Blotting upright in bed, the woman let out a whimper, a goddamn whimper! Night terrors were rare for her, she hadn't had one since high school but this one did a number on her. Her eyes frantically searched the room for whatever horrors had put her in this state which was a useless thing to do since she never remembered what the night terrors were about. All she knew was they had to be the worst of the worst to put her in a panic. Some people would probably say she deserved it for all those years she made the lives of children hell. Bit funny really, even she wouldn't wish this on her worst enemy. Part of her still dreaming mind continued the nightmare, not prevalent enough for the rest to recognize but more than enough to elicit a more drastic flight response. Panicky breaths became shallow gasps, her heart pounded against her ribcage wildly, and her body was shaking violently. No one knew about her night terrors and if she didn't want to wake her roommate she had to calm down. However that thought only made things worse so she put a hand to her mouth to try and muffle the noises which to her embarrassment included a couple more whimpers. So much for her reputation.
Knees drawn up to her chest her hands tangled in her hair as she tried to force the fear out. Usually that was enough but not this time. She almost didn't notice the dip from someone sitting on the bed and of course some part of her immediately jumped to the conclusion that it had to be one of the demons from her nightmare. Had a pair of hands not been on her shoulders she would have tried to run, stupid as it was, instead she looked up to see the blue eyes of her roommate. It almost made her laugh, the mix of worry, confusion, and what-the-hell-do-I-do on his face. The redhead looked away to avoid laughing. Clueless kid.
"Vicky?" When she didn't respond he didn't push. Clueless as he was the kid wasn't a complete idiot, didn't take him long to figure out what happened. He also knew better than to try to talk about it, right now at least, brat would probably pry later. His hands moved to her upper arms and gave a gentle squeeze that was oddly comforting. It helped bring the part of her mind still in dreamland back to reality, the shaking lightened up, breathing was a bit easier.
At least he was better with the whole comforting thing than she was. If their roles were reversed she'd probably be telling him to get over it, tease him, and then leave him to deal with it on his own. But the brunette has an almost motherly instinct so he was better about knowing what situations call for teasing and what doesn't. Although he does sometimes have odd ways of trying to be motherly, why the hell did he have his forehead pressed to her's? Yeah it was nice, was helping ground her to the here and now, but it was weird. There was a delicate balance between friends and more than friends, this was definitely treading that line. Couldn't say it wasn't helping more than her old methods for calming down though. His voice was quiet and gentle as he told her she was alright, that it was all a dream, and she was safe now. When a second wave of panic hit he reminded her to take deep breaths and gave her reassurances that nothing bad was going to happen to her, he wouldn't let anything happen. His thumbs were tracing circles in her skin.
After she calmed down she expected him to leave her alone, worry over her for a minute but leave nonetheless. Instead he laid down on her bed and pulled her into his arms. Pride demanded she protest or resist but right now she couldn't. It felt nice letting someone take care of her, the times she got sick didn't count, she wasn't given much of a choice. Mother hen insisted on taking care of her whether she liked it or not so he wouldn't have to deal with her whiny ass longer than necessary. This was something different that she couldn't really put into words. So she might as well enjoy it. Burying her face in his neck she wrapped an arm around him, brat was probably smiling at that. He'd get an earful from her later right now she was tired, being lulled to sleep by the combined sense of safety and warmth. As she drifted off her brain barely registered that he was murmuring comforting words to her, telling her she was safe. And she felt it, safe and sound.
Suddenly Vicky found herself awake in her bed and she automatically reached over to shut off the alarm clock. For a second she wondered where her little Twerp went off to, that's when her whole world fell out from under her. There was no one to hear her sob; she'd stopped caring about her reputation years ago. When her cat came over Vicky held her, it nuzzled her. Little thing was always comforting her. Just like he had. Just like he'd never be able to again. Timmy died, eight years ago, in a car crash.