What if Cal started calling Mare lightning bug and Mare started calling him fire babe?
FIIIIIICCCCC TIIIIIIMMMMEEEEE!!!!!
âItâs too hot.â I grumbled as I wiggled out of his arms, kicking him in the knee in the process. He grunted and then replied with an equally sleepy murmur, âI canât help it, it just happens when I sleep.â
âIâm putting you in the damn ice freezer before bed then, and youâre staying there until you cool down to a normal temperature.â I said as I managed to untangle myself from his arms and sit up on the edge of the bed. I wasnât lying either. It was freaking hot in that bed, too hot in fact. My shirt was sticking to my back with sweat from where his chest had been pressed against it. To top off the whole thing, beads of sweat were running down from my hairline and into my eyes.
 He sighed at my comment, massaging his eyes with his fingers tips. He then rolled onto his back before saying something that was muffled by his palms. I flipped around, and glared at him over my shoulder, spitting, âWhat did you just say?â
âI said, âit wouldnât do much goodâ. I canât control what temperature I am when I sleep.â
âWell then for Godâs sake Cal, donât sleep! Youâll kill me in the middle of the night when you give me heat stroke.â I said as I climbed out of the bed, yanking most of the blankets off of him and dragging them across the room where it was much cooler. He groaned at that, and said, âAre you serious- Mare, give back the damn blankets!â
âNO! Youâre your own personal heat blanket buddy.â I argued as I threw them on the ground in a makeshift little nest, and kneaded them out with my feet until they were somewhat comfortable. He propped himself up on his elbow to watch this, and then raising his brow, he said, âFine, but youâre forgetting something.âÂ
I glanced back at him and then walked back over to the bed, trying to decipher what he was expecting. He gave me that grin then. The one he knew had charmed me into multiple storage closets before meetings, and that almost made us late on too many occasions. I raised my brow at it, and leaning down I slid my hand underneath the pillow, lifting it and his head at the same time. His grin melted slowly as he went to close the space between us then, and I smirked as I yanked the pillow out from underneath him.Â
He yelped as his head hit the stone hard mattress, and I almost skipped back to my little nest of blankets, a grin of triumph on my lips. Throwing him that grin over my shoulder then, I said, âYouâre right I forgot the pillow.â
He narrowed his eyes, and spread out across the mattress saying, âFine, Iâll have the bed all to myself.â
I rolled my eyes as I settled down into my blankets and tried to close my eyes and sleep again.Â
I woke shivering, my entire body stiff with cold as I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Two in the morning. I hissed then, and tried to curl up more in my sheets to get warm, they were useless against the icy cold that slipped underneath the door though. I would be a popsicle by morning if I continued laying here.Â
With a grumble then, I grabbed the thinnest sheet, and the pillow, and trudged back to the bed. Cal was still strewn across it, face down at this point though, his hair a wild mess. I frowned when I saw the lack of space, and then nudged his arm with my pillow whispering, âCal?â
He grunted, and then murmured, âWhat?â
It was quiet for a moment until he said, âWell for Godâs sake then Mare, get in the bed.âÂ
I smiled weakly as he scooted over and made room again. I slipped onto the mattress and tossed the blanket over the two of us. It settled down in a massive clump near my feet though and I growled before kicking it away in frustration. He chuckled softly then, and I glared at him in the dark before wiggling underneath his arm and rolling so that my back was pressed against his chest again. His chin came to rest near my neck and his lips were pressed softly into my shoulder as he whispered, âAre you planning to do this again tomorrow night? Itâs getting old now, after five nights, my little lightning bug.â
My face burned at the nickname, not with shame or embarrassment, but withheld laughter at the little endearment he had come up with. I would never, ever let him know that I liked it though, ever. It was too embarrassing, honestly. It sounded like something he would have called one of the little new bloods. So I pretend to snort in annoyance at the name, and replied with my own little mocking one, âI plan to do it for as long as it takes you to fix this problem, my fire babe.â
He stilled at the new one that I had come up with, and for a moment the silence pressed on both of us. After a few heartbeats though, he threw his head back and roared with laughter. He couldnât stop either, and he continued laughing for a solid few minutes, burying his face in my hair to try and stifle the sound.
 I couldnât figure out whether it was worse that he was laughing at it because he enjoyed the name, or because he thought it was idiotic. Either way, it made me chuckle. Eventually though, the two of us where laughing so hard, someone in the barrack room next to ours banged on the wall, shouting through the metal for us to shut up.Â