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Lacie laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep. But going back to sleep meant returning to the nightmare, what would lead to her waking up again.
Lacie’s gaming console didn’t have any battery left, and the charger was downstairs.
Going downstairs at this time would wake up her parents and make them mad, so Lacie stayed in her room, trying to stay awake.
Her phone was a red old school style flip-phone with a small cat sticker on the back of it. It wasn’t anything modern or fancy, just a classic phone what could only call and text.
Not that anyone would text her at this hour—
Ping!
Lacie jumped from the sudden noise, it seemed to come from her phone.
The contact name was set as ‘Aoi’, Aoi is one of Lacie’s only ‘friends’, they seemed attached to Lacie and actually cared about her. Shouldn’t they be asleep at this hour?
‘I’m outside your window’ the text read.
————
Aoi had taken the bus at around 00:10 AM, for no reason other than to hang out with their best friend, Lacie.
They knew Lacie was still awake, well, they weren’t 100% sure, but they had a hunch.
When Aoi had successfully sneaked inside of Lacie’s garden, they texted Lacie with their iPhone.
A few seconds after the small text conversation, Aoi could hear the window of Lacie’s bedroom move.
Aoi’s eyes lit up.
“Lacie!!” They yelled
“Shh!!!” Lacie shushed. “People are still sleeping, you know?” She then whispered a bit loud enough for Aoi to hear.
“Oops!” Aoi whispered back, covering their mouth. “Sorry!”
“Okay!” Aoi clapped their hands together and spread their arms, ready to catch something— or rather, someone.
“Just jump! I’ll catch you!”
“What?!” Lacie gasped. “Are you crazy?! Why are you even here in the first place?!” She questioned.
“To hang out with you, of course!” Aoi smiled.
At that moment, Lacie’s face seemed to slightly redden, she started sputtering.
“Wuh—huh— but—“ she stumbled over her words. “We could just hang out tomorrow, you do realize that, right?!” She whispered.
“Pleaseee Laciee?” Aoi whined, falling to their knees and clutching their hands together. “I can’t sleep right now and I’m bored!!”
Lacie sighed, massaging her forehead in frustration. She then walked away and closed her window.
“Wait, Lacie-!” Aoi called out before the window was thrown shut.
Lacie’s closet was a mess.
All the clothes were just thrown into a huge pile of old and new clothing.
Lacie didn’t know what she could wear, it seemed to be about 10 degrees Celsius outside, so she was obviously going to wear her jacket.
Why had Aoi come to her house at this time, anyway?
Sure, Lacie gets that if you have a friend— if she could even call Aoi a friend— you would like to hang out with them as much as possible, but is a hangout at 1 AM on Saturday really necessary?
Aoi could’ve also just waited a few hours so it wouldn’t be this early in the morning/late at night.
Why would they want to see Lacie so badly?
Lacie sighed, snapping out of her train of unnecessary thoughts. She tends to overthink a lot, especially if it’s something small— like someone being nice to her.
Moving on, Lacie put on her usual outfit, her old school uniform paired with her white coat, black hair-bow and red scarf, but she also wore a pair of black leggings under her skirt this time, because it was quite cold outside at this moment.
When Lacie opened the window again, she saw that Aoi was about to climb over the fence and make their way back home.
“Hey! Aoi!” Lacie silently yelled. (If that is even possible…)
When Aoi had heard Lacie’s voice, they turned around with their bright, beautiful smile on their face.
“Lacie!” They called. “So you do want
To hang out!?”
Lacie huffed, trying to suppress a small chuckle at Aoi’s change of mood. Lacie had always adored that about Aoi, how they could express their feelings so well and beautifully.
“Well,” Lacie sighed. “I suppose I don’t have anything else to do, and it’s saturday… and I can’t sleep… and-!”
“best friend of mine, you do realize you can just say you would be pleased to spend the time with me, correct?” Aoi said, mocking a fancy British accent
‘Best friend’
Something about that title felt weird, but also nice in some way. Lacie had never thought that someone would concider her their best friend. It should make her happy, right?
But it felt… weird.
Aoi saw Lacie freeze after they had said that. Did Aoi say something wrong? Maybe it’s best if they ask about it, so they won’t make the same mistake in the future.
“Uhm— sorry, did I say something wr—“
“I… I would like to hang out with you, Aoi.” Lacie mumbled, burying her face in her scarf— Aoi had noticed that’s something Lacie does whenever she’s embarrassed or flustered.
They found it actually kind of cute—
Huh?
“H-huh?!” Aoi sputtered. When they felt their face burn, they hoped it wasn’t visible to the girl they just thought was cute.
“You— uhmm, wanted to hang out, right?” Lacie asked for confirmation.
Aoi nodded quite aggressively.
Lacie adjusted her scarf and stepped out of her window, balancing on the railing.
