30 Days of Drabbles

26: Soft

Prompt: Soft
Warnings/TWs: none
Tags: Alternate Universe - Genderswap, Girl!Scomiche, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff  

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There's a knock on Scottie's door, and she looks up from her homework for a second, confused as to who it might be. Her roommate has a key, and she hasn't been spreading word about her room number like she knows some of the more social choristers have been. Her phone buzzes with a text.

shelllllllll: im here open the door scoot

Oh. Michelle. Well, Scottie really shouldn't be surprised, just on the account that the only people who know her room number are Michelle and Kirstin, and Kirstin's out shopping with the group that'd wanted to experience the night market in the city.

Scottie opens the door and Michelle steps in with a grin. She's got a hoodie thrown over her tank top, and she's still in the skinnies from the day. Her backpack is slung over her shoulder.

"Hey, Michelle, what's up?" Scottie lets the door shut behind her. As Michelle lets her backpack slide off her shoulder onto Scottie's bed, her face loses the smile and suddenly she looks so, so tired and sad and Scottie would do anything in the world to keep that look off her face.

"Was gonna come do homework with you, but honestly, Scottie, I need a hug, please," she mumbles, already stepping forward with her arms open.

Scottie catches Michelle in her arms and she slumps against her chest.

"I miss home," Michelle says, muffled against Scottie's shirt. "I miss my sister and my mom and my dad and I just want to go home."

"I know, love, I know," Scottie whispers. "C'mere and cuddle." She pushes their stuff out of the way and sits down, pulling Michelle down next to her. She sits up against the headboard, and Michelle shifts so that she's curling against Scottie's right side.

"Just three more nights, Michelle, three nights and four days, and then we go home," Scottie reminds her, and Michelle starts tapping rhythms against Scottie's stomach with her right fingers.

"Might as well be forever," Michelle replies with a little sigh. "'m glad you're here, though. Little piece of home."

"I'm glad you're here, too. No one I'd rather conquer the world with."

Michelle huffs out what could be a laugh, and Scottie counts it as a win.

"Don't let me stop you from studying, by the way. I'll just stay here and you can read."

"Okay. Wanna listen? I'm reading Keats."

"Sure," Michelle says with a little smile, settling her head on Scottie's shoulder, who grabs her book and flips to the next poem she's been assigned. It's a long one, titled "Sleep and Poetry".

Michelle's eyes start drifting shut as Scottie reads the poem just loud enough to be heard over the gentle whooshing of the AC in the corner.

...And sometimes like a gentle whispering

Of all the secrets of some wond'rous thing...

Scottie keeps reading, book propped open in her left hand and the other wrapped around Michelle's shoulder. As Michelle starts to doze, she ends up half-lying on Scottie, her head resting on her stomach, and Scottie shifts the book to her other hand. Her left hand ends up resting just in the tangle that is Michelle's hair. It's not a true conscious decision when her fingers start to move and tug gently at the knots in some semblance of rhythm as she keeps reading the poem, voice dropping to a murmur.

She doesn't really know what she's doing, or why she's doing it, but Michelle seems to be breathing a little more evenly, a little deeper, and Scottie thinks she's asleep until she murmurs something she can't quite pick up.

"Hmm?" Scottie leans down closer to her, hand stilling in her hair.

"Keep doing that, it's helping," Michelle whispers just loud enough for her to hear. "It's okay if you pull a little harder, too." Her voice trails off and Scottie shifts a little so that she's leant a little lower on the headboard. That makes it a little more comfortable for Michelle to rest, and she starts untangling her hair again, pulling a little bit harder at each knot every time she encounters one, and slowly Michelle's hair smooths out. It's just the littlest bit damp, which makes Scottie think that she showered before coming here. Usually, Michelle's pretty picky about her hair, claiming it's the "only nice part" of her, which Scottie has so many ways to protest. She's got the prettiest eyes and the nicest legs and the kindest personality and the single most gorgeous smile of the entire choir. Besides that, though, the fact that she actually let it get so tangled and unruly speaks to the fact that she's not doing very well being so far from home for such a long time.

....and the shade

Keeping a silence round a sleeping maid...

They'll be okay, though, it's just three more nights and four more days, then they'll be home and they can sleep and cuddle and read as much poetry as they'd like.

Scottie glances down at Michelle. She's asleep, the little furrow between her brows smoothed out in the peace of sleep. Scottie's quietly happy she could help her best friend with this, as small as it is of an action, just reading and untangling her hair. It makes her feel a little more human, a little less detached and a little less alone in her own homesickness.

Michelle's been there for her in the worst of times, and the best of times. For now, all they need is each other.

...just as though the earnest frown

Of overthinking had that moment gone

From off her brow, and left her all alone...

-fin.