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Zedaph snickers slightly when he - literally - stumbles across them. Evil Xisuma and Worm Man, curled up together on the floor outside of their joint base.
Ex looks up bleary eyed at the disturbance and glares at Zed.
Zed holds his hands up in a surrender and backs up a couple of steps, a smirk still plastered on his face.
"Bed too good for you?" he teases quietly.
"fuck off" Ex grumbles, just loud enough to be heard as it closes its eyes again.
"Go sleep in a bed and I will, it's still late."
"Whatever."
It makes no move to get up.
Zed shakes his head, "I'll tell Xisuma."
Ex opens one eye to look at him, "You wouldn't dare."
Zeds eyebrows raise, "Wanna bet?"
It stares straight at him, "You tell X and I'll tell them you're awake in the middle of the night and haven't slept in days."
Zeds face goes red, caught out by the truth. "Fine." he sighs, "Still get into bed though, for him."
He gestures towards Worm Man, his breathing even and his face peaceful.
"You don't want Norm to wake up all sore from not sleeping in the proper place do you?"
Ex glares at him again.
"I'll stop using you caring for him when you admit you do." Zed says plainly.
Ex scoffs, "I don't care about anyone."
Zed raises his eyebrows at it again, "And I've slept every night this past week."
Ex narrows its eyes.
"Hey don't look at me like that, I thought we were stating blatant lies."
Ex grabs Zeds arm and pulls him towards them, "You're gonna help me and then you're gonna sleep too."
Zed nods and they both carefully lift Norman up and carry him to the -in Zeds opinion surprisingly cozy- bedroom.
He's placed on the bed and Ex works on removing the less comfortable elements of both of their outfits as Zed searches for a blanket in the chests nearby.
"Aha!"
Ex shushes him, now tucked into the bed behind Norm. Arms wrapped around his waist, holding him gently.
Zed winces. "Oh, sorry." He hands Ex the blanket, and takes a step back, "I'll go now-"
He stops as he notices the look on Exs face.
"What's that face for?"
Ex rolls its eyes, "Shoes off idiot." It covers the two of them with the blanket and then pulls back one side, "Gotta make sure you actually do sleep."
Zeds face cracks into a small smug smile as he scrambles to get his shoes off, almost falling over in the process.
"Shut it. Or I'll push you out of the bed once you've fallen asleep."
Zed pouts slightly as he clambers into the bed, settling into the space left for him. "I didn't even say anything!" he exclaims quietly.
Ex side eyes him, "Sleep." Then it closes its own eyes and leans its face on Norms back, relaxing at the strong firm body.
Zed moves around a few times, letting out small noises as he gets comfortable, before he decides to snuggle into Ex who makes a small tsk at the action but makes no move to push him off. Ex actually smiles into the body in front of it as Zed clings to it, feeling safe and grounded with the two of them on either side of it.
"G'night." Exs mumble is almost inaudible from the sleep slurring its words.
"Night Exy."
If Ex wakes up the next morning, smiling and in a good mood, squished between its two favourite people, then no one has to know.