Adventures of the Lightborn Squad

"Granger, few people know how tender you are."

There was one thing that very few people knew about Granger, Silvanna mused.

Honestly, even she herself would never have known if she didn't find out by accident. Granger would absolutely never have told her.

Granger was a cuddler.

From the day she'd met Granger, she knew that he was a loner. He was not loud or social like Fanny or Alucard. In fact, he was the exact opposite. Alucard had mentioned to Silvanna that even back when they were living at the Monastery, Granger often preferred to be on his own than to seek companionship. 

And years of being on his own, coupled with a difficult childhood, had made Granger tough. During missions he was rough and determined, and sometimes that meant that he became difficult and stubborn, to the exasperation of Tigreal.

One day, Granger had returned from a solo scouting mission gone awry ("You were supposed to be scouting, not hunting!", Tigreal had admonished him). His injuries were severe enough that he was instructed to rest in the infirmary overnight.

Silvanna had meant to visit him earlier, but she had been so engrossed in planning battle strategies that when she looked up, the sun was long gone.

She had a quick meal, then climbed the steps up to the infirmary. It was late, but she wanted to make a quick visit to her friend (beau? lover? secret liaison??) .

That was when she found him thrashing in the bed.

Silvanna knew that Granger had nightmares. She knew that from the very second night she had met him. When they were on the way back to the Imperial Sanctuary, after Granger had saved her from the kidnappers, she had woken up in the middle of the night and heard him in the middle of a nightmare. The normally reserved look on his face was replaced by a look of pain. Granger was also murmuring to himself.

Back then, Silvanna was torn between trying to wake him up and ignoring the still-awkward stranger. Her compassion won out in the end, and she prodded his shoulder till he jerked awake. They had stared at each other for three seconds, before Granger looked away. He never mentioned anything after that.

It was clear to her now that he was in the middle of another nightmare. This time, she did not hesitate, rushing to his side to shake his shoulders.

He took almost a minute to recognize where he was, his nightmare still clinging to the corners of his mind. When he finally realized that he was safe, he slumped back in bed, relieved. 

Silvanna took a chair from the corner of the room and sat near the bed, wondering what to say.

"I don't want to talk about it." was the marksman's immediate curt reply as he chugged a glass of water on the table next to him.

"Okay."

Silvanna sat quietly for about 15 minutes as Granger refused to meet her eyes, staring instead at the wall in front of him. He hadn't stopped shaking. When neither of them spoke another word, she made to stand up.

"I should let you rest."

"Wait," Granger suddenly said. He moved to grasp her hand. "Can you... can you stay? Till I fall asleep?"

"Of course," Silvanna said. She took notice of Granger's cold hand, his face that looked even more pale than usual, and the dark circles under his eyes.

When was the last time he had a proper night's sleep?

Instead of sitting back on the chair, Silvanna made the decision to sit on the bed next to Granger. He stiffened in surprise, but she ignored it, tucking the bedsheet and sitting on top of it. While Granger lay flat, she was sitting up, resting her back against the headboard, so his head was next to her hip. Her hands went to his hair as she stroked it calmly. She tried to avoid his still-healing wounds.

Granger lay very still for a minute. Then, she felt his arms circle around her waist, his head buried in her stomach as he avoided her breast area.

Trying to bury the tension, they both talked quietly and everything and nothing. Silvanna continued stroking his hair quietly till he stopped shaking and his breathing evened out.

***

Silvanna stirred awake the next morning, blinking to adjust her eyes from the sun's rays that were streaming into the room. Her neck protested at the awkward angle she was in when she fell asleep against the headboard, and her legs were numb.

She realized why she woke up when she saw Rafaela bustling around the room.

Silvanna felt her face flush, and tried to extricate herself from the marksman next to her.

She had accidentally fallen asleep in the same awkward position, after thinking that she would try to stay as long as she could to let him sleep fruitfully. She had definitely not planned to stay till morning. She didn't even take off her shoes.

The marksman murmured when she moved though, and Rafaela turned around.

"It's alright, Your Highness. You don't have to move on my account."

"He was having nightmares last night," Silvanna felt the need to explain. "I just thought I'd stay and help him fall back asleep."

"Yes, I've seen that myself." Rafaela gestured to them. "Whatever you did seems to be working."

"I... just sat here?" Silvanna's gaze moved towards the sleeping man.

"Healing can be in all sorts of forms, Your Highness. Clearly he trusts you enough." Silvanna quirks an eyebrow, waiting for Rafaela to explain.

"He never likes it whenever I try to heal him. He usually won't let me get close enough." Rafaela grinned. "He probably gets disappointed he wouldn't get to show off his battle scars."

It took a while for Silvanna to extricate herself without waking the man up. When she tried to shift away, he would frown and pull her closer. For someone who spent most of his waking time keeping his distance from others, he was awfully upset about being pulled away.

As she finally quietly stepped away from him, she thought to turn around and kneel at his bedside. Trying not to wake him up, Silvanna gently placed her hand on the marksman's hair.

"Granger, few people know how tender you are."

"I'm glad I'm one of them."