Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Guess I'm A Bad Liar

Day 8 – Having a Lazy Day

"You're all the things I've got to remember."

XxX

Knock, knock, knock.

'Hey, uh, I don't know if you're awake, but Trixie said you were still in bed so I thought I'd harass you into getting up. It's lunch time, you know.'

'Piss off, Vin.'

'. . . uh, that wasn't a part of the plan.'

There was no reply, so Vin hesitated outside of the door before speaking again.

'Alright, well, I'm coming in, so if you're not decent it's your fault.'

What greeted him when he pushed it open was somewhat to his expectations. The room was in absolute chaos – clothes were strewn over the bed and floor, dog-eared books were sitting open across the desk, a shoe was hanging from the ceiling fan (how it got there, he wasn't going to ask), and in the centre of the room was a pile of blankets. Amidst that pile Zero was sitting in splits, elbows propped up on a pillow as she browsed her phone. She scowled at him without speaking, and the shadows beneath her eyes became painfully obvious.

Vin carefully picked his way through the mess, nonchalantly kicking aside a bra before sitting down opposite her. He made a gesture, indicating the fact that she was literally sitting in splits without an issue, before speaking. 'First of all, you're a freak.' That, at least, drew a reluctant snort from her. 'Secondly, you didn't sleep last night, did you?'

'Give the boy a medal,' was her dry response. She put the phone down, tilting her head at him thoughtfully. 'You know, I think I watched every single goddamn cat video that ever existed last night. I've officially transcended the fifth dimension. I see cats in every shadow.'

'And whose fault is that, I wonder?'

'Newton's, for sending me some GIF at two am and starting this whole damn thing.'

That caught him off guard, and he blinked stupidly at her for a moment before frowning. 'Okay, maybe not your fault, then. But you seem . . . very calm. Normally you're prepared to cut a bitch if you get no sleep.'

'Normally, yes. But I really don't care right now.'

Vin sighed heavily. 'I'm sure there's some sort of psychological reasoning behind this but whatever. You need to sleep, man.'

'A minute ago you were trying to get me up.'

'Yeah, well that was before I knew what was going on.' He stood back up, before yanking some of the blankets from beneath her. 'We'll start with this.'

She let out a rather loud shriek of surprise and fell backward, before growling and folding her arms. 'Was that necessary?'

'Yes,' he replied crisply, brushing the stray clothes off the bed and arranging the blankets in their place. As an afterthought, he picked up the pillow she was no longer leaning on and put it at the head of the bed. 'Now move your ass.'

'Dickhead,' she muttered bitterly, scowling at him. 'You can't just leave well enough alone, can you?'

'Nope,' he agreed, levelling her with a steady gaze and tilting his head. 'If you don't move– well, we both know I'm more than capable of picking you up. How badly do you wanna keep your dignity?'

A dull flush rose in her cheeks, but Vin more or less expected that. Over the years, he had become practically immune to any level of threat Zero had once posed, and now that he was literally the bigger person of the two of them, there was little she could do to frighten him.

Except, you know, give him feelings. And that always scared the ever-loving shit out of him.

She got to her feet, but something about it seemed rather defeated. 'God, you piss me off,' she told him, shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at him.

He felt a small twinge of guilt at that, and extended his hand toward her without really meaning to. 'I just want to help,' he found himself mumbling as he brushed their hands together. 'I know it can be rough.'

She exhaled heavily, looking down. 'Yeah, I know.'

'Would the dreams bother you if I was here?'

Her eyes snapped back up to meet his. 'How did you know? A-and what does that mean?'

Vin swallowed awkwardly, trying for a nonchalant shrug. 'I, uh, I could stay, if you wanted. If . . . if you want.'

She stared at him for the longest time, expression unreadable. When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly soft. 'It takes a lot of balls to say something like that.'

That caught him off guard, and he hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. 'It takes a lot of balls to say yes.'

'Of course I've got balls,' she snapped immediately, before blinking. 'Metaphorically. Ew. Whatever. The point is, you can stay.'

He was startled into laughing and sank weakly down onto the bed, a hand over his eyes. 'Wow. That's one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had.'

'Shut up,' she mumbled, sitting down beside him. 'Shut up. I didn't mean to say that.'

'Alright, alright.' He grinned at her, before awkwardly holding out a hand. 'Doesn't make it any less funny, though.'

She looked at his hand while she spoke, cheeks still rather pink. 'You say a lot of dumb shit, man. You can't talk.' Then, surprisingly, she took the offer, lacing their fingers together so that their palms were flush. She looked met his eyes. 'If you're snore, I swear to God you're getting kicked out.'

He shook his head emphatically, still grinning. 'Nope. Never.'

'You better mean that.'

'Would I ever lie to you?'

'That's easily the dumbest question you've ever asked. Now shut up.'

XxX

Chapter title: "Bad Liar", Selena Gomez

Quote: "Take Me On", a-ha