t in her right state of mind to initiate the kiss. Otherwise it would have never happened, and maybe that would have been better for the two of them.

Chapter Text

School on Monday had gone on normal for Michiru. She handed in assignments, got test grades back with perfect scores, the usual for herself. Nobody spoke of anything that happened between her and Haruka at the party. Michiru was convinced nobody knew aside from the two of them. When she asked Elsa if she saw anything, she told her flat out nothing had happened between them. But Michiru knew they were lying. Michiru remembered exactly what happened that night. She kissed Haruka. Michiru wanted to pretend it didn’t happen, but she knew Haruka remembered. How could anyone forget a kiss like that? It just didn’t happen. And sadly, Michiru would have to deal with it sooner or later. She was hoping it wouldn’t have to be until later.

“Look over the next chapter, she put some of the terminology on the exam, probably on accident.” Elsa said to one of their peers at the lunch table, discussing a test she had taken earlier in that day before the others had their period.

“How could she do that?” Someone replied, as they all began flipping pages and looking for the vocabulary words of the next chapter.

“I don’t know, there’s always some screw up on her tests, you know that.” Elsa shrugged, as the two of them continued their conversation, everyone going over the information that would be on their exam. However, Michiru’s thoughts were elsewhere. She especially began thinking about it when she saw a head of blonde hair approaching their table. Oh please, she thought, be coming over here to talk to Elsa about track or about anything besides Saturday.

“Hey Michiru.” Haruka said, placing a shoulder around Michiru’s arm. Michiru replied to such a gesture by gently pushing Haruka’s arm away. It seemed she wanted to talk about what happened now, sadly.

“Why are you talking to me? And touching me?” She angrily asked, turning around to face the blonde. Everyone at the table was staring at the scene before them. Michiru could almost feel their eyes piercing at her. She didn’t like it. Sure, Michiru liked attention from others, but not in a situation such ast he one before her.

“Well I thought—“ Haruka began before Michiru got up, excusing herself from the table and taking Haruka out into the hall. She couldn’t do this in front of her peers, none of them knew or saw what happened and she was going to keep it that way if it was the last thing she had to do. She looked around; nobody was there, which was a good sign. It was finally time to talk about what happened at the party.

“We need to talk.” Michiru stated, keeping a comfortable distance between them. Though their was tension piercing the air, another feeling Michiru didn’t like.

“I figured as much since you dragged me out to the hallway.” Haruka said, trying to lighten the mood. It wasn’t working.

“Why did you just come up to me like that? I’m not your friend, and definitely not someone you just put your arm around like that!” Michiru said, pacing back and forth. A habit of hers that occurred when she was nervous.

“Well, I thought since what happened… we were… that you… that you maybe liked me…” Haruka stated, nervously, cheeks flaring up slightly with each word.

“Oh for god’s sake!” Michiru began, stopping in her tracks. How could anyone like herself like Haruka. It wasn’t how things worked. None of this was how things worked around here. “I was drunk! It was a hookup. Have you never hooked up with someone like that at a party before?” Michiru had planted one on plenty of the students here, even getting farther than that. They certainly never spoke to her like this after it happened, however.

“I’ve never been to a party before… Or at least not one like that.” Haruka sighed; dwelling on her past wasn’t her favorite thing to do. “So it meant nothing?”

“Yes.” Michiru said, flat out.

“Oh…”

“You’re making this like it was your first kiss or something.”

“It was.” Haruka responded, and Michiru just looked at her in awestruck. Sure, she didn’t like Haruka, but she would admit she seemed like someone that would have gotten around before. “Sorry… I’m going to head back in now… Forget I said anything.” Haruka turned walking back into the cafeteria. Michiru took a deep breath, resting her head against one of the lockers for a moment. Haruka should have never came to this school in the first place, then none of this would have ever happened to her.

When she went back inside to sit down, the whole table stared at her. Michiru didn’t want to talk about anything that just happened. Her friends would make fun of her to know end if they had found out what happened. But the way Haruka acted, she knew she wouldn’t blackmail her or anything of the sort. Michiru didn’t know if anyone else saw them, however. She could hear her friend’s laughter now. “We knew you liked her!” They would say. “You always wanted someone like her.” The comments would be endless. Michiru was battling with her inner thoughts. All she could do was stand up, without even excusing herself, and walk to the school’s library to maybe clear her head.

Upon arriving in the library, she didn’t expect to see anyone aside from the school’s librarian. She was wrong. Ami was in there, typing up something on one of the school’s computers, probably a term paper or something. Their azure hues met one another, Ami giving a small smile to Michiru. She gestured to a seat open next to her. Michiru decided she would sit there. Maybe talking intellectually would clear her head of the events of the weekend. She placed her bag over the back of the chair, sitting down.

“What brings you here at this time? Is lunch period over?” Ami asked, saving the file she was typing before turning toward Michiru.

“Oh, uh no… The air was getting a little stuffy in there.” Michiru lied, something she was quite good at. “Do you stay in here for lunch everyday?” She asked.

“Ah, yes, I like to spend my time wisely. Socializing isn’t really my cup of tea at school.”

“You know, you’re welcome to sit with me anytime you would like.”

“Thank you… But I’m going to have to decline your offer. I’m not one to gossip, or make fun of others, and from what I hear that’s really all your circle of friends do.” Ami said, flat out, typing some more on the keyboard. Michiru knew she wasn’t in the best circle of friends, but this was the first time someone ever flat out said it. “You’re so much better than that.” Ami added.

“Huh?”

“You’re in the top percentile of this school, you have a lot going for you, and from what I see you can be a nice person.”

“You must be thinking of someone else.” Michiru shrugged. She knew she was mean, and she knew that wasn’t going to be changing any time soon. “So uh… How was your date with that girl?”

“Oh ah…” Ami’s cheeks flared up, “g-good… How was yours?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, with Haruka. I left something at the house, so when I came back to get it, you and her were—“

“Oh, no it was nothing like that!” Michiru said, starting to get nervous. Someone did see, other people probably saw as well. “C-can we not talk about it…?”

“Okay.” Ami agreed, without question or anything of the sort. A sound of the bell rang, signaling the period over. Both girls began gathering up their stuff.

“So, you come in here for lunch everyday… Mind I join you tomorrow?” Michiru asked, not wanting to deal with her problems at her lunch table.

“Sure.”

Chapter Text

“Michiru where are you going?” Elsa asked, carrying her shoulder bag through the halls of the school toward the exit. Today was an early dismissal due to some cheerleading practice or whatever, nothing that concerned either of the girls.

“Our next class, we have our lab today.” Michiru responded.

“Todays an early day. Everyone’s leaving.” Elsa said as Michiru looked around. Elsa was right; everyone was leaving. “I’m going over to a friends house, so I don’t need a ride today, oh by the way, where were you at lunch for the past few days?”

“Oh, ah talking with our art history teacher…”

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!” Elsa said, waving and leaving the hall. Michiru dialed her chauffer, getting no response. She called three times before realizing he wasn’t going to answer her. Guess she would have to wait around until normal dismissal time. It was a nice enough day outside, she wouldn’t mind sitting around for another three hours.

The aqua haired girl walked down the halls, hoping nobody else forgot so she could sit by herself and have some peace and quiet. Her eyes were glued to the floor as she walked, so she was not paying attention to where she was going. She kept walking straight, until she bumped into someone. Michiru looked up to apologize, until her eyes met a certain pair of blue eyes. It was Haruka.

“Watch where you’re going.” Michiru stated, quite annoyed.

“Shouldn’t I being saying that to you?” Haruka asked, looking around to see if she hurt Michiru anywhere. No sign of anything, though, which was good.

“Hmph.” Michiru retorted, brushing off her uniform of any dirt, as if Haruka was dirty.

“What are you still doing here? You’re usually the first one out of the building.”

“I’m staying a bit longer today.”

“Let me guess, you don’t have a ride home today do you?” Michiru’s eyes widened. How did Haruka know? “Do you want me to drive you home?”

“Why would I want that?”

“Fine, see you tomorrow then…” Haruka began, before she started to walk away.

“Wait!” Michiru exclaimed, seeing the blonde turn around to face her again. “You can drive me home, but just this once.”

“Alright.”

Both girls walked down the halls of their school, a comfortable distance between them. They walked in silence, neither having anything to say to other. Haruka knew Michiru did not want to talk about the party and she respected that. Though Haruka could not stop thinking about it. She was fascinated with Michiru since the moment she laid eyes on her. But she knew nothing would happen between the two of them. And she was okay with that. When the two reached the school parking lot, Michiru just stood in awe at the car.

“That’s yours?” She asked.

“Yeah. Relative gave it to me.” Haruka said, walking to the passenger’s side opening the door for Michiru. “Thank you.” Was her reply, but Haruka wasn’t expecting much more than that. They drove in silence for a good while, only with Michiru explaining where she lived and how to get there. “I’m assuming you don’t drive.” Haruka said, bored of the silence.

“No, there’s no need to.” Michiru said, with a shrug. There was no real reason to drive when you had someone to drive you around. Michiru rested her head on her palm looking out the window. “Any particular reason you’re taking the long way?”

“Why are you in a rush?”

“No, watching the beach is kind of nice. We rarely go this way…” Michiru said with a smile, watching the waves of the ocean roll in and out.

“You’ve never been to the beach?”

“No I have, but I’ve always loved it.” Small talk, it was nice. And Michiru forgot whom she was with as she spoke; she was just enjoying herself. Haruka was driving quite fast, but after Michiru began speaking it seemed like she slowed down. Not by much, but perhaps to at least the speed limit. Maybe still above it.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like that since the party.” Haruka commented.

“Don’t talk about me like you know me so well.”

“Perhaps I’m wrong, you had that expression when you were sketching at the race as well.”

“Stop it.” Michiru said, flat out, looking over to her. “Just keep quiet and drive.”

