Sleep is for the Weak (Pixeleye)

Chapter 3

The images in Jack's mind fluttered like a movie with her as the lead. The slender shoulders would rise and fall with her sobs and the emptiness would create shadows on the walls of their bedroom. Her lips would move but no sound would come out. Try as he might to hear her, he couldn't.

The something in the darkness would grow until it swallowed them whole within the blackness and Jack would wake up in a cold sweat. His eyes would take a moment to adjust to the light, then he would realize where he was, and his heartbeat would slow for a little while. The screaming out must have been new, and Robin burst into his bedroom with his eyes wide and fearful.

"What the hell, Jack? You all right?"

The slender fingers ran through his sweaty hair as Jack shook his head. The pale skin a rosy pink in the cheeks and chest. His head shook as he grounded himself into his new reality.

"Had the nightmare again," he said softly.

"The one where you can't hear her?"

Robin didn't wait for the box before the mattress shifted with his weight. The gentle sway of him moving just close enough for Jack to be held. Robin whispered for him to breathe, and the other man listened.

"It's worse," Jack admitted. "We're killed in this version of it."

Jack could feel Robin's heart beating faster, though his face remained as calm as ever. The steady movement of fingers across his shoulders and traveling down his spine to rub away the last minutes was constant.

"You need to see someone about this," Robin mused. "Did you let Kati know?"

Jack could feel the blush creeping up to his neck. He hadn't told anyone about his nightmares except for the man holding him so close. Even telling Robin had been more out of desperation than actual desire. He had been crying when Robin had called him about an editing question, and for once Jack had been too exhausted to make up a believable excuse.

"You want to...watch a movie or something until you can fall asleep again?"

He tried to shrug, but Robin was holding him too tight. Instead he tilted his head a little closer to listen to his best friend's heartbeat slow down just enough to know that he was there with him. That it didn't matter what was happening. That he wasn't there to pass judgement or assumptions.

"Should I take the grumble of your stomach to be a hint that popcorn should also be involved?"

Jack laughed way too much at the situation, and this time the yes that he said was meant completely. The two headed downstairs to the living room to relax on the couch, with Robin getting up a few moments later to start the microwave. Jack was already relaxing as he was bathed in the white light of the large screen. His blue eyes scanned the options on Netflix before settling on Deadpool 2.

"Ah, a classic I see," Robin smirked as he returned a few minutes later with a comically sized bowl of hot and buttered popcorn.

"Would you expect anything else from me?"

"Of course not, Sean. Of course not."

They both sat as the movie did what it was supposed to do. Relax the harsh world around them as they floated in the minds and hearts of the characters on the screen. Slowly the popcorn was eaten and the occasional laugh or gasp pierced the silence. Robin moved over just close enough for Jack to realize that he really enjoyed not dealing with this alone. There might be more bad nights and nightmares, but Robin would be there. Either right by his side or just a phone call away, and that wasn't specifically a happy feeling, but it was comforting enough for Jack to not notice that he was asleep before finding out what happened to Wade Wilson for the thirty fifth time in a row.