HLVRAI One-Shotz/Headcanonz/Art

nighttime nerves [frenrey]

It was currently four in the morning, well, that was Gordon's closest estimate. He hadn't slept well that night. Hell, he had hardly slept at all these past few months after the Black Mesa incident. No one could really blame him though, considering he had probably faced enough emotional trauma to last him a life-time. He had entered that facility as a hopeful young man with a seemingly good career ahead of him, and he had left as a broken man with one less normal arm than the average human. Of course, everything wasn't too bad back at home, granted, he wasn't constantly fighting for his life anymore, but the paranoia certainly still lingered. Had things improved since Benry had moved in and started a relationship with him not too long ago? I mean, nowadays, he wasn't as unhinged and terrifying as he was prior to his 'death', but that didn't mean he wasn't a fucking asshole half of the time. At least his existence had been tolerable this week. Leaving all of that exposition behind, we should probably focus on present day. Post-Black Mesa, Gordon had never been the best at being alone, in the dark. Considering....well, it's basically self explanatory. After the betrayal, y'know. He trembled slightly as his memory once again overwhelmed him with overly graphic details of the past. Calm down, Gordon. You're home, and more importantly, you're safe. He thought shakily as a way of easing his panic, though he didn't seem to be too good at that. The man buried his face under his pillow, begging for his internal terror to just stop. He was tired of this happening every fucking night. After that point, they continued to just mumble something or other about death, clearly distressed.

Meanwhile, Benrey themselves was obviously having a better night. Slumped over the living room couch, and having an absolute blast playing some shitty, probably unheard of game on Gordon's PS3. Had he been affected by Black Mesa in any way? Perhaps. Though he quite clearly didn't show it like the others, but it had given him a permanent distaste for most doors, whether they were security or not. He smirked in delight as he committed in-game genocide, his twisted moral compass still in effect. Benry would've gladly revelled in this low-quality bloodshed all night if it wasn't for a voice behind him interrupting all of his murderous fun. "Hey- um- I'm gonna sleep in here tonight...and, before you ask, no I'm not gonna ask if it's okay with you, 'cause this is my apartment, o-okay?" Gordon affirmed. It had never really dawned on Benrey that the living room was basically his now but, whatever. They unenthusiastically paused the game. "Huh whuh-what's that, Feetman? Cringe nightmares got you down again? Who are you?? Fuckin...Joshua?." Was their fairly predictable response to that. "There are soooooooooooooo many nicer ways you could've worded that and yet-" The other man replied, exasperated and clearly frustrated about being compared to his own practically infantile son.. Benrey quickly grew tired of this conversation, and so, he unpaused whatever bullshit excuse for a video game he had been previously enjoying and returned to slaughtering low-poly innocents. Gordon sighed loudly before flopping onto the couch, his cheap bedcovers trailing behind him. "Why are you still awake, anyways?" He murmured sleepily. "What? Oh- uh- real gamers don't need sleep." The smaller male(?) explained. "Are you- are you not a real gamer?" He turned his gaze to his partner, genuinely shocked. "I mean- I play games sometimes, I s'pose. Doesn't mean I'm not constantly exhausted." He said back, sadly. "Oh- uh- dang. Do you need anything? Do you- D'you want gummy worms? I have those." They plunged a hand into their dark hoodie pocket and produced an ungodly amount of sugar coated shapes. "Therapy, Benrey. I need thera- ow." He was promptly cut off by the shorter...creature?? throwing the worms directly at his face. Gordon scowled, clearly unimpressed. "Oh- you- y-you didn't want gummy worms?? Whoops. Sucks to be you though." Benry said, being a little inconsiderate.

A few annoyed sounds could be heard as Gordon smacked his face into the couch cushions a few times. "Please. Can you not do anything for me?" He pleaded, a look of genuine desperation crossing his face. Benry turned to look at him and flinched momentarily before going stiff as Gordon clung onto his oversized black sleeve with both hands. "Please." If you asked him now, Gordon would definitely not admit to sobbing as he choked out that word, although, he totally did. "Uh- uhm..fuck." Benrey's first instinct was to drop the controller he was currently preoccupied with holding, and so he did. He cringed as it hit the floor with an unpleasant clatter, its batteries spilling outwards and rolling far out of his line of sight. They shifted awkwardly, placing their arms around the stressed man and pulling him closer, holding him as best as they could despite their fairly obvious size difference. "Uh- uhm....there, there? Look man I don't know how this fuckin' 'comfort' stuff works." They admitted, patting their partner's back with surprising care. He cringed further as Gordon 'unexpectedly' began to sob into his chest. "Oh no- don't- don't cry. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Stop- stop that, man. It's cool, I'm- uh- I'm here.'" He offered some incoherent reassurance in these trying times, handing out a few more gentle back pats. They flinched again as Gordon clung on tighter, almost painfully so. "Okay. O-okay that's a bit too intense now. Please uh- calm down...?" They commanded, almost as if on cue, a startling amount of dark blue sweet voice spewed from their fanged mouth, before going rogue and floating around the room as if it had a mind of its own. Benry swiftly raised a hand up to their mouth to wipe away the dark yet neon residue, flicking it towards the wall and watching it disappear in mid-air. "Bleh.That's never happened before." He remarked before returning to his boy(?)friend duties. Fortunately, Gordon had seemed to have relaxed a bit due to the sweet voice escapade, leaving him on the verge of unconsciousness, still firmly gripping onto Benrey. He had stopped sobbing as hard and now the only noise he had enough energy to produce was a tired whimper. "Gordon tired....." His voice trailed off as he awkwardly narrated himself in the third-person. "Well then- uh- go to sleep...lol." They coughed up a bit more sweet voice. It was a bright and obnoxious green that faded into an equally obnoxious red. (lime to red means, "go to bed.") "I'm trying...." He whined, although it quickly subsided as the glowing bubbles invaded his personal space, eventually pacifying him. "Oh...That's.....thatznice..." He muttered, snuggling even closer to Benrey, who still hadn't removed their arms from around him. "How do......how do you do that?" Benry didn't want to dignify their partner's question with an answer. Not like he had one anyways. So, to shut him up, they gracefully planted a kiss on his forehead, before promptly throwing in a few more back rubs just for good measure. "Ohh....okay..." Seemingly satisfied enough, he slunk out of Benrey's soft and warm embrace before immediately passing out on the couch, face-down. Benry smiled at this, not only had his goal been accomplished, but now he could go back to playing terrible outdated video games for a subpar outdated console!

Of course, there were still a couple other urgent matters to take care of. Firstly, check on Cringeass Feetman to make sure he was doing alright, which, he was. At least, on the surface he was. Poggers. Benrey thought to themselves. Without further ado, he hopped off of the couch, grabbed Gordon's bedcovers, which had since been abandoned on the hardwood floor, before haphazardly tossing them over the unconscious man. It looked...comfortable enough. so....whatever. Stifling a yawn, it slowly but surely dawned on them that they had become progressively tired out. It was kind of late, to say the least. Huh. Maybe gamers did need the occasional rest, considering it was kind of cringe to be tired all of the time. They shrugged before clambering back onto the couch and on top of Gordon, who, being asleep at the time, didn't really mind this. Eventually, they fell into a dreamless sleep, technically cuddled up to the love of their life and being comforted by the annoying buzz of a cheap, overheated television set. 

(1407 words)