“Excuse me? This is my car, and if you don’t want to hear me talking you can get out and find another way home. I’m sure there’s a bus or something.” That was the first time Haruka ever lashed out like that to Michiru. She only responded by sitting back and not saying a word. Take the bus, ha, who did she think she was. But something happened, something Michiru would have never done. “Sorry…” Escaped her lips, at low volume, but Haruka certainly heard her. It was something about the atomosphere. Haruka’s car felt comfortable to her.

“Do you want me to drive you home tomorrow as well?” Haruka asked, turning the corner of Michiru’s block.

“If you want.”

“Then I will.” Haruka said, pulling up in front of the house Michiru pointed to. It was huge, nearly taking up half of the block itself. “Wow.” She said in awe.

“Guess you’ve never seen a house like this before, huh?”

“Nope, can’t say I have. Or well, maybe on television. Never in person, though.”

Michiru wished Haruka were different. She wished she were like her so she could invite her in for some tea. But they came from different worlds, and Michiru would never be caught dead in her home with someone like Haruka. She’d look like she took in a charity case. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Michiru said, getting out of the car and walking up the front steps. She turned around and watched Haruka drive away. “What did I just get myself into…?” She said to herself, before retrieving her keys and opening the door.

Upon arriving she was glad to see her parents were both still at work. “Miss Kaioh you’re home early.” One of the housekeepers said as Michiru was removing her shoes.

“Early dismissal today. Please alert the chauffer I do not need him to pick me up from school for a while. I’ve found another ride home.”

“Yes Miss Kaioh.”

Michiru headed up the stairs to her bedroom. A large room, with walls painted a tiffany blue color. There was a king sized bed in the middle, adorned in a white comforter and pastel colored pillows. She had a bathroom connecting in her room, which also was quite large. Michiru gathered some things and decided to run herself a bath. It’d been a long day and she needed some relief of it.

Chapter Text

“Bonjour tout le monde, aujourd’hui…” Michiru’s French teacher began like she normally would. She’d been having a good week so far. Her lunches had been spent speaking with Ami and Haruka had driven her home. Though she knew eventually she would have to go back to her old life. Her teacher went on saying about how she was picking pairs for group projects on different French speaking nations. She went through a list of names until Michiru finally heard hers. “Kaioh and Tenoh.” Oh great, she thought. The two had been getting along better, but it wasn’t anything Michiru wished to build upon. They had a weird relationship; they kind of just accepted the other was in their life at this point. Nothing that she thought needed, nor that she wanted to make, further development on. Now she would have to. They would both have to.

After the bell rang, Michiru went to head to her next class when Haruka came up to her.

“So shall we go to your house after school to work on this project?” Haruka asked. Yeah, please come to my house with your unironed pants and sloppy attire. Make me look like a fool in front of my family, Michiru thought.

“No.” Michiru responded; she couldn’t take Haruka home she just couldn’t. In fact, she probably never would be able to. They were too different. They belonged to different worlds that wouldn’t collide. They couldn’t. “My father’s having his colleagues over tonight for a dinner.” She lied. “Your house?”

“Alright.” Haruka shrugged. “See you later then.”

Michiru began walking down the halls when she was stopped by her group of friends.

“You’ve ditched us at lunch every day for the past week? What gives?” One of them asked with her hands crossed over her chest. Everyone else in the group was asking things along the same lines.

“I told you I—” Michiru began, but was cut off by someone else.

“Michiru, you’re showing me how to draw figures today, right?” Ami appeared, out of nowhere. And thank the good heavens for that.

“You’re teaching someone how to draw?”

“Ah, yes…” Michiru said nervously. It was so off for her, she was normally good with lying. “Ami is applying for an internship that wants to see people’s more artistic sides than just their intellect, right Ami?”

“Yes, and I never really took an art course so Michiru said she would help me.” Ami said with a smile. She was better at lying than Michiru thought.

“Well we’ll see you later Michiru, we hope you get that job Ami!” Said someone of the group of girls before they continued walking down the hall. Michiru let out a sigh of relief. She really wasn’t good with dealing with her problems.

“Thank you so much…” Michiru said to Ami.

“It’s no problem.” Ami replied before the two began walking to the library like they normally had been doing for the past week. Though Michiru knew eventually she was going to have to tell them the truth, but that would come with due time.

In the school’s gym, the track team was warming up before they would head outside to start running. If you were on a sports team, during your season you weren’t required to take gym. So instead, each team’s gym class was replaced with their sport. Everyone was getting ready to head to the outdoor track, so Haruka went to her bag to get her water. That was when Elsa approached her.

“Hey, Tenoh,” she said, taking a sip of her own water.

“Yeah?” Haruka turned around, confused, nobody referred to her by her last name unless they were a teacher. It sounded strange coming from Elsa. Sometimes people used her last name when they wanted to ask her something. But ask her what?

“What’s been up with you and Michiru?”

“Huh?”

“I see you two leave the school everyday together,” Elsa pointed out, “something’s up between you two and I want to know what. Michiru hasn’t sat with us for lunch the past few days so she hasn’t really spoken to any of us.”

“I just have been driving her home.”

“Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yes.” Haruka said, lifting her bag over her shoulder. “Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna head outside, we need to start running.” And with that, she left the gym, and Elsa. She needed to clear her head, what ever was Elsa getting at? Her and Michiru together – like that? Yeah right. They were just friends. Hell, they weren’t even friends. Though she had to admit, since driving her home, Michiru had opened up a bit. Sometimes she would talk, to herself it sounded like, but out loud. Haruka didn’t comment, just listened. Sometimes about the beach, sometimes about her day, it was different than the normal cold shoulder she seemed to have gotten from her. It was a nice change of pace. Maybe it was because in the car, nobody could hear them or see them. Michiru always acted in front of others; maybe it gave her a sense of security. That she didn’t have to be anyone else than just Michiru. Haruka shook her head before picking up her pace, she was thinking about this too much for her own good.

Chapter Text

At the end of the school day, Michiru met Haruka by her locker like usual. She had already phoned home, letting her parents know that she was going to be at an acquaintance’s to work on a school project. The two of them walked to Haruka’s car in silence. They still stood far apart from one another as if they were to go in different directions. ‘It’s for a project, though… They know you’re working on it together…’ Michiru thought to herself, before taking a small step toward the blonde. Haruka did not even notice what Michiru had did in all honesty.

“Where I stay,” Haruka said, while driving along the road. This was the only place she could have a civilized conversation with Michiru for whatever reason. “It’s well, it’s not as nice as the place you got.”
Michiru just nodded, she figured as much. She knew Haruka certainly did not come from wealth of any kind.
“I clean it, though, so I mean I guess it’s got that going for it.” Haruka laughed, to which Michiru just stared at her through the corner of her eye. Haruka always did this thing when she laughed, she would tilt her head back slightly and her hair would fall in front of her face. It was pleasant to look it, but not something she would stare at directly. The drive went in silence for the most part, as Haruka’s try at conversation failed to peak an interest to the female in the passengers seat, and Michiru made no effort of her own. All that could be heard was the gentle hum of the engine and the occasional ticking noise of the turn signal.

The blonde had made her final turn, pulling up toward a building complex. Michiru stared at it her surroundings; she’d never been to this part of town before. Though, it had been slightly what she expected of the blonde’s home.
“There’s never any god damn parking over here.” Haruka sighed, circling the block looking for a space. “Look at fucking that, these bastards don’t know how to fucking park, this guy’s taking up two spots!” Haruka was mainly talking to herself, though this was the angriest Michiru had seen the blonde. With another circle around the block, however, Haruka had found a spot to park her car.
Michiru got out of the car, feeling a bit out of place here. She thought that this was probably how Haruka felt every day at Mugen. Michiru simply followed Haruka toward her building and walked up the flight of stairs trailing behind her. Luckily Haruka only lived on the second floor, Michiru wasn’t up for much walking today. Haruka stuck her key in the hole, opening the door to her apartment. Michiru, once again, followed behind her. It wasn’t as small as she was expecting. Her living room and kitchen were combined, then there were two doors, which she presumed lead to Haruka’s room and a bathroom.

“You live here on your own?” Michiru asked.
“Mhmm…” Haruka answered, placing her school bag down on the floor and kicking her shoes off. “For a few months, actually, January if I’m correct. You can put your stuff down if you want, make yourself comfortable. I’d offer some food, but all I got is some water bottles.” The blonde said, making her way into the kitchen to retrieve one for herself. “Oh and I got some grapes. You want any?”
“I’m fine…” Michiru said, sitting on the blonde’s couch and placing her bag down next to her. She tried to get comfortable, but it was just so much information coming in at once. “Do you mind me asking –”
“Why I live here on my own?” Haruka interrupted.
“I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to…”
“My parents were drug addicts. State took me away from them when I was around five, put me in a shitty ass boarding school so I could have a home and food and an education, when I turned sixteen I got myself out of there.” Haruka said, opening her bottle of water and taking a sip. “So now I live here. Legally, I didn’t have to go back to school, could’ve dropped out, but Mugen thought I had potential, so I took their offer. I get my breakfast and lunch there, sometimes take a little extra for dinner.”
“I’m sorry.” Michiru said. She was now realizing that she was slandering this poor girl and making fun of her when she had been through so much.
“It’s not your fault, last time I checked you weren’t either of my parents.” Haruka said, trying to make light of the situation.
“I meant for what I’ve been doing, how I’ve been treating you.”
“You put on a show for those girls you hang out with.” Haruka stated, sitting on the opposite side of the couch.
“Everyone seems to say that…” Michiru said, looking down at her lap.
“Probably cause it’s true.” Haruka shrugged. “We should probably work on this project, shouldn’t we? That’s why you’re here after all.” The blonde said as she reached into her school bag for her notebook and the papers their teacher had given them.

