Chapter Text
Sitting on Cecilia’s bed, Gigi mindlessly thumbs through twitter. Cecilia was in the middle of a stream and Gigi had to do her best to not make a noise, lest she alert the otomos that they’re sharing a room. While she was scrolling she got a dm from none other than Mori Calliope.
Mori Calliope: Hey, Gigi. Are you all set for the Onsen trip?
Mori Calliope’s Wife: Yes Ma’am!🫡
Mori Calliope: Cool. Can’t wait to see you and Biboo there!
Mori Calliope’s Wife: Me too! Love you!!!!!😚😚😚
Mori Calliope: 👍
Gigi closes discord and instantly starts checking on the vacation date with mori Calliope into her notes app. With that done, she goes right back to scrolling through twitter to like and retweet her fanarts. Every now and then she looks away from her phone to lovingly gaze at her girlfriend as she sits at her desk streaming a game. She’s missed her since the last time they were in the Far East and now she’s making sure she can spend as much time with her before she heads back home to Freesia. Some would call this “being needy”, but she calls it “making up for lost time.”
“Okay! Bye byeeeee!” Cecilia chirps as she switches to her end screen and eventually ends her stream altogether. Spinning around in her chair, she gets closer to her bed, hits a really big stretch, then flops right onto Gigi.
“Wha- Hey! Ceci, what are you doing?” Gigi rolls over trying to get out from under Cecilia, but she rolls with her, not letting her go.
“I can’t hug my girlfriend?” Cecilia asks while shoving her face into Gigi’s hair.
“Excuse you! Wife,” Gigi says, getting comfy as the little spoon.
“We’re not there yet, Gigi.”
“You don’t wanna marry me…” Gigi whimpers out.
“I didn’t say that!” Cecilia admits. She loves Gigi with all her heart, but marriage to her is still a bit out of reach. When her brother got engaged she was scared for him, so the thought of getting married herself…
“I’ll wait as loooong as you need Ceci. You won’t be getting rid of me anytime soon. You’re stuck with me till the day I die!” Gigi flips over to look Cecilia in her eyes.
“Don’t word it like that, idiot.” Her idiot. She swears she’ll give Gigi the ring she deserves, someday.
“Oh yeah. Mori Calliope invited me on a date, you jealous?” Gigi asks her girlfriend while wagging her eyebrows and smirking.
“Not really.”
“WHY?!”
“Well, Calli gets you for a few days, but you’re mine for life.” Cecilia returns fire with an equally smug look.
“...” Gigi’s brain completely shuts down after that one. Just in time for Cecilia’s phone to ping.
Biboo: CCCCCCCC I’m so so so sorry for the late message, but did you want to come on an onsen trip with Calli, Gigi and I.
CC: Funny, Gigi just told me about that.
Biboo: Oh? Is she there with you?😏
CC: She messaged me.
Biboo: Sure she did.
CC: Ugh. Anyway, yes I’d love to go with you three.
Biboo: Awesome, I’ll let Calli know! Cya CC!
CC: BYEEEEE
“Guess I’m tagging along with you four,” Cecilia tells Gigi while tapping her forehead to snap her out of her lovestruck haze.
“Oh! Guess there’s gonna be four of us,” Gigi notes. While running a hand through Cecilia’s hair, a lightbulb flickers on in her head as she has an epiphany. “Ceci, Ceci!”
“Ah! Gigi what? And stop shaking me!”
“This vacation can be for our anniversary!” Gigi shouts out while wrapping Cecilia in a bear hug.
“Our anniversary? Oh, come to think of it…” Cecilia thinks for a moment, recalling the day of their first collab. “It is our anniversary tomorrow.”
“Yeah!! This trip is gonna be so fun! I get to spend time with Mori Calliope and we can have our anniversary at the same time!”
“Why did you bring up Calli first?” Cecilia pouts a little, egging Gigi on.
“Awwww, Ceci’s jealous~ You know I love you more than anyone!” Gigi coos while kissing Ceci all over her face.
“Oh, shut up! You can’t kiss your way out of this one.”
“But it’s working right?” Gigi asks, already knowing the answer. Cecilia had nothing to say to that, she couldn’t turn down any affection from Gigi. She let herself drown in all her love, they can get ready for the trip later anyway.
