REQUESTED BY: -P-PAXTEL__TXARSS-
A/N: More on the topic of Syo/Toko, have some fluff and a sprinkling of angst for the cute bookworm!
Fair warning, this is a longer read.
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(l/n) (y/n) was so annoying.
Toko hadn't expected the girl from the other class to be so chummy with her class, but whenever she showed up she genuinely made her skin crawl. She was just so... nice, and bright. Even Master Byakuya treated her with less contempt than most of the others, and he was Toko's love! The very thought caused her to broil with jealousy, and she glared at the girl whenever she came by.
(y/n), the Ultimate Matchmaker, was widely sought out for her abilities to find out who you'd be best matched with. Girls hounded her, begging her to tell them if their crushes would be suited for them, and sometimes boys came to her with insecurities about asking out a particular classmate. Seeing the days when she would come in with bags under her eyes and a forced smile made a sick shot of satisfaction go straight to Toko's heart for a moment before the guilt set in and she looked away.
Even more infuriating still was how the girl would stick around. (y/n) constantly hung around her friend group and Toko often caught her staring her way. Whenever she was caught, she would look surprised before smiling and waving and looking away. She couldn't tell whether she should be disgusted or pitying for her blatant admiration.
She's such a fake, she recalled thinking to herself when (y/n) told her one day that she wouldn't be a good match with Byakuya. Of course I'm perfect for him! I know everything about him, I'm obviously the one who knows what he needs! I'm the one who would love him the most!
Her faux sympathy as she apologized afterward had stuck in her mind every time she saw her, and the emotions from that day kept resurfacing. That bitch wouldn't know a good match if it slapped her in the face.
Toko sighed harshly, glancing towards where the girl was chatting animatedly with Naegi. Her face was crinkled in a happy smile and she positively glowed when Naegi started laughing at what she said.
Honestly, good. The only person who could deal with her insufferable self would be Naegi. They could live happily annoyingly after together.
Toko sniffed in distaste and continued to stalk Byakuya from around a corner.
You were adjusting quite well to Hope's Peak Academy. Or at least, you figured you were.
Your classmates were friendly and accepting, your teachers cared about your wellbeing, and although you were far away from your family, you felt content. It was pretty nice. It could be better, but it was leagues ahead of your old school.
Some problems still carried over, though. In your old school, due to your sheer level of accuracy when it came to matchmaking people together, people constantly hounded you to match them and their ideal sweetheart together. It stressed you out so much that you could hardly focus on your studies and eventually started charging people a large sum of money to help them. It was mean, true, but once you imposed your price, people backed off. Some richer students still came to you, so at least you were getting paid on top of it. Eventually you went to Hope's Peak where you tried to put your past behind you... and it worked for a while.
But old habits die hard, and you just couldn't help yourself from matchmaking a couple here and there. Eventually word spread around, and the offers came pouring in. Even with your prices, some still persisted and paid you exorbitant sums of money for you to tell them who you would pair them up with. The offers just kept coming, and there came days when you became too overwhelmed to even leave your bedroom.
Still, you loved the academy. As the year wore on and you came to know more and more people, they began to understand and respect your boundaries. Around the middle of the year, the offers weren't as numerous as in the beginning, and you were beginning to feel refreshed... and confused about yourself.
Ever since you were a first-year in middle school, you'd become so hateful of your own abilities that you swore to yourself that you'd never use them for yourself. This led to many people looking at you strangely when you'd inevitably confess that you never planned to enter a relationship yourself. They called you weird, called you unnatural, yet still used your ability anyway. The irony was a bitter pill to swallow, and it furthered your self-hatred and your distaste for others.
But when you came to Hope's Peak, even though you were guarded against others, the more you opened up to them and came to know them, the more they proved to you that they were genuine and could be trusted. The more you felt like you could be yourself without worry of reproach, and the more you began to love yourself again.
Even though you were still wary of using your abilities, the more that you helped others, the more it made you happy. You practically glowed when you saw Leon take your advice and ask Ibuki for lessons on the electric guitar to confess to Sayaka, and you jumped up and down in excitement when Kyoko finally confessed to Makoto via a scavenger hunt. Your classmates were pairing off thanks to your efforts, and every happy couple made you hate yourself less and less. You were starting to have confidence in your abilities again.
