Nepgear x Uni: Esteem

Uni tossed under her bed sheets, feeling strangely restless. She glaced at the clock, reading 1:00AM. For two hours she had been trying to sleep, yet this nagging feeling in the back of her head kept her wide awake.

Staying silent, Uni sat up from her bed and looked out the window, light from both the streets and the stars bleeding into the room and highlighting its details.

The room was average, one you would find in any local inn on Gamindustri, with only two beds and a small table between them. In total, it was an average room.

Average.

There was something about that word that really bothered Uni, something about it that constantly brought her mood down. The air was rather cool, causing Uni to shiver slightly.

"Uni?" Nepgear's voice sleepily asked from the other bed, her figure slowly rising from the sheets.

"Ah, sorry, did I wake you?" Uni apologised, turning towards the Planeptune CPU candidate, her hair slightly messy.

"Not really..." she responded tiredly, leaving room for doubt. "What about you? You seem kind of restless tonight, Uni."

Uni fidgeted slightly. "I...it's nothing." she tried to deflect, yet even in the darkness, she could see the scepticism on Nepgear's face.

"Goodness, Uni, you do know that no one believes people who say that, right?" she questioned, making Uni look away.

"Don't be ridiculous." she quietly shot back, still feeling a tired stare coming her way. "Look, just go back to sleep, ok?" Uni tossed the sheet over herself, and faced away from Nepgear.

Silently, Uni hoped that Nepgear would go back to sleep, that she had finally skirted away from the question.

The sound of rustling bed sheets begged to differ.

Uni prepared herself for the expected onslaught of questions, but was instead greeted with a hug from behind by her fellow CPU candidate. "Nepgear? What are you..?"

"It's about Noire, isn't it?" Nepgear cut off, her voice muffled by Uni's hair, surprising her only in the sense that she was expecting to finish her sentence.

"It's really that obvious, huh?" she asked, feeling Nepgear nod against her back in response. "Well, it's not easy, living in the shadow of someone like my sister."

"Hmm." Nepgear hummed in agreement. "I guess I can somewhat relate."

"What, feeling inadequate to Neptune of all people?" the Lastation CPU candidate joked, and was pleased to hear a giggle for a response.

"She may act like an idiot, but my sister can be quite reliable when the time comes." silence followed suite. "I know how hard it must be, to live in the shadow of someone so great."

Uni contemplated for a moment. "Well, maybe, but it's harder when you're only considered mediocre by that person, right?" Silence was all that met the raven haired candidate. "Gear? You still awake?"

Almost expectantly, Uni's question was met with light breathing. Smiling, Uni turned her body slowly, so that she was able to embrace her dear friend.

"Well, I guess this is better than nothing." she muttered to herself, finally drifting off into sleep.

The clock struck 1:30AM, as the CPU candidates slept in each others embrace.

A/N

Hello everyone! Welcome to the end of the first chapter of my new project: Bedtimes!

This project, unlike my other one, is a collection of one-shots following certain themes. As such, these chapters will be short and largely unconnected to each other.

And on the subject of 'short', these A/N sections will be more compact, and mostly filled with one liners such as 'Lily Rank Up!' and so forth.

Also, feel free to leave a suggestion with any reviews you do, it'll help speed things along, though I may not get around to them all, but it will get more chapters out when I'm not the only one thinking up plots, and it doesn't have to be limited to just two characters per chapter, but I'd rather not go too far above four.

With all that said, stay tuned for the next instalment!