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His thrashing wakes me up. Again. We're two big guys in a small bed, so what the hell else would happen when one of us has nightmares.
Less often recently, but right now it still feels like Every. God. Damn. Night.
"Nnnnhhh...noooo..."
I wrap my arms around him. Hold him close. Stroke his hair.
"It's OK, baby. You're OK. You're safe."
He's not buying it.
"Nnh! Rrrgh! Please, Techne, no..."
"OH FOR FUCK SAKE!"
I didn't know it was possible to STOMP down a ladder with bare feet, but Keeler somehow manages it. Then he looms over us, all 5'8" of him and his girly hair.
"PRAXIS! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
"GAHH!"
I can feel his panic, heart pounding, limbs flailing at nothing so I have to hold him down until he wakes up and gets a grip on himself.
Keeler isn't done.
"Newsflash, jackass! Techne is just as dead as he was nine months ago, your eye is still gone, Ethos is fine, so is Abel and he still doesn't want you! Now can I please get some FUCKING SLEEP?!"
Praxis pushes me off him and reaches for his jacket.
"Sorry. I'll leave."
I grab his hand and pull him back.
"No, baby, you stay right where you are. Keeler, I seem to remember an awful lot of talking and thrashing around coming from your bunk the first few months we were assigned together, and I've still got a scar from your knife from trying to wake you up. So you can either stuff it or go be a hypocrite somewhere else."
"FINE," he snarls, jerking on a tank top over his shorts.
I hear him slam his fist into the door panel, more barefoot stomping down the hall, then "ETHOS! Open the damn door!"
"Oh! Are you looking for Praxis? He's not here..."
"Yeah, I found him, thanks! What I'm looking for is somewhere quiet to fucking sleep! Deimos isn't here again, is he?"
"N-no, sir?"
A pause, then "Sorry, Ethos. I didn't mean to yell at you. And you don't have to call me 'sir' when we're off duty."
"Oh! Um..."
Their door whisks shut.
That little scene must have convinced Praxis not to go back to his own room. He finally relaxes and lies down again.
I position us so his back is against my chest and hold him close until his breathing goes deep and even.
I'm drifting off myself when there's a thud, loud obnoxious voices, and someone falls across my legs. The FUCK?
"WHOOPS! HAHAHA!!!!"
"Hey, Phobs! PHOBS! This isn't your room, you idiot!"
"Yeah, I know, cuz Ethos isn't in here fucking my Fi--OW!"
A shift and another thud. I can't see much, but at a guess, Praxis just decked that bitchy, weasel-faced Nav from the Equinox.
"OWW OWWW OWWWWW!!!!! PORTHOOOS!! SOMEONE HIT MEEEEE!!!!"
I grab both intruders by the collars, literally drag them across the room, and throw them out.
Apparently I need to have a talk with Keeler about closing the damn door when he flounces off.
I expect Praxis to be freaking out again when I make it back to bed, but he's laughing.
"Uh...baby?"
"Sorry. I just...I've wanted to do that for a looooong time!"
I crack up too. "Join the club!"
We laugh together until he quiets and falls asleep on his back. I reach my arm across him, rest my head on his chest, and start to drift off again.
That's when he giggles, mumbles something about a floating giraffe, and asks when there's another giant surfboard to Onion Land.
Oh for fuck sake.