a/n: i wrote most of this in like...early september i think, but then the coffeeshop au happened and i sorta forgot about this fic, but i decided to finish it so here we are (most of it was left unedited, so i apologize if the writing isn't that good)

An orange leaf flew by in the breeze, floating and spiraling through the air before coming to rest on Kumiko's schoolbag. She plucked it off and let the leaf join its fallen brethren on the sidewalk, littered with just enough to signify the beginnings of autumn.

"Hey, Reina!" she called to the other girl making her way down the school stairs. Reina quietly waved back, hopping down the remaining steps before joining Kumiko by the entrance. "It looks like fall's starting," Kumiko noted, looking up at the trees with leaves just starting to turn hues of red. Reina nodded.

"We should get going," she decided, starting to walk ahead. Kumiko followed.

The train was filled with people leaving work and leaving school, ready to go home to their houses and families. Reina and Kumiko sat wedged between an elderly man staring out the window and a fellow student bobbing his head slightly to the music blaring from his headphones, both paying no attention to the two girls. Kumiko fiddled with the keychains on her bag, running her fingers along Tuba-kun's plastic surface. Reina protectively clutched her trumpet case, refusing to loosen her grip until the train stopped, sharply jerking all of the passengers to the side. Kumiko yelped in surprise, bracing herself against the torn seat. The other student only grunted in response, fixing his headphones and getting up. The older man followed, hobbling out of the sliding doors. Reina, still tightly holding onto the trumpet case, stood as well, offering a hand to Kumiko, who was currently squashed against the train seat. Kumiko muttered a quick "thanks" before taking Reina's hand into her own.

The girls exited the train station and stepped onto the sidewalk, still holding hands and watching the leaves fall from the tree branches.

"How long do you think it'll be until they're all bare?" Reina inquired, noticing a leaf loop through the air and fly out of sight. Kumiko shrugged.

"A few weeks, probably," she responded, acutely aware of Reina's warm hand still interlocked with hers, a source of heat against the chilly wind. "It's getting kinda cold outside, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Reina continued walking ahead and picked up her pace, nearly dragging Kumiko along in the process.

"I wonder if it'll snow this year," Kumiko added once she had caught up. "I mean, if it's already this cold now, it'd make sense for it to snow when it's even colder in the winter, right?"

"Probably." Reina looked up at the sky, as if expecting tiny, delicate snowflakes to drift from the fluffy clouds. The trumpet player resumed walking, still watching the sky and holding Kumiko's hand. The girls walked in silence for several minutes, the sounds of the quietly howling wind and the leaves crunching underfoot accompanying them. Without warning, a particularly wet leaf found its way underneath Reina's shoe, and the girl slipped and fell on the sidewalk. The trumpet case clattered to the ground a few feet away, and Kumiko, still holding Reina's hand, immediately crouched down.

"Ow."

"Reina?" Kumiko yelped in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Reina grunted, attempting to push herself up from the pavement but ultimately falling back down again. "I think it's just my knee." Reina propped up her leg - sure enough, her knee was scratched and red, nearly bleeding. Kumiko barely managed to contain her panic, frantically pawing through her bag for some sort of bandage. After several seconds of panicked bag-searching, she triumphantly held up a gym sock.

"Would this work?" she inquired, holding the sock close to Reina's leg. Reina peered at the sock for a moment before nodding. Kumiko quickly wrapped the sock around Reina's knee, fumbling with it and blushing furiously as she did so. "My family's house is only a few blocks from here," she noted. "We could get a better bandage there, if you can walk that far."

"I think I'll manage," Reina grunted. Kumiko stood up and offered a hand to Reina, looking away as the familiar pink sensation crossed her cheeks. Picking up the fallen trumpet case with one hand while Reina used the other for support, Kumiko began to head down the sidewalk, walking slowly to allow Reina to limp alongside her.

"I'm home!" Kumiko announced once she had entered the house. Nobody answered. Reina hobbled inside, looking around. "My room's that way," Kumiko said, pointing down the hallway. "I think that we had some bandages under the sink or something in here, do you think you can make it there while I get the stuff for your leg?"

"I skinned my knee, Kumiko, I'm not helpless," Reina responded, stubbornly heading towards Kumiko's room. Kumiko turned to the cupboard below the sink, searching for the bandages. A few minutes later, she burst into her own room, once again holding up the roll of bandages in triumph. Reina was already sitting on the bed, eyeing the windowsill.

"That's quite a plant collection you have there," she noted, looking at the several cacti.

"Yeah, I, uh, like to, er, take care of them and, y'know, have the company when I need it," Kumiko mumbled, fiddling with the bandage roll in her hands.

"So you do talk to them?"

"Yeah," Kumiko admitted. "I know it's kinda embarrassing, but-"

"It's cute." The bandages dropped to the floor as Kumiko's cheeks flushed red.

