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*****
Shigeo is a sound, heavy sleeper.
There isn't much that can wake him once he's comfortable under his duvet—legs married neatly together and head tucked on his pillow. Shove him off the bed, and he'll sleep in a rumpled pile on the floor. Loud snoring only makes him turn his head with a light huff, largely undisturbed. There is little that will rouse him under normal circumstances, his circadian rhythm ironclad in its devotion to keep him waning with the sun and up again to greet it every morning.
The envy of his peers, an anomaly to his friends who know just who it is he lives with, sleeps next to. But that’s just the thing: while Teru does stay up late into the night—sometimes to a concerning degree but who is Shigeo to put out the creative pilot light that thrives in the nocturnal—he carries the agile grace of a cat when climbing into bed.
And honestly, Teru could probably cannonball under the covers and Shigeo as the sleeping dead wouldn’t bat an eye. Some days he wakes up wondering just how his boyfriend ended up upside down and nuzzling into his calf, or that one time when he found Teru half planted on the ceiling from his own psychic influence—legs dangling with the loose sheet wrapped and hanging from an ankle.
He did look pretty comfortable though.
He’s dealt with an endearingly weird partner, loud neighbors through thin walls, one particularly stubborn crow that Teru insists has a vendetta against him because he didn’t put out jam one time and now pecks their bedroom window just to spite him—
So when the esper wakes up at two in the morning, stomach in an involuntary state of flexing, Shigeo is left utterly baffled. Rustling up onto his elbows, he blinks—once, twice—and it's not for a few drowsy moments that he notices the warmth pressed to his side.
He glances down after a quick rub to his eyes, an affectionate smile pulling at his lips when he spots the crown of blond hair bristling out like a worn out toothbrush from the thick comforter. Teru claims him as his human furnace often, docile in the way he curls into a ball and cozies against him.
After a long, silent pause, he crosses off the feeling as a random fluke in his sleep perfection and scoots the slightest bit back under the covers. Then promptly jolts as it comes back again, sending a ripple of chills up his body.
A small huff passes between his dry lips, Shigeo’s mind officially awake and in curiosity mode.
“Teru,” he murmurs lowly, hand tugging out from the bundle beside him. He uncovers his boyfriend, silly little fuzzies filling up his insides at the sight of him burrowing further into Shigeo’s side from the sudden onslaught of cool bedroom air. Of course, Teru's shirt riding half up his torso probably doesn't help either, Shigeo muses with a chuckle—tugging it down as deftly as possible.
No use waking the both of them, after all.
Looking southward, Shigeo tries to uncover the offender of his sudden and sporadic jitters. He doesn't spot anything out of the ordinary—a leg haphazardly tossed over his knee; small drool spot at the corner of Teru's mouth—and both their shirts, he notes with a subdued snort—the early signs of matted down, messy bed hair, and a pliant cheek smudged as it rests against Shigeo’s abdomen. The typical adorable post-sleep display in progress, nothing unusual at all.
Hmm.
Shigeo ultimately chalks it up to his imagination. A once-in-a-blue-moon oddity, like the sheets shifting just enough to stir him from his sleep. He is ticklish already, to his own chagrin and Teru's delight, and it's really all he can think of in light of this situation.
He carefully shimmies back into place after one last look at his mumbling boyfriend. Just as he's about to throw the covers back over them both—hand mid-toss—it happens yet again.
It's brief, but it makes his abdomen tense from the sensitivity, his skin officially breaking out in goosebumps.
Shigeo hastily rips the blanket off the both of them and homes his wide eyes back down to the bundle currently writhing in protest at the second wave of brisk air hitting exposed skin. This time though, he spots it, locks onto it with a wave of crazed bewilderment. Then, deflating, he simply stares, quite certain it isn't an illusion or sleepy delirium.
Instead, his body melts, heart humming.
Oh.
Teru squirms from Shigeo's movements, burying further into the esper's side to absorb the small trench of heat found there. A lightly closed fist makes its way over to rest on Shigeo's hip bone, almost brushing under his night shirt.
