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“You could probably fall asleep anywhere.” Fauna jokes, as she sips from her teacup.
Kronii looks up from across the table. “I don’t think so.”
She’s wrong though.
She’s wrong when Fauna catches her using Sana’s lap as a pillow, a book covering her face while the Speaker plays on a switch, careful not to drop it on the Warden.
She’s wrong when Fauna smiles at her laying on her back, and using her entire body as a bed was Bae, who was neatly curled up on Kronii as she snores quietly, making small chitters in her sleep and tail twitching.
She’s wrong when she years a yelp come from the living room, and Mumei immediately apologizing.
“Sorry!” The owl calls, as she helps Kronii up. “I forgot you were sleeping!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, I needed to get up anyways.” Kronii reassures as she gets up, walking away as Fauna takes the now empty seat on the couch.
Fauna giggles as she pats the guilty owl on the back. “What happened?”
“Kronii was leaning on me while she slept, but I forgot and when I got up… she fell over…”
The Keeper bites her lip to stifle a laugh at the image.
“She falls asleep around you guys a lot.” Fauna notes, trying to distract herself.
Mumei quirks an eyebrow. “She doesn’t do that around you?”
Fauna looks up to think, trying to recall anything. There was nothing. Huh.
The question is on her mind when they’re seated next to each other for another movie night, because this happens so often that it’s a common occurrence.
What also is a common occurrence is the group falling asleep, one by one. This time, Kronii and Fauna were the last ones awake, on the floor leaning against a pillow that softened their backs from the coffee table as they sat in front of the television.
Once glance behind them, and Kronii turns back with a little scoff.
“They’re already asleep.”
Fauna yawns. “Well, it is a bit late.” She mumbles quietly.
“You can sleep, too, y’know.”
“Mhm.”
The Keeper allows her head to fall onto Kronii’s shoulder, holding onto her arm and bringing it around her like the Warden was a seatbelt. She frowns though, when she can feel Kronii stiffen underneath her touch.
“Are you going to sleep, too?”
Kronii’s silent for a moment, and Fauna can only hear the sound of their hearts trying to sync up to each other, yet failing to do so.
“Don’t worry about me.” Kronii whispers.
But Fauna does.
Fauna worries, because Fauna’s wrong.
Because Kronii has been able to sleep anywhere, except for when she’s by Fauna’s side.
She’s wrong when she is well aware that for as long as she will doze off on Kronii’s side, Kronii will stay awake.
She doesn’t sleep well that night, and it’s not just because of the floor.
It happens another time when Fauna and Kronii are alone in the office. At this point, Fauna is deep into her worries, and is wondering if Kronii even wants to be there.
Yet, she only becomes even more confused when she takes a seat on the chair that hangs from the ceiling. It rocks slightly as she pulls her legs up, but stops when Kronii sets her hand on the rim to steady it.
“Got any space?” Kronii looks down with an unreadable expression.
Or maybe it’s completely readable, and Fauna is too lost in her own thoughts as her hands tighten around the book she’s holding. Yet, she gives a little joking scoff as if nothing’s wrong.
“Not unless you wanna sit in my lap.” She giggles, opening her book just slightly.
“I’ll do you one better.” Kronii responds, and Fauna yelps as she’s suddenly lifted up before being set back down on the Warden’s lap, the chair wildly rocking in response to the sudden shift of weight.
“Kronii?!” Fauna grabs onto the rim of the swing for stability, though it doesn’t help as much as one of Kronii’s legs finding the ground and slowing down their momentum.
“Sorry, sorry!” Kronii laughs, almost like it was a game. “I can leave if you want-”
“No.” Fauna’s hand moves down to Kronii’s leg as she shifts herself to get comfortable. “It just… spooked me. You can stay if you want.” She turns her face away from the Warden so she wouldn’t see her nerves in the way she bites her lip.
“Why wouldn’t I want to?” Kronii asks, slouching into the chair and kicking off the ground to set them swinging again, just slightly.
Fauna opens her book, and leans onto the side of the chair as she sits in Kronii’s lap, allowing her hair to fall forward to barely cover her face. She’s not sure if she does this for her sake or for Kronii’s.
“Are you going to sleep?”
Kronii turns the chair around to grab a book from one of the nearby shelves, straining a bit to be able to reach said book. “Nah.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Yeah.” The Warden says as she slouches back into the chair, opening the book to a page that was slightly folded to mark itself.
“Then why shouldn’t you sleep?” Fauna says, trying to add a lilt to her voice to make it seem less interrogating.
“Because you’re here.”
Fauna’s words would’ve died in her throat, but she didn’t have any to begin with.
Was she coming on too strong? Did Kronii no longer trust her? Why did the Warden stick around if she didn’t like…
Does Kronii hate her?
One more time.
It happens one more time.
Fauna doesn’t think she can handle it if it were to happen again outside of her control, so she goes to confront Kronii.
It’s late at night, and she’s already in her pajamas. Everyone else in the house has fallen asleep, except Kronii, because… she was Kronii. She’s still Kronii in the way she opens the door with a tired yawn, and wordlessly steps away to let Fauna in as she goes back to her desk.
Fauna closes the door behind her as she slowly makes her way to Kronii’s bed, waiting for any denial of progress. She pauses when Kronii glances at her.
“Are you sleeping here or something?” Kronii asks, and Fauna wants to wonder if she’s mad. She can’t figure out anything anymore, and it’s bothering her. She used to be the one who played and teased, but now it feels like she’s simultaneously the hunter and the prey, running away from what she wants to go towards.
“Can I?” Fauna asks, trying to turn the tables and become the hunter.
