It didn’t help when he cocked his head and it was so much like a nervous puppy. And oh god she wasn’t going to be able to stop equating him to a golden retriever. Her adorable, precious little golden retriever.
God help her, she was too far down the rabbit hole now.
His laughter was surprising, but welcome and it helped to soothe her laughter down to giggles. Then to a content sigh. Thankfully because she hadn’t been sure how much longer her sides could have handled all the laughter. Maybe she needed to laugh more.
“If I were to use any of those, Hakuba, I’d probably use ‘hopeless’.” A small twitch of a smirk as she smoothed down the rumpled robe. “For ‘hopelessly adorable’."
She loved him so much, all facets of him, and she hoped to maybe one day be able to express that to him. Today, or at least not that moment, wasn’t the day. Her mind seemed to kind of die at his compliments and she opened her mouth to argue against them.
Except that she found, for once, she didn’t want to. There was a swell in her heart and it was a feeling that she didn’t want to be rid of. Was that… what it was like to be loved?
"I… am up for whatever you wish to do, Hakuba.” Because she really didn’t care as long as it was with him.
Although he was used to picking up the slack where decisions were concerned in that sort of situation, it was unusual for the headstrong Shinori to be so accommodating. Or, perhaps it wasn’t; he had an impression of her in his head but, really, when not in dire straights, she was usually agreeable, wasn’t she?
Oh, he was so fond of her.
Finally, he reached for her, hands gentle as they came to caress the bathrobe over her back, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. His arms circled her, anxiety melting away with the warmth of her presence, and Hakuba smiled in a way that was nothing if not serene.
“I’ll ask Baaya to bring something by… we can eat in bed, if you’re feeling up to it. We’ll have to get some more studying in eventually, but…"