nightmares.
wrow why am i on a sudden kick for this man anyway.
comfort fluff!! im sure u can guess what’s happening from the title. plotless, but set after the events of the first movie. enjoy it guys!!
ship: life found a way, i guess.
The clock read some early hour of the morning, and the rain pattered softly on the screen on the other side of the window. A cool breeze crept through the cracked window, bringing in the scent of freshwater and city nights with it, mixing in with the scent of books and coffee.
Ian wasn’t asleep.
He couldn’t bring himself to. There were too many things his mind could go to in sleep, too many horrible, dark, nightmarish things that he’d already gone through and didn’t want to relive again, even if they were just nightmares. He had gone through enough horrible things in his life, but he’d managed to get through them and cope, but what he had gone through on the island… he doubted that he would ever get around or through that. How do you even cope with nearly getting killed and eaten by dinosaurs anyway? There was no modern therapy for that, there was only the people with shared experiences who still needed to work through it themselves.
Alan, Ellie, Hammond, Lex, Tim…. Michelle.
The brunette was surprisingly asleep in his bed, as he turned to look at her. Her back was to him, hair a mess and curled in on herself, as she often did when he wasn’t sleeping next to her. The chaotician sighed, running a hand through his dark curls before taking another sip of his coffee. He was surprised Michelle could sleep through all of this, but if there was one thing he knew about her, she had never been able to pull an all nighter. Even directly after the incident at the park, she was barely getting through the flight back to Austin before she collapsed and fell in and out of sleep for an odd number of hours at his apartment. He, on the other hand, being a studlier of chaos, a teacher of it, and having a bad habit of hyperfixating and overworking himself, was used to caffeine filled nights stretching on for weeks. The bags under his eyes were proof enough of that. How long had it been since they were this big, anyway?
Malcolm stared out the window, at the city lights beyond it. His mind thought back to the excitement Michelle had shared when he told her about Gennaro’s offer to take him to Hammond’s park, how she grabbed his hands and grinned and laughed about a place called Jurassic Park, how she begged him to go along, saying it could be like a fun couple’s outing for them. He’d laughed at her adorable, endearing enthusiasm, asking Gennaro if it was alright, who in turn asked Hammond, and the answer had been yes.
She’d given him the biggest, tightest hug after that. She only hugged him like that when she was extremely happy, like how she had hugged him after he’d asked her out the first time, after they’d shared their first kiss, after he had asked her to move in with him. He wouldn’t mind one of those hugs again, but he would never tell her about it- they were much better when they weren’t asked for.
Ian feels the blankets shift behind him, and he turns, curious. Michelle had curled even further in on herself, and it took him a second to realize she was whimpering. He sets the coffee on the nightstand hastily, climbing gingerly onto the bed. His girlfriend was whimpering and shaking, crying quietly. Her mumbles were unintelligible, but judging by how she was acting, trembling and twitching and tense, he knew what it was.
More nightmares.
His hand tenderly reaches out, but he doesn’t touch her- he didn’t know how she would react. “Mich?” His voice is low and quiet as he gets closer to her, enough to not touch her, but close enough to be in proximity if she needed him. “Honey? Peaches? H-hey, hey now, c’mon… wake up. Wake up. Whatever you’re seeing, whatever you’re feeling, i-it’s not real. ‘S just a nightmare, sweetheart.”
Her mouth opens in a silent scream, before a sob breaks out of her throat.
“Please,” he says, more desperate than before, “please wake up, Peaches.”
It worked. She snaps awake with a scream, bolting up from the bed and nearly knocking into him. Ian jumps back to get out of her way as she rockets up, scream silencing into heavy, laboured breathing. Her brown hair was tousled into even more of a mess, her eyes wide and fearful. Sweat dripped down her forehead, he noticed as she slowly turned to look at him after a few moments of silence.
“... Ian?” Her normally sure voice was quiet and shaky, like a piece of paper in the wind. “W-where… where are we?”
“Home, honey. We’re home in Austin.”
“A-are you sure? P-please, can, can you, can you, uh, uh please, check outside…”
He nods, getting up to look out the window for her sake. They were high in the apartment building, the city lights glowing outside the window, reflecting off of the drops of rain on the window. He opened the cracked one a little further, not caring if water got into the room and on the floor- it was hardwood anyway, and Michelle needed something real to feel.
“No dinosaurs out here.” Ian assures her, looking at the street below. Nothing but a lit street with a car or two passing by. Just the quietness of a rainy city…. Well, as quiet as a city can get.
“Are y-you sure?” She stutters from the bed, and he chuckles.
“What, are you just now starting to doubt me, sweetheart?”
His comment makes her smile at him, but only a little, on her tear streaked cheeks and through her shaky breaths. The chaotician slowly sits back on the bed, meeting her eyes, a wordless question. Michelle nods, and he gently takes her hand in his, running his thumb over her knuckles- an anti-anxiety practice he used with her.
“We’re safe, darling. Nothing is gonna, uh, gonna get us up here.”
Its after a few minutes that he sees her calm herself down, closing her eyes and taking in a few deep breaths. Michelle was managing it better now, and he was proud of her for that, kissing her knuckles and smiling. After a few more deep breaths, she opened her eyes and cleared her throat, reaching to talk again.
“Ian?”
“Mm?”
“... Can we cuddle?”
He sighs, rolling his eyes, faking exasperation. “D’ ya really need to ask, Peaches?” That earns him a giggle as they hunker down under the blankets, resting her head on his chest. His coffee long forgotten, Ian knew he could last through the night if it meant watching over her.
“Thanks, Patches.” Comes her tired mumble, reaching up to kiss his neck.
“You’re welcome.” He beams, threading his fingers through her long hair. She sighs in content, smiling against his chest, but he wasn’t done yet.
Michelle could already feel sleep starting to grasp at her again, before Ian’s low voice filled her ears:
“... Take me home tonight, I don’t wanna let you go ‘til you see the light…”
