Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Like DC said, I rarely ever look at a pairing from a logical perspective; for me, part of the fun is taking something no one's ever done before and writing it out. Which admittedly, probably only works well for fluff or crack. I admit that if I were going to write a longer, more detailed piece about exactly how the couple got together, I would take the time to develop some backstory to genuinely explain how they got to that point, but for me, the fun of shipping is why I keep doing it, not the logical justifications.

I guess I just tend to think that just as much as love is built on logical thought, it's also built up on the fact that sometimes, you're just attracted to someone and you just click with them. There isn't always a specific reason how or why your relationship works, and if you're trying to find one, then you probably won't last very long in the relationship. Sometimes it's not bad to go along for the fun of it.

While it doesn't have to be something completely logical, there has to be some sort of base. It can be as shallow as one person being the physical type of another or something deep like a shared life altering experience. If you just stick to people together based on nothing, that's being strangled by the red string.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

I admit I'm a bit baffled with the Olivie section. Did Signum actually just stand by and let her die, or did it happen so quickly that she had no chance to react?

If I'm not mistaken, Olivie was shot with a gun in that scene. No chance to react.

[Akiyoshi]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

If I'm not mistaken, Olivie was shot with a gun in that scene. No chance to react.

I guess Kaiser Armour isn't present on this story(i remember how Quattro laughed at Nanoha's heroic intervention to save the helicopter where Vivio is in, argumenting that even if the thing explode and crash Vivio will be completely unharmed xD).

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

If I'm not mistaken, Olivie was shot with a gun in that scene. No chance to react.

I get that; what I don't get is that if Signum never had the chance to react in the first place, or if she knew what would happen and let it happen. From DC's writing, it seems to lean on the latter instead of the former.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by yuiseppe

Can't you do both Hayate/Vivio and the Logs? C'mon. It's the Logs :'<

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

We'll see, we'll see. Maybe we can work Hayate/Vivio into the Logs... *shot*

*Snicker* . Ah, wouldn't that up the crack content of the Logs to exponential heights?

Originally Posted by yuiseppe

Heh, got ninja'd. And now you know we'll need the Reunion scene, yes? I really like this Signum Horribly battered and hopeless - then you had to give her hope... and dash it, again lol!! Very very curious about what the heck Shamal and Vita were doing though.

LOL, I kind of did already do a reunion scene , although it wasn't the first reunion after the events of the interlude. What Shamal and Vita were doing is actually one of the foreshadowing moments ^^, since I haven't gotten into Shamal's side of things in the main story yet.

Hehe, yes, a battered, hopeless Signum ....so fun to write!

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Oh yes. You have earned your name as the Queen of Tragedy.

Very nice. A good look into Signum's head, and a very detailed explanation as to why Signum in particular is so hard on Fate... though personally, a large part of me is still saying "Suck it up and stop alienating her, you prick!" It's all well and good to feel guilty over failures, but if you don't let it go, you'll lose what you have. Signum seems on the way to that.

I have to work to keep my title!

Yeah, I look back and realized that I was laying it on a bit thick , but hopefully these interludes (I have ones planned for Yuuno and Carim too, and maybe Nanoha...and depending on time/how much gets into the main story, some for the Wardens as well) will help the readers see a little of why they're acting that way towards Fate. (And, of course, make their post-death realizations about Alicia even more painful ....)

Originally Posted by Akiyoshi

Wow just, wow! I was expecting to read this kind of Signum since nearly a year ago xD! I know she's has a stone expression but that doesen't mean she can't feel sadness or guilty, specially after screwing up spectacularly, seeing her struggling in a world where the ones of her kind are getting crecently overpowered and forgotten. I will keep reading this(or at least catching the Signum-related chapters) to find how this rotten knight will regain her honour ...or encounter finally with a pacefull eternal rest.

By the way, if this chapter is to be believed Vita is dead, Shamal is with the enemy and Zafira is nowhere to be seen right? Looks like i find a new favourite fic xD.

Thank you ^^, I'll do my best to finish off my other fics and come back to this one soon! Signum is such a classic Failure Knight, even in A's . It's fun to try and peek under her tough skin and see what kinds of things would bring her down, in a way that hopefully doesn't ruin her badassery . And about her ending.... Heh heh heh, we shall see ....

Spoiler for maybe slight spoiler for Angel's early chapters:

In the early chapters, all of this information was already revealed. Shamal is with the enemy, Vita is for all intents and purposes, dead, and Zafira was never a part of them because he is Hayate's dog. Er, literally .

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

I admit I'm a bit baffled with the Olivie section. Did Signum actually just stand by and let her die, or did it happen so quickly that she had no chance to react.

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

If I'm not mistaken, Olivie was shot with a gun in that scene. No chance to react.

Originally Posted by Akiyoshi

I guess Kaiser Armour isn't present on this story(i remember how Quattro laughed at Nanoha's heroic intervention to save the helicopter where Vivio is in, argumenting that even if the thing explode and crash Vivio will be completely unharmed xD).

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

I get that; what I don't get is that if Signum never had the chance to react in the first place, or if she knew what would happen and let it happen. From DC's writing, it seems to lean on the latter instead of the former.

Er, I had intended to show that Signum didn't know what a gun was , since all she knew were old-style weapons and magic, both of which she knew she was fast enough to block. So it caught her off guard, with tragic consequences. But perhaps I hadn't made that clear enough?

I had some thoughts about Olivie and that whole kingdom that may return in later chapters , but overall she isn't supposed to be a mage and so she has no magic or her Kaiser Armour .

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

*Snicker* . Ah, wouldn't that up the crack content of the Logs to exponential heights?

It could potentially put Vivio into a threesome situation, though. Or a foursome, if you count Yuuno being dragged along by Hayate...

Er, I had intended to show that Signum didn't know what a gun was , since all she knew were old-style weapons and magic, both of which she knew she was fast enough to block. So it caught her off guard, with tragic consequences. But perhaps I hadn't made that clear enough?

Ah, okay, I see. My confusion comes from the fact that she just calmly walked away from all of it, so I sort of assumed that while it all happened too quickly for her to actually do anything to prevent it, she had also to some extent stood off to the side and let it happen. I didn't realize that Signum didn't actually know what a gun was until after Olivie had already been shot.

[Fuyu no Sora]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

So, once more some post-Shadowverse ViCia fluff. Mostly from Vivio's POV and such, mostly because I'm trying to get a feel for her character, and I always like how Dezo writes her in his post-Shadowverse stories. So I tried to capture some of that and bring it to life here. Let's see if it worked, shall we?

Spoiler for With Time:

*snip*

I wonder what exactly does it say about me that I found nothing odd or out of place, or even missing from this piece. Strangely enough, I felt it was perfect the way it currently is, because I feel that, in here, Lutecia and Vivio's intimacy has reached a point in which they can understand each other without needing to actively say what they're feeling or what they mean. I thought it was sweet and I liked the atmosphere.

Nice job, RB. ^^

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

It could potentially put Vivio into a threesome situation, though. Or a foursome, if you count Yuuno being dragged along by Hayate...

If Amitie and Kyrie comes along... that makes a six- *SCHOOL DAYZ YANDERE TECHNIQUE!*

[yuiseppe]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

As I admitted to DC in a VM, I didn't exactly know how to justify the question without rambling. The idea is that she's asking because she's concerned about Lutecia being able to stay herself and not break down when it comes to her Shadow work, even after two years. I just didn't exactly know how to word it without seeming like I was going off on a tangent.

Ah, I did get that part of the message, but was wondering more about Vi's feelings when she asks the question. Was it motivated by her own anxiety (I suspect there would still be some), was she asking for Cia's benefit, or...?

You mentioned that Vi asks the same question time and time again, and it's not an easy question to ask because their relationship and past events demand something more than a cursory 'yeah i'll be fine' answer either. I just keep getting the feeling that there is *something* in their interaction that Vi has insight to but I don't :P

Originally Posted by deathcurse

LOL, I kind of did already do a reunion scene , although it wasn't the first reunion after the events of the interlude. What Shamal and Vita were doing is actually one of the foreshadowing moments ^^, since I haven't gotten into Shamal's side of things in the main story yet.

Hehe, yes, a battered, hopeless Signum ....so fun to write!

Exactly ;P THE reunion scene is mandatory now that you've elaborated on their past relationship.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

It could potentially put Vivio into a threesome situation, though. Or a foursome, if you count Yuuno being dragged along by Hayate...

Jail. Bait.

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Ah, okay, I see. My confusion comes from the fact that she just calmly walked away from all of it, so I sort of assumed that while it all happened too quickly for her to actually do anything to prevent it, she had also to some extent stood off to the side and let it happen. I didn't realize that Signum didn't actually know what a gun was until after Olivie had already been shot.

Aha, I see where the confusion was now ^^.

I actually did think about it a bit and wondered about the believability of that , but I thought that I might slip by with the explanation that Signum, Shamal and Vita would probably be very behind on the technological advances of humans since they were really apathetic to it all. But Signum clearly grew out of that apathy, given how years later she is able to judge the quality of guns around her.

Originally Posted by Fuyu no Sora

I wonder what exactly does it say about me that I found nothing odd or out of place, or even missing from this piece. Strangely enough, I felt it was perfect the way it currently is, because I feel that, in here, Lutecia and Vivio's intimacy has reached a point in which they can understand each other without needing to actively say what they're feeling or what they mean. I thought it was sweet and I liked the atmosphere.

Nice job, RB. ^^

Ah, yes, I agree with how sweet it was ^^--but I guess I saw it as a great fic for showing how they both are years later, with all the character development/growth happening off-screen. But since the reader hadn't gotten to see any basis for it (in Vivio at least, Lutecia did get a fair amount of development on it so far), it requires utter faith in RB's word from the reader in that Vivio had grown into this adult!Vivio, instead of feeling "Yup, I can see that happening" based on what we knew of Vivio as a teenager .

Not that I have no faith in RB's word --I do. It's just that RB was talking about wanting to do more from Vivio's POV, and I didn't really find that in the fic, so I commented. Otherwise, it stands alone quite well as yet another entry in Shadowverse ^_^.

Originally Posted by yuiseppe

Exactly ;P THE reunion scene is mandatory now that you've elaborated on their past relationship.

LOL . Maybe if I ever get around to writing an interlude for Shamal--otherwise I doubt that it would fit in the story anywhere .

[Nanya01]

A bit NSFW.

Dusk

Red 1-20

Red 21

Red 22

Red 23

Red 24

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 25:

Quattro shook her head as she saw her sisters, though she had a hard time thinking of them like that, since they were all engrossed in some sort of conversation involving a small Unison Device on the table. 'I wonder what they'd say if they knew that there was an army of those worthless things here?'

