"You wait here, and I'll open the window and let you in when it's safe. Sound good?" he proposed to her. Lake was currently situated comfortably against the wall of Jesse's home, directly beneath his bedroom window. She sighed. Was it really that difficult to explain her existence to his parents? 'I guess it is a little strange... and me asking to stay with them would probably be a lot. I hope this plan works.'

"Lake, are you okay?" Jesse asked from beside her, crouching down with a hand on her shoulder.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," the metal girl answered. "Just thinkin about how bad you are at sneaking someone in your house". Lake chuckled when he made a face and flicked his head as a friendly gesture that the brunette had become accustomed to (it started hurting less each time but he wasn't sure if that was her going easier on him or him becoming numb to it).

"Hey, you didn't have a better idea! And I thought it was alright..." Jesse muttered and retreated to a standing position. Suddenly Nate, his younger brother, came from around the side of the house and tapped the older boy's shoulder.

"Mom says it's time for dinner". He glanced over at Lake and asked Jesse "is she coming too? What are you guys even doing over here? Sh-" Jesse hushed the curious boy and put an arm across his shoulders to steer him inside.

"I'll explain it after dinner. Lake, I'll be back to help you inside, it won't be long". He smiled at her and left for the front of the house with his smaller brother in tow.

"Alright have fun" she called back with a disinterested tone and began her wait. She watched the woodline, inspected a blade of grass, watched some ants fight over a crumb, and got lost in thought while she watched the twilight sky above the Cosay household darken into a deep palette of blues and purples. Her thoughts, though, weren't primarily of the train or her anxieties of molding to the real world or fears of the future. They were instead of her friend and their experiences together; she never wanted to be without him and secretly wished for his parents to find out about her so she could stay with him without the struggle of sneaking in and out. Though they had spent the day building her a small campsite behind the woodline near Jesse's house, she didn't really want to have to use it unless she had to. Not that the metallic girl would be scared, but it would be lonely and she'd prefer Jesse's company. This was the second night since leaving the train, and the second time she's snuck in. The need for a new plan was due to the first time she waited at the back door (Jesse apparently had to redirect his parents from stepping out there multiple times, and they almost got caught on the way back to his room). 'Hopefully this one goes smoother' the reflection thought while she twisted her foot in the ground and created a hole.

"Jesse, why are you in such a rush to finish eating? You love grilled salmon and quinoa." The boy's dad commented objectively and eyed him from across the table. Jesse gulped. It had been quite a while and he was nervous. 'Maybe it would be easier to just tell them about Lake... no, no I need to wait longer. They'd freak out...'

"I-I do! It's just that ummm I'm uhh not feeling great... yeah, and I'm tired! After effects from the train and all that" he waved his hand dismissively.

His parents locked eyes and looked back at Jesse worriedly. They had been considering therapy for him (though he avidly declined) and were still torn about believing his whole extravagant story but nevertheless were thrilled to have him back home and safe. This sympathy for whatever he had gone through made them more lienient towards Jesse, allowing him to excuse himself from the dinner table and to his room. Once there he shut the door and rushed to the window, calling for his friend.

"Hey, Lake?" He whispered, peeking down at her from the window about two feet above her. She looked up at his illuminated face. It had grown quite dark while he was gone.

"Took long enough," she teased him. Lake stood and raised her head to find herself peering into warm eyes and a smile that welcomed her -it was for her. The metalic girl felt her cheeks flush and demanded, "Well what are you waitin on knucklehead? Pull me up!"

"R-right! Sorry!" Jesse chuckled lightly and stuck one arm out, then the other, reaching the short distance for the girl below him. She held onto both his arms and began to hoist herself up. Her top half was almost through when Jesse began to loose his grip. Lake yelped as she started slipping. Panicing, the brunette lunged forward and wrapped his arms under hers, pulling her through the window- with force. They toppled over roughly, and Jesse landed on his back. He groaned and tried to push himself up onto his elbows, only to be stopped by a weight on his diaphragm. The "weight" picks herself up onto her forearms and blinks down at him. He stares back up at her and, just then, realises how close she is. The reflective girl seems to reach this conclusion just as timely and Jesse sees her face turn colors (he's sure his did too) until the boy attempted to speak.

