Paranoia

The hotel room wasn't as bad as Max had thought it was going to be. There was a nice floral print on the walls and the room was spacious. It even included a kitchenette and something akin to a living room. The only thing that was a problem was that Jeb had only rented one room. He wasn't lying when he'd said that they'd be sharing the space.

Angel and Nudge shot past her at the entrance and ran all over the place, looking in every closet, nook and cranny. "I like it," Angel declared. "I got dibs on the first bed in the bedroom!"

"Me too!" Nudge said.

Gazzy had sat himself in an armchair and noticed that it leaned back with a foot rest that came up. "I call this chair!" he shouted to the others. Max noticed that they were trying their hardest to not have to do any overly bunking with each other. She shrugged and said that she didn't mind sleeping on the couch, leaving one bed for Jeb to have in another room adjoined to this one and one more in the same room being shared with the girls. She wanted one of the younger members to have it, but the only ones who hadn't claimed a spot were Iggy and Fang.

Fang had already thrown his backpack on the bed and taken off his shoes, getting comfortable. Iggy sat down next to him. "I have back problems, I can't sleep on the floor," he said pointedly.

Fang stared at him. "Since when?" he asked.

"Since we've had to sleep in sewers and trees and shit. My back's all out of wack because of that." He stripped off his shirt and settled in under the comforter. Fang only glanced at him again, then grabbed the top blanket and turned away from him. He felt Iggy shift. Then shift again.

Finally, the boy pushed him in his back. "Hey, you're on my covers. Move."

"You move," Fang snapped, trying to go to sleep. He was dog tired from the day's journey and was getting irritable because of it.

"But I can't until you move," Iggy growled, shoving him hard in the back.

Fang swung around and gave him a slight punch on the arm. "Don't touch me! I don't like to be touched! It gets me angry! And you won't like me when I'm angry!" he shouted.

Iggy shrunk back. "God, what the hell is wrong with you?" He took that moment to snatch his covers from up under Fang and settled on his side of the bed. The girls got into theirs and the light was shut off by Max, who retreated to the couch.

Slowly, the night passed away. Snores could be heard from everyone around the rooms, especially from Nudge, who sounded like an oncoming train. Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, Fang woke up to notice that Iggy had rolled over towards him and that they were now face to face and were close to each other. Very close. Iggy's eyes fluttered open sleepily. Then, slowly, he reached out a hand and stroked Fang's arm.

"Hey," he whispered.

Fang closed his eyes slowly and counted to three before answering. "What?" he whispered back.

"You smell nice."

Fang's eyes snapped back open and he sat up. Or tried to. Until he noticed that Total had been leaning over him and staring him in the face very intently.

"You two get the hell away from me!" he screamed out, waking up everyone.

Jeb ran into their room with a metal baseball bat, hair wild and sleep still in his eyes. "What, who's here?" he asked in a confused, alarmed voice.

Iggy sat up too and rubbed his eyes. "What? What are you talking about?"

"No, what are you talking about?!" Fang said hysterically, jumping out the bed and pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Okay, Fang. We've all known that as of late, you've gone kind of weird on us. But this is just...redundant," Iggy said, trying to get the boy to hear him on his own level.

"No, you telling me I smell nice was redundant! I could've gone without hearing that!"

Iggy blinked and gave him a blind stare. "What the hell do you mean I said you smell nice?! You're trippin'!"

"No, I am not tripping, you are!" Fang said, saying "tripping" very proper without dropping the 'g'.

"Wait, start over, how'd this begin? Jeb asked.

Fang threw a wary glance at Iggy, then recounted how he had been blissfully counting sheep and dreaming of wearing a wool coat when Iggy had so rudely made his comment. Then, he told how Total had been staring at him with a "deep look of longing in his eyes." When he was done, a silence echoed across the room.

Finally, Total spoke. "Fang, nobody wants you. I mean, you're quite a looker-" here Fang cringed-"But you're not my type. As your dog, I'm your best four-legged friend. That's my job in life, to be man's best friend. Nothing else. And I don't even have to do that if I don't feel like it! Why do you think dogs rebel?"

"And as for what you said I had said," Iggy jumped in. "I was thinking of Tess."

"Your eyes were open!" Fang countered.

"They were? Hm...Look, all I know was that I was dreaming about going to the prom with Tess and we were dancing and I told her she smelled nice. I must have spoken out loud."

"But when you asked 'Hey' and I said what, you just so happened to answer back with that!" Fang shouted.

"Look, I'm not after you, okay?!" Iggy finally screamed back, losing his temper. At this moment, he wished he had a plastic spoon to stab him with.

Jeb came between them. "Okay, okay, enough. Fang, Iggy's not hitting on you. And Iggy, if you want..." he tried to think of another place the boy could sleep at.

Suddenly, Angel spoke up. "There's a study down the hall that has a couch. Iggy could sleep there."

They stared at her.

"Why didn't you sleep there?" Fang asked.

"Because, Nudge's snoring scares the monsters away," she responded. They chuckled at her naivety, then Iggy got up with his covers and pillow and left for the study. Total switched beds and went to sleep with the girls, and for some reason, Max never once stirred.

Fang rolled over and pulled the covers over his head, trying to make up for lost time before they had to get up. He had dismissed Iggy's statement already; he knew that he had overreacted. But Total's...he'd have to keep an eye out for him. Note to self: set up a private spot for him and the stuffed husky.