pika please let me sleep

“What?” His head tilted to the side then, lips twitching as he held back a laugh.

What brought this on? Even your mind wondered amidst your haze. Maybe it was because you had feel too much, seen too much—

You squared your shoulders, lifting your chin with bold conviction that might have been impressive—if not for the way you tipped forward and tumbled to him.

Caleb reacted instantly, catching you and drawing you into him. You landed in his lap, your legs tangling with his as though they belonged there.

“I said,” you repeated, slower this time, peering up at him with a petulant look as you jabbed a finger into his chest in a futile attempt to gain authority, “sleep with me tonight.”

He squeezed your sides, dashing smile on his face. “…You’re drunk.”

“Am not.”

“You—” Caleb gave up halfway, bursting into snickers despite himself. You looked utterly adorable to him, all needy and flushed, trying to make him pay attention to you.

Meanwhile, you stared at him, affronted. He was laughing at you, who had just gathered every ounce of courage in your body (assisted by liquid courage, no less) to deliver such a bold, life-altering declaration.

Your finger poked his chest again, weaker this time. “Take me seriously.”

“Yeah, yeah...” he said, though the curve of his lips betrayed him. You narrowed your eyes, while his amethyst ones crinkled at you.

He shouldn’t look at you like that. Not with that softness. Not with that endearing, indulging fondness that made your heart stutter in your chest and your resolve increased tenfold.

You loved being in Caleb’s arms. You felt thoroughly protected, sheltered, loved. And everyone around you was having proposals, engagements, weddings—

So why hadn’t he...?

“You—” you continued, raising your head as if presenting a compelling argument, “You can do whatever you want to me tonight.”

So many years. You had been by Caleb’s side for so long, spent in longing and yearning, and you were dying to step towards the future with him. In your hazy thoughts, you thought that if you offered yourself to him, then it would compel him to somehow fulfill your wishes.

Caleb’s brow arched slightly, his smile never fading. But his eyes changed. They sharpened, searching your face as if trying to separate courage from impulse.

“…Whatever I want?” he repeated carefully.

You nodded firmly—or at least, what you thought was firmly—your grip tightening in his shirt.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“You won’t regret it tomorrow?”

You frowned at him. “You ask too many questions.”

Caleb leaned closer then, his nose bobbed lightly against yours in a soft nudge. The gesture was intimate in a way that made your breath catch.

He exhaled, the sound warm against your lips.

“…Okay,” he nodded at last. “Just don’t blame me later.”

Your heart skipped, stumbling over itself as anticipation grew. Even if you couldn’t have your dreams of future, you could still have this—his attention, his warmth wrapped around you tonight.

And then, with a final tone that made your silly heart face even faster, he sealed it with:

“Tonight, you’re staying with me.”

. . .

“Caleeeeb!”

You whined, full of outrage as you twisted in Caleb’s arms, visibly irate and ready to roast him alive.

Your scheming lover, spooning you from behind with one arm draped over your waist, merely hummed, “Mm-hm? What is it, meimei?”

“What is this?!” you demanded, gesturing vaguely at everything—most notably, the the audacity of this man.

Apparently, the “whatever” that he meant… was too far from your imagination.

The moment he got you into his room, Caleb had guided you to his bed with gentleness. Before you could even begin to prepare yourself, he reached over and switched on the fan.

On the highest setting. The blades whirred to life, sending a powerful stream of air cascading over you both. And then, as if that weren’t enough, he grabbed the remote from his bedside table and turned on the air conditioner too.

Also to the coldest setting.

“You said I could do whatever I wanted,” he drawled in your ear, tightening his hold on you. “I want to cuddle.”

“Grr…” you growled under your breath, frustrated beyond words.

The sheer absurdity cleared away all your drunken haze. This was not how this was supposed to go! It was supposed to be a night of unrestrained passion— but now you were freezing with him turning you into his body pillow

But Caleb... He was relishing in your frustration. And worst of all—he was winning, again.

So actually, it all started ever since you attended Jenna’s wedding.

Seeing your usually no-nonsense captain standing there in a stunning wedding dress had stirred something inside you. The way her voice trembled and teared up as she recited her vows nearly brought tears to your own eyes.

And somewhere between the exchange of vows and the way her partner looked at her—as if she were the only person in the world—you found yourself thinking of Caleb.

The years you had spent at his side. The way he kissed you without hesitation. The way he said your name like it belonged to him. All the memories you had shared... amplified with the scene of eternal vows before you, you thought you had reached clarity.

