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The fact that her skull was pressed up against the wood of her bedroom drawer was the least of her concerns at the moment. Her room wasn’t exactly sized to fit two futons with all of the other furniture in it, and this unenviable position meant that rolling the wrong way once might mean she’d stab her eye out on the corner of her desk.
Or, even worse: she might accidentally roll up to Nijika.
She’d already invited her over to meet her parents before, of course, but never to stay the night. Hell, this time, she’d invited herself over. Maybe staying the night pressed up so long against the floor would make Nijika start to notice the scent of something approximable to mildew that seemed to gather wherever she went.
If Hitori had a preferred sleeping position, she had completely forgotten what it was supposed to be. Her right arm was pinned underneath herself, and she’d somehow managed to bend her left elbow over her back in a way that cut off all blood flow to her hand.
For someone who was trying to stay absolutely still, she was trembling, and, by god, she hoped that Nijika wasn’t awake to see the mess that she was at that moment.
Knowing that her gi- …no, Hitori hadn’t even gotten used to saying it to herself in her own head yet. Knowing that Nijika was behind her made her heart beat out of her chest, and out of all the tricks she’d used to lull herself to sleep through the intrusive thoughts that assailed her in the night, there were probably none of them that were quiet, healthy, or socially acceptable enough for her to do the presence of such a cute, sweet girl like Nijika - awake or otherwise.
She twitched a little, and pins and needles shot up her arm. She rubbed her thumb against her calloused fingertips to try to restore feeling in her hand - if her arm atrophied away from blood loss on a night like this, she’d probably have to saw it off, and then Kessoku Band would have to find a new guitarist, and then-
“Bocchi-chan?”
Oh fuck she was awake.
Nijika’s soft fingertips slipped into the palm of Hitori’s hand, and she began to rub her own thumb over hers. The two had held hands together before, of course, but once they had started dating (or something ostensibly resembling a relationship, at least), it took weeks for Hitori to re-learn how to mentally comprehend the sensation of having another girl’s hand in her own. This situation, however, was a whole different beast.
“Bocchi-chan,” Nijika repeated. “Are you sure you’re comfortable like that?”
“Yes!” Hitori yelped, her vocal cords moving faster than her brain could think. “I sleep like this every night!”
“C’mon. You know I can tell when you’re being glib.”
Hitori turned over to look at Nijika, and oh fuck why did she think that was a good idea. Even without being all dressed up while out in the city, she was so, so cute, and she looked so pretty with her hair down, and her girly pajamas were so cute compared to Hitori’s dumb old t-shirt, and she smelled even nicer than all the air freshener Hitori sprayed in here this morning, and she was still so cute even while pouting…
Hitori buried her face in her pillow, but at the same time… she couldn’t find herself able to pull her hand away from Nijika’s.
“It’s okay, you know,” Nijika elaborated. “I don’t want to accidentally fry your circuits again. If this is too much for you tonight, I can go downstairs and sleep on the couch…”
“N-no!” Hitori yelped, her voice muffled by her futon. “You can’t!”
“Huh?”
“ I’ll be the one who sleeps on the couch! Promise!”
“Well… do you want to, Bocchi-chan?”
Hitori couldn’t muster an earnest reply right away. In the ensuing silence, the both of them could hear Hitori’s heartbeat running at 180 BPM.
“Well, um…” she stammered. “I…”
What do you want? She’s gonna break up with you at this rate! Think, girl, think!
“Bocchi-chan. Can I try something?”
“Well… I mean, I guess it’s okay for a little bit, since you’re already in here and all, and, um, well, y’know how it is, and…”
Nijika gently rolled Hitori over to her side, so that the two were facing each other, a gobsmacked expression on the latter’s face. Nijika leaned in, snaked her right arm underneath Hitori’s stomach, and wrapped around her with her left, resting her head on the girl’s chest.
“Is this okay?” she asked, looking up at Hitori.
“ .”
“Bocchi?”
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“
“Bocchi?”
I think I’m going to die here.
“Bocchi, this is the part where you’re supposed to wrap your arms around me too.”
Oh. Right.
Right.
“Um… sure… I just…”
God, Nijika’s hair smells so nice.
“...didn’t… really know… where to put my hands…”
“Just… do what I did, I guess,” Nijika replied, blushing a little. “Just… follow your heart? I’m sorta new to this too, you know…”
But it’s different, isn’t it? A girl like you and a girl like me…
“Um, then… what about this…?”
Hitori loosely draped her right arm over Nijika.
“I… think that’s fine,” Nijika replied, shifting a little bit to nuzzle her head deeper into Hitori’s chest. “This is… nice.”
“...Yeah. Nice.”
“Nice.”
This definitely wasn’t Bocchi’s usual sleeping position. It wasn’t really perfect, either - her left arm was still pinned underneath her, and her hair was kind of getting in her mouth.
It might be her new favorite one, though.
…It’s 3 AM.
My arm’s still stuck under Bocchi.
Help.