Title: black or white
Rating: G
Fandom: Flowers
Relationship: Takasaki Chidori/Yaegaki Erika
Wordcount: 535
Short summary: Erika asks offhand what Chidori prefers, black or white in their uniforms.
“Hmm hmm hmm…”
Erika lazily watches as Chidori sorts the uniforms for fall from those of winter, humming all the while. She’s just resting her eyes a little, yeah. She’s not going to admit that Chidori’s humming is enough to catch her attention, that the swirl of Chidori’s skirt is enough to distract her eyes from the words of a book. She’s not going to admit it even when Chidori turns around and catches Erika watching.
Chidori raises an eyebrow, but Erika stays silent. A minute of silent staring ensues before Erika gives in, breaking it with the first somewhat relevant thought that crosses her mind. Because Chidori’s staring is making her skin heat up.
“What do you prefer, black or white?”
Chidori is confused for a moment until she follows Erika’s pointing to the uniforms. The fall ones with the white tops versus the winter black dresses.
“Black,” Chidori replies firmly.
“Huh.” It’s not Erika’s first thought. Perhaps it’s because she sees Chidori practicing in the white leotard so much that she associates “white” more with Chidori.
“Erika looks great in black,” Chidori adds.
Erika coughs. Of course Chidori is thinking about something else, thinking about Erika instead. “Well, Chidori looks better in white.”
“What?” Chidori exclaims. She seems offended. “I want to match with you though! Why white?”
Does this girl ever think about how that makes me feel… Erika grumbles to herself. Erika clears her throat. “It makes you look more…” Softer compared to your blunt self. Erika is not going to say that out loud, though.
”…Like a princess,” she manages instead. Yes, just think about how Chidori looked on stage as Princess Aurora. Chidori has good memories of that too, right?
Chidori frowns slightly. “Hmm…I feel like you were going to say something else.”
“A prince?” Erika jokes. This is dangerous. Chidori is getting better and better at guessing what Erika is thinking.
But she also shows more and more moments of kindness. With a smile, she lets Erika off the hook. “It’s fine, as long as I’m yours.”
Well, not completely. She just replies to Erika’s jokes with her own disarming weapons. “Chidori…” Erika begins but then lets it trail off, like a sigh.
She does feel like sighing. What else can she do with a partner like Chidori? If she gives Chidori any moment to indulge, Chidori will… So she just pointedly returns to looking at her book.
The humming begins again. Chidori must be back to her organizing her uniforms, which is fine. Erika doesn’t mind a little noise; she’s become used to it. And then Chidori suddenly giggles.
“Well, white’s not so bad. Our pajamas are white after all.”
Erika will not look up from her book. She will not look up and show her flushed face to her partner.
“But the best might be nothing at—hey!”
“Sorry, my hand slipped.”
It did not, and they both know it. But Chidori happily picks up the book from the floor and brings it to Erika. Her hands guide Erika’s, to make sure they are holding on to the book securely. If it involved excessively hand to hand touching, well the answer is not black or white…