"You know, it's usually me that's sleep deprived," Hiro chuckled as he glanced at the tired pink-haired girl trying and failing to eat her lunch next to him.
Zero Two glared at him and opened her mouth to retort. Instead of the sassy response she had in mind, her words were completely cut off by a loud yawn. A massive smile grew across Hiro's face as Zero Two's eyes widened in realization. She hurriedly looked down, her cheeks bright pink. "Shut up," she mumbled, fiddling with her bento.
His eyes drifted from her blushing face to the lunchbox in her lap. A small piece of beef had been tightly grasped between her chopsticks, and he followed its shaky path up to her mouth. Right before it could enter her open jaw, however, Zero Two's eyes drooped, her hand losing its tight hold on the chopsticks and the piece of beef falling back into her rice.
Hiro couldn't help it, his restraint from earlier lost as he threw his head back with a laugh, the sound startling Zero Two out of her stupor. With dazed eyes, she saw the piece of beef that was almost in her mouth now back in her bento and made the connection after a couple seconds of thinking very hard.
"Daaarling!" She cried as Hiro continued his guffaws. "It's not funny!" Zero Two whined with a pout.
"It is to me, Zero Two." Hiro snickered, wiping away a small tear his laughter had caused. When she continued to pout (very cutely, might he add) Hiro smiled sympathetically.
"Here," he said, sitting back in his seat and opening his arms to Zero Two.
With a small cry of happiness, the pink-haired girl gratefully crawled into Hiro's lap, curling up against his chest. She yawned widely, showing off her sharp canines.
A soft smile settled on Hiro's face. He pressed a kiss against her temple, his smile growing as Zero Two purred in pleasure. "What on earth did you do last night?" He asked with a laugh. "I don't think I've ever seen you so tired."
Worth a loud pitiful sigh, Zero Two nuzzled her face against his neck. "Stupid mean bossy Ichigo. Made me stay up all night finishing our project. Hmph!" She turned her nose up in indignation, Hiro softly chuckling. "Not my fault I accidentally hit the delete button. Whoever made such a bad design is to blame!"
"Poor baby," Hiro murmured, lifting his hand to slowly and repeatedly run it through her pink hair. He marveled at the silky softness. With a lazy smirk, Zero Two leaned into his gentle touch. "Kokoro gave me this new conditioner to try." She yawned and wiped at her eyes. "Do you like it, darling?"
Humming his agreement, Hiro nodded. "Give Kokoro my thanks," he mumbled distractedly, still fascinated by her hair. "I love it."
Zero Two smiled happily. "I'm glad. Now!" Reaching over to where she had been sitting, she grabbed the bento she had left behind and thrust it into a wide-eyed Hiro's hands. "Feed me!" She opened her mouth and waited.
With a roll of his eyes, Hiro took up his chopsticks. Picking up the piece of beef Zero Two was having trouble with earlier, he raised it to her eye level. "Say aah!"
"Aaahhh!" She eagerly chomped down once the meat entered her mouth and happily chewed it while making small noises of satisfaction, Hiro softly laughing.
"...can you… not?"
The two of them looked up to see Miku looking at them with a strange mix of disgust and envy. A couple feet away, Ikuno, Mitsuru, and Zorome had similar looks of disgust. Kokoro, Futoshi, and Goro were quietly holding in their laughter while Ichigo just rolled her eyes with a smile at the two's antics.
Usually eating their lunch inside the classroom, the others had decided to try for a change of pace and followed Hiro and Zero Two to the Mecha Club room. Some of them were already having regrets, however.
"Do you guys do this literally every day?" Miku said incredulously. "Cuz that's kinda crazy."
"And weird!" Zorome added loudly.
Hiro gently shrugged with an embarrassed laugh, careful not to jostle the girl in his lap too much. Zero Two, however, felt no such shame and was quick to stick out her tongue mockingly at their two hecklers. Miku rolled her eyes and scoffed while Zorome was quick to respond with his own extended tongue, at least until an annoyed Mitsuru smacked him upside the head with a huff.
Kokoro softly giggled as Mitsuru easily held off Zorome's attempted retaliation. "I think it's cute Hiro and Zero Two are so comfortable with each other." She cast a sly glance from the corner of her eye. "Sometimes Mitsuru still gets red-faced from holding hands."
Mitsuru choked, allowing Zorome to get in a successful smack with a triumphant "Hah!" Ignoring the shorter boy entirely, Mitsuru turned to Kokoro with a small blush. "K-Kokoro!"
She softly tutted. "You know it's true," she said disapprovingly, and Mitsuru's blush grew.
Ikuno smirked. "Red and green fit you, Mitsuru. You look just like a Christmas tree." His blush only grew as the other boys loudly laughed.
Softly giggling, Ichigo turned towards Hiro and an unconscious Zero Two. The pink haired girl had somehow fallen asleep despite the loud antics of the group. Smiling, the short girl reached out her hand to gently pet Zero Two's hair. "You okay there, Hiro?"
He smiled down happily at the girl in his arms. "Never better," he mumbled, pressing a kiss against the crown of her head.
"You know, I could make something up to excuse you two for the rest of the day. We've only got mathematics after lunch, and it's almost unfair how easy that is for you two." Ichigo scoffed playfully.
Hiro smirked. "The Student Council President, using her powers for unlawful causes? What would the teachers think?"
"Shut up!" Ichigo grinned, softly nudging Hiro's arm. Zero Two mumbled in her sleep, and his smirk softened into a sincere smile. "But thanks, I'd - we'd appreciate that."
The ending bell rang out. As the others slowly trickled out of the club room, Ichigo stayed behind with Hiro and Zero Two, who was still asleep.
Standing by the doorway, the Student Council President smiled. "Get some rest, you two." Hiro smiled back gratefully. "Thanks again, Ichigo." Quietly, she shut the door, leaving the two alone.
Zero Two mumbled in her sleep again. She slowly blinked her eyes and looked around curiously. "H-huh? W-where'd everyone go?"
Pressing his lips against her temple, Hiro smiled into her hair. "They went back to class," he muttered against her skin.
She sat up straight. "O-oh! Shouldn't we be getting back too, darling?"
With a comforting smile, Hiro shook his head. "Ichigo was nice enough to excuse us for the rest of the day. There's only math left anyways." He reached up with a hand to tuck a strand of pink hair behind her ear and gently placed a couple kisses along her jaw, Zero Two gently shuddering in pleasure.
"Go back to sleep, Zero Two. I'll be here for you."
Nodding, she curled back up in his lap, laying her head against his chest as his arms wrapped around her. "Mhm. I love you, darling."
"I love you too."
XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
You know what my profile needed more of? Fanfics related to sleep. So here's another one, right before the finale. I even had the entire squad all in the same scene, which I'm fairly sure is the first time I've done that.
Been getting lazy on writing, especially with olcon's fic now out there. "What's the point of writing if there's someone so much better than me?" was kinda my mindset for awhile.
But DitF is ending, and I love this series too much to not keep writing about it. So who cares if there are better writers than me out there - here's another HS!AU about our favorite couple, posted a couple hours before the new episode, as is tradition(customary sappy ending included). To symbolize that while DitF is ending, my fics for it have only just begun. I have so many ideas for this great series, I honestly just need the motivation to write them.
As promised, a multi-chaptered fic about this AU is already in the works. Just trying to figure out the right mix of humor and drama. HS doesn't exactly carry the same weight as a deathworld where the majority of the cast are child soldiers living in an oppressive society waiting to die.