Work Text:
[RANMA]
*FLUSHING SOUND*
Washing his hands, Ranma decided he would never again drink so much green tea at night. Even if the bitterness paired so well with the trick-or-treating chocolates…
He smiled, remembering his prior afternoon-to-evening. Who’d have known volunteering with Akane to help the community at Halloween events came with food perks! More than that, it had been a real treat (hehe) to stay up late, eating from the pumpkin-shaped basket all the while making fun of her through a marathon of Stranger Things alone in the living room.
‘You’re an insensitive jerk, and someday you’re going to pay for this!’ She’d said at his last poke.
Ha! No way.
He doubted he’d regret anything. Akane had no vengeful bone in her whole body. She was too good. And too adorable when she got mad.
Ranma had to admit he’d liked the sci-fi horror series’ story too. What a pity that, because of school the next day, they had to stop watching right before the first season’s finale episode!
That may have been for the best, though: contrary to her belief, he did have a heart. It didn’t matter how much he liked teasing Akane while it helped her get detached enough from the show that she could follow the story. During the last episodes, she had gotten way too engrossed in it. Seriously spooked no matter what he did or said. Which is why he’d accidentally broken the remote, claiming they had to stop for the night and go to sleep already. Obviously, he’d just slid the batteries out, but she didn’t need to know that.
Hours later, his cheerfulness was unrelenting despite the late hour and the fact that he'd already had to interrupt his sleep to pee twice. He dried his hands directly on his narutomaki-patterned green pajama and had just started walking back to his room when he heard the terrifying scream.
“RANMAAAAAAA!!!”
His adrenaline spiked at Akane’s full-throated shriek, and he ran - no, he flew to her room.
“Akane!?” He pushed the door wide open to look inside to find an unusually big moving bulk on top of her bed.
Ranma turned on the light before launching himself towards the attacker. No need to fight in the dark. But the brightness didn’t reveal weak points for him to punch. Just a huge ball made of blankets in the middle of Akane’s bed. Their owner curled up beneath, trembling under the pile of clothes with only her head visible in a corner.
“HAHAHAHA.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Don’t tell me you’re still scared? You chose to watch that show.”
“Because everyone’s talking about how cool it is.” She sniffled, still within the high protection of her fluffy fort. “And it has kids in it, so they said it’s less scary than the other Halloween movies… and… “
He sighed, relieved it hadn't been an enemy attacking her. A closer look at her did keep up some of his concern, though. Akane had always been spooked by ghosts and horror stories but tonight went beyond her usual reactions.
The girl trembled even with the lights on. Her fringe clung to her sweaty brow. Her face looked rather pale, which made little sense given how hot anyone would get under that many layers. And why wouldn't she leave her safe spot? He was in the room now!
“So… you had a bad nightmare?”
Instead of replying, she looked away from him and stared at the wall next to them. At first, he thought she was avoiding his eyes with embarrassment, yet based on how she frowned at the orange wallpaper…
“Akane, that monster may travel through walls in the show, but I assure you he CAN’T get to us here. First of all because it does not exist!” He tried to hide his own amusement in a kinder tone.
“I… I know… but…” She blushed a bit.
Nice! Some color returned to her face at last.
“Was it alive in your dreams? I guess it does come from another dimension… and who knows if that dimension is the land of dreams…!”
“RANMA! Don’t joke anymore. Please!” Akane shivered. “I must have been stuck like this for at least half an hour until I managed to cry out for help.”
And ‘cry out’ she had. If the house hadn’t been empty of family except for them that night, they wouldn’t be talking alone right now. In fact, she’d been so loud he wouldn’t be surprised if neighbors would come in anytime now to see if someone had gotten murdered.
THAT’s how loud she’d been!
Another question danced in his head then: had she called him in particular because he was the only one home, or…? Stop thinking like that! He shook his head.
“Alright then. Are you feeling better? What now?”
“Sleep…? We do have an exam tomorrow.”
Yeah, he needed his beauty sleep too. Joke! His handsomeness could endure any circumstance. He!
“Can you stay a bit longer, though?” she asked in a very low voice.
Ranma blinked, surprised. Then inhaled deeply and turned to leave. “Well, in that case…”
“Where are you going?!” Her pitch rose the more he approached the door.
“Whoa, relax!! I was just leaving so you can change.” He faced her, hands up. “You look pretty sweaty. Want to do that exam with a cold?”
