#8hato

A/N: Golly, do those 2 make me feel soft inside. Hope you enjoy!

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Another day, another reminder she's on the surface. Hanging out with friends, not worrying about a thing; it feels nice doesn't it? Sometimes she still couldn't believe that they've made it this far, but in the end they did.

One might wonder how does Eight keep such a positive attitude all the time. Well, it'd be a lie to assume Eight doesn't wonder that herself. It's not like she was oblivious to it or anything, but rather that's just the attitude she got used to showing in public. It's fairly obvious that Eight's a caretaker. Checking in on Three every once in a while, making sure Four doesn't roll off the stage with her dodge rolls and especially taking care of Ahato. So sitting down and thinking about her own problems is the least of her concerns. Eight is great but even she can forget that she doesn't always have to be the hero, maybe a certain friend of hers will help her realize that...

***

"Well dang, Eight!" Pearl shouted loudly, sounding impressed. "Keep this up, and you'll beat your own record in no time!"

And how could she not be? Eight was running around swiftly in the testing room, also known as Marina's engineering basement. As ink projectiles left her Octoshot, she kept shooting any target baloons she saw in sight. One to the right? Gone. Two to the left? Popped. Five behind her? Say no more. Marina's agility exercises have really started to show, because as soon as Eight popped the last 10 baloons...

"And...done!" Marina said as she stopped the timer - "2 minutes, 34 seconds and 128 milliseconds!? That's a record time! Well done, Agent 8!" Marina came up to Eight and gently patted her on the head, bearing a smile of a proud mother.

Eight chuckled: "Guess this week of training wasn't for nothing!" She made a thinking gesture "I have a feeling that if I train another week then-"

Eight was about to say more, but suddenly she felt a strong slap against her back. Then, shortly after, a hearty laughter came from Pearl.

"What's with that face? Eight, you're one of the, if not THE, strongest octolings I've ever known!" after sensing a small but intense glare from Marina, Pearl corrected herself. "Not as strong as Marina of course, but you get the gesture!" Marina hummed with content, and Eight couldn't help but giggle from this moment.

As Eight exited the basement to get a snack from the kitchen, she noticed getting a text on her phone. Upon picking it up, her face lit up with a grin. Because the one texting her was none other than her best friend and roomate, Ahato Mizuta. The friend she's been secretly pining over for quite some time now. Apparantly her dearest friend found a new movie for them to enjoy and was asking Eight if she would like to watch it with her when she gets back. With a huge smile on her face, Eight was about to happily reply with a yes until...

"Hey, Agent 8! Do you have a minute?" Marina's voice echoed from the hallway right before she entered the kitchen as well.

Eight responded. "Yes, Marina? What's up?"

"Oh thank cod, you haven't left yet." Marina said with relief. "I actually have this new weapon modification I want to test out, but it won't be ready until tomorrow morning."

Eight did not even need to hear the full sentence to get the picture.

"You want me to stay the night so we can test it early, don't you?" she sighed with a slight smile. Marina couldn't help but be impressed by Eight's deduction.

Admittedly, even though Eight was always glad to help out Marina, somehow a thought of "why today? " crossed her mind for a brief moment.

"I mean we don't have to do it the next morning directly, if you have any other plans I totally understand!" Marina reassured her.

Eight was about to tell her about Ahato's movie invitation, but then she thought.

"Then again... Me and Ahato hang out all the time, we could just watch the movie the moment I get home tomorrow."

With that in mind, she agreed to Marina's request. Marina was very excited and told Eight she couldn't thank her enough. As Marina left to prepare a guest room for Eight, the young octoling quickly texted Ahato that she'll be staying the night at Pearl and Marina's house.

Just like so, Eight prepared herself, as this was going to be a long night.

***

"So are you cozy? Need anything else?" Marina kept asking.

"Pfft, chill, Rina," Pearl patted Marina on her shoulder. "Pretty sure that Eight's plenty cozy."

Eight nodded in agreement. The blankets were really fluffy, the bed was warm, and the octopus plushie was the cherry on top. It felt really nice.

"Well in that case we'll leave you be," Marina smiled "be sure to wake us if you need anything!"

