"Hey, Akira-senpai, whatcha doing?"

It was getting into the late hours of the night. Most students had already gone off to bed. Only a few remained up. Two of those students happened to be Akira and Yachiyo. Shiori had been with them for a while but had decided she was going to go to bed.

"I'm working on the details for our next play. Why?"

"Just curious. You going to go to bed soon?"

"Most likely. I just want to finish this tonight. I assume that means you're going to bed?"

"I'll stay up until you're done."

Akira didn't reply and went back to solely focusing on her work. Yachiyo watched her for a while, before deciding to turn their attention back to the TV. There wasn't too much on at this time of night.

Yachiyo was finding it harder to keep their eyes open. They were pretty tired. They'd all been swamped with work recently. Yachiyo was starting to question if they'd be able to stay up for much longer.

They yawned, "Actually, I think I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight."

Yachiyo stood up and gathered their phone and a water bottle. They watched Akira for a moment. She was still hard at work. It was a slight surprise she had even heard them.

"Night, Akiki~"

Yachiyo started walking away. They paused as Akira called out to them.

"What was that?"

Yachiyo chuckled, "I've decided you're getting a nickname."

"Why?" Akira looked over at them with a slightly confused look.

"Because I can." Yachiyo replied, "So, have fun, Akiki."

"Why that nickname...?" Akira sighed.

Yachiyo had already left the living room. They heard Akira, but decided not to reply. They had a smile on their face. This was going to be fun. It was obvious that nickname was going to get a reaction from Akira for a while.

DIVIDER--

At first, Yachiyo only used the nickname when it was just them. Akira would give them a displeased look whenever they refered to her as such. Yachiyo liked the reaction. It was fun to get her a bit riled up.

"Yachiyo, why do you insist on calling me that?" Akira questioned with a sigh after having been called said nickname once again.

"Cause I know you don't really like it." Yachiyo replied.

"If you know I don't like it why would you continue to use it?"

"It's fun seeing you get mad about it."

"I swear..."

Yachiyo giggled, "I only call you it when we're alone. It's just between us."

"I'd prefer you didn't call me that at all."

"Too bad."

"Yachiyo..." Akira groaned.

"Come on, can't I have some fun?"

"This is your definition of fun?" Akira gave them an unconvinced look.

"Yes." Yachiyo replied with a smirk.

Akira sighed. Looks like this was going to be a recurring event. Nothing she had tried had gotten Yachiyo to stop.

Yachiyo wasn't cruel by any means. If Akira truly seemed distressed about the name they would stop it immediately. But, it seemed to be a simple annoyance Akira was slowly getting used to.

"Will you please finish your work already?"

"But then you'd leave me." Yachiyo playfully pouted.

"Shiori wanted to practice our lines together. I'll gladly tell her exactly why I showed up so late if you don't pick up that pen." Akira gave them a slight glare.

Yachiyo frowned, "Ouch. Using Shiori against me now."

"I'm sure I could get Michiru to stay here instead of me." Akira lightly threatened.

"God, please not that again..." Yachiyo groaned.

Yachiyo had been slacking off with their work recently and as such has been told someone has to watch them do the student council work. They all took turns watching them, but now only Akira and Michiru were allowed after Yachiyo managed to sweet talk Mei Fan and Shiori to help them.

"What are you even going on about? She couldn't be that bad, can she?" Akira still didn't understand the reason Yachiyo requested her to stay more often than Michiru.

"She's so bossy!" Yachiyo complained, "I can't even start a conversation with her. I have to sit there in silence and do it!"

"Maybe we should start that."

"No! Please, I'll do my work." Yachiyo pouted as they knew they had dug themselves into a hole.

"Then do it."

Yachiyo sighed and started up the papers again. It wasn't that they couldn't do them. Yachiyo just would rather not right now. Midterms were coming and they were swamped with a lot of review material as it was. This added load of work was not helping.

"Why have you fallen behind?"

Yachiyo heard that question a lot. They never answered it. They were afraid to admit the reason. They should be able to handle it.

"I'm just tired because of all the midterm reviews... It's hard to focus on these." Yachiyo admitted.

"If you catch up, I'll allow your workload to lighten until midterms end."

"Really?"

"Just this once. I won't be too soft on you just because we're dating."

"You're the best, Akiki."

"And there's the nickname again..." Akira knew it was coming.

Yachiyo giggled, "Yep."

