#but the sheer amount of energy that schoolwork takes out of me. the way i can barely deviate from routine without it causing severe

[phoebespenglers]

worst thing about being pinned as the "gifted kid" growing up is when you start to realize you probably have some Brain Issues and tell people about it, they don't believe you because you're quote unquote "too smart to have those" and "it's because you're so intelligent that you feel like that!" like alright cool! amazing! that doesn't make me feel any better though!

[mackinmacki]

Growing Up

Rating: K

Word Count: 4577

Summary: Mio and Yui spend some time together after band practice gets cancelled, and Mio learns about Yui's secret part-time job.

Pairing: MioYui (friendship)

Notes: This was done as a collaboration with CLWiosna, so thanks for working with me!

Links: (FFN) | (AO3)

The band room was empty when Mio walked in through the door. That wasn't a surprise, since she tended to be the first one there anyway. Even in high school, that had been the case, so she had never expected university to be any different. Of course, she had expected her friends to show up at some point. As the minutes ticked on, however, she slowly began to realize that nobody was likely to show up. Sure, she expected Ritsu and Yui to be late, but not Mugi. This was so unlike her.

After twenty minutes, she had to face facts: nobody was coming. With a heavy sigh, she pulled out her phone, wanting to call Ritsu and give her a piece of her mind, but it was at that moment that two texts popped up on screen. One of them was from Ritsu, and the other was from Mugi. Curiously, both of them were apparently from twenty-five minutes ago.

Mugi: 'Terribly sorry, but I won't be able to make practice today!' Ritsu: 'Me either. Gotta study. Next time, though!'

Ah. So that was what happened. Of course her phone would have this issue, and refuse to let her know nobody was coming until long after she'd already shown up. That was quite the drag. Sighing again, she put away her phone and grabbed her bass. Yui hadn't said anything in the group chat, but if nobody else was going, surely she wouldn't either. It sucked, because they all were pretty busy with schoolwork, and they hadn't been able to practice together as much like they had done in high school. That was to be expected, but that didn't make it any better. She was starting to fear that the band was slowly starting to drift apart.

The door suddenly burst open, and Yui ran in with her guitar strapped to her back. Panting heavily, she bent over to rest her hands on her knees for a moment. "Everyone! Sorry... I'm late!" She stood up straight, only to find that she was just talking to Mio. "Huh? Where's everyone?" She looked around, trying to spot them hiding around the room, but there wasn't a trace of Mugi or Ritsu.

"Neither of them were able to come. Ritsu's studying, surprisingly enough, and Mugi is... well, she didn't say exactly. I'm surprised you're here, though. Since nobody else is coming, I figured you'd have decided to stay home."

"Well..." Yui laughed, giving Mio a smile that let her know Yui had made a mistake. "My phone sorta died a couple hours ago, and so my alarm didn't go off. I came as soon as I remembered, though!" She acted like it was an achievement for her to remember that they had practice in the first place. It certainly didn't assuage Mio's original feelings that the group was being pulled apart. Considering that neither Mugi nor Ritsu had shown up, she didn't feel like she should be too harsh to Yui. After all, she'd at least shown up.

"It's okay, Yui. We should get going, though. We'll have to schedule another day to practice." Of course, she'd be the one who was scheduling the practice. Occasionally Mugi would offer to do it, but neither Ritsu or Yui seemed inclined to at any point. It sometimes made her feel as if she was the only one who still really cared about keeping the band together.

"What? But we just got here!" Mio raised an eyebrow, confused by Yui's smile. Normally, she would've just assumed it was because she was happy to go back to her dorm and eat, but she'd just argued against that. What exactly was going on? "Why don't we go somewhere else? Ooh, you know what sounds good? A milkshake! We should get milkshakes!" She rocked on her toes giddily, her eyes wide and pleading with Mio.

"Milkshakes? You want to get milkshakes with me? Just the two of us?" She suddenly felt at a loss for words. Her and Yui almost never hung out by themselves. Back in high school, if they weren't with the others, they had their previous friends that they'd spend time with. For her, it was Ritsu, and for Yui it was Nodoka. As much as she felt that she should've spent more one-on-one time with everyone in the band, she didn't always feel confident enough to suggest it. When it came to Yui, she wasn't even sure what to suggest they do together. Apparently it was milkshakes. "Why milkshakes?"

