Lune turns away while Sciel dresses, ostensibly to turn down the neatly laid covers. At the question, she huffs a wry laugh.
"Sleeping in the middle of the day? Not in our household." That way of thinking stuck too well after she was in charge of her own self, ingrained as a waste of time. Picking up a pillow, she turns it slowly in her hands, fluffing it idly as she considers.
"But... maybe I can give it a try now."
There's a long list of perfectly normal, mundane things that Lune has never experienced, never had the time for. Maybe napping can be nextā surely that will go better than going on a date did.
Sciel drapes the towel around her neck and steps into her shorts, and then starts trying to wring more water from her hair so she ceases to drip. Her heart rate settles minute by minute, settling into a calm that's a little less forced, even if the way her hair sticks to her skin still bugs her.
"You should do it," she says. "Take a whole afternoon to just luxuriate in bed. Think about nothing, when you think at all."
"An hour," she bargains, twisting the towel around her hair hard for a moment, and then unwrapping it again and deeming it... acceptable. She still puts the towel around her shoulders to shield herself. "Half an hour isn't anything. It'll vanish in the blink of an eye."
"An hour," Lune repeats slowly, as if weighing the idea in her head. Throwing the pillow back against the headboard, she breathes out a sound caught between a sigh and a chuckle. "Okay, fine. An hour."
Turning back to Sciel, she smiles a bit crookedly, amused. "How do you always manage to talk me into these things?"
āIām very charming and persistent,ā she says, matter-of-fact, and Lune turning to her is as good as opportunity as every to step into her space to hug her, nestling her chin right into the crook of Luneās shoulder. āAnd you know Iām right.ā
If Lune is surprised or taken aback by the hug, it only lasts for a second ā Sciel did warn her earlier, after all ā before her arms go around the other woman to return the embrace, huffing a quiet, fond laugh.
"Yeah. I know." Both of those things, really. "Are you feeling better?"
She nods against Luneās shoulder, lingering right where she is. Every second is healing, one step closer to feeling completely at home in her own body again.
āYes. Thank you.ā Couldnāt do it alone. āI promise someday I wonāt be a baby about that.ā
No promises on not having a bleeding heart, though.
Lune's fingers press into Sciel a little tighter for a beat at the gratitude, a wordless acknowledgement she feels a bit awkward putting into words. She doesn't make any effort to move out of the hug, even though normally the prolonged embrace would probably feel a bit weirdā even with Sciel, who has patiently subjected Lune to more casual touches than any other person past or present, like taming a stray cat.
"Well, there's no hurry," Lune murmurs after a beat. With that, or anything else. If Sciel needs to be hugged, then she'll stand here for the rest of the night if she has to.
Lune holds her, and Sciel milks it for all it is worth, hands sliding up Luneās back, holding her so tightly that she can feel every breath in. Just past Lune is the bedroom window, and Sciel looks at the inky black of the night and the hazy yellow reflection of their hug splashed across the glass. She meets her own gaze for a moment and a question occurs to her, but she doesnāt want to ask it, so she just turns her head so her nose and mouth briefly press into the side of Luneās neck, eyes squeezed shut. She relaxes as she exhales, lingering.
Lune's breath stills for just a second when Sciel turns her face into her neck, startled by the sudden intimacy of her mouth brushing against the skin there, her warm breath when she exhales. They've embraced before plenty, but not entirely like this. Uncomfortably, Lune is suddenly thrown back to years ago, back to that night at the Tower when they were both looking for comfort. She pushes those memories back doggedly, her own breath shuddering out on an exhale; gamely, she rubs Sciel's back in a tiny back-and-forth motion. She doesn't want her own hang-ups and confusion over everything that's going on with Gustave to get in the way of Sciel getting what she needs from this.
After a moment longer, she finally murmurs, "Ready for bed?"
That sounded... suggestive. Lune feels her face heating up slightly. Vying for wryness, she adds, "We might still be able to catch a few hours of sleep."
She feels the way Luneās breathing changes, and for a long moment she wonders if she could just ignore it and keep on clinging, and see just how long it would take for Lune to pry her off. She shouldnāt push it, not when Luneās kind enough to humour her in the first place.
So she peels herself back, just enough to look at Luneās face, and she immediately catches the flush of colour on her cheeks. That pulls fond little look out of Sciel, her smile a little impish, a little apologetic.
āI think bedās a good idea,ā she says, letting her hands drop.
That smile only makes the flush on Lune's face a bit more persistent, feeling self-conscious and flustered and a handful of other things she has no capacity to handle on a good day, much less now. She pushes it all back and slams the door shut on everything that's too difficult to face, gently squeezing Sciel's shoulder before pulling away entirely.
"Okay." Lune nods her head toward the bed, smiling slightly. "Hop in."
Sciel's hair is still damp, but Lune's too tired to think of ruined pillows now if it doesn't bother Sciel herself. She scoots over toward the other side of the bed, leaving room for Sciel to follow.
Oh, Lune. Sciel wonders, idly, what really went on during that date with Gustave, but thereās no sense in bringing down a barely-healed mood with that.
