Jerome's P.O.V.
There was a scream from behind me and suddenly I was on the ground with someone on top of me. I groaned and there was laughter from beside me before whoever had jumped on me was pulled off.
I picked myself up and turned around to see an energetic Preston, a flushed Mitch, an anxious Vikk, a skeptical Rob and an overwhelmed looking Lachlan. I gave Preston a quick kiss on his nose before turning to greet everyone else- minus Mitch because he had travelled with me.
After greetings were exchanged Rob started to drag us all out to the car, slowed quite a bit by Preston, who seemed very determined to go as slow as possible. Mitch smiled tiredly at me, lugging his suitcase behind him and dragging his feet along the ground with ever step.
Mitch wasn't the only one who looked exhausted, Lachlan seemed on the verge of collapsing and I could see black bags under his eyes, along with slightly greasy hair. I didn't say anything until we got 'home', which turned out to be over an hours drive away because of traffic.
Rooms had already been allocated, so Mitch and I didn't have any choice but to go together; not that we minded of course, but it was a little annoying that we didn't get a shot at the two single rooms.
"Jeromeeeeee!!!" I paused, it was Preston.
"Yeah?"
"I'm putting your suitcases upstairs!" Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Preston and Vikk had been lumped together in the other double room and they headed up there as soon as we got back, either to edit, eat or sleep I assumed. Rob disappeared pretty suddenly too, leaving just Lachlan, Mitch and myself.
Lachlan was on the couch, which we could see from the kitchen. I was famished, having only had some gross aeroplane food in the last 12 hours. The only option was really cereal, so we both pulled out bowls and the litre of milk someone must have bought, so we could have something that we considered a meal.
By the time we finished Mitch had already fallen asleep in his bowl twice, and I had to stop him ending up with a face full of milk and cornflakes. I took him upstairs and let him collapse on one of the bed, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek before tip-toeing back downstairs.
I poked my head in the living room to check on Lachlan, who I had thought was asleep when Mitch and I were eating. He wasn't quite asleep, his eyes were still open but they were slowly closing, like they do when your eyelids are too heavy to keep open.
"Hey Lachy, you might want to sleep upstairs, the couch isn't really the nicest place to sleep." He let out a little whine but didn't move, his eyes still closing.
"Do you want to sleep with me and Mitch?" He thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Come on you, you look like you've had no sleep in a week."
"Haven't." I looked down at him.
"You haven't had any sleep in a week?!" Shaking his head, he struggled to keep his eyes open as I tried to maintain eye contact with him.
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Rob helped me get Lachlan upstairs, he came down to grab some food while we were talking and offered me some help. Rob had also offered up his room, which had a double bed so Lachlan could get some proper sleep, and I gladly took it, knowing it would be easier than the single bed I had.
Lachlan was practically asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and as I tangled myself in beside him, he tried to move even closer. Because he was so much taller than I was his legs were almost hanging off the end of the bed, at least they were until he moved them upwards and pushed his feet against my legs.
"Lachlan! Oh my god your feet are cold!" He startled, making me realise he probably wasn't even sure of what he was doing. It was almost like he was drunk, but not drunk from alcohol, he was drunk from the lack of sleep.
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I was awoken by someone flopping down on top of me and someone digging their fingers in my ribs. I shrieked and kicked out, sitting up when my foot hit something.
Preston was sitting on the end of the bed, holding his arm forlornly. Lachlan was still nestled in beside me, somehow still sleep, but looking much better than he had the night before. He looked peaceful, but the door opened again and Mitch and Rob poked their heads around the door.
"Mornin' guys." Preston fell forwards onto the bed and on top of Lachlan's legs, startling him awake.
"Don't be mean Pressy, he's still trying to sleep."
Mitch soon followed Preston onto the bed and scrambled upwards to be beside me, curling in behind me and pulling the covers over himself. I looked up again to see Vikk standing beside Rob, a blanket covering his head and trailing on the ground, yawning.
I motioned for them to join the rest of us and Vikk stumbled forwards, happily crawling in-between myself and Mitch and disappearing underneath the covers. Rob snuck in beside Preston, who had decided to move up to be closer to Lachlan.
So there we were, all six of us, struggling not to laugh because Preston had made the decision to pick on Lachlan by tickling him. Lachlan clearly wasn't in the mood to be tickled, he was attempting to push Preston away and disappear under the cover, but Preston didn't seem to be picking up on Lachlan's behaviour.
"Preston leave him alone, I think he just wants to sleep." There was a small 'oh' before he moved away, leaving Lachlan to curl back into me.
"More sleep." I ran my hand through Lachlan's hair, laughing as he whined and attempted to glare at me.
"Do you want to sleep?" He hummed in reply and I looked up to see Vikk and Mitch already half-asleep, their limbs tangled and heads resting together. Preston had decided Rob was better the cuddle than Lachlan was, and he had basically conked out as soon as he wanted to sleep.
I smiled up at Rob, the only one who was awake still before nuzzling my face into Lachlan's hair and drifting off to sleep.
