Smile (ch8)

EARLY RELASE FOR MY HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS!

Taking a one-week break from Everlasting so I can catch up on editing it (and cuz the previous chapter was very long, so here's an intermission week with a new fic/chapter. Everlasting will resume its usual schedule/updating next week!)

Okay so I wrote this about a month ago, based on some ADORABLE artwork I saw and a headcanon I was playing around with so I just combined them into one haha I'll link the art at the end so you don't get spoiled before you read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

Chapter 8.

Diana has to wonder what had gotten into herself when she'd agreed to allow Akko's and Amanda's teams to sleep over in her own team's suite tonight.

She'd expected that things might get a little rowdy, but the suite is big enough to accommodate nine people.

Just perhaps not... these nine people.

She'd gone out of her way to prepare snacks and tea for everyone upon their arrival, and at the start of the evening, everyone had been fairly mellow.

However, as soon as the uniforms had been exchanged for pajamas and the time passed 11PM, it seemed chaos had broken loose.

Someone – either Amanda or Akko – had thrown a pillow, and it had all gone downhill from there.

Constanze had used her Stanbot to build a literal pillow fort in defense against Akko's team. Jasminka and Amanda had huddled up and planned their next attack. Akko's team had fewer pillows at their disposal and had decided to use the decorative ones from Diana's couch. Hannah and Barbara had simply cowered together in the corner in face of such an intense fight, but eventually had been dragged in and split up to make the teams four-on-four.

Only Diana had managed to stay neutral and attempted to bring them all back to their senses, urging them to clean up and go to bed at a reasonable time.

But of course they were having none of that.

They'd continued their pillow fight for half an hour or so, sometimes ambushing the other team when they least expected it, and sometimes all charging at the same time. The only reason Diana even allowed it in the first place was because she had her wand at the ready and was constantly prepared to cast magic to rearrange the room and clean up whatever mess they'd made.

But somewhere along the lines, Jasminka had become more preoccupied with snacks, Lotte and Sucy had excused themselves from the fray, and Hannah and Barbara had crawled away to join in and listen to Lotte's out-loud reading of Night Fall.

It left Akko alone against Amanda and Constanze, and she'd elected that two-on-one wasn't fair. And so she'd enlisted Diana's help by quite literally dragging her into the line of fire.

And though Diana had insisted against it, one dead-center blow of a pillow to her face had changed her attitude.

She... may have gotten rather into it.

Presently Akko and herself have relocated to hide themselves behind the couch for shelter, and Diana proposes a strategy. They only throw back one pillow for every two Amanda throws, so eventually, they are the ones with more ammunition.

By the time Amanda realizes this, it's too late.

Akko charges forward with half a dozen pillows under her arms and starts hurling them, while Diana backs her up from behind the couch. Stanbot is compromised first, then Constanze, and finally Akko throws herself (and four pillows) on top of Amanda, immobilizing her completely. A wheeze of surrender from her has Akko leaping up in joy, rushing back to Diana, and throwing her arms around her in a crushing embrace.

"We did it! We won!"

In her glee, she picks Diana up at least two inches off the floor, despite the protest. As Akko twirls her, Diana swears she can feel several different places on her back crack. With a clipped exhale, Diana pats the girl's shoulder.

"I-Indeed we have... now please, Akko..."

"Oh, sorry." Akko lets her partner down with a grin, then whirls around to continue sticking her tongue out at Amanda. Diana retrieves her wand and neatens the room promptly.

The others have all gathered around to listen to Lotte read her books aloud. Barbara is doing her best not to blurt out spoilers as she clings to a surprisingly-invested Hannah, Sucy is reacting here or there with an incredulous mutter or two, and Jasminka is munching away at a bag of chips, reacting only whenever Lotte reads a part involving food of some sort. Constanze and Amanda settle on either side of her to join in.

Diana stays back to finish tidying the room, and to her surprise Akko elects to assist her.

"See?" she says, nudging Diana with her elbow. "Wasn't it fun? You gotta let loose a little more, Diana!"

"I suppose it was enjoyable, for a change of pace. But it is getting rather late. We should all be planning on getting some sleep soon."

"What? No way! You don't sleep at a sleepover, Diana!"

"That sounds entirely counterproductive and mis-informative."

"There aren't any classes tomorrow, so we can stay up as late as we want!"

"Suit yourselves," Diana sighs. "Just please try to control the noise." She turns and makes for the bookshelf that closes off her own bed from the rest of the room. But Akko is quick to grab her wrist.

"No no noooo Diana, you can't go to bed yet! It's not even midnight!"

"This is typically when I close my study books and retire."

"But you're not studying tonight! You're gonna have more fun with everyone!"

