[fic] Only Sleep
Title: Only Sleep
Rating: G
Characters: Mio Hongo, Dr. Spencer Reid (borrowed from Charley with love)
Word count: 380
Summary: Sometimes the best dreams are the ones you don’t have
A/N: Inspired by the fic the worst things in life come free to us. Title comes from the song of the same name by The Crüxshadows.
Every night before she goes to bed, Mio takes a walk around the Tower to make sure all is well. She goes from hallway to hallway, checking all the common areas and tidying up as she can.
She finds Spencer in one of the lounges, dozing in an armchair with a textbook lying open in his lap. The scene reminds her of a university student who has fallen asleep while studying for exams. When he’s awake he looks much older than he is, aged by the weight of his experiences, but seeing him asleep she is reminded of how very young he truly is. She smiles gently at how peaceful he looks right now.
The illusion is broken when he lets out a small whimper and begins to tremble, flinching away from some unseen blow. A nightmare, she realizes. (After all he’s been through, of course he has nightmares.)
“Shhhh,” she whispers. “You’re safe here.”
She hesitates before reaching out to place her hand on his forehead. It would be a breach of privacy to manipulate his emotions without his permission, but…seeing him like this is nearly physically painful for her. Some people might argue that it’s “just” a dream, but she’s been through too many night terrors of her own to believe that. If she can use her powers to give him some relief, it would be cruel of her to withhold that from him. Besides, she can always apologize to him about the intrusion in the morning.
She delicately strokes his hair, letting a steady stream of comfort and warmth flow out through her fingertips and into him. I won’t let anyone hurt you, she tells him. Slowly, he begins to relax and and his whimpers fade into silence.
She does this for a minute or two until the last of the dream-fear ebbs away. Then, being careful not to wake him, she gently removes the book from his lap and sets it on a nearby table, using a scrap of paper to mark the page he was on. Finally, she pulls a blanket out of a cabinet and drapes it over him so he won’t get cold.
“Rest well, Spencer,” she says softly, before turning off the lights and heading upstairs to her own sleep.
Rating: G
Characters: Mio Hongo, Dr. Spencer Reid (borrowed from Charley with love)
Word count: 380
Summary: Sometimes the best dreams are the ones you don’t have
A/N: Inspired by the fic the worst things in life come free to us. Title comes from the song of the same name by The Crüxshadows.
Every night before she goes to bed, Mio takes a walk around the Tower to make sure all is well. She goes from hallway to hallway, checking all the common areas and tidying up as she can.
She finds Spencer in one of the lounges, dozing in an armchair with a textbook lying open in his lap. The scene reminds her of a university student who has fallen asleep while studying for exams. When he’s awake he looks much older than he is, aged by the weight of his experiences, but seeing him asleep she is reminded of how very young he truly is. She smiles gently at how peaceful he looks right now.
The illusion is broken when he lets out a small whimper and begins to tremble, flinching away from some unseen blow. A nightmare, she realizes. (After all he’s been through, of course he has nightmares.)
“Shhhh,” she whispers. “You’re safe here.”
She hesitates before reaching out to place her hand on his forehead. It would be a breach of privacy to manipulate his emotions without his permission, but…seeing him like this is nearly physically painful for her. Some people might argue that it’s “just” a dream, but she’s been through too many night terrors of her own to believe that. If she can use her powers to give him some relief, it would be cruel of her to withhold that from him. Besides, she can always apologize to him about the intrusion in the morning.
She delicately strokes his hair, letting a steady stream of comfort and warmth flow out through her fingertips and into him. I won’t let anyone hurt you, she tells him. Slowly, he begins to relax and and his whimpers fade into silence.
She does this for a minute or two until the last of the dream-fear ebbs away. Then, being careful not to wake him, she gently removes the book from his lap and sets it on a nearby table, using a scrap of paper to mark the page he was on. Finally, she pulls a blanket out of a cabinet and drapes it over him so he won’t get cold.
“Rest well, Spencer,” she says softly, before turning off the lights and heading upstairs to her own sleep.