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Part Three

“I’m quite relieved, Numbuh Four! It’s not like I was looking forward to it!”

Her words pounded freshly inside his brain, like an annoying headache. He lay on his back on his mattress; blankly staring at the dark, invisible ceiling above him. He heard his friends’ soft breathing and looked to the side.

Ironically, Kuki’s mattress was right next to his.
Well, it wasn’t really ironic. Whenever they had a sleep-over, their beds usually ended up being near each other. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but he did know that whenever he saw the chance, he’d claim his sleeping spot somewhere close to Kuki’s.
He sighed, turning his head away again and ran a hand across his face and through his hair. He had expected Kuki would have taken her stuff and move to the mattress that was as far away from him as possible, but instead, she had decided to do something that Wally found much, much more painful. She had simply ignored him the rest of the night.

After their little awkward moment, Abby had come to the rescue and said she still had some leftover pizza in the fridge. She had asked Kuki to assist her to reheat them and Kuki had done so, disappearing into the kitchen.
A little while later, when she and Abby came back out, Kuki’s mood had altered completely and she had turned back into her cheerful old self carrying the tray of pizza, while Numbuh Five was still looking rather worried.

Wally was confused to said the least. Things usually wouldn’t turn out fine unless he’d apologize to her, she’d accept it and hugged him.
But Wally quickly noticed that things weren’t fine. Despite the fact he didn’t find the courage to say something to her, he quickly noticed he had become non-existent to Kuki Sanban. The pizza was a nice distraction at first and it led to new conversations with no one mentioning anything about the earlier event.
But whenever Wally got joined in on the conversation, Kuki would keep her mouth shut, wait until he’d finish and then start talking about a completely different related matter.

Hoagie obviously felt bad about the whole thing and tried to get both Wally and Kuki involved in the same conversation, but his attempts usually led to a dead end. It made Wally feel even more guilty, knowing the whole thing was his fault and not Hoagie’s.

He had made an attempt to apologize to her when everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, but she had simply turned away from him, bid everyone a goodnight and covered herself with the sheets. She still lay in that very same position now, a few hours later. Even asleep, it seemed as if she made a point out of it that she wouldn’t face Wally.

Numbuh Four turned around, mingling in his blankets, trying to find a comfortable position, which he didn’t find. He sighed once more, returning to his earlier spot and thus facing the ceiling. He felt exactly like what he was seeing. A dark, empty hole.
He felt this was the final time he had messed up. There would be no more forgiveness. It had been too much.
He was absolutely devastated and he had witnessed all of his hopes and dreams being shattered at the very moment she had turned her back to him.

Wally thought back to where this whole thing started. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to kiss her. Of course he wanted that, he would have been ecstatic! But he didn’t want to kiss her in front of all those people, even if they were his friends. He wasn’t about to do something so personal in front of a crowd. When he would kiss her, he wanted to be alone with her.

“I’m quite relieved, Numbuh Four! It’s not like I was looking forward to it!”

Wally cringed. She was right of course. Absolutely right. Of course she wouldn’t kiss him, what had he been thinking? He felt like a complete moron he had actually hoped there was a slight chance she did want to kiss him, that she possibly did feel the same way as he felt about her. And if there had been anything, even the slightest thing, it was sure to be destroyed by now. He had made sure of that, the almighty Wallabee Beetles.
Not only all the stuff in his room ended up being broken, even his bond with the person he cared about the most.

Wally turned his head again, facing the lump on his right which was Kuki. He saw the shape move up and down slightly, caused by her soft breathing. He could still clearly envision her steel-cold eyes when she had looked at him, her gaze boring into his. It made Wally cringe even more.
It had taken him a little while before he had realized what that other thing was he had seen in them. He had seen it before. They looked hurt. Not just hurt, really hurt.
Wally sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. He couldn’t blame her. He really had said some awful things to her. And what was even worse is that he didn’t mean any of it in the first place. It was just his instinctive defence-mechanism that activated whenever it involved a deep, personal matter which was no one’s business but his. And maybe Kuki’s.

