Note: Sorry the title is dumb. I'd say I tried but... I think we all know I didn't.


The sound of the shower dragged Gou from a sleep she wasn't ready to leave behind. The morning was too cold. The floor was too cold. Winter was her least favorite season. Gou shifted further beneath the blankets and wadded the duvet in her fists. Maybe if she tried real hard the day would simply…

"Hey," his voice was far too light for so early in the morning. "Sleeping Beauty. Wake up."

"No," she muttered, clenching the blanket tighter. The sound of his laughter reached her even under three layers of bedclothes and, despite herself, Gou didn't flinch away from Siejuro's seeking hands. She let him pull her against his chest. His skin was still damp from his shower and he smelled like her soap.

He laughed again and lifted the blankets to join her beneath. The brief blast of cold air was upsetting. Gou pressed her body against his.

"You're letting the air in."

"Gotta get up sometime, gorgeous," Siejuro whispered into her messy bed hair.

"It's cold." Her lips brushed over the dip in his clavicle. There were many parts of Siejuro's body Gou loved, but his chest still gave her the most of everything she needed.

"I turned the room heater on. Just give it a minute. I need you to wake up, though."

"Why?"

"Really?" He asked with another hint of a laugh. "It's Tuesday."

Gou flattened her palm against his chest and tried to clear out the sleep cobwebs still in her head. Tuesday. She slid her arm over his hip and sighed.

"Already?"

"Every week the way I understand it."

"That's stupid."

"Hey." Siejuro's voice fell into the soft rasp she loved most. The one he kept just for her. "You with me?"

Gou finally poked her head out of the blankets and inched up to share his pillow.

"Yeah, I'm up."

"You gonna be okay? It's supposed to freeze over tonight and tomorrow." His fingers tucked her hair behind her ear and pulled the bulk of it fro her neck and shoulder.

"I'll remember the heater," she whispered. "And the cats."

"I pulled the electric blanket down from the closet."

Gou smiled and touched the line of his jaw. "You're so good at that."

"At what?"

"Remembering everything."

He shrugged and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "You'd have remembered on your own."

"Maybe but I still like that you remember and do it for me."

"That's what I'm here for," he said softly. "Moving the furniture and remembering stuff."

Gou snorted. "You're such a guy."

Siejuro laughed and his hand slid from her shoulder to her thigh. He rolled over to his stomach between her legs before hitching her thigh around his waist.

"I'm also not too bad in the kitchen." He left kisses on the apples of her cheeks. Gou's breath caught when his mouth hovered over hers.

"That's the real reason I'm with you," she said with a playful grin. "So you'll cook for me."

"And," he said, nudging her nose with his. "I'll put out any fires when you're in a cooking mood."

"So helpful." Her hands slid over his shoulders and pulled him close. Siejuro kissed her the way he'd been kissing her for years. He had a rhythm that curled her toes and twisted her insides up in knots.

Siejuro's boxer briefs wound up on the floor along side Gou's panties and her tank top. Even in the dead of winter she didn't care for proper pajamas – except for Tuesdays through Fridays. Four days out of the week she let the cats into the bed with her and slept in the sweat clothes Siejuro kept at home. They had the fire department logo printed on the thigh and when he was gone, she liked to keep parts of him close.

The moment he was gone from their bed, she felt it. The cold seemed to press against the windows despite the heater having filled the room with warmth. Gou watched him dress with the same anxiety she knew wouldn't leave her chest until he returned.

"Hey," she said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" Siejuro buckled his belt and spun around. Even in his perfectly buttoned and tucked uniform she could still see the ruffled edges of the boy who'd pursued her despite her cranky brother.

"Be safe." She angled her chip upward to catch the kiss he always left her with at the last possible moment.

"I always am."

When the front door of their apartment shut behind him, their cats bolted into the bedroom and leapt up to the bed. She watched them circle into their typical spots.

"Vultures," she muttered with affection. Despite her furry company, she still felt the emptiness of the apartment. Gou tucked herself back under the duvet and pressed her face into Siejuro's pillows.