Your heavy steps echoed through the empty hallway as you dragged your exhausted body to the lobby.
You had just completed another mission: 3 magas killed smoothly, two people saved and the surrounding, for the sake of Yoki's wallet, have been left untouched; And yet such perfect result brings you no joy nor satisfaction, your body was too tired to feel anything — probably for all the workload you've been carrying since the start of the month, the work you're too scared to decline cause that meant disappointing the others or making them cancel plans cause of work.
You didn't want that, you wanted to help the best you could like you swore the day they took you in: saving you from poverty and starvation, giving you a home and a place to call yours, giving you the education you deserved and training you with the best people they knew — you couldn't POSSIBLY imagine to trouble them like this just because you were slightly tired.
And so, with this strict mindset you kept on pushing yourself, taking mission after mission without glancing back not even once, never taking a real break if the time in between missions didn't count.
You finally reached the lobby, your feet hurting more every step you took but you ignored it completely, you kept on walking and when you opened the door you got blinded by the drastic change of lightening, bright light and loud noises welcomed you in the room: Alma was fighting with Nei as usual, Tatsuomi was complimenting Tao who was ignoring him while smoking on the couch and Yoki was taking notes of something Dara was telling him — nothing out of the ordinary basically.
An annoying and painful headache hit you as soon as you took a step into the room, it was hard to ignore and it made you stop on the doorstep, your hand gently reaching your temples and a sigh escaping your lips.
"YOU'RE BACK!!" Alma's scream surely didn't help — a sudden shot of pain hit your head as soon as he yelled, making your jaw clench in pain as he clinged to you: arms around your waist, hands on your hips and head against your shoulder as he whines loudly; As you wince from the headache you suddenly felt consciousness slipping from your body, and when Alma hugs you tighter you finally give in: passing out against Alma's chest.
Alma tenses as soon as he feels your body going limp against him, he was confused at first but thanks to Nei he understood that you had lost consciousness. Worry spread quickly throughout the people in the room, nobody expected you to pass out so randomly, especially when you always acted like everything was fine and that you weren't exhausted.
You later woke up at the worried voice of the red haired boy who was bombarding the poor nurse with questions:"Are they going to be fine? are you sure? when they'll wake up can yall run more tests to make sure they're fine?" He kept on talking nonstop until your hand moved to rest on his which was sitting on the edge of the bed. When he felt your hand on his he froze before turning his head towards you in a quick and smooth motion, a big warm smile on his face as he looked down at you as if he was a big excited puppy that just saw his favourite snacks being opened:"You gave me quite a scare yk? I thought you were going to leave us for good or something like that!" Tao, who was sitting to the other side of your bed, smoking an unlit cigarette and holding your bag quickly added in a sarcastic tone:"yeah because the nurses didn't tell you multiple times that they were going to make it okay."
She smirked and looked at Alma's now red face:"S-STOP! WHO KNOWS MAYBE SOMETHING COULD HAVE GONE WRONG DURING THE TESTS!" He quickly defended himself, looking away from you to hide the bright blush on his cheeks, making Tao giggle and sigh, mumbling under her breath something about teenage love.
Alma scoffed, he clearly heard it too but didn't mention it to avoid making the situation awkward. His cheeks red as he slowly calmed down, a sigh escaping his lips as he sat next to your bed:"How are you feeling?" He gently asks, a small and soft smile on his lips as he looked at you with a gentle look in his eyes:"I'm go—" A loud ouch came out of your mouth instead of the end of the world as Alma's palm collided with the back of your head, slapping you — not hard but not so gentle either. And before you could even react to the slap his body crashed onto yours — his arms around your hips as he climbed on the bed, laying on top of you as you get pinned down by the teenage boy.
"Al wha—" You started but Alma cut you off:"Why didn't you take a break? Your body and mind are exhausted and if you just took a break this wouldn't have happened — he snuggled his face against the side of your neck, letting out annoyed groans before finishing — you deserve a break too idiot, you made me so worried when you went limp on me… dork" He added the last insult with almost an affectionate tone, his worry was clear as he clinged to your body, no sign of letting go anytime soon. You didn't answer tho, you simply ran your fingers through his soft and red hair, the action made him relax — his body calming down, his grip lessening as he snuggled more, almost as if he wanted to eat you from how cute you were.
"Well, food will arrive soon, I'll go look for some missions me and Al can take on while you rest here okay? — Tao looked down at you and as soon as she sees your mouth opening she continued — Al, do not let them leave the bed unless it's for the bathroom." She quickly added, receiving a happy nod from the cuddly Alma who was still cuddling up against you. And with that she left the two of you alone in the room:"Wanna eat something? Need the bathroom? Water? Air? Anything I can help you with?" He mumbled, looking up at you, his eyes shining with excitement while he looked up at you, scanning your whole body and face to understand if there was a hint of discomfort on your expression.
You smiled softly back at him, looking down in his shining eyes with a soft and tender look:"I'm fine for now, thank you tho — you chuckled, finding his behaviour extremely adorable before finally admitting — maybe just need a little of sleep since I am feeling a little tired" You finally admitted and he immediately sat up on your lap:"Do you want me to leave you alone or do you wanna cuddle? anything is fine by me, I just want you to relax" He quickly stated, trying hard not to make you understand how much he was hoping that you would choose to cuddle with him. And in fact when you opened your arms he chuckled and with a small blush he hugged you back:"just rest, okay?" He finally added before a comfortable and comforting silence fell into the room.
And so the both of you slept there for the whole afternoon until around dinner time you wake up from Alma's body shifting on top of yours. When you opened your eyes you found Yoki, Tao and Alma chatting and eating dinner together as they waited for you to finally wake up. And despite the delicious dinner Alma still sat on the bed with you, waiting for you to wake up as he ate small portions of food.
When your eyes opened Yoki was the first one to notice and he immediately got up and hugged you, his tail wagging and his ears dropping in happiness:"You're awake!! Finally! How are you feeling?!" He started to ask, his tone super excited as his eyes were shining:"Hey… I'm feeling way better, thank you… Is there anything to eat? I'm feeling quite hungry at the moment" You looked up at Yoki who nodded, turning around and giving you a trey of delicious food:"Enjoy!!" He finally placed down the tray onto your lap — putting something between you and Alma who was now sitting at the end of the bed.
Alma looked down at his own food, drool almost dropping from the corner of his mouth as he started to eat, finally having something to put under his teeth after all those hours of napping with you. And so there you were, sitting on the bed, eating the delicious dinner with Tao, Alma and Yoki as you all chatted happily.
