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At night, when the world turns quiet, the rain sounds like a calm static tapping against the roof.
And, at night, there was nothing else to listen to except for the small, tiny breaths of Nene’s asleep body, cuddled up against Rui’s. He takes in the softness of her skin, and how her pastel-green hair blankets around his face, tickling him even with a slight brush.
He leaves a kiss on her forehead as if leaving an imprint, a tingling feeling crawling through his skin. Looking at how peaceful she is when she’s asleep, how nothing can hurt her now, all of her fears and worries now reduced to dreams, he can’t help but admire how pretty she is without her glaring back at him if he looked too long.
He slinked his arms around her waist, no better than a petty thief as he stole her warmth to keep. The blanket was sprawled across the floor, but Rui didn’t mind using Nene as his cover. Although it was midnight on a school night, Rui couldn’t care any less. If he could spend more time with his girlfriend like this, he could worry about the effects of sleep deprivation as he trudged through math equations.
Leaning into the crook of her neck, they click together perfectly like the Japanese art of kumiki —a carpentry technique that means “to join wood together”, where wooden pieces are joined together without the use of nails. Her floral scent infiltrated his nose, putting Rui into a hypnotic trance as he cradled her as if she were the most precious piece of art in his arms.
Though, as Nene stirs awake, Rui begins to realize how much he’s screwed up. Her eyes flickered open, like curtains refusing to pull, as she called out to him groggily. “Rui… What in the world are you doing…?” A wave of wind parted the drawn curtains of an open window, causing the moonlight to spill across her face, lighting her purple eyes and creating a sparkling effect that made them look like gemstones—an effect that made her more beautiful than he could ever imagine, his racing heartbeat giving his remorse away like a criminal caught in police car headlights.
“If I told you how beautiful you looked, would that make you less mad?” He asked with a guilty smile, hoping it was charming enough to reassure her.
It was not.
“We have class tomorrow… If I don’t get enough sleep this time, the homeroom teacher will yell at me for dozing off during class hours again .” She groaned, remembering the embarrassment she felt hearing her classmates giggle at her being called out. “…Never again.”
He hummed as a soft howl of wind echoed through his bedroom. “No matter. You’ll get enough, I’m sure.”
“Alright…” She sighed, now pacified by her boyfriend squeezing her waist. “Sorry for snapping… I get a bit cranky whenever I wake up.”
“It’s fine. I love you regardless, as long as you apologize,” He says as he captures a kiss between them, one both loving and sleepy. “Now, go back to sleep, will you?”
“Only if you do too.” She smiled back challengingly as she leaned out of the kiss.
He giggled, nearly taken aback by her sudden boldness. “So that’s how you’re playing this? Fine. I’ll go to sleep too.”
And with that, he cuddled closer to her, their arms wrapped around each other in a promise to never leave the other’s side.
Although he wanted to stay up a bit longer to admire her, he complied and reluctantly shut his eyes, not without an unknown smile formed on his face as he drifted off to sleep, glad her face was the last thing he would see before he eventually closed the chapter of the day.
♫彡*:･ﾟ✧
As she rose awake, Nene realized… she was trapped in Rui’s embrace. Her eyes felt as heavy as Rui’s hold on her and a slow, faint headache echoed in the back of her mind. A deep blue glow colored the closed windows, not entirely day nor night, in a harmonious equilibrium.
She tried to free herself but found any attempt futile—which was really an excuse to stay in his arms for longer, seeing as she didn’t bother to wake him up. And although they were supposed to be getting ready for school, Nene thought 30 or so minutes in bed wouldn’t hurt.
Soaking in his warmth, Nene couldn’t admit—both to herself and Rui—how much she loved cuddling him every night. So much so, that she didn’t want to wake up at all. Knowing Rui was the first thing she would see when she woke up was comforting enough to her.
She buried herself into his chest as if seeking shelter and closed her eyes again. Now that she was close enough, the steady staccato of his heartbeat reassured her that he was alive. That he was here, right next to her.
After nearly losing him during middle school, Nene had the occasional irrational fear of him leaving her again, that they would revert back to their past and part ways. But, after seeing how much he’s changed and grown since then, Nene reminds herself that both of them weren’t the same as before. They’ve since changed and healed with the help of each other making them realize their true potential.
She finds safety in his presence. With him, there was no need to keep her guard up or put a filter on herself. She could be herself, flaws and all, because Rui knows her too well for her to hide anything and vice versa.
Even without the blanket, Nene felt as warm as his breath against her skin, causing her to flinch with how ticklish she was. And with that simple flinch, Rui hummed as he awoke.
“Hm?” He looked down at her. Nene pretended to still be asleep, but Rui knew her too well. “Looks like somebody’s trying to hide.” Giggling, he pulled her closer and lay a kiss on the top of her head, taking in the scent of her shampoo.
“Ah,” She yelped. “S-Stop…” She didn’t want him to.
Rui, like the hopeless (emphasis on hopeless ) romantic he was, did not, in fact, stop. Instead, he kissed around her head, trailing to her face, then her neck—leaving behind praises everywhere he kissed—which earned him a few squirms and squeezes. She giggled under him, feet kicking around.
All of a sudden, he stopped and admired her red-painted face underneath him. “You’re so adorable,” He said as he brushed his hand through her hair as if silk, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Leaning in, he kissed the tip of her nose. “You look like a tomato.”
With that comment, the moment was rui ned, and Nene pushed him off of her. “Did you seriously just say that??” She groaned, still completely in love with him regardless. “Whatever… Get up. We have school.” She said as she got up from the bed, stretching her arms like a cat that just woke up from a nap.
He smiled as he stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist to entice her. “A few more minutes? Please?”
Nene swore she could die right now. “…Fine. Then we’ll get ready for school, okay?”
“Sure. Whatever you say.”
Who knew a few minutes meant half an hour.
They both did—unwilling to leave the other’s embrace.
Maybe school could wait.