The very air felt like it was trying to suffocate Avery, but she couldn't decide if passing out from heat stroke was worth it or not.
Like everywhere else in the country, they were currently in the middle of a record high summer that had refused to loosen its grip on the slowly suffocating denizens. Windows were shut and air conditioners were cranked up to max, at least, up until the city's enormous power consumption led to an outage that every citizen of the city was forced to deal with.
Like so many of their neighbors, Avery and Mason's apartment sat in what felt like suspended animation, like at any moment the air conditioning could come back on and save them from a stifling demise. But, alas, no reprisal came to save them.
From where she was laying on the cool wooden floor, Avery could spy Mason a little ways away sitting against the wall, still decked out in her workout clothes. Her sports bra and leggings had spared her somewhat from the rising temperatures which was quite unlike how Avery's situation had started. Her hoodie and lazy pants had done nothing to help her survive the heat, and had been replaced by her pajama clothing early on.
Feeling the wooden floor beneath her start to warm, Avery pressed her arms against her stomach and rolled to the side. Momentarily finding herself in the gaze of the window, she couldn't help but hiss from the heat that was kissing her skin from the sun-cooked flooring underneath her. The gaze of the sun had angled to the point that it was stretching across the room, like an evil monolithic checkpoint. Thankfully, her rolling quickly rolled out of sight of the dastardly sun, and found her spiraling body had taken her to a cool part of the floor, out of sight of the sun thanks to the couple's couch that had been sitting on the opposite side of the slowly burning floor from where she had started.
From where she laid, Avery could see Mason staring at them with a small grin on her face that clashed with the furrowing of her brow, her eyes that screamed both discomfort, and amusement. Her usual impassive look had been slowly broken by the heat of the air, which seemed to almost revel in the despair of the city's residents. Avery was sure the malevolent air was cackling as it squeezed water from their bodies, striking some down where they stood.
Pressing her arms against her body again, Avery silently said her goodbyes to the floor underneath her before rolling again, this time toward her girlfriend. Progress was quick. The floor was clean, quite unlike Aunt Wendy's old apartment, so Avery didn't feel too gross about rolling on the floor. In no time at all, Avery had to stop as the immovable presence known as Mason's foot was gently bonked by Avery's sweaty head.
Refusing to give up, Avery pushed her head back against Mason's foot. Despite clearly having the capacity to do so, the foot relented underneath the pitiful strength of Avery's head. Feeling the leg give way, Avery pressed her advantage, and rolled slowly over Mason's legs as if her head was a cart on a roller coaster and Mason's legs were the rails.
At some point, her body must have angled while she was rolling. Didn't really matter to her, but it explained feeling her hip hit the wall that Mason was laying against. Thankfully, she had stopped at seemingly the perfect spot, with Mason's thighs underneath her head while they stared each other down. Avery's eyes were filled with a soft contentment, mixing with Mason's look of amusement and happiness. Mason must've seen something she liked, because her furrowed brows receded back to their neutral position. Her grin seemed to grow somewhat, and Avery felt Mason's hand slowly press against her head as her fingers languidly ran through Avery's hair. Gently, Avery saw Mason's other hand move, and felt it slowly press against her neck in the way that always made her heart race.
Ignoring her growing heart rate, Avery slowly rolled her head, until her cheek pressed against Mason's thighs. She pushed against Mason's thighs, and placed a multitude of little kisses along where her lips could reach causing Mason to quietly snort. Mason's fingers softly pressed against little points along her neck while the one on top of Avery's head continued to slowly trail though her girlfriend's white hair.
With a little effort, Avery raised her own hand and rested it against one of Mason's muscular arms. One of the fit woman's eyebrows rose up in question, only to lower again as Avery simply ran her thumb over her girlfriend's skin.
As the sun continued to cross the vast dark abyss of space and the earth was flung around the giant ball of fire at super speed, Avery and Mason laid in their stifling apartment as time seemed to pass at some unknown pace. Avery eventually cuddled up against Mason's body, wrapping her arms around her. Mason continued to play with their hair quietly, while her other hand moved to ghost across Avery's arm, fingers softly touching.
It didn't take too long for Avery's eyes to close, and even less time for her breathing to slow and ger grip to go limp. Watching her girlfriend drift asleep, Mason's ears twitched from the sound of the ac kicking up, the dull hum filling the apartment along with a few scattered cheers coming from the hallway outside.
Feeling the cool air wash over her, Mason let out a quiet sigh of relief as her body sagged against the wall. Sure, cuddling with her girlfriend was nice, but the stifling heat had been making it somewhat uncomfortable.
Fighting the urge to yawn, Mason looked down to Avery's sleeping face, a look of content on her face that matched the unknowing smile she had. Letting herself indulge a bit, she softly brushed a few strands of hair off of her girlfriend's face, careful as to not disturb her.
Looking over the rest of Avery's body, she couldn't help but click her tongue in distaste at the sight of Avery's legs stretched out so far away. Reaching over while being careful to not shift her legs to much, Mason gently scooped her arm over the back of Avery's knees and pulled them closer, bringing Avery's sleeping body into a somewhat fetal position.
Letting her hand rest against Avery's legs, Mason couldn't stop the quiet yawn that escaped her, and couldn't stop the weight of her eyelids from bringing them to a close.
She'd get them to bed later. Sure it'd put a crick in her back, sleeping like this, but it was worth it.