And then you used your ability on the Ultimate Archer. The upperclassman had been lamenting her crush on the Ultimate Florist for a while, and when you offered your opinion and told her to go for it, she came back to you a week later overjoyed, telling you that it worked and in return, she'd be happy to give you archery lessons. It boosted your confidence in yourself whenever you saw her and her soft, plush girlfriend hanging out around school, little red hearts practically flying off of them.
Still, you didn't always have successes with matches. Sometimes you would come across a couple that was too doomed to save and you would have to sadly report that. Their confused hurt always haunted you, and if they got nasty it would leave you crying yourself to sleep. One such failure came from your friends' classmate Fukawa, who had begrudgingly come to you one afternoon to ask about her future with Byakuya. She was so eager for your answer, even if she was trying to hide it behind a mask of indifference, that it broke your heart when you had to honestly tell her that she had no future with the heir.
Her anger had stuck with and genuinely hurt you, and her sharp words of reproach left your newly-budding confidence in shambles for a while afterward. Even being around her felt more uncomfortable than before, and that was without her glaring at you from across the room. You bucked up, though; your friends distracted you and your lessons helped you forget about her seething looks every time you walked into the room.
The fact that you were the school's 'Cupid' getting archery lessons was enough to make you chuckle. Every Wednesday afternoon you met her at the archery range, and she taught you how to shoot. Every week you practiced your skills and improved, and it made you happier and happier to have a new hobby.
Your friends often came to watch you shoot, offering encouragement and asking the archer if they could do it too. With your friends came Byakuya sometimes, and with Byakuya came... her.
Toko Fukawa, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy and the most confusing, yet intriguing girl you'd ever met.
She was cute enough, long dark purple hair tied off into neat braids and gray eyes that gleamed behind her glasses. She was fidgety on some days, and whenever she caught you looking at her, she tended to glare. You figured she was jealous of the attention Byakuya gave you sometimes, but you didn't know why else she hated you. it kinda hurt, considering you wanted to be her friend -- but you paid that no mind, deciding to give her some space.
Leon was next to you, trying to impress Sayaka with a shot -- with a grin towards his girlfriend, he let go of the arrow... and it hit the very edge of the outer ring.
Sayaka giggled at his blunder, socking his shoulder playfully. "Nice shot, Apollo."
You laughed with her, and in your distraction accidentally let go of your arrow. You thought nothing of it until you heard a high-pitched shriek. "OW!"
You looked to the left in horror when you saw Toko rubbing her leg, plucking an arrow out of her thigh. When she looked up at you, she snarled. "Watch where you're aiming!"
"I'm so sorry!" you apologized, dropping the bow and rushing over. At the sight of blood, you panicked, sweeping her up. Luckily it didn't seem to be too sharp, though it was still enough to reliably stick into her leg.
Toko shrieked, instinctively wrapping her arms around your neck as you adjusted your hold on her body.
"Wow, how charming," Byakuya suddenly spoke up. "Not only did Cupid here shoot you with her love arrow, but now she's literally swept you off your feet like a prince from one of your droll novels."
A light laughter came up from your friends, though it wasn't unkind, and it helped you relax enough to nervously laugh.
Toko immediately burst into a brilliant red and started stammering, seemingly torn between denying it and agreeing with whatever he said. After a moment, she fell silent, glaring at the ground.
I get it now. I hate it, but I get it.
Toko's face was still a brilliant crimson when (y/n) rushed her to the nurse's office a little after that. Byakuya's words kept running through her mind, and she couldn't stop her racing thoughts.
Over the months of knowing her, the girl had been stewing further and further in what she perceived as jealousy. She was beautiful and charismatic, and for every friend Toko made, (y/n) seemed to make three. On top of that, she seemed to have Byakuya's favor -- and Toko found herself endlessly thinking of her.
After a while, though, her thoughts began to wander -- where before (y/n)'s laughter would send her nerves into a frenzy and she would grit her teeth, now her nerves jumped for a different reason. Every time she shyly smiled and waved, instead of her stomach churning, it seemed to be filled with butterflies. She'd even had quite a few more dreams than usual, and instead of the girl getting humiliated and laughed out of Hope's Peak, instead she would reach out to Toko with that irritating smile as they rose above everyone else on a pedestal of gold straight out of the printing of her book The Princess' Thoughts of Luxury.
It was confusing and frustrating, and for the longest time she pondered hard on what it meant. For a long while she wondered why she just couldn't be rid of (y/n).
And then she felt the sharp point of an arrow hit her thigh with enough force for half of its head to be stuck in her leg, and she shrieked, catching her attention.
