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“Hey Ayabe!” Curren called as she entered the dorm. Ayabe was nestled in one of her fluffiest blankets on her bed, curled up and engrossed in her book as the sun set in the window beside her. She looked up as Curren entered, and matched her beaming smile with her own.
“Hey Curren. Any plans for tonight?”
“Yeah! Today marks my first anniversary of when I started streaming!”
“Only your first? I thought you’d been doing social media a lot longer than that.”
“Social media, yes, but I only recently started streaming.” Curren explained. “I was gonna do something special for the stream, so it might get a bit loud, but if you just wanna stay in here I can go downstairs into one of the study rooms.”
“Actually…” Ayabe began. “I was wondering if I’d be able to join in.”
Curren’s face lit up with joy. “Really? That’d be awesome!”
Ayabe couldn't help but smile in return. Curren’s joy was contagious, and she had caught a terminal case. “Yeah, if it's okay with you.”
“Of course it’s okay with me! I’d love to have you join in. I suppose I should have offered but- I didn't think you’d be up to it.”
“To be honest I’m still on the fence, but a certain someone has been telling me to push myself out of my comfort zone. That, and you always come with me when I go stargazing, so I feel it's only fair I join you in doing stuff you love.”
“Aw, Ayabe you’re so sweet!” Curren moved toward Ayabe and wrapped around her in a warm embrace- one Ayabe gladly returned. “I’ll get everything set up, and I can walk you through my ideas, then we can-” She stopped herself as a realisation hit her.
“Curren?”
“None of my fans know you’re my girlfriend.” She said slowly. “It would be quite the bombshell to drop on them.”
“Well, maybe that can be your big thing for this anniversary.” Ayabe suggested. “Unless you don't want your fans to know.”
“It’s more about whether you want my fans to know.” Curren replied. “For me, I’d happily scream it from the rooftops for the whole world to know, but I know you’re more introverted and want to stay under the radar a little more than I do.”
“I’ve gotten better at handling my own fans, so I can probably handle yours too.” Ayabe said, before turning to Curren, confidence in her eyes. “Let’s do it.”
“Alright, the announcement is out, so I’ll give people a few minutes to come along before we get started.” Curren began, gesturing to her ’starting soon’ screen. “So I’m thinking of introducing you as my girlfriend and then we do a little Q and A with chat, and then… I'm not sure, we’ll just see how we feel.”
“What’s a Q and A?”
“Oh, it stands for Question and Answer. Chat will ask us questions and we can answer them. Just so they can find out a little more about us.”
Curren and Ayabe continued their conversation as viewers slowly trickled in. While they couldn't see either of them, their voices were picked up by the microphone.
‘CURREN HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!?!!?’
‘Omgomgomg we’re gonna meet her GF!’
‘Welp, there go my chances…’
Curren glanced at the chat and immediately noticed the attention their voices had gotten.
“Oh, they must have heard us.” She said, embarrassed at her mistake and disappointment showing in her ears and tail. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright…” Ayabe comforted her, giving her a swift kiss on the forehead. “There's no time like the present to do this. Let’s turn this camera on and we can show them all.”
“Okay…” Curren said, taking a breath and composing herself, before switching on the camera.
“Hey there Curren Clan!” Curren said, her beaming smile practically lighting up the room as she switched the camera on and addressed her viewers. “Happy first streaming anniversary! Now, I may have let a little something slip while we were setting up, so I’m not going to stall it out any longer. I’d like to introduce you all to the love of my life, my shooting star- Ayabe!”
“Hi everyone.” Curren watched the chat’s reactions as Ayabe sat on a stool next to her.
‘Ayabe is Curren’s GF? I thought they were just roommates.’
‘Omgomgomgomgomgomgogomgmogomgmomgomgomgomgomg’
‘They're both so cute together! I’m glad they're happy’
‘Oh, it was Ayabe. I never stood a chance…’
“So, Ayabe and I have been dating for, what, about six months now?” Curren continued
“About five or six, yeah.” Ayabe clarified.
“And we figured that we shouldn't have to hide our relationship anymore. Not from you guys, or the press, or anyone. We love each other, and there’s no reason to keep it a secret.”
“Yeah, what she said.” Ayabe replied, before pulling Curren close. “She’s been my light in the dark, and I’ve been supporting her from the sidelines.”
“With that out of the way, we wanna see what you guys want to know. For the next hour or so, we’ll be doing a little Q and A. So long as the questions aren’t inappropriate, or too personal, we’ll answer them!”
The flurry of questions came through thick, fast and non-stop. Ayabe was amazed that, despite the speed and volume of the chat messages, Curren was able to read and pick out some of the most intriguing ones without difficulty.
