Rising Shards

“Ready?” Maia asked.

“Ready!” Iris said, saluting before pulling her shirt collar to the side over one shoulder.

Maia leaned in right away. Iris giggled as Maia bit her shoulder. Like usual, she started off kinda nibble-y at first, gradually biting harder. It hurt a little, but it mostly felt very nice and oddly relaxing.

“It’s been too long,” Iris said. 

They’d had plenty of cuddle time for their Best Friend Stuff (B.F.S.), but Iris missed the biting while Maia was recovering from her fight with Scrungy.

B.F.S. was something the two shared in their room, away from the rest of the world. On a chilly winter day, she couldn’t think of a better way to spend her time than to get bitten by her bestie.

“I should probably stop there for today,” Maia said. 

Maia was over Iris, hands placed above Iris’ shoulders like she was doing pushups on her. After the two locked eyes for a beat, Maia got on her side next to Iris, who rolled to meet her.

“Already? How come?” Iris whined, lightly brushing through Maia’s hair. 

“It’s looking pretty bruised.” Maia said.

“Aw. Let it get bruised, it doesn’t hurt. Well, it hurts a little. But a fun kind of hurt!” Iris said.

“That sounds so bad.” Maia said. “Imagine if someone sees that and thinks you got in a fight or something.”

“Come on, there’s no way it looks that bad,” Iris said. “And if someone sees that, I’d just tell them it’s from B.F.S.!”

“And what if they start questioning what B.F.S. is? And think I’m like hurting you, or something…”

“You worry too much. B.F.S. can’t be bad,” Iris said. “A B.F.S. sesh a day keeps the…something away.”

“So poetic.”

“Let’s see…what else is on the B.F.S. agenda?” Iris asked. She lightly swatted Maia’s forearm. “Wanna hold hands?”

“Sure.” Maia said, lifting a slightly shaky hand up to meet Iris’. 

“Squeeze!” Iris said as she interlaced with Maia’s fingers, feeling the soft pads. She kept saying it each time she squeezed until Maia got really annoyed and made her stop. Then they spent a bit chilling quietly beside each other.

“This is a really good day, huh?” Iris asked.

“What are you talking about?” Maia said. “That makes it sound like we’re like. Farmers looking out at our field. And also we’re super old.”

“How does me saying it’s a good day make me sound old?” Iris asked. “I’m just saying. This is a good sesh, ya get me?”

“I get you.” Maia said.

“Isn’t it a good day?” Iris asked.

“It is.” Maia said.

Their eyes met again. Iris found herself smiling softly as she was lost in the sea of Maia’s gaze. Maia really has a perfectly cute face. Nice and symmet…whatever that word is. I remember the first half of it. The same on both sides. Perfectly cute and fuzzy and soft and sweet. Can a face be sweet? I guess MaiMai’s is. If I wasn’t holding her hand right now, I’d scratch her ears, and try and get her to purr.

Iris impulsively leaned forward, rubbing her nose lightly on Maia’s. It felt soft. Maia softly gasped at the sensation, but didn't stop her.

“Boop!” Iris said as she did it again, laughing really hard at whatever this was.

“What are you doing?” Maia laughed.

“Your nose feels really good against mine.” Iris said. “Boop!”

Soon, Maia was meeting Iris at this game, leaning forward slightly to boop her nose back against Iris’. The two were cackling, especially when they managed to miss and one put their nose to the other’s cheek or chin. 

After a perfect boop, the two leaned back for a second. Once more Iris was too busy admiring Maia’s eyes to think too deeply about anything but bubbly bliss. She leaned in for another boop. Maia leaned in too, missing the boop completely as she tilted her head a bit. 

It took Iris a second to realize Maia was kissing her.

Maia shut her eyes, pressing her lips firmly against Iris'. Iris was the opposite, at least vision wise, as her eyes widened in shock. Shock gave way to even more of that bubbly feeling ready to burst, when Maia pulled back.

Maia just kissed me.

Maia let go of Iris’ hand and sat up quickly. Iris followed, the two freezing as they stared at each other. Iris’ heart pounded in her ears as her first coherent thought was worry, as Maia looked like she’d just ripped someone apart with her claws.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Maia clamped her hands over her mouth. “Why did I do that? That was…sorry, dude. That was. My bad.”

“Hey, it’s OK! You’re fine!” Iris wasn’t sure why she felt the need to pat Maia’s shoulders, but her best friend looked mortified. “Oh, frick.” 

“What? What is it?” Maia asked, the frantic tone not leaving her voice.

“That felt really nice, didn’t it?”

Maia blinked. “Y-yeah.”

“So don’t freak out! Maybe you just stumbled upon…something really awesome.” Iris said.

“Was that really awesome for you?”

Iris pondered it for a second. “You know what, it really was!” Iris said. She grinned. “Wanna try again?”

“Tr…try…ag…” Maia needed a few seconds to process that, and Iris patiently waited. Once she had rebooted, Iris took charge and gave Maia a quick kiss on the lips of her own. They both froze again, trying to sort the avalanche of feelings out.

“That was…really awesome.” Maia said.

“Yeah, like I said, holy frick!” Iris said. “You’re good at that, Maia!”

“You too…” Maia said. “H-hey…”

“Awwww, MaiMai, it’s really OK! You’re so shaky!” 

“I’m alright, shut up…” Maia said.

“Hush hush, there there.” Iris said as she gave Maia some headpats. “Now what were you going to say? If you want some more smooches, I’m definitely game.”

“You are?”

“Uh huh!”

“More?”

“Lots, lots more!” Iris said. “If you want that, of course.”

“Yeah, I was just gonna ask if it was cool if we added it to the lineup?” Maia said.

“Ohoho, I like the way you think!” Iris said. She blinked, blurting out a thought before it could warm up in the ol’ mental oven. “At some point we should probably figure this out, huh?”

“Yeah,” Maia said. 

Iris was glad she didn’t have to clarify what she meant. Especially because she wasn’t even sure what she meant.

“For now…B.F.S.?” Maia said.

“Yeah!” Iris said. “Only do B.F.S. with me, OK?”

“Why would I with anyone else?” Maia asked.

“I just wanna make it clear!” Iris said. “And with that business out of the way, I’d um. Really like more. Please?”

Maia laughed, a deep laugh that spread to Iris quickly. A laugh that seemed to lift a lot of weights off of the duo. The two giggled as they hugged, lying back down together, their laughter melting into sweet, soft kisses.