22. A monster, a monster, I've turned into a monster

[voluntaryapnea]

Who: Stiles Stilinski, bad dreams and YOU.
Where: Stiles' mind and then...Scott's room, the kitchen, and Scott's room again.
When: Throughout the "Less Than Thou Showest" flood, January 25th - 29th.
What: Stiles' mind is a scary place. It gets scarier when the nightmares aren't even his.
Warnings: Blood, death, violence, attempted suicide, drowning.
Note: Open to anyone, planned or not!

He hasn't had nightmares like this in awhile. But now he can't seem to shut them off. It's not like it was once, where everytime he woke up he's screaming. But it's not pleasant, and it's not his idea of a good time, and by the time he convinces himself to leave Scott's comatized body and go to the kitchen for caffeine, he feels like a zombie.

He makes it back to Scott's cabin in record time, drinking down the hot beverage so fast that it burns his mouth and then his throat.

He mumbles some curses and waits impatiently for the beverage to cool down before taking another long drink. Frankly he wishes it was something stronger.

A lot stronger.

Comments

[imfollowinghim]

"Kinda feel like I should be asking you the same question," is Bucky's initial reply, raising a meaningful eyebrow at Stiles because, well. You know why. Probably.

"Can I come in?"

No use beating around the bush, right?

[voluntaryapnea]

He grimaces at that. Yeah, he knows why. Bucky was the lucky winner of his most recent nightmare. Awesome.

"Yeah. Come in." He steps aside and then closes the door behind him, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So that was unpleasant."

[imfollowinghim]

"That's one way of putting it." Bucky's not sure what else to say, because... yeah. That definitely covers it.

There's more he should probably say, but he's not sure how to put any of it. Stiles told him all about the nogitsune, it seems stupid to ask more about it, or pry, even if he's still worried about how he's coping with it. How do you cope with it?

He glances over at the bed, nodding towards the still sleeping form under the blankets.

"How's Scott?"

[voluntaryapnea]

Like Bucky didn't have enough trauma of his own. And sure, he knows about the stuff Stiles went through with the nogitsune, but there's a difference between knowing and seeing some of it first hand.

He nods slightly and motions for Bucky to have a seat. He sits down on the edge of the bed beside Scott.

"No change," he says quietly. He looks up. "Sorry I haven't really been to training lately. I don't feel right leaving him for long."

[imfollowinghim]

"Don't worry about it." Bucky waves off the apology as he takes a seat, more or less melting into the chair, because he might not need as much sleep as he used to, but these dreams are just... draining. Emotionally more than physically, but draining.

"Believe me, I don't think training's really high on anyone's list of stuff to do this week."

Even if he's still been trying to keep up with it, as much as he can. It's better to keep his mind occupied, he's found, because sitting around just lets stuff start getting overwhelming and out of control.

Bucky's quiet for a moment, watching Scott sleep before looking back at Stiles. "Were you sleeping alright, before this got started?"

[voluntaryapnea]

Stiles nods when Bucky waves off the apology, relieved he's not upset. Not that he really thought Bucky would be. "Yeah, I guess not. Not many people probably have the energy for it." Lack of sleep does that to a person.

He misses training, because even though he's still not great at a lot of the stuff, he feels better afterwards. And he misses lacrosse, but that's officially on hold until Scott wakes up.

He glances over to his friend when he speaks. "Yeah. Or I was, before Scott dropped into a coma, anyway." He pauses. "I mean I had some nightmares after the mirror barge, but I was still sleeping. What about you? How've you been doing?"

[imfollowinghim]

Bucky shrugs nonchalantly, playing it off as not a big deal, a sort of wry smile forming on his face. "Guess this beats dreaming about the same thing every night."

Except he'd kind of rather dream about Salerno, or the HYDRA factory, or the train, or whatever the fuck else, because at least that's stuff he knows how to deal with. It's his problem, no one else's, and he doesn't like being so starkly faced with how badly hurt his friends are and have been. They deserve better. All of them.