"...hey..." 'Why am I having brain failure?' He wasn't quite sure what to say and stared into her eyes. Lake seemed to compose herself and roll off of him into a sitting position beside where he still lay on the ground. 'Uhg you made it weird!' he commented to himself depriciatively before repositioning as well. They both avoided eye contact and the brunette let his eyes wonder the navy walls of his bedroom.

"So um! You're in!"

"I'm in..."

"Are you hungry?"

"I...actually, yeah, I could eat."

Jesse chuckled lightheartedly and stood up, putting a hand out for his friend and smiling when she grabbed it.

"Ok, we're gonna have to be really quiet on the way to the kitchen though. My parents just cleaned up and went to their room, but they might still be up." Lake nodded in reply and they began their journey to the kitchen.

"owwch you stepped on my foot!" Jesse whispered aggressively.

"Sorry but it's dark! Not my fault, can't see anything."

"At least pay attention where and who you're stepping on!"

"Jesse you are really bad at the whole sneaking thing."

":("

They had only taken a handful of steps from the door. Lake sighed and grabbed hold of his hand, prompting him to lead the way with a nudge (she hadn't renembered which turn was to the kitchen). When they got there he flipped on a small light above the stove which granted them a small amount of vision in the surrounding area. Lake's attention was immediately on the fridge as she slowly pried it open and searched for anything appetizing. 'Ew salmon...oh, pizza. Yeah that'll work' The girl removed the box from it's shelf and turned to Jesse.

"Well", he whispered, "what are you waiting for? Eat it."

She looked at him disgusted. "Uhm excuse me? Cold pizza? No way."

He was in the process of getting a plate and turned with a half smile to hand it to her. "Microwave,'' he instructed quietly. She shifted uncomfortably, plate in hand. "..."

"What is it now dork?"

She mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?"

"...don't know how to..." her statement trailed off but the boy got the gist of it and began to laugh (only semi-quietly) and took the plate from her hand

"C'mere and look," he grabbed a few slices and laid them on the plate, stepping over towards the microwave and gesturing for his friend to follow. "Ok one, open it by hitting the button." 'pop'. "Two, put the plate in and shut the door. Three, there's a button for 'reheat'. See it? Hit that one."

She did what he directed and the microwave hummed to life. "What are the rest for?" the metallic girl turned and questioned after watching the microwave for a second.

He turned to lean against the island behind him and faced her. "Those are for another day."

"Why can't you just tell me now?" she countered.

"It takes the fun from it. Also it's funny."

He smirked back at her. Lake stepped forwards with a hand outstretched and pushed him lightly.

"Is not, you dweeb!"

"Whateevvverrr you sayyyyyyy..." he drew out teasingly while she grabbed his shirt collar to pull him closer. "Shut!"

"Make me!"

The girl locked eyes with him and it was quiet for a few seconds. Jesse, for the second time that night, realized how close Lake was to him, but felt himself drawing closer. He couldn't be sure if she was pulling him (which could very well be the case as her hand still held his collar) or if he was inching towards her himself. If it was happening at all it was extremely slow but the boy felt completely mesmerized by her.

Said circumstance is quite possibly the reason he didn't notice the microwave hit zero.

'beeeeeeeeep' 'beeeeeeeeeep'

Both of their heads snapped to the source of the loud noise and then back to each other, jaws gaped in silent screaming. Jesse hurried to press cancel and pop open the microwave, grabbing their pizza and trying to exit the kitchen. Before either could move to leave a light flicked on from down an opposite hallway and the pair heard footsteps approaching.

"Aahhh- get down, hurry!" he nudged his friend and she quickly crouched behind the island- right before the brunette's dad stepped into view.

"Jesse? What are you doing in the kitchen after bedtime?"

"I came to get leftovers. I was ummm hungrier than I thought...?" he tried and his dad squinted at the stack of pizza slices on the plate. Then he shrugged, murmuring something about "growing boys" and "eating". His dad told Jesse goodnight and retreated back to his parent's room down the hallway, turning off the light.

