Haru sometimes gets coffee at Tim's, when he happens to feel like it on a random morning, or when he needs to be up long enough to finish out a guiding session with June. This morning it's the first thing.
Cara sleeps much better than during her nap, though she does wake up once at around 2 am, thirsty and overheated.
She extracts herself and drinks some cold water, crawling back into bed a few minutes later.
o:
She's still sleepy, but she listens for a bit, and the only pattern she can discern is that the words are all nouns (mostly English, some French).
She sighs in delight, petting his hair. He's so good. She feels so lucky to be here, in his arms....
She drifts off before her inner monologue can get any sappier.
In the morning he's awake first and sneaks out of bed to go to the bathroom and then comes back for more guiding of the awakener.
She makes a sad little noise when he leaves, and a happy one when he gets back, wrapping herself around him again, but it's not exactly obvious if she's awake or not.
Eventually, her phone starts buzzing and she reaches for it to silence it, making awakening noises.
"g'morning", she manages after a bit, nuzzling him.
She glances curiously at the notebook for a moment, then decides she can ask later.
"Really well... I sleep a lot more soundly in someone's arms, and the guiding made it even better", she says, contentment clear in her voice. "How about you?"
"I slept fine." He brushes some of her hair out of her face. "Whaddaya want for breakfast?"
Her face wrinkles in confusion, and then her eyes widen momentarily and she squeaks a bit.
... Right. Her backlash. That's why she doesn't know. Well, she knows the trick for this...
"Um. usual breakfast foods for me are... frozen tater tots, yogurt, oatmeal, poptarts, bagels with cream cheese? Any would be fine."
"We have poptarts and oatmeal on hand. I can go start some oatmeal while you hit the bathroom?"
"Sure, that works."
... time passes. She doesn't seem to be coming out to the kitchen.
Shakey breath. "My c-calendar alert to watch anime. Got it when I finished washing up, s-started the show on my phone without thinking about it. W-would have stayed there..." clingy Cara.
Pet pet. "Hey, no, that wouldn't have gone on, I would've come and got you, that's why you're here so I can help you."
Cliiing. Her breathing slows, a bit, and she thinks it through.
He would have come and rescued her. She's very sure of it. She's only known Haru for a day, but - it's been a really informative day.
Her mind flashes back to - his careful handling of robot-cara, the feeling of drifting off for a guided nap in his arms, flying with him and learning about his old life plans, him perfectly hiding from her that he was interested before she asked him if they could kiss, him offering to go with her to a social event and chaperone her, helping her plan out backlash testing, telling her he really didn't want to accidentally lean into her backlash to get her to wash up...
She sighs, the tension leaving her body as the knot of anxiety in her heart melts into something warmer. She really is safe, here with him.
"...Thank you. You're really good at this."
"M" om and dad "-My parents would sometimes get fresh blueberries or blackberries; those were always my favorite when they were an option. Otherwise... maple syrup is good and patriotic."
She grins up at him. "At home I'd add a bit of habanero powder, too, but I don't think any of Ren's hot sauces have the right non-spicy flavor to go into an oatmeal."
Her girn widens! "Frozen blueberries work too! I'll eat those out of the freezer bag, the texture change as they melt is soooo fun."
It's interesting, what he does and doesn't react to. Cara loves to explode her mouth with spicy food - no longer news, and unsurprisingly he's not into the whole performative outrage about food bit.
Speaking of interesting... "Did you know you say random words in your sleep?"
"According to my parents I have done since I was a kid," he says, digging out the frozen blueberries. "But I didn't find out till my awakening when we were talking constantly regardless of whether there was anything to say."
"D'awwww! Did you learn any other fun bits of Haru trivia at the time?" She squeezes him when he mentions his awakening, but she doesn't get the sense that he particularly wants or needs emotional support about it - he very clearly loves being an esper.
Blueberries go into the oatmeal; oatmeal goes into the Cara.