melodiesofeternity | [Closed] Memories Border Nightmares

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[Closed] Memories Border Nightmares

Who: Naoto Shirogane and Kanji Tatsumi
When: Evening after Dream Width Event
Where: B-02
What: Night falls; Kanji and Naoto discuss the Dream Width, Memory Nebulae, and... other things.
Warnings/Notes: Nothing really

Just saying 'it had been a long day' was the understatement of the week. From memories and new arrivals, it was exhausting, and for Naoto, she was looking at her iMog slate with some concern. There was an Asterisk here that she didn't remember receiving, but... that voice in the Dream Width said something concerning.

Sighing, and standing up from her bed, she quietly crept out of her own room and across the way. There, even in her pajamas, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Even if she wasn't sure about her situation, that could be put aside to check on how he was doing.

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Being so uncomfortably close to potentially bearing too much to people she didn't know just... made her more relieved to have someone she did know; someone she could help, and should be helping more often. In the future, they would have to be more cautious of the Dream Width - of the memory nebulae and everything else floating out there.

Nodding, she turned and stepped out of the room. There really wasn't much to grab - she had a glass of water there for in case in the middle of the night. However, there was something on the bed watching her and she considered, staring back, but then finally decided to grab it.

Walking back to Kanji's room, she kept her eyes away as she returned quietly with her glass of water and the carbuncle he made her.

He was just stowing things away when she returned, the bed made and the extra spot on the floor set up and ready to roll. Rather than water for himself, he quickly finished the bottled tea he'd left half-finished on his work desk. Still cool from when he'd sneaked out and grabbed it an hour or so earlier, he realized with all the work he'd been doing that he needed to hydrate better.

Of course, he didn't stop his mouth from going dry when she came back. She was impossibly adorable in the pajamas, but he was touched to notice she'd brought a certain friend.

He nodded firm, jaw set as he fought to be professional, but there was a ghost of a smile right at the corners. "I'm- I'm glad ya really like it! He or she got a name yet?"

"... I-I've taken to calling her Swan."

Which probably didn't make sense to most, but she wouldn't so openly dress up as her Featherman character while they were here in another world. For one, not too many people would get it, and two, too many questions would be asked that she might be embarrassed to disclose.

Walking over, she approached the extra spot he'd started setting up.

He nodded, understanding. Swan made all sorts of sense, though now he wondered if he should have embroidered the Feather logo on a paw... nah. Nah, he needed squishy paw pads on it, and he was proud of the pads on that one.

Kanji exchanged a look between the makeshift spot and her, and immediately stood. "Whoa, whoa, no! I'm takin' the floor so y-you can have the bed."

What kind of host made a guest sleep on the floor!? It wasn't uncomfortable at all with the spare futon and quilting that he'd busied himself with in his first weeks, but that was beside the point!

Head whipping around, she blinked. "Why would you do that? This is your room, and we're still in the same house."

So, he wasn't really hosting her; he didn't have to host her just because she was in his room. Besides that, this was for his comfort. Wouldn't having him on the floor ruin that?

"Well, I ain't puttin' you on the floor! Ya won't change my mind on that."

Was this what was really happening? Because by her logic, either she takes the floor (which is totally not happening) and he stubbornly sticks to the floor, which leaves them both as dummies on the ground with a perfectly good bed unoccupied, or...

...Or something he wasn't super sure about.

He folded his arms and cast a glance over the bed. There was plenty room, but... but...

Staring at him, she frowned. She wasn't going to budge either, but she wasn't going to stare him down as usual - without her usual attire, it wouldn't be as effective.

"... We'll share one then."

He'd guessed right. But as his stomach twisted into a knot, he was realizing that this was meeting both of their preferences: Comfort for her and keeping him off the floor. He just had to not be... him about it.

He agreed before that people opposed crap like men and women living together. Maybe that stretched to s-sleeping in the same bed, too.

With a small crack of his voice as he cleared his throat, he stooped and fetched the pillow off the floor, adding a second to the lone upon the bed.

"Pick... pick a side, then."

Well, now that she proposed sharing, she slowly realized what she had done. It was one thing to share a co-ed room, but another to share a bed. She could reconsider, but she already made the proposal.

Stifling her blush, she looked at the bed.

"... I'll take the left."

"Left's all yours. I'll hit the lights if you're ready to crash."

He had a feeling, once the nerves passed, that having sought companionship would help. The nightmares typically had him sit upright with a start, thoughts slashing through the dark and grasping at anything that would prove that his mind was playing tricks on him again. But it'd happened... it really happened, and Izanagi-no-Okami thought he'd erased the memory of what had happened by granting them all life again.

Too bad he fucked up.

"Uh, hey... did you have nightmares about back then?"

She nodded and moved around to the left, settling herself down. It would probably be best to try getting some sleep than linger on what she had gotten them both into. It was only Kanji; there was nothing to be concerned about. She knew him.

Laying down, tucking herself and Swan in, she turned her head on the pillow to look at Kanji.

"... Sometimes."

