bigapplesauce | The Bedside We Seek in the Night [closed]

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The Bedside We Seek in the Night [closed]

Since the last big mess of shared dreams, the memories dredged up and exposed for Gabriel to see have plagued Peter. It's not unusual for him to have nightmares or to dream of vampires, but it's been a while since he last had the kind of dreams he's had the last few nights.

He's hiding under his bed, cringing and crying as quietly as he can as shots ring out a few rooms away. His mother screams and he claps his hands over his ears, expecting the exact moment when she stops screaming because he's relived this memory too many times to count. The setting is achingly familiar yet completely out of his control, his sleeping mind unable to grasp just why he knows what's going to happen, why his gut is twisting itself in knots as the gun goes off again and it's his father's turn to scream.

Usually at this point the dream dissolves into some other terrible memory, or loops around and starts again with him sitting up watching telly with his parents before the monster comes. Tonight's a little different, though. In the way of dreams, time foreshortens itself. Peter trembles and stares at the pair of feet just in front of him, trying to breathe as quietly as he can. It knows he's here. The figure bends down, a smiling face dipping into view, eyes locked onto Peter. "Hey, guy," says Jerry.

Peter's heart seizes and he leaps. Then, suddenly, there's a burst of red light before he's falling into darkness. He hits something soft that seems to reach up and grab him to entangle him and panics, screaming and thrashing against it.

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"This isn't a regular thing," objects Peter. "When have I ever teleported into your bed before now? Never, that's when."

"You did it with Gabriel too," she points out. "Twice is regular enough. What if you'd appeared on that side of the wall instead?" she asks, nodding at the window. They don't live on the ground floor, so. Not that she thinks this hasn't occured to him, but he seems far too content completely ignoring the problem altogether instead of trying to do something about it.

Peter glowers at the revelation that Gabriel not only told her about the power, but apparently told her some of the circumstances of how he discovered Peter has it. He opens his mouth to give some smart answer but has to shut it again when he can't think of one. He'd have fallen to his death, that's what.

He told her quite a bit about the circumstances, really.

"Exactly," she replies to his non-answer. She remains quiet for a couple moments, considering, then continues. "You could practice somewhere more safe. Or perhaps get help from the rebels. I bet they help people with their powers all the time."

"Oh, you mean those people who'd all be glad to be rid of me? Those rebels?" Not that he figures there are many people who know him and who wouldn't be glad to be rid of him. "I'd rather just...not do it," he admits. "Ever."

Lucy sighs once again, and shifts a bit to lie down rather than sit, and make herself more comfortable against him. She may bother him about this more later, but it's the middle of the night and she's exhausted, so bickering about details will have to wait. And though it wasn't exactly planned having Peter here, she doesn't feel the need to kick him out. Even if this means they sleep together without actually having sex.

Peter looks down at Lucy for a moment, both glad she's not pushing to hear more about his dream or to insist he has to learn how to deal with his power and wishing just a tiny bit that she would. Not that he'd take advantage of it by immediately opening up if she did, of course.

He reaches across her to fetch his teacup, not ready to lay down and go back to sleep yet. "I didn't ask for this," he comments, taking a sip.

"None of us did," she answers, patting his leg through the covers. "Deal with it." Look, she can be sympathetic and comforting, but that doesn't mean she won't also tell him to pull himself together.

Since Peter doesn't seem intent on sleeping quite yet, she rolls onto her back to look up him. "The previous times it's happened, what's caused it? Maybe if you can avoid the cause, you can avoid it happening."

"Think Gabriel would pay any attention to a restraining order?" It's not fair to blame it all on Gabriel, considering he's only been the cause once, but it somehow feels fair anyhow. Moving his hand to touch her hair, he looks away before admitting, "It happens when I'm scared."

Except obviously not every time he's scared, or he'd be teleporting constantly. Actually, he really hopes that's not obvious, thanks.

She smiles a little at the thought of Gabriel and restraining orders, but no, she's fairly sure he wouldn't. She sobers a little at his admittance though. She'd guessed as much - nightmare and all. Especially because her power tends to activate when she's scared - naked Peter falling on her and all.

"Well, Gabriel can be pretty terrifying," she answers, just a touch darkly.

"Can't even get away from him in my sleep," grumbles Peter. The way she says it gives him pause, though -- is someone finally actually agreeing with him about Gabriel, rather than just humoring him? "...You, too?"

Lucy glances up at him, then sighs. "Well, he read my mind. And I've had enough people fuck with my mind, making me into something I'm not, and I'd rather not repeat that," she answers. Given they've had it affirmed that Peter really was in her dreams, he'll know who was responsible for most of that. "And he threatened me. Thought he was going to hurt me. He hasn't, but let's just say I'm not entirely comfortable around him." She suddenly feels tense and uneasy, and tugs at a pillow so she can curl around it a bit. The fright Peter gave her when he arrived doesn't seem to have left her system entirely.

Peter shudders a little, the rather small-minded thought that he's glad it wasn't him on the receiving end of it flitting through his mind. His frown deepens as the more manly feeling of protectiveness belatedly wells up in him. "He threatened you?" he asks more sharply than he should. "What did he say?"