He heard something rustle. He turned his head to the side and saw Kuki turn around in her sleep and settling down again. Despite the fact that it was very dark and he couldn’t see her face, Wally guessed she was now facing his direction. He looked at her, but only saw the faint outline of her countenance and her hair. Regardless that he didn’t see anything, he was a little bit happy to know that at least this time her face was directed to him and didn’t have a frown on it.
Wally bit his lip. He couldn’t help but hope that maybe… just maybe, she had said all that in a spur of anger. She often did that when they got into an argument and things heated up. And they both always regretted what they said in the end. So maybe, just maybe…
But then again, she had never been this mad at him, Wally thought while turning his face the other way. His stomach felt as if it weighed a ton. Of course she had meant it. Every word.
He couldn’t bear this. He just had to apologize to her! She needed to know that he didn’t mean to say that! She needed to know how awful he felt, that he was a big jerk and-

Wally got so worked up about his thoughts, he pulled the covers and forcefully rolled over to the other side. A little too forceful. Apparently, the mattress wasn’t as spacious as he thought it was and he felt himself stumble across the edge of the mattress and onto the floor, tangled between the sheets.
Ah crud.

“Numbuh Four?”

Double crud.
His eyes widened in fright, feeling himself bump against Kuki’s mattress. She was awake.
Wally didn’t know what he was the most shocked about. The fact that she wasn’t sleeping and he was laying on the carpet floor right next to her, or the fact that she -after all those hours- said something to him.
He gasped and felt as if his throat was being blocked. This couldn’t really be happening. He must’ve fallen asleep and was dreaming right now.

“Wally? Is that you?”

Scratch that. He was definitely awake.

“Err…Yes.” He whispered hoarsely.

“What are you doing here?”

Yes, that was a mighty good question.
His ability to speak failed him once again. The tone of her voice hadn’t sounded accusingly, it sounded rather surprised. He couldn’t exactly blame her either. He was a little surprised himself, mostly because of the fact that she was talking to him and didn’t sound particularly angry.

“Umm… I was…” His voice trailed off when he heard her move and felt a few strands of her hair prickle his face. It made him blush and his heart skipped a beat.
Suddenly he felt a hand touch his face. The second it did, it immediately shot back again and he heard her gasp a little. When she did, he could feel her breath tickle between his eyes. She was very, very close to him and it looked like she had just come to that same conclusion.
Wally could feel the palms of his hands beginning to sweat; even more when he realized she wasn’t backing away like he had expected her to. After all, she was supposed to be crossed with him.

“I’m sorry, I’ll just…”
He propped himself up on one hand, meaning to get up and retreat to his own mattress, but as he lifted his head, he felt his forehead brush against Kuki’s face. He froze.
His eyes slowly looked up. He didn’t see much, it was still pretty dark… But he could see her eyes gleam in the rare moonlight that shone through the curtains. And he could feel her breath on his face as she gasped once more.
He couldn’t move. And apparently, neither could she. She was so close… So very, very close…
Despite his frozen stance, Wally felt the inside of his body tingle, his stomach flipping… And suddenly he felt a touch. Right there on his cheek. It was a finger, lightly caressing him. And this time it didn’t pull away.
He could hear her inhale softly.

“Wally?” she whispered.

Now. Right now.

“Dare.” He uttered.
He leaned in forward and it took less than a second before he felt her lips touch his.
An unknown sensation rushed throughout his body, made his stomach do somersaults, made his limbs feel as if they were made out of rubber and made his heart pound so ferociously, he thought it would burst through his chest. The tingle shot back up across his spine and eventually clouded his brain, which made him do nothing more but savour this amazing feeling that he was kissing Kuki. He was kissing Kuki!
He could feel a little pressure from her side, which made him press right back ever so gently to persuade this overwhelming feeling. It felt so good. So right.
They simply sat there, two young people very much in love doing nothing more but just connect with one another, literally and figuratively. They didn’t deepen the kiss, they didn’t throw their arms around each other. No, this was perfect. Their warm lips against each other’s, their scents lingering in each other’s noses… Just perfect. This shouldn’t be allowed to end. Ever.

But it had to, eventually. If they still wanted to breathe. Wally gladly would’ve given up breathing if he could continue to feel that sensation.
They both parted and he could again feel her exhale gently, her breath softly stroking his face. Numbuh Four sat there, flabbergasted, as if only just know he realized what exactly had happened. He stared at her, with his jaw dropped slightly and hating the fact that he couldn’t see her face in the darkness.

“I’m sorry.” he blurted out after a few seconds.

Silence.

“For what?” she whispered softly. Wally heard her voice crack a little.

“For everything I said earlier…I’m sorry…” he said, nervously fiddling with the carpet. He didn’t really know how he was supposed to behave.

“Oh.” she said, her voice sounding a little relieved.

