Chapter 14
Arika had been extraordinarily unnerved about Ruki's promise to 'monopolize' her, finding it fucking creepy. So, she had made a few changes to her tactics. I'm not stupid enough to fight Ruki head on. No, no. Gotta be sneaky with vampires.
She had offered to make a nice dinner, which was just about ready. She smirks, stirring her creation.
"If there's poison in that, I'll be able to tell, you know," Ruki mutters from the kitchen entrance. He had his arms folded, leaning against the door frame.
Arika smiles sweetly at him over her shoulder, revealing an array of new jewelry. Silver earrings, a necklace, and rings. "Oh, no. I would never. Hope you like Italian, though, there's a fuckton of garlic in it."
Ruki's eyes narrow slightly. "Really? Want me to taste test? Or are you that confident in it?" He asks silkily.
Arika falters. Fuck, I was expecting hissing or something. "Go nuts," she sighs, holding a spoon out to him.
He walks over, accepting the spoon. "You're not dressed as a maid," he points out.
"How very observant of you," she mutters dryly, stepping aside. "I burned the costume."
Ruki tastes the sample of food and shifts, grabbing some herbs off the shelf and only sprinkling a tad in, mixing it, before leaving it alone. "So, do you intend to go back on our wager? You did agree to be my maid for the day."
Arika scowls. "You didn't specify which day," she mutters. Fuckin rude ass, messing with her soup. "Didn't think you meant right away."
Ruki chuckles. "Just so long as you don't forget, it's fine. It's a good thing you burned that one actually...it didn't suit you." He heads to the cutlery draw to set the table.
A loud groan escapes her. "You said that before. Shit like that never suits me, anyway. Don't get your damned hopes up that a different dress is gonna change anything."
Ruki smiles slightly. "They made you look too young, for the cuteness factor. That's why it didn't suit you," he mutters, lifting a shoulder. "Fight me," he teases.
Arika blinks. Shit, that's an invitation, right? "Man, don't tempt me," she whines. "You're just gonna cheat and use your vampire strength shit and bite me if I do."
"That's right," he says honestly, walking out of the kitchen and setting the dining room table. "Thank you... For making dinner. Even if it was an attempt at poisoning via garlic," he adds, once back in the kitchen.
"In my defense, there is also garlic bread and garlic bread is delicious," she shrugs, denying nothing. Arika pulls it out of the oven and starts putting soup in bowls.
Making a non-committal noise, he walks over, helping her take it to the table. "I will be feeding from you later. Just forewarning."
"Nope," she smiles breezily. "No can do, sugar plum honey my darling dearest. If you try, I'll fight you."
Ruki winces. "Was that as painful to say as it was hearing it?" he asks dryly, taking a seat at the table. Yuma wanders in, sniffing, as though lured by the scent.
"Yes," Arika cringes and sits down with a small pink tinge to her cheeks now. "Hi Yuma. I'm going to help you garden all night, k?"
"No, you're not," Ruki cuts in. "You're busy."
Yuma blinks slowly, lifting a shoulder. "I'm not even going to ask," he mutters, turning to his food. Kou flounces in, having heard.
"Ooo, lovers quarrel~" he sing songs.
"Ah, that's it! I'll be busy helping Kou with... whatever the fuck it is Kou does when he isn't being a div- idol," Arika corrects quickly, smiling ever-so-sweetly.
Kou blinks and chuckles, sliding up to her and putting his arm around her shoulders. "Of course cutie~ you can help me out anytime! Be sure to give me a lil taste of your blood, k?" he grins.
Arika makes a loud groaning noise and throws his arm off. "Ugh, nevermind, defeats the whole fucking purpose," she pouts, slouching down in her seat and glaring at Ruki. Buttnugget.
Azusa pads in quietly, taking his place. "Oh.. the food looks.. very nice," he murmurs softly. He nibbles on a piece of garlic bread as Ruki looks at the girl plainly.
"You'll get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that. But the pout is somewhat adorable," he flashes his fangs briefly, knowing she'd hate such a word. "Perhaps Reiji was on to something when he forced that frilly outfit onto you."
Yuma laughs and elbows her with a bit too much force. "It seriously had frills? Heh, you have my pity." He chuckles.
"It had so many frills," Arika mutters, shuddering. Crap, now I gotta think of a way out of getting bit, because fuck that noise.
