Archive of Our Own

"You kno' the way to ma' house?" Hasumi questioned from their place on her back, their cheek smashing itself into her shoulder as they tilted their head in a vain attempt to look her in the face.

" 'course I do! Remember you told me way back~" Sae responded brightly, adjusting the way their legs were wrapped around her waist and her hold.

"No…" They responded snottily, their face scrunching as their hands slowly pushed at her shoulders.

"Yes, you do. Come on." She stopped in the middle of the walkway, turning her head to stare at her dazed classmate.

If someone were to pass them right here, right now, they'd simply see a heartwarming scene of two high school-aged girls—one carrying the other on her back, just hanging out with each other.

It'd take them getting far too close to notice Hasumi's face and shirt covered in dried blood or the way their hands shook as their gaze looked a bit too glazed over and distant to be considered normal.

But Sae wouldn't allow them to get that close. Not to her and especially not to Hasumi.

"No…?" they repeated once more, their brows furrowing as flecks of dried blood fell from the skin surrounding their lips and cheek.

"Yes…" Sae parroted back, a smile splitting her face as she playfully teased them. "Remember, they made me take you to the nurse's office after you, well, ate shit on the track outside and got that massive nosebleed. You tripped over your own feet and landed on your glasses too…"

It was almost comical how fake her faux sympathies sounded falling from her lips.

"Then, when the nurse said you'd have to go to a clinic to get checked out, you said you'd rather go home, so you told me your address."

"Oh…" Their gaze fell from Sae's face to the ground below, seemingly placated and convinced by Sae's explanation.

"Mhm!" She hummed back, adjusting her position on her back as she resumed walking.

She was content to enjoy a calm, quiet walk, ignoring how the passing cupids stared as she walked past and charming humans into turning the other cheek when they stared for too long.

"Back in the…" Hasumi paused mid-sentence, their brain struggling to remember specific details. "With all those…guys? People..."

Sae hummed in response, impatiently thinking to herself that they should just hurry up and spit out what it was they wanted to say.

"Whose side were you on?" They drawled, their voice tapering into a subdued whisper as if what they were asking were taboo.

"Not yours." Sae shut down with a smile, beaming at them when their breath caught in their chest.

"It was your fault anyways; those people don't care for the realism. You should've given them all the correct answers and not just enough to get them a 75%."

"That's not fair…" they practically whined, their eyes glossy as a haze of pain overtook their natural light.

"Yes, it is fair~" She mocked in return, tilting her head in thought as they shrunk back. "When someone asks you for something, you should just nod and give it to them. They didn't ask you to give them a realistic grade; they asked you for the answers to the upcoming test."

It felt like she was scolding a little kid, she noted with a laugh.

"Crying about it won't change the past; you got your butt kicked for being smart with them. That's on you." She shook her head, stopping just before a crosswalk, patiently waiting at the light as a crowd formed on the other side of the road.

"You think you'll stand out as some righteous figure?" She dug the knife in further as the light began to play its chime, signaling that she could cross the street safely.

"Everyone approaching us is walking normally and in one direction. We're the ones who stand out, and yet none of them will so much as turn to look our way."

She quieted down as they cut through the crowd, Hasumi even tilting her head from it being smashed against Sae's shoulder to watch the passersby.

"How's it feel to be invisible, Hasumi-chan? Doesn't it feel good watching the world pass you by as if you don't exist? She whispered hauntingly, feeling their grip tighten on her shoulders as she smoothly walked past each human, avoiding collisions with ease.

"You could disappear at this very moment and no one would notice…" she added wistfully, her gaze softening as they neared the sidewalk.

"Almost as if you never existed…Hasumi."

"With the sole exception of me, of course." She tacked on cheekily as she set foot on the other side, continuing their trek back to Ena's house.

Sae casually hummed out a soft, cheery tune, ignoring the way Ena's shaky breaths ghosted over the back of her neck and how her skin rose in response.

"Hey. Which one is yours?" She stopped at the beginning of the neighborhood and jostled her occupant.

"There are placards…" Ena quietly whispered into her shoulder, her face buried into her back almost as if she were ashamed.

