So, um, I got a little frustrated over the fact that a particular overprominent pairing basically got it's own week while Sukko doesn't get any particular events tied to it, so, yeah, I went on to begin writing for an entire Sukko week of sorts. I hope it's not too mediocre, because some of these were written in a matter of literally one day.

Normally, no matter what Akko did, she usually didn't think of the potential consequences. She always charged in head-first – sometimes more literally than usual – and just followed her own desires, ending up having to fix the resulting screw-ups.

And how ironic it was that the deepest of her heart's desires also ended up being the one thing she had to think several times over.

The thing is, Akko had a crush on a fellow student. The fact that it was a crush on another girl did not seem to be problematic to her in the slightest – if anything, she saw no real problem in girls loving other girls. After all, if you love a person for what they are as, well, a person, why should you be worried about such things?

Rather, it was the fact that said girl was Sucy that made Akko reconsider it several times.

Honestly, she had no real clue as to how exactly she ended up having feelings for the girl. Then again, something seemed to attract Akko to Sucy even since the day they met. Sure, their first impressions of one another weren't all that nice, considering that Sucy basically tossed a bunch of mercifully fake snakes at Akko just to get the brunette off her. And yet that's where Akko's determination really shined through. Despite all the cruel pranks that Sucy played on Akko, despite making the asian witch risk her life for a rare potion ingredient, and despite Sucy constantly pranking the girl and making some sarcastic and rather mean remarks about her every-so-often, something just seemed to attract Akko to the girl. Maybe it was the odd air of mystery that often persisted around the girl, maybe it were some of the things that Akko saw in Sucy's mindscape – mainly, a personification of the violette's repressed feelings and the fact that Sucy seemed to rather fondly remember their first meeting instead of the subsequent pranks – it was hard to tell. But we all know as the saying goes – absence makes the heart grow fonder. And being away from Sucy on near-constant basis after a long series of attempts to at least befriend the girl was not helping Akko's case the slightest.

Sure, they spent some time together, but considering that they hardly even talked to each other, it didn't amount to all that much.

Not to mention that seeing Akko together with Diana all the time did nothing to keep the emotional distance between Akko and Sucy from stretching further.

And Akko knew she had to fix it, and confess to Sucy what she truly felt about the girl. Problem is, she had a persistent feeling that something might just go wrong, and they'd end up separated even further than before.

"I just have to go ahead and tell her everything. Walk up to her, grab her hands, look her in her one visible eye, and tell her how much…" – Akko stammered for a bit, as even as she spoke it out loud to nothing but empty space, it seemed rather hard to speak out. – "Tell her how…"

"Talking to furniture again, Akko?" – The subject of the brunette's affections deadpanned, quietly walking into the dorm room, having had returned from her shopping trip.

Akko immediately jumped up as she heard the voice. So much for her confession practice.

"I was just, uh…Nevermind, just thinking aloud." – The Japanese witch replied, not even angry at her love interest's remark. Frankly, she stopped taking them to heart well over halfway through their first year, and didn't think much of them even now, in their second year.

"You know, talking to yourself is usually considered a sign of insanity. You sure that you're not feeling any after effects from our potion experiment a couple days ago?" – Sucy remarked again, although this time her remark sounded less sarcastic, and more like she was…Genuinely concerned about Akko? The brunette was sure that she was just hearing what she wanted to hear.

In any case, Akko figured that she might as well take the necessary risk. She was sure that her love confession wouldn't be the best, and that she might just screw something up, but it was worth a try.

"Sucy, I… We need to talk."

"Hm?" – Sucy couldn't even muster a sarcastic response to that one, with just how genuinely serious Akko had sounded. The brunette stood up from her bed and walked up to her, looking down.

"Sucy, listen, I…" – And from that moment on, Akko had begun letting her restraints off one by one as she told Sucy everything she thought about her: "First off, I want to apologize. Apologize for how distant we were last year. For how we barely even talked to one another, considering how busy I was back then, not even finding any time to talk to you. For how by the time I caught on, the year was already nearing it's end."

"Akko… You…You don't have to apologize for something like that, you know… It wasn't that much of a problem to me, really, it wasn't…" – The violette stammered, trying not to let her emotions slip.

"Sucy, please, there is more to it than that. It matters to me much more than you think it does." – Akko was visibly stammering, twiddling her fingers as she tried to just go ahead and say what she wanted to. – "The truth is, Sucy… "

"Akko?" – Sucy's cold façade was falling apart at it's seams by every moment, as the note of concern in her voice seemed a lot more prominent. The violette had taken both of Akko's hands in her own, and looked closer at her, as the brunette had her eyes tightly shut and was looking down, avoiding eye contact with the witch. – "Akko, please, speak up…"

And on that exact moment, Akko had reversed the other girl's grip so that it was the brunette holding Sucy's hands now, then, her eyes still shut, she confessed.

"I LOVE YOU, SUCY!" – Akko shouted at the top of her lungs, shocking the subject of her affections with the sheer loudness of her statement, to say nothing of the statement itself.

Once again, Sucy was at a loss for words. Sure, she did have some odd feelings for Akko ever since they've met, but all this time, she was suppressing them, and always thought that if Akko were to find out about them, then she either would be as oblivious as ever, or would actively avoid her. But… Finding out that the brunette had reciprocated Sucy's feelings had made all the figurative walls that the violette had been building around herself over the years crumble to dust.

Tears in her eyes, the violette decided she might as well not throw the chance away, and replied: "I… Akko, this is just so sudden… But… I love you too. As more than just a friend – I was just afraid to admit it not just to anyone else, but to myself. I… I always thought that my… Orientation… Would be just one of those many things that make me the "freaky Sucy" that the entire academy knows me as. So I guess it's little wonder why I tried to repress those feelings so madly… I was afraid of what you'd think about me if you found out… And I tried my best to keep my feelings, as well as my subsequent jealousy when you began spending so much time with Diana, to myself. Remembering how you saw quite a lot of things in my mindscape, I assumed that you just wanted to stay as far away from me as possible… I just thought myself to be a horrible person, Akko. "

Akko couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sucy must have had it really rough if even after Akko confessed her love to her, she felt so…Troubled. The girl certainly had abandoment issues, and Akko knew that it would take quite a while to fix… But it wouldn't hurt to at least start taking the necessary steps to do so, right?

"Sucy… You know full well that's not true. If I didn't want to be with you, if you really were a horrible person, I wouldn't be pouring my soul out before you like this, you know! I know one thing's for certain – beneath all these thorns, you're just a complete and utter softie! " – The brunette replied, punctuating her last sentence with a smile, making Sucy blush even further. Although the violette's quiet chuckle seemed to be somewhat of an evidence that Akko's words, even if a little unfitting to the situation, seemed to do Sucy some good.

"Akko… Please, your adorkability is making me tense up even more. Just kiss me already." – The violette replied, her usual deadpan tone strangely not present.

Not that Akko needed to be asked twice. And thus, both girls leaned forward, and kissed each other on the lips. It wasn't the most perfect first kiss, mostly because Akko was pressing herself a little too close to Sucy, but it wasn't like it mattered to either of them.

After all, both Akko and Sucy were sure that they've had a lot more kisses ahead of themselves.

CHAPTER SO REDACTED-

Ahem, yeah, this was written in a matter of one day, and the first draft was mmmmmmiserable, I'd say as much. Hopefully it's at least presentable after all the edits.

I know my self-deprecation is getting old, but honestly, I rarely, if at all, feel proud about any of my work. Like many of my cancelled fics, for example.

So, with that said, and a decent start to a week full of ficwriting...

Darky Out!