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Denji wakes up freezing.
That's not that unusual, considering, but at least it's been a while since the last time. Wasn't that sort of thing supposed to be behind him? Power whines at his side when he gets up to go see what the fuck is up with the heat. Isn't Aki supposed to do this? Isn't he the adult?
The apartment is dark, windows frosting over. He's had enough cold for a life time. Maybe he should ask Makima if he can retire to the tropics or something. He flicks the light switch in the living room but it stays dark. He kicks at the wall and flicks the switch again.
Did Aki forget to pay the bills-
Oh.
Right.
They should move out soon.
“Denji---” Power whines loud enough that he can hear her. Fuck, it's cold. If the power is out then there's no sense in bothering with the thermostat or anything. “It's freezing--”
Right. He has to be the adult again. God that sucks- that really fucking sucks. His throat feels tight when he opens Aki's room to steal his blanket.
“It's fine.” It's nothing. He dumps it on top of the one Power is already curled in before he crawls in next to her. “We have real walls.” There's no frigid wind blowing through a ramshackle hut. He doesn't have to listen to it or let him keep it awake anymore. And if he's hungry the kitchen is just ten steps away. He can make something warm to drink or eat. Aki has- they have beer too. So. There's lots of ways to warm up now. “You're fine.”
“Mm- it's cold.” She whines anyway, and as soon as Denji is under the blankets, Power untwists to cling to him.
“You already said that.” She does run pretty hot, so it's like having a space heater attached to him.
“But it's still cold.” She tangles her legs with his and shoves her face into his neck. Her fingers are pretty cold, that's true at least, so Denji holds her hands together and rubs them slowly. This really takes him back in the absolute worst way.
“We should move out soon.” He says, more to the air then to Power. With what money? He gets a paycheck, right? Probably? Was that something Aki took care of too?
“I don't want to.” Power opens her eyes and stares at him.
“We don't own this place.”
“So?” She pulls her hands out of Denji's grasp and squeezes him instead. “Who's going to kick us out? We'll just-”
“Do you want heat again?”
“Ha- Mm- Yeah. But-” She trails off. Something brushes his feet and before he kicks out of reflex her cat is already curled up on top of them, face pressed into his shoulder right below her owner's.
“We can look for places after work.” Or during work. Who cares right? “It'll be fine.”
“Okay.” It sounds pathetic, but he probably doesn't sound any better. He wonders, belatedly, how Angel and Kobeni would take the news. Maybe they wouldn't care. Power is only ever vaguely aware of this sort of thing- right? He looks down at her and her eyes are watering like she's about to start crying.
“Fun. It'll be fun.” He says and grips her hands again, lifting them up to his mouth and blowing warm air on them. “We can live where ever.”
She squirms or shivers, he can't tell, and sniffles.
“Okay.” That's the 'I'm sorry for fucking up voice' she has whenever she thinks she's the one responsible for whatever happened. She doesn't blame herself for the Aki thing right?
That was all him.
“It's fine.” He says again, and turns to stare at the ceiling. He'll get over this just like he got over Reze. He's totally fine. Power will be fine too. He'll find something to distract her with and cheer her up that way. They'll get a new place, Denji will learn to pay the bills. They could get games or something. It's going to be great. And he's not going to have to think about this all the time.
It's going to be just fine.
Just Denji and Power and her cat.
It'll be fine.
And he'll stop thinking about it.
Aki's alarm goes off in the other room.
It's too cold to get up again just to turn it off.