You wanted that forever with him.

However you didn’t know whether it was your own imagination or not, but you had this hunch that Caleb deliberately avoided this topic as much as possible—

. . .

There was this one time when you passed by a popular boutique, and your eyes practically sparkled as you stared at the intricate, lacy gowns.

“Caleb, those wedding dresses are beautiful—”

“Not if you’re the one wearing them, pipsqueak. You will trip on the hem within three steps and take out half the guests like bowling pins.”

“You—!”

. . .

There was another time. You were sitting on his lap after a long day, his arm slung around you while you leaned against his sturdy chest.

“Caleeeb. If we ever got married—”

“Oh, Lord, give me strength.”

“What?!”

“If I marry you,” he snorted, “I will be left with house bills debts. Why?” He gestured at you with his jaw. “Because someone will spend the entire budget on snacks.”

“—?! I don’t eat that much!”

“I’ve seen you demolish a family-sized dessert by yourself. And then there’s also groceries,” he continued mercilessly. “I’d go bankrupt.”

“That is husbandly duty!” you shot back indignantly. “A husband provides for his wife!”

“You’re not a wife. You’re a long-term financial crisis.”

“Idiot! That’s slander, I’m suing you!”

. . .

The latest was when you were both walking through the market, weaving through the noisy crowd of vendors and shoppers. Caleb held your hand in his while you walked beside him, occasionally pointing at random stalls.

Then you spotted a jewelry stand. Rings glinted under the sunlight, neatly arranged in velvet trays.

“Caleb.”

He didn’t even look. “No.”

Your eye twitched. “I didn’t even say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Look, just look at the rings!”

Caleb finally glanced down. Then immediately looked away like the metal had personally offended him. “Those are overpriced.”

“You didn’t even check the price!”

“I can feel it spiritually.”

. . .

No, now you were certain. Caleb could face anything, except a wedding conversation with you.

It would be a lie to say you weren’t a little disappointed. But how else could you bring this up again when he kept deflecting it so many times?

Sighing, you pushed the thought aside.

By the time you arrived back home, the sky had already begun to dim into the soft gold of evening. The place still looked unfamiliar sometimes—despite the fact that it had once been yours.

Your childhood home. Except now the crooked fence had been replaced, the porch repaired, and the roof no longer sagged under its own age. Caleb had spent weeks fixing it up, refusing to let you help with most of the heavy work.

“If we’re going to live here, might as well make sure the roof doesn’t collapse on us,” he had said at the time. The thought made you smile.

You pushed the door open, but just as you stepped inside, voices drifted from the living room.

“…figured I’d drop by,” someone was saying from beyond the partition.

You immediately recognized the voice— Gideon, Caleb’s old classmate during his Aerospace Academy years. Your brows lifted slightly in surprise, it had been a while since the last he visited.

You were taking off your shoes, thinking about announcing yourself when the two friends’ conversation suddenly took another turn. “Don’t you— time— settle down?”

The new partition Caleb had installed was made from some kind of soundproof material, so the conversation beyond it reached you only in snippets.

“Come on.” You heard Gideon’s faint chuckle next. “You— playing house already.”

A short pause followed before Caleb’s voice answered, “That’s not it...”

The response must have caught Gideon off guard, because when he spoke again, his voice was louder that you could hear it almost clearly. “So what? You never think about it? Actually settling down?”

Your breath caught as their conversation sank in. For a moment, there was silence—

Then Caleb laughed lightly.

“With everything—? No.”

Huh? You stood there in silence, unmoving, too stunned to think.

You didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but… wasn’t that exactly what it sounded like?

Suddenly, what Caleb did all this time made total sense. It hadn’t been playful avoidance. He never thought to settle down with everything—with you. He simply didn’t want it.

Your throat felt tight.

The only thought ringing in your mind was to leave before either of them could notice you. Almost staggering, you slipped the door open again and closed it just as softly behind you as you stepped outside. The evening air greeted you once more, cooler now than when you had first arrived.

For a moment, you remained standing on the porch, staring at the fading gold of the sky as the daylight slowly drained away. Your chest burned—a painful knot forming there, feeling betrayed more than anything else.

You just… didn’t want to be here.

Anywhere else would be better than here.

So, before you could think too much about it, you walked away.

Hours passed, and the disappointment and sadness that had hollowed you out had dulled into resentment.

