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Bright lights, cameras. Soft, clean white sheets, but rough hands. Holding back tears, you’re not allowed to cry, but it hurts.
Shizuku gasped, eyes flying open. The room was dark and quiet, with only some light from the moon and streetlamps shining through the window, curtains drawn. There was a phantom, yet oppressive weight resting on her chest, nearly crushing her.
She felt silent tears dripping down her face, and she looked to her side. Beside her, Airi was still breathing softly. Shizuku reached out and brushed away some of the hair in front of her face, exposing more of Airi’s beauty. Even after such a long time, Shizuku was still weak to Airi’s sleepy face, and she couldn’t help but smile through her tears, the mere presence of Airi making her feel a little better. She sat up.
“Hmmm… what time is it, Shizuku?” Airi murmured sleepily, eyes still closed, seeming to have woken up.
“Still early. Go back to sleep, get more rest.” Shizuku wished her voice didn’t crack, but Airi slowly pulled herself to a sitting position, frowning. She felt Airi’s eyes track the tears still slowly sliding down her cheeks.
“Another nightmare?”
There was no use hiding it. They had dealt with this same situation several times before, after all. Airi would know what’s wrong.
“Yes.”
“The same thing?”
“Yes.”
Airi pushed the blankets down, shivering slightly.
“I’m making tea.”
Shizuku nodded. She watched Airi leave, the soft sound of feet hitting the ground echoing throughout the dark room. Airi spared her a concerned glance, before the door opened and closed, and Shizuku was left alone with her thoughts. In a moment, golden light shone through the cracks at the bottom of the door.
Trying to get comfortable, she laid back down, but the echoing feeling of something isn’t right lingered, and she sat up again.
Deep breaths.
Shizuku tried to refocus her thoughts onto something else. Right now, Airi would be taking the tea leaves out of the cupboard, then measuring out a certain amount into a strainer, placing it into the teapot.
Inhale.
What type of tea? A surprise, so she tried not to dwell on it too much. Then, Airi would bring the teapot over to the hot water heater, hitting a button and filling it with water.
Exhale.
She would leave the teapot to steep, coming back in the meantime.
The light from beneath the door turned off, and the door clicked open and shut once more, and then Airi was standing before her.
“It’ll take a while to brew, so while we wait, do you want to talk about it at all? Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Just… be there.”
“Alright.”
Airi climbed onto her side of the bed, and Shizuku scooted a bit closer to her.
“Would you mind lying down?”
Once Airi was lying on her side, Shizuku curled around her. Airi sighed contentedly, causing a warmth to rise within Shizuku, which she desperately held onto.
They laid there like that for a while, Shizuku idly playing with Airi’s hair, before Airi escaped Shizuku’s arms.
“I’m going to go bring the tea back, alright?”
Shizuku nodded and waited for Airi to return.
“Here’s your tea, love.”
Shizuku drank the tea, finding that even though it slightly burned her tongue, focusing on the feeling of painful heat was preferable to whatever else she was experiencing.
Airi set the cups back down on the bedside table, and slowly climbed into Shizuku’s arms once more.
Once she felt Airi fall asleep in her arms, she let her tears fall once more.