when i tell you i was hollering the entire time i was writing this, y'all... my dog looked at me like i was crazy, but i'm really happy with how this turned out. i loved writing this shot, so i hope you love reading it!
words: 1274
. . .
"Erm, well," Travis muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is awkward."
"Awkward? More like unbearable." Katie collapsed onto the mattress with fading hope of a scarcely normal night.
He shrugged. "Guess there isn't anything we can do about it tonight, though. We can always bring it up to Chiron in the morning."
"Can't we go out, too?"
"I'm pretty sure that we passed the number of healthy room capacity in the main room about ten people ago. Chiron would kill us."
She didn't remember the last time Travis had worried about Chiron being mad over something, but he stood firm.
How could she possibly get through the night?
"Fine, but you're sleeping on the floor."
Travis held up his hands defensively, losing the reasonable counselor attitude from earlier. "Hold on a minute, this is my cabin! I should get to decide who sleeps where, and you're the one on the floor."
Katie shook herself. "Um, what happened to the whole 'be our guest' thing?"
"Well, your cabin's our guest, I never said anything about you specifically."
With that, Travis slipped into the other side of the twin-sized cot, effectively making Katie stand up. He made himself comfortable and sprawled out on the mattress.
"That's more like it. 'Night, Katie-kat!"
No way was Katie letting him have the satisfaction of the cot all to himself. She'd been through too much that day to be condemned to sleeping on the floor, especially by the likes of Travis.
Without saying a word, she sat back on the cot and bumped him until he gave up half of the space.
"Hey!" Travis grunted, pushing back until she'd been shoved onto the floor again.
"Oh, no you don't," Katie huffed, and she plopped back down and elbowed him out of the way.
"I'm not sleeping on the floor of my own cabin," Travis insisted.
"And I'm not sleeping on the floor of someone else's cabin."
He grinned impishly and, without warning, Katie was pulled up flush to his chest. She struggled for a moment, twisting around to face the wall, before his voice reverberated against her back.
"Guess we'll have to share, then."
The words didn't click for a minute; Katie was sure he hadn't said it. Like that, in bed. With her.
However, when she did realize what he'd said, she squirmed apart. "I'm not leaving this cot, Stoll."
"Oh, I'll make you want to leave." He whispered in a gravely tone. "You can't stand being near me, it'll only take a few minutes of this and you'll be running for the hills."
He yanked her back to him, one arm slung over her middle casually, the other giving support to her neck. Shocked, Katie froze up as his warm breath whispered across her cheek.
"Get off me, Stoll," she panted lightly, still motionless.
"Ladies first, Gardner. I'm not moving."
Screw him. Katie shuddered as he entwined his leg with hers, intensifying their closeness. The heat and tension between them suffocated her, and she just wished he'd back off. By no means was she about to let him have the satisfaction of sleeping in the cot after all that. He didn't deserve it.
"Well, neither am I."
He chuckled, causing tremors to race down her spine. "Oh, you will soon enough."
"Fat chance. This cot's mine."
"Whatever you say, Katie-kat. I'll get you to move."
"Not if I make you move first."
Both being too stubborn to get up, they eased into each other. Katie's rigidity didn't last long, seeing as she now tried to make him leave with her cuddling. She'd inch closer to him, nuzzle her head into him, and hum contentedly when he situated himself nearer still. She'd sigh when he let out hot breaths on her neck and curve her spine to fit into the curves of his.
She'd pray to the gods that he'd just leave already.
The most annoying part of it all was that Katie found herself liking being so close. Travis Stoll turned out to be a great cuddler, even if he sneered at her to move every thirty seconds. His body offered warmth to hers, and in the chilly, moldy spare room of the Hermes cabin, it was admittedly appreciated.
Not that she'd admit it.
So, she was secretly glad when he whispered, "I'm staying here all night, Kates, and there's nothing you can do about it."
"In that case, goodnight, Stoll," she quipped back.
"Night," he spat.
There they were.
Katie couldn't believe it.
Her eyes dragged downwards, and though she wanted to resist it and watch Travis leave, she knew deep down he wouldn't. She tried to argue with herself that she wasn't being lulled to sleep by the steady heartbeat of the demigod next to her, because she most definitely wasn't. But his drowsy exhales calmed her for some reason, and she couldn't come to a logical conclusion why she reveled in his muscles flexing as he tensed them to bring her against him.
She had no idea why.
He was just so calming...
So calming...
"Wakey wakey, the birds work for the Bourgeoisie!"
Connor's muffled voice streamed through the silence of the morning in the other room, causing the sleeping Katie to grumble. She peeled her eyes open, wondering what on earth was wrapped around her. She felt heavy units of the thing pinning her down and-
Oh.
Oh.
Travis snorted awake next to her, taking in the situation right after Katie did. Once he realized where he was and with whom, he stretched and wrapped himself further around her, as if that was possible.
"Good morning, Kates," he mumbled with a husky morning voice that Katie thought was definitely too hot to be the same demigod who poured green dye on her entire left arm last season.
She yelled at herself to jump up and act like nothing happened, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the warmth of the cot. Katie had never been much of a morning person, and especially when it was this enticing to stay in bed, there was no way she'd be the first to move.
He was dizzying.
"Hey, sleepyheads, i-"
Connor froze at the door of the extra room, a smirk blooming across his face. Katie immediately sat up and kicked Travis' legs off of her, muttering a curse under her breath.
"What do we have here?"
The two scrambled to come up with some form of excuse, and neither of them matched up stories.
"It was too cold and-"
"Well, I couldn't sleep on the floor-"
"My back hurt too much to move but-"
"He wouldn't move and I-"
"And there was only one cot left-"
Connor held up his hands, laughing. "No need to explain yourselves, I know what happened."
"You've got the wrong idea," Katie hissed, hoping not too many of the others were awake yet.
"Yeah, dude, nothing happened!" Travis whined, looking as miserable as Katie felt.
Unfortunately, Miranda was. She walked in behind Connor to see what the commotion was and cracked up. "Finally! Took you two long enough."
"Ughh!" Katie hid her face in her hands, wishing this wasn't her life.
She was just caught in bed with her sworn enemy.
This couldn't be happening.
"Well, we'll let you two wake up." Miranda giggled when Katie send her a death glare, but she ushered Connor and herself out of the room and closed the door behind them.
Utter quiet ensued.
Until, that is, Katie punched Travis in the stomach.
"Ow!" He griped, rubbing his side.
"I get the cot tomorrow night."
An evil smile slithered onto his face. "We'll see about that, Katie-kins."
"Are you challenging my cuddling abilities?"
"Maybe I am."
Mustering all the confidence she had, she leaned in just close enough to almost brush her lips against his ear. She heard his breath hitch, and she choked down a laugh.
"You're on, Stoll."