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Nifuji Hirotaka never considered himself to be a very touchy person. He’d overheard that some couples were definitely more handsy when they weren’t in public, and he’d thought about it plenty, he supposed. He just wasn’t the sort of person who sought out physical affection. There was nothing wrong with this, he figured, since everyone had their own love language. Every once and a while, he did feel the need to kiss Narumi or embrace her, but it wasn’t to the extent that other people claimed to need skinship.
Thus, his dates with Narumi often weren’t that touchy. Even with her over here, playing Mariokart on the floor in her pajamas, he didn’t feel the need to snuggle up against her. He enjoyed watching her from the couch, frantically spinning the Wii remote back and forth as she screamed about her opponents. He’d just finished the race and was free to watch her while she played catchup. As she got close to the end, he walked over to his fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. When she finally tossed the remote down and let out a breath, he handed her the drink. She accepted it, grinning at him. She was already a little tipsy.
“Should I be giving you more?” he mumbled.
Narumi giggled.
“Awe, I’m fine, Hirotaka!” she said.
He’d seen her drunk enough times that he didn’t care. So long as she didn’t throw up all over the place, he didn’t care. Narumi was cute no matter what she was doing. They tapped their beer cans together and then popped them open to knock back a large gulp. She let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
“Should we go another round?” he asked.
She hummed. The way she knit her brow together and made such a big deal about her decision made her extra adorable. She reminded him a bit of a cartoon character as she placed one hand on her chin, the other on her elbow, and changed which way she was leaning every few seconds. At last, she finally sat up and pointed one finger into the air.
“One more round!” she cried.
Her mind had been made up. He set up another round of races, picked most of the settings for himself, since Narumi didn’t care so much, and then they were off again. Narumi selected her kart based off of which she thought was the cutest look, while he paid attention to his stats to make sure his selection was the best for speed and traction. It wasn’t that he needed a boost when playing against Narumi—it was just principle.
The round felt like it dragged on, and maybe that was because his skill was much higher than hers. He didn’t mind, though. It was a weekend now. She was staying with him all night, hence the pajamas they were wearing. Hers were very cute—they had a peach theme to them. He wondered if she understood what peaches had come to symbolize in emojis and kept his amusement to himself. Telling her would only get her frustrated or embarrassed. Though now, after several beers, he might be able to comment without her being too upset.
As soon as she crossed the final finish line, she leaned over the back of the couch and yawned. The hem of her shirt came up over her waistline, showing off her slender stomach and part of her navel. Hirotaka wondered how someone could be so small and thin. She reached her right hand over to his leg and gently punched it.
“Hirotakaaaa,” she droned.
He looked down at her.
“Narumi-don,” he said.
She produced an odd expression in response. He wanted to laugh—she was totally drunk. He had no idea what such a face meant; her cheeks were puffed up, her brows were knit together, her eyes were closed tightly, and her nose was all scrunched up.
“Let me up there with yooooooou!” she finally said.
At this point, he couldn’t think of a decent response. Not once had he forbidden her from sitting up with him on the couch. This was a rule that drunk Narumi had conjured up all on her own. He reached down and picked her up from under her arms and pulled her upwards to plop her down on the couch next to them.
“No one said you had to sit on the floor,” he told her.
She whined a little bit, but she didn’t say anything in protest. He picked up the Wii remotes and placed them back in their designated spot by the couch. He came and sat back down next to Narumi, who was knocking back another can of beer. Maybe he should cut her off. She’d never told him whether or not she got bad hangovers. This wasn’t a good time to find out. He reached over to grab her can, but she stopped him by throwing a pillow into his chest.
“Hirotaka, meaniiie!” she cried.
He hummed.
“Is that so?” he said.
Narumi nodded her head once and then buried it in the pillow.
“Mmmiiimmm…”
He stared at her blankly for a moment, hoping that she’d raise up her head. When she didn’t, he just nodded.
“Yeah,” he said.
Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what she’d said into the pillow. He left her there for a moment while he cleaned up the beer cans. The one she’d been waving around just a moment before still had a bit left in it. He was tempted to pick it up and finish it off himself, but he didn’t want to upset the delicate balance of moving around Narumi’s things. He waited for her to sit back up, finish it, and then flop back over face-first into the pillow before he removed the final can. With that all cleaned up, he went over to the couch, made sure she was laid down comfortably with a blanket, and then he went into his room to get to sleep.
He left the door open just a crack, just in case she woke up and needed something. He figured the most likely desire would be help getting to the bathroom. Shaking his head, he sighed and climbed into his bed, rolling over so as to keep his eyes away from the door. If he didn’t think about her sleeping on the couch, passed out from beer overload, he wouldn’t worry so much, and he’d be able to get to sleep.
His eyes slipped shut and he curled up on his side. He let out a breath as he settled down into the sheets, letting himself relax. So long as he didn’t think about possible incidents with Narumi, he’d be fine. Unfortunately for him, though, it didn’t take her long to pull a stunt in the midst of her drunken state.