"And bows," Ruki adds on, sipping his soup.
The group continued to eat in relative silence, except to chat about their day. Azusa had helped as best he could on the food stall, and Kou had enjoyed performing for his fans. Ruki listened to each of them and murmured back replies, while Yuma was largely quiet, mulling over the Sow and the Neet. An annoyed frown marred his brow, but a disloyal Sow felt a little dumb to pursue. Still pissed him off to leave her in the Neets hands though.
Arika kind of half pays attention to the chatter, but not really. I could go out, but that would be pretty obvious. I could just go to bed really early... I don't think he would wake me up. He seems to like his manners, maybe he'll put it off till tommorow. That might actually be for the best. Ruki notices her lack of attention, which meant that she was planning something. Good, he was planning something too. Once they were all finished, Azusa helped him gather the dishes.
Arika mumbles something half assed about having done her duties by cooking, and nopes out real fast up to her room, where she quickly changes into pajamas. She turns the lights off and dives into bed, looking very convincing as she feigned sleep.
Ruki calmly finishes his duties, in no hurry. If she actually fell asleep, then it hardly mattered. He then walked to his room to prepare.
Snuggling a pillow to her chest, she sighs contentedly. This is nice, she guesses. Going to bed early counts as self care, right? Actively not getting bitten probably definitely counts, if not.
Ruki, of course ruins this by appearing at the foot of her bed. A slight smiles curls his mouth as he grabs her wrists, pinning them above her head in less than a second. A click reveals that of handcuffs, before he tugs her to lean up into a sitting position. "You didn't forget about what I said earlier did you? More than that.. You need to be punished."
Arika's eyes widen and she tugs against the cuffs, panicking. "O-Oi. I-I'm tired. I just wanna sleep," she says in a rush. "N-not this Fifty Shades shit."
"You should have thought about that before attempting to poison us," he mutters, standing with her and materialising them into his room. He tugs her to a long link of white rope that had been suspended from the ceiling.
"H-hey. Weaken, not poison. If you're weak, you can't bite me. Probably. It seemed logical at the time," Arika mumbles, paling. She starts squirming in his arms violently, trying to slide her wrists from the cuffs.
Ruki uses his strength to yank her arms above her head, securing the cuffs to the rope with little difficulty despite her struggles. He then leans down and looks her dead in the eye. "You didn't know what could have happened. Never involve my family in those affairs, Livestock. If you want to kill me, then target me. You should know by now not to touch them. Mild sickness to a bad reaction.. anything.. I would not have been pleased if they'd experienced that."
She turns her face away and scowls at the ground. "That's fucking rich," she snaps. Her expression darkens and she stills, before looking back up at him levelly. "You... constantly try to push some sort of... fucking power over me. You seem to get this weird pleasure out of having some... dominance, or whatever, and I'm sick of it. I don't want you to fucking bite me. It's not some small, insignificant thing. It hurts, and it's uncomfortable for you to be that damned close when we aren't even dating or whatever."
Ruki raises a brow and blinks at her flatly. "Do you want to date me?" he asks plainly.
Arika's cheeks redden impressively. "No," she barks.
He gives a low hum, stroking his knuckles down her cheek. "Then there's nothing to rectify that last one," he mutters, circling around and stopping behind her. He then leans down, sinking his fangs into her neck without preamble.
Arika cries out. Her eyes squeeze shut and she presses her lips together, but the sound still escapes. Her wrists strain against the metal of the cuffs, becoming painful as she tugs. Impatient with them, she jams her foot back to kick him in the shin.
Ruki sinks his fangs deeper in reprimand, his arm snaking around her waist to pull her back against him. Arika's lips part in surprise and she lets out a louder, more desperate sound, not unlike one of a frustrated, wounded animal.
"St-stop!" she gasps, whimpering and freezing now. Ruki removes his fangs, licking the wounds. "What happened in that house? The one you lived in with your mother..." he murmurs quietly.
She cracks an eye open, thrown. "Wh-what?" she asks, voice cracking, but quickly collecting herself. "Y-you're gonna have to be more specific as to what you're asking. A lot happened."
Ruki walks around to her front to face her, adjusting the rope and cuffs so that her arms were slightly lower.
"Anything. Everything. What did she used to do to you?" he asks, his fingers ghosting the front of her neck where the bruises he'd once found used to be.
