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When Louise blinks her eyes open, the room is dark. The sun had obviously gone down at some point and they hadn’t turned on any lights, relying on the glow of the tv. The tv is dark now, though. The whole room is dark, but she’s still comfortable. She feels safe. She knows she’s not alone. The leg underneath her head is warm and the gentle rise and fall of the chest behind her is soothing.
Her eyes drift shut again… before slamming back open in realization. The tv is dark!
She sits up with a wince as the hand which had been tangled in her hair takes some strands with it when she moves. She leans forward and wiggles the computer mouse. The progress bar of the movie is at the end of it. More than that, it’s almost 1 in the morning… which means it’s been at the end for a while.
She turns with a growl to the figure lazing against the back of her couch and slaps him.
Logan’s eyes shoot open and his breath stutters. But the bewilderment drains from his gaze as it lands on her face and his eyes slip shut again. He sighs sleepily, dropping his head back against the back of her couch.
“Any time you’d like to stop slapping me awake would be fine with me,” he mutters hoarsely.
She slaps him again.
His hand comes up and catches her wrist this time. “Okay. That’s enough of that.”
“You fell asleep,” she snaps. “You fell asleep in the middle of a Hawk & Chick ! This one is my favourite too!”
He sits up, cracking his neck from side to side. “You say that every time- they can’t all be your favourite.”
She glares at him and he groans. “I’m sorry Four Ears, I didn’t mean to.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Uhhh,” he rubs his eyes. “They were walking up to that new village in the middle of the swamp and she made some joke about his hair? I think? Was that this one?”
Louise growls again. “That’s literally within the first five minutes of the movie!”
“I’m sorry! I told you I was tired! I told you that I had been really busy this week and that maybe we should postpone this, but you said it would be fine. You said if we sat on your uncomfortable couch that neither one of us would fall asleep! Wait-”
He stops, brow furrowing as he thinks. “If the movie’s over… and I fell asleep in the first five minutes… then you must have fallen asleep too!”
Louise rolls her eyes at his accusation. “ I’m allowed to- I’ve seen it before! You are supposed to be memorizing them!”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he mutters. Continuing on in a normal speaking voice, he says: “I’m sorry, but I did tell you I was tired. We can just watch it again another night.”
“You can take that reasonable tone and shove it right back down your gullet. We’re watching it now.”
She snatches up the mouse again and drags the progress bar back to the start of the movie. Logan sits up and wrestles it out of her hand.
“We are not.”
She hisses and launches herself at him. He stands up quickly, holding the mouse over his head. Undeterred, she leaps at him, wrapping her limbs around his body as she strains to grab the mouse. Forced to bring his hands down to hold her up, Logan brings the mouse within easy reach of her questing fingers.
She plucks it from his hand and lets go of him, placing her feet unsteadily back on the floor and plopping down on the couch with a self-satisfied smirk.
“I win.”
He shakes his head, fondness warring with competitiveness on his features. She grins at him, sticking her tongue out. His eyes darken and he advances on her.
Suddenly, the room is plunged into an even deeper darkness than before. Even the small lights of the appliances disappear and the subtle noise of the power is cut off abruptly.
“Shit. Power must be out.”
“Good deduction, Agatha Ditzy,” she scoffs. “Where are you?”
“Same place I was before the power went out, Arthur Conan Doy.”
“Mine was better. Come sit back down on the couch.”
“Why? You scared?”
His teasing chuckle tapers off when she doesn’t immediately retort. “Oh shit. Okay, yeah, I’m coming. My eyes are starting to adjust any- fuck! Stupid coffee table.”
She snorts. “Seems like it.”
“Ha ha,” Logan says sarcastically and she feels his warm palm curve around her shoulder and tug her to rest against him. “You okay?”
“I was always fine,” she huffs, sinking into him. “I’m just annoyed that the power outage is interfering with our Hawk & Chick plans.”
“I was never gonna watch a full movie at one in the morning, Louise. That’s way too late.”
“Mmmm,” she hums matter-of-factly. “You were.”
He doesn’t say anything else, fingers tracing mindless patterns along her arm as they sit in the darkness together.
She draws her feet up onto the couch and tucks her head under his arm. “I’m not scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared of things. I’m scared of lots of things.”
“Jesus, Dope-rah, shut up. I know that. I know you’re scared of things, but all your fears are reasonable. Like failure and Cynthia.”
