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 Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 8:35 pm
Jeremiah had ended up drinking a little too much while making dinner for Algie and himself. It lead to him crashing on the other man's couch, a pillow under his head and a blanket thrown over him. (Never to admit that there was a certain point that too much drink made him fall asleep. Algie kept this secret well only to mock him with it when appropriate with little stick figure signs of HA! HA! I WIN! any time they had a drinking contest.)
It had not been an easy sleep. He tossed and turned for a fair portion of the night until he finally slipped into the deeper portions of it and started to dream. Or, more importantly, the nightmare started. Jeremiah's eyes moved rapidly behind his closed eyelids, fingers clutched at the blanket, and let small quite noise out after noise.
Except when he screamed in his sleep but did not wake, clearly trapped in whatever nightmare.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:04 pm
It had been a while since Jeremiah had to sleep on his sofa, but it wasn't unheard of. There was always an extra blanket and a pillow in the top of the closet for such an occasion. The apartment itself wasn't big enough to have an extra room, nor was it big enough to have Algie miss someone screaming in their sleep on his sofa with only a thin wall between them. Alcohol made him sleep heavy, but not that heavy. Algie stumbled hurriedly from his room, only enough of a pause to throw on a cardigan over himself before he was beside Jeremiah with a hand on his shoulder and gentle shakes. If it didn't work, he'd get more serious. "Jeremiah... wake up.."
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:22 pm
It would take something heavier, Jeremiah apparently still locked in whatever nightmare he was in. His face scrunched up a moment, whatever the dream was getting worse and - of all things - it seemed like he had moved to a silent scream.
His fingers clutched into one of the couch's cushions.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:32 pm
"Jeremiah-" Algie shook him a little harder but nothing overly violent. It didn't seem to make much a different. The intensity of whatever was going on seemed to have increased so the shaking did as well. "Jeremiah.." He shoved, "JEREMIAH.." A hearty shake, "MIAH!! WAKE THE HELL UP YOU b*****d!" The front of the other's shirt was gripped and his body was practically tossed around in place on the sofa, one step from being thrown to the floor. Algie was broader and heavier than his friend and seemed to have a knack for throwing that weight around for all he lacked in cultivated strength.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:49 pm
Algie's voice, that particular shortened version of his name, and the near toss off seemed to pull him awake. Jeremiah's eyes snapped open, his hand coming up to close around Algie's wrist.
"Alg?" his voice was hoarse, shaky even and he was moving to sit up, face pale. "You know I'm the exact opposite of a b*****d ..." It was always surpring how much Algie could move him around when he put his weight behind it.
He would need a moment to really finish waking up, to pull himself from what he had dreamed.
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 10:22 pm
Algie's face relaxed having the other finally wake up. He loosened his grip on him and gave his cheek a relieved sort of pat, "When you wake up screaming.. and it wakes up my dead log of a self.." He pushed the other's hair down a moment without thinking of it, and finally stepped back from him, "Then you're a b*****d." Really, he was just relieved. "You alright?" He pulled his sweater tighter around himself from the night time chill and the hurried nature of his coming out here. Algie's face again wrinkled with concern, and there weren't glasses to buffer his gaze, "It seemed rather-" Terrible.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:10 pm
Jeremiah was tugging the blanket up around him, goosebumps appearing on his skin because he was chilled. It was worse that someone the nightmare had not elevated his blood pressure. He reflexively raised a hand to his hair once Algie touched it, trying to fix it himself but knowing it was a lost cause without a comb and water.
He needed a haircut.
The detective rubbed his hand across his face, peeking between fingers at Algie. The man was all eyes, green and concerned. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I was ... stuck." In the nightmare. Jeremiah wasn't even sure he wanted to admit what it was. "Thanks for waking me, Alg."
Truly grateful.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:16 pm
Algie's ear tips went a bit pink at the genuine gratefulness, and he huffed a bit, "Well I wasn't going to leave you there... screaming.." The huff faded to concern mid-sentence. Jeremiah wasn't the type to be plagued by nightmares or lapse into dramatics but it had been an interesting day. He moved to flip on the lamp as well as a small spaceheater made to look like a fireplace. A gentle orange light filled the room. Algie squinted without his glasses and the change from dark to light. He reached to finally tie the dangling belt of his sweater. The elusive tattoo made a surprise appearance as he adjusted and belted it more warmly, "Should I put the kettle on?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:30 pm
Seeing the tattoo distracted Jeremiah from the pink-tipped ears. He had just decided to sleep in his undershirt, a tank today, and his slacks. The blanket he had tugged up fell down from his shoulders until he was tugging it up more and then scratching idly at his own tattoo.
"Yeah." Jeremiah rubbed at his face, looking up at Algie and then towards the faux-fireplace. "... or a warm cup of milk," he snorted, mostly at himself. Another moment of feeling young again (the first happening when he saw the tattoo). "I'm sorry I woke you up, Alg."
... and an apology, Jeremiah was clearly out of sorts, even if the pale face did not give that away.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:43 pm
He waved his hand dismissively, "You clearly couldn't help it." The writer paused in the doorway to the kitchen, "I'll put a kettle on.. and bring you a small glass of warm milk in the meantime." Algie could have managed some hot cocoa, but he knew Jeremiah would want it on the stove, or insist upon doing it himself and that was the opposite of Algie helping the other man. "There's another blanket in the closet if you need it." It was chilly here at night, it suited Algie and reminded him of home.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:54 pm
"You know me, I've always been chilly and the blood pressure medication doesn't help." Jeremiah had always been naturally cooler than most people and since he had started his blood pressure medication he had become more so. While the other man was getting the tea and the glass of warm milk, Jeremiah was moving for the second blanket from the closet.
Which lead to setting one blanket on the floor in front of the flickering fireplace and tugging the other around his shoulders while he stared at the light. Being closer to the light, to the warmth, did his thoughts better.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:22 pm
Algie was back in a few minutes with warm milk in a mug (it had an overly fat cat on the side of it) and the kettle on. He was a bit squinty without his glasses but he'd survive until it was time to go back to bed. "Feeling any better?" His voice was lower, if only because of the time of night and not wanting to disturb the man while he recovered from whatever that was he'd dreamt.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:33 pm
Jeremiah's lips twitched upwards in amusement at the sight of the mug, taking it into his hand and then holding it between both of them to soak up the warmth.
Squinty Algie was still all eyes.
"Not particularly," he snorted, glancing up at other man. He took a sip of the warm milk and sighed. Not quite pleased, not quite enjoyment, but still a better sound than the screams that had woken Algie up. "Too much excitement, I think, or dinner didn't agree with me."
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:40 pm
Algie shuffled close, to get his bare feet within range of the heater, but stayed standing until the kettle whistled. "Did it have something to do with.. her?" Other ashdown and what Jeremiah had seen. Not a fun side effect if it was traumatizing enough to rattle his usually steady friend this much.
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Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2016 7:14 am
With a flick of his arm and shoulder, Jeremiah had part of the blanket over Algie's toes. The other man always had complained about cold feet when they were younger. He took a sip of the milk, fingers closed around the mug tightly before his grip loosened. "I think? Not that she was in it." Not that he would admit that there had been a thing with too many teeth and too close. It had been the beach, that bench, and went downhill from there.
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