Soledad lounged on the couch, arms behind her head and wings splayed out as she watched rain drops trickle down the window. It wasn’t often she took a break like this; usually, any free time she had would be dedicated to getting some extra sparring or training in. Today, however, she’d been a bit more tired than usual, and since it was Friday, she figured it was as good a time as any to kick back and zone out. The silence of the dorm was a nice change of pace, and the growing storm outside was like a lullaby.

Before she knew it, her eyes were starting to slide shut…

The door opened.

“Soledad?”

She cracked an eye open, smiling at the voice. “Hi, Nova.”

Footsteps approached, and then Nova was standing over her. Her deep blue hair was damp, and her white shirt had a pair of dry spots on the shoulders where her backpack had been sitting. The ceiling light cast a soft halo around her.

With a knowing smile, she raised an eyebrow. “Still avoiding your team, huh?”

Soledad rolled her eyes, but didn’t frown. “Who’s to say I didn’t come to visit my favorite little brother?” she asked.

“Well, you’d probably have tried to steal something by now,” she laughed. She pushed Soledad’s phone aside and sat on the coffee table, sitting and propping her elbows on her bare knees. “And you could have just texted him to ask where he was.”

“Maybe I wanted to surprise him.”

She hummed. “I guess so. Not sure it’s be much of one, though, since you’ve been here almost every day.”

Soledad shrugged and shifted to cross her arms over her stomach. They sat in silence for a moment as the rain beat down.

“You know,” Nova said, “Things might be a little easier if you talked to them more.”

She held back a groan. “I do talk to them. It just always ends in an argument.”

“Yeah, but do you talk, or do you insult?”

“Talk!” Soledad sat up and turned, bumping their knees together. “I try to, anyway, but Chika always has something rude to say, and I have to defend myself. I don’t want to be fighting all the time, you know.”

“What about Terra and Adela?” Nova asked with a tilt to her head.

“Terra’s fine. A little terrified of everything, but that works out here because it means she’s not in the middle of everything.” She sighed. “I actually feel quite bad for putting her through all this…”

“And Adela?”

Soledad scowled. “She makes me feel like an idiot. I don’t think she means it, but she does. And then as soon as there’s a problem involving all of us, she just leaves it to us so she can run off and study or whatever. We hardly get a chance to speak.”

Nova hummed, tapping her fingers against her knees. “I guess you guys have more problems than I realized.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But you know what?”

Soledad looked at her; she offered a smile.

“Hiding here isn’t going to fix anything,” she stated.

Face flushing, Soledad looked away. “I’m not always hiding here…,” she muttered.

Nova giggled and put a hand on her thigh. “I’m not complaining! You’re cool… and cute.”

Soledad stared at her with wide eyes; her pulse quickened. Nova’s face turned a little red before she looked out of the window.

“Buuut, I’m just thinking of you,” she continued. “You’ll have a lot more fun here if you’re not miserable every time you go to your dorm.”

Letting out a small groan, Soledad leaned back and ran a hand through her hair. “…I guess you’re right,” she relented. “It just sucks. I feel like we’re the only team not getting along.”

“That’s not true at all,” Nova giggled. “You should see now Nila and Melina argue over their clothes.”

Soledad paused. “There is no way those two are the same size.”

“They’re not.”

She stifled a laugh. “H-How do they…”

“I don’t have any idea,” Nova answered. “But it’s already happened way too many times.”

They stared at each other for a beat; Soledad was the first to break, and they soon dissolved into a fit of giggles. After a minute, when they were smiling at each other, Soledad’s phone buzzed.

Nova handed it over and watched her check her messages. “Another fight?”

“No… Just Terra trying to get us to get along,” she replied.

“Oh, good. It’s great that she’s at least trying.”

Soledad nodded with a hum. Another comfortable silence fell.

“…Hey,” Nova quietly said, “Do you want to get dinner? Just the two of us? Carlito and Melina have a class until later, and Nila went home for the weekend, so…”

Soledad’s phone buzzed in her hand again, and she glanced down.

Terra: I know it’s been a long week, but do you want to get dinner? All of us?

Her eyes flicked up and back between her phone and Nova’s awaiting smile. She thought about what Nova had said about actually talking with her teammates, but, talking more with Nova…

Ohh, forget it. She’d spent the most time with Terra this week out of all of them. She could miss one night.

Grinning, she got to her feet and held out a hand. “I’d be honored.”

Nova beamed as she stood. “Good. I hear there’s a lovely restaurant on campus that everyone is checking out. If we hurry, we might be able to get a seat.”

“Well, then, we’d better go!”

They ran to the door, hand in hand.