[Polychromatic] we remember moments (Clef/Presea)

[storypaint]

Title: we remember moments
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth/Polychromatic
Length: 905 words
Prompt: so saddle up the horses and tighten up the reins for chibidl's birthdayfic
Pairing: Clef/Presea established; Umi and Presea gen
Other: Set in the polychromatic school AU verse.

Excerpt: Eventually Umi decided that a president was supposed to be merciful, after all, and possibly the reason for this mercy was her desire to dress Presea up in something sparkly.

It took... well, a few months after the election before everything settled down and returned to normalcy. There was the matter of Presea beating up Umi's boyfriend for reasons that turned out to be quite unfortunately false, for one thing (she'd apologized for ages but didn't think he'd ever stop flinching, just a little, when he saw her). And then there was the election itself, which was a serious disappointment to Clef, who'd tried so hard. At least Umi seemed to be taking her responsibilities seriously, but she and Clef were so often at loggerheads that it became a favorite joke of the two hopeful newscasters on the school's morning announcements ("This news was met with as much enthusiasm as President Umi had for Vice President Clef's last proposal").

So Presea comforting Clef in his annoyance was often necessary, and it took quite a while before Umi would allow that maybe Presea hadn't hurt her boyfriend as a demented kind of campaign tactic, but eventually she decided that a president was supposed to be merciful, after all, and possibly the reason for this mercy was her desire to dress Presea up in something sparkly.

"It's just Homecoming!" she protested as Umi picked up one brightly colored dress and then another, humming all the while.

"Just Homecoming?!" Umi gasped, nearly dropping a hanger (Presea wouldn't have minded; she was pretty sure that teal wasn't her color). She shook out her long hair, shifted the stack of dresses to her other arm, and rested a hand on her hip so she could gesture with the other.

"It's your very last Homecoming! It's your final chance to make everyone jealous of the Vice President on your arm! And a great excuse to dress up and look beautiful!"

"There's still prom!" Presea protested, and then winced inwardly; they'd already been in three department stores this morning and she was sure Umi would be twice as worse when it came around to prom. Sure enough, Umi's eyes lit up in a fierce, determined way that made Presea cringe a little. (She understood passion probably more than anyone, but saved hers for righteous anger, track, and Clef, and wasn't sure how to react to Umi's love for girliness.)

"Of course! Prom is an excuse to outdo Homecoming! But that doesn't mean we can't bring a lot to the table first! And--" Umi grinned and nudged Presea, "You want to impress Clef, don't you?"

Clef liked her whether she was wearing a skirt or a tracksuit; they'd been friends since she was three feet tall with scabby knees. Admittedly, the romantic component was still heart-poundingly new, but she didn't think a frilly dress was going to knock him off his feet. Unless it was in shock.

Umi seemed to take her hesitation as agreement, grabbing yet another dress from the rack and then herding Presea into a dressing room. She rejected the first two gowns with hardly a glance, hesitated over the third, and stared at the fourth.

Presea looked down, picked up the hem (respectably knee-length, for once), and twirled it. She couldn't help but smile.

"This is the one," she said firmly.

"I may make a shopper of you yet," Umi answered, pleased.

Of course, that couldn't be the end of it. Then there were shoes (luckily, she talked Umi out of heels), and jewelry, and makeup. Umi was trying to talk her into a haircut when they ran into Fuu and Hikaru, dress bags dressed over their own arms, and Presea used the distraction to escape. She was fond of her long blonde hair just as it was.

She was thankful, though, for Umi's pickyness, when she opened the door for Clef on Homecoming night and he stared, eyes wide, for a full minute.

"You look wonderful," he managed. She leaned down and kissed his cheek, fastening an orange daisy to his buttonhole to match her dress.

"Something to thank Umi for," she said, trying to keep her voice neutral, but she had to giggle when he groaned and mumbled something about Umi calling all the shots everywhere. She leaned down to kiss him again, lingering a little longer, enough to make her wonder if she'd messed up the lipstick Sierra had carefully helped her apply. (Her sister had taken off an hour earlier to eat dinner with Camry and their latest beaus, but she'd helped Presea out beforehand; she was the twin who bothered with makeup regularly.)

"Shall we?" he said, offering her his hand. She took it and squeezed. Off they went to their final Homecoming dance, another in a series of endings to their high school career. She didn't know if (she hoped, though) they would still be together when prom rolled around, or what would happen after graduation. Maybe one day the two of them would be doing this again for a political fundraiser (Clef dreamed higher than class president, and she supported that) or an art show (because she'd already fallen in love with metalwork sculpting). The future was full of maybe's.

But this evening was theirs, and they intended to spend it well. The night air was comfortably cool on Presea's neck, and she grinned so widely it almost hurt.

Umi was right: she did feel like a princess. But it was much more because of her companion than her dress.