Night had fallen over the quiet neighborhood of Noe Valley, casting deep, cool shadows across the Parr family residence.
Inside, the household was slowly settling down.
After a hearty home-cooked dinner, Helen and Bob had already called it a night, exhausted from the day's chaos, managing Jack-Jack and fast asleep in the master bedroom.
Down the hallway, the younger crowd was supposed to be splitting up for the night.
Violet and Lana were slated to share Violet's room, while Dash and Clark were meant to bunk together in Dash's.
At least, that was the original plan.
"Umm, hey, Vi? Can I ask you something?" Lana asked, her voice dropping to a cautious whisper as they stood just outside the bedroom door.
"Yeah, sure," Violet replied, pausing with her hand on the doorknob.
Lana leaned in closer, her warm breath tickling the side of Violet's ear as she hurriedly murmured her request.
As the last few words left Lana's lips, Violet's head snapped toward her.
Violet stared in stunned silence, her jaw slightly slack, before a deep crimson flush spread rapidly across her cheeks.
Beside her, Lana was turning equally red, biting her lower lip nervously and squirming on the spot with her hands tightly clasped together.
"You're joking, right?" Violet hissed under her breath.
Lana immediately looked away, her eyes darting to the floorboards as she tried to avoid eye contact at all costs.
"Unbelievable," Vi muttered, rubbing her temples.
Something undeniably indecent had clearly just been proposed.
When Violet turned on her heel to walk away, Lana panicked, grabbing her arm and locking eyes with her.
She gave Violet a look so desperately pathetic it mirrored an abandoned, rain-soaked puppy.
Violet froze on the spot.
The sheer weight of those wide, pleading eyes hit her right in the chest, making her feel instantly uncomfortable—and entirely guilt-ridden?
"No, no, no. Absolutely not," Vi whispered fiercely, trying to shake her arm free. But Lana held on with a surprisingly stubborn grip.
"Please," Lana pleaded, dropping her voice to a desperate whimper. "Just this once. I'm begging you, Vi."
Violet stared at her for five agonizing seconds before letting out a heavy, defeated sigh.
Her shoulders slumping, she pointed a strict finger straight at the redhead's nose. "Okay, fine. But just this once, do you hear me? If my parents find out, I'm telling them it was all your idea."
Lana's entire face lit up instantly. Squealing softly, she threw her arms around the emo goth girl, squeezing her into a tight embrace.
Violet's face flushed again from the sudden burst of affection, but she begrudgingly patted Lana's back with a small, reluctant smile.
********
A few minutes later, Clark and Dash rounded the corner of the hallway, halting when they spotted the girls standing together.
Clark's keen eyes immediately picked up on the thick, awkward atmosphere hanging between the two.
As the boys made a move toward Dash's room, Violet stepped forward to block their path.
She cleared her throat, shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot as she struggled to word the proposal Lana was eagerly nudging her to deliver.
"Umm... Clark?" Violet started, avoiding direct eye contact. "How about Lana sleeping with you tonight? Dash can just sleep in my room instead."
Dash's eyes went wide, and he immediately opened his mouth to object. "What?! No! Absolutely not! Big bro Clark will n— umg, guhm!"
Before he could finish his loud complaint, Violet slammed her hand over her younger brother's mouth, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"Shut up, you damn midget," Violet hissed like a venomous serpent, leaning into his ear. "Or else I swear I will expose every single one of your embarrassing baby photos to Clark before breakfast."
Dash went completely pale.
The threat landed with quite the lethal accuracy as his eyes widened in sheer terror.
He instantly went dead quiet, nodding frantically beneath her palm.
While the siblings engaged in their quiet civil war, Clark stood back, utterly stunned.
He looked at Violet, then at Dash, and finally shifted his gaze to Lana.
The redhead was desperately pretending that the floor patterns were the most fascinating thing in the world, refusing to look him in the eye.
A slow, amused smirk spread across Clark's face as a sudden hunch clicked into place.
If his suspicion was right, this was going to turn into a very interesting night.
"Are you sure about this, Vi?" Clark asked smoothly, feigning complete innocence. "You don't have any problem with it, right?"
Of course I have a problem! But your girlfriend is completely relentless! Violet complained bitterly in her head.
Out loud, however, she let out a forced, high-pitched laugh, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "Me? A problem? N-Nope! Not at all! Hahaha..."
She shot Lana a quick sideways glance that plainly communicated: You owe me big time for this.
