Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Karen got home, she was exhausted. Her troubled sleep schedule and busy life had caught up to her and she was really feeling it now.

Rin had noticed this and had offered to pick her up. Knowing her busy schedule and her god awful sleep schedule because of her job.

And by offering her a ride she meant it. She could still hear her stern tone and lecturing in the back of her head about how she needed to get her sleep schedule on track, at least try to.

So that’s how she ended up with Rin driving back home. Insisting that if she walked instead she would just have just passed out and Kurumi would have killed her.

She remembers almost falling asleep twice due to how late her shift was her sleep schedule doing no justice at all to her and Rin having to shake her awake multiple times.

“Hey c'mon! Stay with me here!” Rin said

“Sorry…”

Rin sighed, and beeped her car in frustration as she got stuck in traffic again “Oh Kurumi’s gonna kill me…”

Karen laughed a bit “Oh come on, she isn’t that bad…”

Rin looked back at her “That’s because she acts nice around you, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but she likes you more than any of us haha”

“Huh? But I thought she normally acted like this with everyone?”

Rin laughed a bit, sleep-deprived herself “Ha! I wish! The world would be a lot more peaceful wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah… I guess so…”

Rin then handed her a protein bar “Here. Thought you might need this”

Karen, who was surprised, took the bar and silently thanked her and ate it.

“Hey you do know that protein bars don’t really do anything right? They’re just sugar that’s claimed to be healthy” Karen said, looking at Rin curiously.

Rin rolled her eyes as she drove “Oh shut up, Miss Perfect. I just don’t want to pick your sorry ass if you decide to pass out on me here, I know you just eat hospital cafeteria food and drink grape juice most of the time.”

Karen retorted back “What?! I do not! Well…most of the time…”

Rin raised her eyebrows “Then when was the last time you’ve had a full “healthy” meal then?”

Karen went quiet now, looking at the floor and fidgeting with her hands now “Well… I mean… Jiyaa’s on vacation… and I can’t cook that well… so…”

Rin chuckled a bit “Hey it’s okay… don’t worry about it… I do that too, I'll admit it… I just don’t have time to cook anymore…”

“Eh? You do?” Karen seemed surprised before smirking “Whatever happened to Athletic Rin who said she was going to be healthy?”

“Don’t start with that, please”

They both went quiet again and just looked around as Rin was driving again and the roads opened up. Eventually she got home at an ungodly hour and thanked her, with Rin giving her one more lecture before driving away now.

Karen opened the door and went to her room, sighing and flopping her face headfirst into her bed.

She was exhausted…

Suddenly a small recognizable noise popped out and scared her.

“Karen~Miru!”

“AHH-“

Karen immediately jumped up at the noise, startled and looked down, before letting out a sigh.

“Oh Milk… It’s just you” Karen said, sitting back down on the bed and letting out a sigh

Milk looked a bit offended “It’s just me? What were you expecting? The queen of England?”

“What?! No! I didn’t— I just got startled, I didn’t expect you to visit me, that's just it…”

“What happened?”

“Eh?”

Milk smiled at her “You always act like this when something happens or is happening”

“Oh… I didn’t notice” Karen looked away, hiding her blush

Milk transformed into Kurumi and sat next to her, giving her a smile and a concerned look

“You look exhausted, have you been getting any sleep?”

Karen chuckled softly and bumped her with her arm “And what about you Miss Prime Minister?”

Kurumi groaned before flopping onto the bed

“Oh don’t get me started… Not a single day’s rest, so I had to take a break somehow and i thought “What if i went to visit my favorite person who also overworks herself to death and hides her actual feelings?” Then suddenly boom! I’m here! What a coincidence huh?”

Karen laughed softly “Ouch. Right in the bullseye today huh?”

“I know you way too well, you’re not exactly being discreet either really” Kurumi responded, giving her a smile before laughing and pushing her shoulders playfully “Anyway stop distracting me! I came here to hang out with you! Not talk about big serious work!”

