Angel Grace and Lilin Heart

Golden Hour

Shinji stirred softly, opening his eyes to the darkness of his bedroom. He let them fall closed again as he caught sight of the orange light breaking through the blinds and washing strips of his floor in color. He would've checked the time, but he was far too comfortable to grab his phone, and the digital clock on his nightstand hadn't been reset since he last plugged it in. He didn't much care anyway, since he recalled sluggishly that he didn't have class today.

He also found himself smiling softly as he realized what the gentle, warm pressure behind him was. He felt the pressure shift, dipping the bed behind him.

"Shinji-kun?"

In response to the gentle murmur, Shinji hummed lightly. Whenever they slept together, Kaworu always seemed to wake up when he did; it was almost supernatural.

Realizing he was awake, Kaworu pressed himself against Shinji's back, slowly wrapping an arm around his waist. Shinji linked their fingers together, squirming a little to get comfortable as their legs tangled. He was glad it was a particularly chilly autumn season; Kaworu's heat was pleasantly comforting rather than sweaty.

"Morning, Kaworu-kun."

"Morning, my love," Kaworu murmured into his neck. His eyelashes tickled Shinji's skin. "How did you sleep?"

"Mm, good. I had a funny dream, though."

"Did you?" he asked, lightly rubbing his thumb over Shinji's chest.

"Mhm. A lot happened that I can't really remember. You had angel wings, and I was really sad the whole time for some reason."

"I was an angel?" Kaworu murmured with interest.

Shinji pressed his face closer to his pillow with a sigh and a light smile. "Guess so. There was something about robots too. Toji kept asking me about 'piloting?' I think they were Gundams or something."

Kaworu laughed. "You have been watching a lot of sci-fi recently."

"Yeah, maybe too much." He sighed. "It's just easy to turn my brain off to when I get home."

His comment drifted off into a comfortable silence as Kaworu nuzzled further unto Shinji's neck, kissing his skin. Shinji wiggled backwards, further into his partner to find more contact. "You remember your dream from last night?"

"Oh, not really. I don't usually remember them." He teasingly kissed Shinji's neck again. "But I assume you must've been in it, because I slept very soundly."

Smiling, Shinji reached his hand behind him and pet Kaworu's hair. It was frizzy and even messier than usual. Stretched the way he was, Shinji could see little dust particles breaking the light coming through the blinds behind Kaworu. He could vaguely see the sun just barely shining beyond them. It bathed everything was a pretty gold, including Kaworu's hair; it was back-lit blonde.

"You have class today, don't you?"

Kaworu kept his eyes shut. "Mm, but it's at 1:00. I don't need to get ready for another few hours."

Shinji nodded, turning back around and scrunching into a tighter S shape. "That's good... I was afraid you had to go." He went on, smiling, "You know, you keep leaving your clothes here. I have about a hundred of your sweatshirts just lying around."

Hugging Shinji tighter, Kaworu murmured, "But that's fine, isn't it? I come to see you so often; it's not like I'm missing them. And anything I leave here you can share with me."

He laughed. "Yeah, I know that. Half of the stuff I wear is yours. You didn't realize this t-shirt isn't mine?"

Questioning, Kaworu opened his eyes and craned his neck a little to see the design on the front of it. Shinji was wearing a concert band shirt for a performance only Kaworu had played in. He laughed softly. "I guess I didn't notice, no."

"Leaving stuff over at my place probably frees up space in your dorm though. You have your own nice, big closet over here."

Kaworu pouted slightly. "Oh, you know that's not what I mean by it..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Shinji smirked. "It's just funny."

"You have some clothes over in my room too, though."

"Not as many," Shinji argued. "Just a sweater or two."

Kaworu hummed, keeping Shinji close to him. "But I like when you leave your stuff. Then I can wear it and smell your scent on it."

"Yeah," Shinji murmured, "That's kinda why I'm wearing this right now."

"Oh? I assumed you just liked the design."

Shinji snorted. "Yeah, that's the real reason."

Again, they fell silent, and Shinji twined his fingers with the pale ones laid across his stomach. He loved mornings like this - the ones he shared with Kaworu. Ever since they started dating a few weeks ago, Kaworu seemed to have made it a goal of his to sleep over as often as possible, and even though they'd done it countless times now, Shinji still couldn't help from feeling giddy and excited. He supposed it was just in his nature; Shinji wasn't very well accustomed to affection, and he'd never been particularly confident in showing it; he supposed that was why he still blushed and felt his heartbeat quicken whenever they kissed. Even with Kaworu spooning him like this, he still couldn't stop his skin from glowing a light red. He was just glad Kaworu found it cute.

"Did you have plans this morning?" Kaworu whispered.

Shinji shook his head against his pillow. "Not really. It looks like we woke up super early, doesn't it?"

Kaworu hummed. "It does. You look very pretty in the sunrise, Shinji-kun. Your skin is so vibrant..."

Squirming, Shinji blushed. "So do you, but you always look pretty, Kaworu-kun."

With a light giggle, Kaworu moved his hand to Shinji's jaw, lightly goading him to turn his head. Their lips met, and Shinji felt a little electric jolt flash through his chest. It still felt so new...

"How about we just lay here for a while longer, then?"

Shinji nodded, then slowly flipped around in Kaworu's arms to face him. He again tangled his fingers through his partner's fluffy hair. "I don't usually wake up around this time. I think I might try to get some more sleep."

"Then I think I will too..."

A little flustered by how intensely Kaworu was looking at him, Shinji buried his head beneath his neck and wrapped his arms around Kaworu's middle, landing his hands on his back. Kaworu squeezed him tighter in response.

"I really love you, Shinji-kun."

Shinji smiled into him, heart still gripped by a pleasant glow.

"I love you too, Kaworu-kun."

Shinji's eyes grew heavy, and he watched the way the sun glowed a

bit brighter through the blinds, slightly illuminating the darkness of his room. He closed his eyes then, figuring that they'd be awoken in a few hours when the sun had finished coming up.

Just now though, Shinji felt as if he and Kaworu were the only ones who the sun had stirred, just so that they could have a little moment of blissful privacy.

He was grateful for it.