#author continues to be a raging sentimentalist

[lonelypond]

Pancakes And Planning

Love Live, NicoMaki, 1.6K, 1/1

Summary: Nishikino Maki has proposed, Yazawa Nico has accepted, and the next step is...pancakes on the couch.

Pancakes and Planning

Nishikino Maki sat with her legs pulled up on the comfiest couch in the media room, watching her FIANCÈE Yazawa Nico use a fork to deftly cut through a stack of blueberry pancakes the multi talented, multi tasking, multi cuteness personified Idol had cooked herself. This was her second stack, Nico demolishing food in record time, wearing an old, way too baggy 𝝁‘s Nico Nico Ni t-shirt over borrowed boxers that barely stayed up, sliding down to reveal the slight curve where her abs met...and Maki stopped there, her heart still on doki doki overflow post engagement exuberance. She and Nico had come as close as they ever had to THAT, the big step, and somehow Maki’s entire nervous and circulatory system was still pounding wildly against her skin, surging again every time she had a flash of the fierceness in Nico’s eyes or a tactile shiver at the thought of how adept both her hands and Nico’s had been at finding curves and creases that threatened to push them beyond the boundaries they had agreed on in New York City, what seemed ten years ago. Was Nico this hot then? Did steam practically rise off both their skins when Maki had slid a little closer all those movie nights on this couch? Had Maki’s hands tingled so much at the thought of sweeping over the bare skin of Nico’s back....Maki jumped back, Nico looked startled.

“Sorry…” Maki muttered, feeling the blush.

Nico quirked an eyebrow, “Want some of Nico’s pancakes?”

Maki tried not to cough as her brain took that thought and ran through mental doors into candlelit rooms, large fluffy covers on a bed big enough to sprawl across, no potential cameos from parents or Yazawa siblings threatening, her mouth now watering with thirst more than hunger.

“Idols don’t eat.” Nico continued matter-of-factly, giving Maki a chance to recover from whatever mental cul de sac she’d wandered into. Nico had learned to recognize the signs.

Nico leaned over, offering her fork to Maki, who opened her mouth to say, “You nev…” but then Nico shoved the pancakes in. Maki chewed quickly and continued, suddenly worried that Idol House and the pressures of living on camera was having a negative effect on Nico, “You never diet, you always say it’s unhealthy, Nico-chan.”

Nico sighed, and grumpily chomped a forkful of pancakes, “Idols don’t eat, Maki-chan, because they don’t have time.”

Maki might have laughed, but as Nico’s post high school career path became clearer, time they had together like this had become so much rarer. So Maki’s sigh was the match of Nico’s and she scooted closer on the couch, dropping her head on Nico’s shoulder as the Number One Idol in Any Universe continued to channel her inner lumberjack and got down to crumbs on the plate. Nico set it aside on the coffee table and turned to face Maki, settling into the lotus position. Nico really was tiny, but Maki only noticed on nights like this, when Nico was relaxed and at ease, Nico sized, casual, comfortable...at home, Maki wanted that Nico, every day, in THEIR home, on THEIR couch, discussing THEIR day.

Even if she asked questions like this. “So, are you really doing that poorly in school?”

Maki shrugged.

Nico shook her head, all the hard angles in her face softened with loving concern. “Your parents are going to blame Nico.”

Maki knew that wasn’t true, “My parents are going to blame me.”

“And tell you to stop seeing Nico so much.” There was still sharpness in her tone. Both their parents had been causing just enough friction that triggering genuine worries about Maki’s future was problematic.

“I hardly see Nico-chan at all.” Maki twisted her hair, not aware of the gesture, Nico smiled at the habit.

Nico turned the new ring on her finger, watching the pink gems sparkle, “Nico will make sure you don’t forget what she looks like before the wedding.”

Maki took Nico’s face in both her hands, kissing her fiancèe impulsively, fueled by the lingering allure of the Nico who visited her dreams near nightly, “I couldn’t.”

The pauses for kissing in their conversations had been getting longer for months now so when the front door closed and parental Nishikinos could be heard in the hall, Maki and Nico were horizontal on the couch. Nico jumped up, startled, but Maki was stubbornly glaring at the door through the couch.

“We need a place of our own.” Maki muttered.

“Nico doesn’t disagree but…” Nico settled in, fixing her hair, tilting her head back to cheerfully greet Maki’s parents with an upside down smile as they hesitated in the doorway, “Welcome home! Nico has some pancake mix left in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“Nico…” Maki’s mother sounded harried, Maki’s father yawning behind her, “We weren’t expecting you.”

