Archive of Our Own

Lily rocked on the balls of her feet, fidgeting with her keys to unlock the door. She had finally finished unloading her boxes into the apartment after dealing with an exasperatingly chatty truck driver. She chewed her bottom lip remembering how she had snapped at him, still feeling a muted guilt in her chest.

Finally entering the apartment, she stepped in and slipped her shoes off before beginning to unpack boxes.

She really didn’t pack all that much, save for her wardrobe, band posters and other various knickknacks that had vague importance to her, not seeing too much importance in excessive packing.

She was grateful for the apartment she had found, despite a few paint chips and signs of water damage, it was overall a fine place. The rent wasn’t ridiculously unreasonable, and she had been able to get a steady enough job in the area.

She still felt bad for leaving her friends behind, Rin, Len and Miku squeezing her relentlessly and insisting that she stay in touch frequently, to which Lily begrudgingly agreed.

She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. She’d miss those silly kids, despite her grumbling otherwise.

Throwing her blanket over her bed, she impulsively went to check the fridge, groaning at the realization she had forgotten to buy groceries. She headed back to the door, slipping her shoes back on and opening the door to step outside.

She wasn’t eager to go out in public, clad in a stained hoodie and shorts for her comfort, hair a mess where it cascaded down her back, but she didn’t really want to get properly dressed just to go to a grocery store.

Locking the door behind her, she sighed heavily and prayed that no one would try to talk to her, energy already waning from previous conversations during the day.

Just as she finally prepared herself, her breath hitched as sounds of quick footsteps came from somewhere to her right.

She whipped her head towards the sound, sweat pooling at her forehead at the thought of another unnecessarily long conversation.

“Oh! Great, I thought I’d missed you already!” A girl stopped in front of her, green hair bouncing where it sat on her shoulders. Unusually, she had strangely garish goggles atop her head that honestly didn’t match with anything else she was wearing.

“I’m Gumi, your neighbor!“ She stuck her hand out enthusiastically, smile crumpling slightly when Lily didn’t make a move to take it.

“Well, anyways, my apartment’s the one right there, see?” She points to the door she’s currently standing in front of.

“…I could’ve guessed that.” Lily muttered, shifting on her feet and avoiding the girl’s bright gaze.

“You’re heading to the grocery store, am I right?” Lily finally pulled her eyes to the girl’s, err, Gumi’s face, slightly unsettled by the unwavering eye contact.

“Uh yeah, I am, how’d you know?” Her eyes narrowed at Gumi in suspicion.

“Just a guess. Also, you should head to the one just down the block! My friend Gakupo works there. He’s kind of.. weird? But he’s really nice! Like, there was this one time—“

“Why do you wear those?”

Snapping out of what was definitely going to be a long (and very unnecessary, in Lily’s opinion,) story, confusion etched across her features.

“Huh?”

“The weird goggles.” Lily gestured to her head, mirroring where the goggles sat on Gumi’s.

“Oh! Well, because I like them.” Gumi stared at her blankly for a moment, before fully processing her words.

“Hey! They’re not weird!” She clutched her goggles defensively, side eyeing the blonde.

Lily barely surpressed a giggle, snickering behind her hand at the defense of the tacky goggles.

Gumi’s supposed anger seemed to dissipate as she stared in wonder at Lily, the blonde eventually taking notice of this and forcing her laughs down as she stared back at the girl.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?” Gumi blinked, face immediately contorting into a cartoonishly bright smile.

“Oh! It’s just, your laugh is really nice, I hope I can make you laugh more.” She beamed.

“Oh- that’s-“ Lily flushed, suddenly seeming very interested with the wall across from her.

“Whatever.” She rushed down the hallway with renewed fervor, roughly shoving past Gumi as she stormed towards the stairs leading to the exit.

“Wait! You never told me your name!” Lily ignored her as she raced down the stairs swiftly.

Lily definitely wasn’t ecstatic to have come back from her grocery trip and realize the endeavor it would be to make multiple trips up the steps. Sighing heavily, she heaved two bags from the trunk of her car and began the walk up the stairs.

Reaching her apartment floor, her heart clattered around her feet as she saw that same green haired girl from earlier sitting outside her apartment.

Lily crept through the hallway, hoping to avoid the girl for as long as she could, though her effort was made void because the girl noticed her almost instantly and she sprung to her feet.

“Hey! Woah, lemme help with those.” She immediately raced over and swept a bag from out of Lily’s arms.

The blonde spluttered helplessly for a minute, finally finding her words, “I- uhm- I don’t need…”

“Here, I’ll cut you a deal.” Gumi proclaims, “if I help you bring your groceries in, which I’m sure you’ve got more of,” she started, eyebrows knit together seriously, “you’ll tell me your name and give me your number, deal?”