After you left home, you wandered through the shopping district without really seeing any of it. Store lights flickered as evening deepened into night. You grabbed convenience store bento box for your dinner, quietly pre-heating it and eating in the corner.

As the night went on, crowds thinned and vendors began packing their stalls, yet you kept walking.

Your phone buzzed again in your hand—perhaps for the tenth time. With a tired sigh, you glanced down at the screen, your lips pressing into a thin line.

Seven missed calls. All from Caleb. He left you many messages too.

[06.32 pm] still working? i went home early today to cook your fav braised chicken :D [06.40 pm] oh yeah grab a ketchup on the way home, will you? i'll add it to the seasoning later [07.15 pm] ...hello? am i being ghosted :( that's it. i'm not feeding you tonight [07.58 pm] hey nevermind the ketchup. i went out already so you just come back, okay? [08.30 pm] not coming back home yet? [09.00 pm] it's late. are you okay? where are you? [09.14 pm] answer my calls. why didn't you pick them at all?

All his messages were normal as if the words you overheard earlier hadn’t carved straight through you. You bitterly laugh, because you had known for a long time that Caleb had always been cunning... but how could he be that cold to you?

Your phone buzzed again and you let it ring. Two more calls you ignored before the screen lit up once more, his name flashing insistently. You decided to pick it up at last.

“Finally.” His exhale was audible through the phone, like he’d been holding his breath for hours. But the next second, his tone sharpened. “Where are you? Why didn’t you pick up my calls?”

The question unexpectedly struck a nerve in you.

“What is it to you anyway?” you snapped. “I’m not a kid so I can wander anywhere I want.”

There was a brief pause. “…What? Of course I’m worried when you’re not answering my messages. Did something happen? Why are you—”

Your vision blurred as tears welled in your eyes. You were so tired of this—this pretend family, the way he showed concern for you. All it did was make you hope for something more… something you couldn’t even attain.

“Caleb,” you said finally, your voice suddenly steady. “I’ve been thinking. I think it’s for the best if we live separately from now on.”

“What—” He actually choked on the word. “Why— No. Where are you? I’ll come get you first—”

“I think it’s better that way.”

“No, it’s not!” he refuted immediately, panic beginning to edge into his voice. “You’re upset. We can talk when I get there—”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“We clearly have a lot to talk about.”

“Caleb—”

“Just tell me where you are.”

Your stubbornness only seemed to make him more desperate.

“Stop this,” he said, the sharpness gone now, replaced with something strained. “Look, I’m sorry, alright? Whatever it is, I’ll make it right, but for now you have to go back first. Tell me where you are and I’ll be there in five, I promise.”

In all the years you had known him—through every stubborn standoff and childish fight when you were younger—you couldn’t remember a single time Caleb had apologized first when he hadn’t actually done anything wrong. He was always the type to dig into the problem, demand answers, argue until the truth came out before offering an apology.

But now he sounded almost desperate, trying to reason with you.

The realization softened something in your chest. The wall of hurt you had built over the past few hours cracked, just a little.

Maybe you could talk it through. Maybe you had jumped to conclusions… You should at least hear him out.

You opened your mouth to tell him where you were, but before you could—

CRASHHH!

A deafening roar tore through the street, and the ground lurched violently beneath your feet. For a split second, everything went white as a blast wave slammed into you. Your phone flew from your hand as the force knocked you off balance—

The line went dead.

“Huh...?”

Caleb frowned at the sudden silence when the call had been cut out. He heard that sound of explosion—it wasn’t loud from where he stood but it was enough to make the windows tremble faintly in their frames.

His grip on the phone tightened. “Hey!” he barked into the receiver, though the call had already dropped. “Answer me!”

A cold, creeping dread tightened in his chest. You—

Caleb didn’t think after that.

He bolted for the door, nearly wrenching it off its hinges as he threw it open. The cool night air hit his face as he sprinted down the steps two at a time. His heart slammed violently against his ribs.

No. Caleb broke into a full sprint down the street, his mind betrayed him with a thousand terrible images—of you lying motionless on the pavement, blood spreading beneath you while your phone lay discarded nearby.

“Don’t you dare…” he muttered under his breath, jaw clenched tight.

You had to be fine.

You had to be.

He pushed himself faster, lungs screaming, heart hammering like it might tear itself apart as the distant glow of flashing emergency lights began to stain the night sky ahead.

. . .

