So my typical note... this was supposed to be like 2 chapters tops aaaaand it ended up being a full 5 so like... hope you like drama solely for the sake of fluff! Cuz this story is nothing but.

Probably takes place during season2, somewhere where Riko is still somewhat afraid of dogs but where she and Chika have still had many of their private moments together~

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live Sunshine!

Sunshine Romance

Chapter 1. Midnight Song

Riko can't remember exactly who she'd heard news about a pack of wild dogs from, but she'd heard enough mumbles and murmurs about it at school today to make her uneasy on the walk home.

Even with Chika babbling happily by her side, Riko can't seem to concentrate on what she's saying. She just keeps flashing nervous glances behind herself, jumping at every little sound, especially when it's the sound of a dog barking.

It's still daylight at least, and she keeps close to Chika as they make their way home, doing her best to nod or hum to let her friend know she's almost-listening. Chika's gabbing on about a new song she's been trying to write lyrics for, wondering out loud if it should be centered around romance or friendship.

"Mmm I just can't get the feeling for it, y'know?" she sighs. "Like, it's gonna be upbeat and fun and it'll have more of a friendship vibe to it, but I think it could work really well for a romantic kind of thing too. I just can't decide..."

"Oh... I see..." Riko tries to focus on what her friend is saying, but a sudden rustling from a nearby bush causes her to shriek. Immediately she clings to Chika's arm for dear life, ducking behind her and whimpering.

"Whoa! Riko-chan, what's the matter?" Chika pats her shoulder, coaxing Riko to look up. When she does she sees a brown cat emerge from the bush and hop up onto a little garden wall. Riko exhales shakily.

"S-Sorry."

"Why are you so jumpy today?"

"W-Well... I'd just heard rumors about some feral dogs around here..."

"Oooh." Chika nods. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I think I've heard about that too. But don't worry, Riko-chan! They're probably too shy to bother humans. Especially during the daytime."

"You think so?"

"Sure! And even if they weren't, you wouldn't have to worry cuz I'll protect you!"

Riko feels a sudden heat pooling in her cheeks as a smile curls her lips.

"Thanks, Chika-chan."

"Don't mention it!"

Riko realizes she's still clinging to her arm and lets go. But Chika pauses and offers her hand.

"If it'll make you feel better, wanna hold hands?"

Her beaming smile sparkles even more brightly than the sunlit ocean in the backdrop, and Riko feels her heart swell up like the waves. She nods and reaches for her hand.

"Mm."

Curling her fingers through Chika's fills her with a newfound sense of security and strength. She straightens her back a little bit as they continue their walk home.

Chika goes on about her lyrics and Riko actually listens this time, offering helpful feedback when necessary. By the time they get to their neighboring houses, Chika has decided.

"All right! It'll probably be a romance song then!"

Her eagerness and positivity rub off on Riko as always. But when their hands ultimately come apart, Riko's smile fades. With the lost contact, a sense of unease returns to start gnarling her stomach. But Chika's peppy voice combats it for the moment.

"Thanks for helping me with the lyrics, Riko-chan! I'll see you tomorrow then!" She waves and turns to head back to her house, leaving Riko no choice but to go to her own.

"See you tomorrow, Chika-chan." She faces her own front door and knocks. "I'm home." But when she tries to open the door it's locked. "Oh, no..."

Chika notices her dilemma and pauses outside her own house to call over.

"Riko-chan? What's the matter?"

Riko reaches for her bag and begins to fumble around for her key.

"I forgot... my mom's away on a business trip tonight. She won't be back until tomorrow."

"Really? Ohh, so you get the place to yourself tonight, huh? So grown-up!"

"Y-Yeah..." Riko locates her key and puts it to the lock, but not without one last look to her classmate. Chika simply smiles and waves again before disappearing into her own house.

Riko sighs and pushes through the door, quickly shutting and locking it behind herself. The house is indeed empty and quiet, no lights on, no one to greet her and welcome her home. Even so she feels compelled to call out.

"I'm home..."

It's lonely not to get a response.