"Well, I saw a commercial for them on TV with Ui, and they looked so yummy! But Ui was too busy to go with me that day, and I... kinda forgot, ehehe." She rubbed the back of her neck and laughed as Mio just stared at her, bewildered. "But now we can go together! C'mon, let's go!" She had gotten by Mio without her fully realizing it, and then she found herself being pulled towards the door.

"H-Hey, Yui, wait!" Yui was too absorbed in happiness to hear Mio, though, humming cheerfully to herself as they left the building. Her grip was surprisingly strong, and Mio ended up just giving in and following after her on her own accord. This was what she had just been thinking about, right? Spending some one-on-one time with Yui. If that's what she really wanted, she shouldn't try to duck out without any reason.

Yui's energy and happiness was contagious, and she found herself smiling a few times as they walked along together.

They ended up going to a restaurant on campus that just so happened to also sell milkshakes. Instead of ordering a full meal like normal people, they just ordered the milkshakes. They found a table to sit at while waiting for their treats, and Mio found herself staring at Yui. She wasn't sure what to talk about, so she wracked her mind for topics that might interest Yui. Maybe... Ahh, she couldn't even come up with anything. This was tougher than she'd expected.

"So how's Elizabeth? She and Giita haven't gotten to be together in awhile." If someone had happened to walk by and hear that conversation, they'd never suspect that Yui was actually talking about their instruments. It was a bit childish, since instruments weren't sentient and didn't gain anything from being next to each other. Then again, she had ended up naming her bass, so maybe she wasn't able to judge anymore.

"It- She's fine. I've been practicing in my spare time when I can." Since getting everybody together had proven somewhat difficult, she would sometimes practice in her room by herself. The acoustic pluckings of her electric bass didn't make much noise, but it was more about keeping her fingers limber and able to move across the strings without issue. She didn't want to grow lax and lose her skills. Unlike Yui, she couldn't focus singularly on something and gain all knowledge of it in one night.

"That's good! Giita's doing fine too. We sleep together and I absorb all the knowledge from her in my sleep. Since it's getting colder, I put her in her case to keep her warm." She certainly had put a lot of thought into that. Mio found herself smiling despite herself. In a way, it was quite cute. Yui really was mostly the same as she'd been in high school, and there was a certain comfort in that. Though she wished her study habits would've grown up. "Nice, the milkshakes are here!"

So they were. The waiter left them on their table, with both of them thanking him. Then Yui immediately went after hers, latching onto the straw and sucking down a surprising portion of it. "Ah, Yui, not too fast! You'll get a brain freeze!" Mio was about half-certain that her advice would go unheeded, but Yui did detach herself and grin sheepishly, giving her a thumbs up.

"Not to worry, Mio! My brain is as strong as an ox!" She tapped the side of her head, while Mio wondered if Yui knew that that wasn't the correct phrasing. Best to let it go, probably. She decided to sample her own milkshake, which was pretty good. It wasn't anything special: just a plain vanilla shake. Most of the time she just preferred the classics when it came to flavors. Yui, however, was a different breed. Her strawberry shake wasn't unusual, but the sheer amount of whipped cream on top looked like a pastel red ocean completely covered with sea foam. It looked unbearably sweet, but of course Yui was someone who could take it.

While she sipped on her milkshake, she kept glancing at Yui, with a lot of thoughts running through her head. It wasn't that she was bereft of topics to talk about, but she felt that talking about school wasn't exactly something that Yui enjoyed. Plus, she was still wondering whether or not this was some kind of date. She honestly doubted it, but there was something in the back of her mind that wouldn't let it go. It made her look at everything that was happening with a more critical eye than she should have.

"Mio, are you okay? Your eyes are glazed over." Yui waved a hand in front of Mio's face, which made her snap out of it. She was embarrassed, but Yui didn't even seem to notice. "Was it the milkshake? They are really good! Hey, can I try yours?" Mio just nodded, watching as Yui grabbed her milkshake and moved it to her side of the table. Instead of shoving her own straw in there, she just used Mio's, giving it a taste. "Ah, yes, this one's good too! I can see why your eyes were like that, then."

