So uh, another thing that isn't my usual style huh? But I fell hard over these two and I really want to get better writing them, so why not?

I'm aware not all of these are going to be all that spectacular but... I'm trying, and that's gotta be enough for now, right? Even if they aren't the best, someone's bound to like the stuff I've made, right? (My anxiety isn't being kind to me today if you can't tell).

I really hope so.

Day 1: Fluffy

She was no stranger to working late into the night. Sleep had never been something to come easy for her, not even as a small child. Between the stress of listening to her father and grandfather argue constantly when they thought she was asleep to being thrown into her detective training full time at age eight, she'd never had the chance to sleep easy. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had a 'good' nights sleep, if such a concept even existed. As such, she could survive on very little sleep, and did so on a fairly regular basis. Staying up into the early hours of the morning was no issue for her.

However, it seemed not everyone was accustomed to such a sleep schedule.

The sounds of soft snoring pulled her thoughts out of her notebook and onto the other person sitting at her table. There was Makoto Naegi, sitting across from her, leaned forward onto the table with his homework sitting all but abandoned under his arms, and his head resting on them as a makeshift pillow with his eyes closed. His shoulders lifted and fell in even, deep breaths. He'd been asleep for quite awhile if the drool stain on his hoodie sleeve was anything to go by.

She glanced up at the clock. "Almost midnight…" she noted. More time had passed than she'd thought. She turned back to his sleeping form. He let out a deep sigh in his sleep as he shifted slightly, then muttered something into the crook of his elbow, muffled and indistinct.

It wasn't entirely that surprising to see that he'd fallen asleep; the only really surprising thing was that he'd managed to stay up for as long as he did. He'd offhandedly mentioned earlier that he'd had issues sleeping the night before, something about a strange dream about a monochromatic teddy bear and salmon keeping him from proper rest, and it showed on his face. His usual bright eyes had a glassier appearance to them all day, and more than once he had to be poked at by their classmates to keep from falling asleep in class. Despite this, he'd still insisted on meeting with her that evening for one of their usual study session, which were starting to become a much more common occurrence.

At her questioning of if he was sure he'd be ok, he responded by waving a hand dismissively, assuring her "I'll be fine, Kiri. I'm not all that tired anyways," And then he suddenly had that small, shy, endearing smile of his that always managed to warm her heart as he scratched at his cheek in the way he always did when he was nervous and quietly added "Besides, I really like spending time with you like this,"

Bless this boy for being so selectively unobservant at times so that he didn't notice the heat she'd suddenly felt in her face after hearing that.

She'd had no real reason to deny him nor a real desire to do so, so she said nothing in protest. And here they were now, several hours later, with her still wide awake and the predictable outcome of him falling asleep while attempting his homework having come to fruition.

To think he did this all because he'd wanted to spend more time with her. She shook her head at the thought. It was ridiculous, it was foolish, it was incredibly stupid of him…

Yet it was entirely in character for him.

She let out a soft chuckle at him. "You're such a fool, Makoto Naegi," she said, smiling a little to herself. A fool that cared too much about his friends and too little for his own well being; that was far too generous while expecting far too little in return. A fool that carried a nature that encompassed all the traits she normally looked down upon in a person, yet made the best of them.

And he was a fool that had somehow wormed his way into her heart to become her best friend.

She continued to watch him, taking in all the little sleepy movements he made. The way his mouth trembled slightly, how his face would occasionally scrunch up for a moment, how his nose would twitch and how fast his eyelids fluttered. He let out another drowsy murmur into his arm before tilting his head so that it was resting on his left one instead.

She had to admit… he looked rather cute like this.

She felt her face beginning to warm again as the thought crossed her mind. She turned her head towards her bed to force herself to look away.

"Stop this," she mentally chided herself. She had too much work to do, she had a double murder case on her hands to solve. This was no time to allow herself to be distracted… which was something that Naegi was very good at, whether he realized it or not. She shook her head. She should send him back to his room, allow him to sleep on his own bed, and yet when she turned to look at him again…

He looked so peaceful sitting like he was; she really didn't want to disturb that if she didn't have to. She sighed at herself and moved to rub one of her temples, closing her eyes at the same time.

"I must be getting soft because of you," she said in a soft scolding voice. Naegi, for his part, said nothing in return.

