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“KITT?”
“Yes, Michael?”
“You up?”
“Clearly. You know I don't sleep, Michael.”
“Is that why you’re so bitchy all the time?”
“Very funny.” An undercurrent of wry fondness ran in KITT’s words, though cut by the tinny quality of the comlink speakers. “Did you call me simply to berate my lack of sleeping patterns? Or should I be berating yours?”
Michael flopped over to lay on his belly, sheets twisting around his legs. They were the scratchy, cheap, thin motel kind. Just about what he'd expected from the kind of torn-wallpaper establishment they'd holed up in for the night after their near-disastrous mission. He wrestled his good arm from the sheets, cheek resting against the edge of the comlink, and allowed a long, dramatic pause to drag between them for a few seconds. Then, finally, “I can’t sleep.”
It became KITT’s turn to insert exactly the right length of pause that somehow conveyed the perfect amount of disappointment. “You roused me from recharge, this early in the morning, just to tell me that you can’t sleep.”
“Hah! See, you do sleep. Check-fucking-mate.”
“It is an entirely different phenomenon. We’ve been through this.”
“Hey, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s probably…” He trailed off, squinting. “Actually. I guess it would be, walks like sleep, quacks like sleep? Then it’s sleep?” Huh, that made less sense out loud than it had in his head.
KITT thought so, too. “Oh, dear. You really do need to rest.”
“Aw, c’mon. I’m a goddamn delight and you love me.”
“You’re overtired and delirious. Go to sleep, Michael.”
“Can’t. Already told you.”
“And why is that?”
“Just can’t.”
In the pitch black of the bedroom, the red indicator light on the comlink nearly blinded Michael as KITT nudged the sensors into action. It matched the red glare of the alarm clock in the corner, unapologetically stating that it was nearly 4am. Too damn early to be awake, but Michael’s aching body didn’t seem to care.
“Your vitals are elevated,” KITT announced, unnecessarily. His voice gentled. “I know you’re still in pain, but I’m afraid you’ve taken all the medication I can recommend for now. Might I suggest breathing exercises in the meantime?”
“I mean, you could.” Michael let his reluctant tone slip into a more hopeful one. “Orrrr, you could do me one better.”
KITT was silent for a few seconds, and Michael found himself holding his breath for the answer he already knew would come. He may not have been able to see KITT, but when the thin motel walls betrayed the sound of turbines spooling into motion, his heart did a stupid, excited swoop against his ribs.
“Very well. Shall we?”
Michael’s feet were on the floor in seconds, all too glad to leave his boulder of a mattress. The bullet that had torn through the surface of his bicep had also torn a hole in his jacket - which he was still damn pissed about - so he opted to grab a sweater from his duffel before goosebumps formed on his bed-warm skin.
He pushed the door open into the cool California night just in time to see KITT slinking like a shadow towards his door. Moonlight danced across his shell, accenting the perfect styling lines of his body and turning him into rippling black silk as he moved. The low hiss of his engine, only a whisper of the sheer power lurking under that hood, went straight to Michael’s chest.
God damn, Michael was a lucky man.
(And a fucked one, apparently. Hopelessly, irrevocably fucked.)
The door was already propped by the time KITT rolled to a stop at his feet. “Thanks, buddy,” Michael said as he swung home into the familiar sanctuary of KITT’s cabin. The glow of his instrument panels were dimmed to the equivalent of the world’s most unorthodox nightlight, and he’d clearly had his cabin heater running for several minutes already. Probably since the moment Michael had lifted his wrist to call him.
“Of course." KITT didn’t bother with his fog lights as he pulled away from the complex, letting only his scanner carve a path through the darkness for them. The lights had always been for Michael’s benefit only, anyway. “Any preference on our route?”
"Nah." Michael bit back a yawn, settling snugly into the plush tan seats. Funny how just being here made his chest ease up a little. Must be the familiar sounds, the vibration of road that was second nature to him at this point. KITT might as well be home. "Just as long as we keep drivin’.”