˗ˏˋ sleepy sighs and no denials  'ˎ˗

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Mahika gains consciousness when she feels someone tapping lightly on her shoulder, and it takes her a few seconds to adjust to the dim light when she slowly opens her eyes.

And then a low noise that's between confusion and alarm escapes her lips when she panics because there's weight on her chest and it's —

Hair?

The touch on her shoulder settles into a hold and she jerks again, only to whip her head to the side and see Sakshi's face way too close to hers. Another short, sharp cry of surprise leaves her before she finally understands where she is and why there's an awful crick in her neck.

Sakshi is now sitting back on the carpet with her hand slapped to her mouth to muffle her laughter, and Mahika squeezes her eyes shut and lets out a groan of annoyance before she realizes that there's a head tucked under her chin.

And it belongs to Amoli.

"I didn't mean to startle you like that," Sakshi says, eyes still curled into crescent moons from her laughter, and Mahika can't call her out on it because her chest is now filling with an entirely different kind of panic.

She suddenly feels much more awake, growing increasingly aware of the arm thrown around her waist and the body aligned beside hers on the couch.

"I wasn't going to wake you up." Sakshi's voice is soft, clearly oblivious of the storm brewing in Mahika's stomach. "But then I was like, 'Wow, this can't be comfortable' and couldn't help myself. Sorry."

It isn't. But that's not Mahika is worried about.

She fell asleep on the couch with Amoli. The other girl is quite literally half-lying on top of Mahika and seems to be in a deep sleep without a care in the world.

A single glance around tells Mahika that the laptop is still on the table, but Sakshi must have shut it down just now because Mahika doesn't remember doing it. Hell, she doesn't even remember when she fell asleep.

And she definitely has no idea how she ended up in this position with Amoli, because the last thing she remembers is Amoli eventually moving to just rest her head on Mahika's shoulder in the middle of their quiet conversation about their lives before they knew each other.

"What time is it?" Mahika mumbles quietly, voice still a bit sleepy and words jumbled together.

Thankfully, Sakshi can decipher them somehow. "Almost two."

Mahika takes a long breath and presses her fingers to her closed eyes, trying to rub the last remnants of sleepy confusion out of them. It takes her another second to realize that her other arm is wrapped around Amoli's back, her hand resting right on the bump of her spine under the nape of her neck.

Her heart, the guileless little shit, kicks against her chest.

Not the time, she thinks, resisting the urge to turn her head so it's buried against the edge of the couch and let out a girlish scream. Not the damn time.

"Unless you enjoy waking up with your entire body cramped over, I'd really suggest moving to your room," Sakshi murmurs, reaching out to brush Mahika's hair off her forehead, smiling apologetically when Mahika meets her eyes. "Maybe I should have just let you be."

Mahika shakes her head, trying to muster up a smile through the rush of nervousness and embarrassment slowly, steadily clawing its way up her throat. "It's fine," she whispers, praying to whoever's listening so Amoli doesn't wake up on her own. Mahika would like a few more minutes to prepare herself, thank you very much.

Although she isn't sure what she's preparing herself for.

"Do you need me to get you something?" Sakshi asks, getting on her feet now that Mahika is awake. "Water?" Then she points a thumb at Amoli. "Do you think Amo might need some?"

Mahika shakes her head. She watches Sakshi open her mouth to say something else, and then visibly decide against it as she settles with another smile instead.

"Okay." She gives Mahika's shoulder a light squeeze. "I'm gonna go back to bed. Don't fall back asleep here, yeah?"

Mahika nods silently, and her eyes follow Sakshi's retreating figure until she can no longer turn her neck without it getting uncomfortable. There's the obvious thud of the door shutting behind Sakshi, and then Mahika rubs a hand down the side of her face with a whispered curse.

After all the fuss Amoli slept through, this is what wakes her up.

Mahika feels the change in Amoli's breathing before she hears it, and then Amoli lets out a sleepy little sound that sounds like a sigh and a dozy mumble at the same time.