"Hmm. Well, I don't mind at all. Come on, Lana," Clark said, his voice laced with casual enthusiasm as he gestured toward the bedroom.
Lana's face brightened instantly. "Y-Yes! Just a moment," she stammered, stepping past the siblings to follow him inside.
Before crossing the threshold, she cast a quick glance back at Violet, giving her a discreet, frantic thumbs-up.
Violet simply rolled her eyes in response.
Dash, who had finally connected the dots on what was actually happening, let out a stupid, teasing grin.
He opened his mouth to throw out a snide comment, but before a single sound could escape, Violet grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him backward into her room.
"H-Hey—!"
Bam.
The door slammed shut, leaving the hallway dead silent.
*********
It was well past midnight.
Inside the dimly lit guest room, Lana and Clark were lying side by side on the spacious mattress.
Clark was lying on his back, breathing slowly and deeply, seemingly fast asleep.
The same could not be said for Lana.
Her eyes were wide open, staring intently at the dark ceiling overhead.
On the outside, her expression remained stiff and neutral, but on the inside, an absolute hurricane of runaway hormones and frantic desires was tearing through her mind.
OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! HOW DO I EVEN APPROACH THIS?! she screamed internally, her cheeks burning hot in the dark.
She turned her head slightly to look at the boy beside her.
Clark looked so calm, so peaceful, and so utterly effortlessly attractive while asleep.
But the core problem—the very source of her impending mental breakdown—was that he was lying there completely shirtless.
He had casually pulled his shirt off before crawling under the covers, claiming he couldn't sleep comfortably with it on.
Lana would have bet her life savings that he did it entirely on purpose just to fluster her.
And the worst part?
It was working flawlessly.
She was utterly, thoroughly undone.
Earlier that afternoon, she had watched Clark laughing, chatting, and being his usual charming self around all those other redheads and that stunning blonde.
Just thinking about those absolute vixens made a sharp spike of possessive anxiety shoot through her chest.
She couldn't take it anymore.
She needed to make a move.
She needed to claim her territory once and for all.
That frantic impulse was what had pushed her to corner Violet, to beg for a room swap, and to end up in this bed.
But now that she was actually here, panic was paralyzing her.
"You know... I can hear your heart rate even when I'm sleeping, right?"
Clark's low, rumbling voice suddenly cut through the quiet room, making Lana physically flinch against the mattress.
She turned her head sharply toward the sound. Clark was no longer staring at the ceiling.
He had rolled onto his side to face her, propping his head up with one arm.
The dim moonlight catching the sharp contours of his chest and shoulders only made her throat go completely dry.
"Y-You haven't slept yet?" the redhead squeaked out, her voice betraying her entirely.
"How can I?" Clark murmured, a dangerous, lazy smirk playing on his lips as he gestured toward his ear. "When your heart is pounding like a bass speaker right beside me?"
Right. I completely forgot this bastard has super hearing, she lamented mentally, cursing her own oversight.
Before she could process her next thought, Clark leaned closer.
He extended his free hand, gently resting his palm against the left side of her chest—right where her heart was hammering wildly against her ribs.
OH MY GOD! HE IS TOUCHING ME! HE IS ACTUALLY TOUCHING ME RIGHT THERE! Lana screamed in the silent theater of her mind, her face flushing so dark it was a miracle her skin wasn't glowing in the dark.
"Hmm..." Clark murmured, his thumb lightly stroking the fabric over her chest. "Your heart rate just spiked another notch. Are you really alright, Lana?" He tilted his head with an expression of pure, feigned innocence.
NO, I AM NOT ALRIGHT! she wanted to yell. She knew with absolute certainty that he was playing with her, deliberately pushing her buttons to see how far he could drive her.
"Y-Yeah! E-Everything is totally fine! Nothing wrong at all, hahaha..." Lana squeaked out, her nervous laugh sounding painfully fake even to her own ears.
"Hmm... are you sure, Lana?" Clark asked softly.
Closing the remaining distance between them, he leaned down until his breath brushed directly against the shell of her ear.
"Are you sure you don't need my... help?" he whispered in a low, sultry tone, placing a heavy, deliberate emphasis on the last word.
That was the absolute tipping point.
The fragile circuitry in Lana's brain fried completely.
She went radio silent, static buzzing in her ears as her mind went entirely blank, leaving her frozen under the heavy, intoxicating weight of his gaze.