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“It’s 3am, Ichimatsu.”
“Yes.”
“It’s raining outside.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Why are you here?”
Without so much as a grunt, he stepped in and took off his sandals. When [Name] ran a quick hand through his hair, they took notice at how wet it was; the normal softness was replaced with a wettened fur texture. He had a very soggy sort of atmosphere to him, as if he were an old cardboard box that someone sprayed with a hose until it melted. The bags under his eyes were even darker than usual.
“Let me get you a towel. Make yourself at home as per usual, m’kay?”
“Mm. Thanks, [Name].”
He took a seat on [Name]’s floor, not wanting to dampen their couch. Ichimatsu head hurt with fatigue, but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep - he didn’t know why, either. Usually he could sleep like a rock in almost every circumstance known to man, and yet he was unable to get proper shut eye this stormy night. When he had planned to go for a walk, it wasn’t raining. It didn’t even have a warning sign of possible showers. One minute, he was looking at the clear sky and thinking that he should be heading home. The next, it was pouring rain in heavy sheets. Thankfully, he knew that [Name]’s house was nearby, and ran to it.
Ichimatsu suddenly felt dryness hit his head, two hands diving into it and scrubbing his hair roughly. “Ichimatsu, you can’t just come here in the middle of the night with no warning,” [Name] grunted quietly. “At least a little heads up next time, okay?”
He let his head nod with each movement of [Name]’s wrists, not having the energy to keep it still. “Couldn’t sleep. Thought it’d be a good idea to walk around for a bit, but it started raining. You were closer than my house, so…” He trailed off as he let his eyes drowsily shut. The scrubbing on his head was oddly soothing.
The towel was suddenly slid back to the base of his neck and forward onto his face. Covered hands began to pat his soft cheeks, trying to get off any excess water. For a second, the contact was lost, but [Name] quickly draped another towel as well as a blanket over his shoulders.
“Do you need anything else, hun?” [Name] crouched in front of him with a tired smile. He huffed out a sigh before yawning and stretching his arms above his head. His shirt lifted up so that you could see about an inch of his chubby stomach before it was quickly pulled down again.
“Maybe,” he paused and looked at [Name] for a second, taking in their figure - they were fully dressed in pajamas, and their eyes were drooping tiredly. Still attractive nonetheless. He continued when he realized he was staring. “Dry clothes?”
[Name] gasped quietly. “Oh, of course!” They rubbed circles into their eye with the palm of their hand. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I’ll be right back, hun.” They quickly got up from their crouched position before running down the hall. Ichimatsu flopped onto the floor tiredly, just wanting to get some rest. His eyelids felt like lead, but even when he let them droop, he still couldn’t find the peace to sleep.
“Ichi, wake up.”
“Not asleep.”
“Then sit up, please, sweetheart. I got you some clothes.”
Despite the pinkness that flooded his cheeks and the butterflies in his stomach from the nickname - which normally would’ve caused him to tense up and sit still - he sat up and looked at [Name]. Their eyes were half lidded as they held an extra pair of clothes. Ichimatsu used the couch beside him as leverage to pull himself up. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he took the pair of clothes from their hands. Before he could pass by them, though, they grabbed his face and left a kiss on his forehead.
“You okay?” [Name] asked with a small smile.
Ichimatsu hummed. “Better.”
With their own hum and a growing smile, [Name] eskimo-kissed Ichimatsu before letting him change.
When he came out minutes later, he found [Name] passed out on the arm of their couch, snoring quietly. Their position didn’t look very comfortable - their legs were crossed, one arm was resting on their lap while the other was their pillow. Ichimatsu felt guilty - he woke them up in the middle of the night, he made them help him out when they were obviously so tired - he wasn’t worth this effort, right? Was [Name] stupid or something?
Yeah, stupid cute.
“Psh,” Ichimatsu scolded himself quietly. That was no way to think right now - yes, they were undeniably attractive, how he ever got them to say yes to even one date was beyond him - but they were sleeping. It was 3:30am. Now is not the time to be thinking about how adorable your significant other is after they slaved away to help you dry off. Now is the time to get them into a more comfortable position, one in which included holding them tightly to himself.
Ichimatsu, please . Control yourself.
Right, right. His thin eyebrows knitted tightly for a second, examining their body and debating how to move [Name] without waking them up. If he strategically placed one arm behind their back - right in the middle, because too low wouldn’t be enough support and too high would be way too much weight on his other arm - then he could use the other arm to lift underneath their thighs, close to the knees but not touching them. He nodded to himself in his thoughts; this was the best way to pick them up. Hopefully he wouldn’t wake them.