She sits down and takes off her shoes, then heads into the kitchen where her mother had bagged some leftovers for her to heat up. Riko turns on the TV for a bit of background noise and eats alone at the table.

And of course the news station does a segment about the reports of wild dogs in their area recently. With a yelp she turns off the TV and quickly goes to wash the dishes. She closes all the windows on the bottom floor before hurrying upstairs to her room, closing and locking that door as well.

It's too quiet, too lonely. She doesn't know what to do.

She tries reading but she can't focus, nor can she concentrate on piano or any other form of music. She thinks that at least showering should be refreshing, but the second she's beneath the water she can't stop fretting that someone might've broken into the house and be waiting right outside to attack her.

She speeds through it and gets dressed quickly, but it takes her a full ten minutes to steel herself to finally open the door and step out. Of course there's no one there, but her heart's pounding as though there were.

She scurries back to her room where her lights are all on, but outside the sun has already set.

It's just for one night. She can survive one night on her own.

So she draws in a deep breath and tries to calm herself.

That's when she hears the exciting music drifting over from Chika's place. She can hear a faint thumping sound too and knows she must be practicing some dance moves.

Riko's grateful for the reminder that Chika is right next door. It puts her at ease just a little.

With nothing else to do, she figures she should try to get some sleep while she can still hear the calming sounds of Chika's music.

So she turns off all the lights save for one lamp and crawls into bed, curling herself up tightly.

She only gets to close her eyes for a few minutes though before the music stops. The silence ensues and her heart begins to pound too loudly for her to ignore it. She can hear every rustle outside, every creak of the house, every groan of the trees-

"Pssst! Riko-chan!"

"Eh?"

With a gasp she sits up at the sound of Chika's call. Timidly, she steps out of bed and slides open the divider to her balcony.

Chika's standing on her end expectantly. Riko moves cautiously out into the cool night air which blows right through her pajamas and weaves into her still-wet hair.

"C-Chika-chan."

"Oh, did I wake you? Sorry, I didn't know you went to bed already. I thought it was weird your lights were out so early so I just wanted to make sure everything was okay!" Her lips curl up into a genuine smile, and another breeze makes her hair flutter. Riko's heart does the same.

"Oh. No, I'm fine. Just a little tired."

"Really? That's a relief!"

Riko feels the knot in her stomach tightening. This is her chance. Chika is giving her a chance to confess how she's really feeling. Not taking it and not being honest would be insulting to her as a friend.

But Riko just can't accept the idea that she might be burdening her somehow. So she just drops her gaze to her bare feet.

"Yeah..."

And she knows Chika would have called her bluff if Riko had let her, but with this unreassuring reassurance Chika doesn't want to let herself pry.

"Okay. I'll try to keep it down over here then. Night, Riko-chan!"

No. She wants to tell her she'd prefer if she kept the noise level up, but she can't. Riko simply nods.

"Goodnight, Chika-chan."

She turns away and scurries back into her room, sliding the divider closed. She feels even worse than before.

Limping back to bed, she curls up once again.

It had crossed her mind that she might feel better if she listened to some music of her own, but she fears headphones would block out any other noises she might need to hear, like if the smoke detector goes off or the front door opens when it isn't supposed to.

The paranoia is all around her and she can't calm down. It's too late now to call her mother for comfort, and she's already denied Chika's offer.

Riko pulls the blankets up over her head and buries her face into her pillow miserably, hoping she'll just become tired enough to fall asleep despite her mind's over-thinking every little thing.

She must toss and turn for an hour or longer unsuccessfully, all the while feeling the knot in her stomach coiling harder. She tries humming to herself and counting sheep, and it almost seems to work for a minute.

But that's when she hears the echo of a distant howl from outside.

It makes her so nauseous with dread she has to swallow back whatever acid tries to rise up her throat. Tears well up behind her eyes as she scrambles for her phone on the bedside table and selects Chika's number. Her fingers are trembling as she types out a sloppily-spaced message:

A re you awa ke ?

She really hopes she isn't waking her. But she really wants to talk to her again.

She realizes now that she'd done the wrong thing in denying Chika's help. When she thinks about it in reverse, if Chika had been the one in Riko's position, Riko knows she wouldn't have liked it if Chika tried to handle things on her own.

