There's a very strong sense of déjà vu that morning when Akihiko vaguely tries to emerge from the clingy tendrils of sleep. His internal clock hits the gong again somewhere in the depths of his mind to signal the incoming dawn and he's probably still half-dreaming because everything is flowery warmth and softness around him. Fantasies are one thing, but there are sounds of fireworks echoing in his mind and red embers melting on his pillow, so he makes a conscious effort to crack his eyelids open before anything else.

Just to be sure I'm not hallucinating.

She's really here, her limbs still around his neck, face nested in the crook of his jaw and breathing cinders on his throat. Minako is fast asleep on top of his right arm that circles around her, his left hand still lost among the strands of wavy copper, exactly like the Dark Hour's last tatters that floats in his memory. Every time they rested together before, one of them had to leave before the other woke up, but this is new, and he rather likes it. A lot.

I can't believe yesterday happened…

The corners of his mouth lift in a lazy grin because even his thoughts aren't quite reflective of what's churning all over his brain just thinking about it. He has the vocabulary for it, but it's too early to put it into elaborate words and she's very distracting.

I don't know anything about stuff like this, yet I kissed you a thousand times and you liked it.

In any other scenario he'd be self-immolating, and while there's an undercurrent of nervous static at the memories and a deep blush blooming on his face that he'd even do something like that, he must be honest enough with himself that it wasn't all his own doing.

She wasn't complaining at all, quite the opposite in fact.

They'll have to get up soon before the rest of the dorm does because they're breaking all the rules, and Akihiko just wants to savor the moment. She's so warm and it burns everywhere she's touching him but it's not enough, so he hugs her tighter, shivering at the little sigh of contentment that escapes her lips on his neck. He lightly plays with her tresses, and she murmurs sleepily.

"Oh… I think… this is my best day… ever."

Tell me about it…

Her arms around him come back to life to bring her nails into his hair and she nuzzles her cheek on his pulse, inhaling softly like she's breathing in the sparks that run up his neck at her ministrations.

"I know we need to get up, but I wish we didn't have to."

Smothered in a strange feeling of dreamlike tenderness, he runs two fingers along her spine very slowly until they rest between her shoulder blades, whispering.

"It's the last thing I feel like doing right now…"

Minako hums in confirmation, running the tip of her nose along his throat, then his jaw upward until her cheek lies on his, opening her eyes halfway to look at him closely. It's like the dawn cresting the horizon, red and vibrant, tinged with happiness and something a tad predatory.

That's one hell of a way to wake up, gazing at the glory of you.

She barely brushes her soft lips on his skin, and he moves his face across hers to angle his mouth away, doing the same near her ear, like they're circling each other around an untold subject and they're both smiling like it's a game.

If we do this again, we'll have a hard time stopping and we both know it. I remember last night quite well.

He can see the silver of his irises flaring in the reflection of hers and Akihiko's a bit shocked at how expressive his eyes seem.

"You're making this really difficult."

And the crimson orbs glares back with hunger.

"Look who's talking, you..."

This is getting hard to resist without breaking his resolve, especially with her so close, that look in her rubies and the clock running out on dorm privacy. Drowsiness is a good help or he would have already lost that fight.

"Up for a morning run?"

Anything to spend a little more time with you.

She sighs happily as if she read his mind.

"Always. Downstairs in 15?"

He nods and she closes her lashes, running all the fingers in his hair from the top down to the nape of his neck and he shudders, raising his chin in reflex. She dives her face back down to rest it below and whispers.

"Please close your eyes until I leave, or I might be very tempted to turn around. Your gaze is killing me right now."

He chuckles at that one but complies with a smile, Minako is often unpredictable in her bold statements, but it's always nice to hear how he affects her.

You're adorable when you're cheeky.

"As you wish. See you soon."

She sighs and untangles herself slowly, stroking his cheek in passing with her nails. She drops a boiling open-mouthed kiss on the vein of his throat and quickly hops off, scooting off like a comet while he chomps down on his cheek at the sensation.

Cheater!

"Sorry!"

He can hear her bare feet softly step away in stealth and her grumbling under her breath when she makes it out of the door.

"At least you have a shirt on this time… goddamn."

They've been running together for months now, and Minako has the speed and stamina to keep up with him even when he takes a more challenging pace that makes him really work out. He admires anyone who can deal with his kind of training, but the fact that it's her who can do so is even better.

Akihiko needs the intense exercise today to chase all the craziness away or at least tone it down because just having her there makes something inside him jolt incessantly now that he's more awake and alert.

