Smile (ch15)

Continuing Antiqua's OT3 rewards!

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

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															Chapter 15.

There typically needs to be a very good reason for Akko to wake up early on a weekend morning when she doesn't have any academic responsibilities to see to.

But after last night in understanding Sucy's insecurities a bit better, she had been sort of restless with various thoughts. She'd realized she'd never really thought about the difficulties of liking both Sucy and Diana at the same time; she'd only ever thought of the fun parts. And then there must have been struggles on each of their ends as well.

All the jumbled thoughts had eventually woken Akko up before sunrise the next morning, and now she huffs and puffs and pouts up at the ceiling. Next to her, Sucy is on her back in her usual sleeping coffin position, and Diana is on Sucy's other side, breathing quietly.

Akko props herself up on her elbow for a moment to just watch them both with a smile, her chest already feeling warmer and warmer with every second. She really likes them. A lot.

Akko knows she isn't going to fall back asleep this morning, but it's way too early to be rousing the others on their day off. And as much as she likes watching her sleeping girlfriends, just staying still for however many more hours until they wake up will probably make her die of boredom.

Akko buries herself into her end of the pillow and groans softly, wondering what she could do to pass the time...

That's when her stomach growls, and the perfect idea pops into her head; she's gonna make her girlfriends breakfast in bed.

Excited for her mission, Akko sits up straight right away, almost too quickly, then winces and prays she hasn't woken them. But Sucy just continues to sleep without moving, and Diana only turns over to her other side. Akko has to clamp her mouth shut so the little giggles don't slip free.

Slowly, she slips each leg off the bed and begins to stand, only shifting a little bit of her weight at a time. Diana's fancy mattress doesn't creak or groan at all, so Akko can move more quickly without fear of it making noise.

She jumps out of bed, casting one last glance back at her sleeping girlfriends before scurrying around the bookshelf and into the main room. Her uniform had been neatly packed away into her bag after she'd changed last night, thanks to Diana, and Akko rummages around to find it now. She changes in the bathroom and freshens herself up, all while trying to stay as quiet as possible.

As soon as she's ready, she bounds out the door and into the hallway, where she lets out a loud sigh.

"Phew! Finally I can talk! Okay, now let's see... what should I make them for breakfast? Mushrooms are Sucy's favorites, but what kind of breakfast foods include mushrooms? Omelets? Uh, I'm not sure if they originally come like that or Sucy just brings her own mushrooms and then dumps them onto anything she puts in her mouth. And Diana likes fancy foods, right? Like tea and crumpets and stuff? ...How the heck do I make that? What the heck even is a crumpet anyway..."

She mumbles to herself all the way to the empty cafeteria and heads for the kitchen. There are already a few trolls unpacking fresh boxes of foods and getting things ready for the day, and Akko greets them.

"Would it be okay if I use the kitchen this morning?"

The head chef troll looks up.

"For academic or recreational purposes?"

"Uh... the second one, I think."

"Fill out the form and you're good to go." He motions over to a couples of papers on clipboards hanging from the wall. Akko scurries over to look them over until she finds the correct one, then begins scribing in her information.

"Name... Date... Time... Ingredients Used... Purpose for Kitchen Use? Uh, should I really write that I'm making breakfast for my girlfriends...?" She debates with herself for a moment before writing 'for personal reasons' in that box, then finishes. She rolls up her sleeves, ties on an apron, and cracks her fingers.

"All right, here we go!"

She's decided on the simple meal of basic pancakes, because there aren't too many ways you can mess those up...Right?

First she grabs a bowl for the batter and searches through a cook book for ingredients.

"Let's see... aha! Buttermilk pancakes. So I'm gonna need flour, milk, eggs..." She runs to one of the refrigerators and grabs a handful of things, then brings it all back to the counter. "Okay. I think I got this..."

Luckily for everyone, the head chef had been keeping an eye on her and quickly intervenes when he sees she's about to dump an entire carton of milk into the bowl.

"Hey, hey, whoa!" He points his finger and casts a quick spell, freezing the carton in Akko's hands before she can tip it over. Puzzled, she looks down at him.

"Huh? But the book said I need milk."

The chef pulls over a stool and clambers up, grumbling to himself.

"It says you need 2 cups of milk. Did ya even read it?"

"Oh..."

"Jeez, you kids... Guess I gotta be supervisor."

"Ehehe, thanks!"

So Akko continues cooking with the head chef watching over her, constantly shouting at her to stop before adding in too many eggs or too much flour or salt instead of sugar.

He's already exhausted by the time Akko finishes the batter, but then there's the process of pouring each pancake out into the pan.

Her first attempt comes out looking like a half-burnt, half-gooey splatter of yellow paint. She chuckles sheepishly.

"Ahaha... I'll eat that one..."