'Probably demand that we free them, Master Levi.' Quattro's voice spoke up in her head, causing her to mentally smirk.

'Yes, that would be true, wouldn't it?' Considering that she had found several more sites as of late and Lutecia was finally out, she was starting to get slightly impatient.

'Thinking about turning her into one of us?'

Looking at Lutecia, who was slightly bent over, Levi mentally shook her head while admiring Lutecia's form. 'No... She's not worth it. At least not yet. Maybe later, when she's had some time to mature and get stronger.'

After all, it just wouldn't do to have someone who wasn't properly molded in the correct image to be an underling.

Nove looked at the device on the table and frowned softly. "So, you want us to help you remember your name?" The device nodded at her. "And, we can't use any names that are like ours?" Again, another nod. "Okay..." She looked at the others, unsure how to start this.

"Naomi?"

"Pass!" The small device shook her head at Due. "Doesn't sound right."

"Etna?" Tre blinked as the device suddenly started shivering. "What?"

"It felt like death was touching me in a bad place." The device whimpered and rocked herself back and forth slowly.

"So, that's a no, huh?" Cinque tapped her chin. "Hmm... Kairi?"

"For some reason, I think you'd have to give me a giant key, I think I'll pass."

"Maria?" Dieci spoke up, getting a shake of the device's head.

"How about Natasha?" Sein grinned at that. "Then we have to find a boy to be Boris and we can go find a stupid moose and..."

"Due..." Tre sweat-dropped and looked at her blonde sister. "Have you and Sein been watching some weird shows again?"

Due shrugged at her. "Just a badly animated show involving a moose, a squirrel and an overly eager announcer."

"Sayaka?" Lutecia spoke up softly, getting a shake of the device's head.

"Nah... I don't think it fits."

"She would need breasts for that." Quattro spoke up, causing the device to twitch in annoyance. "Though, considering how big Tre's breasts and butt are, I think it might be an improvement to have someone so flat around here." Quattro rolled her eyes at the way Tre twitched. "Anyway, I need Lutecia."

"You should take Dieci with you." Tre said and Quattro shrugged.

"I'm going to go where there's a lot of cows..." Quattro gave a lazy smirk as Dieci blushed hard. "I can't trust the thought of her using her cannon on those poor cows."

Due looked at Dieci and pouted. "Why do you want to take away the milk I use for cooking? What did those poor cows do to you?"

Dieci sweat-dropped as Lutecia followed behind Quattro. "But, I've gotten better."

Cinque looked at Tre, who was looking on with amusement. "It could be worse." Dieci and Tre both looked at her in confusion. "At least we're not on a mission with cows... Quattro might say something about Tre and Dieci would accidentally shoot Tre when Tre was chasing Quattro into the field of cows." The small girl bit her lower lip in amusement as Tre groaned at her and Dieci blushed hard.

"Don't tell me that you think she's right and my breasts and my ass are too big." Tre muttered, groaning as she felt a familiar pair of hands on her breasts. "Sein, stop phasing through the table to fondle my breasts."

"But they aren't too big, I think they're just right." Sein phased her head through the table, grinning at Tre. "Besides, Cinque-nee's just teasing you a little bit, you know she doesn't care about that."

Cinque chuckled before pouting softly. "You make it hard for me to be the strict older sister, Sein, when you say stuff like that."

Sein grinned and stopped squeezing Tre's breasts before going over to Cinque and hugging her. "Oh, come on, you're just a big softy, we both know that." She giggled as Cinque sighed and hugged her back, softly patting her back. "See?"

Tre sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Excuse me..." She turned and walked off.

Nove just looked at the small group in confusion. Other than Quattro, who seemed to be really mean, and Uno, who was really busy, most of her sisters seemed rather pleasant to be around.

(---)

Meanwhile...

As she stood in her room, in front of a mirror, Tre twitched as she stripped out of her outfit, revealing her naked body to herself. "...I do not have a fat ass..." She muttered as she turned around and put a hand on her butt while looking over her shoulder.

"Then again..." She sighed, looking at herself. Was Quattro right?

Groaning, she walked over to her bed and flopped down on it and closed her eyes. Then again, she might have just been tired.

Now if only she could figure out how to relax enough to go to sleep.

Rolling over, she flopped onto her back and groaned. "Damn Quattro..." She twitched a bit more as she felt a hand touch her thigh. "Sein." She sat up as Sein phased through the bed and looked at her. "Just what are you doing?"

"Um, making sure that you're okay." Sein sweat-dropped as Tre growled and grabbed her by her hair and pulled up. "Yeeowww! What the?"

"So you decide to slip into my room when I'm naked?" Tre twitched as Sein grinned at her nervously. "Just what is your deal anyway?"

"Um... I wanted to help my big sister out and I just wanted to see what I could do to help." Sein sighed as Tre dropped her down. "Tre?" She blinked as her taller, older sister sat back down on the bed, sighing. "...Don't tell me what Cinque said..."

"It's what Quattro said," Tre interrupted her as she pulled her knees up to her breasts, "it wouldn't bother me so much, but she keeps reminding me all the time..."

Sein blinked at Tre. "Hey, come on, you're not..."

"I do have a large ass, and my breasts are huge... Maybe she's right about..." Tre couldn't finish that as she felt Sein slip up behind her and hug her. "Sein?"

"Quattro's just being mean..." Sein said softly and Tre shivered softly as she felt that Sein had, somehow, gotten out of her suit and was just as naked as she was. "You should know that you're very pretty, Tre."

Tre twitched slightly. "Yeah right, you just like groping me."

Sein shrugged as she hugged Tre more. "Maybe, but Quattro's just being mean."

Tre snorted, but didn't resist as Sein gently moved her so that she was laying down. "So..." She blinked as Sein crawled on top of her. "Sein?"

Sein smiled at her. "I'm going to prove that Tre-nee is very pretty right now." She giggled as Tre blushed heavily.

The look on her face after Sein got started on her body was almost enough to make her laugh.

"Don't worry, Tre," Sein smiled at her sister, "we're just getting started."

The soft whimper that escaped Tre's lips was all the motivation Sein needed to really get started.

There weren't too many words that escaped from either of them from that point out for the rest of the night.

(---)

Elsewhere...

Lutecia blinked as she, Quattro and three large, white, humanoid machine like things appeared in front of a large temple. "Where are we?"

"This is where you will begin your training." Quattro said to her as she threw Lutecia a pair of gloves with a gem in the middle. "Those belonged to your mother, with Uno's help, I managed to manipulate them so that you can use them as your own."

Lutecia nodded and put the gloves on as Quattro ordered.

"Now then... You will be following me into this temple and fighting any beasts or guardians inside." When Lutecia didn't respond, she sighed. "Idiot girl, you'll be using your magic and that summoning power."

"Summoning?" Lutecia blinked and Quattro groaned before she took her glasses off, her eyes flashed red for a moment and Lutecia's body stiffened.

"Good, now listen to me, your mother was a summoner. Those gloves were hers, I'm pretty sure that all the data you need to summon is in them." Lutecia nodded slowly, her eyes seemed to stare off in the distance. "Good, now then, you're going to go in there, do what you need to for your magic and not come out until you retrieve the item inside."

Lutecia nodded as she walked into the temple.

'Think she'll die?'

"Well, if she does die, then it's no loss for me."

'Master Levi, you think she can summon?'

"Nope." Levi grinned as she allowed her eyes to turn a bright red and her hair to grow and the color to change from brown to light blue with dark tips. "Still not very strong..." She muttered to herself.

'What do you mean, Master Levi?'

"Quattro, I'm barely able to change my body the way I want to right now." She looked at her hand and squeezed it into a fist. "Plus, I'm still corporeal." It could be a side-effect of merging with Quattro like she had, but it wasn't that big of a deal at the moment. "That stupid human mother and clone..." She growled, power pooling around her and snapping at things dangerously.

She chuckled softly and a small grin came to her face. "Oh well..."

'Master Levi?'

"Don't worry, Quattro, I'm just thinking about the look on that worthless clone's face when she sees what I have in store for her." Her shoulders shook as she chuckled, before throwing her head back and laughing.

"HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

If the machines had been human, they would be trembling at that moment. As it was, they weren't, but the wolves that rushed from underground hideouts were quickly vaporized by the machines.

"I really should give these things names." Levi shrugged at that.

'How about the Megah?'

"Megah huh?" Levi smirked at that. "Fitting name..."

(---)

Lutecia slid to the side as a stone golem appeared in front of her and tried stabbing her with a sword. The gem on her device glowed and she held out a hand, a purple beam of light escaped from her fingertips, smashing into the golem and destroying it.

She looked at her hand before continuing on. She didn't understand what was going on, but that was fine with her.

Stepping into a new room, Lutecia saw a signet case on a pedestal in the center of the room. As she walked towards it, she stopped when the door behind her closed and several stone creatures appeared. "You are the guardian of this place?" She asked softly.

The golems didn't move towards her before falling apart.

Lutecia just blinked in confusion, before the rocks that made up their body started to spin and move around in a circle in midair, merging together into a much larger and thicker body than before. "This is..." She jumped back as the thing moved. It looked like it was moving slow, when it suddenly snapped its arm forward at surprising speeds, crashing into a hastily created barrier, and sending Lutecia flying across the room, slamming into the wall with a loud and wet sound.

Grimacing, her eyes closed, Lutecia looked at the creature as it moved towards her. "No... Mother..." She whimpered, before her device started to glow brightly and a diamond magic seal appeared under her feet. "What is this..?"

The bright glow became a sphere which enlarged until a human-sized creature with four eyes, a long scarf, and wearing a dark outfit, or maybe it was just dark, Lutecia's vision was swimming a little bit at the moment and it was hard for her to focus on much. "You are..." Her eyes closed and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

The newly summoned being zipped down and grabbed her before turning its attention to the large stone creature. An angry buzzing sound was heard from the creature before a spike appeared from its forearm.

Unlike Lutecia, the creature, even with Lutecia under one of its arms, was much faster, and stronger physically than she was.

The large golem creature didn't last long until it was a pile of rubble.

"Well, well, well..." The creature turned and buzzed dangerously as Levi walked up to it, flanked by her three large machines. "I was wondering if I would have to step in and finish that thing off myself." She smirked as she looked him over. "I do have to admit, summons are a bit stronger than I thought they were." When the buzzing didn't stop, she rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. "Get back to where you came from." She had a feeling if the creature could show more emotion than what it was, it would have a shocked look on its face as it disappeared. "As for you..." She looked at Lutecia and snorted. "Pathetic."