"Mm..." She could live with Yui thinking that was the case. Yui passed her back her milkshake, allowing her to take another sip of it. She decided that she needed to clear her head in order to get through this evening. Everything she had been thinking of was just guesswork. Surely she could concentrate and do better than that. There had to be something they could talk about, even if it was as 'boring' as schoolwork. "So, how are your classes going?"

"They're fine, but most of them are boring." She'd expected that answer, honestly. "Oh, but you know what's not boring? My part-time job! You should come with me tomorrow! It'll be fun, I promise!"

"You have a part-time job?" That threw Mio for a loop. She had no idea that Yui had a part-time job. As far as she could recall, it had never been mentioned before. What could it even be?

"Yup! If you come with me tomorrow, I'll show you!" Now she was just teasing. Mio weighed her options. She had no idea what kind of job Yui had, though she couldn't imagine she had one that was dangerous or altogether strenuous. Maybe it would be okay, as long as she was allowed to be there. She didn't know the visitor policy.

"I... I guess I can do that. What time do you need to be in by, though?"

"10:30." That was earlier than she expected. Yui was more of a 'sleep until noon' kind of girl. Apparently she had some surprises up her sleeve. "I'll wake you up and take you there tomorrow, alright? This'll be fun!" Again, Mio found herself only able to nod. This day had not gone the way she had expected. Not at all. Now she was going somewhere tomorrow with Yui and she wasn't even sure where it was. Though, could she really complain? She'd wanted to spend time with Yui one on one, and this was an opportunity to do so. It was just handed to her, and she hadn't even had to do anything.

The day hadn't gone the way she had expected, but that didn't mean it was a bad day.

Mio woke up the next day at nine, and she spent the next hour and a half preparing herself for what was to come. She had no idea where they would be going, but she figured she'd split the difference between whatever it could be. That meant she would wear an outfit that was more on the business casual side of fashion, and only a small amount of makeup. She considered putting on, but seeing her reflection in the mirror made her suddenly feel as if it was some kind of date, and she quickly lost her nerve.

She ate some breakfast to try and calm her nerves, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. Not knowing what she was about to do would do that to a person. That train of thought was thankfully halted when there was a knock at her door. As she expected, Yui was standing there with Giita on her back and a big smile on her face. She was wearing a flowery, flow-y kind of dress, which actually looked rather cute on her. Since she was already ready, they both headed out the door and to the bus stop. None of their little group had their own transportation, so either walking or taking the bus or train had to do.

While they rode the bus, Mio split her time between looking at Yui and looking out the window. She was curious about where they were going, but Yui had been strangely tight-lipped about it, so she'd stopped trying to pry. Not knowing only made her more nervous, though. If Yui couldn't tell her, did that mean it was something crazy? What was she getting herself into?

When they reached their stop, Yui jumped up and made her way off the bus, with Mio behind her. They stepped out onto the sidewalk, and she looked around. There were some houses nearby, along with a school and a park on the other side of the street. It didn't seem like there was a business around there, though. Were they going to have to walk further to their destination. Then again, it probably had something to do with the guitar on Yui's back. What would she need to bring it for? Unless... Unless Yui was a panhandler. Was that how she made her money? Maybe she expected Mio to sing on the streets for complete strangers. Gods, perish the thought!

With her thoughts running wild with nervousness, she didn't even notice that Yui had already begun walking off. When she realized she was alone, she whirled around to try and find where Yui had gone. As it turned out, she had started walking towards the school. Confused, Mio hurried to catch up with her. "Yui, why are we going here?"

"We gotta get to my job!" Yui started to hum a song that Mio didn't recognize as they kept walking towards the front doors. So she worked at a school? Well, that hadn't been what Mio expected. At least it wasn't something crazy. Maybe she was a janitor or something. Wait, that was really rude. She felt bad for even thinking that. Besides, why would she bring a guitar to a school if she was doing that?

They walked into the school, which was actually pretty small. It was too small to be a normal learning environment, and that was only further cemented when she saw a series of hand turkeys taped to a bulletin board. So they were at a... kindergarten, probably. There were still some questions, though. "Yui, do you work at this school?"

"Yup!" Well, at least now she knew they weren't trespassing. "Sometimes I come in the morning when I don't have class and play music for the kids. They really enjoy it is what one of the teachers said. I love leading the kids in a sing-along!" Well, this was... certainly not what she had expected. It was actually sweet, though. Maybe it wasn't such an outlandish proposition. Yui often acted like a kid herself, so she'd likely connect with other kids too.

