If you haven't, please go to my profile and ready my fanfic "Doctor's Orders" so as to understand this one. Thanks and enjoy!

I.

"Wake up. We're going to be late."

There is a muffled groan and a slight movement under the sheets, but after a few seconds of waiting, there is no signal of Maki being willing to get out of the bed.

Nico should already be used to it, after over half a year of dating, but she isn't. She still can't believe how much of a lazy ass the redhead is, especially after seeing her work for two days straight with no sleep at all.

Sighing, Nico walks up to stand next to the bed, arms crossed over her chest and brows furrowing. Judging by the way her thin covers moved, she supposes Maki is already awake but just doesn't want to move. As usual. A completely normal Sunday in the shared Yazawa-Nishikino apartment.

"Come on, Maki. You know today is an important day." She tries again, knowing what the answer is going to be. Another groan, this time a little louder, which only makes Nico start to get angry. And it is barely 7:30 in the morning!

"Fine," she finally gives up. But it is not fine at all. No one can deal with an annoying girlfriend so early without breakfast. "I'll go eat something. You better be up when I come back or I'm going to make sure you regret all your life choices."

A hand appears from under the covers, giving Nico a thumbs up. The temptation to walk back next to the bed, grab Maki's arm and drag her out of the bed —and maybe slap her a couple of times— strikes Nico, but she is able to control herself. She will get her revenge after she has had breakfast. If there is something she has learnt after working with Hanayo and Honoka for the last months, it is that food must always come first.

Nico goes to the kitchen and puts a cup of coffee in the microwave. After it is out, she remembers about Maki and decides to put the whole coffee pot, too. The redhead can barely think like a normal person without, at least, three cups.

Even though she is angry at her girlfriend for being such a kid, Nico still prepares the table for the two of them. Just because she is used to it, she tells herself. Anyway, there barely is any difference between toasting two slices of bread and toasting four, nor there is between preparing two orange juices instead of one. Because she is the best girlfriend in the world, she does everything as she usually does.

It's not like she's ready to leave for the wedding yet. In fact, Nico hasn't even bothered to change the oversized shirt she uses to sleep in. Her new —and very expensive, courtesy of Maki and chosen by Nozomi— night dress is waiting for her, hanging from the bathroom door, but the thought of having to go and spend her day surrounded by people makes Nico want to pretend she has caught the flu and crawl back to bed with Maki.

But she is Nozomi's maid of honour, after all. She has to be there for her best friend, whether she wants it or no.

And of course she is going to be there. If only her stupid girlfriend didn't act like a five year old in the morning… Because Nico knows that Maki hasn't moved an inch while she's been busy preparing breakfast. Moreover, she's sure the redhead has fallen asleep again. It happens almost every day Maki sleeps at home — Nico can't blame her, because the redhead barely sleeps a couple of hours while she's working. That doesn't make it any less annoying.

And today, Maki has no excuse. It's their second free day in a row. She has slept all she needed. And now, Nico is going to take her lazy ass out of bed or die trying.

"Nobody messes with Nico Yazawa," the raven haired yells after she has finished drinking her coffee, standing up and slamming her hands against the table. Her cup trembles, but Nico doesn't mind. She suddenly feels incredibly motivated. It is probably the coffee. "If she wants to fight, I'll fight."

And with that, she starts to walk towards her bedroom with firm steps, only to find everything just as she left it half an hour ago. Maki's light snores can be heard, and the bed covers move up and down, indicating that she's still there, sleeping and having utterly ignored Nico's command.

She's not going to get away with it.

"Maki," Nico calls, her voice calm and neutral. She's still standing outside the room, waiting for a proper response from her girlfriend.

Nothing changes, so Nico sighs, stepping into the room.

"Maki," she says again, this time a little bit louder. The snoring suddenly stops and the rhythm of the breathing changes slightly, but Maki doesn't seem to want to get out of bed yet. Nico takes a step forward, making sure it is loud enough for the redhead to hear.

"Maki, I know you heard me."

A slight groan is heard and Nico takes the chance to move next to where Maki is hiding.

"This is your last chance."

Maki moves under the covers, getting ready to face whatever is coming for her, so Nico takes it as her cue to act. She holds the end of her eiderdown and waits a couple of seconds before she throws it away.

"You know you brought this on yourself, right?"

She doesn't give Maki a millisecond to react — when the bed covers touch the floor, Nico has already crawled on top of the bed, straddling her girlfriend on the process. Maki looks both flustered and annoyed (and perhaps also a little bit sleepy), but she doesn't fight back. It's not like she can, anyway — if Nico wants to, she can make her girlfriend do whatever she wishes.

"Nice to see you're awake."

"Nice to see that you didn't bring a knife with you," Maki snaps back, grinning like the idiot she is. Nico isn't sure whether she wants to smother the redhead with a pillow or to kiss her so she doesn't have to look at her dumb, smug face. She goes for the second option — just because the first would take her to jail and she is too young, too pretty, to go to jail.

Maki seems to be content with the black haired girl kissing her, and takes the chance to interlock their fingers before they break the kiss. She tries to swap their positions, but either she's too sleepy to do it, or Nico is too strong to be moved. If she thinks about it for a second, Maki doesn't mind staying like this for a while.

Nico is trying really, really hard to get a grip and not ditch the wedding. Battling against Maki and her puppy eyes has always been hard, especially when she's all drowsy and looks cute like that. She won't lose this time, though — but maybe tomorrow she will let the redhead take her revenge. Just maybe.

"We're going to be late because of you."

"Well, weddings are boring, anyway."

That earns her a pinch on her thigh. Maki flinches slightly, aware that she indeed deserved that. She feels Nico holding her by the wrists instead of her hands, and she can't help but stiffen a little under her. The older of the two is merely frowning, but who knows what she may be thinking.

"Come on, we need to get ready… Do our make-up and stuff. Get up, Maki."

Maki smirks and deliberately moves her hips under Nico, making the grip on her wrists become a bit weaker for a couple of seconds before the black haired girl recovers her composure.

"I would rather stay in bed and do you."

"Nice try, Maki. You're so going to regret saying that later." Nico hums happily, well aware that her girlfriend is going to be embarrassed of her own quote if Nico decides to repeat it in a few hours. The black haired girl always seems to find great pleasure in making her all flustered.

"Whatever. I don't get you."

"You're such a spoiled kid sometimes."

Chuckling, Nico lets one of Maki's hand go and touches the tip of her nose, making a 'boop' sound as she does. The redhead attempts to do something, but Nico is quick to catch her free hand and hold it against the bed again.

They stay like that for a few seconds — Nico on top, still clutching the redhead's hands, slightly bent so her face is close to Maki's and she can stare at her from up close.

"Don't look at me like that, dumbass."

Nico is the one smirking this time round. "Like what?"

The redhead pouts and tries to free her arms from her girlfriend's grip, but Nico overpowers her easily. Maki looks away, unsure if she feels angry, turned on or both at the same time — it's hard to think straight when Nico's eyes are looking through her like that.

"Like you are going to murder me."

"I may murder you if you don't start getting ready," Nico answers cheerfully; she knows she has won this round. After she hops off Maki's lap, the redhead doesn't take much time to get out of bed — it's not like she wants her to get angry again, or something worse.

The black haired girl appears to be content with her job. Maki, on the other hand, is still half asleep and needs to drink at least five cups of coffee before she can properly put up with Nico's antics and commands.

Nico is humming some idol song under her breath and Maki can't help but sigh, her eyes following the small woman as she walks around the room — at moments it looks like she's not walking, but dancing, or even floating. That's how Nico works, Maki has noticed: there's something to her, to everything she does, that feels like magic to her. The mere thought of it makes Maki feel incredibly ashamed about how cheesy she has become over the past months. Not that she says these kind of things out loud —she would never dare to—, but she keeps getting these thoughts when she stares at her girlfriend for too long.

"I made you breakfast, by the way," says Nico as she grabs a pile of used clothes from the floor. She looks back at Maki and flashes one of her super-idol-smiles. "You don't have to thank me, don't worry."

"I wasn't going to," Maki groans, walking towards the kitchen with crossed arms.

There's coffee near the microwave, waiting for her, and the table has been arranged so she only has to heat it up and sit down to enjoy her breakfast. Maki feels her chest weirdly fluttery this morning — it's the realization of how far Nico's affection for her can go.

"If you finish quickly, I'll let you shower with me!" She hears a voice yell from the bedroom, and Maki wants to slam her head against the table. How can Nico say all those things and be so calm? Or perhaps it's all on the redhead's mind. Maybe, Maki thinks, she's been spending too much time with Umi and now she finds everything shameful (she prays to be able to stop it now, because Umi can be very annoying sometimes).

Besides all of that, Maki eats her breakfast slightly faster than usual.

When she's done with it, she makes sure that everything is clean and in its place before heading to the bathroom where Nico is supposed to be waiting. Maki runs a hand through her hair, sighing — there's no denying that the small girl has some kind of power over her that makes her act like some kind of lovesick teenager.

Nico is waiting for her in the bedroom, standing before their new dresses and tapping her foot on the ground. Maki leans against the threshold and smiles slightly at the other girl. Nico looks cuter than ever when she has her hair down like that and when she's wearing that shirt that is two sizes bigger than her (it's actually Maki's, which only makes it better).

"So, shall we get going?"

Maki takes a couple of steps forward and reaches her arm out so Nico can hold her hand and come with her. But Nico doesn't move. Instead, she just stares at Maki as if this was the first time she saw her. It makes the redhead's cheeks get warm and her heart start to race.

