Chapter Text
“I’ll just sleep on the floor,” Trini said, still standing at the door, stalling while Kimberly finished getting ready for bed.
After some coaxing, and asking Mrs. Cranston to help take care of Zack’s mom in their absence, the Rangers had gotten permission to use the Hart’s lakeside cabin for their spring break trip. Zordon had actually been the most difficult to convince, being completely sure that some terrible thing would happen while they were gone even though they would only be a few hours away. He finally agreed with the caveat that, since Alpha 5 hadn’t finished fixing the teleporters yet, they had to take one of the zords. He specifically requested them to take Kim’s zord, since it was the fastest and stealthiest of the bunch and likely had enough room to squeeze another Ranger into the cockpit if it came down to it.
Because of this, Kimberly went on ahead of the group, both to park her zord somewhere secure and to get the cabin set up. Of course, the rest of them ended up running into a huge traffic jam on the way up. Zack had actually gotten out of the car, claiming that he could run there faster and coming back only when he realized that he had no idea where he was going. So by the time they finally made it to the lake, it was getting late and they were all ready to pass out.
One thing that Kimberly had failed to mention however was exactly how small the cabin was. It was only just big enough for the Hart family - a one-story with a master bedroom, one additional bedroom with two twin beds for Kim and her older sister, and a pull out couch for the off chance they had a guest. And it was also a perfectly good size for their group, except - at least in Trini’s mind - the number of beds. Jason and Billy had immediately claimed the two twin beds and Zack called dibs on the pull-out. That meant that if Trini wanted a proper bed, she would need to share with none other than Kimberly Hart - her best friend and long-term crush.
And now here she was, just standing awkwardly in the doorway of the master bedroom after getting changed. Figuring that sharing a queen-sized bed with her crush sounded like a terrible idea, Trini had stalled as long as possible and figured that the floor would have to be her best bet.
“You’re not serious,” Kimbelry quirked an eyebrow at Trini, confusion and amusement written on her face.
“No, really,” Trini insisted, “The floor’s fine. Perfectly comfortable, I’m sure.”
“Trini,” Kimberly stopped her, a no-nonsense tone to her voice. “You’re not sleeping on the floor, that’s fucking ridiculous.”
“Well-”
“You can sleep on the pull-out with Zack if you want , but I promise this bed has more room and a comfier mattress.”
Biting her lip in contemplation, Trini carefully thought over her options. From past group sleepovers, Trini knew that Zack was a starfish sleeper and took up as much space as he could. Certainly annoying to sleep next to. Kimberly typically was either on her stomach or her side, so she was probably more likely to stick to her half of the bed. She was also right that the queen bed was bigger than the pullout. On the other hand, the idea of sharing a bed with Kimberly made Trini endlessly flustered. And Zack would undoubtedly give her shit for it - being the only one on the team fully aware of her crush as well as the most likely to make teasing comments. And if Kimberly did end up accidentally invading her space, Trini might just die on the spot.
“Oh my god Trini, you can’t seriously be considering that,” Kimberly balked. She walked over to Trini and glanced behind her in the living room, Trini following her gaze. Zack was already spread out over the whole mattress. “There’s not even any room left.”
“Well you’ve got me there,” Trini said more to herself than to Kim.
“Look, just share with me tonight. If you really hate it that much, we’ll go into town tomorrow and get an air mattress.” She paused for a moment before musing, “Or I could sleep on the floor if it really bothers you that much.”
“No, no, I couldn’t make you do that,” Trini argued.
“Are you sure? I’m sure it’s perfectly comfortable,” Kim smirked, echoing Trini’s earlier remark.
“I’m not letting you sleep on the floor in your family’s cabin.”
“Then it’s decided. We share the bed.” Trini sighed. There was no getting out of this one. Climbing into the bed, she curled up as close as she could to the edge, making sure she left as much room as possible between her and Kimberly.
“Trini?” She could basically feel Kim rolling her eyes.
“Mmhm?”
“You look like you’re gonna fall off.”
