Pao
Rhys finished up his pancake, as well as the one they'd been sharing, before dropping that plate off by the sink, and then grabbing a towel to dry the dishes and make the whole chore go by a little bit faster. "You busy after this?"

Aria
"No plans, really? Had breakfast duty in here today." After the dishes were done, she was putting the leftover ingredients away, and she gave him a smile over her shoulder. "Did my run for the day, did my duties... I'm free as the proverbial bird."

Pao
Only his eyes followed her this time when she walked off, and he blinked at the way she smiled at him over her shoulder like that. He took a mental snapshot of it before saying, "If you're free then wanna chill in my room for a while? Still got that s**t-ton of movies we can go through."

Aria
Her smile widened, and she nodded at him. She finished putting stuff away as she spoke. "That sounds lovely... You pick, this time, though... Though I'm in no mood for scary." She went over and snagged her coat, then leaned on the wall to wait by the door, watching him with soft eyes.

Pao
He wrinkled his nose at the restriction.

"Why not scary? You can use me as your pillow if you need to hide your face or something." The brunette grinned as he brushed past her to open the door, letting her through first before following. "We could watch Alien, it's not even really a scary movie. Just suspense."

Aria
She sighed a little, and shrugged. "All right, fine... Whatever you want, clown rule still applies." She blinked at the mention of Alien. "Isn't that the one with the... things that explode out of peoples' chests? Never saw it, of course, but I heard about it at school." She walked out the door, and waited for him, not wanting to get ahead of him.

Pao
He followed her out and made sure the door was properly closed, then moved to stand beside her before they started walking to the dorms. He kept her close purposefully this time, not just for the warmth but because he really wanted her close. In his arms. It felt...right, almost. Like he should have been doing this from the beginning.

"No clowns, got it. And yeah, that's the one. It's a whole franchise we could marathon, if you want."

Aria
She sighed, softly and happily, once again resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were semi vague, paying just enough attention to their surroundings to make sure she didn't bang into something, or trip on a stray rock. "Yeah. All right, I'll give it a try at least?" She stuck one hand in her pocket, and pondered a little. She wanted to slip her arm around his waist but... she was worried at how he would respond, given things.

Pao
"Cool. Anyway, after that we can counter the freakishness of it all with another Disney movie."

Rhys kept his eyes ahead, the dorms looming in the distance not such a bad thing. He didn't know what might have been going through her head at the time; all that he heard was the soft and happy sigh and her willingness to give it a shot, which was fine with him.

Aria
"Sounds like a plan." She said softly, watching the dorms approach. It didn't bother her like the last few times they'd come back together... She wasn't wondering if he'd go off and have second thoughts. Things felt more stable at the moment, in her head. A weird feeling, honestly. She'd never felt like the world was at all stable, and just for the moment... It did.

Pao
The rest of the walk was mostly silent, his focus just on her and eventually the door to the building. Once inside they shuffled through the routine of borrowing a bunch of blankets and pillows from the lounge (he was seriously considering just buying his own so they could skip this part) before heading on down to his room.

"Oh, where'd you find the popcorn from last time?" he asked before they started down the stairs.

Aria
She blinked up at him, at his question, then gestured down the hall to where the vending machines were. "Saw like two in there, grabbed one. Dunno if the last one was taken or if they've restocked since then." She gave a shrug. "If you wanna look, we can. We do have the leftovers to nosh on, too, though." She gave half a shrug, letting him decide how he wanted to handle this.

Pao
"Oh, that's right," he said, squinting at the suggestion before heading down the stairs. "Never mind, pancakes are good."

It was a quick enough trip to his room and once inside he dropped the blankets and pillows by the door first and blinked at the half-wall of boxes that he'd just put back a couple of days ago. Glancing over at her, he then jabbed a thumb at the bed. "If you're cool with squeezing onto the bed we'd get set up a lot faster."

Aria
She laughed and followed him down, and in. She considered his comment, and then nodded. "That's fine with me?" It wasn't like they hadn't sat on each other's beds before. It didn't occur to her it might be different, now, or when watching a movie where she might want to cling to him. It didn't even register in her mental flight pattern. "Let's do it." She moved to bring the extra pillows to the bed.

Pao
It didn't occur to him either, that the context of a room behind locked doors and them sharing a bed had significantly changed given whatever was going on between them now. So when he made the suggestion it really was for simplicity's sake...

