"Zzzzz...snnrrk."

"Well, sounds like someone found that movie really exciting."

The tamer had been forced to spend the whole movie on Kiyu's back, continuing his petting at the digimon's insistence. It seemed the attention had sent the big fox to sleep.

As the credits rolled on the TV, the tamer carefully lowered himself off the digimon, trying to let him sleep.

Once again he checked his phone.

12:07AM

He decided he'd had enough and it was time for bed. He turned off the TV and gave Kiyu a final pet on the head, whispering in his ear..

"Goodnight ya sleepy brat."

He headed through to his bedroom and got ready to sleep. Settling in, he found sleep came easily after all the excitement of the day.

—

Unfortunately, his sleep didn't last the night, being interrupted by an unusual sound stirring him awake.

Blearily, he glanced over to his clock.

1:28AM

He sat silently, straining to hear the sound again. Having just woken, he wasn't entirely sure what it had been.

He didn't need to try so hard. After a moment, a loud scratching came from the door.

*Scrrtch scrrtch*

"What the?"

A muffled response came from the other side of the door.

"Tamer? Are you awake?"

"Oh... right."

He had closed his bedroom door out of habit, having forgotten about the digimon snoozing in the lounge. He called back to Kiyu.

"Yeah, hold on."

Reluctantly, he dragged himself out from the warmth of the bed and blindly wandered over to the door. Pulling it open, he began apologising for locking the digimon out.

"Sorry, I forgot HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL?!?"

He recoiled in shock at the sight before him, falling backwards onto the edge of the bed before landing on the floor.

The hallway was lit up in ghostly blue light, given off by the ethereal fire on the digimon's paws and tailtips. It cast eerie shadows which danced along the walls and ceiling.

Kiyu tilted his head at the tamer's extreme reaction.

"You feeling alright, Tamer?"

The digimon's casual response was completely at odds with his current supernatural appearance. 

"No, I'm not alright! You just about gave me a heart attack, coming in here looking like some sort of ghost or something. Jeez."

"Sorry?"

Shaking his head at Kiyu's half-hearted apology, the tamer hoisted himself off the floor and sat on the edge of the bed.

Still groggy, he rubbed his eyes before looking over to the digimon once more.

"What's with the fire paws?"

"Uh... guess I forgot to control my energy after I woke up... oops."

"Oops indeed. So why were you scratching at the door?"

"You locked me out."

"Yeah, so just open it."

The big fox whined a pitiful response.

"I couldn't. The metal doorknob hurts my teeth."

The tamer scoffed in disbelief.

"So you can fight massive battles but a doorknob is too much?"

"I have sensitive teeth, alright? You try biting it, see how you like it."

"Oh, whatever. I'm going back to sleep."

"I wanna join you."

"Yeah-yeah, come on."

The tamer settled himself under the covers. Kiyu then made himself comfortable on the other side, leaning his back up against the tamer, who wrapped one arm over the big fox.

Kiyu lifted his head towards the tamer.

"So you're the little spoon this time, right? Since I'm much bigger than you."

"Nope, afraid that's not how it works. You're still the little spoon."

"What?! Why?"

"Because... that's just the way it works. The little spoon nests into the big spoon."

The big digimon just grumbled to himself, not understanding how he could still be called the little spoon.

"Ugh, whatever. This spoon thing's stupid anyway."

—

The tamer managed to fall asleep again, despite the best efforts of a certain needy fox.

Strangely, he found himself dreaming about a particular movie quote.

“It's that feeling of falling you get that jolts you awake. It snaps you out of the dream."

- Inception, 2010

The tamer was very familiar with this quote, having seen the movie a number of times. He'd also experienced that jolting feeling before, leaning back on a chair and overbalancing once.

Unfortunately, neither of these facts made it any less frightening or uncomfortable when it happened at 4 in the morning.

In the middle of his sleep, he was forced from the comfort of the bed. The brief sensation of falling jolted him awake and his body instinctively flailed, desperately trying to stay on the bed.

*THUD*

It made no difference. With a dull impact, he landed flat on his back. He remained motionless as the pain slowly registered in his still-awakening brain.

His only response was to let out a loud groan.

“Nnghh… owww."

A rustling sound from the bed followed by a yawn signalled that his digimon had awoken.

“Hmm? Tamer… where'd you go?"

He remained silent, hoping Kiyu would leave him to wallow in self-pity.

“...Tamer?"

No such luck.

With a huff, he gave a tired response.

“I'm down here, brat boy."

“Don't call me that! Why are you on the floor?"

The tamer rolled onto his hands and knees, before pushing himself up to a kneeling position.

It was tricky to make out the details in the dark, but he could see the outline of a large figure on the bed.

He couldn't help but notice that this figure appeared to be taking up the whole bed.

“Because someone kicked me out of bed."

“What? Who?"

“Don't play dumb. Look where you're sitting."

Kiyu took a moment to reflect, realising he was sitting where the tamer had been when they'd first gone to sleep.

“Oh."

“Yeah, 'oh'. You wanna apologise now or later?"

“Umm… sorry?"

“Careful. You don't want to sound too sincere. Now shove, love."

“What?"

“Nothing, just a stupid rhyme. C'mon, move over."

However Kiyu wasn't willing to let it go so easily.

“Hold on. Did you just call me 'love'?"

The tamer gave a sigh, realising he'd just opened a can of worms.

“Don't read into it, ok? It's just a stupid expression."

“Nah, you totally love me."

“That's not…eugh, whatever. Just move over please “

“Ok… love."

The tamer let out a sigh.

Kiyu shuffled himself back to his own side of the bed, making room for the tamer.

He settled back into bed, this time facing away from the digimon. He closed his eyes, hoping he could quickly fall asleep and forget this little misadventure.

“...Tamer?"

It seemed Kiyu had other plans.

“What?"

“I didn't mean to push you out of bed."

“Uh-huh."

“I guess I just move around in my sleep."

“Yep."

“You're not mad, are you?"

The tamer let out a slow, frustrated breath.

“Kiyu, I'm really tired and I just want to get some sleep. Can we please just talk in the morning?"

“But… isn't it already morning?"

The tamer gritted his teeth in frustration.

“Kiyu."

“Yeah?"

“Stop talking."

“Oh."

Hoping the digimon would finally take the hint, the tamer pulled the covers up around his shoulder, hoping to get a few hours of sleep.

A moment later, he heard a rustling, before a weight landed on his shoulder.

It seemed Kiyu wasn't content to leave him alone completely, and was now resting his head on the tamer.

At this point the tamer figured this was the closest he was going to get to peace. He reached out from under the cover and gave the digimon a quick pet on the head, before finally settling in to sleep.