“I’m not afraid -”
“ If I was maybe a little bit scared, then that would be a completely irrational fear. And I’m not an irrational person.”
Logan laughs, startled. “You are a wildly irrational person! You challenged me to a duel for finishing the coffee creamer in my own house. You lit a book on fire when you didn’t like the ending! You verbally eviscerated an innocent cashier the other day for no reason!”
“A: I won, so hah. B: Lemony Snicket is my goddamn nemesis and I’d light him on fire too if I could. C: I verbally eviscerated the cashier because he was a dick to you about your shoes.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Which part?”
“You hate those shoes!”
“So? I’m different. I’m, you know, your partner in crime or whatever. He’s just a random asshole.”
“Your terms of endearment for me get better every time.”
She reaches up and slaps his chest. “Fuck off.”
When he doesn’t answer her, she hits him again. “What’s your point anyway? That because I’m, quote on quote, “wildly irrational”, it doesn’t matter that my fears are those of a 6 year old?”
“I don’t know. My point is… you’re overthinking it. It’s not like fears are ranked. People are scared of shit- sometimes the randomest shit. Who cares what it is or whether it’s rational? It’s scary to them either way.”
“Right,” Louise sits back up, crossing her legs and turning to face him. “That’s not what you said when those ants were in my shower drain.”
“Oh my god I forgot about the ants,” he starts chuckling. “Holy fuck that was so funny.”
She grimaces at him in the dark. Remembering he can’t see her, she reaches up and flicks the side of his shadowy head.
“Ow,” he says unrepentantly, laughing a few more times before sobering enough to continue speaking. “To be clear, I wasn’t making fun of the fear itself. I was making fun of the little squeal and the way you fell back in a sprawled naked heap on the rug. It was so fucking funny. God, I wish I had it on video.”
She flicks him again as he sighs in fond reminiscence. “It was very disturbing, okay? And let’s not forget why I had to shower in the first place, Quickdraw.”
“Fuck off with that insinuation, Four Ears. You did that on purpose and you know it. I said wait and then you put your fucking mouth on my dick.”
She chortles. “Speaking of stupid faces.”
He shifts, standing up with a stretch. “Like yours are any better.”
“Where are you going?” She snatches at his hand. “I thought we’d established I did not want to be left alone in the dark.”
“I was just stretching. But if you really don’t want me to leave you, then I should probably just stay over. I didn’t bring any stuff, but I can wake up early and swing back by my place before work.”
Louise groans internally. She’d known this would happen sooner or later. But had she done anything about it? No, of course she hadn’t. Wildly irrational, indeed.
“Oh. Um. You can’t.”
A small silence fills the darkened room and she grips his hand tightly, needing the anchor it provides in the blackness.
“Okay… why? Like I know that it’s your place and your life and you don’t owe me or anything but also… you know, you spend almost every night at my place these days. I feel like it’s not a big deal if-”
She cuts his words off with a heavy sigh. “My bedroom is the last door on the right down the hall behind you. Take a look at my bed. If you think you can fit in it, be my guest. But I think that you literally can’t.”
His hand pulls away from hers and she stiffens, tightening her grip even more. “On second thought, let’s just assume that you can’t. It’s a twin, so I really doubt it.”
“Why do you have a twin mattress?! Wait. Is it a money thing? Shit. It’s a money thing, isn’t it? I didn’t mean it like that. I meant-”
“Oh my god, shut up!” She cuts off his frantic babbling. “You’re a fucking moron. It’s not a money thing. I mean, it might have been if I had looked for one, but I didn’t even think of getting another bed. That one’s mine. I moved it out of the house with me because you know… it’s mine. I built it.”
“Wait… you built your bed? Like with IKEA or whatever?”
“Jesus.” She rolls her eyes. “No. With Teddy. I wanted more space so Teddy helped me loft my bed. You know? You put the bed on posts so that there’s space below it and then build stairs to get up to it? And then Teddy also put in a desk underneath for me to work at. It was fun.”
She can hear the smile in his voice when he answers. “I can literally picture that. It’s cute.”
“Stop calling me cute. I’m deathly attractive- like a siren luring men to their doom. Obviously.”
“Two things can be true.”
He sits back down on the couch, using their joined hands to tug her back against him. “So I guess we’re sleeping here then.”
Louise sighs. “Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m not! You obviously don’t want me to leave but we can’t fit in your bed, so here it is. It’s called making a gesture, Four Ears.” He flicks her ear lightly with his other hand and she swats at him.
