─── ( memory five )
05; stuffies.

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KENMA DIDN'T REALLY SLEEP, AS HE WAS TYPICALLY PLAYING A GAME WHENEVER HE COULD. he went to bed around a late time, then often woke up at around 2 am to play games for hours and hours, hidden under the softness and warmth of a large blanket, wrapped around his still figure.

kenma never really necessarily had any troubles with sleeping. at some point, he just decided games were better than his health. not that it effected anything too much. y/n, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping. for sure.

her nights were mostly spent with her still and tense under her large sheets as she stared at one dark spot in her room and searched for demons, or listening for intruders to try and break in.

though, crimes like those never really took place in kenma's neighborhood. the most related thing to crimes where he lived, was him getting bullied, and y/n's neighborhood was quite the same, too.

regardless, her worrisome mind could only be dealt with by not feeling alone and so vulnerable in her bedroom. kenma found out very quickly y/n slept with large stuffed animals which she held dear to her, so she's told kenma.

kenma wasn't someone who got embarrassed all too easily— he really didn't have much concern with what was going on around him, as long as it didn't get in the way of what he was trying to do at that moment. but the two-toned setter could say that the day y/n arrived to school with a large stuffed animal, his cheeks heated up.

he wasn't sure if he was embarrassed or weirded out — perhaps he was just confused. he couldn't speak properly and he found that he was frozen as y/n smiled at him, around the stuffed animal.

"aah, kenma-kun, look what i have for you!" her sing-song voice pulled him out of whatever dazed state he'd tripped into, "you told me you didn't sleep, so i brought you this!"

kenma had slightly leaned back, his hands pulled to his chest, face still forming that questioning expression with the pink undertone of a blush hidden beneath his fair skin, "o-oh," he said, eyes wide. and he asked the question that had practically been poking at the back of his mind from the inside, "how does this help me sleep?"

y/n smiled, moving to hold the large bear under her arm ( with extreme difficulty ), "when i first started losing sleep, my parents bought this for me," she informed her friend with an excited smile. "this little guy was the first one to ever help me get some shut eye. i have many other ones now, so ive been meaning to find him a home, one where i know he'll be in good hands, you know? i worry sometimes,"

kenma nodded slowly, wondering how she was speaking as if the stuffed animal was real, like he had feelings and emotions, like he's had actual problems or somehow knew what pain was.

and for a second, kenma's mind slipped as he stared into the beady sewn-on eyes of the stuffed animal, he wondered if it had watched y/n's pain throughout all the years she'd kept him on her bed. he wondered — though with a small snap of y/n's fingers, he was back.

"i've washed him and everything," y/n promised kenma with a gentle smile, "do you want him?"

with the hopeful look in her eyes, and her excited expression, kenma remembered he felt like he simply could not refuse. he smiled as he remembered having to walk through the halls with the huge bear and going to practice, having to set it on the bench. and the first night he had it, kenma slept so well, he refused to use it as a pillow again, as he wanted to play his games instead of actually going to sleep.

however, it was still in his bedroom, now accompanied by all of y/n's other stuffies.

kenma looked down at the small stuffie he held in his hands. he had searched all over for the small bear his parents gifted him with at the age of nine, and wondered at what age y/n received her first stuffed animal.

kenma felt just a little selfish for taking all of y/n's stuffies under his care instead of the children they would've been sent off to, but all of them needed a good home, that's what y/n would've said.

the stuffie he held in his hand was his. all of y/n's stuffed animals had a home with him and kenma thought of returning the favour to y/n by doing the same thing with his own and it was the only one he had to give.

he placed down the stuffed bear. it was kind of dirty despite having washed it so many times and the ears of it drooped significantly, but still, y/n would've loved it.

"there," kenma said quietly.

"NOW, Y/N WON'T BE AFRAID TO SLEEP."

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