Chapter Text
Kronii typed furiously on the library computer, looked at the screen, and put her head in her hands angrily. She stayed there for about 5 minutes then felt the waves of sleepiness wash over her…
"Hey, uh, are you okay?"
Kronii jolted awake, forearms shielding her face and in the process pressing her reading glasses against her nose.
She slowly uncovered her face, wide eyed, and saw the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Brown hair in a low ponytail, glasses, freckles, in a plaid skirt, polo shirt, and navy cardigan.
And here she was, in her gray sweats, brown flannel and tank top. Kronii looked down. And orange crocs with fuzzy socks. Hey, at least she was comfortable…
But comfort didn't help her as she stammered in front of this woman, exhausted.
Oh, god, Kronii thought.
"Hey, it's okay! I just wanted to let you know that the library is going to be closing soon. I didn't mean to interrupt your… work."
"O-oh! I wasn't working!" Kronii gathered her documents and put them in a binder she was resting her elbows on. Kronii froze. "W-well I was working, I just-"
The woman in front of her giggled, grabbing the hem of her skirt.
"I just, I just… wait, I thought today was Thursday?"
"No, it's Saturday. Library closes at midnight tonight."
Kronii cursed under her breath. She went to close her software to shut down her computer.
"... ArcGIS! I use that for my research!" The woman began to fidget with her skirt more, excited at the familiarity.
"Oh yeah?" Kronii smirked at the screen while closing the program. "I'm supposed to too, but I suck at it."
"I did too at first, but practice makes perfect." The girl pulled out the chair from next to Kronii. "So does asking your professors and librarians." She put out a hand, stiffly. "I'm Mumei."
Kronii met Mumei's hand with a gentle shake. "Pretty name. I'm Kronii." Kronii used her free hand to cover a yawn, keeping her mouth shut.
"If you ever need help, I intern here so you can always find me wandering around."
"You're a librarian?"
"More of an anthropologist, but I'm working on my Masters in Library Science. What do you study?"
"...Urban planning. I'm a Master's student too." Kronii rubbed her eyes, far too gone for her to think that it would be considered rude.
"...Do you wanna get some coffee with me downstairs?" Mumei said this while making intense eye contact, fingernails tapping on the table.
"Trying to get me outta here?" Kronii put her chin on her fist, cocking an eyebrow and giving a smirk.
"Somewhat!" Mumei clearly didn't get the jab. "We are closing soon, anyway. N-not that- you don't have to get coffee if you want!"
Mumei clearly was already over-caffeinated. And Kronii was under.
Ah, what the hell…
"I'd love to." Kronii said with as much enthusiasm as she could manage.
Mumei squealed at the back of her throat.
"Don't you have to close up shop?"
"Nah, I have undergrad assistants. I'll let them close up."
"Your own assistants, eh? High living." Kronii gathers her headphones and put them in her bag, getting prepared to go.
Mumei and Kronii walk down the halls lining with filing cabinets, on the way to the elevators. The lights turn on via motion sensor as they walk.
"We're basically the same age, so I don't get that power trip a lot of people do. I had this job at a Pizza Hut where I was a Team Lead to a lot of older people who just started." Mumei looks at Kronii, looks to her Docs and points a single finger at her noggin. "Mindset."
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
Kronii looks straight down the hallway. Perhaps too tired to give a proper reaction. She shrugs her shoulders. "Cool. Must've gotten a wicked head start."
"Haven't had a break since freshman year of high school, so yeah. How old are you?" They enter the elevator and poke at the ground floor button at the same time. Both giggle.
Kronii catches her breath. "Twenty-three. Gonna turn 24 over the summer."
"You must've gotten a head start too."
The elevator goes down. Always makes Kronii feel nauseous. Pretty girls breathing the same air as her doesn't help.
"AP and community college during high school. You know how it is."
The elevator dings open to the ground floor of the library, almost like a food court. The smell of coffee wafted through the air to the two stepping out of the elevator. Many college kids hung out around the booths and tables, some tired on their laptops and some rambunctious, gossiping over iced and hot coffees alike.
"Can I buy you a coffee, Kronii?" Mumei wrapped her cardigan tighter to her torso.
