Quiet voices in the main room brought Momo to consciousness, and her eyes creaked open, staring at the bare ceiling. She was sprawled across Kido's bed, blankets twisted around her legs, and it took her several seconds to register that she was the only one in the bed at all. When she sat up with a long yawn, a cursory glance around the room showed Kido was nowhere to be seen.
Footsteps in the hallway reminded her why she'd woken up in the first place, and she disentangled herself from the blankets, padding barefoot to the door and opening it cautiously.
The hallway, too, was empty, and the only sign of life was the glowing light at the end. With a puffy-eyed squint, Momo followed the light, turning the corner only to blink in surprise as the sight she found.
Kano was tucked into the corner of the arm of the couch and the back cushion, his knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around them, somehow folded away into a small sharp-edged shape that seemed nothing like his casual daytime persona. He looked up with a surprised expression as Momo entered, his eyes wide. His shock alerted Kido to her presence as well, the green-haired girl turning to look at Momo from where she stood by the couch. She held a paper cup in one hand, and Momo's brain sleepily pieced together that the footsteps in the hallway must have been hers, going to get water.
Momo frowned, the scene before her alien and unfamiliar. There was no hostility in Kido's posture, no guarded set to her shoulders. Her pajamas were ordinary and unremarkable, loose shorts and a threadbare shirt with some supermarket's logo on the front. Compared to her usual imposing presence, high collar zipped up as far as it would go, she seemed almost ordinary, now. Like someone Momo would run into at school.
Kano was off as well, wadded up like a ball of paper left for trash. But as Momo watched he unfolded himself, stretching bony legs and reaching out for the paper cup with glass shard fingers. By the time Momo blinked again, he was sprawled on the couch, taking up far too much space as usual.
It took Kido longer to react to her presence, Momo drifting further into the room until Kido moved forward to intercept her, lowering her voice. "Kisaragi, you're awake," she murmured. Over her shoulder Momo watched Kano blink widely at the two of them, seeming content to drink his water instead of offering his usually ever-present commentary.
"You woke me up," Momo replied, too-loud until Kido winced and she added in a whisper, "Sorry. Whatcha guys doing?"
Kido gave a guilty glance over her shoulder towards Kano, and for a second they locked gazes, and Momo felt almost ashamed for interrupting whatever had been going on. But then Kano rolled his neck, stretching the muscles, and lifted the paper cup towards her like he was making a toast.
"I have, like, this reoccurring nightmare," he drawled, rearranging himself on the couch. "I dream there's this scary person in my house— but then I wake up and Kido's here, and I know it's true."
Kido cleared her throat, but it wasn't much like a growl, though when she started back over towards the couch he flinched a little. Momo didn't blame him.
The scene before her was too odd, too disjointed for her to to put together. She wouldn't be surprised if she awoke any second now to find it was a dream. She couldn't figure out what was so off about it, about the two of them right now. It was like being in the back seat of a car at night, and driving past stores and houses and street corners that were unfamiliar and fascinating in the yellow patches of street lamps, flickering by and gone before she could remember how they were supposed to look.
They stayed there though, Kido shuffling back to the couch to join him. Momo remembered the authority with which Kido had directed them to do the dishes that evening, her brisk manner as she'd bundled even the youngest in the gang into bed. It was no wonder that Kido was tired now, her hunched shoulders hollow in the lamplight.
Kano had finished the water, and he began to play with the paper cup, slowly shredding it into long spiral strips. He leaned against Kido, nestling his head into the hollow of her neck. Momo was shocked when she didn't push him away.
Kido's eyes flickered up to meet Momo, and the idol went still, somehow afraid to breathe.
"Well?" the green haired girl asked, the question not making much sense but pinning Momo to the spot effortlessly anyway.
She hesitated, but then made her way towards the two, flopping down on the couch cushion on Kido's other side. She tucked both hands under her knees, a little awkwardly, but then leaned her head on Kido's other shoulder. It was surprisingly comfortable, and totally different somehow from sharing Kido's bed as she had been for the past few days. Still, the scent of the girl's hair was familiar and almost reassuring by now, and she snuggled close, a little smile on her face.
A glance to the side revealed Kano still ripping up the paper cup with hands that trembled slightly, and with one of her blinding moments of clarity, Momo realized his joke about a nightmare had clearly been half-true.
"Mm… You're kind, Danchou," she remarked sleepily, shutting her eyes, though she felt it when Kido stirred in surprise, turning to look at her.
"Go to sleep. Both of you." Kido murmured, her voice not as rough as Momo would have imagined, and if this were a dream, Momo thought it was probably a nice one after all.