Domestic

Simon and Johnny Bonus Chapter #1

Thank you for 800 Twitter followers!

Simon was pulled suddenly out of a deep sleep. It was late, but a flash of light had woken him. The rumble of thunder that followed it was far off, he found it comforting in a way. The man he lay in bed with, though, wouldn't. He got his bearings and rolled over to reach for Soap, thinking it hadn't woken him yet. He must have been wrong though, because his boyfriend's side of the bed was cold.

He sat up. Handling Soap in the middle of an episode was a delicate balance. Sometimes he was just shaky, overwhelmed, he needed grounding. Sometimes he was somewhere else altogether.

Simon planted his feet on the floor, knowing it didn't matter where Soap was, he was going to come back to their reality in Simon's arms. He checked the bathroom but found it empty.

They shared Soap's house, they had for nearly a year. Since he came home from the hospital after the incident with Marcus. With the cop still safely locked away, they were open with it, it often wormed it's way into Simon's nightmares more than he'd like to admit but he was open with Johnny as best he knew how. The memory of his own weakness was damn hard to escape, even when Johnny reminded him that it wasn't his fault. He'd never had anything he was so afraid of losing.

He stood at the top of the stairs and listened. He couldn't hear anything below him but that didn't mean Johnny wasn't down there. Carefully, so as not to startle him, he descended.

They'd made the house their own. Simon had been right. Free, Johnny was even brighter, even funnier, completely full of an energy Marcus had wanted to take away. Simon only wanted to feel as much of it as humanly possible. It showed in the way they'd changed the furniture to make the space more open, in all the dishes in the sink from the dinner they'd cooked together.

Simon walked past it with lethal silence. He could see Soap's silhouette in the living room, on his sofa. He was board straight, staring out the window.

It had been one year since Marcus shot him in his own living room. They hadn't talked about it much, but they were planning to get out of the house. Get in that hike Marcus had taken from them that day. He'd need sleep if that was going to be the enjoyable experience they hoped for.

There were hurts Johnny faced that Simon felt angry for, the way he'd been quieted by the people in his life, the ways in which his ex had chosen to silence him. This was different. This was a hurt Simon felt, too, and related with personally. It didn't make him angry, though. It was Soap's own mind working against him, and Simon loved everything about Soap's mind, even when it struggled to align reality with a memory or pulled from trauma to fill in blank spaces.

He stayed in the doorway for a second, still letting his eyes adjust. Watching him. "Johnny."

Johnny flinched at the low sound of Simon's voice. But he didn't turn. Simon could see he was just sitting there, his hands gripping the edge of the cushion. Not a danger to Simon or himself. So, Simon approached. Slowly, letting his feet fall heavy on the floor so he didn't startle him, he came to sit beside him on the couch.

"Johnny?" His wide eyes didn't leave the windows.

"Yeah?" Soap's voice sounded serious. Commanding. Like a soldier.

Simon forgot the steps he was supposed to take to make sure Johnny didn't fight him. He reached for his arm. As soon as his skin met Soap's, he jerked away and stood, walking across the room and closer to the window.

Simon followed him. He got in his space, he reached for him, and this time Johnny turned to face him. He opened his mouth to speak but thunder rolled again, still far off, and Soap turned his attention back toward the window.