{Overgrow} A Collection of Short Shorties

Just a Little Longer

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Leita hates the cold and as fall approaches getting out of bed gets harder and harder
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Mekhi x Leita
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Mekhi belongs to -dontmindme_
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Sorry if this is bad, I rushed it to get it out today
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It was early in the morning, just before the sun had cast its rays across the town. Mekhi and Leita were still entangled in bed, enveloped in one another. Leita was usually an early riser, he got up with the sun, but today seemed to be different.

Fall was creeping in, crawling into the home with its icy claws and shaking the leaves off the trees outside. It was the first chilly season they had spent together as a couple—and clearly Mekhi had underestimated just how much Leita hated the cold. As soon as the wind whirled outside, Leita seemed to burrow himself further into the blankets and against Mekhi's half-naked side. While Mekhi was comfortable in just boxers, Leita was bundled up in nice, warm clothes, as well as wrapped up in the soft blankets—but what really kept the redhead warm was pressing himself up against his boyfriend, their limbs entangled with one another, breathing soft and gentle.

Mekhi was already awake, lying there quietly as Leita slept soundly. It would have been a peaceful moment if Mekhi hadn't sneezed rather loudly. Leita, in his sleepy state, braced himself against Mekhi, flinching hard as the sound startled him out of sleep. His blue eyes were big and wide, as if Mekhi had physically shaken him awake.

He was still in the process of transitioning from those thick earmuffs he wore to bed to block out the screeching of the skoks to sleeping with nothing to block out their calls, and at this point, he was so easily awoken that he feared he'd never be able to sleep without them. He was wearing a thinner, less heavy pair that Mella—who was always so reliable in his times of need—had made for him with this in mind. But, the issue wasn't with the earmuffs, it was that he'd wake with every bump in the night; he was too light of a sleeper. His sleep had been disrupted a few times during the night already, and, although he knew that Mekhi hadn't intended it, he was startled awake once again.

"Good morning," Mekhi greeted, mumbling the words into Leita's red hair once he had calmed down enough to rest his head on him again. "Sorry for the sudden wake-up call. Did you sleep well?" He breathed, pressing a small kiss to his head. Leita seemed to like that, as he nuzzled his nose against his chest briefly, a not so subtle reaction to the affection.

"I slept fine, not through the whole night but," he paused to slip off the earmuffs. They got caught of the shell of his ear as he attempted to pull them off. "Better than a few nights ago." He handed them off to Mekhi, who set them on the windowsill with his other pair.

"Thats good, at least." Mekhi removed his arm from across Leita to prop himself up, intending to hoist himself up and out of bed, but Leita's thin fingers caught his thick forearm so quickly that it startled the dragon tamer.
"No!" He interjected too forcefully; his wide eyes travelled over to him, and Leita seemed to notice that he was a little too quick to object, so he tried again. "Not yet, please." This time it was more Leita's pace, a hesitant demand, like the action of asking for something so overtly was a foreign concept to him. He slowly pulled his arm back down to emphasize his point—don't leave.

"We've got things to do today, Hopper." Mekhi protested, yet the look on Leita's face made him lay his head back down on the pillow. The redhead's previous expression changed into one of joy, and he shifted in the blankets, making himself comfortable. He entangled their legs, pulling himself even closer so that they were flush together, snuggling into his partner. He was practically pressing himself into Mekhi's side at this point, trying to keep the cold from snaking it's way to him from outside the warm haven of the bed. He had scooted up a bit to press an affectionate kiss to his neck, and found that he liked it there, his face nestled against his neck, where he could smell the faint scent of Mekhi's shampoo.

"We caedo ihwayherr..."
"What?"

Whatever Leita had tried to say was completely lost on Mekhi, who breathed out a laugh at the muffled attempt at communication. Leita didn't try again, but his shoulders shook lightly, indicating that he was laughing. He laid there for a few more moments, his smile still present, taking in deep breaths; he was savoring the moment. The seconds where time just seemed to slip by, where it was just him and Mekhi in each other's company—no dragons, no worries, no thoughts occupying their brains other than those of one another. He could feel the sensation of Mekhi shifting, making himself comfortable, and Leita wished, for a split second, he could hear his thoughts, to know if he was thinking the same. This was love.

Leita leaned up slightly, moving his arm around to Mekhi's other side, fingertips grazing the raised skin of his scars, before moving to the blankets beside Mekhi's torso so he could move his weight and look down at Mekhi. Their faces were just a few inches apart, so close that he could see Mekhi's thick eyelashes and the flecks of gold in his eyes, a treasure that Leita surely didn't take for granted. Mekhi seemed to notice that Leita was more serious than in the few moments before, and his eyebrows titled to make a subtle expression of confusion, asking him why without saying any words.

"I'm in love with you."

They had exchanged 'I love you's' before, but there was something about the way that Leita could barely keep his voice above a whisper and how his face softened after like he had shared a deeply personal secret that made it so much more intimate. Leita could see how his eyes squinted ever so slightly, like he was beginning to smile, and how he let a small breath of air from his nose as if he was amused. Mekhi's hand came up and into his red hair, burying his fingers in the thick locks, before pulling Leita in a soft and gentle kiss.

He didn't need to verbally say it back. This was their most pure form of "I love you". And Leita had never felt it more than that early morning, wrapped up in the covers with him.