Work Text:
Hammock Cuddles
"Emma, slow down! You've been running for hours!" Gilda scolded the orange-haired girl who had been playing with the younger kids all day.
"I'm fine, Gilda! Besides, the others have all been running around too!" the bright girl chirped as she motioned to where Phil and Sherry were playing tag, the former trying to catch the later.
"Right, but they've all been taking breaks every now and then while you every time right away went to play with someone else!" Gilda motioned to where multiple others were huddled together, talking and giggling as they relaxed.
"Oh right..." Emma nodded sheepishly.
Every time a child had gotten tired and went to rest, another who was all re-energized had appeared, asking her to play with them instead and Emma always gave in, not wanting to disappoint them.
It had been a few months since her family had found her and while she started out a little awkward around the many, many new faces, she'd gotten used to everything more quickly than she'd expected.
Even if she missed the old man who took care of her for two years, she had never felt happier and warmer as with the many kids, teens and young adults who all loved her dearly, even if she didn't remember all of them.
She perked up upon hearing footsteps approaching them and turning around beamed upon seeing it was Norman.
"Norman!" she right away greeted him, making him smile back gently.
"Hey, Emma." he greeted back before nodding at Gilda. "Gilda."
"Hey, Norman. Perfect timing, actually. Can you please talk Emma into taking a rest? She's been running around for hours without taking a break and before we know it she'll end up collapsing." Gilda asked Norman, making Emma pout.
"I'm not that bad!" she protested but shut up at the looks they gave her.
"Anyway, I was actually planning on taking a break myself." he said before holding out a hand to Emma.
"Would you join me for a walk, Emma?" he asked invitingly at the girl who blinked.
"Ah! I'd love to but I..." she trailed off hesitantly as she looked at the kids.
"It's okay, Emma! We'll be fine!" Phil then told her, catching her off guard.
"Are you sure?" she asked to which the younger boy nodded.
"Of course! Go and enjoy your walk!" he said, making her smile gratefully.
"Alright then, sure! Let's go!" she cheered, grabbing Norman's hand and dragging him towards the woods behind the large house they lived in.
"Remember, you're supposed to take it easy and walk, not run!" Gilda scolded after them but made no move to follow, letting them have a moment alone together.
"You've been enjoying yourself, I take it?" Norman asked as they walked, smiling when she nodded happily.
"You bet! There's always someone around with an idea on what to do! It's impossible to not have fun!" she answered, skipping beside him, drawing a laugh.
"I'm glad you're having fun." he told her, gently swinging their still entwined hands.
"Hey, how about you? You haven't been cooped up in that study of yours all day, have you?" she asked, stopping and frowning at the guilty face he made.
"Norman!" she scolded.
"It's not like I want to be in there all day, you know! It's just that someone has to take care of the taxes, schoolpapers and other documents and with how many members our family and friends all have it takes a while! Let alone all the other cattle children spread over the world!" he defended himself and she calmed down a little.
It was true after all.
While Mike Ratri provided all of them safe homes and a nice budget to spend every month, Norman was the one who practically took care of everything else.
He was in charge of making sure all the money was spend on things they needed and could afford, along with spreading out whatever stayed left as pocket money for everyone as well making sure everyone could go to school and while the Mothers and Sisters mostly took care of the other children, Norman still kept in touch with most of them and regular helped them out too.
"It's unfair that mister Ratri makes you do everything!" she said and he sighed.
"I know, I know. Trust me, it's not like I want to but he found out I lead a rebellion and all so he figured I could take it. Also, considering he is letting us stay in some of his houses and giving us money, I really don't think we should try our luck by complaining." he sighed, running his free hand through his hair.
"I guess." she agreed and he sighed again, letting go of her hand to gently cup her face.
"Let's not talk about things like the Ratri family, okay? I just want to unwind a little with you." he told her, smiling tenderly as she stared up at him.
"Okay." she smiled back, leaning into his touch for a moment before pulling away.
"What to do now...?" she trailed off as she tried to think of a new topic, brow furrowing much to Norman's amusement.
"What to do? What to do?" she looked up at the sky before stopping and pointing up.
"Hey, look! That could looks like a rubber ducky!" she shouted and looking up Norman indeed found a cloud in a shape that looked very similar to a bath-toy.
"You're right. There's the head wit the beak." he said as he grabbed her hand and steered it to point at said parts.
"Let's go cloud-gazing!" Emma then suggested.
"Huh?" Norman asked as he looked at her in surprise.
"Yeah, why not? It's easy, we get to be creative and we don't have to move around." she continued even as he shook his head.
"But we will end up with sore necks after." he argued but that didn't stop Emma.
