Blue Dream (Kreuzberg Dragonshifters Book 1) #Wattys2016

Blue Dream Part 4

It was raining by the time that Paul was forcibly awoken in the night, and his bedroom was dark. For a moment, he lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, collecting his thoughts and trying to remember quite what had awoken him. He glanced at the clock, and saw by the numerals glowing large and red in the darkness that it was a little after three in the morning. Paul groaned, eyes drifting closed again, and sleep sucked at his senses, threatening to drag him under before he even found out the reason behind his startled awakening.

He was startled awake yet again a few moments later, when he heard a soft whimper, followed by a sighed and frightened little exclamation emanating from the living room; Paul was wide awake in an instant, and swinging his legs from beneath the covers. He padded across the room, and cracked open his bedroom door; from there, he could hear the muffled sounds of Richard sleeping, and what sounded like a pretty bad dream from where he was standing. He padded out into the corridor, when he heard the soft snick of Flake's door opening; Paul wanted to stop the other man from perhaps potentially disturbing Richard. He didn't think that it was perhaps a wise decision to wake him whilst in the throes of a nightmare; knowing Flake, he wouldn't have the same idea. His flatmate wasn't known for being sympathetic, despite his boyhood dreams of becoming a doctor.

"Flake," Paul murmured, in an attempt to stop his friend from even leaving his room. "Don't wake him."

"Why the fuck not? He woke me, and, apparently, you," Flake pointed out, eyes tired and oddly naked without his glasses.

"Yeah, but isn't there that rule or something saying that you can't wake someone while they're having a nightmare? Might do irreparable damage," Paul said, with a shrug, uncertain suddenly whether he even was right in his assumptions.

"Whatever, Paul," Flake said, as he rolled his eyes. "I'm going back to bed but I'm blaming you if I can't sleep, because you won't wake your new boyfriend."

Paul opened his mouth to protest, but it was as Flake padded into the bedroom, that he realised that all had fallen quiet in the living room. Flake paused in the threshold of his room, having heard the silence also, yet he didn't come out. Instead, he stared pointedly at Paul, yet Paul still saw the frisson of concerned worry behind his flatmate's eyes.

"I'm gonna check on him," Paul said, in the face of Flake's resultant nod.

He was gratified to see that Flake neither disagreed with him, nor tried to stop him, nor did he even attempt to join him. Instead, Paul walked alone to the living room, and peered through the gap left where the door had been left partially ajar. As expected, Richard was awake upon the sofa bed, staring up at the ceiling from beneath the shielding cover of his hand flung listlessly across his eyes. At the sound of movement in the doorway, slight though it had been, Richard glanced over and he affected a small and weary smile for Paul's benefit.

"Sorry. I didn't wake you, did I?" he asked, as his hand fell away from his eyes to lay beside his head.

"Yeah," Paul admitted, with a shrug, as he padded properly into the room. "It deosn't matter, though. Sounds like you were having one hell of a nightmare there, man."

"Yeah, I guess I was," Richard said, and he looked a little embarrassed. "It's stupid, childish stuff; I wouldn't worry."

"I don't think it childish to have nightmares, Richard," Paul admonished him gently, not unkindly. "Everyone has them, even me. "

Richard offered him a small grateful smile, but didn't immediately say anything. It seemed as though his silence on the matter would be a permanent thing and that he wasn't ready to talk about it nor offer explanation for it. Paul could hardly blame him, nor had he really expected even a brief explanation; he had, after all, known Richard for less than ten hours. He sighed, and looked towards where the kitchen was situated, adjoining the living area through an archway, before he spoke.