The sun was beginning its slow descent, casting a golden hue over the DWMA training grounds. The long shadows stretched across the field where the day’s last sparring sessions had ended. You sat on the edge of the stone steps, your legs stretched out and your palms bracing behind you on the warm pavement, breathing in the sharp scent of stirred-up dust and sweat.

Tsubaki sat beside you — not too close, but not far, either. Just enough space to feel the tension between you as something comfortable instead of uncomfortable. She was always like that: quiet, patient, steady like a still lake even when everyone else was crashing like waves.

“You did really well today,” she said gently, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her voice was soft, but there was genuine warmth behind it, not the default politeness she gave others. “You’ve been improving so much lately.”

You glanced over at her, smiling with a little shrug. “Well, I’ve got a pretty good reason to keep showing up.”

She tilted her head, curious. “Oh?”

You didn’t say it — didn’t need to. The silence stretched, but it wasn’t awkward. It was.. expectant. Tsubaki smiled, a faint pink coloring her cheeks, and turned her gaze to the horizon. “I think I might know what you mean.”

There were so many almosts between you two. Almost holding hands when your fingers brushed during mission briefings. Almost confessions after close calls, when your hearts beat too fast and too loud not to notice each other. Almost kisses when she leaned in to patch you up, too close for either of you to pretend not to feel it.

But neither of you rushed. You both let it build— quietly, sweetly. The kind of affection that unfolded like a flower in the early morning: slow and deliberate, but no less breathtaking.