Chapter Text

Monday’s at school were always a drag. Michiru sat in homeroom, sorting her papers in her folder. She had to hand in a research paper for majority of her classes during this week. All of the teachers seemed to do that before spring break. Her project with Haruka was also to be presented today, which they spent all of last week and the weekend finishing up. Michiru liked perfection, and she liked having an excuse to spend more time with the blonde. They definitely were growing closer, just in private.

“Michiru are you coming to my race this Saturday? You’ve missed the last few.” Elsa asked, sitting next to her best friend.
“Hm?” Michriu looked over to Elsa. “You hadn’t asked me to come.”
“That’s because I barely see you anymore!” Elsa pointed out. “You don’t sit with me at lunch anymore and we don’t ride home together.”
“I’ll be at your race, don’t worry.” Michiru said, placing her folders away in her bag once again. “Same time as usual?”
“Yes. And then you can come over after, I need your help setting up.”
“Setting up for what exactly?” Michiru asked, furrowing her brows.
“My party! Remember, every weekend before the week of spring break my parents go away to have some alone time before they have to deal with me for the whole week.” Elsa stated. “So they leave Friday and I decided to throw a party since the house will be empty. I texted you about it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry Elsa,” Michiru apologized with sincerity. “I’ve just been so busy finishing my papers and homework.”
“You’re coming though, right?” Elsa asked, as if that was the only thing she was concerned with.
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Great! Will you be joining us for lunch today?”
“I need to finish up my literature paper.” Michiru lied, as she finished all of her papers over the weekend. “So probably not.”
“Whatever.” Elsa said, standing up. “See you Saturday than, I guess.”
Michiru just sighed to herself. She knew she was not going to be able to keep this up for so long. She’d either have to come forward and say that she enjoyed a quiet lunch with the occasional chatter with Ami than gossiping with any of her supposed group of friends. Perhaps she’d tell them after they got back from spring break. That would give her time to think about how she was going to do it. If she was going to do it, that was.

Lunch period eventually rolled around. Michiru’s morning classes had went well, her presentation with Haruka went smoother than expected. Her other classes also went fine, they carried on as normal with lessons and note taking. It was nice to just be able to sit and enjoy some quiet. Her and Ami rarely made conversation. They were both so absorbed in their personal enjoyments, while enjoying the other’s company. Ami was reading a book, a new one Michiru noted, probably having finished the one she was reading the previous weeks. Michiru was working on one of her sketches. She wasn’t sure if she was going to hand this one in. It had no real meaning; it was basically her mind taking control of the pencil in her hand. Her artwork usually was nature or destruction, sometimes both combined. Today, however, she seemed to have absentmindedly drawn a garden. The petals were blowing in the wind, but not in a harmful matter, as if it was a calm day with a gentle breeze. It was different; but Michiru liked it. Her hand reached in her bag to retrieve her colored pencils, when she saw her phone was blinking with a new message. She rarely used her phone during school, but always had it on her person. Michiru took it out, deciding it wouldn’t be so bad to check it. It was lunch after all, not like she could get in trouble.

*2 new messages from Haruka*
[Text ½:] Lunch is boring don’t you think?
[Text 2/2:] Come for a walk with me?

*Reply*
[Text 1/1:] Not now, working on term papers

*3 new messages from Haruka*
[Text 1/3:] Boring
[Text 2/3:] You doing anything later?
[Text 3/3:] Let’s take a walk on the beach

*Reply*
[Text 1/1:] Sounds lovely

Michiru answered, before placing her phone down and taking a sip from her water bottle. She hadn’t realized that her face seemed to grow hot, her cheeks a lovely shade of pink. She just thought perhaps it had been too hot in the library for her. The weather outside was changing after all; springtime was surely coming.
“Who are you texting? Haruka?” Ami asked, not even picking her head up from her book. Michiru just stared at her awestruck.
“How could you tell?” Michiru asked. She could be honest with Ami, she wasn’t like her circle of friends. Ami would never dare make fun of her.
“You have this smile on your face, and your cheeks are all red.” Ami pointed out, placing her bookmark in the folds of the pages before closing her book.
“Is it that obvious?” Michiru said, looking down embarrassedly at her lap.
“That you like her? Or that you were talking to her?” Ami asked flat out, to which Michiru grew even redder than she already was.
“I don’t like her.” Michiru stated, trying to keep a serious tone. “Well, I mean, I don’t hate her… But I’m not in love with her or anything.” Love was such a strong word. Michiru simply felt sorry for the blonde, but she couldn’t mention that to Ami. It wasn’t her business to tell about Haruka’s life. Even if she could trust Ami, it wasn’t her business. Ami decided to drop the subject and leave it at that.

Before Michiru knew it, she was sitting in the passenger’s seat of Haruka’s car. The school day always seemed to go quick after lunch. It was most likely because she had fewer classes in the afternoon than the morning. But she couldn’t have been more grateful that that was the case.
“I think we aced our presentation today.” Haruka said, looking for a parking space by the beach. It wasn’t that difficult, since not many went to the beach at this time of the year.
“Mhmm.” Michiru nodded, eyes glued on the shore. “Well, there is always room for improvement, but we surely did alright.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, we did fantastic.” Haruka said, pulling into the parking space. “We did work on it like all last week.” She said, turning the ignition off, and unbuckling her seat belt. Michiru began to do the same. Soon enough the two were walking toward the beach. It was colder than Michiru had expected, however.
“It’s so nice out, don’t you think.” Haruka stated, taking a deep breath and taking in the scent of the ocean.
“A little cold, but other than that, yes it’s pretty nice.” Michiru said, taking a moment to close her eyes. The beach had always been where she felt truly at peace. However, after a minute or so of just taking it all in, she felt more weight on her shoulders. When she opened her eyes, she saw Haruka’s blazer draped over her.
“Better?” The blonde asked, adjusting her shirt that seemed to get a little wrinkled underneath the jacket.
“Aren’t you cold now?” Michiru asked.
“Nah, I like the wind.” Haruka said, quite proudly. “Here let me fix this, I just didn’t want to startle you before.” The blonde commented, helping Michiru put the sleeves on, so she could really be warm.
“Th-thank you…” Michiru said, looking to the floor as she felt her face grow hot again.
“You going to Elsa’s party on Saturday?” Haruka asked, trying to make small talk.
“I kind of have to… She is my best friend after all.” More like was. “Why she invited you?”
“The whole team. I wasn’t thinking of going, though. But if you’ll be there maybe I will.”
“If you think I’ll do what I did at the first party, you’re wrong.” Michiru added. “I’m not drinking this time. The hangover the next morning was not worth it.”
“Afraid you might kiss me again?” Haruka asked, joking around.
“I don’t even want to go.” Michiru stated, flat out. “Say what are you doing Friday?”
“Well the library that’s shutting down near my place gave me some of their old comics, so I was going to probably just stay in and read them.” Haruka said. “Why?”
“Would you like to… come over for dinner?” Michiru asked, cheeks growing redder.
“Are you asking me out?” Haruka said, slyly.
“No.” Michiru blurted. “I mean, not like on a date…”
“I’m teasing Michi, I’d love to come.” Haruka said, placing an arm around the other. “The wind is starting to pick up. How about we head back?”
“Sounds good…”

Chapter Text

“And then I’ll… Haruka!” One of Haruka’s friends and teammates called to her.

“I’m listening, I’m listening!” Haruka said, snapping out of her daydream. “Question, if you were going out to dinner what would you wear?”

“Why the hell are you asking me? You got a date or something?” The girl, Sofia, asked, while tying her hair up into a ponytail.

“I wouldn’t call it a date more like a pity party.” Oli, another friend of Haruka’s, commented. “It’s with the high society Michiru Kaioh.” He continued, making fun of the girl in question in the process. “Oh Haruka, please come to my expensive home where I feed you expensive foods and pretend I care.”

“Hey c’mon you guys, she’s not that bad…” Haruka stated as she was tying her sneaker’s laces. “Besides, it’s not a pity party, she just invited me over for dinner, I think we’ve been getting along better since I’ve been driving her home.” The blonde shrugged

“She’s no good for you, you know that.” Sofia stated. “She’s only doing this so you don’t show up at Elsa’s party the next day. I’d watch out, maybe she’ll liquor you up with rich people poison and you won’t wake up until you’re already late.”

“Which we still don’t think you should go to. None of us are going.” Percy, another friend chimed in. “In fact, we’re going for lunch after the race and then to my place. You’re more than welcome to come. And if Michiru is just like you say she is, than invite her. Maybe she’ll show up.”

“I can’t ask her to do that, Elsa is like her best friend.” Haruka said, scratching the back of her neck. “However, I can join you for lunch on my own if you don’t mind.”

“Alright, suit yourself. Now come on, let’s go practice before coach starts yelling.”

Meanwhile, at lunch, Michiru sat opposite from Ami, as per usual. Michiru had been twiddling her pencil. Her paper had been blank, having no muse for anything.

“How’s the piece coming?” Ami asked, her head buried in this week’s book. “You seem to be a little distracted today.”

“I guess I just have no inspiration.” Michiru sighed, putting her pencil down, and placing it in the pages of her book. Something was up today.

“Something’s distracting you.” Ami commented, “Plans for the evening?”

“Haruka’s coming over… My parents won’t be home.” Michiru said, staring at the table. “I thought it’d be nice to hang out with her in an actual place that wasn’t a car.”

“Sounds nice.” Ami stated, “Any other plans for the evening? You said you two are going to be home alone.”

Michiru raised a brow in confusion, while a hue of pink flushed her cheeks. Her head tilted down to get a glimpse of the title of Ami’s book. “What on earth do you read to get that sort of impression… I didn’t take you for such a perv Ami. Perhaps you’d like copies of my nudity pieces.”

All Ami could do in response was hide her head behind her book, as her cheeks flared a bright red shade. Luckily, Michiru decided to leave her alone and check her phone. Haruka seemed to pick up the habit of texting her at lunchtime. She was happy that they were growing closer.