He closed and locked the door first out of habit before moving to his desk. After shrugging his coat off and slipping out of his sneakers he grabbed his laptop, soon joining her on the bed. And since it was his bed it was easier for him to get comfortable on it, quickly getting the laptop ready to go and setting it down at the head of the bed.

Aria
It took her a moment to slip out of her boots, then she joined him on the bed, sliding to settle next to him. She pulled a couple blankets up and tossed it over them, and popping the packet of pancakes down between them. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling comfortable, while waiting.

Pao
It was just as easy to get comfortable next to her, and as soon as she was settled he glanced over real quick to double check before hitting "play."

The opening credits rolled right on along, though he was already kind of distracted because whenever he moved he felt his leg brush against hers at random points. Each time it happened he would freeze and drop his gaze from the screen to his bed. It slipped his mind that the smaller space would mean extra, unintentional contact.

Aria
She was watching the movie, calmly, lost in the classic. The movie was strange, but fascinating. Unsurprisingly, she'd never seen anything quite like it, and she was pretty absorbed in it... Enough so that when the jump scare happened, she DID jump aganst him. She hadn't even noticed the brushes of his leg against her, beyond a back of her mind acceptance of feeling comfortable next to her... friend?... and liking how close he was.

Pao
Thankfully her scream snapped him a bit out of it and his eyes were on the screen, then very soon on her. He blinked, a little amused as it reminded him of that first bout of scary movies, only this time he could lean over and give her a comforting kiss to her temple. "You okay?" he asked, adjusting a bit to give her a bit of room to snuggle into him if she wanted or needed to.

Aria
She smiled a bit, and snuggled in, wanting but not needing to, liking that he had done so. "Yeah... Just that... startled me." She gave him a soft smile, before refocusing on the movie, her head coming back to rest on his shoulder. Safe. She was safe here, even with scary things on the screen.

Pao
When she said she was alright he nodded and turned his eyes to the screen, more mindful of moving now but not really frozen in place. Just...careful. The movie chugged along, everything as he remembered it the last time he saw it, which was just a few nights ago. His focus started slipping almost near the end, and he would ocasionally steal a glance at her to check and make sure she was still doing okay.

Aria
She watched, eyes wide as the tension ramped up. The chest bursters had earned a disgusted 'ewwwww' out of her the first time, but other then that... The movie wasn't like the horror films. Sure, the suspense and jump scares got to her some, but she didn't freak out the way she had with any of the others. As they approached the climax, she seemed fine, if full of anticipation as to how all of this would end.

Pao
The "ew" got a chuckle out of him, though he tried to keep it to himself as best he could. By the ending credits he sighed and rolled onto his side, eyes closed as he relaxed a little bit. Now that he wasn't interrupting a movie he felt a little more free to move.

"You good to watch the next one, or pause for Disney? Or pancakes?" He hadn't forgotten about them, just...distracted.

Aria
She sighed a little when he moved away, her head straightening as she watched the credits roll. "Huh. Sigourney Weaver was hot in her day." She said calmly enough, then turned her head to look at him. "Hmmm I can watch the next one, though I'd happily have some pajeon too. But I do wanna go grab some water, I shoulda thought of that before we settled in." She shook her head at herself, and slowly worked her way up.

Pao
"She was," he said as he stretched out, only half hearing her answer. When he opened his eyes again she was already off the bed and he had to fight off the urge to pull her back. Instead he just watched her go, and when she was gone he worked on setting up the next movie.

In the middle of that he paused and clicked around a bit, navigating to that stolen shot of her sleeping, and briefly admiring it for a moment. He just...wanted to see her already. The realization made him flinch, and he closed the window and hurriedly went back to prepping the movie.

Aria
She wasn't gone too long, and slipped in his door, with enough water that they both could have some, and cups. "There we go, should last a good while." She locked the door behind her, and returned to his side on the bed, glad to be back.

She noted that she had felt lonely quite quickly. That was important, and she tucked it away to handle later, because it required some deeper thought then she could give it right now. She settled in, and gave him the smile she reserved for him. "I'm ready when you are."

Pao
He gave her some time to settle in, appreciating the warmth that she brought with her and scooting just a little bit closer as a result. "Ready," he murmured when he got comfortable, then reached over and hit play.

