Humid August air had always weighed Alice down. She hated the sweat that pooled at the base of her back and behind her knees, she hated sleeping above her bed covers, and she hated those god damned cicadas. Cheap and loud. The sooner autumn came, the better.

'And what better way to welcome it,' Alice thought, 'than our little fireworks show.'

Alice was sitting cross-legged on the plaza pavement in front of Redd's booth, sharing lemonade with Isabelle and waiting for the sun to set.

"Hey, Redd?" Alice said over her shoulder. "Could you spare a few sparklers? I'm going to hand some out."

"For free? Are you kidding?"

Alice scoffed. "I'm sure they'll buy more later, and some cookies or whatever. I just want to encourage everyone to come. There won't be fireworks again until New Years."

Redd grumbled and passed a box of short sparklers to Alice, who thanked him with a smile and stood up. Cheri lived closest, so that was the best place to start.

xxx

Yuna and Lopez left the house a little after sunset. The dress Alice had sent fit Yuna snugly at the waist, fluttered out to her knees, and covered her arms up to her wrists in a light, breathable cloth. Yuna loved it, and she could tell Lopez did too, but neither of them would say a word about it. Lopez dragged his net behind him on the walk to the plaza, determined to catch a rainbow stag before the end of the night.

"You're doing a better job of scaring away the cicadas," Yuna said after he'd swung at a few trees.

"I'll show you."

xxx

The villagers dribbled into the plaza one by one as Alice forced them all out of their houses and into the evening. Alice herself got back a few minutes before the fireworks started, enough time to wipe the panicked sweat from Isabelle's brow. She spied Yuna sitting on the edge of the tree's brick ledge with Lopez and Tutu. Alice smiled and went to them.

"Hey guys," she said as she approached. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Tutu moved over to let Alice sit between her and Yuna.

"I see the dress got to you alright," Alice observed, sitting down and crossing her legs. "Does it fit okay?"

"It does, thank you," Yuna replied. She waited a beat before speaking again. "I haven't seen you around very much lately."

"I've been busy working on the lighthouse plans. I wanted to get them done before the end of July, but you can see how that worked out."

Yuna nodded. The first firework went off with a bang and lit up the sky with yellow and red. The villagers cheered, and all eyes turned up to the stars.

Without thinking about it, Yuna's hand found Alice's and squeezed. She felt Alice look at her, but Yuna kept her eyes pointed up and away. If there was anything in Alice's face that Yuna wanted to see, she wasn't ready to see it.

The show ended after a half-hour. The animals dispersed. Alice pulled Yuna off the ground with the same hand she'd been holding, tipping her a sliver into Alice's personal space.

"Can I walk you home?"

Yuna looked at Lopez over Alice's shoulder, who glanced back for a moment before moving on.

"I'd like that," Yuna replied.

Yuna noticed that they were quiet the entire walk back. Yuna attributed this to her deciding not to speak; she was always the one moving the conversation forward.

"Are you trying to buy me?" Yuna asked suddenly, stopping in her tracks just outside of her house.

"What?" Alice blinked and tensed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"All the expensive furniture. And the dress."

"I just-I want you to be comfortable here," Alice said. She took a step towards Yuna, who leaned away. "I see things that I think you'll like and I just... can't help it, I guess."

"The furniture you've bought me adds up to well over one million bells, Alice," Yuna said with a tremble in her voice. "I don't want to be ungrateful, but if you wanted me to like you you should just spend time with me."

"I'm sorry, it's all the public works projects and funding and..." Alice stopped talking when Yuna looked away.

"Right," Yuna said after a moment. "You're right. You're the mayor, after all, you have important things to do. I should go to bed, it's late."

"Did you have a good night?" Alice asked as Yuna opened her door.

"What?"

"Did you have fun tonight?"

Yuna saw the gleam of moisture in Alice's eyes and took a step back out of her doorway. "I did. I felt like I had to keep myself from getting too comfortable, actually. I can't get used to something that might not exist."

Alice clenched her jaw. "You can get used to it, I promise."

"So you're not going to disappear for weeks on me again?"

Alice shook her head. Yuna turned to go inside, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "Can I-kiss you?"

Yuna gazed at Alice and bit down, hard, on the corner of her mouth. "No."

Yuna shut the door behind her and threw herself into bed. Alice wouldn't walk away from Yuna's door for another minute, and she headed straight to Serena's fountain when she did.

xx

a/n: hello i am a slug who apologizes to all of the like, five of you following this. ily. happy new year.