Work Text:
A knock on the doorframe turns Fauna’s attention towards the entrance to her bedroom. She lowers her book onto her blankets as she sits up from bed.
“Come in.” She calls out, and the door squeaks open to reveal the head of a nervous Warden.
“Um, hey…” Kronii greets a bit nervously, still only peeking her head through.
“Kronii.” Fauna smiles, gesturing for Kronii to sit next to her, but the Warden hesitates, and Fauna’s smile shifts to a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you do me a favor?” Kronii whispers.
Fauna leans forward a bit. “Is it a secret?” Kronii bites her lip and nods. Fauna smiles as she gets up from the bed to walk towards the door. “Come in, I won’t tell anyone.”
Kronii nods again as she pushes the door open, holding her arms behind her back.
“Kronii.” Fauna calls again in a gentle voice, moving forward to gently massage the Warden’s arms in a request to reveal what’s behind her.
The Warden stares, sapphire eyes darkened. “You have to promise not to tell anyone.” One of Kronii’s hands drops with the encouragement of Fauna’s touches, bringing it down to intertwine their fingers. It’s brought back up by Fauna as she gives a little kiss to the Warden’s knuckles.
“I promise.” Fauna responds quietly with such sincerity that Kronii’s knees almost buckle, her strength instead going to bite her lip, a little bit of blood coming from her fangs piercing its skin.
Kronii sighs as she brings her other arm out slowly, revealing the object in her hands.
It was a small blue teddy bear with a little bit of stuffing puffing out of a rip in its chest.
Fauna smiles, a little gentle giggle in her words. “Kronii…”
“Don’t laugh!”
“I’m not laughing! I’m just…” Fauna moves her free hand up to Kronii’s cheek, taking a step forward to give her a little kiss. “You’re so precious, you know that?”
Kronii’s cheeks immediately blaze with embarrassment as she looks off to the side, avoiding further eye contact. “Yeah, just-!” She bites her tongue before giving another sigh. “Can you fix them?”
Fauna’s eyes give a little twinkle, delighted that Kronii trusted her so deeply. Wordlessly, Fauna lets go of the Warden to move to her desk, pulling a little box out of the drawer. She gestures for Kronii to come over, and the Warden carefully hands over the little stuffed animal.
Luckily, since Fauna was in the middle of reading before bed, she already had her glasses on, and began opening her kit..
She gives a little scoff as Kronii stands unmoving, nervously hovering Fauna’s shoulder.
The Keeper turns around, an amused smile on her face. “Are you just going to stand there?”
“Oh! Um…” Kronii bites her lip before looking around, then going to sit on the edge of Fauna’s bed. “Sorry, continue.”
Fauna rolls her eyes with a little exhale of a laugh before turning back around, and threading the thread through the needle.
At some point, Fauna can hear the shuffling of fabrics behind her, but she doesn’t look, instead becoming distracted as she pricks her finger with the needle, a little droplet of blood forming from the spot. With a nearby tissue, she wipes it off and then continues, being careful not to get any blood on the teddy bear.
When she finishes, she stretches a bit, before holding up her completed project.
“Hey, Kronii-” Fauna calls as she turns around, but words cutting off as she stares at the Warden, laying down on one side of the comfortable bed. She’s in the spot that Fauna had left, the covers still folded up from when Keeper got up to go greet Kronii.
Once again, a little amused scoff leaves Fauna as she gets up from the chair, turning off her desk lamp, and grabbing the teddy bear before making her way to Kronii. She lifts the blanket on the other side of the bed, slipping in and then proceeding to cover the both of them.
“Mm…” Kronii grumbles as she stirs from her sleep. She starts patting around the area that the bed shifts from, arm limply feeling around.
The Keeper lets out a little giggle as she lays down next to Kronii, setting the teddy bear between them for Kronii’s wandering hand to find. When she does, Kronii mumbles something into the pillow, scooching closer as her arm extends.
Fauna lets out a gasp as she’s suddenly yanked into Kronii’s side.
Her heart rate quickens when she feels a breath on her neck, the result of Kronii trying to snuggle closer. Her hands tighten around the teddy bear as Kronii’s arm secures itself around Fauna’s waist, making sure the kirin can’t escape.
“Kronii…” Fauna mumbles, trying to stir the Warden.
Instead of a proper response, Fauna can feel a deep inhale on her collarbone, the remnants of a sigh spreading goosebumps across her skin.
“Okay,” Fauna breathes, getting comfortable and leaning in to give a little kiss to Kronii’s temple. “I can be the replacement for tonight.”
“No…” Kronii mumbles into Fauna’s shoulder. “The teddy bear is a replacement for you.”
The Keeper’s heart beats a little faster, hands tightening around the teddy bear in her own arms, mindful of the stitches of course. A little laugh escapes her once again as she moves downwards, this time pressing a kiss to Kronii’s nose. A grunt comes from the Warden in response, her nose wrinkling from the sudden feeling.
Fauna giggles again, a little lovestruck grin stuck on her face.
She stays like that for a little while longer, slowly falling asleep to the rhythm of Kronii’s steady heartbeat, settling into Kronii’s strong arms as she holds the teddy bear on her own.
Yet, through her sleepy eyes, she still pries them open just slightly to watch the rise and fall of Kronii’s chest.
“Was this your plan the entire time?” Fauna whispers.
Kronii grumbles again, eyebrows furrowing as she’s brought out of sweet unconsciousness once more. “No.” She breathes. “It’s just a bonus.”
Fauna nods as she moves in close, this time catching Kronii’s lips for the kiss. She smiles when she can feel Kronii tiredly pushing back, a satisfied noise muffled by Fauna’s own hum.
She breaks off, choosing to instead lean her forehead against Kronii’s as she once again listens to the pulse of Kronii’s heart. It was her favorite lullaby, and just like always, it works.
“Good night, Fauna.” Kronii whispers, but there’s no response, as the Keeper has already fallen asleep in her arms. Maybe next time.
Meanwhile:
Mumei pouted to herself as she stared at her hands. She tries pulling again, but to no avail.
“Dang stupid…” She grumbles. Once again, she tries to maneuver her fingers out of the little elastic paper tube. “How do-”
An exasperated sigh escapes her. Then, an idea pops into her head. She looks around, making sure no one was near. Then, like a little animal who is stuck in a trap…
She starts chomping on the trap, trying to break it apart using her teeth instead. It doesn’t work, naturally, but it was a good attempt.