Chapter Text
Nom couldn’t sleep.
While his insomnia wasn’t that uncommon back on Earth, and he barely ever slept while on the tree freaks’ ship, it had gotten way better since arriving on the Bannerfall.
But now he found himself roaming the halls after curfew, dressed only in his sleeveless white top and black pants and socks.
Katie was sleeping in Mae’s room, so Nom had been lonely in theirs. And loneliness invited in thoughts. And thoughts meant he couldn’t sleep.
He was knocked out of his wallowing by a faint scent of flowers.
His gaze refocused, and he found himself in a hallway he only vaguely recognized.
Despite the six months or so they had spent on the ship, he and Katie had started to realize very quickly that they had not explored nearly the entirety of the ship.
Graecie had offered them an official tour, but they both agreed it was more fun to discover things for themselves.
Although Nom was quickly regretting that as he glanced around, not recognizing anything of significance.
They should color-code these halls.
He continued walking down it anyway, and soon enough found a labelled door.
Suddenly thankful he brought his translator, Nom lifted the small black device to the words on the door and told the camera to make them English.
Scott’s room
His eyes lit up. Scott would let him sleep in his room, right? They’d been dating for a while now.
Before he got the chance to talk himself out of it, he knocked lightly on the door.
It opened within a minute, and Scott tipped his head at Nom.
“Hi,” Nom said, suddenly rethinking every decision he had made in his life to bring him to this point.
Scott, the angel that he was, just giggled. “Couldn’t sleep?”
Nom shook his head, watching as Scott stepped out of the doorway for him to enter.
Nom did so.
Scott hummed, moving to the desk in his room, which had a small table light on and was shining on a lily placed there.
“Do you… not sleep?” Nom asked, glancing around the room. Scott shrugged.
“I trance, like Graecie. Most of us who need little to no sleep just tend to avoid the sleepers’ hallway until you guys wake up.”
Nom leaned on the desk, watching Scott carefully collect the pollen from the lily and put it in a little jar.
“So… why are you up?” Scott asked, tilting his head at Nom again. He huffed.
“Insomnia. It’s a human thing. Sometimes we just… can’t sleep, no matter how much our brain tells us we need it,” he explained, scratching the back of his head. “And also…”
Scot removed himself from his work to look up at him. “Also?”
“4c must’ve told you guys this already, but when we were captured, I only let the tree guys experiment on me. I mean, not by choice, but it was either me or all three of us, and I wasn’t letting them get Katie and 4c.”
Nom sighed. “Whatever chemicals they put in my blood have made my joints start aching like crazy. It hurts. And I can’t sleep.”
Scott made a soft, sad noise, shifting to get out of his chair and push him towards the pile of pillows and blankets in the corner of the room, half-hidden by a parted curtain.
Obediently, Nom sat on the nest. Scott sat next to him, adjusting it so it was big enough for two people.
“I thought you said you don’t sleep?” Nom asked, allowing himself to be pushed into a lying position and Scott to come and place his head on his chest.
“You sleep better if people are with you,” Scott said evenly, even as he pressed his nose into the crook of Nom’s neck.
Nom sighed as he was held down by his boyfriend, resigning himself to his fate.
He grumbled when Scott’s hands moved to snatch his translator, placing it to the side. Then he brayed something, which Nom only recognized as a word because it had just been repeated between them so many times.
Finally, he gave in to the command.
Sleep.