#olnf fic

The cool autumn night breeze made everything feel small around her, Renee thought. Everything about the small town felt so much bigger when she was younger. The people, the houses, the problems - but the autumn never failed to bring that familiar comfort. There was something special about it.

“You’re zoning out again.” The comfort of a familiar voice called out, a little smug to have caught her. “Still on Earth with the rest of us?”

Renee huffed out a laugh, hand instinctively going to cover her mouth. “I’m still in this planet’s atmosphere, Via.”

“Good.” Vianca states. She reaches up, gently tugging away the hand that hides Renee’s smile and instead lacing it within her own, “I’d have missed you if you were in space."

“I’d take you to space with me if I ever went.” Renee protested, “We could count the stars together. It’d be fun.”

“Just say the word, and I’ll start packing.” Vianca retorted, cracking a grin.

Constellations were a very human approach to the stars. Making stories out of bright lights people couldn't yet understand- it was the very foundation of how humans worked.

And somehow, it felt like fate. So many stars, and yet somehow, someway, these exact stars aligned in the exact manner they did, to make the exact patterns they do. The stars certainly were bright tonight, Renee mused to herself. She enjoyed sitting on the grass and tracing constellations out.

Renee couldn’t remember when the quiet had become so comfortable with Vianca. She let her eyes flutter shut and let the breeze sink into her skin. It made her feel small - in the best sense of the word. Like the world had so much to offer even after so long.

“You wanna tell me what you were thinking about?” Vianca asked, bumping her shoulder with Renee’s.

“High school.”

Vianca laughed, making a show of cringing, “Yikes. Embarrassing teenage years.”

“I was pretty sure you hated me, actually.” Renee sighs dramatically, “I mean, I received such a frigid response every time I tried to be friends with you. How you wounded me.”

“Wha- come on!” Vianca protested, “It was high school, you know how I was. It was never anything against you.”

Renee snickered, squeezing the hand that laid in Vianca’s. “Yeah, I know. I’m glad you came around on me."

Vianca considered the statement. She leaned, pressing a soft kiss to Renee’s cheek. She took the moment to lay her head on Renee’s shoulder, squeezing her hand back. The comfort of Vianca’s trust alone was enough to soothe.

The first time Darren saw you was when he went to his mom’s class, you just had this look in your eyes. Basically mesmerizing by him, he could practically see the stars in your eyes, he didn’t know how to feel.

It was… strange? Qiu would be talking to you but you’d just be looking at him, why him? He didn’t understand what you saw in him, he just shrugged it off and thought it was because he was older, kids tend to look up to older kids. It didn’t make sense when he grabbed Baxter, Baxter was older than him and you were still focusing on him!

You said bye to him first, before Qiu and Baxter? He found it weird, he even asked Qiu about it! Of course Qiu didn’t have anything to say, “they probably just think you’re cool, Darren.” Maybe he was right.

He wasn’t sure, he wasn’t sure when he caught the walnut in his mouth, he wasn’t sure if you’d thrown in on purpose. Did you mean for it to get to him? When you looked down and waved at him, he wasn’t sure what to feel, he looked away. But he was kinda glad, he liked how it came from you. It made him feel kind of special in a way, he knows it wasn’t on purpose, there’s no way you intentionally made him get the walnut.

Still next time you guys hanged out he smiled a bit, he was excited to ride his bike. He was excited to race, and he might’ve been a bit excited to see you.. he liked your helmet! And once again you greeted him first, once you all got to the park you even raced with him and Qiu! Your reason was… something, “if Darren’s racing, I’ll race too.”

How were you not embarrassed? Apparently you were good at riding bikes.. and fast, it was basically a race between you and Qiu, that was until you fell from your bike. You stopped talking to Qiu and started to look around, you were looking for something.. or someone. You were looking for him, he knew it, you caught his eye before you fell.

Of course you got injured when you fell, it was a scratch on your hand, it was bleeding. He winced at the impact, but he still crouched down and asked if you were okay. He was concerned… it was a bad injury! And you just looked so.. scared? Well that probably wasn’t the right word.

You were smiling, the moment he asked if you were okay there was a stupid grin on your face. It replaced the tears that gathered in your eyes, Qiu offered his bandanna since neither of them had bandaids. You refused at first, you insisted you could do it yourself and that you didn’t need help, but Darren could see you struggling.

He took it upon himself to help you, Qiu almost told him not to but you quickly let him help. Of course you did, he was your favorite after all, right? Darren had to admit he kinda liked having you around, usually people looked up to Qiu, him included. But with you around he got to feel like that, he understood why Qiu had his big ego now.

shhh this sucks but i wanted to give it a try anyways :3