Work Text:
“You really think I'd look good wearing that?”
Madoka was always surprising, no matter how many times Homura would loop, Madoka would always, always surprise her in a new way. For the most part, Homura loved this about her - as she loved everything else about her, however, sometimes these surprises could and would represent problems. Homura had lots of problems as it was, if anyone knew everything she had been through, they would attest to that - so having more problems wasn’t something she was very interested in. However, this wasn’t a problem - or at least it’s technically not a problem, it’s technically a request - a request from Madoka. A request that was surprising, surprising in the sense that it made no sense to Homura.
The two girls were looking at a raspberry beret for sale. If it wasn’t for Madoka pointing it out Homura wouldn’t have even noticed it, the existence of the raspberry beret had no influence or ability to save Madoka, so it was useless. This line of reasoning was how Homura operated in her day to day life, if it couldn’t help Madoka it was useless. Madoka didn’t live her life under such ridiculous guidelines. So that probably explained why Madoka just told Homura that she would look great wearing that beret.
“But I don't wear anything else that is raspberry in colour?” Homura really didn’t understand what Madoka was getting at, there was no way she would look good wearing it. Plus she wouldn’t deserve it anyway, not yet - not until she had managed to save Madoka at least.
“Trust me Homura-chan, you’d look amazing wearing it” Madoka’s smile was perhaps the purest thing in the world, perhaps nothing else would ever compare to it. Why am I so gay? Homura thought to herself as she tried, and failed, to explain that she wouldn’t look that good with it on.
“It wouldn’t match with the rest of my outfit. And it would look far better on you anyway" Homura’s pleading would fall on deaf ears, somehow her compliment would as well. For whatever reason, Madoka wouldn’t budge on this.
“Nonesense Homura-chan, how can you say it wouldn’t look good if you haven’t even put it on yet?” While Madoka did have a point, Homura still didn’t want to budge on it, especially considering the fact that Madoka couldn’t say for certain that she would actually look good if she hadn’t worn it yet. Homura would try to point this out to Madoka but she wouldn’t listen.
“Try it on then Homura-chan, that way you will prove one of us right” Madoka smiled at her friend, hoping that she would listen to her pleading. Her heart beating fast as she tried, and objectively failed, to flirt with the long haired, mysterious girl she had only met a few weeks ago. Madoka didn’t really know how it felt to have a crush, but she seemed pretty sure that she was developing one, for whatever reason, Homura was able to conquer her heart every time she spoke to her, for whatever reason, Homura was able to make her heart flutter in ways she had never experienced before, for whatever reason, the girl she met in her dreams was like a dream to her - a dream she never wanted to wake up from. And for whatever reason, it seemed that Homura was oblivious to this, even when it seemed very obvious to everyone else. Somehow Hitomi of all people realised it immediately, and soon after Mami did as well, then Sayaka and her mother started to ask about it. Somehow Homura had no idea how hard Madoka was crushing on her.
“If that will make you happy then alright Madoka” Homura really wasn’t interested in continuing with this debate, but seeing how happy Madoka became as she reached for the beret made it worth it. At the very least she and Madoka would soon be able to find the other one and Sayaka, and then she could focus on restocking and maintaining her weapons once she got home. So putting the beret on would, in some sense, have a positive impact on saving Madoka - even if it was just because it would save a minute or two of time that continuing to debate would have spent. Homura knew how cruel time could be, so wasting it over arguing about a hat wasn't something she was keen on.
As she placed the raspberry beret upon her head, Madoka would light up like a housefire, or a candle. Candle is a better analogy, stupid-looking, Homura’s mind spat at her as she gazed upon her crushes adorable, and now slightly red(?), face. She really couldn't understand why Madoka’s face was now becoming red, but she wasn’t complaining about it.
“You look great with that hat on, you should buy it” was all Madoka could say before her cheeks resembled the colour of blood more than the colour of her skin. “If you are sure about that, then I'll buy it.” Homura had no intention of buying the raspberry beret, however, Madoka’s face turning red had been enough to convince her otherwise.
