Nighttime Scare
Fandom: The Resident Summary: Devon is very quick to wake up when something around him is wrong, and his partner having an nightmare is no exception. Warnings: PTSD and mentions of violent flashbacks Word Count: 675 Ship(s): Conrad Hawkisn/Devon Pravesh
Archive link!
Devon woke with a jerk when he felt something hit his chest.
His first thought was that it was Bailey, the cat that he had rescued for a not-girlfriend a couple of years ago. A quick glance to the side of his chest revealed that the fluffy monster hadn’t moved from where he had curled up hours ago when they first came to bed. That left one other option for what had hit him and it made his heart sink already.
He slowly shifted under the heavy duvet and then shifted onto his left side. He was propping himself up with one arm so that he could separate Bailey and Conrad from each other. He knew that his husband would never do anything to their beloved pet if he was in the right state of mind, but the flailing in his sleep had implied that wouldn’t be what he was met with. His mind was still slowly rousing from his own fitful sleep, pushing away memories of the patients from the day before and focusing instead on the here and now.
He reached out and placed a careful hand down onto Conrad’s shoulder before he shook him. He didn’t do it hard, more of a gentle pushing and pulling of a singular joint to rouse him from the nightmare that he was having. It had taken Devon a long time to figure out the best way to wake his partner when he was like this, but he had it down to a science at this point.
“Baby, wake up. You’re okay, I’m here,” Devon murmured as he did the action one more time. He assessed Conrad like both a worried spouse and one of the best doctors in the state of Georgia. His body was tacky with adrenaline-laced sweat and his face was twisted up with tense emotion from whatever images were playing in his mind. His muscles were tense but beginning to ease up as his brain worked him through the cycles of sleep to wake him up.
Devon smiled softly when he saw those piercing blue eyes open. They were filled with watery tears instead of the fear that he had been expecting. This was going to be a much easier Conrad to deal with than the one that was still stuck in the middle of the dessert in the Marine Corps. “Hey, you just had a nightmare. You’re okay.”
“Fuck,” Conrad whispered. He seemed to be coming more and more to himself the longer that he was awake. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes like he was going to be able to purge the dreamstate from them by doing so. “Did I wake you? Or hurt you? Did I hurt Bailey?”
“Nah, he’s just chilling,” Devon shifted upwards so that he could reveal where the cat was. Bailey had shifted so that he was stretched out as long as he could be and was exposing his belly to them both.
Conrad snuck his hand between Devon and the bed as he wove his fingers into the long fur of the cat. “Hey, bud. Thanks for sticking around.” Bailey stretched even longer than he had been before and rolled over to stand up. He stepped underneath Devon, to which the human rolled his eyes in annoyance, and then stepped onto Conrad’s chest.
Both humans descended back onto the bed so that they were laying next to each other, Conrad supine and Devon on his side. Devon tucked his head around Conrad’s so that he could press little kisses to his husband’s hair whenever he felt another bout of shaking come. Bailey took his place on Conrad’s chest like the most determined jet engine had been placed into a weighted blanket. The purring of something alive on him was enough to help Conrad settle down even more.
It might take them both a while to drift back to sleep, but as they told their patients they would feel better while basking in the restful tranquility that they had created together.
