Disenchanted (Frerard + Petekey)

Sleep

Gerard was awake long before the lights came back on.

He'd never liked the dark. He'd never admit it but even though he'd outgrown having a nightlight years ago he still slept with the lamp in the corner of his room on.
On a clear night he'd have the curtains thrown open for the moonlight to shine in. He loved the moon, he felt more in control at night. Calm, centred. He found he did his best drawings at night by the light of the moon.

Here there wasn't even a window. Not even a crack under the door to let some light in, and it seemed they'd dimmed the hallway lights as well.

It was awful.
It was pure darkness, and his mind was pure chaos.

He'd had a fitful sleep, if you could even call it that. In reality he'd cried himself out, and his body eventually slipped into a state of unconsciousness.
Once he'd rested minutely he was awake again, with the voices screaming at him.
They could be in his head, or they could be the people- no patients- next door to him. He couldn't tell anymore. He didn't care anymore.

His only indication of daybreak was the fluorescent lights snapping back into life, flickering a few times as they warmed up.

He was aware that he should sit up.
Should make an attempt to ready himself.
They'd be by to let him out soon, to take him to breakfast presumably.
He couldn't seem to move. Even the thought of moving from the tight ball he'd spent the night curled in made him unbelievably exhausted.

He stiffened as he heard his door unlock and a female voice called "Hey Gerard! Breakfast's soon, wake up!"

He could just barely see the black shoes of the nurse at the door. He groaned just loud enough for her to hear him. Hoping if she knew he was alive she'd leave.

Luckily for him, she did just that, leaving his door open and moving on down the hall. He could hear her make similar statements to others, sometimes greeting them by name.

"Come on ass-bag. You even gonna fight back?"

Gerard couldn't tell if the voice was trying to belittle him or encourage him to get up. Either way he was too tired to care.

The friendly voice popped through the chaos at that moment, "You need food. If you want them to let you go, you need to seem normal. This isn't normal."

Gerard closed his eyes and sighed.

You're right, but it doesn't make it any easier.
Suppose I'll have to make it seem like I'm normal. Maybe if I do a really good job they'll let me out early for good behaviour or some shit.

Gerard shoved himself up into a seated position. He instantly regretted it.

The world went dark and he could hear whistling in his ears, like he was standing near a train. He felt himself wobble and reached out for anything to support him.

His outstretched hand found a human.

"What the fuck?!" Gerard cussed in shock as his senses slowly returned.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." A male voice chuckled, "You looked like you needed a hand."

He could make out most of the person now. He was looking up at the concerned face of a man in his mid-twenties. His dark brown hair fell around his cheekbones, silhouetted by the fluorescent lights.

He's pretty.

Gerard felt a blush creep across his face, a mix of embarrassment at his thoughts as well as almost fainting.

The stranger backed away slightly as Gerard sat up again.

"I'm Vic by the way, well, Nurse Victor," he used a mocking tone for his full title, "I'm a nurse here. Actually I'm yours specifically! For now anyway." The man grinned, tucking his hair behind his ears.