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It’s warm. Saki’s body temperature normally runs higher than average, and it makes cuddling with her on winter nights a delight. Ichika pulls the blanket tighter around them and snuggles a little closer to Saki.
They’re watching a movie, but Saki drifted off about halfway through, and Ichika finds herself glancing at Saki more than watching the movie. Her face is slightly flushed even in her sleep, and her bangs are slightly mussed. It’s adorable how she mumbles incoherently every so often. Saki vehemently denies being a sleep talker, but she’s time and time again proven wrong.
In her sleep, Saki squeezes Ichika’s hand. Her head moves slightly, so that she starts slipping off Ichika’s shoulder. Ichika tries to adjust herself to make sure Saki’s head stays on her shoulder, but she just slips the other way, so that instead of falling down Ichika’s back, her head ends up in Ichika’s lap. It’s only by some miracle that Saki doesn’t wake up.
The movie ends, and Ichika wonders if she should wake Saki up. After all, Saki did want to work on their music afterwards. But Ichika can’t bring herself to rouse Saki when she looks so peaceful in her lap. Luckily for her, Saki wakes up within a minute of the film ending. She rolls over, yawns and stretches her arms up, punching Ichika in the jaw.
‘Urk,’ Ichika grunts as she bites her tongue.
‘Oh my god, Icchan! I’m so sorry!’
‘Ith okay, doethn’ hurth a’ all.’
‘Here, let me take a look.’
Saki cradles Ichika’s face in her hands and inspects the underside of her jaw. There’s a nasty purple-green bruise blooming on her chin. Saki touches it gingerly, and judging from the way Ichika’s jaw tightens, it probably hurts. She retracts her hands.
‘Seriously, I’m so sorry, Icchan.’
‘Ith no problem, really.’
Saki squints at Ichika, weighing the pros and cons of her next move. Upon concluding that the pros did indeed outweigh the cons, her face splits into a wide grin.
‘Want me to kiss it better, Icchan?’
‘H-huh? O-Okay?’
As Ichika finishes her answer, Saki is already leaning in to plant her lips on the bruise. It’s feather-light and barely brushes the skin. It’s gone before Ichika even registers the pressure.
‘Better?’ Saki smirks triumphantly at the bewildered look on Ichika’s face. She’s half tempted to lean in again and kiss Ichika properly, but with excellent self-control, she extracts herself from the blanket and goes to wash the popcorn bowl.
It’s cold without Saki beside her. Ichika wants to drag her back to cuddle more, but Saki is being productive, and she probably wants to get the sheet music finished today, so Ichika sighs and hauls herself to where Saki is in the kitchen.
‘Saki, can I make some tea?’ Ichika asks.
Saki startles for a second before replying. ‘Yeah, sure.’
Ichika rummages around the cupboards until she finds some barley tea and puts the kettle on.
‘Do you want some?’
Ichika turns around from the kettle, coming face to face with Saki, who’s apparently finished washing and drying the bowl, and is now reaching around Ichika to grab her own mug from the cupboard under the kettle.
‘Yes please!’ Saki sings, presenting the mug to Ichika with a flourish.
Ichika blushes and takes it, placing a teabag in it. When the kettle is ready, she pours the water in both mugs.
‘Should we go to your room to work on the music?’
‘Yeah, sure. Icchan, are you holding my tea hostage?’
‘What, no! It’s just super hot, so I wanted to carry it to your room for you…’ Ichika trails off and looks away. ‘It’s stupid…’
‘Aww, thank you, Icchan. You’re such a gentleman.’
Ichika’s blushing a lot today.
They go up to Saki’s room and Ichika places the tea on the table. It’s slightly chilly in the room, but there are enough blankets in there to supply a dozen families, so Ichika’s pretty sure it will be fine, not to mention the steaming mugs of barley tea. Saki immediately plops down at the table.
‘Thanks for the tea, Icchan! Love you!’
Ichika smiles and sits down next to Saki. ‘Love you too.’
She punctuates the end of the sentence with a kiss on Saki’s cheek, but Saki turns her head at the same time, so it catches the corner of her mouth. Out of her peripheral vision, Ichika can see Saki’s throat bob as she swallows.
‘Icchan.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Can I kiss you?’
