Chapter Text
Lumine had practically stopped looking over her shoulder at the door already. She'd accepted she was going to be alone for the evening, and focused instead on thinking about what to write for her paper.
When a male voice spoke out from beside her, it caught her completely off guard.
"I guess you weren't lying when you said you didn't have friends coming."
Lumine turned her head so fast it almost gave her whiplash, face immediately brightening up. "Scara!" She probably sounded too enthusiastic, but she was too happy to care. "I didn't think you were coming!"
Scars turned his head away, avoiding eye contact with her. "Me neither, but I got bored."
"I'm so relieved that I won't need to be alone all night, I was starting to get embarrassed sitting here drinking alone." Lumine sighed in reprieve and reached to pull out a chair for Scara.
"Is that why you looked so miserable?" His words sounded more mocking than concerned, but Lumine couldn't really complain at this point. Scara sat his drink down and took the seat offered to him.
"Ah, you noticed…? Well, that's part of it." Quickly Lumine realized that she sounded like she was asking for pity, "I mean, it’s nothing serious! I was just lonely!" And really stressed, but she didn't need to go into all that.
Scara hummed, staring at his drink like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Can't promise I'll be good company."
"You're here and that's enough," Lumine smiled warmly at him. Once again, she could see the tiny sign of his cold exterior faltering thanks to her comment. Now she just needed to come up with something to talk about, she didn't want to make him feel awkward and leave.
He beat her to it. "No need to bother with small-talk, it's pointless." And he was back to being annoying again.
"So you just want to sit in silence the whole time?" Lumine scoffed, having already bounced back from her slump and ready to be annoying to him too.
"I didn't say that. Just don't see the point in filling a conversation with uninteresting topics just for the sake of it."
Lumine rolled her eyes. "My topics aren't uninteresting!"
She didn’t get a reply, and decided that if he wanted to sit in silence after coming all the way here, she wouldn’t stop him. She’d gotten used to it enough already anyways. The two sat there for a while, watching the performance and sipping their drinks. More people were starting to roll into the bar, slowly filling up the place.
When Lumine finished her drink, she started feeling a little restless without something to occupy herself with. She decided she’d write down some updated notes in her notebook regarding the recent flow of people and whatnot. This seemed to pique Scara’s curiosity a tiny bit, as he was now looking back at her again. “I’m writing a paper for school on this show,” Lumine explained despite him not asking, figuring he wouldn’t do it anyways.
“Didn’t know you could get a journalism degree just by drinking at a bar,” he sneered at her.
“Right, because that’s obviously all there is to it,” Lumine rolled her eyes again. “Can’t afford to drink more anyways,” sche accidentally slipped out.
“Aren’t you working like, every day?” Scara raised an eyebrow.
Lumine sighed. “Yeah, something just messed up my budget for the next month so I can’t splurge a lot right now.” She didn’t intend on talking about this tonight, so she tried to brush it off.
Luckily, Scara wasn’t the type of person to start panicking for her like the other people around her usually would. He stayed silent for a moment, as if thinking, before speaking up. “I’m done with my beer soon, so I can get you a drink while I get another one for myself. My treat.”
Lumine’s surprise must have shown, because he soon rolled his eyes and looked away again. Normally she would’ve refused to have anyone spend money on her, but she had a feeling that Scara didn’t make offers like that often. Refusing would’ve probably been hurtful to him. “You really don’t have to, but if you’re okay with it… Then, of course I’d appreciate it!” Lumine flashed a wide smile at the guy.
He mumbled something along the lines of ‘don’t worry about it’, before downing the remainder of his beer and starting to get up. He asked what Lumine wanted and she told him her order. “I’ll be right back,” he shortly glanced at the smiling girl before walking to the bar.
✧✧✧
Honestly, offering to buy her a drink had been a momentary impulse. Actively wanting to do something for another person was an odd feeling, but Scara passed it off as just wanting to be kind to the person who went through the trouble of inviting and waiting for him. He ordered the drinks from the bartender and leaned against the counter and turned to watch the performance again while waiting. He noticed a man stand up and walk towards the Lumine’s and his table, confidently grabbing a chair to sit on and starting to talk to the girl.
