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Mayano Top Gun nearly crashed right into Brian as she bolted out of the student council room.
“Oi, watch i-”
“Sorry!” Mayano clapped her hands together as she looked up at Brian pleadingly, then instantly switched to a wide grin. “Oh! Brian! You’ll ne~ever guess what we were just talking about~!”
Brian looked over Mayano’s head at Air Groove and Symboli Rudolph, giving them a confused, and somewhat weary look, hoping to be rescued.
“She needs a partner to walk her down the runway at an upcoming fashion show Brian,” Rudolph explained with a slight smirk. “Any ideas who she could ask?”
“Someone who likes that shit,” Brian shrugged, then looked down at Mayano, who was still beaming up at her. “Fuji would probably do it.”
“Well yeahhhh...” Mayano deflated with an exaggerated sigh. “But what if I don’t wanna ask Fuji!”
“Then ask someone else,” Brian rolled her eyes before pushing past Mayano into the Student Council room. She heard one final annoyed noise behind her, followed by the sounds of Mayano footsteps as she ran away. Her stride’s getting better, Brian thought to herself.
“You really dropped the ball there,” Rudolph said with an amused smile, “Get it? Ball? Like a ball gown?”
“It’s a wedding dress, President,” Air Groove sighed, rubbing her temples. “She’s right though Brian, you’re usually not that dense.”
“Yeah,” Brian clicked her tongue as she sat down and glared at the stack of paperwork in front of her, “I’m not. I just don’t wanna be ogled at on a runway. Fashion shows aren’t my thing.”
“But would you really be okay with someone else walking with her?” Rudolph asked, “You get pretty annoyed when she runs in scrimmages without you.”
“That’s racing,” Brian mumbled, “That’s different.”
It was different of course, racing was something she actually enjoyed, but Mayano was different too. Racing with her felt different. Being bothered by her even felt different.
By some definitions, they could be considered to be dating. They went out to eat together, they studied together, Mayano even sometimes helped Brian with her student council duties. But nothing had been said officially. Mayano probably wanted Brian to make the first move – she was romantic like that – but Brian still didn’t know how she was supposed to do that. She wasn’t the type for dramatic love confessions and she didn’t really see the point in making a formal proclamation of their relationship status. If Mayano wanted something like that, she could do it herself. Besides, maybe they weren’t fit for a “real” relationship in the first place. They were so incompatible it was almost laughable. Mayano loved all that cheesey romantic stuff that Brian couldn’t stand, her idea of “fun” was running around crowded, noisy areas like the shopping district or the mall, and Brian frequently had no idea what she was talking about with all her “twinkly” this, “twinkly” that.
Even this fashion show nonsense...Mayano was so excited to be included but Brian couldn’t be less interested if she tried. Fashion was more Hayahide’s thing, and the crowds and the noise and the camera flashes all seemed like hell to be in the middle of.
Brian definitely didn’t want to go, and she definitely wasn’t going to play Mayano’s game. If she wanted Brian with her, she could ask; and if she didn’t ask, Brian was fine with someone else walking with her.
“I just had the strangest conversation with Maya,” Hishi Amazon said as she sat opposite Brian in the cafeteria, depositing two bentos on the table. “What’s going with you two?”
“Nothing,” Brian said, half of her bento already in her mouth.
“There hasn’t been nothing going on with you two in months,” Amazon grinned. “She told me to tell you that I was walking her down the runway at some fashion show.”
“You are?” Brian’s eyes snapped up to lock onto Amazon, her mouth still stuffed with food. She chewed once and tried to swallow as much as she could before continuing. “She asked you?”
“No,” Amazon chuckled, “Like I said, she told me to tell you that, but she didn’t actually ask me. I think she’s trying to make you jealous. Which seems to be working, by the way.”
“It’s not,” Brian muttered as she returned to her lunch, “I don’t care about some fashion show.”
“But you do care about someone else walking down the runway with Maya,” Amazon teased, “With her wearing a wedding dress, her hand gently resting on their arm, looking up at them and smiling-”
“Ok I get it,” Brian snapped, her face as red as the tomatoes in her bento. “But not wanting someone else to do it isn’t the same as me wanting to do it.”