"Whew, close one huh?" he said as she stood.

"Nice save, pizza boy." The girl flicked him as they giggled and turned off the light, making their way back to the safety of Jesse's room.

Once there, Jesse sat on his bed with the plate and patted the space next to him. Lake sat down and reached for a slice. She picked the mushrooms from the Hawaiian pizza and began to eat fervently.

"I see where your priorities are", he feined hurt.

"Pizza." was her response, words muffled by her full mouth.

He laughed, then suggested "Wanna watch something? You know any movies?" She shook her head.

"I never really watched any movies as a reflection. Got anything in mind?"

"Do I! There's soooooo many that I know you'll like. What'll it be? Horror, action, comedy, thriller?" he bounced excitedly and rapidly questioned her taste.

"Any of that sounds fine."

"Okay! Marathon time," he grinned and stood up, taking a disc out from the shelf of what Lake assumed to be his collection of movies and putting it into the player. "Make yourself comfy", he tossed a few pillows towards her and drew the comforter over them once they had settled against the wall lined in pillows, pizza plate on her side of the bed.

Once the first movie he chose began to play she knew it was supposed to be scary. 'Like any of these lame flicks could scare me,' Lake thought smugly. After what she's been through, what could?

Apparently this.

"EEP" the girl flinched back in fear and instinctively grabbed for her friend. On screen there was a chase scene where the serial killer was hunting down the girl with a large chainsaw. It appeared relatively cheesy but the jumpscares weren't expected (it's not fair and doesn't count if you'd ask her). Plus it reminded her of certain...events. Jesse laughed and allowed her to hold him.

"Awwwww awe you scaawwed? I thought you said it was lame earlier."

"Shut UP shutupshutup!"

"Okkkkkk but if you get too scared I'm turning it off, don't want you getting nightmares."

"As if!" Lake huffed and separated herself from him finally, turning back to the movie. She managed through the rest of it (no big deal, not scary whatsoever) and soon enough, they had watched another two films. The current one was...less interesting. So uninteresting to her that the reflection felt her eyelids growing heavy. She turned to the boy beside her to see him wide eyed and invested in the movie playing. 'It couldn't hurt to rest my eyes...at least until it gets interesting.' And with that she laid her head on the pillows lining the wall behind her.

"That was so cool, Lake are you seeing this?" Jesse placed a hand on her shoulder without turning, eyes glued to the screen. "Hey?" he nudged her lightly and looked over to see her sprawled out, sleeping. 'Oh that's why she wasn't enjoying this awesome movie' he thought and smiled at her relaxed form. 'Wait...what time is it?' he glanced to his alarm clock on his nightstand where it illuminated the corner in a blue light. 2:43, it read. 'Oh man, I have to wake her up soon! My mom gets up at four and she might check on me so I should try to have her out before then,' he turns his attention to Lake, 'but she's sleeping and looks really comfy and I don't really want to wake her up!' Jesse turned back to his clock again. Realizing he had a short while, he set his alarm on low for 3:45. Then he'd have time to like, hide her or sneak her out or something before his mom woke up.

The brunette laid his head on his pillow and decided he'd sleep for a 'few minutes'. The movie still played quietly in the background.

"Hmmmm?" Jesse stirred awake and lifted his head. Hearing his alarm on loop he attempted to flip over and silence the annoying buzz but found he physically could not do so.

Then he panicked.

His flailing was not gentle and awoke the girl curled beside him with a start. She muttered under her breath, turning towards her friend with a yawn. He was about to yell in fear but suddenly realized

1) His arms were free and fully functioning

2) The force that was preventing his movement was Lake who was peacefully resting

3) It was 3:58

'WAIT WHAT' he thought, processing number 3 completely. His mom would be awake soon and would be coming to check on him like the last night. That means they have minutes to figure out what to do with Lake, who was now very awake and focused on Jesse's state of panic/confusion. Before she could question him, they both in unison heard an alarm sound from down the hallway, followed by the gentle creaking of a bed and the sound of footsteps. "Oh man, this is not good!" He whispered to the reflective girl beside him.