It's okay to ask friends for help, whether they offer it or not. That's part of what being friends is.

Riko clutches her phone to her chest and prays for a response. But after a minute she begins to think Chika is fast asleep. She buries her face into her pillow again and feels the tears begin to leak free-

"Riko-chan!"

The call of her name is muffled but she hears it loud and clear. Gasping, Riko flings the covers off herself and stumbles across the room. She clings to the divider and can barely find the strength to budge it open. But when she does, Chika is standing across the way on her balcony with her eyes wide in concern.

"Riko-chan! So something really is wrong! You're crying!"

Riko staggers forward onto her balcony and clings to the rail, barely able to lift her face to meet her friend's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Chika-chan..."

"You don't have to be! Just tell me what's wrong." The concern in her expression is so intense it's almost on the verge of panic. That's how much she cares for Riko.

Riko sniffles and wipes her eyes.

"Ch-Chika-chan... I don't think I can do this after all... It's scary being alone..."

"Then you don't have to be!" Her words drift across the open air like a melody of their own. Riko feels them dance around her troubled heart and ease the shaking of her shoulders. Chika leans forward over her balcony and extends her hand like she always does.

"I'm right here, Riko-chan! You don't have to be alone! You're not!"

Riko feels more tears drip down as she reaches forward. But she doesn't have the strength or willpower to strain like she usually does, not nearly enough to brush her fingertips with Chika's. And she knows Chika would've full-on jumped over to her if need be, but thankfully she suggests something else.

"Riko-chan! Come stay with me tonight!"

"E-Eh...?"

"I mean it! It's fine, so just come stay with me! I'll never be able to sleep knowing you're over there crying by yourself. Please, Riko-chan!"

Riko whimpers louder and hides her face in her hands. What did she ever do to deserve Chika...

"B-But... the dogs..."

"It's okay! I won't let you walk over by yourself! I'll come get you!"

"B-But it could be dangerous!"

"I'll bring Shiitake as my guard. I'll be fine. I'm coming over to get you right now, okay?"

And with this Chika runs back inside, leaving Riko in disbelief in her wake. She swallows hard a few times, gulping down the sobs threatening to bubble up before she realizes what this means.

Still trembling, she makes her way back inside and gathers a few things into a small bag: her phone, her house key, a few toiletries. Last of all she takes her pillow, which she clutches to her chest.

She turns off the lamp she'd kept on and slowly opens her door to the rest of the dark house. She makes her way down the stairs in her slippers, going one step at a time. She hasn't even reached the ground floor yet when she hears a knock.

"Riko-chan, it's me!"

The relief that floods through her is almost enough to make her collapse, but she fights the weakness in her knees as she runs to open the door. Chika is there with Shiitake sitting happily behind her. Riko ducks her face into her pillow.

"Oh thank goodness..."

"Riko-chan!" Chika throws both arms around her and pulls her in tight. Riko drops the pillow in favor of hugging her back.

"Thank you, Chika-chan..."

"I'm glad you texted me. I would've hated it if you'd spent the whole night alone like this."

Riko just sniffles again.

"Mm... Thank you..." Riko bends down to pick up her things, tucking her pillow under her arm. Chika reaches out and holds her hand.

"Don't worry, there aren't any wild dogs. If there were, Shiitake wouldn't be so relaxed!"

Riko peers over at the big fluffy dog who seems to be entirely at-ease. It makes her feel better.

When she's ready and the door is locked behind Riko, Chika leads her back toward her house, Shiitake flanking them as they make it across the couple of yards of distance without incident. Chika opens the door and lets the dog in, then gives a gentle tug to Riko's hand to coax her inside.

"There! You're okay, see?"

"S-Sorry for intruding..."

Riko steps out of her slippers, and Chika doesn't let go of her hand all the while. She leads her upstairs where Riko can assume her mother and sisters are all asleep in their rooms.

Chika brings her classmate to her own bedroom and turns on the lights. The familiar scenery makes Riko feel even more comfortable, the Love Live posters, the stuffed animals...