Mahika freezes in place.

Amoli moves her head a little, and just when Mahika thinks she's going to look up, she pushes her nose into the side of Mahika's neck instead and lets out another puff of air against her skin.

Mahika must have made let out a sound at that, because Amoli goes completely still and it's truly a wonder how she doesn't accidentally knock her head right up against Mahika's chin with how fast she whips up with a gasp after realization dawns on her.

Her eyes are open but unfocused, her hair a mess, and her mouth parted in surprise. She makes a noise that Mahika thinks is supposed to be a 'what?', blinks a few times, and then squints like she doesn't understand what's going on.

Mahika gets it. Really.

"Hi," she mumbles, the corners of her lips beginning to twitch up at the thought that they've talked about slowly getting to know each other before moving further and they've talked about being discreet around their friends on more than one occasion, but this is where they've ended up.

"What?" Amoli repeats, clearer this time. Her hand around Mahika's waist hasn't moved an inch.

"We fell asleep on the couch," Mahika explains, trying to brand the sight of this sleepy, befuddled version of Amoli into her memory — her cheeks looking softer than ever, eyes just a little puffy from sleep, hair framing the sides of her face in tangles.

"Oh."

"And my arm's going numb."

"Oh."

Amoli runs that over in her head again for a couple seconds, and then her eyes open a bit wider before she pushes herself up in a sitting position. Mahika breathes out a laugh at the sight of Amoli covering half of her face with her hand, and follows after her to sit up as well.

The smile on Mahika's face turns into a grimace when she feels the stiffness in her spine.

"Sorry," Amoli mumbles without looking at her, and Mahika knows she would have been able to spot the dusting of pink on her cheeks if the room was a bit brighter and Mahika hadn't woken up with a start only a few minutes ago.

"Don't be." Mahika pushes through her hesitance to wrap her fingers around Amoli's wrist so she can move her hand away from her face. When she holds Amoli's hand between both of hers, reminding herself that she can, their eyes meet. "You wanna move to the bed?"

Mahika knows it sounds suggestive, and Amoli manages to give her a look even in her sleep-addled state. She knows damn well that Amoli isn't fully awake right now, because if she was, she would have made a comment like, 'Wow, can you at least take me on a date first?'

She doesn't back down though, letting the words hang in the air until Amoli looks away again and nods.

Not much of a talker when sleepy, Mahika notes mentally, getting off the couch without letting go of Amoli's hand. Got it.

"I can sleep out here if you want. You can take the bed," she offers softly once she's standing in front of Amoli, afraid that her silence might mean discomfort if Mahika doesn't check one last time. When Amoli shakes her head and tips her head back to look at Mahika, tugging at her hand until she gets closer, Mahika raises an eyebrow at her even as she complies and just steps forward until Amoli can vine her arms around her waist. "What are you doing?"

"Carry me."

Mahika breathes out a laugh, tenderly smoothing the tangles out of Amoli's hair when she puts her head on Mahika's belly. "Yeah, okay. I can totally do that."

"Mhm."

"You're serious?"

"Hmm. Yeah."

"Wow, alright princess, I'll make sure I start hitting the gym from tom — wait, are you falling asleep on me?"

"Mmm..."

"Amo, no." Mahika steps back and laughs again when Amoli lets out a dissatisfied whine, taking hold of her hands again to pull her to her feet. "Come on." She tugs at Amoli's hands. "You can sleep in my room."

Amoli sighs dramatically but follows anyway, letting Mahika drag her away from the couch and eventually out of the living room, grinning down at her all wide and goofy the whole time.

When the door clicks shut behind them with a low thud, so does Mahika's heart.

"You're just trying to get me into bed with you," Amoli murmurs jokingly, purposely swaying their hands around a little to knock them both off balance.

Mahika scoffs, easily navigating both herself and Amoli further inside the room despite the latter's playful attempts at teasing her. "Oh, now you're awake enough to form full sentences?"

