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Pa wakes up to an empty spot to her left, the lack of Ink’s warmth cutting her sleep short. There are some sunbeams dancing through her skin as she blinks her eyes open and gazes at her own arm, reaching for Ink only to land on the tossed sheets where her girlfriend was supposed to be.
She wasn’t expecting Ink to be up so early. Ink didn’t have any classes that morning and could have slept in. Pa was the one who had her final exam in a couple of hours, which had made her restless for days on end and caused her to twist and turn many times during the night.
Pa tugs the covers off her body and yawns, stretching her arms widely over her head, feeling guilty at the thought her nervousness might have made it hard for Ink to rest properly and been the reason she was already out of bed. She desperately needed a huge cup of coffee and some last-minute reviews to pull herself together.
After going to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, Pa left Ink’s room to head for the kitchen, the noise of plates and mugs being moved around catching her attention.
Ink is setting up the breakfast table, a coffee pot visible on the kitchen sink as she hums under her breath, unaware of Pa’s eyes on her. She turns her back to Pa, heating some water on the stove.
Ink’s wearing her favorite blue pajamas shorts, the ones Pa always claims are older than Ink herself considering their very battered state, but that she not so secretly loves, and a light purple shirt that used to be Pa’s once upon a time before Ink claimed it. The piece of clothing was always too loose for Pa but fits Ink’s taller body perfectly.
It also helps that, every time Pa sees Ink wearing that shirt, some possessive and rudimentary part of her brain shortcuts and can only mumble the words “mine, mine, mine” over and over again as she kisses her girlfriend into oblivion.
That’s what she wants to do now, so Pa steps into the kitchen, enveloping Ink’s waist with both her arms, laying her head against the middle of her back. “Good morning.”
Ink startles at the sudden touch, but relaxes immediately into Pa’s embrace, giggling when Pa places a soft kiss against her back. “Good morning.”
Ink turns into her arms and rests against the kitchen cabinet, slopping down to look Pa in the eye, a habit that she had grown attached to during the last year. Pa usually found it annoying when someone tried to bend to speak to her, the action resembled mockery when it came to most people and made her feel too small, too fragile.
It wasn’t the case with Ink. Nothing that Ink did could ever make Pa feel weak, quite the opposite – Ink made her braver and stronger than anything else on the world. So, when her girlfriend crooked down a bit to stare at her, her eyes squeezing almost shut with the wideness of her smile, Pa felt precious.
It was second nature by now to lean up and press her lips against Ink’s, Pa’s arms pulling her in as Ink held her face with both hands. They kissed lazily, the way they normally did during their mornings together, with the knowledge they had time, that they had an entire day ahead of them and each other’s companies guaranteed when said day ended and night came.
“Are you hungry?” Ink asks and Pa nods, as she normally does when asked that question. “I will make some eggs. I’m also making coffee.” Ink kissed her once more before moving away to search for the coffee beans.
Pa watched, forever entranced by the beauty behind each movement Ink made: the fall of her dark hair glistening against the pale skin, the strip of skin that was reveled every time she reached for something high and her shirt went up, the little noises she made when she was looking for something with upmost concentration.
“You said you were trying to cut off coffee because it makes you too anxious.” Pa recalls when Ink finds what she was looking for.
“I am,” Ink replies simply, looking at her girlfriend over her shoulder, “I’m making it for you.”
Pa tilted her head, a bit confused, she had indeed been craving some coffee, but how could Ink have possibly known that?
Almost as if she could read Pa’s mind, Ink turned around to face her again and shrugged, “I know you are stressed about your finals and didn’t sleep well. You always need lots of caffeine when you get like that, so I thought it would help.”
Ink clearly misses how touched Pa is, just frowning at her in confusion about how quiet Pa suddenly becomes. There she was thinking Ink was bothered by her uneasiness, but the truth was she had just decided to get up on the one morning she could have slept in to try and make Pa’s day a bit easier.
What can she even say to that?
“I love you.” Pa states, blunt and unexpected, but nonetheless truthful, a bit breathless because she has this brilliant, gorgeous and kind girl that she is completely obsessed with making her feel all fuzzy in the inside before the sun has even properly rose.
Ink blinks a couple of times, confused, but still replying in her soft and melodic voice, “I love you too.”
Pa thinks, not for the first time, that she wants to wake up to those words for the rest of her life. She doesn’t think she can say that out loud yet, so she resumes to bumping her nose against Ink’s before letting her go back to her coffee brewing.
The weight on her shoulders is lessened considerably, any thoughts of tests and failure and fear being swept away easily because she has this.
She has Ink.