'She needs more practice.'

"And more hands-on training." Levi snorted as she walked past the downed Lutecia and up to the signet case. "I just came for this."

'Don't you think that it could be interesting if we used her?'

Levi stopped opening the case and a leer came to her face as she looked at Lutecia. "Well, well, well... Who would have thought you would have such... Good ideas, Quattro?"

Maybe the girl just needed some incentives?

And looking at Lutecia's curvy body, Levi knew the right kind to give her.

[Nanya01]

A double post?

Haven't done that in awhile.

Dusk

Red 1-25

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 26:

"HIYAH!" An excitable voice caused her to look up from her book and shake her head.

"Ginga, you're still kicking wrong."

The little girl blushed and nodded. "Okay, mama!" She shifted slightly and her mother sighed loudly. "Mama?"

"Ginga, you're bending your knee wrong, if you kick like that in a real fight, you're going to end up seriously injuring yourself just because you were trying to be quick about it."

"Sorry, mama!" The girl shifted her knee and started kicking again. "HIYAH!"

"Dear..." She wheeled her chair to look behind her and smiled as she saw her husband and youngest daughter walking through the park to come and meet her. "How are you feeling?"

"Just fine." She smiled at him. "How was school today, Subaru?"

"BORING!" The young girl pouted and then ran off to train with her sister.

"She kept complaining about how school doesn't let her spend time with her mother." He chuckled at her. "I sometimes wonder if maybe we should find more people for her to spend time with."

"I wouldn't worry too much." Quint looked at the children, sighing softly as she was reminded, again, that she couldn't use her legs. "I was pretty shy when I was little too."

Genya chuckled and shook his head. "You? Shy? The woman who came up to me one day and told me, in no uncertain terms, that we were going to go on a date and I was going to enjoy it."

"And you didn't?" Quint raised an eyebrow at him, laughing softly as he blushed.

"Well, I can't say that I didn't, but then again, considering how nervous I was on our first few dates, I'm surprised that you would stay with me."

She smiled up at him as she looked at their daughters practicing. At least Ginga was able to take the tips she gave to heart and was helping Subaru correct her form. "Oh, I don't know. All I saw was a suave and mature man that had this feeling about him that turned me on something fierce." Chuckling at him, she pulled him down for a quick kiss on the lips. "And I wasn't wrong, there was something suave and mature about you."

Genya chuckled at her. "You just like older men, huh?"

She grinned at him. "You complaining?" He shook his head and she smirked at him. "Good, otherwise I'd make you sleep on the couch tonight."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "The last time I was forced to sleep on the couch, you ended up slipping in with me and neither of us got any sleep that night."

Quint nodded and turned back to look at her daughters. "Well, you know that my hips aren't broken... Though I can't do much more than lay on my back." She blinked as he squeezed her on the shoulder.

He smiled at her. "I wouldn't worry about that, Quint."

Quint sighed softly. "I hate this..." When Genya asked what she meant, she clarified. "I was an active Bureau member, honey... I went and solved cases, saved people's lives, passed on my paperwork to others who couldn't be out in the field so they knew what was happening. And all I've been doing for the past few years has been sitting on my butt, doing paperwork and trying to teach my daughters Shooting Arts."

"You've done well with that one." Genya motioned to the girls. "They're not as fluid as you were, but they're pretty accurate with it."

Quint nodded and sighed softly. "I guess at least I get to see them grow up... Zest didn't even get to know his daughter."

Genya patted her on the shoulder as she sighed, knowing that she wished that she could have saved Megane or Lutecia. "You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened, Quint."

"I know." She sighed, closing her eyes. "I know... I just... I just... Wish I could have done more for the two of them."

"You did all that you could have." Genya said softly. "The best you can do is carry the memory of your friend and her daughter with you for the rest of your life."

Quint nodded, sighing heavily. "Yeah..."

"Mama!" Subaru waved to Quint. "Lookie!" She punched the ground and Quint's eyes widened as a bright blue pathway appeared under her feet. When Ginga made a blue-green colored version of the same move, she shook her head in amazement as the girls ran on the Wing Road, giggling the whole time.

"Amazing." Quint was impressed. She didn't think that either of them were ready to create their own Wing Roads just yet.

"Well, they are your daughters." Genya smiled as he tapped her shoulders. "Maybe we should go in early so they can eat?"

Quint laughed, knowing that he was right.

After all, they were growing girls, and Belkan magic did burn up a lot of calories really quickly.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by yuiseppe

Ah, I did get that part of the message, but was wondering more about Vi's feelings when she asks the question. Was it motivated by her own anxiety (I suspect there would still be some), was she asking for Cia's benefit, or...?

A combination of her own anxiety and Cia's benefit; she still remembers the breakdown she went through, she knows what caused it, and she doesn't want it to happen again.

You mentioned that Vi asks the same question time and time again, and it's not an easy question to ask because their relationship and past events demand something more than a cursory 'yeah i'll be fine' answer either. I just keep getting the feeling that there is *something* in their interaction that Vi has insight to but I don't :P

So noted, and I'll work on it. After talking with DC a bit, I have an idea of where I want Vivio to be post-Shadowverse, it's now just a matter of figuring out how to take where she is right now in LDG and move her to that point. All the feedback I get helps.

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Jail. Bait.

Jail. Bait. Wait.

Aha, I see where the confusion was now ^^.

I actually did think about it a bit and wondered about the believability of that , but I thought that I might slip by with the explanation that Signum, Shamal and Vita would probably be very behind on the technological advances of humans since they were really apathetic to it all. But Signum clearly grew out of that apathy, given how years later she is able to judge the quality of guns around her.

Ah, gotcha.

[deathcurse]

Instead of sleeping or studying for my final exam (which will be in nine hours time) , I was instead editing my contribution to the small/non-existent Hayate x Vivio fandom .

Spoiler for You Never Lose By Loving:

You Never Lose By Loving

She knows, Vivio lamented.

According to all her friends and her parents, Vivio was quite obvious in her crush. Maybe it was blushing whenever she looked at Vivio during mission briefings. Or how Vivio would bolt down the stairs faster than Fate-mama in Sonic form if Vivio heard her distinctive knock on the Takamachi-Harlaown house. Or maybe it was when Vivio had declared at age ten that she wanted to marry Hayate when she grew up.

…

It must have been her ten-year-old marriage proposal.

That was probably when everyone decided to label Vivio’s feelings as a “first crush”, with all the cuteness and transience that such a label carried.

“Isn’t Hayate-san, like, our aunt?” Caro had said to Vivio once. “She and Fate-san and Nanoha-san practically grew up together.”

Both of Vivio’s parents had that annoying habit of exchanging amused grins whenever Vivio stumbled over her tongue as she tried to talk smoothly to Hayate whenever the brunette came over to visit.

Which, to Vivio’s giddy delight, was quite often.

However, it also meant that Vivio was in a perpetual state of blushing and awkwardness and mortification. That part wasn’t as fun.

Still, Hayate was always so kind and boundlessly patient during Vivio’s stammered conversations. Those conversations took quite a while, as Vivio kept repeating her words and correcting herself in embarrassment.

But Vivio was sure, and she had her Nanoha-mama’s guarantee on this, that Hayate truly did like talking with Vivio. Even despite Vivio’s tongue-tiedness.

To Vivio’s aggravation, everyone had called it “cute”.

Vivio fervently hoped that Hayate didn’t think of it that way.

The only time Hayate had shown any kind of unease to Vivio was when Vivio had stopped calling her “Aunt”. When Vivio had seen that brief flicker of confused disappointment as a nine-year-old Vivio had said “Hayate-san” for the first time, she had nearly broken down and backpedalled to familiar territory. But Vivio had perservered—and now, at fifteen years old, Vivio was glad of it.

There would be no way anyone could take her seriously when she called her crush “Aunt”.

…No one even took her seriously now.

As Vivio grew older she tried to be more subtle. She had been tired of all the condescending teasing —not that her family and friends meant to hurt her feelings—about her crush. But damn, Vivio must have inherited in some behavioural inheritance fashion Fate-mama’s inability to prevent herself from blushing every time she looked at the person she liked.

So despite her efforts, Vivio’s attempt at subtlety was about as obvious as the sexual tension between her mamas. (Considering that the entire TSAB had a betting pool about her mamas’ suspected love affair before they announced their wedding, it was pretty damn obvious.)

“So, got your girl yet, Vivio?” Corona often cracked at Vivio at school.

“You’re not old enough for Vivio to be interested,” Lio would jokingly warn Vivio’s classmates whenever a boy or girl confessed to Vivio.

Sometimes, Vivio wished that she had the guile to lie about being over her crush. But being raised as an earnest and honest child, Vivio could never quite get the lie out in her own defense.

“Do you have a girlfriend yet, Teana?” Hayate would often grin at Teana whenever they all met for parties—especially if Subaru was in earshot. And after Teana’s fervent denial, Hayate would repeat the question to Subaru and would promptly receive an affirmative as the energetic cyborg would glomp Teana in response. (Hayate used to do the same to Erio and Caro, before the two of them ruined the joke by openly admitting their relationship.)

And yet, Hayate never asked Vivio that.

Vivio wasn’t sure if she should take that as a rejection or a glimmer of hope.

When Hayate smiled at Vivio—causing Vivio’s heart to flop around erratically—and called her “my favourite niece”, Vivio’s hopes would plummet into a hole. However, the little worried frown Hayate got whenever Caro mentioned one of Vivio’s many school admirers made Vivio’s stomach flutter with longing excitement.

Hayate never frowned at mentions of anyone else’s admirers, after all.

“Do you want me to just ask Hayate-san?” Lutecia once said to Vivio after the purple-haired summoner had to listen to yet another moping session from her younger friend.

“NO!” Vivio had yelled, her ears burning hot.

“But then at least you’d know!”

“Don’t you dare!” Vivio sulked, dropping her cheek onto the countertop. “Hayate-san can never know!” What if Hayate also saw it as nothing but a silly crush? Vivio could take the condescension from anybody but Hayate.

“I think she already does,” Lutecia had grumbled exasperatedly. At which Vivio had promptly burst out in tears.

Vivio remembered Lutecia frantically trying to assure her that she had been kidding, but Vivio knew that her friend had been trying to placate her.

Vivio…liked Hayate.

“Maybe you just admire Hayate?” Yuuno had once suggested.

