Sheets | ✓

TWENTY

I swatted Nico's hands away from my head, rolling my eyes. Nico just grinned as he pulled my arms down into my lap, his other hand continuing to pull and tug on my newly darkened strands.

"Is this actually your natural colour?" Nico asked, his face genuinely in awe as he ran his fingers through the brown strands.

"Yep, naturally from the box," I said flatly, ducking away from his touchy-feely hands again, glaring at him warningly. "It's been almost a week already, Nico. The novelty should have worn off by now."

"It's just so..." Nico started, trailing off as his face morphed into one of exaggerated pensiveness. 

"Boring?" I offered, filling in the blank. Nico shook his head quickly, nose crinkling. 

"No, it's just that I'm not used to seeing you with dark hair. It suits you," Nico said, his words and the accompanying lopsided smile making me blush. I coughed as I pulled the sleeves of my woollen jumped over my hands, bringing them upwards to cover my rosy cheeks. 

"I'd hope so, since it's what I was born with," I sighed, shaking my head so my hair began to fall from my face. It had grown out a significant amount since the beginning of the term, and unless pushed back with gel it would fall over my eyes like a bad sunshade. I blew on the unruly chestnut brown strands with gusto, only for them to flop back down across my eyes. Nico chuckled as I blew again, my cheeks ballooning. 

I didn't stop Nico from reaching forward to brush the hair out from my eyes, his fingers trailing down my warmed cheeks afterwards. Nico's relaxed, close-lipped smile deepened as I leaned into his touch, almost nuzzling his palm like a domesticated animal.  

 I didn't know when Nico's presence had become so normal, but it was when he wasn't there that I felt his presence even more. Sofia was all over me at school, and the only moments of reprieve that I could find were those last few moments at the end of lunch break where I darted off to the back of the pool, knowing that Nico would already be there waiting. He had become my escape, and I found myself wanting to be by his side more than before. Actually wanted. Craved. Those cursed moments of realisation tended to be when I was lying in bed late at night, the sheets a little cold and the bed a little too big. Sometimes I caught myself thinking that it would be nice to feel his warmth beside me, his arms wrapped around my waist as he pulled me in close. I wondered how it would feel to wake up to the smell of his shampoo and his husky voice as he grumbled at the sun's rude attempts to rouse him into consciousness. The thought alone made me shiver, Nico frowning beside me.

"You're cold?" Nico asked, already beginning to shrug off his own sweater, my heart lurching. I pat his arm and shook my head, Nico tilting his head to the side questioningly, his arms sliding back through the larger arm holes. 

"I'm not cold," I reassured him, tucking my knees to my chest. It had indeed gotten a little colder, the term being well into autumn now. The swimming pool storeroom was particularly chilled, with no heating unit being installed since it wasn't intended for people to spend their lunch hours cuddling in. 

"You have goosebumps," Nico commented, pinching the back of my neck where my skin had begun to prickle. I blushed, knowing that the bumps weren't because I was cold, but because my body was growing hot with the thought of waking up with Nico in bed. 

Thank god for the cold weather.

It wasn't long before I felt Nico slide behind me, his strong arms wrapping around my front. His hands clasped his opposite biceps, encasing me in a cage of muscle and tattoos. Nico only had to flex those ropes of muscle slightly to pull me in close, my back nestled against his chest with my head tucked under his chin. He had a little stubble, which scraped at the top of my head, but I didn't mind it.