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Panda had been the one who had insisted. His brothers urged Charlie to stay the night, wait out the thunderstorm, but Panda had been the one to bring it up and assure Charlie it really was no problem. He had even offered his bed, telling Charlie it was cleaner than Grizz’s (it was), and warmer than little bro’s (it was). Despite absolutely being one for intruding, Charlie still held onto a tiny fragment of guilt for being the one who made Panda sleep on the floor that night.
It was nighttime now, actually. Charlie stayed curled up in Panda’s too-small bed, unable to sleep. It had been like this for a good hour and a half now, and this would have been significantly less distressing if not for the consequences in which Charlie could not sleep.
Below him, on the floor, slept Panda. Or, at least, that seemed to be what Panda wanted Charlie to believe was happening. He clutched a stuffed animal near to his chest, curling the rest of his body up in a fetal position with a thin blanket draped over him, his head on a single pillow, which was obviously not the norm for him given the sheer bounty of pillows Charlie was currently resting his head on.
Panda was faced away from Charlie, his body seemingly trembling from what Charlie could observe in the low light, the only light source being from the moon that hung outside.
Charlie had adapted well to his century of living on constant alert, his ears fine-tuned to picking up nearly any sound. While this was extremely handy from a utilitarian standpoint and had gotten Charlie out of more problems than he cared to count and saved his life on more than numerous occasions, right now he was battling with himself on what to do about what he was hearing. He knew for Panda’s sake he shouldn’t be listening at all, but this was nearly impossible due to the small space they were currently in on top of their being nearly two feet away from each other.
Every time Charlie’s focus drifted from Panda, Panda would sniffle again and pull him right back in. Charlie hadn’t been able to sleep a wink because Panda was right below him, crying into his pillow. It wasn’t the noise that prevented Charlie from sleeping, no. If anything was keeping him up, it was knowing Panda was down there hurting. He simply couldn’t get it off his mind.
At some point, not long after Charlie had noticed the clock had ticked 1:30 A.M., Charlie broke. He reached an arm down and poked Panda in the shoulder with a long finger in an attempt to “wake” him. Panda rose with a jolt, shooting his head to face Charlie, whose face was only barely visible in the dark.
“Charlie? Was that you?” Panda rubbed at his eyes either to dry any tears that remained on his face or to rub away any sleepiness.
“Yeah, sorry, I just…” Charlie wracked his brain, looking for a suitable reason to have woken Panda up, even though they both knew Panda hadn’t been sleeping. “I had a nightmare. Can you come up here and sleep in bed with me, please?”
Panda opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the will to bring voice to it. Instead he nodded, and gathered the makes of his floorbed. As Panda walked around to the opposite side of the bed and filed into it after properly assimilating what he brought from the floor into his native bed, Charlie moved over to make room for Panda.
They looked at each other despite the darkness surrounding them. Panda sighed, and leaned into a hug with Charlie. Charlie wasted no time in fixing his arms around Panda, pulling him close. He felt Panda’s gentle breath on his chest, and pressed a small kiss onto the top of his head. If Panda had already gathered that Charlie had told a white lie earlier, he didn’t mention it.
Charlie wanted to stay like that forever, but Panda had been the one to break loose from the embrace. He looked at Charlie with expectant eyes as he fixed himself under the covers, seemingly much more comfortable than he had been on the floor. Charlie took this as an invitation to slip under the covers as well. He hesitated for a moment before Panda gave him the permission to wrap him up in his arms once more. Panda cuddled into Charlie, burying his face into Charlie’s chest. His own arms found themselves around Charlie’s torso as he breathed in his earthy scent.
They fell asleep soon after, still deep in each others’ embrace, lost in each others arms.
Morning came too fast.