slow burn; sapnap

seventeen

hadden shot up in bed, quickly gasping for air and needing to regulate her breathing.

the last two nights she had been woken up from nightmares. she figured it may have been her body's response to sleeping in an unfamiliar place, but she couldn't be sure.

the only problem is that she had found herself having a good bit of trouble trying to fall back asleep once she's awake.

hadden very quietly made her way out of her room and to the kitchen. she wonder if either nick or clay had any tea, but after rummaging through the cabinets for a few moments she realized she wouldn't find any in this house. in substitution, she went to the fridge to find her water bottle that she had placed there earlier in the day.

"hadden?" a tired voice groaned.

she turned to see a very tired nick standing behind her. he was only illuminated by the refrigerator light, he was wearing one of his merch hoodies and boxers.

"i'm sorry, was i loud?"

"no, i just heard one of the cabinets close so i was making sure it wasn't patches knocking something over. why are you up?" he tiredly pulled the hood over his head and squinted at the oven clock that told him it was 5:29am.

"i couldn't sleep so i was grabbing a drink. i'll head back so i can keep it down and you can sleep."

hadden shut the fridge door, leaving the two of them in the dark, the only light coming from the bit of moonlight that was able to pour in the windows. that moment of the two of them standing so close in the nearly pitch black kitchen felt oddly intimate.

"why can't you sleep? wanna come hang with me?" he let out a yawn and rubbed his face in an attempt to wake up more.

"i don't wanna bother you. i just had a nightmare. i'll be alright." hadden shrugged as she fidgeted with the lid of her water bottle, screwing and unscrewing it.

"really, why don't you come in here with me for a bit?" he didn't wait for a response, he just began walking back to his room, so hadden followed.

hadden walked into the room that was very dully lit
by the warm light of the lamp on his bedside table. nick just noticed at that moment that he was somewhat exposed by just wearing boxers on his bottom half, so he grabbed a pair of pajama pants out of his drawer and pulled them over his legs, causing hadden to looked around to avoid staring.

"what was your nightmare about?" nick asked as he sat on his bed.

"i don't really remember." hadden sat down next to him, pulling her legs crossed under her.

"i don't believe that for a second." he let out a sleepy laugh.

"it's stupid. i just had a dream that i had messed up somehow and i lost like, everything. all of my fans, i had channels deleted. i messed up so bad that corpse and tina left me. you did too." she said quietly as she pulled at the ankle of the sweatpants she was wearing.

"that won't happen. that's not something you have to worry about." his sleepy eyes offered so much comfort.

hadden felt the want for sleep taking over her body. she felt safe in that moment. and nick took notice as she let out a yawn.

"c'mere." nick whispered. he scooted over and patted the spot next to him and pulled back his blanket.

hadden hesitantly moved in. she slid under the blanket, still leaving some distance between her and nick so she wouldn't make him uncomfortable.

"don't be nervous. come closer." he spoke in such a low voice that hadden questioned if she heard him right.

he extended out his arm for hadden to use his bicep as a pillow. once she brought her body closer to
his, he wrapped his other arm around his torso.

"you have a scar."

"hm?"

"you have a scar. on your eyebrow." nick very delicately traced his finger over the faint line he noticed on her eyebrow.

"yeah. when i was maybe 4 i was camping with my
parents and was running around the campsite and took a pretty rough fall. my dad is pretty handy and gave me stitches right there so i never went to the hospital for it."

their faces were so close in that moment and their eye contact made them feel even closer.

"i've never noticed it."

"you've never been this close." she whispered.

the two sat in silence for a moment. nick's eyes scanned hadden's face, looking for any other features that made her unique that he may have missed before.

the only noises you could hear was the two's breathing, but hadden was convinced that the sound of her heartbeat could be heard through the whole house.

"i can't believe i messed this up before." nick didn't mean to let his thoughts verbalize, but it happened anyways.

"i'm here now."

nick carefully traced small circles on hadden's back with his thumb.

"would you stay here? i don't want you to go."

hadden quietly nodded her head before leaning in to take in the comfort that nick offered her. after two nights of having nightmares take her sleep from her with no remorse, she was able to restore it by finding her place in nick's arms.