Fie had been right about to step into the shower when the rain began to pour. By the time she had gotten dry and dressed it had advanced from a drizzle to a drench.

It was a shame too. She had been really looking forward to getting in a nap after her excursion through the old schoolhouse. Rean had decided to bring her along for this month's exploration and, fun as it was to fight alongside her friends, it was exhausting.

She sat on her bed and looked out the window, trying to see through the streaks of the downpour. No good. With this type of torrent, it was unlikely her flowers would be able to avoid being flooded without protection.

But it was so warm in her room, and probably even warmer in her bed. Maybe Edel or Vivi had already gotten to them. Then again, maybe they hadn't. Better to lose a little time on potential redundancies than lose a lot of progress if your faith was misplaced. More wisdom from the boss.

Fie sighed. The sooner she was done, the sooner she could come back. She put on her shoes and left the class VII dorm.

As a reward for being cautious, Fie got to see that her faith was not misplaced. The budding flowers had been covered by a heavy blue tarp, protecting them from a possible flood.

Still, she had come all this way. Might as well be as careful as possible and make sure the tarp was set up properly.

This time, her caution proved necessary. The sticks holding up the tarp hadn't been put in at quite the right angles and spaced slightly unevenly. Still, an easy fix and far simpler than if she had had to set it all up on her own.

As she made the necessary modifications, Fie found herself smiling in the pouring rain. These weren't the types of mistakes her clubmates were likely to have made. That left just one person as a prime suspect.

Her plans to return to the dorm and her bed as fast as possible were overwritten, and Fie headed to the schoolhouse.

*Knock knock*

"It's open," said Elliot. Usually the music room would be closed by now, not to open until the next day began. But this was a special circumstance and so Elliot was allowed to have it all to himself, a privilege he was both happy and surprised to be given.

The door opened and Fie walked in. The sight of her made Elliot happy under any situation, but seeing her enter the room with a smile already on her face definitely added to it. The way her wet clothes stuck to her definitely didn't hurt either. "Hey Fie," said Elliot, offering her a smile of his own.

"Hey," she said as she walked closer to him. "Did you set up the tarp over the flowerbed?"

"Yeah," said Elliot, shyly scratching his cheek. "When the rain started getting worse I remembered what you said about Edel warning you about the rain maybe killing the flowers, so Hibelle let me-" Fie's lips cut him off.

"Thanks," she said as she pulled back, wearing an even bigger smile than the one she had had on when she entered.

"Yeah, uhh, n- no problem," Elliot said, happily. No matter how many times they had done it, kissing Fie still left his brain feeling all fluffy in the best way.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked as she sat down at the piano, its bench being the closest place to him to sit.

"Well, to put up the tarp and stuff I kinda had to miss the last half of practice. Hibelle gave me the key to the room and told me I could stay here and practice as long as I needed to today. I just had to drop it off at instructor Mary's desk before I left."

"You had a practice?" Fie asked. "Even with the performance today?"

Elliot nodded. "It wasn't a full practice. Instructor Mary just had some notes she'd written during the show, things we could improve and mistakes we made. She just gave them to us and let us work on them for a while."

Fie nodded and folded up her arms on top of the piano, resting her head on her forearms and getting comfortable.

When he saw that Fie had no more questions for him, Elliot tucked his violin into place under his chin.

"You were great in the show today," said Fie as he brought his bow up to rest on his strings. She had been in the church for it, sitting near the back.

"Thank you," Elliot said, giving her a smile before beginning his practice.

The music relaxed Fie, letting her rest, but it also interested her enough that she couldn't quite fall asleep. She just drifted along the border until the sun had gone down and a knock interrupted the instrumentation.

"Excuse me?" said Janitor Gyler from behind the wood. "I hate to interrupt you, but I've gotta lock up the school."

"Sorry for the inconvenience," replied Elliot. Fie said nothing, just stood up from the piano bench as Elliot put away his violin. "I just have to drop off this key at Instructor Mary's desk before I leave, is that okay?" asked Elliot as he grabbed his umbrella from the basket near the doorway.

"Shouldn't be an issue," said Gyler as Elliot opened the door, Fie close behind him. "Let me just come head down with you and open up the teacher's room."

The necessary doors were locked and unlocked, the key was dropped off, and Gyler escorted Elliot and Fie out of the building. The doors were sealed behind them and the pair were left standing under the overhang.

