He was so ******** tired.

Everything about this island was exhausting, from the training courses, to the daily duties, to the conversations with ridiculous people on Twitter (although the latter of these was the most entertaining of all of them). Nash was an active person by nature and preferred to keep busy, but even he had his limits to just how long he could go without an actual schedule to follow.

Hence the tired. And hence the fact that tired did not even mean sleepy.

It was aggravating. He had tried to lay down and sleep for the last hour to no avail, Nash rolling over and over again in fruitless attempts that felt exhausting just from this, and yet the concept of actually ******** sleeping had not yet come to pass. It made him restless and irritable, frustrated and annoyed at really nothing in particular.

Except maybe Dottie. And Tobin. And Dean.

But really, the three of them were the outliers. And even as the outliers, they were three people that Nash would have gone to bat for any day of the week, not that he would ever have told them that. Dottie, with her sarcasm and penchant for starting fights; Tobin and his dry witted disapproval; Dean, and his utter lack of actually knowing social norms (not that Nash knew any better); somehow, with all of their snark and sass and sarcasm, made up the crucial parts of Nash's makeshift world here on the island. And in spite of all of this, at the same time, he knew that they would also be at his back when he needed them, because that was just how it was with them. The insults and punches were a part of it all; he had never had something like this before, with anyone, and he wasn't about to do anything to mess that up now.

Which was exactly why he wasn't going to go to any of them right now, because they would never let him hear the end of it.

Sonja was an option, but she was still a new friend, and therefore, he didn't know her well enough to know whether him going to visit her at two in the morning would be something that was acceptable. Plus she was probably asleep, like normal human beings who were not currently debating whether or not to throw their pillow across the room. Still, the fact that she was even a vague consideration in the first place was something to be pleased over; it was nice to have someone else dragged into the chaos with.

Alice was not even an option, because in spite of their friendship - weird and uncouth and ridiculous, just the way he liked it - her sister was somewhat less than willing to accept him even as just a person, which meant that if he bothered Alice in the middle of the night, he was likely to lose limbs. Alice even being here on the island had been a surprise, but a welcome one, even if Dinah was making attempts on his life with a butter knife.

October was his brother, but that would have been just plain weird. Which left, as Nash ran down the options in his head, really only one option.

He dragged himself up, blanket and all - one of the only things he'd brought with him from home, a lime green monstrosity with giant, luminescent skulls printed on the black fabric - and padded out of his room in just his pajamas, which consisted of a long-sleeved black shirt and a pair of blue boxers.

The long basement hallway was dingy and dark this late at night, faded yellow lighting winking in and out ominously. Nash pushed his way into the stairwell and climbed the stairs slowly, long hair a tangled mess around his shoulders, yawning widely as he edged out onto the first floor of the Deus dormitory building trailing his blanket behind him like a train.

Up here, it was brighter, less dim, but still quiet, all the doors closed. Nash didn't have to go far, winding up at the right room within the first minute. He stood in front of it, debating, a frown on his face, then finally gave in - he had come this far after all - lifted a hand and knocked.

There was no answer. Nash knocked again, to no avail, and resisted the urge to knock a third time, because he was trying not to wake up the rest of the hall, his frown deepening. He reached out, tested the doorknob, and found it unlocked, which should have deterred him - as well as the lack of answering - but Nash had never really been known for his social niceties.

He pushed the door open, quietly, and poked his head in.

The room was just as small as Nash's own, except maybe with a few more things. The frame of the bed had been pushed to the side, and the mattress dragged off onto the ground beside it, along with what appeared to be a secondary mattress that had probably been accumulated from somewhere questionable. They'd been pushed together to form a giant sleeping space on the floor, which was currently in use.

Kade was shirtless, on his side, sound asleep - and thankfully alone, because otherwise Nash would have just turned around and left. Instead, he closed the door behind him, the room falling into mostly darkness again, and shuffled forward, peering down at the sleeping man with an expression of mild interest. After a moment, he knelt, resting a knee on the mattress and easing himself onto it, Nash reaching out to tug the blankets around Kade aside. With a certain amount of caution, he twisted around, scooted under the blankets, and dragged them - and his own - over himself again, on his side facing away from Kade.

It was so much warmer this way. Nash eased out a breath, closing his eyes.

There was a moment of silence, and then a shift of fabric as an arm looped around his waist, tugging him so that his back was against Kade's broad chest. He heard a murmur of something that ended in " - darling," and said, with a roll of his eyes "I'm just here to sleep. Shut up and go back to sleep."

There was another sound that might have been a laugh, then lips against the back of his neck before Kade relaxed again. Nash twisted around a little, eyeing him suspiciously, but Kade's breathing had already grown deep and even, everything easing back into sleep, and Nash felt the warmth of him begin to surround him.

It really was so much better with someone else. His eyes fluttered shut.

Within a few moments, he was asleep.