She had found her groove.

Headphones in. Head bobbing lightly. Pencil scratching. Pages flipping.

Mio couldn't fully explain her love for studying, but whenever she tried to, she told anyone who listened that studying had its own rhythm. Not in the sense that she wanted to tap her finger to it, of course: it was more of a pattern, an internal force that glued her eyes to her desk and her pencil to her paper. And it was a wonderful thing when that force took a hold of her, because she could shut the whole world out until she could sit back and relax, the weight of work to-do no longer pressing down on her shoulders.

Until that wonderful moment came, the mountain had yet to be climbed. Mio risked a glance at her door, which thankfully remained closed for the time being. Her energetic roommate and best friend had yet to storm into her room and break her delicate yet invaluable rhythm -

"Mioooo!" The door burst open with, and with its usual impeccable timing, a flurry of brown hair and sweatpants flew into her room.

If she wasn't already caught up with most of her work, Mio would have promptly pushed her friend right back out of the room without a second thought, any possible plans the brown-haired girl had be damned. As it was, she only sighed.

"Ritsu, I told you I'd be studying for the rest of the night." Her lips creased into a tight frown: her best "I'm-not-putting-up-with-you-right-now" face.

"But that doesn't mean you need to turn yourself into a shut-in." The drummer mocked Mio's expression, an exaggerated scowl complete with eyes rolled back. "Come on, you deserve a break!" Crouching low to the ground, she clasped the bassist's hands in her own, apparently fully intent on ignoring Mio's "get out" signals.

Mio glanced down at their joined hands for a moment, then back up to her friend's eager eyes.

"Nope! That's not going to work!" She turned her nose up and away, yet failed to hide her smile. That traitor mouth of hers. "...Not again, anyway," she added, opening an eye to see if Ritsu had backed down.

Her confidence fell when she made contact with her friend's golden sparkling eyes, the beginnings of her signature smirk starting to tug at her lips. It fell further when Ritsu opened her mouth again. "Ohh?" She rose from the ground until she was at eye level with Mio, where she started to lean in. "Does that mean I still have a chance?" Her face inched closer, closer still…

Mio leaned back, but her sense of balance didn't allow much room to escape. "R-Ritsu," she muttered, feeling her face heat up, "you know I still have work to do… and don't you, too?" She straightened up slightly, hoping that Ritsu had merely forgotten that fact.

"I think I deserve a break too. And if I do, so do you!" Ritsu's brown hair bobbed as she nodded in agreement with her own logic.

Mio's own hair swished to correspond with her head-shaking. "As I said, we can't go out tonight! That's what you were planning for us, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"When was the last time we went out?" Mio leaned in, feeling a slight satisfaction when Ritsu shrank back.

"Uh… Last Saturday night?" Ritsu pretended to guess, looking away. Mio wasn't falling for it.

"And what did we do when I finally agreed to go with you?" She pressed further, having fully gained back control of the situation.

"We… we went to the corner and drank? A lot?"

Mio frowned. "Not 'we.'"

Ritsu grinned sheepishly. "Uh, I drank a lot."

"And?"

"I… don't remember?" Ritsu tried, tilting her (not) innocent head.

"If you don't remember, I have a log of what you said somewhere…" Mio unclasped their hands for a moment, reaching for one of her desk drawers. "I knew it would come in handy-"

"Aaah!" Ritsu yelped, scrambling for purchase on Mio's hands again. She found them before they reached the drawer, gripping them even tighter than before. "Suddenly, I remember what happened!"

The black-haired girl nodded, urging her friend to continue.

Ritsu cast her eyes down, shame creeping on to her features. "I had a bit too much to drink, and then there was a lot of stuff about my… uh, how do I put this?" Her finger reached up to scratch at the side of her face.

"We've talked about this, you don't need to be hesitant." Mio raised an eyebrow.

"W-well, yeah, but it's still kinda embarrassing." Ritsu chuckled nervously, giving her friend a half-smile. "I remember talking about my-"

"'Romantic woes,' as you put it?" Mio finished, wanting to get to the point. "And how most girls don't find you attractive?"

