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It's dark when Gordon wakes up, shaking and dripping with sweat. His breath is ragged as he runs his fingers through his mane of hair, more grey now than ever.
Fuck.
He shoves the covers off of himself, gritting his teeth at the hot jolt of ghostly pain that shoots through his right arm. Yeah, it was gonna be like that.
Gordon trudges his way out into the living room, the hardwood floors cold against the soles of his bare feet. His fingers are tapping restlessly against the fabric of his sweatpants, the faint drone of… something filling his ears.
He glances off to the side, seeing Benrey's face illuminated by the screen of the tv, his pupils blown wide and his tongue poking out from between his teeth in focus. The volume is low, the sound of screeching tires and items being thrown barely registering to Gordon's sleep addled brain as he drags himself into the kitchen. Coffee. That's what he needed right now.
He pops a cup under the coffee maker, not bothering to make a whole pot. He doesn't want to waste any grounds at… 2am. God.
He's ripped out of his thoughts by the sound of coffee filling the mug, the steady stream becoming a slow trickle and then a drip. The warm cup grounds him a little bit as he wraps his hands around it with a soft sigh.
Faintly he registers that Benrey is talking to him, their voice not quite processing until he's made it back into the living room, dropping down onto the opposite side of the couch.
"you good? you’re not normally uh. up this late gordo, bad sleepy time for gordon? bad dream o clock?"
The scalding liquid meets Gordon's lips and he recoils, setting the mug down with a soft ceramic clank on the wooden coffee table, nodding. Benrey nods back, setting aside the controller they were still holding. Why were they holding a controller? Oh, their game. That's right.
Gordon knows he's staring, trying to drink in every detail of Benrey's face. The way their eyes have the slightest bit of concern behind them, the way the muscles in their arms flex as they fiddle with the hem of their sweatshirt, the sleeves having been cut off from Benrey chewing holes into them.
"you uh. you wanna talk about it?"
A shake of the head is all Benrey needs to see.Their hand meets the side of Gordon's face, cupping it gently, pushing away a few strands of hair as they do. They run their thumb along the ridge of his cheek, feeling him lean into his touch. A few orbs of pink and blue spill from their mouth, unhindered, illuminating the small amount of space between them. Soon Gordon’s breathing becomes more shaky, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he cracks, spilling the contents of his nightmares out to Benrey, who holds him close, his fingers running gently through his hair in an effort to sooth him.
They stay like that for what seemed like hours, and as far as they can tell it very well may have been. At some point Gordon's eyes had drifted shut, his breathing slowed. Benrey takes a blanket from the back of the couch and drapes it over him, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead as he lays Gordon down to rest before returning to their race, the mug of coffee left to cool until the sun rises.