She had just been sitting on the couch, a small book at hand as she held a snack on the other. The book she was reading was from Fukami's bookshelf, a paper copy of a random story that she found interesting. The day was relatively peaceful— or as a certain seagull had said, 'boring'— and even though it was already in the middle of the afternoon, the sea felt a little cold. Perhaps it was because winter was near? Pushing the warm, golden scarf up to the bridge of her nose, she continued to read the words on the book, immersing herself enough to partially forget that she had food in her hand.
And also not notice someone approach her from the side.
The sudden contact and body warmth on her left side was more than enough to snap her attention away from the story, and it took her another second to realize that the suspended food in her fingers had been snatched away by the supposed intruder. Turning to the culprit, she furrowed her brows at the seagull leaning on her side, watching her pop the snack into her mouth and chew happily. Dolphi wasn't pleased at the slightest, showing a pout even though it wasn't visible from under the yellow fabric.
"'Eya, Dolph," Memoca casually greeted. The dolphin merely hummed in response, muttering a quiet 'hey' under her scarf before turning back to the book in her hand. Memoca wasn't really satisfied with her response.
Watching her read the book as she continued to lean on her, her eyes were switching back and forth from the paragraphs on the softbound book and Dolphi's half-covered face. Quietly swallowing the food that she had snatched before, she felt herself pout at the lack of attention from her mate.
It was quiet for a while— Dolphi continued to read, the only sign she acknowledged the seagull's presence was her leaning back on her side, and Memoca continued to watch her, waiting for her to probably put the book down and pay 100% of her attention towards her. After a minute or so though, it was already obvious that Dolphi wouldn't be doing that any time soon, her fingers gently flipping through the pages in silence. Memoca continued to pout.
The sudden absence of touch on her side effectively brought the dolphin's attention away from the book again, nearly toppling over to the side as her support shifted her position. Turning to Memoca in slight confusion, she suddenly yelped in surprise when the seagull crawled up to her lap, settling there between her and the book. It wasn't like Memoca was jealous of a bunch of printed papers, nope, not at all. Sitting on the dolphin's right side with her legs across her lap, Memoca snaked her wing behind her back, and then latched on to her waist, before pulling her close as her other wing reached up to tug at her scarf.
Dolphi was, to say the least, flustered and panicking. Nearly dropping the book she was holding as different shades of red colored her face, she could only stammer incoherent words as Memoca made herself comfortable, after messily wrapping the scarf around her neck, too. Connecting her wings together across the other's torso, she rested her head on the crook of her neck, a triumphant smile on her face.
"Cute sound ya jus' made," She commented. It didn't help Dolphi's current state at all, and if it was possible, she blushed a darker shade of red, her free hand reaching up to try and cover her face with a part of her scarf while the one holding the book was just awkwardly held up as her arm rested on Memoca's back.
"Wh-What a-a-are you—" The dolphin managed to stutter out, alarms ringing in her head as she was still pretty much surprised and befuddled by the sudden act of affection. Memoca slightly lifted her head to look up at her with an innocent smile.
"It's cold," She said simply. As she hugged her tighter, Dolphi couldn't maintain eye contact for long and she looked away, the seagull amusing herself at the sight of her flustered face. She, too, was blushing, feeling her own heart pound loudly in her chest, but the fact that they were alone and that Dolphi's reaction was more drastic than hers relieved her.
Noticing that she wasn't pulling away and that she wasn't showing any signs of discomfort though, Memoca beamed inwardly, before proceeding with the cuddle and burying her temple on the other's bare neck. Dolphi reacted accordingly, continuing to make small stammering noises as she continued to awkwardly hold on to the book. On the other hand, the back of her palm was still over her face, in an attempt to hide the blush that had already spread down from her ears to her neck.
It was obvious the seagull wasn't planning on letting go any time soon, so giving in and gently placing the closed book at the side, Dolphi reluctantly placed her now free hand on Memoca's shoulder, which surprised the said bird slightly. She was still pretty much flustered with jumbled thoughts plaguing her mind, but she was fully aware that Memoca just straight up initiated a cuddle session— suddenly so.
Resting her chin on the seagull's head, she brought up her other hand to pet her messy hair gently. It was Memoca's turn to color her face with red— she didn't expect the dolphin to return the cuddling, as she initially just did this to grab her attention (Hah! Take that, you damn book), but… she guessed this wasn't so bad either. This felt a little awkward though, since neither of them was used to this— Memoca was usually the one spooning Dolphi despite their height difference, since the seagull wasn't as embarrassed as the other one when it came to displaying affection. So, this position was rather new to them.
Not that it was bad or anything. Both of them were flushed red, but Memoca was smiling, giggling a bit as she snuggled closer to her mate, Dolphi still feeling very sheepish but couldn't help but run her fingers through the other's long hair. They would probably continue on like this until both or one of them fell asleep— most likely Memoca, as the touch on her scalp and the gentle brush on her hair was soothing— or when somebody would walk in on them. They prayed it wouldn't be the latter.
The cold afternoon under the sea felt a little warmer than before.