~~~
The three of them sat by the gate. Calli was sandwiched between Cecilia and Gigi, the two were bored and thus determined to annoy the reaper into an early grave. The cause of their boredom is Bijou not yet being at the airport. At first, they all tried calling her, but were sent to voicemail. Now, after many frantic texts from Bijou, they were all just waiting for her to show up.
“Mori Calliope~” Gigi hums while sticking to Calli’s side like glue.
“What, Gigi?” Calli murmurs, completely exhausted of her shenanigans.
“Half a million~” Gigi says with a finger digging into Calli’s cheek.
“Don’t remind me. I’ll take it back.”
“That’s cheating! I have the vod! You said it! No taking it back!” Gigi starts digging into her bag looking for her phone to pull up the clip of Calli saying she would play League. While she rummages around in her bag, Calli just sighs and slouches deeper into her seat. During all this, Cecilia is nodding off next to Calli, she didn’t really get much sleep last night. Something that definitely wasn’t her fault at all.
“Aha! Mori Calliope, look at this!” Gigi points at her phone as she replays the clip on full blast.
“Gigi, lower that, we’re in public,” Calli says, trying to hide her face from the public.
“You said you’d take it back. I can’t have that happening!”
“Gigi. I’m trying to sleep,” Cecilia says, lifting her head up to look at Gigi.
“Sorry…” Gigi apologies, her tail drooping down to the ground in shame. She puts her phone away and sits back down. Calli compliments Cecilia on her ability to rein Gigi in, but Cecilia immediately denies it saying that Gigi is just being nice and letting her sleep. Calli keeps pressing her on it, but to her luck, a certain rock came in to bail her out.
“Guys! I’m so sorry I’m late!” Bijou gasps out, out of breath from running through the airport to make it to the gate.
“No worries Biboo, glad you’re here,” Calli says with a smile.
“I’m never going to let you live this down,” Cecilia chuckles under her breath.
“Ceci! Don’t say that!” Bijou stomps her feet while pouting.
“Okay children, enough. We should probably board the flight now,” Calli tells them all, getting out of her seat causing Gigi to slip and hit her head. Cecilia and Bijou couldn’t help but laugh at Gigi’s pain, which delayed their boarding even more. It was going to be a long day for Calli.
Once they finally managed to board their flight Calli could breathe a sigh of relief. With Bijou leading the pack, the four of them moved down the cabin looking for their seats.
“Calli, what’s our row again?” Bijou turns her head to ask Calli who was trailing not far behind her.
Checking everyone’s boarding passes, Calli finds their row. “Uh, twenty-five.”
“And the seats?”
“These four,” Calli says, pointing to the four letters on the passes.
“Hey, Calli,” Bijou whispers once the two of them were a bit further ahead, “Should we let Ceci and Gigi sit together?”
“I don’t see why not? We shouldn’t split up the autofister,”
“You do get it.” Bijou smiles up at Calli.
“I mean, they’re basically inseparable, don’t see why we should ruin that.”
“You think they’re dating?” Bijou asks smugly.
“Biboo, that’s a bit strange to ask, don't you think? Aren’t they just close friends?” Calli hasn’t really considered the thought of Cecilia and Gigi dating, but now that she thinks about it, they are the two closest people she’s seen in a long time.
“C’mon, Calli! You have to see the vision,” Bijou shouts then quickly drops back to a whisper.
“I mean, I guess.”
“If you think they aren’t, then we should try to get them together.”
“Sure, whatever you say Biboo. So what, we start by giving them seats next to each other?”
“Yeah!” Bijou lets out a devilish giggle. Once they arrive at their seats and place their luggage up into the storage, Bijou slides out and gestures to the two inner seats closest to the window. “Hey Ceci, Gigi. Want the window seat?”
“Ooh! I want it! Gimme!” Gigi leaps at the opportunity to have the window seat, basically throwing herself into her seat. Cecilia also accepts the offer, but simply slides into her own seat instead of jumping at it like Gigi.
“Gigi, you need to stop doing that, you could hurt yourself,” Cecilia says, full of worry.
“Please, I’m basically as durable as you,” Gigi tells her while staring out the window.
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be more careful.”
“Good.”