“I suppose not,” Amazon crossed her arms, “So your plan is to just bury your head in the sand until this is all over?” Brian said something incomprehensible in response as she stole some of Amazon’s meat, having exhausted her own lunch. “I guess it is...” Amazon sighed, “We’ll see how long that works for you.”
It didn’t work for very long at all. Amazon’s words haunted Brian for the rest of the day. She couldn’t even sleep, instead her mind was filled with images of Mayano, looking stunning in her new racewear, being escorted by someone else, their arms linked, Mayano looking so, so happy...then the runway turned to an aisle, the crowd to wedding guests...
Brian shook her head as she sat up, chugging back some water in an attempt to clear out those ridiculous thoughts. This was one fashion show, Mayano wasn’t going to marry whoever accompanied her. She wasn’t going to marry anyone any time soon! And if she did, it would obviously be Brian!
A walk. Brian needed a walk. Or a run. Why was she thinking about marrying someone she wasn’t even dating? She would have to challenge Ama to a race tomorrow, she needed to get back at her for this.
Brian didn’t even make it to the dorm’s entrance. Instead, she was knocking on Mayano’s door.
“It’s past curfew you know,” Teio crossed her arms as she eyed Brian suspiciously.
“I know,” Brian sighed, the slight disruption bringing her back to her senses for a moment. “I’ll go ba-”
“Brian!?” There was a loud thump, and some other noises as Mayano scrambled to the door.
“Oh, uhh...hi,” Brian looked away awkwardly, her escape plan thwarted.
“Right, well,” Teio looked between the two of them, piecing things together. “I think I’m pretty thirsty, so I’ll go get some water from the kitchen.”
“Thanks Teio~!” Mayano grinned as Teio rolled her eyes with a smile, then she turned to Brian. “So what is it? I didn’t think you’d be the type to break curfew ehe~”
“I break it all the time to run...” Brian muttered before clearing her throat. “Anyway I...uhm...well...” Brian rubbed her hands over her face, trying to wake herself up, but she only felt more dizzy, an aching knot forming in her stomach. Why was it so hard to use words suddenly? She had never been great at expressing herself but this was a pretty straightforward thing. “I don’t...I don’t want someone...someone else...”
“Yeah?” Mayano looked up at her, her face glowing with anticipation. Suddenly Brian remembered seeing her run for the first time, and she was able to almost understand what Mayano meant when she described something as “twinkly”. If “twinkly” meant “so stunning you forget how to breathe”, then Mayano had certainly already achieved her ideal.
Brian gulped, she needed to say this all at once.
“I don’t want someone else to marry you!”
She clasped her hands over her mouth as soon as she said it. That was not what she was trying to say, at all.
Mayano stood frozen, her mouth hanging open as she stared at Brian.
“Uh, sorry,” Brian pinched the bridge of her nose. She had taken off her tape to sleep, she wished she hadn’t. “What I meant was-”
“You’re so silly,” Mayano giggled, leaping forward to wrap her arms around Brian’s waist, hugging her tightly, “I’m not going to marry whoever walks with me in a fashion show!”
“I...I know that,” Brian turned her head, feeling her face heat up. “But I...or...you...this thing is important to you, right?”
“Mmm, I guess so,” Mayano shrugged, pulling away enough to look back up at Brian. “I think you’d look really great too! You could wear that suit I picked out for you!”
“Then I...I guess I could...walk with you I mean...” Brian hesitantly put her hand on Mayano’s head, slowly moving it to her cheek. “If it would make you happy.”
“It would!” Mayano grinned, then squeezed Brian even tighter.
“Ugh-” Mayano’s hug almost knocked the air out of Brian’s lungs. “Then I guess I’m walking you down the runway.”
“Thank you Brian!” Mayano hopped back, barely containing her giggles. “I’ll buy us dinner after! You can eat all the barbecue you want!”
“That sounds good,” Brian smiled softly. The knot in her stomach had turned to a comforting warmth. Would she feel this way whenever she did something that Mayano wanted? Probably not...but probably, this was what a “real” relationship actually was...she could go along with some of Mayano’s whims, if it meant seeing Mayano as happy as she looked right now.