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"Jesper, are you awake?"
"Mmh..."
"Jesper."
The man yawned, barely getting his eyes open. Was it a morning already? He felt like he hadn't slept for even an hour. But then he saw a figure in his room anxiously shifting their weight between their feet, and moonlight illuminated their face which seemed to... glisten?
"What is it?" he groggily asked, rubbing his eyes as he watched your shivering form beside his bed.
"Can I sleep with you? I need someone by my side." you muttered, holding your thin blanket tightly around you. Jesper frowned, before slightly shifting on his bed to let you slip under the covers beside him, and warmth immediately spread through your body.
You weren't exactly just friends. There had been a lot of mutual flirting for as long as you had known each other, Jesper had gotten you to blush with words no one else understood, and you just had this bond in between you. A mutual crush, but neither of you had admitted it.
You swallowed, rolling to your side to face Jesper. He gently reached out, wiping your cheek and noticed it was wet. "Oh, love."
"I just can't get her out from my head. She was innocent."
Jesper knew what you were talking about. A young woman caught in a crossfire as Dime Lions had tried to shoot one of the Dregs a few days ago, you had to watch as her friend had rushed to help her as she sputtered out blood and hear her friend's agonizing cries of help. You had tried to go over to help, but Inej had dragged you back, knowing fully well that you'd get shot too if you ran to the scene. But now it ran over and over again in your head, you should have helped, you should have even tried to fight against Inej's grip rather than limply scrambling to follow her pulling you away, and you felt like the woman's death was your fault.
And it was like Jesper knew what you were thinking, as his hand found yours under the covers and he whispered, "it wasn't your fault, you know that."
"It feels like it was."
He wanted to say something encouraging, but he didn't know what. He was outstandingly good with flirting and making people smile with jokes, but comforting with serious issues? He didn't find words. So he just said, "I think Saints are taking good care of her now."
You huffed. "You aren't religious."
"No, but I can still hope she's at peace." he sighed, wrapping an arm around you. "C'mere. Try to get some sleep."
You took in a deep breath of Jesper's scent before slowly closing your eyes and finally letting yourself to drift to sleep. You had a tingle of fear of nightmares, but in Jesper's arms, it felt like even nightmares decided to back up.
And for the first night in days, you got a good night's sleep.