Aria
She nodded at his question, and cuddled in closer. She spent the rest of this movie tucked against him, head on his shoulder, and just lost in the comfort of watching something she knew wasn't real but still got her heart racing, while cuddled into her... whatever the right term for this was. She wasn't questioning things unless he brought it up.

Pao
Rhys had half his attention on the movie, the other half on Seren. Not to check on her or anything though, she seemed to be doing fine, but just to look at her. He wasn't digging too deep as far as defining whatever this was; all he knew was that she was there and that was really all that mattered. He sighed, fairly content with the current situation, and turned his eyes to the screen again to not be so obvious.

Aria
When the film ended, she sighed softly and flopped down to just lay besides him, comfortable and happy, pretty relaxed. She turned over onto her back, and smiled up at him. "So how many of these movies are in this series, anyways?" She asked, as she lay there, her hair spilled across the pillow under her.

Pao
He turned to his side and watched her for a moment before extending his arms as best he could (given their position), inviting her in for a proper cuddle. "I never counted, but everything out is in that folder."

Aria
She mmm'd happily and moved into his arms, wrapping her own around him gently, eyes half closing in happiness at just being here. "Mmm was vaguely wondering if we could get through all of them tonight before I got so tired I'd pass out or something. But this is nice too..."

Pao
He pulled her in close, settling his cheek against her hair as he wrapped his arms around her. "This is nice..." he said on a sigh.

There was a nice bit of silence that passed as they lay there, and he was happy to let the time pass just like that. It'd been a long time since he was perfectly content with something so simple.

Aria
Seren sighed, soft, happy and safe. Her eyes half closed, unwilling to move and break this. If earlier had felt peaceful, this... This was heaven. This was a moment where the rest of the world felt like it was on pause and she didn't have to worry about it.

Which was, of course, why her phone buzzed after awhile, annoying her. "I don't have duty... What the ********...?" She muttered, a frown on her face.

Pao
He let out a low chuckle as he buried his face in her hair when he heard the phone buzz. "It might be Joy?" he said a little stupidly optimistic. It'd be easier to buy time if it wasn't a message about duty. "Or you could also ignore it? Or be late?"

All terribly irresponsible suggestions, but he didn't want her to go just yet.

Aria
She frowned at her pocket, as she sighed, feeling really aggrieved. This was so rare, this quiet time like this. She tried to ignore it, but she pulled it out. And found a ******** message from some one she didn't know. "No of course it's none of the above. It's an idiot who somehow sends texts without making sure it's the right number." She sent a 'wrong number, dork' back and grumbled at it for it distracting them, then cuddled in more. "At least it wasn't important."

Pao
He laughed at that, though the relief at learning it was a mistake was very real. Rhys gave her a little squeeze before glancing up at the screen. "Guess we've still got 'til maybe tomorrow to get through all the movies and pajeon," he said before going back to just cuddling with her. "Or we can keep doing this. I like 'em both so whichever you want, babe."

Aria
She eyed her phone, once more, and then set it to mute, and shoved it back in her pocket. His comment about having the time made her laugh, but when he called her babe, her breath caught, just a little. She hadn't expected it, but she liked it. So she just leaned up a little, and gave him a kiss, then said "A little of both? We can watch movies like this, yeah?"

Pao
He gave a grateful little "mm" when she kissed him, blinking down at her for a second before nodding at her request. "Might be easier of we adjust a little though?"

At that he temporarily wriggled away and grabbed the laptop. Playfully he pulled the pillows from under her head and fluffed them up before flopping against them to finish the new set-up. "There!" he said finally, then patted the pillow beside him. "Now c'mere and we can start the movie."

Aria
She smiled and and half sat up, to be out of the way as he adjusted things to his liking. When he had things the way he wanted, she happily shifted onto the pillow next to him, grinning. "Mmm this is perfect." Rather then rest her head on the pillow, though, she rested it back on his shoulder, cuddled in close to him. "Yeah... Perfect."

Pao
He rested the laptop on the blankets that covered them and waited until she was settled and cuddled in as much as she wanted before pressing play. As the opening credits played he casually gave her a light peck on the cheek before echoing, "Perfect."

