AN: This little short was inspired by a prompt from PutThePromptsOnPaper on Tumblr. The prompt will be at the end of the story. I do hope you enjoy this tiny, tiny bit of character building. It has no place in my time line or purpose other than practice writing and amusement!

Tanya couldn't help but laugh at the sight that greeted her as she entered the rec room. She had hoped to watch some television but had been greeted with a slumbering Nosedive sprawled across the central couch. He lay face down with a throw pillow half covering his head, one arm and knee draped over the couch. His hand kept jerking as he muttered unintelligible things. A comic book had fallen to the floor.

Tanya picked up the comic book so nobody would step on it and moved it to a side table. Settling into one of the side couches, she leaned back and watched her youngest team mate. He didn't look like he was having a nightmare; she'd probably have woken him up if that were the case.

"Ah! Fire!" Nosedive's mumblings became loud and clear.

She stood, ready to wake him, when he spoke again.

"Stupid ass dragon. Listen, she's my princess, not yours. So, if you'll just give her back, we'll call it a day. M'kay?"

Tanya snorted as she tried to hold back the laughter.

"I never said you could have her in the first place!"

Wow. At least this dream seemed to be a fantasy one and not something horrible.

"Dude, I don't care if you can breathe fire! Tanya's my princess and you can't have her."

Wait? What? He was dreaming about her? She'd always known his brain was somewhat broken, but never suspected it'd be quite that bad!

"Hey, Tanya, come here. No, you can't stay with the dragon. He's ugly and stinks. Why'd you want to stay with him?" He turned his head, making the pillow fall to the floor.

"No, dragons don't magically make cotton candy." His voice turned condescending. "But, I'll buy you some if you come with me."

Eew. She hated cotton candy. It always ended up in a sticky, rock hard mess that dyed everything. After the incident where some kid hurled their cotton candy onto the ice during a game and she landed beak first in it, she couldn't stand the stuff.

"Come on..." He coaxed the dream version of herself away from the dragon, "I've got gizmos you can blow up."

Actually, that did sound tempting. Blowing stuff up was always fun. She smiled to herself, thinking about how many explosions the team thought were accidental. Anything Mallory had been involved in was an accident; but, only half of the things she'd had to clean up in her lab were unintentional.

"Get down!" His voice was so loud and commanding she almost found herself dropping to the floor. "Run for it!" He began thrashing, trying to escape the terror of his dream.

She reached out a hand to shake him awake when he rolled off the couch, landing on her feet with a solid thud. Groaning, he rubbed his head and looked up at her.

"Hey," Tanya smiled down at him. "Need a hand?"

"Ow. Yeah." He took her offered hand and let her help pull him up. Rubbing his head, he sat down again.

"Bad dream?" Her eyes betrayed the amusement she tried to hide.

"Yeah. Something about a dragon..." Shaking his head, he dismissed it. "So, want to watch some TV?"

"You know, I get the sleep talking thing." This wasn't something she was going to leave alone. "I even get the princess and dragon dream."

"How'd you know there was a princess?" His gaze turned suspicious.

"What I don't get is why I'm in it."

"Oh, shit."

End AN: The prompt- "I understand the whole sleep talking thing; but, what I don't understand, is the princess dragon dream and why I'm in it."