"I told you to stop looking at me like that! Why do you keep doing it? It's embarrassing!"

Before she moves her hand away, Nico holds it, interlocking their fingers and moving closer to Maki. The taller of the two tries to look elsewhere, and she can hear Nico chuckle under her breath.

"Like what?"

She wanted to say it earlier, when they both were in bed. She didn't have the courage to do it. But this time, Maki's mouth is faster than her brain and she cannot help to blurt it out.

"Like you're in love with me."

Maki doesn't want to look — she's too embarrassed to look. But she catches a glimpse of Nico smiling wider than she has ever smiled, and it goes right through her weak, gay, love-struck heart.

"That's because I am, silly."

"See? I told you we wouldn't be late."

Nico knows Maki doesn't mean any bad — not this time, at least. She also knows her girlfriend excels in many fields: she's incredibly smart, incredibly talented, incredibly pretty and incredible in bed. But you can bet nobody's perfect, because Maki somehow happens to be incredibly bad at driving. It didn't seem like it the first couple of times, but after a few rides together Nico understood that Maki ignoring speed limits wasn't a simple coincidence and that fastening her seatbelt wasn't enough protection for her poor soul.

Good thing they only had to go to Nozomi and Eli's apartment, or else Nico would most likely have jumped out of the car.

The small woman exits the car and goes to the boot to grab her purse. She has a copy of her friend's apartment key there, and the last thing she wants is to bother Nozomi just a few hours before her wedding.

She stops next to the driver's door to say goodbye. Maki keeps tapping her index finger on the steering wheel, frowning slightly. At least she's not playing with her hair (because Nico took her time to properly style it that morning and there's no way she will let her girlfriend spoil it).

"Are you sure you two will be alright?" Maki asks, suddenly stopping her tapping. "Won't you need any help?"

"No need to worry. Kotori's coming to pick us up in a couple of hours or so," the black haired girl answers quickly. Today, time is precious and they both know it. Nico trusts herself enough to know that they will be ready when the nurse comes to take them to the ceremony. "Just go, okay? Stop giving me the puppy eyes. They won't work this time."

A small smile appears on the corners of Maki's lips. "Fine, fine. We'll meet at the wedding, then." She sticks her head slightly out of the window, looking at Nico with violet eyes that call for a goodbye kiss. Of course, Nico obliges without complaining.

"See you. Take care. Make sure Eli doesn't freak out."

"I already regret accepting to be her bridesmaid."

"If you feel like this, imagine how Umi is right now." The sole idea of Umi being someone's bridesmaid is hilarious itself, but knowing that she's been taking care of Eli for the past week just makes it even funnier.

Maki, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be so amused.

"God, I really don't want to go to that house."

"Kotori will be there, don't worry. Now go or you'll be late."

A sigh escapes the redhead's mouth, but in less than a minute her car is speeding downtown towards Umi and Kotori's house. Nico feels bad for whoever happens to share the road with her girlfriend.

When she arrives at the front door, Nico takes no time to open it and go find her best friend. She's been dying to help her with the dress since the day they went to choose it together. Nozomi is going to look so breath-taking that Eli will start crying the moment she sees her — hell, knowing Eli, she's probably already crying because she misses Nozomi. What a loser.

"Nozomi?"

The apartment is silent and the lights are off. If this is one of Nozomi's dumb jokes, she's not going to survive long enough to get married, Nico swears.

There is no sign of Nozomi in the living room or in the kitchen. The whole house feels strangely empty, and it's not because Eli has been spending the past few days at Umi's house so they can miss each other before the wedding. It seems like Nozomi has suddenly disappeared from the face of the planet without letting any clues behind her.

Nico wants to call for her, but she knows it won't work — they have been friends for years. She can imagine what's going on, because this has happened before. Just thinking about it makes Nico's body boil in raw anger. So she runs straight into the bedroom.

The door is closed, but small whimpers can be heard through the wood. The black haired girl feels her heart throb at the sound of her best friend's misery. Nozomi doesn't even raise her head from between her knees when Nico walks into the room with strong, determined steps.

"What did they do this time?" Rather than a question it sounds like a command. Nico mentally slaps herself, trying to make sure she remembers to make her voice more tender — she's angry, but not at Nozomi. There is no use in making her feel worse.

The purple haired doctor is quick to jump onto her small friend's arms, her sobs becoming louder as seconds go by. Nico can feel her shoulder getting wet, but waits a couple of minutes before she speaks up. Meanwhile, she just pats Nozomi on the head and holds her as tight as she can.

"What did they do?" She asks again, softer this time. Nozomi's weeping has almost stopped, but it stops her from talking properly. When she looks up at Nico, her green eyes are watery and miserable. There's no signal of her usual mischief, that small spark — they don't look like her eyes at all.

"Please, tell me what they did this time. I am going to have a word with them."

After gulping hard, Nozomi is able to talk without choking. "Nicocchi…"

"Don't 'Nicocchi' me. I need you to tell me."

It takes her friend a few seconds to answer, seconds that she uses to completely stop her sobs and her streaming tears. Judging by the dark circles under her eyes and her overall messy looks, Nico can imagine that Nozomi has barely slept —if she has at all—.

"They called last night," the purple haired woman starts, and her voice sounds like someone else's. It sounds broken, miserable. "They aren't coming today."

Though she had expected to hear that, it lights a fire inside of Nico. How could two people be so insensitive, so cruel? Seconds go by where neither Nozomi nor her best friend say anything, but no words are needed. Nico just holds the other woman closer.

"Don't worry. I am here." Those words have been spoken before, Nico remembers, because it just makes everything feel way more pitiful. Nobody deserves to feel like this on the (supposedly) happiest day of their lives.

They stay like that for a few good minutes, until Nozomi is able to finally stop weeping. The continued ticking sound of the clock is a reminder that Kotori will be arriving any time soon, and that they need to get ready — after all, Nozomi is getting married later this day.

Now seated at the edge of her bed, Nozomi still holds one of Nico's hands and keeps staring at the floor, looking incredibly troubled. Seeing her like that makes one feel useless.

"They are my parents, Nicocchi." Her voice is starting to change — from sad, to angry, or perhaps disappointed. Whatever it may be, Nico can feel it, too, so she holds her friend's hand tighter. "And this isn't the first time they do it. How can they be so… So…?"

Nico can find a lot of words to finish Nozomi's question, but all of them are pretty offensive, so she decides that staying silent is the best choice.

This has happened before, just when Nico had returned to college after her failed idol career. Nozomi was graduating that year and was very excited about her parents coming to see her. Nico was there, too — but the two seats next to her, specifically reserved for Nozomi's parents, remained empty the whole ceremony. Witnessing how her best friend's heart broke when she looked at the unoccupied chairs was terrible for Nico, but the worst part was seeing how she faked a smile and went on with the ceremony as if nothing had happened.

They say that history repeats itself, and after this day, Nico can guarantee it. But she's not going to allow anything to ruin her best friend's wedding day — it's not only Nozomi's happiness that is at stake, but also Eli's. And hell, Maki spent a shit ton of money in their dresses.

"Hey, Nozomi. Hey, look at me," says Nico, cupping the other woman's cheeks with affection, wiping the remaining tears in the process. "Let's get you ready, okay? Come on."

She holds Nozomi's hands the way you hold a butterfly, scared that it may break at any moment if you are not careful, because it is so delicate. Nozomi is delicate like one, but she has already been broken, so Nico makes sure she is holding all her pieces until they can put them back together.

Like they did back on that graduation day, Nico does all the work, preparing the shower for Nozomi, helping her get inside the bathtub, whispering 'it's okay' every few seconds. The older sister inside of her comes out to help, but Nozomi asks her friend to leave her alone for a while — and even if Nico really doesn't want to, she obliges.

Since Nozomi is busy with her bath, Nico decides to get everything ready for when she comes out. The dress is hanging inside the wardrobe, white and gleaming, still covered by a plastic bag. Nico remembers how stunning Nozomi looked in it and chuckles slightly, because she can already picture Eli crying at the sight of her bride-to-be. Good thing she told Honoka to bring her camera and they can have all of it captured for the eternity.

Nico entertains herself by looking at all the picture frames that cover the house (and she is sure most of them were put there because Nozomi wanted to). There are a lot of couple pictures of Nozomi and Eli, some of them incredibly cute, other more on the dorky side; there is one of the three of them at Nico's first (and last) concert, Nozomi and Eli sitting with their pink penlights and Nico doing her signature pose on a very empty looking stage; other pictures with family —Eli's family— and friends, all of them carefully distributed around the house.

Nico's personal favourite (and Nozomi's, she knows) is one of the nine of them, on their hospital scrubs, looking sweaty and tired but smiling, nonetheless. It was taken just after a very hard day of working — two school buses had crashed and they had over thirty patients to attend and operate. Somehow they had managed to save everyone, so it was an ultimately pleasing experience and a happy day.

"Nicocchi?" A soft voice behind her asks, breaking her daydream. Nozomi stands in the middle of the corridor, still wrapped in her towel. She looks so fragile Nico actually pities her, but she tries to put those thoughts away — Nozomi doesn't deserve to be treated like that, not even in Nico's mind.

They are silent when they walk together to the bedroom, and they remain like that when Nico starts to help Nozomi get into her dress before she also helps her to do her hair. No words are needed, because they understand each other so well — the kind of silent understanding you can only have with your best friend.

