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Ash loved staying in bed these days, until the sun was high in the sky and his stomach ached for food. He loved staying in bed, warm and safe and with no where on Earth he had to be, especially if Eiji was there with him.
Sure, the bed was a little too small for the both of them but that just gave them an excuse to cuddle closer under the blankets and hold onto each other until the sun came back up.
“We need to get our own place,” Eiji would say with a laugh that filled Ash's heart with warmth. “So we can get a larger bed.”
To which Ash would always respond with, “But I like this bed!”, cuddling closer into Eiji's chest and Eiji would laugh, squirming in his tight grip.
Sometimes, he'd even punctuate it with a kiss.
The bed was small, somewhere between a full size and a queen. For just Eiji, when he was in high school and college and living alone in his room, the bed fit perfectly. But things had changed and Eiji now had a bed partner. It was hardly sufficient now for both of them, and one still growing.
They probably needed a larger bed.
At night, their knees knocked together until one one them rolled onto their other side or folded their legs together under the blanket.
More than once, Ash had awoken to Eiji's octopus arms thrown over his chest, his face.
But Ash loved this bed despite its small, inconvenient size.
He loved waking up to Eiji pressed up against his back, his face in the material of his tshirt between his shoulder blades, arms around him.
In the winter, it allowed them to huddle under the blankets and keep warm while the chilled air whipped at the windows. And sure, in the summer it was a little too warm, sleeping so close to someone else the way the bed forced them to but Ash loved it anyway; windows wide open for the chance of a nighttime breeze while they slept, listening to the gentle melody of cicada song and frogs.
But most of all, he loved mornings like this one when he woke before Eiji and had a chance to just look at him before he woke up.
Eiji's hair had grown out a little since leaving New York. It curled a little, falling into his face in his sleep. His skin had paled considerably, as they spent less and less time outdoors with the changing seasons.
Ash brushed his soft brown hair back, making it stand at a funny angle. He dragged his fingertips down from Eiji's hairline, running along his cheek and jaw, skin soft and warm.
How had he gotten so lucky?
Never in his wildest dreams would Ash ever have thought he would end up here, in bed with such a handsome and kind man. Yet, here he was.
Eiji shifted in his sleep, yawning and peaking his eyes open. He palmed at one, clearing the sleep from it.
“What time is it?” He stretched his arms over his head and rolled his bad ankle, brushing it against Ash's leg and sighing when it popped.
“Dunno.”
Eiji hummed. He threw an arm over Ash's side, tucking his face into his chest. “Have you been up long?” he mumbled into his t-shirt.
Ash ran his hand over Eiji's back. He couldn't fight the wide smile that appeared on his face when he snuggled closer into him.
“Not long.”
Eiji curled a leg over Ash's thigh to rest more comfortably against him. “Maybe we should get up…”
“Don’t want to.”
Eiji chuckled. He squirmed a little, before slowly rubbing at a patch of bare skin under Ash’s t-shirt. It was a surprisingly soothing touch, something soft and warm, displaying for him Eiji’s affections. “Then...maybe just a few more minutes.”
Ash settled against him, reveling in Eiji’s contented sigh. If he could wake up like this every morning, he would be the luckiest man on the planet.
He didn’t want to ever get another mattress.