"G'night!" said Pearl as she waved at Eight.

Eight smiled and gave a small wave in return, before hearing Pearl and Marina close the door behind them. And just like that, silence has filled the room. Eight lied down on the bed, hugging the plushie close to her. She would have a good night rest for sure...

It's what Eight would have thought if she did not have trouble sleeping. She couldn't do much but frown at the fact that she has yet to peacefully fall alseep. Eight looked at the table clock. It was 10:48 p.m.; this would get annoying later. When Eight thought about it, she kept coming to the realization that her life has been pretty busy lately. Especially with Ahato's recovery. Even though her physical state got better, things have still been hard for them. Ever since that video, her friend's been having nightmares and Eight couldn't help but wonder if she would be fine by herself tonight. What if she had another nightmare? What if she woke up in tears and Eight wouldn't be there to comfort her? Eight stopped herself from thinking any more about it. She cursed at herself for not having more faith in Ahato. It's been several weeks since that video, and Ahato had been doing much better than before.

Eight looked over at the window to distract herself. The lights have already turned on, there were no clouds in sight, and Eight was able to see the night literred with bright stars. It looked nice, sadly the view was not enough to help her sleep. And so Eight's attention switched to the table clock once more...

12 a.m. Eight hated this. All those hours felt endless to her. At best she would be asleep by late morning, at worst she wouldn't fall asleep at all. Not only Eight couldn't relax on those sleepless nights, but she also had to deal with thoughts she desperately ignored. What else was she supposed to do? Everyone already had a lot on their plate, and the last thing she wanted is for them to worry about her too. As Eight was about to complain more she heard a buzz coming from her phone.

"Huh? Did... someone text me?" Eight wondered as she sat up. "Who could even be up this late?"

Eight picked up her phone only to find that the text was from none other than her best friend. Eight didn't like where this was going. She already had a bad feeling about leaving Ahato all by herself and this situation didn't help at all. Afraid for her friend's well-being, Eight checked their chat room. But, to her surprise, Ahato simply texted 2 things. "Hey, Eight. Are you awake?" and "If you are, I was wondering if we could call."

And so Eight, feeling relief, proceeded to text a reply "Yeah, I'm awake." After thinking for a bit she made a follow up.

"Sure, we can call. But word of warning, I'll be quiet since Pearl and Marina went to sleep."

After about 20 seconds her phone started ringing. Eight plugged in her earbuds and proceeded to answer the call:

"Hello?" quietly said Eight.

"Hey there, Eight." Ahato responded, she sounded cheery tonight. "Sorry for calling you this late, I just wanted to talk to you."

Eight reassured her that it was okay.

"Is everything alright on your side? How was your day?"

"I'd say my day was pretty great." Ahato responded, Eight just knew she had that small smile on her face. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you that Three actually managed to beat Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine."

Eight snorted. "You're right, I wouldn't believe you! But seriously, good for her! How many hours did it take her to do it?"

At that moment she heard small giggles coming from the other end of the line. Eight could tell Ahato didn't mean to do that, but just couldn't resist.

"Well... As a matter of fact, it took her exactly 8 hours to do it!" And just like that, Eight was gone. This silly story just couldn't help but make Eight burst into a fit of laughter. Sadly, she had to keep it down as Marina and Pearl were most likely asleep by now. "That sounds like an amazing day, makes me sad I wasn't there with you guys today." - she heard her best friend hum in agreement. That really made Eight want to see that cute face of hers.

"Well.. enough about me. How was your day, Eight?" Ahato asked. "Anything interesting happened in training?"

Eight proceeded to tell her how much that training exercise got old, and that she'd much prefer to try a new challenge. Eight would have told more but she stopped as soon as she heard Ahato sigh quietly.

"Ahato?" Eight grew concerned. "Are you feeling okay?"

Her roomate responded rather quickly. "I'm the one who should be asking you. Are you okay?"

Eight's heart dropped from hearing those words. There's no way Ahato knew, right? Eight then asked. "What do you mean by that? Of course I'm fine!" She really hoped this would convince her friend.

