Maki x Nico (Love Live)

Best date ever

Maki groaned inwardly as she watched Nico fall for what must be the fifth time in as many minutes. She had only left the girl alone for five minutes while she went to store their items in a locker, but apparently that was five minutes too long.
Hurrying back to Nico, Mako watched the girl struggle to her feet, only to fall immediately back onto her butt as her feet came quickly out from underneath her.
"I'm such a horrible girlfriend," Maki muttered under her breath as she opened the small gate to the ice rink and quickly skated towards the blonde. All she had wanted to do was plan a cute date with Nico, for once.
Nico had proved to be the master of cute and romantic dates, always surprising Makk with either extravagance or comforting simplicity. And even when things went wrong (which, honestly, happened quite often with Nico being in charge), the effusive girl was able to spin the situation in such a way that Maki was beginning to believe even the mishaps had been planned. Although how Nico managed to create thunderstorms and police chases, she would never know...
Maki had quickly realized that, next to Nico, she was sorely lacking in the relationship department. Her ideas for dates often ran along the lines of studying, movies, or dinners, in that order. Which is why she had been so excited when she had heard about the new ice skating rink that had been built nearby. Finally, she had somewhere she could take Nico that didn't involve one of the three aforementioned activities.
She had been so sure that this was her hole-in-one that she had built it up all week to Nico, teasing her about the secret date that she was going to take her on that weekend. Nico had been positively ecstatic.
Of course, Nico had reacted perfectly when they had gotten to the rink, jumping up and down, squealing, a giant hug...but looking at the girl sprawled on the ice, Maki began to wonder just how good of an actress Nico truly was. She couldn't have actually been excited about spending the evening bruising her bottom.
Maki stopped carefully in front of Nico. "Are you alright?" she asked as she reached down to help pull the girl to her feet, making sure to keep ahold of Nico's arms in order to steady her.
"I'm fine!" Nico said, grinning at Maki.
Maki felt her brow furrow; Nico surely couldn't be being serious. "Are you sure? That looked like a pretty hard fall..." she began, but Nico quickly waved her off.
"I'm fine, Maki. In fact, I think I'm getting a lot better. Watch!"
Before Maki could react, Nico squirmed out of her hold and started "skating" away, her ankles nearly touching the ice as she took several clumsy strides. Maki stared at her like she was watching a baby fawn take its first steps. Nico turned her head slightly back towards Maki and said, "See?" before her right foot promptly flew out from under her, sending Nico crashing back onto the ice with an audible *thump*.
Maki was at her side in an instant, kneeling down on the cold ice as she quickly looked Nico over. "Are you ok? Are you ok?" she heard herself asking as she searched for any signs of injury.
The only response she got was an "ow" as Nico rubbed her bruised backside. Maki sighed in relief. A bruise was a whole lot better than any broken bones. She decided that it was time to cut her losses on this failed excursion before Nico suffered any permanent damage.
"Come on, Nico, let's go home before you get hurt," Maki said as she stood up and offered the loli help up.
Nico ignored her outstretched hand and struggled up on her own. Reaching her feet, she said, "But I'm having fun!"
Maki looked at her incredulously. It was nice of Nico to try not to hurt her feelings, but there was no need to lie right to her face.
"You can't possibly be having a good time," she stated. "You must have fallen 10 times already!"
"So?" Nico replied. "I've almost gotten the hang of it! Plus, I'm spending time with my favorite person in the world, so how could I not be having fun?"
If that last sentence wasn't enough to make Maki's heart melt, the genuinely loving smile that went along with it certainly was. Makk couldn't stop a similar smile from forming in return.
Only Nico would have fun while she was failing miserably at something. It was one of her qualities that Maki didn't understand, but absolutely adored. Nico didn't determine how much fun she was having by her level of success or failure, like Maki did. Nico had fun by simply...being around people she cared about. While Maki would have stalked off the ice after her third or fourth fall, Nico would continue to embarrass herself all day as long as Maki was there to keep her company.
Maki didn't know what she could possibly have done in this life to deserve such a wonderful human being, but she knew that she would do whatever it took to make sure Nico knew how important she was.
Newly determined, Maki reached out and grasped Nico's hands in each of her own. "Ok," she began. "Close your eyes."
Nick looked at her a little apprehensively, so Maki gave her a reassuring smile until the girl obliged, closing her eyes. Still holding Nico's hands, Mako started skating backwards, pulling Nico along with her until they were slowing skating around the edge of the rink.
