When I awoke, I found myself on the other side of the bed...and completely wrapped around Robin.

Somewhere throughout the night, I had monopolized the bed. Leaving Robin to lay helplessly on the remaining sliver while I clung to him like I was the one about to fall off. My legs intertwined with one of his, my stomach was flush against his back, and if that wasn't bad enough, I had committed the ultimate sleep-over faux pau: I drooled on the pillow a little bit.

To make matters more embarrassing, my arm was also slung over his waist, where my hand had worked its way under his shirt. I had somehow grabbed the material that should have been covering his stomach. I was gripping it so tightly that, when it released my fingers and drew them back, they ached.

So much for not touching. I thought, remembering how my fingers curled just like this when I saw him shirtless in the bathroom. And suddenly I am wide awake with all kinds of emotions crashing through my consciousness.

Oh my god. I mentally cringe, closing my eyes painfully. Now that I've recognized my reactions for what they were, it was hard to ignore the broken record playing in my head. Like a maddening skip, all I can hear is I like Robin. I like Robin. I think I like Robin.

I laid on my back slowly, as not to wake him, and scooted toward the other side of the bed. The minute he felt me leave, Robin stirred a little bit, then unconsciously started to fill up the room given to him.

"I am so sorry." I whispered, trying to give him more space to stretch out. I hadn't really taken my sleeping habits into account when I planned this trip. Namely, the fact that I was a bed hog.

Piling him up on a sliver of bed, while a little funny, didn't make me feel great about my ability to draw firmer boundaries with myself regarding him. However, upon second glance, and to make matters fair, he was a complete cover hog. So, who is to say I wasn't just chasing warmth the whole night?

Tugging some of the cover back to me, I rolled onto my side and tried to go back to sleep. However, before I could close my eyes, I was swiftly met with a heavy arm slinging over me and pulling me onto my back instead. I gaped at Robin, who was glaring at me like I had murdered his first-born child.

"That is mine. I fought hard to have it."

Stuttering isn't in my nature. In fact, silence isn't really either. I always have something to say, and yet, the minute I register the feeling of Robin's hand gripping the blanket resting over my stomach, the warmth coming from his skin, and the brilliant hazel of his eyes as he lay this close to me... I am at a loss for words. I open my mouth, then close it, then open it again to no avail. My eyes search his, but the longer and unceasingly he glares at me, the more I dissolve into every inch of bed he occupies.

Finally, I struggled out, "So you admit you're a cover hog?"

"You are a mercenary." He responds like lightning. Not moving his gaze from mine. "I had to fight to survive."

"Then why was I the one crawling under your skin to get warm this morning?" The surprise was waning, and I could feel my normalcy return. It doesn't take long before I think more about the conversation at hand than his hand pinning me to the bed.

Robin narrowed his eyes. Not in a playful way, more like a "speak one more word and I'll kill you slowly" way. Without warning he moved closer until he was half lying on top of me. I moved aside, pushing him slightly, but any space that was recovered was instantly filled. I gained an inch, and he took up two. Eventually I was half falling off the bed, holding onto his shirt to keep from crashing onto the floor. His hand flew around me, gripping the side of the mattress.

Caged between his arms, I huffed exasperatedly, "Okay, okay, I get it! You don't have to be so petty!"

"Do you?" He grumbled, "Do you get it? Because I'm pretty sure I checked for bed bugs last night and yet every time I woke up, which was often, one was latched to me."

"Hold on," It was my turn to narrow my eyes, "First of all, I was unconscious. Second, if it was such a problem, why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried! What you gain in strength, you fully lose in senses. Touch, sight, hearing---nothing worked."

I looked at my hand around his shirt and tried to let go, but when I almost slid off the bed, I grabbed him again. Robin's hand released the bed and gripped my side to steady me. If it weren't for the fact I was burning with remorse, I may have burned for a different reason. He pulled me back onto the bed so that I wouldn't slide off again.

Not giving him time to growl about anything else, I cleared my throat, "Look, I'm really sorry. If I had known you were uncomfortable, I would have moved sooner, I promise."

This got through to him, and his eyes changing from aggravated to subdued in a moment. Robin traces my expression before backing off. I sat up as he sat back and rubbed his neck. Both of us looked at our laps, not sure where to go. There was a moment of awkward silence while we considered what had just happened.

"I'm sorry." He met my gaze, shaking his head, "I uh, I'm not exactly what you would call a morning person. Not that that justifies anything--"

"Don't worry about it," I cut him off, lifting my palms out to him in a soothing gesture before tucking wild strands of hair behind my ears. "Seriously. I know. This we have in common."

But he doesn't look soothed, and Robin insists, "I didn't mean to be an ass about it. I just---"

"Need sleep." We both said at the same time, with the same exact intonation.

