Sleeping Patterns
by Mai Sieu Phong
I woke up slowly, my vision clearing from its blurriness. This morning, the room seems bleak and dreary from the light coming through the window. It's early in the morning. I'm not a morning person, but as I lay there, I smiled contentedly. It's Sunday morning... and I didn’t have anything to do. Well, yea, I still had my daily chores to do, laundry, scrubbing the toilet, or some other chore. But they're not important. They can wait 'til another time. Right now, it's just a lazy, slow Sunday. We don't have to go to work, or cram for an exam.
I smiled as I lay beside him, my head on the crook of his neck and shoulder in its familiar groove. I could see his chest rising with each breath. I could even see the skin move with each rhythmic beat of his heart. Where I lay, with my head on him, I could even *hear* his heart. I smiled because he was here with me.
I laid there a while longer, listening to him and the pitter patter of the spring rain. It was only 7 in the morning so I wasn’t in a hurry to get up. I should though, brush my teeth and make some breakfast. My toes wiggled and my body shudders at the thought of walking on that cold, freezing wood-paneled floor this early in the morning. The weather man said it’s supposed to snow one of these days. I moved deeper into our nest of blankets and scooted even closer toward Heero. This morning was too perfect to do anything else.
Heero still slept even though I shifted around, disrupting the bed. He used to be the lightest sleeper in the world; every little movement used to wake him up. I almost chuckled, but decided to grin as I reminisced. The first time we had to share a bed, it was during the war. There was only one bed available and I remembered the frown on his face as he climbed in beside me and tried to lay as far from me as possible. I had nearly kicked him off the bed and he had nearly strangled me in reflex. The next few times we shared a bed were just as bad. He'd snag onto my hair, tangling himself. We were both blanket hoggers and I moved around too much in my sleep.
Ten years has given us a lot of time to adjust and get used to each other. Nowadays, I wake up, not because he has abruptly jolted me awake, but because my body automatically misses and senses the loss of him when he is away on a business trip. I cuddle up to him now and he remains asleep. He's still a very light sleeper, but 10 years has taught him to unconsciously recognize my movements and continue sleeping.
It is so rare, in 10 years, that I’m up this early to observe my sleeping love without him waking also. Our lives are usually hectic and our schedules are overflowing with millions of things to do. I laid there to soak in the time and rare sensation because I didn’t know when I'll ever experience this again.
Restlessness got to me and I had to stretch and move. I turned so my back was to him, but still close enough to still feel the warmth emanating from his body. It wasn’t the same as before and I shivered, feeling the cold when I wasn’t flushed against him. Only moments later, his body instinctively moved to accommodate the change, turning to face my back. His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to his chest and his leg shifted to rest between my thighs. We’re spooned tightly against each other and I was warm again. I smiled again as I felt his soft breaths caress the back of my neck.
From this position, I can see the rain through the window. I can’t believe I’m capable of feeling so utterly at peace. My arm moves to rest over his around my waist and I feel the small "clink" of metal as our rings touch lightly.
There was a time, when we were just newly weds, and having our bodies this close to each other would drive both of us mad with passion. We’d spend the entire morning and sometimes the afternoon in bed making love right after waking up. Now, the passion is still there. Heero is a wonderful lover and our sex life is still great but we don’t do it quite as frequently. I think we’ve both matured so that we can enjoy each both sex and times like these. This is practically as good as the sated feeling I get after bedding him.
I won’t lie and say that our marriage is perfect. We *do* get into arguments. There are a lot of misunderstandings. We stress out and snap at each other over the littlest things sometimes. We’ve had turns giving each other the silent treatment. But we’ve survived 10 years together. I hope we can last much longer.
I used to be scared that he was just with me for convenience, that he wasn’t ready to go to Relena yet so he settled for second best, me. It took a wedding ring to finally assure me that his interests would lie only on me and not her, not anyone else. But I’d die…. I’d actually want to die if he suddenly decided, one day, to leave me. I wouldn’t know what to do. I don’t think I could find anyone else to love as much as I do him. After living this long with him, I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s become so ingrained into my life.
He shifted, lifting his head to kiss my bare shoulder before asking in a sleepy, slurred voice, "Daijobu?" I nodded my head shortly, releasing the vise-like grip I unconsciously had on his hand. Signaling as apology for disturbing his sleep, I fan my finger softly along the back of his hand, soothing him. After a second, he settled back down, snuggling against me and it was silent again except for the sound of rain outside and the rest of nature.
It was nearly half an out later when he finally woke up. He blinked slowly and even wiggled his nose a bit when he sniffed and yawned.
"Morning, lover." I greeted. He turned his head and smiled at me lazily.
"Ohayo, Du-chan." I smiled at the pet name. "Did you sleep well?" I nodded. He stretched leisurely, reminding me of a cuddly kitten, and stared at me for a moment. "Do you want some breakfast?"
"Mm, yea, food sounds good right about now." He smiled and kissed me on the forehead before getting out of bed.
I really do hope we last much longer; forever if possible.
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