“What are your favourite things about each other?” Curren read one of the more common questions out loud. “Hm, for me, how down to earth Ayabe can be is definitely up there. She’s very no-BS, and I like that. But my absolute favourite has to be her reaction when I snuggle up next to her under her special blankets!” Curren chuckled as she gave her answer and looked to Ayabe, who was fighting off her embarrassment. “What about you, Ayabe? What’s your favourite thing about me?” Her smile was devilishly cute, which took Ayabe’s attention away from her embarrassment.
“Curren is very soft.” Ayabe began. “Both in a literal and metaphorical sense. Her hair, tail and ears are so fluffy and soft. She said my reactions when she snuggles up with me are cute, but that’s only because of how warm and soft she can be.” Her attempts to shift some of her embarrassment onto Curren was working, as Curren wasn’t expecting such a heartfelt and genuine response from Ayabe at all. “And then on the other side of the coin, she’s so kind to me, and she’s been there for me when I’ve needed her most.” As she finished her sentence, she gently pushed Curren’s fringe up and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“What about this one?” Ayabe asked, pointing to a question sent in by a generous donator. “Who asked who out first? You wanna tell them the story?”
“If you’re okay with it.” Curren replied. Ayabe nodded, so she turned back to the camera and began. “Well it was back in march- I’d just won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, and Ayabe had just won the Osaka Hai. We figured we should do something to celebrate, and I took Ayabe out to one of my favourite dessert places. I bought Ayabe a tall stack of the fluffiest pancakes that were loaded with syrup, while I had an extra large ice cream sundae. We’d been good friends for a while at this point, and Ayabe just put her hand over mine and said-
*
“I love you, Curren.”
Curren’s ice cream spoon fell from her right hand as she noticed Ayabe’s hand over her left. “Um, Ayabe? What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, that just sort of slipped out, but I do mean it.”
“It’s not like you to openly confess something like that, though. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is better than okay. When I’m with you I feel safe, and I can really be myself. And right now, being myself means telling you how much I love you, and how much I want to be with you, and-”
Curren leaned over the table and pressed a kiss on Ayabe’s forehead. Her lips were cold from the ice cream, but Ayabe didn't seem to care. “I love you too, Ayabe.”
*
“And the rest is history.” Curren concluded. “We make an effort to go back to that dessert place once a month and we always get the same things. I’m so happy she confessed there, cus I was feeling the same and I had no idea how I wanted to approach it.”
“I figured as much.” Ayabe replied. “You picked up a lovely habit of staring at me more than your phone the week leading up to the date.”
“I did? I didn't even notice.”
The two of them continued to answer questions from Curren’s fans until Fuji knocked on the dorm door with the call for lights out.
“Well, that’s gonna be it from us, Curren Clan.” Curren said. “We’ll probably do a few more streams like this in the near future.” She turned to Ayabe with a hopeful smile.
“Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing a few more if you’re okay with it.”
‘OMG MORE AYABE CURREN STREAMS YEAA’
‘OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG’
‘I can't wait to see more of them together! They’re so cute!”
“Looks like a positive reception!” Curren giggled. “We’ll see you guys soon!” And with a smile and a wave, she shut off the camera, before turning to Ayabe. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m alright, but very tired now.” Ayabe replied. “I have no idea how you do this multiple times a week.”
“That’s my little secret!” Curren winked. “Though I think it's mainly because I’m used to it by now. I like doing it.”
“You’re good at it too.” Ayabe replied, ruffling Curren’s soft hair. “I can really see how you got such a good follower base.”
“Aw, stop it!” Curren laughed. “You’re too kind. Anyway, we should probably head to bed. It’s late and I’ll be honest I'm kinda tired after that stream too.”
“You wanna snuggle up under one of my blankets?” Ayabe suggested.
Curren looked back at her, surprised. “You’re never the one to suggest it first.”
“Well, after I know how much you like my reactions when we do it, of course I wanna do it more.”
They both got changed out of their uniforms and into their nightclothes- Curren went into the bathroom to give herself and Ayabe some privacy- before they both climbed into Ayabe’s bed, which was laden with soft, thick, fluffy blankets. Ayabe climbed in first, got herself comfortable, and then gestured for Curren to join her. She climbed into the bed and nestled herself in Ayabe’s arms.
“Wait, hold on.” Curren said, before lifting her hands above her head and taking off her black ear coverings. “You said you like them.”
“May I?”
“Of course you can!”
Ayabe moved one of her arms from around Curren’s body and moved to slowly caress her ear- and it was everything she’d dreamed of. They were soft, fluffy and being allowed to touch them made Ayabe realise how much Curren loved and trusted her with her most sensitive area.
“I love you, Curren.” Ayabe whispered. She waited patiently for a reply, but when none came, she looked down and realised Curren had fallen asleep in her arms.