“Well then, let’s hang out… I guess” Lacie mumbled.
“W-what are you doing?!”
“You said you could catch me, correct?”
“No!— well— yes, but no!” Aoi waved their hands, signaling Lacie to stop. “It’s better if you just use the front door,” they suggested “y’know, like a person who doesn’t want a broken bone?”
“If I go through the front door, my parents would catch us, or maybe my brother.” Lacie explained. “And I… I believe you’re pretty strong, Aoi.”
‘I believe you’re pretty strong’
That sentence filled Aoi with love and confidence. It was unusual for people to believe in Aoi, due to their clumsy and sometimes mischievous nature.
Aoi never knew what it was like to be believed in.
It felt… weird, but nice at the same time.
“Aoi, I’m going to jump, you ready?” Lacie asked, ready to jump down at any moment.
Aoi seemed to panic a bit as Lacie had said that, but Lacie seemed to trust them, so Aoi’s confidence rose again.
Aoi let out a confident ‘hmph!’ Before raising their arms and spreading their legs a tiny bit for balance.
“Alright, Lacie!” Aoi exclaimed.
“Shhhh!”
“Oops— sorry”
“I’m ready, Lacie!” Aoi repeated, lowering their volume again.
“Alright… I’ll count to three.” Lacie breathed. Aoi seemed to notice that she was slightly shaking, was Lacie really sure she couldn’t go through the front door?
“One… two…”
Lacie locked eyes with Aoi and then…
“Three!”
Lacie jumped from her railing into Aoi arms. Aoi should’ve expected the weight of a fourteen year old like her to knock them over.
Thump!
Aoi had fallen to the ground when Lacie had landed, making their head also hit the ground with a quiet but painful sounding ‘crack!’
Lacie felt horrible about what happened to her best friend(?). If she had just taken the front door or the backyard door, Aoi would not have been hurt.
“I’m so sorry Aoi…” Lacie apologized. “I should have taken the door… I’m sorry…” she fidgeted with the ends of her scarf. She muttered something along the words ‘I knew this was stupid’
It was Aoi’s idea to go out into the city, even though most stores should be closed at night. The two of them had waited at the bus stop a few minutes before the bus itself arrived.
It was really strange for Lacie to go outside this late, especially because she was accompanied by someone.
Aoi being this someone, of course.
“I told you a million times, I’m alright! ‘Tis but a scratch, literally” Aoi laughed, pointing at their knee and accidentally hitting the bus chair in front of them with their hand. “Ouch…”
“Are you sure, Aoi?”
“Yes I’m sure, Lacie”
The ride from Lacie’s house to the city center was approximately 10 minutes when on the bus. Not very long, that is. Well, at least for Lacie…
“Are we thereee yett???” Aoi groaned, leaning their head backwards.
“Aoi, you wanted to go out at this hour.” Lacie responded, taking a small container with heart candy out of her pocket. “You should be patient, but we’re almost here.”
“Ooh! You have candy?!” Aoi pointed out. “Can I have some?” They asked, pointing at their own mouth with a smile.
“… No.”
‘Next stop: central station’ a robotic voice said through the speakers. ‘You can change here for the tram, train, metro and bus.’
“Ah, we’re here, Aoi.”
“FINALLY!” Aoi blurted out as they carelessly stood up from their seat.
“Aoi, you need to wait until—!”
Suddenly, the bus stopped, and Aoi fell backwards. Lacie jumped up from her seat and stepped behind Aoi, preventing them from hitting the ground. Lacie caught Aoi by the arms, who sighed of relief as they stood right back up.
“Holy crap, Lacie,” Aoi breathed. “Your reflexes are INSANE!” They grinned
“Save your compliments for later,” Lacie scoffed, tilting her head towards the exit of the bus. “This is our stop.”
The city streets were calm and not crowded at all, most stores were closed or about to close, so there wasn’t really much to do.
There was a long silence as they walked through the streets, lampposts lighting everything around them up.
But one wasn’t.
Actually, there wasn’t even a lamp attached to the thing. It had fallen to the ground and broke. Lacie took this as a great opportunity to finally end the long silence.
“Look, Aoi” said Lacie, pointing at the broken lamppost. “It’s a lamppost.” She spoke, with a neutral tone of voice.
“Hm?” Aoi hummed, they seemed a bit zoned out. “Yeah it is, but the lamp itself is broken…” they pointed out, wondering how that could’ve happened.
“I guess now its just a post”
“Now it’s just a post”
Silence fell for one small second before Aoi burst into laughter. Aoi… they didn’t seem to know whenever they were ‘too loud’.
It didn’t seem like they cared, anyway.
Have they been hanging out that much to make the same jokes at the same time? Oh my goodness, Aoi thought it was hilarious. They couldn’t stop themselves from laughing and giggling when they had said that in unison.
