Flipping the Script

"Aw, come on! You've got to be fucking shitting me!" Ranko growled, throwing the paperback book to the bed beside her in disgust.

Akane laughed, picking Ziggy up off the bed and sitting the enormous pink teddy bear in the chair facing the study desk in the corner before taking his place on the bed beside her wife. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

Ranko turned to her wife, an apoplectic frenzy in her eyes. "Akane, are you kidding me? First off, I'm gonna have to wear the stupid ballerina dress and do the dance thing, which is everything I was trying to get out of in the first place. Like, if I wanted to do that, I could've just done the recital with Ms. Kanzawa. But now, I have to do all that, plus I have to…" She looked down in shame, curling up around the stuffed unicorn that lay hammocked in the skirt of her red school pinafore. She sighed as Akane pulled her into a hug, snuggling her cheek into Akane's shoulder. How the hell am I gonna survive without her arms for weeks at a time?

"I know, love. There's kissing." Akane rocked her lover in her arms. "You'll be alright. I know it's gonna be hard for you, but it's an act. I know you don't mean anything by it. It's not like you're cheating on me or anything. Actors do it all the time. Even gay ones."

"But…" Ranko sighed, burrowing tighter against Akane's torso. "I don't want to pretend to… with a boy! Couldn't I just, like, put some tape on his face or something so I don't have to touch him?"

Akane giggled. "Don't be silly, Ranko. How's he supposed to sing with his mouth taped shut?"

"His problem, not mine." Ranko sighed. "Everything we did with the Sneak video was to avoid having to do shit like this! They shouldn't be allowed to make me do this to graduate. Like, it should be illegal or something."

Akane sighed, squeezing her wife tightly in her arms as she looked at the pink tasseled bookmark protruding halfway through the paperback script with a bit of a wince. I'll just let her discover for herself that there's a kiss with the Phantom too, in the second act. "I know, princess. Unfortunately, Aki can't get you out of it this time, since it's a school performance. It's not fair that they just thrust you into the lead like that, but can you blame them, really? I mean, what would they say about your director if she had a superstar in the cast and told her to sit quietly in the back?"

Ranko grumbled, crossing her arms over her breasts with a pouting expression on her lips. "Sometimes I don't wanna be a superstar. Sometimes I miss when nobody knew me, and I could be anonymous and just fade into the woodwork." She exhaled heavily, realizing her words hadn't just been about the school musical.

Ranko's wife kissed the top of her head gently through her flame-red hair. "No you don't. You don't mean that. Not really. Those were hard times for you. You were born to be a star, my love, strange though the path you took to get there might have been. This is the right life for you, even when it gets a little bit hard. But I promise you, you can do this. The musical, the tour, all of it. You're the strongest person I've ever met, Ranko. You can do anything."

Ranko whined pathetically, pulling her knees in tighter around Starlight's back. "I don't wanna be strong any more, Akane. People sayin' I am just feels like they're trying to say suck it up in a nicer way."

"I mean," Akane said, stroking her beloved's hair gently as Ranko slid down her body and rested her head in her wife's lap. "They are, kinda. But they're also saying that they believe in you, and that they know there's nothing you can't handle. I know I believe in you. I'll be right there for you every step of the way, flower girl. I promise."

"No. You won't."

Akane slumped back against the headboard, rolling her eyes. "Is this about me not coming on the tour again?" The redhead nodded silently, the rough texture of Akane's blue denim jeans prickling her Cat's Tongue-addled cheek. "Baby, we talked about this. I just can't. It's not that I don't want to. I just have responsibilities here. School, and looking after your family while you're gone." She slid her arm under Ranko's slight frame, effortlessly lifting her into her lap and cradling her in her arms.

Ranko burrowed tighter against her wife's chest, shivering slightly in her wife's embrace. Nothing made her feel as small and vulnerable as she did when Akane picked her up. Most days, she didn't hate the sensation at all, but at the moment, it only served to underscore how entirely unprepared she felt to face the world without her family and the love of her life by her side.

"You're my family, Akane. I need you."

With a nod, Akane brought two of her fingers under Ranko's chin, lifting the sniffling girl's chin to force her to make eye contact. "Yes, I am. And I love you, Ranko. I promise, you're gonna be okay. Crash and the boys will look out for you."

Akane sighed. Oh, gods. I know what this is.

She squeezed her wife tight, curling her leg around the smaller girl's back to make her feel as enveloped as possible. "I want you to listen to me, Ranko Tendo. You will never, ever have to be alone again in your life. Never. Do you understand me? I can only imagine how it must have felt for you, before the Phoenix, but this isn't that. Not at all. You may not be at home, Ranko, but it doesn't mean you don't have one."

Akane reached down for her wife's left hand, lifting it into Ranko's view and fidgeting with the custom-engraved silver band around her third finger. "This isn't just there to tell everybody else you're taken, you know. It's to remind you that I am with you wherever you are, wherever you go. My heart is in your pocket every second of your life, Ranko. Even when I'm not standing there. Even if I'm a phone call away, or a continent away."

She slid her hand further down Ranko's arm, to the silver dragon that slumbered as ever, a silent guardian coiled around the musician's slender wrist. "Likewise, this is there to remind you that Yui and your mom and all your sisters are with you, too. They love you, and nobody's gonna forget you or move on from you while you're out there showing the world what an amazing talent you are. You always have a home in our hearts, Ranko. Always. You will always have a place to belong, and a place to come back to. I promise."

Akane softly swept Ranko's hair from her face with the backs of her fingers, using her fingertips to gently brush a tear away from her welling blue eye. "Now, come on. Where's my brave, beautiful girl?"

Ranko dove forward again, crashing into Akane's torso and squeezing her tight about the ribs. "In your arms, where she belongs," she said through a hollow sniffle. "Where she feels safe."

Akane sighed, holding her quivering wife tight against herself. "You're safe, Ranko. You're gonna be fine, I promise. Besides," she said with a chuckle, "Crash knows I'll kill him if he lets anything happen to you."

"Oh, believe me," Ranko said, sitting up and managing a slight smile at Akane's jest. "He's already told me how worried he is about trying to keep me out of trouble."

"It's a big job! He should be!" Akane hugged her tight again, laughing merrily with her lover. "My little hellion, out there taking on the world. They're not ready for you, beautiful."

The redhead sniffled, pulling herself out of the hug after a moment and wiping her nose on the back of her right wrist. "Well, they better get ready, 'cause I'm comin'." She did her best to put on a brave face, even though she wasn't entirely sure she was convincing herself, let alone Akane.

Ruffling her partner's red hair between her pigtails, Akane smiled brightly. "That's the spirit!"

Ever so gently, Akane lifted Ranko out of her lap, laying her softly on her back beside her on the bed. She reached forward with her left leg, hooking the paperback book on the corner of the bed with her foot and pulling it into arm's reach before leaning forward with a grunt of effort to grab it.

"Whatcha doin'," Ranko asked, looking curiously up at her wife.

"Well, I owe you, I think. I really feel bad. I've been so busy, I haven't had much chance to help you with your homework lately." Akane bit her lip, smickering coyly down at her lover. "But I'm gonna make it up to you right now."

Ranko shrugged, tossing Starlight behind her head to serve as a pillow. "I don't have any homework tonight, Akane. I already told you."

Akane tapped the cover of the script in her hand for emphasis before tossing it over Ranko's shoulder to the nightstand behind her, smiling lovingly down at her. She swept her hand across Ranko's cheek, brushing her white-ribboned pigtail off of it onto the mattress below. "Yes, you do, silly girl. Now, get your cute little ass over here, girl, and let's work on rehearsing that kiss."