a/n: sort of a part 2 of the chronicles of these gay kids post-canon. thanks to taba on the hebb discord for the raymour and flanigan bit

"Kousaka-san's working at a Raymour and Flanigan now." Yuuko clicked off her phone, apparently satisfied with that information.

"What's that?"

"I don't know. She just messaged me to say that."

"That's Kousaka for ya. Some things never change, eh?"

"You say, as we prepare to play for a sold-out punk-rock concert and are dating. I'd say that's changed."

"That's fair." Natsuki twanged her electric guitar, relishing the noise it made. The euphonium wasn't something she regretted, not a part of her past she planned to bury, but it had never felt quite as natural as this, as natural as herself and Yuuko caterwauling into the mic to a crowd of shrieking fans below.

"Speaking of our sold-out punk-rock concert, I think they're waiting for you." As if to punctuate her point, a ripple of cheers sounded from the other side of the curtain.

"Croo-ked E-ffect! Croo-ked E-ffect!" There were individual voices there, sure, but they all said the same thing, the same delight evident in their tones. The opening act, a woman a little older than the pair of them, winked as she walked backstage.

"You kids should get out there before your bedtime."

"We're only like three years younger than you," Yuuko hissed under her breath.

"Just get out there! Those folks are cheering for you, in case you hadn't noticed."

Natsuki and Yuuko looked at each other again, intertwining their hands, and stepped out onstage to raucous applause.

"Hey, everyone!" Natsuki grabbed the microphone from its stand, waiting a moment for the crowd to settle down. "We're Gay Detergent and the Crooked Effect, and we're ready to bring the house down tonight!" More applause, more cheers. It was the kind of thing you could get addicted to. "Let's kick things off, shall we?" Yuuko, on cue, strummed her guitar, her ribbon bouncing up and down as she moved, taking back the microphone and singing the first few lines. Natsuki tapped her foot, let the atmosphere take over. God, she loved this.

Yuuko really wasn't a bad singer at all - there was something hypnotic, angry, about the way she sang, sort of like how she played the trumpet still, sometimes, in the privacy of their dorm. It was unexpected, and maybe that was why everyone was smitten.

Natsuki was smitten for other reasons.

Their set started to wind down, after a while, after the fans had sung along with every lyric and laughed at their shitty banter, and before long they were taking their bows and walking offstage to flashing lights and the sound of the crowd, still, screaming in their ears.

"Don't let it get to your head," Yuuko said as soon as they were backstage. Natsuki wiped the sweat off her brow.

"Great job to you too, Prez."

"Call me that again, won't you?"

"We're good, Yuuko. People like us because we're good. I really don't get why ya don't just accept that."

"We'd need quite a bit of therapy to go through that question." Yuuko grabbed a water bottle and chugged half of it in one go. "I'm just not really . . . I don't think it's gonna last."

"Nothing's gonna last." Natsuki propped herself up against the rickety table, took up Yuuko's silent offer of the water bottle. "Doesn't mean we can't have fun while we're at it." Yuuko didn't answer, just looked at something on her phone. "Everything okay?"

"Raymour and Flanigan is an American furniture retail chain."

"Oh."

"Kousaka-san selling ottomans." Yuuko's face broke out into a shaky grin. "Can you imagine that? She'd probably scare the customers into buying something."

"Raymour and Flanigan, more like...Reina and Flanigan." Natsuki snorted at her own joke. "You'd scare people into buying things, too."

"I'd charm them."

"You have a career in politics waiting for ya if this music thing doesn't work out." Natsuki pushed herself off from the table, drank more water. "I wouldn't worry about that, though."

"Easy for you to say."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're like a hippie or something, like all that laziness you had in high school found another outlet in you being so calm about everything. 'It's going to work out, life's all good,' all of this…why aren't you worried?"

"I am." Natsuki looked at the concrete floor under her feet. "Everyone knows fame screws ya up, even on the level of us being this, like, underground indie thing. And trends don't last. And we're two college students who've decided to spend our sophomore year staying up till all hours to get our homework done between shows. There's every reason for this to all just collapse on us right now." There was still a distant chatter, a small and dedicated group of folks waiting outside to catch a glimpse of them heading to the taxi or subway or whatever they decided on that night. It was apt enough background noise. "I'm just too relieved to really care."

