King of the Cell (DNF)

Chapter 41: Can't sleep

Just a nice little fluff chapter.
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Dream POV.

The days until we were going to break out passed extremely quickly, and we spent most of our free time during those days ironing out all the small details as best we could. George was still relatively unaware of the escape details, but since he was involved we had him sitting with us, which confused him a lot.

The group also began a kind of ‘reading project’ in the library. We’d managed to find books on plumbing for beginners, electricity for beginners, and gardening for beginners, all of which would be able to help us when we got out of here because the more self-sustaining we were, the less we’d need to be around other people.

I was sitting on my bed just before lights out and had decided that the first thing I was going to read was about gardening. Although because it was getting really late, I was pretty exhausted, which was strange seeing as I didn’t do too much besides reading today.

There was a page that I was mainly focusing on, it was called ‘Seasons and Growing’ and was all about different foods that could be grown at different times in the year, and which ones were the best if you were starting in Winter, and what foods could grow all year. Since it would be close to Winter by the time we escaped I decided this bit was essential.

By now though, my eyes were tired and watery and made everything look like a fuzzy mess, and so I was spending my time just staring at flower pictures on another page. All the colours were merging into a rainbow blur and it made my exhausted brain happy and I couldn’t help but let out a hum in content.

George was sitting beside me on the bed, looking through a cookbook for some easy recipes that he could learn. On his lap was a notepad and pen and he copied down some of the recipes, which was smarter thinking than I was doing. Occasionally he piped up to ask if I had any ideas about growing carrots, or something else that he needed in his recipe, but that was all.

He noted my yawning, before realising what time it was. “Are you tired?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow. I glanced warily over at him before simply nodding, a yawn happening at the same time which helped prove his point. “We can go to sleep now if you want.” He went on to offer, and I nodded. It was only a few minutes until lights out, and a bit more sleep could be good.

While giving me a caring look he set his book down beside the lower bunk, before shuffling up so that we could both fit under the blankets. I set my book down alongside his before moving to do the same and pulling the blankets up over the both of us.

Somehow us sleeping in the same bed had become a thing, and neither of us knew or cared how. We just would both climb into the same bunk and sleep cuddled up to each other and neither of us minded. It was surprisingly peaceful, and it was a lot warmer when you had someone else cuddled up against you at night.

The brunette’s arms were wrapped snugly around my waist and his head was on my chest, using it as a pillow since the stupid prison beds didn’t have enough room for both of us to use a pillow on this bed. I was the one who got to use the pillow and I had the arm that was closest to the brunette around his back.

Even though I was tired, I was struggling to fall asleep. I don’t know what it was that was keeping me awake, whether I was laying in an uncomfortable position or I was too stressed about the upcoming escape (even though I was confident it would work), but I just was unable to doze off.

To keep myself distracted I played with the brunette's hair, using my free hand to brush through it or occasionally plait small braids, just to keep me busy. I figured that he’d be asleep, but after who knows how long he spoke up. “Dream… are you alright?” My hand halted its movements when I heard his tired voice.

After a second I responded with, “yeah, I’m fine.” It was clear that the brunette knew I wasn’t, and in the darkened room he sat up so he could look into my eyes.
“Can you not sleep?” He questioned, pity visible in his eyes.
“Yeah,” I sighed in response. “I’m not sure why though.”

“Wanna stay up and talk for a bit then?” George offered, moving around slightly so he was sitting up. I just gave a brief nod, deciding that if I was going to stay up I could at the very least be doing something.

“How is your book going?” He began, it was certainly going to be a strange type of conversation to have, but we spent most of the day around each other and so there wasn’t much else to talk about.
“My book is going alright. About as good as a gardening book can be at least.”

George chuckled lightly at that before going on to ask, ‘anything interesting that you want to try and plant?’
“A couple of things that I saw that I could probably grow. Potatoes and radishes and stuff. How about you? Anything you want to try and cook?”

“I’ve noted down a couple recipes, but I was never the best at cooking. Currently I’m looking through a section called ‘family and food’, it’s full of stuff that is so easy a parent can do it with their kids. So I think I’ll be able to manage.”
“Don’t tell me you think of yourself as a kid Georgie,” I cooed teasingly, holding back a laugh.

The brunette just shrugged before joining me in quiet giggles. “Actually,” he started again after a minute. “I saw a section in there which made me laugh. It was couples meal ideas called ‘date night dishes’! All of it was named so fucking weird!”
I couldn’t help but join in with his laughter before asking what types of names there were.

“Well there was corny shit like ‘lover’s lasagna’ or ‘pleasurable pizza’.” He listed.
“Pleasurable pizza?” I questioned. “That sounds pretty funny. But you’ll definitely have to make it sometime.”
“Are you suggesting that we are a couple, Dream?” The brunette questioned.

“Absolutely. We are a couple of friends, aren’t we?” I questioned, feigning innocence to what he actually meant, but George saw past that.
“You’re an idiot.” He chuckled. To my surprise he leaned towards me and pecked me on the cheek. “Now go to bed.”

I watched as he settled back down on my chest and turned his head away from me. After a couple of minutes it seemed he had fallen asleep and I couldn’t help but move my hand up to my cheek, enjoying the feeling of his lips pressed against them. I hummed contently as I thought about what happened, before settling in and sleeping.
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1213 words