Arika swallows and looks to the side, anywhere but at him. "Pull my shirt down," she instructs quietly. "Not too low or anything. You'll know when to stop." Ruki blinks, but obliges, shifting the fabric of her shirt and pulling it down, until he pauses.
"It's fucking ugly, isn't it?" she asks, venom lacing her voice. A long scar runs across her skin, a healed but lasting pink stark against the pale white. "That was the first time I ran away. She pleaded and cried to the cops, and they brought me back. She said I was a 'troubled child', and so they didn't believe a fucking word I said. When they left, she slashed me with a knife in the kitchen. I had run because she kept beating me. When I showed my bruises to the cops, she cried and said I had done them to myself. Think she fucked one of them, too, as 'thanks':"
Blue-grey eyes run over it, slowly shifting to the three circular marks he could see. He lightly traced them with the pad of his thumb. "Cigarette burns too," he mutters. It isn't a question.
"Lots of those," she mumbles in answer. "Look. I know you like toying with me. I get it. I bite easy. I just... nobody wants me, and I get I'm a complete leech. Just... I can't throw away all of my pride."
Ruki leans down and presses his lips to the long scar. It wasn't a peck, more like a long, lingering kiss. His hands smooth down from her shoulder blades, running slowly down her back and stopping at her waist.
"What the hell are you doing now?" Arika asks tiredly, exhaustion seeping into her voice. "Stop that. You don't get to start acting weird after I tell you something serious."
Dark hair caresses her skin as he leans up and looks at her. "I am being serious. The way I work is usually on a reward and punishment basis. You do something wrong- you get punishment. You do something I ask for, you're rewarded. But... I wanted to kiss you. I have my pride too... Don't make me say more than that," he mutters, stroking one of her scars again, almost absent mindedly.
Arika blinks in surprise. Slowly, realization spreads across her face and reddens darkly, looking away again. "Shut up, annoying bastard," she mutters, reverting back to the tsun.
Ruki smiles slightly and leans down to kiss each of her cigarette burns. He then pulls away and leans up to bite her neck again, making her jump. He sucks the blood, drinking with a quiet grunt. He slowly reaches up, and she hears a click, feeling her wrists slip out of the unlocked cuffs. She blinks in confusion.
"You can be let off easier today, for your honesty to your Master," he mutters.
Arika rubs her wrists, wincing. "I didn't do anything with the intention to kill anyone by the way," she murmurs. "I don't... hate any of you. Annoying as you are... I don't."
He looks down at her, expression unreadable. "I believe you. I also don't hate you," he says, before smirking. "Annoying as you are."
Arika rubs her eyes and takes a step back. "Mm. Can I go?" she asks tiredly, touching the marks at the back of her neck and wincing. Ruki follows the step and takes her wrist, materializing them into her room. He then steps away. "I could have just walked," Arika mutters, still thrown by the fact these fuckers can teleport. She lets out a sigh and pads over to the bed, flopping down without caring about his presence.
Ruki cuts his eyes to the ceiling and drapes the blanket over her form, covering her head. "Get some sleep," he sighs, materialising away.
Misaki makes a desperate whimpering noise as she clings to Ayato's shoulder, her back against the cold tile of the bathroom wall. She keeps a hand over her mouth, afraid to make any noise much louder than she does already for fear of being discovered. This feels very, very wrong.
Ayato groans as he bucks roughly, pumping inside her and leaning forward to bite the hand over her mouth. He hated her being quiet. Besides, what did it matter? They were in the girls' bathrooms on the second floor, which were out of order. No one was gonna interrupt. Not that he'd stop now anyway. He lets out another groan, ramming his hips to hers as he finishes inside her. A small noise shudders out of Misaki, her eyes squeezing shut as she feels him pool within her. I didn't cum. Not once.
She slowly drops her hand and blinks up at him after a moment, swallowing the words she wants to say. She's starting to think he isn't interested in them.
Ayato grins and pants, "h-hah. You always feel amazing.. fuck." Pulling out of her, he was uncaring of their combined juices sliding down her inner thighs. He adjusts his clothes and kisses her cheek. "Had fun. Gotta run now, got practice."