*3 new messages from Haruka*

[1/3:] Hey, wandering around the cafeteria

[2/3:] Where are you, you wanna hang out?

[3/3:] Don’t see you around here.

*Reply*

[1/1:] Library

“You don’t mind if Haruka joins us do you?” Michiru asks, closing her sketchbook and putting into her bag. She wasn’t going to get any drawing done anyway.

“Not at all.” Ami said, putting her bookmark into her page. “We’ve never really spoke much, she did ask me for notes in class once.”

“Let me guess, trigonometry?” Michiru asked, causing a smile to form on her lips.

“Mhmm.” Ami stated, causing both of the girls to giggle. During this, Haruka walked through the doors of the school’s library. It was easy for her to spot the two, as they were the only ones aside from the librarian in there.

“Ah so this is where you hide at lunch. I knew I heard one less voice from your table.” Haruka said, taking the seat next to Michiru. “Though, they do chatter up a storm as usual. Luckily it sounds like mumbles from where I sit.”

“I guess you could say that.” Michiru shrugged. She didn’t want to talk about the group of snotty bitches she unfortunately called friends. “Listen, I was unsure what to tell our home’s cook what you wanted for dinner tonight, so I settled on homemade pizza. Is that alright? I could always call and request something different…”

“Yeah that’s good! I’m excited about tonight actually.” Haruka smiled. “I haven’t had a home cooked meal in a while actually.” The blonde said so casually. Michiru looked over to Ami, head buried in her book once again. She didn’t really know how to respond. Luckily, a bell rang, signaling that she didn’t have to make small talk anymore. The trio stood up, each gathering their own things and heading on their paths to classes.

History was always a drag. They taught you the same things over and over again and expect for you to get a new reaction out of it, Michiru thought to herself, copying occasional notes the teacher said into her notebook. They’d cover the same war so many times; you would think the instructor would understand that they knew it by now.

“Mich…” Elsa whispered, leaning up toward the other girl’s chair. “What time are you coming by tonight?”

“Tonight?” Michiru turned around when she knew her teacher wasn’t looking. “I said I would come over after your race tomorrow.”

“You’re making it like you have plans.” Elsa stated.

“Maybe I do.”

“Oh yeah? With who?”

Michiru didn’t know how to answer. How was she supposed to say that Haruka was coming over? So all she did was turn around, as if she suspected the teacher was going to look at her or catch her talking.

“Why do you keep ignoring me? All of us? Are you hiding something Michiru?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow Elsa.” Michiru turned back to say.

“No, you know what, you’re not invited. Don’t even think about coming.”

Chapter Text

The drive to Michiru’s house felt endless. Haruka had dropped her off after school earlier, but the blonde insisted she needed to stop home first to run some errands. Bull shit, she was just nervous. She hated to admit, but her friend’s opinions on Michiru were partially correct. Mostly on the fact that she had more money than god and that made Haruka nervous. But pulling up to Michiru’s house snapped her out of her daze. Michiru said it was alright for her to pull into their driveway, as she knew how much Haruka got frustrated over looking for parking. She just sat there for e minute. Haruka was at a loss for words. She was completely awestruck. Sure, she drove Michiru home everyday to this house, but this was the first time she was going to actually go inside.

It took Haruka a good five minutes to get out of the car and walk up to the door. But once she finally did, she raised her hand to ring the bell and anxiously waited. The blonde honestly didn’t know what she was expecting inside, but she was surprised and relieved when Michiru answered the door for her.

“You know for a minute I didn’t think you would show.” Michiru said while giggling and holding the door for Haruka. For a moment they just stood there, neither knowing if they should hug or just leave it at proper greetings.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Haruka said, nervously scratching the back of her neck, “I had to do some stuff before stopping by and well, guess I loss track of time.”

“It’s no problem.” Michiru smiled, “I had the chef prepare the food before you came so it’s just the two of us here now. I decided to give him the night off. After all, it is Friday. So if you’re hungry we can eat now, but if not—”

“No, I’m actually starving so we can eat now!” Haruka exclaimed, before realizing that she cut Michiru off. She may not have been raised in a house like this, but she definitely had manners. “Oh I’m sorry I uh…”

“No, its fine you’re hungry I get it.” Michiru giggled again, causing Haruka to blush. She didn’t know how happy Michiru could get. “Allow me to show you the kitchen so we can eat.” She said, taking Haruka’s hand and walking through the den in which they were standing in, past the dining room and into the kitchen itself. Haruka could see the living room was across the hall, as well as a rather large staircase that lead upstairs. The house was huge, to say the least.

Once the two were in the kitchen, Haruka took a seat at the island counter while Michiru took both plates for them that she had made set up earlier.

“I hope you don’t mind we sit in here.” Michriu said, taking a seat across from Haruka. “I just thought it would be easier in here than at the table in the dining room because, well there’s only the two of us and –”

“Hey,” Haruka said cutting her off, purposely this time, “I don’t mind one bit.” The blonde said, causing Michiru to smile, a genuine smile that Haruka had never seen before.

“Sorry, most people I have over aren’t as, how do I put this…”

“Poor.”

“I was going to say less opinionated.” Michiru said, “Mostly the people are my parent’s business associates. In fact, I rarely even make the decisions around here. If my parent’s were home we’d be in the dining room being waited on like we weren’t even in our own home.”

“And is that why you chose tonight for me to come over?” Haruka asked, before taking a bite of her pizza. “Holy shit this is delicious.”

“Well that,” Michiru said before having some of her own food as well. “And because, well, they’re not the most… understanding people. I usually don’t have friends over like this.”

“What do you mean?” Haruka asked, continuing to eat her pizza. She made sure not to talk with her mouthful, though it was hard since she was quite hungry and the food was just that good.

“I usually only have people over when they aren’t home.” Michiru stated, taking a sip of water. “Not like a party, there’s too much value here to have one of those rambunctious parties. But my parents don’t usually enjoy company that isn’t for business. Play dates are for children, after all.”

Haruka could only nod along. Living on her own allowed her to have whoever over whenever she pleased. But she did get the strict rules some people set. Though Haruka did feel honored to let Michiru invite her over when it was probably not in her best interest.

The rest of dinner was ate in silence.

~

After dinner, the two found themselves seated on Michiru’s living room couch. There was a comfortable distance between them, but for such a large couch they were seated quite close together. The television was on at a low volume, on one of the local news channels.

“Oh hey,” Haruka said trying to bring up conversation since they hadn’t spoke since dinner, “I’m not going to be able to make it to the party tomorrow.”

“What party?” Michiru asked coldly, trying to forget what happened between her and Elsa at school earlier that day.

“Elsa’s tomorrow. My team is going out for lunch after the race, and we would have invited Elsa but, it is her party so if you could let her know we’re sorry that we couldn’t make it.” Haruka said, not knowing what happened between Michiru and Elsa at school that day.

“Tell her yourself.” Michiru said, staring at her nails, it seemed as though a manicure was in order from looking at them too long. Perhaps she would do that tomorrow while everyone else was at the party.

“Excuse me?” Haruka asked, not understanding where this cold shoulder was coming from, especially because she hadn’t thought she had done anything to anger Michiru.

“I’m not going either. I was uninvited.”

“Oh, Michiru I’m so sorry I didn’t know.”

“How would you?” Michiru said, looking toward the blonde.

“I don’t know I just… Well if you’re free you can come to lunch with us after the race.” Haruka said, trying to cheer her friend up, if she could even consider Michiru a friend at this point. Perhaps acquaintance would be a better word.

“You know what,” Michiru began, “that sounds nice. Sure I’ll come. Where are you guys going?”

“Oh, you know I’m not sure yet, but I’ll give you a ride to wherever it may be.” The blonde said while being to laugh, and Michiru joined in with her.

“Tonight has been nice.” Michiru said, nonchalantly moving closer to the blonde. Haruka, however, did not notice. “I don’t think I’ve had such a good time in a while. I hope we can do this again sometime.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Haruka said, turning her head to Michiru, noticing that she seemed to have gotten closer. “You know after lunch tomorrow, you’re more than welcome to come back to my place.”

“That sounds nice.” Michriu smiled, looking down at her lap. “I can’t promise such a pleasant mood, however. I’m quite upset with Elsa.”

“You have every right to be.” Haruka stated. “However, I do think that group of girls aren’t good for you.”

“I hate to admit it, but I think you’re right.” Michiru sighed. “And I think I’ve known that for a while now…”

“But you know, you’re not entitled to be friends with anyone that you don’t want.” Haruka said, trying to give her two cents to the situation.

“I know, I know, it’s just…” Michiru began, not knowing where to go with her sentence, so she decided to just stop talking. The two sat in silence for a little more, a common occurrence of the night it seemed. Haruka got a glance of the clock on the wall, realizing that it was nearly midnight.

“Hey, it’s getting late…” Haruka said, “I have to be at the race pretty early tomorrow, so I think I’m going to get going.”

“Alright.” Michiru said, beginning to stand up, and Haruka did the same as well. However, Haruka failed to realize how close Michiru was sat next to her, so when they booth stood up their faces were very close to one another.

“Um, hey sorry.” Haruka said, taking a step back and failing to realize the couch was behind her, causing her to fall back on to it.

Michiru offered her hand to help the blonde get back up. However, Haruka didn’t realize that Michiru wasn’t as strong as she was, so when Michiru tried to pull her up, she went down with her in the process landing on Haruka’s lap. The two giggled, banging their foreheads together.

“Perhaps this is the universe telling me not to go home yet, huh.” Haruka said, causing Michiru to continue her fit of giggles. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy, you know? Except maybe when you’re drawing or watching the ocean.”

“You’ve told me that before.” Michiru pointed out, tucking her hair behind her ear with her hand.

“Have I?” Haruka said, realizing that Michiru wasn’t moving any time soon.

“Mhmm, but I yelled at you for it.” Michiru stated. “It was the first time you drove me home. When you almost kicked me out to find a bus.”