"No one's eatin' that one unless they wanna take a trip to the infirmary." The chef peels the poor excuse for a pancake off the pan and drops it into the trash. "You need a steady hand, kid. Watch and see how it's done."

He demonstrates, taking a ladle full of batter and pouring it out into a perfect circle.

Akko 'oohs' in amazement and watches as he flips it perfectly. When it's finished, both sides have a beautiful golden-brown color. Akko claps.

"Ooooh! That's amazing, boss! Okay, okay, lemme try!"

And try she does, over and over, and eventually the distorted shapes start to become more circular. She gets splattered here and there, but to Akko the messiness of her apron in the kitchen is like a battle scar.

After about ten more minutes of pancake flipping, Akko has compiled a lopsided stack of about a dozen of them. With the chef's help she distributes them onto three plates.

She pours a bit of syrup and butter onto Sucy's food, and even less onto Diana's, and then nearly drowns her own plate in it. Akko gathers some chopped-up mushrooms to sprinkle over Sucy's pancakes, but uses cinnamon and powdered sugar for Diana's.

When it's all set up and finished, Akko draws her wand and casts a little spell to keep everything warm for the journey back to the room. She thanks the head chef with a deep bow and a salute, then gathers all three plates onto her arms.

Balancing them all the way back is a struggle, but she's determined not to let anything bad happen.

"Not after I worked so hard! I'm gonna surprise them!"

Despite her eagerness to get back and see the looks on their faces, Akko takes her time for once, going slowly and carefully until she reaches Diana's door. There, she crouches down to place all the plates on the floor, opens the door, holds it open with her shoe, picks all the plates back up, and then hobbles her way in.

The room is still quiet with only the first rays of sunshine beginning to come through the curtains. Akko tiptoes her way around the bookshelf, a grin already spreading across her lips as she peers into the bed.

Sucy and Diana are still asleep, though without Akko's presence the two of them have somewhat turned toward one another and nestled close for warmth. Akko almost squeals at the sight of them. She doesn't want to wake them and ruin this beautiful scene, but her arms are starting to break. So she savors it for as long as she can before drawing in a deep breath and clearing her throat.

"Ahem! Sucy! Diana! Rise and shine, you guys!"

There's a grunt from Sucy, who is used to Akko's rude awakenings on the rare occasions when she's up first, and a gasp from Diana who always immediately assumes the worst, especially when Akko is the one calling for her. Both witches open their eyes to find themselves at a rather intimate proximity and blush, then quickly move apart and sit up.

"Akko!" Diana fiddles with her hair and robe, trying to un-ruffle them and hide her blush. "What is this?"

"Couldn't let us sleep in a bit longer, huh?" Sucy mumbles. "It was actually kinda nice..."

Her comment only makes Diana blush even more. Akko can't help but laugh.

"Aww, you guys are too cute! Sorry to wake you, but as you can see, I made pancakes! I wanted to make you guys breakfast in bed!"

Sucy looks puzzled, but Diana looks touched.

"Oh, Akko. You didn't have to go through the trouble-"

"It was no trouble at all! It was a good learning experience, and it was actually kinda fun!"

"Wow," Sucy shrugs. "Never thought I'd hear Akko say the words 'learning' and 'fun' in the same sentence without the word 'isn't' in between."

"Geeeez, Sucyyyy... Gaah! Okay whatever, just take the plates, you guys! My arms are gonna fall off!"

Akko leans over the bed to let Sucy take her mushroomy pancakes and Diana her more normal ones. Akko finally holds her own syrup-oceaned plate in both hands and plops down into the bed with them.

"Ahhh, all that cooking made me hungry! I'm starving! Let's eat!" She sticks her tongue out in anticipation, ready to get started, only to discover she'd neglected to grab any utensils. Sucy and Diana are already smiling about the mishap. Akko chuckles. "Oops..."

"Wouldn't be a gesture from you unless you'd forgotten something," Sucy notes.

"Worry not," Diana says. "I believe I can pitch in." She picks up her wand from her night stand and gives a wave. Just like that, three sets of utensils and napkins appear for them. Akko claps.

"Sweet! Thanks, Diana!"

"On the contrary," Diana smiles. "It's us who should be thanking you, Akko."

"Yeah," Sucy mumbles around a mouthful of mushrooms. "It's not half bad."

"Really?!" Akko cuts into her own food and takes a big bite to gulp down. "Hey, you're right! I guess I did pretty good, huh?"

"Well."

"Well what?"

Diana rolls her eyes.

"You did pretty well, Akko."

"Oh. Hehe, thanks!"

Both Diana and Sucy shift a bit closer to Akko, leaning up against her warmly. Akko lightly bumps her head against each of theirs before she continues eating.

All three witches enjoy a very warm and very delicious breakfast in bed, courtesy of Akko.

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A/N: Some warm happy fluff after the bit of drama of the previous chapter.