Ritsu flinched, her mouth falling open at the accusation. "So mean! Can't you say it nicer than that?" she pleaded, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

Mio didn't believe the act, having seen it countless times before. "Those were your words, not mine."

"Oh, right." The drummer grinned, her crocodile tears vanishing in a moment.

"And as you drank more, you complained more." Mio went on, recounting the events of that night. "And of course, as we stood up to leave, you couldn't stand on your own two feet, so I had to carry you home!" She let go of Ritsu's hands to cross her arms together, shaking her head. "It's a good thing that Maki's is just around the corner. I wouldn't have made it if it was any farther than that." she muttered, mostly to herself.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Mio ignored Ritsu's accusatory tone. "Seriously, I don't know why you don't just date me and stop looking for love elsewhere."

This time, her friend's surprise was genuine; Ritsu's eyes widened, and she whipped her head away, yet the redness that started to cover her ears betrayed her embarrassment. "W-what are you saying?! We've talked about this before, you know. A pure-hearted maiden like you, dating a ladykiller like me, would just break your heart! No way would I put you in danger like that."

"Ritsu, you've never had a girlfriend." Mio deadpanned. "How can you be a ladykiller?"

"Details, details." Ritsu waved the perfectly sensible logic away with her hand. "Still, how can you say something like that so casually? Your heart's a serious matter." At this, she put the same hand to her chest in a confident motion. "Trust me, I'd know."

Mio opened her mouth, fully intent on calling out the blatant inconsistencies between that statement and the "ladykiller" one, but she decided it wasn't worth it. "I am serious. You've already been clinging to me for years, so what difference would it make if we were together?"

"I've been clinging to you?" Ritsu rose to her feet, closing any distance that was left between them. She leaned forward, grasping both sides of Mio's desk chair and forcing eye contact between the two girls. "You're being extra mean tonight, Mio." She lowered her voice, her eyes narrowed but her smile playful.

Mio poked her tongue out. "It's because I know you love me."

"And if I did?"

Their distance between their faces grew even smaller.

Mio could feel Ritsu's breath tickling her nose.

Her grey eyes closed; she wondered if it was her instincts taking over.

"If you did, what's stopping you right now?" she heard herself saying. She wondered briefly if she should have given some thought to it beforehand. It probably didn't matter. Her eyes remained closed, and she waited…

And waited…

"Ouch!" Mio felt a blunt force crashing onto the top of her head. Her eyes flew open to see Ritsu's blank expression, a far cry from the playful one she had moments before. She then glanced up and saw Ritsu's hand pressing into her head, the source of the sudden pain.

"Jeez, Mio. Why do you have to tease me about this, of all things?" Ritsu shook her head, her frown sad. "I'm supposed to be the one teasing you, not the other way around!"

So that's what that feels like. Mio nursed her now throbbing head. "I like to think of it as payback." She saw that Ritsu had taken a step back, and frowned. "And I hate to say it, but I think I'm starting to understand why you do it so much."

"Because I want what's best for you?" Ritsu fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

Mio chuckled. "I was going to say that it's fun, but when you put it that way, it makes me seem like the villain."

"You still said it, though," Ritsu muttered, loud enough for her to hear. "Are you going to say why you forced me to remember that I'm a horrible drunk?"

The bassist blinked, rewinding through their conversation, then cringing as she watched it fall further and further off the rails. "Oh, right." She felt her face heat up, and she swiveled her chair to face her desk again. Wow, she still managed to distract me this much… "Do you really want to go out and drink again after all that?"

"I bet I can control myself this time-"

"Also, didn't I have to buy lunch for you earlier this week? That means money's an issue for you right now, right?" I hope that's enough to convince her.

Ritsu touched her fingers together, her eyes looking anywhere but at Mio. "That's not important if you can cover-"

"Not happening."

