Rikku squints while regarding her reflection. The mirror is held up with what appears to be copious amounts of ductape, courtesy of her dorm's strict no-nails-in-the-wall policy. She poses this way and that, making faces and tugging the hem of her sweater down all the while. It's two sizes too large and makes her feel like she's drowning in soft, comfy cashmere.

She'd put off unpacking her fall clothing for weeks now. The weather had been growing conspicuously colder as the days wore on, and Rikku had no choice but to face the inevitable.

Fall had arrived. Time to put on some pants.

Well. Pants being a relative term, of course. Rikku finally nods in approval, clicking the heels of her boots together and admiring the chocobo patterns on her leggings. She'd had to order them offline special, and had mostly done it to prove a point to Yuna that yes, they had to exist somewhere. But they were stretchy, and they were comfy, and they were the closest thing to not-pants she could wear this time of year without freezing her skinny little tush off.

She notices her phone lighting up as she slings her messenger bag over her shoulder, and digs it out. Bubbles fly across the screen as she swipes to the side and sees a new text from her cousin.

working late tonight :(

Rikku smiles and heads out into the hall. Her thumbs flutter across her phone, sending a message back before she even reaches the stairs.

srry for you :) want company?

She had planned to stop by the little deli just off of campus for dinner, but the cafe was only a little bit farther away. It's a Friday night, and Rikku wonders if Auron will be there. She tries to brush the thought away, telling herself it doesn't matter, but it sticks in her head, stubborn and insistent. Just like him.

They'd never run into each other when she wasn't on the clock. Rikku can't help but wonder if he even goes anywhere besides her little coffee shop. Maybe he's just some caffeine addicted hermit who only crawls out of his cave every few days to take advantage of their free refill policy.

Yes, she thinks as she steps out into the fading autumn light. That's definitely it.

Yuna texts her back saying that of course she doesn't have to feel obligated to come, but her company would be greatly appreciated. At least, that's what Rikku interprets the little :-) face to mean. She sucks in a lung full of air and pulls her sweater more tightly against her frame. Leaves crunch and crackle beneath her feet as she walks. Rikku wonders if it's unseemly to enjoy the sound as much as she does. She decides she doesn't care either way, and makes sure to stomp extra hard the next time her foot comes down.

Rikku arrives at the coffee shop ten minutes later, entering with a flourish as the bell chimes overhead.

"Waitress!" She cries, one arm outstretched towards her cousin. "I require...muffins!"

Half the shop turns to stare at her. Rikku's stomach does a weird sort of flip flop when she notices that Auron is one of them. She shoots him a grin and gives a cheerful little wave, biting back the twinge of uncertainty with a bubbliness that would have seemed forced on anybody else.

She turns back to Yuna, who is still chuckling over her cousin's exaggerated entrance.

"Do you actually want muffins, or do I have to break out the serving utensils?" The brunette teases as she approaches the register.

Rikku grins good naturedly and leans against the counter. "I meant what I said! Gimme two of your most chocolatiest chocolaty muffins. How's your shift going?"

Yuna rings her up while replying. "Not too bad," she admits. "It's been steady enough. Are you really going to eat two muffins?"

Rikku sticks her tongue out. "Don't you judge me, Yunie."

She hangs around the register and chats with her cousin for another couple of minutes, reluctantly backing away when actual customers approach the counter. She gives Yuna a little half wave before turning around and making her way towards the seats.

Auron had long since funneled his attention back to his laptop after her initial outburst. Rikku sits down in the seat across from him without any sort of introduction and pushes one of the muffins towards him.

"I come bearing subsistence, oh grumpy one."

The corner of his lip twitches upwards just the slightest bit. At least, she thinks it does.

He regards the chocolate lump of muffiny goodness with suspicion. Rikku huffs and takes a bite of her own, relishing the taste. "I don't know what they were teaching in health classes back in the stone age, but you can't actually live off of caffeine alone."

"I need sugar as well, do I?" he shoots back, but accepts her offering without much of a fight.

"Yup!" The blonde chirps back. She leans back in her seat and makes herself at home. "Otherwise you'll never get any writing done."

Auron quirks an eyebrow at the younger woman. "I love how you think my lack of sugar intake is what keeps me from getting any writing done."

Rikku refuses to take the bait. He's in a good mood, apparently (she hadn't known that good moods and Auron were things that could coexist) and doesn't want to ruin it.

"I'll be good," she says while batting her eyes. "Won't be distractin' at all! Promise. Pinky swear, even."

He grunts, which Rikku takes as a sign that he's accepted her presence- at least temporarily. She nibbles on her muffin and watches him type. His eyes seem more intense when he's writing, and she finds herself outright staring before long. Rikku silently admonishes herself and tries to focus on other things. She takes another, bigger bite out of her muffin, and beings to sing the lyrics to a popular new pop song inside her head. She kicks her feet a little, swaying side to side with the nonexistent music.

Auron sighs. Rikku cringes, expecting the most sarcastic of barbs, but her surprises her by closing his laptop and staring at her.

