notes— Another song I think really fits the ambience of this fic is When We Were Young by Adele. Not so much the lyrics, but the feel of the song overall.

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17 ; new stars

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Erza hears the automatic doors slide open and it makes her jump, looking back with a guilty expression and the inexplicable feeling of being caught. Of course she's not meant to be out here, none of the students are, but it's hardly unheard of. Second year trips are made to break the rules, after all. In first year, everyone's too timid, and in third year the thrill's worn off — this is the time in high school to break the rules, right?

Or, at least that's what she told herself when she sneaked out of her class' bedroom, carefully padding across the tatami mats so as not to wake up any of the other girls.

For a moment the person coming outside is silhouetted against the bright light of the lobby, but then the scruffy hair regains its colour, and Erza finds herself watching him with a raised eyebrow as he make his way to her. Hands stuffed in pockets, scarf thrown messily around his neck in a half-hearted attempt to look like his trip out here was planned, Jellal doesn't look up at her until he's an arm's length away.

She blinks at him, a silent question in the way she bites her lip, but he simply shakes his head and looks up at the sky like she was doing a moment ago.

But Erza doesn't want the silence, not when it feels like such a perfect opportunity to talk to him — to really talk to him like she hasn't had the chance to do for... for ages.

"Couldn't sleep?" It comes out huskier than she'd intended, voice rusty with disuse and words coming out in a white puff of cold air.

He shakes his mutely, gaze glued to the stars.

She waits for him to continue the conversation, and, when he doesn't, joins him in looking up.

Their home city is hardly big enough to warrant the title, but in the more rural north, Hokkaido puts their hometown to shame. The light pollution isn't obvious until they've left it behind, and only with that distance did Erza realise just what she was missing — just how much she was blind to.

Distance is strange like that. It has a funny way of sneaking up on you and making even what was normal, what felt good and right and as perfect as it ever would be, seem dull or... incomplete. Like there's something more to come; like there's more that you should be allowed to expect. As if the horizon is holding something from you, just out of sight, and when the sun rises you'll get to see a new world with your own eyes.

With Jellal by her side, looking up with her in a comfortable quiet, it strikes Erza just how far that rule extends.

Distance is... a very strange thing indeed.

She's given up on striking up a conversation when he starts one for her. "I was getting tea from the vending machine when I saw you sneak out," he murmurs. When she glances at him, he's still looking up, almost speaking to the night rather than her. Maybe that's why he says what he does next — maybe he, too, can feel something else in the air between them, something different, something new, something that was hidden under proximity until now. "I couldn't help but follow you, but that's normal, I guess. I didn't want to disturb you, but..." A noncommital shrug. She doesn't know what he means by it. Maybe he doesn't mean anything at all. "Like I said, I can't help myself."

"Sorry," Erza finds herself whispering, matching his quiet tone. Anything louder would feel wrong. "I just wanted to—..." She tries something else, "The sky is so much clearer up north. The stars are so beautiful, it would have been such a shame to miss them."

He looks down at that, at the ground in front of him. And Erza can see, in the dim light from the windows behind them, his rueful smile. "Don't apologise. I'm glad I followed you. Missing this would have been a crime."

"Sorry," she says again, biting her lip and smiling and looking down all at once.

"It's okay," he insists quietly. "I couldn't sleep anyway. And I'd rather be out here."

Something different. Something new. Something that was hidden before now. Erza looks up at the inky dark, dotted with infinite light, at all the stars she couldn't see at home, and asks questions her heart cannot yet bear to answer.