“Sure, I don’t mind.” Kronii shrugs, scratching something out with a pen. “Damn.” She mutters under her breath.
“What’s wrong?” The Kirin questions as she sets the covers over herself, burying herself in the familiar scent.
Kronii grumbles as she opens a drawer, grabbing a new pen. “Pen stopped working, no big deal, don’t worry about me.”
Fauna gives a little hum as she snuggles into the pillow, getting cozy while still keeping an eye on Kronii.
A few minutes pass, she’s not sure how much since that’s not her area of expertise, but enough that her nerves begin to set in again.
“Are you going to come to bed?”
The Warden gives a little chuckle. “Don’t say it like that.”
Fauna’s cheeks immediately warm when she realizes the implication. “I- I didn’t mean! I just meant- to- to sleep!”
Kronii keeps laughing as she turns her head around to quickly smirk at the kirin. “I know, I know.” She goes back to looking at her papers. “Just sleep for now, don’t worry about me.”
Fauna bites her lip as she stares at the back of Kronii’s head, watching the strands of her hair fall forward as the Warden focuses on the papers.
“Do you not like me, Kronii?” Fauna finally asks.
Kronii’s head moves up, taking a moment to process what the Keeper had just said. She turns around, a frown on her face and furrowed eyebrows wrinkling her forehead.
“What makes you think that?”
Fauna shrugs, moving her gaze to Kronii’s nightstand. Her eyes stare at a framed picture of Council. In the middle is the pair of them, Kronii’s hand around the Keeper’s waist, pulling them in as they all cheer, celebrating their new home.
“Fauna.” Kronii calls, standing up from her chair and pulling the Keeper’s gaze back onto her. “What makes you think that?” She asks again, this time with more assertiveness in the question.
The Keeper sighs. “I feel like… you don’t trust me.” She admits. “I mean, I know we’ve maybe weren’t… meant to mesh well or whatever, and I think it’s shown a little bit but…”
“Fauna.” Kronii reasserts, the bed shifting as she sets her knee on it to sit on her leg. “Why wouldn’t I trust you?”
Fauna’s losing at the game, or she wishes, because it doesn’t feel like a game at all. She just feels nervous, and she can barely keep looking at Kronii. Her gaze would’ve probably torn away from now if she wasn’t frozen in place.
“It’s stupid.” She ends up muttering.
“It’s not.” Kronii corrects, moving up on the bed to sit next to Fauna, and trying to tug the girl closer. Fauna complies, putting her head in Kronii’s lap and relaxing at the way her hands comb through her hair, carefully taking out flowers that bloomed out of nerves and setting them aside on the nightstand.
Fauna sighs, surrendering. “You don’t sleep around me.”
The hand stops in her hair, but Fauna doesn’t look up to see the expression on the Warden’s face.
“Sorry?”
She can’t help turning onto her back to look up at Kronii who stares down at her, still confused.
“You’ve fallen asleep around and with everyone else. But you don’t around me. Why?”
Kronii blinks, then she starts chuckling. “Oh, I got it.”
“Kronii…” Fauna whines, grabbing Kronii’s hand that was still tangled in her hair and intertwining their fingers instead. “Why don’t you sleep around me?”
“Because,” Kronii manages to start when she finally stops laughing. “I like watching over you.”
Now it’s Fauna’s turn to be confused. Kronii laughs again, using her free hand to smoothen out her furrowed eyebrows.
“I don’t sleep around you, because I like appreciating every second I’m with you. I like remembering all of it, and not just letting time pass by.” She takes a look at the picture. “I don’t mind sleeping around Council, and it’s not like I care about their time less, but if anything went wrong, they’d wake me up.”
“You on the other hand.” Kronii’s finger moves to give a little flick to Fauna’s nose. “If you had a nightmare or something, you’d probably just stay as still as possible to let me keep sleeping. When Sana has a nightmare, she jolts awake. When Mumei has a nightmare, she chirps really loudly, and when Bae gets one, the poor girl starts shivering.”
Fauna looks back down, tasking herself with fiddling with Kronii’s fingers. There are calluses and little paper cuts.
“It’s not because I don’t trust you.” Kronii continues, thumb rubbing Fauna’s hand back as their fingers dance together. “It’s because you trust me, and I’m going to take care of you.”
“Oh.” Fauna breathes, nerves relaxing.
“Sorry.” Kronii moves her hand up to cup Fauna’s cheek, moving her gaze back up as she runs her thumb along the Keeper’s eyebags. “I didn’t realize it was affecting you that much.”
Fauna closes her eyes, pressing into the touch. “It’s okay.”
“Did you wanna sleep now?”
“Will you sleep with me?”
Kronii chuckles as she gently fixes Fauna into a better position before leaning over to the nightstand and turning off a lamp. She shuffles downwards into the bed to lay down properly, opening her arms for Fauna to snuggle into, which the Keeper happily does.
Fauna doesn’t realize just how tense she still was until she melts in the embrace as it tightens around her, making her feel secure and comfortable.
“Good night, Fauna.” Kronii whispers into her hair.”
“Good night…”
Fauna awakes when the sun just barely peeks through a crack in Kronii’s curtains. She shuffles a little bit, moving back as her senses wake up, trying to get a feel of her surroundings.
She looks up, expecting to see sapphire eyes, but instead she finds closed eyelids.
Kronii was sleeping. Her arms were still loosely wrapped around Fauna, who smiles at the idea that the Warden never let her go, even when she was unconscious.
Fauna moves back into the embrace, cozying herself back into place.
Getting up can wait, she decides. For now, she was going to treasure each second, and watch over Kronii while she sleeps just a little longer.
Oh. She gets it now.