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IIt was a peaceful night in the quiet town of xxxxxx, which had everyone sleeping peacefully after an adventure. Facty had been sprawled out, their arms and legs partly covering Martian, even reaching Lightbulb somehow— but, knowing Facty, it wasn't surprising whatsoever.
Lightbulb tossed and turned in his sleep as much as he could in the crowded bed, his dream already going downhill— He was dreaming of another scenario (Or, “adventure”) which happened to be in their house this time. It didn’t start off bad, not at all, but the moment the three of them heard knocking on their door he had a horrible feeling,
“How- How about you don’t open the door?” Lightbulb suggested, a nervous laugh escaping his throat
“Don’t worry about it! We’re fine!” Facty reassured him despite not being completely confident after previous instances… As the knocking persisted, Facty finally unlocked the door and opened only to find a tall, freakish figure idly standing close to the door frame. None of them could get a word in before the “creature” invited themselves in and… Well, I guess you could say they disfigured the group before any of them could even act.
Lightbulb jolted up after the nightmare, his breath quick and shallow. It felt like every night he had to deal with these hellish nightmares that NEVER got better, only worse; which wasn’t the only thing getting worse in this situation. Lightbulb’s paranoia only worsened each adventure, each nightmare, each incident… He didn’t know who to trust or if he could trust his safety, especially after previous accidents.
He continued to lie there, his mind racing with endless possibilities and fear, unsure as of what to do next in this situation– Previously, he probably would’ve just rolled over quietly to wait for morning, but that wasn’t the case in here
Lightbulb was careful getting out of bed to ensure his partners didn't wake up because of him. He tip-toed through the bedroom and into the long hallway that leads to the main part of the house, his eyes darting everywhere for every possibility,
“Okay… Okay. It’s fine, it’s okay.” He assured himself quietly and continued through the house, cautious of his surroundings. Despite his paranoia, Lightbulb made it to the front of the house, his eyes locked on the little nightlight Martian had suggested at one point because of Lightbulb’s insomnia and how frequently he woke up in the middle of night. Somehow it was the one thing to make him smile after another hellish nightmare
“Xe’s so sweet.” He thought to himself and turned his gaze towards the front door, a wave of paranoia and fear washing over him like he was being swept away from the shore. Oh shit. Lightbulb’s expression went from adoration to fear in less than 3 seconds at the sight of that damn door, as if someone was going to break the door down and kill them all
Lightbulb wrapped his arms around himself and carefully stepped towards the front door until he was standing in front of it. It didn’t take long for his breath to hitch and for his legs to go limp, causing him to fall to the floor with a loud THUD. Oh no, oh no no no no, he probably woke them up! His breath only quickened at the thought of them waking up at this hour with the thought of someone or something breaking in and hurting them. Lightbulb’s arms only moved to wrap around his legs, holding himself in a more defensive position to “protect himself”
He groaned and leaned his head back into the door as if that would stop him from panicking in a predicament like this. Honestly, he was just hoping they wouldn’t wake up and see him like this… Afraid and probably crazy because of how fixated he was on that nightmare, which happened to be one of the most realistic nightmares he’s had yet.
After a few minutes, he started to hear shifting in the house, which of course only made him panic more. What was it? Some homicidal-creature-thing? A crazy robot? A stalker? A hitman? Oh gosh. It only went downhill as he continued thinking, his hands over his “ears” and his eyes closed, trying to ignore the sounds of the house and… Footsteps? “Please…” He said, almost pleading.
Lightbulb opened his eyes and uncovered his “ears” only to see Facty standing by the dining table squinting because they forgot their glasses in the bedroom, and Martian peering from the hallway with an expression that said “I don’t really know what’s going on, but I’m here too”. Facty squinted a little harder until they finally gave up and said something “Hey, are you okay? Why are you against… The front door?” They asked, bending over a little bit with their hands on their hips to try and get a better look of Lightbulb.
“Uh…” His voice shook a little but he continued “Yeah, It’s all… It’s all okay, don’t worry. I just uh… Woke up…” Lightbulb replied, still somewhat hyperventilating after just a few minutes ago and tapped his fingers against his legs, a way for him to fidget nervously while he waited for their response.
Immediately, Facty knew he was lying about everything being okay. They didn’t have their glasses, but they knew him well enough to know his expression was that signature look he always gave Martian and them when he was trying to brush something off, which is what they guessed he was doing along with the whole hyperventilating thing. They straightened up and gestured for the alien to follow them over to Lightbulb, their footsteps light against the hardwood floor before the two of them sat down next to him.
It wasn’t much, but they knew he probably didn’t want much from them or Martian. Facty leaned against him with their head resting on his shoulder, of course Martian followed suit and clung onto him as he always did. “You had another nightmare?” Facty asked casually, looking up like they could study his expression while basically being blind “Ummm…” Lightbulb hummed to avoid answering their question, but they could honestly already tell what the answer was whether he answered or not. “S’ okay” They replied and moved down to rest against him more comfortably, their head resting against his arm once more. “You don’t have to pretend you’re okay.” They continued with a blunter tone, a subconscious thing they’ve always done, even before they had met.
“Yeah, I just… I guess I just feel bad putting that on you both? Y’know?” He replied softer now, the sharpened fearful tone was growing blunter and blunter by the minute. Everything was always easier with them, both of them; they were his safety net at this rate. “Why do you feel bad?” Martian asked while still clinging onto him, not bothering to even look up at the Lightbulb (She isn’t unclinging any time soon.)