Unfortunately, following the events from earlier, luck was not on his side this night. As soon as his right arm touched their thigh, their eyes opened, albeit a bit slowly. Ichimatsu backed away, defensively holding up his hands and staring intensely at [Name].
“Ah, I’m sorry, Ichimatsu.” They yawned before grinning dopily at him. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Here, let me get you some-”
Ichimatsu growled, cutting off his partner’s speech. “No, no. You sleep. You’re tired, I can take care of myself.”
[Name] laughed breathily and stood up. “Ichimatsu, come on. Don’t be stubborn right now. Just - here, let’s go to bed.” [Name] swung their arm back and caught Ichimatsu’s hand in theirs. He choked a bit, kind of sounding like a balloon trying to deflate when fingers were holding it shut, and whipped his head away from [Name]’s view. He still wasn’t too experienced in the field of “keeping your cool with unexpected intimate contact.” [Name] stifled a giggle and walked down the hall.
“Did you want to sleep in the guest room, or with me?”
The question caught Ichimatsu off guard for the second time in the past few seconds and he stiffened. [Name] couldn’t get him to budge an inch, and his stare was blank. [Name] poked at his cheek, but the once fluffy softness had turned to stone because of the air he was holding in tightly.
“Ichi-”
“C-can I a-a-actually… s-sleep in the s-s-same bed..?”
[Name] smiled cheekily. “Yes, obviously. I wouldn’t make an offer like that without making sure I was okay with it too.”
Ichimatsu visibly gulped, and his hand trembled in theirs. “A-absolutely s-s-sure..?”
“Absolutely sure.”
Ichimatsu huffed out an “okay.” He clamped his hand tightly around theirs, still trembling, before walking ahead of them and leading [Name] to their bed. Ichimatsu released [Name]’s hand and fell face first into the covers. He took a deep breath and sighed, but he didn’t move.
[Name] let out a raspberry before telling him that he needed to actually get onto the bed before he fell asleep. He grumbled in response, and [Name] had to help his tired body up or else he would never fully get up onto the bed. When he was on entirely, he rolled over to the other side to give [Name] some room to get on themselves. He wasn’t expecting a hold around his waist so quickly, though, and tensed at the touch.
Ichimatsu let out an unsure grunt. “Y-you…” he paused and adjusted himself to get comfortable in [Name]’s grasp. “You don’t have to do all this for me, you know.”
[Name] hummed and held him tighter. “I choose to.”
“I’m just a nuisance.”
“You’re a gift.”
“I just get in the way and make you do things for me that you shouldn’t have to do.”
“You arrive at the perfect moments to let me shower you in the love you deserve.”
“But I don’t deserve love.”
“Sure, you do. Everyone does. Even the worst, trashiest people do.”
He paused. “... I don’t deserve your love, though.”
Without skipping a beat, [Name] quickly shot back. “You deserve all of my love and more.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I-”
“ Ichimatsu Matsuno . You deserve much more than I could ever possibly give you. End of story.” [Name] nuzzled their nose into his now dried and now soft hair with a smile. “Let yourself be happy and content.”
He growled and spun around in response. His knitted eyebrows showed [Name] just how frustrated and confused he was. “I don’t get it? Why? I’m just trash-”
[Name] silenced his soon-to-be self-deprecating rant with a quick peck to the lips. “Don’t. None of that, not right now.” With a soft, comforting smile, [Name] placed a hand on Ichimatsu’s cheek and rubbed their thumb over the soft skin. “I would do this much and so much more for you, Ichi. M’kay? You’re worth every bit of love I give to you. That I chose by my own free will to give to you. You know why? Because you’re worth it, Ichimatsu.” [Name] paused their rant when they realized how worked up they were getting. With a sigh, they continued. "You'll always be worth it, at least to me."
Ichimatsu felt a thump in his chest, and his breathing hitched - never in a million years did he think that [Name], or anyone for that matter would tell him that. He never thought that about himself, he never thought that others viewed him that way. But hearing it in such a soft, sincere voice really made him feel like it was true.
He didn’t let [Name] see the small yet bashful smile that had crept its way to his face. He buried his face into their neck and let himself soak in their warmth and scent. As he was falling asleep, he realized that maybe he really only needed some sort of reassurance that only [Name] could give him. Maybe that’s what was haunting his waking thoughts to the point where he couldn’t get a wink of sleep. Maybe, he...
Maybe he really was worth it.