"It's just... Last week I kept waking up late at night and-"

"What!?" Eight interrupted. "Did you have nightmares? You should've woken me up!"

Ahato was quick to reassure her "No, no, it's not like that! The nightmares have actually calmed down as of late. Just... let me finish first." Eight nodded.

"One night I woke up having a bad feeling. Because of that I wanted to see you," Eight couldn't help but blush. Ahato continued:

"So I left my bed to do just that," she paused. It sounded like Ahato was hesitant to say the next words. "But when I actually saw you, you were already up."

Eight really didn't want Ahato of all people to know. She wanted to step in, but she let Ahato go on regardless.

"I don't know.. maybe it's just me. But yesterday, you did the same thing again; it was already 5 a.m.! But I didn't come in since I didn't want to be rude."

Eight was shocked. She couldn't even say anything in her defense. Eventually Ahato sighed again and asked with a soft tone.

"Eight... do you have insomnia?"

There was no escape now, she really wished Ahato didn't figure that out. And so Eight reluctantly replied.

"...heh. Yeah, I've had it for a while now. Didn't expect you to actually find out. This just shows how amazing you are."

"C'mon, Eight-! Don't make this all about me!" Eight heard Ahato stutter. She smiled to herself. Though as silence filled the room her smile turned sour.

After about 2 minutes Ahato spoke once more.

"You know... I was actually hoping to confirm my suspicions in a warmer atmosphere."

Eight didn't understand what she meant at first. But then she thought.

"Is that why you asked me about watching the movie tonight?" Eight asked.

Ahato nodded in response. "I was also hoping that during the movie we could just talk until you felt sleepy on your own."

Eight felt touched by her roomate's thought. "Ahato... You're too sweet for your own good, you know that?" she chuckled. "Sadly, I don't know if a movie night would help at all."

There was silence once more. Eight felt awkward since it happened more than once now. She was about to say something to break the silence. But to her surprise Ahato beat her to it.

"Well... how about I just stay here until you fall asleep? I still think it's worth a shot."

"I- Ahato. I appreciate your worry, but I can't do that!" Eight worryingly argued. "I know how much you care about your sleeping schedule! I can't just do that to you."

Suddenly Ahato chuckled. Eight was confused, did she say something funny?

"Eight, do you think I'm doing this because I feel some sort of obligation? I'm doing this because I want to!" Ahato paused for a moment. Then she spoke in a softer tone:

"Besides... You're always so kind to your friends, being there for us when we need it. And you do so much for me even when I don't deserve it. So let me be there for you this time, okay?"

Eight could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She was certain that if she wasn't on call, than she would just die right here, right now. But alas, she composed herself and sighed.

"Fine. You win, Ahato. But don't you stay up too late! Alright?" Ahato nodded with a hum. "Promise."

And so, the two girls began talking. Not about anything specific, they just talked. Favorite food, new video games, cute videos, funniest moment of the week, you name it. They just talked all throughout the night without a single care in the world. It would go on for what felt like forever, until...

***

"Hm?" Ahato stopped rambling when she noticed that Eight had stopped talking. She was worried for a moment until she listened closely. She heard soft mumbles coming from the other end of the line. Eight was asleep, Ahato's plan worked. She couldn't even describe how relieved she was to just hear Eight's sleepy mumbling. Ahato even caught Eight mumbling about strawberries and other fruits. Clearly she was having a very sweet dream. Ahato checked her phone clock and realized it was already 4 am.

"Wow, it's that late already? I should probably head to sleep too," thought Ahato. And so before going to bed she decided to do one last thing.

She pecked her fingers before tapping them on her phone, sending Eight a virtual kiss. Afterwards she lovingly said "Good night, Eight," and finally ended the call to rest.

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Phew! That was a long ride but I hope you enjoyed this little fan story for Eight and Ahato :D Dedf1sh and Agent 8 belong to Nintendo(but these lovelies belong to the lovely @moonsidesong)

I know that it has already been four (heh) days since the anniversary happened but hey! Better late than never is what I like to say. Now back to answering questions I go

And ofc, this fic was created because of my love for Derivakat's song "4AM" (go listen now)

Catch ya all later! Stay fresh <3