Work Text:
- The Before -
Steven woke up to your whimpers. You were having another nightmare, the third one this week.
“Dove, wake up, it’s okay. I’m here.” Steven whispered when you clung to his chest, sobbing.
He barely made out your voice but through your cries you mumbled into his chest. “I’m tired Steven…I’m so tired.”
“I’m here, Dove.” He whispered the nickname he gave you. “I'll always be here.”
Steven just held you tighter when he felt you flinch at his words.. Whatever you meant, he understood it was more than what was waking you in the night. There was something on your mind and he didn’t want to press. You always came to him when you were ready and he respected that.
Except you never did.
- The After -
His own screams woke him up.
The only time he saw you anymore was in his dreams and in those dreams, you were crying for help but he could never reach you. It was like another person was keeping you from him. Your pained cries in the dreams sounded similar to how they did when you would wake up from a nightmare in his bed. A blurry image of you that wanted him but couldn't reach him.
When you left, you told him it wasn’t him but that it also was. Steven never fully understood it, but it hurt nonetheless.
Now here he lay, drenched in sweat and sadness. Because when you left, everything in his life dimmed. His flat seemed darker than normal and going to work wasn’t fun anymore and gods forbid he sleep peacefully anymore. You were the peace that would lay next to him and now that was gone.
You were gone.