Title:
Series: F-Zero
Genre: General/Romance
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Pairings: John Tanaka/Jody Summer again XD -brick'd-
Status: Finished

The buildings of Mute City shimmered blindingly in the sunlight, reflecting off the glass of the windows and metal. The clouds then crept silently across the city, blanketing it in a brief darkness, before lighting it up again once they had passed. The sky had taunted the citizens with those threatening clouds for a while, yet not one drop had fallen from them. But the citizens in the streets held their umbrellas at the ready, waiting for the rain to finally fall on them, and whip the umbrellas out and continue going about their business.

John Tanaka sighed inwardly, keeping a careful watch on the sky, wary of the impending rain. He held his tattered black umbrella tightly. He had opted to buy a new one, and reminded himself every now and then, but he never quite remembered to get around to it. So he was stuck with a small, ratty-looking old umbrella; one that took several minutes to even open. He walked down the sidewalk quickly, looking up every now and then to look at the status of the sky. Jody Summer walked beside him, keeping a fair distance as she always did, rubbing her temple in frustration.

"It's not going to rain, you know," she snapped, rolling her eyes as his head snapped down from looking at the clouds, "so why don't you just drop that stupid umbrella. It's old, anyway."

"Hey! You never know," he said, tapping the umbrella lightly, "it can't hurt to be prepared. And I'll get a new one later. I'm not about to drop my umbrella when it's about to rain."

"It's not going to rain," she repeated absently, glancing up quickly herself.

They walked down the road in silence, on the way to the park. Jody had mentioned earlier that day that she was going to take a walk, since they had the day off from duties that day, and had decided that she was going to the park for a while, since it was a nice day. John insisted that he come with her, claiming that he needed the fresh air. Despite her objections, he tagged along anyway. Knowing she couldn't possibly shake him off, she allowed him to accompany her on the condition that he didn't annoy her out of her skull.

So far, she concluded, he hadn't followed that part of the agreement.

John adjusted the collar of his vest with one hand, opting not to talk again for a while. He coughed and twirled the closed umbrella around a bit. It had been a long time since he felt so good, and he wasn't going to let Jody's sourness ruin it for him this time. He hummed softly to himself, glancing over at Jody for a moment as she made her way over to a bench near a pond.

Sitting down, a flash of a smile crossed Jody's lips, disappearing a moment later. Noticing this, John sat down beside her, sliding the umbrella in between them.

"Any reason in particular you wanted to come here?" he asked tentatively, hoping he didn't strike a nerve with her as he often managed to do, though unintentionally.

"No, why would you think that? Can't I just sit and enjoy some peace once in a while?" Jody said wearily, leaning forward and resting her chin in her hand, her eyes fixed on the sparkling water.

"… I guess-"

"Sometimes I'm just so sick of everything," she interrupted him, straightening up again in her seat, "sometimes I want a break… I just wanted to relax a bit for once…" she trailed off. She closed her eyes, but she was smiling slightly – something John hadn't seen her do in quite some time.

"Oh," John said, not fully understanding what she meant. She was a difficult person to read sometimes, and this was definitely one of those times he felt clueless. Before he could say anything else, he felt something wet fall on his hand, and it spattered loudly on his skin.

"Heh, it's raining. I told you so," he smirked, looking up from his hand and laughing slightly.

To his surprise, he was met with a similar response, though it was brief.

"Good thing you brought an umbrella, then," she said, a smirk crossing her own lips. She held up the pitiful looking thing.

"I guess I should have bought a new one," John said, standing up and taking the umbrella from her hand, trying desperately to get it open while the rain came down faster, making loud noises as they splashed upon the surface of the pond. After a while he managed to get the wretched thing open, and quickly swung it over both their heads.

"See, just because I'm John Tanaka doesn't mean I'm wrong all the time," John said, holding the small umbrella over Jody more than himself, since it was such a small thing. The rain was coming down harder now, and a cold wind had suddenly whipped up out of nowhere.

Jody didn't say anything, and wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm, as the wind cut right through her thin shirt. She mentally cursed herself for dressing for warmer weather, but she hadn't expected such a sudden change in the weather. Glancing at her briefly, he noticed her shivering, and asked her to hold the umbrella for a moment. Perplexed, she took it, but didn't even look at him.

A moment later she felt an extra weight on her shoulders, and John took the umbrella back. Confused, she looked over her shoulder and saw that he had taken his vest and draped it over her shoulders.

"Sorry, it won't help much since there's no sleeves…" he said sheepishly, and scratched the back of his neck, a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks. He was soaked in the rain, his normally tidy hair was damp and messy, and he looked so amusingly awkward to Jody. She smiled one more time, and laughed softly, briefly.

She thanked him for the first time.