He then noticed she still clutched at blankets, not having moved a centimeter other than to look at him. Must be really serious…
“Uh... Okay...” She looked down, thinking or something. He was wondering whether he should really just go when she called him again. “Ranma…?”
“Yeah…?”
“Get me some pajamas? Second drawer from the top. No snooping anywhere else!”
“Why would I want to do that, washboard?” he said loud enough for her to hear.
“Careful… Maybe I can’t move, but I can throw something pretty accurately at this distance!”
Good progress! She was getting out of her Halloweenie spooky headspace and back to her regular self.
Ranma grabbed the first piece of sleepwear he saw: something cream-toned with white ribbons, very soft to the touch. He placed it next to her on the bed, then went back to the door.
“WAIT!”
He jumped again at her shriek. “Now what?!”
“... Sorry… never mind. You can go…”
“So you cry out for me again?! You sure?!” He rubbed at his ringing ears.
She blushed and turned her head to the side.
“What do you want me to do, Akane…?” he asked with forced patience.
“Stand by the door where I can see you, looking out. I’ll change.”
“Sure thing. I’ll charge you for my bodyguard services tomorrow.” he joked, doing his best to keep the mood light so she couldn’t sense the situation had gone beyond his comfort zone.
Because, internally, he admitted it felt good to have her asking him to stay around. Now he even had to block his mind from paying attention to cloth rustling sounds. Akane changing pajamas behind him? A bit too much. Others calling him a late bloomer wouldn’t change the fact that he was still a guy.
Luckily, the wind partly covered the sounds, howling loudly and creepily outside. They’d been going through a remarkably gloomy October. Wait, technically it was November already. Was it one or two in the morning?
“Done!”
“Congratulations!” he cheered playfully, then sang, “Should I stay or should I go?”
“Hilarious…”
He thought he’d been clever, quoting a song title from the series, but as soon as he moved to turn, getting a bit out of frame on the door from her field of vision…
“RANMA!”
He just pinched the bridge of his nose at that fourth scream of the night. Seriously?! A deep breath later, he turned.
Oh crap…
Akane now wore a feminine though sensible long nightgown, similar to what he’d seen ladies use in historical movies. She sat on her bed hugging her knees, eyes pleading adorably. He had to get away from there. Ipso facto! If only his body would move…
“I… This is also embarrassing for me, but... Could you stay all night? I’ll give you half my candy basket!”
“I’m not a kid, Akane.” He crossed his arms, mostly to keep his hands in check, not to fidget and show unease.
“But you’re listening…”
He sighed. Truly, she didn’t need to bribe him to stay. He’d been trying to leave the room because he WANTED to be there. See the problem? However… if he let her believe there was another reason, such as candy, it would hide his interest?
Ranma raised his head, squared his shoulders, and separated his legs a bit. A power position.
“I am listening, and I want them all.”
“Woah, greedy! Three quarters.”
“Hmmm, I don’t know…” He put a finger to his chin as if pondering something extremely serious. “Does it include all 3 Musketeers chocolate bars?”
“Ew! You like those?”
“They’re the best!”
“Then you have a deal!”
“Fantastic.” He clapped his hands together. “Now let’s get you to sleep!”
And he switched off the ceiling light.
“KYAAAAAA”
I’ll be deaf by morning at this rate…
He sat on the bed close to her and whispered, “Open your eyes, Akane.”
Slowly, she did, quickly directing her gaze towards the desk lamp he had turned on on his way there. The blue-ish glow didn’t give cozy vibes. And yet, given the late night hours, it felt much more comfortable to the eyes than having the full room lit up.
“The Demogorgon is a monster that inhabits another dimension, right? And when he gets close to our dimension to attack… all lights flicker." He nodded towards the stable glowing lamp. “We’ll leave that one on tonight. That’s our alarm to run.”
“We won’t notice it flickering if we’re sleeping."
"I won’t sleep. Paid guard, remember? Five to six chocolate candy bars an hour!”
“You also have the exam tomorrow…”
Ranma sighed, internally appreciating her concern but swiftly sitting on her desk chair. He checked the notebooks piling up on her desk to pick the right ones for him. “I could use an all-nighter to study for it!”
“But…”
“You’re the one who mentioned it didn’t look like I’d studied enough, didn’t you?”