It’s one of the small things Ichika loves about Saki – the way she always makes sure Ichika is comfortable. She always asks, or says something related and gauges her reaction. It makes Ichika feel so cared for in a way that she never knew she missed.
‘Yes,’ she breathes, and Saki is leaning in, and her soft lips are pressing against Ichika’s, and her arms are looping around her back to pull her closer. It’s so, so warm in Saki’s embrace. Ichika almost wants to stay like this forever. Saki tastes like popcorn, but there’s something bitter underneath – her medicine, probably. When they first started dating, Saki had avoided kissing for hours after taking her medicine, worried about the taste. But Ichika doesn’t mind. She could never mind, with Saki, not when every moment with her feels so overwhelmingly sweet.
It’s easy, in moments like these, to forget that they need to breathe. Saki pulls away, breathing hard, and Ichika wants to pull her back in, but it’s Saki, and she needs time to catch her breath, and Ichika could never forgive herself if she did something to hurt her.
Saki shuffles closer and buries her face in the crook of Ichika’s neck. Ichika can feel her hot breaths against her skin. Saki giggles, and it’s muffled by Ichika’s shoulder, but Ichika can feel it down to her chest.
And then Saki’s toying at the hem of Ichika’s sweater with her fingers. It’s an innocent action on its own, but Saki turns her head so that she can stare into Ichika’s eyes, and Ichika nods. Eagerly, Saki slips her hands beneath the sweater and places them on Ichika’s back. Ichika is not wearing anything under that sweater. Saki’s hands are on her bare back. Ichika short-circuits.
Another giggle.
‘Your skin is cold, Icchan.’
Ichika shivers at the huff of hot breath on her neck. Saki is right, she’s always cold. The winter air leeches the heat from her skin, and no amount of layers seem to help. It’s only when she’s cuddled up against Saki that she truly feels warm. Even when she’s huddled under blankets next to a radiator, it doesn’t come close to the warmth she feels when she’s with Saki. Ichika only regrets that she can’t make Saki feel the same warmth.
Against her will, Ichika starts drifting off in Saki’s comforting embrace.
‘Icchan, we have work to do. If you fall asleep, we won’t get anything done,’ Saki says softly.
Ichika hums in response, but makes no move to do anything.
‘Icchan.’ Saki sighs and pushes herself away from Ichika. They really need to finish the song before the next band practice. It’s strange, because usually Ichika is the one having to wake up Saki.
But then Ichika does the unthinkable. She murders Saki. Well no, it’s not like she took out a knife and stabbed her, but Saki’s sure she felt her heart stop for a moment, which is really worrying considering her condition – because Ichika pouts and it’s so adorable that Saki almost dies.
‘Icchan, you’re killing me,’ Saki whispers, so quietly that she’s almost sure Ichika won’t hear it through her drowsiness.
‘H-huh?’
Well, apparently Ichika does hear because she jolts up.
‘Sorry. Sorry! Did I do something?’
‘Icchan, you’re too cute!’ Saki gushes.
‘H-huh?’
‘But also, we reaaallly need to get this done.’
‘A-ah, right.’
They work on the song for hours – Saki gets out her keyboard to see how it sounds, and Ichika gets out her guitar from its case to try playing it and singing the melody. In the end, when they’re both happy with how it sounds, they just end up serenading each other. Ichika sings a cheesy love song for Saki, and they laugh about it, and Saki falls in love with Ichika’s laugh and her voice all over again. She wishes there could be infinitely many moments like this, where they’re just having fun together.
Eventually, though, Saki’s too tired to stay awake much longer, and Ichika agrees that they should probably go to bed. After some whining and ‘persuasion’ (read: kisses and promises of kisses) from Saki, Ichika also agrees to sleep over. She calls her parents to let them know, and then she gets ready to go to bed. She stays over so often that there’s a spare toothbrush for her in the cupboard, and she’s left a pair of pyjamas in Saki’s closet.
When Ichika goes back to the bedside, Saki’s already there, scrolling through something on her phone. She immediately notices Ichika and holds out her arms, making a grabby motion with her hands to beckon her closer.
Ichika, of course, complies eagerly, allowing herself to be pulled into bed. The bed is slightly cold, the room having been cold for most of the day, so Ichika really is glad that Saki is so warm.