That was definitely true, but Vivio admired lots of people. Like her Nanoha-mama, for instance, or Grandma Lindy. After factoring out admiration for a beautiful, confident, funny and kind woman, Vivio knew that she felt something different and kinda special for Hayate.

Once Vivio had grown past puberty, she became pretty certain that it was definitely at least some kind of strong crush instead of admiration. A person wanted to shake the hand of someone they admired, not take any excuse she could find to give that someone a tight hug. Vivio always got tingles up her neck and stomach whenever she got a hug from Hayate.

At least her parents were supportive, in their own way. Vivio could recall a particular charity bachelorette auction where Caro, Lio, Corona and Subaru had jokingly pooled their money to bid on Hayate as a gift for Vivio once the bidding price had gone above $400. And Vivio had refused to acknowledge them the whole while, her cheeks fiery red as Caro elbowed her and said cheerfully, “Since you’re too shy to bid at all, we thought we’d get an early birthday present for you?” (As a matter of fact, Vivio only had $235 with her, while the bidding for Hayate had started at $300.)

And although Vivio had affected not caring at all, she knew that her heartbreak must have shown on her face when a big-breasted, red-haired supermodel had consistently topped the previous bids on the brunette commander. So when Fate-mama had put in $750 to win the auction (and keep Hayate out of that big-chested, gorgeous, tall and adult competitor’s hands), Vivio had to give her mama a covertly grateful hug.

To Vivio’s eternal gratitude, Fate-mama hadn’t brought up the possibility of letting Vivio go on the “date” with Hayate she had bid for. The fantasized delight of such a date could not outweigh Vivio’s fearful anxiety of the fantasy actually coming true. She needed something like a few weeks to mentally prepare herself for something that mind-breaking. And so Vivio had watched hungrily as Hayate had showed up at their door, dressed to kill and laughingly flirting with her old friend. (Yet Hayate had said hello to Vivio first, even though Vivio and Fate had been standing in the doorway at the same time. This had thankfully distracted Vivio from embarrassing herself by staring too much the moment the door had opened.)

The tabloids just about exploded over the highly publicized date between the new combination of Aces, to Fate-mama’s chagrin.

Nanoha-mama still kept copies of the tabloid covers in her desk drawer for when she needed a good laugh.

“Hasn’t your daughter grown out of her little crush by now?” Nanoha’s middle-aged coworkers often asked, not knowing that Vivio’s hearing was better than they had assumed. To which the less-obtuse-than-people-thought Nanoha would give some chirpy non-answer, neatly easing the sting out of the question.

Sticks and stones, Vivio repeated to herself. But it still stung.

It wasn’t until Vivio was fifteen that one day the teasing had made her snap.

“Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?” She yelled, barely holding back angry tears. “It’s just a silly crush, so why don’t you join in the speculations of why Hayate-san is still unmarried or something? Who cares about what I think—I’m just the kid!”

Teenagers don’t know anything about love, all the adults say.

Some days, Vivio felt sick at the thought that they might be right.

Seeing most of her peers make fools of themselves over their crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends didn’t really help. Not. At. All. Vivio liked to think that she was a little smarter than the love-sick swains at school, but she didn’t kid herself that she was that different, in the teenage-hormonal and melodramatic way.

Thank god that Hayate was so busy she never seemed to have a love life at all. Yet at the same time…if Hayate had taken a lover at some point…would Vivio have learned once and for all just what she felt for the other woman? Thinking about it always tore at Vivio’s mood, sending her in wild roller-coasters of eager yearning and depression.

“If you’ve only liked one person your whole life,” Nanoha-mama had tried to discuss with Vivio on one of Vivio’s mopier moments, “then you might not have, er…experiences to compare your feelings to, when you’re trying to figure out how much you l…like someone.”

“You and Fate-mama only loved each other since you were kids,” Vivio pointed out, and effectively ended that awkward conversation.

It wasn’t fair, that Uncle Chrono and Aunt Amy had been taken seriously when they first started going out. Or that her parents’ feelings for each other were never considered anything less than genuine. Even Erio and Caro weren’t belittled when it was obvious that they had crushes on each other as kids!

“Just forget it,” Vivio had ground out waveringly when her friends had tried to apologize.

Vivio took a breath as she looked through the office door, standing silently behind the door frame at Hayate as the older woman worked obliviously at her desk. The brown Ground Forces uniform didn’t look as good the the Navy ones, but being the CDC Commander meant that Hayate got to wear the blue uniform with the yellow epaulettes, which looked a lot nicer. Being accepted into the elite Ground Forces squad had placed Vivio in the position of working out of the same branch as her longtime crush, and walking by Hayate’s office every day never diminished the warm feeling that just looking at Hayate raised in Vivio’s chest.

It didn’t matter what people thought. It didn’t matter if no one, not even Hayate herself, really took Vivio’s feelings seriously. That wasn’t something Vivio could control.

She could only take responsibility for her own actions.

Her footsteps caused Hayate to glance up from her work. “Vivio?” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she put her pen down, turning her undivided attention on her visitor. That small consideration was just one of the many things that Vivio held close to her heart about Hayate.

Blue eyes widened as Vivio put a single red rose down on the pile of papers in front of Hayate, and Vivio didn’t bother hide the trembling in her fingers as she swallowed deeply.

For the first time, Vivio fought to get the words out, using every ounce of her courage to hold onto Hayate’s gaze.

“I…I really like you, Hayate-san.”

**O**

“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
– Barbara De Angelis

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

A double post?

Haven't done that in awhile.

Dusk

Red 1-25

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Red 26:

"HIYAH!" An excitable voice caused her to look up from her book and shake her head.

"Ginga, you're still kicking wrong."

The little girl blushed and nodded. "Okay, mama!" She shifted slightly and her mother sighed loudly. "Mama?"

"Ginga, you're bending your knee wrong, if you kick like that in a real fight, you're going to end up seriously injuring yourself just because you were trying to be quick about it."

"Sorry, mama!" The girl shifted her knee and started kicking again. "HIYAH!"

"Dear..." She wheeled her chair to look behind her and smiled as she saw her husband and youngest daughter walking through the park to come and meet her. "How are you feeling?"

"Just fine." She smiled at him. "How was school today, Subaru?"

"BORING!" The young girl pouted and then ran off to train with her sister.

"She kept complaining about how school doesn't let her spend time with her mother." He chuckled at her. "I sometimes wonder if maybe we should find more people for her to spend time with."

"I wouldn't worry too much." Quint looked at the children, sighing softly as she was reminded, again, that she couldn't use her legs. "I was pretty shy when I was little too."

Genya chuckled and shook his head. "You? Shy? The woman who came up to me one day and told me, in no uncertain terms, that we were going to go on a date and I was going to enjoy it."

"And you didn't?" Quint raised an eyebrow at him, laughing softly as he blushed.

"Well, I can't say that I didn't, but then again, considering how nervous I was on our first few dates, I'm surprised that you would stay with me."

She smiled up at him as she looked at their daughters practicing. At least Ginga was able to take the tips she gave to heart and was helping Subaru correct her form. "Oh, I don't know. All I saw was a suave and mature man that had this feeling about him that turned me on something fierce." Chuckling at him, she pulled him down for a quick kiss on the lips. "And I wasn't wrong, there was something suave and mature about you."

Genya chuckled at her. "You just like older men, huh?"

She grinned at him. "You complaining?" He shook his head and she smirked at him. "Good, otherwise I'd make you sleep on the couch tonight."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "The last time I was forced to sleep on the couch, you ended up slipping in with me and neither of us got any sleep that night."

Quint nodded and turned back to look at her daughters. "Well, you know that my hips aren't broken... Though I can't do much more than lay on my back." She blinked as he squeezed her on the shoulder.

He smiled at her. "I wouldn't worry about that, Quint."

Quint sighed softly. "I hate this..." When Genya asked what she meant, she clarified. "I was an active Bureau member, honey... I went and solved cases, saved people's lives, passed on my paperwork to others who couldn't be out in the field so they knew what was happening. And all I've been doing for the past few years has been sitting on my butt, doing paperwork and trying to teach my daughters Shooting Arts."

"You've done well with that one." Genya motioned to the girls. "They're not as fluid as you were, but they're pretty accurate with it."

Quint nodded and sighed softly. "I guess at least I get to see them grow up... Zest didn't even get to know his daughter."

Genya patted her on the shoulder as she sighed, knowing that she wished that she could have saved Megane or Lutecia. "You can't keep blaming yourself for what happened, Quint."

"I know." She sighed, closing her eyes. "I know... I just... I just... Wish I could have done more for the two of them."

"You did all that you could have." Genya said softly. "The best you can do is carry the memory of your friend and her daughter with you for the rest of your life."

Quint nodded, sighing heavily. "Yeah..."

"Mama!" Subaru waved to Quint. "Lookie!" She punched the ground and Quint's eyes widened as a bright blue pathway appeared under her feet. When Ginga made a blue-green colored version of the same move, she shook her head in amazement as the girls ran on the Wing Road, giggling the whole time.

"Amazing." Quint was impressed. She didn't think that either of them were ready to create their own Wing Roads just yet.

"Well, they are your daughters." Genya smiled as he tapped her shoulders. "Maybe we should go in early so they can eat?"

Quint laughed, knowing that he was right.

After all, they were growing girls, and Belkan magic did burn up a lot of calories really quickly.

Belkan magic burn a lot of calories? I can't imagine how much Subaru, Ginga and Erio will eat when the Takamachi sisters decided to teach them Black, White, Astral and Shamanistic magic...

[yuiseppe]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Instead of sleeping or studying for my final exam (which will be in nine hours time) , I was instead editing my contribution to the small/non-existent Hayate x Vivio fandom .

Spoiler for You Never Lose By Loving:

You Never Lose By Loving

She knows, Vivio lamented.

According to all her friends and her parents, Vivio was quite obvious in her crush. Maybe it was blushing whenever she looked at Vivio during mission briefings. Or how Vivio would bolt down the stairs faster than Fate-mama in Sonic form if Vivio heard her distinctive knock on the Takamachi-Harlaown house. Or maybe it was when Vivio had declared at age ten that she wanted to marry Hayate when she grew up.

…

It must have been her ten-year-old marriage proposal.

That was probably when everyone decided to label Vivio’s feelings as a “first crush”, with all the cuteness and transience that such a label carried.

“Isn’t Hayate-san, like, our aunt?” Caro had said to Vivio once. “She and Fate-san and Nanoha-san practically grew up together.”

Both of Vivio’s parents had that annoying habit of exchanging amused grins whenever Vivio stumbled over her tongue as she tried to talk smoothly to Hayate whenever the brunette came over to visit.

