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5 MONTHS AGO.
THAT WASN'T THE only night Arlyn had trouble sleeping, along with Peter too. So after over a year of dating, they thought it'd be best to sleep together, minimizing the amount of times they'd be woken up or have to call each other in the night.
The first night was difficult, to the say the least. They weren't really sure how they would do things. Arlyn was too nervous about somebody in her family walking in on them sharing a bed, so they decided to try sleeping at least in the same room.
Peter had shut the door, just finishing changing into his pyjamas. Arlyn laid in her bed, waiting for him to join her to turn off the light.
She had set up a sleeping bag beside her bed with a few pillows. Peter laid in the sleeping bag as Arlyn turned off her light-switch across the room with a small flick of her fingers.
"Good night Arlyn," Peter whispered.
"Night Pete."
20 minutes must had passed before she noticed him shuffle around a bit.
"You still awake?" Arlyn asked, peering over the edge of her bed to find him laying on his back, eyes wide open.
"Yeah."
Arlyn thought for a moment. She knew why he couldn't sleep, and in some way it was also why she couldn't sleep either.
"I'm here," her voice was as quiet as a mouse as her hand dropped below the bed, open for his own, which he gladly held. Peter laid on his side, one hand under his head and the other interlocked with Arlyn's.
And not too long after did they end up falling asleep. Their physical connection was somehow a link to reality, a way for them to come back from nightmares knowing they were merely dreams, or not dream of them at all.
Things seemed to be going well for a while, as they got slowly better at falling asleep together (soon moving to share a bed together) and Arlyn managing to train often at the Avenger's facility. That was, until a certain cloudy day in Queens, New York.
The invisible menace was back again, and Arlyn was after him. Peter was out of town for the weekend, and today of all days she had to be stuck facing this guy alone.
One day after school, Arlyn was prowling the rooftops as she normally did when she heard a commotion a few blocks down. When reaching the point, farther away from the main roads was a car crash. This crash only consisted of one car though, and it had been flipped over. She knew this invisible man had to be the cause of this.