"Hey, Nicocchi." It's Nozomi who decides to break the silence, and her voice is back to sounding like always, which warms Nico's heart.

"Hmm?" Too busy working on her friend's hair, the smaller of the two only makes a low noise in response.

Nozomi takes a couple of seconds to speak up again, insecure of what she's going to say next.

"I don't have anyone to walk me down the aisle," she finally says, and her eyes meet Nico's through the mirror they are sitting in front of. Nico's mouth forms an 'o', but she doesn't stop brushing and styling her friend's hair.

When she's satisfied with the result, Nico takes a couple of steps back and contemplates her work with a pleased grin. Then, she puts her hands on Nozomi's shoulders and smiles widely — it's not her super idol smile, but her real smile.

"Oh," she speaks, "you shouldn't be worrying." Before Nozomi can let her left eyebrow move upwards in disbelief, the black haired woman talks again. "I am going to do it."

"Nico-chan, I swear to God, if you ever leave me alone with those two," Maki points an angry finger at a very distraught looking Umi, standing next to her car, "I am going to stab myself."

"I missed you too, Maki." She has to stand on her tiptoes to kiss Maki, and it seems to calm the redhead down. "I won't let you near the kitchen, though. What's wrong with Umi?"

"Oh, she just misses Kotori, I think. Leaving her alone with Eli wasn't a good idea," she explains. It's not hard to imagine how those two dealt with the excitement of the wedding while they were together — Nico can only feel sorry for Kotori and her endless patience. "When I arrived at their house, I found them fighting over something and you could see on Kotori's face that I had been like this since Eli moved there. If I were here, I'd probably killed myself. Or maybe them."

It sounds like a stupid statement, the kind you would say while joking around with your friends after they have been way too annoying. After havening dealt with Eli and Umi —together or not—, Nico knows it is no joke at all. She purses her lips slightly at the thought of how unusually calm Maki is being today. Cute.

"Where is Eli, by the way?" Nico asks, after finally noticing that her blonde friend is nowhere to be seen. The ceremony is about to start, so she must be getting her final details set, or maybe she's just having a panic attack somewhere. Nico prays it's not the latter.

"She went to get ready with her sister, I think. She should be ready by now. It's almost time," Maki says, checking her wristwatch. She raises one of her eyebrows and looks at Nico, then at Umi, and then back at Nico. The smaller of the two mimics her and shakes her head.

"No way. You can deal with that alone," she states matter-of-factly, giving Umi a sidelong glance. The blue haired woman keeps fidgeting and looks rather nervous; she reminds Nico of one of those kids she used to see when she went to pick her siblings up from school. Anxiously waiting for their parents (or, in Umi's case, for Kotori) to save them. The sight makes Nico soften up enough to keep her mouth running. "Now that I think of it, you can't. I'll talk to Kotori and tell her to come with you — wait for her inside, okay?"

"Nice. Thank you." The redhead talks but it sounds as if she's humming, like she does when she's pleased about something.

Umi walks to them, still looking very nervous, and it doesn't take too long for Nico to realize that it's because the dress she's wearing is too short (in Umi's standards, of course). It's not the kind of dress the blue haired doctor would wear willingly, so Nico can now imagine why her and Eli where fighting when Maki arrived.

The redhead wraps her arm around Umi's shoulders and smiles at Nico with one of those shit-eating grins of hers. "We're leaving now. Let's go, Umi. See you later, Nico-chan."

"Yeah, see you." The smaller of the three waves goodbye and waits until the other two have disappeared to go meet Nozomi.

It's time.

"It's time."

A soft piano music can be heard playing at the other side of the wooden door they're standing in front of. Nozomi isn't facing Nico, but the shorter woman knows that she's smiling; she can hear it on her voice when she speaks. It makes her heart warm and she can't help but smile, too.

"Are you ready?" Nico asks, though she already knows the answer.

Nozomi turns to her and the smile she's wearing is so bright it would make the sun jealous. She holds her arm out for Nico to reach and turns her gaze back to the door, knowing what's waiting for her behind it.

"I am ready."

And so Nico links their arms together and the door opens for them.

Everyone's head turn around to look at them; Nico smiles smugly as she walks her best friend down the aisle, feeling like a proud mother — she knows there is no one better than her to do it, not even Nozomi's (stupid) parents. All eyes stare at them surprised, or confused. Eli's whole family is sitting at the left, and none of them seems to really understand what's going on. On the other hand, on Nozomi's sides, only the front sits are occupied; they can see Rin bouncing excitedly on her seat, with Hanayo trying to calm her down. Nico's eyes meet Maki's and she winks at her, amused by the dumbfounded expression her girlfriend is wearing. Lucky enough for her, Honoka is able to catch that moment in a picture.

At the altar, looking dashing as ever in her dress, Eli stares at them with her mouth slightly open in awe. Nico is a hundred percent sure she hasn't even noticed she's the one walking Nozomi down the aisle — she can see the tears gathering on the corner of the blonde's eyes at the sight of the bride-to-be.

The music keeps playing as they make their way to the altar, and the exchange of stares Nozomi and Eli are sharing is so intense that everyone in the room can feel it. Nico smiles, pleased, when they finally reach their destination and gives her best friend a supportive squeeze on the arm before she goes to stand on her place.

Everyone sits down and the whispering that mixed with the music stops as Nozomi and Eli hold hands and look into each other's eyes — it's the cue for the ceremony to start.

The officiant clears her throat and gives a small smile before she starts speaking.

"Good morning and welcome. Eli and Nozomi are so glad to have you here on this beautiful day — before we begin I'd like to ask you all to make sure your cell phones and other devices are all on silent.

We are gathered here not to witness the beginning of what will be, but rather what already is. Eli and Nozomi have chosen you, those special and important to them, to witness and celebrate the beginning of their life together. We are here to celebrate, witness, honour and be glad because these two people entered here today as individuals, but will leave as wives, blending their lives and embarking upon the grandest adventure of human interaction. All those present have come to witness and celebrate this love and commitment today.

True marriage begins well before the wedding day, and the efforts of marriage continue well beyond the ceremony's end. A brief moment in time and the stroke of the pen are all that is required to create the legal bond of marriage, but it takes a lifetime of love, commitment, and compromise to make marriage everlasting. Today you declare your commitment to each other before family and friends and your journey to a future of togetherness starts. I remind you that marriage is a precious gift, a lifelong dedication to love and a daily challenge to love one another more fully and more freely."

The officiant stops for a couple of seconds, her smile never disappearing. She stares at the people sitting in front of the altar and then at the couple, and continues talking.

"Now, Eli and Nozomi have chosen to write their own vows, so let's listen to them. Eli, please go on."

The blonde nods slightly and holds Nozomi's hands so tight it looks like she's scared the other woman may fade if she lets her go.

"Nozomi," she starts, and her voice breaks for a second. She has to stop and take a deep breath before she's able to continue speaking. "You are my best friend, my companion, my shoulder to cry on and my person to laugh with. But most importantly, you are the love of my life, my soulmate, and you make me feel happier than I could have ever imagined and more loved than I ever thought possible. With you I can be myself freely, and the sole thought of you actually loving me every single day makes me realize how blessed I am for having you in my life. I promise that I will never, ever, let you feel even slightly lonely, and I will make sure that you are the happiest you can ever be. I think this one lifetime will not be enough to show you how much you really mean to me, but I am glad that you have chosen to spend it with me."

Nico can feel the tears struggling to escape the corner of her eyes, but she bites her quivering lower lip to prevent them for falling. Eli's words are so full of pure adoration that Nico can feel it on her own body, making her heart feel warm at the idea of a love so honest like her friends'.

Looking at Maki in this moment seems stupid or cheesy, but Nico does it anyway. Her eyes are watery, but she can still see the redhead sitting at the second row with arms crossed and… Wait. Is she crying?

It's actually hard to believe, but Nico can swear she can see tears on Maki's eyes. Hanayo is sobbing next to the redhead, but the dampness on Maki's cheeks is definitely not Hanayo's fault. There are actual, real tears coming out of Maki's eyes and Nico can't believe she's alive to witness it. Suddenly doesn't feel like crying, but rather like laughing — or like going to find her phone and taking a picture to make sure this moment is preserved for the future generations.

Good thing Honoka is there, taking pictures of everything while she sobs like a little kid. Nico is able to catch her attention for a moment and points at Maki with a subtle head motion. The ginger is quick to understand what she's being told and turns with her camera ready. A few seconds after, she sticks her thumb out and smiles and Nico. Mission accomplished!

"Nozomi, it is your turn now." The officiant gestures the purple haired woman to go on. It takes a few moments, because if half of the guests are already crying, it's not hard to imagine that Nozomi is, too.

"Elichi. Eli," she calls the blonde's name and it sounds like magic is being spoken. "You know me better than anyone else in this world does and for some weird reason you still manage to love me like nobody else has ever done. You are my best friend and one true love. There is a part of me today that cannot believe that I'm the one who gets to spend the rest of her life with someone as wonderful as you. Even if the cards had told me so, I would have never believed that I could be as happy as I am right now — now that I realize that I get to build and live an entirely new life by your side, knowing that it's going to be the best I could ask for because I get to sped it with you. Thank you so much. There are no words to describe how I feel about you every time I look at you, so thank you is all I can say. Thank you. I love you. Thank you."