But what sheās never wondered in her life what damp hair does to pillows, so she just reaches to turn off the light and crawls in after Lune, settling down on her side with only a modest space between their bodies.
āSomeday Iām going to have to get you to sleep over in my room.ā
Resting on her back, Lune turns her head in the darkness to glance over, and while it might be difficult to see the small grin on her face, the amusement is audible in her quiet murmur.
"Will you tidy up first? Sometimes I don't know how you find your bed to begin with."
āSometimes I give up and curl up on a pile of clothes,ā she says, breezily. āBut yes. Iāll put everything where it was originally intended to go, just for you.ā
āHurray!ā she whispers, and as her eyes adjust to the dark, her gaze skims over the pretty rise of Luneās cheekbone, her hair blending into the night. āCould be good for us, you know. We do that enough times, Iāll be tidier and youāll learn to sleep in with me.ā
"Oh? You think so?" Lune can't help her small grin, amusement suffusing her tone. It's very Sciel; hard to counter or deny even though Lune can see she's being maneuvered. But, there are worse things she could be. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
āI do think so,ā she says, and she slides a foot over to Luneās side of the bed to gentle bump her ankle. āIn fact, I know weāre very good for each other. I need good influences, and you need bad ones.ā
āIām going to remember you said that!ā Not that sheād ever hold it against Lune in any serious way, but you know. She peers at Lune through the dark, feeling sleepy in a way only comfort and good company can guarantee, and she wiggles in a little closer overall, and her palm slides along the sheets, coming to a rest between them. Her question floats back up again, but she waves it away again, a little more reluctantly. Instead: āYouāre going to sleep now, right? Iām not going to wake up to find you reading under the covers?ā
The corner of Lune's mouth lifts just a little at that, staring up at the ceiling through drooping eyelids, heavy with approaching slumber. Maybe the date idea had been a miscalculation on Sciel's part, but beyond that... or maybe the fault lies with Lune fucking it up all on her own. Not like she hasn't thought of that a dozen times since.
Distracted from that line of thought, she huffs a tiny chuckle at the playful suspicion thrown her way. As little as Lune usually sleeps, she does feel weary now, liable to nod off soon. "Yes, I'm going to sleepā I promise. No reading until... tomorrow afternoon."
āGood girl,ā Sciel says, and she means it teasingly, but the end dips into a tremendous yawn, which she only just barely smothers by briefly turning her head into the pillow. āLove you.ā
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"Sleeping in the middle of the day? Not in our household." That way of thinking stuck too well after she was in charge of her own self, ingrained as a waste of time. Picking up a pillow, she turns it slowly in her hands, fluffing it idly as she considers.
"But... maybe I can give it a try now."
There's a long list of perfectly normal, mundane things that Lune has never experienced, never had the time for. Maybe napping can be nextā surely that will go better than going on a date did.
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"You should do it," she says. "Take a whole afternoon to just luxuriate in bed. Think about nothing, when you think at all."
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Even that could be pushing it, honestly. And not thinking about anything is definitely beyond her.
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Turning back to Sciel, she smiles a bit crookedly, amused. "How do you always manage to talk me into these things?"
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"Yeah. I know." Both of those things, really. "Are you feeling better?"
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āYes. Thank you.ā Couldnāt do it alone. āI promise someday I wonāt be a baby about that.ā
No promises on not having a bleeding heart, though.
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"Well, there's no hurry," Lune murmurs after a beat. With that, or anything else. If Sciel needs to be hugged, then she'll stand here for the rest of the night if she has to.
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After a moment longer, she finally murmurs, "Ready for bed?"
That sounded... suggestive. Lune feels her face heating up slightly. Vying for wryness, she adds, "We might still be able to catch a few hours of sleep."
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So she peels herself back, just enough to look at Luneās face, and she immediately catches the flush of colour on her cheeks. That pulls fond little look out of Sciel, her smile a little impish, a little apologetic.
āI think bedās a good idea,ā she says, letting her hands drop.
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"Okay." Lune nods her head toward the bed, smiling slightly. "Hop in."
Sciel's hair is still damp, but Lune's too tired to think of ruined pillows now if it doesn't bother Sciel herself. She scoots over toward the other side of the bed, leaving room for Sciel to follow.
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But what sheās never wondered in her life what damp hair does to pillows, so she just reaches to turn off the light and crawls in after Lune, settling down on her side with only a modest space between their bodies.
āSomeday Iām going to have to get you to sleep over in my room.ā
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"Will you tidy up first? Sometimes I don't know how you find your bed to begin with."
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āSometimes I give up and curl up on a pile of clothes,ā she says, breezily. āBut yes. Iāll put everything where it was originally intended to go, just for you.ā
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"Yeah? That's generous. Well, in that case... agreed."
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"You're probably right. You often are." In matters like these, anyway.
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Distracted from that line of thought, she huffs a tiny chuckle at the playful suspicion thrown her way. As little as Lune usually sleeps, she does feel weary now, liable to nod off soon. "Yes, I'm going to sleepā I promise. No reading until... tomorrow afternoon."
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