Which, to Vivio’s giddy delight, was quite often.

However, it also meant that Vivio was in a perpetual state of blushing and awkwardness and mortification. That part wasn’t as fun.

Still, Hayate was always so kind and boundlessly patient during Vivio’s stammered conversations. Those conversations took quite a while, as Vivio kept repeating her words and correcting herself in embarrassment.

But Vivio was sure, and she had her Nanoha-mama’s guarantee on this, that Hayate truly did like talking with Vivio. Even despite Vivio’s tongue-tiedness.

To Vivio’s aggravation, everyone had called it “cute”.

Vivio fervently hoped that Hayate didn’t think of it that way.

The only time Hayate had shown any kind of unease to Vivio was when Vivio had stopped calling her “Aunt”. When Vivio had seen that brief flicker of confused disappointment as a nine-year-old Vivio had said “Hayate-san” for the first time, she had nearly broken down and backpedalled to familiar territory. But Vivio had perservered—and now, at fifteen years old, Vivio was glad of it.

There would be no way anyone could take her seriously when she called her crush “Aunt”.

…No one even took her seriously now.

As Vivio grew older she tried to be more subtle. She had been tired of all the condescending teasing —not that her family and friends meant to hurt her feelings—about her crush. But damn, Vivio must have inherited in some behavioural inheritance fashion Fate-mama’s inability to prevent herself from blushing every time she looked at the person she liked.

So despite her efforts, Vivio’s attempt at subtlety was about as obvious as the sexual tension between her mamas. (Considering that the entire TSAB had a betting pool about her mamas’ suspected love affair before they announced their wedding, it was pretty damn obvious.)

“So, got your girl yet, Vivio?” Corona often cracked at Vivio at school.

“You’re not old enough for Vivio to be interested,” Lio would jokingly warn Vivio’s classmates whenever a boy or girl confessed to Vivio.

Sometimes, Vivio wished that she had the guile to lie about being over her crush. But being raised as an earnest and honest child, Vivio could never quite get the lie out in her own defense.

“Do you have a girlfriend yet, Teana?” Hayate would often grin at Teana whenever they all met for parties—especially if Subaru was in earshot. And after Teana’s fervent denial, Hayate would repeat the question to Subaru and would promptly receive an affirmative as the energetic cyborg would glomp Teana in response. (Hayate used to do the same to Erio and Caro, before the two of them ruined the joke by openly admitting their relationship.)

And yet, Hayate never asked Vivio that.

Vivio wasn’t sure if she should take that as a rejection or a glimmer of hope.

When Hayate smiled at Vivio—causing Vivio’s heart to flop around erratically—and called her “my favourite niece”, Vivio’s hopes would plummet into a hole. However, the little worried frown Hayate got whenever Caro mentioned one of Vivio’s many school admirers made Vivio’s stomach flutter with longing excitement.

Hayate never frowned at mentions of anyone else’s admirers, after all.

“Do you want me to just ask Hayate-san?” Lutecia once said to Vivio after the purple-haired summoner had to listen to yet another moping session from her younger friend.

“NO!” Vivio had yelled, her ears burning hot.

“But then at least you’d know!”

“Don’t you dare!” Vivio sulked, dropping her cheek onto the countertop. “Hayate-san can never know!” What if Hayate also saw it as nothing but a silly crush? Vivio could take the condescension from anybody but Hayate.

“I think she already does,” Lutecia had grumbled exasperatedly. At which Vivio had promptly burst out in tears.

Vivio remembered Lutecia frantically trying to assure her that she had been kidding, but Vivio knew that her friend had been trying to placate her.

Vivio…liked Hayate.

“Maybe you just admire Hayate?” Yuuno had once suggested.

That was definitely true, but Vivio admired lots of people. Like her Nanoha-mama, for instance, or Grandma Lindy. After factoring out admiration for a beautiful, confident, funny and kind woman, Vivio knew that she felt something different and kinda special for Hayate.

Once Vivio had grown past puberty, she became pretty certain that it was definitely at least some kind of strong crush instead of admiration. A person wanted to shake the hand of someone they admired, not take any excuse she could find to give that someone a tight hug. Vivio always got tingles up her neck and stomach whenever she got a hug from Hayate.

At least her parents were supportive, in their own way. Vivio could recall a particular charity bachelorette auction where Caro, Lio, Corona and Subaru had jokingly pooled their money to bid on Hayate as a gift for Vivio once the bidding price had gone above $400. And Vivio had refused to acknowledge them the whole while, her cheeks fiery red as Caro elbowed her and said cheerfully, “Since you’re too shy to bid at all, we thought we’d get an early birthday present for you?” (As a matter of fact, Vivio only had $235 with her, while the bidding for Hayate had started at $300.)

And although Vivio had affected not caring at all, she knew that her heartbreak must have shown on her face when a big-breasted, red-haired supermodel had consistently topped the previous bids on the brunette commander. So when Fate-mama had put in $750 to win the auction (and keep Hayate out of that big-chested, gorgeous, tall and adult competitor’s hands), Vivio had to give her mama a covertly grateful hug.

To Vivio’s eternal gratitude, Fate-mama hadn’t brought up the possibility of letting Vivio go on the “date” with Hayate she had bid for. The fantasized delight of such a date could not outweigh Vivio’s fearful anxiety of the fantasy actually coming true. She needed something like a few weeks to mentally prepare herself for something that mind-breaking. And so Vivio had watched hungrily as Hayate had showed up at their door, dressed to kill and laughingly flirting with her old friend. (Yet Hayate had said hello to Vivio first, even though Vivio and Fate had been standing in the doorway at the same time. This had thankfully distracted Vivio from embarrassing herself by staring too much the moment the door had opened.)

The tabloids just about exploded over the highly publicized date between the new combination of Aces, to Fate-mama’s chagrin.

Nanoha-mama still kept copies of the tabloid covers in her desk drawer for when she needed a good laugh.

“Hasn’t your daughter grown out of her little crush by now?” Nanoha’s middle-aged coworkers often asked, not knowing that Vivio’s hearing was better than they had assumed. To which the less-obtuse-than-people-thought Nanoha would give some chirpy non-answer, neatly easing the sting out of the question.

Sticks and stones, Vivio repeated to herself. But it still stung.

It wasn’t until Vivio was fifteen that one day the teasing had made her snap.

“Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?” She yelled, barely holding back angry tears. “It’s just a silly crush, so why don’t you join in the speculations of why Hayate-san is still unmarried or something? Who cares about what I think—I’m just the kid!”

Teenagers don’t know anything about love, all the adults say.

Some days, Vivio felt sick at the thought that they might be right.

Seeing most of her peers make fools of themselves over their crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends didn’t really help. Not. At. All. Vivio liked to think that she was a little smarter than the love-sick swains at school, but she didn’t kid herself that she was that different, in the teenage-hormonal and melodramatic way.

Thank god that Hayate was so busy she never seemed to have a love life at all. Yet at the same time…if Hayate had taken a lover at some point…would Vivio have learned once and for all just what she felt for the other woman? Thinking about it always tore at Vivio’s mood, sending her in wild roller-coasters of eager yearning and depression.

“If you’ve only liked one person your whole life,” Nanoha-mama had tried to discuss with Vivio on one of Vivio’s mopier moments, “then you might not have, er…experiences to compare your feelings to, when you’re trying to figure out how much you l…like someone.”

“You and Fate-mama only loved each other since you were kids,” Vivio pointed out, and effectively ended that awkward conversation.

It wasn’t fair, that Uncle Chrono and Aunt Amy had been taken seriously when they first started going out. Or that her parents’ feelings for each other were never considered anything less than genuine. Even Erio and Caro weren’t belittled when it was obvious that they had crushes on each other as kids!

“Just forget it,” Vivio had ground out waveringly when her friends had tried to apologize.

Vivio took a breath as she looked through the office door, standing silently behind the door frame at Hayate as the older woman worked obliviously at her desk. The brown Ground Forces uniform didn’t look as good the the Navy ones, but being the CDC Commander meant that Hayate got to wear the blue uniform with the yellow epaulettes, which looked a lot nicer. Being accepted into the elite Ground Forces squad had placed Vivio in the position of working out of the same branch as her longtime crush, and walking by Hayate’s office every day never diminished the warm feeling that just looking at Hayate raised in Vivio’s chest.

It didn’t matter what people thought. It didn’t matter if no one, not even Hayate herself, really took Vivio’s feelings seriously. That wasn’t something Vivio could control.

She could only take responsibility for her own actions.

Her footsteps caused Hayate to glance up from her work. “Vivio?” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she put her pen down, turning her undivided attention on her visitor. That small consideration was just one of the many things that Vivio held close to her heart about Hayate.

Blue eyes widened as Vivio put a single red rose down on the pile of papers in front of Hayate, and Vivio didn’t bother hide the trembling in her fingers as she swallowed deeply.

For the first time, Vivio fought to get the words out, using every ounce of her courage to hold onto Hayate’s gaze.

“I…I really like you, Hayate-san.”

**O**

“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
– Barbara De Angelis

LOL this had me grinning ear to ear all the way through. Poor Vi - hey you know what? This is fluff territory but you still made your characters suffer

I did, however, do a double take when Vi was moping to Lutecia and Lu offered to help XD

All the best for the final exam!

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Instead of sleeping or studying for my final exam (which will be in nine hours time) , I was instead editing my contribution to the small/non-existent Hayate x Vivio fandom .

Spoiler for You Never Lose By Loving:

You Never Lose By Loving

She knows, Vivio lamented.

According to all her friends and her parents, Vivio was quite obvious in her crush. Maybe it was blushing whenever she looked at Vivio during mission briefings. Or how Vivio would bolt down the stairs faster than Fate-mama in Sonic form if Vivio heard her distinctive knock on the Takamachi-Harlaown house. Or maybe it was when Vivio had declared at age ten that she wanted to marry Hayate when she grew up.

…

It must have been her ten-year-old marriage proposal.

That was probably when everyone decided to label Vivio’s feelings as a “first crush”, with all the cuteness and transience that such a label carried.

“Isn’t Hayate-san, like, our aunt?” Caro had said to Vivio once. “She and Fate-san and Nanoha-san practically grew up together.”

Both of Vivio’s parents had that annoying habit of exchanging amused grins whenever Vivio stumbled over her tongue as she tried to talk smoothly to Hayate whenever the brunette came over to visit.

Which, to Vivio’s giddy delight, was quite often.

However, it also meant that Vivio was in a perpetual state of blushing and awkwardness and mortification. That part wasn’t as fun.