Nozomi lets her tears fall freely now, because she knows Eli is —and will always be— there to wipe them off. At this point, there is barely anybody at the room who isn't crying, too. Even the officiant seems to be moved at the exchange of vows, but she doesn't lose her composure and clears her throat to retrieve the attention so the ceremony can be finished.

"Now, you will be exchanging your rings. Please listen to me as you do so," she requests, looking at Eli as an indication that she shall go first. The blonde nods as she tries to keep her tears from falling.

"Do you, Eli Ayase, take Nozomi Tojo to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

Eli smiles as she puts the ring on the other woman's hand. "I do."

"And do you, Nozomi Tojo, take Eli Ayase to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

There are still tears on Nozomi's eyes, but Eli takes care of them before they can keep rolling down her cheeks.

"I do."

Everyone is expectant, waiting for the officiant to deliver her last but most important line after the couple have finally exchanged their rings.

"Eli and Nozomi, by the power invested in me, I hereby pronounce you married. You may now kiss!"

Cheers erupt throughout the room as Nozomi and Eli share their first kiss as wife and wife. Nico tries to make sure hers is the loudest applause, of course — she's so happy for her friends she doesn't care that everyone can see she's crying, too.

She looks at Maki again, and this time the redhead is looking at her, too. They're both crying and they look like emotional messes, but the smiles they share are the brightest, most honest they could share in that moment. Honoka makes sure she takes a picture of that, of course.

Eli and Nozomi really didn't need to adopt if they wanted to have kids — they were already like everyone's parents (even if sometimes they were like children, too). So it is no surprise to anyone when they arrive at the reception and it seems like the menu has been customized for each guest.

Hanayo is wolfing down a whole table on her own, as it is full of different plates, all made of rice (Nico wonders how is it possible to cook so many things with rice, and how is it possible for Hanayo to eat so much without stopping or choking). In fact, if you pay enough attention, you'll notice how there's at least one table full of everyone's favourite food. Nozomi really outdid herself with that wedding buffet. And this is only the appetizer!

Nico is munching on some unknown but delicious dish when someone taps her on the shoulder. She expects them to be one of her friends, probably Rin or Honoka, with whom she gets along really well — she knows Maki is somewhere else with Eli, and she basically doesn't know anyone else apart from Eli's sister, who's more likely too busy stalking Umi.

"Long time no see, Nico-san!"

Dying because she choked on her food wasn't on Nico's plans for the wedding, but when she turns around and discovers who's behind her, food somehow manages to get stuck on her throat. Good thing super-idols-turned-doctors don't look ridiculous while trying to recover their breath.

"T-tsubasa-san!" she says, doing her best not to look as if she just almost died.

Tsubasa Kira is for sure one of the few nice things Nico remembers from the UTX Hospital, as she was her resident on charge and always made sure she took great care of Nico. She was kind of like Umi, though: she had too many fangirls among the other interns, which lead to almost everyone hating Nico. Not that she cared, but still.

"I'm glad to see you got your place at the Nishikino Hospital. You deserved it." Tsubasa's smile is as bright as Nico remembers it, so she can't help but to smile back.

"Thank you. It was all because of your letters of recommendation, anyway." She shrugs, glad to be able to talk with the doctor again. But there's something bugging her…

"Oh, it was nothing. You have a lot of talent — you needed to get a job at the best place possible," she says with honesty, and it makes Nico feel like she's glowing with pride. After all, being complimented by a gifted surgeon like Tsubasa is no joke.

"You flatter me, Tsubasa-san. I couldn't have done it without you." Nico tries to downplay the other woman's words, blushing slightly. Even if she has such confidence, having someone else praise her every now and then makes her feel nice. "I-I didn't know you were friend with Nozomi and Eli, though. They never told me anything," she adds, looking to change the topic and satisfy her curiosity.

"I'm not their friend. Uh, I mean…" She scratches the back of her head as she tries to look for the right words. "I know them, of course. We have met a couple of times and I found them really nice. But I'm not here as their guest." When she says this, her face seems to light up. Nico can see where things are going but it only makes her want to go on.

"Oh, and then how come you are here?" Of course, she's playing dumb. She already knows why Tsubasa is here, but she also wants to know with who she is.

"I actually came as someone's date." Her smile is so bright Nico thinks she may have been blinded for a couple of seconds. Then she sees Tsubasa pointing behind her and the black haired girl has to crane her neck to see who's behind her.

It can't be someone from Eli's family — most of them are either too old, or too Russian to get together with someone like Tsubasa. That leaves only a few people out, but… It cannot be Rin or Hanayo either, as they have always had something going on between them. It's obviously not Kotori or Umi, and unless Maki is cheating on her —which, given Maki's nature, seems unlikely—, that only leaves…

"Tsubasa-chan! Nico-chan!" Honoka's loud and always cheerful voice interrupts Nico's train of thought, as she finally is able to catch a glimpse of the ginger dragging Maki's poor soul around the reception room. The fact that someone like Honoka is able to somehow get along with someone like Maki still amazes Nico to no end.

Honoka is still holding Maki by the arm when she reaches Tsubasa and Nico's side, a wide grin on her lips. The redhead doesn't look half as happy as her blue-eyed friend does, but apparently being next to Nico seems to calm her down and she doesn't land any of her usual bitter remarks.

"Nice to see you two have already met! How are things going?" The ginger asks excitedly after she has finally set Maki's arm free to stand next to her date. If Tsubasa's attention was directed towards Nico, now she only has eyes for the —incredibly dynamic— Honoka. It's surprisingly cute, Nico notes.

"Well, I was surprised to meet Tsubasa-san here after all that time. It was nice, though," says Nico, and flashes her best smile, which Tsubasa returns with pleasure. Maki moves slightly on her place, staring at Honoka's date as if she just noticed she was there.

"Oh, I thought I told you she was coming." Honoka looks surprised to hear that, but she doesn't seem troubled — she herself knows better than anyone else how much of a scatterbrain she can be sometimes.

Nico shakes her head, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "It's alright. As I said, it was a nice surprise." Her eyes sparkle for a second before she continues talking. "How did you two meet, by the way?"

"You're so nosey, Nico-chan," Maki mumbles with her arms crossed. Nico glowers at her, but the redhead doesn't look back — she's too busy glaring at Tsubasa to notice. The smaller of the two notices, but decides to ignore it for the moment.

"It's okay, Maki-chan." Honoka waves her hand in front of her face, sheepishly. "You know, now that I think of it, it's a very funny story because we met when you two did." She points a finger to the couple, a stupid smile on her lips. Both Nico and Maki look surprised to hear that — the redhead also seems to suddenly be rather flustered, but that's just the usual for her. "Maki-chan was acting very strange and one thing led to another…"

"Oh, that's a story I surely would love to hear," Nico chuckles, nudging Maki teasingly with her elbow. Of course she remembers the night they met; both of them were quite drunk but Nico could never forget Maki's brazen flirting. It's hard to believe they survived a car ride together after that, to be honest.

Honoka giggles, too, and Tsubasa looks confused but she smiles nonetheless because, well, the whole scene is cute so how can she not? Only Maki is trying to stop herself for blushing so hard and also to find a way not to let Honoka continue talking —after all, it's Honoka, so she's going to spit it all out whether she wants it or not—.

"Okay, so we decided to take Maki-chan out for the night because, damn, you know how she can be sometimes. And then she drank a bit more than she should, so…" A pair of hands on the ginger's mouth interrupt her speech, and laughs erupt (Honoka doesn't laugh because well, she is trying not to be smothered by Maki).

"I think that's enough!" Maki yells, her voice a little more high-pitched than usual. Honoka tries to fight back but the redhead is way stronger than her, and Nico has to grab Maki by her dress to stop her from hurting Honoka, or something worse.

"I think that's enough, too," she says, crossing her arms. Maki wants to complain, but she doesn't, because arguing with Nico never results in something good for her. Now she's embarrassed for overreacting like that, so she just puffs her cheeks and doesn't say anything else.

Honoka is about to add something, perhaps complain, but she keeps quiet when she notices Kotori and Umi walking towards them. Or rather, Kotori pulling a very confused Umi by the arm with the fakest of smiles on her face.

Honoka widens her eyes and grabs Tsubasa's arm quickly, and muttering a fast "see you later", she drags her date out of the place in less than a millisecond. Nico is annoyed, because she may not see Tsubasa in a while and would've liked to say goodbye, and Maki is bewildered because what the hell did just happen?

Kotori and Umi soon reach the table next to where Nico and Maki are standing, and the black haired woman lets a small sigh escape her lips.

"Hi there, girls. How is everything going?" Kotori asks, and her voice sounds a little chirpier than usual. She still hasn't let Umi's arm free, and her girlfriend starts to look bothered by it.

"Uh, nothing new, I guess," Nico answers, unsure of how to react. She can see Kotori looking out of the corner of her eye through the room, as if she was looking for something —or someone—. The nurse lets Umi's arm go after a few seconds, and the blue haired woman rubs it with a displeased pout.

"You sure have got stronger, Kotori," Umi mumbles, rubbing her sore elbow. The ash haired woman deliberately ignores her.

"I love weddings, don't you love weddings?" She speaks cheerfully, almost making Nico cringe. Seeing Kotori act like this is something strange and Nico would never want to see it again. "When I get married I want my wedding to be like this."

Umi snorts. "That's going to be very expensive — Eli and Nozomi spent a lot of time saving up for this."

The way Kotori's left eye twitches slightly goes unnoticed by her girlfriend, but not by Nico. If Kotori has been sending that kind of hints to Umi all day without any results, there's no wondering why she's in such a weird mood.

