WOLVES WITHOUT TEETH, miyuki kazuya

seven

chapter seven

❛a rose-colored dream when she's loving you (with a cartwheel heart never running out of room)❜

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You receive a rude awakening the next morning.

Your blankets are yanked away from you, shocking you awake immediately. Cold air greets your exposed legs and stomach, your shirt having rucked up throughout the night. You groan, wiggling, eyes cracking open to see Kazuya standing at your bedside, dressed in an Under Armor shirt and basketball shorts.

"Come on," he says, amused. "Time to get up."

"What the hell, Kazuya. It's too early." Your room is only just starting to lighten.

"You have no idea what time it is."

"I don't need a clock to tell me it's too early to be up!" you whine, slumping against the bed and reaching up to rub the sleep out of your eyes.

"You didn't go to bed that late."

"Kazuya, I didn't go to bed after we came back in. I had to patrol."

"Oh." He blinks, as though he hadn't realized that; you suppose he's still compartmentalizing the news and trying to unify these two versions of you. "How long -?"

"Until three."

Now you spy some guilt on his face.

He sighs, hands on his hips. "Next time, tell me when you get back in."

"You're sleeping. I don't -"

"I don't care," he interrupts, a little sharply, then grimaces. "I was... I forgot you had to do things like that. But now... tell me. Just so I know... you know."

You blink tiredly up at him, then nod.

The grimace is still on his lips. Aw. He really feels bad.

You reach for his hand, tugging. "Just a few more hours. Then we can do... whatever you wanted to do."

"Running," he says, taking off his glasses and setting them on the nightstand. "We're going running together."

You wiggle your legs back under your blanket as he climbs in next to you.

"Sounds fun," you say sleepily.

"We'll see about that."

But you don't get to further ponder his mysterious words.

With him next to you, your face pressed against his shoulder - his left one; it's his throwing shoulder that's hurt - your senses quiet like they usually do when you are in close proximity with him.

From there, it is too easy to surrender to the tides of sleep.

-

You've forgotten those mysterious words about running when you wake up. You get dressed in a pair of running shorts, a sports bra, and a tank top, and the two of you are off.

(You don't miss the relief on Eijun, Wakana, and Youichi's faces as you two come down together, clearly reconciled.)

From there, you two take a run around the neighborhood.

"Didn't take you for a regular runner," you comment lightly as you round a corner. "Definitely not the kind who wakes up early in the morning."

Kazuya is hardly a morning person. Prefers to be five minutes late to morning practice than a minute early. He does work out regularly, just as Youichi and Eijun do, but they prefer to do that at the indoor gym on campus, in blissful air conditioning.