Karen laughed a little “Okay okay!’

“So mind explaining why you look like you got hit by a train, twice?”

“My job… and life… a lot’s happening right now…” she replied, looking down.

Kurumi gave her a smile and patted her lap “Then tell me about it”

Karen felt her face go red and looked away embarrassedly “Ah- it’s not all that interesting”

Kurumi didn’t let the subject fade away like that “But I am interested in it, why wouldn’t I be interested in it?”

“Ah… It’s just the usual… you know?” Karen felt her face go even redder now as she tried to think of something but couldn’t and just ended up giving up and laying her head on her lap, burying herself now. Kurumi couldn’t help but to chuckle, she looked like a kitten now as she started softly stroking her long blue hair.

“It’s really not that interesting… you know?” Karen mumbled tiredly “Just normal stuff and yeah…”

Kurumi gave her a gentle smile “I don’t know, it kinda looks like it does Karen. Did something happen in the hospital or with any of your patients?”

She sighed “Not really… They’re thankfully doing good so far…”

“Well that’s great! I’m glad!”

She smiled back then buried herself deeper into her lap now and leaning into her “Mh… I missed you…”

“Oh? That’s funny because I’m usually the one who says that” She laughed before smiling back at Karen’s tired expression “I missed you too… a lot actually…”

Karen now gave her a grin and looked at her “Oh really? Is that what the millions of letters you send me every day says?”

“Mh! They’re all keeping me on my toes back there! It’s crazy! I barely get to see you anymore! Or anyone else!”

“Well, you are the one who decided to become a prime minister…”

Kurumi let out a sigh “I know! But still! They can do some stuff themselves too! I don’t have to do everything!” She let out a frustrated noise before sighing and calming down as Karen looked at her worriedly as she looked at her now.

“You good?”

“Yeah… I’m getting under control… this is just stressful for me…”

“I can tell,” Karen said, gently teasing her now as Kurumi’s cheeks turned pink and became embarrassed.

“Hey! You’re supposed to make me feel better! Worry about yourself, you overworking doctor!”

Karen giggled now, giving her a soft smile “Haha I’m sorry, It’s just cute to see you like this!”

They stayed like this for a while now, comfortable silence reigning around them as they enjoyed each other’s company, Karen leaning on Kurumi’s lap and Kurumi playing with Karen’s hair absentmindedly. Eventually Kurumi spoke up again.

“Hey Karen?”

“Mh?”

“Since I have a day off tomorrow…do you want to go out for dinner?”

Karen grinned excitedly “I thought you’d never ask! I’ll take the day off tomorrow and we can hang out the entire day if you want!”

“Wait actually? I- I wouldn’t dare! You’re probably really busy, I- I don’t have my fancy outfit and I really don’t wanna bother you…” Kurumi Stammered, nervous now

“Don’t worry about that… Work is important, but they won’t mind if i miss a day, at least probably haha…” She said before giggling “And you’re worried about an outfit? My how you changed prime minister…”

Kurumi now turned beet red, looking away from Karen now before Karen took her hand “Don’t worry about that, I’m just teasing… you can borrow one of mine”

“Wait really? You wouldn’t mind?” Kurumi said, looking surprised which caused Karen to laugh at her girlfriends cute face

“I’d love that! Are you kidding? I have a million outfits! From dresses to the fanciest of suits! You’re really special to me, of course you can borrow anytime!

Karen gave her an excited smile “Plus you would look really cute in them! I can just see it!”

“Really? Yayy! You’re the best Karen!”

They spent the rest of the night watching a movie, cuddling and laughing as they were enjoying it. Kurumi loved visiting Karen like this and having times like this. Karen loved having Kurumi around and enjoyed her company whenever they went on a date or did something special together.

And for the first time in her life, all the voices went away and Karen smiled, she couldn’t wait for another day like this with Kurumi again.