"Yes, Umi-chan, you're right. I'm sure you have your own wedding ideas in mind, anyway." She's smiling but her smile screams 'Umi please' and it's almost sad seeing her like this.

"Huh? Not really. I have never thought about it," Umi says casually and this time Kotori lets a small cry escape her lips. Her girlfriend looks at her with furrowed brows but doesn't add anything, as the noise around them starts to get louder.

Nico is about to continue the conversation but all the guests start to walk towards the reception room where they are supposed to have their real lunch. Kotori groans loudly and starts dragging Umi by the arm again when she sees a small, blonde head coming towards them. She pouts at Nico before she leaves with Eli's sister, Arisa, hanging from Umi's other arm.

"I feel bad for Kotori. Umi is so dense," says Nico, following everyone else with her arms crossed. She can't help but let a small laugh — poor Kotori will have to drop many, many more hints before Umi gets the message.

Maki raises a brow, looking clueless. "Why?" She asks, and Nico's shoulders drop. Of course, she had forgotten who she was dating. If Umi was dense, Maki was either on her level or even higher.

"Nothing you should worry about, honey."

Nico never thought she would have to fight a cluster of —very tall, very blonde and very annoying— Russian ladies for a bunch of useless flowers she doesn't really want, but there she is, surrounded by Eli's female relatives (why is there so many of them!?) and trying her best no to punch any of them in the stomach. It's not that she wants the bouquet —why would she?—, but she just can't lose against them.

Catching the bouquet after it has being tossed supposedly means that you will be the next to get married, but Nico doesn't really mind about that. She can wait — weddings are too expensive, anyways. But this is also a competition, and Nico Yazawa is no loser.

"Nico-chan," calls Maki from outside the group, her arms crossed and a very irritated look on her face, "what the hell are you doing?"

Her girlfriend stares at her like that's the dumbest question she could be asked, and meanwhile she takes the chance to push away one of Eli's cousins who just won't stop getting on her way. Nico is being insulted in Russian —she has heard Eli cursing in her language before, she knows— and she doesn't really mind because she's too busy trying to make her girlfriend realize the obvious.

"Uh, I'm going to catch the bouquet?" She says right before someone's elbow hits her right on the ribs. Someone is not going home alive today and that someone is definitely not Nico.

"Yeah, I can see that." Maki purses her lips, glowering at someone between the crowd behind her girlfriend and suddenly, the pressure on Nico's ribs disappears. She smiles, pleased.

"So?" She asks, dragging the 'o' as she uses her butt to push whoever is behind her out of the way.

"Well," Maki starts, wearing that smug expression of hers, "I thought the bouquet toss was only for the single women of the wedding," she says matter-of-factly, with a certain accent of reproach on her voice. "Because as far as I know, you are not single, are you? Or am I forgetting a conversation and you are indeed single?"

Nico smiles sheepishly, well aware of how bouquet tosses work, but unwilling to move from her spot — particularly now that Eli's relatives seem to have understood that she's not one to mess with.

And it's not fair that only the single ladies get to have fun. Nozomi would never forgive her if she didn't take part in her bouquet toss and snatched it out of everyone's dirty hands; it was her duty as best friend and she was going to fulfil it.

"I know, I know… You don't have to be like this. It's no fun if not everyone gets to do it, right?" It's a lame excuse, but who cares. Maki raises an eyebrow as answer, needless of words to express what she's thinking. "Besides, if Kotori can do it, I'm not getting left out." Puffing her cheeks, she points a finger to her side, were Kotori stands, chatting with Umi about something and being in their own little world.

The redhead sighs as the acknowledgment of her defeat, just as Nozomi (now on a more casual outfit) appears with a complacent smirk on her lips and that coveted bouquet of flowers on her hands. Everyone stops whatever they are doing to pay attention to their host.

"Okay, ladies. Are you all ready?" She asks with a lilting voice, marking every syllable so Eli's relatives are able to understand her Japanese without much trouble. All of them are eager to catch the damn bouquet and have something to brag about for the next few months, and Nozomi knows it, so she stretches on the moment for as much as she can.

Nico is faced with an elbow against her cheek and too many people bumping her, but she's able to stand still, ready to fight, jump and kill for that goddamn bunch of useless flowers. Eli's relatives are considerabily tall compared to her, but she doesn't mind — she can still see Nozomi across all those bony shoulders and fair locks of hair.

It doesn't matter, though, because as soon as Nozomi throws it, she realizes it's too high for her, not matter how much she jumps. The bouquet flies in slow motion over her head, too far from her grip to even try to reach it. She's not the only one discouraged by this, as she can clearly see in the other girls' expressions.

The bouquet, however, does land in someone's hands. A loud bump can be heard, followed by a not so loud groan and gasp that clearly comes out of Kotori's mouth, even if she's not the one who ended up catching the bouquet.

Nico frowns, annoyed, standing on her tiptoes to see who caught the stupid flowers. They were too ugly for her taste, anyway. After a quick glance at Nozomi, she notices her best friend giggling and tries to look over everyone's shoulders. If Nozomi looks so happy with the result, it has to be pure gold — and none of Eli's relatives are pure gold, Nico thinks.

It's certainly a surprise when she sees it was Umi who caught the bouquet.

Her girlfriend claps with enthusiasm, but Umi doesn't react because she doesn't really understand what just happened and why everyone is staring at her —some with quite dangerous glares—. She smiles sheepishly.

"Congratulations, Umi-chan!" Honoka's voice can be heard across the place as she moves forward, camera in hand, to take a picture of the scene. Kotori poses, making a victory sign with her hand, while the blue haired woman stands still, unsure of what to do.

Eli claps too, smiling. "Yeah, congratulations, Umi!"

Some people start clapping without much zeal, as nobody did expect her to be the one who caught the bouquet and for her reaction to be so… Umi-like. Nozomi's giggles have gotten louder as she claps, and she takes a couple of steps forward.

"You're so lucky, Umi-chan!" She says, with a smile that reveals what she's going to say next. "It's good to see you'll be the next of us to get married!"

Umi takes a few seconds, but she does react to that. Nico is surprised that she doesn't faint, though.

"M-MARRIED!?"

"Good thing you let me spend the night with you," Maki says as she drives back home, with Nico dozing off on the passenger seat. After wearing them all day, her pretty dress and her killer heels don't seem to be such good ideas, in the end.

"Well, I still can't understand why the hell you moved in with Hanayo and Rin if you spend more time at my apartment than there." Nico chuckles slightly as she thinks what she's about to say next. "Perhaps you should start helping me pay the rent, huh? We basically live together, so…"

The redhead hits the brakes when she notices she's about to miss a red light. Either that or she's just shocked because of Nico's statement — and it's not like Nico doesn't say that kind of things on a daily basis, but it doesn't mean Maki can get used to it.

"Aw, Maki, come on, do you want us to die? It was a joke," she groans, rubbing the back of her head that hit the back of her seat. "God, you are going to get us killed one day."

"S-shut up! You can't say that and be so calm about it!" Maki blurts out, blushing like crazy. "I'm perfectly happy living with them, okay?"

"Yeah, as if," her girlfriend says with a smirk, her voice more conceited than usual. "Anyway, just tell me why you don't want to go home with them — you've been spending the past weeks at my house. You can't deny that."

The redhead sighs and slows down, as they're approaching Nico's apartment and the last thing she would like to do is to continue that conversation at home.

"Those two have something going on. I swear," she starts explaining and she sounds so desperate it surprises Nico. "Rin has always liked to walk around the house in her underwear, but now every time I walk into a room I find her and Hanayo staring at each other like they're about to have sex on the couch." She makes a turn to the left towards the place where she usually parks her car. "And I paid for that couch."

Pursing her lips, Nico stays silent and tries to imagine how things are going at Maki's house. To be honest, if someone like Maki can see there's sexual tension going on, then it must be really, really serious.

"Well, you can stay here for as long as you want," she says, smiling. Maki looks sideways at her and is quick to evade eye contact as the tips of her ears start to get warm. "I love seeing your stupid face when I wake up."

"Yeah, and I bet you loved seeing your old crush at the wedding, too," Maki blurts out without thinking. She sounds just like a little kid and she knows it, but it's too late to back down.

Surprisingly, Nico doesn't have a witty answer to that. She just crosses her arms and chuckles, amused. "I'm not going to deny that."

"Deny what?" The redhead shoots back, expecting Nico to confirm her suspicions.

"That."

"And what is that, exactly?"

"That I was happy to see Tsubasa-san once again. And I was also pretty happy to see that she is now dating one of my dearest friends," she adds with a singsong voice that makes Maki sink deeper into her seat.

"You know what I was thinking back there, right?" Maki covers her face out of sheer embarrassment.

"Hm, I guess you were jealous for some reason I can't quite put my finger on." She rubs her chin with fake concern. "Never did I expect to witness the great Maki Nishikino being envious of some random mortal!"

"You really enjoy making fun of me, don't you?" The redhead hisses, failing to hide the pink that covers her cheeks from the other woman.

"Oi, come on, Maki," Nico says with a dainty grin, "you know I would choose you over anyone else, always."

The car is already parked but neither of them tries to leave it. One of Nico's hands finds Maki's to holds it, still smiling, and it sends chills down the redhead's spine. Maki is too embarrassed to look at her girlfriend, but she makes sure their fingers are still interlocked when they exit the car and when they make their way to the older one's apartment.