When he realizes I understand, and that I don't blame him for being grumpy, Robin's shoulders release. I smile a little, making him eye me curiously before moving away to lay back against his pillow. It doesn't take long before his eyes are drifting closed.

I distract myself with the design of the comforter. "Do you want to sleep in? I can get breakfast and come back."

Robin shook his head, "No, we should get back on the road."

I could tell he was just being polite. The way Robin slowly sunk into the pillow with every word told me there was no chance of him getting up. When he adjusted to lay on his right shoulder, I knew he was already half-way back to sleep. So, I nodded, "Okay well I'm going to use the bathroom to get ready. It'll probably take a while, so relax then we can go."

"Mmhmm," He bobbed his chin, sighing into his pillow, "I'll get dressed."

By the time I was ready and came out of the bathroom, Robin had passed back out completely. I wasn't the slightest surprised to find him lying smack in the middle of the bed with all the covers swathed around him.

Turns out we are both bed and cover hogs.

I laughed under my breath and snuck out to get breakfast.

--

When I returned, coffee and bagel in hand, Robin was still fast asleep. Though "asleep" didn't seem like a strong enough word to convey the corpse like body that lay before me. Something about the way his limbs bent into the sheets made them look unusually heavy. I had a suspicion that if I tried to raise his arm, it would take all my strength.

"He wasn't joking." I whispered to myself. The guy made sleeping look like an artform.

Wiggling over to the side of the bed where his head was. I sat in the chair and waved the coffee under his nose. "Wakey wakey, Robin."

He stirred a little bit with a groan, and I swayed the coffee once more. Robin's eyes cracked open slightly to look at the steam curling around his nose. Squeezing his lids shut and sighing into the pillow, he mumbled something expletive then made a growl-like noise. I laughed.

Clearly, sleeping was the easy part, waking up was the feat.

I crinkled the bag as extra encouragement.

"I thought you were going to get dressed?" I teased, digging into the bag, and pulling out the bagel and cream cheese.

He groans again, rubbing his hand over his face, before turning his head away from me. His arms sweep up and curl around the pillow, trying to block out all sound.

"Well said." I chirp, spreading the cream cheese out with the plastic knife included in the utensil package. "But not a great excuse. It's now twelve o'clock and you've put us four hours behind. We were supposed to be home by now."

He mumbles beneath the pillow, then thrusts his hand out toward me. I offer the coffee cup to him passively, and he turns over. Much like a snail, Robin curls into a sitting position and, with eyes still closed, takes a long drink.

Distracted by the bagel for the next few minutes, I am surprised to find him staring at me when I go to hand it off to him. A grin seizes me the moment I take in his twisted-up hair and deeply etched pillow lines. I handed over the bagel and sat back in the chair, thoroughly entertained.

"What's so funny?" He grumbles, narrowing a glare at me that would feel lethal if it weren't for the blatant puffiness of his eyes and cheeks. He looked like a pissed off Squishmallow.

"You're kind of cute when you're sleepy."

I said it without thinking, and it took me by surprise. However, Robin was not fully conscious enough to retort. He just raised his eyebrows and snorted sarcastically, "Oh, yeah, I'm adorable. A real ray of sunshine."

Rolling my lips into my mouth, I try to contain my laughter, "And tetchy, apparently."

Doing his best, he forced a sarcastic smile before taking another drink of his coffee. It was a good thing I let him sleep in. Who knows what kind of catastrophic event might have occurred had he got back on the road with so little sleep.

Now I understand why he was so good in the horror industry. All it took to see the chilling side of Robin was waking him up before he was ready.

---

Hello lovelies!!

Well that concludes our one-bed trope fun! What did you all think? :D

I think Robin and Leah have entered a realm of chaos they aren't nearly prepared for. Or, maybe, have been preparing for the whole time. *Wiggling eyebrows mischievously*.

In any case, I really hope you are all still enjoying the novel and are looking forward to what happens next. We are about to descend back into some exciting drama, so hold on tight to these sweet little moments for the next few chapters. It's about to get REAL.

However, don't worry if you're here for the fun times, this book is about to get so sweet y'all will be blaming it for your next dentist bill! (I sincerely hope this novel causes no cavities ahahah!)

Speaking of sweet things, today's chapter is dedicated to K_B_Fletcher!

Thank you so much for supporting my book and for all your comments and votes. I am deeply sorry that it has kept you up so late at night ahahah! I really hope that future chapters make your sleep deprivation worth it <3

You are the best! I am very appreciative of you!

Of all of you!!

See you next time, and don't forget to vote, comment, and share if you are enjoying :)

with love,

e.g.