A friend of hers? He figured there would be people she knew, but looking at her body language, it didn’t look like it. Lumine looked stiff and fidgety. The unfamiliar man was leaning close to her, hand going to touch her arm, and Lumine tried to further scoot away from the touch. Scara couldn’t hear their conversation over the music, but Scara felt a sense of urgency to get back to her, and luckily the drinks were almost ready. He hurriedly paid for them and assumed a confident posture while walking back.
He set the glasses down with some force and sat down on his chair. “Scara!” Lumine exclaimed with relief in her voice, and he was already staring daggers at the random man sitting opposite him. “She’s with me,” Scara spoke with a cold and sharp tone. He was too worked up over this and he knew it, but he didn’t care.
The other man threw his arms up in defeat and laughed. “Sorry shortie, didn’t know she had a boyfriend,” he smirked and started getting up. “You sure you don’t want my number anyways, sweetheart?” He leaned over Lumine, too close for comfort and the girl flinched away.
“Leave,” Scara snapped with his eyes narrowed in cold anger.
The man backed away. “Alright, alright,” he chuckled while retreating to his own table.
Lumine visibly relaxed in her seat and let out a breath of relief. “T-thank you…” He didn’t miss the blush across her face as she stared at the table, but it was probably just from the stress.
“It looked like he was bothering you.” Scara moved the drink he got towards her.
“Yeah… I saw him looking at me earlier already, but I didn’t think he would get up the instant you left. I’m pretty used to flirty guys in bars, but I still get really uncomfortable and he was more pushy than usual.” Lumine still had her gaze fixed on the drink in front of her, fidgeting with the straw.
“I can’t stand guys like that,” some anger still peeked through his voice. “Sorry, I maybe got too worked up,” he mumbled. He wasn’t surprised she was getting hit on, he had taken note of her outfit that was showing more skin than her usual clothes, but some guys went past their limits in their flirting. Their arrogance was what pissed him off.
Lumine waved her hands in the air frantically, “No, no! I was really uncomfortable, so I’m just really grateful you did that for me.” The smile on her face was back, and Scara was relieved to see the atmosphere start to relax again. He simply nodded in response.
Scara was surprised to see he hadn’t scared her off. He wasn’t afraid to express his annoyance to anyone, but all other feelings he avoided letting out. His anger was always burning with coldness and whenever people witnessed it, they usually deemed him dangerous-feeling. Obviously they didn’t tell him, but he could tell.
He wasn’t even sure why he got so angry. Scara usually didn’t particularly care about oher people and wouldn’t get involved in things not concerning him, but something about seeing Lumine so scared made him snap. It was a scary and unfamiliar feeling to him and he felt the urge to flee and go home, but he had a drink to finish, and maybe that same guy would come back if he left…
Weird. Was he worrying for her?
The sound of a guitar chord fading out and the audience starting to clap snapped him out of his thoughts. The leading member of the band who had been playing guitar and singing started thanking the audience and it seemed like the concert was ending. Lumine clapped too and waved at the singer, who started making her way towards the table from the stage.
“Lumi! What’d you think?” The brown-haired girl spoke to Lumine, and Scara observed the interaction without joining in.
“Amazing, like always! The audience seemed to really love you guys too,” Lumine smiled and stood up to give the other girl a hug. Scara watched as they chatted for a moment, before the other girl went off to pack up the equipment on the stage, promising to come back when she was done.
Lumine turned back to Scara, face still beaming with happiness. “That’s Xinyan, she’s one of my best friends.”
Again, Scara just nodded. He was thinking about going home once the girl called Xinyan came back, then he wouldn’t need to worry about her being alone anymore.
Lumine went off on a tangent, telling him about Xinyan and their band, even though the man was only barely listening. Not long after, said girl came back and Scara finished his beer, ready to get up and leave.
“Wait, don’t go yet!” Lumine lightly grabbed at his sleeve, with pleading eyes. Her cheeks were rosy, and Scara took note of her empty glass. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was getting tipsy. What a lightweight. With a sharp look sent her way, Lumine let go of his shirt and smiled apologetically. “Xinyan is going to stay a while longer, and it’d be fun if you stayed too.”
“Totally! A friend of Lumi’s is a friend of mine,” Xinyan grinned. “You’re welcome to stick around.”
