#nepnowa

   Behind her, Neptune picked at her clothes, both wanting to comfort herself and avoid making Noire turn around. She knew her cleaning skills weren't great, but she really did plan to tidy up! Just maybe later that night. Or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe the weekend. She hadn't expected Noire to show up out of nowhere in the middle of the week to visit her! Speaking of, she wasn't exactly sure why Noire had shown up in the first place — she did already tell her she was sick after all, and Noire rarely came by willingly even when she wasn't. At first, she thought it was Compa at the door and went for a dive hug. Yeah, that was pretty embarassing... Neptune cleared her throat.

  "H-hey Noire, I'm happy you came to visit me and all that, but maybe we shouldn't be in my room. I can go and grab you a snack if you want? Oh, but the pudding's mine! I'm almost out of the stuff Compa made so... haha..."

  Noire remained silent.

  "Um, Noire? Are you okay? If you really want some pudding, I guess I can share a bite with you... Would that work?"

  Noire clicked her tongue, then spun around to face Neptune, somehow towering over her more than normal. She stared down harshly at her for several seconds, eyes darting to and from various points of Neptune's face before settling on her eyes. With a sharp inhale and a shift of her arm—it now rested on her hip—she finally opened her mouth.

  "You're sick. Your room's a total mess. You clearly haven't changed out of those clothes recently, and you've just been eating a bunch of crappy junk food."

  Noire bent down until her and Neptune's eyes were locked together. Neptune's heart, which was already beating a bit fast, began to go into overdrive, feeling Noire's obvious frustration at her. She started to shrink herself down more, but Noire leaned closer each time she moved away. It wasn't abnormal for Noire to get annoyed at her at all—if anything, it would be weirder if she didn't—but this felt different somehow. Noire was still speaking to her harshly and criticizing her, yes, but her voice was quieter than she was used to and their bodies were closer than they ever had been.  Something was definitely off, but she couldn't tell what or why. Was this what Noire is like when she's really angry?!

  Neptune's internal rambling came to a halt when Noire suddenly backed away. Neptune looked up, and her eyes widened in surprised, as instead of seeing a cold glare like normal, she instead saw a cute pout and tender-looking eyes. Noire moved to the nearest trash pile and started grabbing wrappers like a claw machine.

  "It's no wonder you're sick if this is how poorly you take care of yourself. You know how worried Compa is about you, right? She didn't even pay attention at all our last tutoring session. If she saw what a mess your room is, she would totally freak out. So, just... go and take a shower. I'll get started on cleaning."

  Neptune blinked for a few seconds, stuck in place. It's not that she couldn't imagine Noire being nice to someone or anything, but to this extent? Towards her of all people? Her heart pounded in her chest at the newfound affection being aimed at her. A part of her wanted to tease her, call her a tsundere and all that, but her poor health and tiredness made her bite her tongue for once. At last, she scurried over to the bathroom for a much needed shower.

*

About ten minutes later, a certain purple-haired head poked out of the bathroom door, steam rushing out with it. Noire hadn't noticed yet, too busy tidying up as best she could. Neptune cleared her throat.

"Hey, Noire?"

"What?" The other turned her head to the side. It wasn't long before her annoyed expression morphed into one of total panic and embarassment, her face rapidly flushing various shades of pink.

Purple x Black: Bickering lesbian CPU goddesses who really love each other! If there's a ship to represent the virtual magical girls of HyperDimension Neptunia in the tournament, I'd want it to be them!