He had studied enough. Notice that thought in Latin form earlier? For whatever reason, that subject came easily to him. He just knew he couldn’t sleep in her room.
Lately, Ranma had felt too drawn to her, gravitating to be by her side for as much time as he could manage. Every time he caught himself doing that, he'd tried to counter the tendency, with more or less success. Yet he had to keep trying. Otherwise someone may realize that... scratch that! Someone may wrongly assume he loved the girl.
Lies!
“Well, thank you. But only if you’re okay with it. I don’t want you to fail on my account,” she pushed one last time.
When he winked at her for reassurance, she finally lay down on the bed, getting herself comfortable under a more reasonable number of blankets this time. Half the prior version!
His smile became more sincere after watching her relax.
“Good night, chicken! Cluck-cluck-cluck!~” Ranma tucked his hands into his armpits and flapped his arms like wings.
“Good night, glutton!” She stuck her tongue out.
Ranma put a hand on his chest dramatically and gasped as if she had wounded him, causing her to laugh.
Ah, THAT! That was what he liked seeing. Mission accomplished!
Akane turned to face the wall opposite to his side, ready to sleep. In a similar fashion, he also angled the chair to the opposite direction of her. No need to make looking at his fiancée sleeping too easy. She already called him an idiot and a pervert. Better not help her add ‘creep’ to the mix.
Instead, he admired her study notes. Such nice handwriting… And flawless organization. The clearest summaries he’d ever seen. How could someone so smart be spooked by myths and fantastic movies?!
Only an hour later, Ranma scratched his eyes. Instead of tea, maybe he needed to start drinking coffee!
He heard sheets moving. Again. Darn, I knew she moved a lot in her sleep, but this… After covering his latest yawn with his hand, he dared to look at her at last.
His alert mode got engaged when he saw her furrowing her brows as if in pain. Her hands clenched the blankets so strongly her knuckles had turned white.
“Akane…?” I must wake her up from her nightmare!
As soon as he touched her arm, though, Akane jumped to a sitting position. She looked all around the room with wide eyes before she focused her attention on him with a terrified expression.
“It’s not just the walls… The ceiling and the floor too!! The Demogorgon can... It can come from anywhere!” Akane had curled up on herself while she spoke, sitting on her bed and hugging her knees again, making herself as small as possible. Then trying to look at all places at once. Up and down included.
Man… How vivid had this last nightmare been?!
“Akane, hey…shh… it doesn’t exis-”
“Why does no one believe me?!”
That's it! She’s not watching that show EVER again! I’ll see the finale on my own, and whether it ends well or not, I’ll tell her a happy version.
This time she acted like one of the main characters. Someone no one wanted to believe, but was right about a monster being around. Was this his fault for roleplaying with the series’ theme using the desk lamp idea?
“There’s nothing out there Akane…”
“Of course not, it’s in another dimension, ready to attack…”
“What’s your name?”
“What?”
“Your name.”
“Are you kidding?”
He shook his head slowly, sat on the bed next to her, and held her arms to face her.
She finally stopped looking all around her room, eyes focused on him again.
“Akane…”
“That’s right! You’re Akane Tendo.” He nodded, showing calmness through his kindest voice. “And where are we?”
“Home?”
“Yup, in Nerima, Japan. Not Hawkins, Indiana, in the US.” He added patiently. “Now, what’s my name?”
Her breathing slowed down to a more regular pace. A good sign, because his other idea to yank her fully up from that state was splashing her with cold water. He was used to it. She’d hate it!
“Ranma Saotome.”
“That’s me!” He smiled broadly. “And… ugh…” He cleared his throat before continuing. “You called me to come here and stay with you, right? Do you think I’d let something bad happen to you?”
She blushed, looking down.
“No…” She smiled sheepishly. “There’s too much nougat chocolate at stake.”
He laughed. “You bet there is!” Joking aside, he felt himself relax at having her ‘back’.
She took a deep breath. Then another.
“Thanks… Sorry. I feel so silly.”
“You are silly,” he deadpanned.
“Hey!” She grabbed a plushie and threw it at him, making him back away.
Ranma raised her notebook to cover his face from the next two plushies. “But you’re also smart! See? Awesome study notes!!”
Even after the bouncy missiles stopped, she didn’t reply, so it took him a while to slowly lower his shield to look at her again. And what a good thing he’d waited. She still narrowed her eyes at him when he put the notebook on the table again.
