Alric awoke to the muffled sound of keys jangling into the front door lock, which was very bad news seeing as he’d fallen asleep in a stranger’s home like an idiot.

In a panicked scramble, he dove behind the couch just as the front door was pushed open and a flood of light illuminated the shadow of a figure stepping through the threshold. With his left hand, Alric snatched the box of chocolates from their resting place on the couch and stuffed it underneath him.

The figure locked the door behind them and plopped their belongings on a counter with a sigh that was distinctly feminine. The woman stalked closer to the television and Alric’s heart began to race. Dipping over the coach, the woman grabbed the remote which had been left on the armrest and switched the television off with an imperceptible mutter.

Alric’s heart was already racing, but now it was ready to burst through his chest. The woman stood not a meter away from his hiding place and another step forward would have revealed his presence. He could practically smell her perfume, a strong scent of fruit and cinnamon, which was oddly pleasing to Alric. Gosh, he was lonely. She stayed like this for a few more seconds, likely in deep thought as to why the television was on.

At last, she moved away from the couch, but Alric wasn’t in the clear yet. He listened, intently tracking her whereabouts. She had moved back towards the kitchen and Alric prayed she wasn’t going to be making a meal.

The fridge door opened and Alric cursed mentally. How had he been so complacent, in a stranger’s home no less. He berated himself for his stupidity and pressed himself further between the couch and the floor, listening to the woman making dinner.

Ten minutes passed like this and Alric’s shoulders were beginning to ache. He carefully peaked over the backrest of the couch and spotted the woman with her back turned towards him. If he was going to move to a better hiding spot, now was the time.

He scanned his surroundings, looking for furniture that would conceal his presence until the woman inevitably left the room. Making sure to watch her movement, he rose to his hands and knees and prepared to make a small dash towards a conveniently placed ottoman further from his current hiding spot. Three, two, shit.

He dropped back to the floor as the woman turned towards him. Had she spotted him? Alric listened to the sound of her feet on the linoleum. She was approaching him. Her footsteps slowed until she was back to the spot where she had almost discovered him. She reached for a light switch, flicked it off, grabbed the television remote and walked around the couch while peering at the tv.

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Had it been someone else in his situation, Alric would’ve laughed. The woman held a bowl of salad in one hand and the remote in the other, focused on the tv. Alric stared up at her, now directly in his line of sight and not even a pace away from her. If she looked down, he was done for.

Alric got a better view of the woman and found her quite attractive; she was small, probably only up to his shoulders, with long black hair that shone in the light. Her cheeks were roundish, possessing a charming quality, and a petite nose, gently sloping, framed with long dark eyelashes that fluttered with every blink. A small smile rested on her features.

Seconds ticked by as she scrolled through the latest movie selection, completely unaware of the intruder who was almost directly underneath her, and after another few moments, the tv began playing and she plopped herself on the couch with a feminine grunt.

Alric lay there motionless, eyes bulging as the woman who was completely oblivious to his presence, settled into her plump couch. Had Alric wanted to, he could’ve licked her ankle by moving an inch. What a strange thought.

As the seconds turned to minutes, the woman didn’t move and Alric fleetingly began to wonder if she was dead.

“Hic,” she squeaked. Nope. She had the hiccups.

Resigning himself, he turned his head towards the tv. So for the next hour, he lay there content with watching whatever romance movie the woman had picked. Whenever something particularly funny happened, the petite woman laughed, and Alric mentally laughed with her. What an absurd situation this is, he thought to himself as he dropped another chocolate into his mouth.

An hour or so later, his ears perked up at the faint snoring emanating from above him. It seemed that the woman had finally fallen asleep. He peeked over the couch and confirmed that the woman was indeed asleep with a thin line of drool tracing her cheek. It was well past midnight and he didn’t expect her to wake up anytime soon.

He stood to full height and peered down at the woman who looked mildly serene in her slumber. Alric mentally berated himself and made a step towards the door, but a hand shot out from under the woman’s blanket and grabbed the tail of his coat.

Alric froze and slowly turned his head to meet her eyes. Every part of Alric’s body screamed at him to run, but he couldn’t. The woman’s eyes were open and he was fucked. Still unmoving, she continued to peer up at him, and Alric noticed a faint gloss in her eyes. Was she still dreaming?

The woman mumbled something incoherent and Alric let out a sigh of relief. That’s when the woman pulled him towards her with a strength he couldn’t believe and in moments he was wrapped in a blanket with the girl’s limbs strewn haphazardly across him. Alric couldn’t believe it. He was being advanced on by a sleeping woman.

They lay there motionless and the girl’s snoring began to pick up again. He’d have disentangled himself immediately, had she not been practically on top of him and any attempt to escape would have resulted in her awakening.

He lay there for hours, waiting for an opportune movement in her positioning, and many times the woman readjusted herself so that escape was impossible. Eventually, Alric quit trying, and with the exhaustion of the long day, he was asleep once again.