Hello again! It's been a decent while, huh? I've still been writing, but the last time I managed to write anything I deemed worthy of being uploaded was a good amount of time ago. I find it hard to focus on and finish long writing projects nowadays, so I kept this one short, sweet, and about my favourite ship in an old favourite series of mine: KinMoza! It was especially fun writing Karen and her crazy energetic dialogue. And her totally adorable yet unworkable plans.

P.S. Karen saying 'mum' in place of 'mom' is deliberate. That's what we say in the UK.

Disclaimer: I don't own KinMoza and the only thing I gain from this is joy and yuri.

Please enjoy, and reviews are welcome!

"Honoka? Are you still awake?"

Honoka heard a rustling in the bed next to her as she opened her eyes. Karen's parents had taken a lot of persuasion, mostly from Karen herself, to let Honoka sleep in a futon in Karen's room instead of taking a bed in one of the many spare rooms. In fact, it took a lot of Karen's convincing for them to let her sleep over at all. Honoka was pretty confident in guessing that this was exactly why.

"I can't sleeeep."

It was hard to be sure of the time exactly, but Karen couldn't have taken more than about 20 minutes to decide this and set her mind on trying to start up a conversation instead. Her parents must have suspected that this would happen.

Honoka smiled to herself. There truly was never a dull moment with Karen.

"Yeah, I'm awake."

A joyful giggle from Karen made Honoka's heart jump, even more than it usually did.

"Karen-chan, be quiet! Your parents are gonna hear us…" Honoka had heard all the stories about Karen's mother and her infamous wrath, and today she'd discovered how intimidating she was before her wrath was even incurred. Consequently, causing trouble was the very last thing Honoka wanted to do right now!

"Relax, it'll be fine!" Karen whispered, sounding carefree and confident as ever. "I'll be super quiet!"

Thud.

"K-Karen-chan, what are you-"

Suddenly, Honoka felt a shift in the covers of her futon. Before she could say another word, something soft and warm was pressed against her side.

"There!" Karen announced triumphantly, her breath tickling Honoka's ear. "Now I can be super quiet and you can still hear me!"

"K-K-Karen-chan!" Honoka protested, barely remembering to whisper. She felt her face flush as a warmth rose up in her chest, threatening to push away all her concerns. As if Karen wasn't already getting intimate enough, Honoka felt an arm gently slide over her stomach and draw her closer. Once she turned her head to see the radiant yet peaceful smile shining from her girlfriend's face, framed by her beautiful blonde hair that stood out even in the dark, it was nearly impossible for Honoka to stay worried.

"But what if your mother walks in on us?" Honoka's objection came out with none of the urgency it once had. Yet somehow, Karen's smile faltered.

"Hm… Ah, I'll just hide under the covers!"

…For one second. For a single second that smile faltered. A very possible way for their secret relationship to be discovered earned barely a moment of hesitation.

"Besides, we've been so careful!" Karen whined adorably, "We haven't even done anything couple-like this whole sleepover!"

Honoka pursed her lips. Resisting Karen was way too hard. The poor girl was bound to be grounded for ages if her mother found out they were dating, and they'd be forced to break up for sure, and there was absolutely no way hiding under the covers could fool her! But…

Karen closed her eyes and snuggled even closer with a ridiculously cute hum of contentedness. "Honoka is really warm too…"

Honoka instantly felt her heart melt, her anxiety following suit. She would never understand how Karen could manage to be so easygoing all the time, but it gave her such a comforting presence that Honoka couldn't help falling in love with. The bright smiles and warm embraces she loved to shower people with were enough to chase any worries away. After a few months of dating her, Honoka could still hardly believe how lucky she was to have so many of those smiles and cuddles all to herself. Even at a time like this.

"Doesn't anything ever worry you?"

"Eh?" Karen lifted her head to meet Honoka's gaze again.

"I mean, even when Kuzehashi-sensei is scolding you, or your mother is strict on you, I've never seen you upset or worried for long. I really love that side of you, but I don't understand how you can always be so positive. It's… I wish I could be like that too."

"Well, I guess it's kinda just natural for me!" The answer came just as easy as Honoka had expected.

Then Karen's natural expression faltered.

"It's not like I'm not scared of anything… I really don't wanna become a boring adult one day, or stop being able to have fun with my friends when I want to!" She paused for a moment, a genuinely thoughtful look on her face. "But if I worry too much about things instead of having fun, then I'm gonna become a boring adult!

Honoka wasn't quite sure what to say. She knew there was more to Karen than goofing off all the time, yet she never expected something so profound and relatable to be hiding underneath that exuberance. Maybe she should have seen it coming; what high school student wasn't a little scared of growing up? Karen was no exception to that. She'd just learned such a beautifully simple way to live with it, even while helping everyone else around her do the same. Somehow, that made her loveable happy-go-lucky attitude even more amazing.

"And besides!" Karen continued at length, her signature beam shining again. "I know that no matter what happens, I'll always have you!"

She quickly kissed Honoka's cheek as if to emphasise her point, another shot of pure happiness straight to her girlfriend's heart.

"I really hope so…" She couldn't help agreeing aloud. "Are you sure you can say that when your mother might discover us, though?"

"Of course!"

"You're that confident?"

Karen gave a mischievous smirk. "We could have a secret relationship!"

"We have a secret relationship already!"

"This would be a super secret relationship! We could run away to live somewhere else! Like Shino's house; she and Alice let me stay there once after I had a fight with my dad! Or we could travel even further than that, and both wear disguises so nobody tracks us down! It'd be like a holiday for just the two of us! Oh, maybe we could stay here instead, and I'll just wear a disguise so people think you're dating someone else that's totally not me! I can use my acting skills to act all jealous of the mystery person so it seems real!"

As much as it warmed Honoka's heart to hear Karen promising she'd go to these lengths to let them stay together, the gleam in Karen's eyes and her apparent excitement were starting to get a little bit concerning. Did she want to have this 'super secret relationship'?!

"I really don't know if I can keep up with all that…"

"Well, it sounds hard, but I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad once we were used to it… And it's okay cause I won't let my mum find us anyway!"

Karen snuggled closer to Honoka and shifted herself down a little, tucking her head under the covers in an adorable display of attempted stealth.

"See? She'll never find me!"

Unless she noticed the empty bed. Or the obvious shine of blonde that still poked just above the covers of Honoka's futon.

Honoka giggled, unable to help the smile on her face. Feeling ready to fall asleep and much more at ease thanks to her girlfriend's comfort, she turned to Karen and put an arm around her, returning her embrace and holding her closer.

"Goodnight, Karen-chan." She yawned as she closed her eyes. "I love you."

"Love you too, Honoka! I promise my mum will never ever come between u-!"

Bang!

Honoka's eyes shot open and her heart jumped. A stream of light and an ominous shadow filled the open doorway. Its presence alone was enough to make her shake. Had they heard enough to find them out? Could they see Karen? A mess of questions rushed through her head.

"Karen, I can hear you in there!" A stern voice called. So that was it. Time was up. Karen's mother had come to take what Honoka loved most and there was nothing she could do but watch in horror.

"I know you're having fun with your girlfriend, but it's ten thirty. Go to sleep!"

Bang!

Karen's mother left just as abruptly as she'd entered. Honoka's mind was blank; her jaw hung open in bewilderment. She looked down at Karen and was met with an equally blank stare. Silence, for the first time that night. Karen blinked, as if just realising she wasn't dreaming.

When they finally managed words, the two of them had just one thing to say:

"How long has she known that?!"