Maki worries herself over Nobara potentially seeing her new scars, not knowing that Nobara couldn't care less
----˚ʚ♡ɞ˚----
Insecurity wasn't a word Maki liked to use to describe herself because, really, she was very sure of herself. It was just that every once in a while someone new would find out about her lack of cursed energy and doubt her, which always made defensiveness bubble to the top. Her friends knew her, and they knew what she was capable of, cursed energy or not, so she had decided she had nothing to be self conscious about a while ago.
Until Shibuya. Scars prickled at her skin, sensitive when she moved, still tearing and flaking off if she picked at them. They were ugly across her face, especially. When Jogo's flames hit her, she could feel the fire melt her eyelid to her cheek, and she knew in that moment that she would never be able to open it again. In the first week or so after the Shibuya incident she draped cloth over her shoulders to hide her scars and hid her disfigured eye behind a bandage. But maybe two weeks after, she stopped caring as much. Jujutsu High was a tight knit school, whether she hid behind baggy clothes or not didn't matter because they would all see what had become of her eventually.
What did matter to her was the people she loved seeing her. When she reunited with Yuuta she tried her best to hide behind a book, embarrassingly enough. The person she wanted to avoid the most though, was Nobara. Before the Shibuya Incident, they had been pretty close. Nobara had a tendency to freak out over people even teasing Maki, a bit like a guard dog, and after she had done her duty she'd run back to Maki and lean her head on her shoulder. It felt nice, Maki couldn't lie. Back with her blasted family, Maki didn't anyone to defend her like that, not even Mai as she was so resigned to her position, so seeing someone care enough to yell at people who even muttered an insult was new and welcome.
In fact, Maki could have sworn her and Nobara had to have been more than friends. From the way Nobara stood on her toes to kiss Maki's cheek good luck before they faced the Kyoto school, to the way Nobara said; "I love you" a few too many times to be platonic.
When Maki had first heard about Nobara's injuries in Shibuya she felt her scarred heart fall into her weak knees. "How bad is it?" She kept her voice calm, even if she wanted to see Nobara again more than anything. "Is she open to visitors?"
"She's still completely unconscious. It was just the left side of her face, so she'll be ready to walk again in maybe a month." Shoko motioned to the room. "You can see her though."
Maki nodded before stepping inside the small room to be greeted by the beeping of Nobara's heart rate in tune with her short breaths. She was hidden behind a thin white curtain that circled the small mattress she was propped up on.
Nobara, usually so loud and sure of herself, was finally silent, curled into almost a small ball in the blankets. Most noticeably, the face she had always been so proud of was wrinkled like wilted flowers across her cheek, her scar almost akin to Maki's. Maki wondered if Nobara would embrace it like she did everything else about herself or if she'd treat it like a chipped nail. Either way, she knew Nobara would bounce back. She was still beautiful, nothing would change that. She grabbed her hand and stood by her bedside until she decided Nobara probably wouldn't want Maki to sit around and mope about her.
Training hadn't changed much besides her skin felt less like herself and more like a shell that strained her movement. She felt almost snakelike in the way that it restrained her, like she needed to shed. She hated it. She hit the small dummy harder than usual. Selfishly, she almost didn't want Nobara to get better. No, that was wrong. Maki just didn't want Nobara to change her view of her after seeing her like this. Would she stop defending her or wanting to hang out? Imagining a world where Nobara didn't immediately run to her in a room full of people had felt so far away but now it loomed in the distance like a deadline.
The dummy's head crumpled to the floor and the tiny grains that filled it filled the grass.
Another week of visiting Nobara and scenarios where they stopped talking flew by. Nothing really felt like it was changing because everyone was still reeling from the tragedy that spilled into their everyday lives. The more Maki mulled over her and Nobara's relationship the more she realized that she pretty much told the days apart based off of whether Nobara talked to her or not, like that she has one on one training with Panda on the same day that she would eat breakfast with Nobara and et cetera. It was silly of her, but without Nobara in her routine everything blended together.
Obviously, Maki visited Nobara in between training, even informing her on everything that had happened and how everyone else was recovering as if it would give Nobara good dreams. "—and Nanami's back is getting better. It'll scar too, so at least we won't be the only ones." Maki stood up and went to go talk to Shoko about when she thought Nobara would wake up.
"She might even be ready to train with the assisted group by the end of the week. I should have expected she'd heal even quicker than I thought. It's Nobara, after all." Shoko smiled like it was good news.
And it was. Or it should have been.
All her other friends were there, all except the person Nobara thought of immediately upon regaining consciousness. "Where's Maki?"
Nobara spent her first day back wandering around Jujutsu High, asking around for Maki, despite Shoko's pleas that she rested and relearned how to walk for at least an hour. Because apparently, being out cold for a month made walking really hard. There's no better way to relearn how to do it than doing it, Nobara had argued.