"N-no!" Kronii said, a little too loudly. "I should be the one buying a coffee for you…"
"Why?" Mumei cocked her head to the side.
"Because you woke me up before closing! That was very nice and also, also much appreciated."
"I was quite literally doing my job."
"I still appreciated it." Kronii clicked her tongue and mock-scoffed, earning a giggle out of Mumei.
"Fine, you can buy my drink, only if I buy yours."
"Deal."
~~~
They bought each others' drinks, Mumei's iced and Kronii's hot. When Kronii's back was turned to scope out a table Mumei handed the barista with the blonde hair and brown roots a tenner for tip.
Totally worth it.
As they seated in the bit-too-small table, their drinks centimeters from each others, Kronii looks out the window to the moon just barely shining behind the clouds outside, pitch dark except the streetlamps lining campus' walkways.
"Do you have a job, Kronii?"
"Heh, yeah, I work with the city for municipal engineering. Just an internship right now, but it pays fairly well. Pays for my dorm at least."
"You live on campus?
"Yeah, in the Village."
Mumei slaps a palm on the table. "No way, so do I! Building 7!"
Kronii's jaw drops. "Building 2, aaaaay!" Kronii takes a sip of her coffee, feeling the warmth travel down her stomach and settle in her heart.
"Not too far at all, my ArcGIS knowledge can basically float over to you."
"Ah, I still don't think its that easy. The user interface… who came up with that…"
"Well, it was made in the 90s, its relatively new. I could… teach you, if you want?" Mumei fiddles with the lid of her cup. "I-if you want to, of course…"
Kronii sets down her cup and looks a little too intensely at Mumei. "I would love that."
"Mumei smiles and cheers on the inside. "Nice! But not tonight, I can tell you've pulled some kind of wild all-nighter, getting your date confused and all."
"Heh, yeah…"
The two sip their coffee, among the clacking of keyboards and the laughing of students.
"...Walk me home?"
Mumei didn't expect to hear this from Kronii. Especially not so bashfully. Kronii looked up to Mumei over her cup.
"Yes." Mumei had an obvious flush on her face and she adjusted her glasses. "Yes I will."
~~~
After exchanging numbers (a simple hey from both to make sure they got the numbers right) and finishing their coffee, they both started their walk across campus to their dorm. Sharing worries about being too young or too old to live on campus. Poking fun at computer science majors. Sharing clubs they both like, because the both of them are scared of trying something new.
Kronii takes the lead and walks to the front door of her dorm, on the second story of her building.
"So, uh, yeah." Kronii scratches the back of her neck and lets out a yawn. "Let me know your schedule for the ArcGIS tutoring, if you're still down…"
"Of course." Mumei moved from fiddling with her skirt to grabbing Kronii's sleeve of her tattered brown flannel, Mumei's cardigan draping over her hand. "It was really nice to meet you." Again, Mumei stares a bit too intensely but seriously, eyes wide like an owl.
Kronii's eyes are wide too, her heart beating faster.
"I would like to get coffee again, too." Mumei's hand lets go, her fingertips sliding along the top of Kronii's hand as she rests her arm by her side. "I will pay next time. For it all." Mumei gives a slight smile.
Kronii smiles too, panicking inside.
"Yeah… Well, no. I get to pay."
"We'll see about that."
They smile at each other.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight…" Kronii reaches for her doorknob, waving goodbye to Mumei.
~~~
Kronii kicks her neon orange crocs off in the air, catching them swiftly as they fall. She sets her bag down, turns the light off and lays in bed.
Face into the pillow, she squeals and kicks her feet.
~~~
Mumei walks through the suite and into her room, and falls at her desk, papers strewn about. For someone in library science, her information was all over the place. She makes a promise to clean it tomorrow morning, but for now looks at her phone's text messages.
Kronii: hey :3
Mumei: hey :)
She unties her Docs and lines them up by her door, folding her clothes for the morning and preparing for a shower.
Once cleaned, she looked at herself in the mirror.
How could this compare?
She lay in bed, contemplating sending a message.
Instead, she opted to get out of bed and go back to work at her desk, going through the motions with other things on her mind.