Rin wondered how people didn't immediately get headaches in this place. Bright lights in a normally dim area, tons of people grinding up against one another or shouting over the booming bass of the music blasting through speakers, she supposed it could be worse; she could've hated the place.
But she didn't, she liked the catchy music, she liked occasionally (but not frequently) sipping a colorful drink, and she liked the atmosphere, or more correctly, she liked getting lost in it.
It was pure fun.
Outside of here was the cold, cold world, assignments due all too early, and…people who you had to deal with to survive.
One of those people had to be Len. Rin loved him, but he could definitely grate on her nerves. He was so overprotective that she couldn't stand it. He never understood that, at times, Rin just wanted to lose herself in these places and not have to worry about the project due and the professor who glared at her. He was far more concerned with whether or not she could lose something else in this place.
So of course Len had made her promise things in exchange for letting her go: she had to keep her phone on and she had to stick with a friend.
Said friend was now leaning against the bar, smiling as her eyes practically glowed while she scanned the crowd. She still wore her favorite goggles over her eyes and her old orange jacket. She once argued with people who called her out on how she wasn't following the current fashions: "I'm not going to fix what isn't broken", she had said and Rin certainly agreed with her.
Her friend looked fantastic in that outfit.
"Take a picture; It'll last longer," the teasing yet warm tone called to Rin, breaking her out of her stare that managed to stray onto her friend's cleavage. She clearly didn't seem to take anything from it as her eyes (Rin could never tell what color they were, always changing in light and covered by tinted goggles) told that she was more amused than anything.
"I-I have plenty pictures of you already," Rin tried to tease back with a slight blush from getting caught; this just made her friend giggle and wink.
"What's the harm of one more?"
Her friend moved closer, sharing a bit of Rin's seat and having her body press against Rin's. Rin's face flushed again as she felt the curves of her friend and it did not stop as her friend's warm breath brushed against her cheek. Her friend was taller and therefore was able to rest her head atop or to the side of Rin's head, taking the advantage to whisper in Rin's ear "Cheese!" before taking Rin's phone. She swiped away Len's texts and took the picture.
"W-warn me next time!" Rin shuddered at the closeness, making her friend laugh slightly.
"Okay, okay," she lightly said and deleted the photo. "I didn't get a good shot anyway. Not enough Rinny in the pic~" Rin's blush never seemed to go away, especially with her friend using that nickname she made up for her. "This time will be good, for sure!"
Her friend shifted so that they shared even amounts of the chair and weren't so pressed together. Such a change made Rin slightly disappointed but she didn't want to give away that feeling. Her friend's hand took Rin's as the other positioned the phone.
"Cheese!" "C-cheese," Rin followed after her friend as she waited for the click of the camera. After a moment, nothing happened and her friend hadn't moved the camera down. "…Huh?" Rin was confused before she felt something light and feathery touch her cheek and the phone finally clicked.
Rin blinked and quickly looked over to her friend at the side who pulled away from Rin and quickly checked the phone. Surprisingly, Rin managed to catch her friend's blush before her head turned downwards.
"Yeah, that's a nice one…" Rin was even more shocked at her friend's tone which was much more grounded. Her usual energy seemed muted and her glowing eyes seemed unsure.
"H-hey…" Rin placed a hand on her friend's jacketed shoulder. "Are you okay…?" Her friend laughed a bit, seeming to be back as herself.
"Yeah! I was just following a silly rumor I heard about," her friend was interested in such myths and tales but this time Rin was sure it wasn't about that. "Eh, I think I'll just delete it. It was stupid anyway…" Rin's eyes widened at that. Her friend was always confident in her interests and even if it turned out to be fake she would normally just laugh it off, not call it stupid.
Rin quickly grabbed her friend's hand around the phone and shook her head.
"No, what's wrong?" Rin managed to take the phone away from her friend, but didn't look at what bothered her so much until her friend gestured to it.
The background was blurry with all the movement of the place but Rin's attention was caught in the focus of the picture. Her friend had excellent timing; no motion blur ruined the picture of Rin being kissed on the cheek by her eccentric friend.
"What?" Rin's blush returned from the slight moment in which it was gone and she looked back to her friend, whose confident posture was reduced to a fidgeting uncertainty.
"S-silly rumor, huh?" Her friend shakily said and Rin hadn't seen a look so defeated on her since the time the shine myth was busted. "I heard that there was a chance that…you might like me back…" Rin blinked at the sudden change of mood. "I'm not really good with words so…I just kinda hoped you might pick up on it…" All the friendly flirting, Rin read it wrong. Her friend had a crush on her. "I get it…if you don't like me back. You're just too nice and calm and I'm pretty annoying at times…" All the times her friend called her up with a new tale to share or a new place to go to, she wanted to spend time with her. "So… I'm pretty much pouring this out on you but," her friend laughed without happiness. "If you don't like me back, could I still be your friend?"
"…A-are you kidding me?" Rin's voice barely came out but it was enough for her friend to blush and mess with her goggles. "I always thought I was too shy for you…too boring." Her friend looked up to Rin, shocked, but Rin kept going. "You're always so energetic, passionate, and funny… I liked it when you called me and took me to places you thought might be haunted. I'm not good with showing how I feel…but I am good with words." Rin took her friend's hand and looked at her with a smile. "I like you too, Gumi."
They sat there for a moment, no texts from Len, no people drunkenly walking over to them, and no words. Until, of course, Gumi let out a large, happy laugh.
"You scared me there for a minute Rinny!" Rin's smile grew at the nickname and Gumi pulled off her goggles to wipe at her tearing eyes. "We're like a rom-com over here!" Rin's giggles joined Gumi's laughs.
"A-at least it means we have a happy ending," Rin offered, allowing Gumi to recover into her usual state.
"Oh yes we will! I'm not gonna let this turn into a soap opera!" Gumi's declaration was joined with the buzzing of Rin's almost-forgotten phone. Rin giggled as Gumi huffed and took the phone to silence it. "Quiet, Fernando."
"D-don't start fighting with him please…" Rin said with a smile and placed her phone into her pocket. "It's just getting late…" The statement made Gumi slide off of Rin's chair and offer a hand to her.
"Well then, let's go Juliet~" Rin smiled and took her hand.
"I prefer Cinderella."
A.N.- After listening to "Telephone" by Lady Gaga, I got hit with this idea. Take no offense Len/Rin lovers, I'm not bashing them, I just thought of having him be the one for the song. The Rin/Gumi just came naturally as I just love shipping Gumi.