"Hey, Lalna?" Kim stuck her head out around the corner. The scientist was mumbling to himself, working on a complicated-looking machine. "It's the middle of the night. Shouldn't you go to bed or something? I keep hearing weird sounds from your tower."

"Hm? Oh, hi Kim. I'm just working on this little project I have here. It'll increase the security around my castle. What's up?" Lalna said. Kim sighed. The blonde-haired scientist acted like he never heard her at all.

"Lalna, you should go to sleep. You can finish your project faster if you're all rested up."

"No, no I can't do that. I'm working on something big here. Besides, I don't even have a bed. I don't need sleep." The scientist readjusted his goggles and continued to fumble around the machine. "I don't usually sleep. There's science to be done!"

"Lalna, you can't-"

"Kim, I'm fine. You should go back to sleep."

"But-"

Lalna sighed. "Please?" He asked, not taking his eyes of the wires he was connecting.

Kim bit her lip. "Alright. Don't overexert yourself."

"Right. Don't worry."

Kim left for her tower, and Lalna sighed again. Two voices battled inside his head.

You should sleep, the first said.

Don't sleep. You don't need it! Besides, you need to finish this machine! The other protested.

"Guys, stop arguing," Lalna said aloud. "I have too much to do to sleep."

See? The second voice said triumphantly.

You son of a-

"Guys! I need my concentration now!"

Sorry.

Yeah, sorry Lalna.

"It's fine. Just be quiet for a few minutes, okay? I'm trying to figure out which wire hooks up to which outlet."

The two voices subsided, leaving Lalna in complete silence. The machine's humming fell pleasantly on Lalna's ears, and he relaxed. The wires were connected properly, and the machine lit up like Christmas lights.

"Ah, done! This is pretty cool," Lalna smiled to himself. Now he just needed to hook it up to an energy source and then-

"Lalna!" A voice interrupted his train of thought. Kim dashed in and grabbed Lalna's gloved hand.

"W-what?" The scientist jumped, startled.

"I made a bed for you, so come down to my tower and get some rest!" Kim demanded her teacher. Lalna sighed exasperatedly but let Kim drag him down to the tower opposite of his.

She led him through the door and pushed him down onto clean sheets. Lalna glared at her accusingly. "I was about to finish my machine."

"You can do that tomorrow. Look at you!" Kim pulled Lalna's googles off his eyes to reveal weary green eyes. Dark, deep gray bags hung under them. "You're obviously tired!"

"I am not! Kim, just let me do my job. I'm your teacher!" The scientist tried to stand, but Kim put a firm hand on his chest and gently pushed him down again.

"You are my teacher, yes, but you are still human! You need to sleep. I'm looking out for your well-being. What's there to teach if you can't even think properly?" Kim scolded Lalna. The scientist looked at her. He wanted to protest, but Kim was too stubborn. Perhaps that was a good thing.

"Fine, I'll sleep for a while," he muttered in defeat. He was halfway inside the covers until Kim pulled him out again. "Hey, what-"

"Lalna! You're going to sleep in your lab clothes! Look at them!" The scientist looked down. His once starch-white lab coat was covered in machine oil, grease and damped in sweat, and his boots and gloves had all sorts of unknown chemicals on it.

"You can't sleep in that."

"But Kim-"

"No buts," Kim said sternly. "I don't want to mother you, but it's ridiculous! Come on, get out of those clothes and into something more suitable for sleep."

"Kim, I'm tired! Can't you wait until tomorrow or something?" Lalna muttered sleepily.

Kim shook her head and sighed. The scientist was already drifting off, and he was still wearing his dirty lab clothes.

Without thinking, Kim grabbed Lalna's lab coat and started undoing the buttons, until his clean grey dress shirt was revealed. She pulled off his boots and gloves and threw them across the room.

"Kim, what are you doing…?" Her teacher mumbled quietly. Due to the darkness, thankfully, Kim couldn't see his face turn a bright red at her touch. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Yeah, you can. Jeez, Lalna, you are one tough cookie to take care of…" Kim walked around the other side of the bed and sat facing the scientist. She smiled. "Good night."

She crawled into the covers at looked at Lalna, who seemed to have already passed out over the covers. Chuckling slightly, she gently pulled the blanket over his body and watched it heave slowly up and down, keeping to a steady rhythm.

"Kim…" he murmured suddenly. "It's cold. There's no heating…"

"Lalna-"

Too late. The scientist pulled Kim across the bed and held her close to his chest. Kim squeaked in surprise, but Lalna whispered, "Shh, Kim… It's only me."

Kim nodded slowly, and her eyelids began to flutter shut. The last thing she remembered was her hands slowly wrapping around Lalna's chest and snuggling her head into his neck.

Lalna hummed happily and stroked the sleeping girl's hair. He planted a soft kiss on her head and pulled her closer, enjoying the warmth radiating off her small body.

"I love you," he whispered to her sleeping form before delving into what he thought was going to be a peaceful night's rest.

And the two slept together from then on, the scientist and his apprentice, their arms around each other and their legs intertwined. Both claimed that it was for the lack of heating, but each night, the two snuggled closer together, until no one could separate the other from their love.

A/N: First posted on my Tumblr, and I decided to post it here as well. This is my first fluff fic, so enjoy it! (Agh its so cute)

I'm also dubbing this ship as LalnaSounds, since no one really bothered to give it a name. (Kim is cute with everyone, ahaha)

Cover art creds go to Starglade.

Havs, out!