DARK LONDON NIGHTS // sully from top boy

28 - when it was dark

London
October 30th

After her conversation with Sully in the bathroom, Nora had gone to her room and gone to sleep relatively promptly.

However, she woke up two hours later to a noise at the door. Sleepily, she glanced at her cell phone.

It was three in the morning.

She turned to face the door to her room and her eyes fell shut again. When she opened them again, Sully was standing in the doorway. 

They didn't exchange a word.

He came closer and finally sat down on the edge of the bed. 

Nora looked at him sleepily, while he was staring ahead. She had no idea where he was coming from, what he was thinking about. She didn't know why he was here. 

But something about this situation felt so raw, so vulnerable. His expression wasn't as hard and cold as usual.

Hesitantly, Nora slid her hand out from under the blanket and placed it on his back. He barely reacted. She stroked his back over the black hoodie he wore. He smelled of cigarette smoke and marijuana.

Nora sat up.

"What's wrong?" she whispered softly before silence swallowed them both again. In the sparse light, she saw his glazed eyes, which had a sad expression. Whether it was his emotions or if he was just high, Nora didn't know, probably both. He seemed stunned.

He didn't give her an answer.

She ran her hands over his head, his back.

He just sat next to her, silently, then propped his forearms on his thighs, hanging his head and looking down at the floor.

Nora unceremoniously sat down behind him and hugged him from behind. She laid her upper body on his back, her head resting sideways between his shoulder blades. 

She heard him breathing. She smelled his perfume, but she also smelled the outside world, the night, the violence. 

She wrapped her arms around his belly and hugged him tightly while closing her eyes.

They remained like that for several minutes as his breathing grew steadier.

"I almost died today," Sully finally whispered under his breath. It was as if he was coming to this realization, as if only now could he put the shock into words.

"I know," Nora whispered, breaking away from him. 

He turned and looked at her. The look was different than usual, even vulnerable.

Then he pulled her to him by the waist and hugged her tightly. He buried his face in her hair and breathed heavily. 

Nora sucked in his scent.

There was nothing she could say to make it better.
She could only be there for him now.

He was different to her at night. When it was dark. When no one was around.

And Nora knew that tomorrow morning everything he would be normal again.