I saw that you were taking fic suggestions maybe an angsty piece about John’s nightmares while he’s on the waverider?
Oof this one was tougher to write than I thought it’d be! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out though, even though it’s really short.
“Don’t even try it.” Zari looked right at Ray as she spoke, and he stopped in his tracks.
“Zari!” He smiled at her, glad to see someone else was awake. She didn’t smile back. “I was just, uh, getting a glass of water,” he said, switching tracks and walking towards the sink. There were cups in the cabinet just above it.
“Sure you were.” She was sitting at the table but there was nothing in front of her. The room smelled like coffee and Ray wondered if she’d had a cup. “You a light sleeper, then?”
“Yeah.” He let the water pour into his glass and turned off the faucet. “It’s kind of hard to ignore.”
“There’s nothing you can do about it.” Zari tapped her fingers on the table. Ray turned and leaned against the sink.
“No, Ray,” she sighed. Her fingers stopped drumming as she slouched forward slightly over the table. There was a pause. “It’ll end on it’s own.”
“And then what?” Ray walked forward to join Zari at the table. “It’ll happen again later this week? Tomorrow?” Zari shot him a withered look.
“Yes. Yes Ray, that’s exactly what will happen.” She leaned forward further to rest her chin on her arms.
“I thought maybe I’d try waking him up.” He ran his thumb up his glass, trying to appear nonchalant.
“I know you did,” Zari said, closing her eyes and sighing. “That’s why I stopped you.”
“It sounds like he’s in pain.” Ray tried to meet her eyes but they were still closed. He didn’t understand how she could just sit and do nothing.
“He is in pain.” Zari closed her eyes tight enough to make creases before opening them again. “And he’ll still be in pain if you wake him up,” she sighed. Ray must’ve made his sad face, because she reached a hand out to put on his arm. “He doesn’t want us to know.”
“We’re his team.” He was talking to Zari but looking at his glass. “We should be able to help him.”
“We can’t help him until he’s ready Ray. He’s still keeping all of us at a distance.”
“He told me not to get close to him or I’d get hurt.” Ray felt the need to do something with his hands, so he took a sip of his water.
“We can’t change his mind by forcing the issue.”
“We can try.” Ray shook his head slightly. “If he’s worried about us, we can show him he doesn’t have to be. We’ve all been in pain and we’ve all had the team there to help us. And what, we’re just going to leave him by himself?”
“It’s a dream, Ray. He may not even remember it.”
“May not remember what?” They both turned to see John leaning in the doorway. He was wearing his bathrobe and his eyes were tinged red.
“His vintage chalice,” Zari finished.
“His vintage chalice?” John quirked his eyebrow up as he walked fully into the room.
“Ray was just telling me how much he wanted it back,” Zari explained, squeezing Ray’s arm, “and how Nate’s supposed to give it to him when we see him tomorrow.”
“You know we’re on a time ship, luv?” John made eye contact with Zari. “We can go get him a shiny new vintage chalice anytime we want, can’t we.”
“Wouldn’t be the same,” Ray shrugged. “There’s a story to go with this one.”
“Is there now?” John walked over to the counter. “I’d love to hear it sometime but for now I’m bloody knackered.
“There’s coffee.” Zari pointed to the coffee maker in front of him on the counter.
“Coffee at two in the morning?” He grabbed one of the mugs stacked against the wall and filled it to the brim. “Can’t have that, can we?” He took a sip.
“I’d never get back to sleep.”
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
andulkaphoto
2087
vaporwave