“I didn’t mean any of it.” Wally explained desperately, settling himself on his knees. “I never meant any of it. I was just being…”

“A jerk?” Kuki finished for him.

Wally blinked his eyes.
“Uhh… yeah.” he said, smiling a little while scratching the back of his head.

She giggled softly and Wally heard her move and sit up so she was at his level.
“Isn’t that a first.” she whispered and even in the dark Wally could tell that she was smiling. Regardless of the deserved insult, he could feel his heart warm and he felt himself smiling as well. “Guess not…” he said.

A silence fell.
Wally continued to fiddle with the carpet and he couldn’t help but wonder what to do next. He was still feeling rather nervous and the fact that he couldn’t see her face didn’t exactly help him out. He could often tell what she was thinking by looking at her, but now he couldn’t and it was making him feel a little uncomfortable. Was he supposed to go back to his own bed? Or should he kiss her again? As far as Wally was concerned, that wasn’t a choice that was hard to make. But maybe this had been a spur of the moment kind of thing? Or-

“Me neither.” Kuki whispered back.

He blinked his eyes twice as his thoughts were being put to a stop.

“Uhh… Sorry?” he asked.

“I didn’t mean any of it either…” she said and Wally could just picture her sitting there and timidly playing with the hem of her nightgown. “You know…about the not looking forward part.”
She uttered a nervous giggle. “I just was…kinda mad.”

Wally stared at her dark silhouette. He could sense the all too familiar blush rise towards his cheeks and felt grasshoppers buzz around in his stomach. It was a regular effect she had on him, it just felt a little stronger this time.

“Thank goodness…” he whispered truthfully.

She softly giggled again, before silence filled the room once more, apart from the sound of their snoozing friends.
Wally noticed Kuki moving about uneasily and knew that she was hesitating to say something. His hand, which was resting on her mattress, suddenly got touched. He blushed a little more and couldn’t help himself but smile.

“You know…” she started softly, her index finger drawing circles on Wally’s hand, “I never would’ve thought you’d actually… I mean, I hoped so of course… I just never…”

She stopped talking abruptly when Wally started playing with a strand of her hair near her face. He smiled. He had a fair idea of what she was about to say, since he was sharing pretty comparable thoughts. It was almost as if she had picked the words from his mouth.

“Me neither.” he whispered gently.

He looked at her face, which was still covered in shadows. He didn’t like the fact he couldn’t see her, but sometimes, sometimes he didn’t need his eyes to tell what she was thinking.
He leaned his head towards her and rested his forehead against hers, rubbing it gently. He wouldn’t back out. Not now. He had been such a coward for all this time now.
Wallabee Beetles could take out a 200 pound guy with one blow. He could run a decent amount of miles without getting exhausted. There was no match that Wallabee Beetles couldn’t handle, no challenge that Wallabee Beetles couldn’t take. Yet about this little thing, Wallabee Beetles had cowered so much all for all these years. Without reason except for his lack of courage. He had been such an idiot.

He slowly slid his head down, so his cheek was now resting against hers. He inhaled softly and whispered something into her ear.

Two heartbeats later, Wally felt a strong pair of arms wrap around his neck and pull him on the mattress. Needless to say, he was a little surprised, a feeling that soon vanquished when he felt a pair of familiar lips touch his own and kiss him so fervently as if their lives depended on it. Wally couldn’t help but grin, his entire body just oozing with delight. He felt her smile broadly as well, before he mimicked her actions and curled his hands around her back, holding and cuddling her tightly to him, as if he was afraid the girl could be pried from his arms any second. When he kissed her again, he vowed he would never let that happen., along with another honest pledge:
Wallabee Beetles would never ever mess things up again. Ever.

* * * * *

Hoagie awoke that morning when the sun peered through the curtains and hit his eyes. He squinted them and yawned broadly, stretching his arms to their sides. He propped himself up on one elbow and used his free hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked them several times, waiting for the blurry morning-vision to disappear.
When it did, the first thing he saw were two empty mattresses shoved together, which belonged to Nigel and Rachel.
The young pilot scratched his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. He yawned once more and turned his head, there finding Abby sitting up and looking at something.

“Whe’sNigel’nRachel?” Hoagie muttered while scratching his chest, not managing to suppress another yawn.

“Shh!” Abby hushed him, waving her hand towards him, gesturing him to keep still. “Went to the bakery.” she whispered.

