Chapter Text
When Nene heard that two of her best friends were getting married, her first thought was ‘finally’ , because it was Rui and Tsukasa and who in their right minds looked at them and saw anything other than a fruit salad? Her second thought (which followed just about immediately after her first one) was ‘oh fuck’ , because it was Rui and Tsukasa and disaster was sure to follow them as per usual. Obviously, she’d seen their ridiculous antics as director and self-proclaimed star of their troupe, but that was really what made things all the more concerning for her, because if that was what they did for a regular show, what the hell would they come up with when asked to pull out all the stops? Nene feels a chill seep into her bones, and she takes it as a warning from god, but there is nothing she can do to stop this. She briefly contemplates booking a ticket to some faraway place and changing her name and calling herself Ms Definitely-Not-Nene, but as the plan begins to form in her head, she realises with a start that it sounds like something Tsukasa would say and now she’s regretting her entire existence.
“OOOOOH!” Someone yells, and Nene pats herself on the back for not jumping out of her skin because it’s been all these years and she’s still not completely settled with the thought of Emu Ootori.
“Nene-chan! It’s so wandahoi!” Emu chirrups, jumping up and down. “Rui-kun and Tsukasa-kun are getting super-duper-ooper-smooper-totally-shmotally married!”
“...yeah.” Nene agrees, nodding her head. She definitely didn’t understand half of those words, but she was pretty good at pretending she did understand Emu’s strange (but adorable) speech now. “It was bound to happen at some point.”
“Whaaaaat—? Nene-chan! You knew they were gonna get married?” Emu gasps, eyes wide as saucers in the comical way only Emu can manage to make look cute and Nene has to hide her chuckle behind her hand. “Don’t tell me…Nene-chan! You can see the future!”
“What?” Nene says, blinking in surprise as Emu grabs her and shakes her with superhuman strength, and honestly, she can feel her soul exiting her body. (Goodbye world, it was awful and she will miss nobody.) “No! Emu! I can't see the future! But I can see Rui and Tsukasa and they’re most definitely…y’know…”
“Totally-schmotally in love?”
Sickeningly so , Nene thinks, relaxing her limp wrist with a sigh. “Yeah, that.”
Obviously, it was kinda funny the first time she saw them look at each other like that (and mildly heartwarming because it really was nice to see Rui happy after only seeing him frown for so, so long), because it meant that when Rui and she walked home she could totally grill the shit out of him. It was epic…for about twenty seconds, and then Rui leaned into it and started talking about Tsukasa and that was unbearably sappy. But it was weirdly nice seeing his eyes light up like that, even if he was talking about launching Tsukasa ten feet into the air. Since Tsukasa was weird too, she figured he’d appreciate the gesture if he knew. Rui’s ridiculous stage directions and Tsukasa’s ridiculous everything…it was like their perfect little weirdo-way of flirting.
“Nene-chan! Sour face!” Emu suddenly yells, scrunching up her face in that decidedly cute way before jumping on her lap. Nene sighd, but leans forward and rests her head on her shoulder anyways, letting Emu pat her back gently. Or as gently as Emu could, anyways. That girl was too strong for her own good, but Nene figured it was okay because that meant that Emu carried her sometimes when she didn’t feel like walking, which was nice.
“Emu…” Nene said, sighing. “Can you really believe Tsukasa and Rui are getting married…”
“Hmm? Nene-chan…could it be…” Emu gasps suddenly. “That you’re jealous?!”
“Oh? What’s that? Dear little Nene is jealous of us~?”
No! They’d summoned him!
Nene sighs again. She’s been doing that an awful lot lately, it seems. But Rui is here now, and she knows he’s not going to leave until he’s done with his soliloquy or whatever, so she might as well get comfortable. Or at least, that’s her reason for burying her face in the crook of Emu’s neck and sighing again. Emu pats her head comfortingly, stroking her like one would a particularly prickly cat. Best girlfriend ever.
“Ahaha!” An obnoxious laugh rings out and any sense of peace Nene could’ve ever had in her life dissipates instantly. “Of course! How could one not be jealous of me! The star! Tenma Tsukasa!”
“...you’re a star for sure, but only in the sense that you’re blinding and annoying.” Nene mumbles.
“Hah!” Tsukasa laughs, striking an obnoxious pose. “The radiance of a blazing star is indeed blinding!”
Rui chuckles again, and Nene wonders how they haven’t managed to get any less obnoxious since high school. A crime, really. It could’ve been so much better for everyone else in this universe. (That is a lie, she loves her friends and wouldn’t change them for the world. Or at least wouldn't change them much.)
Nene slides off Emu’s lap and sits beside her, because when they’re all in one place Emu gets all excited, and Nene really isn’t feeling like being tossed in the air again. It was terrifying the first time, and though it is considerably less so for now, she is still very wary of surprise attacks.
Nene curses herself for not being wary enough almost instantly, because when she looks up, Tsukasa is on one knee in front of her, bowing his head. She wants to run away desperately because she has a terrible feeling that she knows what’s coming next.
“Kusanagi Nene,” Tsukasa says, tone solemn and serious and sounds so out of place for him Nene almost wants him to go back to yelling. “Will you do me the honour of being my best man?”
“What? No way.” Nene says, rolling her eyes. The look on Tsukasa’s face is priceless, his eyes so wide with shock that she really can’t keep her laughter in anymore.
Nene laughs, leaning over to flick Tsukasa on his forehead. Ah, the small joys in life, like Tsukasa’s weird yelps…
“Of course I will, dumbass,” she says with a chuckle. “Who else would you ask anyway?”
“HWEH?!” Emu makes an Emu-noise, and they all end up bursting out into laughter.
It’s fun, all of them being together. Plus it’s kinda heartwarming, really. She did think they were gonna go their own ways, and while they kinda did, it didn’t seem like they’d gone too far at all. When they were together the atmosphere was light and easy and they were as lively as ever. Nene couldn’t really want for more.
“Nene~” A voice hums from behind her, and she freezes. “Do you think I could borrow Robo-Nene for a tiny little bit for the ceremony?”
“Yeah, no,” Nene says with a sigh. “There’s no way something involving Tsukasa and you will ever have anything that’s a tiny little bit anything.”
“But Nenerobo-chan…” Emu says, and Nene can hear her pouting. “She’d be such a cute flower girl…”
“Rui would never do something that simple, especially not with Robo-Nene. I did not have to debate with him about adding laser beams for years to just hand her over now, no way.”
Nene looks at Rui, and his expression is as smug as ever. That bastard had no shame.
“Nope, I don’t like the way his eyes are sparkling. That’s a genuine up-to-absolutely-no-good look.”
Emu and Tsukasa turn to look at Rui. His expression only gets more malicious, the evil twinkle in his eye as bright as ever. It makes her skin crawl.
“Nene…” Emu says, scrunching up her nose as she usually does when she’s concentrating really hard. “…that’s his usual Rui-face.”
“ Exactly .”
Tsukasa and Emu’s laugh ring through the open area, and Rui titters softly as well. Nene can hear her heart plunge deep into the depths of dread. She is going to regret everything soon, isn’t she? But Emu is hugging her and Rui is smiling oh-so-gently and Tsukasa is grinning and maybe it’s okay to put those worries on hold for a little while, just a tad so she can catch up with her dearly detested-and-beloved friends and smile with them, because getting caught up in their whirlwind may be troublesome, but it was always so incredibly
fun
.