Throughout the movie he was completely relaxed, like everything was exactly where it was supposed to be, and all was right with the world. Granted, Zephira was going on and on about how the world beyond the room was so far beyond perfect, but he was able to ignore her well enough. Practice made very close to perfect, clearly.

Aria
She sighed softly, watching the movie with interest. She didn't react so much to the jump scares anymore, though whether that was because she'd gotten adjusted to them or because she felt safe and secure against him was hard to say. All she knew was it wasn't so freaky this time.

When the movie ended, she gave a comfortable sigh, and smiled up at him. "Mmm. You're comfy, just so you know."

Pao
He smirked and glanced down at her for a second before leaning down for a kiss. "Mm, I can't really check that myself so I'll take your word for it." There was another kiss, and then another, and then more lingering ones until he completely forgot about the movies for a second.

Aria
She mmm'd into the kisses, her blue eyes closing in comfort, just lying against her... against Rhys, lost in the pleasure of the moment. Tonight was theirs, and she wasn't going to let anything, not even Di whispering that she really needed to work out what this was with him into her head, distract her from enjoying this.

Pao
He was lost in it for a while, even leaning toward her to the point that she was very nearly on her back, but he did eventually have to pull away. His lips still hovered just over hers as he caught his breath, and for a split second he heard, really heard, everything Zephira had been screeching since he kissed her just moments earlier.

Rhys blinked for a second, pondered the thought, before smiling it away. He could deal with it if maybe she decided to ask, but right now? Right here? He'd rather not. The brunette pulled back just a little bit further, eyes meeting hers. "More?" and then he paused and smirked. "Movies, I mean."

Aria
She was left a little breathless from the kissing, and felt a mild disappointment, and also a relief when he pulled back. She took a few moments to just lay still, catching her breath, before moving back to the position she had been in for the last movie. "Yeah... more sounds good." She took another breath, and then added "More movies I mean." in agreement, clearly a little unfocused but most definitely happy

Pao
He couldn't help the smirk on his face as they went back to how they were earlier, though he was momentarily distracted by having to set the movie up again. It was a very interesting feeling, knowing he could make her breathless and maybe just a little unfocused like that. Satisfying, even, but he kept the thoughts to himself and tucked them quietly away before hitting play again.

"You still doin' okay? Seems like you're getting used to the movies."

Aria
She slowly managed to refocus, brain coming fully back online. She watched the screen, head tilted curiously so as to see better for the moment. She was perfectly relaxed for this one. "Mmm yeah, I think so. They're not as freaky as they were at first." She said softly, her eyes focusing on his for a moment, with a smile, before going back to the movie.

Pao
He only nodded, happy to find that she's gotten more comfortable with this movie. It gave him hope about a lot of the other content on his hard drive. Not the questionable stuff, because no he probably wouldn't voluntarily show her those, but there was a lot of other movies on that thing. And a lot of them were of the violent variety.

This time around he actually watched the movie, assured of her presence simply because he was holding her in his arms very, very comfortably. At some point he searched and found where the pajeon had gone and started working through one, offering her a piece now and again in case she was up for the snack. By the time it was over the stack was gone.

Aria
She looked somewhat eager, actually, as the movie progressed, clearly beginning to get into the stuff. She had no idea what his plans were, or that he was considering what else to watch with her. At this point, she didn't care about his porn collection... If it made him happy, whatever. She was more interested in that issue then if he was... having self relaxation.

When he offered her bites, she mostly accepted, but was just as happy to allow him to eat the majority of his efforts from earlier. She was fine, in fact, with what she had, and glad she didn't need to go down to dinner. She felt full enough. When the movie ended, she sighed, pleased. "All right, these are pretty awesome."

Pao
"Right?"

He grinned and quickly put on the next movie. It played through and held his focus, as did the next one, but by the end of that one he sat up and did a little stretch before glancing back at her. "Bathroom break?"

Aria
She moved, since he was sitting up, and stretched, realizing how how long they'd just been laying there, watching movies. "I think that's... a really good idea." She said, blinking in surprise at how much time had passed. She sat up fully, and stretched again, arching her back to get the muscles to fully loosen up. "Definitely a good idea. Smart lad."

Pao
Rhys safely set the laptop aside before scooting off of the bed and stretching a bit on his own. It didn't really register how much time had passed until he checked his phone, and when he found out he gave a whistle.