The house is silent except for their steps, neither of them trying to keep the conversation alive. They're too tired for it, anyway. Their dresses were pretty during the day but now they're just uncomfortable pieces of fabric, and both of them are quick to undo their nice hairdos as soon as they can.

Being really honest, it is true that Maki essentially lives there, with Nico, and not in the house she's being paying for the last months. She knows it like it was her own, she has a copy of the keys that Nico made for her after they got together, she has her own spot in her girlfriend's wardrobe — hell, she even has her toothbrush there.

She's sitting on Nico's bed, already on her pyjamas and waiting for her girlfriend to come out from the bathroom, and she thinks how that bedroom feels so familiar, so hers. The bed hasn't been made and there are dirty clothes scattered all over the floor, but the picture gives her a warm and fuzzy feeling on her tummy.

"Are you already asleep? Look at your face." A low chuckle can be heard from the door, where Nico is standing, waiting for Maki to go to the bathroom so they can go to bed at last.

Nico is always like some kind of living magic trick that you can't take your eyes off, even when she's looks like that — sleepy, worn out after a day as intense as today. It's hard to believe that she's always able to show such a genuine smile for her girlfriend (the redhead can tell when those smiles are honest, because she has seen them all). Maki doesn't know how to deal with all the feelings she gets just by seeing the other woman like that, but she knows what they mean.

Before she can notice what in the world she's even doing, Maki finds herself stroking the smaller woman's cheek, staring at her like it's the first time she's seen her. Nico looks as confused as she looks embarrassed, but doesn't stop the caress on her blushing face.

"You look cute with your hair like that," the redhead hums as she walks towards the bathroom. Nico is left gaping like a fish, not quite used to her girlfriend's sudden displays of affection when they're alone.

"W-what was that for!?" The older one asks, her voice a little more high-pitched than usual because of the embarrassment.

"Because you looked really cute today and I had to say it out loud."

Nico lets out a small 'oh'. "You can be such a cheesy girlfriend sometimes, did you know that?"

"It's the effect you have in me, I guess," she answers jokingly, with a theatrical voice. Nico lets out a loud laugh —she knows Maki is making fun of her continuous dramatic antics— and the redhead smiles, pleased with herself.

Maki takes her time to brush her teeth and stare at the ceiling before she goes back to bed. Her watch is placed on the sink, where she left it that morning, and it reads 2:47AM. Both Nico and her have their alarms set at 7:30 in the morning because their weekend off is over, but for the first time in years, Maki doesn't really want to go to the hospital next morning.

Dim lights from the lampposts make their way into the house through the thin fabric of Nico's curtains, guiding Maki around the apartment — but she knows that house so well she could be blindfolded and it wouldn't matter.

When she reaches the doorstep of Nico's room, she discovers that her girlfriend is already in bed, her breathing rhythmical and calm. The dark silhouette is still able to somehow make her heart beat faster than usual.

She goes to her spot on the bed and snuggles between her girlfriend's arms, trying not to bother Nico. The smaller woman smiles drowsily and wraps a pair of sleepy arms around Maki's waist, closing any spaces between them.

"Good night, Maki," says Nico, her voice raspy, and she hides her face in the crook of Maki's neck. Her warm breath tickles the redhead's skins and makes her cheeks heat up.

Maki kisses the top of Nico's head and lets her lips linger there a bit longer than she should. Nico likes to be pampered, so there's no way she would complain about that — furthermore, she takes the chance to kiss the edge of Maki's jaw, the only place she can actually reach from her position.

"Good night, Nico-chan," Maki whispers, not wanting to bother the other woman, who seems to have drifted off again, as her breathing becomes rhythmical again.

"I love you." Nico mutters, more asleep than awake, and it makes Maki's heart skip a bit, stupidly enough. It's not the first time she has said that but it always manages to fill her stomach with butterflies.

Everything is silent save for the cars that go across the street, with their headlights lighting up the room slightly every few minutes.

"Please," Maki thinks, running a hand through Nico's dark and smooth hair, "let us stay like this forever."

She moves a little, doing her best not to unwrap herself from Nico's embrace, and places herself so she's facing the other woman, who sleeps peacefully next to her, soft snores coming out from her mouth.

Maki smiles unconsciously at the sight, all the drowsiness leaving her body as she captures every inch of Nico's features in her mind. With dark, messy hair framing her face and eyelashes so long they tickle Maki when they kiss, Nico makes Maki want to bury her face in the pillow and start screaming because she's just so beautiful.

In that moment, there is just one simple thought that comes to Maki's mind, a thought she's been having for a while now but she has never dared to announce, and she has to let it out because if she doesn't say it now she may explode.

"I love you, too." Her eyes slip closed and it feels amazing to be able to pronounce those words out loud. All the overwhelming feelings she's been having for the past few weeks finally withdraw from her chest and she has the sudden urge of repeating it until she gets a sore throat.

There's a slight change in Nico's breathing, but Maki doesn't bother to open her eyes at all. It's too late in the night to bother at all. She has finally said it and there's no going back — she's so content with herself it gives her a rush of confidence and energy that seems pretty useless at 3:18AM.

The warmth against her neck suddenly disappears and she allows herself to crack an eye open, annoyed at the stop of all the nice sensations she was having. Nico is now busy burying her face on her girlfriend's chest, giggling like a little kid.

Maki tries to free herself from Nico's embrace, but the tight grip on her waist doesn't weaken at all. With a loud sigh, she lowers her gaze to meet Nico's red eyes staring back at her — and maybe it is because of the illumination (or lack thereof) of the room, but they are sparkling.

"Could you say that again?" Nico requests, her voice still hoarse from sleeping. "I need to record it and set it as my ringtone."

Red creeps onto her cheeks as Maki struggles to decide whether she's embarrassed or glad that Nico heard her confession. It's a mix of the two, actually.

"I-I thought you were asleep?" Trying to change the subject seems to be her best option until she calms down a little. "It's really late."

Nico gives an absent hum, separating her body from Maki's so she can properly look at her. "Nope. I was just practicing for my funeral," she says, a childish smile on her lips, and it earns her a loud groan from Maki.

"You're so stupid sometimes."

"I know. But you love me anyway," Nico murmurs, like she's attempting to confirm that what Maki said was true and not product of her imagination or her slumber.

Maki grabs her cheeks and compels Nico to look at her straight into the eyes. "Of course I do," she says passionately, not wanting that to be questioned.

The vehemence in Maki's gaze is such that Nico has to avert her eyes to hide how she's starting to blush — good thing the room is dark, or then she would feel a hundred times more flustered.

"It's so weird hearing you say that kind of things," says Nico, closing the gap between her and the other girl to hide her face under Maki's chin, which feels as the safest place to be right now. If she gets closer to the redhead's skin, Nico can feel her heart beating.

"I guess I should say it more often," her girlfriend answers, shrugging slightly, her fingers tangling in Nico's hair like it's second nature, "I'm sorry. Y-you know I'm not really good with feelings."

"And you know I couldn't care less."

Nico curls up against Maki's body, her hair tickling the redhead beneath the jaw. Maki grunts at this and grabs Nico's shoulders to move her away a bit. Nico is about to complain but whatever words wanted to escape from her mouth are quickly caught by Maki's lips.

Kissing the redhead is always a nice feeling, but today Maki is surprisingly tender, with her hands stroking Nico's face as if it were the most delicate piece of art in the planet. Nico melts like sugar against her lips.

"I love you," Maki says fiercely, her —somehow erratic— breathing mixing with Nico's. "Please never doubt it. I really do."

She's met with a shower of kisses that cover her face, with Nico's cute giggles as soundtrack. These kinds of displays of affection never fail to make Maki blush like crazy, but it's not like she doesn't enjoy them or something — so she wraps her arms around her girlfriend's waist and answers all of her smooches, lips flying from Nico's cheeks to her nose to her temples.

They are a mess on the bed, all butterfly kisses and 'I love you's. Neither of them cares about the countdown of the clock, a reminder of how this moment should end so they can properly do their jobs the following day. But who cares about their job when you're in the arms of the person you love, being spoiled?

Apparently Maki does, even if it takes all of her might to separate her lips from Nico's cheeks to say, "I think we should really be sleeping right now," and she goes back to the sweet taste of her girlfriend's skin.

It earns her a muffled groan, a stop in the track of kisses that covers her jawline and a dangerous glower. "I think you should stop ruining our best moments."

Maki presses her lips against the tip of her nose, then her cheekbone. "We can continue tomorrow, or whenever you want. But now," another kiss, this time on her lips, "we need to sleep. Being a doctor is hard when you haven't slept and you know that."

"You think being a surgeon is hard?" Nico hisses, but there's a smile lighting up her face and a funny feeling in her chest. "Try being a maid of honour. That is hard."

They both laugh before falling into silence, never letting the other go. Maki ends up turning her back against Nico's body, and the older of the two holds her by the waist and kisses her nape, keeping her face close to the familiar scent of Maki's hair. It's a happy feeling because they both know they will wake up all cuddled in each other's arms, they will get drowsy smooches even if they look terrible or they've drooled on their pillows overnight — it's the kind of feeling you get when you are in love.

"Hey," Nico whispers after a while, and Maki doesn't know whether she's awake or dreaming. "You didn't let me record it for my ringtone."

Maki groans.

There's a white, registered envelope with Nico's full name on it. It has been sitting in front of her for the past hours and yet it hasn't been opened. The letter arrived at her house but she's been carrying it around for the past hours because it feels as though the envelope burned her skin when she holds it. It's a horrible feeling because she's already been through all of this —the excitement of receiving the letter, the expectation while opening it— and she knows what happened the last time.

