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The treadmill made a whirring noise, and your girlfriend made a bumping noise whenever she set her foot down on it. Bump, bump, bump. Rhythmical and almost soothing in its repetitive cycle, but maybe her presence is what really soothed you, the sound of her workout reminding you she is there. You yourself lay curled up on the bed in her room, her very cool room. Despite the two fluffy blankets covering you, second blanket courtesy of March 7th, you still shivered and shook involuntarily, you tail curling around you and your ears laid flat against your head.
"Could you turn the AC up?" You ask, voice drowsier than you were expecting it to be.
"Are you cold?" The sweating goddess on the treadmill asks.
"Oh come on!" You grab the closest pillow in range and hurl it at her, and it bounces right off her shoulder. "Why else would I ask you to turn the heat up?" You settle back down into the bed after your failed assault attempt.
Stelle's head tips down slightly, a droplet of sweat rolling from her forehead to her nose, where it breaks off from her skin and lands unto the conveyor belt her shoes keep pounding. You burry your face in the pillow because aeons that should not be as arousing as it is.
"Just a minute or two more, please babe? I'm almost finished with this." She huffs, expressing her exhaustion.
And so you wait for her, because you don't know which dumpster located on which planet she found her air-conditioning... But it certainly is one with a language you do not understand. Stelle seems to have figured it out, or asked Dan Heng to help. Both are just as likely. But when your ears perk up to hear her get off the treadmill, you find she decides to do nothing about the freezing room- like seriously. Your nipples were about to go necrotic from frostbite- no, this lady decides to leave the room! Sweating like a pig, as well. You scrunch your nose at the smell she radiates. The fact she brought a shirt and pants doesn't make the situation any better, because that means she is going to shower before coming back!
Outrageous. Your tail thumping the bed in a classic Foxian tantrum agrees.
***
Once that moist, grey head enters the room she is pulled down into her own bed unceremoniously by a determined force, then promptly brought under two blankets. The four and a quarter limbs now encircling Stelle also gave her all the information on who is keeping her hostage in her own bed.
And really, who was she to deny her girlfriend cuddles?
As any sane and sound of mind person would do, Stelle returned the hug, gently stroking your ears in a mock-apology. Her stellaron-powered body always radiated an abnormal heat, and who were you to not utilise that? Just the warm feeling of her body wrapped around yours in a cold environment like this was enough to almost redeem her sinfully impractical AC.
She'll say her room isn't that cold to anybody who complains, and proudly state that she is not cold in the slightest; she usually gets a few knowing looks from those who know, like... About the stellaron and all. Thanks to said stellaron, your girlfriend has a lot of energy coursing through her toned and honed body. More energy than most people. Even though she sleeps, eats, drinks and all like other people, she moves a lot more and with different vigour. But in the end; room: hard and cold, girlfriend: soft and warm.
You start to unwrap your legs from her waist, somehow getting closer to her despite loosening your death-grip on her warm body, you also take the chance to incessantly rub your tail against her thigh. Aeons she smells so fresh and nice too- you cannot resist shoving your nose into her hair and taking a drag of air to enjoy the smell of her shampoo, the smell of her.
Even though you just want to keep hugging her like a hungry anaconda, her warmth makes your muscles relax. Her soft kisses and tiny giggles also play a part, also those strokes to your ears. This woman knows you all too well, so well in fact, that she will probably be the death of you.
Both of you.
But in all honestly, dying right here right now wouldn't be the worst, you know with being wrapped in your lovers arms and tenderly caressed and all. Her sweet love and apologetic kisses all you need to feel happy.
Now; while being lovingly snuggled and receiving the attention and, literal, warmth you deserve, there is only one thing left to do: bury your face in her chest. She already has a hand on yours, cheeky thing, why not indulge yourself. Fair is fair.
It's not like her top is a hindrance in your pursuit, it actually neatly frames her cleavage. Like the petals of a flower guiding the pollinator right into the core of the flower, right to the sweet nectar. So in similar style of a bumblebee: you completely emerge your face where it's being generously guided. Right into her soft and even warmer chest, nestling your cheek right up to the tiny star-shaped "scar" that marks the entry point of the stellaron.
A soft, amused chuckle is heard from above you. "Someone missed me?" She teases you, but her arms snake tighter on your body, she was missing you too.
"Mmgh... Well, when your girlfriend is an interstellar traveller, you have to treasure moments like these. Why did you get a girl off the Xianzhou of all places? Didn't you know that it's illegal for Xianzhou long-life species to leave the ships?" You realise you're rambling, and decides to focus your sleepy brain on stroking your girlfriend's waist.
"If I'll be honest: I didn't really care, and I still don't really care. I really want to be with you, and I'm fine with the distance. I mean, we both have some slight... hindrances, and I think I like it like that. I'm more worried about not making an imprint in your significantly longer life. My lifetime is already small, and the time we can spend together is very limited, I'm worried you'll just forget me once I'm gone." She answers your ramble with one of her own. Gosh you love how honest she is, completely unashamed as well.
After a beat of, to you: comfortable silence, you decide to answer her worries. "You've already made an unforgettable impact on my life, Stelle. Seriously, all of the Nameless are outstanding people by every standard of every place. Even though our time will be fleeting, and I'll miss you if you go... I'll definitely remember you all my meager remaining four hundred years." You take a slight pause to breathe, and to notice the way your girlfriend happily pushes her face between your ears to get to your hair. "And I'm kind of disappointed that you haven't made a cotton-eyed Joe reference yet." You end with.
The laughter she let's out right in your hair is one she didn't expect, and finally she does what she should have long ago. "Where did you come from, where did you go-" She holds onto you and settles you both upright, your face, begrudgingly, having to leave her tits. "Where did you come from Cotton-eyed Joe!" She moves you both off the bed at the apex of the chorus-snippet she chose. The blankets have already slid off you and you hate it.
As your feet settle on the floor you give in to a full-body shiver. She never turned the AC up. You haphazardly hit her in retaliation for ripping you from soft, warm comfort- while still having a necrosis-inducingly cold room!
"Turn the AC up, you raccoon woman!" You grab a pillow to keep hitting her, in a non-hazardous but still insistent display of "I'm cold and I am willing to keep on being violent to stop that."
After a few laps around her room and some consistent pounding hits with a pillow: she gives in. She walks up to the strange AC and presses a few buttons, and to your horror the room turns cooler.
She watches you intently for your reaction, and actually turns the AC up, properly, once she has seen it. Because however much she likes messing with you, she still loves you and seeing you in discomfort is only is this fun. So when your tail tucks down between your legs and your ears lay flat against your head the room shifts into sudden but welcome warmth.
You can't help but smile.
You really, really love what you have with her.