By the time he reached the city center, the place had descended into chaos.

A building had completely collapsed. Caleb’s breath caught in his throat as his eyes darted across the devastation.

Concrete and twisted metal spilled across the road, clouds of dust still drifting through the air. Emergency sirens wailed from every direction as people ran wildly through the streets—some screaming, others crying, some desperately calling out names into the smoke-filled night.

“Move! Move back!”

“Someone call an ambulance!”

“There are people still inside!”

The air still smelled like burning wires. Panic surged through him like a tidal wave and Caleb pushed forward immediately, shoving through the crowd without hesitation.

“Let me through!”

People stumbled aside as he forced his way past them, ignoring the angry protests and frightened cries. His eyes scanned every face he passed—every injured person sitting on the pavement, every figure being helped away from the rubble.

None of them were you.

“Have you seen—” Caleb grabbed the shoulder of a passerby, voice rough with urgency. “A girl—about this tall—”

But the man shook him away frantically and rushed off.

Caleb almost cursed, his pulse roaring in his ears. Then he started shouting.

“Hey!” His voice tore through the noise of the crowd. “Y/N! Where are you?!”

His gaze swept across the rubble, searching desperately through the smoke and flashing emergency lights. His breathing grew harsher as dread clawed its way up his spine.

“Where are you!” Caleb shouted again, louder this time, his voice cracking as he turned towards the collapsed building.

Caleb lunged toward the rubble, ready to jump straight into the shattered remains, but before he could reach it, a pair of strong hands seized him from behind.

“Hey! Stop!” a police officer barked, grabbing his arm. “You can’t go in there!”

“Let go of me!” he snarled, thrashing violently as he tried to wrench free. “Someone’s in there!”

“It’s dangerous—”

“My girlfriend is in there!” he yelled, his voice raw with panic. He struggled against the officer’s grip like a wild animal, desperation making his movements reckless. “Let me go! I need to find her!”

“Sir, you need to calm down—”

“I’m not leaving her in there! She’s—!”

“Caleb!”

For one solid second, he thought he was hearing things. Your voice, unmistakably yours. Slowly—almost afraid to believe it—he turned around.

And there you were.

Alive. Standing a short distance away behind the police barrier, dust smudged across your clothes, your hair slightly disheveled… but otherwise completely unharmed.

For a moment Caleb simply stared at you, his brain struggling to process what his eyes were seeing.

Then he tore free from the officer.

Before you could even react, Caleb crashed into you and pulled you into a soul-crushing embrace, his arms wrapping around you so tightly it knocked the breath from your lungs.

“You—” he choked out. “You’re okay—”

Your face pressed against his chest as he held you like he was afraid you might disappear. His whole body was shaking violently, and you could feel how shaken he was in the uneven rhythm of his breathing against your hair, in the way his fingers clenched the back of your jacket like he needed something solid to anchor himself.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything at all. He just held you like he was making sure you were real. You slowly lifted your head—and that was when you realized something that made your chest tighten.

This was the first time you had ever seen him like this. He was pale, his usually steady composure completely shattered. His eyes were wide and glassy, breaths coming in uneven pulls. The sight of him like this felt almost unreal.

“I’m fine— Caleb, I’m totally fine...”

Your words seemed to snap something inside him.

“You call this fine?!” His voice came out hoarse, breaking at the edges as his grip tightened again. His hands moved to your shoulders, as if checking you over, his eyes scanning your face, your arms, anywhere he could see. “There was an explosion—your phone cut off—I thought—!”

His voice faltered. He couldn’t even finish the sentence.

Caleb dragged a shaky breath through his teeth before pulling you back into another fierce embrace, burying his face against your hair.

“Don’t do that again,” he whispered, the words rough. “Don’t scare me like that… ever again.”

For once, the stubborn certainty that usually defined him was gone. All that remained was the quiet, desperate relief of a man who had almost lost everything he couldn’t bear to lose.

The walk back home passed in heavy silence. You were fine, mostly. There was only a shallow gash along your calf where debris must have caught you when the blast knocked you over. It stung with every step, but it was nothing serious.

Caleb, however, refused to let you walk home limping like that, and crouched in front of you.

“Get on.”

“It’s just a scratch—”

“Get on.”

There was no room for argument in his voice. And so you ended up clinging to his back while he carried you the rest of the way home, just like when you were kids.

Even then, he hardly spoke. The man who usually had something sharp or teasing to say about everything remained unnervingly quiet, his grip under your knees stayed firm the whole walk.