Her legs didn't feel suited for moving just yet and her arms anchored her to the floor. She didn't care, she needed to see Maki again. What had happened to her during Shibuya? Was she okay? Horribly depressed?
"Hey, Inumaki." She called out to him, who was leaning against the wall outside the bedrooms. "Where's Maki?"
He stared at her for a little bit as he waited for Nobara to remember that questions that ventured beyond yes or no was a little out of his range. "Right." She mumbled. "Can you point to where she is, then?"
He turned around to reveal his missing arm.
Since Inumaki was no help, Nobara shuffled into the bedroom to hopefully find someone with a little more vocal range. Todo was sitting outside of Yuji and Megumi's room. Nobara couldn't say she exactly wanted to talk to him but he was bound to be at least a little more helpful. Hearing her footsteps, Todo turned around and waved to her—waved, with his stump of a hand. "Kugisaki, my brother is looking for you!"
"Did everyone lose a limb?"
Nobara prayed that Maki wasn't missing any more than a finger.
To her surprise, Todo wasn't helpful either.
Weeks passed without seeing Maki and Nobara was obviously worried. She had stopped by Maki's dorm a million times, but Maki was either out or had the door locked. Had it been anyone else, Nobara would have kicked the door down and demanded to know why she was being avoided, but it wasn't anyone else, it was Maki, and if she wanted privacy that's what Nobara would give her. But that also didn't mean that Nobara wasn't going to constantly glance around, hoping she'd catch a glance of Maki's gorgeous long black hair.
Was her hair still long, or did she lose that too? How was Nobara supposed to find her if she didn't even know what to look for? People said that Maki was a lot more… sensitive about her appearance now, only giving Nobara vague details that pulled the conclusion that Maki was somehow horribly deformed, to ugly to even talk about. Nobara thought about it late at night, "Is Maki really so ugly now that she thinks even I would shun her?" Maki, of all people had to know that Nobara would recognize her by her kind eyes and fed-up voice alone.
Maki, of all people, had to know that Nobara wouldn't care what she looked like.
Nobara could only stand the weeks without Maki because she was out like a nightlight, but now that she was awake every moment she was without her felt like an hour. Yuji and Megumi were tired of her randomly announcing how much she missed her.
It started to hurt a little bit that Maki had even resorted to skipping meals just so that her and Nobara wouldn't interact. The girl she liked starving herself just because she didn't want to see her was just a tad bit devastating.
Nobara knew Maki's schedule by heart, so she started getting lunch for Maki and leaving it outside of Maki's door when she knew she would be inside. Sometimes she'd slip a note under the door with it, maybe a napkin stained by her lipstick with "I miss you" written in perfect loops, or a full letter telling her about her day.
The main comfort that Nobara had was knowing that Maki wasn't going to keep it up forever. She'd either cave or Nobara would find her. That's what she thought until another week passed and she started to wonder whether Maki had dug secret tunnels underneath the school strictly to hide from Nobara.
On a particular rough night, Nobara walked across the hall and sat outside Maki's room. Maki was just across that wooden slab, probably sleeping peacefully while Nobara leaned her head against the hinges and held herself back from climbing in through the window. Then there was some shuffling from the other side of the door. Maybe Maki's using her secret tunnels. Nobara thought.
Then, "Nobara, I know you're out there."
Nobara couldn't help a tear slipping out. It had been a proper while since she had heard that beautiful, dry voice. "I miss you." There was a pregnant pause before Nobara continued. "I don't care what you look like, you know. I'm friends with Yuji, after all."
Maki's chuckle was muffled, but it was still Maki's chuckle. Nobara could picture her small smirk and crinkled eyes.
"I don't want to pressure you or anything, I— I'd love to see you." Nobara's voice was quieter now.
She could hear Maki draw a breath in.
And she was, she always was. It was Maki, how could she not be stunning? Her hair was short now, and it hung over her face like it was hiding the dark scars that lashed from her eyes to her arms. They reminded her of tiger stripes, framing her dark eyes. Even scarred and "ugly", most of the people Nobara knew would kill to look like Maki.
"Don't get ahead of yourself—" Maki mumbled quietly, but Nobara couldn't hold back anymore, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"Nothings changed, Maki. I still love you."
Maki glanced away. "Don't tease me, I—"
"No, really, I really love you. I'd want to be with you no matter how you looked. I want to be with you. I never want to be apart from you." Nobara ran her fingers over Maki's lips, dry, and so, so, so, tempting. "Just give me the go ahead."
Their lips pressed against each other and their bodies soon closed the distance too. Nobara had imagined it so many times, really kissing her felt like fulfilling a prophecy. Scars were an afterthought, if they were a thought at all, because all she could think about was how right it felt, how perfect it all was. If Nobara had to lose an eye a million times for one second of this, she would.
When they pulled apart, Nobara whispered one last time, "You're beautiful."