“No, I’m good.” Honestly she probably would fall off in like a minute if she didn’t shift in a bit, but Kim didn’t need to know that.
“Trini,” Kimberly urged. Trini definitely wasn’t going to win this one. Carefully, she moved a couple inches further in. She was still pretty close to the edge, but far enough away to satisfy Kim - who proceeded to switch off the light, saying, “Night.”
“Night,” Trini replied.
Kimberly fell asleep pretty quickly, her breathing evening out within about ten minutes. Trini on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. Too nervous to shift and find a more comfortable position, she resigned herself to staying in her ball the whole night. But that did her no favors when it came to actually falling asleep. She ended up staring at the wall on and off for over an hour, just willing her mind to calm down. No matter what she did - focusing on something specific, deep breathing exercises, straight up willing sleep to come - none of it worked. Her brain would always drift right back to her current position, to Kim, to the trip, and she was back at square one.
After what felt like at least six hours - but was probably only one or two at most - she got up to use the bathroom, washing her face again to see if that would help somehow. She just hoped that her exhaustion would beat out her asshole brain before the morning.
Climbing into the bed again, Trini tried to settle back in as best she could. All thoughts of falling right asleep were immediately thwarted though when she felt Kimberly suddenly roll into her, arm draping over her stomach. Trini froze, heart rate suddenly through the roof and brain buzzing a hundred times faster than before. When did Kimberly even get that close ? The last she’d seen, there was a good couple feet in between them.
Trini started trying to wriggle away, thinking that she would just take the floor now that Kim was completely passed out - she could figure out some excuse in the morning. But no such luck. The arm around her waist pulled her in further until her back was flush against Kimberly’s chest. She could hear Kimberly hum softly behind her, breath tickling the back of her neck.
Had Kim always been this much of a cuddler? Trini thought back to all their past Ranger sleepovers, thinking she must have missed something, but she and Kimberly always had separate sleeping bags or one of them had been on the couch. A couple of times she had noticed that she and Kim had woken up slightly closer than when they’d fallen asleep, but she’d just chalked it up to one or both of them having shifted around to find a comfortable position on the floor.
Through the current chaos in her mind, Trini noticed that a part of her actually felt surprisingly content. That part got louder as time passed and her heart rate started to return to normal, until it was more insistent than the initial nerves and confusion. As much as the situation made her anxious, it was nice to be held.
Surprisingly, feeling Kimberly’s breathing actually helped her own calm down, and after a few minutes Trini felt significantly more relaxed. Her eyes started to feel heavy as her exhaustion finally started to catch up with her. She couldn’t help but think she should still try to move away again, but for right now she just needed to close her eyes for a minute.
*****
The next morning, Trini was the last to wake up - feeling weirdly well-rested considering how long it took her to actually fall asleep. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she shuffled out of the room to join her friends for breakfast. She could hear Zack and Jason laughing at something as she opened the door, followed by an irritated “Shut up” from Kimberly. When Trini approached, Zack had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face, Jason was trying and failing to stifle a laugh, and Kim’s face was hidden in her hands. Billy just smiled at her, seemingly the most unphased by whatever just happened.
“Good morning,” he greeted.
“G’morning,” Trini grumbled in response. Her eyes narrowed at Zack when she heard him snickering.
“Yes, it is a good morning, isn’t it? How did you sleep Trini?” Zack teased. Trini didn’t know what he was on about, but walked behind him on her way to get coffee and smacked him on the back of the head before he could say anything else. It was too early to deal with his bullshit right now. He rubbed the spot where she hit, pouting at her as she passed.
“So…” Jason started when she sat down, still holding back laughter, “We were thinking about going on a hike or something this morning.”
“We wanted to go earlier, but you guys seemed really comfortable and we didn’t want to wake you,” Billy added matter-of-factly.
“ Very comfortable,” Zack agreed with an eyebrow waggle. Caught off guard by the comments, Trini sputtered and coughed on her coffee as it went down the wrong pipe. Shit. Her face went beet red, half from coughing and half from sheer embarrassment.
She knew she should have just slept on the floor.