Bijou takes her aisle seat next to Cecilia while Calli takes the next aisle seat over. With all four of them comfortable and with some time to spare before takeoff, Bijou starts messaging her master plan to Calli.
Biboo: Okay, by the end of this trip, we’re gonna have those two together. Assuming they aren’t already.
Calli: Uh huh. Whatever you say. Just tell me what you want me to do.
Biboo: Just follow Biboo’s lead. I’m a professional matchmaker.
Calli: Sure.
Biboo: First step, we get them in our room together. Alone.
Calli: But I’m tired Biboo.
Biboo: BEEP! Dang it Calli.
Calli: Don’t blame me for that!
The two would continue to exchange messages throughout their two hour long flight. All the while, Gigi and Cecilia were none the wiser to their friends plotting. With Gigi leaning on her shoulder and Cecilia leaning on her head, the two would sleep through the whole flight in each other's arms.
~~~
Once off the flight the four of them made their way to the nearest station. Excitement bubbling for their vacation at the onsen.
“I still can’t believe that the Mori Calliope is taking a vacation. And she wanted to spend it with me!”
“I’m suddenly regretting my decision.”
“Guys, I think she wants me. Ceci, she wants me right?” Gigi tugs at Cecilia’s arm while asking her. Cecilia opts out of answering her and just keeps walking. “She didn’t deny it!”
Bijou watches how Gigi clings to Cecilia and an evil glint shimmers in her eye. “I think Calli wants you like how you want Ceci.”
Gigi’s eyes light up as she looks back to Calli, “Really?!” You want me that bad, Calli?”
“Sure, Gigi. Just for these few days.”
“Yippie!!!” Gigi jumps up, full of joy. Cecilia on the other hand was tired of her arm basically being torn off its joint as Gigi jumps around. But she wasn’t about to stomp on her girlfriend’s happiness, so she dealt with her arm being contorted in place.
Bijou wants to comment on that, but she chooses against it. They were going to be at the onsen for four days, no need to rush it.
“Let’s get this party started!” Bijou shouts out, matching Gigi’s excitement.
All their excitement would be quickly cut down however, with them still needing to take a train up to the onsen. Another moment of peace for Calli, as Gigi actually remains quiet during their ride to their inn. The last bit of silence Calli would get to enjoy for the rest of the day.
Once they reach their station and take a short hike to the inn, they are greeted with beautiful architecture. A traditional Japanese onsen with an inn attached. The perfect getaway from the stresses of streams and deadlines. And a great place to wind down before a twenty-four hour charity stream.
“Alright, let’s check in everyone… Where’d Ceci and Gigi go?” Calli asks. Bijou turns around to where the two just where and found no one. Looking around the area, they made out hints of green and orange through the trees. Bijou and Calli walk over to see what their friends are up to, and see Gigi taking photos of Cecilia with the inn as the background.
“Wait, move a little to the left. Yeah, yeah, now move your… YEAH! SLAYYYY!”
“Gigi, please just take the photo.”
Wait, you have to hit this pose too!” Gigi strikes a pose, prompting Cecilia to copy her. Cecilia, while a little reluctant, agrees anyway. Anything to please her gremlin.
“Wow, those two really do get lost in their own world.”
“See Calli! We gotta get them together. Think of the views!”
“Biboo, you’re objectifying your coworkers.”
“Oh, my bad.”
“Alright, you two! Let’s get going, we gotta check in!” Calli teeters on the edge of shouting. She’d rather preserve her voice right now.
“Coming! Let’s go Ceci!”
“You were the one who wanted to… whatever.” Cecilia instinctively takes Gigi’s hand and walks with her back to the group and into the inn. Once inside they are greeted by the staff and are led over to the reception desk. Calli, being the one with the most Japanese experience, was the group’s voice. Cecilia and Gigi did their best to listen to Calli as she spoke. Their joint Japanese lessons were starting to pay off, as they were able to make out some of the key words she said.
“Alright, we’re all good, let’s head to our room. Unless you all want a tour?” Calli asks the group. The other three exchange glances and unanimously agree to go on the tour. Nodding, Calli tells the desk lady that they would like to take a tour of the hot springs. A guide is assigned to them, and to start off the tour, they are led to changing rooms to swap into traditional yukatas.