"Which." She repeated herself once more, impatience dripping from her voice as her patience and energy for false niceties depleted completely.

"It's the fourth one down…" their voice was muffled and subdued. "On the left."

"Mm…any reason in particular that the door is left wide open?" She questioned as they approached the small house, the door swinging slightly in the small breeze as Sae stepped through, not bothering to remove her shoes as she did so.

"…dad's home…"

"Speak up," Sae ordered, charm seeping into her words like a toxic venom.

"My dad's home…you'll see him; he'll be on the couch…" Ena repeated, their voice shaky as shame and defeat practically exuded from them.

"Eugh…there's even more of you?" She questioned with disgust and intrigue. "He better not try to talk to me."

Ena simply shrunk down even further, condensing herself into a small shape pressed upon her back.

Sae rolled her shoulders, stepping into the small house and past its living room, her mouth falling open as charm slowly took its rightful place on her tongue and—

He was passed out drunk.

She could see him now with increased clarity now that she was fully in their house, a few beer bottles and a half-empty plate of food in front of him as he snored.

What a pitiful man.

" 'm sorry…" Ena mumbled out, their legs sliding off and away from her waist as they tried to climb down and presumably care for the man.

A wave of irritation flooded Sae's entire system, her hands shooting up to pin their legs against her sides, gripping at the flesh underneath her hands, possessive and tight.

"Where's your room?" She ground out instead, eager to get away from the stench of cheap alcohol and depressive man.

Ena didn't respond, their head lifting itself from her back, and Sae took that as her signal to continue walking.

She chanced peeking at their face when she neared where their presumed bedroom was and found they were staring at her hands and their placement on their legs.

"Don't read into it like that." She admonished, using her foot to kick open one of the room doors, watching as she picked the right door in a single try.

It was a plain-looking room, a few trinkets, and some books Sae couldn't be bothered with examining.

She marched straight towards their neatly made bed, depositing them onto its surface without care for how the action made them yelp and the bed emit a concerningly loud squeak.

Sae quietly scanned the room, drifting a hand over the nearby wall as she examined the nearby shelves.

"You buy such ugly things…" She wrinkled her nose, flicking at a plastic statue as Ena curled onto their side in her periphery. "I thought you'd be the kind of person who bought textbooks in their free time."

She glanced at them, making eye contact with their annoyingly bright eyes, the light twinkling inside their pupils even as their own bangs and pillow obstructed their vision.

Their arm, the one they weren't crushing underneath their own body, was splayed across the bed, almost as if they were reaching for Sae's own.

It made her lips twitch with an unknown sensation, and in one uncomfortable motion, she crossed her arms and leaned further away from the bed.

"Well, anything to say?"

Her lips twisted themselves into a smile, though to her, it felt more as though it were a poorly concealed grimace.

Nothing.

Not even a blink this time.

Ena was simply lying on their side staring at Sae with an inexplicable childish wonder.

And it disgusted her.

"Drop the mask; you and I both know how you feel about me." She scoffed, uncrossing her arms to splay a hand across her chest in an earnest pout. "Sae's a big meanie; she's just my high school bul—"

"I love you."

Her teeth clacked against each other as her jaw slammed itself shut, going deathly still as she considered Ena's words.

"What?" She ground out, a slow spark of anger blazing into a wildfire as Ena's timid voice rang out again, contrasting with the silent room.

"I lo—"

"-is wrong with you." She steamrolled over them, her voice raising as she twisted around to face them.

"I don't know…" They shrunk, their outstretched arm curling in and grasping at their pillow as if to pull it over their face.

A human proclaiming their love for a cupid…

The mere notion of someone saying that nauseated her, and now, being confronted with Ena having brazenly said it not once but twice…

Her hands clenched into fists as she advanced slowly, her nails digging painfully into her own palms.

She scoffed, a putrid feeling of envy settling in her chest.

"You don't know?" She mocked, stopping her advance only when her knees knocked against their creaking bedframe.

"You don't 'love' me," her hands unclenching only to emphasize her point with air quotes. "You like attention. And you "love" me because I give you attention when your father is too drunk to realize you exist."