Nico has never been so scared in her whole life.

It's like having a déjà vu, a terrible one for the matter. She's been having this feeling of uneasiness the whole day, even while she was in the OR with Umi (and she got scolded for it), but there's a higher force that keeps her from opening it and revealing if she has finally succeeded or not.

Hanayo has been there with her for the past half an hour —they're in their lunch break, but Rin is nowhere to be seen—, sitting by her side but without uttering a single word. Hanayo is that kind of friend Nico is thankful for — she always knows what the older woman needs and is willing to help whenever she can. Not to mention that she's the only one who understands Nico's obsession with idols (even that weird cute metal band Maki can't stand!), so she considers her to be one of her closest friends.

Now Nico needs company, someone to share this moment in silence while she makes up her mind and gets emotionally ready for whatever the results are. She didn't even tell Maki anything (perhaps because Nico's scared that she'll be disappointed if she failed the exam again), but Hanayo just knew when they met that morning and stuck with her all day long. It was nice, especially since Nozomi is now on her two-week-honeymoon with Eli —even if they got married two months ago— and she can't be the one being there for Nico.

"D-do you think I should open it?" Nico asks, in need of reassurance of what she's about to do. Her body is stiff and her hands don't react even though she's telling them to grab the envelope in front of them.

Hanayo sighs, running a hand through her hair, seemingly deep in thought. "Does what I think really matter?"

"Maybe not, but it'd nice to have some help," Nico answers bitterly, annoyed at the disappearance of Hanayo's usual passive nature.

"Then I think you should open it," says Hanayo, shrugging. "You'll have to open it at some point, anyways." She's about to add something else but she closes her mouth before any words slip out.

They fall back into silence as Nico considers her friend's words. Their lunch break is just minutes away of being over and, just like Hanayo, said, there's no point in delaying the moment — she shall open that letter to know what she's going to do next with her life.

One of Nico's hands is not resting on the envelope, the touch of the paper tickling her fingertips and making her notice how she has a knot in the pit of her stomach. Hanayo pats her on the shoulder, smiling encouragingly.

"I'm sure you did well on the exam, Nico-chan. You have a lot of talent, and you're always incredibly confident." Hanayo grabs Nico's free hand, looking at her with reassuring eyes. "If someone like me could make it this far, imagine what you can do."

Hanayo's honest words warm Nico's chest, making her let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Maybe she's right, after all — if she failed by just one point last time, who can tell her that she failed when this once she was a hundred times more careful?

"Thank you, Hanayo. You're amazing, too," she says, smiling back at the younger one. Hanayo is always there for everyone except for one person: herself. So Nico tries her best to make her friend know her value. "If you've made it this far it's because you're the best."

"Nico-chan, don't say that!" Hanayo mutters, her eyes sparkly and her round cheeks trembling slightly. Is she going to cry? Nico hopes not because if she can't deal with her own feeling right now there's no way she can deal with Hanayo crying —and God, how can someone deal with that? She's too pure for tears and pain—.

"I think Hanayo is right," a voice says from behind them, breaking their small moment of bonding so they can turn around.

Maki is standing on the threshold, with her arms crossed and her ponytail messier than usual. She looks tired but there's a certain sparkle of determination to her eyes when she looks at Nico that's not very common, and it makes the oldest of the three gulp hard.

Nico grabs the envelope under her fingers when she sees Maki approaching, her eyes never leaving the redhead's. She didn't really want to do this in front of her but the way Maki is staring means that nobody is leaving the room until they've seen what the damn letter has to say about Nico's future.

"You're brilliant and you know that." A pair of hands rest on Nico's shoulders, giving her a supportive squeeze. "All of us know that you did great — there's no way you could have failed."

Nico stares at the letter between her hands and she realizes she's shaking. The mere thought of opening it and discovering what she found last year terrifies her to the point where she can't bring herself moving. Hanayo is staring at her with furrowed brows and a face full of concern, biting her lower lip slightly. Nico wants to apologize for being such a coward, but other words come out of her mouth.

"W-what if I failed again?" She chokes a bit on the last word, earning her a couple of troubled looks.

"If you failed," says Maki with a kind voice, her hands leaving Nico's shoulders and relocating themselves on her girlfriend's shaky hands, "I'll leave no stone unturned until I discover who the asshole was who decided you weren't ready to be a doctor. Because, trust me," she kisses Nico's temple and the shaking stops suddenly, "you're more than ready."

"But—"

"No 'but's." Maki glowers at her, but it's not like she's angry — she's just frustrated. "All of my interns have passed the exam, and half of them can't tell the appendix from the tongue. You're better than them, so have some confidence." She chuckles slightly at the last part. "God, I can't believe I'm saying that to you."

Nico smiles and gives her girlfriend a quick peck, leaving her all flustered. Hanayo smiles at the picture but doesn't say anything so as to not bother the couple —and she's also too busy wondering where the hell Rin is to care—.

The oldest of the three grabs the letter with determination and stares at her girlfriend and friend, fire in her eyes. The paper is now crumpled in her tight grip but she couldn't care less — she's going to read what's inside it and she's going to do it right now.

"Please don't look at me while I open it," she simply says as she sits down on a chair at the other side of the room.

Maki and Hanayo oblige after nodding a bit, even if both of them are curious —and worried— about what the damn letter has to say. Their backs are facing Nico but Maki makes sure she's slightly turned so she can peep through her hair and see her girlfriend's reaction.

"I saw Rin with Honoka. She was just like Nico-chan is right now," she whispers, well aware that her friend is probably dead worried about Rin's current situation.

Hanayo gives her an absent nod and starts playing with her hands, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

Meanwhile, behind them, Nico takes a deep breath before she starts opening her envelope. She does it carefully, trying to stretch the moment on, scared of what her results may be. She takes the letter out and unfolds it warily, allowing herself to wait instead of reading it yet.

Now Hanayo and Maki are staring shamelessly at her, but Nico doesn't seem to notice. Her eyes fly up and down the letter, absorbing every single word of it. She reads it once, twice, three times, holding her breath. She doesn't raise her eyes from the paper, which is starting to crumple even more between her shaky fingers.

When the younger two start to turn around again, Nico suddenly gets up, kicking her chair in the process. Hanayo stares at her with wide eyes, pale because she got scared, and Maki mimics her girlfriend, wary that she may do something weird.

Nico makes a boll with the paper she is holding and throws it over her shoulder, glancing directly into Maki's eyes. Her lower lip is quivering a bit —all of her body is, actually—, and she has to swallow with difficulty before she speaks up.

"I passed."

She says it simply and in less than a second, she is running towards Maki and jumping into her arms. Good thing Maki has fast reflexes and is able to catch her and wrap her arms around her so she doesn't fall. When she's safe between her girlfriend's arms, Nico kisses Maki with a wide grin on her face, giggling.

Hanayo looks at them, smiling, and clapping gently at her friend's results. She wants to say something to congratulate her, but no words are really needed —and Maki and her are too busy being in their little own world to care about whatever she says, anyway—.

Maki spins Nico around the room, laughing alongside her. A few curious nurses and patients stare at them from outside the room, since the door is half open, but neither of them pays them any attention. They're too happy, too focused on each.

"I told you, I was sure you could do it." Maki says, smiling so wide that small wrinkles appear at the corner of her eyes. "I'm very proud of you."

Nico just kisses her vehemently in response, unable to find how to put her feeling into words. Maki's strong arms don't shudder even if she's holding her girlfriend's body like she was carrying a little kid.

A small group of people was now gathered at the foyer, a mix between patients and members of the hospital staff —one of Maki's intern looks as if she is about to cry—, but a very unusual and dangerous glare from Hanayo is enough to make them go back to whatever they were doing.

However, a loud slamming of the door interrupts them just seconds after everyone has left. Rin stands there, panting and trying to recover her breath, but her eyes have a different sparkle than usual and she deliberately seems to ignore the fact that Maki and Nico are even in the room.

She's only looking at Hanayo when she says slowly, short of breath, "I passed the exam."

Nico is still in Maki's arms and neither of them moves. Rin walks up to Hanayo with determined steps and doesn't allow her best friend to say anything before she grabs her shoulders and crashes her lips against hers.

"Well," Maki whispers, pursing her lips a bit, torn between being happy at their friends for finally being honest about their feelings or annoyed because they took so damn long, "I'm definitely not going home with them tonight."

Nico's first surgery as an official doctor comes just four days after she opened her letter. It's a quite unexpected thing, actually, but there has been a derailed train downtown and the hospital is a beehive, with nurses running here and there, stretchers going from one floor to another, injured people coming in waves, every wound worse than the one before.

Specialities don't matter and hands on deck are needed, especially when the most severe injuries start to enter the hospital. Umi is quickly required when the first patients arrive and it's not until half an hour later, when Nico is busy helping to unload the injured from the ambulances, when a nurse tells her that they'll need her in the OR because no other doctor is free. Apparently, Dr Kosaka will join her in the middle of the surgery, but now they need Nico.

It's a weird feeling, having to perform a surgery knowing that you're fully responsible of what happens to the person on the table. You are aware that, literally, their live is on your hands, and whatever their destiny is, it's be because of you.

It makes Nico scared and excited at the same time.