"Huh?"

"We're not at Kitauji anymore! Nobody's gossiping about the fact that we're dating! We're living together! These past two years have been amazing, so I'm not gonna let myself think about all of that. Not right now."

"When did you get half a brain about this stuff?"

"I guess the wizard granted it to me when he gave you a heart."

"You know that the wizard didn't actually give them anything, right? He was a conman."

"I haven't seen that movie since I was a little kid."

"We don't have time to watch it tonight, but…" Yuuko blushed, like she always did when she suggested something so domestic as a movie night. "Later."

"Psych teacher still giving you hell?"

"Yep." Yuuko untied her ribbon. "Why don't we make a break for it?"

Natsuki couldn't stop herself from smiling when Yuuko held her hand tight (sending that electric, invincible feeling through her, as she did) and ran out the back door, waving the ribbon in the air to the fans' delight before diving into a taxicab with Natsuki in tow.

"Yes!" Natsuki crowed, once they were in motion. "Is that a new record?"

"I don't know!" Yuuko tied her ribbon back on. It was hypnotic to watch, as always. "I don't have a way of keeping track."

"Next time we'll keep a running tally."

"You kids in the band?" The taxi driver turned around for the first time, a bearded older man.

"Oh, yes, we're members of the Kitauji…" Yuuko trailed off. "We were performing in there."

"Hmm, I'll have to get your autographs." The driver let out a hearty chuckle. "In a few years I'll be able to say I met them before they got big."

He made no move to give them anything to autograph, and so the rest of the ride was spent in a weird and uneasy silence. Yuuko waved goodbye anyway.

"Remember the room we had last year?" Natsuki asked, her legs quivering a little as she ascended the staircase a few steps behind Yuuko, in sync but without enough room for them to be side-by-side.

"It smelled like smoke."

"Yes! I was thinking more about the ghost-"

"The ghost?"

"-but the smoke was there, also. Anyway, welcome home, dear." Natsuki opened the door, a little bit overdramatic, channeling Asuka just enough that she could laugh about it later. Yuuko bowed in the same exaggerated fashion before plopping down on the bunk bed. "How was your day at work?"

"Exhausting. There were so many people, but there was the most striking woman among all of them, a total asshole but she was just so alluring…"

"Tell me more about this woman." Natsuki crossed the room in two strides - not a difficult feat, college dorms were not known for their large size - and smirked. Yuuko pulled her down by the tie. "I think I saw someone today, too. Headstrong, kinda mean, with this unbelievably good voice…"

Their lips met, as they had a couple thousand times before, and Natsuki still felt fireworks popping in her head as Yuuko's hand found the back of her head, ruffling her hair, her pinky on the back of her neck.

This wasn't such a bad way to live, all things considered.

Sunlight seeped through the windows as Natsuki slowly rejoined the land of the living. Yuuko - ever the early riser, never content just to stay in one place at a time - scrolled through her phone, the little charms dangling off it like a metronome. Natsuki pressed herself closer.

"'Morning," she murmured.

"Kousaka quit her job at Raymour and Flanigan," Yuuko said. Natsuki rolled over.

"What, already?"

"It'd be a weird thing to lie about."

"Why'd she do it?"

"Let me find the message…" Yuuko clicked off whatever social media she was on and looked at her texts, Reina Kousaka's name at the top. Most of the others were from classmates asking about projects and Natsuki herself. Then, in a voice scarily like Kousaka's, she spoke. "'It didn't stimulate me intellectually. I felt myself being suffocated, and if I'd stayed I think it would have destroyed me.' How much was that scholarship worth, again?"

"It's still funny to me that you two're friends now." Natsuki pulled the blankets closer.

"You're still friends with Oumae."

"Yeah, but ya hated Kousaka in high school."

"I remember, thank you." Yuuko paused. "It's...it's different now, is all."

"Yeah, that's the answer to a lot of things." Natsuki looped her fingers around a discarded ribbon, trying to play some vague version of cat's cradle with it. "What're the plans for today, Madam President? It's your call."

"I thought we could just stay in for a little while." Yuuko turned over to face her, and Natsuki felt like the sun was shining for her alone.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind that."

a/n: natsuuko being musicians together is just...It's Good.