"Aww…" Ritsu drew out the complaint for as long as her breath held out, to no avail. "...actually, wait! We can still have fun!"

The sudden shift in tone alarmed Mio, but by the time she turned back to face her friend, the drummer was already halfway out the door.

"Ritsu? Wait!" Mio called after her. "You're not going to make me watch another scary movie, are you?!" Concern crept into her voice as she pushed down the unpleasant images that threatened to force themselves to the forefront of her mind; remnants from the last scary movie that Ritsu had subjected her to.

Still, she didn't receive a response; Ritsu's footsteps had faded away to who-knows-where.

Mio sighed, sinking further into her chair. She ignored the discomfort that the unnatural pose brought for the time being.

"And I still have to study, too…" Even as she said it, she could feel her rhythm slipping further and further away. She wanted to chase after it, but deep down she could forsee the futility of doing so. If things went like they usually did, she was subject to Ritsu's whim for the rest of the night, and she would bet on the chances that her whim didn't involve any work of any kind.

"Like they usually do…" The bassist muttered her thoughts aloud. The schoolwork in front of her seemed less and less important by the moment.

She brought a hand up to her head, feeling a twinge of pain as her fingers ran across the sensitive area. Their rather… dangerous exchange replayed in her head.

"What's stopping you right now?"

Mio bolted up in her chair, her hand moving to her forehead. She had spoken those words just minutes before, yet the moment seemed years away, as if she herself wasn't currently capable of saying those words with such confidence… and such heavy implication.

Ritsu had called her antics "teasing," and on any other day, Mio would have agreed with her… even if she was usually on the receiving end of said teasing. But what about today?

Maybe tonight's the night that-

Once again, her train of thought was halted in its tracks by her best friend, who barged back into her room with her hands full and her smile wide.

Mio took one look at the clear bottles in Ritsu's hands and blanched. "Please don't tell me those are from the convenience store…"

Ritsu pouted. "What? They're cheap. And you didn't even give me a chance to unveil my grand scheme for tonight."

"You know I hate that brand. It tastes awful." Mio sighed, putting down her pencil in resignation; she'd be hating herself for this tomorrow night. "And I feel like there are other brands that burn less."

"But it's cheap. Catch." Without warning, Ritsu tossed her one of the bottles in her left hand.

"Wah!" Mio yelped, her arms shooting out to grab the projectile. Her heart leapt into her throat as the bottle slipped into her grasp - then slipped out again. After a moment of flailing, she managed to get a firm grip on it.

She huffed. "Don't do something like that without warning! What if I wasn't ready for it?"

"It's cool," Ritsu shrugged, "I knew you'd catch it." She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a DVD case. "Here, catch this too. This is what we'll be doing tonight!"

Mio was ready for this one, and upon purchasing a hold on the DVD, her eyes scanned the cover. "Grease..." she read aloud, taking in the depiction of a young American couple staring amorously at the camera.

Ritsu responded as she flipped the cover over to read the short synopsis. "You've never heard of it? Seems like it's up your alley, Mio." The girl in question glanced up to see Ritsu's playful smirk.

"N-not if it's risqué…" The bassist muttered, heat rising in her face. "A-anyway, I don't watch too many American films…"

"I dunno about the risqué part, but the guy at the video store said it's a classic romance!"

"Romance…" That eased Mio's worries a little bit, but one part of the situation still bothered her. "What about you? Won't you get bored watching a movie like this?"

Ritsu grinned and held up the remaining bottle in her hand. "That's why our other friend is gonna join us tonight." She winked, shaking the bottle so the alcohol inside sloshed around.

Mio sighed. At least it's better than watching a horror movie.

"Heeyyy, Miooo~"

"Hm?"

"Ughhhh~" The two had been seated next to each other on the couch, their shoulders nearly touching, but upon letting out that groan, Ritsu slumped to her right, her head landing on Mio's shoulder. "Pay attention to mee…" the drummer murmured into her shoulder.

