Work Text:
After a long and tedious day of doing miscellaneous tasks around the Atelier, Agott returned to her room once more. A cold breeze came in through the cracks of the window, which quickly turned into a furious whirlwind of banging and howling. A storm was coming tonight. Agott gave little attention to the matter, and instead focused on changing into her night gown and laying down in her soft, warm bed.
Agott closed her eyes, shut off the candles illuminating her room, and was slowly drifting asleep. As she was about to truly fall asleep, all of a sudden Coco barged into the room. Right. It was their room. Light blared in from the hallway, hurting her eyes.
She didn’t barge in so suddenly for any apparent reason, only that it was within her nature to do so. Her spontaneous and energetic personality made her do things that were considered inappropriate.
“Coco!” Agott sat up from her bed and stared at her as she was walking up the steps to her bed. “Could you be any louder?”
Coco clenched her teeth and softly winced.
“Sorry, Agott! I didn’t realize you were trying to sleep...”
“With all of the candles out?” Agott snarked, somewhat teasingly, yet also slightly annoyed.
“I’ll do better next time..”
Coco noticed Agott covering her eyes with her arm, seemingly uncomfortable. She hastily turned around, waddled down the steps, and shut the door firmly behind her, blocking light from entering the room. Watching her step, she then carefully waddled back to her bed through the darkness.
Agott could hear Coco plop onto her bed and wiggle her way under the covers. “Goodnight, Coco,” she uttered in a slightly apologetic voice.
“Goodnight, Agott.”
As the night started to pass by, so did the dark clouds in the sky. They hauled their way over to the Atelier, eventually hammering down on its roof. Water droplets collected on the window of their room, slowly collecting into a singular one and dropping down into a pile of mud forming on the dirt outside. The earthy and fresh smell of petrichor entered Agott and Coco's room.
The Atelier lit up with the lightning, then rumbled with the thunder. The storm was right on top of them. Agott tossed and turned through the night, unable to rest. She turned to her side, pressing her left ear against the pillow and lifting her right arm up and against the other, but nothing could alleviate her discomfort. The sounds of the storm outside were too much for her.
Still unable to sleep, she got out of bed. If I can’t sleep, then I don’t want to waste this time doing nothing, she thought. She quietly skedaddled out of her bed and to her desk, where she activated her light. She fiddled through her books and arranged her desk neatly in order to create a space away from the clutter she had been accumulating.
It’s not like she had a particularly easy time studying, either. But as she did, the dense clouds outside were starting to venture further and further away from the Atelier. The downpour of rain went on softer and softer until it was a faint, misty drizzle. With the storm shuddering away, so was the noise that came with it. Agott was finally able to do what she wanted, which was to sleep peacefully. She got up from her desk, light still on, and was on her way to her bed.
But instead of a quiet and tranquil environment, she got something else entirely. Agott heard a faint moan come from Coco’s side of the room, followed shortly after with incoherent mumbling.
“No, I’m sorry…” Coco unknowingly whispered into the air.
Her breathing was shallow and rapid. It could be heard from across the room. Agott turned around to look at Coco, who was dripping with sweat and shivering.
How long had this been happening? Had it been happening this entire time and she had not heard due to the pouring rain? All of these thoughts rushed through Agott's mind as she ran across the room and to Coco.
As she approached, she quietly but sternly shouted, “Coco!” It wasn’t enough to wake her up, but the first thing she did when she was close enough to her was shake her arm, trying to wake her.
“Coco!” she shouted again.
Coco took one last deep, shaky inhale and woke with a painful exhale forced out of her throat. She raised her torso from her bed, gripping the sheets next to her on either side. She looked around once, and then focused her attention back to the worried Agott that stood next to her.
“Agott…!” She let out, no longer clenching her sheets and instead wrapping her arms around the Agott that stood above her from her bed. Her breathing refused to become stable, and instead became more unsteady and rapid. Agott hugged back, her nightgown starting to get drenched in Coco’s tears.
“Are you okay?” Agott asked, concerningly.
Coco wasn’t able to say anything. She was too shaken and afraid. Instead, she shook her head, wrinkling Agott's dress and spreading her tears where it lay. Agott took Coco's hands from her back, unwrapped them off her, sat down next to her, and then released them in her own lap. Quickly Coco reclaimed them, only to start hugging her yet again. She refused to let go. Agott refused as well, confused but worried for her.
“I’m just so scared…” she managed to utter through her shaky vocals.
Agott held onto her tighter.
“It’s okay, Coco. Just let it out,” she said comfortingly.
It was now around 2AM, a long time from the early 10PM they went, or tried, to sleep at. Agott was exhausted, but she knew that she couldn’t let go of Coco. Through Coco’s sobs, she was slowly nodding off over her shoulder. She knew she couldn’t be tired now, that she had to be there for Coco. She quickly pinched herself, snapping out of it.
Coco slowly started to gain her composure as her breathing got more normal. Still, she couldn’t shake the fear of the nightmare that she just had. Coco pulled away from Agott and looked down when talking.
“I’m sorry for waking you up…”
Agott was surprised by this remark. It’s not like she was ever asleep, though Coco didn’t know this. Still, even if she was, why would that matter?
