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Denji woke up to the sound of Asa’s sobs. His heart leapt up to his throat.
“...Baby?” he asked in a rough voice as he sat up on his elbows. “What’s wrong?”
“Um, nothing! It’s nothing!”
It never was “nothing.”
He turned over to see Asa quickly shut a softcover book, throw it to the foot of the bed, click off her bedside lamp, and turn over to face away from him. In her haste, she’d forgotten to retrieve the almost empty tissue box and dozens of soiled tissues scattered about her head.
“Asa, I know you’re reading,” he mumbled as he sat up, wiping the crusty sleep from his eyes. “Why are ya crying?”
The creaky wheels began turning in his nearly smooth brain as he tried to think of why his wife might be crying. It could be a lot of things. They’d gone to hell and back together, and barely, just barely, emerged from the entire ordeal alive and holding each other’s hands. Their love wasn’t an easy one, but it was precious. He could never ask for someone who understood him as well as she did. For Asa, Denji would die fifteen times all over again in a heartbeat.
“Ah, you’re going to think I’m an idiot,” Asa grumbled before she inhaled loudly with a gross, snotty sound in her throat.
“You’re not an idiot,” Denji reassured her as he collected her dirty tissues and disposed of them in a trashcan kept nearby.
Denji kissed Asa’s bare shoulder and brought her close. Asa sighed and reluctantly removed herself from his embrace. She turned on the lamp, reached for the book that she’d thrown, picked it up, and showed Denji the book’s cover without making eye contact.
The illustration of a contemplative grey cat with crazy eyebrow whiskers and dark blue eyes stared back at him. He read the title.
“Moonrise?” Denji said with a grin. The sense of alarm settled down in his chest when he realized it wasn’t a real looming threat on her mind.
“Is that from the ‘warrior cat’ series that you’re reading with Nayuta?”
“It’s just called ‘Warriors,’ honey,” Asa retorted defensively.
Nayuta was obsessive over these books. Now thirteen-ish, she proclaimed her warrior cat persona’s name to be “Ravenpaw.” In the past few weeks, Nayuta took to carrying around a bindle over her shoulder. When asked what she had in her blanket, Nayuta said, “Moss, mouse bile, marigold, poppy seeds, juniper berries, and windflower shoots. I have to be ready to help our clan’s medicine cat when a queen kits or an elder comes to me with a hurt paw.”
Denji had no idea what all those words meant, but Nayuta seemed happy, and that was all he cared about.
“She read ahead of me, alright?” Asa said with a huff. “I had to catch up and…”
Asa’s face screwed up as pesky tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. She was so beautiful when she allowed herself to be vulnerable with him. Denji reached over to the tissue box and offered her a fresh tissue.
“What happened?” Denji asked. He was ready for the nonsensical explanation.
“One of my favorite characters, Feathertail, just died. She had to sacrifice herself to save the Clans because it was foretold in a prophecy, but of course it had to happen just as her and Crowpaw were recognizing their feelings for each other!”
“Aw, I’m sorry.”
Denji pressed a kiss to where the three residual scars left by the War Devil on her face intersected.
“Even worse, she got crushed by a falling rock of all things!”
“That’s awful,” Denji admitted while he wiped away a stray tear.
“And now here I am, crying over words on a printed page about a fictional dead cat. Ugh, I’m twenty-four and this book is meant for tweens. So stupid.”
“S’not stupid if it made ya feel something. You’re talking to the guy who always cries over hugging scenes in movies, ya’know.”
“I know.”
Asa let Denji pull her to him again in an embrace.
“You like the books. That’s all there is to it. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Okay, fine. You’re right,” Asa sighed as she settled into his embrace. She twisted around, kissed him gently, and pressed her forehead to his chest.
“I’m going to actually sleep now,” Asa grouched.
“There’ll be plenty of time to read about warrior cats in the morning,” Denji said in a cheeky tone.
“Hush, you don’t have to remind me,” Asa returned affectionately before her breathing evened out and she was soon at rest.