-Tessa POV-

 

It was now almost afternoon, and Maia still hadn’t woken up. I was now sitting upright in bed, and from the way she had become sprawled out while sleeping, she was almost laying on me.

I moved her head onto my lap.

That was better.

I smiled, looking at her sleeping face. Her mouth was open slightly, but she seemed like she was having a good dream from her sleepy mumbling.

“Teeesssaaa, taaaake meeeee.”

I blushed bright red. Just what was she dreaming about?

To alleviate some of my embarrassment, I poked her in the cheek. She made a small noise and squirmed a little, so I did it again.

Wow. Her cheeks were really soft. I pulled on them a little, then rubbed them, entranced.

“Wha ah you doin?”

Startled, I let go.

Maia was staring up at me with a bleary look of amusement. She rubbed her cheeks a few times, then sat up.

She leaned in and kissed me, and after a moment of surprise, I passionately returned the kiss. After a moment, we broke apart to breathe.

We giggled, falling over onto the bed again. I wrapped my arms around her, and she hugged me in return.

I stared into her eyes, admiring the way the pupils weren’t quite circles, much like a fox’s. The amber color matched my own. I found myself placing a hand on her face, caressing it gently.

She closed her eyes and began to purr again, a soft blush coloring her cheeks.

She only stopped a few minutes later when a knock sounded from the door, followed by Marissa’s voice.

“Hey, Tessa, Maia! It’s past noon now, so you had better get up!”

Maia now had a slight smirk on her face.

“Every time, huh?” she whispered, before crawling out of bed. I followed her, and we made our way to the kitchen.

Marissa was there, seemingly just on her way out. She was wearing leggings and a tank top, making it pretty easy to guess where she was going.

“Oh good, you two got up. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast. They’re sitting on the stove. I’m gonna head to the gym now; just give me a call if you need me.”

As she turned around to leave, I could hear Maia muttering.

“Not that you need the exercise.”

Maybe she was still upset about Vigilante being Marissa. I mean, Marissa hadn’t told us anything, which I supposed was understandable, but at the same time, it did kind of hurt that Marissa didn’t trust us enough to tell us about her secret identity.

Suddenly, Marissa stopped and turned around. I felt a sudden surge of anxiety from Maia. If Marissa had heard Maia’s comment…

“I almost forgot my keys,” Marissa said, chuckling a little.

I almost sighed in relief.

Once Marissa slid her keys into her pocket and left, Maia sighed.

“That was close,” she said, after peeking through the blinds on the window to make sure Marissa actually left this time.

“…Her leggings have pockets,” I observed.

“That’s what you’re focusing on?”

“…I want leggings with pockets.”

“…Okay, yeah, me too.”

We ate breakfast, then did our homework for the weekend. Additionally, Maia told me about the rest of what happened last night.

“So wait, what’s the deal with Celesta and Savant?”

“Dunno. Celesta kinda left as soon as she could.”

“Huh. And that angel woman?”

“She pretty much did the same thing.”

“Weird.”

Afterwards, it was almost evening, and Marissa wasn’t back yet. With nothing else to do, we went back to our room.

On the nightstand on Maia’s side of the bed, that strange flip phone was lighting up. Maia walked over to it and picked it up.

“…What’s it doing?” she asked.

“Oh, after you fell asleep, it started vibrating. Weaver helped me set it up so it would light up instead.”

“…Huh.”

 

-Maia POV-

 

I flipped open the phone, and was surprised to find a rather modern-looking chat interface rather than a clunky contacts list like one would expect from a flip phone.

 

Welcome back!

…

sunder has joined the channel.

Weaver has left the channel.

breachesandcream: oh hey sunder

breachesandcream: you just missed her

sunder: What were you talking about

breachesandcream: stuff

breachesandcream: i think she got annoyed i was distracting her from work

breachesandcream: anyways whats up

sunder: Nothing much

sunder: Actually

sunder: Do you have any advice for dates

sunder: Like where to go or what to do or something

breachesandcream: hm

breachesandcream: im probably not the best person to ask

breachesandcream: i dont usually plan this stuff

breachesandcream: heists are easy but for social stuff weaver is way better

sunder: Ah well figured I might as well ask

breachesandcream: i do kinda wanna ask tho

breachesandcream: whos the lucky lady

sunder: Why do you think theyre a woman

breachesandcream: you give off those vibes

breachesandcream: am i wrong

sunder: …

sunder: No

breachesandcream: ha

breachesandcream: and weaver says i cant pick up on stuff like that

breachesandcream: ah shit

breachesandcream: something came up gotta go

breachesandcream has left the channel.

sunder: Oh ok bye

sunder: And she’s already gone

 

I closed the phone and set it back on the bedside table. I sighed. That conversation had been almost entirely useless.