“Ah yes…” Haruka said, mindlessly stroking Michiru’s hair. “I do remember.”

“You really should get going.” Michiru said, not wanting to hold the blonde up any longer.

“Well, I would, however there is something blocking my way.”

“Oh right.” Michiru said, cheeks turning a pink hue, before standing up off of Haruka’s lap. “Sorry.”

“No big deal.” Haruka said standing up herself.

“Before you go,” Michiru said, walking Haruka toward the door, “there is something I wanted to give you.”

“Hm? And what is that?”

“This.” Michiru said, before cupping the blonde’s cheeks and rising up on her tiptoes to kiss her. It was short and sweet, much different from their first kiss at the party. “Good night.”

“Yeah… g-good night…” Haruka said, showing herself out. When she got into her car, everything that happened finally registered in her brain, and her cheeks were burning red.

Perhaps acquaintance wasn’t the right word after all.

Chapter Text

– Beep beep beep –

Michiru groaned, stirring in her deep sleep as she heard her phone buzzing; it was the alarm she set to be up in time for the race. She contemplated skipping out on the race and just going back to sleep. She wouldn’t have to see Elsa that way. However, she did promise Haruka that she would go, and she was looking forward to that. The aqua haired girl sat up and stretched out her arms. She gave herself enough time to hop in a quick shower and do some makeup before having to head to the school’s track field.

While Michiru had enjoyed a well nights rest, Haruka absolutely had not. As soon as she got home she sat on the couch staring at the wall aimlessly for at least a half hour. Michiru had kissed her, sober and willingly. And Haruka kissed her back. By the time she finally registered everything that happened, it was at least two o’clock in the morning. As soon as she finally got to sleep, it was time to get up and get to the field.

As she was running around the field for warm ups, her friends were all talking about where they could go for lunch after.
“I’m so in the mood for a burger. Like a really good burger.” Sofia said, stopping in her tracks to stretch out her legs. “Can we go to that old school diner for lunch today?”
“Oh my god I haven’t been there in ages,” Oli stated. “Sound good Haruka?”
But Haruka didn’t answer. She was too busy thinking about what happened the night before.
“Hey Haruka? Haruka?” Oli said, waving his hand in front of the blonde’s face, snapping his fingers as well. “You okay?”
“Hm?” Haruka said, finally snapping out of her daze. “Y-yeah I’m fine. The diner sounds good. Oh by the way, Michiru is going to be joining us.”
“Oh man,” Percy chimed in, catching up to the group as he was jogging. “Is that what you’re all la-la over today? That your girlfriend is coming.”
“She’s not my girlfriend guys…” Yet anyway, Haruka thought but didn’t add in. It was none of their business what Michiru was to her.
“Didn’t you go over to her house last night?” Sofia asked.
“Yeah.” Haruka said, nonchalantly. She didn’t want them to get the wrong idea.
“Bet it was super big.” Oli stated.
“Were you waited on like royalty?” Sofia asked, giggling in the process. Haruka contemplated telling them it was just her and Michiru there, but she knew that would give them the wrong idea.
“Guys come on, if you’re gonna act like this I might have to ditch you for lunch.” The blonde said, stretching her arms up, preparing to start running again.
“And hang out with your girlfriend?” Sofia teased, before Haruka began to run off again.

The race was to begin at ten in the morning. So Michiru arrived at nine to ensure that she got a good seat. Close enough to see what was going on, but far enough away from Elsa and their group of friends. Part of her wished that she would have invited Ami to sit with her, but it would have been rude since she would just end up ditching her later. As soon as she was situated, she could feel someone standing behind her. She prayed that if she turned around it wouldn’t be Elsa.
“Hey, long time no see.” Haruka said from behind her, and Michiru gave a sigh of relief.
“We just saw each last night.” Michiru pointed out while turning around, before realizing the other was being facetious. “Oh, you were joking around…”
“Yeah, it’s fine though. You’re here kind of early.” Haruka stated, before hopping over the bleacher and sitting down next to Michiru.
“Isn’t it better to be early?” Michiru asked, hoping not to seem too eager.
“I’m teasing Michiru.” Haruka said, “Me, you, Oli, Sof, and Perc are all going to this super old school diner. Burgers, milkshakes all that jazz.”
“Sounds like fun. I’ve never been to a diner before.”
“NO! How?!”
“Well, they’re for, how do I put this…”
“The poor.”
“Oh will you stop with that.” Michiru said. “I don’t really go out for dinner at all. Except for my parent’s snobby business dinners where everyone pretends to like each other.”
“Well, you’ll love it. Though I gotta drive us all there and then everyone else home.” The blonde stated, wishing she could get a little more alone time with Michiru. “But then it’ll be just you and me and my place, and that’ll be fun.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Michiru smiled, watching Haruka stand up and make her way back over to the field.

————————————

As soon as the race was over, Michiru took it upon herself to wait by Haruka’s car. She always parked in the lot. Elsa always got picked up in the front. And luckily it seemed that their group of friends had skipped out on the race to get ready for the big party tonight.
“There you are!” Haruka exclaimed when she saw Michiru waiting by her car.
“What’s the matter, didn’t know where the gym locker was?” Oli teased, as Sofia and Percy began to laugh with him.
“Very funny. I thought we agreed to meet by the car.” Michiru said coldly. Her own friends didn’t like her, and now she would have to deal with Haruka’s friends not liking her either.
“Come on guys, get in the car or I’m leaving you here.” Haruka said, rolling down the window and honking the horn. Michiru took it upon herself to get in the front seat, which luckily was not a problem with the other. Little did she know what they thought about their relationship.
“I can’t believe we lost today. It was definitely Elsa’s fault,” Sofia started. “too wrapped up in her party. I told coach that she shouldn’t be our final runner.”
“Yeah.” Percy stated. “We were so close, she was definitely distracted. She could’ve picked up her pace last second to win for us.”
“Guys it doesn’t matter,” Haruka said, turning the corner and onto the highway. “We still have two more races before semi-finals. We’ll make it in.”
Michiru just sat in silence the entire car ride. She felt so out of place. She was paying attention to the race sure, but she didn’t understand the dynamics of it. Haruka said that the car ride to the diner would be at least twenty minutes. So for twenty minutes she listened to Haruka and her group of friends talk about not winning the race, how to do better next time, and their pathetic excuses of lives. She was just glad that they weren’t making fun of her. Yet anyway.

Arriving at the diner, Michiru wasn’t surprised that there was barely any wait time. The five of them were seated at a rather large booth. Haruka and Michiru were on one side, while Sofia, Oli, and Percy were sat on the other.
“Hey Haruka,” Sofia began, “you did tell your girlfriend that this isn’t fancy rich people food, didn’t ya?”
“I’m not her girlfriend.” Michiru stated, quite coldly.
“Guys come on, let’s just order so we can get our food quicker, I’m starved.” Haruka said, gazing through the menu.
“Burger with fries.” Sofia said.
“BLT with extra bacon.” Oli added. “And onion rings on the side.”
“Cheese burger with cheese fries.” Percy said.
“And a chocolate milkshake.” All three said, simultaneously.
“How about you Michiru, what are you getting?” Haruka asked, still flipping through the menu as she really was unsure of what to get.
“Hm, I’m not sure…” Michiru said, gazing at the menu herself. “Perhaps a caesar salad, with no croutons or dressing.”
“What, pretty rich girl on a diet?” Percy snarked, causing his two friends seated next to him to laugh.
“Or maybe its because I’d rather not stuff my face with grease and oil.” Michiru said, shutting her menu.
“Maybe I’ll have a grilled cheese. I tried to make one of those the other day, didn’t turn out so good. Thankfully my neighbors ordered pizza and I got to have some of that.” Haruka said, laughing. “Maybe a coke with it. I’m not really in the mood for ice cream.”
“Oh yeah,” Oli said, “Michiru what are you gonna drink?”
“Lemon water.” Michiru said, not feeling up to eating anything heavy.

Lunch went smoothly. Of course, Haruka’s friends enjoyed poking fun at Michiru, but nothing could have been worse than what her friends said to her. They didn’t know how to act around a girl with money, she knew that. Luckily all three of them were gone, and Haruka was driving Michiru back to her apartment for the rest of the day.

Things definitely were going to get a lot better.

Chapter Text

Michiru couldn’t have been more happy to be sitting on Haruka’s crappy torn up couch. Michiru knew people didn’t generally like her. Her own friends didn’t like her, but that was their group dynamic. None of them liked each other. They all tried to outshine each other with who had more money, nicer things, and who was smarter. But Haruka’s friend group liked each other. When they made fun of each other it was all good natured. She knew they didn’t like her, and that was bothering her. But she was going to just forget about anything negative until she got home.
———————
“So what did you think?” Haruka asked, sitting herself down on the couch after placing two glasses of tap water on the table.
“Of what?” Michiru asked, taking her own glass and taking a sip. For tap water it was surprisingly cold.
“Everything. The race, my friends.”
“Well, you certainly ran well,” Michiru began, “even though you didn’t win it seemed like you were doing well. I certainly could never run that fast.”
“And my friends?”
“They seem like a nice bunch.” Michiru said, lying through her teeth. She didn’t want to upset Haruka, especially because her friends seemed to like Haruka plenty. They just didn’t like Michiru.
“I apologize for them being… How do I put this…” Haruka trailed off, trying to come up for the right word to describe her group of friends. Michiru could think of a few ways to end this sentence: annoying, loud, obnoxious, but she decided to keep her mouth shut.
“It doesn’t matter.” Michiru said, since it seemed like Haruka was never going to finish. “I had a nice time.”
“Really?” Haruka said, with apparent shock in her tone of voice. “I was worried that you weren’t having much fun.”
“Oh?” Michiru said, placing her glass down. She wasn’t, but she tried her best to make it seem like she was at least enjoying herself. It was rather difficult, however. Especially since every mood she made was followed by a snide remark from one of the three.
“It’s just, they think we’re dating…” Haruka began, before her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink, similar to the blush Michiru seemed to wear. “So they think it’s fun to tease me about it. And they teased you because of it.”
“They think we’re dating?” Michiru asked, part of her shocked and the other curious. Sure, they hung out a lot, or more than they used to. But did people really jump to such conclusions so quickly.
“Yeah, I guess it’s cause, I like you Michiru…” Haruka said, facing away from the aqua haired girl. “And well, I guess I’m not that easy with hiding it…”
“Haruka I didn’t know…” Michiru stated, honestly not knowing. Sure, she thought about the blonde before, but she didn’t know that it was both ways.
“You can go, if you want… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable today. I just thought it would be nice, you know? You just got in a big fight with your best friend yesterday, and —“
“Elsa is not my best friend. None of them are. And I’m not going anywhere.” Michiru stated. “Haruka, I like you, too. Why do you think I kissed you last night?”
“Honestly, I have no idea, but I was thinking about it all night.” Haruka began, turning back to face Michiru. “I lost sleep over it, I didn’t know why you did it, all I know is you did and it drove me crazy.”
“In a good way?” Michiru asked, honestly curious.
“Of course in a good way. The first time I kissed you you didn’t want me to speak you. Now you come over and you let me over and you kissed me and I just, I don’t know Michiru. I was so confused.”
“But you liked it?”
“Like isn’t the right word. There isn’t a right word for what I felt.”
“Would you want to do it again?” Michiru asked.

