Based off of this drabble from my drabble dump thread, because writing a follow up turned out longer and more detailed than I thought it would. All you need to know is Misaya was a very, very bad girl and stole Ayaka's first kiss when she least expected it.
Onwards!
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In general, Saber made a habit of not judging those around him.
It was why he was, in many ways, so overprotective of his Master; Ayaka had been taught all her life that she was mediocre, a failure, second best to a genius sister who had been lucky enough to inherit the strong genes of the family. The girl very badly needed someone who could see her how she really was, and value her for the traits she possessed, instead of hanging over her head the ways she was lacking.
So he made a habit of not judging people, especially Ayaka. And when his Master had stumbled home after an unusually smug looking Misaya, red faced and instantly diving for the safe sanctuary of the kitchen, he hadn’t asked for details.
He’d gotten the whole story from a grinning Lancer anyway.
He didn’t judge her for it. People loved who they loved, and while he knew that for Misaya it had probably more than likely been a matter of simply throwing the Master of their trail, if Ayaka’s state of being when she had come home had been anything to go off of, the kiss had quite badly shaken his Master.
It seemed he would need to have a word with Lancer’s Master.
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“Misaya.”
He spoke softly but firmly; Saber was a man who believed he had no right to be denied. Leaning absently against the wall of the greenhouse as one of her dogs dozed by her feet, Misaya met his gaze calmly and perhaps a little coolly. “Well, if it isn’t the knight in shining armor,” she said lightly, resting a hand on her dog’s head as it sat up, eyeing him warily. “Can I help you with anything tonight?”
He couldn’t sense Lancer’s presence. It seemed she had sent him away from the time being, perhaps to patrol the house for the night.
All the better for him.
He slid his hands absently into his pockets. “I wish to speak to you about the incident that occurred in school.”
Her eyes shifted at that, narrowed; she slid her hand down a little, absently scratching her dog behind the ears. “Lancer told you, then? I knew he was watching.”
“He did.” When Misaya didn’t respond to that, Saber continued. “I believe you handled my Master a little too roughly.”
Misaya snorted at that. “She’s not made of glass, Saber. One little kiss won’t break her.”
A golden eyebrow arched at that, but he sensed no venom in her voice. On some level, it was a comfort to him that Misaya thought Ayaka had any strength at all, but she also seemed to be assuming that Ayaka was about at the same experience level as she possibly was when it came to romance.
He sighed. “Misaya,” he said, “that was Ayaka’s first kiss.”
There was a very long, very pregnant pause after this revelation. He could have sworn Misaya’s eyes widened.
It was one of the little secrets Saber knew about his Master, something he had learned the night she had summoned him and then had spent nearly an hour trying to convince him that she was a poor fit for him. Her list of shortcomings had started with “I’m a mediocre magus” and had ended with “I never learned how to swim”, but somewhere in the middle was the small tidbit “I’ve never been kissed before.”
“… Huh,” Misaya said at last, when she finally seemed to have the ability to vocalize. “She never told me that.”
You probably never asked, Saber thought, and had to resist the urge to rub his temples in case the girl got the wrong impression. “I understand you were concerned about being watched,” he said. “And I understand that you needed to come on strongly to make an impression, or make him or her so uncomfortable that he or she left. But it wouldn’t have been too hard to at least tell Ayaka what you planned to do, yes?”
Misaya didn’t respond, still scratching her dog behind the ears; but her eyes were thoughtful now, and it was obvious that she had tuned out his presence as she sorted herself out and processed this new information.
Sighing and shaking his head, Saber turned and headed back inside.
Teenagers.
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Her first kiss, huh?
Now that she was actually thinking about it, Misaya had to admit that little nugget of information explained a lot. Why Ayaka had been so quiet and withdrawn on the way home, why she hadn’t even been so much as able to meet her gaze all night, why she had hastily retreated to the greenhouse once dinner was over.
In fact, Misaya had spent the last ten or so minutes against the wall of the greenhouse, just listening to the other girl moving around inside.
“Well,” she sighed out, and her dog looked up at her curiously, ears swiveling forward. “What do I do now?”
Admittedly, for Misaya, her first kiss hadn’t been a big deal at all. It had been something that had happened with a boy she barely even remembered, only done because she had been curious about the act and nothing more. She hadn’t even known his name, and had only kissed him because he had been courageous enough to bluntly tell her his feelings.
She couldn’t even remember what he had tasted like.
She should have at least figured it, though. Ayaka was the idealistic, naïve type; she would put some kind of meaning on something as major as her first kiss. And the girl was shy as all hell; beautiful, but shy, and managing to fly under her school radar.
She groaned, rubbing her eyes. She’d messed this up.
Her dog whined, gently nudging her fingers with its nose. She glanced down at it for a moment, then smirked, gently rubbing its head again.
“I guess I’ll have to fix it, then.”
Her dog wagged its tail.
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The greenhouse was a place of sanctuary for Ayaka, somewhere she could retreat to and forget herself for a few hours when things were becoming too much. She often spent her time tending to the plants, checking on her pigeons, and generally forgetting for a little while that she was a magus completely in over her head.
It was the one place she knew she could go to, and no one would follow her. Not even Saber.
…
Until just now, anyway, she mused as the door swung open and closed with a click at her back. She turned around just in time to blink as a wet nose was shoved into the palm of her hand, the large black familiar panting happily as it looked up at her.