Elliot unlatched his umbrella and popped it open, holding it in his right hand. "Ready to head back to the dorm?" he asked Fie.

Fie nodded and moved over to his left side. "Can I carry your violin?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," said Elliot, confused as he gave it to Fie. "Why?"

"I want to hold your hand."

Something about the frank way Fie said it made him blush and brought back those warm feelings she gave him so regularly. It wasn't until his fingers had laced with her's that he noticed a flaw in her plan.

"Wait, if you're holding my hand, then the umbrella won't be able to cover you since it'll be on the opposite side of me," he pointed out.

Fie shrugged. "So I'll get wet."

Elliot frowned but didn't argue with her. He thought for a few moments and then brightened. "I've got an idea." He transferred the umbrella from his right hand to being just over his left shoulder and tilted his head to hold it with his cheek almost like a violin. He could feel the nylon against his head, but that didn't matter. Now him and Fie could hold hands as they walked back to the dorm and both remain dry.

For his insight, Fie gave Elliot a kiss on the cheek. Elliot saw it coming and was just fast enough to turn his head and make it into a kiss on the lips, not that Fie was complaining.

Unlike the violin, there was no issue with Fie leaning against Elliot while he was holding the umbrella like this, a fact she took full advantage of. She pressed against him the entire way back to the dorms, both of them enjoying the comfortable and romantic atmosphere.

They made it back to the dorms just in time for a warm and hearty dinner, lovingly prepared for them and their friends by Sharon. Fie finished eating first and went up to her bedroom to change out of the rain-soaked clothes into a fresh set. She was soon joined by Elliot, also in clean clothing, and they both took a seat at her desk and studied together.

Studying, in this case, was only partially euphemistic. Ever since the morning after their first kiss, when both of them woke up with spinal pain as a result of their awkward positioning, they had agreed that future making out should take place in more comfortable conditions. In the days since then, Fie's room had become as familiar to Elliot as his room became to her. They figured that, since their activities were taking place so close to their textbooks anyways, they might as well take the opportunity to study together as well while they caught their breaths.

They were in the middle of one such rest/study session when Fie let out a sudden yawn.

"Are you ti-" said Elliot before being cut off by a yawn of his own, making Fie release a single silent snort of laughter as Elliot sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess we both have had a long day," he said with a small smile, closing his notebook. "We should probably go to bed." He got a nod in response. Elliot leaned in to give Fie a small kiss, intended to be a kiss good night, and stood up from his chair before turning to leave.

He was stopped by a hand pulling at his sleeve. "Stay," requested Fie.

"You wanna study some more?" he asked.

Fie shook her head and stood up, getting on her toes to kiss Elliot much more deeply. By the time they had detached from each other, Elliot knew what she meant.

"Fie," he said, carefully. "I'd love too, but if we do that I'll probably be too tired to make it back to my room."

"So stay the night."

Elliot knew that there was a chance that that had been what she was getting at. It was why he had mentioned the odds of him being able to make it home, to check if it was what she wanted. But he hadn't been expecting it to actually be the case.

Unlike the last time when Fie had said yes to him when he hadn't been really expecting it, Elliot hadn't spent hours rehearsing for it. The surprise just sort of struck him dumb.

"Okay," he said, moments before Fie pulled him in for another kiss.

Time passed, though neither was keeping track. Over the course of it they somehow found themselves on the bed. Elliot was on top of Fie and Fie had one leg wrapped around him and they remained in that position until they were yawning more than they were kissing.

It was following a round of cascading yawns that Elliot spoke up about the situation. "We really need to sleep."

Fie leaned up to give him one last kiss before agreeing and unwinding her leg from around his hips. Elliot rolled over onto his side to let Fie stand up from the bed, then sat on the edge. Fie headed over to her closet, when Elliot had a realization.

In response to the sudden lack of any sound of movement from Elliot, Fie looked over her shoulder. "Something up?"

Elliot's jaw worked wordlessly for a few seconds while his blush got deeper and deeper. "I, uh, I sleep in my boxers. I- I can go upstairs and get some sweatpants or someth-"

Fie cut him off with a shrug. "If you're fine with sleeping together like that, then I'm not gonna complain."

Elliot nodded. Her words helped him feel less awkward but no less embarrassed. "I'm okay with it," he said, trailing off at the end and staring at his feet. His excitement at the prospect did nothing to diminish his embarrassment either. If anything it just made it worse.