"Akko-"

"Come on! It's only for one night. Just try it?" She sticks out her lower lip in a small pout, one that sends a flutter through Diana's chest. She looks away.

"Very well..."

"Yaey~! All right come on, let's grab a seat!"

So they join the other seven girls for a while.

Constanze falls asleep first, so Jasna puts down her chips and picks up her teammate, carrying her to the couch and tucking her beneath a blanket. Diana tries to use that as an excuse to go to bed herself, but Akko doesn't allow it.

Instead, she proposes they all take turns reading passages from Night Fall, no matter how ridiculous. Lotte agrees to start passing around her book.

Everyone reads with a different level of enthusiasm, but Akko of course has the most, changing her voice dramatically depending on the character that's speaking, or fluctuating her tone as the narrator. Everyone starts to laugh, though they try to keep their voices down.

Once Night Fall has run its course, they turn off the main light and get to playing other verbal games, sharing 'deep dark' secrets, or just chatting in general.

Diana is quiet for the majority of activities. She's simply content to listen. But she can feel her conscious slipping before long, though she does her utmost best to stay awake.

But she isn't used to staying up this late, and her body is accustomed to having a certain amount of rest.

Akko notices she's getting groggy and keeps an eye on her. From across the circle, she notes that Hannah and Barbara are doing the same.

So when Diana eventually slumps, Akko's ready to catch her before she can hit the floor. She holds Diana in her lap and turns around to seek Amanda, intending to ask her to carry Diana back to her own bed.

But Amanda is already dozing off next to Jansa who's leaned up against the couch with a blanket across both their laps.

Lotte's also fallen asleep, and both Hannah and Barbara agree to help Sucy carry her to one of their beds. Once they've laid Lotte down, they agree to let Sucy take the other bed, and she thanks them.

In the end, the pair return to Akko on the floor, still supporting Diana in her arms. Hannah and Barbara both sigh sleepily.

"Should we like... try to carry her back?"

"She might have a heart-attack if she wakes up and finds out she was sleeping on the floor."

Akko considers it.

"I'm not sure if we'll make it. Her bed's pretty far..."

"Yeah..."

"You're right..."

The three of them share glances with one another, but all seem to come to the same conclusion.

So Hannah and Barbara tiptoe their way across the room, disappearing behind the bookshelf to pull Diana's pillow and blankets off her bed.

Akko cradles the white-haired witch in her arms from a moment, resting her chin on Diana's shoulder and closing her eyes. If not for Hannah and Barbara's whisper of her name, she might've fallen asleep right then and there.

They lay out the large white blanket across an open space on the floor, then position the pillow at the center. Groggily, but carefully, Akko shifts Diana's weight and slowly lies her down. She looks like an angel in her white nightgown with her white hair against the white blanket and pillowcase.

As the other two blow out the candles and turn off the remaining lamps, Akko surveys the room. The couch is occupied, as are Hannah's and Barbara's beds, and all of the pillows are being used by their other friends. Akko doesn't have one of her own, nor does she have a blanket. And having given their beds away, Hannah and Barbara retreat back to her and sit down on either side of Diana.

"So like..."

"Where should we sleep?"

Akko yawns and shrugs.

"I guess... here?"

None of them are willing to admit they've been trying to find excuses to sleep next to Diana. And they just keep making more of them.

"Right!" Barbara whispers. "Here is good."

"We can keep each other warm," Hannah adds.

And of course, Akko isn't opposed to sleeping next to her either. In fact, she'd kind of been hoping she'd be able to tonight.

So with all of them in agreement, Hannah and Barbara begin to lie themselves down first on either side of their teammate, each holding onto one of her arms and resting their heads in the crooks of her elbows. They curl up close to her sides, moving very slowly as they arrange themselves.

"If she wakes up now, she'll never get back to sleep," Hannah murmurs.

"Yeah. She'll just wanna clean things up or carry us all to bed," Barbara confirms.

"This girl, I swear-"

"She worries too much!"

Both of them close their eyes, hugging Diana's arms lightly, as if to silently prevent her from using them to do any chores, even in her dreams. They're both asleep within seconds.

Akko remains sitting up for a moment longer, happily looking around the room to all her sleeping friends. They're definitely going to have to make this a regular thing.

The room is quiet save for some snoring from Amanda and some happy hums from Jasna, but Akko's already gotten used to those sounds. It's another smaller sound that grabs her attention.

"Mn..."

Diana stirs slightly and her eyelids flutter open. Akko bites her lip and swallows down a comment. Diana's eyes meet hers right away, still weary, her voice in a rasp.

"Akko-"

"Shh, shh." Akko puts a finger to her own lips, indicating everyone else is asleep. Diana lowers her voice a little more until it's a thin whisper, drowsy with sleep.

