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Serena doesn’t expect to stay in Standard long, but the war left XYZ in shambles, and between the other two dimensions Standard was hardly the worst.
Once he heard of her decision, Reiji thanked her for being a Lancer with a key to an apartment.
“For as long as you need or want,” he said as he forced the key into her stubbornly closed hand.
She hadn’t wanted to take it, but she does in the end. There was little option left outside of asking someone like Yuya for a place to stay. (He would give it to her with a smile and she would hate the ease in which he could so easily extend a hand to someone who, near the end, had done nothing but cause more problems.)
So, she took the key from Reiji and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth any longer than she had to.
Her next matter of business is calling Yuzu.
“I’m staying here for a bit,” Serena said, “in Standard.”
From the other end, Serena heard something that sounded close to a sigh of relief before Yuzu awkwardly laughed.
“Really?” Yuzu asked. “You’re not going home to Fusion?”
“No,” Serena said. There was even less awaiting her in Fusion. She wasn’t sure if that was home anymore, either.
“Where are you staying, then?” Yuzu asked.
Serena quickly caught Yuzu up on Reiji’s offer. She doesn’t know her exact address by heart yet, but it’s near some park, and Yuzu seemed to recognize the name.
“Hey, that’s pretty close!” Yuzu said. “You should come over sometime, then.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, we can hang out and my dad can cook some dinner for you. Do you even know how to cook?”
Not really, she doesn’t, and there’s a brief moment where she remembers she’s just a teenager, staying all alone, but she’s been through worse and—
She doesn’t want Yuzu to pity her in any sense.
Still, she found herself agreeing to Yuzu’s proposition. If nothing else, she just wanted to see Yuzu in a more casual situation than in the middle of a war. “Sure. Maybe sometime soon.”
With each word spoken after that, there was a small titter to Yuzu’s voice, happiness clear.
Serena couldn’t help but give a bit of a smile herself.
Up until now, a few days later, the offer had been stuck in her mind as just a formality. It had made Yuzu happy when she agreed, but it hadn’t taken much longer for details to become concrete and now Serena found herself standing in Yuzu’s room while Shuzo sang some tune while he made dinner for the both of them downstairs.
Yuzu’s room was much the way she expected. Tidy, with some sheet music peeking slightly out of folders, and some props that she probably used during action duel shows with Yuya hanging about. On her desk, there was a small pen holder, a flag drooping over the side. Pink, purple, and blue—Serena recognized it easily enough as the Bi flag, and it gave a small flutter to her heart. There was a chance now.
“Your dad seems nice,” Serena said. She’d met Yuzu’s dad before, briefly, but it felt different expressing the sentiment to her face.
This seemed to calm Yuzu down a bit, entering grounds she could easily respond to.
“He’s the best!” Yuzu said. “Even if he does need to be reeled in with my fan from time to time.”
They both laughed. Serena had never felt the wrath of Yuzu’s fan, and she prayed it would stay that way.
There was a silence that fell over them, as neither knew what to say.
Then, Yuzu spoke up. “How long exactly are you staying?”
“As long as you’ll have me,” Serena said. “I don’t want to impose, though.”
A confused look crossed over Yuzu’s face, and she floundered for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something more before she snapped her mouth shut into a smile that Serena knew was fake.
“I see,” Yuzu said, and left it at that.
It wasn’t until mid-way through dinner that Serena froze, realizing what Yuzu had meant.
Yuzu was walking her back to her apartment when Serena brought it back up.
“I don’t know,” Serena said.
It felt like the moment had passed, but only for her. She could see it in the way Yuzu glanced at her as they walked that she was still agonizing over the bad context of the question.
“Huh?” At once, Yuzu turned her head towards Serena.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying in Standard.”
“Oh,” Yuzu said, seeming to stay deflated. Serena’s answer hadn’t made it any better for her.
“Why did you ask earlier?”
Yuzu gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, no reason,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.
“So, there’s no problem if I was to leave tomorrow?”
Yuzu almost tripped over her own feet as she jerked to a halt, and Serena stopped too. “You’re—”
“No,” Serena said. “But one day I might. I don’t have a reason to stay. So why did you ask?”
Yuzu seemed to mull this over for a second, biting her lip and pointedly looking anywhere but Serena.
Then, finally, “Because I wanted to know how long you’d be staying,” Yuzu said. “Because I want to ask you something. But I didn’t want to ask unless—”
“Ask it,” Serena said.
There was a bit of hesitance, but it seemed Yuzu had come far enough already that her nerves were mostly steeled.
“I want to get to know you better,” she said. “I want to see you more often. And I wanted to ask if…if you want to maybe go on a date with me? Er, um, well, just to see—maybe something simple like coffee or something—”
Serena laughed, as Yuzu began to somehow fumble over her words after her confession.
“Sorry! I don’t even know if you’re—”
Serena soon spared her, though. “Sure,” she said.
Yuzu looked like she wanted to melt onto the sidewalk, and Serena couldn’t help but give another small laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Yuzu mumbled.
“Well, you were right, at least,” Serena said. “It’s not like you got me wrong or anything. I like you too.”
“Yuya told me to go for it,” Yuzu said. “I was too worried about knowing if you even liked girls. He told me there was nothing to worry about, probably.”
Even though she hadn’t known Yuya for long, she could still recall those days in Synchro where they’d all opened up to one another. She’d never been more grateful Yuya had used that information to egg Yuzu on. “Well, I certainly don’t like men, that’s for sure.” Maybe she’d get a small Lesbian flag to put in her own pen holder, it seemed like a cute idea.
Yuzu laughed, happy, but Serena could see it was more than that which was making her nose red.
“C’mon, it’s getting cold out,” Serena said. The last bit of the sun was starting to disappear over the horizon. “I’m sure your dad won’t be happy if you walked home in the dark.”
This got Yuzu moving again, and Serena noted the way she held her head high the way she was always supposed to.
“Also,” Yuzu said as Serena felt a hand slipping into her own, “I think my hands are already plenty cold.”
“I think you’re right,” Serena said, as she threaded their fingers together.
Serena isn’t sure where the time goes, but suddenly one day becomes a week and then it becomes a month, until it then becomes a few months later.
And Yuzu is still there.
They’re sitting at a café that they go to at least once a week, chatting about whatever came to their mind, and watching the passerby’s as Maiami City bustled with life.
Without a word, Yuzu reached her hand across the table and Serena opened her own to meet her halfway as they held their hands tightly together.
And, when Yuzu gives her a smile, so bright and wonderful, Serena can’t help but wonder what she had been talking about all that time ago, when she said she wasn’t sure how long she’d be staying. She can’t find that answer within herself anymore.
She’s happy like this, and she knows she will be for a long time.