AN: Wow so I have been MIA for a very long time and I am deeply sorry. School is demanding, inspiration is fleeting, and I am built of laziness and excuses. Also I am short on prompts. This one was very kindly suggested by and very carefully written for tumblr user greenconverses (and I will squeal every time I think about it because I am a big big fan of hers). Sorry for the absence, I'll try to get back into it!
"Nico." Half-way between asleep and awake, the voice sounded like someone calling to him in a dream. "Nico." He snapped fully awake with a grunt. The second time, he could not delude himself into thinking the voice was part of a dream or his imagination or anything other than a very irritated and equally drowsy Rachel Elizabeth Dare hissing into his ear. Outside, a particularly loud clap of thunder struck and he felt Rachel lean reflexively into him at the sound. "What?" his voice was gruff and heavy with sleep. He hadn't opened his eyes yet and already he could feel himself dozing off again. "The storm took the heater out again." "Mm." "Nico!" He wondered how she could manage to sound irritated with him that early in the morning. It was all he could do to even form proper words through the haze of his mind. It put him at a significant disadvantage in an argument, to have her wit always sharp and easily drawn and his bogged down by exhaustion. Still, the possibility of returning to sleep was too enticing for him to give in that easily. "So go fix it, Rachel." "You know I don't know how." "Then get another blanket or something." A beat passed without her shooting something back. Nico opened one eye out of curiosity, hoping she'd fallen back to sleep. No such luck. Instead he found her frowning at him and looking entirely too awake for whatever ungodly hour it was. Lightning flashed. He could see her more clearly in the brightness of it, and he noticed her lips trembling. For a moment panic set in. Shit, she can't be crying. She wouldn't cry over this, would she? He was already halfway through the motion of sitting up when he felt her body press closer to him and realized he could feel her shivering. Nico froze mid-motion and flopped back against his pillow with a groan. After a brief pause, he mustered the courage to slide out of bed and trudge off in search of another blanket. By the time he returned, blanket in tow, Rachel had drawn her legs up as far as she could against her chest. Even then she was shaking. A small noise somewhere between amusement and confusion rumbled in the back of Nico's throat, but it was too early for him to string together any coherent joke about what a baby Rachel always was about the cold. He threw the blanket over Rachel's shivering form. In another moment, he felt Rachel's arms snake out and circle around him. She mumbled something into his ear that might have been a thank you or an I love you or this wouldn't have happened if you'd fixed the generator like I asked you to. Nico was already slipping too quickly back to sleep for it to matter. He would've liked to be able to say his last thought before falling to sleep was that it was worth it, to have her body so close to his and her breath hot on his ear. In reality, it was more along the lines of she better offer to make the coffee this morning.
"Nico." Half-way between asleep and awake, the voice sounded like someone calling to him in a dream. "Nico." He snapped fully awake with a grunt. The second time, he could not delude himself into thinking the voice was part of a dream or his imagination or anything other than a very irritated and equally drowsy Rachel Elizabeth Dare hissing into his ear. Outside, a particularly loud clap of thunder struck and he felt Rachel lean reflexively into him at the sound. "What?" his voice was gruff and heavy with sleep. He hadn't opened his eyes yet and already he could feel himself dozing off again. "The storm took the heater out again." "Mm." "Nico!" He wondered how she could manage to sound irritated with him that early in the morning. It was all he could do to even form proper words through the haze of his mind. It put him at a significant disadvantage in an argument, to have her wit always sharp and easily drawn and his bogged down by exhaustion. Still, the possibility of returning to sleep was too enticing for him to give in that easily. "So go fix it, Rachel." "You know I don't know how." "Then get another blanket or something." A beat passed without her shooting something back. Nico opened one eye out of curiosity, hoping she'd fallen back to sleep. No such luck. Instead he found her frowning at him and looking entirely too awake for whatever ungodly hour it was. Lightning flashed. He could see her more clearly in the brightness of it, and he noticed her lips trembling. For a moment panic set in. Shit, she can't be crying. She wouldn't cry over this, would she? He was already halfway through the motion of sitting up when he felt her body press closer to him and realized he could feel her shivering. Nico froze mid-motion and flopped back against his pillow with a groan. After a brief pause, he mustered the courage to slide out of bed and trudge off in search of another blanket. By the time he returned, blanket in tow, Rachel had drawn her legs up as far as she could against her chest. Even then she was shaking. A small noise somewhere between amusement and confusion rumbled in the back of Nico's throat, but it was too early for him to string together any coherent joke about what a baby Rachel always was about the cold. He threw the blanket over Rachel's shivering form. In another moment, he felt Rachel's arms snake out and circle around him. She mumbled something into his ear that might have been a thank you or an I love you or this wouldn't have happened if you'd fixed the generator like I asked you to. Nico was already slipping too quickly back to sleep for it to matter. He would've liked to be able to say his last thought before falling to sleep was that it was worth it, to have her body so close to his and her breath hot on his ear. In reality, it was more along the lines of she better offer to make the coffee this morning.