“… Oh, fine,” she murmured, kneeling down and gently ruffling its fur. She glanced over its head, and tried not to shrink away from Misaya’s gaze or blush. “Sorry. I’m spoiling your dogs.”
Misaya shrugged, but otherwise didn’t respond. Content with the attention it had received, the dog trotted away to sniff around the rest of the greenhouse, leaving the two girls alone.
Ayaka clung to her watering can so hard she was amazed her fingers weren’t bleeding. “Um… can I help you, Reiroukan? You don’t usually come in here.”
Misaya made a small sound in the back of her throat; of agreement or acknowledgement, Ayaka couldn’t tell. Realizing the other girl wasn’t going to talk, Ayaka gave up and turned back to her plants.
Finally…
“You could have told me that was your first kiss.”
Ayaka jolted and stiffened, slowly setting down the can and taking a deep breath; otherwise, she would have dropped it. “I didn’t think it was necessary,” she murmured. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Wouldn’t have—would you please turn around?”
Because she could hear the snarl in Misaya’s voice—always a warning sign—Ayaka turned around and faced her. The other girl had her arms crossed over her chest, eyes gleaming, and looked ready to start pacing at any moment.
“Thank you,” Misaya muttered, and sighed. “Look, Sajyou…”
“Am I wrong?” Ayaka asked, feeling oddly bold. “It already happened, and you did it to chase away whoever was watching us.” Her glasses slid down her nose, and she pushed them back up into place. “Whether or not you knew, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Misaya twitched. She dearly looked as if she wanted nothing more at that moment than to attack Ayaka, as if she longed to grow claws, lunge at her, and do… something. Ayaka wasn’t quite sure what.
The dog she had brought in with her had seen fit to curl up under one of Ayaka’s old, rickety tables, and was now napping, blissfully unaware of the situation.
Finally, though, Misaya closed her eyes and growled quietly, seeming to force herself to relax as she rubbed her eyes. Not sure what she should be doing at this point, Ayaka simply waited.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay, yes, you have a point. Either way I was going to kiss you. Knowing it was your first kiss wouldn’t have changed that.”
“Thank you for being honest,” Ayaka grumbled, ignoring the small twinge she felt in her chest. “If you’re done—“
“I’m not.” Misaya gave Ayaka a look, and the other girl closed her mouth with an audible click. “It wouldn’t have changed that,” she continued, then paused, hesitated, and grimaced. “But I could have at least been gentler about it.”
Ayaka lifted a brow and, in spite of herself, couldn’t quite contain the small snort of amusement and disbelief. ‘Gentle’ was not usually a word she associated with her ally, even when she was in a good mood.
Evidently, Misaya had heard her, because she scowled now. “Hey,” she said. “I can be plenty gentle when I want to be.”
Another snort escaped Ayaka at that; she leaned absently back against the table, now, bracing her palms against it. “Right,” she said mildly, and smirked. “Gentle. You. I remember how gentle you’ve been. Definitely.”
Misaya smirked back, perhaps just a little wickedly. “Hey, I didn’t hear you complaining.”
At that, Ayaka’s face flamed and whatever she had intended to say next was utterly forgotten; muttering, she tore her gaze from the other girl and looked away, pretending to show a great interest in the small bush of flowers in the corner of the greenhouse.
Misaya’s smirk became just a touch feral. My win.
But she hadn’t come here to be rough.
Ayaka could hear her moving, of course; soft, muffled footsteps against the grass that had lingered in the greenhouse ever since the night she had summoned Saber. She didn’t dare look, though, didn’t lift her eyes from the flowers, even as she heard Misaya stop only inches in front of her, could feel her heartbeat increasing.
She’s just teasing, don’t get your hopes up—
“Ayaka.” Misaya’s voice was soft, and unbearably gentle. “Ayaka, look at me.”
She felt fingertips brush her cheek, shockingly warm against her skin. Exhaling shakily, she slowly, almost painfully met Misaya’s gaze, finding her red eyes were much closer than she ever remembered them being. Her fingers dug into the side of the table, held on for support as the other girl calmly slid her glasses off and set them down. “Reiroukan?” she squeaked.
Misaya laughed softly at that. “Misaya,” she said. “It’s only fair, I’ve already called you by your name.”
And then she kissed her.
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Ayaka was right, honestly. Misaya wasn’t usually good at doing ‘gentle’; she had never had any reason to be. She had been born and raised in a family where being rough, tricky, and clever kept you out of the fire, and anything else would only earn you a beating. Any urges she had ever felt to be gentle had been ruthlessly squashed, and she’d honestly gotten to a point where she believed she could never even try.
But for the girl who gasped softly and trembled under her, she found, being gentle seemed to come naturally.
She kept her fingers against Ayaka’s cheek, gently stroking, and gradually she felt the shorter girl relax into her hand. She kept the kiss perfectly chaste, a simple touch of lips, and was delighted as Ayaka tentatively responded, tilting her head up slightly and leaning in to press them more firmly together.
The part of her that was molded by her family, that was wild, that wanted more clamored wildly at her belly, digging claws into her flesh, it’s not enough, she’s putty in your hands right now, take advantage of that like the bitch you are—
She pulled away then; unable to completely ignore her instincts, she nipped lightly at Ayaka’s bottom lip with her teeth before she pulled back, pleased by what she saw as the other girl opened cloudy, dazed blue eyes, her breathing ragged.
“See?” Misaya smirked, eyes gleaming like rubies in the moonlight. “I can be gentle when I want to be.”