“Why do I have to keep quiet?” Hoagie whispered back huskily, rubbing his eyes again. “People still sleeping?”

Abby turned to him, her face showing a wide grin. She brought one finger to her lips, while she used the other to point at something.
Now curious, Hoagie sat up and leaned forward to look past Abby to see what she was looking at. His eyes grew wide.

There, cuddled up together on one mattress, lay both Wally and Kuki.
Kuki had her arms intertwined around Wally’s waist, while her head was snuggled against his chest. Her head was softly moving back and forth due the boy’s respiration.
Wally, on his part, had his arms wrapped gently around Kuki’s back, while his chin rested atop of her scalp. Both parties had gentle smiles on their faces as they continued to doze peacefully, not planning to be bothered by anyone who’d try.

Hoagie stared at the couple for a moment, blinking his eyes several times to make sure this wasn’t an illusion. Then, after a few seconds, he plopped back down on his bed, feeling the enormous weight of guilt being lifted of his shoulders.
He reached for his yellow sunglasses, put them on his nose and placed his hands behind his head.

“Yup, just according to plan.” he countered with a broad grin spreading across his face.

Abby turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow. “What plan?”

“You know,” Hoagie said, gesturing towards the sleeping couple and then tapping his finger against his head, “It was up in here, all along.”

Abby rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That’s about all that’s in there.” she said, while getting up. “Come on, we better leave them be.”

“Yo, Numbuh Five…” Hoagie said, which made Abby turn around and look at him in question.
The boy grinned, lifted his sunglasses and patted his mattress, “There’s still room for one more.” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

The dark skinned girl stared at him. She couldn’t ignore the fact that she felt her cheeks grow a little warmer. She looked at the technician’s face, and spotted the goofy grin that was curled onto it.
Abby smiled to herself, bent over, and picked up her pillow.

“Practise on this first, Romeo,” she said, tossing the pillow into his face, before she turned on her heel and made her way for the kitchen, “Then we’ll talk.”

Hoagie grinned as he removed the pillow from his face and saw her disappear through the door. He sat up and smiled fondly towards the kitchen.
“Just you wait, Lincoln,” he said, tossing the pillow back onto her bed and tapping his finger against his head.
“It’s all up in here.”

-THE END-

Description
Part Three

“I’m quite relieved, Numbuh Four! It’s not like I was looking forward to it!”

Her words pounded freshly inside his brain, like an annoying headache. He lay on his back on his mattress; blankly staring at the dark, invisible ceiling above him. He heard his friends’ soft breathing and looked to the side.

Ironically, Kuki’s mattress was right next to his.
Well, it wasn’t really ironic. Whenever they had a sleep-over, their beds usually ended up being near each other. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but he did know that whenever he saw the chance, he’d claim his sleeping spot somewhere close to Kuki’s.
He sighed, turning his head away again and ran a hand across his face and through his hair. He had expected Kuki would have taken her stuff and move to the mattress that was as far away from him as possible, but instead, she had decided to do something that Wally found much, much more painful. She had simply ignored him the rest of the night.

After their little awkward moment, Abby had come to the rescue and said she still had some leftover pizza in the fridge. She had asked Kuki to assist her to reheat them and Kuki had done so, disappearing into the kitchen.
A little while later, when she and Abby came back out, Kuki’s mood had altered completely and she had turned back into her cheerful old self carrying the tray of pizza, while Numbuh Five was still looking rather worried.

Wally was confused to said the least. Things usually wouldn’t turn out fine unless he’d apologize to her, she’d accept it and hugged him.
But Wally quickly noticed that things weren’t fine. Despite the fact he didn’t find the courage to say something to her, he quickly noticed he had become non-existent to Kuki Sanban. The pizza was a nice distraction at first and it led to new conversations with no one mentioning anything about the earlier event.
But whenever Wally got joined in on the conversation, Kuki would keep her mouth shut, wait until he’d finish and then start talking about a completely different related matter.

Hoagie obviously felt bad about the whole thing and tried to get both Wally and Kuki involved in the same conversation, but his attempts usually led to a dead end. It made Wally feel even more guilty, knowing the whole thing was his fault and not Hoagie’s.

He had made an attempt to apologize to her when everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, but she had simply turned away from him, bid everyone a goodnight and covered herself with the sheets. She still lay in that very same position now, a few hours later. Even asleep, it seemed as if she made a point out of it that she wouldn’t face Wally.