"Akira, Yachiyo, you're still here?" Michiru popped into the room.

"They're almost done." Akira replied.

"Good. Shiori is waiting. She and Mei Fan have started practing the fight scene while we're waiting on you."

"I'll be there soon." Akira promised.

"You better be."

Michiru shut the door and left them alone. Akira eyed the pile of papers Yachiyo was still having to do. It would take a while seeing as how slow they were going.

"If I leave you here alone will you do your work?" Akira asked.

"Yeah. I promise." Yachiyo replied. They did want to finish it now that there was the compromise in place. And they knew asking Akira to help would not work.

"Then I'm going to the practice room."

"Have fun~" Yachiyo hummed.

Akira rolled her eyes and then left the room. She hoped Yachiyo was indeed telling the truth. Otherwise she would have to think of a punishment suitable for that while also not causing more stress onto Yachiyo. That was a headache to even think about, so Akira really dearly hoped Yachiyo was not lying to her.

DIVIDER--

The practice lasted an hour and a half. Akira went back to the student council room to see if Yachiyo had left. She opened the door to find that was not the case.

It seemed Yachiyo had fallen asleep at some point. Akira quietly walked over to them. She could tell Yachiyo had fallen asleep during the work and not while taking a break or the likes.

Akira carefully pulled the pen out of Yachiyo's grip. Yachiyo had a tight grip on it. It took some effort to get it out of their grip, but Akira managed.

She didn't want to disturb Yachiyo. It was obvious they needed the rest. The bags under their eyes had grown darker over the week. It wasn't hard to notice. No one wanted to be the one to bring it up to them, however.

She picked them up and cautiously started to walk back to the dorms. Yachiyo didn't stir from the movement. They remained fast asleep, though they gripped Akira's shirt tightly.

"Akira..."

Akira paused. After a quick look, it seemed like Yachiyo was just talking in their sleep. She sighed and entered the dorms. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be many students around. She got glances, but no one really looked for long.

Akira tried to lay Yachiyo down on their bed, but was met with a lot of resistance. Yachiyo refused to let go of her. Akira wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't pry herself out of the grip no matter what she tried to do.

"Really, Yachiyo?" Akira sighed.

"Warm..." Yachiyo mumbled in their sleep, seeming to have heard what she said.

Akira eventually just laid down on the bed with them. It wasn't like she had much of an option. Yachiyo still was not letting go. And they also were still sleep talking.

"Akiki... love you..."

Akira rolled her eyes. Honestly, the nickname wasn't that bad. It was quite clear that Yachiyo seemed to like it. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. She could live with the nickname.

But, she had something she wanted to do as well. Now just to think of how to do it. Akira wanted to get back at Yachiyo for nicknaming her without even asking. But, she wasn't sure how to do it.

DIVIDER--

Yachiyo woke up later on. They registered that someone was laying beside them and that they themselves were holding whoever it was quite tightly. Yachiyo blinked open their eyes. Akira was still beside her. She had ended up deciding to rest as well since she couldn't get up.

Yachiyo let go of her and sat up. They glanced at the time on their clock. It was past 10 pm already. They had slept for quite some time.

Yachiyo winced as their stomach growled. They were hungry. But, it wasn't as easy to get up. Akira was blocking the way. They'd have to wake her up and they really didn't want to.

Yachiyo sighed and laid back down. They were stuck, weren't they?

Yachiyo laid on their side and watched Akira for a while. It was not often they did something like this. Akira often refused Yachiyo's requests to spend the night in her room.

Yachiyo moved closer and curled into Akira's side. She was quite cozy. Her warmth was making Yachiyo curl up closer. The dorms did sometimes get quite cold in the night.

"Yachiyo...?"

It seemed the movement woke Akira up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Yachiyo remained right where they were. They didn't want to move. Any movement could bring back the coldness of the room and they didn't want that.

Akira could see their face clearly if she looked down. Yachiyo had their eyes open still. Akira knew they were awake.

"How late have you been staying up? I did not think you'd sleep for that long." Akira tried to stretch a bit whilst not disturbing Yachiyo too much.

"I dunno. Lost track of time already." Yachiyo offered with a nervous smile.

"I assume you'd like to change?" Akira questioned.

Yachiyo was still in their school uniform. Akira was not going to even attempt to do anything about that on her own. Well, maybe if Yachiyo asked really nicely then just maybe she would. Yachiyo was learning how to talk her into a lot of things.