You burn me just by existing.

This morning, she's in a visibly playful mood, smiling impishly back at him a few corners away from the dorm and zooming off like she has wings, goading him into catching up more than once because she knows he won't resist a challenge. The day promises to be very hot and humid, judging from the already blistering haze sticking down at street level, so by the time they get to the playground as the sun rises proper, they're drenched and quite exhausted.

She looks at the remains of the festival around the shrine while catching her breath, a weird look in her eyes, and spins on the bar to sit facing the trees instead, decidedly turning her back on the display, still gulping hard. Akihiko joins her up, but facing the other way, so they're side by side and he can observe her sideways in silence as he always does.

Beads of sweat are jeweling an invisible tiara on her brow and her glazed eyes close like she's falling asleep. She usually remains like this for long minutes without moving at all, but this time, her right hand slides tentatively toward him until she can touch his own and she just delicately slides her fingers on top like a makeshift glove.

That's new.

Akihiko's not sure if he should answer this with something, so he refrains from moving, too hesitant to disturb the usual ritual despite the changes. This feels like a promise of trust, like she takes comfort in him being with her while she turns to inner contemplation, and it strikes him in a profound way.

It takes her a while to open her eyes again and they're tinged with vulnerability. As usual, her voice is low and tentative, like speaking her inner thoughts out loud is hard when all her masks are gone and she's all exposed.

"Except Minato, everything in the last ten years was just fleeting, made from moving water and without purpose. It's weird perhaps but I don't want to look at the shrine today. I can't bear to look at the remains of such a… precious memory and associate it with anything… temporary."

Minako purses her lips, raising her gaze upward to look at the sky as if she's remembering the fireworks that bloomed there and his neck starts prickling with some weird dread.

He had no idea how hard they both had it before they came at the dorm and meshed themselves so tightly into SEES, and it strikes a chord inside at how lonely they both must have been. It almost sounds like him and Shinji, except they always lived here and weren't constantly losing all permanence.

I was always curious but never dared to ask about before. It sounds like a lot of pain to shoulder...

"I know it will all be gone by the end of the day, and they will tear it all down, but I'll never forget it."

It just feels right for him to run a hand on her cheek in remembrance of the events, lightly brushing the coppery hair sticking to her skin out of the way, waiting for her eyes to turn to his way to speak.

"I never will either. And I really meant what I said."

There's a slight blush blooming on her cheeks and she smiles at him serenely the same way she did yesterday.

"Now, that… that was soul-piercing. You can certainly be very… eloquent."

He chuckles a bit darkly at her comment, looking away in some sort of shame. That's not a word he would associate with himself, he's made a bumbling mess of himself quite often, especially with her.

It's like I spent so much energy trying to be the best fighter that I forgot how words work somewhere along the way.

"Me, eloquent? Depends on the subject or to whom I guess."

Her reply sounds stern, like she's admonishing him for even deprecating himself about it.

"Don't sell yourself short to me because I certainly don't see it that way. Anyone can spin their breath and say a lot that means absolutely nothing in the end. It's not just words that count, I'm a twin, I should know."

Minako turns toward him and raises an ankle to the horizontal bar to balance herself on one crossed leg. She takes one hand to his face delicately and coaxes him to turn back around to her and face those glorious orbs of boiling red. The other is stroking his fingers where she left it before as if to remind him of all the times they did this.

"But you, when you talk to me, you speak with all of you as if it's straight from the heart and it's just…"

Still cradling his head in her palm, she suddenly just dives in and kisses him a tad roughly and that stuns him for a second. She raises her eyes to him again from up close and murmurs with a little smile.

"There's a disarming charm in being so honest, you know. Your eyes are really something."

Akihiko just closes the gap to her lips softly while stroking her cheek, amazed she finds him endearing like that. She flutters more words against him like lava butterflies, punctuated with scorching kisses of her own.

"That's a new way of…. talking I never experienced… before… and I really like it."

I'll talk to you in all the ways you want as much as you let me.

He shifts his raised hand to the back of her head, digging in her wet hair below her ponytail to bring her closer to him.

"I really need a shower, that's probably…"

He just runs his lips over hers slowly in reply, tasting the salt that trickled down on them while arching her neck further toward his jaw, eyes boring into her irises like he wants to drive a point.

"I don't care, it's still you, and it's all I want."

There's nothing temporary about any of this and I'll prove it to you if you let me.

They stay balanced on top of the bar together for a long time, twisted sideways and mouths dancing slowly while the cicadas scream their song from the nearby trees.