But she didn’t get a verbal answer. Instead the blonde leaned over breaking the distance of the two by kissing her. Michiru didn’t hesitate to grab Haruka’s shirt and pull her closer. The first kiss at the party they shared was a drunken haze. Last night’s kiss was sweet and gentle. This was no where near that. The two pulled apart for a minute, and Michiru immediately asserted herself as the more dominant one in this situation. She moved herself to straddle Haruka’s lap, and the blonde took it upon herself to lay back. It wasn’t too long until their lips were locked again, tongues swirling around one another, hands wandering around each other’s back. Haruka nervously slipped her hands under Michiru’s shirt, to which Michiru let out a soft mewl. Michiru broke the kiss for a moment.
“Haruka, are we going to… finish this or?”
“D-do you want to?”
“I mean, it’s up to you.” Michiru began. “We can just keep it with a little touching, but I might need to excuse myself later if we go too far.”
“I don’t think I’m ready to, you know, sleep with you.”
“That’s fine, I just didn’t want to go too far.” Michiru smiled, pushing a piece of Haruka’s hair back behind her ear, as the blonde began to sit herself up a bit. “Do you want to stop?”
“No, we can just keep kissing.” Haruka stated. “Do you want to spend the night?”
“Yeah, I think I might.”
—————
The next morning, Michiru woke up to Haruka in her small full size bed. She didn’t mind, though. Haruka’s arms were wrapped around Michiru’s waist, holding her close. Michiru was wearing Haruka’s shirt and shorts that she borrowed to sleep in. Haruka stirred in her sleep, removing her arms from Michiru to stretch them out.
“Morning,” Michiru yawned, turning around to face the blonde.
“Hey, sleep well?”
“Yes, I did. It was nice.” Michiru smiled. “Your shirt is very soft.”
“Is it now?” Haruka chuckled. The two began just to talk about nothing in particular.

To say the least, it was a good night and it was going to be a good morning.

Chapter Text

Michiru knew she was someone who liked to distance herself from things after they happened. So it just so conveniently happened that her spring break fell right after the events with Haruka. Her family went away to the Caribbean, which was a very nice space to clear her head. Her parents asked her if she wanted international coverage for the week, which she politely declined. That way she did’t have to hear from anyone, and she would have an excuse for ignoring miss texts and calls from Haruka. She didn’t know how any of it was going to come up. She would go back to school, where eventually she would have to face everyone.

Did she regret anything she did? No, of course not. But she wished she would have thought more rationally about everything that happened the past few weeks.
———
Though when it was the Monday to return to school, everything seemed to return to normal. At exactly a quarter past seven, Haruka’s car was outside Michiru’s home. However, this time when she arrived inside there was something different. In Haruka’s hand was a cup of what one could only assume was coffee, and another cup sat in the adjacent cup holder.

“Well you look nice and tan.” Haruka said with a smile, as she placed her to go cup down.
“I’m so sorry for not returning your calls. I didn’t have service.” Michiru apologized, half telling the truth, only leaving out that she opted not to have any service.
“That’s for you.”
“Hm?”
“The tea.” Haruka said, pointing at the cup that didn’t belong to her as she began to back out of the driveway. “I bought it for you.”
“Thank you…” Michiru said, reaching to pick it up.
“I got a job over the break,” Haruka began, “at the local coffee shop. I only clean the tables and the counters and shit, but I get the employee discount. Free beverages.”
Michiru only nodded as she took a sip of the tea. For someone who drank tea as much as she did, she couldn’t identify the certain type. In all honesty, it wasn’t the best tea she’s ever had. But, she didn’t complain, placing the cup down with a smile.
“It’s not the best, I know, the place is pretty crappy. But it’s just a few blocks down from my apartment and I thought it’d be nice.”
“Haruka, it’s fine.” Michiru said, turning her gaze out the window. “I’m not looking forward to school today. At all.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Haruka asked, as she continued driving her normal way to school.
“Meet me in the library for lunch?” Michiru asked, knowing sometimes the track team met for practice during the lunch period when they were nearing semi-finals.
“Sounds like a plan.” Haruka said, aimlessly reaching over to grab Michiru’s hand. And Michiru calmly pulled her hand away before the blonde could grasp it. They didn’t have time to speak about where they stood together, and in all honesty, Michiru would prolong it as much as possible.

———

Homeroom was a drag. Michiru was sitting, writing little notes in her planner for the following week. She had papers to hand in today, and she was marking the other papers and tests she had upcoming. She was hoping the real part of school was not going to be the hard part of coming back after break; the hardest was going to be dealing with her classmates.

“Well, well,” said a familiar voice. And with that, Michiru felt her entire body go numb. She didn’t even need to look at who was talking, but she perked her head up anyway. Stood in front of her was Elsa, whom she hadn’t spoken to since history class that day. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“What do you want Elsa?” Michiru asked, trying to concentrate on anything but the girl stood in front of her. “I’m busy.”
“I just want to talk to you.” Elsa said, taking her seat next to the teal haired girl. “We literally haven’t spoken in forever. I saw you at the race before you left, and you didn’t even have the decency to come over to me and apologize.”
“Apologize for what?” Michiru asked, closing her book and putting her pencil in to mark her place. “You made it clear you didn’t want me to talk to you or come to your party, so I didn’t.”
“So you’re just going to throw away your social life because we had a little fight? Come on Michi, let’s just hang out and talk like old times.” Elsa said, almost as if it were a command and not a question for Michiru to decide for herself on. “Will I see you at lunch today?”

Michiru honestly had to think for a moment on whether or not she was going to be joining Elsa and the group for lunch. Sure, she was looking forward to Amis calm nature, but she was not looking forward to having to discuss where her and Haruka stood. Though, that was much better than having to explain everything to her supposed group of friends. So with a deep breath, she finally made up her mind on what she was going to do.

“No Elsa, no you won’t.”

———

By the time lunch had rolled around, Michiru was honestly ready to call it a day. Ami was busy flipping through her newest book, and instead of doodling Michiru decided to rest her head down on top of her sketch book.
“Everything alright?” Ami asked, quite concerned since she had never seen Michiru act like this.
“Yeah,” Michiru said, propping her chin up on her hands, “I’m fine don’t worry Ami. There’s just been a lot going on the past month or so, and I guess getting away from it all was nice for a while.” She shrugged, turning her attention to the door where she saw Haruka walk through. “Guess I’m going to just have to get used to the fact that it’s over.”
“What’s over?” Haruka asked, taking the seat next to Michiru.
“Break.” Ami answered for Michiru. “Luckily, the school year will be over quicker than you know.”
“That’s a relief.” Haruka said, ruffling her hand through her hair. “I’m kind of excited for the rest of the year, though.”
“There’s not much left exciting to happen.” Michiru commented, emitting a sigh before leaning back in her chair.
“Everything okay?” Haruka asked, moving her arm to wrap it around Michiru’s shoulder. However, Michiru was swift today in avoiding all forms of physical contact, standing up right before the blonde could touch her.
“I think I need some fresh air.” Michiru said.
“Do you want us to come with you?” Haruka asked, but Michiru responded by shaking her head and leaving the library. After Michiru was out of the doors, Haruka stood up in an attempt to follow her.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Ami stated, placing her bookmark in her page. “Perhaps it’ll be best to give her space Haruka, she seems like she needs a moment to herself.”
“I just want to help.” Haruka said, sitting back down. “Did she mention anything that was bothering her?”
“No,” Ami began, “and I was not going to interrogate her on it. She said she was doing okay, though her body language and tone of voice said otherwise.”
“You’re very observant.” Haruka pointed out.
“Sometimes being quiet has it’s advantages.” Ami stated, shrugging her shoulders forward. “I’m sure Michiru will be fine, however. Though she did kind of disappear. I hadn’t heard from her all break.”
“Neither did I.” Haruka stated. “She went to a different country, didn’t have service.”
“Makes sense.” Ami said, before picking up her book. She could tell the conversation was dying down, and she wasn’t going to prompt further discussion if the blonde did not want it.

The rest of lunch was spent in silence.

———

Michiru had been looking forward for the school day to end before it even began this morning. So, she took it upon herself to excuse herself to the bathroom during last period and instead, walk outside and wait by Haruka’s car. She needed some air and to just get out of the school for a while. Michiru looked at her phone. It was five to three, meaning that Haruka would be joining her soon enough to drive her home. For those long five minutes, she just enjoyed the feel of the gentle spring breeze on her face. With a deep breath, she knew she was ready to talk about what was going on with Haruka. She had to.