Ena was still staring at her, the light in her eye still visible even as the wonder slowly extinguished itself.

Almost like a blazing fire…dying into embers.

A twisted thought interrupted her angered haze.

But even embers can be stroked and grown into a fire…

Her expression softened as she slowly sank onto her knees, letting Ena's slight flinch go unnoticed as her hand came to a rest by their pillow.

"You love me?" Her voice softened into a gentle coo, her hand lifting itself from their pillow to drift over their cheek, easily cupping it as their eye fluttered half-shut.

Her thumb dragged itself over the smooth expanse of their cheek, tenderly stroking the skin there as if they were a pair of lovestruck birds.

"I don—" Her thumb hooked itself into the corner of their mouth, silencing them as Sae pulled back the skin and exposed their teeth in full.

There's no taking back your words now.

"You have pretty teeth…" She murmured, her eyes half-lidded as she tilted her head and examined their teeth as if Ena were just a dog in her care.

If she were to be completely honest, they weren't the prettiest Sae had ever seen; she'd seen better on models and random advertisements on the streets, but…

The slight yellow staining that she knew came from years of poor hygiene in childhood that was just now being corrected in their teen years, slightly misaligned teeth even after braces, and they looked dull…

It was all too human and beautiful still…

"Who made you file your teeth down? Yer mommy or yer daddy?" She imitated one of their classmates' manner of speech as if it were a lighthearted joke.

"Or'tho…" They spoke with difficulty, saliva spilling out from their mouths and drenching Sae's thumb as they did.

"That's a shame…" She pouted, pulling her thumb downwards and then upwards to examine their incisors.

Their gums were a healthy, bright, and familiar pink, almost red, color, and Sae felt a malicious laugh bubbling up.

Her eyes flicked up, finding Ena's eye focused on her own already.

It surprised her slightly; she would've thought they'd be more concerned with how her hands were placed, but no.

She swiped her thumb along their cheek once more, drawing it upward to swipe along their lower eyelid, smearing their saliva as she did.

Instinctively, their eye slid shut—coaxed into shutting from the upward pressure Sae's thumb was exuding as their pillow obstructed their other eye.

It left them vulnerable.

All alone in their room and in Sae's grasp.

With a drunk as their only possible help.

Sae slid her other hand in between their pillow and face, easily pulling them up and sandwiching their face in between her hands.

Ena's previously covered eye slowly opened, sluggish and deceptively blurry, and Sae only gave them a few moments to adjust to the light before she pulled their head to the side.

"You're pretty…" She hummed softly to herself, tilting her head to the other side. "Or handsome…whichever you want. I can see why that Kitano girlie stares at you…"

They blinked like a dopey mutt instead of giving her a verbal response.

She tilted their head back to its natural position, sliding one of her hands to cup the back of their neck as the other slid down to cup their cheek properly.

She reveled in the choked gasp that followed such actions, enjoying the shaking breaths and how their throat bobbed when she leaned in and let her nose brush against their own.

"You're cute." She whispered into the limited space, letting their breaths mingle together before she closed the distance and pressed her lips to theirs in a gentle press.

It took more effort than she expected not to laugh against their lips as their pupils shrunk into pinpricks and they froze completely, their breathes stopping in their chest completely.

She pulled away agonizingly slowly, her hand falling away from their cheek as the other remained in its place.

She was still close enough she could feel the lack of Ena's breath against her face, and she hid her smile behind her hand, wiping away at the flecks of dried blood that had transferred from their face to her own.

She felt drunk off of her own greedy possessiveness, turning back to examine Ena's frozen frame and her dumbstruck expression.

I want to kill her.

Sae didn't give voice to her thoughts, instead letting a smile overtake her face even as Ena remained frozen.

"Don't worry, Ena-chan~" She pulled them forward by the back of their neck even as her throat burned and threatened to extinguish her ability to speak.

She let her finger rest under their jaw, pushing their chin up as her breath skirted over their immobile lips.

"I'll sharpen your fangs again."

Her forehead collided with their own, completing Sae's promise with a cliche action.

Unknowingly sealing their own fate as Ena sat frozen across from the hidden cupid, silenced into submission and transfixed by a small kiss.