◣ better ◥ :

    Chuuya sits with his hands settled awkwardly in his lap, and he looks a little taken aback upon having a glass of water handed over to him. He’s not sure if it’s a result of blood-loss or he’s just allowing himself to finally feel exhausted, but it seems as though he’d zoned out whilst Kyouka had been wandering about setting things back in their rightful spots. 

    “ Ah, thank you. ” He takes the cup from her, fingers curling about the glass & gaze trailing down to the water. Chuuya barely takes notice of her movement out of the room, and he takes a few half-assed sips of the water before settling the cup down to his side; far enough that if he were to sprawl or twist in his sleep that he wouldn’t knock it over.

    It’s a little awkward how she just kneels down at his side, as though she’s waiting for him to say something; waiting for him to get better, perhaps ? It’s gonna take a lot longer than a night, and he doesn’t think he can sleep with some kid staring at him the whole time– but then she asks if they can sleep, and his initial reaction is to say yes, but…

    Tired blue eyes narrow on the smaller figure to his right, and he isn’t entirely sure whether she means to imply they share a futon or she’ll go sleep somewhere else. The prior thought seems to be the most likely, and Chuuya’s a little nervous at the concept. It’s not so much that she’s a girl - ( after all, she’s still a kid; like a sister, almost ) - so much as it is the fact he’d need to get close to someone. But, he supposes, she had just cauterised his wound.

    “ …Yeah, ” he mutters simply, scooting across as best as he can manage in his current state and carefully shifting so that he’s laying on his good side. Chuuya settles his cheek atop one arm, elbow bending & his free hand reaching down to tug the blanket up. His eyes flicker closed quickly, lips pursed with an unnecessary obdurateness.

◣ ✿ ◥ There were plenty of aspects of a bedtime routine she’d be skipping if she went to sleep now, but considering the time of day, it was more of a nap than laying down for the night, so it didn’t matter as much. If nothing else, she’d wake up later to eat dinner before actually going to bed. It was also possible that Kouyou would come home and have quite a few questions about it.

Kyouka knew, of course, that her (their?) mentor might get upset if she saw the two sharing a futon, although she figured she’d be able to explain if it came to that. Sure, her parents slept in the same bed and they were married, but she snuck into their bed some nights and there wasn’t a problem with that. So the same logic applied. Either way, she’d cross that bridge if it came to it; for the moment, she saw no problem.

She waited until after Chuuya settled before laying down on the other side of the futon, far enough away that if she rolled over, it wouldn’t be onto him, considering she didn’t want to reopen his wound and have to go through the whole thing again. This time he had less blood to lose, so it probably wouldn’t be as easy to help him.

Still, as she pulled the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes, the sound of his breath made something inside her warm with–satisfaction, wasn’t it? She hadn’t felt it in a while, especially not after being taken in by the mafia, and especially not after Kouyou’s and Akutagawa’s teachings of belonging in the darkness and only having value when she kills (though she hasn’t actually done so yet).

An emotionless doll. A tool for death and destruction. Unable to help anyone. That was what the mafia taught her. But not on that night. It was easy to fall asleep then with a smile on her face, no matter how faint.