Numbuh Four turned around, mingling in his blankets, trying to find a comfortable position, which he didn’t find. He sighed once more, returning to his earlier spot and thus facing the ceiling. He felt exactly like what he was seeing. A dark, empty hole.
He felt this was the final time he had messed up. There would be no more forgiveness. It had been too much.
He was absolutely devastated and he had witnessed all of his hopes and dreams being shattered at the very moment she had turned her back to him.

Wally thought back to where this whole thing started. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to kiss her. Of course he wanted that, he would have been ecstatic! But he didn’t want to kiss her in front of all those people, even if they were his friends. He wasn’t about to do something so personal in front of a crowd. When he would kiss her, he wanted to be alone with her.

“I’m quite relieved, Numbuh Four! It’s not like I was looking forward to it!”

Wally cringed. She was right of course. Absolutely right. Of course she wouldn’t kiss him, what had he been thinking? He felt like a complete moron he had actually hoped there was a slight chance she did want to kiss him, that she possibly did feel the same way as he felt about her. And if there had been anything, even the slightest thing, it was sure to be destroyed by now. He had made sure of that, the almighty Wallabee Beetles.
Not only all the stuff in his room ended up being broken, even his bond with the person he cared about the most.

Wally turned his head again, facing the lump on his right which was Kuki. He saw the shape move up and down slightly, caused by her soft breathing. He could still clearly envision her steel-cold eyes when she had looked at him, her gaze boring into his. It made Wally cringe even more.
It had taken him a little while before he had realized what that other thing was he had seen in them. He had seen it before. They looked hurt. Not just hurt, really hurt.
Wally sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. He couldn’t blame her. He really had said some awful things to her. And what was even worse is that he didn’t mean any of it in the first place. It was just his instinctive defence-mechanism that activated whenever it involved a deep, personal matter which was no one’s business but his. And maybe Kuki’s.

He heard something rustle. He turned his head to the side and saw Kuki turn around in her sleep and settling down again. Despite the fact that it was very dark and he couldn’t see her face, Wally guessed she was now facing his direction. He looked at her, but only saw the faint outline of her countenance and her hair. Regardless that he didn’t see anything, he was a little bit happy to know that at least this time her face was directed to him and didn’t have a frown on it.
Wally bit his lip. He couldn’t help but hope that maybe… just maybe, she had said all that in a spur of anger. She often did that when they got into an argument and things heated up. And they both always regretted what they said in the end. So maybe, just maybe…
But then again, she had never been this mad at him, Wally thought while turning his face the other way. His stomach felt as if it weighed a ton. Of course she had meant it. Every word.
He couldn’t bear this. He just had to apologize to her! She needed to know that he didn’t mean to say that! She needed to know how awful he felt, that he was a big jerk and-

Wally got so worked up about his thoughts, he pulled the covers and forcefully rolled over to the other side. A little too forceful. Apparently, the mattress wasn’t as spacious as he thought it was and he felt himself stumble across the edge of the mattress and onto the floor, tangled between the sheets.
Ah crud.

“Numbuh Four?”

Double crud.
His eyes widened in fright, feeling himself bump against Kuki’s mattress. She was awake.
Wally didn’t know what he was the most shocked about. The fact that she wasn’t sleeping and he was laying on the carpet floor right next to her, or the fact that she -after all those hours- said something to him.
He gasped and felt as if his throat was being blocked. This couldn’t really be happening. He must’ve fallen asleep and was dreaming right now.

“Wally? Is that you?”

Scratch that. He was definitely awake.

“Err…Yes.” He whispered hoarsely.

“What are you doing here?”

Yes, that was a mighty good question.
His ability to speak failed him once again. The tone of her voice hadn’t sounded accusingly, it sounded rather surprised. He couldn’t exactly blame her either. He was a little surprised himself, mostly because of the fact that she was talking to him and didn’t sound particularly angry.

“Umm… I was…” His voice trailed off when he heard her move and felt a few strands of her hair prickle his face. It made him blush and his heart skipped a beat.
Suddenly he felt a hand touch his face. The second it did, it immediately shot back again and he heard her gasp a little. When she did, he could feel her breath tickle between his eyes. She was very, very close to him and it looked like she had just come to that same conclusion.
Wally could feel the palms of his hands beginning to sweat; even more when he realized she wasn’t backing away like he had expected her to. After all, she was supposed to be crossed with him.

