Work Text:
~
after the horrid events of episode 3, Pomni has been getting haunted by nightmares for a couple of days now.
she had gotten used to them by now, but this night it was particularly bad.
within the dream, she saw her friends abstracting one by one, and chasing her down a strangely empty, dark hallway.
*as if it wasn't bad enough!* she thought to herself, suddenly tripping over something in the dream before she gets stomped on by the huge mass of abstractions.
she jolts awake, trying desperately to catch her breath and calm down, but her attempts fail miserably.
not even taking deep breaths helped.
"f@#?!." she cursed under her breath, burying her face in her hands.
then it came to her.
her only chance to actually calm down at least somewhat.
~
Pomni slowly left her room, looking at the door in front of her own and hesitating for longer than she'd like to admit.
*this is so dumb.*
she softly knocks on the door.
the door creaked open, Jax looking at her with tired eyes. he was probably sleeping. well now she'll feel bad.
"what do ya want, Pompom?" he grinned at her after a while of just staring, his voice sounding a tad bit groggy from just waking up.
that nickname. again. well, whatever makes him happy.
"Jax, im so sorry for waking you up, i just..." she was cut off before she could finish-
"nightmare?" Jax questioned, unsurprised.
all Pomni could do was nervously nod while keeping her eyes on the ground in shame. she didn't want to bother Jax with something like this.
Jax silently stepped aside to let Pomni enter, locking the door afterwards.
"so, tell me all about it." he smiled again, plopping down on the bed beside Pomni.
Pomni hesitated for a bit, before finally beginning to weakly speak-
"it was... about you guys again..." she paused, gathering all she could remember of her dream. "you all just abstracted, one by one, and then chased me as a huge abstraction. it was... horrifying." she admitted, avoiding Jax's gaze entirely.
Jax hummed in understanding. "i get what its like." he nodded.
"yknow, I used to get nightmares almost daily. it was abut.. someone close to me." he noted.
after a short pause, Pomni asked
"did they abstract?"
Jax's ears perked up and his pupils shrunk ever so slightly. he was scared of being vulnerable, but what else could he do in this situation?
he sighed before answering.
"yeah."
"do you wanna talk about it?.." Pomni offered, though she wasn't forceful with it.
"not tonight." Jax answered.
his voice was slightly shaky, it was unlike anything Pomni ever heard since she got here. it was just raw and emotional.
Jax finally took a deep breath to ground himself.
"so, what do we do about your nightmare tho?"
he asked, his voice mostly back to normal.
Pomni just shrugged.
"I-i dont know." she muttered.
after a while of thinking, Jax hesitantly offered
"you could like, i dunno... stay here for the night? if you want to, of course." Jax's voice sounded unusually soft, even with his futile attempt at masking his nervousness with the same, cocky smile he could only keep for so long.
Pomni looked up at him, eyes glistening with hope
"you would.. do that for me?" she questioned, skeptical of this whole idea.
"make up your mind, shortie, before i change my mind." he teased, his face having a slight tint to it.
was he- blushing right now?... doesn't matter.
the jester *really* didnt want to be alone right now.
she slightly shook her head to stop thinking about it too much before actually replying
"yeah. that would be nice." she smiled softly at him, glancing away a few times.
~
after a while, they both settled down in bed.
admittedly, they both found it a little bit weird to sleep in the same bed as eachother, but it was nice at the same time.
a few minutes pass by and crap, neither if them could sleep.
Jax was the first to speak up.
"psst, Pom." he called out, voice barely above a whisper.
"yeah?.." Pomni muttered in response.
"oh, cant sleep?" he turned in bed to face her, and so did Pomni.
"not really..." she admitted, avoiding Jax's gaze once again.
they both stayed silent for a moment, before Jax asked;
"can i- help you? somehow?" he was being unusually considerate.
without a doubt, it felt weird, but comforting at the same time.
Pomni hesitated for a bit before finally building up the courage to ask.
"a hug would be nice." she said, her tone soft and voice shaky. she was extremely nervous to ask for *any* form of affection, ESPECIALLY from Jax.
she doesn't usually like physical touch, but this time, she could really use some.
from someone she trusts.
Jax silently wrapped his arms around her small frame, squeezing her closer to himself, resting his chin atop Pomni's head.
"if you tell anyone about this, im killing you." he said bluntly.
Pomni froze up, before wrapping her own arms around Jax in return, smiling against his fur.
"gotcha." she responded. not like she was planning to, honestly, but holy sh#%. he really let her do this.
neither of them ended up letting go, and slept while cuddling.
waking up was fun, dont worry.