Still, Hayate was always so kind and boundlessly patient during Vivio’s stammered conversations. Those conversations took quite a while, as Vivio kept repeating her words and correcting herself in embarrassment.

But Vivio was sure, and she had her Nanoha-mama’s guarantee on this, that Hayate truly did like talking with Vivio. Even despite Vivio’s tongue-tiedness.

To Vivio’s aggravation, everyone had called it “cute”.

Vivio fervently hoped that Hayate didn’t think of it that way.

The only time Hayate had shown any kind of unease to Vivio was when Vivio had stopped calling her “Aunt”. When Vivio had seen that brief flicker of confused disappointment as a nine-year-old Vivio had said “Hayate-san” for the first time, she had nearly broken down and backpedalled to familiar territory. But Vivio had perservered—and now, at fifteen years old, Vivio was glad of it.

There would be no way anyone could take her seriously when she called her crush “Aunt”.

…No one even took her seriously now.

As Vivio grew older she tried to be more subtle. She had been tired of all the condescending teasing —not that her family and friends meant to hurt her feelings—about her crush. But damn, Vivio must have inherited in some behavioural inheritance fashion Fate-mama’s inability to prevent herself from blushing every time she looked at the person she liked.

So despite her efforts, Vivio’s attempt at subtlety was about as obvious as the sexual tension between her mamas. (Considering that the entire TSAB had a betting pool about her mamas’ suspected love affair before they announced their wedding, it was pretty damn obvious.)

“So, got your girl yet, Vivio?” Corona often cracked at Vivio at school.

“You’re not old enough for Vivio to be interested,” Lio would jokingly warn Vivio’s classmates whenever a boy or girl confessed to Vivio.

Sometimes, Vivio wished that she had the guile to lie about being over her crush. But being raised as an earnest and honest child, Vivio could never quite get the lie out in her own defense.

“Do you have a girlfriend yet, Teana?” Hayate would often grin at Teana whenever they all met for parties—especially if Subaru was in earshot. And after Teana’s fervent denial, Hayate would repeat the question to Subaru and would promptly receive an affirmative as the energetic cyborg would glomp Teana in response. (Hayate used to do the same to Erio and Caro, before the two of them ruined the joke by openly admitting their relationship.)

And yet, Hayate never asked Vivio that.

Vivio wasn’t sure if she should take that as a rejection or a glimmer of hope.

When Hayate smiled at Vivio—causing Vivio’s heart to flop around erratically—and called her “my favourite niece”, Vivio’s hopes would plummet into a hole. However, the little worried frown Hayate got whenever Caro mentioned one of Vivio’s many school admirers made Vivio’s stomach flutter with longing excitement.

Hayate never frowned at mentions of anyone else’s admirers, after all.

“Do you want me to just ask Hayate-san?” Lutecia once said to Vivio after the purple-haired summoner had to listen to yet another moping session from her younger friend.

“NO!” Vivio had yelled, her ears burning hot.

“But then at least you’d know!”

“Don’t you dare!” Vivio sulked, dropping her cheek onto the countertop. “Hayate-san can never know!” What if Hayate also saw it as nothing but a silly crush? Vivio could take the condescension from anybody but Hayate.

“I think she already does,” Lutecia had grumbled exasperatedly. At which Vivio had promptly burst out in tears.

Vivio remembered Lutecia frantically trying to assure her that she had been kidding, but Vivio knew that her friend had been trying to placate her.

Vivio…liked Hayate.

“Maybe you just admire Hayate?” Yuuno had once suggested.

That was definitely true, but Vivio admired lots of people. Like her Nanoha-mama, for instance, or Grandma Lindy. After factoring out admiration for a beautiful, confident, funny and kind woman, Vivio knew that she felt something different and kinda special for Hayate.

Once Vivio had grown past puberty, she became pretty certain that it was definitely at least some kind of strong crush instead of admiration. A person wanted to shake the hand of someone they admired, not take any excuse she could find to give that someone a tight hug. Vivio always got tingles up her neck and stomach whenever she got a hug from Hayate.

At least her parents were supportive, in their own way. Vivio could recall a particular charity bachelorette auction where Caro, Lio, Corona and Subaru had jokingly pooled their money to bid on Hayate as a gift for Vivio once the bidding price had gone above $400. And Vivio had refused to acknowledge them the whole while, her cheeks fiery red as Caro elbowed her and said cheerfully, “Since you’re too shy to bid at all, we thought we’d get an early birthday present for you?” (As a matter of fact, Vivio only had $235 with her, while the bidding for Hayate had started at $300.)

And although Vivio had affected not caring at all, she knew that her heartbreak must have shown on her face when a big-breasted, red-haired supermodel had consistently topped the previous bids on the brunette commander. So when Fate-mama had put in $750 to win the auction (and keep Hayate out of that big-chested, gorgeous, tall and adult competitor’s hands), Vivio had to give her mama a covertly grateful hug.

To Vivio’s eternal gratitude, Fate-mama hadn’t brought up the possibility of letting Vivio go on the “date” with Hayate she had bid for. The fantasized delight of such a date could not outweigh Vivio’s fearful anxiety of the fantasy actually coming true. She needed something like a few weeks to mentally prepare herself for something that mind-breaking. And so Vivio had watched hungrily as Hayate had showed up at their door, dressed to kill and laughingly flirting with her old friend. (Yet Hayate had said hello to Vivio first, even though Vivio and Fate had been standing in the doorway at the same time. This had thankfully distracted Vivio from embarrassing herself by staring too much the moment the door had opened.)

The tabloids just about exploded over the highly publicized date between the new combination of Aces, to Fate-mama’s chagrin.

Nanoha-mama still kept copies of the tabloid covers in her desk drawer for when she needed a good laugh.

“Hasn’t your daughter grown out of her little crush by now?” Nanoha’s middle-aged coworkers often asked, not knowing that Vivio’s hearing was better than they had assumed. To which the less-obtuse-than-people-thought Nanoha would give some chirpy non-answer, neatly easing the sting out of the question.

Sticks and stones, Vivio repeated to herself. But it still stung.

It wasn’t until Vivio was fifteen that one day the teasing had made her snap.

“Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?” She yelled, barely holding back angry tears. “It’s just a silly crush, so why don’t you join in the speculations of why Hayate-san is still unmarried or something? Who cares about what I think—I’m just the kid!”

Teenagers don’t know anything about love, all the adults say.

Some days, Vivio felt sick at the thought that they might be right.

Seeing most of her peers make fools of themselves over their crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends didn’t really help. Not. At. All. Vivio liked to think that she was a little smarter than the love-sick swains at school, but she didn’t kid herself that she was that different, in the teenage-hormonal and melodramatic way.

Thank god that Hayate was so busy she never seemed to have a love life at all. Yet at the same time…if Hayate had taken a lover at some point…would Vivio have learned once and for all just what she felt for the other woman? Thinking about it always tore at Vivio’s mood, sending her in wild roller-coasters of eager yearning and depression.

“If you’ve only liked one person your whole life,” Nanoha-mama had tried to discuss with Vivio on one of Vivio’s mopier moments, “then you might not have, er…experiences to compare your feelings to, when you’re trying to figure out how much you l…like someone.”

“You and Fate-mama only loved each other since you were kids,” Vivio pointed out, and effectively ended that awkward conversation.

It wasn’t fair, that Uncle Chrono and Aunt Amy had been taken seriously when they first started going out. Or that her parents’ feelings for each other were never considered anything less than genuine. Even Erio and Caro weren’t belittled when it was obvious that they had crushes on each other as kids!

“Just forget it,” Vivio had ground out waveringly when her friends had tried to apologize.

Vivio took a breath as she looked through the office door, standing silently behind the door frame at Hayate as the older woman worked obliviously at her desk. The brown Ground Forces uniform didn’t look as good the the Navy ones, but being the CDC Commander meant that Hayate got to wear the blue uniform with the yellow epaulettes, which looked a lot nicer. Being accepted into the elite Ground Forces squad had placed Vivio in the position of working out of the same branch as her longtime crush, and walking by Hayate’s office every day never diminished the warm feeling that just looking at Hayate raised in Vivio’s chest.

It didn’t matter what people thought. It didn’t matter if no one, not even Hayate herself, really took Vivio’s feelings seriously. That wasn’t something Vivio could control.

She could only take responsibility for her own actions.

Her footsteps caused Hayate to glance up from her work. “Vivio?” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she put her pen down, turning her undivided attention on her visitor. That small consideration was just one of the many things that Vivio held close to her heart about Hayate.

Blue eyes widened as Vivio put a single red rose down on the pile of papers in front of Hayate, and Vivio didn’t bother hide the trembling in her fingers as she swallowed deeply.

For the first time, Vivio fought to get the words out, using every ounce of her courage to hold onto Hayate’s gaze.

“I…I really like you, Hayate-san.”

**O**

“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
– Barbara De Angelis

Yes, you posted it!

I like how you approach the issue from the angle of the crush never being taken seriously; it's something new that I've never seen brought up before when it comes to couples with massive age differences between them, and it made poor Vivio much more sympathetic since she was pretty much the only one who knew she was serious about her feelings, even as a teenager.

I also very much like how it ends; you have enough small, subtle hints on Hayate's side to come to your own conclusion of how she feels, and it's so open-ended that it's easy to imagine for yourself what happened after the end.

...

Unless you write a sequel, obviously.

[Rising Dragon]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Instead of sleeping or studying for my final exam (which will be in nine hours time) , I was instead editing my contribution to the small/non-existent Hayate x Vivio fandom .

Spoiler for You Never Lose By Loving:

You Never Lose By Loving

She knows, Vivio lamented.

According to all her friends and her parents, Vivio was quite obvious in her crush. Maybe it was blushing whenever she looked at Vivio during mission briefings. Or how Vivio would bolt down the stairs faster than Fate-mama in Sonic form if Vivio heard her distinctive knock on the Takamachi-Harlaown house. Or maybe it was when Vivio had declared at age ten that she wanted to marry Hayate when she grew up.

…

It must have been her ten-year-old marriage proposal.

That was probably when everyone decided to label Vivio’s feelings as a “first crush”, with all the cuteness and transience that such a label carried.

“Isn’t Hayate-san, like, our aunt?” Caro had said to Vivio once. “She and Fate-san and Nanoha-san practically grew up together.”

Both of Vivio’s parents had that annoying habit of exchanging amused grins whenever Vivio stumbled over her tongue as she tried to talk smoothly to Hayate whenever the brunette came over to visit.

Which, to Vivio’s giddy delight, was quite often.

