Manon X Nesta - Blog Posts

Karaoke Night

AO3 | Nesta Week 2025 Masterpost |

@nestaarcheronweek

Prompt: Day Seven - Free Day (Any topic of your choosing!)

A/N: This is my first time writing for Manon, so please forgive any mischaracterisations!

Word Count: 1644

“Babe, I’m home!” Her girlfriend’s voice echoed through the entrance lobby, and she heard a muffled curse follow the greeting. Chuckling, she made her way downstairs to see an irritated Manon rubbing her ankle and frowning at the piece of furniture she currently held a vendetta against.

Eternally clumsy and forever bumping into things, it seemed that today, she’d managed to trip over the shoe rack. “That damned thing always gets in my way,” she grumbled. Nesta couldn’t help the the slight upward tug of her lips at her girlfriend’s adorable expression.

“I’d think you get in the way of that poor shoe rack, seeing as you manage to stumble over it every single day.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nesta said, barely containing a laugh at her girlfriend’s indignant protests. “Whine about the shoe rack later. Dinner’s ready.”

That one sentence sobered Manon up immediately. She took off her long, tan overcoat, and popped her black boots off. Her dark nails glinting in the overhead light as she tucked a strand over silver hair behind her ear. “Ooo, what’d you make?”

“Pasta,” Nesta answered over a shoulder as they began making their way to the kitchen.

Piling a generous amount of her girlfriend’s favourite pasta onto her plate (lemon, chicken, cream, prosciutto, and arugula) and then serving herself, they sat down. Conversation resumed as easily as it had begun; talk about each of their days punctuating the room. 

“I swear, I hate him so much,” Manon grumbled, aggressively stabbing at a piece of chicken. “He always thinks he’s so much better than everyone else just because he’s worked here for a few years longer than I have.”

Manon worked as an optometrist, offering patients routine check-ups to see whether they needed any changes made to their eyesight, among other things. The more serious parts of her job involved examining them for eye diseases and other health conditions. It was enjoyable enough, not to mention the pay was more than decent, though not necessarily a profession she wanted to spend her entire life doing.

Nesta was the opposite. She’d known from a young age that she’d need to pick a stable job that would get her money, if only to support her ailing father (never mind that he’d been negligent at best and an outright horror at worst) and her two younger sisters. Through sheer dedication, hard work, and many years at university, she was now a successful lawyer well on her way to starting her own firm. 

She’d always been told she had a sharp tongue and an even sharper mind, so she’d found a good use for both of them. It didn’t hurt that she was rolling in money, either.

“Is he really that bad?” Nesta asked gently. “He’s irritating, sure, from what you’ve told me, but…don’t waste any more energy on him. He’s not worth it.” She stroked a light hand over her partner’s exposed wrist, and Manon calmed immediately. It was a small touch; grounding, and yet all she’d needed.

Manon’s boss, an older, stricter, and far crankier person than her previous mentor, was getting on her nerves. Micromanaging her and acting as if he knew so much better than Manon were only a few of the complaints Nesta had to hear about on the daily.

“Fine.” Manon rolled her eyes, and took another bite of the food. “Oh, by the way, love the pasta. How do you get it so creamy?”

Nesta only grinned. “A magician never reveals her secrets.”

“Not even to her extremely hot and seductive girlfriend?”

“Seductive?” Nesta questioned, quirking a brow in mock challenge. “That’s not quite how I remember you being last week when we slept together. I wasn’t the one begging to cum.”

“I think you might need a reminder of just how seductive I can be.” Manon’s golden eyes had darkened, turning hazel more than anything, and a light blush had crept over her cheeks at Nesta’s casual comment.

“How about we finish dinner first? Then you can show me all of this supposed skill.”

“Supposed skill?” It was always so easy to rile her up Nesta couldn’t help but chuckle.

And so their banter continued. Teasing remarks, the occassional joke, and laughter filled the room, until Nesta’s eyes drifted to the clock on the microwave. “Manon, it’s eight already.”

Yawning, the silver-haired woman got up. “I’ll get to the dishes.” 

It was a rule they’d established quite early on that whoever made dinner didn’t have to do the dishes.

“Do them later.” Nesta got up too, plopping her plate and cutlery into the sink, and collapsed onto the couch. Her limbs sprawled out in all directions, and Manon knew she was only doing it to be dramatic.

