holoUntitled

Ch. 8

The weather quickly gets colder and rainier as time goes by. January, being the coldest month almost everywhere, leaves much opportunity for laying around and watching movies or playing video games, especially on days when only a few people are home.

One particularly stormy day, Calli, Ina, Gura, Zuno, and Rena are curled up on the couch. Ina is squished against Calli's side, holding onto the reaper as if she'll disappear into thin air. On Ina's other side is Gura curled up like a dog with her head on Ina's lap. Like Rena and Gura, Ina quickly falls asleep, leaving Calli and Zuno to find something quiet to do.

Calli sighs. "This reminds me of what we did after long days of streaming, Kiara and Gura would be cuddled together, asleep, and Amelia would be stressed out with her laptop working out here while I tried to keep Kiara from falling off the couch," she runs her fingers through Ina's hair. "Ina would either be clinging to me or clinging to Watson as she tried to keep herself awake, it was so cute."

Zuno smiles, hugging the almost unbearably warm part-bird on her lap. "Did you guys ever think you would, like, have this crazy life? And still live together? And be more than just.. really close, kinda flirty, best friends?"

"Kiara was more than 'really close, kinda flirty', Zu," Calli laughs.

Zuno rolls her eyes, grinning. "Okay, I get it, she was thirsty for you every thirty seconds," she laughs. "So anyway, what about the answer to that question?"

Calli sighs, shifting Ina's position slightly so she can sit up a bit straighter. "I don't think we could have ever imagined this. We're lucky, you know, to have made such a great life for ourselves. You guys are lucky, too, but mostly we're lucky to have you."

"We're lucky that you guys love us as much as you do," Zuno looks back at Rena, sleeping peacefully on her sister's lap. "That you guys love each other as much as you do."

"I don't think I could've imagined a life without HoloMyth after we met. It would've been too unbearable, and I've lived many millenia, but this is by far my favorite. Always."

"Love you, dad."

"Love you too, Zu."

Calli reaches over Ina and Gura to pat Zuno's head, a smile spreading on the part-tako's face. Ina opens her eyes for a second, turning her head to look at Zuno, Rena, and Gura. She runs her fingers through Gura's hair, then melts back into her beloved reaper.

Eventually, everyone has fallen asleep except Calli, leaving the reaper to find something to do that won't bother her sleeping family members. The only logical solution is to put everyone to bed, but not before Calli spends some more time wrapped in Ina's warmth.

After a bit, Calli carefully untangles her limbs from Ina's, quickly kissing the tako's forehead before she picks Rena up off of Zuno's lap, gently helping to release Zuno's tight grip on her younger sister. In her sleep, Zuno flinches slightly, Rena's absence clearly affecting her whether it be physically or in the dream world. Calli wraps Rena's arms around her shoulders, taking her half reaper daughter to her bedroom. She sets her on Zuno's bed, seeing as that might be the safer option for both girls. She does the same for Zuno, letting Rena and Zuno's arms entangle themselves once again once placed together.

Next is Gura, who likely would want to be tangled with Amelia or Ina as she sleeps. The reaper very gently lifts Ina's hand off Gura's head, slowly taking the shark to the bedroom Kiara and Ame have already fallen asleep in. It's a stretch, trying to fit Gura in between the sleeping detective and phoenix, but Calli is able to do it, wrapping Kiara and Ame's arms around their beloved shark.

Lastly, Calli has to move Ina. The easiest option would be to just lay on the couch with Ina all night, but the more comfortable alternative would be to move Ina to the bed, even though that takes more effort than the reaper would like to put in since it's late at night and she just wants to sleep. Despite that, Calli carefully lifts Ina off the couch, unable to avoid waking up the tako.

"Calli?" Ina whispers, turning her head against Calli's shoulder. Calli sighs, her face heating up after being caught with Ina in her arms.

"I was just gonna take you to bed," Calli sets Ina back down on the couch and sits down next to her. After a moment of both of their faces heating up, Ina takes Calli's hand, standing up quickly, motioning for Calli to follow her.

Ina leads Calli into the bedroom usually shared by Calli and Kiara, but since Kiara is asleep against Amelia and Gura, the room is empty, leaving space for Ina to disappear into Calli's warmth. Successfully tucked under the reaper's chin, Ina is able to fall asleep again as Calli runs her fingers along Ina's sides, easily causing the tako to melt in her embrace.

~flashback/dream~

"Ina! Spin me again," Gura grins at her colleague, everyone slightly loopy from the amount of alcohol they've had, although they blame the silly things their co-workers/friends have done for their never ending laughter. Ina spins the shark around, laughing again as Amelia headpats Gura from behind.

Calli and Kiara take turns spinning each other around and dipping each other, following everyone once they slow down as a slower song starts playing. Rushia is nestled against Marine, looking like she's in heaven as the taller of the two third-generation Hololive members holds the necromancer closer to herself. Luna's hair bounces as Subaru spins with her, not just spinning her around but joining in on the dizziness to follow. Noel and Flare are nowhere to be seen, but last anyone saw them their faces were both insanely red, similar to Miko's currently as Suisei whispers something to the pink haired girl.

Okayu's grin looks slightly evil, leaving Korone's face a darker shade of red than anyone else's in the room. As their friends look over, some half expect Korone to scream "YUBI!!!!" And start eating someone's fingers.

When Calli looks away from the slightly shorter phoenix in front of her, Kiara takes it as a chance to quickly kiss the reaper's cheek, leaving their faces both bright red, competing with Korone's. Gura giggles into her hand, having known Kiara had wanted to do that for a long time but had been stopped by Calli every time. Amelia does the same to Gura, causing the small shark to freeze where she's standing, and it's Ina's turn to childishly giggle. Gura quickly turns back to Ame, and actually kisses her, causing the tako beside them both to whisper something in Gura's ear as she laughs.

"君は悪いサメですね〜"

~end of flashback/dream~

A/n
Very fun chapter to write, the Japanese at the end is based on my knowledge of the language aka not a lot so if it's not correct grammar then oops sorry lmao and it means "you're a bad shark~"