“It’s called a stupid gesture, Bushhack. You’ve already been so tired and such a drag lately. And you’re getting too old to sleep on a couch- you’ll be all stiff and whiny about it for days. I’ll be fine.”
“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were making your own gesture, Four Ears.”
She shoves away from him, breaking the contact between their hands. “Maybe I am. The point is, you should go home. Loser.”
The teasing in his tone has been replaced with quiet concern when he answers her this time. “Are you sure? ‘Cause I’d rather stay with you anyways- stiffness and all.”
“God, you’re obsessed with me. It’s cringe.”
“I’ll take that as a yes, then.”
“Get out. And get sleep. If you fall asleep during another Hawk & Chick , I’m gonna shave your head, steal your wallet, and go to Vegas for the weekend on your dime.”
He stands up with a stretch and a yawn. “Noted.”
“It better be! I’m not kidding!” she snaps back as she follows him to her door.
He turns when he reaches it and tugs her against him, tilting her head up and briefly kissing her. “Yeah, I know you’re not. I’ll see you later. Call if you need me.”
“I won’t need you,” she wrinkles her nose.
“Fine. Call if you want me, then.”
“Even less likely,” she retorts.
“Mmmm,” he hums, turning back and bending to kiss her more thoroughly than before.
“So it’s just me then,” he breathes as he breaks away from her and Louise blinks her eyes open to confront the darkness again.
“Yep,” she says breathlessly and he laughs.
“Night Four Ears.”
She closes the door on his laughter and sinks back against it as her heart rate returns to normal.
Okay. This is fine. Sure, it’s dark and she’s alone and that thing against the wall looks like it knows all her deepest darkest secrets, but she’s fine. And yeah, maybe it’s been a while since Louise had spent a night by herself, but that was Logan’s fault! He was so warm and his bed was so comfortable and he had this insane coffee machine that was like having a built-in barista! What was she supposed to do? Not take advantage of that?!
There’s a sudden reverberation at her back and she yelps involuntarily. She shakes herself angrily and rips the door back open. “What?!”
Logan is standing on her doorstep with one hand behind his back. His phone camera is held in the other hand and she can see in the light of it that his lips are twitching. She stabs a finger into his chest and speaks again before he can.
“Not. A. Word.”
He holds his hands up, lips still twitching. “What do you think this is? My first day? I wasn’t gonna say anything! I mean… that was the same noise you made with the ants, but-”
She growls, going to close the door. But he jumps forward and places a hand on it.
“Wait, wait, sorry. I’m not saying anything. Ask me why I’m back.”
“Hmmm no.”
“You’re no fun,” he pouts. “Okay. Ask me what I’m-”
“Bushels. It’s late and I’m on edge and I’m not sure where this sudden energy is coming from but I’m about to start shoving things into various orifices on your body to stifle it.”
He wiggles his eyebrows goofily. “Kinky.”
“Logan-”
“Ta-da!” He cuts her off, pulling his hand out from behind his back and proudly displaying what he had been hiding.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s an air mattress!”
“Why the hell do you have an air mattress?”
“Because bros who road trip together, stay together.”
Louise sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Sure. Fine. Why are you showing it to me?”
“Because,” he says excitedly, “we can set it up and I can stay over after all.”
She takes the air mattress from him, turning it over in her hands and scrutinizing it. “I’m not sure an air mattress is any better than a couch for avoiding aches and pains and such.”
Logan scoffs. “Your couch is a piece of shit. This baby is top of the line in luxury outdoor comfort. I’m not worried about it.”
“What did we say about being all-”
“Four Ears.”
His tone has a rare solemnity to it and she flicks her eyes up to meet his as well as she can in the weak light of his phone flashlight. “What?”
“I want to stay. Take the fucking gesture.”
She rolls her eyes, stepping back to let him into her place.
“Nice. So where do we want this? Where’s a good spot?”
“Probably the living room. Move the couch and table back and we can put it under the projector.”
“Okay, perfect. Grab some blankets for it? I’ve only got one sleeping bag.”
“Why is the bed so much bigger than the sleeping bag?” she asks as she heads to the hall closet her mom had stuffed full of random crap “just in case”.
“I don’t understand the question? I’m not gonna sleep on a small bed obviously.”
“Obviously,” she mutters, using her own phone flashlight to peer into the closet. “To be clear, I have no intention of blowing that thing up.”
