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Nights were surprisingly quiet in their little house, Kanade had to admit. She would’ve thought with all of Nightcord at 25:00 under one roof, in two bedrooms, that at least one of them would be up at all hours of the day.
Then again, she wouldn’t have even believed it if someone told her when the circle first started that she would end up living with everyone as early as university.
It started like this:
None of them had particularly looked forward to high school graduation for a few reasons, but time passed despite their wishes. Mafuyu applied to plenty of pre-med programs like her mother wanted, but also received a sizeable scholarship to the nursing program she wanted to apply to years before. Kanade wasn’t sure of the exact details, but that was the program Mafuyu planned on attending. Ena cried when she got into a pretty good art program at a university near Mafuyu’s. She hadn’t thought she would be accepted, despite everyone assuring her differently. Kanade had even taken some advice from her grandmother and Honami—and even her father, who was doing relatively well back at home—and would enroll in some music production classes. Part-time and online, though, since she’d been taking online classes for too long to jump into attending full-time in-person just yet.
“Jeez, that’s no fair,” Mizuki had complained one night when they were all discussing their plans post-graduation. “I’m never gonna see you guys at once unless you all, like, live together!”
Somehow, one thing led to another, and that was exactly what happened.
The house was on the small side, but that was all they needed. It was a good enough distance from both Mafuyu’s and Ena’s schools, and not too far that Mizuki couldn’t visit. Despite the awkwardness of the first month or so, learning to live together, everything had gone surprisingly well.
Even last year, when Mizuki was still in high school, they spent more time at the house than most other places. They always crashed in Ena’s room, where there were bunk beds instead of two beds to allow more space for art in various forms. Mizuki officially moved in basically as soon as they graduated, a ceremony Kanade, Mafuyu, and Ena all attended with pride. Now they were taking general education courses to prepare for the eventual goal of a fashion program.
As with anything, living together and attending university was a massive learning curve. But Mafuyu was away from her mother, in a place where there were no expectations of her perfection, Ena was working through her perfectionism and anger away from her father’s remarks, and Mizuki was somewhere completely free of judgment, where they could be themself.
For all four of them, it was a perfect arrangement. Even with only the two bedrooms.
Sharing a bedroom with someone, even if it was Mafuyu, her girlfriend of now three years, was something Kanade had to get used to at first, having spent several years on her own in her old house. Mafuyu was quiet at night, a silent sleeper. Neither of them was ever up past two anymore, not studying and not composing. More often than not, they were asleep before that. Mizuki often joked that they should change their name from Nightcord at 25:00 to Nightcord at 23:00. The joke hadn’t stopped being funny to Mizuki yet.
Kanade blinked her dark room into focus, her heart pounding in her ears. It was … what, three in the morning? She and Mafuyu had turned off their light a little past midnight. It sounded to her that Mafuyu was still sleeping peacefully, thankfully. She wasn’t woken by Kanade’s tossing and turning, evident by knots in her hair and her sheets tangled around her legs.
She sat up, letting herself rest and her head adjust for a moment before getting out of bed and slipping out of the room. She passed Ena and Mizuki’s room on her way to the kitchen. Their light was off, so they were probably sleeping, or close to it.
Kanade couldn’t deny, as she took one of the mugs Mizuki had bought her from the cabinet and filled the tea kettle with water, that her hands were shaking. It made her job of doing everything without waking anyone up that much harder.
After years of the same nightmare … seeing everyone she loved in pain, both emotionally and physically, because of her … it never got easier.
“Kanade?” Kanade jumped at Mafuyu’s voice behind her, almost dropping her mug. Mafuyu stood in their bedroom’s doorway, her loose hair tousled from sleep but still incredibly beautiful. She had on her glasses, too, which she mostly wore in the evenings instead of contacts.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Kanade set the mug on the counter, pulling her sweatshirt closer around her, making the fabric tighter against her skin. “You can go back to sleep.”
Mafuyu took a step out of the bedroom. One of the straps of her pajama top was slipping down her shoulder. “Let me help you.”
