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The room smells of old carpet and cheap air freshener. It smells like water damaged walls and old wooden furniture. It was the cheapest place in the area. It was perfect, though, neither of the two men ever being big spenders.
It smells like $30 a night. Corpse and Sykkuno enter their motel room and breathe in the atmosphere.
Sykkuno puts down his duffel bag filled with a night’s worth of clothes. The rest of their luggage is locked safely in the car. He picks his bed without a word, choosing the one furthest from the window, by the door, and unpacks his stuff immediately.
“Can I shower first? I need to sleep as soon as possible.” He finds his nylon washcloth and the travel-sized soap he brought for himself out of pure resentment for complimentary bar soaps.
“I still can’t believe you drove for that long.” Corpse lies flat on his stomach on his own bed, opening his phone to check for any new messages.
“Neither can I.” He yawns as he remembers the cans of energy drinks he chugged along the seventeen hours he spent at the wheel.
“Only another fifteen left, Sykkuno, and you’ll get to rest for the entirety of it.” Corpse drops his face into the comforter, relishing his last night of rest before it’s his turn to drive.
Sykkuno usually takes his time in the shower, but he holds back this time for the sake of Corpse. There’s no telling how much hot water is left in the pipes. He dries up quickly and walks out with his shirt clinging onto his damp skin.
They swap places, and by the time Corpse comes out of the bathroom, Sykkuno has his lamp turned off and is ready to wind down for the night.
“Can I close the curtains?” Corpse turns to him in the dark.
“You don’t need to ask.” Sykkuno gives a small laugh. Corpse makes sure not even a corner of the outside can be seen from their point of view.
“This too…” Corpse says under his breath. He closes the closet door with a click before tucking himself back under his blankets.
Sykkuno’s eyes squint as he stares at his phone screen, a bad habit of his to be on it for at least an hour before bed. He hears Corpse tossing and turning. Hard springs don’t provide the best of support for their backs.
Corpse ends up facing Sykkuno from across the room and he tries not to feel guilty that Corpse is still awake and probably being kept up by the light from his phone. Sykkuno’s habit runs deep.
But when he does start getting tired, he turns to the side and sets his phone to charge for the ride tomorrow. He rolls over, facing away from Corpse, and shuts his eyes.
Sykkuno’s nose twitches, feeling the light graze of something warm against it. He wants to ignore it, but he can sense the presence of somebody nearby. His eyes shoot open, vision blurred and eyes struggling to focus on whatever is in his face.
It’s a large hand, he realizes. Sykkuno follows the arm all the way up to the person it’s connected to. Corpse is hovering over him, frozen in his spot. Sykkuno would be terrified if it was anyone else, but he’s more confused than anything.
Corpse retracts his hand slowly, the silhouette of his fingers clenching into fists.
“Hi, Corpse.” he says, mind still foggy, “What are you doing?”
“I had a nightmare.” Corpse’s voice is rougher than usual, “I had to check if you were...” he trails off, shifting his weight from side to side awkwardly.
“ Still breathing...” Sykkuno finishes in his head. It’s the only obvious answer. Sykkuno used to do this all the time, whenever he slept in his mom’s bed as a child. If her breathing ever got too slow, or if she barely moved in her sleep, and Sykkuno would worry something had happened to her. He would raise a tiny finger to her upper lip and wait for a puff of air (maybe two or three) until his worries were quelled. He’d snuggle back into his pillow, glued to his mother’s torso, and sleep until the morning.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Sykkuno sits up, “My mom always said that if you don’t tell somebody about your nightmares then-”
Sykkuno hesitates for a split second. Keeping his bad dreams to himself would make them become a reality. All those negative thoughts would poison the mind, and bleed into the outside world if not addressed with care. That’s not an idea he wants to put into Corpse’s thoughts. Or his own, even.
“-you’ll keep worrying about them, and you won’t be able to get back to sleep.”
Corpse sits at the edge of the bed, staring down at his lap.
“I didn’t see how it happened.” he starts, “In my dream, you were gone. Like, for real gone. Everyone was there and they were all crying.” Corpse’s face is hidden in the dark, but the quiver of his lips is audible. “When I woke up and the only thing I could see was you lying in the bed, I was terrified.”
“So you checked up on me?”
“I tried to go back to sleep, I really didn’t mean to bother you.”
Corpse wipes at his face with the back of his hands. Sykkuno reaches out, holding his hands gently, and feels the wetness of tears on them.
“I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Corpse nods his head in agreement, trying to shake off the reality of his nightmares.
“Do you want to lie down?
Corpse nods his head again, standing up to go back to his bed.
“I meant, um, if you wanted to lie down…” Sykkuno can’t believe what he’s saying. Corpse gets what he’s implying.
“We won’t fit.”
“I’m sure we will.” Sykkuno scoots over and gives a small pat to where Corpse should be able to fit.
They end up taking more space than anticipated. By the time Corpse is settled down, Sykkuno is latched onto his arm, half of his body is hanging over the edge of the bed.
He tries to relax his muscles but finds that there’s no way he’s going to be able to rest like this. Gasping loudly, Sykkuno almost flips entirely off the bed. Corpse catches him by the shirt before that happens.
“I’m sorry.” Corpse pulls Sykkuno up and leaves Sykkuno’s bed, “You don’t- I’ll be fine.”
He must be embarrassed. Sykkuno is sure of it.
Sykkuno stands and examines the room in the darkness. He realizes there’s nothing blocking the space between their own beds, and something clicks.
With a small grunt, he slides the bed frame across the carpeted floor. It glides smoother than expected and it doesn’t take much effort to reach Corpse’s bed. It doesn’t connect perfectly though, a valley forms where one mattress ends and the other starts.
“Sykkuno?” Corpse reacts to the sudden warmth on his back. Sykkuno is close to slipping in between the little gap between the beds. He doesn’t mind.
“I thought this would be better.” Sykkuno is giddy, impressed with his genius idea of making one medium-sized bed out of two smalls.
“Is it?” he asks. Just in case.
“Yeah…”
He reaches an arm over Corpse’s side, finding Corpse’s hand. He slides his fingers in between Corpse’s, feeling them relax almost immediately. He presses his forehead into his back, exhaling softly.
Sykkuno wonders what caused Corpse’s nightmare. Maybe he’s been thinking too hard, letting his mind slip into dark places. A common fear of losing a loved one manifesting itself into Corpse’s dreamland. A sad coincidence that it had to be during their trip together.
Sykkuno stops wondering. Because it doesn’t matter. He’ll be here as long as Corpse needs him to be, and long after that as well.
“Night, Corpse.”
“Good night, Sykkuno.”