Chapter Text
Jay jolted awake, her chest heaving as she clutched at the fabric of her shirt. Tears sprung from the corners of her eyes as the remnants of the nightmare were just beginning to fade to the back of her mind. Her hands vibrated as she reached up to tug at her bangs, pulling hard at her red curls with gasping breaths.
Their sleeping quarters were dark and the small bit of moonlight filtering in through the portholes revealed the time to be about midnight, maybe even later. Jay stared at the particles of dust floating in the air that were made visible by the faint light, her chest heaving.
She hiccuped and covered her mouth tightly to muffle the sound of her cries, a sense of dread weighing her down. Jay’s heart thumped heavily in her chest and she couldn’t stop the tremors that shook her whole body making it hard to sit up.
Jay choked on her breath and found herself coughing, her throat burning with the sudden jolt. Her ears were ringing and she found herself ducking her head to hide from the creaking noises of their ship.
The side of her bed dipped with the sudden weight of someone sitting down and Jay whipped her head up. A hand smoothed over her back, rubbing small circles and patting gently to soothe her coughs. In the darkness, she could make out the hunched form of Chip sitting next to her. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, hair disheveled and sticking up in place. In his other hand, he extended a cup of juice toward Jay.
“Figured you’d be thirsty,” he mumbled, another yawn spilling from his lips. His fingers twitched and tapped against Jay’s back, picking at the threads of her nightshirt. Maybe he recognized the shirt that Jay wore to be one of his that she had snatched earlier, or maybe he didn’t. But he didn’t say anything about it either way.
Jay blinked, almost surprised at the offer, her breath hitched and the collar of her shirt slipped down her shoulders. She swallowed thickly, not even realizing how dry her mouth was. Her throat burned and she coughed again, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.
A shiver ran down her spine and Jay tried to blink away the tears that were still falling. She hiccuped again and did her best to calm her racing heart.
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, tears rolling down Jay’s cheeks and pooling just underneath her chin. Chip watched relatively blankly, bags underneath his eyes as he looked close to falling back asleep. Jay eventually broke the staring contest, sniffling and making an attempt to wipe her face. She could practically imagine how bad she looked right now, but she hoped that Chip would be unable to see in the dark.
Shakily, and with a hint of hesitation, she accepted the juice that Chip had brought for her. She pressed herself close against Chip’s side as she took a small sip. Chip let out a long exhale, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
The sweet taste of whatever fruit had been squeezed filled her mouth and Jay sighed, her eyelids fluttering closed for a second. Chip reached a hand up to wipe the tears from Jay’s cheeks, smoothing his thumb over her cheekbone where her skin was dry.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Chip asked, coughing to clear his throat. He swallowed thickly.
“No,” Jay whispered, the ebbs of panic already releasing their grip on her. She tilted her head to rest on Chip’s shoulder, rubbing the pads of her fingers over the old wooden cup. Very faintly, she could feel his heartbeat thrumming from just underneath his skin.
Her breathing was rattled, sounding a lot like Gillion’s whenever he got panting. Jay bit her tongue and shivered against Chip’s who gave off enough heat to rival a fire pit.
They sat there for a while, Jay drinking her juice while Chip sat there and offered comfort. He curled his fingers around the hair at the back of her neck and kept her tucked close to his side.
He was beginning to fall back asleep, his head lolling forward as his eyelids drooped. Jay could feel his breath puffing against the exposed skin on her shoulder and she reached up to smooth his hair away from his face.
“Go back to sleep,” Jay told him, kissing the underside of his jaw and running her fingers over his cheekbones. Chip yawned, leaning over to bury his face against the side of her head, breathing in the smell of her hair.
“You too.”
Jay smiled weakly, sniffling once more as her tears dried. She moved the now empty cup of juice onto the floor where it wouldn’t get knocked over in the night. After that was taken care of, she laid down next to Chip who settled with a small sigh, curling his arms around Jay’s waist to pull her close.
Tucked against Chip’s chest and comfortably warm, Jay listened to the sound of Chip’s heartbeat until it eventually pulled her back to sleep.