“No.” Nico looked pointedly at Maki, “but Maki was having an academic crisis so I came by to fix her.”

Maki’s father spoke, stern, “What happened, Maki?”

“My project didn’t go as well as it could have, but I passed.” Maki crawled up next to Nico, arms hanging over the couch back as she scowled at the intruders.

“Passing is not an acceptable grade for a Nishikino.” Disapproval boomed, filling the room, but glancing off its intended target.

Maki decided to follow up the bad news for her grades with the best news for her future, “Nico and I are engaged.” Silence. Also booming. And three people staring at Maki, who pushed off the couch and stood, feeling a surge of confidence, although when her legs trembled slightly she thought it might have been better if she’d eaten a few more bites of pancakes. “I asked Nico to marry me and she said yes.”

Nico flashed the ring over the couch back with an even more incandescent smile, “Welcome to the family. Nico Nico Ni.”

Maki giggled as Nico raised her left hand to her temple with her signature move.

The Drs. Nishikino let out simultaneous exasperated noises, but Maki’s father spoke first, “Your mother and I have had an exhausting day. Nico is welcome to stay in a guest room and we will discuss this in the morning.”

Maki glanced at Nico, who seemed doubtful. “Nico-chan?”

“Sorry, Maki, I can’t stay for breakfast negotiations. Classes with a famous K-Pop dance studio at dawn.” Nico bopped up and kissed Maki on the cheek, “but Nico trusts you.”

“This is a family conversation anyway.” The grumpier Dr. Nishikino had his arms crossed petulantly.

“Nico is family,” Maki snapped at her father, who gaped in surprise at his suddenly wayward child.

“Let’s go upstairs and let the girls say goodnight, dear. Be careful getting back home, Nico. We’ll see you soon,” Maki’s mother was trying to soothe things over, her arm wrapping around her husband’s waist but everyone could see the sparks coming off the two redheads in the room, “Don’t stay up too late, Maki.”

“Good night, Mama. Papa.” Maki’s dismissal was peremptory as she took Nico’s hand, feeling the stones of the ring she’d found solid against her palm, eyes only for Nico.

“You are the bravest,” Nico whispered, rising on her tiptoes to kiss Maki gently. “I love you.”

Maki shook her head, hair falling over her eyes, full of the brash confidence that took over when she didn’t think, just acted. “It’s not brave. I don’t care what they think about us getting married. What matters is that we want to.”

“Maki…” Nico caressed Maki’s cheek with her free hand, “be a little patient. You’re their baby. Parents get attached.”

Frustrated by the lack of parental empathy and Nico’s reasonableness about it, Maki changed the topic again, “Do you really have to leave, Nico-chan?”

Nico’s eyebrows raised, and she considered for a long moment before replying, but Maki could see the eagerness coming through the thoughtful.“Yeah...but I’m going to cancel everything after Thursday so we can have a long weekend and talk about EVERYTHING.”

Maki felt more awake as she stopped worrying about practical things, realizing how close Nico was to her right now, feeling Nico’s fingers brush through her hair, as their bodies angled nearer to each other...maybe she could reserve a suite somewhere in downtown Tokyo...and she and Nico could finally have some privacy…

“Maki-chan?”A hip nudge. Maki thrilled at the sensation. Almost dancing, but secret, just between them.

Maki grinned at Nico, suddenly daring, “Want to hide out in a comfy suite somewhere, order room service all weekend, and not tell anyone?”

Before Maki could even blink, Nico had slid her hand to the back of Maki’s neck, and yanked the redhead to her, lips so insistent that Maki thought she was going to swoon. Then Nico whispered, hushed, heated, “more than anything” and Maki did, Nico guiding her back to the couch as her legs buckled.

“Nico’s going to have to tuck you in, can’t have my super hot, super talented bride to be get a concussion falling down the stairs.” Nico had Maki in her lap, wiry arms keeping the redhead from canting off the front of the couch as the practiced smile became a perfect one.

Definitely reserving a suite at the Granbell for the weekend, Maki decided as she slid her arms around Nico’s shoulders, losing count of the embers smoldering in fiery eyes as her fingers stroked through the silken, sable strands seducing the rest of her senses. Maki could feel the trust, the love, the strength banked between them. It was time to let THAT blaze.