“It blows itself up. Top of the line baby, remember?”
She gags loudly as she yanks some blankets off the shelves. She hauls them into the living room and tosses them on the couch. Logan is bent over his air mattress, pulling a thin cord out of the black box on the end.
Louise shakes her head. “Yo, Berry Boy Scout! Does it use power to inflate itself?”
“Supposed to, yeah,” Logan grunts, wrestling with the cord still. “I’m having some problems getting it out, though.”
“Uh huh… you remember the power is out, right?”
Logan freezes. “Shit.”
“Uh huh.”
“Shit!”
Louise sighs, turning on her heel and heading back to her mom’s “just in case” closet.
“Fuck! The lady asked me if I wanted to get a battery powered one too! But I was like ‘I can afford to get an electric campsite’.”
Louise grimaces, flashlight raised over her head as she scans the shelves once more. “Come on Mom… don’t let me down,” she mutters under her breath.
“I probably sounded like such a douchebag too! Meanwhile, this lady’s like ‘look at the fucking dumbass who’s never heard of power outages’.”
“Yes!” She cheers under her breath as she spies the black plastic stuffed in amongst various objects on the bottom shelf. She makes a mental note to do something nice for her mom the next time she sees her.
“I’m actually such a fuckin-”
Louise cuts Logan off by pitching the plastic object at him. “You are. You suck honestly. Make it up to that lady by inflating this the good old fashioned way: sweat and tears.”
Logan stares down in bewilderment at the plastic. “What is this?”
“Jesus. I hate you. It’s a manual pump.”
His stare blankens even more and she sighs heavily, stomping over to him. She grabs the cord and squats down, inserting it into the hole on the end of the air mattress. “Okay. Now you stand on the foot things and pump. Air goes in. Yay for science.”
“I don’t think this is science,” Logan mutters.
But if anything can be said for the actual moron she’s let into her house and heart, it’s that, when it really counts, he takes direction well. He doesn’t even complain as he pumps air into the giant mattress using the tiny plastic pump Linda had bought for Louise when she was 15 years old. He stands up really slowly and winces as he straightens his back for the first time in ten full minutes… but he still doesn’t utter a word of complaint.
“Jesus. This gesture is turning out to be- what?”
She startles. “What?”
He tilts his head questioningly. “You’re looking at me weird.”
She stands up, stretching and kicking the pump into a corner. “No I’m not. Now can we please finally go to bed.”
There is a soft whoosh and the computer flickers back to life.
It’s silent for a second. Louise covers her mouth in amusement and turns her head to look at Logan. He’s trying to look exasperated but as his eyes catch hers, a laugh bubbles out of him. They both begin giggling wildly.
“What the actual fuck even is this night?” Logan chokes out after a few moments of laughter.
“Oh my god, I don’t know. Let’s just go to bed.” Louise collapses onto the poorly inflated mattress and tugs one of the blankets off the couch and over her body.
Logan turns the computer and projector off and settles down beside her with his own blanket. “This is not a good mattress,” he whispers to her.
She snorts. “I know. But it was a decent gesture. Now go to sleep.”
He loops an arm around her waist and pulls her closer, burying his face into her hair. “You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t say thank you.”
“And you’ll never have to,” he quotes in a deep voice.
She kicks her foot back and he groans. “Ouch.”
“Go to sleep.”
“Or what? You’ll lure me to my doom?”
“Oh sweet Berrysseus. I’ve already done that.”
“I knew it,” he mutters sleepily. “Only explanation for that manual pump thing.”
“Oh sweet, sweet Berrysseus. It’s gonna get so much worse than that.”
He shrugs against her back. “Eh. I still get a hot siren out of it, so I’ll take it.”
“You’re a bad protagonist. You’re not supposed to accept the siren’s lures. You’re supposed to fight them to get back to your lady love.”
“My lady love is my siren, though. I’m a whole brand new type of protangoh… protang… pro- what was the word?”
She kicks him again, grinning stupidly. “The word is sleep. Get some.”
“Hey?”
“That doesn’t sound like sleep to me.”
“I was thinking I’d call in tomorrow and we could stay here and watch the Hawk & Chick for real this time.”
“That actually sounds great,” Louise says reluctantly. “But one more peep out of you and I’m going to stifle you with my pillow.”
“Peep,” he mutters rebelliously into her hair.
But he’d (badly) pumped up an air mattress by hand so she wouldn’t be alone tonight… so she lets him have this one.