"Well, not verbally, but his meaning was pretty clear," she answers, though she isn't really enjoying thinking back to it. It had been a generally frightening situation, and not just because of Gabriel. "He was messing with the rift, then it messed back, and he thought it was my fault. So he got in my face, and ordered me to explain. Practically growled at me. Which, given the fact I already knew he was pretty powerful, was not very pleasant." Her words may not expressing her fear at the situation very accurately, but her demeanor at the moment probably does.

"Fucker. I knew I shouldn't trust him." Paranoia? Validated. See, Lucy, this is why Peter doesn't like paranormals. Though what he'll actually do about it is unknown to him, considering how it's been made clear again and again that Gabriel has more power than is good for anyone who comes in contact with him.

Gabriel hasn't actually hurt her, but she has no doubt he can and would if he gets a reason. Given the fact he remembered what happened before she used her own power means her power probably isn't even that useful against him.

She shudders a bit, and shakes her head a bit to get his hand still resting on her hair off, then rolls away from him. She's not in the mood for more chatter, at least not on this subject, though she doesn't feel as sleepy anymore.

Peter sort of expects Lucy to agree with his righteous indignation, so when she silently pulls away instead, he's honestly a bit hurt. Setting his tea down on the windowsill, he rolls over onto his hip and leans to get close to her again. "Hey," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She doesn't pull away this time, and lets out a sound to acknowledge she heard him. She's not upset with him, and she quite agrees to his indignation, she's just not in the mood to share it. She doesn't like all the supernatural and powerful people and creatures in this place any more than Peter does, she's just a bit better at hiding it and coping. And sometimes she finds them interesting and fun to deal with, but lately she's gotten fond of just living her life in peace. She'd forgotten what that was like.

Peter lets out a little sigh and shifts to lay down behind her, spooning up against her back. He still can't decide whether he wants to talk or not, but he knows he doesn't want her to go to sleep and leave him sitting up alone with his thoughts.

Lucy wants to snuggle back, but doesn't. Thoughts are swirling around in her head, about Peter's dislike for anything unnatural. Weirdly enough, she trusts him, and feels like she's decieving him by keeping things hidden - especially now he's admitted to his own power. Besides, it feels wrong to have Gabriel know about it and not Peter.

"I got a power from the rift too," she says, both her voice and body tense.

Thoughts of his dreams -- and of his power -- circle around in Peter's mind, threatening to spill out. They're not going to talk about it, though, he's decided that. Just because Lucy is the only person he can think of he could even begin to trust with it -- and even though she already knows why he's been having bad dreams -- doesn't mean they need to talk about everything that's wrong with him.

He stiffens at her words (and at the noticeable shift in her body language), finally turning his attention to Lucy herself. Staring at the blonde hair inches from his face, he says carefully, "You didn't mention it."

Edited 2013-05-21 06:28 (UTC)

Lucy lets out a short, humourless laugh. "I haven't mentioned it to anyone," she answers. Feeling his body go stiff behind her is not reassuring, but she'd rather tell him than have him find out some other way - like through Gabriel. She's fairly sure he's the only one who knows, but she doesn't exactly trust him to keep that secret.

"I can turn back time. Just a few minutes. It happens with I'm scared," she explains, deciding to get it over with quickly. Funny how both of them have powers that basically come down to running away from their problems. "I was still in bed when you teleported in here, landed on top of me. Obviously startled me, so I undid it before I realised it was you. That's why I was holding a knife. I already knew something was coming, because it had already happened to me. Even if I didn't know it was you. I've been using it to pickpocket without getting caught. Or rather, to get uncaught."

She pauses in her story, then suddenly sits up, crawling out of bed, needing space, before he can answer. "Sorry, I... You probably don't find me very trustworthy now. That idea that I might've... unwritten things between us. I haven't, but I guess you can't really know that," she rambles, wringing her hands a little, not looking at him. She's coming off as quite a bit more neurotic than usual. But hey, when has she ever bragged about mental stability. He already knows she's a bit crazy.

Not trusting Gabriel to keep his mouth shut is probably a good call, all things considered. Peter doesn't miss the 'when I'm scared' part, though for a moment or two he's a bit too focused on the 'I'm scared' part to be too terribly bothered about Lucy's emotional state. Never mind the dangers of appearing outside the building -- she could have waited for him with that knife and plunged it into him before he even woke up and knew where he was.

But she didn't, he thinks as she pulls away and leaves him. Had she just admitted to a predilection for drinking blood or transforming under the full moon, he might have a real problem doing anything other than teleporting as far away as he could. But time travel? What does he know about time travel? Beyond his initial, stabbing-related thought, it doesn't actually sound all that frightening until she starts talking about what she might have done with it.

"Not unless I scare you," he chuckles mirthlessly, still curled up on the bed where she left him.

She looks over at him, and is surprised he's so calm about this. Or seems calm, anyway. Then again, she's not entirely sure why she feels so guilty, it's not like she's done anything to him with it, she's just been worried how he'd react.

"You did once," she admits. "First time we had sex. You grabbed me, gave me flashbacks to.. to him. That's the first time I ever undid anything, just ten seconds or something." She figures she might as well get it all out of the way.

Peter's gaze slides away from her in guilt -- he hadn't known too much about her husband then, of course, but even if he had he probably wouldn't have cared. He's silent for a few moments, mulling it all over.

"I'm not going to know when you use it," he says at last, wanting that addressed.

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