Acorns and Butterflies

Part 6

Poor little Five fell asleep as soon as they found a safe place to hide.

He's so exhausted! Vanya thought. He's been over-using his powers worse than I've ever seen him over-use them before!

He had his head on Ben's lap and Ben was staring at him adoringly while petting him like crazy.

Ben needs to calm down, Vanya thought. Or he's going to scare Five with his fanaticism.

Luckily, Five was out for the count. So he didn't notice that Ben was staring at him super creepily.

Just as lucky, Five had always been a heavy sleeper. Actually, Vanya suspected that the pets and hugs made it easier for him to stay asleep.

Or that's how it was for her, when she had trouble with insomnia. Mom would give her loads of cuddles and the feeling of someone in the bed with her made it much easier for Vanya to sleep.

Five is just like me, Vanya decided. So it's a good thing that Ben is just like Mom. But he needs to be careful.

"You okay?" Allison whispered.

"Hmm?"

"You... just... are you okay?" Allison insisted.

"Yeah," Vanya whispered. "Um, what about you? Are you okay?"

"No," Allison said, pouting. "Can I have huggles?"

Vanya grinned and said, "Yessir."

"Wow," Klaus said. "Way to leave me out in the cold, you guys."

"Shh!" Ben whispered. "Don't wake Five up!"

Of course, Ben's aggressive whispering is what actually woke Five up. He startled, sitting up and blinking at them.

"I'm so sorry!" Ben whispered. "I'm sorry!"

"Huh?" Five said.

"It's okay," Klaus whispered. "Everyone is safe as, uh, as an Irish day."

"A what day?" Allison said.

Klaus shrugged.

Five squinted at Klaus. Then he rubbed at his eyes and said, "Crap. I hate sleeping."

Vanya frowned and said, "Five... have you been having any dreams?"

Five pouted and said, "No."

Vanya tilted her head and said, "Hmm, I see."

Five chuckled and said, "Not as much as me, siree."

Vanya giggled.

"The fuck," Ben said. "The hell?"

"What's wrong?" Five said.

"Shit," Ben said. "Nothing."

"Ugh," Five said. "Fine."

"Don't be like that," Klaus cooed. "We loooove you."

"Fuck off, Klaus," Five said. "I'm not in the mood."

Vanya half expected Ben to jump on the bandwagon and take Five's grumpiness as a cue to bully Klaus.

But Ben was frowning thoughtfully.

Allison said, "So you hate sleeping, huh? What do you wanna do instead?"

Five smiled at her and said, "What do you have in mind?"

Allison leaned towards him conspiratorially and said, "The sun will be up soon. That means we won't have to hide anymore."

"Aha!" Klaus said. "We can pretend we're early bird teenagers out on an adventure in the playground!"