Summary: M-21 has another nightmare; Tao and Takeo's solution to this is to sleep in the same bed as him so they can wake him next time. …It takes a surprising amount of adjustment.

Contains light M-21/Tao/Takeo? Or really strong bonds between the three. You pick how you read it. :3

Huh. The first time I've written Tao's pov?

A Good Night's Sleep

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 burst into wakefulness, gasping. His heart hammered in his chest, his skin was slick with sweat and there was a constant ringing in his ears. That... He stared at the wall, telling himself this was his reality now, but the images still replayed crystal clearly in his mind: Doctor Crombell's smirk as he monitored his and M-24's actions; the blank featureless tiles that had surrounded him for so long; the stiffling scent of terror and chemicals that permeated through everything.

It only helped a little bit, the memories fading slightly.

He had a feeling he wouldn't be sleeping again that night, so M-21 just kept staring at the wall, concentrating on breathing in and out.

xOx

When Tao saw M-21 in the morning, he cocked his head to the side. There were dark shadows under M-21's eyes, his head was slightly lower than usual and his shoulders were hunched like he was preparing to defend himself against something. He shared a glance with Takeo, who was studying M-21 intently too. Hm. So it wasn't just him, then.

He made his way to M-21's side, throwing an arm across his shoulders; Tao didn't like how M-21 froze at his touch, like he hadn't realised he was there. "Morning!"

"...Morning." Yep, M-21's response was more subdued than usual.

Which meant- "Bad night?" Takeo asked.

M-21 didn't answer straight away, avoiding their eyes. After a few seconds, he slowly nodded. "It's nothing; just a nightmare," he told them.

Takeo snorted. "That's not nothing."

Tao hummed, his mind coming up with a couple of ideas before discarding them. Nah, they were too complicated; sometimes the simplest ideas were the best. "How about we stay in bed with you - that way, we can keep a close eye on you and wake you up if you need it?"

M-21 stopped walking and stared at him. "In the same bed." It was probably meant to be a question but the way M-21 said it, it came out more like a statement.

"Yep," Tao said, nodding.

M-21 turned to look at Takeo, who also inclined his head in agreement. When M-21 looked back at him, there was a helplessly confused expression on his face. "But...we won't fit."

"Oh. Oh!" Tao laughed as he got it. So much for Tao thinking M-21 was being reluctant. "Right, yeah, it's only a single bed, huh?" He shook his head, still chuckling. "But that's easily fixed." And there was the guy they needed right there, walking towards them. Tao used his free arm to wave. "Boss!"

The Boss ignored M-21's and Takeo's squeaks of alarm, peering at him in interest. "Hm? What is it?"

"We need a bigger b-mmph." M-21's hand clasped around his mouth, which Tao thought was a little unfair. He'd just pointed out the problem, so why shouldn't they fix it?

"Tao!" Takeo hissed, his eyes wide in horror.

His eyes flicking between the three of them, lingering over M-21 the longest, the Boss nodded in understanding. "I'll have it finished by tonight," he said as he started towards the direction of the lab.

"Heh. Awesome!"

M-21 and Takeo openly gaped at him when the Boss was gone. "What?" he asked guilelessly, blinking at them.

"I can't believe you just..." Takeo sighed, screwing his eyes shut.

"Why would you need a bigger bed?" Tao looked over his shoulder and grinned at Regis, who was looking at them in confusion but trying to hide it.

"Tell ya when you're older," he teased.

Takeo just groaned and Tao heard a smack that was probably him covering his face with a hand, but M-21 hadn't reacted in any way so Tao checked on him, just in case. He was looking back at him with a puzzled expression on his face. ...Huh.

"...I'm older than the three of you altogether," Regis said flatly, though there was a thread of uncertainty that Tao could hear, an eyebrow arched.

"Heh." Tao would have teased him more but the back of his neck prickled and he felt M-21 freeze under his arm too. Looked like he was going to have to make a quick escape!

He sent a jaunty salute behind him at the Boss, seeing his aura already darkening the corridor around him, and tightening his grip on M-21, snagging Takeo by the sleeve at the same time, he dragged them out the house.

xOx

M-21 eyed the bed when he went into his bedroom after seeing the children out for the night. It was bigger than a double bed (and M-21 was sure Frankenstein would go on if asked about what kind of bed it was, the materials it was made from and other things he couldn't think of) but as far as M-21 could tell, it was normal apart from its size. Frankenstein hadn't made a single comment about taking the price of making it out of their salaries, which he found strange and disconcerting.

Taking a deep breath, M-21 changed into his nightwear and then cautiously approached the bed. It didn't do anything, and when Frankenstein was involved in creating something, there was always the chance that he had added in a couple of special features. The mattress was springy but didn't ultimately feel that different from what he'd been on before and the blanket was the same as well. Just bigger.

There was a low whistle behind him and when M-21 checked, Tao was at his door, an appreciative grin on his face; Takeo was at his shoulder, and he gave Tao a gentle push to stop him blocking the door.