She opened her eyes to look at him again, and that's when she noticed it suddenly: his hair was incredibly fluffy.

Truthfully, she'd never really paid much mind to Naegi's appearance more than was absolutely necessary. It wasn't because she thought he looked bad of course, but the parts she found the most interesting about him were less to do with how he looked and more with what he had to say. And yet, perhaps because of the lighting or that she had already been sufficiently distracted by him, suddenly she found her eyes drawn to the messy mop that was his hair. There was a lot more to it than she'd ever noticed (perhaps trying to gain an extra bit of height through it?). It almost reminded her of a puppy's coat of fur with how it looked.

...Well now with a mental comparison like that, she kind of wanted to pet it. Damn it.

"Maybe I…"She bit her lip and looked away again. This was stupid. Why was she even debating this? This wasn't like her at all; she wasn't some young schoolgirl with a ridiculous crush, she was better than that.

At least… she was fairly certain she wasn't. She wasn't able to experience those… right? She was too broken for those, wasn't she?

And yet, she couldn't get the idea out of her head, even as she forced herself to look through her case notes again. It was after absently flipping through them a third time that she finally gave up, closing it with a soft sigh before looking at Naegi again. She swallowed thickly.

"Well… nothing ventured, nothing gained." And then, before she let her logical side take over once more, she reached out her hand and touched his head.

It was… soft, at least as far as she could tell through her gloves. It was just as fluffy as it looked, her entire hand sinking into it as if it were a pillow. She allowed her fingers to roam through his hair, taking it in slowly. It was so strange in a way, it felt much thicker than her own hair, but even so her fingers still glided through it as if it her nothing. She moved her hand towards that ridiculous antenna-like part of his hair that he claimed was impossible to get rid of and tried to flatten it. True to his word, it popped back up almost immediately, as if nothing had happened. She tried (and failed) to suppress the smile threatening to spread on her lips.

She heard Naegi let out another small mumble and she froze for a moment, arm going completely rigid. Seconds passed as she held her breath in anticipation, preparing to return her face to its neutral state in case he woke up. Finally, he stopped twitching under her, letting out a small, contented sounding sigh as a smile formed on his face. She let out a breath of relief then pulled her hand back off of him. Surely that would satisfy her curiosity for awhile.

As she retracted her hand, the sleeve of her shirt rolled up slightly, allowing her to properly feel his hair on the edge of her wrist where her glove ended. She paused as it tickled across her skin and gave a look at the glove still sitting on her outstretched hand.

The curiosity was back once again. Normally, she wouldn't dare do such a thing, but seeing how he was still asleep…

She pulled her hand back and slowly tugged on one of the fingers of her glove until the bottom of her scar mangled hand and thumb were completely exposed. She sucked in a deep breath, though not because of the scars themself; she'd had many years to get acquainted with the sight of them already.

Even with him asleep, pulling off her gloves in his company felt… alien. Such a feat was rarely done in front of others, so far only her grandfather and an occasional doctor had seen them in their gloveless state. She felt exposed without them; there was no way she could take it off entirely. This would have to do.

She stood up fro her seat, it would allow her a farther reach. Slowly, ever so slowly, she leaned forward, resting her other hand onto the table and she reached out toward him again and-

She put her hand on the wrong spot. She'd put it on her notebook without noticing, and it's slick casing offered her no support. Her hand shot forward, sliding across the table much faster than she ever could've anticipated. Unprepared for it, she fell fast, her notebook flying off the table across the room, letting out an unceremonious "Oof" as she hit the table.

"Mmph," Naegi let out a groan as he opened his eyes. He smacked his lips a few times before looking around, a confused and muddled expression evident on his face. He blinked a few times.

She quickly clamored back to her chair, pulling her gloved back on entirely. She stared down at her lap as she felt his tired gaze fall toward her.

"K-Kiri…? What… did something happen?" He slurred sleepily, squinting at her due to the light. He let out a groan as he rubbed at one of his eyes.

"No, Naegi. Go back to sleep," she said, trying to keep the breathlessness from the adrenaline out of her voice.

He paused for a moment. "Are you sure you're ok? Your face is lookin' kinda re-"

"You must be dreaming. Go back to sleep, Naegi." He shrugged and laid his head back down. She let out a silent sigh.

After coming up with such a brazenly ridiculous plan like that, maybe she needed to go to sleep too.