Rising Shards

The halls of the girls’ dorm seemed very empty for a Saturday. Iris and Maia wandered around. Iris was very energetic now that she was over her recent flu bug and led the way, despite the duo not really having anywhere to be or any destination in mind. The main thing Iris noticed was how dead the dorms felt.

“Where da heck is everybody?” Iris asked.

“I think there’s a sleepover or something?” Maia asked.

“That everyone in the dorms are at?” Iris asked.

“Is at, I think?” Maia said. "Or maybe you're right, I dunno."

“Whatever,” Iris said. “And this sleepover is one we weren’t invited to?”

“Not everyone, just like Zeta and her friends.” Maia said.

“And we weren’t invited?” Iris asked. “I want to go in that heated pool so bad.”

“It’s at Kalei’s, not Oka’s I think,” Maia said. “At least that’s what Zeta said.”

“Oh, I’m significantly less interested then,” Iris said. “Unless Kalei has a heated pool?”

“How should I know?” Maia said. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t, or she’d be bragging about it all the time.”

“Awww, bummer,” Iris said. “Did Zeta say why we weren’t invited?”

“She said Kalei wanted a really small get together.” Maia said. “I didn’t really want to go so I didn’t like beg her to invite us.”

“If you weren’t going and I got invited, I wouldn’t go, just saying.” Iris said. She hopped to reach Maia’s head to pat her.

“Don’t do that.” Maia said, grabbing the spot Iris patted her on. “You messed my hair up.”

They walked back towards their room. Iris felt a devious grin cross her lips as she looked towards the empty rooms of their neighbors.

“Whose room do you think we’d have the easiest time breaking into?” Iris asked.

“They’d all be the same level of tough to break into, wouldn’t they?” Maia asked. “We all have the same locks.”

“True, but I bet some of them have traps set up.” Iris said.

“Roux and Latte do for sure.” Maia said.

“Yep yep!” Iris said. “I bet Roux did her weird magic that holds a scalding cup of coffee above the door and if you break in, SPLASH you get burned!”

“And then if it spills on Latte she like, doesn’t react at all to the hot coffee because she’s a freak for coffee like that.” Maia laughed. Iris did too, getting to full snort laugh mode.

“Follow up question, which room would be the best to bust into?” Iris asked. “I’m talking like, who’s got the goods we’d want the most?”

“Uhhh…I dunno if I’d want anything from Zeta and Kalei’s room. Maybe Kalei’s games, but I don’t think she has any I don’t except for crap yearly beam chasers games.”

“Uh huh, hm.” Iris said. “Zeta has some clothes I’d totally steal. She’s got those fuzzy socks with the like poof poofs on them.”

“You’d steal socks?” Maia asked.

“Yeah, cute socks!” Iris said. “I’d rock them way more than her.”

“That you would.” Maia said.

“Aww!” Iris said. “Alright, who else?”

“Matora sisters might have some good games,” Maia said. “Lillia and Oka probably just have boring theater stuff or boring book stuff.”

“I’d take Oka’s keys to her house, and drive over there, and get in that heated pool!” Iris said.

“You don’t have a license.” Maia said.

“Yeah, but you do!” Iris said. “You could drive me over there, oh and we could steal some swimsuits from one of the rooms, like real cute ones, you know? I bet you’d look good in a two piece.”

“Shut up.” Maia said, scratching her ear.

“How come we’ve never been to a pool together?” Iris asked.

“I’m a cat Kanibari, you think I like swimming?” Maia asked.

“Aww,” Iris said. “But I wanna see you in a swimsuit.”

Iris realized what she’d just said out loud. The two got quiet for a minute. Maia got her phone out and started typing something. Iris snuck a glance to her phone to see that Maia just had her notes app up and was typing gibberish to look like she was saying something.

“There’s a pool on campus,” Maia muttered. “You wanna check it out?”

“Pool time!” Iris said. “It’s no heated pool, but what are you gonna do in this economy?”

Iris tried to remember if she even brought a swimsuit to school. Would it be weird to head out to a store to buy one? Maybe, but Iris couldn’t deny the thought dominating her mind now: that she really wanted to see Maia in a swimsuit all of a sudden for some reason.

* * *

After some maybe more frantic than needed digging around in drawers, Iris found the swimsuits that came in the same bags as their uniforms. Maia sat on her bed and watched Iris gleefully hold up her suit, unsure of what exactly she was feeling at the moment.

“One pieces are fine, right?” Iris asked.

“Sure, yeah…” Maia trailed off.

Well, I’m kind of sure of what I’m feeling. She was scared about the pool, scared about Iris seeing her in a swimsuit. But also weirdly super excited about seeing Iris in her swimsuit.

“Hey, wait,” Iris said. “Hold up.” She strummed her chin and sat down across from Maia.

“What are you doing?” Maia asked as Iris kept going ‘hmmm.’

“I just,” Iris said. “I’m getting like a vibe here that maybe you don’t want to go to the pool and you’re just going along with it cuz I said it or something.”

“No, like—" Maia answered way too quickly. She cut herself off as well and crossed her arms. “And there’s the arm crossy thing,” Iris said. “We don’t have to, you know. It’s been so long I may not even remember how to swim.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Maia asked.

“I dunno, do you feel bad?” Iris asked. “Let’s just hang out here tonight.”

Maia sighed.

