Sleep Troubles...
Dr. EastermanXReagent Reader. Fluff. Sleepy nonsense. Might be out of character. Not proofread. Are my daddy issues obvious? Comfort, no hurt
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(I've had a small Outlast obsession lately, so I hope y'all enjoy. This definitely isn't my best work, but I liked writing it. Also, SUPER sorry if I accidentally mischaracterized Dr. Easterman. I just want him to hold me. Not proofread! Sorry that most of my posts are the same format, at least I feel like they are. Is my stuff getting boring? Let me know if it is.)
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You...where does Easterman even start? You, from day one, were his most promising subject. You were quite startled by everything at first, but you never let that stop you. No, no, no. There's fight, flight, and freeze. You were always fight or flight, never freeze...a promising trait of a reagent. You soon grew familiar with the structure of the trials. Get in the shuttle, go in the room, sit in the chair, watch the video, breath in the gas, enjoy that high and the terror that comes with the hallucinations. Get in the shuttle again, complete your trial and objectives, come home, get your grade, go rest. You were moldable, but still had a backbone. With the right praise, and commands, and the promise of extra time to rest if you do extra good, you'd do almost anything.
One problem, you had these bouts of terrible fatigue as of late. Some days you could hardly get out of bed. You just loved rest too much, or at least that's what the man originally thought. He had assumed you were just being lazy...but he was wrong. Recently, you've had a special bracelet on that Easterman had a staff member attach to you. It was mostly to check your pulse, but it would occasionally take a bit of blood to check your levels. It wasn't blood sugar...wasn't an iron deficiency...your pulse was fine...what's gotten you so tired? It couldn't possibly be because you were overworked. No. No such thing as overworked at Murkoff. It's simply a matter of endurance. Easterman's curiosity and concern only grew as your exhaustion began seeping into the trials, affecting your overall grades and performance. His poor star student was starting to slip. Well, we couldn't have that, now could we? He decided he must do something about it.
Within the week, Dr. Easterman began to monitor your rest. It seems you were so used to constant stressors and surprises due to the conditioning of the trials, so now you were anticipating that constantly. That caused you to be caught in NREM stages of sleep while trying to rest up. You weren't fully transferring out of being awake, which would explain you getting up several times throughout the night. Poor thing, you must be exhausted! And you must feel terrible for it. He's seen you wallowing through your cameras. Easterman knew you wanted to be great, wanted to impress with your skills and hard work...but your lack of proper slumber has been throwing you off. He must help you!
So this evening, when you returned from one of your trials, the kind nurse at the desk told you you had an appointment with Dr. Easterman. Not to worry though! The appointment would take place in your sleep room, so just head there and wait. Odd...but you went along with it. You were absolutely exhausted anyway, so the second you sat on your bed, you passed out. You awoke to a voice you recognized muttering softly and the sound of pen on paper. You cracked your eyes open and glanced at...Dr. Easterman sitting in a chair beside your bed. The blinds were drawn over your sleep room window. For privacy, you figured...and appreciated. You've woken up to other patients watching you before. It was creepy as hell.
"D-doctor?" You croaked, propping yourself up on your elbows. You clearly weren't fully awake. The bright florescent lights of your room backlit the man sitting beside you, and highlighted the smoke curling around him. Your sleepily mesmerized state must've clearly shown past your typical poker face...since he let out a low laugh at the dumb look on your face before speaking. "Ah, my little how high. Finally awake, I see...or not." You jolted realizing this was real. Oh gosh! How long have you been asleep?! You've been wasting his time by sleeping during your appointment time window. How dare you?!
You immediately sat up and started to apologize. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize I fell asleep! I've just been so tired lately, I don't know what's wrong with me-" You were silenced as he pressed his cigarette between your lips. "Breathe deep and calm down. Daddy's not angry. Daddy just wants to help you rest a little better. Can you show me what you do while trying to fall asleep, if and when you don't just immediately pass out?" He let you take a drag from his cigarette, then pulled it away and looked at you expectantly. You exhaled the smoke, managing not to cough, and nodded. "Uhm, yes, I can." You said, laying back down. You were hesitant and shy, he noted.
He watched as you laid on your side and hugged your pillow to your chest...then slipped his cigarette back between his lips while he scribbled something down and nodded. "I see...do you often sleep hugging something? Do you crave for someone to hold you?" At your reluctance, he tutted. "No shame in it, my dear. It's natural for humans to crave the oxytocin released when doing something as simple as hugging a pillow." Seeing he wasn't judging made you a little more comfortable to answer. "I...like to be held." You admitted, earning yourself a hum from him, and then a question. "And you're feeling neglected because a pillow can only do so much?" You nodded, not trusting your voice. How...had he figured you out so quickly?
"Hm, you poor thing...how about I assign you a sleep partner?" Dr. Easterman offered, then took a long drag from his cigarette to finish it off. You furrowed your eyebrows, confused and clearly not very open to the idea. Yet, you remained polite. Yet another thing the doctor noted. "A...what?" He leaned back in the chair beside your bed, the material lightly creaking as he moved. "Someone to rest with you, and hold you." The man elaborated. "I-..." He nodded, realizing his mistake. "Ah, right, you're rather reclusive. I can't imagine you'd want just anyone in your bed." You sighed, looking up at him from behind your pillow. It covered most of your lower face with how you clung to it, so you were mostly just expressing/emoting with your eyes...and arguably, you looked adorable right now looking up at him like that.
He could tell you were willing to try if you must, but you didn't like the idea of some stranger holding you. He wondered if you wanted someone in particular...perhaps himself? Aah, was that what you were trying to express with those pretty eyes of yours? "Why don't we try something?" "Hm?" You hummed, tilting your head. "Get out of bed for me, just for a moment." You sighed, but complied. Setting the pillow aside, you got to your feet. Dr. Easterman was pleased with how easily you followed instructions. He stood, snuffed out his cigarette, then took a seat on your bed...near the headboard. Before you could ask what he was doing, he gestured to his lap. His lap...? He was going to let you sit in his lap? You couldn't help feeling eager, having thought about doing just that many times before.
You easily followed his silent order and crawled into his lap, snuggling your face into his shoulder. You relaxed as his steady hands came to rest on your hips, guiding you to rest your weight on him. You were so lucky...and grateful. You haven't been doing the best lately during the trials, yet your doctor- your daddy- was still allowing you such closeness. "Thank you..." You muttered softly into his shirt, which pleasantly surprised him. You knew you didn't deserve this, not quite. You knew he was being so very kind allowing you his presence like this. You knew to say thank you...for a simple comforting gesture most others wouldn't think twice about accepting with zero thanks. Perfect. The therapy was working. You've become quite dependent on him, just like he planned.
You were already starting to doze off, a major improvement compared to previous nights. Dr. Eastman wasn't very warm, but his presence soothed something deep within you. Good...very good. He leaned back against the headboard and held you close as you fell asleep and went limp against him. He watched as your body finally showed signs of fully relaxing into sleep, not just that odd in between you've been stuck in lately. So, it seems you preferred real human touch...hugging your pillow could only suffice for so long. Hm, but he couldn't be here all the time... he'd figure out a substitute. For now, he allowed you to rest against him. His perfect little how high resting in daddy's lap like a defenseless kitten. You looked lovely, he thought, vulnerable like this.
It was almost thrilling to know just how deep your blind trust for him ran. It meant you'd stay loyal, unlike some bitch named Amelia. The brainwashing ran deep in you, you were becoming one with the trials, his perfect subject...you'd bleed for anything if it held you right. The perfect masochist.
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