A/N: It feels incredibly odd writing this little oneshot now – when it's so hot I have to be in a pool or have a fan blowing directly on me to feel like I'm not going to have heatstroke. Anyway, a wintry oneshot for a hot summer's night. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I make no profit off this.
"What do you mean the heater went out?" Lisa snapped, staring down Love with a dark look. "It's below zero out there, Aikawa."
Love laughed. "This happened last week too. I'm sure it'll be alright." Still, he started to back up slowly. An angry Lisa was not a good Lisa.
Lisa took a cleansing breath. She would not argue with him that it was, by far, warmer the week before. "Alright. We will deal with this accordingly."
Love continued to back away. The further he got from her, the better off he'd be. "Yeah, accordingly." He offered up a big grin, but Lisa was already headed the opposite way. Thank God.
Shinji pounded on Hiyori's door as the clock hit 10:30. Hiyori was likely in bed already – if only for the reason that she'd heard sleep helps children grow. Poor girl. "Hiyori, can I come in?" Damn, it was cold in there. Even though the front door had barely been opened after the heater died, the temperature had dropped within a few hours. "Hiyori!"
The door whipped open, and Hiyori stared at him with a clenched jaw and fierce eyes. "Whaddya want, dumbass?" She crossed her arms over her chest, and Shinji realized she was shivering. She'd likely be the last one to admit that she was cold.
"C'mon." Shinji scooped her up, holding her so a tantrum was out of the question. Hiyori growled, but didn't fight him, likely only because she didn't have the advantage. Shinji managed to successfully tuck them both into the bed, hugging Hiyori close.
"Yer not winnin' any points by this." Hiyori muttered, but she was pressed close to him, relaxing bit by bit, as if the warmth seeping into her was loosening her muscles. "Yer just pissin' me off."
Don't I always? Shinji thought, but kept that to himself. "If ya don't freeze to death, I'm alright with that." He said instead, offering Hiyori a big grin. Hiyori was clearly trying to keep a poker face, but the blush creeping across her cheeks said otherwise.
"Somebody better fix that damn heater before tomorrow night." Hiyori groused, but she was almost completely limp, relaxed with Shinji close to her.
"And if they don't?" Shinji couldn't resist. "What if the heater isn't fixed for weeks?" He didn't get a response to that, and then realization hit him: Hiyori was fast asleep with her head tucked into the crook of his neck. Shinji smirked to himself, but held her close, settling for watching her a while before he got to sleep.
"Mashiro, stop squirming!" Kensei snapped. Good Lord, he'd been with her romantically for a few months now, and whenever they slept in the same bed, it was like this. Mashiro just could not lie still until she fell asleep, and then she was a rock.
"It's cold in here!" Mashiro whimpered, flopping like a fish out of water. "Make it not be so cold!"
"Mashiro." Kensei ground out. "Come here." When Mashiro looked at him briefly, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her tightly to him, wrapping the blankets securely around both of them.
"You're really warm." Mashiro blinked up at her boyfriend, her eyes taking on a doe-like quality as she ran her hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck. "It's nice." She cast a dazzling smile at him in the snow-enhanced moonlight that was slipping through the window.
"If you had stopped tossing around, you would've realized you would be warmer here." Kensei huffed, but held her closer all the same. He'd never give her up, despite her faults. In his mind, they were his faults too. She was just as much a part of him as his right hand was. "Now, why don't you get some rest?" Kensei gave her a gentle squeeze.
"But..." Mashiro pouted, and for once, she wasn't voicing what it was she wanted. Kensei was perplexed. He was used to knowing in an instant, because she would say what she wanted. This side of Mashiro was a whole other thing to him.
"What?" Kensei's face softened as he studied her face. She really was gorgeous.
"You always give me a goodnight kiss." Mashiro pouted even more. "Why don't I get one tonight?"
Of course. How could he have forgotten the sole thing that could get Mashiro to sleep? "If that lip rolls out any further someone's going to step on it." Kensei murmured, almost playfully. He ducked down and kissed her once, a lingering but fairly chaste kiss. "Now sleep."
Mashiro snuggled close to him, closing her eyes obediently. It took her a good fifteen minutes to fall asleep, but once Kensei was assured that she was sound asleep, Kensei let himself follow her into dreamland.
Lisa's eyes fluttered open. Another bad dream, third one this week too. At least this time she was in her fiancé's room rather than alone in hers.
In the generality, Lisa and Rose needed their space, so most nights were spent in their separate rooms. It made nights like this all the more special, and it made Lisa, for one, value them so much more. Trying not to move and wake Rose, she closed her eyes.
"Bad dream?" Rose asked quietly. How did he manage to wake up from being dead to the world, and know exactly what was wrong, when she hadn't so much as twitched a finger?
"I'm fine." Lisa took the opportunity to snuggle closer to him. She wasn't usually all that much of a cuddly person, she liked to have her space most times, but the recent dream had left her needing a dash of closeness. Rose studied her for a long moment, debating.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, on the off chance that maybe she did want to. Lisa shook her head and kissed his cheek. Her hand slipped down his arm, and the smooth feeling of warm metal from her ring danced down with it.
"Rest." Lisa tucked her face against the hollow of his throat, closing her eyes. Maybe she should sleep in here with him more often. She felt safe and sleepy, despite having had a nightmare.
"Hm." Rose mumbled, but then he began to hum a lullaby. The vibrations from his throat tickled Lisa's face, but they were familiar all the same. Yes, she'd definitely be sleeping in here more often.
"Are you alright, Love?" Hachi asked as he and Love settled on the floor of the living room, the room with the most outlets for heating blankets, because as close as they were, they didn't want to cuddle. "You seem... down."
Love laughed. "Just thinking how after tonight everyone's going to pair off and we'll be the odd men out. With the emphasis on odd."
Hachi grimaced, but fluffed his pillows before pulling a couple of the blankets over him and closing his eyes.
Love glanced down the hall of everyone's rooms and couldn't help but wonder what was going on in there.
"Take your time with that." Lisa stood behind Kisuke Urahara, who was hard at work trying to fix the heater. "We can handle a few more nights of it being cold if you really can't fix it." Discreetly, she slipped him a handful of cash.
Kisuke took a handful of parts out of the heater and left. Lisa knew best.
A/N: Oh, this took forever. And I'm so tired. But what did you think?