“There you two are” A girl with green hair that Homura couldn’t remember the name of had managed to find the two of them. Sayaka would soon show up from wherever the green haired women appeared from. Soon after, Homura would buy the hat before returning to her home. Homura would keep on wearing that hat, as long as Madoka had wanted her to, she would keep on doing so.
This timeline, like every other timeline, ended in failure. This time everything that could have gone wrong did - this is abnormal, as usually only most things would go wrong. Homura would almost find it funny how hard she had failed this time, if she wasn’t holding Madoka’s corpse she would probably be screaming her lungs out by now. Crying and laughing at her failures. Hell, this time she didn’t even beat Welpurgustnacht, somehow Madoka had died before making a contract. The only thing that she had left was that hat… where is the hat? Great, I couldn't even protect my god damn hat Homura would shrug as she reset the timeline.
She would check for it in the following one, Madoka had loved it after all, but she wouldn’t be able to find it. Somehow by the same point in the next timeline everyone but her, Madoka and Sayaka were already dead. So she didn’t really have a chance to check for it. She’d look again during the next timeline after that, which admittedly was going quite well by that point, however she still couldn’t find it. On occasion she would try searching for it at the mall whenever she was reminded of it. Homura wouldn’t ever see that raspberry beret again, at least not during the loops. Eventually she would all but forget about it, just like so many surprises that came and went depending on the Loop.
It had been a long, long time since then when Homura would see that raspberry beret again. She couldn’t tell if somehow a part of her mind had split it into her new universe, or if it was just something that naturally developed, something that would exist regardless of her influence. She really couldn’t tell, and she could barely remember the hat anyway, so it seemed unlikely that a part of her snuck it into this new world. Either way, now it seemed to be her Girlfriends new focus point of attention
Somehow, someway, Homura had let herself get close to Madoka again, part of her regretted this, a part of her would always regret what she did - what she had to do. To Homura it seemed like both herself and Madoka would never forgive her for what she did, so she simply tried to ignore the crawling fear and regret that would consume her. Madoka was the one who got her to come out of her shell, the one who got her to talk to the other, and ultimately was the one who asked Homura out. So Homura couldn’t fully blame herself for it all, she tried to, of course, but that didn’t work. Ultimately Madoka wanted to be around her, to be with her, and while Homura was more than happy to accept that, she would probably never know if she deserved to be so happy.
Madoka’s face was lit up like a candle, her smile was so bright and cute it made Homura’s heart palpitations come back. Seeing Madoka like this was one of the greatest pleasures of Homura’s life. “It’s been so long since you wore that raspberry beret Homura.” Suddenly it seemed as if the air inside the store had gone stiff and cold, there should’ve been no way for Madoka to remember that, and Madoka’s face was screaming that she didn’t mean to say that either.
“Madoka?” Homura would state, a sense of concern and confusion being more evident in her voice. “You aren’t remembering things that never happened, right? I’ve never worn a raspberry beret” Homura would try to explain, almost desperately, that Madoka must have been mistaken. Somehow Madoka’s face went from a sense of surprise to relaxation. “Of course, silly me” Madoka would reply before winking at her. Somehow Homura could tell immediately that the wink wasn’t intentional, and that Madoka probably remembered at least a little bit, which means… “Surprise homura” Madoka looked sheepish. “I… if you buy that hat again then i’ll pretend that i don’t remember” Madoka would shout in some desperate attempt not to talk about the fact that she remembered everything. Homura would consider her girlfriend's offer before Madoka spoke again. “I don’t want to forget everything Homura, i… I remember everything you did for me and… I don't want to forget it, so please…” Madoka was now nuzzling her girlfriend's neck, she seemed so sad and soft and Homura wanted to do nothing more than hold her tight and tell her everything will be ok. “I don’t want to forget how cute you look with it on.” Madoka would say as she pulled Homura closer to her “You really think i look that good wearing it?’’ Homura would ask, knowing the answer.
It seems that even now Madoka finds new ways to surprise me. Homura thought as she wore her new raspberry beret, remembering girlfriend in hand.