“Damn, Mori Calliope. That body of yours is ins–”
“Zip it, Gigi,” Cecilia literally clamps Gigi’s mouth shut with her hand. “Sorry Calli, please ignore her.”
“Trust me, I am .”
Letting go of Gigi’s mouth, Cecilia goes back to changing into her yukata. With Gigi essentially banned from messing with Calli by Cecilia, she changes into her yukata without a peep. She does take a few looks over at Cecilia, ogling her body without even trying to hide it. Cecilia notices and ignores it. Calli has completely disregarded Gigi and didn’t notice. Biboo however, made a mental note of it. Hoping to use it for something, probably blackmail, in the future.
Once everyone was changed, they reconvened with their guide. Opening with a slight bow, the guide begins to show the group through the establishment. They take in all the rooms and amenities that the place has to offer. Along with getting to actually peek inside the hot springs they would be using. Gigi made sure to take photos of any and everything that slightly interested her. And in most of the photos, Cecilia was forcibly made the centerpiece. Not that Cecilia minded.
With the tour done, the four of them start to settle into their room. Unpacking their bags and planning what to get for dinner. They had four days to relax out here and they wanted to make the most of it, especially Calli.
“Do you all want to eat here in the inn, or somewhere else?” Bijou asks everyone while she rocks back and forth on her futon.
“I’m fine with whatever,” Calli answers while she scrolls through her phone.
“Me too.”
“Me three!”
“I mean, I guess I can search for some nearby restaurants,” Bijou fakes being offended and instantly starts looking for a place to eat. During her search, she scoots over to Calli to set her next plan into motion.
“Biboo? What’s up? Find a place already?” Calli looks up from the sudden proximity of Bijou.
“No, Calli. It’s time for phase two of operation: autofister,” Bijou starts whispering to keep the other two from hearing her.
“When did you… don’t answer that. Okay, what do we do?”
“Nothing too crazy. Just set their futons next to each other. Have them sleep next to each other, hehehe. Four days of intimate sleeping and they’re bound to start dating,” Bijou starts tapping her fingers together like some evil mastermind who just came up with a plan for world domination.
“First of all, your phrasing. Second, that’s it?” Calli asks, somewhat unimpressed.
“What do you mean ‘that’s it?’” Bijou smacks Calli’s shoulder.
“It’s nothing. Alright go distract them or something, I’ll go move their futons,” Calli orders Bijou as she gets up, ready to finish this up so she can go back to chilling out.
“Hey, you two! Check this place out. Any thoughts?” Bijou slides over to where Cecilia and Gigi were sitting to show them some restaurants she found that were nearby. The three of them started looking through all the options along with actually looking through what the inn had to offer in terms of food as well. During this Calli snuck around behind them.
Alright, where are their futons? Ah, here they are,” Calli goes to move them closer to each other, but much to her surprise. The two futons are already right next to each other, nice and snug. “Huh.”
Looking back at Bijou she gives her a thumbs up and moves back to her spot in their room. No point in thinking about the implications of that.
“Alright Calli, you got it all set up?”
“Yup, their futons are now side by side.”
“Nyehehehe. Perfect,” Bijou cackles a little before instantly changing the subject. “So what do you think of this place?”
“Uh, sure. Seems refreshing before we go to the onsen.”
“That’s what I said! Alright everyone, it’s decided! Let’s go, I’m starving,” Bijou leaps up and marches out of their room, ready to get some grub. Calli follows suit, albeit much more sluggishly. When she reaches the door to their room she looks back to Gigi and Cecilia once again lost in their own little world.
“You two coming or what?” Calli’s voice snaps the two of them back to reality and they frantically scramble up, tripping over themselves, each other, and the earbud they were sharing. “Uh, I’ll be waiting outside. Don’t take too long.”
The two would take a solid five minutes to catch up to Calli and Bijou.
~~~
They walk through the dimply lit streets of the mountains. The restaurant isn’t too far from the inn, but it’s still a healthy walk away. Bijou hangs back this time, letting Calli lead. She’s busy too. She needs to come up with the next step on her plan to get Cecilia and Gigi to start going out. One simple idea is to have them sit next to each other in the restaurant. Another is to make it so they order food together. Basically force as close proximity as possible. Currently, she’s walking in such a way where Gigi and Cecilia have to walk next to each other too. Their shoulders bump every so often. Her plan is clearly working with how close the two seemed. At least that’s what she believed.