"You didn't tell me that she'd be up so early!" She whisper-yelled.

"I thought we'd have something figured out!"

"Yeah that sure worked out well for us didn't it?!"

"Stop yelling at me I'm trying!"

"No one's yelling! You're just a dumb baby!"

"..." He made a pouting face at her and his big sad eyes stared into her narrowed ones.

"Uhg we don't have time for this! What are we gonna do?"

They sat for a moment, thinking over their options. "She'll definitely hear us if we try to get you out of this room...and it might be too loud to get you out the window...plus, you could slip..." Jesse reasoned. "So maybe, you can find somewhere in here to hide until she leaves for work".

"Sure, I guess, but wh-" Lake was interrupted by the sound of footsteps making their way to Jesse's room. He glanced at the clock in panic. 4:05. They look at each other and back at the door with wide eyes. His mother was almost right outside his door. "UmmmMMMM!" Lake was startled by a blanket and a body being flung on top of her. The metallic girl felt her head firmly pressed against his neck and collar, and the rest of her limbs pinned by the weight above her. Though muffled, she could hear the door being opened slightly and then a voice. She could make out Jesse's name and a question but him being 'asleep' prevented him from responding. She seemed to be satisfied with this as Lake heard the door close accompanied by footsteps down the hallway towards Nate's room. Unfortunately for her Jesse waited until his mother left the hallway entirely to lift himself off of her. She coughed and sat up, wondering if the blood pooling in her cheeks was the result of the pressure on her body or the proximity to her friend (it was most definitely the former, she internally declared). He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry... I didn't have time to do anything else...at least it worked? Hehe..."

'Please don't be mad please don't be mad'

"You're lucky you have a comforter or your mom would've wondered when her son became a big lumpy monster."

"What do you mean? I am a lump monster!" He flung the blanket over himself dramatically and rolled onto her while making growling sounds.

"You loser!" she laughed. "Get offa me!" Lake rolled him away (and almost off the bed). He giggled and unwrapped himself from the comforter.

"So..it's pretty late. Or, early? Um anyway, what are we gonna do now?"

"Hmm..." she thought, looking at the alarm clock. It looked different than the way she was used to reading time but after a few seconds the girl deciphered it. She unfortunately couldn't decide if she wanted to sleep longer or stay up to be safe and hang out.

"Rock paper scissors; if I win we go to bed, if you win we stay up." Jesse suggested.

"Yeah sure, why not. How could I pass up the chance to beat you?" She snickered when he put out his fist seriously.

One...

Two...

Three...

They both slammed a fist into the opposite hand revealing a tie. "Hey cool! Twins!" Jesse said, looking at the fist that formed "rock" in both of their hands.

"What? Dumb," Lake seemed unimpressed, "best two outta three." The brunette hummed and nodded. They went the next round and ended with two "scissors" placed in their palms. Both sighed in mock annoyance and continued their game.

One, two, three... scissors again.

Then paper.

Then rock.

Paper again.

"What the heck?!" The girl almost shouted but remembered to keep quiet as Jesse's mom was still awake. Jesse just lightly chuckled. "You're cheating! You're...reading my mind, or something!"

"No way! For all I know, you're cheating. Does being a reflection give you mind reading powers?"

"If I did have mind reading powers I would've beat you the first round!"

"Fair, but wouldn't I have won if I did too?"

"No because you're dumb."

"Hey! Uncalled for." he said feining hurt but couldn't lose the smile on his face. He looked to Lake playfully and suddenly an idea sprouted in his head. "Okay, one more time. I have a good feeling about this one." He stretched his arms competitively.

"Fiiiiiinnne, one more time. But if we tie again I'll have to accuse you of witchcraft."

"You're on!" he laughed. They sat facing each other, legs crossed and knees brushing the other's.

"One.." he started as they hit their fists against their palms. He leaned forward.

"Two.." Her smirk became visible confusion when he didn't stop, instead continuing to close the gap between them.

"Three..." he lowered his voice from his current position a few inches from his unsuspecting friend's face. He noticed her breathing suddenly stop and for some reason felt warmth radiating between them. The boy then remembered the reason for his proximity to her and tilted his head to the side. Lake completely froze at this gesture and continued to be still but face heating up immensely. "Paper," he whispered with lips almost brushing her ear.