The complaints were resisted by Mio's gentle hand on her friend's head, lifting some of the weight off of herself. "Ritsu, you haven't had that much to drink yet. Am I the only one paying attention to the movie?"

Ritsu lifted her head from its slump, and Mio was forced to tear her eyes away from the screen to see her teary, golden eyes and reddened cheeks. "The movie's kinda boring…." Ritsu yawned, failing to stifle her disinterest. "It's just that good-girl-meets-bad-boy stuff, all over again."

Mio shook her head. "That's how I know you haven't been paying attention." She motioned back towards the screen. "For one, the music numbers are pretty entertaining, like how the entire school can sing and dance."

"Oh?" Ritsu finally looked back to the movie, where a gang of autoshop students, led by John Travolta, hopped and skipped around a beat-up car. "Is that a hidden dream of yours, Mio? Did you like your role in our school play that much?" She smirked.

Mio hoped her reddening cheeks weren't visible in the darkened room. "Don't make everything about me."

Ritsu simply chuckled as she reached for the bowl of popcorn on her left, but she finally fell silent after that, allowing Mio to continue watching uninterrupted. Now that it was mentioned, she did have to admit that there was some truth in Ritsu's words: it was sort of typical, but the refreshing American touch and catchy musical numbers made it pretty enjoyable. She made a mental note to look up the soundtrack later as she popped open her bottle again.

As the two on-screen leads arrived at a drive-in theater for a movie date, Mio felt a head lean against her shoulder again, and this time she caught a faint scent of shampoo and conditioner. A quick check confirmed that Ritsu's eyes were glued to the screen, and she still hadn't said a word since she last poked fun at Mio.

The bassist smiled at the cute sight, noting that her friend's focus on the screen probably meant that her drunken affections earlier were just an act. Yet her own attention towards the movie waned as she became more and more aware of their current position.

Ritsu's shoulders rose and fell with a steady rhythm, and each time that right shoulder brushed against her arm, it was all Mio could do to stay relaxed, even though her body urged her otherwise. She wasn't sure what it wanted her to do, but she did know that most friends probably didn't watch movies, or do anything for that matter, like this. It was almost as if they were -

This time, Mio's body did tense up as she realized the gravity of the situation. They were cuddling! Now that she realized it, she was torn between curling up into a ball and throwing her arms around her best friend in unabashed affection…

… but as she witnessed John Travolta doing the very same to Olivia Newton-John onscreen, she decided the latter was certainly not an option. Mio cursed the terrible timing, but it did allow her to take a deep breath and calm down before she did anything she would later regret.

Still, the brief respite didn't prepare her for Ritsu finally breaking her silence. In hindsight, it was a miracle that she had kept quiet for as long as she did.

"Aren't you glad that we went to an all-girls school?"

Mio flinched, her dangerous thoughts from earlier not completely out of her head. "W-what?" she stammered, buying some time in order to get her grip back on reality.

"I mean, I'd hate to be caught up in the kinda crap these kids do." Ritsu waved a hand at the screen. "Did you see what just happened?"

Mio looked away, she couldn't let Ritsu know that her attention had been directed away from the movie, not after calling the drummer out for committing the same sin minutes before. Luckily, Ritsu was too intent on making her point to wait for an answer, as she continued.

"Just now, Sandy was mad at Danny since he was being a jerk, and all Danny had to do was give her a nice ring and she was all over him again." Ritsu shook her head, her brown hair rubbing against Mio's arm. "I'll never get how boys can wrap girls around their fingers like that."

Mio could. "He is pretty cute."

"Really?"

Mio felt the judgment in Ritsu's voice, and she wondered momentarily if defending herself was the right thing to do.

It probably was. "I mean, this is John Travolta we're talking about," she replied.

"Well, yeah… but that doesn't mean he can get away with being a jerk."

"I didn't say that. I just said that that's a redeeming quality of his."

