#and now im an adult realizing i was sleepwalking all that time and now i have absolutely 0 social or emotional skills as a result

[starlightwrites]

If you’re still taking requests, can I get 17 with cori and gage? I love those two so much.

Hi Nonny!

Thank you for asking; I super love this prompt!

For the Angst/Fluff Prompts!

Sleep Tight

Gage kicked offhis shoes, turned out the lights, and flopped down onto his mattress for thefirst time in over a week. Sure, he’d spent the night with Cori after they’d gottenthe power up and running, but sometimes it was nice to have his own space. Besides,he shouldn’t get too used to her like that. There had to be boundariessomewhere.

But this? Parkslocked down, power back on, gangs happy and everyone off his back for a bit? Wellthis is what he’d call a luxury. He folded his arms behind his head and closedhis eyes, fully prepared to sleep for as long as everyone would let him.

Which, as heshoulda guessed, wasn’t very long.

(Continued under the cut!)

The door openedwith a hissing sound and light from the main room spilled in right as he was driftingto sleep. He saw the silhouette and sure, maybe it was someone else, but he wasalmost completely certain it was her.

“Gage?” Thewhisper confirmed it for him. Corinne.

“What?”

She was quietfor a second. He sat up.

“Well? You need something,Boss?”

“Yeah,” shemumbled. “Uh. Just.”

The automaticdoor shut behind her and then they were in the dark. Took his eyes a second toadjust but when they did, he noticed she hadn’t moved. Even half-asleep, herealized that it was a little off, even for her. He stifled a yawn and scrubbedhis hands over his face to wake up a little more.

“You alright,Princess?”

“Yeah. Yeah I’mfine.”

Alright. Wellthat’s all well and good, but it didn’t answer why she was being “fine” here inhis room and not in her own.

“Need something?”

“No,” she sighed.

“You, ah.” Gage shiftedagain, wishing his brain would wake up a little faster so he could thinkstraight. Figure out what it was she wanted.

They stayedthere like that in silence for a moment. And then another moment. Maybe she wassleep walking? Not like she’d done that before, but who knows. Was he supposedto wake her or not? He couldn’t remember what to do for sleepwalking, but as hewracked his brain, she finally responded.

“I can’t sleep.”He heard her sigh. “Can I stay here?”

He could say no.She was an adult; she could handle herself and they both knew it. Just. The wayshe sounded. Lost. Small. He just knew what that was like, was all.

“Alright.”

He heard thesoft shuffling as she crossed the room. She stumbled over something midwaythrough (probably the desk, from what it sounded like), but she still made itover in one piece. Without hesitating even a second, she lifted the blanket he’dbeen laying on top of and tried to curl up next to him, though with himweighing the ratty old thing down, there was a game of tug-of-war happening andthe whole thing was just fuckin’ awkward.

“Sorry, I—”

“Here, hold on,”he grumbled. Gage shifted himself under the covers and when he finally settled,she climbed in beside him and laid on her side with her back against his chest.For a second, he didn’t know what to do with her. It was a small bed—just a cothe’d salvaged back when he and Coulter had first set-up shop. It would makemore sense to migrate to her bed, but seemed like it was probably a little toolate for that now. He laid on his side with his arms awkwardly stiff to keepfrom suffocating her.

They’d sleptclose before. Hell, they’d slept a lot closer out on the road, and that hadalways been easy. Practical, most of the time. And even when they weren’t beingpractical, it was still just easy with one sleeping bag and the constant threatof danger in the Wastes. But now that they were home? It was different. Personal.The flowery smell of the soap on her skin surrounded him. Every time shebreathed, he felt her ribs expand and then shrink. She was wearing a t-shirtand underwear, and even though he knew it was ridiculous, it was just weird tofeel her bare legs against his whenever she moved. This was his first night ina while to just relax and he should probably kick her out so he could get some uninterruptedsleep for the first time in ages, but he couldn’t.

“Gage?” Quiet. Soquiet that, at first, he wasn’t totally sure she hadn’t just made a noise inher sleep.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” Shedidn’t look back at him or roll over, but she did settle. He hadn’t evenrealized she’d been tensed up; every muscle relaxed and she melted beside him,one arm hanging off the bed and the other draped over her waist. Whatever hadbeen eating at her, she was better here. Sure he was tired and this was lesscomfortable than having the cot to himself, but looking at her? He couldn’ttake that away. She’d had it rough and hell, she deserved to relax a little.

The lull of herbreathing pulled him under anyways, and before he had the time to think any moreabout it, he fell asleep. When he woke up in the early morning, she had rolledagain and burrowed into his chest, her cheek on his shoulder. At some point inthe night, his free arm had draped over her and his palm was flat on her back,just under the hem of her shirt.

He could havemoved. Probably wouldn’t have woken Cori up; she slept like the dead. But hedidn’t. He didn’t want to think about the why of it, but he didn’t move amuscle. Instead, he closed his eyes again and slept better than he had inyears.