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They sat on Ashe’s bed in their room, leaning against the wall. They’d been sat there for a while now, Dakota talking about anything that came to mind.
Ashe couldn’t really say she was listening anymore, more so just staring at the other, intent on studying all his features while he continued to talk.
They could see dark brown roots beginning to show themselves again, in contrast to the dyed bright red that the rest of his hair was. She’d helped him dye it the last time, they should probably pick up some more from the store soon.
Dakota was smiling while he talked, and Ashe could see the small gap in between his front teeth, and the way his teeth were a bit crooked. They liked his smile, it was warm and bright and comforting.
She wondered if Dakota would ever sit still long enough for them to try and count all the freckles on his face. And then his shoulders, and then his back. Probably not, but it was a nice thought.
Maybe one day they could ask the stories behind every scar he had. She knew some, but not all. She wanted to know them all, to be close long enough to hear every story. And to treat new wounds that would later become scars themselves. To know the stories before they immortalized themselves on his skin.
“And that’s why I think a shark could totally defeat a bear,” Dakota finished before leaning onto Ashe’s shoulder.
She wasn’t really sure what he’d said before that, but they just nodded. They were more focused on the physical contact he’d initiated. Which, to be fair, Dakota had always been someone who was big on hugging and other things of that nature, but it felt different now that they’d been dating. It was good different, it made them feel warm. Both metaphorically and physically, Dakota may as well have been a human heater with how warm his regular body temperature ran.
Ashe laid their head on his, closing her eyes for just a moment. Just a moment to take everything in, bask in it during the small period of comfortable silence. Just for a moment.
She opened her eyes again, and leaned forwards to reach for something on her nightstand. Their headphones.
As they did so she heard Dakota let out a small confused sound as he looked over at her, having had to sit up on his own when they moved.
They grabbed her headphones and went back to leaning against the wall, and Dakota immediately went back to laying his head on her shoulder.
“Did I ever show you the stickers I added onto these because they reminded me of you?”
“No you didn’t! I wanna see! There’s stickers that remind you of me?” He was smiling again, he was smiling at them, and they could understand the phrase “their smile lights up the room” now because of him.
“Yeah, look,” and Ashe was smiling too now because it was contagious apparently and she was happy to get to be near Dakota. To get to be the reason he smiled like that.
She pointed to a spot on the left side that was a slice of pizza and a red heart next to each other. And maybe with anyone else it’d be embarrassing to admit that they’d put a specific few stickers on her headphones because of them, but not with Dakota. And it’s not like it was obvious to anyone else, Ashe’s headphones had tons of stickers on them. But she and Dakota knew why those two specific ones where there, and that was enough for her.
“You must like me a lot if you put a reminder of me on something you use all the time,” Dakota giggled before wrapping his arms around Ashe.
“Yeah, well I guess I do.” They were smiling as they returned the hug, setting down the headphones and gently pulling him into her lap to hug him easier.
After a few moments of hugging, Ashe pulled away just slightly before grabbing her headphones and slipping them around Dakota’s neck.
“Hey, but these are yours right?” He turned his head to the side a bit, looking a little bit like a confused puppy. He didn’t make any move to take them off though.
“Yeah, but think of it like you sharing your flannels with me. It’s just like that, but with headphones instead. I’ll get them back, but in the meantime I get to see you have something that’s mine,” she told him before quickly kissing him on the cheek. “You can give them back to me in the morning.”
They could see his cheeks become a shade of red, and she couldn’t say that wasn’t the reaction she’d been looking for. Plus, him and the other two Prime Defenders, Vyncent and William, were supposed to stay the night at his house tonight, so they could get her headphones back before they left in the morning. Not that they’d particularly mind if Dakota wore them longer. She had other headphones, so really there didn’t seem like a way she could lose here.
For maybe the first time in her life she witnessed Dakota at a loss for words, before stumbling over an “okay” and pulling her into a tight hug.