Chapter Text
It's Phoenix's jagged breathing that wakes Miles first, then, his shaking. Miles sits up on an elbow in the dark bedroom in the bed next to him, and looks at his face. Phoenix's eyelids are fluttering as if trying to open, his brows gathered in a frown and muscles tight. Miles can feel instinctively what is happening to his partner, and turns to his other side to switch on the lamp. The light and the movement is enough to wake him, but Miles watches to make sure his breathing levels and his eyes open.
When they do, Phoenix sits up immediately and looks, first at the bed before him, then the bedroom, then squints at Miles and the light behind him.
"Are you okay?" Miles asks.
"I, um, I had a nightmare," Phoenix answers, voice low and shaken. He turns back to stare blankly at the bedcovers in his lap. Miles lightly lays a hand on his back between his shoulders, and rubs briefly in a circle before returning to his lap. "I was... We were all..."
"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it."
"No, I... We were all in some kind of bizarre TV wilderness survival tournament, not you of course, me and strangers, and they convinced me to be in their group, but when I woke up the next morning they'd taken all my things and the filming crew had followed them away, and..."
He swallowed. "I tried to catch up to them but they were gone, and I was alone when night came, it was so cold I could barely breathe from shaking, and I could hardly see anything for some reason, and..." Phoenix clutches his arms around himself as if still in that freezing place. "I was all alone, there was no one around for miles, if I shouted no one could hear me so I just kept going to try to find someone and I- I was so..." He covers his eyes with a hand and releases a shuddering sob.
"Okay, Phoenix. It's all right." Miles murmurs a few soft words to him and puts an arm around his shoulders to hold him closer. With Phoenix's back resting against his side, he can feel where the sobs crack deep in his lungs. He is no stranger to the senseless wracking grief of a nightmare.
"It's okay, you're awake. We're right here," Miles says. "I think your pajamas were too light to keep you warm enough, and you were cold. I'll get you a warmer pair and some tissues. Okay?"
Phoenix nods, but as Miles shifts to leave, turns and grabs his hand. "Wait-- don't leave. I'm sorry. Wait." He grips Miles' hand in both of his and presses it against his chest. Phoenix closes his eyes and lowers his head over it, breathing in and then exhaling in sighs. When he meets his eyes Miles can see that he's still shaken, but lucid now. "Okay. I'll go with you."
"Okay." Miles squeezes his hand, and lets go. Phoenix sniffles, then scoots across to jump off the same side of the bed with him.