Cecilia looks down at Gigi. She’s sticking close to her, and she knows why. Dark streets out in the middle of nowhere. Gigi’s probably scared out of her mind right now. With a soft little sigh, Cecilia wraps her arm around Gigi’s shoulders and pulls her in.
“It’s okay, Gigi. I’m right here. We’ll be there soon,” Cecilia comforts her while rubbing her hand up and down Gigi’s arm.
“Thanks, Ceci,” Gigi nuzzles up to Cecilia’s side, holding the hand that was rubbing her arm. Her tail also wraps itself around the small of Cecilia’s back. It didn’t take long for her to forget that she was even scared. Bijou sees all this happen and is giddy. She really is the perfect matchmaker.
After another ten minutes of walking they finally arrive at the restaurant. It’s a humble establishment. The four head inside, place their order and sit in a booth in a corner of the restaurant. Bijou sat next to Calli and Cecilia sat next to Gigi. It is rather empty, there are maybe ten people dining in, and they made up four of those ten. The menu is also simple, opting to serve mostly cold noodles. Hence why Bijou landed on this place. A nice way to help beat the summer heat before they head back and take a dip in the hot spring. The four sit in a comfortable silence as they wait for their food to arrive.
“What’d you two order?” Bijou breaks the silence, asking the two across from her.
“I wasn’t too hungry so me and Gigi are going to share.”
Bijou immediately clocked this and doubled down. “So what are you sharing with Gigi?”
“This,” Cecilia points to the tsukemen she ordered for Gigi and herself.
“Nice! And you Calli?”
“Soba.”
“Cool, cool. Well I ordered–” Bijou is cut off by the arrival of their food. Multiple bowls of noodles, broth, and sauces are placed on the table. Calli wastes no time in digging in, only taking a quick picture before eating. Bijou just skips that step and starts chowing down. Gigi on the other hand started taking multiple photos of her ramen.
“Ceci, put your hand here,” Gigi asks Cecilia to pose her hand in the frame. When she does, Gigi moves her other hand into frame as well and she snaps the photo. Another photo and another memory for her to cherish. With that done she slides the bowls over to Cecilia. Cecilia grabs some chopsticks and dips the cold noodles into the broth and slurps them down. She savors the taste letting it linger in her mouth for a moment. Once she swallows, she dips another batch of noodles in and holds them up for a second.
“Gigi, c’mere,” Cecilia looks over to Gigi who instantly understood what Cecilia wanted.
“Ah!” Gigi leans forward and lets Cecilia put the bite into her mouth. The ramen was delicious. Or maybe she thought it was because Cecilia fed it to her. Either way, dinner was amazing. The two managed to finish up the bowl rather quickly. Gigi did end up eating most of it in the end, but the whole way through, she didn’t lift a finger. Cecilia hand fed her every step of the way. The two were so focused on each other that they had once again forgotten about their two friends they had with them
“Damn, Ollie wasn’t kidding,” Calli says as she just about finishes up her soba.
“It was strawberry daifuku last time right?” Bijou asks, already knowing the answer. “If they’re already this comfortable with each other, all we need to do is nudge them in the right direction. Calli, operation: autofister is going to be a massive success.”
“Biboo, I’m gonna be honest. I think they’re already–” Calli’s verbal thought is cut off by Gigi suddenly looking up at them.
“Did you two say something?” Gigi perks up after hearing the two of them whispering between each other.
“Nope, nothing! Haha, nothing at all!” Bijou squeaks out.
“Okay!” Gigi believes her instantly and goes back to scrolling through her phone and showing Cecilia the fanart she finds.
“Close call. So, what were you saying, Calli?” Bijou asks, now that Gigi is back in her own world.
“It’s nothing,” Calli responds. She’s not going to think too hard on this. She looks up to watch Gigi and Cecilia. The two of them are shoulder to shoulder staring at Gigi’s phone looking at what she can barely make out as fanart of themselves. Calli smiles a bit. If anything, she’s just happy her kouhai can relax too. Calli leans back and starts messaging some more of her friends. Letting them all know how much fun this trip has already been.