However, it also meant that Vivio was in a perpetual state of blushing and awkwardness and mortification. That part wasn’t as fun.

Still, Hayate was always so kind and boundlessly patient during Vivio’s stammered conversations. Those conversations took quite a while, as Vivio kept repeating her words and correcting herself in embarrassment.

But Vivio was sure, and she had her Nanoha-mama’s guarantee on this, that Hayate truly did like talking with Vivio. Even despite Vivio’s tongue-tiedness.

To Vivio’s aggravation, everyone had called it “cute”.

Vivio fervently hoped that Hayate didn’t think of it that way.

The only time Hayate had shown any kind of unease to Vivio was when Vivio had stopped calling her “Aunt”. When Vivio had seen that brief flicker of confused disappointment as a nine-year-old Vivio had said “Hayate-san” for the first time, she had nearly broken down and backpedalled to familiar territory. But Vivio had perservered—and now, at fifteen years old, Vivio was glad of it.

There would be no way anyone could take her seriously when she called her crush “Aunt”.

…No one even took her seriously now.

As Vivio grew older she tried to be more subtle. She had been tired of all the condescending teasing —not that her family and friends meant to hurt her feelings—about her crush. But damn, Vivio must have inherited in some behavioural inheritance fashion Fate-mama’s inability to prevent herself from blushing every time she looked at the person she liked.

So despite her efforts, Vivio’s attempt at subtlety was about as obvious as the sexual tension between her mamas. (Considering that the entire TSAB had a betting pool about her mamas’ suspected love affair before they announced their wedding, it was pretty damn obvious.)

“So, got your girl yet, Vivio?” Corona often cracked at Vivio at school.

“You’re not old enough for Vivio to be interested,” Lio would jokingly warn Vivio’s classmates whenever a boy or girl confessed to Vivio.

Sometimes, Vivio wished that she had the guile to lie about being over her crush. But being raised as an earnest and honest child, Vivio could never quite get the lie out in her own defense.

“Do you have a girlfriend yet, Teana?” Hayate would often grin at Teana whenever they all met for parties—especially if Subaru was in earshot. And after Teana’s fervent denial, Hayate would repeat the question to Subaru and would promptly receive an affirmative as the energetic cyborg would glomp Teana in response. (Hayate used to do the same to Erio and Caro, before the two of them ruined the joke by openly admitting their relationship.)

And yet, Hayate never asked Vivio that.

Vivio wasn’t sure if she should take that as a rejection or a glimmer of hope.

When Hayate smiled at Vivio—causing Vivio’s heart to flop around erratically—and called her “my favourite niece”, Vivio’s hopes would plummet into a hole. However, the little worried frown Hayate got whenever Caro mentioned one of Vivio’s many school admirers made Vivio’s stomach flutter with longing excitement.

Hayate never frowned at mentions of anyone else’s admirers, after all.

“Do you want me to just ask Hayate-san?” Lutecia once said to Vivio after the purple-haired summoner had to listen to yet another moping session from her younger friend.

“NO!” Vivio had yelled, her ears burning hot.

“But then at least you’d know!”

“Don’t you dare!” Vivio sulked, dropping her cheek onto the countertop. “Hayate-san can never know!” What if Hayate also saw it as nothing but a silly crush? Vivio could take the condescension from anybody but Hayate.

“I think she already does,” Lutecia had grumbled exasperatedly. At which Vivio had promptly burst out in tears.

Vivio remembered Lutecia frantically trying to assure her that she had been kidding, but Vivio knew that her friend had been trying to placate her.

Vivio…liked Hayate.

“Maybe you just admire Hayate?” Yuuno had once suggested.

That was definitely true, but Vivio admired lots of people. Like her Nanoha-mama, for instance, or Grandma Lindy. After factoring out admiration for a beautiful, confident, funny and kind woman, Vivio knew that she felt something different and kinda special for Hayate.

Once Vivio had grown past puberty, she became pretty certain that it was definitely at least some kind of strong crush instead of admiration. A person wanted to shake the hand of someone they admired, not take any excuse she could find to give that someone a tight hug. Vivio always got tingles up her neck and stomach whenever she got a hug from Hayate.

At least her parents were supportive, in their own way. Vivio could recall a particular charity bachelorette auction where Caro, Lio, Corona and Subaru had jokingly pooled their money to bid on Hayate as a gift for Vivio once the bidding price had gone above $400. And Vivio had refused to acknowledge them the whole while, her cheeks fiery red as Caro elbowed her and said cheerfully, “Since you’re too shy to bid at all, we thought we’d get an early birthday present for you?” (As a matter of fact, Vivio only had $235 with her, while the bidding for Hayate had started at $300.)

And although Vivio had affected not caring at all, she knew that her heartbreak must have shown on her face when a big-breasted, red-haired supermodel had consistently topped the previous bids on the brunette commander. So when Fate-mama had put in $750 to win the auction (and keep Hayate out of that big-chested, gorgeous, tall and adult competitor’s hands), Vivio had to give her mama a covertly grateful hug.

To Vivio’s eternal gratitude, Fate-mama hadn’t brought up the possibility of letting Vivio go on the “date” with Hayate she had bid for. The fantasized delight of such a date could not outweigh Vivio’s fearful anxiety of the fantasy actually coming true. She needed something like a few weeks to mentally prepare herself for something that mind-breaking. And so Vivio had watched hungrily as Hayate had showed up at their door, dressed to kill and laughingly flirting with her old friend. (Yet Hayate had said hello to Vivio first, even though Vivio and Fate had been standing in the doorway at the same time. This had thankfully distracted Vivio from embarrassing herself by staring too much the moment the door had opened.)

The tabloids just about exploded over the highly publicized date between the new combination of Aces, to Fate-mama’s chagrin.

Nanoha-mama still kept copies of the tabloid covers in her desk drawer for when she needed a good laugh.

“Hasn’t your daughter grown out of her little crush by now?” Nanoha’s middle-aged coworkers often asked, not knowing that Vivio’s hearing was better than they had assumed. To which the less-obtuse-than-people-thought Nanoha would give some chirpy non-answer, neatly easing the sting out of the question.

Sticks and stones, Vivio repeated to herself. But it still stung.

It wasn’t until Vivio was fifteen that one day the teasing had made her snap.

“Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?” She yelled, barely holding back angry tears. “It’s just a silly crush, so why don’t you join in the speculations of why Hayate-san is still unmarried or something? Who cares about what I think—I’m just the kid!”

Teenagers don’t know anything about love, all the adults say.

Some days, Vivio felt sick at the thought that they might be right.

Seeing most of her peers make fools of themselves over their crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends didn’t really help. Not. At. All. Vivio liked to think that she was a little smarter than the love-sick swains at school, but she didn’t kid herself that she was that different, in the teenage-hormonal and melodramatic way.

Thank god that Hayate was so busy she never seemed to have a love life at all. Yet at the same time…if Hayate had taken a lover at some point…would Vivio have learned once and for all just what she felt for the other woman? Thinking about it always tore at Vivio’s mood, sending her in wild roller-coasters of eager yearning and depression.

“If you’ve only liked one person your whole life,” Nanoha-mama had tried to discuss with Vivio on one of Vivio’s mopier moments, “then you might not have, er…experiences to compare your feelings to, when you’re trying to figure out how much you l…like someone.”

“You and Fate-mama only loved each other since you were kids,” Vivio pointed out, and effectively ended that awkward conversation.

It wasn’t fair, that Uncle Chrono and Aunt Amy had been taken seriously when they first started going out. Or that her parents’ feelings for each other were never considered anything less than genuine. Even Erio and Caro weren’t belittled when it was obvious that they had crushes on each other as kids!

“Just forget it,” Vivio had ground out waveringly when her friends had tried to apologize.

Vivio took a breath as she looked through the office door, standing silently behind the door frame at Hayate as the older woman worked obliviously at her desk. The brown Ground Forces uniform didn’t look as good the the Navy ones, but being the CDC Commander meant that Hayate got to wear the blue uniform with the yellow epaulettes, which looked a lot nicer. Being accepted into the elite Ground Forces squad had placed Vivio in the position of working out of the same branch as her longtime crush, and walking by Hayate’s office every day never diminished the warm feeling that just looking at Hayate raised in Vivio’s chest.

It didn’t matter what people thought. It didn’t matter if no one, not even Hayate herself, really took Vivio’s feelings seriously. That wasn’t something Vivio could control.

She could only take responsibility for her own actions.

Her footsteps caused Hayate to glance up from her work. “Vivio?” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she put her pen down, turning her undivided attention on her visitor. That small consideration was just one of the many things that Vivio held close to her heart about Hayate.

Blue eyes widened as Vivio put a single red rose down on the pile of papers in front of Hayate, and Vivio didn’t bother hide the trembling in her fingers as she swallowed deeply.

For the first time, Vivio fought to get the words out, using every ounce of her courage to hold onto Hayate’s gaze.

“I…I really like you, Hayate-san.”

**O**

“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
– Barbara De Angelis

... dammit, DC, it's bad enough that I already have a cavity, are you trying to give me more?

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Instead of sleeping or studying for my final exam (which will be in nine hours time) , I was instead editing my contribution to the small/non-existent Hayate x Vivio fandom .

Spoiler for You Never Lose By Loving:

You Never Lose By Loving

She knows, Vivio lamented.

According to all her friends and her parents, Vivio was quite obvious in her crush. Maybe it was blushing whenever she looked at Vivio during mission briefings. Or how Vivio would bolt down the stairs faster than Fate-mama in Sonic form if Vivio heard her distinctive knock on the Takamachi-Harlaown house. Or maybe it was when Vivio had declared at age ten that she wanted to marry Hayate when she grew up.

…

It must have been her ten-year-old marriage proposal.

That was probably when everyone decided to label Vivio’s feelings as a “first crush”, with all the cuteness and transience that such a label carried.

“Isn’t Hayate-san, like, our aunt?” Caro had said to Vivio once. “She and Fate-san and Nanoha-san practically grew up together.”

Both of Vivio’s parents had that annoying habit of exchanging amused grins whenever Vivio stumbled over her tongue as she tried to talk smoothly to Hayate whenever the brunette came over to visit.

Which, to Vivio’s giddy delight, was quite often.

However, it also meant that Vivio was in a perpetual state of blushing and awkwardness and mortification. That part wasn’t as fun.

Still, Hayate was always so kind and boundlessly patient during Vivio’s stammered conversations. Those conversations took quite a while, as Vivio kept repeating her words and correcting herself in embarrassment.