"See, look!" Ritsu stuck a finger towards the screen. "Look at those awful passes he's making on her." This time, Mio was paying attention as Danny forced himself onto Sandy. "And now she's mad at him again." She bit her lip, turning back to lock eyes with Mio once more. "See what I mean?" she pressed, linking her free arm with the bassist's.

Mio stared at their joined arms, hyper-sensitive to the excessive physical contact. "About what?"

"Could you imagine us putting up with that? I'm pretty glad we didn't have to." Ritsu grinned, seemingly quite proud of herself. Mio couldn't understand why, since it didn't seem like much of an accomplishment to her.

"I can't really, since we didn't have to go through it." Mio looked down, realizing that as a result of their linked arms, Ritsu's hand had ended up on her left thigh. Suppressing the thoughts that followed, she continued. "There was a bit of a trade-off, though."

"You mean your fanclub?" Ritsu tilted her head, her grin widening. She threw her other arm around Mio's as well, and suddenly she had a hold on the bassist. "A trade-off, you say? C'mon, you know it was fun."

"Maybe for you, it was." Mio muttered, looking away. "You just love to watch me squirm."

"Yeah, I do." Ritsu leaned in. "And you're squirming right now."

Mio's breath caught in her throat. Their noses were almost touching. Ritsu's arms wrapped around her left side. Her eyelids were lowering…

"Ritsu, you're too close!" Mio's right hand shot out and gripped Ritsu's shoulder, effectively halting her approach. She felt her friend stiffen at the sudden contact, her golden eyes widening in surprise. Mio felt her heart lurch in regret as the drummer's smile vanished.

Ritsu withdrew completely, pushing herself off of Mio and folding her arms across her chest. She didn't say a word, and when Mio leaned forward to see her expression, she whipped her head away.

Mio's chest twinged with guilt. "R-Ritsu?" she tried, reaching out a tentative hand. "Sorry. I was just a little surprised, and… and I wasn't ready for that." Her friend's continued silence didn't help to assure her, and her voice rose in tone and urgency as she struggled to fix what had been an obvious mistake on her end.

Before her hand could make contact with Ritsu's shoulder, the drummer stood up abruptly. With a few quick strides, she was in front of the television. Mio briefly noted the fitting nature of the lovelorn song John Travolta had just launched into, before Ritsu clicked off the television. When the drummer turned around, she was wearing a mere shell of her signature smile, and her downcast eyes betrayed her true feelings anyway.

"It's fine," she replied unconvincingly, slouching back to the couch. She took a seat, still close to the bassist, but refused to make eye contact.

"Is it?"

"I dunno, is it?" Ritsu fired back.

Against her better judgment, defensiveness flared up inside her. "I asked you first."

"So? Now I'm asking you."

"Why are you acting like a child?!"

Ritsu flinched. "Really. You're really asking me that." Her voice lowered dangerously.

Mio gulped… and nodded. She could only brace herself as Ritsu pressed a hand to her temple, kneading it in her fingers. It was her own refusal to back down that was digging this hole for the both of them… but she probably couldn't take it back now.

When Ritsu finally spoke, the bite was thankfully absent from her voice. "You're the last person who gets to ask me that, because you're the one who can't make up her mind."

Of course, that didn't mean her words hurt any less. "Me?"

"Yes, you." RItsu emphasized. The dangerous edge to her voice from moments before had been replaced by a soft hesitance. The apparent flip-flop in Ritsu's emotions slightly alarmed Mio, but it also told her that Ritsu wasn't too happy about where this conversation was headed.

Mio didn't think she was either. Still, she pressed on; this needed to be spelled out. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on," Ritsu droned, leaning forward with a raised eyebrow. "You know what I'm talking about." As if she anticipated that Mio intended to ask another pointless question, she continued. "There's no way you couldn't know, right?" She leaned back again, disbelief creeping into her voice. "If you're that dense, I might've totally misjudged-"

"No, wait." The bassist held up her hand to stop any further attacks on her character. "I probably know what you're talking about."

Ritsu didn't look convinced. "Say it, then."

"W-what?" Mio shook her head vigorously. "I couldn't!"

