Day 22
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He had been awake since before sunrise. The dawn hadn’t broken yet, the streets outside his rental hadn’t begun bustling with the morning commute, and where he was usually tempted to rise for an early shower and a quiet morning, he chose instead to stay tucked within his bed.
It had snowed overnight, his windowsill was topped with a fresh dusting of powder, and the air within his bedroom was frigid compared to the heat snuggled up to his side. Her hair strewn about her pillow – his pillow – and his arm thrown over her as it had been all night, Sakura slept between his sheets. Gaara had awoken several times throughout the night, unaccustomed to sharing his bed with someone, and as he found her there with him each time, he drew her closer, breathing her in and thinking of the night they had shared.
When she had kissed him, he’d been stunned beyond words. He’d only meant to flirt with her a little more, the way she blushed for him was so endearing, but she practically jumped him once they were alone together and he had only wished that he’d tried his luck with this invitation sooner. Once she had him, she didn’t let go. Her lips never left his, she grabbed hold of him and pressed herself against him, she was brimming with a desperation that was clearly uncertain and frantic.
He had stepped her back toward the bed, grabbing ahold of her hands and pulling them from about his neck. She sat back, her breaths coming out in shallow puffs, her face flushed, and her eyes glazed. Gaara knelt in front of her, her hands still held in his own, and he couldn’t help but grin at the embarrassed look in her eyes as she avoided his gaze.
“Slow down,” he said to her, his voice carrying that flirtatious tease that had lured her to him. “I’m trying to buy you dinner first.”
She laughed a little nervously, her fingers fiddling in his hands. “I’m sorry,” she breathed.
“Don’t be,” he said through his grin. He moved his hands to rest against her knees before smoothing them up the curve of her thighs and to her waist. She practically shook under his touch. “I’m not.”
Putting her hands to her face, Sakura tried to smooth her expression, though her brow was still drawn and her features still tense. “I was nervous,” she tried to explain.
“You’re still nervous,” Gaara observed. “Do you want me that badly?”
She flustered for a response, her face going red, her eyes focusing anywhere that wasn’t on him, and he had been tempted to rest his head against her lap and enjoy the show she put on for him. Never had he thought that the risk of showing his pointed interest would reward him with her presence in his bedroom and his touch allowed on her body. Had they been more established, had he been able to test the waters of her desires, he never would have dreamt of pushing her away. But she was shaking, uncertain, and perhaps anxious that if she didn’t act then and there that an opportunity would slip her by.
He could’ve grinned, it seemed they shared that in common.
He propped his chin up on her knee, his fingers playing with the hem of her shirt as he pouted. “You never told me your thoughts on my piece,” he muttered. “We’ll have to discuss it over our food.”
When their food had come, they joined his roommate and his girlfriend at the table. Sakura was a little shy at first but the two with were more than social and outgoing enough to lead their conversations. Gaara was relieved that Sakura appeared to become more so relaxed the longer they all sat and talked, and when their company excused themselves to a movie in the other bedroom, he suggested they go back to his.
She was calmer now, didn’t quiver as much under his touch, and even though he’d truthfully invited her over because he had work to do and he couldn’t bear leaving their café sessions early, there was no work being done.
Gaara could have spent the remainder of their night memorizing the sensation of her skin under his touch and the flavor of her lips against his own. Showering her with the affection he’d been harboring, he’d rid her of her shirt, his own as well, and in the darkness of his room, the dim streetlights shining in through his blinds, his fingers found the waistline of her pants. Staying his hands, she was gasping when she broke away from his kiss, repeating for him to wait.
Blushing, she looked to the side and stammered out a meager, “Wait, I don’t –” before she was caught up in another thought and backtracking altogether.
He had removed himself from atop of her, asking what had been wrong, and she’d gone red in the face as she admitted to having gotten her period in class earlier that day. It wasn’t his intention to laugh at her, but he certainly did a little when he followed up by asking, “As a medical major, you’re embarrassed by this?”
She’d told him to shut up even though there was a bit of a smirk pulling at the corners of her frown. He didn’t press the subject after that, she clearly wasn’t comfortable with continuing any further and instead he pulled out his laptop. They spent the next while watching a show as they lay together, she was still very much welcoming to his touch, and she was soon cuddled against him under his covers. He never brought up their projects again that night, and not once did he mention a walk back to the dorms.
When the season of their show ended and she asked when she should walk back, he responded, “In the morning…when we go to class.” He was nearly half asleep with his face tucked into the pillow beside her, and he’d pulled her closer when he answered.
“You want me to stay?” she asked, stroking her fingers through his hair and turning to better face him as she lay there. He nodded, eyes closed, relaxed under her caress. She closed his laptop and continued to appreciate the warmth of him, each brush of her skin against his tempting her to remain with there in his bed.
She had stayed all night, though he’d still been worried that she might decide to leave at any point, but seeing her sleeping in his arms when he awoke in the morning was a sight that he thought himself lucky to behold. He brushed some hair out of her face and his touch tickled her skin, causing her to stir.
She mumbled something, turning her face into her pillow, before stretching out next to him as he admired the shape of her. “What time is it?” she asked, her voice grumbled and half awake.
“Nearly seven,” he answered quietly, joining her on her pillow and pressing a kiss against her forehead. She groaned and snuggled closer. “We don’t have to go anywhere yet.”
“Thanks for letting me spend the night,” she said, pulling the covers over her a little more.
“Anytime you want,” he offered, enjoying the way she hooked her leg over her hip and molded her form against him. “I slept amazingly with you here.”
She scoffed and seemed to laugh a little. Her voice was still very quiet. “Liar, I know I’m a bed hog.”
Gaara ran his fingertips over her skin. “Who told you that?”
“My friends share my bed with me,” she sighed, the feeling of goosebumps on her skin rousing her from the grip of sleep.
“Hm,” Gaara mumbled as he caressed her thigh that she had hooked over him, slipping his fingers behind her knee. “Envious.”
He hadn’t seen her bite her lip to suppress moaning at his touch. “Of my girlfriends?”
“Of anyone to share a bed with you,” he said, the feeling of her breath on his neck exciting him. “Though, I’m sure there are plenty who are just as envious of me.”
“You think other people crashed my studying like you did?”
“Maybe,” he mused. “But definitely not after I showed up.”
She laughed then, remembering how she’d been so awkward about him recognizing her. “I can’t believe you did that,” she said. “You had no idea who I was and I must’ve looked like an idiot.”
Gaara simply pulled her closer and kissed her forehead again. “No, you didn’t, you just looked like a hot mess.”
She ran her fingers over his chest for a moment, her silence reflecting her contemplation, and she said, “Sorry about last night, I should’ve mentioned I was on my period.”
This perplexed him a little, and he clarified, “You have nothing to be sorry for, we didn’t have to do anything even if you weren’t.”
“Well,” she began, again followed by a moment of silence before she said, “I kinda wanted to.”
Gaara followed her avoidant gaze. “What?” he asked, teasing her with that smirk on his face. “Kinda?” She offered him a nod as she hid her face against his neck. “You’re welcome to jump me like that any time you feel like it.”
She peered up at him and asked, “So I can spend the night again?”
“Of course, you could again tonight if you wanted to. Though,” he said as he remembered his latest project sitting unfinished against the wall. “I would need to get my assignment done.”
“Right,” she groaned, remembering her own work that had gone forgotten. “Me, too.”
“It’s a date, then?”
Sakura smiled against his skin, her heart racing just a little. “Sure, it’s a date.”
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