But it did remind me of something I had forgotten to ask Tessa.

[Hey, Tessa.]

She looked up from her phone at me.

{Hm?}

I sat on the bed next to her.

[Do you remember what we planned for tomorrow?]

She tilted her head, then closed her eyes with a look of concentration on her face. It was utterly adorable and I suppressed the urge to kiss her right there.

After a while, she opened her eyes.

{No, sorry.}

[Mm, you were almost asleep when you promised.]

I leaned in closer to her, then spoke softly in her ear.

“You promised we would go on a date tomorrow.”

She stiffened, and when I drew back, I could see that she was now blushing furiously.

{…Oh.}

 

-Tessa POV-

 

After I was no longer quite so red in the face, Maia adopted a thoughtful expression. Then, she smiled.

“Actually, I have an idea. Just leave it to me.”

Her mention of an idea initially had me worried, but the confidence she gave off was reassuring.

“Okay.”

Suddenly, I heard the front door open, then close.

“I’m home!” Marissa called. “And I brought dinner!”

Maia and I returned to the dining room, where Marissa was removing fast food boxes from a large plastic bag on the table.

After we ate dinner, Marissa pulled two small cards out of her pocket. She handed one to me and the other to Maia.

“I stopped by city hall and got new IDs for you two,” she said.

I thanked her, then went back to the bedroom with Maia. We both sat on the bed again and examined our IDs.

{This seems suspicious.}

[Yeah, it’s shady as hell. I don’t even remember taking this picture.]

She pointed to the small picture on hers.

{Still, all the information here is correct.}

[Yeah… it’s still weird, though.]

{Very.}

I yawned, realizing that it was beginning to get late.

[Bedtime?]

{Probably.}

We changed into pajamas, then got in bed. As soon as I laid down, Maia wrapped her arms around my waist from behind.

I relaxed back against her, closing my eyes. Before long, I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Maia seemed somewhat distracted. She checked her phone repeatedly, paced back and forth across the room, and eventually went to talk to Marissa before gently pushing me out of our room and locking the door.

{Everything okay?}

[Yes. Just… working on something.]

I mentally reached out for her. She blocked me out, but not before I could confirm that she wasn’t feeling stressed, but rather a sense of anticipation.

After around fifteen minutes, she opened the door, looking somewhat nervous.

For a moment, I was speechless. Maia stood in the doorway, blushing and looking down. Her hair was braided loosely in such a way that it rested on her shoulder. She had a light layer of makeup on, and she wore the same red shirt and short black skirt she had picked out at the mall, as well as black thigh-high socks that matched her skirt.

Although I had seen the outfit before, it somehow looked even better on her now.

“Well?” she asked, unable to meet my eyes.

“Pretty…” I whispered.

“What?”

“{You’re beautiful.}”

I smiled as she blushed and played with her skirt.

We stood there for a moment, as I felt my face begin to heat up as well. I realized that she had dressed like this for our date, and she was just so cute, and, and…

“I’m, um, going to get dressed too,” I stammered, quickly walking past her and closing the door behind me.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, then looked through my clothes. It would be hard to look as pretty as Maia, but I wanted to look nice for her, too.

I pulled out an outfit from the mall. If I remembered correctly, Maia hadn’t seen this one.

I smiled to myself.

I hope Maia likes it.

 

-Maia POV-

 

After a short walk, we arrived at the bus stop.

The entire time we were walking, I tried not to stare at Tessa, with mixed success. She had her hair up in a braid similar to mine, and she wore a light blue shirt that matched her… erm… rather tight-looking shorts.

My thoughts were interrupted when Tessa looked at me quizzically.

[Ah, sorry, we’re taking the bus since I didn’t want to tell Marissa we’re going on a date. …I hope that’s okay?]

{Yes, of course! Actually, I was wondering what the basket’s for?}

She motioned to the basket I was carrying, which had a blanket covering it.

[Hehe, it’s a surprise.]

{Okay!}

Once the bus arrived, we boarded and sat in the back.

Basket on my lap and Tessa’s hand in mine, I sighed happily. Next to me, Tessa began to hum quietly.