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You wake up in a cold sweat. You fortunately didn't remember the specifics of what your dream contained, all you were sure of was its disturbing nature.
You sit up urgently, completely shrugging off the arm limply thrown over your torso. It landed in your lap, disturbed slightly as your abdomen heaved from shock. You look out in front of you, trying to ground yourself. The dark of your room made it impossible to make any details out, so you resort to gripping your hair desperately.
You bunch your hands into fists, grabbing all the hair unfortunate enough to be caught in your hold. You could've sworn you could easily tear it all out without regard for the consequences. You tremble in your place as finally someone stirs beside you.
There's a beat of quiet. Then, your quilt rustling as he sat, holding his arms out and hovering them over your shoulders.
"Hey...hey! You okay?!" You barely register the sound of his voice, the meaning being completely lost on you.
Cold hands gently pry your fingers off of your hair. You allow him to ease your hands to your lap. Your shoulders seem to cave in on themselves.
"Come here..." He ever so gently brought you to his chest. You fell against it with a small thump. "Hey..." He cooed above you, caging your body to his with his arms as he began to sway. "Listen to me..."
It went quiet for a moment as he pondered something. Then, he began to hum.
His voice was honeyed with care, growly from sleep. It came out slightly different than his usual voice, but loving nonetheless.
You began to focus on his singing, having nothing else to resort to. You analyzed the melody, realizing it was strange to you and irregular, likely improvised.
You at last fully woke from your trance, finally thinking how it was your Andrew, shy to show off anything artistic about him, now freely humming to soothe you. You shift slightly, so that you faced him. You wrap your thighs around his waist, placing your ear against his chest, listening to the slight buzz of his throat. He kissed the top of your head.
"Better?" You didn't feel motivated enough to answer. He waited patiently until you finally murmured in confirmation.
"Want to tell me what happened? Bad dream?"
"Yeah...sorry for waking you..." He chuckled and it seemed to echo in your head.
"Don't worry. I'm glad you woke me up." He smoothed his hand down your head, sometimes ghosting his nails on your scalp.
You shut your eyes, taking in his scent. You feel your eyes gloss over, soon flooding, spilling fresh tears to be caught on Andrew's shirt.
You sob, desperately and shakily. He only continues to hum wordlessly, not taking the hand on your head away, other arm slung crossed over your back, grasping your side.
Your body seemed entirely secured within his embrace, yet something still wasn't right. You couldn't help but feel dreadful. Your tears came on their own, you couldn't pinpoint why or even if you were sad. You wished you remembered anything of significance about your dream while also being thankful you hadn't.
The chill of the night was evident and unwelcome. Andrew gently pulled a blanket over his shoulders, joining the corners at your back so it was secured around you. You remained like that for a while.
You listened to his heartbeat and how the windows rattled. It was almost enough to doze off to on its own. Your eyes gradually drained of tears, yet they still ached.
"Do you want to go back to sleep?" He whispered against your scalp.
"Okay." It was all you could muster.
"Down we go, then..." He pulled one side of the blanket off, helping you to slide underneath the plush comfort of your better quilt. He quickly joined you, letting you nestle your face in the crook of his neck as he pulled a pillow up beneath you.
"Goodnight." He kissed you sloppily, and not in the good sense, as his reach was simply limited from his position. Your answer was only whimpered in return, as you were already half asleep.
You tried to dwell on how sweet he was when you needed him most, but sleep took over you before you could even sound out his whole name in your head. You slept soundly until morning, no terror plaguing your mind.