#beloved aether

with some effort, denki unlocks the door and ferries you in—this time without crashing your head into the doorframe, though that’s a story for another time. 

he sets you down on the couch as gently as he can, though that was for naught when he topples into your lap like a puppy who’s just learnt how to walk. 

“ugh, it’s so cold,” he complains, tucking his frozen nose into your neck and eliciting a yelp from you. “we should warm up for a bit before we shower and sleep.” 

you groan at the added weight on top of you now, the dinner you just had sloshing around in your stomach. “yeah, i’m too full to go to bed now anyways.” 

with your face stuffed in his shoulder, you take a deep inhale. he smells like an eclectic mix of the fresh night air, the addictive pull of his cologne; now faded from hours of wear, and a hint of smoke from your street food date. the unconventionally calming mix of smells has your breathing slowing, your eyelids drooping, and your body relaxing under the warm and steady weight of your lover.

“feels good to go out like this. just the two of us,” denki continues, lips tickling your neck. 

“mm-hmm.” you hum.

“and i’m glad we still make time for each other, though we’re both busy bees.”

“mmm, me too, babe.”

“you look super pretty tonight. like… out-of-this-world pretty.”

“thank you, baby, you too.” 

“ya sleepy?”

“yeah, are you not?”

“very.” denki shifts so his full weight was no longer on you, flopping onto his side. then he pulls you closer to stuff his leg between yours. you sigh contentedly, relishing in the warmth of being so close to him. 

the pair of you doze together for a short while. aside from denki’s gentle breaths and the distant hum of traffic outside, all was quiet and still. you feel your chilly fingers and toes start to thaw. settled into a state of utter relaxation, with your tummies filled and no obligations for the rest of the day, you reckon you wouldn’t mind falling asleep here, even if it meant waking up with a sore back the next morning.

with that thought hovering in the back of your mind, you slip into a dreamless sleep.

when you awake eventually, denki has rolled on top of you. a mild soreness was starting to settle in your lower back. oops.

“wake up, idiot.” you poke at your boyfriend’s messy head of hair. “let’s go to bed.”

he stirs, then sinks deeper into you. “comfy. don’t wanna.”

“denki—”

“don’t wanna.” 

“c’mon, we have to get up.”

“you have to carry me, babe. my legs aren’t working.”

you push his fringe back from his forehead to flick it gently. “you can get up yourself.”

“no, i can’t, actually.” denki lifts his head off your chest to stick his tongue out at you impishly. “it’s wednesday, which means it’s my turn to be carried to bed!”

his turn? wednesday…?

oh.       

wednesday. he’s right. 

back in UA, you and denki worked out a system for when one of you was too tired to head to bed. countless nights staying up late with the few night owls amongst your classmates, playing video games and marathoning movies, usually resulted in you and denki being the last ones standing. and even so, the pair of you would be slumped over each other half-awake—words heavy on your tongue and legs tangled together carelessly—seconds away from falling asleep.

a simple game of rock paper scissors helped seal the deal the first time. denki lost and piggybacked you all the way up to the fourth floor where your room was. many years have passed since then, but you can still recall denki’s warm hands on your thighs, his soapy post-shower scent still clinging to his clothes, and the way he threatened to drop you every time you crowed in his ear about your victory. 

then rock paper scissors quickly became a weekly schedule based on odd and even days, where he took odd days and you took even days. (“i’unno. seems kinda rigged, how i keep losing.” “i can’t possibly rig rock paper scissors, denki!”) 

nostalgia washes over you in a comforting wave. thinking back on your unusual bedtime routine reminded you of why you fell in love with denki in the first place—because he made the ordinary extraordinary; because he made mundane things enjoyable even when they weren’t. but even so…

“baby, we’re not in UA anymore.” you laugh, threading your hands through denki’s soft, floppy hair. “let’s just go to bed like normal.”

“we never said we’d stop doing this, though. hell, when was the last time we did anyways?”

you pause to think, hands stilling his hair. “i think it was the night before we moved out of the dorms?”

“oh yeah, we wanted to stay up all night to make the most out of it.” denki reaches up to move your hand. “but you fell asleep on the couch and i didn’t want you to screw up your back, so i carried you to bed.”

“my hero,” you purr at your boyfriend jokingly. “that was sweet of you.”

“i know, and it’s now—” denki reaches up to pinch your nose, “—your turn to be sweet to me. don’t think you can get away with changing the subject.”

you swat his hand away, pinching him back. “seriously, do i have to?”

“well, i mean. we can always just stay here in our stinky puddle till tomorrow.” he shrugs. 

the thought of sleeping all night on the sofa—that was only comfortable enough for short naps— makes you shudder. 

“ugh, fine.” you relent and push your lover off of you, stooping in front of him expectantly. let’s hope this doesn’t fuck up my back more than sleeping on the couch will, you recall thinking to yourself, before your feet leave the floor and the world tips upside down once more. 

“wha– denki! i should be carrying you!” you yelp, scrambling to hold onto his shoulders. 

denki laughs, a joyous, boisterous song that lit up the room instantaneously. he nods towards your left. “the clock just struck twelve, cinderella!” 

you toss a quick look at the big digital clock on the wall of your living room before denki rounded the corner to your bedroom. 12.01am. thursday. 

oh well, you thought. maybe it's true—time does fly when you’re with people you love.

and that was the last thing you remember thinking before you were whizzed away towards your shared bedroom…

.

.

.

…where denki unceremoniously knocks your head into the doorframe.

a/n: thank you for requesting my love! <3 we all need a denki in our lives. writing this cheered me up so much, and i sincerely hope it does the same for you ~