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The café is always loud after school.
Kris scoots further into the booth and leans their head against the cool glass. Outside, the wind kicks up leaves and sends them swirling through the air in red-gold flurries. They watch people walk down the street, eyes on the fluttering material of skirts and intricately knit patterns of sweaters. Its pleasing to the eye, all the colors bright yet softly muted through the glass windows. It makes the outside look hazy, more like a dream than anything real.
The scent of hot chocolate fills the air as Asriel appears and sets down their mugs on the table with a quiet clunk. They perk up and turn towards him and he pushes the mug forward. With the marshmallows piled high over the chocolate and the light sprinkle of cinnamon dusted over the top, Kris feels like it's almost too good to drink. They bring the mug up to their lips and blow off the slowly rising steam before taking a careful sip. The taste floods their mouth, the heavy richness of chocolate contrasted with the light sweetness of the marshmallows, and the cinnamon adding a little spice.
It's perfect.
Asriel's sigh mimics their own as he takes his first sip too. Their eyes meet over their mugs and it's an automatic response to grin at each other, a shared moment of understanding that Miss Bunny makes the best hot chocolate in the world. It's good enough to make them forget the sheer amount of work waiting for them. Kris closes their eyes and takes another sip. Maybe if they just don't look at it…
A sudden thump and their eyes fly open. They peer up at Asriel through their hair. He looks back at them, eyebrows raised. Kris sighs and sets their hot chocolate down. Time and tide wait for no one (or so Asriel says). They might as well get things done.
It's almost an hour later before they pull their head up again, equations swimming in their vision, black and white words stamped behind their eyelids and flickering like lightbulbs everytime they blink. The table is full of scattered papers now, some with their mother's neat handwriting curled into the margins in purple ink, others with Asriel's looping scrawl running across the sides. Asriel himself is bent over a book, gnawing on a pen that's already littered with bite marks.
They roll their eyes at him fondly even though he can't see and set themselves to organizing the mess. The pencil cases are lined up neat and sharp, papers stacked on top of each other in order and books put away. Their hot chocolate is still perfectly hot so they lean back and take a long sip after pushing Asriel's mug close enough that he picks it up on instinct. And then they watch him miss his face with the cup at least three times. By the time he manages to take a sip they're hunched over, muffling their laughter into their sleeve.
Asriel looks up from his book to see them wheezing, cheeks rosy, red from laughter and warmth. He takes another sip of his cocoa and goes back to his reading with the sounds of their amusement echoing in his ears. It's good. Everything is good. Kris watches him get back to work and curls into the plush seats, not yet ready to get back to work themself. They let the sounds of the café wash over them, the indistinct chatter of other patrons, the slow scratch of Asriel's writing and the low warbling melody from the radio Miss Bunny turns on in the evenings.
They feel cozy, like they're wrapped up in blankets fresh from dryer, soothing and safe. Its why their eyes start to droop and their hands waver when they finish their cocoa and go to set it down. The chocolate is sweet on their tongue and the taste melts into their dreams somehow, lingering warmly. Their head drops down onto their shoulder as they drift off.
When they open their eyes, Asriel is looping his scarf around their neck twice for warmth. They lean into him, the wool of his coat soft against their face. This time when they fall asleep again it's to the sound of Asriel's humming and the familiar beat of his heart under their ears a lullaby.
The steady walk home features in their dreams, the dark sky above and the stars spinning in streaks overhead.