A/N: Note at the bottom.
There's a slight burning in her eyes. Time seemed to be slowing down. The ticking from the clock seemed to become fainter with each passing second. The words on the paper started blending in together and before she even realized, she's made several spelling errors. Rubbing her eyes, Umi erased her mistakes and wrote it properly.
None of these things have gone unnoticed by her lover, who had been watching her this whole time. "Come to bed, Umi-chan." She called out ever so softly.
"I still have work to do." Her response was quick and firm. Kotori sighed and rested her head on her pillow.
"You need to rest."
"I need to work."
The soft scribbles of her pencil that constantly changed in rhythm was the only noise in the room. Kotori continued to watch the sight. How Umi constantly shook her leg, when she started to lean to the side and jolt right back up, her pencil dragging across the paper before it returned to its original writing space.
She was exhausted but too hardworking to just go to sleep.
"[It's running, the berry berry train...]"
"Oh no, Kotori, not now—"
"[Sweet and sour...]"
"Kotori, I'm working."
"But—"
"Working."
The bird-like girl fell silent and the pencil's scribbles continued to fill the room.
It wasn't long before she started talking once more. "Umi-chan, it's nearly one in the morning."
"A singer's radio should start at this time then."
Kotori sighed as she rolled on her stomach, arms folded under her head with her eyes kept on Umi. "You'll only have about four or five hours to sleep."
"There's canned coffee in the fridge."
"Less time to get ready?"
"I don't do anything to my appearance anyways."
"Less time to eat."
"Pacing is key."
A pause.
"Less time to be in bed with me?"
Umi stopped writing.
Gotcha.
"[Anemone heart, my lonely heart...]"
"Kotori..."
"Umi-chan, I want you here, with me."
Silence.
Before she even knew it, Umi was on the bed, on top of Kotori. It was warm, soft, and... extremely relaxing. Kotori stroked her long blue hair and dragged her fingertips along her spine. "Are you feeling better yet?" She asked, a gentle smile gracing her lips.
A noise that resembled a "Yes" came from Umi. Kotori giggled and rubbed above her hips, soothing her to a calm slumber like a baby.
Maybe Umi should sleep some more from now on.
A/N: This was a challenge that was given to me purely for practice. KotoUmi, deadline is 2/14. I wrote down this a while ago and thought, "I'll finish it later!" Before I knew it, it was the day before the deadline.
I haven't gotten much rest lately and that's what brought this up. Maybe it explains why Umi values her rest? I'm not sure.
This was simply practice, but it shows I still have a long way to go before I can take pride in my work. Thank you for reading.