Coming Home

"Ok, I think that's the last one!" Kora sighed, placing the large box she was carrying onto the floor.

Kora had finally convinced Naya to live with her, and just finished getting her all physically moved in. Now, though, was the tough part: combining their decorative styles. Kora was rather messy, and enjoyed having somewhat random stuff in her space, while Naya was much neater and had a very clean aesthetic. 

Following Kora into the bedroom, Naya paused in the doorway to survey the space. The bed lay in the center of the room, unmade, with probably 6 or so blankets strewn about on top of it. On one side of the bed was a small table with a lamp covered in random items Kora had collected throughout the day. On the opposite side of the bed, there was a large dresser and a bookshelf overflowing with books. Even on the floor beside the bookshelf there were several stacks of books, Naya assuming they must be ones Kora hadn't read yet. 

"So, where should we start?" Kora asked, trying to make the bed a little neater by straightening the blankets. 

"Can we clean up the floor and then bring in my shelf?" Naya suggested, motioning toward the book piles. "I don't have nearly as many books as you, Kora, so we can put some of yours onto mine." 

Kora nodded, and the two set to work gathering everything on the floor into a few piles: clothes, garbage, and other items. 

Once that was finished, the pair went back into the main room of the house and carefully brought in the bookshelf. 

Naya positioned it carefully opposite the first bookshelf, to create a sense of balance in the room. She asked Kora to start shelving the books on the floor while Naya brought in her books to shelve too. Kora carefully organized her books by series and author, and noticed Naya wasn’t doing the same. Kora quietly resolved to secretly “fix” it for her girlfriend. Naya’s new bookshelf was almost full, with her own books on the top shelf and Kora's overflow filling in nearly the rest.

"It looks good! But I guess I could get rid of a few books," Kora said sheepishly. 

Nora rubbed up against Kora affectionately, "What do you want to work on next?" She asked, letting Kora lead the way. She was already a little stressed about having to intrude on somebody else’s space, but knew they would both adjust soon enough. 

"Hmm, maybe we can hang up some of your art? I love that one with the swirls," she replied, looking at the mostly blank walls. 

"Alright, let's do it!" Naya said, squeezing Kora into a tight hug and making her giggle. 

The first piece they hung up was the blue swirly piece, with specks of warm yellow throughout, and Naya insisted they should put it above Kora's dresser, where she would be able to see it every day. 

The next piece was a large painting of a pair of birds flying over beautiful blue water, which they hung above the bed. 

The rest of Naya’s art were smaller pieces: some paintings, some photos, and a couple of prints made with what looked like fruit and flower dipped in paint and stamped onto the paper. About half of them were dispersed about the room, but Naya made sure to save a few of them to place elsewhere around the house. 

"I think it looks really nice in here, but I'm getting tired, do you want to make the bed?" Naya said, yawning. 

They had spent the whole day going back and forth from Naya's old house to Kora's house, bringing lots of stuff and even some heavy furniture on carts in. Naya felt about ready to go to sleep right there on the floor, but knew how comfortable Kora's bed was.

Naya approached the bed and began pulling off the blankets, letting them fall to the floor before picking up one and beginning to fold it. Kora went around the other side of the bed and pulled off her pillows, tossing them to the side. 

The old sheets were next, replaced by fresh ones Naya brough with her. Naya tossed half of the comforter over the bed to Kora, and they spread it out across the sheets. Kora replaced the pillowcases and placed the two pillows neatly on their bed.

They of course had had sleepovers before, but this would be their first while living together. 

Naya sighed deeply and flopped onto the bed, wrinkling the sheets and comforter they had just set up.

Kora giggled and climbed onto the bed to lay on top of Naya, nibbling on her ear playfully. Naya, being the larger of the two barked out a laugh and pushed Kora off her so they could lay side by side. 

The two lay looking at each other and smiling for a minute, before Kora blushed and covered her face with her talons with a giggle. "What? What’s up?" Naya asked softly, reaching out to pet Kora’s cheek lovingly.

Kora squeaked and pulled her talons off her face. "I was thinking about how beautiful you are, and then thought well how amazingly beautiful and cute our pups would look..." Kora said softly, holding Naya's gaze. 

Naya squealed and hugged Kora tight. "Oh my gosh they would be *so cute!*" Naya exclaimed.
Kora started laughing, which made Naya start laughing too, until they were both cackling and holding onto each other. 

"Gosh, I'm exhausted," Naya sighed, letting her body go limp. 

"So, let's go to bed," Kora responded calmly, getting up and pulling down the comforter and sheet so they could both crawl inside. Naya did so gratefully, and quickly embraced Kora once they were situated. 

Naya hummed and nuzzled into Kora's mane and neck, Kora sighing gratefully. As they both drifted to sleep, they both knew they would be having dreams of little purple and pink pups running around.