"s**t, that's what time it is now? The ******** that he had anywhere to really go, but still. After a little bit more stretching he headed for the door, unlocking it and holding it open while he waited for her to catch up. "You still good to keep going or didya wanna head back to your dorm and get some rest or something? I think it's dark out already..."

Aria
She stood up once he had, and was stretching slowly, then pulled out her own phone in surprise at his question. Her brows shot up at the time, then she shrugged. "I can keep going, I should be fine." She looked up at him, and added "As long as you don't need to get to bed for duty, that is?"

She had promised not to distract him where it mattered, and this was part of it in her mind. If he stayed up for movies, and then had a horribly exhausting day because of it, she'd feel awful. "If so, I can head off. I don't want to keep you up when you need sleep."

Pao
"I'll be fine," he said with a shrug. Once they were in the hallway he locked up and nodded toward the stairs. "Not the basement ones." It was said in a very deadpan manner, as though he was so used to horrible things happening in there that he didn't even wanna risk even standing in there and doing his business.

"The urinal overflowed gray goop once. ********' nasty, I couldn't get outta there fast enough."

Aria
She nodded and followed him out. "All right then, sounds good." When he commented on the bathrooms downstairs, she made a face, once again remembering the dire things she'd heard about it, and shook her head. "Yeah. I think I'd figure out a way to get up those stairs if I had a broken leg and no crutches, if necessary, to avoid that." She shuddered hard at his description. "Utterly vile. Ewewew."

Pao
He snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. I wouldn't wanna be the plumber they hire if they ever decide to fix that s**t, the poor b*****d."

Rhys gave her a bit of space to stretch and move considering they'd just been cuddling for more than a few hours, and he walked along with his hands in his pockets and eyes bleary from staring at a screen for so long. He wasn't tired or anything though, just maybe looked like he was still catching up on sleep of some kind.

Aria
She just shook her head, appalled. "They should but yea. I mean. Who knows what the ******** is in there? It might not just take a plumber, it might take a plumber plus a team in case there's something in there."

She stretched her muscles as she moved, not really paying attention to much else, though she'd have been just as happy to have him next to her. She sighed a little as they got to the bathrooms, and slid into the women's.

She was out in a few minutes, leaning on the wall by the door and ready to go.

Pao
He was done pretty quick but he did wash his face to wake himself up a little bit, and after wiping his face off he walked outside and over ot her first, then back downstairs.

"Least the bathrooms up here are good enough. I can wash my face and not worry that the water'll turn into sewage or blood or somethin'. A flight of stairs is worth the cleaner water."

The gap between them this time wasn't as big as earlier, but it was still there. It wasn't awkward or anything, just more noticeable than it was before...this...happened. And he didn't mind that this happened--he really was happy about all of it--just that he was noticing a side of himself he didn't realize actually existed at all until she came along. And it was weird.

Aria
"Yeah that's... true. There's at least one full set of usable ones." She watched him out of the corner of her eye, not pushing into his space. If he preferred to stay back right now, she was going to cope. She knew this.

Sometimes she wondered if this was a sign of how ******** up she was, that she'd just calmly take what he gave. Then she reminded herself that she wasn't an idiot, she just wasn't going to push. He had his issues, she had hers.

When they got back to his door, she waited, patiently, her head tilted. The only side of herself that had surprised her with him was feeling at all prone to letting him take control beyond the 'letting him choose the distance', so to speak. She'd never been ok with Mical doing that. It was odd to find herself feeling that way.

Pao
Rhys unlocked and let her in first, then followed and sort of wrapped himself around her, like he'd been holding himself back the entire time. Which he kind of had been in a way, mostly because he did want her to not think he was too clingy, but as soon as the door was closed he didn't want to put in that conscious effort anymore.

"Not tired of me yet?" he asked as he hugged her while walking them back over to the bed.

Aria
She had been about to head back to the bed, but stopped at the way he wrapped himself around her. She found a smile sneaking along her lips, and she tilted her head to look at him, perfectly happy to have him there. She made a soft, happy sigh, too.

His question had her quirking an eyebrow at him. "Hardly. I enjoy you, and your company, quite a lot." She was walking with him, mildly amused at the way he'd chosen to handle this, but not at all minding. His arms around her felt safe, and comforting.