Her patient is a young girl, no older than any of her siblings —"21 year old female, superficial wounds on her chest and limbs, severe lacerations on the abdomen", Kotori says when they're running towards the OR—, so Nico resolves to save her no matter what.

"I need you to get me a general surgeon now." Nico says to one of the nurses, who nods frantically. She then checks the patient's pupils, cursing to herself after double checking them. Kotori didn't tell her anything about head injuries, but… "One of the pupils is blown… Page neuro, too!"

Kotori is running by her side, yelling something about needing a certain type of blood and Nico can't even pay attention to it because the poor girl is unconscious and bleeding, and it's on her hands to save her.

Once they reach the OR, Nico is quick to remove the packing that had been put there by the medics, wincing at the sight of the damage caused by the accident. Going straight to the stomach, the small doctor only has to look at it for the briefest of moments before knowing exactly what she is dealing with. There was a similar case to this when she was at UTX hospital, and she remembers how things went more or less, so there's confidence in her voice when she speaks.

"If I can stop the bleeding then it might hold up long enough to get a CT when Honoka arrives, but I need her here right now." She explains, with Kotori nodding and going to help her.

Honoka appears like fallen from heaven, already in her scrubs, just in time to help Nico and Kotori with the young girl on the table.

Surprisingly enough, things go just as expected. Not as smoothly as any of them would have wanted, particularly because the injuries are almost borderline irreparable, and one of the most inexperienced nurses messes up and the patient starts to bleed from her stomach.

Nico is able to locate the source of the bleeding —and it is way harder than she remembers—, and alongside Honoka, they stop the young girl from bleeding out and patching her injury before one of the neurosurgeons come in and helps them with the neurosurgical part of the operation, which seems way easier than one'd have thought.

And it all is worth it, especially when the patient goes off to the intensive care unit very much alive, a long road to recovery before her, but alive nonetheless.

"Good job, Dr Yazawa." The neurosurgeon congratulates before leaving the room, patting Nico on the back. Honoka grins childishly and gives her thumbs up before she leaves too.

If Nico entered the room when the sun was gleaming on the sky over the hospital, she exits the OR next to a very tired Honoka when the moon is already out there, dim moonlight entering through the hospital windows and reminding Nico of how fast everything happens when you have to save a life and the clock is not something to care about.

The hallways are now calm, with no patients in need of surgery or coming out of ambulances. Nico quickly learns from a random nurse that a lot of the injured were relocated and sent to another nearby hospital, after the Nishikino Hospital got overflowed with patients that couldn't be properly cared of.

She wanders around the building, making her way towards the ER with hands on her pockets, deep in thought. She's happy about the results of the surgery but there's also a feeling of uneasiness, knowing that not every operation will have the same outcome, and that people may not survive even if she does her best to save them.

A bump on her shoulder makes her pay attention to things around, and her eyes discover a young man with pale eyes and looking as if he just saw a ghost.

"E-excuse me, where can I find the intensive care unit?" He asks, fidgeting with his shaky hands, obviously anxious. Nico purses her lips, annoyed because the boy may have thought she was a nurse or something.

"It's down that hallway," she points behind her and the boy is about to start running, but she's quick to grab him by the elbow and stop him, "but no visits are allowed, sorry."

The young man looks both outraged and aghast, but he rudely shakes Nico's grip off. "I'm sorry but my girlfriend was in that derailing and I need to know if she's okay."

Nico is just about to give him a witty remark when the image of the girl on the operation room, almost bleeding to death, comes to her head. "Could it be…?"

"Did she have the tips of her hair dyed pink?" Nico asks, trying to remember any other details from the girl's looks apart from her lacerated abdomen.

The guy's eyes sparkle and Nico knows she just hit the nail on the head.

"I-is she alright?" He says, his voice trembling at the idea of his girlfriend not surviving the accident. "W-we just moved together… I don't know what I would do without her…" He looks down, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, and it moves something inside Nico.

She smiles and pats him on the shoulder. "She's perfectly fine. She will survive this — I made sure she will. Now go to the reception table and ask about visiting hours."

He sprints back to the reception room while yelling a mix of 'thank you's, and Nico smiles pleased. She then continues her stroll to the emergency room, humming happily because, after all, she did not only save a person today, but perhaps too.

She finds Maki around the corner, the redhead looking extremely tired, drinking a coffee too hot for her own good and wiping the sweat out of her forehead. Nico walks to her and the memory of her patient's boyfriend comes to her mind.

When she reaches Maki's side, she speaks up before her girlfriend can even open her mouth.

"I think you should officially move in with me."

Moving in seemed a crazier idea in Maki's mind, and she was scared that it might have caused a lot of problems in her relationships —both with Rin and Hanayo and with Nico—, but after being living with Nico for two months, Maki can't really find almost any difference from before, except, perhaps, that now her life is way more calm and simple.

Nico is messy and her apartment is just a reflection of it, but Maki can't complain because she's the same and they kind of complement each other to makes their lives together easier. Even though Nozomi pays them a visit every few days, "to make sure they are still alive", as she says.

Hospital life is as busy as always, especially now that Nico is an official doctor too and she has to start being more responsible and diligent than she was before.

They go to the hospital together every time they can, and now almost everyone is aware that they're a couple —even if Maki's interns try to deny it because they don't want to lose hope—, but it doesn't mean that it makes their jobs any harder. In fact, Maki discovers that operating with Nico is quite a pleasant experience because even if outside the OR they can't stop bickering about the slightest of things, inside they're like a single person working with a shared brain.

And it is one day, after coming out of a surgery that she had to share with her girlfriend, when Maki bumps into her mother. Knowing that her parents own the whole place, it'd be easy to think that Maki meets them regularly, but it couldn't be farther from the truth — they both are almost always busy with something, her father being the Chief of Surgery and her mother being either operating or giving lectures around the country.

"Good afternoon, darling," her mother says, patting her head lovingly, "it's nice to see that the surgery went well after all."

Maki smiles like a proud child. "Yes, me too. It was a hard operation but I think we did well, though I trusted the team since the beginning." She preens a little because, well, it's her mother and she likes it when she's proud of her, okay?

"I didn't doubt that, you're my daughter after all," Maki's mother smiles and they walk together down the hallway.

Maki is always surprised to notice how much of a star her mother is. Everyone, nurses, doctors, surgeons and even patients stop on their tracks to greet her and talk to her — it doesn't seem to bother her but it makes Maki slightly jealous, because she wants to be great just like her parents but not because she's their daughter, but because of her personal talents.

"So, I heard Ayase-san and Tojo-san got married while I was in America, am I right?" Her mother asks, stopping by a coffee machine. She takes out a coin and selects her drink, and then offers Maki something, which her daughter rejects.

"Yeah, they did." She shrugs, unsure of what to say. Her mother loves weddings a lot and she seemed to be very disappointed when she found out she couldn't attend to Eli and Nozomi's ceremony.

"Ow, I would have loved to be there. They're such nice kids. And weddings are so lovely… It's been a while since I went to one," her mother puts, looking honestly let down. Maki chuckles a bit.

"Don't worry. Knowing those two, they may celebrate it again just so you can come," she says half-jokingly, because she's known Eli and Nozomi for so long and she's sure that that's the kind of thing they would absolutely do.

Speaking of which, Maki's mother doesn't continue her conversation with her daughter, as she greets someone from afar, waving the hand that isn't holding her coffee cup. Maki isn't the slightest bit surprised to find Nozomi and Eli there, and Nico with them, chatting.

The trio wave back at Maki's mother, Nico looking especially taken aback —because damn, that's her mother-in-law and she could destroy her career and her life in a second—. Then they continue their conversation, stealing glances at the redheads every now and then.

Maki's mother rests her back against the wall, taking a sip from her coffee. She offers again, and this time Maki drinks from the cup too, mimicking her mother's posture.

"I wouldn't mind if they did, though," the older woman says, a gentle smile on her lips.

"Maybe if you wait a bit, Kotori and Umi will get married. I think the chances are quite big," Maki suggests, thinking about how her friends keep joking about a wedding —and how Umi keeps texting her because she can't find a ring that is pretty enough for Kotori—, and it's probably about time that they do.

"Really? Minami-san has such a good taste with everything, I'm sure their ceremony would be lovely," her mother hums happily. "But I'm actually waiting for you to get married. Even if you're still young."

Maki isn't drinking anything but she chokes on her own saliva, looking terribly embarrassed about what her mother just said.

"W-what!? Don't go saying that kind of things out loud, mom!"

The older woman laughs with such content it is impossible for her daughter to get mad at her. Maki feels her mom patting her on the head and then running a hand through her hair, like she used to do when she was just a little kid and she got tantrums.

"It was a joke, darling. I know that'd be hard for you," she says, sighing loudly — she obviously wasn't joking. "But wouldn't be nice if you go married some day?"

Maki is about to complain when she takes a glance at where Nozomi, Eli and Nico stand. The three of them are noisily laughing about something Nozomi just said, and they look like they do in those pictures from college that cover Eli and Nozomi's apartment. Maki stares at Nico like she has never seen her laugh in her life, and it makes her heart skip a beat — the way her eyes almost disappear when she laughs, the small dimples that show up on her cheeks.

It's such a beautiful sight that it makes Maki's brain stop functioning correctly for a second, and the words slip out of her mouth before she can think twice about them and what they mean (even if she knows that, in reality, she means them).

"Yeah, I think I'd love that one day."

I really hope you enjoyed this as much as the first part. If you want to ask me anything, please leave a review or ask on my tumblr (nozorippi). Thanks!