Snickering, Tao inspected the bed from all angles. "M-21's in the middle," he declared after a few seconds, pulling the blanket back and clambering in.

"I don't get a say in this?" M-21 said, a smile tugging at his lips as he opened up his side.

"Nope! You shouldn't be arguing anyway," Tao said, watching him get in. "We're making sure you don't have any more nightmares - it's a little hard to wake someone up if you have to do it over someone else."

That did make sense so M-21 got into the bed (not that he wouldn't have anyway), Takeo getting in a few seconds after him.

...It was strange, sharing his bed like this. He could hear every breath Tao and Takeo made, and every time one of them moved, so did the bed and blanket. But even then, his nose was telling him comrades/safe so M-21's eyes closed and he eventually drifted off to sleep.

xOx

M-21 was being smothered. Eyes flying open, he shoved himself upright, transforming his hands into claws and that set off a mass of confusion to his senses - there were people next to him, people who were awake as soon as he moved, the one on his left rolling off the bed, muffling a curse.

Whatever had been smothering him disappeared and M-21 just stared around him in confusion. What happened? There weren't any strangers in the room, and whatever had been used, it wasn't that effective a weapon, so why use it?

The person on his right burst out laughing and M-21 could recognise that sound without turning around.

"Takeo!" Tao wheezed, curling up into a ball he was laughing so hard. "Your hair was trying to kill us in our sleep!"

...Ah. M-21 opened and closed his mouth, feeling like there was something there. He transformed his claws back as he tried to tell what it was.

"It was-!" Takeo whirled around to yell at Tao, but paused when he saw M-21 trying to grab that one hair that had tried to work its way down his throat. "Uh..." He patted down his hair, wincing. "Sorry."

"It's all right," he said, after he had finally managed to grab it and pull it out.

Snickering, Tao smiled at M-21. "How did ya sleep?"

M-21 blinked and ran through how he was feeling. "Good," he said, surprised. He did feel better than usual, but that might have just been because he'd gotten enough sleep to recover from the night before.

Tao struck a victory pose. "All right! We're doing this every night then!"

...Like he or Takeo would be able to argue or convince him otherwise once Tao had made up his mind.

xOx

Takeo frowned, feeling light tugging at his hair. He'd also woken up to some very familiar humming. ...That was never a good sign. Sighing, he didn't open his eyes and flatly asked, "Tao, what are you doing?"

"We're braiding your hair."

At the first word, Takeo's mind went 'oh', because he hadn't registered that the tugs were coming from two different directions. He also couldn't blame M-21 getting roped into any schemes Tao had thought up, being steamrolled into them himself. At the second word, Takeo's eyes snapped open.

Tao was sitting to the left of him, on the edge of the bed, his legs crossed, with a section of hair in his hands while M-21 was on the other side with a concentrated expression on his face, his knees drawn up in front of him, also with a part of his hair in his hands.

He stared at them for a few seconds and then slid his eyes closed again. He took a deep breath. "Why are you braiding my hair?" There wasn't much point in asking though -Tao did whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it; logic and reasoning sometimes wasn't anywhere near him- but he did anyway.

Tao snorted. "So your hair doesn't kill us in our sleep," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

...

That actually made sense. Apart from one thing. "Shouldn't you be doing this before we go to bed?" Not when they should be getting up.

Tao waved a dismissive hand. "Think of this as practicing before actually doing it."

"…Fine," he said as he sighed, eyeing their work. M-21's part was shorter than Tao's, with more hairs escaping the braid. Tao's...

"Tao," he said carefully, "why does your braid have five sections to it?" Or was it six? It was a little hard to tell from this angle.

"Three sections was too easy."

Yeah, that was Tao, all right.

"Are we going to lie in bed and play with my hair all day?" he asked pointedly. He didn't know what time it was, but it didn't feel like he'd slept in, the sunlight seeping in through the window blinds not bright enough.

Tao grinned at him and Takeo just prepared himself for whatever he was going to say. "Can we? You don't think Boss would mind?"

Ha. Rolling his eyes, Takeo shoved Tao off the bed.

xOx

M-21 watched Takeo as he tugged a brush through his hair, feeling a little guilty. It hadn't taken long for Takeo to unwind the braids he and Tao had done, but M-21 hadn't thought of the tangles braiding would make.

Tao had left the room for some reason, but it wasn't long until he was back, waving...two brushes. Throwing one to M-21 with an underhand throw, M-21 caught it instinctively. He peered at it while Tao dragged him over to Takeo's side with an arm over his shoulders; it was just a regular brush as far as he could see.

Takeo just raised an eyebrow at them for a second, before sighing in resignation and turning his back on them.

With a whoop, Tao divided Takeo's hair down the middle and handed one side to M-21. Why did he-? Oh.

"You're sure?" he asked Takeo - he'd already messed up Takeo's hair one way, so wasn't Takeo worried he'd do the same again?

"Yeah."

Tao had already started, brushing Takeo's hair in long sweeps, humming a tune under his breath. M-21 stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds -it was someone's ringtone, but he couldn't place whose- but Takeo wasn't arguing against it, so M-21 slowly started to brush Takeo's hair.

