The day Zeb had been dreading for the past few weeks had finally happened; Ezra was moving into his cabin. They had finally got a mattress for the top bunk for Ezra to sleep on the day before, and after Hera checked the room to make sure the room was 'child friendly', they determined Ezra could move in with Zeb.
It wasn't that Zeb didn't like the kid, Zeb, like the others, enjoyed having the little guy part of their crew. The problem though was that Zeb was worried Ezra wouldn't get any sleep with Zeb as a roommate. He had never told the other members of the crew but the truth was Zeb had a hard time staying asleep at night. The truth was Zeb would toss and turn in his bed at night in order to prevent himself from falling into a deep sleep.
Whenever Zeb fell asleep for more than two hours, nightmares of his past haunted him, of how he couldn't help his people from being slaughtered by the Empire. It was the reasons he took naps throughout the day, in order to prevent himself from going to bed. But with Ezra as his roommate, he knew he would have to come up with another method.
Zeb had tried to think of other rooms Ezra could stay in. Kanan's room was out due to not having a second bunk in his room, and he couldn't bunk with Hera and Sabine for obvious reasons. While Ezra had been staying in the medbay for a few weeks, Zeb knew that couldn't be permeant as the med bay was supposed to be for emergencies (and when he recommend the idea to Hera, she gave him a lecture on the matter). Zeb really didn't know what else to do but one thing; not make a sound or move while Ezra was in his room, without falling asleep.
"That could work." Zeb thought to himself, though he knew he was kidding himself.
Finally night time came and the crew went their respective ways for the night. Ezra had already gone to bed; with Hera tucking him in for the night. When Zeb got to his, or now 'their' cabin, he saw Ezra asleep with his lothcat toy in his arms. Zeb then went to lay on his own bed, trying to fight the urge to sleep. For almost an hour he stared up under of the bunk above him, trying to keep his mind occupied. Doing nothing though caused exhaustion to go over Zeb. As Zeb shook his head from fatigue, he heard the top bunk moving,
"Zeb," Ezra whispered to the Lasat.
Zeb did not respond, hoping if he was quiet the kid would just assume he was asleep and follow suit, this hope though was soon diminished when Ezra peered his head to see the Lasat underneath him. Zeb closed his eyes to convince the kid he was asleep, again though Ezra was not fooled.
"I know you're not asleep Zeb." Ezra told the Lasat, who noticed the boy sounded a little sad at the statement.
"No I'm not kid, but you should be," Zeb pointed out to Ezra sounding a little harsher than he intended.
"Are you mad at me?" Ezra blurted out, taking the Lasat by surprise.
"Why would you think I'm mad at you?" Zeb asked, wondering why Ezra would think of something so crazy. Yes, Zeb sounded a little harsh, but he didn't think the kid would read into it too much.
Ezra then laid back onto his bed, so Zeb could only here his voice, "Because you have to share a room with me." Ezra told his bunkmate with a guilty tone.
"Karabast," Zeb thought to himself guiltily.
"Kid, I'm not mad." Zeb told the boy.
"Then why aren't you asleep?" Ezra asked.
Even though Zeb wanted to avoid the topic, he knew he had to be honest with Ezra so the poor kid wouldn't think he was mad and so the kid would go to sleep.
"To be honest kid I don't sleep well anyways. But let's just leave it at that, and know it has nothing to do with you"
Ezra was quiet for a while when he came up with an idea,
"Do you want to hear a bedtime story?"
This really took Zeb back a bit,
"What?" he asked a little confused.
Ezra then explained, "My mom and dad would tell me stories to help me sleep, and they would read to themselves when they went to bed. Maybe you need to hear a story to sleep."
Zeb remembered his parents doing something similar to him when he was a boy. But with Zeb being thirty-five, he figured this wouldn't work on him and even if it would, he couldn't let it; Zeb was trying to avoid falling asleep.
"I don't think that will work for me kid," Zeb gently told the kid.
"We won't know until we try," Ezra said optimistically, "I know this one about a Jedi and a goat, or was it a ghost. Anyways the Ghost/Goat lived or haunted a mountain. Oh wait hold on-,"
"How about I tell you a story kid. That will put both of us to sleep "Zeb cut in calmly, though to be honest he just wanted the kid to shut up.
"Cool," Ezra agreed, "Which one?"
"Umm?" Zeb was lost, he didn't know any bedtime stories, none that were age appropriate at least. Ezra seemed to sense this and came up with one,
"How about you tell me of how you joined the Honor Guard."
Zeb thought about this for a moment, him joining the Guard wasn't too long of a story and it was a decent story to tell a seven year old.
"Alright kid, are all situated up there?" Zeb asked the kid, hoping that if the kid was positioned for bed, he would fall asleep sooner.
Zeb heard Ezra get comfortable into his bunk and the Lasat began to tell his tale.
"Well, to get into the Honor Guard, you can't just sign up, you have to be recruited by a Guard already in Service. Well my older brother recruited me to join. On my first day at the academy I was excited to begin my training; until I learned it was the beginning of 'Chaos Week'…"
Zeb continued to tell Ezra of having to wake up before the sun rose, of having to climb a mountain in under twelve hours or the whole platoon had to do it again until they did. While they did achieve that task they had to run around the base twenty times and other insane exercises to see which Lasats could make it. Zeb continued to tell his story, not even sure if the kid had fallen asleep or not, but despite himself, he found himself drifting into a slumber; dreaming of that first day as an Honor Guard.
When Zeb woke up, he was completely shocked at how he felt; he felt well rested. For the first time in the longest time, when morning came he didn't feel exhausted. That was when he heard Chopper rolling into the room,
"Don't even think about you rust bucket," Zeb shouted as he threw his pillow at the droid, causing the droid to wheel away.
Zeb felt a lot lighter throughout the day, he had more energy and was less frustrated by the small things that normally would bug him.
That night when Zeb headed to bed, he walked into Hera,
"There you are, Ezra's waiting for you," Hera told Zeb.
Zeb was a little bit embarrassed by this. He didn't want to be the declared 'bed time story teller', "Did he say why?"
Hera smiled at him, "He said he was waiting for you to tell him another story."
"Yeah well the kid couldn't sleep so I told him one so I could finally sleep." Zeb told Hera, who was smiling at the Lasat's softer side.
"If it is such a burden, then I can try to tell him one." Hera offered, knowing Zeb would interfere.
"Nah, I'm heading to bed anyways." Zeb told her, trying to sound annoyed, before he headed off to his and the kid's cabin.
As Zeb entered the room, Ezra looked at him happily from his bunk,
"Which story are you going to tell me tonight?" Ezra asked the Lasat, who smiled at the multiple stories he could tell the kid.
Zeb and Ezra soon fell into this routine; Zeb would tell Ezra one of his stories, with Ezra falling asleep somewhere along the story, followed by Zeb falling asleep and dreaming of his better times on Lasan instead of that one terrible day.
Zeb had been wondering if he would ever have a normal night sleep before Ezra; thanks to his new bunk buddy though, his sleep problems became a thing of the past.
A/N: Lets face it I had to do a brother bonding chapter. Anyways I hope everyone enjoyed, more to come in the future.
