Roads That Cross...

... With a Warning

Simón was slowly woken by small things. The first was heat; a warmth that seemed to surround him from head to toe. The second were slight shifts on the bed, but he wasn't the one moving. The third was a soft caress in the back of his head, close to his nape. That was what lured him back to consciousness, made him notice the sunlight behind his eyelids, know it was a new day.

With all of his senses back, he connected the three things. It all came from the person huddled between his arms; the heat, the shifting, the fingers playing with his hair.

"Mmm... that feels nice."

The hand stood still in his hair.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Simón opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the light and push away the tiredness. The first thing he saw were Ámbar's ocean blue eyes looking at him, a little regretful. Some streams of daylight shone through between the curtains in the windows and lighted her hair messy from sleep, making it look almost golden. Her face was free of makeup, a look he doubted she had let many see before him.

She looked so beautiful he almost believed he was still dreaming.

"It's 'kay, I don't mind," he mumbled, to wipe the worry out of her eyes, but mostly because it was true.

He closed his eyes again and focused on the feeling of her body molded against his. He could pinpoint each rise and fall of her breathing as clearly as his own. The touch of her hand was smooth as it slid from his neck to his covered chest, but he could still feel the warmth through the fabric of his t-shirt. He opened his eyes again, observed the curve of her cheeks, the freckles in her nose. He gazed down to her rosy lips, which always called out to him without need of emitting a word.

He reached up to slide a lock of her hair behind her ear, marveled that he could.

"If I could always wake up like this, I think I'd be the happiest guy in the world."

Ámbar's eyes softened and she smiled with a mix of tenderness and mischief that was so her Simón doubted anyone else could achieve it as perfectly.

"Even if it's early?"

"Even if it's early," he affirmed. "Although, please tell me it's not five am or something," he added with a small wince.

She chuckled. "No, it's around seven-thirty. I turned off my alarm before it sounded so it wouldn't wake you, but it seems I failed."

He chuckled this time and propped his head on one hand. With the other, he reached for one of her pink strands and started playing softly with it.

"You know, for the first time in my life, I slept soundlessly after a horror movie."

Ámbar placed an elbow on the pillow and copied his pose. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. And I have a theory. I think it was because a certain señorita was with me," he said, poking the point of her nose.

She let out a giggle that filled his stomach with butterflies. "Well then, you're welcome."

"Don't just 'you're welcome' me, what if I get used to it?" He said with feigned alarm. "What if from now on I want to sleep with you every night? What are you gonna do?"

He was only playing—well, half playing, there was a lot of truth in that. But Ámbar's face turned serious.

"...Do you promise?"

He blinked. "Promise what?"

"To always be with me," she replied.

Simón felt his heart clench, the kind of sweet ache that only Ámbar managed to evoke in him, sometimes just by looking at him.