Pao
Pretty soon he flopped onto the bed, turning them and landing in such a way that she wound up on his lap. "Good," he said as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek before letting her go. Whether she stayed in his lap or respositioned herself or moved off of him and onto the bed was up to her, but he did turn and pull the laptop toward them and start setting up the next video.

"Don't know if you could get rid of me so easily..." he mused while clicking around.

Aria
She blushed, surprised when he pulled them down so that she was in his lap. She hadn't expected that. Then again, he'd done a number of things over the course of this evening she hadn't expected. She'd liked them all, though. She chose not to remove herself from his lap, and instead just leaned gently back against him, watching as he got things set up.

"Wouldn't want to." She murmured back, eyes half closed as she waited.

Pao
That got a bit of a smile out of him, and while he was perfectly comfortable where they were at now he gave her arm a little pat. "We should probably get under the blankets if we wanna watch this. Unless you don't mind a hot laptop in your lap for a couple of hours?"

Aria
She sighed softly and nodded, not really wanting to move. "Yeah, no that just doesn't sound comfortable, unfortunately. Never did fancy hot legs, they just get the rest of me overheated." She sighed again, then moved to slide under the blankets again, a little wistfully.

Pao
He chuckled and adjusted right along with her, then waited until they both got settled before starting the movie. If the labels weren't so clear he would have already lost count, but looking at it he saw that they were already on the 7th movie in the franchise, which was amazing since that meant they were past the halfway point.

Aria
She sighed happily, settling against him again, happily watching the movie. They made it through that one, and well into the next before she found her eyelids drooping. She tried to fight it, but as the credits began to roll, her eyes fell closed, despite her best efforts, and her head just tilted to the side, face against his shoulder as she fell asleep. Her glasses were pushed up and to a slightly odd angle, but she snuggled against him in her sleep, making a soft 'mmmm' sound for a moment.

Pao
He made it through the end credits at least, yawning and starting to stretch out until he looked at her sleeping face and sort of froze, not wanting to wake her. Rhys gave a soft smile and carefully took her glasses off and reached over her to set it, along with his laptop, on his nightstand. And then he very slowly scooted them down until his head was on the pillow--she was still against his shoulder, which he didn't mind at all--and soon enough he drifted off as well, turned toward her with his arm very loosely draped over her waist.

Aria
She woke slowly, her body quietly saying 'Hey that was nice. Really nice. We haven't slept that well in a LONG time... And we're rested now. So please wake up.' She drifted at first, in that half awake stage that was purely comfortable, not wanting to move, not wanting to worry about reality. She felt safe and relaxed and she wasn't going to worry about why at first.

However, some time passed and she found herself slowly being dragged out of that peaceful state, her eyes flickering open quietly. She frowned, slightly, for a moment, seeing that her pillow was, in fact, not a pillow. She paused, thought about things, then smiled, slowly, realizing what had happened.

But this time, instead of panicking about where she was and the fact that she'd fallen asleep here, she just shifted her head to watch his face. They were close enough that she could make out most of the details, and she spent a quiet minute memorizing his sleeping features. She didn't try to wake him, just watched him quietly.

Pao
It'd been a long time since he'd slept so well. No nightmares, no tossing, no turning, no randomly waking up for no reason. Just pure, uninterrupted sleep, and it was bliss. Even after he went through the stages of waking up he kept his eyes closed, just hoping he'd be able to drift back. That was the downside to having trained your body to wake up at a certain time though, so he wasn't able to in the end. Still, he lay there with his eyes closed and just enjoyed the extra time staying in. He could feel her just beside him, so that made staying awake a little easier.

He could feel her eyes on him, too, and after a long while he smiled and slowly turned to face her. "A picture lasts longer, baby. You could just ask for one."

Aria
She blushed red at his words. First babe, then baby. She didn't expect nicknames like that but she liked it. However, she laughed a little at his words. "True but a picture doesn't capture how comfortable this is, or how good it feels to just lay here after the best night's sleep I've had in years." She offered in reply, her blue eyes fixed on his now. "And I wasn't sure if you were awake." She reached up to caress his cheek a little. "You seemed so comfortable that I didn't want to wake you."

She didn't want to move. She didn't want to go anywhere. She was far too comfortable. She also knew it was almost time to get her a** in gear for a morning workout. But she lay there against him, avoiding moving until she absolutely had to do so. "I hope you slept well too?" She murmured.