~~~
As they make it back to the inn, Gigi beelines for the changing room. She’s more than ready to hop into the hot springs. Cecilia goes after her, followed by Calli and Bijou.
“Someone’s excited,” Calli notes as Gigi has long disappeared into the dressing room.
“I think she just wants to see you naked, Calli,” Cecilia admits. She knows how open her girlfriend is with her intentions. She doesn’t exactly try to hide her attraction to the reaper.
“Ugh, don’t remind me. Ceci, can you protect me?” Calli asks, almost desperate.
“I only promise to try,” Cecilia knows she can’t really do much to stop Gigi from harassing Calli. And to be honest, it is a little funny.
“Better than nothing, alright let’s go.”
Inside the changing room, they all get into their birthday suits and grab some towels. Gigi is already bathing herself in preparation to enter the springs by the time the three of them are inside. She vigorously scrubs at her tail as the three approach her. She quickly looks up at the group. First at Cecilia, in just a quick moment she takes in the full sight of her girlfriend. Then to avoid staring at her for too long she shifts her focus to Calli. Someone she wasn’t embarrassed to stare at.
“Mori Calliope, the woman that you are! That body of yours–”
“At least come up with something else to say, please,” Calli facepalms as she starts cleaning herself. Bijou joins in as well and finishes showering up quickly. If anyone is as excited for the springs as Gigi it’s her. As Gigi and Bijou run off to the onsen, Cecilia takes her sweet time, taking extra care to make sure to clean between her joints. She didn’t want to be rude to the staff if she somehow tracked some grime into the springs. Because of this, she was the last one in the spring. Even with Calli taking a while as well, she finished long before Cecilia did. Once Cecilia was satisfied with her wash, she heads over to the entrance where Gigi is standing there waiting.
“Didn’t you go in with Biboo?”
“Thought you’d be lonely,” Gigi smiles at Cecilia as her tail hands her a spare towel.
“You’re stupid,”
“And you still love me~”
“Yeah, it’s true,” Cecilia leans down and gives her a quick peck on the lips. “Let’s go in. Biboo and Calli might start getting ideas.”
The hot springs were just what Calli needed. She could literally feel the weight on her shoulders wash away as she lowered herself deeper into the pool. Bijou, who sat next to her, was barely poking out of the water. Her height is really hurting her relaxation right now. She finally caves and heads to a slightly more shallow area of the springs so she can actually sit.
“Oh, there you are. Hop in, it’s amazing,” Calli calls the couple over, coaxing them into the onsen. The two oblige and take a dip into the hot springs. Amazing is an understatement. The two basically melt into the water, all their worries dissolving with the warmth. Cecilia finds a comfortable spot to sit and Gigi plants herself right next to her. Despite their similar height, Gigi’s tail keeps her from basically drowning like Bijou. Their first night in this inn was a massive success.
Back inside their room Gigi sits up in her futon to draw a little grem. Her daily good night tweet. Cecilia opens an eye due to the light from Gigi’s phone.
“Your goodnight tweet?” She says quietly, not wanting to wake Bijou or Calli.
“Mhm. I’m not sure what to draw tonight though.”
“Your last one was an angel right? So make this one a devil.”
“Ohhh, good idea Ceci,” Gigi sticks her tongue out in focus as she adds on some little horns and wings to the grem.
“Of course, I always have good ideas,” Cecilia says smugly, laying back down.
“And sent. Alright, you wanna go do something?” Gigi slips out of her futon and stretches a little.
“What?” Cecilia sits up trying to process Gigi’s request.
“We’ve barely had time to hang out, just you and me. And also,” Gigi points at her phone indicating the time. It was now their anniversary.
“You’re so needy.”
“And?” Gigi asks while holding her hand out. Cecilia doesn’t even argue, she wants to spend time with Gigi too. She takes it and lets herself be dragged out of the room. The two walk through the halls and out to a veranda. The two sit and stare up at the starry sky. Gigi’s tail holds Cecilia close as she lays her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder. Cecilia places a kiss on Gigi’s head before resting her head atop hers.
“Happy anniversary Gigi.”
“Happy anniversary Ceci.”