"I'm hungry." Yachiyo whined, "And cold."

"Well, if you get up, you can change into warmer clothes and go to the kitchen." Akira replied in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Will you come with me?" Yachiyo asked, giving Akira a small pout.

"Fine." Akira wasn't going to say anything, but she kind of wanted to get something to eat as well.

Yachiyo smiled, "Yay!"

Akira rolled her eyes and sat up. She got off the bed. Yachiyo followed suit and did the same. They grabbed some new clothes to wear. Yachiyo nervously stood still.

"I'll wait outside." Akira guessed the reason and left the room.

Yachiyo changed once she was gone and then went into the hallway as well. They grabbed one of Akira's hands before tugging her down the hall.

"You're acting like a child." Akira stated.

"Whatcha gonna do about it, Akiki?" Yachiyo challenged in a playful tone.

"If you wake someone else up, I will in fact do something about it, Yachi."

Yachiyo stopped in their tracks, unsure if they had heard that sentence right. The smirk on Akira's face told them that they indeed had heard that right. Akira just called them by a nickname.

"W-what did you call me?" Yachiyo was still in disbelief that Akira of all people had done that.

"Yachi. If you're nicknaming me, I'm doing the same to you." Akira replied, that smirk still on her face. The reaction Yachiyo gave was enough to satisfy what she had wanted from this.

"Yachi... well, fine. But then you've just agreed to me getting to keep calling you Akiki. You can't back out unless you stop calling me that." Yachiyo huffed.

"Very well. The rule still stands that it's only when we are alone, though." Akira agreed.

"Yeah. That rule will stay." Yachiyo agreed to it.

"Then, shall we get going? It's not the best to stay up late."

"Okay. Let's go!"

Akira shook her head as she was drug down the hall. Yachiyo sure had a lot of energy right now. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to let them sleep for so long.

It wasn't that long before they had arrived at the kitchen. Yachiyo stood still for a while, pondering their options of what they might want to eat. Akira stood back and watched them with some amusement.

"Would you be mad if it was unhealthy food?" Yachiyo turned to look at Akira.

The way they said it was a very pleading way. Yachiyo was giving her a pout and sad eyes. Akira complained a lot about some eating habits they had.

"Nothing with sugar. It's too late for that. You won't get back to bed then." Akira shook her head.

Yachiyo pouted and crossed their arms, "Please?"

Akira sighed, "Nothing with a lot of sugar."

"Yes!" Yachiyo smiled in victory.

Akira rolled her eyes and found something for herself as well. Yachiyo chose a candy bar. Akira eyed them up. Yachiyo pouted and held out the label for her to read. After confirming there was not too much sugar inside, she nodded. Yachiyo smiled at her again.

They sat in the living room and ate. Yachiyo still was cold. They looked over at Akira. After a moment, they moved closer and pressed themselves against her side. Akira glanced at them.

"I'm still cold..." Yachiyo complained, shivering for emphasis.

Akira wrapped an arm around them and pulled them closer. Yachiyo looked up at her in surprise.

"You're very clingy today." Akira stated.

"Maybe I want some affection from my girlfriend?" Yachiyo replied.

"You've practically glued yourself to my side today. I think you've had a lot of affection already." Akira said.

"Meanie!" Yachiyo huffed and crossed their arms.

"What do you want?" Akira knew what they were doing. This scene had played out a few times before.

"Kiss."

"A kiss where?"

"On the lips." Yachiyo was still pouting as they looked back up at Akira.

"Fine." Akira relented, knowing Yachiyo would eventually get their way anyway. Not that she was opposed to this. As long as they were alone, she didn't mind giving a bit more affection their way. She just didn't like being romantic in public. It made her feel awkward.

Yachiyo leaned closer expectantly. Akira closed the distance and gave them a quick kiss on the lips. Yachiyo seemed satisfied by that and returned to snuggling against her side.

Once they were done eating, they returned to Yachiyo's bed. Yachiyo insisted on Akira staying with them. Akira didn't care enough at this point. She was tired.

So, they returned back to the bed. Yachiyo snuggled up against her. Akira wrapped an arm around them. Yachiyo found her other arm and held it tightly in a hug. Akira fondly kissed them on the head before settling down.

"Love you, Akiki. Goodnight." Yachiyo said.

"Love you too... Yachi. Sweet dreams." Akira replied.

It wasn't long before the two of them were asleep again. Both content with being there with each other for the night.