Thud. Thud. Thud.

Jim blinked sleepily out of his dreams. Why a giant dinosaur had started chasing him in the middle of a solar surfing race, he wasn't quite sure. Rolling over he drew the blankets around his shoulders and tried to settle in comfortably again. What had once been an obnoxiously small bunk felt too big and too cold tonight.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Jim sat up. He knew he wasn't still dreaming, but the dull sound of the dinosaur's footsteps still reverberated through his mind. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed and got up. Morph opened one eye before deciding to go back to sleep. Not bothering with slippers, Jim padded barefoot to the door. His hand hit the button just as the banging began again.

Thud. Thud.

Thump.

The side of Sy's fist landed solidly against Jim's solar plexus.

"Oof!"

"I'm so sorry!"

Jim forced a smile around his wheezing. "I'm good," he gasped unconvincingly. "C'min 'fore you're spotted."

Sy slipped through the doorway and closed the door behind him. "I'm really, really sorry Jim."

Jim ruffled Sy's soft hair gently. "Hey, at least we know you've got some chance of surviving a fight," he teased softly. He opened one of his dresser drawers and pulled out Sy's pillow from its hiding spot. "I guess you're staying here tonight?"

Sy blushed and shrugged. "If that's okay with you."

"Of course it is! It always is!" Jim promised swiftly. He handed Sy his pillow sheepishly. "I just thought, you know, when you didn't come back-...what time is it anyway?"

"Late. Get in bed." Sy answered. He hugged his pillow to himself and gave Jim an adorable smile. "You're supposed to be asleep at this time of night. I should report you to your class leader!"

"You're such a brat!" Jim grabbed Sy around the middle and scooped him up without warning. "You're the one that woke me up!"

Sy squealed and giggled, squirming in Jim's grasp. He smacked his pillow against Jim's back a few times as he demanded, "Put me down!"

Jim dropped him on the bed, easily pinning him to the mattress. Morph shot off the pillow with a squeal and hid behind the lamp.

Jim clasped one hand over Sy's mouth, the other hand deflecting more attacks by the pillow. "Quiet! You're going to wake someone up, you brat!" Despite his words, Jim was laughing. "I was asleep, you know. And look, we're in bed, you can't complain any more."

Sy blushed hard.

Jim's ears went pink. "Well I was!" He defended himself. He crossed his arms across his chest and pouted down at Sy. "You woke me out of quite a nice dream, too."

"Then let me put you back to sleep!" Sy answered. His pillow hit the side of Jim's head barely a second after.

Jim started laughing again. He grabbed at Sy's arms, trying to pin them to the bed. Sy squirmed and thrashed under him, working to get his legs into a position where he could flip them over. The bed squeaked and groaned its protests.

Sy finally got the leverage he wanted. One foot planted against the wall, he shoved hard and twisted his body, rotating them both so he was on top. Unfortunately he did not account for how narrow the beds were. The two boys hit the ground with a thud.

For just a second they stared at each other, heavy breaths mingling as they came to terms with the new situation. Sy was blushing again, his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he stared down at Jim. Jim reached up to touch his face, cautiously boosting himself closer.

Something slammed into the wall beside them.

Sy jerked back fast enough he pitched himself over and landed on his bottom. As he scrambled backwards away from Jim, an angry voice on the other side of the wall growsed, "Some of us were sleeping, Hawkins."

"Sorry, Hazzam!" Jim climbed to his feet and shook his head. Much quieter he muttered, "he's crabbier than the Hamzak twins."

Sy clutched his pillow tight to his chest and stared up at Jim. At Jim's questioning gaze he managed to whisper, "He won't tell anyone I was here, will he?"

Jim shook his head and offered Sy a hand up. "Nah, he's cool. I'll bring him some pickled purps tomorrow and apologize again. I've helped him sneak his girlfriend out after curfew before, he'll keep his mouth shut."

"He has a girlfriend?"

"Not any more, but he did last year." Jim took Sy's pillow from him and laid it out on the bed. As he climbed under the covers he elaborated, "Some girl from town. She was sweet, best I could tell. Who knows. I don't speak Greek. Maybe she was insulting me the entire time we talked." Gently he nudged Morph over to give him more space on his own bed.

Sy settled into bed beside Jim and pulled the covers up around his shoulders. "You probably deserved it if she was."

"Yeah, probably. Braxton wouldn't tell me what she was saying, so either we're correct, or Hazzam broke up with her because she was flirting with me the whole time. My ego likes the second one better."

Sy snorted softly. "Well tell your ego to get over itself. She's not around to flirt with you any more." Muttering under his breath to himself, Sy closed his eyes and nestled down to sleep.

Jim draped his arm over Sy's shoulders gently. "You're right, she's not." For a moment the two boys were silent, nothing but the sound of their breaths filling the air. Morph rejoined them and nestled back down onto a free patch of Jim's pillow now that the boys were calm again.

"Hey, Sy?"

"Mmm?"

"You busy Sunday?"

"Just studying for tests is all." Sy turned over in the bed and pressed himself into Jim's chest. His face tucked into its usual place just a couple inches below Jim's chin. "Why?"

"I just thought maybe, you know, we could….well, you know."

Sy nodded. "Yeah. We can study together." He agreed sleepily. "Professor Porter said I could use his classroom if I needed somewhere quiet."

Jim sighed softly. "Cool. I'll meet you there around ten."

"Mmkay."

The two boys lapsed back into silence. Sy's breath evened out into peaceful sleep. Jim tightened his hold on him slightly. So he hadn't quite managed to ask him out just yet. He could always try again while they studied. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to follow into peaceful slumber.

The last thought he had before he fell asleep was that the bed felt like it was the right size again.