Pao
He watched her through half-closed eyes, that sleepy eye widening just a bit when he felt her hand on his cheek. He leaned toward her touch, a happy sigh escaping him as his eyes closed again. "I did, yeah. Best night in a while, too." He paused and considered a thought for a moment before opening his eyes and meeting her gaze again. "I could honestly get used to it."

Aria
She ran her thumb along his cheekbone, a soft touch as she enjoyed the feeling of his skin quietly. She smiled to know he'd slept well... And then he... didn't quite ask a question, but she heard a hint of it implied in his words. Her eyes widened in turn, and she turned the thought, and the questions that accompanied it, over in her mind slowly, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. Finally, quietly, she simply said "So could I."

Pao
His smile softened a bit at her answer, understanding what the little pause was about. And he held her gaze, wondering what it was she saw in him, and how he got lucky that night they met on pod duty. It made him hate those shifts just a little bit less, actually. He may not have realized the look in his eyes as those thoughts passed. It was a look of caring and affection, the kind of look he never thought he'd be capable of giving to anyone yet there it was.

"No take-backs," he then said, smile turning just a tad playful.

Aria
She smiled warmly, happily at him, shifting a little so that she was gently resting her chin on his chest, not looking away from him. She didn't know why he would want this with her. She didn't know what he saw in her. At the moment, she didn't care. What she cared about was the way he was looking at her, and the way it made her feel. Her own expression was similar, with quiet joy added in.

"Not gonna happen. Same for you." She softly teased, and sighed happily.

Pao
He turned his face and half buried it in the pillow, laughing lightly at the teasing. "No chance in hell."

He looked down at her before closing his eyes, not quite wanting the moment to end but knowing that there was a run and workout waiting for him out there. The brunette groaned a little at the idea of moving, not unlike a kid not wanting to get out of bed for school, and he hugged her just a little tighter. "One more minute then we gotta get ready for our run..."

Aria
She wasn't entirely sure what they'd just agreed to fully, and she didn't care. She just smiled, happy at his words. Maybe she didn't need to worry about it.

His comment about the time earned a soft sigh, of regret but also acceptance. "Yeah... I guess." She said wistfully, her hand slowly dropping from where it had been on his cheek to the pillow besides his face. She wasn't going to miss her run... even when she had to do it alone, she did love her run... But she was just so... comfortable and happy.

Pao
He nodded and then lay there with her for a little bit longer, slowly building his resolve to keep to his usual routine. After that minute he slowly sat up with a groan, immediately missing the warmth from being beside her and underneath a blanket. It took a little bit longer to scoot off of the bed, but once he was on his feet his priorities properly fell into place.

Rhys went into autopilot and got changed for his run, not at all minding if she saw. She'd seen him do this before, after all, so it wasn't exactly new.

Aria
She smiled a little, enjoying the view, but slowly hauled her a** out of bed. She stretched her body, thoughtfully, trying to decide how to handle this, though. She had seen him change... but he'd never seen her do it, and she wondered if he might find it a little too distracting right now... She considered, then gave a nod. That would be for another day to consider.

"I'm gonna go change, meet you at the doors?"

Pao
"Yeah," he said as he pulled his shorts on. "I'm almost done, lemme walk you up." His shirt came on next, and then he slipped into his socks and shoes before pocketing his keys and leading her out of the room and locking the door behind him.

Aria
She blinked a little, and then nodded, following him out, and then heading for the stairs. It didn't even occur to her to think about the fact that she had just spent the night in his room, and anybody watching might notice she was leaving with him in the morning.

Frankly if anyone had seen, and said anything, she'd have just been like '...so?' but it wasn't even in her head.

She walked up, digging her keys out of her pocket, and gave him a smile.

Pao
It was the farthest thing from his mind, whether people saw them leave his room together or not. It didn't matter to him, and frankly it wasn't their business who left his room at whatever time of day. Once upstairs he nodded toward the exit before looking back at her.

"I'll just wait here. Don't rush, alright?"

Aria
"Yeah, all right. Shouldn't be long, though." The longest part would be her hair. It always was. She headed to her room, hand reaching up to undo her hair from the loose tail she'd had it in all night as she moved. By the time she was at her door, it was free, so that the last thing that would be visible to him before she went in was her hair.