Of Love and Death.

The Present Chapter 17: The Fight of Our Lives Pt. 1

Okay, so, fear. Fear of death, threat of death. Mentions of toxic relationships, manipulation, consequences of these things.  Also a little bit of grief and one or two mentions of blood. 

As much as Shu loved getting up early, there was something nice about not having an alarm clock. He hadn't brought his when he came back home about a month ago. So he'd been awakened by nature and occasionally Valt for a while now. It was something he was especially grateful for today. There was no loud beeping knocking him out of sleep. There was no noise invading his dreams.

It was just Shu letting himself wake up as he wanted. He was in that creeping realm between sleeping and just lying there. Where every thought was both conscious and not. The covers were warm. They were really, really warm. He slept with both a fleece and a comforter. And right now they were folded along him in a way that just felt right. How you just know you're in the perfect position. And could easily slip back into sleep.

Maybe Shu would go back into dreamland. He didn't see light from the hallway creeping into his room from under the door. So Jiji wasn't up yet. Which meant it was early in the morning. And the battle wasn't till noon. Smiling a little bit, Shu readjusted himself ever so slightly. He moved his arm sliding it so it didn't rest right on Valt's neck, instead, flung over the shadow's waist.

It had been about three-thirty in the morning when Valt had started to fall asleep. Right on Shu's chest, on the couch. Sort of dozing in and out. So the pair had done the reasonable thing, and collapsed onto Shu's bed instead. They'd both fallen asleep almost immediately, without anymore talking.

Speaking of falling asleep immediately, Shu fingered his coat, which Valt had refused to relinquish. Even though the fiery blader knew from personal experience that it wasn't the most comfortable thing to fall asleep in. He'd accidentally dozed off at lunch once, after spending a while studying for an exam. But, apparently, his boyfriend had managed to get to sleep in it.

For some reason, Shu was smiling. He kept that smile as he stopped moving around, and let sleep claim him again. As he closed his eyes once more. Let himself fall back into dreams about going to a water park in the middle of a giant sentient donut that lived in China. Which was not the weirdest dream that he'd ever had.

Valt woke up when the door opened. Maybe he'd already been sleeping lightly, as Shu's dad didn't do anything particularly loudly. Just open a door. But he cracked his eyes open, enough to be slightly bothered by the light. He was a bit confused, certainly disoriented. This was not his bedroom. That much he could tell. This place basically had a poster on the wall and a half-unpacked suitcase in the corner.

It clicked for the mind-reader when he realized that Jiji was the one standing in the doorway. Speaking of Jiji, the chef began saying something. "Shu, I'm sorry to wake you up but I figured you would want to head over the Aoi's before the battl-VALT AOI WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Well. Um. Valt gently sat up, and got to see Jiji glaring at him. Maybe not mad but definitely very confused. And demanding explanations. And also confused, because he'd been pretty sure that a blue-haired blader had not been in his house when the chef had gone to bed. All of which were reasonable emotions. Valt decided to solve these questions by picking up his pillow and gently throwing it at his boyfriend. Who was pretending to be asleep.

Opening one eye, Shu glared at Valt. But nevertheless sat up. Seemingly understanding that it would be cruel to make the number-one blader deal with this on his own. "Um...he got here in the middle of the night?" Shu explained in a way that didn't sound convincing, even though it was what had happened.

All Jiji had to do to ask "why" was continue glaring at the two of them. He had quite piercing eyes. Especially when one of them wasn't hidden by a monocle. "I was s-sort of freaking out," Valt explained in what he tried to make an even voice. But he sort of cracked in the middle as a few hours ago came rushing back. That hopeless feeling that had just kept pressing in on him again and again. But with that, so too came the memory of Shu giving him gum.