Prompt:
25. "Please talk to me about it."
28. "I would've had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you."
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Word Count: 1247
About Our Love Series - Part 9
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Liam knows what it's like to have nightmares. He is familiar with the feeling of terror that comes with them, he had felt his hands shaking, his boy trembling and sweating. He knew what it was like and, after going through everything he had gone through, being a werewolf and living in Beacon Hills, he had felt it quite often.
However, being used to his own nightmares didn't mean he knew how to deal with someone else's. He didn't know how to comfort a person who was trapped in a night terror, how to reassure them that everything was ok and that whatever they had dreamt about wasn't about to happen. He didn't even know where to start.
He was proved just how little he knew about comforting other people when he woke up in the middle of the night to a kick to his shin. At first, he was confused, but then, remembering that Theo and he had fallen asleep on his bed while watching a movie, he had thought that it had probably been Theo kicking him to have more space. Liam had just grumbled and tried to go back to sleep.
That didn't work, though, since Theo kicked him again. Liam opened his eyes then, ready to yell at Theo and push him out of the couch, only for his words to die in his throat as soon as he saw the other's boy face. Liam turned the little light on his bedside table on and sat with his legs crisscrossed next to Theo's body, looking breathlessly down at him.
Theo's eyes were tightly closed and there was a crease between his eyebrows. His skin was pale and there are was a line of sweat between his hair and his forehead. His chest was rising and falling at a fast pace and he had the blanket that was still on top of them trapped in his clenched fists.
Liam stood there unsure of what to do for a moment. Should he wake Theo up or should he let him get rid of the nightmare on his own? Should he touch him to offer comfort or should he leave him alone? Liam didn't know how to deal with someone who was having a nightmare, especially because this person was Theo and he was already complex to deal with when he was awake.
Liam's indecision broke when Theo whimpered, and he clenched the blanket tighter in his hands, he looked like he was in pain and Liam didn't want to see him like this. He raised his head slowly and lowered it onto Theo's arm carefully, not wanting to scare him more than he already was. Theo jerked away from the touch and Liam bit his lip, not having any idea what to do.
"Theo," he called, in hopes that the chimera would somehow hear him.
Theo's posture didn't change at all as if Liam talking or staying silent was the same thing.
"Come on, Theo, I don't know what to do," he whispered, hand moving slowly again to touch Theo's face.
Theo's eyes opened then, wide and scared. Liam watched helplessly as he sat up in bed, looking around the room in panic before his eyes settled on Liam. The terror and the pain within Theo's eyes made Liam's heart squeeze painfully inside his chest.
"Liam?" Theo's voice was low and vulnerable, tears gathering in his eyes.
It looked like he couldn't believe that Liam was there, he looked scared and vulnerable, a sight so unlike the Theo Liam knew that it made his heart break.
"I'm here, Theo," he reassured.
"Where is she?" Theo looked frantically around the room, waiting for something to pop up out of nowhere.
"She's not here," Liam had an idea who 'she' was. "She's not going to get you. I'll make sure of it," he reassured.
"Are you real?"
Liam nodded, his insides hurting from hearing the other's broken voice.
"I am."
With a shaky hand, he grabbed Theo's arm softly, hand sliding down until he was holding his hand. He raised Theo's hand and rested it on his own chest covering it with his own when Theo went to pull away, letting Theo feel the beat of his heart, trying to make him believe that what was happening was real and not his mind playing tricks on him.
"I'm real."
Theo nodded once, then twice, eyes meeting Liam's and the tension on his shoulders easing a little.
"Please talk to me about it," Liam said, wanting to stop Theo from looking so broken.
Theo shook his head.
"I don't want to."
"Ok, it's ok," Liam smiled softly. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Theo still looked wary around the room every now and then, eyes still a little too wide.
"Nothing can get to you here, Theo."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
They didn't say anything else, Liam just laid down on the bed, lowering Theo with him and holding him close to him, letting him use his chest as a pillow, Theo's ear just above his heart as if he was still trying to reassure himself that Liam was really there and that he was with him. Liam wrapped his left arm around Theo and stretched his right one to turn the light off.
"Sleep, you need it," he spoke softly, lips dropping to press a kiss on Theo's head.
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When Theo woke up Liam was already awake and looking at him. There was a thoughtful expression on his face, but a soft smile was on his lips. He looked soft in the morning light that came through the curtains, his eyes a soft blue that made Theo feel safe, the memories from the night helping Theo see Liam's protective aura.
"I'm fine," he said, knowing that Liam needed to be reassured. "Just a little hungry."
Theo smiled. He was used to his nightmares, but this had been the first time Liam had witnessed one and it had been better than all the other nights. Liam had helped him deal with his nightmare, not doing so alone was a good change.
"Well, I would've had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to wake you."
Theo laughed and moved his body so that Liam was free to get up, snuggling in the blankets after losing the warmth Liam's body was providing him.
"You can go make me breakfast then."
And Liam did exactly that. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen, he made Theo's favorite pancakes, bringing them to bed so that Theo could eat them there. They stayed in bed the whole morning, just talking about anything that came to mind and enjoying each other's company.
They didn't talk about Theo's nightmare, not in that day and not in the days that followed. Theo did tell Liam about his nightmares some weeks after, on a cold afternoon when they were snuggled together under Liam's covers. Liam listened to him, heart clenching and arms tightening around his boyfriend, he listened until Theo had let go of all the words that he had been keeping trapped inside and Liam let him cry and say everything that came to his mind.
Because Liam might not know how to comfort someone with nightmares, but, for Theo, he would try to do that and anything that he could to make him feel better, at home and safe.