"Have fun," she whispers smally, watching him leave. Slowly, she pries herself up from the wall and pads into a stall to clean the mess from between her legs. She tells herself it isn't so much that she minds having sex with either Laito or Ayato, but that it feels wrong to do it there. They could get caught, and as she learned when Kanato walked in that once, that's an awful feeling.
Ayato walks down the hallway, satisfied and grinning. She was a really good fuck. If she wasn't so loose about accepting either him or Laito and just devoted herself to him, he'd treat her a tad nicer, maybe. But as it was, he had no reason to. As he passes a hallway, a certain Mukami watches him go, holding a cup of hot chocolate.
Azusa tilts his head, before walking down the hall Ayato had just come from.
With a sigh, Misaki pads out of the bathroom, rubbing her eyes. Her shoulder meets something, and she shifts back in surprise. Her eyes widen with horror when his cup falls, and she grabs for it, missing by a fraction of an inch as it connects with his front.
"I-I'm so sorry," she whispers as it stains his clothing.
Azusa blinks when it splashes onto his hand as well, the hot beverage scalding his skin red. He lifts his hand and watches it dazedly. "Ah.. No that's fine. How.. pretty," he murmurs.
Misaki quickly pulls a napkin out of her pocket and dries the liquid from his hand, not understanding his comment. "I'll buy you a new one," she promises, a dullness to her eyes.
His gaze lifts to hers, and he stills, finding the mirror that he always subconsciously searched for in every person. It was in Arika's eyes too. Along with this girl. He glances down at the bite marks on her hand. "You're in...my class, aren't you?" He asks quietly.
She nods. "Yeah," she tucks her hands behind her back almost subconsciously when she was done, wincing. "I'm really, really sorry."
Azusa fiddles with the ends of his bangs as he thinks for a moment. "No.. thank you for... seeing me," he mutters, before bringing out a colourful band-aid and sticking it on his burn, despite it not being very effective. He then calmly takes her hand and sticks one on her bite marks, smiling slightly.
Misaki blinks and visibly pales, staring at him in mute terror. "I-I just... had a sewing accident," she squeaks lamely. That's the only reason she can think of for the small holes.
The boy tilts his head slightly. "Mn, sewing 'accidents'...look different. The holes are closer together. The punctures...thinner. It's alright.. I know," he murmurs, lifting his lip and tapping his fang lightly.
Her shoulders relax as she lets out a breath. "Oh," she reddens slightly. "I didn't know. B-but, I suppose you expected that."
Azusa smiles faintly and nods. He then releases her hand and inclines his head. "Azusa. Ne...who are you?" He asks in his usual slowly worded way.
"My name's Misaki," she says softly. It's strange, he's a vampire, but he seems far gentler than any of the Sakamakis.
Azusa nods. "Well.. do you want to walk to class? If you want...I can walk five paces behind you.. to make it look like we're not.. going together.." he mutters, starting to walk to class, unconcerned with the stain on the front of his shirt.
She automatically frowns. "No, of course not, that's silly," she says. "We ARE going together."
Azusa waits for her to catch up with him, his hand covering 'Justin' on his arm. "Oh, alright," he murmurs. "Ah, Miss Misaki... earlier...you seemed sad."
"Just Misa," she murmurs offhandedly. "Um... I'm not sad. Just... thinking about things. Please don't worry about me!"
Azusa pads down the hallway with her. "Mn.."
He takes out another band-aid and casually puts it on her shirt, right over her heart, before smiling slightly and continuing on. Ruki had said that the bad kind of pain didn't work like that, but he liked to try.
Misaki blinks in surprise, as a very unsettled feeling begins to grow in her stomach. He... Azusa is the purest thing I have ever met. I know there's rumours in the class that he's weird, and I get that's true, but... shit.
Azusa readjusts his bandages as they walk to class, and finally stop in front of the door. He then pauses and looks behind them, stilling as if something had caught his eye.
Laito smiles from the end of the hall, disappearing out of sight between one moment and the next.
Misaki doesn't notice in the slightest as she walks into the classroom. "Thank you for the bandages," she murmurs, before heading to her seat, ignoring stares. The cheerleader and the weird boy? Impossible. Coincidence, they whisper.
Azusa murmurs something, heading to his seat and sitting. He hoped they could be friends. Maybe if she did buy him a new hot chocolate, she'd pour it on him and he could be useful to her. It was a pity about Arika, who he waved to in front of him.