Friend? Could he even be called that? Somehow, he was still eventually persuaded to stay. It seemed that Lumine had no filter after only a few drinks, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’d nearly begged him to stay. At that point, it would’ve been more trouble to leave than stay. Xinyan simply giggled at her friend’s antics, clearly more used to her drunken behavior. He ended up getting another round of drinks for the two, and Xinyan got something for herself too. After being almost done with the third bar of the evening, he started relaxing a bit too. He still mostly stayed quiet, not too interested in whatever the girls were talking about, he just answered the occasional question directed at him. He was really out of place in the whole situation and unused to such a hangout, but it wasn’t as awful as he thought it’d be.
When Xinyan finally suggested going home, Lumine was still raring to go, talking about getting more drinks. Scara was desperate to just get back to his quiet apartment, so he sternly started heading out, prompting Lumine to follow behind him though she was still groaning. “Remember whose tab you’ve been drinking on,” the man mumbled at her over his shoulder. “I’m cutting you off now.” The girl slumped in defeat, but bounced back quickly. Even if he didn’t want to leave so badly, she was drunk enough that she didn’t need any more.
Scara relished in the cold evening air, finally out of the stuffy and hot bar. The loud bar music was still audible behind them though muffled, but otherwise it was quiet - except for the two noisy girls beside him squealing in cheer at the fresh air. Growing more irritated and overwhelmed by the second, Scara dug out a cigarette and lit it. He needed it if he was going to make it all the way home. The trio walked towards their dorms, with Scara in the front and the two girls trailing behind him. He’d filtered their sounds out but eventually realized they’d quieted down.
Arriving at the door to the dorm building, Xinyan started searching for her keys and opening the door. Scara had stopped behind them, searching for his cigarette pack again despite having just smoked one moments earlier. Lumine noticed this, stopping at the gap between the now open door. “Not coming inside yet?” She questioned him.
“Not yet,” his answer was blunt, turning to look at the ground. He needed a bit of time to unwind before going to his room, preferably alone. Lumine seemed to disappear inside, and he was fine with that. Though only a moment later, the door opened again, and Scara turned to see the girl waving goodbye to Xinyan. Lumine settled to lean against the wall opposite of where the boy was standing, smiling with a tone he couldn’t quite read.
“I won’t bother you for long, if you’d rather be alone,” her voice was softer than usual.
“Whatever.” The sight of her there in her usual spot, while he was smoking, was already pretty normal.
“I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, coming and paying for my drinks. And saving me from a creep,” Lumine laughed, a little dry. “It was nice. I hope you had even a bit of a fun time,” her smile seemed more genuine now, almost looking like it could light up the dark area. His eyes widened just a tad at the odd line of thought, and he averted his gaze from hers.
“It wasn’t that bad,” was all he could bring himself to say. Though he wasn’t looking, he could feel the radiating warmth emanating from the girl as she moved from her spot.
“Night, Scara,” she chimed, her keys jingling as she went to open the door again.
“Night.” The boy caught a glimpse of her retreating figure, relieved to be alone finally but noticing the lack of her warm presence. He sighed out a puff of smoke, looking up at the night sky. The stars sparkled brightly, and he couldn’t help but think they reminded him of a certain girl.
✧✧✧
Throwing herself on her bed, Lumine smiled when she thought back on the evening. She’d gotten a little more drunk than intended, having downed too many drinks in too short of a time, but the high had also gone down quickly enough to keep her from doing anything too embarrassing. She winced a little at the thought of how she had pleaded Scara to stay, but it had worked out, so it was probably okay. Probably. Nonetheless, she was happy, the night having been effective in taking her mind off other things. She’d worry about everything tomorrow.
The evening's events played in her mind like a film, until she thought back to the guy who’d been hitting on her, and how Scara had defended her. Her smile faded a bit, a mix of emotions settling in. She hadn’t expected Scara to defend her like that, he might’ve just left her alone for all she knew. Maybe he had just not liked guys like that as he’d said, but at that moment, Scara seemed almost protective. His eyes had burned with an intense purple flame directed at the pushy male, and if Scara had been the type of guy to get physical, he probably would’ve lunged at the other. It had made something in Lumine’s stomach twist, but it wasn’t fear or anything like it. It was something completely different.
The girl had an idea of what it had been, but she didn’t want to think about it. Nope, not Scara, no way. She turned to her side with a groan, hugging a pillow with her eyes shut tightly due to all the different overwhelming feelings in her mind.
Eventually, after changing out of her clothes and washing her makeup, she fell into a deep sleep.