The Succubus's Plaything

Chapter 43: I Can't Sleep

Surprisingly, given her growing track-record, Hina doesn't try to make any more moves on me, and simply settles down comfortably next to me.

"So.. Just sleep, ok?.." I try to confirm and set some boundaries.

"Don't worry. I won't do anything. At least without your permission." It sounds ironic coming from her. I now know that she'll twist around my words to suit herself.

"Ok.. Then.. Goodnight?.." I carefully scoot myself further away from her without falling off the edge.

"Goodnight. Sweet dreams." Hina's breath slows down almost immediately, and just after a few minutes of awkward silence, I can't even tell if she's still awake.

"Hey Hina?.." I whisper to see if she'll react.

"Yes?" I take a sharp intake of breath when she answers my call. Yup, she's still awake.

"Nothing. Just checking if you're still awake."

"Did you want me to be?"

"I.. Don't really know how to respond to that."

We return to the awkward silence, and now a few minutes later, despite now knowing that Hina actually is still awake, I once again begin to have my doubts. How the heck can she relax in a time like this!? If things continue like this all night, I'm gonna be in an awful shape tomorrow, energy wise.

I become acutely aware of her.. body heat?.. Body cold?.. Next to me under the covers. Normally I'd imagine that two people underneath the same blanket would be pretty warm, but with her body temperature the way it is, I can feel a nice cool sensation without actually freezing.

I.. Even though I did just scoot away and state that we're just sleeping, I do kinda wanna scoot closer just to see how it feels.. But contradicting my inner thoughts, I can't bring myself to do anything, and instead continue to lie stiffly on my back.

"You sound tense. You sure you don't wanna cuddle? I could make sure that you relax enough to fall asleep." Hina says, breaking the deafening silence.

"No, I'm good." I answer her almost instantly, not even taking a moment to hesitate.

"Suit yourself."

...

I pull up my phone to check the time after what feels like hours later, and sure enough, it is just past midnight.

I sigh. My eyelids feel so heavy that they might as well be made of lead, and still I can't seem to get rid of my self-consciousness over laying next to a girl. I recall Minoru's teasing about me being a virgin. He isn't wrong. I wonder how he's doing, he did after all get his feelings absolutely trampled on.

"Hina?.. Are you awake?" I whisper. Her breathing is exactly the same as it's been all night, but the last time I thought she was sleeping she wasn't. There is no way she's still up right?..

No response.

"Hina?"

Still no answer.

I turn onto my side in order to make sure, and once again become acutely aware of how close she is.

My eyes at this point are completely adjusted, and I can make out the shape of her face, which is so close to mine that I can feel her misty breath on my cheeks. A shudder goes down my spine from the unexpected sense of intimacy.

I must have disturbed her rest at least a little bit from stirring around, because she lifts her arms up in front of her face and lets out a small tired groan.

In lifting up her arms, Hina not only covers her own face, she also nearly brushes her fingertips against my cheek.

"You're awfully close aren't you?"

My heart. In complete shock, I jump back, falling off the bed and onto the floor.

"Whyyy!?" I hiss from the floor, out of breath over the unexpected surprise.

"It's your fault for waking me up by whispering my name." Hina crawls to the edge of the bed and pops her head over the covers to look down at me.

"I can't sleep. My mind is spinning too fast." In my sleep-deprived state I choose to admit.

"Come back up. We can talk on the same level." She offers her hand, which I take.

Once upon the bed, we both sit up across from each other, her taking the foot of the bed, and I sit at the head.

"Are you worried about being loyal to Inesa?" She asks, her tone is calm and with a hint of sleep in it. I can tell that she just woke up.

I am. A picture of Inesa's fangs flash before my eyes, as well as Valorie. If I go off and "cheat" I'm probably dead meat. Well, at least that's the excuse I'm going with. But repercussions aside, with how things are with Inesa right now, it wouldn't be right to do anything behind her back. At the very least I'd have to confirm with Inesa that we really aren't an item right now, and our arrangement is just that, an arrangement to keep Inesa fed.

"Yes.. I can't cheat. Sleeping together feels.. Not right.." I look down at the ruffled up blanket below me.

"I see." Hina goes through a moment of silence as she thinks of what to say next. "So you're saying that until you know that this isn't cheating, you can't get involved with anyone else?" She gets it more or less.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Then I'm sorry." In the darkness I can see Hina bow her head down. "After our talk.. I thought it would be okay. Sorry for my presumptuousness."

"It's.. Okay.. I'm sorry if I was vague.." Was I vague? I didn't notice. Either she's an expert at gaslighting, or she's vain. But it isn't as if she completely misread me, her company is quite pleasant, I just have too much right now to work through.

"You weren't vague. I just assumed too much. I thought I could read you better than I could."

"Aha.."

"Can I make it up to you?"

I tilt my head. "What do you mean? I don't think you've warranted that."

"You can lie down, and I'll tuck you in and hum until you fall asleep. Since I do need to sleep, I'll lay down next to you once you're out, but you won't be conscious of overthinking it. That shouldn't fall under the category of cheating?.. I think?"

I feel like we're talking in circles, but I'm too tired to not go along with it at this point.

"Ok.."

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Inesa: ... Really? Well, at least Hal has some sense.

Hina: Unfortunately.

Inesa: Why are you here!? Where is Lupus!?

Hina: I don't know. He just asked me to take his place today. I think he's avoiding you.

Inesa: He'd better. I have some words for him.

Hina: But that works out perfectly for me. We need to talk about you and Hal.

Inesa: There isn't anything to talk about. He's mine, and you gotta scram or I'll sink my fangs into you too.

Hina: Wait.. Hal told me that's kinda erotic.. What exactly do you have in mind?.. 

Inesa: ... 

Hina: I'll just.. Get it out of the way right off the get-go, I'm not really into that sort of stuff..

Inesa: ...

Hina: Inesa!? What are you doing!?

Inesa: ... 

Hina: Help!! Somebody hel- Aaaahhh!!.... 

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A/N

Hellooo! Lupus here! What do you guys think of the little "non-cannon skit" bit at the end of each chapter? Personally I think they're fun to write, and I get to play around with the character's personalities in interactions that are too out there to actually put into the book. I kind of regret not adding this sooner.