The game eventually stopped not because either of them won…
…but because both of them were too tired to keep reacting.
The clock on the wall read well past midnight.
The house had gone quiet hours ago — lights off, hallway dim, the soft creak of settling wood the only sound left alive. Even the TV glow felt too loud now.
Eri yawned, ears drooping heavily as she rubbed one eye with the back of her hand. Her tails had long since lost their restless energy and now y in a soft pile behind her like spilled silk.
Alex set the controller down.
“I should probably head home,” he said quietly.
Eri immediately stiffened.
Her ears twitched once.
Then fttened.
“…it’s te,” she muttered.
“I live like fifteen minutes away.”
“Still te.”
He stood anyway — stretching slightly — and the motion alone made her stomach tighten in a way she didn’t want to analyze.
He took one step toward the hallway.
“…wait.”
He stopped.
Turned back.
Eri was staring at the carpet, fingers lightly gripping the hem of her oversized sleep shirt.
“…can you not?” she said, almost inaudible.
He blinked. “Not… go home?”
She nodded once, still not looking at him.
“I—” she paused, ears folding tighter, “I don’t really want to be alone tonight.”
That immediately erased any hesitation.
“Okay,” he said.
No teasing.No hesitation.Just simple agreement.
Her shoulders loosened a little.
“…okay.”
Mom had already left spare bnkets in Eri’s room earlier — probably anticipating this without saying it out loud — and Alex carried them awkwardly as he followed her down the hallway.
The house felt different at night.
Softer.
More private.
Eri pushed her bedroom door open and stepped inside, tails brushing the doorframe before she remembered and tucked them closer. The familiar scent of her room wrapped around her immediately — calming in a way she desperately needed after the long day.
Alex paused in the doorway.
There was only one bed.
He looked at the bnkets in his hands.
Then at the floor.
“I can take the floor,” he said.
Eri turned around instantly.
“No.”
He blinked. “No?”
“You’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“It’s fine—”
“It’s not fine.”
She crossed her arms — ears angled forward in stubborn determination.
“You’re a guest.”
“I’m a guy.”
She flushed.
“That’s not— I mean— that’s not what I—”
She stopped, groaning softly and hiding her face behind her sleeve.
“You know what I mean.”
He did.
And honestly… he wasn’t sure how to argue it without making it more awkward.
“…then couch?” he offered.
“You’ll wake everyone up.”
“…chair?”
She stared at him.
Then slowly pointed at the bed.
“You sleep there.”
He stared right back.
“You sleep where?”
She hesitated for exactly one second before mumbling,
“…with me.”
Alex’s brain shut off.
“You said that way too casually.”
Her ears burned bright red. “I did NOT— I just— there’s space — and I move a lot — and I’ll be asleep — and—”
She froze mid-ramble.
“…please just don’t make this weird.”
He exhaled slowly.
It was already weird.
But not the bad kind.
“…okay.”
They settled in carefully — both overly aware of every movement.
Eri climbed in first, immediately curling slightly to make room, her tails instinctively pulling around her sides like a nest. Alex sat at the edge for a moment before lying down stiffly on top of the bnket.
There was a very noticeable gap between them.
Neither commented on it.
For about thirty seconds.
“You can use the pillow,” she said.
“I have one.”
“You’re halfway off it.”
“…oh.”
He adjusted slightly.
The mattress dipped.
She shifted too.
Now the gap was much smaller.
Silence again.
Then—
“…you’re rigid.”
“I’m aware.”
She buried half her face in the bnket, voice muffled.“You’re making me self-conscious.”
“You invited me into a bed!”
“You agreed!”
“You insisted!”
They both stopped.
Then quietly ughed.
The tension cracked — not gone, but softer now.
Minutes passed.
The quiet grew comfortable.
The darkness easier.
Eri’s breathing slowed gradually, her tails loosening from their tight curl and spreading naturally behind her. One brushed lightly against his arm — she didn’t pull it away this time.
“…Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“…thank you for staying.”
He looked at the ceiling.
“Didn’t want you alone.”
Her fingers lightly gripped the fabric near his sleeve — not quite holding, just… grounding.
“I keep thinking I’ll wake up and this’ll all be gone,” she whispered.
“You don’t sound like you want it to be.”
She shook her head against the pillow.
“I don’t.”
A small pause.
“…but I also don’t know how to exist like this yet.”
He turned slightly toward her.
“You’re doing better than you think.”
Her ears flicked.
“You literally watched me panic over clothes today.”
“You still did it.”
“…barely.”
“Still counts.”
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she shifted closer without realizing it — her forehead lightly bumping his shoulder.
“Sorry—”
“It’s fine.”
She didn’t move back.
Another few quiet minutes passed.
Her breathing slowed further.
He thought she’d fallen asleep.
Then suddenly—
Her arms wrapped around him.
Before his brain processed it, she pulled him gently toward her.
And his face pnted directly into her chest.
Everything stopped.
Alex’s entire body locked up.
“Eri—?!”
She made a sleepy noise, already half-gone to exhaustion, instinctively nuzzling slightly as if hugging a pillow.
Warse.
His thoughts completely short-circuited.
He did not know where to put his hands.He did not know where to look.He could not look anywhere.
“…you’re going to kill me,” he whispered weakly.
She didn’t respond — just breathing slow and steady now, tails loosely draped across his side like a bnket.
She was asleep.
Fully.
Utterly.
Unaware.
He stayed frozen for a full minute.
Then carefully — very carefully — rexed just enough not to wake her.
“…I’m not going to survive till school tomorrow,” he muttered to himself.
Eri's ears twitched faintly against his hair.
But she didn’t wake.
And eventually…
Despite his burning face…
He fell asleep too.