#anyways lowkey highkey sending out that signal that im thinking about yohadia even tho i didnt end up picking it

[trashikino]

ship of ur choice: “I drive to school and you walk and I drive past you everyday and it’s below freezing and you’re still walking please just get in the damn car I’ll drive you”

ohhhh man……u shouldn’t have given me so mcuh free will it took me embarrassingly long to pick a ship haha. That said, after Much Consideration between nicoeli and yohadia (idk why that ship isnt popular??? honestly???) i caved to my own clingy desires n picked my muse gals… sorry lmao

Eli blew on her hands, hoping the hot air would warm them. Maybe it was time to reinvest in a pair of gloves….. She sighed and made it a point to hurry with her bag, rushing into her car in the lot outside the apartment complex and closing the door behind herself just as quickly. Turning on the heater was enough to elicit another sigh. 

This part wasn’t so bad, it was just the getting here. It usually wasn’t so bad this time of year, especially for her, but there was a cold snap, or something. Eli vaguely remembered the weatherman saying that. Still, she had no idea it would mean cold-enough-that-you-should-have-kept-your-winter-gear-from-Russia cold. Talk about misleading. 

She relaxed her hands on the steering wheel and drove into the usual college traffic, backed up with people who thought they could leave fifteen minutes earlier and avoid ‘the rush’ which, ironically, just moved the rush to fifteen minutes earlier. So much for efficiency. While stopped, she gazed out the window, at all the dead trees and the frosted grass. It had yet to snow, but she could tell it was coming soon. 

Up the sidewalk, Eli spotted a familiar sight - Nico Yazawa, walking up the sidewalk, on time as usual but looking a little worse for the wear. All color seemed to have been drained from her hands, wrapped tightly around her schoolbag. Maybe they were frozen to it, hell, she wouldn’t be surprised. This had been routine all year, but the fact that Eli was still watching her walk up now, when it was too cold out for even her, sure was something. 

Eli couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. She pulled over and rolled the window down, stopping the car. “Nico, it’s negative sixteen out. Why are you walking to school? You’re going to get sick!” 

“Piss off, Ayase,” Nico replied, grateful as ever for the concern. 

She frowned. “Hey, I know you don’t like the help and all, but it’s seriously fine if I give you rides. You don’t live far and we have the same first classes.”

Nico kept walking. Feeling somehow slighted, Eli drove slowly to keep up. “Hey! Is that a no?

“Did you hear a yes?” She turned to look at Eli, condescending. 

Eli looked away. “Uh, no.”

“Then yes, that was a no.”

Glowering, Eli rolled up the window again, because if Nico was determined to be a little shit about it, then she guessed it wasn’t her fault if she froze. 

Probably. Maybe….. Aw, damn, she’d admit it. Eli still felt a little bad. 

The next day, staring out her window, Eli watched Nico pulling at her jacket hands and arms shaking. She rolled her eyes and pulled over again. “Nico! Stop being a baby and get in my car!”

“I thought you were never supposed to listen if a suspicious person asks you to get in their car?”

Oh for fuck’s sake. Eli stopped the car entirely, and got out, repressing the urge to shake or throttle Nico in favor of gripping her tightly by the back of her jacket and shoving her in the direction of the passenger seat. “Help! Child abduction!”

“You’re twenty years old and I’ve known you for six years, cut the shit.” She grumbled, and it seemed to work, finally, because Nico sighed (very overdramatically) and buckled herself in in the passenger seat. Eli smiled and got back into the driver’s seat, satisfied. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Nico looked away. “Yeah, well - Well, it wasn’t that cold, so you’re really being a little pushy about helping me, is all!”

“You could just say thank you, you know.” Eli reminded her helpfully, giving Nico a playful shove to the shoulder. “I know it’s cold out, and I really don’t mind giving you rides. You don’t have to play hard to get over a carpool.”

Her face was red. Eli would be generous and let Nico tell her it was because of the cold, at least for today. “Okay, thanks.” She mumbled. “There, I said it.”

She grinned. “I appreciate it.” 

Eli bought two pairs of gloves after school.