“No, Coco. It’s really okay. Let me stay by your side. I don’t mind–no--it’s not that I don’t mind, it’s that I want to do it. What happened?”
Coco looked up at Agott through her teary and blurred eyes.
“I don’t know. I’ve just been having awful nightmares recently, but that was the worst one I’ve had in awhile,” she managed to get out before softly crying more. “I guess I’m just crying more out of shock than fear? But I am scared. I don’t know… I don’t know, and this is so...” Coco choked on her own words, unable to continue her sentence as clumps of tears started to flow down her red face. Agott looked at her for a second, then wiped away a few of her tears.
“I’m here now, Coco. Don’t worry, it’s okay. It’ll be okay.”
Agott wasn’t sure what to say other than the same few combinations of words. She was not used to comforting others, especially when they were breaking down right in front of her. It’s not like the words came empty, though. Instead, she felt upset at herself for not being able to find the words she really wanted to say.
“It was awful. The brim-hats took everyone away from me. I’ve been having the same nightmare over and over again.”
Agott had no words this time. Instead, she put Coco's hand in hers and gripped tightly, letting her know that she wouldn’t leave her.
“I can tell you’re tired, Agott.”
“I swear I’m not. I don’t mind.”
“Liar,” Coco giggled, sniffling right after.
“Maybe a little bit,” Agott admitted.
It was silent for a moment, the air tense, neither of them knowing what to do next. Coco put her head on Agott's shoulder, grasping her hand and looking onto her side of the room.
“I’m scared to go back to sleep…” she whispered.
“It’s okay, I’ll stay with you until you’re ready.” Agott turned her head to look at the darkness peeking in from the hallway outside of the room.
Coco didn’t say anything for just a second, but then let out a gasp of air. She kept letting out air, like she was beginning to say something, but couldn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Agott raised her eyebrow.
“I just…” Coco paused, yet again. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep..”
“That’s okay.” Agott interrupted her.
Coco lifted her head from Agott's shoulder, let go of her hand, and looked at her. “No! But that’s not it… I think I would be able to, but not alone.” Her red face shifted from a teary one to an embarrassed one.
Agott failed to respond, instead doing one long blink, and then squinting at her.
“Oh! But like, if you know what I mean... that’s okay! I shouldn’t have even brought it up,” Coco waved her palms back and forth. “Yeah, that’s okay, whatever!” She looked away from Agott, fidgeting with her bed cover, obviously uncomfortable.
“No,” Agott softly pushed Coco’s head to look at her, “that’s okay.”
Coco’s face seemed to light up.
“If you’re afraid, it’s okay. I’ll sleep next to you. Honestly, it’s embarrassing, but I used to beg my mom when I was little and afraid…”
“Didn’t we all?” Coco started to rearrange her bed in order to make room for Agott. “Sorry… I’m just afraid. I know I shouldn’t be, but I can’t help it.”
“Stop apologizing,” Agott demanded as she laid herself down onto Coco’s bed.
“Okay, sorry,” Coco apologized one last time. Coco laid down as well, and as she did so Agott had to reposition herself to her side, and so did Coco, in order to make room for them both on her twin bed. Agott flipped around to face the wall, and Coco stared at her back. Coco put the blanket over them and arm over Agott's side, half-hugging her as she drifted back asleep.
When she finally did, Agott flipped around to look at Coco, her arm now over her stomach. She fell asleep fast, even before the light turned off. Agott scooted closer towards Coco until their faces were almost touching. It was cold, even under the thickness of the blanket. Or it was supposed to be.
Maybe it was Coco's toasty breath reaching her, or maybe it was the heat of another person sleeping right next to you. Either way, Agott felt weird. Her face felt warm, but even more so, her heart felt warm. It was pounding, erratic, even. She was tired, yet she could not sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Coco.
Being so close made her realize how beautiful she really was. How cute she was, as well. She was starting to get a weird sensation in her stomach, one that made her feel sick. Despite this, she couldn’t stop the feeling from overwhelming her entire being. She took note of every detail on her: her long eyelashes, her red face slowly returning back to normal, her perfect nose bridge, her luscious lips.
It’s too late, I can’t be thinking like this, I can’t be feeling like this, she repeated to herself over and over again, until she couldn’t help it and flipped back over towards the wall. She didn’t know what compelled her to flip to see her in the first place. All she knew now, though, was that she really couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Agott put one of her hands up and softly held Coco’s that was lying on her side. Even looking away, her heart continued the unusual rhythm. She used what little space she had to bring her legs up to her chest and dig her head into it, wishing for the feeling to dissipate. But a part of her didn’t want the feeling to go away. A part of her wanted it to continue on, to see what she was actually feeling. It felt somehow good, but painful, in the sense that Coco possibly wouldn’t reciprocate. But reciprocate what?
Seriously, what’s wrong with me…
Agott couldn’t think properly. That’s what she told herself, that she was too tired and wasn’t thinking straight. That she didn’t really feel like that. She closed her eyes and started to doze off, the warmth inside of her only growing larger the longer she was next to Coco.
In the morning, maybe I’ll feel differently.