Aoi thought they heard a small chuckle, they thought they must have been hearing things. Lacie almost never laughed, it would’ve been crazy if she laugh about something foolish like this—
“Hehehe…”
It was a small, soft and quiet giggle, but just loud enough for Aoi to hear. Come to think of it, Aoi didn’t think they ever saw Lacie smile, let alone giggle. This small, quiet and almost unnoticeable laugh boosted Aoi’s confidence greatly.
“Was that a laugh?” Aoi smirked, turning to face Lacie.
“Yes, it was.” Lacie answered, tugging at her scarf. “Do you have a problem with that?” She then added, her expression serious again.
Aoi waved their hands in front of their face“No, not at all.” They laughed. “Its just… you almost never laugh, thats all.”
“I laugh!… sometimes…” Lacie protested, crossing her arms in defense.
“Alright, but it’s rare.” Aoi shrugged. “Anyway! Let’s go!” They said and dragged Lacie by the arm, walking towards a nearby park.
When they arrived at said park, Aoi didn’t release their hand from Lacie’s palm, instead, Aoi slid their hand down to Lacie’s hand and intertwined their fingers with hers. Lacie looked down at both of their hands, noticing what Aoi was doing, but she didn’t let go.
Lacie took in the area they were in. It was a greatly taken care of park, with several flowers— like roses, tulips and clematis— far ahead from them was a small lake visible.
“You woke me up just to just to take a walk in the park?” She asked, eyeing Aoi suspiciously.
Aoi chuckled nervously, their hand started to sweat. Aoi seemed to do that whenever they were nervous or scared, sweating, that is.
“W-well, it’s been a while since we hung out… so…” Aoi responded, scratching the back of their neck with the hand that wasn’t holding Lacie’s
“We hang out every break at school.”
“But— but thats different! Most of the time were with Alba, Milion and Kozmo.”
“And how is that different?”
Aoi paused, before explaining their statement. “Well, we’re not alone, together, for example.” They stated first. “And I sometimes want to spend time with you, alone, together.”
That was what caught Lacie off guard. An awkward silence fell between the two of them. Aoi started to get really nervous, doubting if they had said something wrong.
“Did I—uhm, did i say something wrong?” Aoi eventually asked, chuckling nervously, as they always do when they’re anxious.
“No, it is— it is nothing.” Lacie mumbled, “It’s just… you’re holding my hand…” she finally dares to point out.
Aoi suddenly became extremely aware of what they had been doing, Aoi immediately let go of Lacie’s hand and stuffed their own in their jacket’s pockets. They both strolled through the park, a strangely comforting silence hanging in the atmosphere. Aoi knew Lacie wasn’t much of a talker, but that didn’t matter, because Aoi found Lacie’s company enough.
Lacie raised her head to observe the stars above her. It was possible to see the stars more clearly without the lights coming from the city apartments and stores. Millions of stars were visible in the dark night sky, and sometimes there would be an airplane flying over the park, making itself recognizable with the moving, glowing red dot.
Aoi must have been dreaming. Because right then and there, they saw Lacie glowing. It was a beautiful blue light, as bright as the girl’s bright blue eyes.
Hope that blooms, in the darkest night
Lacie had sat down on the grass, fiddling with the grass surrounding her. She turned her gaze to Aoi, and patted the grass next to her, signaling Aoi to come sit with her.
Aoi had taken place next to Lacie, and Lacie had returned to look at the sky above her. She took a noticeable breath and gathered the courage to say something.
“You know, I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy and space, and all that sort of stuff.” Lacie said, breaking the long—but comfortable— silence between them. Aoi let out a ‘hm?’ Before answering normally.
“Oh, really?” They chuckled, “I’ve always been a bit scared of space, actually.” They added, looking at the sky.
“Not the ideal way to go, for sure.”
“Aoi!”
“What?”
Lacie frowned at Aoi’s concerning joke, she slapped them lightly. “Please don’t joke about that kind of stuff!” She scolded, “I need you to be here, alive, y’know?!”
Aoi sighed, but laughed at the same time. “I was kidding!” They teased, “I won’t die without you, Lacie.”
“Please just don’t die, okay?!” Lacie responded, clearly irritated by Aoi’s weird sense of humor. ‘I care about you.’ She thought to herself. Though she would never say that out loud, she knows that Aoi knows that she cares about them. Aoi gave a hearty laugh and fell backwards, lying on the slightly moist grass. Lacie copied their actions and lied down next to them.
Once again, the silence between the two of them was long. But that didn’t matter, because they both were content with the company of the other.
The moon was full and shone right above the two of them, casting a blue-ish glow on the area.
“the moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?” Lacie suddenly pointed out, focused on the glowing light from the moon in the dark ink sky. Aoi had stolen a glance at Lacie, then returned their gaze to the bright moon above them.
“Yeah… it’s beautiful.” Aoi smiled.