Work Text:
"Akira-san? You asked for me?"
"Yes. Would you mind doing some extra work?"
"Not at all. What do you need me to do?"
"That pile there, if you would."
"Okay!"
It wasn't uncommon for one or two people to end up having to do some extra work every now and again. Mei Fan really didn't mind. And besides, it got her alone with Akira.
"How come you asked me to help?" Mei Fan asked as she took a seat.
"Michiru's vanished somewhere..." Akira looked irked by that, "Yachiyo is doing the script and I'm not asking Shiori to do this."
"Michiru-san is avoiding work again, huh?" Mei Fan said, "She's very sneaky."
"She is." Akira agreed.
They sat in silence for a while. All that you could hear was the scratching of pens on paper. The faster they got this done, the faster they could go do other things. And Mei Fan would very much like that.
"Akira-san? Do you have anything else to do after this?" Mei Fan questioned.
"Finding Michiru."
"Well... besides that."
"No."
"Then, do you maybe... um... want to hang out later?"
"Why?"
Mei Fan hated how dense this girl could be. For heaven's sake they were dating. Why did she not get why Mei Fan wanted to hang out?
"Because that's what couples do." Mei Fan replied.
"Very well. We can hang out then."
Well, at least she agreed to it. That was a start. Now, to get back to work.
Mei Fan wasn't used to this work yet. Normally only Akira and Michiru handled this stuff. She was struggling a bit at times. The wording of things didn't always make sense to her. Was that because she didn't understand the phrasing or was it because she didn't understand the Japanese?
She didn't want to bother Akira with questions about it. Not when she was hard at work herself. She didn't want to disturb her flow of work.
"这是什么?(What is this...?)" Mei Fan whispered to herself.
It wasn't entirely uncommon for her to speak in Chinese while doing work. The others had learned to just ignore it. At first they had all commented on it, but then it stopped. It didn't bother anyone if she did it. Though, Yachiyo loved teasing her about it. That wasn't a surprise to anyone.
Mei Fan was getting a bit frustrated by the work, "我不明白。。。(I don't understand...)"
She was trying, but as she got farther into the work, the more stuff she couldn't understand came up. This was complicated. It was asking for so much. Too much, in her opinion.
"我迷路了。。。这不好。。。(I'm lost... this is bad...)" Mei Fan quietly sighed.
"我可遇帮你吗?(Do you need help?)"
Mei Fan froze up. Did... did she hear that right? Did Akira just... speak Chinese? No. That couldn't be. She must've misheard her.
"I-I'm fine."
"You keep whispering about not understanding it. If you need help, just ask."
Fuck. She had heard that right. Akira actually understood her. Since when did she start learning Chinese? Why was she learning Chinese?
"You... know Chinese?" Mei Fan questioned.
Akira nodded, "I've been learning."
"Why?"
"Because it's your language."
Mei Fan let out a nervous laugh, "I never expected this..."
"Is it not common to learn your partner's native language?"
"Um... depends on the couple. It's different for everyone." Mei Fan replied.
"Would you rather I didn't learn it?"
Mei Fan quickly shook her head, "N-no! I'm... I'm really happy you'd do that for me. It was just a shock to suddenly hear you speak it."
"Then could I ask that you help me learn it?"
"Of course! I'd love to teach you Chinese. But, in return could you maybe help me out with some Japanese? I still get mixed up over some stuff..." Mei Fan replied.
"Sure."
"So... I do need help with this... I'm confused about what it wants me to write down." Mei Fan sighed.
"Sit next to me."
Mei Fan got up and relocated next to Akira. Akira took the papers and looked them over. After determining what needed to be done, she started explaining it to Mei Fan. Mei Fan did her best to follow along. It was a lot to take in at once, though.
Surprisingly, Akira was very patient about it. Mei Fan would've thought she'd just give up and do all the work herself. She was grateful to be given this chance. It would've made her feel very bad if she was kicked out for just burdening her more.
"I think I got it." Mei Fan said.
"Just ask if you need anything else explained."
"I didn't think you'd do that. I was expecting you to just take it from me and do it yourself." Mei Fan said. She didn't really know why she said that, though.
"If I was rushed with everything, I probably would have. These aren't due for a little bit yet. I just wanted to get a start on them." Akira replied.
"Thank you for being patient with me."
"It isn't that big of a deal, is it?"