Arika sighs and half heartedly waves back. She knows better than to be a dick to him. Ruki always seems to pop up, no matter what.
Shuu runs his hand down his face briefly. This had been a poorly thought out plan. Since the awkwardness of the festival, they'd been kind of... off. So he'd taken her out for sushi. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it, but he'd done it anyway, and she'd seemed happier because of it. Now though... he wasn't sure what the hell was going on. He watched as she downed a shot in less than three seconds. In hindsight... maybe he shouldn't have taken her to a bar.
This tastes like happiness. Annabeth has never drank before, and while whatever the fuck liquid it was he had ordered for her burns a little, it's a nice kind of burn now. Cheeks reddened, she smiles at Shuu drunkenly.
"You're so pretty," she sighs. "Man. Sober Annie is SO mad at you right now."
Shuu blinks languidly and rests his chin on his hand, his elbow on the table between them. "Oh really?" He drawls. Fuck it, he'd just go with it.
Drunk Annie nods astutely. "She's super mad. She thought you liked her, but you only like her butt and stuff. She's scared that you're gonna keep bugging her for her butt, but you don't want her heart, and she's real sad." She pauses for a moment and leans in with a shit eating grin. "Wanna hear a secret?"
Shuu raises a brow and leans forward as well. "Sure, might as well," he mutters, looking at her red cheeks.
"She like, LIKE likes you," Drunk Annie giggles. "She likes your fluffy hair and your fluffy butt. She was super happy when you thought she was dead and got all scared. She's, like, Like-liked you for a real long time cuz of your fluffy hair and fluffy butt."
Dusty amusement shifts in his eyes as Shuu curls his fingers through her hair distractedly. "I.. see," he mutters, putting that piece of information away for later. "Oi, Drunk Annie. Tell me something: Who's this John guy she keeps mentioning? She like him?"
"Johnnyboi is a manigma." Drunk Annie frowns for a moment. "Emigna. Maginama. Um. He's a migmigma. She likes him. He bought her bubble tea and knew EXACTLY what flavour she likes. He's a good boy."
Shuu hums and frowns slightly. "I'm guessing he hasn't said what he wants. Haa.. Troublesome. He hasn't bitten her, so it isn't blood- unless he's playing the long game. He made any moves on her?" He asks, continuing to pet her hair.
She shakes her head enthusiastically. "Noooh. But he did tell her to leave you. She didn't know what to say to that."
Shuu tsks softly. "Sounds like he wants her butt to me," he mutters. "This is annoying. Just got rid of the last guy who wanted her blood.. Now this." He sighs, tugging a lock of her hair sharply. "What do you think?"
"I think your hair is fluffy and I like your butt, too?" She drawls and snuggles up to his arm. "I also think you gotta be more honest with Sober Annie, or she's gonna be sad still. She's real scared lately, and she really wants to latch on to something."
He pats her head. "You're surprisingly astute, Drunk Annie," he murmurs."She does get that I'm super old and tired right? That kind of thing isn't going to change in me."
"You gotta try anyway," Drunk Annie insists and closes her eyes. "She's a stubborn lil butt too, so just... be firm and it'll be okay."
Shuu hums and sighs. "You want a drink of water or something? Humans need that kind of thing after alcohol."
Drunk Annie grins and sits up, looking at him and licking her lips suggestively. "Haaah... YOU sure are a tall drink of water."
Shuu blinks and chuckles, his expression subtly changing into a leer as he leans in. "I see someone's more open in the flirting department while drunk as well," he murmurs, their breaths intermingling.
"Hey... Shoe. I wanna line up a pick. You. Pick a you line. Haaaah. If you were a Pokémon, I would choose you," she slurs super sexily.
Shuu bites back a sigh. "Some things don't change," he chuckles, leaning down and biting her bottom lip lightly, his tongue sweeping out, before he pulls away. "I wish I could figure out...what exactly I want from you," he mutters quietly, looking at her dazed eyes.
Drunk Annie blinks slowly. "I don't have any money. Well, a little. But you can't have it. I need it for very important things, like cake and taxes."
He traces her mouth with his thumb. "I don't want your money… haa, idiot. You look so out of it. Let me get you that water," he mutters quietly, shifting away and standing.
