worry
Agatha’s eyes flickered open to find Rio next to her, sound asleep. Agatha knew she had come home well after midnight with all the wars going on, so she didn’t wake her up, instead, she carefully took her dagger and cape off and pulled the blanket over her. She watched her sleep, noticing how she’d make a cute snorting noise every few breaths. She smiled, tucking Rio’s hair behind her ear before silently heading downstairs. She made herself a mug of tea and headed to the couch, pulling out the stack of books she kept under the couch so Rio wouldn’t see.
It’s not like it was a secret or anything, she just didn’t want Rio to worry. The nightmares were less frequent, yeah, but she hated waking Rio up every few nights after she had come home following hours of collecting people.
She glided her finger across the pages, reading as much as she could in the few hours before she heard Rio’s footsteps in the distance and hid the books back under the couch, leaning back on the couch right before Rio entered, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Late night?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want some tea?”
“That’d be great.” Rio let herself fall onto the couch.
Agatha left her mug at the edge of the table and headed to the kitchen, grabbing a mug. Rio saw the mug about to fall and moved it to the middle before noticing it was cold.
“Say, how long have you been up?”
“Uh, just a few minutes, why?”
“No reason.” Rio narrowed her eyes. Then, she noticed something red sticking out from under the couch. She started reaching for it when Agatha came back, handing her a mug.
“Thanks.”
Agatha inspected Rio’s face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know, you just look distracted, I guess.”
Rio shrugged as Agatha sat down next to her and sipped her tea before flinching slightly.
“What’s wrong? Is your tea cold?”
Agatha paused, slowly turning to Rio.
“Why did you lie to me?”
Agatha hesitated. “I– I didn’t want you to feel bad for not waking up earlier. I know you’ve been busy.”
“Oh, really?” Rio reached for the red book she had seen and got up before Agatha could hold her back.
“Rio, give the book back.”
“Visions & Memories: A Guide into the Subconscious.” Rio’s brows furrowed. “You were reading about the nightmares, weren’t you?”
Agatha pulled back, digging her nails into her hand. “I..”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You lied to me! Why would you lie to me?”
Agatha’s spine stiffened, tears welling in her eyes.
Rio’s gaze softened as she saw Agatha’s face and sat back down, realizing how harsh her tone was. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad, my love.” She grabbed her hands, opening her hand and summoning a piece of cotton to clean the blood dripping from the nail marks. “I shouldn't have raised my voice. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me.”
“I– I didn’t wanna worry you. I just– I hate waking you up all the time.”
Rio sighed as she traced over the wounds, healing them. “I don’t mind the waking up part. You should’ve told me you were doing this. You don’t have to do things alone anymore.”
Agatha looked down. “I know, I just– I didn’t wanna worry you.”
Rio put her hands down, pulling her in for a hug. “We’re in this together, remember?”
Agatha gripped Rio’s hair. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Rio pulled away, looking into Agatha’s ocean-blue eyes. “Have you found anything?”
Agatha sighed. “Nothing. It’s like— Nothing like my magick has ever been documented, so I don’t have anything to go off of.”
“I thought your ability was separate from your magick.”
“More like I’m separate from my magick. It’s like it has a mind of its own sometimes, or like, it’s more there to protect me than to serve me like it is for other witches.”
“That’s weird.”
“Yeah, but I just don’t know why, and that pisses me off.” Agatha groaned, leaning back on the couch.
“I can ask around.”
“Ask who?”
“My… my siblings.”
Agatha sat up. “You have siblings?”
“Well, yeah, but they don’t come out much. We’re not… as close as we used to be, anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Uh…” Rio hesitated. “We’ve all just been busy, that’s all.”
“Oh. Okay, well, uh, I don’t wanna put you in a tough spot or anything.”
“No, it’s fine.” She lied. “It won’t take long.”
“Okay.”
Rio kissed Agatha on the forehead. “Te veo.”