a/n: me? writing extremely specific content to cope with the quarantine? it's more likely than you think

thanks to my pal erika for suggesting yuuko's island name!

"Your island's a mess."

"Sorry that I don't have a fully furnished house and a gorgeous field of flowers. Lesbos II suits me just fine."

"It's because you won't pay off your loans! Because you keep buying clothes!"

"They change every day. You never know what's gonna show up. The loans are there forever."

"Your actual wardrobe consists of…" and here, as if to make a point, Yuuko got up and flung open their shared closet, leaning on Natsuki's side of the divider. "...three flannels and one singular rainbow sock. You really need the vampire costume?"

"It's high couture, Ribbons." Natsuki smirked from the couch, her Switch making the sound of a telltale thwack as she caught something. "A common bluebottle. Sweet."

"I can't believe we're stuck together."

"I mean, that's what happens when ya live with someone." Natsuki looked out the window. "And the world happens to be a mess. This bunny's cute, though."

"Gabi?" Yuuko sat back down, leaned on Natsuki's shoulder. "Yeah, I like her."

"She kinda looks like us."

"What? No, she doesn't." Yuuko frowned, indignant, as she peered for a closer look.

"I mean, she has the rabbit thing…" Natsuki pinched Yuuko's ribbon between her fingers and tugged at it, just a little "...and then we're wearing the same shirt."

"Coincidence."

"Anything can happen on Cadenza Island."

"I know you don't like the name."

"I don't have a problem with it!" Natsuki held her hands up, defensive, and Yuuko quietly, maybe subconsciously even, took them into her own and rested them in her lap, the twin gaming systems nearly forgotten. "It's just so fancy. Like something Kousaka would come up with."

"I know." Yuuko let out a little sigh when Natsuki snuggled closer. Contact had become more important to the pair, whether they'd acknowledged it or not. "But it's a better name than Lesbos Two."

"It's the height of humor."

"It's the same name a thousand other lesbians gave to their islands."

"Because it's clever."

"Just kiss me, won't you?"

"So demanding." Natsuki quirked her eyebrows, grinning just a little. Yuuko pulled her down.

"I hope you know I'm in love with you," Yuuko muttered, averting her gaze. Natsuki took a quick, stuttering breath.

"Yeah, 'course I do."

"And that there's nobody I'd rather be trapped in this awful little off-campus apartment with." Yuuko pressed her palm to Natsuki's cheek, putting her forehead forward.

"I know."

"Even though you don't do the laundry."

"And you don't take the dishes out of the washer."

"And you're starting to grow a mullet."

"And neither of us can do much about that." The game music, soft and melodic, still played in the background, a little off-sync but still perfect in its own weird little way. Natsuki couldn't have come up with a better metaphor if she'd enlisted Kumiko and Kousaka to do it. "Can we just stay here for a little while and pretend we're doing it because we're girlfriends and not because the world's ending outside?"

"We'd be the first to die in a real apocalypse," Yuuko muttered, wrapping her arms around Natsuki's waist. The couch was hardly big enough for two people, when it came down to this - weird little courtship rituals, two expensive Nintendo Switches tipping precariously at the edge. "Too sentimental."

"I know." Natsuki smiled, closed her eyes. Yuuko smelled like raspberries. "We'd go out in a blaze of glory, though."

"They'd make statues of us." Yuuko found Natsuki's hand, rubbed little circles into her palm with her thumb like a character in a book. "Tell stories."

"Just about that, though. It's not like we've really done anything that interesting outside of saving the world or sacrificing ourselves or whatever we did, in this scenario." Natsuki chuckled, felt Yuuko's other arm still on her ribcage. "'Once upon a time, two young woman stayed in their apartment for months and played video games and ordered shitty takeout every night because neither of them could cook.'"

"There are worse stories."

"I guess there are." Natsuki wondered if it would be okay to just stay here for a while longer. Yuuko reached over for her Switch, blindly feeling around until she got ahold of it.

"It's almost nighttime. The tarantulas will be out soon. Which would be a terrifying sentence in any other context, by the way."

"So I can finally pay off my loans, right?"

"Or buy more dumb clothes." Yuuko shrugged, and it felt like Natsuki's world tilted off its axis.

"Good, 'cause they have these bunny ears I'm thinking about sending to this girl…"

"Oh my God, shut up."

a/n: i also named my island lesbos, to nobody's surprise

stay safe and take care of yourselves, everyone.