Break Time
By Cybra

SPOILER WARNING: There are some Season 3 spoilers! If you don’t want to know, do not enter here!

A/N: I spy obscure slash in the weirdest of places. And while I’m primarily a J/A and U/Y shipper (though not rabid about it), I do like this rather bizarre ship. Can also be taken as Ulrich/Jeremy friendship.

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko belongs to the French.

Whenever Jeremy was in one of his coding fits, he tended to neglect things. Fortunately, showering tended to remain on his list of things he remembered. Eating and sleeping, unfortunately, fell by the way side. Combing his hair joined eating and sleeping.

So while it was clean, it had started to look like the beginnings of a poorly-made bird’s nest. Ulrich was surprised that the young genius hadn’t started to get uncomfortable by the sniggering that wasn’t entirely behind his back. Then again, Jeremy tended to be taking cat naps between classes when the snickers and whispers took place. (Never long enough to take precious time away from discovering a way onto the Internet or to retrieve Franz Hopper or William but just enough to pump some life back into his exhausted body.)

As the days ticked past, the brunette got fed up with it. At the very least, it would stop the annoying whispers. Plus it would force the blond to spend a few minutes away from the keyboard.

Jeremy gave a surprised yelp as he grabbed him by the upper arm and literally lifted him out of his seat and dragged him over toward his bed. “Ulrich! What’re you doing?!”

“Fixing your hair. It looks like something my aunt’s cat threw up.”

He snagged the long-neglected brush off of the computer genius’s desk—when was the last time the blond had touched it?—and sat down on the bed, yanking a protesting Jeremy down with him.

“I’m working on something very important! Can’t we do this later?”

“No. Because later you’ll be working on something else and then tell me to come back even later. Now sit down and let me do this.”

Jeremy snorted, crossing his arms and leaning away from him. “I can brush my own hair, you know.”

Ulrich raised an eyebrow and gave him a small grin. “Consider it a break. Not to mention a small thank you for all the stuff you do for me and the others.”

The hunched shoulders relaxed as the face softened. Apparently, he’d picked the right thing to say as surprise registered in those blue eyes. Perhaps Jeremy hadn’t thought that any of them realized just how hard he worked.

The brunette did know. The two times he had activated the Return to the Past program had given him a reason to never want to be in charge of the supercomputer. It was nerve wracking.

He waved the other boy to lean back. The blond did so with a resigned sigh, staring straight forward in the direction of the computer screen. Ulrich could sense the genius’s frustration at not being able to read the code from that distance.

Taking the brush, he swept it through the blond locks, immediately snagging it on a surprisingly thick knot for such short hair. He pulled the brush back out and started picking away at the obstruction, brow furrowed in concentration. He pulled as the bristles got stuck, tugging away at the ensnarled hair.

After about five minutes of this, Jeremy reached up to smack his hand and grab at the brush, leaning away from him. “Will you cut it out? That hurts!”

“Sorry, Jeremy.” Ulrich grinned sheepishly. He reached out to take back his weapon of choice.

Only the blond dodged. “Uh uh. I’ll do it myself.”

“C’mon. Give me another chance.”

“No. I’ve had enough unnecessary pain and suffering for one afternoon, thanks.”

“Please? I promise to take it easy. This is supposed to be your break. I swear I’ll be super careful.”

He gave the bespectacled boy that charming smile he knew Yumi had problems resisting. It couldn’t hurt his situation any.

Luck was on his side. Jeremy sighed and leaned back towards him. “You’d better be,” the blond grouched.

“I swear on my mother’s grave.”

“Your mom’s not dead.”

“Well…I would if she was.” Cautiously, he used his fingers to pick the brush free of its entanglement.

“That doesn’t even make any sense.”

Now that he freed the weapon of knotted hair destruction, he started again, this time taking care to not just remove the knots but also not harm the owner of the head of hair. The pair sat in silence, the only sound the faint sweep sweep sweep of the hairbrush.

With each pass, Jeremy relaxed more, leaning back into him. Ulrich grinned. At least their unofficial leader was finally unwinding. Ever since XANA’s release from the supercomputer, he’d been even tenser than before. The poor guy. And here they’d thought that it’d be happily ever after once Aelita was freed.

As the blond’s muscles loosened up more and more, the brunette also became less tense. Strange how he hadn’t noticed it until now. It was as if there had been some aura in the room generated by the room’s lone occupant that had finally started to dissipate. Now that it was gone, it allowed Ulrich to not only relax but also note how much Jeremy trusted him in order to be this vulnerable around him.

Finally, the brush glided through the blond locks with ease. “Jeremy, I’m done.”

The blond didn’t move.

Ulrich blinked, leaning forward to catch a glimpse of his friend’s face. “Jeremy?”

The blue eyes were closed.

Jeremy had fallen asleep.

The brunette shifted uncomfortably. His first impulse was to wake the blond. After all, one of the others could come in and see them in this position. It would be more than slightly awkward.

But then again…

He leaned against the wall, pulling Jeremy back into a more comfortable position for both of them so neither ended up needed to see Yolanda later for back or neck problems. For all the younger boy did for them, the least Ulrich could do was provide a pillow while he got some much needed rest.