It's not like Fie hadn't seen him like that before. She had been in that swimming class with him, and those trunks weren't much longer than his boxers.

Elliot's jaw unclenched as he tried to talk himself down. As he did so, he glanced up. He saw Fie from behind, in the middle of pulling her shirt off, and quickly looked away, face even redder than it had been.

Fie saw him do this through the reflection of her closet mirror. "It's okay if you watch," she said over her shoulder. She pulled her shirt all the way off and turned to face him. "I don't mind."

As embarrassed as he was, Elliot's hormones were even stronger. At hearing her giving him the go-ahead, his gaze snapped from the floor directly up to stare at her.

Fie turned back around and started getting her skirt off. "Aren't you gonna change?" she said, a light note of teasing in her voice as she tried to push down her own nervous excitement.

"Oh, right," Elliot said, springing to his feet. His hands were shaking enough to make it hard for him to undo his shirt buttons, but he eventually managed it. It was hard enough of a task that it occupied his mind enough to let him calm down a little. By the time he had his shirt and pants off, Fie had changed into her pajamas.

Now it was her turn to look at him. Despite having seen him in a very similar state of dress before, there was a world of difference between seeing it at the school pool with the rest of the class around in the middle of a lesson and seeing it in the privacy of her bedroom at night. Especially when Elliot's body had the natural reaction a teenage boy would have in such a situation.

It was enough to give Fie her own blush. It was a rare sight for Elliot, and one he usually relished, but the moment was dampered somewhat by his cheeks being hot enough to fry an egg.

A silence hung in the air as they looked at each other, taking in the sight as best they could.

Elliot cleared his throat. "Uh, those are nice pajamas," he awkwardly said.

"Thanks. The boss bought them for me for my fourteenth birthday," said Fie.

The dialogue did just enough to snap them back to their senses to let Fie hit the lights. With the darkness dampening their vision, they were able to focus on getting into bed together.

What followed was a mess of flailing limbs, fluttering blankets, and rotating pillows as the pair tried to figure out a comfortable position to sleep in. Fie's head was right in the middle of Elliot's chest, her hands tucked under his back, and his arms around her.

With the flurry of activity over, the reality of what they were doing set in.

Elliot found his mouth suddenly dry. "Are you sure you don't wanna put a pillow on my chest or, or something?" he asked. Fie nodded; well, tried to nod but got stopped by his body.

"This is fine," she said as she closed her eyes.

Elliot didn't have a response. The scent of her hair filled his mind.

"...so warm," she mumbled.

"What was that?" asked Elliot.

"You're so warm," she said, slightly louder. "And soft… And smooth."

"Heheh, yeah," Elliot nervously laughed. "I can't grow body hair," he said, unable to stop himself. "Not arms, not legs, not chest, nothing. My dad is the same way."

"Lucky," said Fie. She slid her leg along his in such a way that her pajama leg slid upwards, letting him feel her skin with his. "I have to shave every couple of days."

"Ah." Elliot was once more at a loss for words. Feeling her skin against his in ways that wasn't via hands or lip to lip was new. Even when they made out, when Fie wore a skirt, Elliot always had pants on. Her bare leg gliding against his was electric. "I'm sorry," he lamely said, the best he could think of as a response to her plight.

Fie made an amused noise and nuzzled his chest. "It's okay," she said. "It's not your fault."

Elliot nodded in false acknowledgement of her words. In truth, the constant new and exciting sensations were leaving his mind so full that what she had said only barely registered. Luckily it didn't matter that his nod was fake, she couldn't see it anyways. The one thing it did accomplish was putting his nose in contact with her hair.

Even when he realized and pulled back, the tickle persisted. Elliot had just enough time to tilt his head to the side as he sneezed. "Sorry," he said.

"Do it again," she said.

"Sneeze?" Elliot asked, looking down at her in confusion.

"No. You hugged me tighter. I liked it." Elliot could feel her cheeks warm up slightly against his chest in a way that made him willing to agree to pretty much anything. He was still confused, but he did it.

"Like this?"

Fie attempted another nod. "Ye-" she said before being cut off by a loud yawn. She nestled against Elliot's and mumbled something. The only coherent part came at the end. "sleepy."

Elliot smiled at her and stroked her back gently. "Maybe we should go to sleep?" he asked before kissing the top of her head, his tiredness and her cuteness combining to give him some new level of boldness.

A third try at a nod. "G'night," Fie said.

"Good night, Fie."