It was different from doing his own hair, with none of the feedback he was used to. It was also a lot harder to get rid of the tangles, M-21 thought dryly.

"How do you do this every morning?" he asked curiously. For him, it would be over in less than a minute; with Takeo's, a minute had already passed and he'd barely even started.

Takeo shrugged with one arm. "I wake up a little earlier and I'm used to it." There was a pause. "I also don't normally have people braiding my hair in my sleep."

Tao snickered.

M-21 finally got into a rhythm; after a few minutes, Takeo's hair stopped resisting being brushed.

Takeo eventually noticed they'd stopped brushing his hair and then stood up, inspecting his hair.

Specifically, the side Tao had done.

"Hey! You think I'd do something to your hair?"

"Yes," was Takeo's answer without hesitation, and Tao spluttered. Finding nothing, Takeo flipped his hair back over his shoulder.

"Can we style your hair?" Tao asked him, a wide grin on his face.

"No."

Tao didn't quite pout, but he gestured to Takeo's hair. "You're going to do it anyway."

"And we'd be late if I let you experiment now."

Tao tilted his head at Takeo, his grin turning mischievous. "Does that mean we can experiment later?"

Takeo sighed. "...Maybe."

M-21 did not trust the gleam in Tao's eyes just then.

xOx

"Sooo," Tao drawled the next night while they waited for M-21 to finish braiding Takeo's hair (he'd refused to have two braids, and hadn't trusted Tao to not put something in his hair behind his back. M-21 agreed with him; he'd seen Tao buy ribbons the day before). "It's kinda a waste of time to keep going back to our rooms to change."

M-21 had noticed that, feeling a little strange every time Tao and Takeo left to go to their own rooms before going back to his. He waited to see what Tao would say next.

"Can we move some of our clothes here?"

M-21 blinked. Was that it? "Yeah. There's enough space." It wouldn't be hard to separate different areas for their clothes, and it would be obvious if someone's clothes had ended up in the wrong place anyway.

Tao grinned at him. "We'll do it tomorrow, then?"

M-21 wondered when Tao's computers and Takeo's guns would start migrating over to his room and found he didn't care.

xOx

"Tao."

Tao frowned, not sure if he'd heard that properly. The voice hadn't been very distinct, but it was familiar.

"Tao!"

He jerked awake and found himself nose-to-someone's-armpit. The bed was also less flat than Tao remembered. And breathing.

Chuckling weakly, Tao crawled off M-21. "Oops."

M-21 just watched him move away, but he didn't seem too bothered by being woken up like that.

"I forgot you're sometimes a restless sleeper," Takeo said dryly.

"Actually, so did I," Tao admitted. It wasn't something he had thought about a lot recently since he had a room to himself so he wasn't waking anyone up with his movements, though he did find his blanket had made its way to the floor some nights.

"Um, don't think there's anything you can do about it though," he said as he scratched his cheek.

M-21's soft sigh and turning over was all he got as an answer.

Tao shared a glanced with Takeo, who peered at M-21, and then shrugged.

"If we can't do anything about it," M-21 murmured, "then we should just go back to sleep. We aren't being hurt by it."

Tao tilted his head to the side. "You could wake up with me on top of both of you."

"We'll throw you out the bed if that happens," Takeo said, yawning. "Then we'll be able to sleep."

He could have pulled his pillow out and whacked Takeo for that, but he caught Takeo's yawn instead. Figuring that was a sign, Tao settled back down on the bed, already hearing M-21's breathing deepening as he fell asleep.

xOx

M-21 raised an eyebrow at the box in Tao's hands as he walked into his bedroom. It was completely filled with clothes.

Takeo wasn't far behind, his own box similarly full.

He just watched them as they unpacked, not thinking they would need his help.

When they pulled out their pocket computers and guns and started finding homes for them, M-21 couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face.

He wasn't surprised in the slightest.

xOx

There was something wrong. Takeo opened his eyes, only seeing the dim street lights from the window.

When he turned over, M-21's breathing was too quick, too shallow, his body too rigid, a tremor running down it. Tao's face was hovering over M-21's shoulder, worry written over his face.

"Hey, M-21," Tao said while Takeo reached over to shake M-21.

It didn't seem like it did anything for a second, but all at once M-21 jerked awake, gasping. He flailed, and Takeo ducked the suddenly clawed hand going for his face before M-21 calmed down, slumping.

"W-what?" M-21 croaked, blinking between Takeo and Tao.

"Nightmare," Takeo told him quietly.

"Oh..." M-21 didn't say anything for a while. "Thanks."

Tao hummed. "You'd do the same if it was one of us." He peered at M-21. "You okay?"

M-21 smiled tiredly at them. "Yeah." He ran his hand through his hair, sighing. "We should get back to sleep."

After making sure M-21 wasn't trying to hide and pretend he was all right, Takeo settled back down to sleep again.

Thanks to oOTinaOo for the help with the claw terminology issue. :)