Chapter 23: Time to Go

Levitan woke up warm. They rubbed their eyes with their fingers and groaned, stretching their shoulders.

There was a small, sleepy sigh from next to them and they looked down. Akio was still nestled up to them, tucked protectively under their arm. He had one hand resting on their stomach under the covers, and his hair was messy and stuck up on one side.

Levitan chuckled and relaxed back into the blankets. They had no idea what time it was, but they decided that for just a few minutes, they didn’t care.

Akio yawned and shuffled. He opened his eyes and looked up at them. “G’morning.”

“Morning,” they said. “How’d you manage to hang on like that?”

“Like what?”

They yawned a little and scratched an itch on their collar. “Like an octopus. I toss n’ turn all night, usually.”

“I think I woke up once,” he said, shifting so he was next to them proper