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 Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:17 am
It was getting darker. Harrison had made excuses the last few nights, stayed awake in the dark until he figured he might as well go do a few reps in the gym and see if that got him tired. He tried reading. Playing games. Working. Getting warm milk from the cafeteria.
And he'd always crawl back into bed before his alarm went off, then go through his usual morning routine.
He wasn't sure how many nights he could keep it up. If Rep and Jordan had noticed, or if they were worried he was sneaking off for some other reason.
The sun set. The high-powered training field lights came on, and it reminded Harrison of the evening baseball games. Weapons glowed as they hit, another hunter soared backwards, hitting the dirt wrong- Harrison buried another few hours in the infirmary.
Then he checked out, washed up, and made his way back to the room.
Rep wasn't there yet.
Harrison gave Jordan a small smile, then went over to his drawer and took out his sleeping clothes- and what good was it anyway. He'd had a long day, a long four days and he still wasn't tired. He stood by the drawer, staring at the clothes in his hand, and not sure what that meant.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 11:53 am
Jordan had been reading, waiting for his guys to come to bed; he wasn't quite sure what to make of the fact that lately he slept much more lightly and restlessly if he was alone in bed, or even if one of them wasn't there. It might say something about trust, or it might just be a dependency. Either way, he'd noticed when Harrison had gotten up and vanished for a large part of the night the past few nights, awakened briefly by the movement and quiet rustling. It wasn't characteristic for Harrison. Harrison got drowsy and cranky early, was generally in bed before either of them, though he woke up bright and cheerful at obscene hours of morning.
"You haven't been sleeping well," Jordan said after a moment, putting the book aside. Understatement, but any of the other ways he'd thought of to open the subject sounded accusatory, when all he was was worried.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:02 pm
"Uh," Harrison started, still looking at the clothes. He shut the drawer, not ready to commit to another night like the past few.
"Yeah," he admitted. He tucked the clothes under his arm, then went to sit on the bed. "...You ever get insomnia?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:12 pm
"A couple of times, when I was really stressed," Jordan answered. He moved over to put an arm around Harrison's waist, leaning comfortably against him. "Sometimes I have trouble sleeping if I can't stop thinking about something. Like, can't get my brain to settle down."
Your brain never settles down, Ferros said.
Comparatively. Shush.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:29 pm
Harrison considered this. "I been working a lot," he hedged, "and a lot of people been coming back from the dead recently. The guys that got taken by the fog. I've thought about that, some."
Harrison rested his hand on Jordan's shoulder, rubbing it while he watched the wall.
"How long did it last? I mean- how long before you got to sleep again."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:49 pm
"Yeah, you have been working a lot." Jordan nodded sympathetically. "With the new duties and all. That must be stressful; you've been picking people off the field for a while, but not quite this regularly."
He hesitated. "Usually not more than one or two nights," he admitted. "The stress wears me down and I get too tired for insomnia. How long have you been having trouble sleeping?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:07 pm
"Sometimes. Rin was one of the worse ones. ...She ended up losing an arm. I dunno if there's like- if there was some way to save it. Like if I'd spotted it right off, concentrated the magic s**t there, kept the blood flowing- there's a lot I still don't understand, I guess."
It was tough, but he could handle it. He'd seen even worse than that. And he was used to hauling more than his fair share over long stretches. He shrugged.
"Dunno. Four days. I've been trying to spend more time at the gym, but," he untucked the clothes, "not feeling too sleepy right now, either."
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:15 pm
"Losing an arm? Jesus. ... Not something you could be expected to know, though. Not your fault." Jordan's arm tightened around Harrison's waist. He hadn't known about Rin.
He frowned a little at Harrison's admission. "Not sleepy? Not at all? Insomnia is usually more like being exhausted but unable to sleep. Uh." He thought about it. "Did anything unusual happen the day after you last slept?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:16 pm
"Yeah," he said, after thinking, "me and Rep picked up our Artifacts from the labs. From that prison place. That's the word the bosses use for them, magic objects that belonged to old gods. Well. The guys that pissed off the old gods. His earring. And those binoculars."
Harrison chewed on his cheek.
"You think it's...a curse?" he hedged, "for breaking into a place like that?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:23 am
"Artifacts, huh." Jordan considered it. "I'd expect a curse to be more ... well. Curselike," he said finally. "I mean, curses are supposed to be punishments, something to make you suffer, right? But you said you're not tired or anything, just not sleeping?"
He leaned on Harrison comfortably. "Did the techs mention the artifacts doing anything? Maybe they've got side effects. Or just effects, stuff they're supposed to do."
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:41 pm
"Curses can be tricky," Harrison said suspiciously.
But in the room, with Jordan leaning on him, it was hard to feel like he was in any danger.
"The guy we picked them up from didn't say anything. They are supposed to have powers-" Harrison pulled the binoculars from the pouch strapped to his side, putting it neutrally between them.
"Guess it would explain why Rep's still sleeping okay. If it was a curse, it'd be both of us." He was quiet for a minute. "If it is that- I dunno if I want that kind of power. Never sleeping again. I could make more money and look after you guys, but..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:34 pm
"Well, if that's what it does, it could be useful." Jordan picked the binoculars up and turned them over in his hand, looked curiously through them, handed them back. "Maybe the effect will wear off over time. I guess the only way to find out is to wait and see."
He turned slightly to brush a kiss across the angle of Harrison's jaw. "I hope it does. I like sleeping with you. In the non-euphemistic sense as well," he teased gently.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:53 pm
"Yeah," Harrison acknowledged softly, "Me too. That and I'm starting to feel like a robot."
The kiss made him smile, and he took Jordan's chin, leaning over to meet his lips inquisitively.
"Guess it wouldn't hurt to investigate. Like, try a few things. See if any of those tire me out."
It'd be weird to never dream again. And there was something safe about sleeping between them, beside them...
" ...I got a few ideas for starters."
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:03 pm
"You don't feel like a robot to me." Jordan returned the kiss lightly, lazily, smiling into it. "I'm sure we can help you out with those ideas. Give them a try."
More seriously, he added, "I was kind of worried that it was something else, something weird. Weirder than artifact side effects, anyway." He took Harrison's hand, smoothing his thumb across the knuckles gently. "I don't sleep as well when you're not there," he admitted.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:32 pm
Harrison looked down, wrapping his fingers around Jordan's hand. "I mean. Maybe it is. But it's nothing- like, I'm not sleeping somewhere else." Which is what he knew sneaking out translated to, a lot of times. But staring at the ceiling in the dark hadn't helped anything.
"I mean, I kept waiting to get tired. I never liked night beat."
He liked a regular schedule. And a lot of weird s**t happened after hours.
"I always slept fine before. But- it's the same for me. When you were...in the desert. Even before we knew what had happened. I couldn't sleep too good. And when I did, all my dreams were bad. ...I don't want to worry you guys. I'm not too sure what's happening either. Maybe it's the artifact. I just- I want to get back to sleep again. I want to be here."
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