Without waiting for a confirmation, Mafuyu came into the kitchen. She took out a second mug and the tea Kanade was just about to reach for: chamomile, something Honami had always made when she thought Kanade wasn’t getting much sleep. Kanade spared the kettle a glance. On instinct, she’d filled it with enough water for all four of them instead of just herself.
She simply stood and watched as Mafuyu finished making the tea like she’d been up for hours. Mafuyu poured some into the two mugs, setting them on the table in the living room before coming back for Kanade. She took Kanade gently by the hand, leading her to the couch.
That was certainly one area of growth over the last few years: physical intimacy. Turned out, they both found comfort in it. At least, with the right people.
Kanade sat down next to Mafuyu, leaning into the offered embrace. Mafuyu said nothing, instead ensuring both of them were plenty comfortable.
“...It was the nightmare again,” Kanade admitted after a minute, watching steam curl off the top of their mugs.
“Mm.” Mafuyu tightened her embrace a touch just the way Kanade liked it, kissing the top of Kanade’s head lightly. She hardly felt the pressure of the kiss, but her cheeks still exploded with familiar warmth. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Kanade shook her head. She’d told them all about it after the first time she had the nightmare after moving in. It still left her shaken every time, especially now that she had more people in her life to love. More people in her life to lose.
Mafuyu broke from the embrace, only to hand Kanade her tea. Kanade blew on the surface gently, then took a sip, not minding that it burned her tongue. The temperature made little difference to her, since she was used to eating scalding-hot instant noodles. Or, she once was used to it. Her instant noodle intake had cut down dramatically since moving in with everyone, since they took turns making food.
The light in Ena and Mizuki’s room flickered on a second before their door opened. “What’s going on?” Mizuki asked, rubbing their eyes with the back of their hand. Ena was just behind them, yawning. Her hair was super messy already.
“Kanade had a nightmare. There’s tea on the stove.”
Mizuki and Ena looked at each other for not even five seconds before they nodded, splitting up. Ena took out more of the mugs Mizuki bought as Mizuki took to the couch, snuggling up next to Kanade so there was just enough room for Ena to join.
“I didn’t mean to wake everyone,” Kanade said, trying and failing to hide behind her tea. The heat from the side of the mug was close to burning her hands. She didn’t think she had woken them up, either; she and Mafuyu were definitely the quietest of the four.
“Hey, this is the good part of living together,” Mizuki said, adjusting their position to wrap their arms around Kanade’s waist. “Cuddling after nightmares.”
Ena snorted from the kitchen, returning after another few seconds. She kept her own tea with her, setting Mizuki’s on the table to cool. “I thought you said the best part of living together was being able to bother us for kisses and attention all the time.”
“That’s you, Ena.” Mizuki turned and stuck their tongue out at Ena before burying their face in the crook of Kanade’s neck. Kanade could feel their smile against her skin. It made her want to smile, too.
Ena rolled her eyes, leaning over Mizuki to kiss Kanade’s temple. She must’ve been tired to not argue. “Anyway.”
The four of them lapsed into relative silence, drinking their tea. The light from Ena and Mizuki’s room, coming from their cracked-open door, was just enough to act as a nightlight. That was something that hadn’t changed: having calls where they worked in silence, but knew everyone was there, translated well to sitting in the same room without speaking.
It was also the best way for her to know that some of the most important people of her life were there, safe, and happy.
Slowly, Kanade’s heart settled back to its natural rhythm, any panic or bad feels seeping out of her. She finished her tea, or as close to finished as it would get at its now-cool temperature. Mizuki snored softly, slumped over on their side with their lead in Kanade’s lap and their legs sprawled on top of Ena. Apart from that, Ena was practically on top of them, also sound asleep.
Mafuyu put her arm around Kanade’s shoulders again, shifting so Kanade could comfortably lean against her. Kanade sighed contentedly, her eyelids already drooping. “Better?” Mafuyu whispered, her lips close to Kanade’s ear. Kanade couldn’t tell if she was referring to their positions on the couch or her mental comfort. Either way…
“Yes.”
Kanade was lucky that none of them had early classes in the morning. She had a feeling they’d all be pretty sore when they woke up, since it seemed like none of them would be waking up to return to their rooms.
But, at the very least, none of them would have any nightmares.