. . .

Caleb fussed and hovered around you like he usually did. He had insisted on cleaning the cut himself, carefully rinsing the blood away earlier before guiding you into the bath.

And now... the two of you sat together in the bathtub.

Warm water filled the tub with soft steam, the faint scent of soap drifting through the air. Caleb sat behind you, his chest pressed against your back. The water sloshed gently around your bodies whenever either of you shifted.

His arms rested loosely around you in the water, but every few moments he leaned forward, burying his face near your shoulder or the crook of your neck as he drew in a slow breath.

It was almost as if he had aged years in the span of a single evening. The tension in his shoulders hadn’t left, and the quiet around him felt heavy.

“Why do you want to leave this house?” he finally asked, his voice was low, roughened by exhaustion. “You were wandering around the city for hours and didn’t want to go home... tell me what it is that I did so wrong so I can fix it.”

You stiffened slightly.

Caleb rested his chin near your shoulder as he waited, his breath brushing faintly against your skin. You contemplated of making up some sort of an excuse, but finally resigned and told him the truth.

“…I heard you.”

“Heard what?”

“You and Gideon. You said you didn’t even consider settling down with me.”

The words sounded quieter when spoken aloud than they had when they first carved into your chest earlier that evening. For a moment, Caleb wasn’t sure he was hearing things right.

“What?”

You turned slightly, enough to catch the stunned look on his face. “Back at the house,” you pointed. “You said that.”

Caleb stared at you like you had just said something completely absurd. He almost squeaked, incredulous. “That’s what you thought I meant?”

“I heard it clearly—”

“That’s not what I meant at all.” He ran a frustrated hand through his damp hair, water dripping down his arm. “You didn’t even stay to hear the rest, did you?”

Caleb let out a short breath, something between ultimate exasperation and relief finally dawning across his expression. His gaze only darkened as he watched your confusion. Before you could say anything else, he suddenly grabbed your arm and pulled you towards him.

“Caleb— Mmph!”

But, your words were cut off when his lips crashed into yours.

The kiss was fierce and desperate, nothing like the teasing brushes you were used to from him. Splash! The sudden movement sent water sloshing violently against the sides of the bathtub, spilling over the rim as he dragged you closer.

His hands moved instinctively, gripping your waist, sliding up your back as though he needed to feel every inch of you and in no time at all, heat flooded the space between you.

For someone who had been so quiet all night, the intensity of it was almost overwhelming. When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against yours, his breathing still uneven.

“Tonight,” Caleb murmured heatedly, amethyst eyes grounding you like the gravity itself, “you’re sleeping with me.”

. . .

Your towel barely covered you when Caleb carried you out of the bathroom in a princess carry and brought you to his bedroom.

“Caleb, wait—”

That traitorous towel slipped loose almost immediately as placed you on his bed. His hands came up to cradle your face as his mouth claimed yours— the kiss deep and heated, all his restrain gone.

The tension from the entire night seemed to pour out of him through that kiss. And when you parted, lust had taken over him thoroughly, your heart thundering in your chest with the way he gazed at you.

“I’ve had enough of waiting tonight, pipsqueak.”

You barely had time to breathe before he was guiding you to lay on the sheets. Caleb sank to his knees before you, his gaze sweeping over you with an intensity that made your breath hitch. His hands slid along your thighs, parting them as he leaned forward, devouring you down there.

Your fingers instinctively tangled into his hair.

“Caleb—!” you moaned, startled by everything that was happening. You arched your back, feeling how he licked your folds so deliciously that you almost yelped.

Just when you were about to reach your high, your lover stopped and you unwittingly let out a whine.

When Caleb looked up again, his expression was softer now—but the intensity hadn’t faded. Drawing in a slow breath like he had earlier in the bath, he grounded himself in your presence.

“I thought I lost you tonight,” he said quietly. His brows creased into a frown, before something dark and dangerous glinted in his eyes. For a moment, you thought it was over—

You thought wrong. He followed it with two of his fingers, and you let out a shriek as he slid them in and out of you mercilessly.

Unbeknownst to you, he was on a mission to punish you tonight.

His rough, calloused hand closed around your waist, the grip firm enough to steal the breath from your lungs. In no time at all, you were reduced into a mess of cries and cum before him.

However, what followed afterwards was far gentler than what you had imagined. Somewhere along the way, his overwhelming feelings of cherishing you won out of all else.