“Nesta-”

“Come on,” she whined, drawing out the last syllable in a pathetic attempt to drag her girlfriend to the sofa with her. “It’s Friday night. Live a little.” Her voice was muffled, seeing as she’d squashed her face into the sofa cushions, but Manon found it oddly…endearing.

“It’s ironic that you’re the one saying this,” Manon muttered under her breath. Indeed, she was usually the one that had to coax Nesta to take a break, but it seemed that today, Nesta was having her way. “What do you want to do, anyway?”

Nesta made a show of putting a finger on her chin and tilting her head. “Mmm,” she said. “How about…karaoke?” Without waiting for an answer, she got up and made her way to the TV cabinet. 

Manon couldn’t help the laugh that broke out of her then. “No way in hell am I singing to some 2010s Britney Spears song that’ll make me lose my voice.”

Nesta frowned. “Britnery Spears isn’t all that bad. Besides, when was the last time we did something like this together?”

“Nesta, there’s a reason I don’t sing.” At Nesta’s quizzical look, she clarified. “Everyone within a five-kilometre radius will go deaf if I do.”

She merely scoffed. “Nonsense. You’re singing and that’s final.”

“What do I get if I do sing?” Manon would be damned if she didn’t let this go without a scuffle. She didn’t hide the way her eyes roved over Nesta’s body and the tank top and shorts that she had on. 

Nesta didn’t say a word, only approaching Manon until she had to crane her neck to look at her girlfriend. If she moved forward ever so slightly, she’d brush thighs with Nesta. She didn’t, instead choosing to wait for her to break the creeping tension now building.

“I’ll let you do whatever you want to me tonight if you sing with me.” Her voice came out breathless, perhaps the only indication that Nesta was as excited for this as she was.

“Whatever I want? Don’t you think that’s a steep deal?” Manon only barely managed to keep her voice from betraying what it was she was thinking (specifically, how badly she wanted to bend her girlfriend over the sofa and fuck her senseless.)

“No.”

“Really? I would have expected something more…concrete, coming from a lawyer.”

“This isn’t working, and I know I don’t need to be specific with you.” A small pout had overtaken Nesta’s face, and dammnit if Manon didn’t give in.

“Fine. One song.” Nesta’s expression changed almost immediately, lighting up with joy as she settled in beside her.

“Since you agreed, you pick.”

Ten minutes, multiple hurled insults, and at least five tossed pillows later, they decided on a song. Well, Manon had. Nesta, it seemed, was still hesitant.

“Do you have to pick songs that so depressing? Like, are you doing this on purpose or something?” She asked, frowning at the TV screen as if it had personally wronged her.

“It’s Lana Del Rey! How is she depressing?”

“How isn’t she depressing? That’s literally all she writes about.” Manon rolled her eyes. They really weren’t getting anywhere with this. 

“Okay. You know what? We’re spinning a wheel. If neither of us can decide, we’ll just randomise it.” Despite Nesta’s protests and her half-hearted attempts to snatch Manon’s phone right out of her hand, she spun the wheel.

“See?” Manon exclaimed indignantly once it had stopped spinning. “It landed on Lana Del Rey.”

“You cheated,” Nesta huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “But fine. Miss Depressed Del Rey it is.” 

Manon took the remote from her, and browsed songs until she found her favourite. “Ready?”

✦ ✦ ✦

A drunken giggle passed from Nesta’s lips as she lay sprawled on the sofa. She’d long since given up on karaoke because she’d been laughing too hard. She couldn’t even remembered why she was laughing, only that it was silly, and that she was incandescently happy.

Manon, to her credit, hadn’t stopped once; not to get a drink of water, or even the bathroom. Of course, that didn’t mean she was any less drunk, but at least she was standing.

“All the grace, all that body

All that face makes me wanna party”

Her raucous voice filled the living room, and though it was ridiculously off-key, it was the most fun she’d had in a while.

It only made Nesta laugh even harder, and she doubled over as she lay shaking on the sofa.

The song ended, and she shrieked as Manon grabbed her around the waist. “You promised me you wouldn’t laugh.”

“I wasn’t laughing at you,” she managed between wheezes.

“Oh yeah?”

“I swear!”

“How about I do whatever I want to you and we can see if you were lying?” Manon’s taunting threat caused a delightful heat to spread between Nesta’s legs. 

“It depends. What will you do to me?” She asked, puffing out a breath.

Nesta yelped again as Manon hurled her over a shoulder and began making their way to the bedroom. 

“So eager tonight, hm? Let me show you.”

A/N: Thank you to my best friend for giving me the idea of a karaoke night!