The rain had died down to a friendly drizzle, the kind of rain that makes you want to bust out the yellow rain-slicker and the red plastic boots and go splash through the puddles. But the wind was angry that there were no umbrellas to torment, and was throwing a fit about the house, flinging itself against windows and doors in a cold fury that made the house grumble. No, better to be inside where it was safe.
Even better to be curled up in a warm quilt on a soft bed, with loud music drowning out the rain and the wind. It would have been nice to have someone to be curled up with, but as the saying goes, beggers will be choosers if the begging's not to their liking, and besides, all she wanted was sleep. The presense of a companion would have been wasted on her anyways.
"Sis?"
One aquamarine eye opened slowly, a hand raising to lift the quilt so that the eye had something to look at. Cold air hit her full in the face, and the eye narrowed at the intruder.
"Whatever you want, I don't care."
Her brother laughed and sat down on the edge of her bed, leaning his elbows back against her thighs.
"What makes you think I want something, Bra?"
"What makes you think I'm going to believe that you don't?"
He smirked and pulled away the old quilt from her face, giving her a mock pout and puppy eyes that were ruined when she shrieked and made a dive for the blanket, the two of them turning it into a tussle until they'd somehow managed to both wind up under the old quilt, lying under the well-loved and nearly threadbare fabric like they used to when they were younger, days of long past when they'd built forts in the living room out of chairs and blankets.
"Can't I just want to spend time with my loving little sister?"
Bra quirked an eyebrow and jabbed him in the chest as he looked at her beseechingly, their faces colored pink and violet by the light screening through the quilt above them. "You just want to hide from Mom."
He sighed and turned his face into her pillow, tugging absently at his lilac hair and probably not-so-absently at the blanket. She glowered at him as she fought to retain her command over half the quilt.
"Can you blame me? She's going kamikaze down there! She's so freaking anxious to finish that damn thing that if I stop to breathe, she cracks out the whip!"
As much as she wanted to remain oblivious to her brother's plight, the pathetic whine in his muffled voice brought a smile to her face.
"That explains the screams of 'I haven't slept in 3 days' and the 3 hour long 'ode to coffee' that I kept me awake last night."
Trunks peered back up at her sheepishly. "We really don't mean to yell...but you know Mom when she sets her mind to something. Plus, she's frustrated because there's a glitch in the mechanics and we can't find it. I think it might have something to do with the initial power connections made in the blueprints, but I don't know how to tell her that we'll have to go back so far to find out what's wrong."
"You know, you could just build yourself a backbone..."
His gaze grew flat. "Ha ha. I love you too, Bra."
"I mean it," she continued, shifting a little to lay on her side facing him, tucking up her legs a little to keep her feet within the warm confines of their fort. "You're 32, Brother, and the president of the family business. And yet you're still living at home and you still can't whip out a few pages of plans and say 'Look, Mom, let's try this before my sister goes offhinge from lack of sleep and kills me'."
He blanched, grumbling under his breath.
"So what is this thing you and Mom are building, anyways?"
He shrugged. "A new hoverbike, I guess would be the best way to describe it. Only it's not. I dunno...you'll see when you finally lose it and storm down there in the middle of the night to go apeshit on her."
"Lemme guess...you've escaped because Dad's finally lost it?"
Trunks grinned. "Hardly...I made a break for it the first second she wasn't looking and ran into Father. He heard the warcry and promised to save me."
Bra laughed quietly and closed her eyes, shaking her head as she felt Sleep caress the back of her mind.
"So how's my little sister these days, other than exhausted? It's not like you to spend a Friday night at home by yourself," he mused quietly.
"It's not like I have anyone to do anything with," she yawned in reply, instinctively seeking the warmth and familiar comfort that was her brother. He laughed quietly in response and draped an arm over her side as she turned him into her pillow.
"What about Pan?" Bra grumbled quietly, receiving a tight cough from her brother. "Or have you pushed her off the Earth?"
Bra sighed as Sleep kissed her forehead and skimpered off to watch their conversation from the otherside of the room.
"No, although she might as well have just thrown herself off. Between school, training, her job, and her boyfriend, she really don't have that much time left to spend with me." Hearing the whine in her voice that made her sound like her brother, she squirmed a little and back-pedaled. "I mean, well, she's been trying really hard to spend time with me, but I just feel like a third wheel, you know? I can't stand it."
"Hard being the single one, isn't it?" he mumbled gently.
She nodded. "Now I understand why you don't hang out with Goten anymore."
They fell into quiet, both content to just lie there and feed off the other's body heat until one or both was asleep.
"Tatsuki, right?" Trunks mumbled, petting his sister's blue hair.
"Hmm?" she replied, half-asleep. "Pan's boyfriend? What about him?"
He shifted, pulling back to look at her face. "We like Tatsuki?"
"We liked his brother more..."
Trunks chuckled quietly and leaned the rest of the way onto his back, smiling as he felt the tension drain from her shoulders and her breathing pattern steady.
"Do me a favor and don't kill me when Mom comes in demanding to know where I am..."
"I'll final flash her if she even thinks of waking me up," Bra yawned sleepily in response, curling up on his chest, the lulling sensation of someone playing with her hair inviting Sleep back into the conversation. She smiled as Sleep pushed blue bangs from her face and kissed her eyelids, inviting her into dreamland. A few minutes later, he joined her there.