He kissed you everywhere he could reach, like a man trying to reassure himself you were truly there. Your shoulders, your arms, the dip of your waist—each kiss lingering longer than the last, warm and reverent.

And when he entered you, stretching you with his thick girth, a low breath left his lips, holding onto you as if you were the only thing capable to in the world.

“Mine,” he growled against your ear. It was his sole thought throughout the night as he thrusted in and out of you with a restless urgency, like he needed to prove—to you, to himself—that you were truly here with him.

You woke before dawn, and caught Caleb still wide awake.

Propped against the headboard, he sat beside you with one arm draped loosely over your back, his thumb tracing slow, absent circles on your skin, his gaze fixed on your face as though he had been watching you for a long time.

“Caleb…?” Your voice came out groggy with sleep. “You haven’t slept?”

His thumb brushed slowly across your arm, absentmindedly tracing the same path again and again. “…I can’t.”

His voice was quiet. You pushed yourself up a little, squinting at him through sleepy eyes. Up close, you could see the faint shadows beneath his eyes, the tension still lingering in his expression.

Everything that had happened had shaken him more than he let on. The explosion. The broken call. The moment he thought he might never find you. And the idea—however brief—that you had been planning to leave him.

Caleb let out a slow breath when he noticed the way you were looking at him. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m fine.”

“…You’ve been watching me this whole time?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s creepy.”

Your gege snorted softly. Then, without warning, he flicked your forehead.

“Ow!” You immediately clutched the spot, glaring up at him. “What was that for?!”

“That,” he said flatly, “is for being stupid.”

You gaped at him. “Stupid—?”

“Yes. Stupid.” Caleb leaned back slightly, folding his arms as he looked down at you with mild irritation. “Running off because you thought I didn’t want to marry you. Honestly.”

“Well you made it sound like—”

“Of course I want to marry you, you goober. I just wasn’t going to propose you with some random ring bought off a street vendor.”

You blinked in surprise. The words came out so matter-of-factly that you froze. Caleb glanced down at you again, his expression still frosty, but he ruffled your hair with tenderness regardless.

“You deserve more than that.” His tone was casual, but there was a quiet certainty behind it. “If I’m putting a ring on your finger, it’s going to be something worth wearing.”

Your heart skipped a beat. Caleb finally sank back onto the pillow beside you so he could nudge his forehead against yours.

“So yeah,” he murmured, a finger came to trace your lips. The depth of his violet eyes held yours so completely that for a moment you were stunned.

“I’ll find you a ring so beautiful you won’t be able to look away from it.”

For a moment, the room fell quiet again. You reached up almost absentmindedly, your fingers fiddling with the front of his shirt. For once, neither of you rushed to fill the silence.

Caleb watched you for a moment, something gentle settling in his expression as he smiled. Then his hand came up to cover yours and laced your fingers together, holding them between you as he studied your face.

“To have and to hold,” Caleb said quietly, his thumb brushing over your knuckles, “for richer or poorer…”

His voice was softer than you had ever heard it.

“In good times and bad...”

Your throat tightened slightly. His gaze never leaving yours.

Caleb leaned closer, pecking you lightly in the lips.

“Yes,” he finished, the words steady and certain. “I want to do all of it with you. So... will you marry me?”

For a moment you could only stare at him. The words seemed to hang in the quiet room, mingling with the pale light of dawn and the steady warmth of his hand holding yours. This was everything you had hoped, but somehow it still went against all your wildest expectations.

Caleb watched you carefully, as though bracing himself for your answer, though the certainty in his eyes never truly wavered.

A warmth spread through your chest, steady and bright, until it made your eyes sting slightly. Slowly, you squeezed his hand back.

“Yes,” you said softly. “Yes!”

For the first time since the night began, the tension finally left his shoulders. His breath escaped in a quiet laugh of relief as he pulled you into the warmest embrace.

“Good, because I wasn’t planning to let you say no anyway.”

Outside, the sky was beginning to brighten. Whatever storms might come, whatever misunderstandings or fears lay ahead—both of you would face them together.

As you can probably guess, I'm not as into Hetalia as I used to be. I am keeping the items which mean the most to me, but the rest I'm hoping to clear out. It's just taking up too much space now, especially all the doujinshi. Also am struggling with some finances because work severely cut my hours and I haven't found something new yet, so a few of the higher priced items, I am selling to help compensate a little.