Lily nodded helplessly under her intense gaze, shifting as she began walking stiffly towards her apartment with Gumi falling into step beside her.

“You can just set them in the kitchen.” Lily instructed, pushing the door open and stepping inside.

“Woah, nice place! Hey, is that a guitar? Do you play? Can I try?”

Lily sighed, tossing the bag of groceries down on the kitchen counter. “I didn’t agree to play 20 questions with you.”

She grabbed Gumi by the wrist, effectively shutting her up, and dragged her out of the apartment to go collect the rest of the groceries.

Finally finished loading the groceries inside and putting them away (with all conversation starters being shut down by Lily), Gumi insisted on staying a little longer.

“C’mon, it wouldn’t be so bad! Plus, I’ll order pizza for you.” She insisted, shaking Lily by her shoulders.

“Okay! Fine! Just- tone the rambles down, please?” She blushed a little at the physical contact and shoved the green haired girl away slightly.

“Alright, deal! I’ll order the pizza now.” She pulled her phone out instantaneously, leaning forward against the counter as she placed her order over the phone.

Lily watched the way soft green hair pooled over her shoulders, long front bangs framing her soft face and drawing your attention to her bright green eyes.

She immediately shook away all the stupid cheesy thoughts, forcing herself to tamp down all the thoughts of how oh my god there’s a pretty girl in my apartment who wants to stay the night and-

“Okay! I’ve placed the order. We should watch a movie! Ooo, we should watch something scary!” Lily smiled fondly as the girl raced around and inspected her apartment.

“Oh, right! You never told me your name,” Gumi turned to face Lily head on, again with the eye contact, staring at her expectantly.

“O-Oh, right yeah. It’s Lily,” She scratched the back of her neck nervously and averted her eyes as Gumi beamed that smile again.

“Oh, Lily! Like the flower, right? That’s so pretty! I wish I had a name like that!” Lily shrugged, and began making her way to her room.

“Well, if you wanna watch a movie I’ve got a TV in my room. You can sit on the floor if you want, I’ll sit in my bed.”

“Aw, that’s no fair! How come we can’t both sit on the bed?!” Gumi mopes, dragging her feet into Lily’s room and pouting like a kicked puppy.

“You- Fine. You can sit on the bed with me, just, no touching.”

The girl cheers and flops onto Lily’s bed, giggling like a teenager at a sleepover.

Lily carefully situates herself next to her, avoiding Gumi’s happy energy and sprawled limbs, instead reaching for the remote and flicking the TV on.

Situating herself under the blanket, she scowls when Gumi attempts to do the same.

“Nope, blanket is all mine.” Lily huffs, smirking at Gumi’s dramatic groan.

“But it’s cold! If you don’t let me under here I’m gonna raid your closet for something warm to wear.”

Lily flushes and immediately buries her face under the blanket, huffing in defeat.

“Fine, but don’t be all weird about it.”

Gumi cheers happily and snuggles under the soft blanket, Lily snorts at her unrestrained excitement over a blanket.

She begins flicking through movies, listening to Gumi’s rants about each of her recommendations, shuffling in her position under the blanket and pointedly ignoring how nice Gumi’s body heat feels next to her.

They eventually settle on a horror movie, and Lily is terribly embarrassed about how genuinely scared she is.

She’s never liked horror movies, and hated the teasing she’d receive anytime she’d watch them with others.

Holding the blankets in a vice grip and shaking profusely, she almost jumped out of her skin when Gumi spoke next to her.

“Are you scared?”

The question sounded genuine, no hint of amusement or teasing in Gumi’s voice, and she turned her head to where the green haired girl was next to her.

Blinking the away the prickling tears in the corners of her eyes, she nodded reluctantly, making an effort to try and hide her face further in the soft fabric of the blankets.

Gumi smiled, not that same amused or excited smile Lily had seen plastered on the girl’s face far too frequently, but a fond one.

Wordlessly, she shuffled a little closer to Lily, glancing at her a moment for conformation, before moving to be flush next to her.

Just as she was about to wrap her arm around Lily, the doorbell rang.

“Oh! Looks like pizza is here, I’ll go get it,” Springing up from where she sat, Lily felt a pang of disappointment at the abrupt end to the moment.

While Gumi was away, evidently chatting with the poor pizza man, Lily had brought her knees close to her chest and thought over that moment.

An embarrassed blush dusted her face, disappointment at herself seeping into her veins like poison. Why had she allowed herself to be so vulnerable with this girl? Especially about something as ridiculous as this.

She scowled deeply, not removing her gaze from the TV even as Gumi came crashing in with two slices of plated pizza in either hand. She shoved the pizza into Lily’s hands, plopping down at her spot right next to the blonde.