"Okay!" Chika says. "I'll go get our guest futon so just wait here!" She guides Riko onto her bed to have a seat and lets go of her hand before hurrying out.

Riko clings to her pillow once again, but she doesn't hear any more strange noises from outside. Just being in this familiar room, in a place that emanates Chika's energy, puts her at ease. A moment later her classmate reenters dragging a futon.

"Got it!"

Riko helps her lay it out on the floor beside the bed, then drops her pillow onto it. Chika pulls a spare blanket out from her closet and drapes it over the futon for her friend before standing back with an accomplished sigh.

"There! You should be all set now, Riko-chan! Do you want a glass of water or anything?"

"No, that's all right."

"Okay. Then try to get some sleep."

"Right." Riko watches Chika turn off the light and retreat to her bed, but before she can climb in Riko stops her. "U-Um, Chika-chan?"

"Hm? What's up?"

Blushing, Riko clutches at her pajama shirt and looks at the floor.

"Th-Thank you again... for doing this..."

Chika just smiles again and grabs both of her hands.

"Of course! Anything for you, Riko-chan!"

Riko nearly starts crying again. She can't count how many times Chika has done something selfless like this for her now. And it always seems to end with them holding hands like this.

Riko slides her hands more firmly into Chika's grasp, but a moment later she pulls free simply so she can throw them around her shoulders again.

"I'm so lucky... to have you, Chika-chan..."

Chika hums and hugs her back tightly.

"I'm lucky too." She feels Riko wouldn't have initiated this hug if she didn't still really need it, so Chika holds onto her for as long as Riko needs it, feeling the last of the trembles leave her friend's body. At last they let go and retreat to their respective futons.

"Night, Riko-chan."

"Goodnight, Chika-chan."

As Chika crawls into her bed, Riko lies down on the floor next to her. She isn't scared anymore, and when she pulls the blanket up over herself it's with a smile of her own, one Chika had given her.

She sighs and closes her eyes, trying to relax at long last.

But that's when her mind starts to wander again. She can't stop thinking about the house. Had she locked the door before she'd left? She knows she did, but she just can't stop fretting. And what if there really are wild dogs on the loose? She knows they can't get to her even if they tried, but that doesn't stop her from over-thinking to the point of paranoia once again.

She keeps tossing and turning, almost getting comfortable enough to fall asleep before needing to move again. She tries not to move too much or make too much noise for Chika's sake, pulling the blanket up over hear head and curling in on herself with a sigh.

But Chika had decided she wouldn't let herself fall asleep until Riko had, and she can tell for sure that her friend still hasn't gotten relaxed yet. So she inches forward to the edge of her bed and reaches down to where the pretty plumb-colored hair is pooling and touches her shoulder.

"Riko-chan?"

Her unexpected touch and voice startle Riko, who yanks the blankets down and turns to face her with a gasp. Chika immediately tries to sooth her.

"S-Sorry! It's just me!"

As Riko feels her heart drop back down into her chest she blinks tiredly up at her classmate.

"What's wrong, Chika-chan?"

"That's my line! You still can't fall asleep, huh?"

Riko guiltily hides her mouth behind the blanket.

"No... even though you've done so much for me... But don't worry, I'll fall asleep eventually. You should get some rest."

"I won't! I can't! Not if you can't." Chika sits up in defiance and crosses her arms in a stubborn display that nearly makes Riko crack a smile.

"It's okay, Chika-chan. Really."

"Mmm..." Chika grumbles for a moment, trying to think of something else she might be able to do to help. "What if I turned on a bit of music? Would that help?"

"I wouldn't want to disturb the rest of your family with that. I'm already intruding."

"Then come sleep next to me!"

The declaration makes Riko freeze.

"E-Eh?"

"Maybe it'll help if you've got someone right there next to you. It's usually nicer to sleep right next to someone in the same bed if you're having a bad night, right? So come on, it's fine!" Chika slides over closest to the wall and pats the empty space invitingly.

Riko isn't sure why, but her heart begins to do backflips. It isn't like it was before when she was frightened and alone in the house. It's different somehow, still nervous but almost in a nicer way.