Wait...what? "Huh?" she was still frozen as her friend leaned away. He gestured with one hand to his other, in a flat and outstretched position, then to hers which was still balled into a fist. Paper. Rock. 'Oh he won', she began to regain her train of thought. 'Hold on that was-!' Her eyes narrowed and Jesse was eyeing her with a grin like he just won the lottery-or a game of rock paper scissors. The girl scowled at him and balled his shirt in her fist effectively pulling him closer. "You." She leaned in. "Cheated." He put his hands up in surrender but didn't shy away.

"Nuh-uh! Didn't cheat! You just lost." he retorted with a grin.

"You distracted me!" she didn't budge and tightened her grip. It was obvious she wasn't angry but still wanted to intimidate the boy into not doing...whatever tactic he used again.

"I didn't realise you found me so distracting."

"I don't but you just-! MmmmMMMM!"

"Oooh someone sounds maaaddd," he laughed and reached for her wrist, gripping her gently and removed her hand. She glared at him. "What? If you wanted to win we can just do what we would've done if you did, it's fine." He released her arm and smiled at her softly. She reciprocated and rolled her eyes.

"...I don't remember what it was anyway." Lake admitted.

"Me either," they both chuckled and Jesse leaned back on his palms. He yawned and tilted his head at her with lidded eyes. The reflection fiddled with her hands and averted her eyes quickly. Was this awkward? Was it comfortable? Was she just really tired?

"Hey." The boy drew her from her thoughts and she eyed him expectantly. "Do you wanna sleep with me?"

'What' "W-what?" she stuttered and felt like she was on fire. He immediately realised his mistake upon her reaction and rushed to correct himself.

"Ahhh w-wait hold on! I meant it-like uhhh! Y'know! Us sleeping as in actual sleep! Together-in the same bed unless you didn't want that! T-then it's-aaahhhh I'm sorry I totally made this weird-"

"Jesse, it's okay you dork. I get what you mean." After she made out what his stuttering was she found it pretty funny.

He breathed a sigh of near relief when she answered his rambling. "Cool," he said grinning shyly as he crawled to the other side of the bed and began to arrange pillows. He put one on his side, one on hers, and the last one in the middle as a segragator.

"Ta-da," The brunette waved his arm weakly at the set up. There was only one blanket but she appreciated his attempt at respecting space, even if he didn't know how to do that ten minutes ago. She pulled back the blanket and rolled underneath. Jesse did the same and faced her from across the pillow border.

He was out almost instantly. Lake could feel her eyelids growing heavy. 'That's cute,' she thought. The boy's face was pressed into the pillow and comforter pulled up to his ear. She dozed off with a light smile.

It was 9:30 AM when they awoke. Lake squinted at the intensity of the summer sun's rays pouring in through Jesse's parted blue curtains that they had left open the night prior. Jesse moved his head from where it had somehow come to rest above her own, and removed the arm that had wrapped around her middle to pull the blanket over his eyes but also effectively covered up Lake with it as well. While she struggled to release herself from the comforter and he weakly attempted to keep it over his head, the sound of someone clearing their throat froze them in their movements. In the doorway was Jesse's dad, who had come to wake his son for breakfast. The boy's alarm clock was not set so the pair had slept in a bit too long. When they slowly lowered the covers the man's eyes widened at the metallic girl next to Jesse and he spit the coffee he had previously been sipping on in shock. After an extensive silence Jesse's dad stepped back into the hallway and said, "You...both...have a lot of explaining to do. After breakfast. It's too early for this..." he walked slowly back down the hallway towards the kitchen and left the door ajar.

"...that went better than I thought." Jesse joked and turned to Lake. She flicked him in the head and turned over, laying back down and closing her eyes.

"Hey no-wait, I'm hungry!"

A/N: Thanks for reading :) Because we're given no information on Jesse's family and daily dynamics I based it off of my own. If there's any discrepancies in this story I apologize, it was just for fun! I might do more but they take awhile :\ *