"What the hell?" Ritsu's hand smacked against her face. Mio noted idly that that had to have hurt a bit. "You said you know!" she added, her hand still covering her eyes.

Mio poked her index fingers together, averting her gaze. "But it's embarrassing…"

The drummer began to drag her hand down her face, making her eyes bulge. "Is it that embarrassing to say that I love you?"

"Wahh! Noo!" Mio yelped. She had never felt her face flush red that quickly before, and it probably never would again. Her other reaction was far too late: her hands flew forward and clamped over Ritsu's mouth. Realizing she was too late, she withdrew, but not before she felt Ritsu's cheeks. "You're embarrassed, too…" she murmured, observing her friend's fully flushed face.

"Of course I am, stupid. I just confessed to you." It was Ritsu's turn to look away. Her hand scratched absently at her left cheek, although that didn't help to diminish the bright red that had overtaken her face. "I'm only saying it now because you already knew though, right?"

"Um-"

"You had to have known. Right?" She glanced sideways back at Mio. "Like, you were the first person I came out to. And you've flirted with me in the past. And tonight. And we were cuddling a few minutes ago." She counted off her pieces of evidence on her fingers, getting to three before Mio stopped her.

"Okay, okay!" Mio conceded. She gave Ritsu a sideways glance of her own; it was too embarrassing for her to make direct eye contact. "I… I guess I did know."

"You guess?" Ritsu repeated the words, doubt once again in her voice.

"Y-yes! I guess I did! Maybe I did know, but I didn't want to accept it!" Mio burst out. Seeing Ritsu lean back slightly at the force of her words, she relaxed, her face burning from the intensity of her words… or just from the awkwardness of the whole situation. Probably both.

"So… is that you rejecting me?" Ritsu pursed her lips together, looking down.

Mio's eyes widened as the magnitude of what she said hit her. "Wait, no, I-"

"Then what, Mio?" Ritsu's head snapped back up, the fire in her voice returning. "See, that's your problem, right there. What I was talking about earlier, when I said you can't make up your mind." She gestured behind her, as if "earlier" had a physical presence. "That sounds like you're rejecting me, and then you try to take it back? Plus, like, flirting with me? Telling me to date you? Letting me get all comfortable with you, then pushing me away when it might get too serious?" The bassist shrank back a little more with each damning example. "You can't do that. Especially if you knew that I had feelings for you." At this, Ritsu paused, exhaling in the form of a long sigh. "You can't just do whatever's easiest for you," she continued. "What about me? If you knew, haven't you thought about what you're doing to me?"

Mio hung her head. If she couldn't make eye contact with Ritsu before, she certainly couldn't now, although this time it was out of shame more than anything else. "I know… I know treating you like that, saying those things around you… I know all of it was wrong. And even if I never admitted it, I had a feeling that you felt that way about me. I'm just… scared." She laughed, a dry, humorless laugh. "Like I always am."

As if defying her nature in that one moment, Mio summoned enough courage to look back to her best friend. She couldn't read the drummer's face, but she continued. "I didn't mean to hurt you by saying those things. You know I would never hurt you on purpose…" at this, Ritsu gave a slow nod, "...but I think I let my fears get in the way at the worst times."

Still hesitant, she reached out for Ritsu's hands, breathing an inward sigh of relief when they were offered to her without resistance. She grasped them in her own. "I flirted with you even though the idea of… of dating terrifies me. I don't know anything about it, I don't know what you'd expect of me, I don't know if I would see you any differently, I don't-" Ritsu squeezed her hands, halting Mio in her tracks. She took a deep breath, her lingering smile serving as a silent 'thank you.' "But you've never ran away from your feelings or let them stop you, Ritsu. I've always admired that about you."

"You? Admired me?" The drummer repeated the words back in disbelief.

"Don't make me say it again." Mio ran her thumbs across Ritsu's palms in an attempt to distract her. It worked, as Ritsu looked down to stare at the motion. "You said I can't make up my mind, and I guess you're right," she admitted. "So if I want to fix that, you're the perfect example to follow."

