a/n: i feel really bad for hating asuka before

the title comes from the fall out boy song of the same name, which fits asuka really well and happened to be playing while i wrote this fic

Kumiko walked home alone that day.

The rumors had spread far too quickly, students hungry for any gossip they could get their hands on. Kumiko had kept her lips sealed, the ordeal she had witnessed all too personal for her to tell anyone.

I can't talk to her, she thought, hugging her chest as if that would keep her safe from the thoughts. I can't, it's none of my business. It's nobody's business, and they're still talking about it like her life's a show to be picked apart.

"I guess I'm not any better, though, huh?" she sighed aloud. Golden streetlights blinked along the sidewalk, but she didn't look at them. "She's . . . she's not great. Nobody is. She's not special, we made her that way, just like Haruka said. She's just a person and we put her on a pedestal and it didn't get us anywhere and-"

"Kumiko?" Kumiko looked up to see a slouched figure ahead of her, purple highlights lit by the cars rushing past. "I was going to get something at the fast food place a few blocks away, I didn't know ya lived around here."

"Y-yeah. I do. Live here, I mean."

"Are you worried about something?" Kumiko shrugged.

"You, uh, said that you were getting food? Maybe we could talk there."

"Alright, but you're paying." Kumiko snorted, keeping pace with Natsuki as she took exaggerated strides forward.

"Says who?"

"Says the first one to reach the door."

"You're on."

About ten minutes later, two very sweaty, very tired teenage girls burst through the door to a local fast food restaurant, heaving and leaning on each other (as well as a nearby table) for support.

"How about we - huff - split the bill?"

"Sounds - khack - good to me." Kumiko stumbled to the nearest booth with Natsuki not far behind, both of them still coughing up their breath as a particularly bright car sped by the window.

"Seriously, for someone on the A-team, ya don't have much breath capacity. I didn't think you'd have gotten this tired." Natsuki's words had a teasing lilt to them, oddly comforting in that moment. "That's not what we're here to talk about, though, is it?" Kumiko dropped her gaze to the menu, but she knew that she'd see Natsuki's eyes dim if she looked up. "You're worried about Asuka, aren't you?" Kumiko slowly nodded, as if moving too quickly would disrupt the relative peace of the restaurant.

"I saw what happened," she said in a whisper.

"With her mom?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not one to screw with the rumor mill, but I heard it was pretty bad."

"It was."

"That's what's wrong, then?"

"Yeah." Natsuki twiddled her thumbs, calloused and rough from what must've been hours and hours of practice.

"Well, I can't really say much about that," she sighed, reclining in her seat. An elderly man a few tables back shot her a dirty glare, which she promptly responded to with a rather rude gesture. "Sometimes you just see crap that ya weren't supposed to see, y'know? Can't do anything about it." Kumiko blinked. Natsuki twirled her straw around. The word continued outside the window. "You just have to move on and let yourself stay out of other people's problems for once."

"H-hey, I don't always get involved!" Kumiko yelped.

"I dunno, you shoved yourself smack-dab in the middle of the whole trumpet solo mess. You had a reason for that one, though, if the way ya look at Kousaka is any indicator." The corners of Natsuki's mouth tugged upwards in a half-smile. "The shit with Nozomi and Mizore, though? They were strangers. Why'd you do it, Kumiko? Why- how do you get tangled up in everyone's messes that aren't even yours to fix?" Kumiko found herself looking very intently at a stain on the table.

"I don't know," she muttered. "I'm, uh, not really the best person for that."

"Is it some kind of self-righteousness thing? Do ya feel better about yourself?"

"N-no. Not really."

"Well, we're getting off-topic anyway. This was about Asuka, wasn't it?" Natsuki cast a glance to her left, tugging at the scarf on her uniform. "She's going through some bad stuff. I talked to her earlier." Kumiko sat up.

"What'd she say?" Natsuki lifted a finger to her lips.

"Can't say. I'd be breaking her trust if I did, not to mention the fact that it'd stress ya out anyway."

"Right." Silence fell for a moment. "Hey, Natsuki?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I, erm, ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What do you do when you're in love, but there's other stuff taking over your thoughts and you can't really handle it but you want to, because you care, but it's just c-confusing and weird and it's like you're getting torn apart because of some idiot upperclassmen and a cute girl." Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

"That's pretty specific."

"It sure is."

"Now, is that any way to talk to your 'idiot upperclassman?'"

"We'd make pretty good characters in a sitcom, wouldn't we?" Kumiko chuckled. The radio played a song that seemed familiar, but she was too tired to strain her ear for each note.

"What makes ya think that?"

"They like witty banter in sitcoms, right?"

"I guess so. I've never been one to have much interest in TV, if we're being honest."

"A-anyway, I guess I'm just . . . stressed, y'know?"

"Yeah, well, there's not much I can do about that." Natsuki paused. "I can sit here and listen, though. I'm not much, but I'm pretty damn good at being a shoulder to lean on."

"Y-yeah," Kumiko sniffed. "Thank you, Natsuki. Thank you." She soon found herself laugh-crying in front of Natsuki for the second time in that restaurant, the knot in her chest untying itself as the stars blinked into the sky outside.

"Hey, it's alright. Let it all out, you're fine." Kumiko wouldn't have been able to describe the gratitude spilling down her cheeks, not really, and so the two of them just sat there, letting the world go on by and letting themselves rest.

"W-why're we even the ones being upset?" Kumiko chuckled. "It's Asuka we should be worried about."

"I doubt she'd want us to work up a fuss about her. You know what she's like, staying out of the drama and all that. I wonder how she feels now that she 'is' the drama."

"Y-yeah, that's, uh, pretty ironic."

"Do you think you're okay to stand? I can walk ya home if you want."

"I'm fine." Kumiko stood up, forgetting for the moment that the two of them hadn't even ordered anything. "We'll be fine." Natsuki stood soon afterwards, clapping a hand on Kumiko's shoulder with a crooked smile.

"That's my girl."