"Maybe next time, I'll visit you in the city, instead," said Tatsuki, looking up at the ceiling, with one hand bended behind his head, his other arm stretched out along the length of the futon, serving as a rest for my head. "I've never been to the city – I've been to Fuunari. But I don't think that counts, does it?"
"It's more of a town than a city, I suppose," I replied, turning my head slightly to the side to look at him, by the light of the kerosene lamp, which lay at one corner of the room. He happened to turn his head a little at the same time too, and our eyes connected for a few seconds, before I turned away, to look at the ceiling again. "But the city's nothing special. I don't know what one could do there for fun, that we couldn't do here: I suppose there's the cinema. I can't think of anything else.
In any case, I like Minasato more. The scenery is nice. And there are more things to do."
"Yeah, it's nice. But it can get boring after a while. I'd still like to visit the city. Besides, I've never been to your place, or met any of your friends. It's good to change things up once in a while."
"You know, you kind of sound like Kounosuke."
"Not really," he replied, shifting so that he was lying on his side, his face looking at me. "Kouno wants to move to the city and live there – I just want to visit. I don't think there's a big demand for carpenters in the city, anyways."
"That's true," I said, huddling closer to him, so that I was up against his chest, with the top of my head brushing against his chin. His large body exuded a warmth that warded the cold off nicely. I could smell him, too: a mix of his personal scent along with the shampoo he used for his scales, and something like fragrant wood - perhaps pine or cedar, possiblly a mix of the two.
He in turn unfolded the arm that had been behind his head, and put it around me. We lay like that a while: the combination of the warmth, his pleasant smell, and the lateness of the night all resulted in me dozing off after a few minutes. I would have simply fallen asleep, if not for the fact that after some time, he stood up, rousing me, making me rest my head against the pillows of the futon.
A bit annoyed, I opened one eye, and I saw him walking to one corner of the room, his tail dragging behind him. He then bent down, and fiddled for a few seconds with the kerosene lamp, until the light went out, leaving the room in total darkness. I heard his heavy footsteps and the creaking of the wooden floor as he made his way back to the futon.
"It's cold," I said to him, as he settled himself in the futon. I wasn't lying, either: outside, there was already snow cover. And the Midoriya house was old: it lacked a heating unit. They used portable heaters, and even then, Tatsuki's room didn't have a heater, since he claimed the cold didn't bother him. There were two ways to keep warm: Tatsuki's body heat, and blankets.
"Typical city-dweller," he said with mock annoyance; shortly, I was once again embraced by his thick, burly arms, and settled atop his warm breast. It was much more comfortable like that.
"Better?" he asked, his breath rustling the hairs on the top of my head.
"Yeah."
"Alright. Good night."
"'Night, Tatsu-nii."
After that, there was silence, save for the sound of Tatsuki's breathing. It wasn't very long after that the same drowsiness I'd been feeling earlier overtook me, making me drift off into sleep.