"Where are-"

But the pressure on her arms answers her own question as she finds each of her teammates fast asleep there. Diana looks around as much of the room as she can from her position.

"I should... at least tidy up a bit and bring these two to proper beds-"

"No, it's fine, Diana," Akko murmurs. "They're fine."

"We can bring them to my bed," Diana insists. "I can stay here-"

"Dianaaaa," Akko drawls. "We're all fine. Everyone's fine where they are. This is how you're supposed to sleep at a sleepover!"

Diana gives her a look that's half pensive, half exhausted.

"I'd thought you were not supposed to sleep at sleepovers?"

"Well not intentionally!"

"Goodness..." Diana heaves a small sigh, but her gaze ultimately returns to chestnut. "And... what about you? Where will you sleep, Akko?"

"Don't worry about me!" she insists. "Just go back to sleep."

"Akko-"

"Shhh, Diana stop worrying."

"But-"

"It's okay, Diana. Just go back to sleep."

Akko encourages her by reaching up to Diana's face and gently clearing a strand of hair away. Diana instinctively closes her eyes at the gesture, and as Akko repeats the motion, they remain closed.

Akko continues the pattern and trails her other hand down to Diana's collar to smooth out her nightgown for her. She waits until the crease in Diana's brow has come undone, until her head rolls back to one side, until her breathing is soft and deep once more.

Akko's glad she can let Diana fall asleep before herself. It's nice to take care of her for a change.

At last, Akko decides it's time for herself to get some rest. She carefully nudges Barbara over a little bit and curls up at Diana's side as well, closest to her. She rests her head on Diana's stomach and drapes an arm across her hip.

With Diana on one side of her and Barbara on the other, Akko's perfectly snug and content. She closes her eyes and yawns several more times as she finally begins to feel the sluggishness tugging at the corners of her mind.

She can still hear the tranquil sounds of all of her friends' breathing, and she can even hear the soft rhythm of Diana's heartbeat. Akko decides to focus on that sound above all else and soon drifts off.

The four of them keep each other warm that night, despite the fact that they're all on the floor without any blankets on top of themselves.

Everyone sleeps soundly for the rest of the night, until just before dawn breaks.

Diana wakes for some reason or another, cracking her eyes open to find herself looking at a different part of the room's ceiling than she usually sees. The memories of the sleepover come rushing back to her.

At the same time, a widespread numbness registers throughout her body. When she turns her head to one side, she finds Hannah, and when she turns it to the other side, she finds Barbara. When she tries to look down, she finds Akko's brown hair strewn across her stomach, which would explain why it's slightly difficult to breathe.

They're all out cold, but they seem to be very contently warm huddled up together like this.

Diana has to admit she isn't the least bit chilly either.

But she still feels responsible for them.

Therefore, she very meticulously slips each of her arms free from Hannah's and Barbara's grasps, moving inch by inch and pausing in between as not to wake them. It's a painstaking process, but once her arms are free, she reaches for the extra length of the blanket and pulls it up around each of them.

But the blanket on her left side can only cover Barbara and can't reach Akko. Consternated, Diana tries to think of something she can do for her. She won't be able to rest again if she knows Akko isn't taken care of as well.

She does her best in moving Hannah and Barbara as close to herself as possible, then slips both arms around them. There's just enough space for her hands to find themselves atop Akko's head and around her side. Diana pinches the edge of the blanket and drags it over the brunette's hip, then rests her hand on top to keep it in place covering her.

At last she allows her eyes to close once more, satisfied that they are all as warm and comfortable as they're going to get in these positions. The room might still be a bit messy, but she's confident everyone will help out once they all wake up several hours from now.

She has to admit she had a lot of fun last night. All of them did. Perhaps they can make these sleepovers regular visits. She'll propose the idea later.

For now, she curls her arms around the three girls keeping her warm. Hugging them close, she closes her eyes and beckons sleep once more.

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A/N: First things first, I wrote this before the finale, before we got confirmation from Trigger that Diana woke up early to prepare snacks and treats for everyone on Akko's successful broom flight day. So since I wrote this first and had Diana prepare snacks for everyone here too, I was so thrilled to see that was actually something Diana would do in canon. She's such a good girl, I love her.

Secondly the art piece this is based off of is at : blookity-bloke,tumblr,com/post/162619768592

In case you couldn't tell by my fic full of Diana/Hannah/Barbara fics and my disgusting amounts of Dianakko fics, I really really love the three of them with her, be it individually, in pairs, or all three at once. I just love it when Diana's (girl)friends spoil and love her in general, so naturally when I saw this art, I was motivated into action to write for it~