"Wait, you're going to play an electric guitar for kids?"

"Oh no, this is an acoustic guitar. I borrowed it from the band room." Huh. Now that Mio looked at it, the shape did seem different. Apparently Giita hadn't gained weight. Wait... Why was she talking about Yui's guitar like it was a real person? Shaking her head to chase that weirdness out of her brain, she kept following Yui, which led them to a classroom. They didn't go in it, though. Instead, Yui looked through the window and started waving at someone. There wasn't enough room to see who it was, but she suspected that it was a teacher. Yui then broke out into a big smile and kept walking on, so once again they were on the move.

They entered an empty room, but it clearly wasn't a classroom. There were a couple of tables, a fridge, and a coffee maker on the counter. It was likely the teacher's lounge, which made Mio wonder why she didn't check the little sign outside to prove that. She'd been too busy just following Yui, not wanting to get lost. "What are we doing in here?"

"We're just waiting for the teacher to finish teaching, and then we can go in. It won't be more than a few minutes." She smiled and sat down at one of the tables, humming and kicking her feet back and forth. Mio sat down next to her, trying to reassemble her thoughts into a proper order. There were definitely some questions she wanted to ask, but she needed to place them properly.

"So, you play music for kindergartners. How long has this been going on?"

"Mm... About a week. This is only my second time here." She smiled sheepishly, putting her hands on her knees. "I was gonna tell you guys when I got paid, but I got really excited and wanted to show you. So here we are!" Well, that was very Yui. There was no denying that. Mio smiled slightly in return, nodding in understanding.

"Is this what you want to do when you graduate?" She hadn't meant to sound like a parent or a guidance counselor, but it'd come out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"I think I do, honestly." Yui leaned back in her chair and smiled, more contemplative than giddy. "I love kids. They're so much fun and full of energy. It's really nice to play music for them and make them smile." That took Mio aback. It was basically what she'd expected to hear, but it was put quite eloquently for Yui. In her tone, it was obvious she was being genuine. This was university Yui now, though. Mio was going to keep being proven wrong if she kept thinking her friends were the exact same as they'd been in high school.

Before she could say anything else, Yui jumped out of her seat. "Time to go, Mio!" Then she was hustling out of the room, and Mio had to make haste to follow her. They went back to the classroom they'd previously passed, but this time Yui went right in after a quick peek through the window. Now standing alone outside the classroom, Mio shook her head and walked in, making sure to close the door behind her.

Once the two of them entered the room, all eyes were on them. Mio started to feel uncomfortable as she walked behind Yui. It wasn't that she was scared of children, but having a couple dozen pairs of eyes trained on her made her feel like everybody was watching her. Which, of course, they were. She'd gotten used to having an audience of people watching her while playing with After School Tea Time, but this was different. When she was on stage, she was separated from the audience. They were all staring at the group collectively, and it made it easier to not think about how many people were there. This was a small classroom, and all its occupants were up close and personal. She did her best to stare at the back of Yui's head and ignore the stares.

"Alright class, guess who's back to play some music for you?" The teacher clapped her hands and smiled at the students, who all called out Yui's name as she waved cheerfully at them. "And it seems she's brought a guest too. Who might you be?" Now all of the attention was on Mio again.

"Um, I'm Mio. Mio Akiyama." She shyly waved to the kids, who all called out her name in turn. It was somewhat of a surreal experience, but it wasn't bad. All the kids seemed really invested in having them there, and they were watching them with curiosity and anticipation. One of the kids seemed more excited than the others, with her eyes on Mio's hair. "Your hair's pretty, Mio!" A couple other kids agreed: "Yeah, pretty!" It made Mio blush, making her touch her hair without meaning to. The teacher then pulled the attention of the class back to her before there could be any more distractions.

"Are you ready to hear some songs?" The kids cheered for that, only quieting down once Yui sat down and pulled out the acoustic guitar. She rested it on her lap and set her hands on the strings, looking up at Mio with concern in her eyes. Mio didn't want to distract Yui with her nerves, though, so she just smiled and nodded to try and encourage her to play. That seemed to work, as Yui's frown turned right-side up and she got right into playing. Mio immediately recognized it as Rainy Day, a kid's song she'd heard a few times when she was a child. Apparently it was still in vogue, as when Yui began to sing, all of the kids sang along with her.