"A... Are you sure? Is that really okay, Chika-chan?"

"Of course!" She opens both hands up invitingly and presents Riko with another sweet smile.

Riko clutches the blanket to her chest for a moment. She can feel herself trembling again, but it's also different than it was before.

Slowly she pushes herself up, letting the blanket fall softly onto the futon and pillow as she crawls out. She slips her hands up into Chika's waiting ones and feels the familiar fingers and palms wrapping around her own.

With a grin Chika coaxes her up and into the bed, pulling the blankets down a bit so Riko can slip her legs underneath. When she's already halfway settled, it really starts to sink in for Riko.

"A-Are you really sure this is all right, Chika-chan?"

"Positive! It might be a little cramped but I'll make sure you don't roll off."

Once they're both situated Chika lies down on her side facing Riko and invites her to do the same. Riko doesn't exactly know where to put her hands so she just clutches them to her throbbing chest.

But Chika doesn't seem fazed at all. With a giggle she pulls Riko in by the shoulders and wraps her up in a warm hug, pulling the blankets up over her back.

"See? Isn't this much nicer?"

Riko nearly forgets how to breathe. She can't comprehend why she's reacting like this, but it always seemed to happen when she was close to Chika. Whether they were just holding hands or hugging, her heart always began to race and her face always felt warmer.

But now everything's doubled. With Chika pressing so close like this, Riko's hands are crushed to her chest, so she has no choice but to unravel them. Slowly, nervously, she reaches out and slips them around Chika's torso.

Chika seems satisfied with this and squeezes her tighter. Riko yelps softly and buries her face into the side of her classmate's neck. Chika hums.

"Sorry. Is this okay?"

Riko can't remember how to speak properly.

"Y... Yes..."

"Are you warm enough?"

"Yes..."

"Good! Now just try to relax, Riko-chan. Your heart is pounding super fast so just take it easy! No wild dogs are gonna get in here, I promise."

Little does she know the dogs aren't what's making Riko like this anymore, and they've actually completely slipped her mind by this point. The only thing on Riko's mind right now is her.

Chika gets comfortable easily, resting her chin on top of Riko's head. Riko is completely enveloped by her scent and by her warmth. But she's so self-conscious now. She's breathing manually and half the time forgets how to, embarrassed now that Chika can feel everything. She buries her face in Chika's shirt and clings to her back, willing her frantic heart to slow down.

Chika holds onto her for a few minutes, trying to help Riko adjust, patting her back and shoulders to help ease away some of the tension. She can still feel Riko's pulse jumping against her neck though, so Chika starts on a bit of a plan B. She begins to hum the tune of the newest song she had planned, one that no one else has heard yet or knows the lyrics to.

As soon as her voice fills the air, Riko feels herself instantly relaxing, feels the tension draining from her body. Her grip on Chika's back looses into something more comfortable, and her heart and breathing gradually calm down.

Chika smiles to herself as she feels the improvements in Riko's condition and finishes her hum gleefully. After a beat of silence she asks, "Did you like it?"

Riko nods into her collar.

"Mm-hm."

"Great! Now let's get some sleep, okay?"

Riko makes another small, tired sound of confirmation. Her eyes are already closed and her conscious is fluttering softly like her heart. Chika can feel it and waits for Riko's breathing to deepen with sleep.

And in this moment, there could've been no greater victory for Chika, not even winning Love Live. She's so glad she's managed to get Riko to fall asleep on this night when she'd been so worried and scared.

Chika basks in her accomplishment and in the shared warmth pooling between their bodies. Riko's arms have loosened around her just a little bit, and Chika inches back a bit to ensure she'll be able to breathe.

At last she gives a big happy sigh of accomplishment, patting Riko's back softly and stroking through her hair a little. She leans in and plants a small kiss on Riko's temple for good measure.

"Sweet dreams, Riko-chan~"

Chika closes her eyes as well and falls asleep soon after.

And they both sleep better that night than they ever had before.

A/N: A bit dramatic I know, but it had to be done. Chapter 2 will continue from here~

Please review!