Scootaloo sighed and stared out the window. Why now of all times? It was the perfect weather before to practice with Rumble on that new spin move. But of course, there it was, falling right outside the window as though it was taunting her in the last class of the day.
Rain.
'Great.' she thought. For the first time in a long time, she wished that they all would just stay in class instead of having to face an afternoon of doing nothing but homework. But of course, time was not on her side that day.
The bell rang and everyone sprang up, eagerly wanting to get home as they all strapped on their saddle bags. The teacher took her time to remind everyone to study, and that they had a test that Friday. But at that point, Scootaloo was the last in class.
The teacher sighed and sat at her desk, waving at Scootaloo carelessly as she stood up and started to leave. "Have a nice day," she sighed, Scootaloo wished she would.
Rumble sighed as he looked up to the gray clouds, he stood in the door way and frowned at the forming puddles on the ground. A few of his class mates brushed past him and opened up their own umbrellas, or met up with family members. He sighed and looked up at the clouds.
'Couldn't it have rained any other day?' he thought. He stepped into the rain and quickly started for home.
"Wait up," he heard, he looked behind him to find Scootaloo trotting down the steps with an umbrella tucked between her wing. Rumble jumped from the reaction but recovered quickly once she flashed him a smile.
"Hey Scoots," he said, returning the smile back.
"You aren't just going to walk home in the rain are you?" she asked.
"We can't practice today," Rumble said, gesturing to the clouds.
"So? We can do other things besides practice. Can't get away from me that easily." she said with a devious grin.
"Okay, so what do we do?" Rumble said, moving his gaze to Scootaloo as she walked up to him.
"We could go to my house again. My folks should be at work, so we'll have the place to ourselves. Rumble found himself tensing up at that thought. The last time they were alone and out of public eyes, they nearly kissed. He shook off the memory.
"Sounds good," he said.
Rumble and Scootaloo sat on the sofa side by side, neither knew what to do. 'Come on Scootaloo, think! He's right next to you, say something!' she kept telling herself. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She regretted asking him to come. Here was the perfect time to talk to Rumble, and she was freezing up.
She so badly wanted to snap out of it. Rumble continued looking at the ceiling, listening to the patter of the rain outside. "So..." Rumble finally managed to say.
"Yeah?" Scootaloo responded, a bit too quick to sound casual.
Rumble hesitated as a thought came to his head. "About the assembly the other day..." he said, twiddling his hooves. Scootaloo blushed and looked down.
"Oh yeah, I was feeling a bit tired, and I knew you wouldn't mind if I leaned on you a small bit so..."
"I actually liked that a bit." Rumble said, moving his eyes up to Scootaloo's, her blush making the seem more intense.
"Y-you did?" she asked, fluttering her wings.
Rumble nodded. And blushed.
"And then you wrapped your wing around me," Scootaloo mentioned.
"Yeah, I...I don't know what came over me, I guess that I just wanted you to come a little closer and-" Rumble blushed and scratched the back of his head. Scootaloo stopped him.
"I liked that. It actually felt...nice. Comforting in a way." she said. The two stared in the other's eyes for the longest time, neither feeling the need to exchange a word before the other.
"Would you..." Rumble finally said after the long silence, "mind if I did it again?" he asked. Scootaloo blushed and the words caught in her throat. She settled for a nod, which Rumble couldn't help but think looked adorable.
Rumble subtly wrapped his wing around her. And Scootaloo found herself closing the space between them. She leaned her head onto Rumble's neck and sighed. She wished she could stay there forever, and that the growing warmth in her chest would never stop burning. The warmth spread to her cheeks as she looked up at him, finding him blushing too.
"This is pretty nice..." Scootaloo said finally.
"I like it too." Rumble agreed. They sat there for another moment before Rumble broke the silence. "I wish we could be out there."
"Me too, stupid rain." Scootaloo sighed.
"Do you have anything on your mind?" he asked.
"Nothing I want to talk about right now." she said. She didn't want to mention anything she might regret.
"Then, I hope you don't mind if I ask you something else." Rumble said.
"Depends on what it is." Scootaloo said.
"Remember when you were sick and I came to visit..."
"Haven't I answered this already?" Scootaloo said.
"I just want to be sure, and I do have a bit of a bad memory." Rumble said. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and looked down.
"I don't know what I was thinking." Scootaloo said. "Something about you no longer close felt, strange. Empty in a way. I just acted without thinking. I'm so sorry about that." Scootaloo buried her face in her hooves.
"Trust me, I didn't mind. I was a bit surprised at first, but I liked it....a lot." Rumble looked to Scootaloo, who was still avoiding his gaze. "Besides, I'm the one who pulled you a little closer."
"Yeah." Scootaloo said. Hugging her arms to her chest and blushing like crazy.
"Did you...mean anything by doing that?" Rumble asked eventually.
"What?" Scootaloo asked.
"I mean, when you grabbed my hoof, did it mean something?" Rumble asked. Scootaloo could now feel that warmth burning like mad.
"I-I don't know. I just acted without thinking. I didn't expect you to respond." Scootaloo looked at her arms.
"Just like in the snow." Rumble muttered. Scootaloo could tell he was blushing. "I'm so mad at myself for doing that." Rumble said, bringing a hoof to his forehead and squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm so sorry that I started that." Rumble apologized. Scootaloo couldn't help but smile.
"You don't have to apologize," she told him. Her eyes drifted to his, which were full of a bit of surprise and aimed in her direction. "I did it too. I'm sorry about that."
"Your the last pony who should be sorry, I started it. You just one-upped me by doing it longer." Rumble said.
"It wasn't meant to be that way, it was another action without thinking. It's like my brain flipped to autopilot and..." Scootaloo sighed. The two looked to the floor. They weren't sure what to say next to make the conversation any less awkward.
"Well...I honestly wouldn't mind if you did it again..." Rumble said.
"Let's slow down a moment Romeo, one step at a time." Scootaloo said.
"But-"
"Another time." Scootaloo stated. Rumble knew better than to object and sighed.
"Fine." The rain continued to patter against the roof of the house. Every drip heard from outside echoed in their ears.
They remained silent for the rest of the afternoon. Listening to the cold rain pitter patter across everything it touched.