It took him a minute of fiddling with his fingers and tapping his foot before he gave it an answer. “Just… I just don’t really want to burden you guys with that,” he paused and sighed, trying to find the right words “Nearly every night I have these vivid nightmares. I don’t want to make you deal with that all the time.” He finished, looking nervous as he waited for their responses. Truthfully, he wasn’t used to being vulnerable with anyone… Despite having been with Facty and Martian for so long, he never got used to any of it. It was still hard for him to express himself even when he knew they wouldn’t judge him
Both Facty and Martian stared up at him after that answer, pity and guilt could be seen even from a hundred miles away. With a small burst of energy from the Martian, they decided that the best thing to do in the moment was to shake him and speak up “But that isn’t a burden!” Xe said louder than xe intended. “You’d know if it was,” she added, looking up at him with that jolly ass smile “and even if it was nobody would mind.”
Lightbulb’s face softened, despite him still reeling from just a few minutes ago. Before he could even speak, Facty cut in just as they jumped up a notch to look him in the eyes “Dontcha worry! There’s no reason to!” They said with a slight tilt of their head like they were mimicking a curious puppy, which made a small smile appear on his face after everything.
“Yeah… Yeah. You guys are right.” He finally replied with much more warmth compared to earlier, when he sounded BEYOND fearful
After probably less than 10 seconds, the two practically jumped to hug him as tight as they possibly could in the moment, which of course caught him off guard. It felt nice, they didn’t always get time like this, especially with the constant facts and adventures, which he didn’t mind obviously… But either way, he craved this, as corny and sappy as it was to admit to himself. “Thanks.” It wasn’t some big act of gratitude but he hoped they could tell that he was grateful for them and what they’ve done for him
“Mmmmmmy pleasure!” Facty replied with an emphasis on the m and Martian just hummed with a nod. For the time being, they were perfectly content just sitting there together in the dead of night, no one or anything bothering them for once which was a peaceful feeling
A feeling they all shared, not just Lightbulb.
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For a while, the three continued to lie there half asleep despite the cold and roughness of the hardwood flooring, and during that while Martian somehow fell asleep. It didn’t take too long either for Facty to get tired of laying on the hard floor when they could at least be in bed. With a huff, they picked themselves up and stretched before glancing back down at the half asleep Lightbulb and the absolutely knocked out alien in front of them.
They knelt down and poked Lightbulb’s face a few times, trying to garner a reaction from him, which they got with his wide-eyed semi-annoyed look. “Huh..?” He said without registering Martian was laying right next to him, fast asleep and likely dreaming of gummy worms or something. “SSSSSHHHHH!!!” They shushed him as quietly as they could without waking xem up and gestured with their head so he’d notice before anything else happened in the meantime. “Oh.” Lightbulb whispered simply after finally noticing
Facty nodded and basically played a game of charades to get him to pick her up and carry it to the bedroom with them, which took unnecessarily long along with Facty getting more frantic for him to actually understand and attempt to pick them up as carefully as he could without waking him. Thankfully, Martian was quite light compared to the two which made it much easier for Lightbulb
He and Facty traveled through the house and into the hallway carefully so as to not wake their alien up, a look of pure focus and silent nervousness on Facty’s face while Lightbulb carried her into the bedroom. It didn’t take ages thankfully and they both successfully managed to carry them in and lay them down in the middle of the bed as usual in a situation like this.
With a relieved sigh, Lightbulb sat down on his side of the bed and closed his eyes. The night didn’t go as he expected and he was truly grateful for that blessing– It was just getting to sleep that he had to do now, which was kind of a lost hope for him at this rate.
Facty stepped over to him and grabbed his face without warning, pressing their face against his with that charmingly adorable smile of theirs. “Next time, wake us up instead of being so persistent to deal with it yourself.” They said quietly but matter of factly while Lightbulb just straight up blinked, unsure how to reply when his partner had their face straight up shoved in his face, which was undeniably cute. “Yea- Yeah, of course!” He chuckled, his face hot (Literally) from the contact
“Now that… That is what I like to hear!” They replied with quiet enthusiasm and removed one of their hands off of the sides of his head to poke him in the chest teasingly, inching a tad bit closer to him. At this point he was burning hot, but that didn’t stop them from showering him with gentle kisses on his face for what felt like forever in the positive sense.
“Ooookie!” Facty pulled away with a huge smile and patted him on the shoulder as if they didn’t make him burn from how flustered he was in the moment. They shifted to the side and climbed onto the bed to essentially do the same to Martian, although not so intensely because of him being fast asleep compared to Lightbulb. Eventually, they finished practically attacking them and hopped back up to move to their spot of the bed
With a swift movement, they pulled the blanket over them and closed their eyes as they said their last words of the night “Gooooodnight, Bulb! Or as the Germans would say… Guten Nicht! And the Spanish with buenas noches!” which made him chuckle a little.
Finally, after their long night, they could rest… And Lightbulb was hoping he’d get that chance as well. After watching over the two for a minute after Facty decided it was time to go to bed, he determined it was his turn as well
He laid himself down, his eyes fluttering shut as his head hit the pillow. It was somewhat rare for him to get this tired but he was just grateful for the chance to rest, and hopefully have much better “dreams” than whatever the nightmare he had previously was
Goodnight.