Seven minutes had passed, and soon enough Haruka was walking toward her car. She was a little shocked to see Michiru standing by her car, as the two usually met inside the building.
“I was looking all over for you.” The blonde pointed out, unlocking the doors allowing for them to get inside the car.
“Sorry,” Michiru apologized as she buckled her seatbelt, “I just needed to get out of there.”
“Are you sure everything is alright, Michiru?”
“Haruka, could we go back to your place. I don’t want to go home.”
“Yeah, of course.” Haruka said, taking a turn to go toward her complex instead of Michiru’s house. “Do you have to call your parents or something first?”
“No.” Michiru stated. “I’ll say I had to work on something at school. They won’t mind.”
“Alright.” Haruka said, speeding up her driving a little. Luckily, Haruka’s apartment complex was only a ten minute drive from the school, on side roads that no one cared about. So maybe the sign did say the speed limit was fifteen, but going twenty-five really wouldn’t hurt anybody.

———

Arriving at Haruka’s house felt strangely comforting to Michiru. She felt like it was the only place, aside from Haruka’s car, where she could really be herself. The blonde kicked off her shoes and removed her blazer.
“Sorry for the mess.” Haruka said, hanging her blazer on the door. “I had work last night.”
“It’s fine.” Michiru said as she took off her own shoes.
“Do you want something comfortable to change into?”
“Would you mind?”
“Nah, I got some of my running clothes washed for practice this week.” Haruka said, making her way to her room. Michiru followed along behind her.

Beside the blonde’s bed sat a basket of somewhat folded clothing. Michiru supposed that it was basket of laundry. She watched as Haruka placed the basket on her bed and began to go through some of the clothing in the pile. Michiru saw Haruka pull out a shirt and a pair of gym shorts, studying the two items of clothing before reaching out to Michiru.

“These should do.” Haruka smiled. “They might be a little big, though. But — ”
“They’re perfect.” Michiru said, taking the shirt and shorts from Haruka and placing them on the bed. “Would you mind if I changed in here?”
“No, no go ahead. I’ll go change in the bathroom.” Haruka said, picking up her own clothes to change into and walking out of her room.

For a moment Michiru just stood and took a look at her surroundings. When she was in Haruka’s room last, she really didn’t have a chance to just look at it. The walls were painted a light blue. It wasn’t the biggest room but Haruka seemed to make space of what she had. Haruka’s bed was full sized, placed in the corner. Next to it was her dresser, leaving the whole other half of her room empty, aside from a pile of clothes which Michiru could assume was laundry. On top of Haruka’s dresser were sports magazines and some school books. Along the walls were various photos, most of them were of Haruka and her track team, others were just scenery. She took a moment to look at the photos, secretly wishing there were one of the two of them. Not like they ever took a photo together, but still she wished that there was some sort of element of herself in the blonde’s room.

With a sigh, Michiru sat on Haruka’s bed, rolling her stockings down and folding them, since she would have to put them back on later to go home. She unbuttoned her skirt and soon it fell to the floor. She took the shorts off of the bed and pulled them up. Haruka was fit, though she was taller and more muscular, making the shorts slightly big around Michiru’s small waist. She pulled her own uniform shirt over her head, beginning to fold the shirt and the skirt she took off earlier.

That was when she heard the door opening, so she turned around to face it.
“Oh my god — I’m sorry I didn’t know you weren’t finished I — ”
“Haruka it’s fine, it’s just a bra.” Michiru smirked, taking the shirt and putting it on. It was rather big on her, but there was something comforting about it.”
“I didn’t mean to just walk in on you without your top on.”
“Don’t dwell on it, it’s nothing.” Michiru commented, sitting on the blonde’s bed. “These photos,” she said, pointing to Haruka’s wall, “did you take them?”
“Nah, found em on google.” The blonde said, sitting down next to Michiru. Michiru only answered by nodding her head.

“I think we should talk Haruka…” Michiru began, looking down at her hands as she began twiddling her thumbs, something she did when she was nervous.
“Okay…”
“Haruka, where do we stand?” She asked, averting her gaze to the blonde.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I really don’t.”
“Haruka, before break we kissed at my place and made out here, and I stayed the night for crying out loud.” Michiru said, standing up and pacing the floor. Haruka’s azure hues watched Michiru as she did so. “So I think it’s right for me to know where we are.”
“Well, let’s see, all that happened and then you ignored me for an entire week and every time I attempted to do something with you, you pulled away. Don’t think I didn’t notice this morning.”
“Because I wasn’t ready to talk about it.” Michiru sighed, stopping in her tracks. “I spoke to Elsa this morning…” Michiru stated, fidgeting with her hands once again, “She asked me why I hadn’t spoken to her even after she clearly told me not to bother. I don’t want to be her friend anymore and I know she doesn’t want to be mine.”
“Well, why don’t you just tell her ‘you and your friends are all bitches that I don’t want to be associated with anymore’?”
“I can’t say that!”
“Why not? It’s how you feel.” Haruka pointed out. “You can’t hide from them forever.”
“Everything is happening all at once…” Michiru said, emitting another sigh. “How would I even tell them that I don’t want to be associated with them anymore.”
“Just tell them you have friends who treat you better than they do. Or say that you deserve better than them. Or go with my first option.” Michiru didn’t respond, she just sat back down.

“You do have better you know,” Haruka said. “You have me and you have Ami, we’re your friends.”
“Just friends?” Michiru asked, a frown forming on her lips.
“You tell me.” Haruka said, placing her hand on Michiru’s cheek, stroking it with her thumb before leaning into kiss her. It was a soft kiss, and it was short.

When the blonde pulled away, however, Michiru was not done. Her hands made way to the blonde’s back, pulling her back in to kiss her some more. Haruka leaned back, allowing for Michiru to position herself on top of her, like last time. However, this time their kissing wasn’t the only thing going on. Michiru’s hips rolled forward, grinding against the blonde. Haruka’s cheeks burned red, but she wasn’t complaining, nor was she going to stop her. When the kiss did break, Haruka propped herself on her forearms.
“Wow, uh,” the blonde began, as Michiru took it upon herself to kiss down the blonde’s neck. She started at the base of Haruka’s chin, leaving little kisses down to the nape of her neck. Michiru sucked at it, before deciding to pull away. Michiru sat up, proudly straddled over the blonde. Haruka just looked at her, dumbfounded. “Wh-why did you stop? Did I do something wrong?”
“I’m not going to leave a mark on your neck.” Michiru said. “You have a race this weekend don’t you?”
“Yeah…” Haruka said, as she sat up coming face to face with Michiru. She leaned in to give her another kiss, which Michiru happily obliged to. “Are you going to come to the race?”
“Of course I will.”
“Okay, well, afterward Oli is having something at his house, so we could go to that.”
“Booooo.” Michiru groaned.
“Afterwards, we’ll come back here, alright?” Haruka said, planting another kiss on Michiru’s lips.
“Yeah, sounds perfect.”

Chapter Text

“I think she’s hiding something from us,” Tiffany, one of Elsa’s friends said to her at their lunch table. “Think about it, we haven’t heard from her in like forever.”

“You know, I saw her at the race last week. But she wasn’t there with me.” Elsa pointed out.

“Was she working on something artsy?” Tiffany asked Elsa. “She sometimes sits at your matches to draw.”

“No I don’t think she had her sketch book. You know she didn’t even have the decency to apologize to me for being such a bitch.” Elsa said, turning her gaze to the rest of the lunch room. “You know, I think I have an idea of what’s going on.”

“What?”

“Look over at the track table. Notice anything?” Elsa said, gesturing to the table of her teammates. “A certain blonde is missing.” Elsa said, standing up, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

———

“No I’m serious,” Percy said to his friends, Oli and Sofia, “no one would go to a pool party when it’s still this cold out.”

“But it’s going to be indoors!” Oli said. “Think about it, if it’s inside no one will care if it’s cold out! You can wear normal clothes over your bathing suit and change when you get there. It’ll be fun!”

“Where the hell are you going to find an indoor pool?” Sofia pointed out, before hearing someone cough.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt your lame argument over nothing,” Elsa began, “one of you is missing. Where’s Haruka?”

“Why should we tell you?” Sofia retorted, knowing Elsa didn’t have good intentions.

“Because don’t you guys deserve to know what’s going on here?” Elsa asked, trying to pry information out of the trio. “Don’t you care for the well being of your friend?”

“Yes, we care about Haruka.” Oli stated. “But the real question is, why do you care Elsa?”

“Haruka is my team member, too, you guys. I just want to make sure she is in her right state of mind for the upcoming races. We can’t lose again this weekend.”

“If I remember correctly,” Percy began, “you’re the reason we lost last weekend.”

“Which is why I want to practice with the best runner on our team.” Elsa continued, trying her best to get any information out of her fellow teammates of where the blonde might be. “I don’t want to be the reason we don’t make it to the finals.”

“Well, if you want to practice, I could go out with you to do some laps.” Sofia offered, to which Elsa responded by shaking her head.

“No, it has to be Haruka, she’s doing third lap this weekend. If I’m final again, she’ll be the one passing me the baton. I want to make sure I get her grip correctly.”

“I think she’s in the library.” Oli stated, to which Percy and Sofia shot him a death glare.

“Thanks.” Elsa said, before making her way upstairs.

Percy’s response to Oli ratting out their friend was a slap on the arm.

“Dude what the hell?!” Oli winced, before rubbing his arm.

“Why the fuck would you tell her where Haruka is?” Percy replied, taking a sip of his gatorade before speaking again, “She’s just going to start trouble.”

“Don’t you think this isn’t preventable?” Oli stated.

“What do you mean?” Sofia asked, quite curious in what her friend had to say.

