This doesn't even go past 1k words. Oh well. Enjoy if you can.


Shinka awoke late that night to the sound of rain. It had been a rather unnaturally warm winter so far that year. Despite the strangeness of the phenomenon, presence of rain was calming. She'd even go as far as to say that it was comforting.

And at that moment, some comfort was exactly what she needed...

She had just woken up from a rather unpleasant dream. In it, she was part of the theater club again. For whatever reason, she was handed an unfinished script and was told to finish it before the deadline. The script's beginning and end had already been written and all that was left was the middle. It would have been easy if it weren't for the fact that Shinka had to tie together three separate plot threads and connect it to an already pre-planned ending. And to make things worse, the point where the script abruptly stopped was where all three plot threads were about to enter unrelated conflicts.

Shinka was not a writer - not really. What little amount of writing she did was years ago for a book she'd rather forget she had ever written in the first place. How was she expected to finish someone else's script? Why did the responsibility fall to her?

She took a deep breath to still her racing heart. "It's just a dream, Shinka," she told herself. "It's nothing to get so worked up about."

Shinka sat up on her bed and groped around for where she put her phone. It was the middle of the night so it was understandably dark but the faint halogen yellow of street light diffusing through her window curtains was just enough light for her eyes. She could just barely make out the outlines of all the objects in her room. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough light to see where her phone was. It wasn't on the desk next to her bed as she had originally assumed.

There was a groan from the floor next to her bed. "Shinka...?" Sanae asked from her futon. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about. Go back to sleep."

"Don't be foo...oo... aaaaoooouuu...~"

Shinka smiled as Sanae cut herself off with a yawn.

"Don't be foolish," Sanae finally said, sitting up. "If you're awake at this forsaken hour then obviously something woke you."

"It was a just a bad dream. I'm awake now so it's all better."

Sanae clumsily scooted towards Shinka's bedside, grasping forward with her hands, no doubt to hold Shinka's own. The attempt only succeeded in touching various parts of Shinka's legs.

"Is this really the time for touching me like that?" Shinka teased. Sanae hummed in annoyance.

As amusing as it was watching Sanae literally fumbling in the dark, Shinka could tell that Sanae was genuinely concerned. No sense in letting that concern go to waste. She grabbed Sanae's arms and pulled her up until their combined weight and the awkwardness of their movements sent them both toppling onto the mattress.

"Sh-Shinka...?"

"I'm sure you really wanted to have a heart to heart with me in the middle of the night," Shinka said as she wrapped her arms around Sanae. "But it's the middle of the night. I want to sleep. Instead of talking, just hold me close."

Sanae said nothing but responded by reciprocating the hug. A comforting warmth seeped into Shinka's limbs, warding away a coldness that she didn't even realize she was suffering from. They stayed like that in silence for a time.

"Wha wazza dream... abou...?" Sanae said, her words slurring as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

"I'll tell you in the morning," Shinka whispered. When Sanae did not reply, Shinka's immediate guess was that she had fallen asleep. To that, Shinka smiled. "Goodnight, Sanae."

She also closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come to her. She couldn't tell how long it took but eventually it did.

And thus, they both slept together...


Happy Valentines, everyone.

I didn't actually have anything planned for Valentines this year so I kinda rushed out some ficlets. Hope everyone liked this Dekotani fic.