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"Psst." Remus's piercing whisper carries easily through the soft amber-lit room, cutting through the sleepy snuffles of the freezing snake tucked in next to him. Logan sighs.
"What is it, Remus?" He asks quietly back.
"Are you awake?" Even from here, with Dee in the middle, Logan can tell that Remus is squirming all over the place, making the bed shake.
"Remus, how would I be able to answer you if I wasn't awake?" He questions, slightly exasperated.
"Sleep talking," Remus answers instantly.
"I don't think that I would be able to carry on a conversation with you if it were merely sleep talk," Logan says, and resolves to research sleep talking in the morning.
"Oh, yeah," Remus says. "Hey, did you know that octopuses have eight arms?"
"I did," Logan says. Remus sounds disappointed, with his quiet huff of breath. "But please go on," Logan adds, because he hates it when Remus feels sad, for any reason.
"They have blue blood, too," Remus says, excited. "Can you imagine having blue blood instead of red, it would be like a Stayfree commercial-" Logan stifles a snicker at the mental picture.
"They have three hearts, too," Remus continues. Dee shifts a little in his sleep, latching onto the burning warmth of Remus who continues, undeterred. "They die if they have sex!" Remus blurts out.
"Lucky for you, humans do not present the same issue," Logan says, before he can think better of it. A cackle escapes Remus, before he claps a hand over his own mouth, now finally mindful of the deceitful side attached to him.
"I'm already awake," came Deceit's muffled voice. "Remus, could you calm down for five minutes, please?"
"Sorry," Remus says, abashed. Then he wiggles in the bed. "I'm just not tired."
"What if I read to you?" Logan proposes. "Anything you like." Remus's eyes light up, like he's a child who's been set free in the world's biggest candy store and told to choose whatever he wants. Logan silently prays that it's not too twisted or graphic as Remus hops out of bed, going to the bookshelf. They're sleeping in Deceit's room tonight, and his bookshelves have become a strange conglomeration of philosophers, sea creatures, and astronomy.
Much to Logan's surprise, Remus plucks free two books and pads back to the bed, yeeting himself between the sheets and thrusting the books Logan's way. One is a treatise on the stars. The other is his favorite book about octopuses.
"Are you sure?" Logan asks. Remus nods vigorously.
"You choose which to read first," Remus says, folding his hands virtuously in front of him. Deceit yawns.
"As long as you go to sleep in the end," Deceit murmurs. "I don't care what you read. You have a nice voice, Lo. It's calming." Red stains Logan's cheeks.
"Thank you," he manages to say as Dee snuggles back into Remus's side, hair tousled and unruly.
"I think octopuses are the way to go," Logan says, provoking an excited squeal from Remus's direction before he remembers Deceit.
"Whoops," Remus says. "Sorry, Dee Dee."
"It's fine," Deceit mumbles.
Logan cracks the book on octopuses open and begins to read.
"The order Octopoda includes 289 species..."