seattle ; monday afternoon

[necroslacker]

It'd been another night racked with nightmares. They were getting worse and worse and Sam had no idea what had seemingly opened the floodgates. He didn't know what was causing everything to spiral out of control. He'd found himself downstairs in the basement way too much and for way too long. Ramon and Frank had even started questioning him and he'd just snapped angrily and stalked away.

That had just concerned them more. And they'd threatened to tell Brid which was great. He didn't want to deal with her when it came to this. He didn't want to deal with anyone. He just wanted to internalize it and make it go away.

He'd locked himself in his room for right now. The bed was unmade and messy and his clothes were strewn about, a testament to just how unfocused he was. But, he was still up and he was still mobile. Well, he was looking out one of the windows at the gray afternoon.

But, that counted.

[NFB but open for interactions]

Comments

[necroslacker]

"What, like tell me a story?" Sam asked, trying to tease.

[whenshewasnice]

"Or sing you a lullaby," Natalie replied, trying to reciprocate. "Even though I don't know any lullabies. I could come over?"

That was just one of those things she never expected to say until it was out of her mouth.

[necroslacker]

"...you can," Sam said after his surprise at that had worn away. "I'm not -- I don't wanna do anything but you can still come over if that's okay."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's okay."

It was more than okay. She needed a little human contact in the most innocent way possible.

"See you in a little while?"

[necroslacker]

"Okay," he murmured, saying his goodbyes before hanging up the phone and turning it off all together. He pulled the blinds in his room, dropping it into darkness.

He climbed in his bed, curling up on his side and waited.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't waste time. Why would she, when she had nothing she needed to be doing? She portaled out, and then she was there, letting herself into his house.

And just a moment later, she was knocking on his bedroom door. "I'm here."

[necroslacker]

"So am I," he said, still in bed. "In bed."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie opened the door and slipped in, then had to blink a bit while her eyes adjusted to the darkness when she closed the door again.

"How angsty of you."

[necroslacker]

Sam shrugged a shoulder. "What can I say? I like my bed."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, it's an okay bed," she replied lightly, moving forward a bit uncertainly until her legs bumped into the edge of the bed and she could get one knee onto it. "And you're supposed to sleep, so the affection is helpful."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm." He stayed still while he listened and felt her get into his bed with him.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie quietly lay herself down next to him on her side for now, unsure how to proceed from there.

She hadn't planned this far.

... Scratch that, she hadn't planned this at all.

[necroslacker]

Sam wasn't going to offer suggestions either. He stayed still, just trying to breathe easily and relax enough to maybe close his eyes and get some sleep.

It wasn't working that well but he was trying.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie stayed still for a moment. Just breathing in the silence.

Then she reached a hand out and touched his shoulder, slowly running her hand down his arm from there. Just a light touch. Something to soothe.

[necroslacker]

Sam shuddered a bit when she touched him. It wasn't a bad thing, though. He was just trying to relax and unwind somewhat.

He sighed again and stayed quiet.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie ran her hand down his arm down to around his elbow, then back up again, slowly.

And then she splayed that hand against his back, rubbing lightly in small circles. She knew someone had done that for her in the past. Maybe it was him. Maybe it was one of her parents. She couldn't remember and it didn't matter.

[necroslacker]

Sam moaned a little, mostly in pleasure. He didn't say anything else but stretched out a little under her touch.

He didn't know if he'd done this to her in the past or not but he was appreciative of the fact that she was doing it to him now.

[whenshewasnice]

Well, with it being that well received, Natalie kept doing it. Keeping the same amount of pressure, but slowly moving her hand around his back.

Slow circles.

[necroslacker]

This was such a strange thing for them to be doing given their current status. He really didn't know what was going on but he wasn't going to start a conversation about that.

He was just going to close his eyes and breathe and relax and feel. She had good hands.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was really of the mind that this wasn't any stranger than when she'd cried all over him and he'd told her to let it out and go to sleep. That was what she'd decided, anyway.

She rubbed his shoulder and listened to him breathe.

[necroslacker]

And he was still breathing quietly. He moved a little underneath her hand, stretching again. One of his hands curled closer to his chest and he maybe scooted back a little closer to her.

Man, he missed cuddling with her. He really, really did.

[whenshewasnice]

Yeah, so did Natalie. To be honest, she just missed cuddling in general. But they'd been very good at that.

And maybe she shifted a little bit towards him, too. Still rubbing his shoulder and his upper back.

[necroslacker]

Sam's breathing settled a little more as some of his tension and pain bled out of him. His eyes were closed so he could solely focus on her touch and the feelings that it was evoking.

Maybe she'd be able to get him to sleep.

[whenshewasnice]

Maybe. Natalie hoped she might. Since he was being so firm about not letting her help in other ways.

She started to hum, softly. A song she'd been writing earlier. He probably wouldn't want to know the words, which was all the same really because they were only half written, anyway. But maybe the humming would help.

[necroslacker]

He didn't ask for the words only because he didn't want anything breaking the lull he'd gotten his mind forced into. He didn't want to think of meanings behind things. He just wanted to listen to her and he wanted her to keep touching him.

His needs were minimal.