"To me it is. I guess I can tell you... um, sometimes when I find myself struggling with Japanese it makes people get mad at me and just give up on trying to help me out."
"I wouldn't abandon someone who is trying their best. Now, if someone wasn't trying at all to work with me or improve, then I would ditch them." Akira said.
"Yeah. It gets frustrating when I'm trying and yet people act like I'm intentionally making it complicated for them."
"Let's get back to work."
"Okay."
...
After they finished up the work, Akira went to go track down where Michiru went to. Mei Fan went to her room for a bit. She was tired from all the work.
She laid down and decided to relax for a bit. She didn't know how long Akira would be until she was done.
Surprisingly, it wasn't long. Akira knocked and came into her room. Mei Fan sat up on the bed.
"That was fast." Mei Fan commented.
"She ran off on me again." Akira frowned.
Mei Fan chuckled, "She's making you mad today, isn't she?"
"Yes..."
"Come sit." Mei Fan moved over on her bed.
Akira walked over and took a seat next to her. Mei Fan smiled and moved to be right up against her side. She pressed a quick kiss to Akira's cheek.
"So, is there anything you want to do?" Mei Fan asked.
Akira shrugged. She always seemed to be indecisive when it came to this stuff. Mei Fan really wished she wouldn't be. She didn't mind taking the initiative all the time, but it would be nice to have Akira do it every now and again.
"You know... I feel like that's not true. You do have something you want to do but you won't say it." Mei Fan was taking a bit of a risk saying that.
Akira looked down at the bed. It seems that statement got her to react. So, she had been right. Akira did want to do something.
Akira mumbled something Mei Fan couldn't make out.
"Um, what did you say?"
"I want to kiss you..." Akira repeated, slightly louder than before. She was still looking down and refusing to make eye contact.
"Then why don't you?" Mei Fan got more or less into her face, "I'm not stopping you."
Akira didn't know how to react to that. She had been caught off guard. She thought that would've made Mei Fan take the initiative, not do this.
"I've actually caught you off guard for once. Interesting."
Mei Fan was definitely toying with her right now. But, what was she supposed to do? This is the one thing she didn't understand. What was she supposed to say?
"Cat got your tongue, Akira?" Mei Fan wasn't normally this bold, but seeing Akira so flustered and out of it was egging her on.
"What are you doing?" Akira questioned.
"What? I'm just teasing you." Mei Fan said.
"Stop it."
"You've never been this flustered before. I'm enjoying it." Mei Fan knew she was getting cocky.
And it seemed that Akira had had enough. She took hold of Mei Fan's chin and just held her there. Mei Fan nervously gulped. She had overdone it now, hadn't she?
"Who's flustered now?" Akira asked. Her tone didn't hint to any teasing, but Mei Fan assumed that was what it was.
"So you can be bold in this type of stuff too." Mei Fan stated.
"Is that what this is about?" Akira eyed her with suspicion.
"Maybe? Would it kill you to take the lead sometimes?"
"很好(Very well)." Akira had never been one to back down from a challenge. If Mei Fan wanted her to be the initiator, than she would do it well.
"I... don't know how to feel about you speaking Chinese right now..."
"Is there a problem?"
"It's still just weird hearing you speak it..." Mei Fan mumbled, "Anyway... are you gonna let go of me yet?"
Akira didn't say anything, she just pulled her in for a kiss. Mei Fan was taken by surprise. Akira wrapped her free arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Mei Fan followed her lead and wrapped her arms around Akira's neck.
When they finally pulled away, both of them were out of breath. Mei Fan was panting quite loudly.
"Jeez..." Mei Fan grumbled, "You didn't have to go all out."
"You said I should be bolder."
"Maybe there's something as being too bold." Mei Fan mumbled.
"You didn't seem to mind it." Akira stated.
Mei Fan didn't have a rebuttal to that. It was true. She didn't really mind it at all. She was just picking on Akira for it.
"Well... I just don't think we were on the same page for the kiss. I thought it'd be a quick one but... you obviously had other ideas." Mei Fan mumbled, "It just caught me off guard is all."
"I see. Well, do you want to kiss again?"
And somehow she easily switched the topic. Perhaps for her own reasons? Maybe she wanted to kiss her again? Mei Fan wasn't sure, but she certainly wasn't opposed to that.
"Sure, but answer me one thing. Is it going to be like the last one?"
"If you don't have a problem with it."
"Alright. Just wanted to see. Go ahead."