Her apologies were sincere enough and the worried look on her face as she dropped the bow and rushed over made Toko feel more faint. She dared not look at her thigh for fear that she would see blood, but judging by the way (y/n) beheld her and hoisted her into her arms (surprisingly strong for her stature), she felt a bit queasy at the thought of yes, indeed, she was bleeding.
It was something straight out of a shoujo romance, but instead of it being a dashing prince (or Byakuya-sama), it was (y/n), the annoying girl who poked her nose into everyone's love lives. On the day she finally went to her and asked her opinion on Byakuya (as many girls before her had done), the bitter anger that had arisen from her being told no was enough to engulf her heart into confusing, conflicting feelings.
Now she knew what they meant, and she detested it.
I should've realized sooner. I write romances, for heaven's sake. She sulked in the nurse's office as she sipped her water. Her leg had been wrapped after she'd gotten a tetanus shot and (y/n) had left her there for a few minutes.
All that bitterness, all that jealousy... was she jealous of (y/n), or bitter that she was out of her league?
(y/n) was pretty, she was smart, she was charismatic... everything that Toko wasn't. And it bugged her to no end that some common nobody like the matchmaker could get into even Byakuya's inner circle while she was forced to linger at the edges.
Was all of that hatred masking her inner desire to get closer to her?
"Whew, sorry I took so long, Fukawa-san." Her voice snapped the girl out of it, and she looked up to see you dusting off your skirt. "I really didn't mean to shoot you. I should've aimed the arrow down when looking away."
Ah, her cheeks were heating up again. Dammit.
She looked away with a frown. "Whatever, I don't care. At least you didn't hit an artery." Or mention my scars, she added as an afterthought. The arrow had come very close to her tallies, and that would've been a bitch to explain.
(y/n) just chuckled awkwardly and bunched up the hems of her sleeves in her fists. "Are you feeling okay?"
What is this feeling, so sudden and new?
"I'm fine."
Please go away. Go away so I don't have to look at your pretty face.
"Well..." Toko made the mistake of looking over just as (y/n) bit her lip thoughtfully, and the action immediately made her face grow hotter and she ducked her head. "Even though we didn't get off on the right foot, I guess I just... kinda wanted to start over."
Anything if you can stop making me feel this.
Extending her hand, the girl smiled. "I'm (l/n) (y/n), Ultimate Matchmaker."
Reluctantly, Toko peeked at her and sighed. She grabbed the hand and shook it slowly. "Fukawa Toko, Ultimate Writing Prodigy."
"it's nice to meet you. I hope we get along much better." Sincerity oozed from every word and it made the girl's stomach twist. How on earth does she live like this? She's so naïve it hurts!
"And..." (y/n) hesitated for a second, but then sighed. "I'm really sorry about... y'know, having to let you down. With my prediction. I know how much you like Togami-kun."
Is it even really just Byakuya-sama anymore? Toko honestly couldn't tell where her feelings for the heir ended and her sudden realization of her intrigue with the other girl began.
She just shook her head. "I- it's whatever. I mean, maybe we won't get together now, but... there's always the future!"
(y/n)'s face crinkled with sympathy, and she chortled. "Yeah... I guess there is. Who knows, maybe you're one of the point-oh-one percent of incorrect readings I give. Maybe I just don't know him... or you, as well as I think I do."
Toko's heart skipped a beat at the intense look in her eyes. "W- well, you clearly don't know me at all."
"I'd like to," her words were soft and sincere, and Toko's heart did another flip. Dammit, why is she so unintentionally smooth?!
The moment came to an unfortunate end as (y/n)'s warm hand left hers and she stood from the chair. With a stretch and a yawn, she murmured, "I've gotta do my homework soon. Do you want me to walk you back to your room?"
The writer looked away. "I- if you want to, I'm not making you do anything."
"Okay." With a soft smile, (y/n) held out her hand.
I know what this feeling is.
Hesitantly, Toko reached for it and grabbed it.
My heart is beating so fast... can you feel it through my skin?
With a squeeze, the girl led her out of the infirmary.
I can't believe you of all people wormed your way into my affections.
Toko glanced longingly at their connected hands, the girl's soft skin gently radiating with heat wrapped around hers.
I... I no longer just have room for Byakuya-sama.
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A/N: Sappy ending, I know, but the whole 'matchmaker' thing was a fun request to play with, especially combined with the whole 'cupid' thing! And even though there was some angst in here, I tried to make it sweet. I hope you liked it!
Please tell me what you thought, feel free to request more, and I'll see you guys later!