Work Text:
Skwisgaar lay flat on his back, staring up at the living room ceiling. There was a song trapped in his chest, but it wasn't ready to come out, so he left his guitar where it leaned on the stand next to the pull-out couch, playing instead with his fingers on his ribs. He couldn't sleep again. It was late and everyone else had passed out hours ago, but Skwisgaar couldn't. He'd been having a hard time sleeping ever since the incident with Magnus. When he did manage to fall asleep, he had dreams that woke him, left him feeling too unsettled to relax again.
A door creaked open. Skwisgaar's eyes flicked in the direction of the sound, but aside from that, the only part of him that moved was his fingers, unyielding. At first he had no idea which of his bandmates was coming down the hallway toward him. But they were soft footsteps, timid. It had to be Toki. Pickles stumbled around like he was drunk in the night whether he was or not, and Nathan's and William's feet fell much more heavily.
Skwisgaar didn't say a word, just listening. He'd expected that Toki was going to the bathroom, or maybe getting a drink of water, but Toki betrayed those expectations completely when he came fully out into the living room, right into Skwisgaar's line of sight. He was wearing sleeping pants and holding onto a stuffed bear, and he was standing at the end of the couchbed looking down on Skwisgaar with something akin to curiosity. But not quite.
"Skwisgaar," Toki whispered at him through the darkness, his voice hesitant.
"Ja? What's you wants?"
"Du er våken?!" Toki asked, flinching back in apparent surprise, looking like some kind of scared child.
"Speaks English," Skwisgaar reminded him.
"Oh... ja," Toki agreed, apologetic. He sat down on the edge of the pull-out couch, holding the bear to his chest.
"What's you wants?" Skwisgaar repeated, looking him over.
"I gets the, uh, what's you says them, the nightscares," Toki told him, worming his way up to Skwisgaar's side, uninvited.
Skwisgaar made a noncommital sound in his throat and lifted the edge of the blanket, wordlessly inviting Toki to crawl underneath, an invitation Toki quickly took advantage of.
"Why you not sleeps?" Toki whispered to him.
"Why's you whispers?" Skwisgaar asked in response, unsure whether or not he was willing to explain himself to this kid. He hadn't been in the band long enough. But at night like this, Skwisgaar felt the most vulnerable; it was probably his best chance.
"It's nightstimes!"
"Ja, it ams, so goes to sleeps," Skwisgaar said, rolling over to face away from Toki.
He ignored Toki's soft curse at him in Norwegian, but once he heard his bandmate's breathing slow and even out, Skwisgaar turned back over and set an arm over Toki's waist.
---
This was the first time they'd gotten a bus to themselves for an entire tour. It even had their name on it and everything. Apparently the label was pushing them hard with their replacement guitarist, was willing to dump some more money into publicizing them. Skwisgaar didn't pay attention to the details, he just knew that they had never had their own bus for a tour before, let alone a bus with their name on it at all.
After that night's show, he didn't go back with his bandmates. He went out with a girl from the crowd, took her out for a few drinks, hung out with her for half the night. He ended up getting a blowjob from her, but it wasn't even that great. By time he got back to the bus, it seemed that the rest of the guys were already asleep.
Skwisgaar stripped down and climbed into his bunk, laying down flat on his stomach, but wishing he had more room to sprawl out. He tossed and turned for over an hour trying to get comfortable, but no matter which position he fell into, Skwisgaar felt uneasy. He felt unsettled. When he finally slipped into a light sleep, he dreamt of being electrocuted.
His eyes snapped open and he scrubbed at his face with rough fingers. And without thinking too much about it, he crossed the narrow aisle to Toki's bunk and edged himself into it alongside him. He felt Toki wake with a start.
"Sh," Skwisgaar preempted.
"...Skwisgaar?" Toki whispered.
"Ja. Goes to sleep," Skwisgaar murmured, pressing his body to Toki's back.
Toki was quiet for a few moments, long enough that Skwisgaar thought maybe he had fallen back to sleep already, but...
"Godnatt, Skwisgaar," said Toki finally, his voice small.
He never had to admit to Toki that he had nightmares, too.