“Is that not what you wanted?” Iris asked. “Did you actually really want to go to the pool?”

“No…” Maia said. “But I don’t wanna…you know.”

“I won’t know unless you tell me.” Iris said.

Maia grumbled a bit. Iris would get in debate mode with her sometimes, but this felt different than normal for some reason. Since it was different, maybe that made it easier to say what was on her mind.

“I don’t want to let you down, alright? You’re so pumped about the swimsuits.” Maia said.

Iris looked like a burst of wind hit her unexpectedly. Her brow furrowed. After about five minutes of contemplation, she finally answered. “Oh…huh…”

“I’m just saying, if you really want to,” Maia said. “I er. Wouldn’t. I could do it. For you.”

“I see…” Iris said. “Hey, dumb idea…would you be cool if I just tried my suit on? We can skip the pool, I’m just curious how I look in this.”

“Y-yeah, that’s cool.” Maia said. She did really want to see Iris in her swimsuit. “If you want…me…”

“Hm?” Iris asked.

Maia winced, wishing she didn’t say that out loud. “You want me to try my on too?”

“Only if you wanna!” Iris said. “No pressure. I’m gonna get mine on.”

Iris left for the bathroom, leaving Maia alone with her own swimsuit. Maia made the snap decision to get changed in hers while Iris did the same. She rushed to get it on in case Iris finished first and rushed out to see a half-naked roommate.

“OK. Guess I really did this.” Maia said. It wasn’t anything weird, it was just the uniform for swimming. Maybe it was a little weird to change into without the intent of going into a pool at all, but it was probably good to check if it fit. The Kanibari version of the suit had a little slot cut into the back for tails. Her breathing felt heavy for some reason as she looked down at herself. I’m a twig. Or a really tall, thin tree. She’s gonna see me and say how bad I look in this.

“Maia, you look so good!” Iris said. Maia jolted and turned around to see Iris beaming. She felt her face get red instantly from both the compliment and seeing Iris in her one piece.

“I dunno,” Maia said, rubbing the back of her neck to avoid staring at Iris’ bare legs more.

“Shush, you beautiful.” Iris said.

This time it was Maia who felt like a gust of wind had hit her. While she processed hearing Iris say that to her, she didn’t register Iris approaching her until she was close. Iris clasped her hands behind her back and swayed a bit.

“Say, MaiMai…” Iris grinned some more, her face probably red from how embarrassing this was.

“Yeah?” Maia asked.

“This is kind of a weird thing but…um…you wanna bite me again?” Iris asked.

“What do you…do you mean…that um…” Maia rambled on and on saying nothing in a desperate attempt to hope her brain would catch up.

“I’d bite you again, but like the fuzz and all makes it a bit tough,” Iris said. “Maybe we can like shave a little patch of fur off for when it's my turn again. Check it, there’s even a good spot for you to bite me.” Iris pulled one of her shoulder straps to the side and gestured to the faint red marks from the last time Maia bit her.

“I uh…” Maia’s heart pounded and her breathing felt off. If she fainted here, it’d be more embarrassing than how it would have gone if they actually went to the pool.

“if you don’t want to, it’s fine,” Iris said. “Like one hundred precedent.”

“That’s percent.” Maia said. 

"I know, it was a joke!"

"Was it?" Maia asked. “And I really want to. Just…”

“Just?” Iris asked. “If you want to, I say we keep our B.F.S. going, you know?”

“B.F.S.?” Maia asked, not following.

“Best friend stuff,” Iris said. “I’ve been trying to think of a good name for it and that’s what I landed on. Like the stuff that only you and I do together. Hanging out, late night talks, biting, whatever else…best friend stuff!”

“Huh…” Maia said.

“You hate it, huh.” Iris said.

“No way!” Maia said. “I dig it. I actually like it a lot. And you know when I want to trash something, I don't hold back."

"True," Iris said. "I still think the yearly Haven fighter games aren't that bad."

"I still think they are," Maia said. "See? No holding back. So er. You wanna. Do some…”

“Some B.F.S.?” Iris said.

“Y-yeah.” Maia said.

Iris sat down on her bed and patted a spot next to her. Her shoulder strap was still down on the side Maia bit her last on.

As she sat down beside her best friend, Maia made another snap decision. She’d been stressing about what all this stuff meant, but having a label like B.F.S. helped a lot. There would be time to fully define what it meant later, for now Maia focused on Iris’ exposed shoulder.

“Can you um…?” Iris started as Maia started to move closer. “Maybe…go a bit longer than last time? If you want.”

“Sure, yeah, sure,” Maia said. Last time she let go almost immediately, so she could probably force herself to go longer. “I can try. Is that…what you want?”

“Mmmmaaaaaybeee…” Iris said.

Maia nodded. She almost let go immediately, as her attempt to get her fangs on Iris’ shoulder felt more like a kiss, and she started to freak out about that instantly. Iris grabbed her head and held her in place.

“Come on, you haven’t even started yet,” Iris said. “Actually, wait.” She pushed Maia away for a second. “But yeah, um. Like with the pool thing. If you’re not good with this, just say so.”

“I’m good with it.” Maia said. “I like the best friend stuff we do. A lot.”

“Me too.” Iris said. “But just say so. If you’re not good…with…”

Maia nodded and moved back to Iris’ shoulder, quickly clamping down with her fangs. She vowed to herself that she would make this B.F.S. session worth Iris’ time.