"Damn…" Ritsu muttered. She tried to move her arm to her face, but gave up after a squeeze from Mio reminded her that they were still holding hands. "No way I can stay mad at you if you're gonna admit your mistakes like that."

Mio looked down, savoring the feeling of their intertwining fingers. "While we're talking about making up my mind, there's one more thing I should admit."

"What? After you gave that heartfelt speech?" Ritsu's eyebrow went up. "I have to answer to that first."

"You can, after I say this."

"Fine, fine," Ritsu nodded, allowing the bassist to continue...

… and Mio failed to do so. She opened her mouth, but the words she had planned on saying caught in her throat. Her face reddened as the seconds stretched on in continued silence, the blush only intensifying as she met Ritsu's expectant gaze.

"Is that it?" the drummer asked, her stare a clear indicator that she thought otherwise.

Mio took the question as a form of gentle encouragement, and she cleared her throat. "W-well, when I say that you love me, I think I really want that to be true." The words came out in a jumble; it was a miracle that they were coherent at all.

She looked up after a notable lack of response to see Ritsu's mouth slightly open. Her eyes were disbelieving, yet they shimmered. Mio wanted her to believe. The rest of her words spilled out before she could stop herself.

"And when you were really close to me while we were watching the movie, I really wanted to throw my arms around you… and when we were out drinking a month ago and you were talking about the girls at university that you would date, I hoped that you'd mention me… and, and-"

The torrent was interrupted by a finger, pressed lightly against Mio's lips. Ritsu's face, still alarmingly neutral, leaned close for the third time that night. "You're… saying that you…" The last word lingered, unspoken, in the air between the two of them.

Mio didn't want that. She'd had enough of words left unsaid. "Yes, that's what I'm saying! We can date, and cuddle, and flirt, and do all those other things we've been sort of doing…" She trailed off, realizing there was still a distressingly small list of things that she knew about couples and their activities.

"So… you do love me too, then?" Ritsu pressed, still dazed from Mio's outpouring of emotions.

"I… don't know if it's love." Mio mentally smacked herself as Ritsu's eyes widened, her grip on Mio's hands going slack. "Really, I don't!" she spluttered. "But I really want it to be. I haven't felt like this before, you know?"

The next moment, Mio was knocked flat onto the couch, brought down by a heavy (yet cuddly) weight on top of her. "Ahh! Wait, Ritsu…!" she managed, but the plea fell onto deaf ears.

Mio felt a pair of arms sneak around her neck. "Stupid. We've been dating for less than a minute, and you already came so close to breaking my heart. And you're supposed to be the smart one." Ritsu's breath tickled her ear. Mio giggled at the feeling.

"I'm just lucky that you love me that much, then." Her own hands crept up to encircle her newly-declared lover, a hand brushing across Ritsu's brown hair.

The drummer lifted herself up, and their eyes locked. "I'm the lucky one, 'cause now I get to do this." She lowered her head again, too quickly for Mio to react to.

Before she knew it, Mio was being assaulted by a flurry of kisses, peppered across her forehead, cheeks, and nose. "Ritsu!" she yelped, laughing as she tried to push her away to no avail.

Mio's sides were aching by the time Ritsu finally withdrew, with a final peck on the nose. "Are you satisfied?" she managed, her voice airy.

Ritsu certainly looked the part as she answered with a firm "Yep!"

"Good, because now it's my turn." The element of surprise was on Mio's side, and after a quick grab on the shoulders, Ritsu was pinned. However, something went wrong as she leaned in. Either she grossly misjudged the distance, or she wasn't paying enough attention, or this was all part of Ritsu's plan.

Regardless of cause, her lips came into contact with a part of Ritsu's face that was much warmer… and drier than she had anticipated. Startled, she pulled back, a hand over her mouth, to see a very content Ritsu, her eyelids lowered and half-open mouth forming the beginnings of a smile.