Mio was captivated listening to Yui sing. Of course, she'd heard her sing plenty of times before, but not in this kind of setting. Hearing all of the kids trying to harmonize with Yui made Mio start to see things in a different light. The way Yui was smiling at the kids as she encouraged them to sing, it was incredible. She was so used to seeing Yui act like a kid that she couldn't wrap her head around Yui acting like a teacher.

When she had finished playing her first song, all of the kids clapped for her. Mio almost felt compelled to clap as well, but she held off. She didn't want to seem childish. Still, it deserved applause. Though it was simple, it still felt like there was a lot of effort put into it. According to Yui, she'd just started doing this, but it felt like she really cared about playing music for these kids.

"Hey Mio, think you can sing for the kids?" Mio blinked, processing what Yui said. Sing... Sing what? Was she just supposed to sing some random children's song? What if she didn't know the lyrics? She couldn't embarrass herself like that! Was Yui really putting her on the spot like that? It was like singing My Love is a Stapler for the first time all over again. Embarrassing herself was not the first impression she wanted to give these kids.

"Yui, I don't even know what song you're going to play." She whispered it so that hopefully no one would hear her. Yui just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"Not to worry, Mio. I've got you covered!" Placing her hands back on the guitar, she started to strum another very familiar tune. Mio instantly recognized it as Cagayake! Girls, and she couldn't help but to be relieved by this. She definitely knew the lyrics to this song, remembering when Yui had come into the club room with the song in tow, so proud of herself for having written the song without anyone else's help. They'd played it a few times since then, though they'd never played it acoustically before. Well, it was better than going in blind lyric-wise.

She sung the best she could with being put on the spot like that. It was a little difficult to adjust her vocal volume to accommodate the quieter sound, but she didn't feel like she'd done terribly. Of course, the kids didn't know the lyrics to this song, but most of them sat in rapt attention regardless, moving slightly to the strumming of the guitar. When it was over, they all clapped again.

"She's a good singer," One of the girls said, pointing at Mio. The compliment made Mio blush slightly, but she appreciated hearing it. She turned to Yui, who was giving her such a warm smile that for a second she felt as if her heart had stopped beating. Tentatively she placed a hand on her chest, but it was beating normally, if not a bit faster than usual. She had obviously imagined that, but she had definitely felt something when Yui smiled at her.

They stayed and played a bit longer for the kids. Mio even sung again with a children's song that she knew by heart. By the time the kids had to go back to class, she couldn't deny that she felt very warm and fluffy inside. She wasn't sure if it was because of how happy the kids looked or because of how happy Yui was. Maybe it was both. She was surprised by how much she had enjoyed herself, and how little embarrassment she had felt at the end of it all.

"Was that fun or what?" Yui leaned back against her seat on the bus and smiled contently, holding her guitar between her legs. Mio couldn't help but agree, nodding and smiling at her friend. "Did you enjoy yourself, Mio? Hopefully the kids weren't too much to handle."

"Oh no, they were just fine. It was really nice, actually. You did a good job with putting smiles on their faces." She almost said that Yui also did a good job at putting a smile on her own face as well, but she held that back. "You really are good with kids."

"I love making kids smile! My mom said it was because I was like a kid too, But I'm a university student now! I'm all grown up, right Mio?"

"Uh..." Maybe at that moment it'd be best to fudge the truth a little. Or a lot. "Well, you're still just in university, Yui. We haven't grown up all the way yet."

"But you're already mature and grown up. I wanna be grown up too!" Yui pouted, and Mio was struck by just how cute she was. It certainly was something that her brain wasn't quite sure how to process. She needed some time on her own to figure that out, but that would come later. Now, she was going to enjoy the rest of her time that she got to spend alone with Yui.

"Just give it time, Yui. You're already on your way." She gently stroked Yui's hair, which got a positive reaction out of her. Yui smiled and nuzzled her hand, seeming to be satisfied with that response. Mio couldn't stop smiling the rest of the way home. Honestly, she could get used to entertaining children every so often. If Yui invited her there again, she wouldn't hesitate to say yes.