Chapter Text
It is in the small hours of the day that Gion wakes up without the aid of his alarm and only by the ache of his body. Soreness around his eyes and on his shoulders give telltale signs that he hasn't slept enough, but as he laid there ten more minutes, fifteen, he finds that there's no falling asleep again and so he sits up, glares into the wall, and goes on groggy feet to the bathroom.
He doesn't shower immediately (it was too cold), opting to idly brush the plaque from his teeth as he leaned his good arm by the edge of the sink. In the mirror he looks at the foam bubbling from the corner of his mouth instead of his eyes. He doesn't take a piss (it was still too cold).
For some reason when he exits his room for the dorm kitchen Livio is up too, hovering over the espresso machine and rubbing his eye with his sleeve.
Despite Gion spotting him first Livio is the one to smile and tell him “Good morning, your majesty.”
His voice is cooling to Gion's restless, warming heart.
“Why are you awake?”
“I heard you were awake.”
Gion didn't know how long Livio had been a light sleeper and if he ever truly slept at all; though he supposed he was like Gion himself in that sense. Hovering over the stream of dreams instead of dipping into it. Standing on tiptoes on the edge of consciousness instead of jumping off it.
“There's no need for you to be awake just because I am. Go back to bed.”
“I know,” Livio turns on the espresso machine. Gion looks at him in this silence. The strong set of his jaw, the line of his nose from his side profile. His hair was puffier and fluffier by imperceptible but insignificant (to Gion) wayward cowlicks. He didn't know if Livio had always been a light sleeper, or if his training years had beaten it into him, or if he simply worried so greatly for Gion he cannot rest easy if he was up and about without him.
The jarringly warm cup of coffee is what startles Gion’s soul back into his body when Livio presses it lightly against his hand. He isn't burned, so why did he flinch so hard?
Livio is questioning the same thing, his blue eyes suddenly open and awake and as blue as it can be.
“I'm sorry—are you okay?”
Gion's mouth spoke for him before he computed if he was or not. “I’m okay.” he says, stiffly, fingers of his left feeling the back of his right hand. He's uncharacteristically jumpy (it was too cold, it must be so) over being passed his usual coffee. When he flicks his gaze up to him again he sees Livio doesn't believe him, so he brushes it off. More for Livio's sake than his own.
“I'm alright,” He reaffirms. He demonstrates by taking his cup from Livio's hand and holding it fine, making a show to lift it simultaneously with his brow as if to say “See?”, and pads his feet to the coffee table and couch.
Gion has coffee twice in the morning, once late in the afternoon and another cup after dinner, and then one more if he had to burn the midnight oil. He does not, however, start his morning at 4.32 A.M. (it was usually 5.45 A.M.), so he might have three instead of two before and after breakfast. Burnhilde tea plays in the air because Livio is more used to that than espresso (“I'd have a bad stomach,” he told Gion, in some far distant memory Gion can't catch to tell from when, “if I drank half as much coffee as you, Prince Gion.” The memory was bright but fuzzy and he vaguely remembers saying your loss, and he vividly remembers how laughing was Livio's response).
Soon the comforting swirl of Livio's tea nearly lulled Gion back to sleep; he was blinking at the dark sheen of his coffee very quickly. He's cold. Why is it so cold? He gets up, coffee cup and all, for blood circulation to run and in hopes heat him up, walking up to the front door of the dorm.
Livio looks at him from the open kitchen.
“Gion?”
“I'm going to fetch the paper.”
Gion goes down the elevator (cold).
He is in the lobby, bare feet padding to the automated sliding doors (cold).
There's no newspaper. There's a fierce cold that buckles his knees, and his good arm could only useless catch at the slippery sliding door as he goes, and goes down. It was awfully freezing that morning.