“So… Should I keep studying here? What do you think we can do now so you can sleep?” He scratched the back of his head, having run out of ideas.
“I don't know…”
They sat in silence for a bit longer, looking at the walls. Damn walls!
“It’s just... The series’ images get to my mind, and then the story replays… and then…”
“... the Demogorgon comes to eat you.”
“RANMA!” she scolded-screamed again before he could cover his ears. “Okay, okay. Sorry. I deserved this audio punch.”
“You deserved what?”
Doesn’t she realize how much her screams hurt? If I point that out, will I get hit by something sturdier than plushies? Think. FAST.
“Never mind! Uh... Listen, where are your scissors? And do you have some alcohol around to clean them?” He looked around the utensils on her desk. “That thing is drawn to blood, right? If I give myself a cut and run, I’ll lead him away…”
“Are you crazy?! I don’t want you to get injured for me!” Matching her words, Akane stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Pfft. A small cut is nothing. I’ve gone through much more than that precisely for you, and I’ll keep…”
Akane opened her eyes even wider. Then he understood and felt his cheek burn.
CRAP! What did I just say?
“I mean… uh… It's not for you like YOU!.. Ughhh. I’m a martial artist… and… ready, always ready… when… battle!!! And because we live together…? The battles…” Worst time for his mind to stop working. What time was it now? Three in the morning already?
Akane bit her lip this time. “I know, it’s for the chocolate… You do it for the 3 Musketeers disgusting bar.”
“YES! For FOOD!” He smiled at her. Glad she got it. But why was she smiling coyly?
“Well…” She started folding the edge of the blanket like an accordion. “If sweets matter so much to you, then… I do have another idea to try…”
“I’m listening.” He played along, happy to be back to monster talk. Anything to get out of this stupid, dangerous conversation!
Akane chuckled, likely getting a deja vú from his ‘negotiation mode’. But when she opened her mouth again… no words came out. She just shut it closed again. Color tinted her cheeks as she looked away from him.
“Akane…?”
“Nothing. You ‘never mind’ this time. It’s a stupid idea. More so than cutting you with scissors!”
“Really? Worse than cutting myself?”
“Yeah… It's, uh.. Total sacrifice!”
“You can’t expect me to let this exhilarating idea go without a fight.” He grinned, expecting something terribly fun to tease her for. “And I’m paid to stay here aaaaall night. So, sooner or later I’ll get you to talk… Why not start now?”
Akane inhaled deeply, her blush now taking over her face, neck, and ears and…
“Hug-me-while-I-sleep!!!” she let out super fast. Then covered her whole face with her hands.
“WHAT?”
Did I hear her right?
“If… you… if you hug me… All around me… The monster…” She opened two fingers to peek at him with one eye. “Because you see the light, so you’ll know it’s coming if you’re awake. And you’d be… all around me… so it won’t matter whether it comes from the walls, floor, or ceiling…You’ll feel it… Because 360º… ish?”
Ranma’s brain was still catching up with AKANE asking HIM to HUG HER to sleep. But one had to admit the rest was similarly shocking.
“Do you think I can fight back the Demogorgon, or am I the appetizer so you can run?” He glared at her.
Akane uncovered her face this time and gasped loudly. “I don't want you to die for me! How could you even think that!! And… and… we’re not bleeding, so we’re not targets… so it's unlikely it will come in the first place…”
“B– If… if you don’t truly believe it’s coming for you, then what am I even doing here?!” “I just… SORRY! I know logically it doesn’t exist. It’s just… we were watching the show… and it was interesting… We were eating… You were making fun… and afterwards… I… I got….” She looked more nervous and shaky.
Ranma’s jaw hung down. Shocked to the bone on a different level than before.
“You got an idea… to ‘make me pay’ for making fun of you?” he cut her off, unable to hide the pain in his voice. “You faked all this?”
“W-What?” Akane blinked, more flustered than before. She hugged herself, looking upset. Her whole body tense. “I just… I got sca—! — … – .. Ranm-?!”
She spoke, but he couldn't listen: too overwhelmed. Too EMBARRASSED!
He’d been honestly worried for her, and she’d been LYING? Playing with him to make him stay up all night while she slept? And… asking him to hug her?!
“RanNMAAA!” she ended up yelling, crying out again as he left her room.
