Written for humanbeldot's alphabetical OTP challenge, letter 'I'
Title: Insomnia (Named after Koop Arponen's hit song)
Pairing: Trinity/Neo
Setting: A few hours after Neo's revival in the first movie
This one was inspired by the beautiful song 'Insomnia' performed by Finnish Idols-winner Koop Arponen, aswell as the just as bittersweetly beautiful 'Fix you' by Coldplay. But the one thing above all that gave me this idea and time to write it down was, ironically, a number of sleepless nights due to flu and coughing fits. So to cheer myself up, I wrote some TriNeo-fluff. Now I'm well again, and I hope you'll think the fic is in the same condition.^^;
Insomnia
He woke up without remembering going to bed- he had a faint memory of someone leading him to the cabin, though, and after a moment it cleared. Everything up until a few minutes past his revival, when the high from defeating Smith and kissing Trinity had given way to a growing fatigue, came back to him- the fight, his death, his resurrection. Trinity's lips against his and her fingers soothingly stroking at the back of his neck. Suddenly he felt like he couldn't go back to sleep anymore, despite feeling very tired.
It couldn't be much past usual bedtime, but he swung his legs across the bedside to stand up anyway, intent on visiting the cockpit to see if he could help out with anything. He propped his feet into his boots and exited the cabin, the metal door shutting behind him with a jarring noise as he left.
--
It wasn't possible to from this point of view see the face of the crew member currently watching the gloomy sewer pipes, but the feet comfortably resting at the co-pilot's seat were too small to belong to anyone but...
''Trinity?''
She turned her head to meet his gaze, obviously happy to see he was awake. ''Hi. How do you feel now?''
''I'm tired and wound up at the same time. I came to see if I could help out with something.''
''Not really. Morpheus contacted 'The Avenger' to request help and safe escort back to Zion, but until they arrive we'll just keep an eye out for more sentinels''.
''Okay. Was it you who led me back to my cabin before?''
Trinity wasn't prepared for that question. She nodded an answer to his question, suddenly a bit reserved, and removed her feet from the chair to offer him a seat before quickly looking out the window again. Neo realized she still was unused to showing or admitting affection, and sat down in the other chair without saying another word. She just needs time, he told himself, and leant back with his arms comfortably folded. We're both still new at this.
They didn't talk much, but the air in the cabin suddenly felt permeated by electricity on low voltage. Trinity knew it wasn't the risk for more sentinels approaching that caused the tension: the monotony of this job effectively killed anxiousness. You'd grow bored by worrying about eventual attacks before anything actually happened. This had all to do with Neo, what he made her feel when he was there- and even more what he had made her feel when she for a brief moment thought he was gone forever.
--
An hour later, just as Neo seemed to have had enough of staring at the boring sewer walls and rose up to leave again, she reached her hand out to loosely take hold of his forearm. Her palm stroked across his wrist and the back of his hand before she grasped his fingers and gave them a gentle squeeze.
Immediately Neo halted on the threshold between cockpit and corridor. He looked at her with surprise and what looked like expectance in his eyes, waiting for her to say something. Trinity realized she had acted without thinking, she had only done this in her imagination once or twice before. Reach out, take his hand and say…what? She bit her lip in disappointed with herself when the only thing that came out was a measly ''Goodnight, Neo.'' In her fantasy she'd have summed up all of the courage her now late crewmembers used to commend her for and told Neo what he really meant to her. Not just that she loved him, but also how much.
Her discontent faded though when she saw the look of understanding in his eyes: he knew and understood what she wanted to say, without needing an explanation. She gave his hand another little squeeze before letting him go. Taking some time in leaving, he gave her a look across his shoulder and a soft almost-smile. She leant back into the chair just as content as after accomplishing something very important, and heard Neo start whistling in the corridor as soon as he thought he was out of hearing range.
They had barely said anything- but when he left, both felt as if they had had a very long and honest conversation.
I hope you liked it, and that it wasn't too much out of character, and all that. Thank you very much for reading! :)