"C-cute?" Kumiko repeated. Reina simply nodded in response. Kumiko fumbled to pick up the bandages. Reina watched from the bed, beginning to pull off the now slightly bloody sock. Kumiko sat down on the bed next to Reina and tentatively began wrapping the bandages around the skinned knee, still blushing as she did so. "It's, er, probably not all that secure, I've never really done this before-"

"It's fine," Reina interrupted. "Although, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay here for a little longer."

"H-here?" Kumiko squeaked. "In my house?"

"Yes. We don't have school tomorrow, so it'll be fine if I stay out for a little while. I'll just call my parents and tell them I'm staying over with a friend." Kumiko was very tempted to step on her cactus just to make sure that this wasn't a dream. She began to imagine blanket forts and movie marathons and a thousand other things. "Do you have a phone?" Reina asked, snapping Kumiko out of her thoughts.

"Yeah. Down the hall, second right." Reina stood up and headed for the phone, still limping slightly. Kumiko could hear Reina's muffled voice from the hallway - "yes, I'm fine . . . I just hurt my knee . . . I'm staying over with a friend tonight, is that okay? . . . Yeah, I'll stay safe . . . No, we're not at a party . . . see you then" - and nearly jumped when Reina re-entered the room.

"They said it was fine," she announced. Kumiko silently pumped her fist before turning to face Reina.

"So, uh, what first?" Kumiko asked. Reina shrugged. "I'll get snacks, maybe we can just talk or something," Kumiko suggested, standing up to leave the room. "Make yourself at home," she added over her shoulder as she walked down the hall. Reina returned to staring at the cacti. Kumiko came back a few minutes later with two bowls of crackers in her hands, setting them down on the table. Reina picked up one of the bowls and held it in her lap.

"Why did you start collecting plants?" she asked. Kumiko shrugged.

"I guess I just sorta liked the way they looked, and the concept of taking care of something that was alive even though you couldn't touch it seemed pretty cool to me. Besides, like I said before, I liked the company. Plants don't talk back or ignore you or . . . yell at you when you mess up." Kumiko faltered at the end of her sentence, thinking back to that time in middle school when the student she admired so much had hurt her so deeply.

"I think I understand," Reina murmured. The two girls sat awkwardly for a while, quietly crunching their crackers.

"Do you collect anything, Reina?" Kumiko asked, trying to break the silence that had once again formed between them.

"Pebbles," Reina replied almost immediately.

"Pebbles?"

"Yeah. Whenever I'm walking home from school or going somewhere else, I always look for the nicest pebble and bring it home."

"What counts as the 'nicest pebble'?" Kumiko inquired.

"It depends. Sometimes there's one that's particularly shiny, or has unique coloring, or maybe it isn't even a pebble at all and just happened to get caught up among the rocks. I keep them in a locked box at my house."

"Cool," Kumiko said once Reina was done, unsure of what else to say.

"You don't have to pretend that you think it's interesting," Reina growled.

"No, really, I do like hearing you talk about this stuff!" Kumiko yelped. "Actually, I was thinking about how I'd really like to see your pebble collection sometime." Reina blinked and turned away. "Okay, next question," Kumiko said, quickly trying to change the subject as she looked at Reina's trumpet case placed carefully in the corner of the room. "How long have you been playing the trumpet?"

"I've stopped counting the years," Reina answered. "I've been doing it ever since I was younger. I've always wanted to be special, so I've been working at it since before I could remember. What about you?"

"You mean the euphonium? Well, I guess I started when I was younger, too, but I didn't really work towards being the best. I just did it for fun, and anything we won in the competitions was really just a bonus. I didn't think about going for Nationals. Dud gold was fine by me."

"You've been playing a lot more recently, though," Reina noted, looking at Kumiko's own euphonium case sitting in the other corner.

"Yeah," Kumiko agreed. "I suppose I realized that I wanted to improve and I kinda wanted to become special like you, y'know? Like, it'd be nice if people looked and thought 'hey, that's Kumiko Oumae, the euphonium player. She's really good at what she does.' I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how I feel."

"No, it does. It's nice to be known for what you do."

"Yeah." Kumiko sheepishly looked down at her bowl. "Do you want me to get refills?" Reina looked at her own bowl and nodded. Kumiko stood up, carrying both bowls.

The afternoon passed by in a blur, trumpets and popcorn and softly brushing hands as a cheesy movie played on Kumiko's computer.

"Do you like these?" Reina inquired, watching the two leads drinking a milkshake from the same glass. The sun had gone down, and stars were just beginning to twinkle in the evening sky.

"What?"

"This type of movie, I mean." Kumiko shrugged.

"They're kinda dumb, but I think it'd be cute to do some of the things that the characters do, y'know?" Reina peered at the small screen.

