Work Text:
“Boss…”
Fenomeno sits in front of your desk, ears flattened against her head. Her hands grip tightly against her skirt, knuckles white as she struggles for words.
“Fenomeno..” you begin.
With that, her head diligently pops up, meeting your gaze at the sound of her name.
You sigh slightly before continuing, “It’s come to my attention that you were involved in some sort of.. incident last night?”
Fenomeno flinches, an expression of shame on her face. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
You look down at the report on your desk, picking it up to hold it closer. “It says here that there was a.. ‘noise-related disturbance.’ You woke your whole floor up.” Tilting the paper to the side, you look at your trainee once more. “Do you care to explain?”
Fenomeno speaks up immediately, “Boss! I- There were some students in the dormitories.. it was late, and they were causing a commotion! I went to intervene but...”
Fenomeno trails off as you glance at the report once more.
“So you’re saying the students were being loud? And you attempted to solve this by.. being louder?” You raise an eyebrow, reading the report.
Fenomeno shrinks back a little, flushing in embarrassment. “It was not my intention.. but that is how it ended, Boss. The others couldn’t hear me until I raised my voice.”
You set the paper down, observing Fenomeno for just a moment. She shrinks back further, anticipating what you might say next. But to her surprise, you laugh; a light, airy laugh with no anger or pointedness behind it.
Fenomeno’s ears perk up at the sound. She tilts her head slightly to the side in confusion but doesn’t opt to speak before you.
After a short while, your laughter dies down, “Oh, Meno. I’m not laughing at you, I promise. It’s just a very you situation to be dealing with, is all.”
Fenomeno visibly relaxes at your lighthearted tone. “Well.. I just wanted to ensure everyone got adequate rest. It’s extremely important for our health as racers, Boss!”
You nod slowly, “That being said, though, did you get enough sleep last night, Fenomeno?”
Fenomeno hesitates for a moment before sitting up straight, much like an officer on duty. “I am adequately prepared to take on any training regimen you have prepared for me!”
You give her a knowing look, “How prepared?”
Understanding that she’s been caught dodging the question, her ear flicks to the side. “Boss..” She mutters, with a hint of a whine to it.
“You didn’t get much sleep last night, is that right?” You ask her point blank.
Fenomeno’s posture sags once more as she nods slowly. “I.. couldn’t sleep, knowing my foolishness would be reported to you.”
“Oh, Meno.. you really should rest.”
“But Boss!” She throws her hands up in defense, “I can’t disrupt the training regimen you’ve created!”
“Training while tired isn’t going to be beneficial for you, though. It’s unnecessary strain, I can shift the practice we have scheduled to tomorrow.” You explain with a firm tone.
Fenomeno bites her lip, looking torn between arguing and following your order.
You watch her struggle for a moment before deciding to compromise, “Okay, okay. How about this?” You point to the couch against the wall, one you occasionally find yourself relaxing on during long or stressful days. “Take a nap there, as long as you need. When you wake up, we can reassess our plan.”
Fenomeno looks between you and the couch a few times, unsure for just a moment longer before relenting and shuffling over toward her new resting spot. Reluctantly, she crawls onto the cushions and rolls over, looking out to the other wall with an awkward expression resembling a scolded dog.
As she tries to get comfortable, you pull out a blanket from the closet. You walk over and she watches with great attention, looking up as you approach. Without much thought behind it, you gently drape the blanket over her. Stepping back to view your work, you nod to yourself, satisfied that the blanket leaves nothing uncovered.
Fenomeno blinks up at you, that awkwardness of hers still causing her brow to furrow. Despite this, she grips the blanket close, even covering her nose with it.
You chuckle at the sight, smiling to yourself as you return to your desk. “I’ll be getting work done in the meantime. You get some sleep, okay?”
Feeling her gaze follow your movement, you pull the rolling chair back and seat yourself. From the peripherals of your vision, you can tell she is still a bit tense. Not wanting to add to it, you instead focus yourself on your work, the soft sounds of keyboard clicking filling the room.
You glance back at the couch every once in a while, gradually noticing Fenomeno drift off. She shifts, pulling the blanket closer to her face in her sleepiness. Admittedly, it’s quite the adorable sight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a while, you stand up to stretch, taking another peek over at Fenomeno. In the time you’ve worked, she’s fallen into a deep sleep. Unable to help yourself, you walk over to the couch, smiling down at the sight of her relaxed face. She seems to be at peace like this.
