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“Move your cold feet, Umi.”
“My feet are not cold.”
“Ah, Umi-san, they are noticeably cooler than–”
“Fuu, tell your boyfriend to keep his feet to himself. Oww!”
“Ferio, don't pinch.”
“Tch, you say that now.”
“Yeah, Fuu.”
Fuu's face flushed and she was grateful that it was dark enough that Umi and Ferio didn't see. They'd long since doused the lights, intending to sleep. It was the first time the three of them stayed together after. The first time, Umi had been the one to go, leaving Fuu and Ferio to stay together til morning, and the second time, Umi and Fuu had both left to go back to their room and curl up on either side of Hikaru as if nothing had happened.
But Hikaru was in currently Autozam for a few days. Umi and Fuu always hated when there was someone missing from the bed the three Knights shared, and since their own relationship had... changed in the past couple weeks, both felt self-conscious being the only two to share that bed.
Ferio didn't complain until Umi tried to wriggle into the middle between himself and Fuu. That's when the mood shifted and the bickering began. Fuu had very much liked the afterglow feeling and was now becoming cranky.
“Perhaps I should be in the middle,” Fuu suggested, pushing her curls back from her face. “Umi-san, your elbow is poking me.”
“Umi, stop poking Fuu's boobs with your elbow and let her over. Here.” He could barely see; there was moonlight coming in from the large glass doors that led out to the balcony, but it didn't really reach his bed. He managed to climb over both of them and deposit himself on Fuu's other side. “Now, scoot before you both push me off the side.”
The three of them shimmied across Ferio's wide bed until no one was nearly falling off the edge. “Now I'm in the wet spot,” Umi grumbled.
“Okay, okay,” Ferio said. “Fair enough.” And they scooted back a little more to where Ferio didn't have as much room as he'd've liked, but at least everyone was comfortable enough.
Fuu rolled onto her side and Ferio curled up against her back. “Umi-san, would you like to be the little spoon?”
“I usually like being the big spoon.”
“Umi-san, I am very tired.”
“I'm not surprised. You got two.”
“I do what I can,” Ferio chimed in.
Umi relented. Being the little spoon wasn't usually her preference, but then neither was hooking up with her best friend and said best friend's boyfriend. Being the little spoon was a pretty small adjustment.
Everyone settled, Ferio drifting off first. Typical. Fuu curled her arms around Umi's middle and Umi snuggled back closer against Fuu, feeling her soft breath skim over her shoulder. It was soothing. Umi usually slept next to Hikaru, with Fuu on Hikaru's other side, so cuddling with Fuu for once was nice. Fuu was generally a more considerate bedmate as well; all too often Umi would wake up with any number of Hikaru's limbs draped across her own body.
Umi felt Fuu's arms get heavier around her as she fell asleep, and Umi shifted a little to get more comfortable. Fuu didn't stir and Umi knew that Fuu was out for the night, then. The girl slept hard . Tired as she was, Umi wasn't falling right asleep. There was still too much adrenaline, too much excitement, at the thought of, Oh, my god, I can't believe I'm actually doing this! How long would this go on, should they tell Hikaru at some point, oh god what would Hikaru even say to this.
Her hair was in her face and tickling her nose, so she propped herself up on her elbow, gathering all her long hair and slipping it up behind her neck. As she did, Fuu stirred just a bit, just enough for her arm underneath Umi to move. Her hand slid up to rest on Umi's ribs, and it tickled a little. Umi wiggled, trying to move where Fuu's hand was resting, but Fuu just followed her, small fingers moving over Umi's skin.
Umi bit back a yelp of surprise. That tickled. She tried scooting closer to Fuu, trying to get both of Fuu's hands in front of her again and off her sides, but again Fuu moved along with her, fingers twitching. “Fuu, that tickles,” Umi hissed. She managed to grab Fuu's hand under her ribs and yank it back out in front of her. Fuu grunted in her sleep, but fell still, both arms once again curled around Umi's waist.
Sighing, Umi ran one hand over her face and took a few deep breaths. Her heart was beating fast and now it was going to be even harder to fall asleep. She curled her hands to herself, turning her face into the pillow. It smelled like Ferio. It was a nice smell, she liked it. She could smell Fuu's perfume oil too. Just one drop behind each ear is all Fuu wore; Umi had seen her apply it enough times. You couldn't smell it unless you got up close to her. It was a good Fuu smell, daffodil and pear and honey.
Fuu shifted in her sleep, sighing softly now and pressing her hands against Umi's stomach. Umi bit her lip. She was tired and sated, but the movement still stirred a warm itch in her core.
Then Fuu's hands began to move again, lightly twitching and curling her fingers against Umi's skin. “Fuu!” Umi hissed again, squirming. “Fuu, cut it out!” She grabbed at Fuu's wrists, trying to pry her hands away, but Fuu just made that soft, sleepy grunting sound again and dug her fingers into Umi's skin. Umi yelped, trying not to flail, pressing her feet hard against the sheets. “Stop!”