"Alright thought of that! Follow me!" she grabbed his hand again and soon was dragging him off deeper into the woods.
When she finally stopped he almost bumped into her.
"Look here!" she cheered and peering over her shoulder he found what she meant.
A hammock.
Right, back in the hotter months some of them had hung up a couple hammocks in the forest and they hadn't removed all of them yet.
"We can lay in that and look at the sky without getting sore necks!" Emma explained, though Norman wasn't too sure about that idea either.
In fact, he froze in shock.
"You want us to lay in a hammock together?!" he blurted, slowly turning red.
"Yeah! Come on!" she grabbed him again and dragged him towards it, ignoring his sputtering as he stumbled after her.
"Emma, I don't think- Whoa!" Norman tried to protest one more time only to get pushed into the hammock that smugly from the impact and almost dropped him on the ground.
"Don't worry, I got you! Scoot over!" Emma told him from above him.
He wanted to retort on where she even thought he could scoot to in a hammock of all things but instead he cried out in surprise when she literally dropped herself on top of him.
"Emma!"
"Hang on, just let me... There!" she grinned triumphantly after managing to wiggle so they were laying next to each other without falling out, thought still pressed together.
"There we go! Nice and cozy." Emma said before frowning at seeing Norman's red face.
"Are you okay? You're not getting sick again, are you?" she asked worriedly as she placed a hand on his forehead.
"N-No, I'm fine." he answered with a wobbly smile, "So cloud-gazing right?"
Luckily for him this distracted Emma as she looked back at the sky.
Unluckily for him however she decided his chest was the perfect pillow to rest her head.
At least she was resting on his right side so she probably didn't notice his wildly beating heart.
"That one looks like a flower!" she right away pointed up and he calmed down as he followed her gaze.
"You're right." he agreed.
"And there's a clown!" she pointed a different direction and he nodded again.
"Hey, don't make me find everything! You search for something too!" she nudged him.
"Alright, how about... That one? It kind of looks like a whale." he lazily pointed up.
"Really? I don't see it." Emma said as she squinted her eyes.
"Because you're looking at the wrong angle." he reached out and gently tilted her head a little.
"Nope. Still not seeing it. How are you even...?" she took him by surprise again by scooting even closer so her face was right next to his.
"Wait, now I see it. There's the tail and it's even blowing water out." she said as she finally seemed to see what he saw.
"There you go!" he turned to grin at her, only to find she was even closer than expected, making their noses bump as they faced each other.
Blue eyes went wide as they stared into equally wide green ones as now not only Norman but also Emma blushed.
"Sorry!" they both blurted as they turned away from each other at the same time, Emma scooting away from him as far as the hammock allowed.
"I think I'm done with cloud-gazing." Emma said after a while.
"Right." Norman awkwardly cleared his throat before grunting when Emma's elbow accidentally dug into his ribs.
"Oh shoot, did I hurt you?" Emma quickly fixed her position a little.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about it. I know you would never hurt me on purpose. Besides, you're pretty light." he smiled reassuringly.
"Thank goodness." she sighed in relief before smiling back at him.
"But you don't have to flatter me and call me light, you know. Ray's already telling me to eat less sweets." she poked his cheek, giggling as he tried to lean away only for her finger to follow.
"I'm not even lying, though. You're not heavy at all, even for a weakling like me. Ray's just being Ray." he chuckled as he finally used his hand to push her's away, grabbing a hold of it and not letting go.
"Hey, you're no weakling! Even if you may have been as a kid, you're pretty strong now and I'm not even flattering you either. I'm seriously doing my best over here to get my hand back! Let goooo~" she only managed to finally pull her hand back because Norman was laughing so much.
"You're so silly." he said, gasping softly when she rolled fully on top of him.
"I'm not silly!" she pouted and puffed her cheeks as she rested her chin on his chest, only proofing him right.
"Yes. You. Are." he chuckled, booping her nose with each word.
"Geez, you're stubborn!" she huffed in fake annoyance, making him raise an eyebrow.
"That's my line." he stated and they both laughed before Norman's laughter went over into a yawn, only making Emma laugh more.
"Tired?" she teased as he blushed.
"Sorry, I guess I've been staying up a little too long lately." he admitted sheepishly.
"Then you should take a nap now." she then suggested.
"A nap?" he blinked, "Right here?"
"Yeah, go ahead. I won't mind. Ah, here!" she wrapped her arms around him so she was fully hugging him.
"Emma!?"
"Just think of me as your own personal breathing teddy-bear!" she grinned.
"But what about-" "And no 'but's! You get yourself some sleep and I'll be with you the whole time." she cut off his protest.
