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Goro's eyes slowly opened to the warm comfort surrounding him. How much he had missed this. Last week had been exhausting; he ran checks on the frontier infrastructure, only getting sleep crammed into less than comfortable truck seats. The minute he'd come back and finished washing the grime off of himself, he'd declared the day over and dragged his lovers into their bed to snuggle. He didn't remember, which arrangement of bodies he fell asleep in; but waking up, he was entangled in an embrace with Hiro, Ichigo clinging to his back and Zero Two having wrapped herself around all three of their heads.
Goro didn't see the clock from where he was, but judging by the amount of light seeping through the shutters, it must have been around noon. He'd been out for long, but such was the magic of the relationship he was in: No matter how tired one was, the other three would without fail make them wake up feeling fully restored the next day.Goro shifted ever so faintly, the steady rise and fall of Hiro's chest in his arms, feeling the gentle thump of his boyfriend's heart against his own from the front, Ichigo's against his back and Zero Two's from where she'd rested her midriff against his head; with a small tear of joy forming in his eyes, Goro realized that over the night, all four of their heartbeats had slowed to the same pace, beating in near-perfect unison.He tilted his head forward a little to touch his forehead against the cool, smooth surface of the horns protruding from Hiro's. He loved the sensation very dearly whenever he cuddled with him or Zero Two, their low temperature making it possible to wrap even tighter around them, absorb even more of the warmth that the rest of their bodies gave off.More time passed where Goro simply listened to breaths and heartbeats, basking in the warmth of his girlfriends and boyfriend. The fact that he'd woken up first must mean that they were awake for quite some time after he'd fallen asleep, snuggling and quietly chatting, watching him simply be at peace among them. There was a time when the prospect of this would have been unbearably embarrassing to Goro; now, all it did was bring another smile to his face, even if it did still faintly tint his cheeks.He closed his eyes again, not to sleep but to simply lose himself in the feeling surrounding him. In due time, they would wake up; until then, he would enjoy resting against them for all it could offer.
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Zero Two wrapped her arms around Ichigo and placed a delicate kiss on her lips, lowering herself backwards onto her bed as she went, girlfriend on top of her.
They rubbed noses together while Hiro and Goro snaked their arms around, pulling themselves close and completing the embrace. This was Zero Two's favorite position to be in, tightly wrapped in her lovers from all sides, nothing else left to do in the day than watching each other fall asleep.
She wiggled herself a little deeper into the pillow, pushing material out to either side so Goro and Hiro could rest their heads higher up, closer to hers and Ichigo's.
The smile erupting on her face when she felt all four of their faces touch was met by a teasing peck from Ichigo, to which Zero Two responded by pulling her even closer so she couldn't back away from it after.
Ichigo happily resigned herself to that fate, and Zero Two closed her eyes, basking in the gentle weight pressing down on her. She wiggled her legs around until she knew that she had one locked with Goro, the other with Hiro, and relaxed her body to give herself over to sleep.This was Zero Two's ultimate indulgence. Three people she loved unconditionally, who loved her and each other unconditionally.
After years of singlemindedly chasing a dream of happiness, she had found so much more than she could have ever imagined. As much as she loved watching the other three drift off, she made no attempt to resist the sleep coming over her as the warmth of their embrace spread through her whole body.Zero Two's breath having slowed to a steady pattern and her embrace slacking ever so slightly, Ichigo curled up into a position a little more comfortable for her spine, nestling into Goro's arms that were reaching around both of them.
She also made no effort to stay awake; usually, she liked to end the day by giving all three of her lovers a kiss, but today, she didn't want to risk waking Zero Two by shifting her weight to reach them all.
In the back of her mind, the last thing she noticed was the low rumble that Goro made whenever he fell asleep.Hiro was the last one awake, watching on with a gentle smile. He touched his horns against the cheeks of Zero Two and Ichigo before closing his eyes and letting his head sink back into the pillow.Through blood, sweat and tears, this was the little corner of paradise that they had carved for themselves.