"I thought Irkens didn't sleep."

Purple grimaced, opening one eye to peer at whoever had interrupted his relaxation. It was, of course, the resident human of the Massive. Apparently, Dib had gotten bored of poking around the room, and was now perched at the edge of their bed-pit-nest, looming over him and his co-Tallest like some sort of scavenger beast.

A term Purple would argue fit Dib rather well. He was certain that if Dib found either of them dead, he wouldn't hesitate before doing something to either their corpses or PAKs.

"We don't need to," Red answered dryly. "But that doesn't mean we can't." Purple glanced over his shoulder and saw that Red's eyes were still closed, though he looked slightly miffed.

Both of them had shed their usual armor in favor of casual skintight clothing, there were snacks waiting along the sides of the bed pit for when they wanted them, the pit-nest itself was padded on the bottom and sides and filled with plenty of blankets and pillows…perfect napping conditions.

Humans (Dib, at least) apparently were blind to the nuance, because he kept talking. "How often do you two sleep, then? And why do it if you don't need to?"

"Whenever we feel like it," Purple said.

"And we do it because we feel like it," Red added.

And really, right now, there was nothing better to do. They were passing through a section of boring, empty space, without even any asteroids for target practice. Now would be a perfect time to sit back and nap for a few hours…

If their human would be quieter and let them.

But no, he still looming over them, rambling a few random questions, staring at them…and based on the rustling, had torn open one of their snack bags and had helped himself. The audacity…not that Purple cared that much right now. He could spare a few snacks to the human, provided they weren't snacks he didn't actively want at the moment.

Really, most Irkens would kill for this opportunity. To be allowed in the private chambers of the Tallest, while they themselves were there, not even wearing any of their ceremonial armor or robes…it was an impossible dream for anyone who wasn't another Tallest. Not that there was ever history of there being more than one Tallest besides them, but that was just another sign of how amazing they were.

Anyway. Dib didn't seem to really get how significant it was, the things they let him do.

And yet…that combination of naivete and audacity was what made him so fun. Especially when bringing him out in public with them.

They should bring him to a public event, soon, actually…yeah, something fancy. That would be fun, seeing how Dib would react, even if it did mean cajoling him into wearing something actually fancy and not just what was his idea of 'cool'.

Oh, yeah, he was still rambling. Sounded like he was asking them things. Purple twitched his antenna, deciding to pay attention to what he was actually saying.

"Do you guys dream?" he rambled. "Actually, do you have an REM and NREM cycle, or are you just completely unconscious the whole time? Are you light sleepers? Are—"

Nothing important, then. "I don't know what those acronyms mean, and I don't care," Purple cut him off. Dib's jaw snapped shut, and he puffed out his cheeks, clearly unhappy at being cut off. "And we aren't going to be getting any sleep if you don't shut up."

"Well, you already said you don't need any," Dib said, flopping and lounging on his stomach, drumming his fingers against the padded edge. "You can answer a few questions."

"No," Red and Purple said at once. It was never just 'a few' questions if the human was indulged and really got going.

Dib huffed, and now he was pouting. Red sighed. "Look. Instead of talking, you can just…get in here and actually nap with us. If you're quiet."

"Mmm," Dib hummed, munching on a gummy snack. "I don't feel that tired, though."

Purple scrutinized him and noticed some faint dark shadows underneath his eyes, a hint that the human hadn't been sleeping as often as he should. He didn't know how often humans needed to sleep, but Dib had confessed to not sleeping as much as he 'should' once before.

He supposed that was the human's problem, but if he actually slept, he wouldn't be interrupting their sleep. And if he was as tired as Purple expected, forcing him to relax would do the trick.

Purple stretched, grabbing Dib's wrist and, before he had a chance to react, pulling him forward and into the nest.

Dib yelped, flailing for a second among the blankets he'd landed in, but eventually stopped when he realized he was fine…and that he was only getting himself tangled up, doing that. He lifted his head to scowl at Purple. "Trying to smother me?"

"Tempting," Purple said with a grin. "But not yet. Just relax, would you?"

"Hmph." Dib rolled around a bit more, freeing himself from the tangle he'd gotten caught in, moving a bit closer to Purple and laying on his back.

"Hey," Red said, poking Purple between his shoulderblades. "No hogging our human."

"Ugh, I'm not," Purple said with a roll of his eyes. Grumbling at having to move more, he sat up and grabbed Dib again, flipping over so that he was facing Red, Dib landing between the two of them.

"You don't need to manhandle me," Dib huffed at him, crossing his arms.

"Maybe move faster, then," Purple countered, grabbing the last gummy snack from him and popping it in his mouth.

Before Dib could counter, Red had already looped his arms loosely around him, resting his chin on Dib's shoulder.

Red began to stroke his claws through Dib's hair, slowly and gently, carefully teasing out the knots they got caught on. Dib winced the first few times, but once the tangles were gone and Red's claws slid through smoothly, his eyelids fluttered and he began to slowly melt into his arms.

His eyes closed. Red kept stroking his hair, scratching against his scalp…and just a few minutes later, Dib began snoring.

Both Red and Purple chuckled a little, smiling warmly. He sounded weird in a funny way. Purple carefully poked his nose, snickering when it scrunched up and Dib let out a small grunt. Cute, in an ugly kind of way.

And now that it was quiet, he could nap as he pleased…after he made himself comfortable, that was.

Purple curled closer. Dib had a slightly higher body temperature, and couldn't even regulate it the way they could with their PAK, so he was always leaking heat. Purple thought at first that it was stupid and inefficient (and it still was, really), but…having their own personal heater was kind of nice. Red was doing the same thing, keeping one hand resting on Dib's head and pressing himself close.

Once they had the human sandwiched between them, Purple wrapped his tail loosely around Dib's waist, brushing against Red's as he did the same thing. They chuckled a little, both shifting until they were satisfied. Red was spooning Dib from behind, head laid on a pillow and tail tightly wrapped around the human, while Purple was pressed against him stomach-to-stomach, arms and tail loosely wrapped around him, with his chin rested on top of Dib's head, the human's face nestled in the crook of his neck.

Dib's rhythmic breathing and snoring was soothing…more than him asking a dozen questions, at least. As long as he didn't drool right on him, this was nice. Plus Red was purring quietly, still rubbing his hand back and forth against the side of Dib's head…

Purple yawned. Yeah, this…this was nice. He closed his eyes, feeling himself slowly slip into a contented sleep mode.