"A-Alright, I guess. But only for a little bit!" he told her before carefully hugging her back and shifting a little to get more comfortable and closing his eyes.
They were silent for a whole minute before Emma spoke again.
"You're not really trying to sleep, are you?" she asked.
When he didn't respond she sighed.
"I know you're still awake, Norman. You're too stiff to be asleep." she said and at that his eyes popped open.
"Sorry, I guess maybe I'm not as tired as we thought?" he shrugged.
"You still should try to sleep. Would it help if I sang you a lullaby?" he snorted at the suggestion.
"I really don't think-" "Hush, little Norman, don't say a word. Emma's gonna buy you a Mockingbird~"
"Alright, Emma! I'll do more my best to sleep!" Norman laughed at her antics as she grinned.
"You better!" she stuck her tongue out.
He chuckled a little more before settling down and her listening to his breath evening out.
He was out like a light in just a few seconds.
Emma snorted at that.
To think he'd been trying to pretend he wasn't tired.
She carefully lifted her head to to look at his face as he slept.
Up close she could see the dark bags under his eyes.
She wondered just how long he's been staying up lately.
She heard stories after all on how back in the so-called demon-world he used to often sacrifice his sleep a lot in favor of whatever kind of work he had laying around.
She carefully reached out and ran a hand through his snowy hair, earning a sleepy moan from his as he leaned into her touch.
Emma bit back a giggle at that before noticing something.
His face was really sharp and mature, in contrast to to his hair that looked (and felt!) really soft, even that cute little lock that curled on the side of his head.
His eyelashes were the same color, long and fluffy while his eyebrows were more grey, all really fitting against his pale skin.
And while they were now closed, she knew by heart how his blue his were, making the ocean and sky pale in comparison while always shining with intelligence and warmth for the the people close to him.
Norman was honestly really good looking.
Wait. What?
Emma quickly pulled her hand back as her face burned.
Had she really thought that just now?
"I don't wanna think about these kinds of things!" he hissed to herself and wildly shook her head, only stopping when Norman moved again but luckily didn't wake up.
In fact, he pulled her a little closer, making her gasp.
She stayed still for a moment before sighing.
She was the one who got herself in this situation so she shouldn't bother him.
Plopping her head on his chest again she found she could hear his soft heart-beat.
It sounded nice and... soothing...
Without realizing it Emma slowly closed her eyes and soon she was asleep as well.
A bright flash followed by snickering woke Emma up.
"Hmmm... Stop..." she whined, burying her face in her pillow, earning more and louder snickers.
"What's going on...?" another voice asked, thick with sleep.
Emma tensed, suddenly remembering where she was.
"Wakey wakey, you guys." she looked up and sure enough ended up face to face with Norman and turning to the side they saw over half their family gathered around them.
"Eep!" she yelped as she shot up only to forget they were in a hammock, causing it to end up flinging both herself as well as Norman on the ground.
She grunted as she landed on her back faintly registering Norman landing next to her.
Another flash blinded her for a moment.
"Glad to see you both got some good rest." Ray smirked down at them with his camera in his hands, obviously the source of the flashes.
"R-Right. Thanks." Emma smiled nervously, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to pull her up.
"I bet it was some really good rest!" Don laughed obnoxiously as Lannion and Thoma made kissy-faces, causing the duo to blush.
"Leave them alone, guys! It's getting late so we should head back home." Gilda came to their rescue, herding everyone away.
"Hn. Just so you know, I'm framing these babies after I've developed them." Ray smirked at his best friends before joining the others, leaving Emma and Norman at the back.
"We should go with them." Norman told her, though his eyes didn't really meet hers.
"Right." she nodded and they started walking.
"Say, Norman?" Emma looked up at the boy as they walked.
"Yes?" he finally met her eyes.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked shyly, catching him off guard.
He stared for a moment before finally nodding, "I did. It was honestly the best nap I've had in a long time." he admitted and Emma would be lying if she said her heart didn't skip a beat.
"Same." she said and he hummed.
Seeing the others were all quite a distance away and feeling bold she reached and took his hand in her own.
"Maybe we could do something like this more often?"
She felt him tense and started to let go and was about to apologize only for him to hold on tighter.
"I'd like that." she gasped at his answer and turning to look at him found him smiling in a different way than he normally did.
It was like when he and the others had finally found her again, a look full of joy to the point he looked like he could cry.
Suddenly she didn't feel warm like she usually did around him.
She felt hot and her heart was beating rapidly and a hurricane went on in her stomach but while all these sensations were strange, she found she liked it.
Tightening her own grip again she stepped closer and leaned against him as they walked together.
The End