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Ryujin opened her eyes to a purple-blue shade somewhere between night and morning. It wasn’t quite a starry midnight, but neither a dawn yet.
She didn’t wake up because she was cold. She was snatched from her sleep because she was freezing. Ryujin grumbled under her breath. She really hated winter.
The chill was licking at her feet, slipping like fingers of white frost beneath the legs of her pajama pants and up her thighs, making her spine vibrate with shivers. Her muscles were taut, trembling and aching as she was curled in a tight ball, trying to accumulate the little remains of warmth she had left, and keep them from escaping.
Thirty minutes and a long chain of grumbles later, Ryujin sat up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. Searching blindly around her nearest surroundings, she had hoped to find a few, or at least one more piece of clothing. There was a hoodie hanging over the armrest of her chair, big and fluffy, and definitely Yeji's then, but it was just as cold as Ryujin was.
Everything was. Because the heater in her room was still broken, the repairman just as useful as ever, too busy to come and fix it, and outside there was a freaking snowy winter howling behind the windows.
Teeth chattering, Ryujin stood in the middle of her bedroom, angry, and pottering in a poor attempt to keep her bare feet from freezing onto the hardwood floor.
She had tried everything. From curling up in a ball, to rubbing her hands together, to walking back and forth around her tiny room with her blanket wrapped around her body. But all that did was make her more awake.
Ryujin was left cold and cranky. Not a good combination.
Eventually, with a deep frown etched in between her eyebrows and a heavy, troubled sigh, she figured there was only one thing that could help. Just one, simple thing that would save her from freezing to death.
It was the last option she wanted to pick, though, in principle. Because it just wasn’t her style. Ryujin swore she wouldn't do it.
But now she was tired, and shuddering, and the air around her was so cold she could see a cloudlet of vapour rising from her mouth with every breath she let out.
Her girlfriend wouldn't mind, right?
The door creaked slightly as she pushed it open; a streak of dim light from the lamp in the living room falling across the carpet.
Ryujin crept in like a thief, guided by the faint moonlight and her memory, before she finally reached the bed. She dropped her blanket, still cold and useless, to the floor and gently crawled onto the bed. The mattress dipped beneath her weight lightly, making Yeji's body roll towards the hollow and causing her to protest feebly in her sleep.
Ryujin lifted the covers and nearly gasped in shock at the sight of Yeji sleeping in just a grey T-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts.
How on earth?
Wearing long pajama pants, an inner shirt, and a hoodie over it, Ryujin suddenly felt like a polar explorer off-cast in Hawaii. She shook her head and slid in, crawling towards the warmth that was Yeji.
Ryujin could hear Yeji's smile, the sound of amusement tugging at the corners of her mouth, as Yeji scooted over and a pair of warm arms found Ryujin, pulling her in. “I thought you didn’t cuddle,” she said.
“Shut up,” Ryujin grumbled, feeling the shiver rocketing through her body finally subside slowly. “Just shut up.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Besides, I’m totally not cuddling,” Ryujin objected vehemently. “I’m just absorbing warmth.”
She nudged her thigh in between Yeji's, seeking the proximity and heat pouring off her, her shin slithering along Yeji's, her foot brushing Yeji's; bare and burning.
Yeji jerked at the contact and yelped, trying to get away from the iceberg that clung to her only more tightly.
“Gosh Ryujin, you’re absolutely freezing!” she complained.
“Really?” Ryujin murmured; her eyes tired and heavy, drifting close as she spoke. “Didn’t even notice.”
Yeji was warm, so warm Ryujin might have been experiencing some kind of a thermal shock. Because Yeji's body suddenly felt more comfortable than any bed Ryujin had ever rested on, and her chest, rising and falling rhythmically under Ryujin's head, like the best pillow. The way Yeji ran her fingers through Ryujin's hair making her feel even warmer.
Yeji liked playing with Ryujin's hair. It was soft and smelled just like baby powder. It was as if she was touching clouds but also as if she was touching the finest fabric of them all. And Yeji fancies a fine fabric, of course.
And Ryujin? She simply melted under Yeji's touch. If she was a cat, the purring would have been heard already. It felt so nice, so relaxing, so cozy.
"You should've came to my room earlier if it was that cold in yours.." Yeji said, rubbing her warm hands up and down her girlfriend's back.
But Ryujin only shook her head against Yeji's neck, eyes closed shut now. "Didn't wanna bother you."
"More like you were too shy to ask for cuddles." Yeji chuckled, to which the shorter girl let out a whine in protest.
She couldn't help but appreciate these subtle moments when Ryujin's tough exterior slipped away, revealing the softness underneath. She was really just the biggest baby who liked to hold Yeji's finger for comfort, liked to eat tangerines only if Yeji feeds her, whined until Yeji pays attention to her, and liked to sleep cuddled up to Yeji (even though she wouldn't admit it).
It didn't help that Ryujin was shorter than her either, because it just made her look even more tiny. And Yeji especially liked the way Ryujin's head fit perfectly under her chin and against her neck when they cuddled. Her girlfriend was so precious she wanted to put her in her pocket.
"Is this okay, though?" Ryujin wiggled closer, her voice barely above a whisper. "To sleep here with you?"
Yeji smiled, feeling her heart soar as her fingers gently threaded through Ryujin's hair. "Of course, baby. I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I love you, unnie." The shorter girl mumbled against the crook of Yeji's neck where her face was tucked into.
Ryujin made a soft sound as Yeji pulled back from the hug, only for her girlfriend to cup her cheeks and give her a small kiss on the forehead instead.
"I love you too, ddaeng."
Smiling in despite of her persuasion, Ryujin pressed herself back further into her girlfriend's tight embrace, and just enough so she could place a soft kiss somewhere where she guessed should be Yeji's mouth. She met the swell of Yeji's lower lip and a victorious grin that she, for once, didn’t feel like wiping out.
"Just to be clear, this isn't cuddling."
“Oh you are so cuddling.” Yeji chuckled into the darkness, pulling the freezing girl closer into a warm hug.
-
Ryujin almost dies the next day when she sees that Yeji had changed her phone contact name to "cuddle monster🤍".
Oh boy was Yeji never going to stop teasing her about it.