Midnight Purring

[nuthatched]

For the third time that I can recall, I woke up in the middle of the night to my cats violently purring and kneading me.
My bedspread isn't fuzzy or soft that they would want to kneed, they don't any other time. And they generally aren't kneaders.
They don't like being that close to each other, they're a bit territorial about sharing the bed.
They stop and settle down soon after I wake up and talk to them.
Is there any known reason they do this or are they just being cats?

 

[Bubblewrap]

One of my cats will wake me up in the night kneading and purring presumable trying to get petted. He used to do it all the time. I always assumed its was just cats being cats. Maybe somebody else has some insight.