mint limeade

one cup of lime juice

Sakura pilfered a fun-size Starburst from Kiba's backpack and tore the wrapping open with her teeth, her free hand holding her phone. Two little squares fell out, one orange one pink, and without a twitch of her gaze she pushed the pink one across the table.

Delighted, Leon took it.

"You two are gonna give me so many cavities." Kiba wrinkled his nose and plucked a grape from whoever brought the grapes. "And I hate dentists. Who the hell looks atta mouth and goes 'hey, I'm gonna drill your teeth now,' like yeah, go ahead, stab my gums while you're at it. People go ta' school for that and they end up rich as shit for it." He sighed, then paused. "I was goin' somewhere with this." In a trailing mumble, "Sore wa nanideshita ka?"

"You were whining because I gave my boyfriend candy."

"Masaka," he gasped. "Shino, she used the 'b' word!"

"You keep stealing her hoodies," Shino responded. Beside him, Claire took a bite of her sandwich, considered it, and nodded before continuing to chew. "It's what you deserve."

"So you're just gonna act like you don't have any either? I've been in your room—"

"For what? Stay out. Why? You'll lose your tool kit again."

"That was YOU?!"

Claire used an apple slice to gesture in front of her. "I'll trade this pudding cup for that pocky."

"Is that butterscotch?"

"Churro!"

"Oh, mess me up." Kiba tossed her the pocky, argument already half-forgotten, as he reached for Shino's water bottle. "Churro flavor. Crazy."

Leon peeled the wrapping from his Starburst as the waves of easy chatter washed over him. It was still quieter at the table under the staircase even with them migrating over, and he'd been bracing himself for awkward silences or stilted conversation that could come with any merging friend group. But Claire had always been outgoing and Kiba talked enough for three people, and he shouldn't have been surprised the two of them made the group-clumping so easy. Shino didn't seem to mind the bigger group either, at least, Leon didn't think so—he was almost as hard to read as Sakura, but he did talk a little more.

Now that his lunch group had grown from two to five—a crazy jump, he knows—and the nosy looks they'd been getting from the rest of the cafeteria had died down to the occasional passing whisper or lame rumor, he was glad things were more comfortable. Him and Sakura had only been dating a couple weeks now, yeah, and he was pretty sure he had it down to pat in telling the difference between her real-bored face and fake-bored face despite them being practically the same face.

Either way, he didn't mind figuring her out. It gave him an excuse to tell her she was cute every time she asked what he was looking at.

"So what do you guys usually get up to after school?" Claire tore open the pocky packet and offered it around the table. They were strawberry, and Leon immediately took one. He had to, they were pink. "Fridays after school, especially."

"Uh, babysitting? If our aunt and uncle need it." Kiba tilted his head as he peeled off the top of the pudding cup. "'sides that, lots of big things happen on Fridays—art shows, art show afterparties, fight nights. But today? Eh..."

"A lot of people are out of town this week," Shino said.

Kiba scratched his cheek. "Yeah, and Mr. Dad left last night. I dunno, we'll probably end up on the couch. Or the gym."

Mr. Dad?

"The car needs an oil change," Sakura mentioned.

"You're sayin' that like I'm supposed to know what that means."