As Gumi settled back in place, Lily wordlessly paused the movie and sat up.

“You should really go, it’s getting late and I have work tomorrow.” She stated flatly, refusing to meet Gumi’s eyes.

The girl beside her frowned, a worried expression on her face, but she didn’t press the issue.

“Okay, but, could I get your number first? You did agree to our deal,” She pushed her phone into Lily’s hands and watched as she silently entered her number.

Lily handed her phone back, and watched as Gumi stood up and went to leave.

She paused at the doorframe and looked over her shoulder at Lily, that same fond smile on her face.

“I had a lot of fun. Thank you for letting me stay, Lily.”

The blonde flushed yet again, unable to find her words so settled for nodding dumbly at the girl across from her.

Gumi raced towards the front door with a promise of calling, and soon Lily was left alone in her apartment.

Okay, so, maybe being a waitress at one of the most frequented cafes in town wasn’t exactly ideal, but it paid well and they were desperate for workers so Lily figured it was just about the best she could do.

The amount of orders from picky customers she had to send back was astonishing, and she was just about ready to snap at the next person who complained about their latte.

Scrubbing her hands on her face and taking a deep breath, she pulled her pen and paper out and steeled herself in preparation for her next table.

Putting on her best customer service smile, she approached the next table.

“Hey, welcome! What can I get started for you to- you.”

Right in front of her eyes, sat a very excited and happy Gumi, her hair was tied back in short low ponytails today.

“Oh, Lily! You work here? That’s so awesome! This is my favorite place!”

Lily felt her eye twitch as she prepared herself for far too much energy than she wanted to deal with today.

“What can I get you,” She might as well hurry this conversation along as quickly as she could.

“Hmm… Oh right, you guys have that croissant thing, right?”

“Yes, we have multiple different croissant option—“

“I want that chocolate one! Oh, and the one with the meat and cheese, please!” Lily jotted down her order quick enough to keep up with Gumi’s pace, immediately after she turned to go place the order.

Gumi frowned inwardly, watching the blonde walk away from her quickly.

She returned soon after, placing the items in front of the girl.

“Here, enjoy your food, ma’am,” She immediately turned to get back to work, but she was stopped by a firm hand on her wrist.

“Wait—“

“I have to get back to work, Gumi. We can talk later.” Lily still refused to look at her, and was relieved to feel the hand slip away from her wrist.

“Okay.. just promise you’ll talk to me!”

Lily nodded, swiftly leaving and not sparing a glance back at Gumi.

So maybe she was avoiding Gumi, big deal.

She knew that if she let herself get close to this insistent girl that she’d just end up getting herself hurt. So what was wrong with stalling talking to her for just a little longer?

Instead of going straight home after work, she decided to stop by the record store, hoping to find something from a band she likes.

Browsing the records, she absentmindedly noticed the bell to the door jingle as another customer enters the store.

Head turning to the source of the noise, her heart drops as she’s graced with a flash of green before her eyes.

Cursing to herself, she tries to hide, ducking her head and sweeping hair like a curtain in front of her face, hoping not to draw the attention of the other girl.

She decides that god might as well hate her, because the subject of her nerves decides to head straight for the rack she’s currently scanning through.

Positioned at the opposite end of the rack, the other girl begins humming to herself as she sorts through the records.

Allowing herself to glance at the other, her heart catches in her throat as she absorbs the scene in front of her.

Gumi, just about the most peaceful she’s seen in the short time the blonde has known her, is scanning through the records with long and graceful fingers, smiling softly and humming a pleasant tune.

Her vibrant green hair is pooling at her shoulders, which are left bare by the off the shoulder sweater she’s wearing. Her eyes are soft, widening excitedly on the occasion that she finds a record from an artist she enjoys.

Her lips look soft, Lily realizes belatedly, and she lets herself slip for a moment.

She wants to cup that sweet face and kiss those lips, she wants to feel those warm arms wrapped around her, she wants to comb her fingers through the soft-looking hair, she wants to—

“Lily?”

She’s startled out of her trance and brought back to earth by that sweet voice calling out to her, and she blushed deeply at the realization that she was practically gawking at the girl.

She blinks harshly and turns on her heels, ignoring the way Gumi calls out to her.

She leaves her alone in the store.

“Are you ignoring me?”

Lily was kind of expecting Gumi to be waiting outside her apartment the next morning, worry and confusion written plainly on her face.

“No,” She averts her gaze instantly, knowing that her lie was obvious but hoping Gumi would let it slip through.

“Then why do you keep walking away from me?” She pressed, “Plus, you’ve been ignoring my calls and texts.”

Frustration spreads through Lily quickly, like a fire erupting from inside.

