It’s not that he didn’t TRY to. He did. He really did! He’d been asleep like, 20 minutes ago!
It’s just that the reason he couldn’t sleep now was... well, because of his new travel partner. No, his snoring wasn’t loud (it was really cute though). No, he didn’t move around in his sleep. No, he didn’t wake up and demand his blankets back. What DID happened was...
-approx. 20 minutes earlier-
Badgerclops’ ears twitched at the sound of rustling coming from the bed above. Rolling over onto his back he threw his normal arm over his face as the bathroom light turned on and thought nothing of the sound of rushing water that followed.
Mao must have been getting a glass of water or something. The light in the other room clicked off, light footsteps padding closer. He was almost asleep again when-
*pomf*
“HHGG!!“
Badgerclops tensed, first because Mao had apparently kneed him in the side.
And second because said cat was now climbing onto his stomach... and not going back to the bed.
__________
‘Wait, no what was he doing- hhhahaahahaHAHAHA NONONO STOP that TICKLES!!’
Mao was now situated on top of Badgerclops (who was shaking from the effort of trying to keep quiet) and sleepily kneading biscuits into his stomach.
He stopped after a minute, much to Badgerclops’ relief. Only to plop down and bury his face in the other’s fur, prompting another freak out session from the taller of the two.
‘This is fine,‘ Badgerclops thought, trying to calm down ‘I just have to move him back onto the bed before he wakes up and kills me. Piece a cake.‘
He looked down at Mao, who was snoring peacefully, hands twitching a little every now and then.
‘I can do this‘ he thought.
Mao did a little yawn, stretching out before curling back into a ball. Oh god was he purring?!? He was totally purring in his sleep, Badgerclops was going to die he couldn’t handle this.
‘I-I can do this’ he thought again, with much less conviction.
-present-
‘I can't do this’
Badgerclops had given up.
His first attempt had been to sit up a little so it would be easier to lift Mao up.
Instead, the cat had also moved up. Right onto Badgerclops’ chest, gloved paws resting on his pecs holy shit whyyyyyy.
Mao grumbled and shoved his head under Badgerclops’ chin, breath tickling his neck and nearly headbutting him in the process.
That’s ok, he could work with this.
__________
Except, as it turned out, he could NOT work with this.
Badgerclops’ second attempt was to c a r e f u l l y grab his sleeping partner somewhere around the waist/ stomach area before gently lifting and placing him back onto the bed. Easy right?
He was doing pretty good until the lifting part. It wasn't that Mao was heavy, far from it. The problem was that, by some kind of weird cat voodoo magic, every time Badgerclops tried to lift him his body seemed to get longer and longer.
No matter how high he lifted him Mao’s paws would be firmly planted on Badgerclops’ person.
__________
The third and final attempt was the one that made Badgerclops finally throw in the towel.
It was the most dangerous, straight forward, last ditch endeavor.
He was going to wake Mao up and tell him he was sleeping on him instead of the bed.
“Mao, hey Mao“ Badgerclops whispered, gently shaking the hero.
Mao’s face scrunched up a little, one acid green eye blinking open just to glare at him.
“Mmrrrp??“
“You’re not on the bed“
Badgerclops held his breath, waiting for Mao to make a move. Which turned out to be him closing his eyes and falling back to sleep. Dang it!
Guess the only thing he could do now was wait until morning and deal with the aftermath. And with that Badgerclops closed his eye and accepted his fate, succumbing to the darkness and accidental cat cuddles.
if you're wondering why mao's so chill in this chapter it's cuz
he's emotionally exhausted from getting a new partner and doesn't give a shit at the moment
his body still remembers when he was partnered with bao bao, they probably friend cuddled when they had to camp outside so him sleep cuddling badgerclops isn't too different
