Disclaimer and such:

I do not own any of the characters or anything related to the Toaru series. Really. I don't.

"Th.. Th… Th… Ank…"

This was ridiculous. Here she was, 3rd strongest esper in the city. Strongest electromaster. Defeater of countless enemies. Ace of Tokiwadai, And right now she was reduced to a stuttering mess. A stuttering, blushing mess. And to add insult to injury, in front of this idiot.

"Ants?"

Why can't you take me seriously for once?! Mikoto fumed inwardly. Here I am with a bag full of these stupid cookies I baked for you, and you can't even be bothered to pay attention. If Kuroko were the one-

She paused in her thoughts. Why did she just think of Kuroko? Here she was, in front of the guy who she had been fretting about all week, for whom she had to sneak out to Saten's house to bake cookies, who infuriated her and intrigued her all at once, and all her thoughts were now completely preoccupied with a certain pink-haired teleporter. She straightened up, raising her gaze from the mostly uninteresting ground as Touma finished rambling on about something about school projects and began walking away. These were thoughts she had no time to think about right now. All she knew was, she did not particularly feel like giving away any cookies today.

"Misaka Mikoto." she said suddenly. "That's my name. it's not Biribiri. The least you could do is remember my name."

Touma paused before smiling back at her. "See you around, Misaka."

Mikoto felt her cheeks redden slightly hearing him say her name, but oddly enough, it was not the same incapacitating embarrassment flooding through her system as always. Her heart wasn't even racing away at 200 beats per minute like it usually did- a small, pleasant achievement. She let him walk away for once, not bothering to run after him as she contemplated the sudden change in her physiological response.

Or she would have contemplated before Kuroko appeared in front of her. Suddenly, the girl who had quite rudely barged into her mind during her would-be-cookie-presentation was very suddenly in front of her. Mikoto's eyes locked instantaneously with the younger girl's and she felt the all too familiar rapid pick up of her heart beat and the rising temperature in her face. The very same one she had just succeeded finished congratulating her overcoming of.

"Bad news, Onee-sa-" Kuroko's frantic shouting was very suddenly halted and very focussed on the incredibly deep blush staining the Level 5's face now contorted in some spectrum of embarrassment. "What's wrong Onee-sama? Are you sick? Are you hurt somewhere? Did you eat something strange?"

Mikoto snapped out of her intense stare, willing the redness in her face to subside in utter futility before Kuroko could further question it. "Wh-what are you talking about? Anyway what's the bad news?" she probed, frantic to move the conversation away from her current facial predicament.

Kuroko seemed to take the bait. "Oh right. The dorm supervisor got word of your unauthorised excursions. She demands you provide an acceptable explanation."

"Oh crap. I need to come up with an excuse…" the older girl sighed, pondering her fate of what could very possibly be worse than death. "Wait, you came all the way out here just to tell me that? Thanks. But how'd you know I was here?"

Kuroko grinned nervously. "I… Have my means. Where you go, I will go." She would have continued flustering if she had not noticed the rapidly deepening blush on the taller girl's face, and her pretty intense stare. All that adorning an expression that was completely alien to Kuroko. "But are you really feeling okay? If something were to happen to you, I couldn't pos-"

She was silenced by a gentle hand paused on her lips for a fleeting moment as Mikoto walked past her, determined to remove herself from what was quickly revealing itself to be a losing battle against her emotions.

"Sheesh. If you keep acting all weird, I'll leave you behind!"

Kuroko stood by herself on the bridge for a moment, processing what had just transpired.

"It's just that… You made a face I'd never seen before…"

oOoOoOoOo

Mikoto sipped at her tea quietly, poking at her breakfast with a languid sort of vengeance. The dining hall was mercifully empty, leaving her alone with her thoughts for brunch. Kuroko had caught her completely off guard the other day on the bridge, and the electromaster was feeling extremely annoyed at how powerless and utterly lost she had felt. Not to mention how absolutely terrified she was that Kuroko might clue in to her sudden emotional turmoil given how plainly she had displayed it on her face.

And the things she would do if she found out… Mikoto silently fumed, feeling a vein twitch somewhere in her temple as she felt the familiar bubble of rage begin its slow ascension to her face.

But now that she thought about it, why was she angry at Kuroko all the time? It did feel oddly comforting being around her small roommate. And to be quite honest, she had not particularly enjoyed the last few weeks of sneaking out at night, spending less time with her friends and the tiny teleporter. Despite her unwillingness to admit to it, she was almost beginning to miss the daily glomps. Though now that she was finally back and all that business with her sisters was finally over, Kuroko seemed more distant than before. Sure, the endless proclamations of love still speckled her day, but the teleporter seemed a whole lot less clingy, and the electromaster was quite frankly starting to miss the excessive body contact, if only by just a bit.

Mikoto's eyes widened at the small possibility of a pretty new revelation. And just accepting the possibility of this new revelation instantaneously relieved all this built up tension and frustration she did not even know she had in her. Maybe the sudden racing of her heart was not all anger. Maybe she didn't have to go through everything alone.

Maybe what the ache in her chest now was trying to tell her was that really, deep down inside, she actually lo-

"Are you slacking off again, Misaka?"

Mikoto snapped out of her reverie, somewhat thankful for the interruption. Her thoughts were heading down a path she was not entirely ready to take. "Why do you have to make it sound like I'm always slacking off? I have nothing to do until later, so i'm just killing time."

Tsuchimikado Maika dutifully replenished the tea, casting a sidewards glance towards the untouched food on the plate. "You haven't eaten in the dorm lately. What were you up to?"

"I was busy with a few things."

"Shirai was eating all alone here."

"Yeah." Mikoto answered, taking a bite out of her breakfast before adding pensively "I know."

"She also stayed up a lot waiting for you."

"I know."

"She cares a lot about you."

"I know."

"You should really tell her how you feel."

"I kno- EH?" Mikoto spluttered indignantly, spraying the table with light specks of half chewed breakfast. She frantically looked around the room, half relieved that no one was there to hear what Maika had just said.

"Misaka, it's no secret you know."

"What is not a secret?"

"That you're in love with Shi-"

"SHUT UP!" Mikoto yelled, her normal defence of loud and abrasive outbursts kicking in before she could hold it back. "I.. I mean… Don't say things like that. I don't… We don't…"

Maika shrugged. "Well whatever you say Misaka. But don't keep her in suspense for too long."

Misaka was left staring at her half eaten breakfast in silence as the student maid turned quietly on her heel and left the otherwise empty dining hall, leaving a very confused electromaster and her very tumultuous thoughts.