Sensing your presence, her nose scrunches up, sniffing the air. Her eyes flutter open slightly, though her gaze is unfocused. Her lidded eyes find you after an extra second of searching.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to wak-“ Your apology is cut short as her hand grabs your wrist. You flinch at the unexpected touch, causing Fenomeno’s brow to furrow. She pulls you down, gently tugging at first, then all the way, the suddenness catching you by surprise.
You barely catch yourself, now hovering over her unintentionally as you gather yourself. Just what was she doing? Another look at her eyes clearly shows that she’s still half asleep, not at all knowing what she was doing. You back up, trying to move away before she grunts, wrapping her arms around your back, and with her great strength, pulls you down, holding you to her chest.
You swear you feel her smell your hair, taking a deep breath of your scent. It seems to relax her, and she shifts your position to hold you slightly closer.
Trying to pry yourself out, you realize, is futile. Despite your efforts, any movement you make causes her grip to tighten.
You’re about to say something, anything, to try to get some space between you both, but surprisingly she speaks first.
“Boss..” Her half-lidded eyes gaze at you, but never quite focus like they would if she were fully awake. “Your thoughts are wandering again.. just think about me, okay? I’m right here..” She mumbles in her sleep, barely understandable.
Before you could even process what you heard, Fenomeno rolls to her side, taking you with her, pinning your body between her and the back of the couch. She drifts off once more, peacefully holding you close.
If you weren’t stuck before, you definitely are now. Between Fenomeno and the couch, there’s hardly any room to squirm. Giving into defeat, you try calling her name a few times in an effort to wake her up. Unluckily, it seems that since she was able to manhandle you without waking herself up, even yelling to her isn’t going to get through.
‘She must’ve really worked herself up about our meeting,’ You think to yourself, ‘if she’s this tired, her worrying must’ve kept her up all night..’
With that thought, you look up at her again. Her blissful expression makes something in your chest twinge. Resolving yourself, you manage to maneuver your arm just enough to give her a kind pat on her side. Your poor trainee.. you decide to sit down with her later and explain that you wouldn’t be harsh on her for such small mistakes, not like what she’s fearful of.
Knowing she needs the rest, you make yourself as comfortable as you can, surprisingly finding it fairly easy to do so given the circumstances. Sensing you relax, Fenomeno also shifts, tucking your head under her chin. Oddly, you find that you don’t mind.
Allowing her the rest she needs, you also drift off, held comfortably in your trainee’s arms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You’re startled awake by a yelp, followed by the sound of something landing on the floor. You shoot up, leaning over the side of the couch to see that Fenomeno’s scrambled halfway across the floor, bright red in the face.
“BOSS! THIS- THIS IS INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT!!” Her eyes dart rapidly between you and the couch, “THIS IS A VIOLATION OF ETHICS!”
You blink at her, not quite knowing what to say. She’s flustered and confused, the last thing you want to do is make her more uncomfortable.
You quickly decide to explain the situation, “Ah.. Fenomeno, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that when I was checking up on you earlier-”
Before you finish, it seems that Fenomeno puts two and two together, her ears flattening back against her head. Somehow even more flustered, she unintentionally becomes louder, “I HAVE COMMITTED A MAJOR INFRACTION!” She quickly shifts herself to her knees, bowing low to the ground, “I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE! I DID NOT REALIZE THAT WAS REA-“
You both fall silent, implicitly knowing how she was going to end her sentence. Fenomeno makes a sound not unlike a deflating balloon.
Out of pity for your trainee’s emotional state, you disregard the last part of her apology. You slowly join her on the floor, patting her shoulder gently. She shyly peeks up at you, looking utterly miserable.
“Fenomeno, it’s okay.” You smile reassuringly down at her, “You don’t have to apologize, it was an accident.”
“Boss..” Fenomeno mutters, voice suddenly meek, “It was.. an invasion of your personal space. It won’t happen again.”
“Meno..” You feel awful that she’s so upset about this, “Please, sit up..”
Reluctantly, as if she’s only doing so because you asked, she sits up. Still, she doesn’t meet your gaze, looking down at the floorboards with an expression of shame.
“Meno…” You call to her again, but she still doesn’t look at you, strung tight with tension. You find that the sight… breaks your heart.
You scooch closer, and slowly enough that she could pull away, you pull Fenomeno into a hug.
“It’s okay.. see? Consider us even now.” You hold her closely but gently, trying to express your care for her. “I’m not mad at you, I never have been. I know you mean the best, Fenomeno, for me or for anyone else. You’re the best trainee I could ask for.”
In your warm embrace, you feel her tremble ever so slightly.
After a long, long time, a small, wet, “Boss..” escapes Fenomeno’s lips. At last, her hands wrap around your form, holding you in return.