Right there, he catches it—
Slow, almost imperceptibly so, Teru thrums his fingers, palm pawing softly at Shigeo's skin. Kneads at him in his sleep—no different than a cat preening while being placated with affection. Moving even minorly only makes his boyfriend grab for him more, face nuzzling while a sleepy noise of protest sounds from his throat.
Shigeo sucks his mouth into a thin line, half from that provoking tickle he fights to ignore and half from how utterly adorable this whole affair is turning out to be. He feels butterflies bouncing around his chest, the quota for daily-cute-factor reaching their limit and they haven't even started the day yet.
Nearly plowed over by the tenderness swelling in his heart, Shigeo reaches over and caresses a hand through Teru's hair, fingers massaging his boyfriend’s scalp in slow, circular motions. He thumbs his temple, runs the digit down the lean curve of his cheek and humorously wipes away that small patch of saliva from the corner of a fussy mouth.
The gentle ministrations make the slumbering man nestle up into Shigeo's touch, the tiniest incoherent mumble breathing through his lips. Shigeo can't help the doting grin from spreading across his features, eyes softening as he watches Teru’s face scrunch before letting out a huffy exhale from his nose.
Day to day, Teru exudes golden retriever energy—an abundance of liveliness that effortlessly illuminates every corner of Shigeo’s world—but it’s times like these that he finds the sleek embodiment of a cat seeking a swath of sun.
Snuggly and warm? Cute? Endlessly. Prickling his skin and keeping him awake? Still unbearably charming, but slightly troublesome for a certain esper who wakes up at the crack of dawn for a run every day. Still, Shigeo can't help but lean toward the amusement in this, scratching the pad of his index finger under Teru's chin before again scooting a little lower on the bed.
Wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s head, Shigeo threads his fingers through the ones assaulting his side. Pinches one between his index and thumb, massaging the knuckle. Teru is marionetted easily without stirring. Sweetly, his hand still squeezes in Shigeo’s, a much better alternative to Teru's unintentional attack on his person.
Messily, Shigeo tosses the duvet back over them, once again cloaking his boyfriend and relishing in the bundle of heat that burrows deeper against his body. He shifts slightly onto his side, leaning down to place a small kiss on the barely visible top of Teru's head before settling back into place, and now with his routine clicking back into place—with fidgety hands and a snoozing façade cozy in his embrace—Shigeo falls asleep within minutes.
**
Teru regretfully peels an eye open, wincing as the sun glares through the not-so-lightproof blinds in their bedroom. A string of displeased groans—sounding much like a feral animal—on his lips, he flips over to escape the wretched, eye-assaultive aura of light. Shoves his face into his pillow with the determination to sleep another hundred years or so, breathing be damned.
He had been up late. One of those moods where one streak of progress led to another, and another, until the next time he looked at his clock it was well past one in the morning and his head was very much smarting from staring too close to his drawing tablet.
Well, at least after the gets the prototype designs of his latest apparel drop sent to the manufacturer, he might be able to return to a more consistent sleep schedule. Cuddling with his boyfriend on the couch the hour or so before Shigeo goes to bed is nice and all, but Teru severely misses the already rare times they crawl under the covers at the same time—those brief few minutes of basking in the sleepy mouth that accommodates his pillow-laden affection.
But first. . . first Teru needs to catch up on his backlog of slumber. The cold doesn’t do anything to help curb his desire to burrow under the covers and never come out either, his toes icy no matter how much he chafes them into the mattress.
Maybe he could temporarily move to a cave and hibernate until the last dredges of winter sink into the earth and send spring up through the roots. The thought is exceedingly tempting, that is until a warm hand rests on his nape, nimble fingers playing softly with the messy stray hairs at the base.
Twisting awkwardly, very much in the wrong direction like a rung out towel, Teru squints at the occupant hovering over him and manages a sleepy grin while tossing a foot off the bed to lightly kick a bare thigh.
“You’re supposed to be in here with me, yanno. . .” he mumbles, rolling around until he's on his back, arm flopping lazily on the pillow with a cushioned puff. The fingers caressing him follow, curling around his cheek, the pad of his thumb rubbing at the corner of Teru's eye and over his temple.
