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It would be a lie if Aki said that the sound of footsteps pacing back and forth in front of his room woke him up.
He hadn't been able to sleep. He doubted he would be able to, regardless of the nuisance that made itself known in the middle of the night. It had been that kind of night.
Just as Aki put a hand over his throbbing temple, the footsteps stopped.
It was followed by a few light knockings on the door.
He didn't get up until the sound of the knocking became more urgent, until it became a problem he couldn't ignore.
His body felt sluggish as he got up and opened the door, the lack of sleep pressing heavily on him when he saw Denji standing outside of his room with bitten nails.
Denji flinched. The minuscule act spoke volumes of his emotional state.
"Hey, Aki," Denji stuttered. He sounded the most nervous Aki had ever heard of him. "Do you want to watch a movie?"
"Denji," Aki said, unable to stop the exasperation creeping into his voice despite his best effort. "It's 2 in the morning."
Denji laughed nervously. Aki squinted at him.
Even in the dark, Denji looked like an abandoned drenched puppy.
"Look," Denji said. "Can I-"
The sound of him swallowing his saliva echoed.
"Can I sleep in your room tonight?"
Ah.
"Ah."
Denji flinched again, his hunched form slumped further in the dark. Somehow, unrelated as it might be, it made Power's absence in the house all the more glaring.
Aki sighed. The throbbing pain behind his temple was getting worse. One thing was clear, though. Either way, he wouldn't get much sleep tonight.
"Come in."
Denji stepped in almost immediately and jumped into the bed with the eagerness of a dog offering the wooden stick in its mouth.
Makima once said that Denji was just like a dog (whether she meant it in a good way or a bad way was still a mystery), but Aki never really saw it until now.
It was impossible not to, with the way Denji curled up in the bed and looked up at him. 'What are you waiting for? Come here!' his sparkly eyes were all but practically screaming.
Aki suppressed the surge of gooey feelings that nowadays he associated with Denji and Power. This warmth inside of him felt comforting, but at the same time, it was so unfamiliar that it burned all the way down to his testicles. As always, things were complicated when it involved those two.
But, Aki thought to himself as he tucked Denji with a blanket beside him. I don't mind.
The next morning, Power was back from her trip, making a ruckus and throwing tantrums as if to make up for her lack of presence yesterday. Aki watched from the corner as Power and Denji started another childish brawl, hiding a smile behind his coffee mug when Power started pulling Denji's hair.
Really, it was as if she never left the house.
With Power here, Denji wouldn't come knocking to his room. Aki sipped his coffee and pretended the twinge in his heart was anything other than a lonely longing.
"Aki! Tell Power that she's being a bitch!"
"Aki! Denji is an idiot! An idiot!"
Those two made it easy.