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Kido Tsubomi was a sound sleeper. Once drifted into the lands of dreams, where everything was cute and cuddly and nobody judged her for it, the leader hardly let anything that wasn’t her inner clock let her wake up.
There were exceptions, though.
“… Danchou?”
Knock.
Kido believed that voice to be part of her dream. It was embarrassing to admit it would not be much of a surprise if so, since that familiar, melodic voice was part of her recent dreams more often than Kido wanted to believe. It belonged to a person that was both cute and cuddly.
“Danchou…?”
It was louder this time. Quite persistent. The sound of a door opening followed.
“Are you awake, Danchou?”
“Mmm, Kisaragi…?”
Kido did not react to much when asleep, but sound that inclined the Mekakushi members were in trouble always reached and woke her up.
“I can’t sleep, I had a nightmare”, the idol explained, her voice oddly quiet and low with hints of fear and sadness. Momo usually was all sunshine and bright, though right now she was cloudy and gloomy. Kido was not in need of being fully awake to notice the faint ache in her chest caused by seeing and mostly hearing Kisaragi like this.
The girl’s hair was messy, her trademark ponytail missing. Amazing how long it actually was. The plain, red shirt Momo wore was way too big on her, it was adorable. Waiting for an answer she stood in the half-opened door, looking at Kido, who by now turned to face her. She pushed thoughts that triggered a blush to appear on her cheeks aside and moved to make space next to her.
That gesture was enough to let Momo know her unspoken request was approved of. With a happy squeal she closed the door behind her as silently as possible and then hurried towards Kido. Kido on the other hand was glad Momo didn’t voice what she wanted to ask. It would have been way too embarrassing to hear, even more to reply to. Besides, if any words as “you can sleep with me” were to leave Kido’s mouth, she’d doubt her state of mind.
Plus, she could not look Momo in the eyes anymore several days later without blushing and no way was she going to let that happen.
As for now, she simply blamed her lack of sleep.
“Thank you, Danchou!”
Momo was tempted to nuzzle Kido, to seek her warmth. She moved in to do so, but thought better of her action and left some space between her and the other girl. As much as the idol would love to be close, just as much does she not wish to make Kido uncomfortable by crossing the line.
Of course, Momo had no chance of being aware that Kido actually appreciated each step Momo took over it. Blaming lack of courage, Kido always kept her distance. However, worry and sleepiness were a deadly combo causing Kido to take a few steps forward. Bravery still wasn’t her thing, possibly wasn’t going to be soon.
Momo’s eyes widened when the leader shifted in order to close what little distance was between them, one arm lazily wrapped around the blonde, hand on her head. Gently, Kido patted her. A light shade of red was the color of Momo’s face, her lips curved into a huge smile, face quickly being buried in Kido’s shoulder.
The idol was grateful Kido did not ask about her nightmare. Some might suppose that Kido was too tired to function properly and proper function would include asking and speaking words of comfort. Momo, however, knew better. Since Kido wasn’t good with words, her actions spoke way, way louder.
The current one was like a scream.
“Please get better soon! Don’t worry, I’ll keep the nightmares away!”, it yelled, not a trail of doubt in these words.
Although the room was dark, Momo believed to make out the same shade of red that was on her face to be on Kido’s. Adorable.
“Sleep well, Momo.”
“You too. Thank you.”
A shy smile graced Kido’s features while Momo closed her eyes. There were many, many things she wanted to say right now, but she knew none of them were to come out the way she wanted them to. Meaning she’d manage to speak properly in the first way and that … probably wouldn’t go as planned, either.
Well, maybe some other day.
Besides, Momo was already asleep and by no means would Kido wake that idol up. Looking at the other’s sleeping face a little longer than she probably should, the leader sighed happily, closed her own eyes and drifted back to sleep.
This time the land in her dreams wasn’t as pleasant as the current reality.