night cycles - wibar au // sanders sides

night cycles

i. dusk

Rap rap rap.

There was a quiet knocking at Logan's door. Alarmed, he turned towards it. "What is it?"

As the giant door slid open, the comparatively small Ampen walking through it was a surprise. Logan blinked, pushing back his desk chair as Patton entered. "Oh, Patton. What can I do for you?"

Patton smiled slightly. "Nothing, really. I was just coming to see what you were up to."

Logan blinked, peering behind him to the lights outside. "Isn't it a bit late for that?"

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. "I suppose you could say I'm thinking about things." He laughed slightly, attempting to make half-hearted jokes to cover up that something was obviously bothering him. But that one was terrible, even for him. Logan raised an eyebrow and Patton sighed. "Okay, fine. Yes, I can't sleep."

"Why not?"

Patton raised one shoulder in a half-shrug. "I-I don't know," he replied truthfully. "To be honest, this is the first sleep I've had back on the ship in months, I should be getting all I can get. But instead..." He motioned to his face, laughing awkwardly. "Wide awake!"

Logan nodded. "Well, you just stated the reason that you can't sleep." When the Ampen across from him seemed puzzled, he elaborated. "It's your first night back on the ship in months, Patton. You're not used to it yet. It'll take some time to reacclimate."

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." But he didn't seem convinced.

Quickly, Logan realized there was no way either of them were going to get much sleep that night. "Come see," he said, standing up from the desk and moving to the bed. "Tell me."

Patton blinked. "What?"

"Tell me about it. Your time with Virgil. Or don't—we can talk about something else. We just need to get your mind off things."

Patton smiled, pulling himself up onto the bed next to Logan. "You always know what to say."

"It's a prized Ulgorii trait." Logan watched Patton's face light up at the rare joke coming from him and grinned. If this is the only way I can help, then so be it. I just hope it helps.

ii. nightfall

The room was darkened and the curtains pulled tight, but that didn't deter Logan from knocking on the sliding door to Roman's compartment. There was no answer, which was to be expected. He slid the door open anyway, sticking his head into the room.

Roman glanced up from the foot of the bed, surprised as if he hadn't heard Logan's knock. There was a small pillow in his hands, and he squeezed the edge of it in alarm at the intrusion. Logan bowed his head in reassurance. "Apologies. I didn't mean to startle you."

Roman gave a half shrug as he glanced back at the pillow. "It's fine," he mumbled, but the plates on his arms didn't lay down right away.

"I was just coming to check on you. Earlier, you seemed rather...alarmed."

Roman rolled his eyes, tossing the pillow behind him onto the bed. "Isn't that understandable?" A small piece of white fuzz trailed out from the edge of the pillow and Logan realized why he'd been clutching it so tightly.

"...ah." He stepped closer, perching on the side of the bed next to his larger friend. "The nightmares are back?"

"It's not important," Roman snapped, pushing off the end of the bed to pace around the room. "The least of our worries at the moment, at least."