"No denials?"

Now that she can clearly see the flush of pink on Amoli's cheeks under the bright lights of her room, Mahika knows Amoli is going to turn into a stuttering mess the second Mahika starts teasing her back.

So she holds off and rolls her eyes instead. "Weren't you sleepy like, four seconds ago?"

Amoli sits down at the edge of the bed and looks up at Mahika from beneath her lashes, one corner of her lips curling up. "Look at you trying to deflect —"

Mahika bends forward until her nose is barely an inch away from Amoli's, trying to ignore the way her own stomach kicks at the proximity and barely holds off a smile when Amoli's lips fall shut and her eyes visibly widen a hairsbreadth.

When she's sure Amoli isn't pulling away or looking uncomfortable, Mahika settles an index finger under her chin and tips Amoli's head back until they're breathing the same air.

"When I do try to get you into bed," Mahika murmurs so close to her face, their lips almost touch, "you'll know."

Mahika takes a little too much delight in the way Amoli's breath hitches, and finally lets a smile slip past when Amoli leans in to close the last fraction of distance between them. Mahika stops her by delicately taking hold of her chin between her thumb and forefinger, narrowing her eyes.

"I thought we agreed on taking our time," Mahika murmurs, tilting her head to one side. "Something about going slow, was it? Something about being friends, actually, I think."

Amoli takes hold of her wrist. "Forget slow. I hate slow," she mutters quickly, and it takes everything Mahika has in her to not bark out a laugh. "And friends?" Amoli continues, already laughing although it comes out breathless and in hitches. "I don't even like that word. I hate that word, in fact —"

Mahika kisses her.

It only lasts three seconds before she's pulling back with a shake of her head, taking hold of Amoli's face between her hands; not just to keep Amoli in check but also herself. "You haven't been here twenty four hours and I've already slipped twice."

Amoli rolls her bottom lip between her teeth, but it does nothing to hide the pleased smile on her face. Mahika's eyes follow the movement before meeting Amoli's again, and she blinks once, then again when Amoli takes hold of her shirt and bunches it up to pull her closer.

Mahika's eyes flutter close when Amoli brushes her lips against her jaw in a feathery kiss, following the line of her cheekbone to the corner of her eyebrow and then coming back down to press against the last mole under Mahika's bottom lip.

When Mahika opens her eyes again, the smile on Amoli's face is so tender, it makes Mahika's chest physically ache.

"Been thinking about those for a while, huh?" Mahika asks in a low murmur, referring to the beauty marks on her face.

Amoli's smile turns a little wry, fingers loosening their hold on her shirt as they find home against the skin where Mahika's shoulder and her neck meet instead. "You have no idea."

"Don't I?"

Amoli breathes out a laugh. "Okay, maybe you do. A little."

"A little," Mahika echoes, biting back another smile and bringing their lips together again. One of the reasons why she had been trying to hold back was because she had a feeling that once they got this close, it would be pretty much impossible for Mahika to pull away.

And she was right.

Amoli wraps her arms around her neck and it immediately reminds Mahika why they had almost gone too far that day at the hotel room; why it hadn't just been the buzz of alcohol under their skins that threw them too close to the edge.

The kisses are just beginning to turn insistent — bolder and less innocent, when Mahika reluctantly pulls back with a low groan of pain from the twinge in her neck.

"Shit, okay," she grumbles, straightening up and causing Amoli's hands to fall back down on her lap. "That hurts." She rolls her neck and holds it in that position for a few seconds, squeezing her eyes shut and wincing at the shot of pain that goes down her spine.

Amoli sighs and falls back, her legs still dangling down the edge of the bed. "Maybe you should consider going to the gym, after all." She still sounds a little out of breath, and maybe she hears it too because she giggles a little and adds, "Maybe we should both go."

Mahika stretches her back and looks down at Amoli with her hands on her waist. "Yeah, you can work on your height and save me the neck cramps."

"Oh, shut up."

➷

a/n

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