Drunk Annie watches her Shoes dance away and leans on the table, half heartedly stuffing a sushi roll into her cheeks. I hate it when he leaves, but I love watching dat ass go. Another man sits down next to her once Shuu was out of sight. He looks at her with an unreadable expression, before cracking a smile.
"Hey beautiful."
Annie blinks for a moment- shooting upright and swallowing. "John!" She squeals excitedly, hugging his arm. "Shoes went to go get wataaaaaaa. He's gonna come back. I picked up a line for him."
John chuckles and brings out a pen, twirling it around his fingers. "I know. So how goes it, Drunk Annie? You always were a flirt," he says playfully, his eyes drinking her in with less restraint than usual. He touches her hand and strokes it.
Drunk Annie yanks her hand back. "Good! I am good! Shoes bought me sushi and burn juice and uh..." she zones out for a second, glancing around. "Not water. He has a fluffy butt and pretty hair. No. Hairy butt and pretty fluff. No. Fluffy butt and..." she screws up her nose, trying to concentrate.
John's face flashes with something like hurt, before he clicks the pen. "Fascinating. You still love him, huh?" he asks quietly, taking her hand back and starting to write on the back of it. "Gimme a sec here, Buttercup. Just writing something super important, keep talking."
"Nooo. Sober Annie loves him," she corrects, glancing down. "Ooh. Are you giving me a tattoo? It doesn't hurt like needle tattoos prolly do. They're all EVIL POKEY POKEY STAB STAB. This is just whoop woop penny pen."
John finishes writing the message, before he takes her chin in his hand, grip surprisingly firm. "I love you, dork...don't forget that," he mutters plainly, eyes unreadable. He then leans back, releasing her. "Mr. Steal yo' girl out." He grins, materialising away and leaving an empty seat.
Drunk Annie makes a sad sighing noise. "John, come back," she whimpers lamely at the absence of anything, and when he doesn't immediately return, stuffs another piece of sushi in her mouth, chewwing mournfully.
When Shuu returns, he doesn't sense anything amiss, aside from her slightly down mood. He sets her water on the table. "Oi, why the long face?" he asks, noticing her hand and squinting slightly, taking hold of it. "What's this?"
"John gave me a tattoo," she says simply, lifting the glass with her other hand and taking a drink. "But he popped away. Meanie."
Shuu stared down at her hand. It was at that moment that he knew without doubt that one: this guy was a little shit. Two: he wouldn't be quitting like Yuma anytime soon. The writing simply said - John was here.
Drunk Annie glances down as well. "John was here," she repeats and giggles, leaning against Shuu's arm. "He's so nice. You would like him. We went cardboard surfing."
Shuu's lips thin. He then holds her hand more firmly, lacing their fingers together. "I don't think I would get on with him. He sounds too lively," he mutters.
"He's a hoot and a half," she murmurs and nuzzles his arm. "Oi, Shuu... you like Sober Annie right?"
Shuu glances down at her. "What of it?" He asks, rubbing the pen marks away covertly. She'd barely be able to feel it in her intoxicated state.
"You gotta ask her to be your gurlfriend. You never did. She doesn't get it," she says and closes her eyes. "Ugh. Shoes, I'm sleepy."
He sighs and shoves the water into her hand. "Drink, Drunk Annie. I'll take you home after this one," he mutters, stroking her hair again.
"Don't wanna," she mutters, sound muffled, as she turns her face into his sleeve. "Just wanna snuggle."
Shuu sighs and tugs a piece of her loose hair. "Oi, no snuggles until this water is gone. I'll... even let you pet my hair in bed. Alright?" He adds quietly.
Drunk Annie's eyes widen and her hands snap out, chugging the water. She slams the empty glass down soon after. "Cuddles now, Shoes."
Shuu chuckles and wraps his arm around her waist, before standing and awkwardly shuffling with her out the door. He then materialises them down the street, and then another few times, until they made it back to her apartment. It's only when they're collapsing onto her bed does he curl his body around her and holds her closer. "Haa...You really are troublesome."
She snuggles him closely, practically purring like a cat. "I'm not. Don't be mean," she mumbles, closing her eyes. "I'm your favorite."
Shuu hums and shifts, making good on his promise as he promptly puts his head on her chest- forcing her hand into his hair. He then closes tired blue eyes. Drunk Annie strokes his hair happily for a little while, her hand slowing after a bit and stopping altogether as her breaths even out and she falls asleep.