This time he didn’t go back, though.
Ranma shivered walking down the stairs, already missing the warmth of Akane’s room. He entered the kitchen, thinking about drinking something to clear his head. The long fluorescent light blinked a few times before settling to the usual brightness, a contrast that blinded him. The howling wind outside wouldn’t stop.
But those things couldn’t distract him.
He just couldn’t understand how Akane could have done that to him. And that he’d fallen for it. Yet why? WHY?! And asking him to hug her??!! What type of revenge or trick was that even? To make him show a vulnerable side?
The kitchen light flickered, making him pay attention to the eerie, still space. He grabbed a glass and filled it with tap water.
Okay, no. No, no, no. It wasn’t like Akane to pull stuff like that, right? She wasn’t faking her fear, however illogical and inconsistent. He knew a thing or two about irrational fears himself: CATS! Akane had to have been truly spooked this time after watching the horror show for hours. Her nightmares had been real. He’d seen that firsthand. Because one can’t fake cold sweat or getting pale, right?
He’d overreacted at HER being vulnerable. Darn it! He had to apologize… Ranma took a deep breath and lifted the cup in his hand to drink before going back upstairs.
The kitchen light flickered again.
Someone needs to fix this light… if Akane notices the flickering...
The ominous creaking on the stairs made Ranma’s skin crawl. This time, time seemed to stop as he turned, letting the water cup slide from his hand to crash on the ground.
“AKANE!!!”
He left the kitchen in a flash and reached the final flight of stairs, right on time to catch her falling down as she rolled in a mess of blankets. They ended up in a tangled position on the ground floor, with her on top of him.
“Ranma! Are you okay?!” She twisted from inside the clothes to look at him.
“YOU fell on the stairs and worry if I’m the one okay?! What were you doing? Did you forget the second-to-the-top step was almost broken? And I thought you couldn’t move from your bed!!”
“I managed to reach the door when trying to go after you and then noticed the kitchen light flickering down through the stairwell and… and I panicked. I wasn’t thinking about the stairs… I had to -”
“...go save your bodyguard?” he cut her off, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, YES! I may be terrified of horror movies to an irrational degree. Imagining all sorts of bad things when I close my eyes! And it always gets so much worse at Halloween… But… Ranma, I don’t even know what you were talking about before you left. How was I making you pay? I’m the one paying you with candy!!”she said, upset and seemingly about to cry. “What I know is that… I feel safer if you are around. Braver too. So, of course, as soon as I managed to say anything at all after the first nightmare… I called you. But I don’t want you to get hurt either!”
Ranma blushed, deeply touched. From the candor, from her wanting him to be safe, and from embarrassment. He shouldn’t have thought so badly of her… He knew her better than that! Though… about that thing she’d said regarding how she felt if he was around…
She was looking at his eyes, expectant of his reply. And he knew what he had to do: be brave like she’d been.
“Sorry. I’m the one who wasn’t honest.”
“What?” She blinked, confused.
Ranma moved quickly, wrapping her in a true blanket burrito and carrying her upstairs. Doing a quick jump on the now completely broken step.
“What are you doing?!” She tried and failed to get free of him. Too many layers restraining her, plus his arms not budging an inch.
Soon after they entered her room, he turned off the desk lamp.
“Ranma…?” She hadn’t screamed, but her voice sounded shaky.
“I’m here!” he reassured her as he held her down to lie on the bed, still tightly wrapped.
He then lay right next to her, hugging her with his arms and legs around the many blankets. The last layer of her physical guard (or burrito!). Ranma took a deep breath to gather further courage. Because as much as Akane may be skittish in the dark, he needed it to be pitch black to come clean himself.
“You don’t need to give me sweets,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll come and stay with you whenever you need me. Always.”
He heard her inhale sharply, and the room remained silent for a while after that. He could only hear the wind outside. Plus, his own rapid heartbeat.
“... So you don’t want the chocolate? Or the peanut butter candy bars…? The 3 Musketeers…?” From her voice, he could tell she was happy. Enough to tease him back. Now she was ‘making him pay’.
“I won’t decline a bonus!” he declared lightly.
Akane snorted. Wiggling a bit, she also changed her position, relaxing her body again when her head rested on his shoulder.
“Thank you. Good night… Ranma.”
“Good night, Akane.”
And they slept peacefully at last.
.
.
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