“I’m sorry, I’ll just…”
He propped himself up on one hand, meaning to get up and retreat to his own mattress, but as he lifted his head, he felt his forehead brush against Kuki’s face. He froze.
His eyes slowly looked up. He didn’t see much, it was still pretty dark… But he could see her eyes gleam in the rare moonlight that shone through the curtains. And he could feel her breath on his face as she gasped once more.
He couldn’t move. And apparently, neither could she. She was so close… So very, very close…
Despite his frozen stance, Wally felt the inside of his body tingle, his stomach flipping… And suddenly he felt a touch. Right there on his cheek. It was a finger, lightly caressing him. And this time it didn’t pull away.
He could hear her inhale softly.

“Wally?” she whispered.

Now. Right now.

“Dare.” He uttered.
He leaned in forward and it took less than a second before he felt her lips touch his.
An unknown sensation rushed throughout his body, made his stomach do somersaults, made his limbs feel as if they were made out of rubber and made his heart pound so ferociously, he thought it would burst through his chest. The tingle shot back up across his spine and eventually clouded his brain, which made him do nothing more but savour this amazing feeling that he was kissing Kuki. He was kissing Kuki!
He could feel a little pressure from her side, which made him press right back ever so gently to persuade this overwhelming feeling. It felt so good. So right.
They simply sat there, two young people very much in love doing nothing more but just connect with one another, literally and figuratively. They didn’t deepen the kiss, they didn’t throw their arms around each other. No, this was perfect. Their warm lips against each other’s, their scents lingering in each other’s noses… Just perfect. This shouldn’t be allowed to end. Ever.

But it had to, eventually. If they still wanted to breathe. Wally gladly would’ve given up breathing if he could continue to feel that sensation.
They both parted and he could again feel her exhale gently, her breath softly stroking his face. Numbuh Four sat there, flabbergasted, as if only just know he realized what exactly had happened. He stared at her, with his jaw dropped slightly and hating the fact that he couldn’t see her face in the darkness.

“I’m sorry.” he blurted out after a few seconds.

Silence.

“For what?” she whispered softly. Wally heard her voice crack a little.

“For everything I said earlier…I’m sorry…” he said, nervously fiddling with the carpet. He didn’t really know how he was supposed to behave.

“Oh.” she said, her voice sounding a little relieved.

“I didn’t mean any of it.” Wally explained desperately, settling himself on his knees. “I never meant any of it. I was just being…”

“A jerk?” Kuki finished for him.

Wally blinked his eyes.
“Uhh… yeah.” he said, smiling a little while scratching the back of his head.

She giggled softly and Wally heard her move and sit up so she was at his level.
“Isn’t that a first.” she whispered and even in the dark Wally could tell that she was smiling. Regardless of the deserved insult, he could feel his heart warm and he felt himself smiling as well. “Guess not…” he said.

A silence fell.
Wally continued to fiddle with the carpet and he couldn’t help but wonder what to do next. He was still feeling rather nervous and the fact that he couldn’t see her face didn’t exactly help him out. He could often tell what she was thinking by looking at her, but now he couldn’t and it was making him feel a little uncomfortable. Was he supposed to go back to his own bed? Or should he kiss her again? As far as Wally was concerned, that wasn’t a choice that was hard to make. But maybe this had been a spur of the moment kind of thing? Or-

“Me neither.” Kuki whispered back.

He blinked his eyes twice as his thoughts were being put to a stop.

“Uhh… Sorry?” he asked.

“I didn’t mean any of it either…” she said and Wally could just picture her sitting there and timidly playing with the hem of her nightgown. “You know…about the not looking forward part.”
She uttered a nervous giggle. “I just was…kinda mad.”

Wally stared at her dark silhouette. He could sense the all too familiar blush rise towards his cheeks and felt grasshoppers buzz around in his stomach. It was a regular effect she had on him, it just felt a little stronger this time.

“Thank goodness…” he whispered truthfully.

She softly giggled again, before silence filled the room once more, apart from the sound of their snoozing friends.
Wally noticed Kuki moving about uneasily and knew that she was hesitating to say something. His hand, which was resting on her mattress, suddenly got touched. He blushed a little more and couldn’t help himself but smile.

“You know…” she started softly, her index finger drawing circles on Wally’s hand, “I never would’ve thought you’d actually… I mean, I hoped so of course… I just never…”

She stopped talking abruptly when Wally started playing with a strand of her hair near her face. He smiled. He had a fair idea of what she was about to say, since he was sharing pretty comparable thoughts. It was almost as if she had picked the words from his mouth.

