Assassins, Detectives, and the Mafia

Snacks and Dust

As is the usual whenever Maki is out on a Monday, Kaede finds herself in desperate need of a drink.

Pulling the wine out of the refrigerator, she pours it into a crystalline glass and swirls it once, twice, so that the crimson liquid seeps into the white tablecloth.

"Here's to another week alone," Kaede smiles, tipping her head back and pouring the glass's contents down her throat.

It burns like fire going down, but she realizes that it'll be fine, as long as she can settle into that comfortable numbness.

Three glasses later, Kaede decides that now is, in fact, the perfect time to clean under the bed. Who needs to wait until Maki is home?

Maki enters the apartment with a gust of snow blowing behind her. White specks dot her chocolate-brown hair and her jacket, and are now in the process of slowly and methodically covering the entire floor.

"Kaede?" she calls, hazarding a glance at the clock.

12:13.

Well, shit.

"Kaede?" she repeats, leaning into the living room cautiously.

The apartment isn't all too big. There's a kitchen connected to a living room, and a bedroom and balcony attached to that. There's a piano that sits on the screened-in balcony for Kaede's playing, and a secret room behind a bookshelf for Maki.

The assassin has yet to learn how one advertises a secret room without revealing the secret, but Kaede has always been quite vague on that.

"Makiiii!" Kaede squeals, leaping at her from the couch. "I missed you soooo much!" she exclaims, before sneezing.

The assassin can smell a distinct fruity odor on her breath, which lends credibility to the possibility that Kaede is, in fact, drunk.

"Kaede, were you drinking?"

"No," Kaede pouts. "I only had one... or two... or three! 'M not drunk!"

"Sure," Maki deadpans, wrapping an arm around Kaede's waist. "Let's just get you to bed."

"Noooo," Kaede whines before sneezing.

Maki sighs, massaging the space between her eyebrows. Unfortunately, she knows exactly why Kaede is sneezing.

A little-known fact about Kaede Akamatsu is her severe allergy to dust. Every time she attempts to clean under something, Maki has to find her later and put her in bed for a few hours. It's honestly a bit of a pain, especially since Kaede continually insists that 'she is fine, and why can't Maki see that she's not allergic to dust?'

Kaede always was a horrible liar.

"C'mon, Kaede," Maki frowns.

"Noooo...."

"Fine."

Maki bends down, and in one fluid moment, sweeps Kaede into her arms so that she's carrying the pianist bridal-style.

"Maki-chan..." Kaede coos as she bats at Maki's face.

"Yes?"

"I heard of a cool game from Kokichi-kun... I think you'd like it!"

"What is it?"

Kaede smirks devilishly, and cheerfully shoves what tastes like a stick of Pocky into Maki's mouth.

"Now, we just eat this!" Kaede smiles, placing the other side in her mouth.

There is no way that Kaede doesn't know exactly what she's doing by playing the Pocky game.

And yet, Maki decides to indulge her.

"Fine," Maki mumbles, biting off a part of the stick. She's careful to keep some in her mouth, because she is not losing to Kaede.

"Maki," Kaede coos, before biting off a large portion of the stick. The assassin is incredibly aware of how close their lips are, and how perfectly pink Kaede's are as well.

"I win," Maki smirks, biting off the rest of the stick and pulling Kaede into a passionate kiss.