“Needed some water,” Shigeo replies—voice muggy with a hoarseness that Teru loves—before leaning down to place a small kiss on his lips, smiles against Teru’s mouth while gifting a second.
“No more for you, I need to brush my teeth,” Teru hums, contradictorily placing a third on the soft curve of his boyfriend’s chin before looping an arm around that lean neck and tugging at him sleepily. “Come ‘ere.”
With an amused grunt, Shigeo indulges, crawling carefully over him. He pauses, peering down with a playful glint in his red eyes before collapsing on top of Teru with an exaggerated huff.
Teru jolts from the bed, giggles gushing out from the sudden pressure on his diaphragm as he taps Shigeo on the shoulder in defeat, squirming under his weight.
Okay, he did beckon Shigeo over, but really now. This is what he wakes up to, a handsome, ruthless boyfriend.
Oh, he loves him.
“You're warm,” Shigeo says into his neck, accustoms himself by way of slipping hands around Teru’s shoulders. His body pours over him, sending teeny sparks of happiness down his spine.
“And you're heavy. Did you need to dead-drop me like that?”
“Entirely necessary; it’s payback.”
Teru blinks slowly, unsure what that means but coils his arms around his boyfriend's back anyway. He peppers little specks of affection on the corner of Shigeo's jaw as his eyes drift shut, basking in the hands crawling up his bare waist and palming at his ribs. A sweet brush of aura seeps into his skin there, lulling him under. Falling back asleep would be such an easy task right now, Teru notes as Shigeo breathes him in.
Yeah, that sounds pretty good.
He wiggles a leg free from the sheets, looping it around and pressing the sole of his foot on Shigeo's butt, heel insistent.
“Get under here already~” Teruki coos quietly, throat barely willing to vocalize coherently under the energy-laden flow surrounding him. Shigeo nods into his shoulder and drags himself up with an equal level of lethargy. The battle to get Shigeo neatly under the covers takes a good few moments, caught limbs and clunking foreheads rousing humor from the both of them.
Finally, though, they end up back in their nestled sanctuary, Shigeo still laying halfway on top of him like a second blanket. Teru really couldn’t care less though. He scratches his boyfriend's chin absently, eyes drooping heavily—so much that Shigeo's face grows blurry as it comes into view. He can still spot that love-stricken gaze as clear as day though and spares the esper a dopey grin as another firm kiss lands on his nose.
“Don’t tempt me, you know I’ll do it.”
Against his cheek, Shigeo croons, voice low, “I could get mouthwash in here in two seconds.”
“Make it one, magic man.”
His boyfriend does one better—expertly teleports the damn thing into hand instantly—and oh, the minty kiss that steals his breath that short while after is so fervent and loving it feels like he’s dreaming.
He leans up into it, appreciative as he angles himself accordingly, shin lifting to soothe at Shigeo’s side. Prompts that weight to settle upon him, no longer the reason his lungs struggle for air. Wraps around a lithe form, assertively seeps into a welcoming mouth.
Many moments—and one borderline inappropriate make out—later, Teru curls back into his sea of pillows. Beside him, Shigeo shifts onto his side. Not one to miss an opportunity, he flips over into that open chest—snuggling contently between the pillows and Shigeo's lightly-toned body. He presses his ear against his boyfriend’s sternum and listens to the rhythm beneath the surface, smiling blithely as it starts to coax him to sleep.
“What time do you wanna get up?” a quiet question, warm in Teru's ear, the tone of his boyfriend's morning voice equal parts relaxing and titillating. He’ll be filing that sound and raincheck dancing his belly for later.
He cozies further into the warmth around him, grasping at Shigeo's shirt with pale fingers, “Mm, next year or somethin'.”
He knows Shigeo will be up in less than an hour for his morning run but loves the indulgence he’s given. The small—“Okay.”—shortly after accommodating.
An arm folds around him, fingers carding into his messy hair—nails massaging his scalp idly. It feels familiar, like home.
Letting out a satisfied purr, Teru drifts off to sleep minutes later.
*****