tomoe/saya - bakery
hmmmmmmmm
also a prompt for @pasdechat
word count: 949
The door chimes and the greeting is already out of Saya as she’s turning around to greet the customers. “Welcome—”
“Yo!”
Saya blinks in recognition. Tomoe’s at the entrance, flashing Saya one of her wild grins. Ako pops up from behind her, with a cuter but no less wild grin on her face too.
“Ako, and Tomoe!” Saya brightens at the familiar faces. Ako waves at her before going through the store and looking through all the bread out. Meanwhile, Tomoe makes her way over to Saya.
“Ako just got done with band practice and said she wanted some bread to help recharge herself,” Tomoe says as she approaches. “Figured it’d be better than buying her a bunch of junk food at the convenience store.”
Saya smiles up at Tomoe. “You take such good care of Ako, don’t you?”
Tomoe puffs out her chest like she’s proud. “I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember! Almost instinct to me at this point.”
“Haha! I get what you mean. I’m so used to taking care of my younger siblings too.”
“Right?! No rest for us older siblings!” And the two of them share a look that conveys exactly all the exasperation and fondness that only older siblings like them can have. It’s nice, Saya thinks, being able to talk to someone who understands. Ako might not appreciate being talked about like this, though.
“No rest at all… I wonder if my siblings will even know how to take care of themselves if I’m not around. Or who’ll take of me,” Saya lets out offhandedly. She thinks about it sometimes, even if she doesn’t mean to. A secret worry of being an older sibling, she guesses. Tomoe might understand—
“What?! Of course your brother and sister will take care of you! They will! You’re their beloved older sister!” Tomoe’s face darkens, a frown that borders on a scowl on her face now. “After all you help them with, they better! They love you!”
Saya blinks at her, a little surprised that Tomoe seems to be getting so worked up all of a sudden. Had she said something sensitive? Ako adores Tomoe, so Saya’s sure that Ako and Tomoe get along fine.
“Yeah?” Saya’s trying to play it off like a joke, a lighthearted smile already on her face. “I know they will, but I was just thinking about it.” She turns away, back to the tray of bread on the counter she’d been tending to. “Anyway, I’ve got some fresh bread here, want a sample—”
“If they don’t, then…” Tomoe starts speaking, and Saya looks over her shoulder just in time to see Tomoe pointing at herself with a thumb, grinning like she’s figured it all out. “I’ll be the one to take care of you!”
Saya’s eyes widen and she slowly turns around, staring at Tomoe. In that moment, she thinks can feel her heart skipping a beat, unable to tear her eyes away from Tomoe and that assertive smile on her face. It feels… like that time Tomoe crashed into the wedding chapel, eyes hard as she stared down her own senpai, for Saya’s sake.
This is exactly like that time, Saya thinks, as she feels her heart drumming fast like her own playing—no, this is a beat to Tomoe’s own making, Saya’s already long lost her own tempo.
“Tomoe—”
“I’ve got one little sister, what’s another one?” Tomoe continues with a laugh, entirely missing the way Saya’s been staring at her the entire time.
And, just like that, the beat of Saya’s heart returns back to normal. She sighs almost wistfully with a shake of her head. This is just how Tomoe is, Saya tells herself.
Aloud, Saya reminds Tomoe, “You know we’re the same age, right?”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t take care of you!” Tomoe says with a pump of her fist, still wearing that easy grin on her face. And even though Saya knows what Tomoe means now, she still feels that small flutter inside of her, the one that makes her feel really shy as the corners of her mouth twitch upward into a smile that she’s too embarrassed to show.
“Careful, I might just take you up on that one day,” Saya says in a murmur that she’s not sure she wants Tomoe to hear, except Tomoe does, by the way Saya catches her eyes widening. But before Tomoe can say anything, Ako comes up to them with a tray of bread in her hands. She’s looking at them strangely, and Saya wonders if she’s overheard any of their conversation.
Saya rings them up, and they wave bye to her as they walk away. Ako turns to Tomoe and tugs on her sleeve.
“Onee-chan, when you say taking care of Saya-chan, do you mean like marrying her? Like what Kaoru-san was going to do the other day? If you do that, we can get tons of bread then! Saya-chan’s so pretty in a dress too!”
“Yeah—wait, eh? What? What did you just say? W-wait, hold up—where did you even—” Tomoe shushes Ako and shoots a horrified glance over her shoulder. Saya’s trying to pretend she hadn’t heard them, but the blush she’s not doing a very good job of holding back must be giving her away. Tomoe quickly spins back around and pushes Ako on out the door. “L-Let’s just go home!”
The door closes behind them, Saya blinks once, twice, and lets out a long breath, laughing quietly to herself.
Maybe, one day, Saya can bring Tomoe to her own beat, but it looks like for now, they’re both playing to Ako’s rhythm instead.
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