"You can open your eyes now," Maki said, still steadily pulling Nico along the ice. As Nico opened her eyes, Maki softly added, "You're ice skating, Nico."
Nico's eyes widened as she looked down at the ice sliding beneath them before looking back up and breaking into a radiant smile. "We're ice skating, Maki-chan!" she exclaimed joyfully, giving Maki's hands a quick squeeze before looking back towards the ice, giving a delighted squeal. "Can we go faster?" she asked, looking back at Maki somewhat pleadingly.
Maki laughed at the question. Somehow, she had known that the girl would ask that. Instead of answering, she just started skating backwards with more speed until the two of them were traveling swiftly around the rink, with Nick laughing and squealing all the while.
Maki watched Nico's delight and couldn't help laughing at how happy the girl was to be dragged around the ice rink. Nico looked back to Maki and their eyes locked. Maki's heart began beating rapidly, the way it always did when Nico looked at her so intently. In these moments, it was almost as though Nico could see straight into her soul. The sensation was completely unnerving to Maki, as she felt laid bare in front of the girl. But at the same time, it was intoxicating to think that Nico could see underneath the polished veneer Mako projected to the world, and what she saw didn't make her turn and run.
Nico broke contact first as her eyes flitted to something that was behind Maki, before her eyes widened and she shouted "Maki-chan, watch out!"
Nico's exclamation jolted Maki out of her thoughts as she looked behind her to find they were seconds away from colliding with two small children who were stumbling around the ice.
Maki quickly put on the brakes to keep herself from running into them. Too late, she realized that while she had stopped moving, the person she had been pulling kept right on moving forward. Still going full speed, Nico crashed into Maki, knocking her right off of her feet.
She hit the ice hard. Thankfully, she was able to use her arms to slightly slow her fall and keep her head from slamming into the ice. However, Nico's elbow managed to find Maki's stomach as the girl collapsed on top of her, knocking out Mei's breath.
"Are you ok??" Nico asked, concern etched on her face as she stared down at Maki.
Mei nodded slightly as she tried to catch her breath, which was proving difficult with Nico still lying on top of her. "Can't....breathe...." she managed to get out, hoping that Nico would understand and get off of her so she could expand her lungs properly.
Instead, Nico just giggled as she said, "Oh wow, I literally took your breath away!" Maki glared at her as she kept giggling until finally, she rolled off of Maki. Maki focused on trying to breathe as she stayed flat on her back on the ice, trying to block out Nico's continued giggling. Finally, she felt her lungs expand with air. She took several deep breaths until Nico's face reappeared directly above her own.
"Better now?" she asked.
"No thanks to you," Maki retorted, immediately wincing at how sharply the words came out.
Nico's eyebrows furrowed, but she gave a small smile as she leaned down and gave Maki a quick kiss on the lips.
"How about now?" she asked softly.
Maki was pretty sure she looked like a complete idiot, gaping at Nico as she flushed scarlet red. Even when Maki snapped at her, Nico positively gushed feelings for her. It never ceased to amaze her how those feelings never wavered an inch. It was almost as if Nico gave her a free pass for the first snap. If Maki snapped at her again, well then she was in the dog house, but she found that she mostly used that get out of jail free card when it was offered.
This time was no exception, as she smiled up at Nico and answered, "Much better." Nico broke back into a large smile.
Maki got up slowly, feeling plenty of new bruises forming all over her body. She helped Nico get back to her feet as they slowly skated towards the edge of the rink to sit down.
"You know," Maki began, feeling her face already blushing at what she was about to say, "that's the hardest I've ever fallen for anyone."
Nico immediately broke into another fit of hysterical giggles as Maki felt her face growing considerably hotter.
"I'm serious!" Maki said in exasperation, which only made Nico laugh harder.
Maki grabbed one of Nico's hands and turned her around so that their faces were incredibly close. Locking eyes again, Maki said slowly, "Nico-chan...this is the hardest I've fallen, ever." Maki felt Nico searching her eyes to find the truth behind those words. Satisfied by the answer she found there, Nico beamed and pulled Maki into a tight hug.
"Then I'm glad it was with me," she whispered in Maki's ear before breaking the hug, grinning at Maki with a smile that probably wouldn't disappear for the rest of the day.

As they sat down on one of the benches outside of the rink, Nico exclaimed loudly enough for everyone to hear, "This has been the best date ever!" Maki felt her entire body heat up in embarrassment, but she still smiled back at Nico.

Because Nico was definitely worth it.