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Akito remembers laying on An’s small couch one late night. An old, scrawny blanket of Hello kitty and friends he had found in the depths of her closet draped on his body. The stringy threads supposed to be the hems barely reached to the bone of his ankles.
“Aren’t you cold?” An asked from her twin sized bed that would creek painfully with the slightest motion of movement. She seemed not tired and neither was he.
“No.” Akito said with all the sarcasm the world could hold. He pulled the blanket up farther to cover his arms, the chill of winter pinched his legs while the scruff of the fabric itched his arms.
“You know I have better blankets,” An said pointedly. “And a sleeping bag. It’s very comfy.”
“Liar,” Akito accused, The blanket was absolute dog shit and he was very tempted to set it on fire at this point. “You took all of the other blankets because you were cold.”
“Hm.” He couldn’t see it, but her lips were pursed outwards clearly confused about what to do. It’s one of those rare moments where she thinks, Akito presumes. So he keeps quiet, silently praying that an idea—a good idea will pop into that pretty little head of hers, and then they’ll both be happy.
“Just sleep here then Akito,” An said without hesitation.
“Sleep where?” Akito shoots back. She’s surely not referring to the carpet on the floor right?
“Are you a dumbass? Obviously in the bed.” An had said. And in the quiet, chilled room, Shinonome Akito was silent. In that period of stilled silence, Shinonome Akito was thinking about things.
A thought that would be expressed by being spoken out loud,
“Are you fucking stupid?!” Akito calmly said while screaming. His eye catching a small hole in the cotton by the pocket of his shorts.
An quite clearly took offense to his comment. She blinked heavily before responding to his remark with the remaining maturity still within herself.
“No, I’m not stupid you ass!!” An exclaimed, pouting as she did so.
“Your dad made us sleep in separate beds while keeping the door wide open. How do you think he’s gonna react when he sees me in the same bed as you?” Akito had pointed. Getting on Ken’s bad side was a bad thing—no, it just wasn’t an option. An either was stupid, or she didn’t love him anymore.
He hoped it wasn’t the latter.
The bedsheets ruffled as An sat up and got out of bed. Her feet padding along the plush carpets.
“What are you doing?” He harshly whispered to her watching her shadowy figure slowly illuminate in the light of the outside hallway. Her black locks tightly wrapped in a bun with a blue scrunchy, clad in a red sweatshirt suspiciously a little bit too big for her size.
“You see that?” She turned to look at him for a short second before turning back to survey the hallways. “My parent’s door is closed.”
An quickly tiptoed back to her bed, this time lying closer to the wall. Expecting Akito to silently sneak in under the warm pile of blankets. “C’mon, just join me on the bed. it’s not like my Mom and Dad would know.”
Akito then took his own peak at a the ajar door, a sliver of light cracked out of it and illuminated apart of An’s face and her brilliant eye. Even in the dark, Akito memorized her obscured silhouette and admired it from afar. Even with this lighting, and how the darkness of the room practically cloaked her figure in the protective shield of black, oh how lovesick had he become?
He remembered why the door was cracked slightly open in the first place,
Shiraishi Yuka, mother of his beloved Shiraishi An, had two conditions on their newly blossomed relationship. That the door be left wide open whenever Akito had come to stay over, or they could both sleep on the couch where Yuka and Ken could keep a hawkish eye on them all night. And the second one, Akito may not sleep on the same bed as An at night.
“If you want to break up, just say so.” Akito said, instantly retracting his left leg from the wooden planks as if they were on fire.
An didn’t like this response, so she frowned.
“Why would I do that?! C’mon, don’t be so crass.” An exclaimed.
“Your mom would actually kill me. I might never see you again.” Akito shot back, eyes immediately darting away from her. He swung his legs on the tiny couch again. Settling for the small space once more.
“No she wouldn’t,” An stated as if it were an absolute fact, “Trust me.”
Akito rolled his eyes, “Didn’t seem like it to me.”
“She’s just joking,” An said, now patting the empty space beside even louder, “I would know!”
Akito flipped over, the Hello Kitty blanket let out a horrendous tearing noise. Upon half-assed inspection, Akito groaned.
“What was that?” An shot up from the bed hurriedly. Her eyes casting over the scruffy blanket Akito had borrowed for the night.
“Now look what you did!” She gasped, looking absolutely horrified, “You tore Mrs. Blankey!”
She wasn’t really upset. Akito thought quietly in his mind, but he certainly wasn’t gonna get away with this small crime against her childhood without paying for his actions.
“Bring her over to me.” An said, pulling the dangling switch of a lamp and sitting upright.
Akito sighed, he knew better to fight with a stubborn, thrown out the window logic person. He handled the blanket gently, slowly marching towards An.
She extended one of her arms stroking the torn blanket gently, she did not appear upset at all however. An then faced Akito, who cocked an eyebrow curiously to question An’s response to this.
She didn’t respond. Instead she threw her arms over his shoulders and leaned back, forcing gravity to pull him to her bed. They landed with a loud thud as An pulled the light switch again. Covering the room in darkness.
“You’re gonna get me killed.” Akito said quietly, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He had known the consequences for being caught near An at night, yet he couldn’t seem budge as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Keep complaining about it, and I’ll tell dad to ban you from Weekend Garage.” An said softly as she tucked him in, right beside her. Throwing the blankets over their shoulders.
“Yeah, yeah.” He muttered. Snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her impossibly closer. They closed their eyes, drifting to a peaceful slumber in a tangle of limbs and quiet snores.