"What do you want?" He asks, and Rikku is surprised to find that he seems genuinely baffled.

Good question, Grumpy, she thinks. The girl shrugs, seemingly at a loss herself. She hadn't really thought this through very well.

"I thought maybe we could...you know. Talk." He stares at her noncommittally, and Rikku adds "About stuff."

"Stuff," Auron repeats dryly.

It was a stupid answer. She knew it was stupid before she even opened her mouth, but thinking before speaking was just such an un-Rikku like thing to do, and she had a reputation to uphold.

"Yeah, stuff." Rikku says again, with a confidence she doesn't feel. "Any kind of stuff. Things you like, things you don't like, things that make you think. You know. Stuff."

Auron pauses, seeming to think. Rikku twiddles her thumbs underneath the table, desperate to work off some of the nervous energy coursing through her wiry frame. Nearly a minute passes by, and she's just about convinced herself that he's not going to speak again when he surprises her again.

"You're a student," he states more than asks. "What are you studying?"

Rikku perks up immediately, rattling off info about her in-progress degree in mechanical engineering, which soon turns into a discussion of some about what classes she's taking. While there isn't nearly as much blowing things up as she'd hoped there'd be, the classes are still interesting enough to keep her attention. She has long since finished off the remnants of her own muffin, and pulls Auron's half finished one towards her without even thinking. She asks him if he's added any monkeys to his story yet, mouth full of chocolate and more chocolate. He informs her in no uncertain terms that no, he has not, and Rikku thinks to herself that she'll need to work on that.

The sun sets without her realizing it. It's not until Auron adjusts his glasses and looks towards the window that she notices the darkness outside. She remembers belatedly that she'd come to keep Yuna company, and turns around to give her cousin an apologetic little wave. Yuna raises her eyebrows at her in a way that screams we'll-talk-about-this-later, and Rikku has no idea how she'll explain herself.

Auron begins packing up his laptop while she's busy staring. "I should get going," he tells her quietly. Rikku turns her attention back to the older man, trying to gauge whether she'd finally driven him off. She doesn't think so, but this guy was so goddamned hard to read, she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah? Alrighty then." Rikku smiles and tilts her head to the side, trying to sound cheerful in spite of her disappointment. She knows it's silly, and no matter how much she jokes about him living in the corner booth he doesn't actually sleep here, but she's sad all the same. "I'll see you next time, alright?"

Her heart skips a beat when he smiles. At least she thinks it's a smile- it flashes across his face for the span of time it takes for her chest to flutter, and then vanishes. "Next time," he replies quietly, and slings his laptop over his shoulder.

Rikku watches him leave the cafe. She lets out an audible sigh when the door closes behind him, bell tinkling lightly throughout the shop. She glances down and flicks a stray crumb off of the napkin she'd set his muffin on. Rikku looks at the door again and bites her lip.

"Hey Yunie?" She's out of her seat before she can think about it, craning her neck over the serving station. "Do you have a pen I can borrow?"

Yuna regards the other girl dubiously. "By borrow, do you mean take and never return?"

"Duh," Rikku shoots back. Her face contorts, bottom lip jutting out pleadingly. "I mean. Pleaaaase?"

Yuna sighs. She hands her a cheap dollar store pen- Rikku wasn't trusted with the nice, office quality pens- and the blonde bolts.

"You're welcome!" she can hear Yuna saying as she exits the shop.

Rikku hurriedly scribbles something down on the napkin as she glances around on the sidewalk. She sees a red clad figure nearing the end of the block, and darts off towards him. "Hey, old man!" she yells, waving one arm in the air. Auron startles and turns around, and Rikku just manages to stop herself short of crashing into him.

"What is it now?" He asks, regarding the panting girl as if she's some sort of alien species.

She holds out the napkin, beaming. "I like you!" Rikku announces, to both of them, really. Because she does. She really, really does, and maybe realizing that had taken a while, but whatever. "So you should call me or something." She'd written her number down in scraggly handwriting on top of the crumpled napkin, and had even gone to the trouble of shaking off most of the crumbs.

Auron accepts the napkin, and pockets it after glancing at what was written there. "Has anyone ever told you that you're an extremely odd girl?" He asks, sounding amused. At least, as amused as someone in a perpetual state of grump could manage to be.

"Mm-hmmm." Rikku replies, still grinning. "All the time. Have a good night, okay?"

"You too," he replies. Rikku can feel his eyes on her as she turns around, heading back towards her dorm. She's still smiling even when another cold autumn breeze brushes past her, and hugs her sweater tighter to herself.

A/N: I wanted to take the time to apologize to any readers about the time it took me to update this. School, sick, blah blah. All that jazz. Much thanks to darkerthanshadow, CupofTeaforAliceandHatter, and Nevergonnafindme for their kind words over the past few submissions. I half thought I'd be writing this for my own personal fluff therapy, so it was a pleasant surprise to find others still like this pairing as well. To everyone else, thanks for reading, and I hope this was worth the wait!