Through her low wails Umi heard something. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, trying to wriggle away from Fuu, and she realized that Ferio was laughing. “Ferio, make her stop,” Umi pleaded, curling into a ball to attempt to escape Fuu's merciless ministrations.
“It's cute,” Ferio replied.
“Ferio, I swear–”
“All right. What a bad sport you can be, Umi.” Fuu was sprawled across the bed now, her legs still tangled in Ferio's but her arms tied around Umi as Umi tried in vain to roll away. Ferio leaned over Fuu's back and pushed her curls back from her face, pressing his mouth to her neck under her jaw. Umi shrieked and very nearly outright kicked Fuu, but then Fuu's hands curled into little fists and drew up under her chin and she cooed softly in her sleep and turned her face into the pillow, smiling.
“What was that all about?” Umi breathed, sitting up in the bed. “I didn't know she still did that.”
Ferio continued to nurse that tender spot behind Fuu's ear for a moment more before leaning back and letting her hair fall back into place. “Not so loud. If you stir her, she'll start up again.”
“I'm getting on your other side.” Umi slipped off the bed and walked all the way around, carefully sliding in next to Ferio in the small space left on that side. “She doesn't do that to Hikaru.”
Ferio rolled away from Fuu to face Umi, propping himself up on his elbow. “You say you know she does this?”
“She used to.” Umi's breathing was slowly returning to normal. “When we first met her. Only occasionally though. I never mentioned it to her, just made Hikaru sleep in the middle.” She frowned. “Hikaru rarely had trouble with it.”
“Hikaru sleeps pretty hard though, I bet.”
“She does.”
Silence fell between them for a moment. An awkward one. Umi grabbed the sheets, pulling them up to her chest. Ferio made a face. “I've more than seen them, Umi.”
“S-still.” She sat, pulling her knees to her chest. “So I take it she does this to you fairly often?”
Ferio sat up next to her. “I called her on it after the second time it happened. I guess she did it a lot when she was a kid, to her sister. Usually when she wasn't sleeping well from stress or whatever.”
“That would explain why it happened a few times when we first came to Cephiro,” Umi mused.
“Now,” Ferio said, sounding at least a bit exasperated. “She only does it after sex.”
Umi stared at him. She couldn't see him well in the dark, but he was staring back at her. “Every time?”
“No. Just sometimes.”
“Oh, my god,” Umi groaned. She pressed her hand to her forehead and laughed tiredly. Ferio laughed too, then he leaned in and kissed her shoulder lightly. She stopped laughing and went stiff.
He leaned back, raising his brows. “Was that wrong? Only during?”
“I–” Umi licked her lips and fisted her hands in the sheets at her chest. “I don't know. I don't want people to know about this, you know?”
“There's no one else here. I meant right after, like now. I wouldn't do that in front of people, geez.”
Umi blinked hard a few times. “I don't know, I don't – I don't love you, you know that, right?”
“Thank heavens for that.” She shot him a dirty look and he just laughed. “Hey, if the affection stops as soon as the hooking up is over, that's fine. I didn't know.”
“I know it doesn't make sense. I can have sex with you, but little affectionate things make me uncomfortable.”
“Probably you associate them with love.” He shrugged. “You'll do the little touches and stuff with Fuu after, but not me. That makes sense.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “That I don't associate sex with love?”
He leaned back on his hands. “Not with me, anyway.” She wasn't positive but she could've sworn his cheeks flushed. “I don't really think this'll last long. You and me. The three of us like this.”
“Now that we got rid of that tension?” Umi grinned and elbowed him.
“Don't get me wrong, it's great. Really great,” he added. “But I don't think it's gonna be a permanent arrangement. It's not – it's not what I want. And I know it's especially not what you want.”
He was looking at her now, serious. She averted her gaze. “It's just hard being the only one,” she said softly. “Fuu and Hikaru both have... but then I'm–” She swallowed.
“You'll figure it out,” Ferio said, and his tone was gentle. “Hell, this might help. You could keep your emotions out of this. Now maybe it'll be easier to make a choice about who's right for you without getting all caught up in a mess of emotions. Be more objective.”
She laughed weakly. “Maybe.”
Ferio moved back to lie on his hip, elbow in the pillow, propping his head up. “You don't have to stay if you're not comfortable, Umi.”
“I'd get back on the other side but I don't trust Fuu right now.”
He chuckled. “The bed's wide enough that you could stay out of her reach.”
“The cuddles are nice, though.” Her voice was soft. Ferio didn't reply, just waited. Then Umi sighed, rolled over, and scooted back against Ferio. “You can go ahead and hold Fuu.”
Ferio didn't say anything for a moment, then, “Here.” He shifted, then she felt his arm snake under her middle. “C'mon.” She rolled over towards him. He was on his back, Fuu curled up against his chest.
Umi smiled. This was okay, she supposed. She settled down with her head on the pillow next to Ferio, pressing her stomach against his side as he wrapped his arm up behind her to rest his hand on her hip. This was more than okay. This was nice, she decided, nuzzling into the pillow. She let her hand rest, fingers curled, on Ferio's chest, and fell asleep to the sound of both his and Fuu's breathing.