Chapter Text
Waking up with Ino in bed next to you was one of your most favourite things. It meant that he got a full night of rest after work, and that you would get an infinite amount of cuddles in the morning. Your other favourite thing? His voice in the morning that perfectly portrayed his fight between the comforting depths of sleep and the need to hug and kiss you like the perfect teddy bear.
So when you stirred awake at 8am on a Saturday, and felt him drooling all over your chest you had to resist the urge to squeeze and rattle him around like a chewtoy. A hand came up without your knowledge and you had to quickly put it back under the covers before you ended up gripping your claws into his luxuriously soft hair and gnawing his cheeks off. You had to wake him up, and you were going to do it the right way.
You tucked your chin down and pulled away just so that his beautiful frame came into view. The scar on his forehead that was like a magnet for your fingertips, and his brows that had drawn into each other like a Cupid's bow, causing faint wrinkles that you smoothed down with your thumb. Then, you leaned down towards his ear and whispered,
"Takuuu…" but he didn't move. So you continued, this time while peppering soft kisses where his jawline and the skin of his ear met, to the surface of his rounded cheeks, "Taku, we need to get up…"
He mumbled something in response and instead pulled you closer, nuzzling his face into your chest and wrapping his legs around you. When he sighed, it was clear he wasn't going to be awake anytime soon, so now it was time for plan B.
With an overdramatic huff, you started fiddling with his hair, twirling it around and folding it until you reached his scalp, tugging gently at some strands and scratching his skin that caused him to sigh in his sleep.
"What will I do… I don't have anyone to give kisses to…"
"My boyfriend isn't waking up, how many kisses am I meant to give him for him to get up?"
You stopped when you felt him stir, a small tinge of hope in your chest that faded when he relaxed again on your arm.
With another exaggerated sigh, "Dear diary, there was this man that was meant to come with me on a date, I mean, he's my boyfriend, but now he's so deep in sleep I think he's in a sleepcoma. Who am I supposed to go on a date with now?"
"But there is this one thing I heard… something like a true love's kiss that's meant to bring back someone you love. Is it really true with a kiss on the lips, my one and only will come back to life?" And that's when you heard a huff below you. When you turned to look down, you were quick enough to see Ino squeeze his eyes shut the moment you made eye contact, with lips pursed into a squiggly line. What really sold the look was when he started snoring louder than before the moment he closed his eyes.
You shifted downwards and tapped the tip of your fingers along his jawline, "I guess I won't know if I don't try, right?" you said in mock curiosity, but the laughter came out anyway.
You leaned in, hand resting on his cheek, lips meeting his own chapped ones and you made a very loud mwah! When you moved back, you saw him opening his eyes. Squinting, opening and closing again,
"Are you real?" Was the first thing he croaked out.
"Yes… it's been a year… I miss you so much, my love…" You wiped away a fake tear that made the both of you laugh out loud.
When you calmed down, he was looking at you with a smile on his face. One that said, I'm ready to go back to sleep anytime now. He lifted a hand to follow the shape of your jaw and dragged his thumb across the hair of your brow.
"I will never get over how beautiful you are…" he murmured, you looked away and he chuckled "you're so cute."
"I know, you say that all the time…" you mumbled into the pillow.
"Well you should know that even if I say it a hundred times in a row it will never be enough."
"Taku… if you do that I'll have a heart attack on the spot… like Cupid shot me in the heart a hundred times or something, I don't think my heart will handle it."
"Oh yeah? And if I say I love you a hundred times?" He wrapped his arms around your waist, bringing you closer to start kissing your neck.
"Then I would die!" The laugh he let out was mesmerising and you wanted everything but to get out of bed and leave his arms.
But you had to get ready. You were meant to meet up with Nanami later in the afternoon and before that you and Ino wanted to go on a shopping date together so you had to get up early. It was your first time meeting Nanami and you and Ino did not want to make a bad first impression.
"Come on, let's get out of bed." You tapped Ino on the shoulder but he just let out a fat groan and a yawn before plopping himself onto you. "Taku! I'm trying to be responsible right now and you're making it really difficult to be the voice of reason."
"Fineeee.."
"Taku!" You squealed in agony when he pushed the blankets off in one motion, but before the cold air of winter could get to you, he wrapped his arms around your legs and back to pick you up, sauntering off to the bathroom just to step into the bathtub and lie down with your back against his chest.
"Taku my sweet sugarboo? What are you doing?"
"I'm recharging my energy, I put a lot of work into looking cool in front of you just so you know."
"You silly man. You don't need to do anything to look cool for me." You turned your head, meeting his gaze that was faltering due to his droopy eyelids, "you're cool even when you don't do anything…"
He squealed and buried his head onto your shoulder, smooching every bit of skin that he could touch, "ugh I love you so much, I just love you sooooo much!"
"Ok stinkypants, I love you too! Now get up and brush your teeth."
"But you love my stink, right?"
"Oh my god" you sounded disgusted, but before his sad puppy eyes could get any worse you finished, "obviously, now let's get ready for our date you sap."
𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚𓂅 ⋆❅‧₊˚
"My sunshine! Don't forget your scarf."
"Oh crap, thanks Taku." And all of a sudden, your view was a mess of wool and poorly stitched knits and purls, a wonky rectangle of a scarf — a gift to you for your first year anniversary — that was now folded multiple times over as Ino tied it just the way you liked, not letting go before pulling you in by the ends of the scarf to give you a peck on the lips.
"Perfectly bundled up for me to fawn over mhm mhm." He left you with one last smooch on the tip of your nose and hummed to himself with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Now that you mention it let's take gloves with us too—"
"No." He smacked your hand that was reaching for the small basket on top of the shoe cabinet. "You don't need gloves if you have me. We'll take one glove each." He nodded to himself, and now here you were, huddled next to each other like penguins, waddling across the icy pavements with one hand in the pocket of his coat, and the other in your own.
You would say things are going well until your whole world turned sideways. When Ino tried to catch you, your legs swept him off his feet and sent him flying on top of you, with a bump of your heads and a shockwave of pain through your whole body after landing on your back.
"Shit, my poor cutie! Are you ok?"
"Ino if you're going to to ask me how I am after catapaulting us both to the floor at least try to hide your laughter better."
At that he quickly molded his lips into a pout, though his trembling lips gave away his efforts.
You gave him a deadpan look, but you couldn't help the huff that came out, "I'm sorryyy, please forgive me my love… I wasn't laughing at you I swear."
"I forgive you silly I'm just winding you up."
You both looked at each other in silence. The tiny petals of snow that feathered down onto the pavements and settled into the grooves of his black beanie, the person that awkwardly stepped around you two and walked off with a weird look on their face as they clicked their tongue the youth is so strange nowadays. A white cloud puffed out of Ino's mouth as they curved at the corners. You watched his eyes land on your lips, almost numb from the biting winds that would've felt like cuts on the skin if it weren't for Ino bundling you up like a cuddly bear.
The pain had all but dulled in your body, now replaced by a fuzziness that drowned out the beeping of the pedestrian crossing and the laughter of a group of teenagers across the road who decided to brave the icy pavements in favour of a shopping trip. Thoughts all but narrowed in on the man on top of you who looked at you as if you were the only one he could see.
"You're so handsome, Taku…"
He looked down at you and exhaled, his cheeks reddening more than before, "heh, thanks… you are too."
"Not as handsome as you."
He gave you a look that was like a challenge but it softened with a roll of his eyes.
He lifted himself off you, "Come on let's go," and offered you a hand up, tucking it back into his pocket as though it were where it belonged.
"Now, what shop should we look at first?"
"Maybe a shop for some gloves?"
"No!"