Patience

Seremis wakes with a gasp, sitting up abruptly and clutching her blanket around herself.

Her roommate, Joran, blinks awake to find her just sitting, staring blankly.

“Seremis?”

She flinches with another little gasp and her eyes dart to him and around him, flickering but not really landing.

“Seremis.”

Her eyes finally meet his gaze, unblinking and wide, vulnerable and scared.

“You had another nightmare?”

Her eyes dart around again. She nods slightly and shrugs at the same time.

“Past or future?”

She twitches, but her eyes manage to stay on his face at least. “I'm…it was…I don't…can't remember.”

Joran nods. This isn't the first time. “Do you want to snuggle?”

She doesn't seem to hear him. Her eyes are searching the window like she can see through the curtains, like something is coming, like she's scared of it. For all he knows, maybe there is something out there, something only she knows about. Or maybe it's an aftershock of her nightmare.

“Seremis?”

Her gaze snaps back to his, alarmed.

He keeps his voice calm. “Do you want to snuggle?”

She stares at him, as if comprehending slowly, then tucks the blanket tighter. “I…is that…um…”

Joran breathes slowly. She's gorgeous, but her safety and health are more important. “Not like that. I told you, you have the lead on that. You said you feel safer when we're touching.”

She twitches again, blinking. “Right. Yeah. Okay. Snuggling.”

He presses his lips together to avoid smiling. “You want the edge or the wall side again?”

She wiggles backwards. “Wall.”

He nods. “Let me grab my pants.”

She nods and he watches out of the corner of his eye as she resettles all of her blankets to make room for him. He's never understood why she sleeps with so many when she overheats so easily, but it makes her happy.

When she's all settled, he snuggles in behind her until his chest is against her back and gently removes a layer of blanket. At her noise of protest, he chuckles softly and murmurs, “You will overheat if I leave it, and I'd rather not end up on the floor tonight.”

Her grumbles go quiet. After a moment she snuggles back into him.

Just before he drifts off to sleep, Joran sends a prayer to anyone listening, wishing that just once, Seremis won't be the one to suffer.