...I hate jet lag...

BANG!

Kim, Alix and Max were having a sleepover, in order to watch the horror movie marathon on Alix's enormous TV. It had all been fine, they had been laughing at the lame special effects, and then the next movie had been about a bad guy who wanted to travel back in time to reclaim his right as a ruler, or something. Most of the movies had been lame, but that one had been creepy. Kim had turned around in order to laugh it off with Alix and realised that she was genuinely terrified out of her wits. She had been holding her knees to her chest and slowly rocking back and forth, eyes wide and frozen to the screen. He knew perfectly well that if he valued having shins not covered in nasty bruises, he should not turn it off or switch the channel, because she would yell and kick to defend her pride, and would tell everyone he was a wimp. So he sat there, barely watching the movie, instead watching Alix tremble, until it was over. That movie had been the final one in the marathon, so they had all went to bed.

There WERE guest bedrooms, but neither he or Max particularly liked using them. The Kubdels had ACTUAL skeletons in their closets. Well, mummies. In their guest bedrooms. But still. Dead things. So they were on Alix's floor, and she was in her bed. He had often teased Max about all the dumb stuff he needed to sleep, like a pair of noise-cancelling earbuds and a sleep mask, but right now he would have killed for those earbuds. Every half-hour or so, Alix would wake up from her nightmares, get into a position from which she could defend herself, knock something off her over cluttered bedside table, then go back to sleep. Everything landed right next to Kim's head, and it was keeping him from falling asleep. He was getting fed up...

CLATTER!

Nope. That was it. He was going to take everything off her bedside table so she would stop dropping it right next to his head. He got up, determined to put an end to the sleeplessness and bring forth the age of dreams. Before he could grab any of her things, he was jerked back. Her tiny hand was clamped around his wrist. She was still asleep, he could see that, but her grip was like being caught in a vice. There was no way he would risk moving her fingers and waking her up AGAIN, so he sat down on the side of the bed to wait until her grip loosened.

Half an hour later, he was still waiting.

He finally gave up. Her bed was comfortable, he was ridiculously tired, and she clearly did not want to let go. He would just lay down on top of all these covers she was buried under and they would not even touch. To tired to tell himself that this was a bad idea, Kim passed out.

At eight am, he awoke to the flash of Max's phone taking a photo. At some point during the night, he had gone under these stupid covers. He had also gone so close to Alix that their legs were tangled together, she was pressed up against his chest, and his arms were wrapped around her. She stirred too, and, still slightly groggy, whipped around, still in his arms, and stared into his face.

She was awake now.

So much for non-bruised shins.

Ever again.

I have awful jet lag, and I do not trust myself near all my long stories with the plots. So... This is my second one shot within the space of what, four, five hours, all of which are hours during which I'm supposed to be asleep.

~Madei