A/N: Prompt from Droite. Thank you~

So I'm going to have up that White Winter chapter sometime before Christmas lol (hopefully).

Thanks everyone!

22

Sleep

It's amazing, because if he tries hard enough, the guy can fall asleep literally anywhere.

One time he passed out on a wooden bench at the theme park, one of Heartland City's many attractions. It was a rickety thing that creaked under his weight when he had sat down, with a hard piece of chewing gum stuck on of the metal legs. Rio had turned away to call out to Ryouga, who ignored her a little way down the path and she scoffed, moving back around only to fine IV lying down haphazardly, arms still cross and snoozing.

Ryouga had dumped some of his water from a bottle on his head when he joined them again.

IV can doze off during parties if he is bored, in the car if he is bored, when someone is speaking to him if he bored with this particular conversation, and anywhere really if he disinterested. At night he's like a log, not moving, snoring, and completely unaware of his surroundings. A train could chug straight through his room and IV would sleep on because he was stubborn enough to not wake up.

And Rio thinks this is really weird because even though he spends two-thirds of life - now that it has calmed down since the war - sleeping, he can stay awake for a unholy amount of hours if he feels the need. IV has no such thing as a sleep schedule, personally establishing when and where and if he will sleep.

Rio learned part of this through nightmares.

It's not often, but sometimes she'll jump awake, panting from a dream full of fire or the red sparks of her friends drifting up into the Barian portal.

IV stays with them a lot. He likes to keep an eye on them. The War was harsh and he has been worried. So Rio walks sluggishly into the kitchen for a glass of water and he's there on the couch, peeking over the top while yawning. "What are you doing up?"

Rio shrugs and fills her cup and takes a swig and prepares to go back to her room and he's still staring at her thoughtfully because obviously she had woken him up.

"...You're all right?"

"Yes."

IV hesitates, then nods, trusting her and lying back down beyond view.

The second time that week she wanders out to get a drink, IV doesn't sit up, and she's sweating and flushed from alarm so she's grateful. But as she's leaving, she hears him ask, "You're all right?"

"Yes," she says softly. "Go back to sleep."

When she sees him the next morning, he has small bags under his eyes, and she guiltily realizes he hadn't listened to her 'advice'. But that's not my fault, she tells her herself.

She doesn't have another nightmare until the next month and when she does, IV is staying with his brothers (he alters between houses, never comfortable being around the same people for too long). She's a little disappointed.

One night, when he's over at the Kamishiros', he greets them at breakfast looking exhausted. Rio is confused because she'd slept perfectly well and hadn't disturbed him. From the suspicious look on Ryouga's face, he's just as puzzled. IV just quirks a grin and grabs a poptart from the cupboards, promising to pay them back for it.

Rio doesn't figure it out until a school semester later. This time, she isn't awake because of a bad dream, but because she's stressed out for finals. She's living in the human world, and she's going to have a future in it, damn it. She's very quiet, tiptoeing into the kitchen to get some food or something. Then she notices the top of IV's spiky head and she frowns, waiting for him to say something. It's four AM. He hasn't acknowledged her yet.

Silently, she makes her way over to the couch, standing beside it. He's sitting with his hands in his lap, a blanket pooled around his knees. His eyes are gazing straight ahead, glazed over and very tired. He blinks slowly and says, "Hey."

"Hey," she says back.

He's a wreck, his hair tangled and pushed against his head on one side. He's sweating slightly, like she does when she jerks awake after reliving awful memories. Now that she takes a closer gander at him, her heart drops and she realizes that he must have had a nightmare.

And he'll get up a little bit before her and Ryouga and smile slightly and eat a small breakfast and carry on, then crash early and sleep nice and fit the next evening. But for now, he appears small and fragile, and she sits beside him and keeps him company until the sun rises, neither speaking.

Rio figures IV has nightmares that are a lot like hers. Filled with hungry flames and screams and bodies dispersing into the ashy sky. For Rio, she is the victim of the fire and the perpetrator of the ascending sparkles. For IV, it must be the opposite completely. She wonders if it's equally scary. Probably, she thinks, judging by how weary he is the next day.

And it sort of becomes a thing. When he's staying the night and she has an unnerving dream she comes to the living room where he'll wake up to the sound of her footsteps and they'll sit together until she falls asleep again.

Rio thinks it's really unfair because from her room, she can't ever tell if IV is out there, roused from a terror and alone on his couch. She only ever knows when they're up the following day and he's tripping over his own feet. She can't do much, but she stays with him until he drifts off at dusk and he always seems to rejuvenate after that. She likes it; she runs her fingers through his now combed hair until he's unconscious.

Rio used to think IV could fall asleep anywhere. He proved her wrong.

~Finish~