Half an hour later, Pika's ears perked up once more and she eyed the door expectantly as Haruichi stepped in. The dog watched her mistress's mate stop short in the doorway, blink once at the scene, and then quietly close the door behind himself. His eyes went from Hoshi, who was the very picture of diligence on a break; having fallen into a doze with her chin propped against her knee and her sketchbook skewed under her right hand... over to Genma, who was the very epitome of unconscious; being as he was asleep on the floor and tucked up in various blankets. Between the pair, Pika herself was stretched out with her head on Hoshi's thigh and cookie crumbs on her snout.

Haruichi sighed quietly and checked the window was tightly closed, turned up the space heater, and sat down with his back to the wall next to Hoshi. He gently tugged her up with his good hand, making sure she was a little more comfortable and a little more warm as she sleepily settled beside him. Her sketchbook knocked against his toe, and he glimpsed a charmingly inked doodle of Genma cocooned in blankets, face peeping out, with a trail of zzzzz's whispering up into the air from his snoring nose.

His involuntary spark of laughter at the drawing woke Hoshi up - not the sound, but the twinge in his chest and shoulder - and earned him a sleepy-eyed glare with about enough ill will in it to make a mouse blink. It only made him find it funnier, which only got him a prod in the stomach, and Pika snorted quietly as she watched the two humans silently play-fight (Haruichi the former, Hoshi the latter) and eventually settle down even more closely together. Held in her fiance's arms, Hoshi stretched one bare leg out to snag a nudged quilt with her toe and tug it back over Genma's arm, giving the unconscious young man a smile as she did. Genma, for his part, was apparently too asleep to notice anything going on around him and even if he hadn't been - he was probably smart enough not to let on.

As she curled back up Hoshi gave him a prod in the knee, and Haruichi knew she was still mad at him even as she tucked her head against his chest. Haruichi just closed his eyes and tightened his arm around her shoulder gently. She could be as furious with him as she liked, and he'd diplomatically refrain from pointing out that she'd been doing his job for him right here at home in his absence.

Probably doing it brilliantly, too. Haruichi was quite sure of that as he left Pika in charge of his lethargic little homestead and let his exhaustion carry him back to sleep. Happily home.