"Ritsu!" Mio accused, giving her a light push with her free hand. "You tricked me!"

"Who says? I saw you going in for a kiss, so I just did what was natural."

"I wasn't ready to have my first one…" Mio hung her head, all of her picture-perfect fantasies disappearing right before her eyes.

"Whaat?" Ritsu pouted. "Wasn't it everything you thought it would be?"

Mio glared at her. "You need to put on chapstick."

"That hurts." The drummer cringed visibly. "Still, I got to kiss the prettiest girl I know."

Mio said nothing. She prayed that Ritsu wouldn't notice the redness of her face, but that was just wishful thinking since she was on top of her.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry that I kissed you before you were ready." Ritsu threw her hands up in defeat, an amusing gesture since she still lay flat on the couch. "We can go at your pace. I don't mind waiting for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure." Her grin was coming back. "I waited this long for you to stop being so damn indecisive, didn't I?"

Mio couldn't even deny that. What she could do, though, was keep on the path to change, as she said she would. "Well, I decide that we should get back to watching the movie now. How about that?"

"That's a start. You have to get off me first, though."

"Oh." The poor blood vessels in Mio's face weren't getting any breaks today.

The two girls remained silent until the movie ended. Ritsu had a comfortable seat on top of Mio, with the latter's arms wrapped around her stomach.

"What did you think?" Mio shifted to the right, trying to get a look at her girlfriend's first reactions.

Ritsu tilted her head back, and their eyes met in this lopsided manner. "I guess it's cool that they got a happy ending, but why did they have to fly away in the last scene? In a freaking car?"

Mio giggled. "I didn't think it was all that bad. I can name a few things more ridiculous than that."

"Oh yeah? Let me hear it." Ritsu challenged her.

"Hmm…" Mio drummed her fingers lightly on Ritsu's stomach as she thought. "Like how you managed to fall in love with me."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who had her own fan club in high school." Ritsu grumbled.

"No, really, I don't know why you did."

"Why I fell in love with you?" The drummer shook her head. "No way. I'm not saying it all out loud. Hell, I probably don't even know all the reasons myself."

Mio hummed, mostly to herself as the words rolled over in her mind. "I guess that's okay. I don't know everything about my feelings for you, either."

"See, we're even." Mio didn't have any more words for her, so the two contented themselves with watching the rolling credits.

After a moment, or maybe a minute, the silence was broken again. "Hey, Mio."

"Hm?"

Ritsu rolled over to face her fully. "I'm scared too, you know. Of how we're going to turn out."

"You are?" Mio observed the earnestness in those golden eyes.

"Yeah. I know I act like nothing scares me… and really, not a lot does. But this does. A lot."

"That makes two of us." Mio pulled her in, and Ritsu rested her head in the crook of her neck as Mio embraced her. "But, you know, we've been together almost our whole lives, and we made that all work. I'm sure we can make this work, too, even if it's nothing like we've experienced before."

"Even if it's me?" Ritsu ventured.

"Only because it's you."

"Jeez." Mio felt a light cuff on her shoulder. "You're such a smooth-talker."

She giggled. "I might've picked up a thing or two from watching the movie."

"You've already got a leg up on Travolta." Mio felt a kiss on her neck, making her jump slightly. "You're way cuter than he is."

"Who's the smooth-talker now?" She rolled her eyes, and it was Ritsu's turn to giggle. Mio's heart leapt at the sound.

"It's getting late…" The bassist murmured absently, after an indeterminable length of comfortable silence had passed.

"You're right. Good night." Instead of getting up, Ritsu tightened her grip on her.

"You're not going to get ready for bed?" Mio sighed, intending to push Ritsu off of her if necessary.

"This is my bed for tonight, and you're already my favorite pillow." That response tore any resistance Mio had away from her, and she surrendered herself to sleep just as Ritsu already had.

Surely, they'd wake up the next morning in a tangle of limbs and (possibly awkward) laughter. Mio was already looking forward to it.