"I don't particularly like milkshakes," she murmured, quiet enough to be missed but loud enough for Kumiko to hear. She didn't process the meaning of the words until much later, and didn't give the comment much thought. The movie ended as they all did, with passionate kisses and cheerful music in the background. Kumiko shut off the computer and looked out the window.

"It's getting kinda late," she commented. "I've, uh, I've got a spare sleeping bag in my closet, you could use that if you wanted." Reina nodded.

"That'd be nice," she said.

Kumiko could hardly contain her smile as she slipped into her bed and looked down at Reina's already-sleeping form, softly breathing as she twitched in the sleeping bag. Even the way she sleeps is cute. Wait, that's creepy. Maybe I should . . . I should . . . Kumiko drifted off to sleep before she could finish the thought.

"Hey, Reina?" Kumiko murmured. "You're still here, right?" She could just barely make out Reina's quizzical expression in the darkness.

"Yeah, I'm here," she confirmed, voice heavy with sleep. "Why?"

"Just checking," Kumiko mumbled, nestling under her covers.

Kumiko opened her eyes for the second time that night to see Reina sitting near her windowsill, looking at the twinkling stars outside.

"Reina?" Reina turned around to see Kumiko clambering out of bed to join her.

"I like watching the stars. We have a lot of trees in front of my house, so it's harder to see them through my window. You have a really clear view." Reina pressed her hands against the cold windowpane.

"I guess." Kumiko paused for a moment, studying Reina's features. "Y'know, this is probably the most cliche thing ever, but it's two in the morning so I dunno if we'll even remember this conversation, so I'm gonna say it anyway."

"Hmm?"

"You're really pretty, illuminated by the moonlight and stuff. I mean, you're always really pretty, but you look like a goddess or something." Reina blinked.

"Thanks," she muttered, blushing slightly.

"Aren't you tired?" Kumiko yawned, sitting down next to her. "I mean, it's the middle of the night, but you're just watching the stars like it's nothing." Reina shrugged.

"I couldn't sleep." Looking closer, Kumiko could see that Reina's eyes appeared dull and sleepy, and her pajamas were ruffled.

"I'll stay here with you, if you want," Kumiko mumbled. Reina shifted in her spot, and Kumiko's mind seemed to suddenly become aware of the weight of her words. "O-only if you want, of course!" she added. Reina smiled softly - mysterious, glowing, godlike in the moonlight.

"That'd be nice," she replied, leaning on Kumiko's shoulder as she closed her eyes. Kumiko blushed, trying not to get too flustered about Reina's warm body pressing against her side as she nestled closer. Kumiko soon found herself listening to Reina's soft, rhythmic breathing, and eventually fell asleep underneath the window of stars.

Kumiko woke up in a tangle of limbs and dark hair, slowly opening her eyes as she vaguely remembered the events of the night. It wasn't immediately apparent, but she soon realized that her body was pressed up against Reina's. Her body was pressed up against Reina's. Kumiko let out a yelp and leapt away.

"S-sorry!" she squeaked, hoping that Reina hadn't noticed. The other girl was still asleep, however, and merely grunted. Kumiko began to creep back to her own bed, but she was stopped by a sleep-driven arm limply reaching up and taking hold of her hand. "Huh?" Reina grunted in response, still seemingly asleep.

"Mmf . . . don't . . ."

"What?"

"Don't . . . leave . . ." Reina's grip tightened, and Kumiko sat back down on the windowsill, repositioning her body so it was next to Reina's again. Reina smiled and curled back over into a ball. Kumiko could see the sun rising, and it wasn't long before Reina opened her eyes and yawned. She didn't even seem to notice the other girl sitting right next to her, blushing furiously.

"S-so, uh, it's getting kinda late," Kumiko mumbled, covering her face with a pillow to hide her flustered expression. Reina silently took the pillow and tossed it across the room.

"I suppose it is," she said, stretching out her injured leg. "I'll go and retrieve my things, then. This was fun. I'd like to do it again sometime." A huge grin spread across Kumiko's face as soon as Reina left the room.

"Don't put too much pressure on that leg," Kumiko warned Reina as she stood outside, ready to return home.

"I won't," the other girl responded. "I'll make sure to invite you over to see my pebble collection at some point, but we'll see each other at school until then."

"Are you sure you'll be okay walking home by yourself?" The loosely tied bandages had already started to come undone.

"Of course," Reina scoffed. "I'll be perfectly fine, Kumiko, but I'll make sure to call you once I'm home if it puts your mind at ease." Reima was about to step onto the sidewalk when she paused and turned around. "Also, I wasn't asleep for most of the time." With that, the girl walked away, trumpet case swinging under her arm as she went out of sight. There was only one thought crossing through Kumiko's mind for the next several hours.

Holy crap.