Empathy (a Shoey fanfic)

I Know

*Shane's POV*

So, Joey has lived with us for about a month and a half now and everything has been going pretty well. Lisa hasn't been getting sick as often, which is good, but Joey is feeling it more because they're like besties now. They've also been sleeping a lot more than usual. It's kind of cute, but I still feel bad for them. What I don't understand is how Lisa's been this sick for so long but I'm still totally fine. I want to know what's wrong.

I went into Joey's room to wake him up because it was almost 2:30 in the afternoon and he's been asleep for like fifteen hours. I crawled across his bed and sat beside him. I wanted to find a creative way to wake him up so I pinched my arm to see if he would feel it. He immediately flinched before opening his emerald eyes. "Ow!" he whined, "Shaney, why did you do that? It hurt." God, he's adorable.

"That was the idea. You need to get up. You can't just sleep all day."

"Why not? What time is it?"

"It's almost 2:30, which means you need to get up," I stated, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Can we cuddle instead?" I was not going to fall for that one again.

"No. I've been with you long enough to know that when you say 'cuddle', you mean 'stay here while I go back to sleep.' Now, get up."

"I don't want to. Are you going to wake Lisa up?" he asked, lazily leaning on me.

"No."

I could tell that he was starting to get irritated. "Why not?"

"Two reasons. One: She'll kill me, and two: She's actually sick; you're just being lazy."

"I resent that,"he said, making his cute, scrunched-up, pouty face. "I'm not getting up."

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice." Since we've been together, I've managed to confuse him with sarcasm, so he can't always tell whether or not I'm being serious. I obviously use that to my advantage.

"Shaney, what are you talking about?" He was starting to get nervous, which was my goal. Instead of answering him, I just smirked mischievously.

"Shaney, stop it; You're scaring me." At that point, my grin grew as he started to shy away from me. He's so cute when he's scared. As he tried to move away, I moved closer, wiggling my fingers in front of me. I knew he'd catch on soon, and when he did, I was not disappointed by his reaction. "Please don't," he begged as I inched even closer to him. I started tickling him, his pleas for me to stop were swallowed in a jumble of squeals and giggles.

"Say you'll get up!" I demanded. I knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, and he knew I wouldn't stop until he did what I wanted.

"Okay! Okay! I'll get up, please stop!" he whined. As soon as he conceded, I stopped tickling him. I stepped over him to get off of the bed and grabbed his hands to pull him off too.

"Good boy," I said before giving him a kiss, which he immediately returned. He pulled away shortly after, pouting.

"Don't kiss me; I'm trying to be mad at you."

"How's that working out for you?"

"Not very well."

He kissed me again, this one lasting longer than the last. I love his kisses. "I love you," I stated after pulling away.

"I know."

{AN: If you noticed the Bo Burnham allusion, you're awesome. ^_^}

^Joey's POV^