But Vivio was sure, and she had her Nanoha-mama’s guarantee on this, that Hayate truly did like talking with Vivio. Even despite Vivio’s tongue-tiedness.

To Vivio’s aggravation, everyone had called it “cute”.

Vivio fervently hoped that Hayate didn’t think of it that way.

The only time Hayate had shown any kind of unease to Vivio was when Vivio had stopped calling her “Aunt”. When Vivio had seen that brief flicker of confused disappointment as a nine-year-old Vivio had said “Hayate-san” for the first time, she had nearly broken down and backpedalled to familiar territory. But Vivio had perservered—and now, at fifteen years old, Vivio was glad of it.

There would be no way anyone could take her seriously when she called her crush “Aunt”.

…No one even took her seriously now.

As Vivio grew older she tried to be more subtle. She had been tired of all the condescending teasing —not that her family and friends meant to hurt her feelings—about her crush. But damn, Vivio must have inherited in some behavioural inheritance fashion Fate-mama’s inability to prevent herself from blushing every time she looked at the person she liked.

So despite her efforts, Vivio’s attempt at subtlety was about as obvious as the sexual tension between her mamas. (Considering that the entire TSAB had a betting pool about her mamas’ suspected love affair before they announced their wedding, it was pretty damn obvious.)

“So, got your girl yet, Vivio?” Corona often cracked at Vivio at school.

“You’re not old enough for Vivio to be interested,” Lio would jokingly warn Vivio’s classmates whenever a boy or girl confessed to Vivio.

Sometimes, Vivio wished that she had the guile to lie about being over her crush. But being raised as an earnest and honest child, Vivio could never quite get the lie out in her own defense.

“Do you have a girlfriend yet, Teana?” Hayate would often grin at Teana whenever they all met for parties—especially if Subaru was in earshot. And after Teana’s fervent denial, Hayate would repeat the question to Subaru and would promptly receive an affirmative as the energetic cyborg would glomp Teana in response. (Hayate used to do the same to Erio and Caro, before the two of them ruined the joke by openly admitting their relationship.)

And yet, Hayate never asked Vivio that.

Vivio wasn’t sure if she should take that as a rejection or a glimmer of hope.

When Hayate smiled at Vivio—causing Vivio’s heart to flop around erratically—and called her “my favourite niece”, Vivio’s hopes would plummet into a hole. However, the little worried frown Hayate got whenever Caro mentioned one of Vivio’s many school admirers made Vivio’s stomach flutter with longing excitement.

Hayate never frowned at mentions of anyone else’s admirers, after all.

“Do you want me to just ask Hayate-san?” Lutecia once said to Vivio after the purple-haired summoner had to listen to yet another moping session from her younger friend.

“NO!” Vivio had yelled, her ears burning hot.

“But then at least you’d know!”

“Don’t you dare!” Vivio sulked, dropping her cheek onto the countertop. “Hayate-san can never know!” What if Hayate also saw it as nothing but a silly crush? Vivio could take the condescension from anybody but Hayate.

“I think she already does,” Lutecia had grumbled exasperatedly. At which Vivio had promptly burst out in tears.

Vivio remembered Lutecia frantically trying to assure her that she had been kidding, but Vivio knew that her friend had been trying to placate her.

Vivio…liked Hayate.

“Maybe you just admire Hayate?” Yuuno had once suggested.

That was definitely true, but Vivio admired lots of people. Like her Nanoha-mama, for instance, or Grandma Lindy. After factoring out admiration for a beautiful, confident, funny and kind woman, Vivio knew that she felt something different and kinda special for Hayate.

Once Vivio had grown past puberty, she became pretty certain that it was definitely at least some kind of strong crush instead of admiration. A person wanted to shake the hand of someone they admired, not take any excuse she could find to give that someone a tight hug. Vivio always got tingles up her neck and stomach whenever she got a hug from Hayate.

At least her parents were supportive, in their own way. Vivio could recall a particular charity bachelorette auction where Caro, Lio, Corona and Subaru had jokingly pooled their money to bid on Hayate as a gift for Vivio once the bidding price had gone above $400. And Vivio had refused to acknowledge them the whole while, her cheeks fiery red as Caro elbowed her and said cheerfully, “Since you’re too shy to bid at all, we thought we’d get an early birthday present for you?” (As a matter of fact, Vivio only had $235 with her, while the bidding for Hayate had started at $300.)

And although Vivio had affected not caring at all, she knew that her heartbreak must have shown on her face when a big-breasted, red-haired supermodel had consistently topped the previous bids on the brunette commander. So when Fate-mama had put in $750 to win the auction (and keep Hayate out of that big-chested, gorgeous, tall and adult competitor’s hands), Vivio had to give her mama a covertly grateful hug.

To Vivio’s eternal gratitude, Fate-mama hadn’t brought up the possibility of letting Vivio go on the “date” with Hayate she had bid for. The fantasized delight of such a date could not outweigh Vivio’s fearful anxiety of the fantasy actually coming true. She needed something like a few weeks to mentally prepare herself for something that mind-breaking. And so Vivio had watched hungrily as Hayate had showed up at their door, dressed to kill and laughingly flirting with her old friend. (Yet Hayate had said hello to Vivio first, even though Vivio and Fate had been standing in the doorway at the same time. This had thankfully distracted Vivio from embarrassing herself by staring too much the moment the door had opened.)

The tabloids just about exploded over the highly publicized date between the new combination of Aces, to Fate-mama’s chagrin.

Nanoha-mama still kept copies of the tabloid covers in her desk drawer for when she needed a good laugh.

“Hasn’t your daughter grown out of her little crush by now?” Nanoha’s middle-aged coworkers often asked, not knowing that Vivio’s hearing was better than they had assumed. To which the less-obtuse-than-people-thought Nanoha would give some chirpy non-answer, neatly easing the sting out of the question.

Sticks and stones, Vivio repeated to herself. But it still stung.

It wasn’t until Vivio was fifteen that one day the teasing had made her snap.

“Why are you guys making such a big deal about it?” She yelled, barely holding back angry tears. “It’s just a silly crush, so why don’t you join in the speculations of why Hayate-san is still unmarried or something? Who cares about what I think—I’m just the kid!”

Teenagers don’t know anything about love, all the adults say.

Some days, Vivio felt sick at the thought that they might be right.

Seeing most of her peers make fools of themselves over their crushes and girlfriends and boyfriends didn’t really help. Not. At. All. Vivio liked to think that she was a little smarter than the love-sick swains at school, but she didn’t kid herself that she was that different, in the teenage-hormonal and melodramatic way.

Thank god that Hayate was so busy she never seemed to have a love life at all. Yet at the same time…if Hayate had taken a lover at some point…would Vivio have learned once and for all just what she felt for the other woman? Thinking about it always tore at Vivio’s mood, sending her in wild roller-coasters of eager yearning and depression.

“If you’ve only liked one person your whole life,” Nanoha-mama had tried to discuss with Vivio on one of Vivio’s mopier moments, “then you might not have, er…experiences to compare your feelings to, when you’re trying to figure out how much you l…like someone.”

“You and Fate-mama only loved each other since you were kids,” Vivio pointed out, and effectively ended that awkward conversation.

It wasn’t fair, that Uncle Chrono and Aunt Amy had been taken seriously when they first started going out. Or that her parents’ feelings for each other were never considered anything less than genuine. Even Erio and Caro weren’t belittled when it was obvious that they had crushes on each other as kids!

“Just forget it,” Vivio had ground out waveringly when her friends had tried to apologize.

Vivio took a breath as she looked through the office door, standing silently behind the door frame at Hayate as the older woman worked obliviously at her desk. The brown Ground Forces uniform didn’t look as good the the Navy ones, but being the CDC Commander meant that Hayate got to wear the blue uniform with the yellow epaulettes, which looked a lot nicer. Being accepted into the elite Ground Forces squad had placed Vivio in the position of working out of the same branch as her longtime crush, and walking by Hayate’s office every day never diminished the warm feeling that just looking at Hayate raised in Vivio’s chest.

It didn’t matter what people thought. It didn’t matter if no one, not even Hayate herself, really took Vivio’s feelings seriously. That wasn’t something Vivio could control.

She could only take responsibility for her own actions.

Her footsteps caused Hayate to glance up from her work. “Vivio?” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she put her pen down, turning her undivided attention on her visitor. That small consideration was just one of the many things that Vivio held close to her heart about Hayate.

Blue eyes widened as Vivio put a single red rose down on the pile of papers in front of Hayate, and Vivio didn’t bother hide the trembling in her fingers as she swallowed deeply.

For the first time, Vivio fought to get the words out, using every ounce of her courage to hold onto Hayate’s gaze.

“I…I really like you, Hayate-san.”

**O**

“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
– Barbara De Angelis

Awww, so very cute, and fluffy! Well, sort of fluffy, since Vivio is going through frustration and heartache the whole time, but it's leavened with humor so you don't start really feeling for her until nearly the end (actually, around the time she loses her temper). And as RB said, there's just enough hesitation on Hayate's part so that you can imagine she's aware of Vivio's feelings and...waiting to see.

[Nanya01]

So, talking to someone on AIM gave me a heck of a plot bunny.

Spoiler for Her Lament:

There was just no denying it. Not anymore. Not to herself, nor to her husband.

Especially after the doctor's letter came in.

It was heart-rending, and it really felt like she was being punched in the gut. After all Fate had done to help her out, to get this piece of information almost made her tumble into a suicidal depression.

When a screaming noise caught her attention, she wrapped herself up in a bathrobe and moved towards it, sighing as she saw her sons, all three of them, crying in their crib.

Smiling, she walked over to them and crinkled her nose. "Well, at least it's obvious why you three are making such noise, huh?" They looked up at her, some with blue, some with green eyes, trying to get her to hurry up and change them.

Even with the bad news, at least she still had her husband, her sons, her family...

Even if she almost died during childbirth...

Even if the childbirth was so hard on her that it was now impossible for her to have any children in the future due to complications.

"Ne, Hayate..." She turned to see Vita, who was shaking her head at her. "You should be resting right now." She walked over and gave Hayate a hug. "We almost lost you back there."

"I know, but..." She giggled when Vita's face gave a sour look at the smell. "They need a change."

Vita smirked at her. "I'll take care of that, you go rest, you know Shamal, Signum, Zafira and myself will help you, now go rest before I'm forced to tie you up in bed."

Hayate giggled and rubbed Vita's head. "Alright, alright, I'll go..." As she walked to the door, she turned to see Vita quickly changing her baby boys and smiled softly.

She had a good family. Even if the thought of never being able to have any more children hurt her, she still had her family.