“Me neither.” he whispered gently.

He looked at her face, which was still covered in shadows. He didn’t like the fact he couldn’t see her, but sometimes, sometimes he didn’t need his eyes to tell what she was thinking.
He leaned his head towards her and rested his forehead against hers, rubbing it gently. He wouldn’t back out. Not now. He had been such a coward for all this time now.
Wallabee Beetles could take out a 200 pound guy with one blow. He could run a decent amount of miles without getting exhausted. There was no match that Wallabee Beetles couldn’t handle, no challenge that Wallabee Beetles couldn’t take. Yet about this little thing, Wallabee Beetles had cowered so much all for all these years. Without reason except for his lack of courage. He had been such an idiot.

He slowly slid his head down, so his cheek was now resting against hers. He inhaled softly and whispered something into her ear.

Two heartbeats later, Wally felt a strong pair of arms wrap around his neck and pull him on the mattress. Needless to say, he was a little surprised, a feeling that soon vanquished when he felt a pair of familiar lips touch his own and kiss him so fervently as if their lives depended on it. Wally couldn’t help but grin, his entire body just oozing with delight. He felt her smile broadly as well, before he mimicked her actions and curled his hands around her back, holding and cuddling her tightly to him, as if he was afraid the girl could be pried from his arms any second. When he kissed her again, he vowed he would never let that happen., along with another honest pledge:
Wallabee Beetles would never ever mess things up again. Ever.

* * * * *

Hoagie awoke that morning when the sun peered through the curtains and hit his eyes. He squinted them and yawned broadly, stretching his arms to their sides. He propped himself up on one elbow and used his free hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked them several times, waiting for the blurry morning-vision to disappear.
When it did, the first thing he saw were two empty mattresses shoved together, which belonged to Nigel and Rachel.
The young pilot scratched his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. He yawned once more and turned his head, there finding Abby sitting up and looking at something.

“Whe’sNigel’nRachel?” Hoagie muttered while scratching his chest, not managing to suppress another yawn.

“Shh!” Abby hushed him, waving her hand towards him, gesturing him to keep still. “Went to the bakery.” she whispered.

“Why do I have to keep quiet?” Hoagie whispered back huskily, rubbing his eyes again. “People still sleeping?”

Abby turned to him, her face showing a wide grin. She brought one finger to her lips, while she used the other to point at something.
Now curious, Hoagie sat up and leaned forward to look past Abby to see what she was looking at. His eyes grew wide.

There, cuddled up together on one mattress, lay both Wally and Kuki.
Kuki had her arms intertwined around Wally’s waist, while her head was snuggled against his chest. Her head was softly moving back and forth due the boy’s respiration.
Wally, on his part, had his arms wrapped gently around Kuki’s back, while his chin rested atop of her scalp. Both parties had gentle smiles on their faces as they continued to doze peacefully, not planning to be bothered by anyone who’d try.

Hoagie stared at the couple for a moment, blinking his eyes several times to make sure this wasn’t an illusion. Then, after a few seconds, he plopped back down on his bed, feeling the enormous weight of guilt being lifted of his shoulders.
He reached for his yellow sunglasses, put them on his nose and placed his hands behind his head.

“Yup, just according to plan.” he countered with a broad grin spreading across his face.

Abby turned her head towards him and raised an eyebrow. “What plan?”

“You know,” Hoagie said, gesturing towards the sleeping couple and then tapping his finger against his head, “It was up in here, all along.”

Abby rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That’s about all that’s in there.” she said, while getting up. “Come on, we better leave them be.”

“Yo, Numbuh Five…” Hoagie said, which made Abby turn around and look at him in question.
The boy grinned, lifted his sunglasses and patted his mattress, “There’s still room for one more.” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

The dark skinned girl stared at him. She couldn’t ignore the fact that she felt her cheeks grow a little warmer. She looked at the technician’s face, and spotted the goofy grin that was curled onto it.
Abby smiled to herself, bent over, and picked up her pillow.

“Practise on this first, Romeo,” she said, tossing the pillow into his face, before she turned on her heel and made her way for the kitchen, “Then we’ll talk.”

Hoagie grinned as he removed the pillow from his face and saw her disappear through the door. He sat up and smiled fondly towards the kitchen.
“Just you wait, Lincoln,” he said, tossing the pillow back onto her bed and tapping his finger against his head.
“It’s all up in here.”

-THE END-