“Elsa was just going to find her somehow anyway. May as well let it happen sooner rather than later. Then they can work their shit out and we won’t lose again this weekend.” Oli said, as his two friends nodded, agreeing with what he said. “So about the pool party…”

“No, Oli!” Sofia cut him off. “Just have a normal party at your place! No pools, no theme, just a hangout.”

“Besides man, it’s only the three of us and Haruka,” Percy said, “it’s not even a party.”

“Fine…”

———

Meanwhile, upstairs in the library sat Ami, Michiru, and Haruka. The three were preparing for an upcoming trigonometry test.

“Okay, Haruka what is cosine of 45 equal to?” Ami asked, helping the blonde study for her upcoming trigonometry test.

“A half?” Haruka answered, “Wait no, it’s the same as sine of 45, right?”

“Mhmm.” Michiru nodded, taking it upon herself to go over her own notes as well. She was good at math, but it wasn’t her strong point.

“So it’s one over radical two!” Haruka said with confidence.

“Yes.” Ami said, as she flipped through the index cards the blonde made. “You know Haruka, with all the effort you put into studying for this, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“I know.” Haruka stated. “It’s just, I don’t want to just do fine. I want to do better than my last test. I got a seventy eight on it. I was trying for at least an eighty five this time.”

“Well, I think you’re going to do amazing on it.” Michiru said with a smile. Though her gaze turned toward the door, and her smile turned into a look of fear as she saw who was entering.

“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.” Elsa said. “Doesn’t look like art lessons to me, Michi.”

“I’m helping them study for their trigonometry test.” Ami said. “Do you need something Elsa?”

“Michiru needing a tutor? How pathetic.” Elsa stated. “Can’t even talk for yourself? You need Ami to do it for you?”

“Leave me alone Elsa!” Michiru finally exclaimed, anger present in every word.

“I’m not leaving until I get an apology.” Elsa stated, which caused Michiru to furrow her brow in frustration.

“An apology for what?”

“Coming to my race and not acknowledging I was there. Not coming to my party or help me set up like you promised…”

“You told me not to come,” Michiru cut her off, “so I didn’t.”

“Oh come on Michi you knew I wasn’t being serious. I was just mad.” Elsa pointed out.

“Just drop it Elsa. It happened, and it’s over.” Michiru said, not wanting to argue with Elsa anymore at this point.

“So, you gonna come join us for lunch?”

“No.”

“No?!” Shock was present through Elsa’s words. “What you’re going to drop all of us to hang out with these two losers?”

“Hey!” Haruka said, beginning to stand up, before Michiru grabbed her shoulder to have her sit down again.

“Yes, I am going to continue having lunch with these two, my friends.” Michiru stated calmly.

“You’re going to drop your popularity for these two?” Elsa asked, almost confused, but still enraged. “Why?”

“Because you and your friends are all bitches that I don’t want to be associated with anymore.” Michiru stated, which caused Elsa’s jaw to drop.

“Hmph.” Was all Elsa muttered out before leaving the library.

Chapter Text

Michiru didn’t think she would spend every Saturday morning at her school’s track field. Which seemed to be true, as this weekend she found herself at Juuban Municipal’s track field. Their school’s campus was far different from Mugen, yet oddly similar. The stands surrounding the track field were smaller and not as well kept as Mugen’s. However, they weren’t dirty, just a bit older. The steps walking up to where Michiru went to sit creaked and she was surprised they didn’t break.

———

As usual, she decided on getting to the field a bit early in order to pick a good seat and ensure that she wasn’t late. This time, however, she seemed to have gotten there very early as the members of each team were still stretching and warming up as she got there. It was a beautiful day out. The weather was finally deciding to warm up a bit. It was still chilly, but it was nice. Michiru took a deep breath of the fresh spring air, watching as everyone ran around the field.

Her eyes, of course, were drawn to a certain blonde. Haruka always said that she didn’t like to tire herself out before the actual race, so she was busy stretching her legs and arms. Haruka was very muscular to say the least, and Michiru didn’t mind watching her. Since Michiru was clearly distracted with the scene before her, she didn’t notice someone come up next to her.

“Excuse me?” The voice asked before Michiru snapped out of her daze to look up.

“Ami?” Michiru said as she registered who was standing beside her. “What are you doing here?”

“Makoto is racing today, so I told her I’d come and see her.” Ami said, taking the empty seat next to Michiru. “I was going to mention it yesterday at lunch, but I didn’t know how many races of Haruka’s you went to.”

“It’s alright.” Michiru said. “I nearly forgot your girlfriend was on this school’s track team. I haven’t seen her since that party at… Usagi, was it? The one at her place.”

“The one where you made out with Haruka.” Ami stated bluntly, to which Michiru’s entire face turned red. “Yes, I remember that evening quite well.”

“Well look who’s here.” Another voice piped in, unfamiliar to Michiru. In front of the bleachers stood a tall brunette, with her hair tied up in a ponytail. “My favorite girl.”

“Oh Mako…” Ami said, flushing a shade of pink. Michiru never saw Ami like this before. It was cute. “Of course I would come, I told you I would.”

“And you must be Michiru?” Makoto asked as she took a good look at the girl seated beside Ami. She looked familiar, and she fit the description of the girl Ami had told her she spent lunch with at school. “I believe we’ve met before, no?”

“We have.” Michiru answered. “Though I’m not to sure how much I remember that night we did. My apologizes.”

“No big deal.” Makoto said with a shrug. “Well I better get back, do I get a good luck kiss before I go?” She said, extending her hand to Ami over the fence.

“You can get a kiss if you win.” Ami said, to which Makoto responded by pouting and walking away.

While Ami and Makoto were having their conversation, Michiru’s eyes were drawn back to Haruka. She was bringing her water bottle and a face cloth over to the bench. Michiru was dreading having to go over to Oli’s house after this race. She just wanted to go to Haruka’s and fuck the living daylights out of her.

Not that she would, since Haruka said she wasn’t ready for that. Also Michiru was a lady, and her thoughts were certainly very un-lady like.

———

Haruka had just placed her water bottle and cloth on the bench when she turned around and her gaze met Michiru’s. She was staring at her, and Michiru made no effort to turn her gaze away when she met the blonde’s. Haruka could tell someone was watching her the entire morning of warm ups, and now she knew why. Her cheeks turned a lovely pink shade as she caught Michiru biting her lip. In that moment she wasn’t sure if Michiru was watching her, or if Michiru just happened to have her gaze focused on the blonde while she was deep in thought. Either way, it made Haruka feel a warmth inside.

“Can you believe it?” Percy said, obviously having been in conversation with the blonde and she was far too distracted to be listening.

“Uh…” Haruka said, focusing on her friend, “believe what?”

“Coach switched the line up!” Percy exclaimed, clearly enraged at this. “I was going to be second, I haven’t been in a race in weeks! And he decides to switch it last minute where I’m not running again!”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry.” Haruka said genuinely. Percy wasn’t the best runner on the team. His strong suit was hurdles, which unfortunately weren’t part of the relays. But Percy did well as second runner because usually it was up to third and fourth to pick up the speed.

“Juuban is good. They’re really fast.” Percy stated, trying to hide the fact he was clearly upset. “Today’s race is going to be tough, but coach said there can be absolutely no slip ups today. Which is why you’re running final against Minako Aino.”

“Wait, he’s having me as final?” Haruka asked, surprised but secretly grateful for this opportunity.

“Yeah. And he moved Elsa to first. It’s weird, she always runs final.” Percy said, matter of factly. Haruka had only been on the team for this part of the semester, but supposedly Elsa always was their final in relays. “I guess he’s really upset with her slip up last weekend. Serves her right, she was the reason we lost.”

“I just hope I don’t slip up.”

“You won’t Haruka! In my opinion you’re the best runner here.” Percy said, pride evident in his words. “I’ve never seen anyone run so fast in my life!”

“Thanks buddy.” Haruka said, proud of the friends she had made. “Guess I should do a bit more warming up then shouldn’t I?”

———

Juuban was apparently Mugen’s biggest competition in terms of their track team. The outcome of their races was never predictable. It had been an even score back and forth of which school had won the most times. But Mugen had the disadvantage of a last minute line up. They had been practicing with a different line up the entire time, and making this switch could have caused them a loss.

However, in the final lap both Minako and Haruka were passed the baton at the same time. This was a test of speed, as the two schools rarely entered the final part together. Mugen’s coach was very happy with the decision of switching the line up. Haruka ran like the wind. She was faster than most runners on their team. So it was no surprise that she was the first to cross the finish line, scoring a victory for Mugen.

———

Similar to the last time, Michiru found her way to Haruka’s spot in the parking lot. She had never been more proud of the blonde. Haruka was the reason that Mugen’s team would make it into the semi-finals. Usually Michiru didn’t care much about sports. School was for academics after all. But something about watching the blonde run made Michiru warm inside. And watching the smile Haruka had on her face after crossing the finish line would be something she would see in her mind forever.

She saw Haruka, along with Sofia, Percy, and Oli, walking toward the car. They were all talking, clearly very happy with the fact that their team was semi finalists because of their friend. Michiru would hope the trio would be in a better mood this time since they won than the last time she spent time with them.

“Haruka, you didn’t tell us your girlfriend was crashing this victory party.” Oli said, to which Michiru rolled her eyes. They were the same as ever.

“She’s not my girlfriend guys.” Haruka said. “And, I told you that she was coming last week when you asked me to come.”

“Man, I was just teasing.” Oli said. “Now come on, let’s go I don’t want the food to get cold. I set it up this morning.” He said, as everyone took it upon themselves to get in the car.

“You’re an idiot, why didn’t you think set it up when we got back?” Sofia said, clearly tired of her friend’s stupidity.

“Cause I wanted it to be ready for when we got back!” Oli exclaimed. “We won the race and now we’re going to have a blast at my party without having to set anything up.”

“It’s not a party man, there’s five of us.” Percy said.

Michiru was just happy that this car ride would probably consist of picking at and teasing Oli and not herself.