“Why are you so upset? It’s not like we’re friends, you just forced your way into my life because you felt bad.”

Gumi cocked her head, confusion clear in her tone, “Felt bad?”

“Just because I’m new to town doesn’t mean I’m some stray dog for you to feed, I don’t need you to be my pity friend.”

Lily grit her teeth, realizing silently almost how ridiculous her own reasoning sounded.

“I don’t see you like that,” Gumi insists, “if that’s your excuse for not letting people in, then you’re not gonna make many friends.”

“I have all the friends I need, stop treating me like your responsibility.”

Lily watched as hurt spread across the other girl’s face, a pang in her chest making her want to reach out and kiss the hurt from her lips.

She scowled deeper at her thoughts, storming down the hallway towards the stairs without another word.

Gumi didn’t say anything either.

Gumi didn’t show up at the cafe again, Gumi didn’t show up outside of her apartment again, Gumi stopped calling and texting her, Gumi stopped talking to her.

Lily slammed a fist against her forehead in frustration. Way to go ruin everything with a nice girl who just wanted to be friends with you.

She tugged on her hair in frustration, the golden strands sticking up erratically at the abuse.

Deciding she needed fresh air, she grabbed for her keys and went to leave for a walk.

She was greeted with pouring rain, of course, but she decided that despite her lack of proper attire it really didn’t matter.

She stepped into the rain, taking off down the sidewalk and hissing as she felt the rain wet her hair and clothes aggressively.

Why do I keep doing this? She thought, I keep pushing away the people I care about and act surprised when they hate me, what the hell’s wrong with me?

This time, when Gumi approaches her, she doesn’t ignore her.

She’s wearing a raincoat and holding an umbrella with her, and she stares at Lily blankly.

At the sight of the girl she only now realized she’d missed so much, she broke.

A sob escaped her throat, as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

“I’m-I’m sorry for everything,” She states wearily, “I was scared, and-and I was stupid.”

Gumi steps forward quietly, hands clutching her umbrella firmly before holding it out in front of her.

Lily blinks at her heavily and stares at the umbrella as if it’s a spectacle.

“Here, the rain’s making you all wet,” She smiles, “come back to my place, please, I don’t want you to catch a cold.”

Nervously, the blonde reaches out with shaking fingers, gazing into her eyes for any signs of hesitation, before taking the umbrella from soft hands.

“Thank you, Gumi. For everything, I mean.”

After showering at Gumi’s apartment, she settled down on the couch next to her and sipped on hot cocoa (Courtesy of aforementioned green-haired goggle-wearer).

“Thank you for not running away from me this time,” Gumi smiled fondly and leaned in closer to Lily.

“Thank you for uh, not giving up on me, I guess,” Lily muttered, hoping that her blush wasn’t so obvious behind the steam of the cocoa.

They sat in silence together for a moment, before both of them turned suddenly to look at each other.

“I mean it when I said I was scared,” Lily started, “I was scared that, I guess, you weren’t being genuine.”

“I thought that maybe, there was no way you could actually like me,” The blonde sighed, “I know we don’t know each other that well, but I guess I convinced myself that you just liked the idea of me.”

Gumi giggled at her, smiling that sweet smile at her once again.

“You really worry too much, you know,” she rested her head on where she had her hand propped up on the coffee table.

“I meant it when I said I wanted to make you laugh more.”

Flushing and quickly turning away, Lily felt her palms getting sweaty as they usually did around her.

“I guess— there was another thing, too. But, it’s really stupid, ‘cuz we barely know each other and I’m pretty sure it was just one of those things where—“

“Do you like me, Lily?”

Immediately whipping her head around, wide eyed and red, she fidgeted with her hands nervously.

“Well, I mean-“ she trips over her words as she tries to gather her thoughts, “you’re really pretty.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Shuffling closer to the blonde and turning to face her, she laughed at the bewildered expression on her face.

“If you want to kiss me, you can,” her voice lowers to a whisper, “I think I like you so far too, Lily.”

Letting her hands drag up to cup Gumi’s face, she gives in and lets her lips meet the green haired girl’s.

The kiss lasts only a few seconds, before both of them pull away for air.

“You know, in a sense, you are like a stray dog,” Gumi teases, “I have to bribe you with treats to get you to stay, and if I’m too loud, you scurry off.”

“Yeah, well—“ Lily splutters at her for a minute before settling on, “you’re the briber, so that makes you worse than me.”

The other girl snorts and sets her head on Lily’s shoulder.

“I hope I can get to know you, we’ll take this one day at a time,” Gumi nuzzles her face into Lily’s neck.

“Yeah,” Lily agrees, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Gumi’s head, finally letting her fingers play with the soft strands of vibrant green.

“One day at a time.”