It would be wrong to say anything else. "I wasn't the first to succumb to her curse during that fight so... I'll dream about being the first one to move. Other times, I'm too scared to move at all. A few times, we all lose and Senpai gives up... or he manages to win, but no one else returns."

The lights went out, and Kanji held his breath. This wasn't so bad. He'll be fine. He was fine. This was no big deal. This is just something he'd always wanted to... do? Maybe it was just him, but everything about the Secret Lab and how much she'd really been hurting really made him want to wrap her up in a burrito blanket. The fact that she'd been having nightmares hadn't helped the desire.

Kanji climbed in on the right, slipping under the covers and settling on his side.

"Sorry... I hope Swan helps a little."

She felt the bed dip when Kanji joined her on the unoccupied right side, but she remained to the left - close to the edge and trying to take up as minimal space as possible. If at all possible, she would try and remain there throughout the night.

"She does. It's been a while since I've had any issues sleeping."

And though having Swan made her feel childish, it was night to have something to hold that didn't sacrifice a pillow beneath her head.

"And you need sleep more than anybody, right? A new case ain't hittin' the hay early."

Not to mention going to the ends of the earth, which had to be pretty quiet sometimes. Too quiet. But he wouldn't ask anything about that. Classified or whatever. But he had a feeling her Shadow talking of loneliness didn't just stretch to her colleagues at the local police station.

Hopefully, she could rest easy tonight. But something didn't feel right. Why'd he have so much room all of a sudden...?

What the-? He glanced over. "Oi. Scoot in, ya dork- I don't care if ya kick in your sleep or whatever."

Because clearly, that was why.

"Hm... speaking of case, I hope we can end the case at Lake of Ira soon."

A hefty thing to ask when their criminal wasn't human, might not be human... or alive from the sound of it. Also, they didn't attack until a specific time, limiting availability to handle the situation. Sighing, she settled herself and prepared to close her eyes.

But his words had her blink. "... It's not that I kick. I just didn't want to crowd you."

Also, just maintain some space between them. There was no promises what she would do with a source of warmth near.

"Me too. We'll kick this thing's ass, yeah?" It wouldn't be too much longer now. By current estimates, the next Friday would come in just a few weeks. He had to keep training up in his Asterisks... the campers that lost their lives would get their payback.

But with that set in stone and the ease on his mind from coming clean about, well, everything lately, Naoto had a funny way of catching him off guard.

Or maybe he needed the chuckle that softened the hard lines of his face. He had to imagine Naoto making like a starfish and claiming the entirety of the mattress in the name of all Shirogane and couldn't handle it. It had even left him feeling a little less nervous about being so damn close by.

"Damn, maybe-... ah, f-forget it. Jus' don't roll off the bed."

"Indeed." They were getting stronger. She was confident they would be able to do something, but erred on the side of caution. There needed to be others besides the two of them; she'd put out a call for action before the date arrived.

Naoto raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth made Kanji chuckle suddenly. He wasn't exactly facing her so there was no way to read...

"..." No answer, but he might feel something - or someone - shifting closer. And then, a hand lightly brushing against him. "... This isn't too close, is it?"

This was kinda nice actually. He'd never really done sleepovers before, and the whole tent situation back home just made him angry that everyone would just assume that it was gross and weird that he'd be there with 'em. Thinking on that sobered him up enough to stare at the wall, thinking briefly back at the memory he'd been forced to experience again in the Dream Width.

...It was really cool of Naoto to be okay with this. He always thought she was really cool, but-

He squeaked. God help him, that was definitely a squeak, and he was completely still. She said she didn't want to crowd him, right!? S-s-s-so, wh-wh-what was...!?

He was not gonna sleep with all the adrenaline in his system, and not when he felt like his heart was going to explode. But he shut his eyes and doubled down. Be a man. BE A FUCKING MAN, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT!

"Wh-whadda you mean? Y-you're fine! Just- just get comfy, but lemme know if somethin' about the bed sucks and I'll-I'll fix it!"

... Did he really just squeak? For some reason, she never would've expected Kanji's voice to be able to produce such a sound. Seemed as though she was close enough; she withdrew her hand.

As long as she didn't think too hard about this, it really wasn't too strange.

Wrapping her arms around Swan, completely unaware of Kanji presently having a miniature heart attack in front of her, she buried herself a little further down into the blankets. It was fine just like this.

"This will do." Though, she gave the pillow a few pats before sighing. "Good night, Kanji-kun."

He spent every ounce of resolve to keep himself loose, rather than curling into a tight ball and making things stranger for her than they already were. He had zero problem with this, but he wished he wasn't so shy...!

But when he took a breath and turned his eyes to the sheets, fiddling with them between two fingers, he felt his heartrate slowing and the adrenaline not quite buzzing around so much in him. He needed to sleep and the adrenaline was doing the exact goddamn opposite.

"G-... g'night, Naoto." Was it weird that he wanted to do this again? If things got bad again, he realized what people meant when they talked about needing somebody, and... and if she needed somebody, y'know...?

He turned his head to bury his face in his pillow. He'll think about this another time. Until then, he needed to get his rattled ass to sleep.

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[Closed] Memories Border Nightmares

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