-Mary-

She had forgotten one important fact… Alan’s father snored louder than a steam engine! The clock on the wall said one in the morning, and Alan was sleeping soundly in his bed, but Mary could not sleep at all. It was like listening to a lumberjack automata try to hack apart granite! How on earth did Alan sleep through it?

An hour later, nothing had changed… If anyone looked in on the room they might have thought that Mary was trying to suffocate herself with her pillow. But it had no real effect… And she couldn’t take it anymore!

“Alan…” She didn’t precisely whisper, but she spoke quietly. Though if they could sleep through this snoring, Mary felt she could shout without waking anyone… Alan did not stir, as she might have expected, and she ended up getting out of bed and giving him a light shake…

“Mary…?” Alan spoke groggily, “Wha- what time-?”

“Alan, there is no way I ca-” Mary stopped as Alan pulled out earplugs from his ears. He. Was. Wearing. Earplugs.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Oh crap,” Alan said suddenly. “I forgot to get you earplugs…”

If anyone looked in on the room now, they would think Mary was trying to suffocate Alan with her pillow. And they would be absolutely right. Alan had been wearing the ear protection made for factory workers after all!

Mary made Alan get her some as well, and promised that she would get revenge for this in the morning. When Alan grumbled that it was morning Mary chucked the pillow at his head and then made him bring it back to her, before going to sleep in blessed silence.

-Alan-

Alan’s dad snored. Loudly. According to his mother, his dad had to stay awake at nights when Alan was a baby, because every time he fell asleep and snored, Alan would wake up and cry. Alan did not blame his baby self, because he still reacted like that to this day! So every night, he put in his earplugs, and had been for years. He didn’t even think about it anymore.

So when Mary shook him awake he was confused as to why she was awake until he took out his earplugs and heard his dad snoring. Between Mary trying to kill him and pummeling him with a pillow, he got earplugs for her as well. Honestly, he deserved it, and trying to argue otherwise would just make it worse with her. With any luck, she will get tired and fall asleep...