Just as he felt himself submitting to sleep, he felt a thump on the other side of his bed, and then he felt pressure against his back. He turned over to tell Narumi that he’d take the couch if she really wanted the bed, but then she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him. He tried to adjust himself to get out of her grasp. That only made her squeeze him tighter.
“Hirotakaaaa…” she groaned.
He sighed.
“What is it?” he asked.
She rubbed her cheek against his arm and pressed her body up against his.
“Cuddle with meeee…” she slurred.
The drunkenness was still present. She wouldn’t normally be so forward about this, especially knowing that he wasn’t the touchiest of people. But she was relentless in this form. Her arms refused to let him go, and before he knew it, she’d wrapped a leg around his as well. At this, he felt his heart start to pick up its pace. She was clinging to him in a very intimate way. He had to keep his cool. She was drunk, after all. This wasn’t an active attempt to seduce him—it was Narumi being sloppy with her manners and overly gushy. He turned to look over his shoulder and frowned.
“It’s time to sleep,” he said. “You’re drunk.”
She shook her head adamantly and pressed her chest further into his back. Her cheek pressed against his, and he could feel her breath on his skin. Her lips were so close he could kiss them. He felt her kicking one of her feet on the bed, thumping it rhythmically as she let her weight rest against him.
“Nooo,” she said. “I don’t wannaaaa…I wanna cuddle with youuuu…”
He sighed and tried to turn over. He situated himself so that he was lying on his back now. She giggled gleefully and immediately slipped up against him, sticking to the position of wrapping as closely around his side as she could. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. It was going to be a long night for him, wasn’t it? Her body was warm, and it was glued to him. Sleep would not be coming easily tonight.
Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what it was that suddenly made him feel very awake. Was it because she was pressed up against him so casually? Any man would be lucky to have a woman clinging to him like this. But he wasn’t that much for cuddling, so was it the fact that he was so close to her? It kept him awake because he felt odd? That theory didn’t make too much sense the more he turned it over in his head.
“Hirotaka…we should go to Animate tomorrow…” she mumbled.
Taken out of his thoughts, he nodded in agreement.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll go after breakfast.”
She let out a giggle. He figured it was because she had the alcohol in her system. Why else would she giggle about going to a store? He had to pause that thought before he finished it. Of course, she was giggling—there had to be some new release for a BL she’d been reading. Sighing, he shook his head in defeat. Narumi would always be Narumi, even when so drunk she was splayed all over him.
“Hirotakaa…”
He glanced down at her.
“Hmm?” he said.
At this point, he didn’t have the energy to keep up with her, but he also didn’t have the right environment to fall asleep in. He was trapped in between these two modes: fully awake and fully asleep. If only he could just switch himself off like a game console, then everything would go smoothly, and he could fall asleep regardless of whether Narumi was awake or not.
“Is Hana-chan your type?”
He almost choked on the next breath he took. Her statement woke him up, to say the least.
“What makes you say that?” he asked.
She yawned and shook her head.
“Big boobs,” she grumbled.
His eyes wandered over to the anime and game figures he had lined up on his shelf. It was certainly true that he liked the physical appeal of larger boobs. This wasn’t the first time Narumi had said something about it; he was used to this sort of commentary. But hearing her say it when she was drunk and out of sorts, it made him wonder if she misunderstood something about him. He was always so externally casual, but the way he felt about her was anything but that. Could he voice his mind now? Would she remember it?
Sighing, he reached down and started to stroke her hair out of her face. As expected of someone so drunk, her hair was stuck in her mouth and otherwise plastered all over her face as she sat there, uncaring. He smiled. Even this messy, he had to admit that drunk and cuddly Narumi was quite adorable. She hummed and lifted her head up a little, looking at him dazedly.
“You’ve always been my type, Narumi-don,” he said.
She didn’t seem to register what he’d said as out of the ordinary, because she just smiled stupidly at him and stuck her face back into his chest. He lightly chuckled to himself. It was alright with hm if she didn’t hear. He would rather her come to understand without being drunk. But for now, he’d enjoy her like this. Even if he didn’t like cuddling all that much, it was worth it to see the big, stupid, grin plastered on her face right now.
“Hirotakaaa…” she said.
He smiled.
“Hmm?”
Back to just humming, he supposed. It wasn’t like she was really going to remember any of this conversation, after all.
“I love you,” she said.
His heart skipped a beat. Had she just said that? It wasn’t something they’d said to one another yet. But he knew with all of his heart that he felt that way about her. He’d always felt that way—they’d been children still when he’d fallen for her. Never once had he imagined that she might feel the same way. And as they say: people speak the truth without holding back when they’re drunk. So, her words weren’t random or faked. They had to be her true sentiments. Hirotaka smiled and leaned over to plant a gentle kiss on her head.
“I love you, too, Narumi-don,” he whispered.
He relaxed back into the bed and felt more ready for sleep than he had before.
“And I always have.”