Work Text:
It was dark when he woke up. It was always dark when he woke up. Probably because they were in space and several miles from the sun in the middle of the ‘night’ cycle on board the Kepler. He was pulling air into his lungs like a fish out of water. The details of his nightmare were already slipping out from between the cracks of his groggy mind, but he’d bet money on it having been something about all the shit that had happened with the Anglers a few months ago.
Selene was sliding down the ladder not two seconds after the frustrated growl left Helios’ lips- all too familiar with that sound by now, unfortunately.
Selene came in softly- wrapping around the Fighter like a warm breeze. He must have brought his blanket down with him from the top bunk, because suddenly Helios was swallowed up in slightly-itchy regulation fabric. But it smelled like him. And it was pleasantly warm despite the sheen of sweat on the Fighter’s arms and face. He could probably use another shower…
Selene pulled him back against his chest when Helios tried to stand up and walk away. They stayed like that until Helios’ got his breathing back to normal. Selene’s legs splayed out on either side of Helios’ and his arms holding the blanket securely around both of them. It was almost like what Helios imagined a winter on Earth would be like, if only they had a fire place and some coffee… Or whatever that liquid chocolate drink people used to drink was called.
When at least he was calm, Selene carefully moved so that his back was against the wall, Helios was laying down against the pillow, and the Navigator’s brilliant mind was resting on the Fighter’s chest.
~~~~~
The next time Helios had a nightmare, Selene was shaking him awake. Even after he woke up, Helios was shaking so badly his teeth were chattering- from adrenaline, not cold. Definitely not cold. In his dream, Abel’s way of trying to stop him had been to tie he and Selene together and burn them alive with the thrusters of their own ship. He pulled his Navigator crushingly close without even thinking about it- he knew Selene wasn’t made of glass, but some part of him was always afraid he might hurt the other man.
Selene on the other hand was all soft, sweet nothings and fingers softly carding through short hair. He smelled like soap and the lights were still on behind his head- was it day shift or night shift? Had he really fallen asleep without turning the lights off? It didn’t take nearly as long as last time for Helios to settle down. He was still exhausted and sleep was already clawing it’s way back into his eyelids. When he woke up Selene was still whispering softly under his breath in his sleep, curled up on his chest. When Selene’s alarm went off Helios was late for his morning laps. He couldn’t care less.
~~~~~
Helios still had nightmares, but they were getting less frequent now that Selene had finally gotten fed up with hitting his head on the ceiling and they had started stacking their mattresses together on the bottom bunk. Of course, that also meant that they were a bit more… precariously placed on their new sleeping arrangement.
So when Helios had a dream that he was spinning through space in nothing but his away-mission suit, with Selene and the Kepler getting farther and farther away…
Well, the grumpy/concerned look a tired Selene shot him when they both fell out of bed with a mattress and all their pillows and blankets spilling on top of them was almost kind of worth it just because he so rarely got to see Selene like this. They resettled into the bed with tired smiles and half-hearted chuckles, and Helios spent the next hour ghosting kisses across his lover’s brows, cheeks and nose, not kissing him on his lips until he was on the edge of sleep, just for the sake of that childishly innocent smile that always graced his face when Helios did that.
~~~~~
It wasn’t a violent nightmare that made him wake up this time. This time he woke up crying, and he didn’t know why. Selene was already there, holding Helios’ head in his lap, slowly pulling short, undercut black hair away from a face marked with tear tracks. Where were they? Oh yeah.
Selene had made a sort-of picnic for the two of them in the observation deck today since it was their day off. He said it was to celebrate their anniversary. They’d only been together for a few months, but he reminded Helios that they were in a war. Anything could happen. And he wanted Helios to know how much he loved him, just in case. And if that meant he had to celebrate their anniversary every day? He’d be okay with that.
That’s what his nightmare was about. His nightmare was about Selene flatlining in Med Bay.
This was the easiest dream for Helios to calm down from. Because he knew he would never let Selene get hurt. Because he knew that he would give everything if it meant Selene got one more breath of life. One more sunrise. One more second in this amazing, incredible universe filled with stars and planets and life. Because for all the shit he had been through, Selene deserved to see the best in the universe.
~~~~~
The night that Helios woke up thrashing and crying, for probably the first time, he was alone. It was his day off. Selene was still working up at the bridge helping Keeler with… Navigator… things.
It was a dream about his sister. He knew she was alive now, but still… Nightmares about her and what happened to her before they met back up still woke him sometimes. He knew she was fine. Consciously, his nightmare was just a stupid fabrication of his subconsciousness. But that didn’t stop him from pacing the length of the room over and over again until Selene finally came back three hours later. When he came through the doors he looks so tired, but Helios’s eyes were still red from crying.
“I…” Helios started, but got embarrassed when he thought about the words he had been about to say aloud.
“Helios, what is it?”
“Um…” He blushed. Selene came closer and held one of the Fighter’s with both of his own.
“Afon, it’s alright. Say it out loud.”
“I… had a nightmare about my sister. And it was stupid and I know this is going to sound stupid but… I. Um.. Can-... Can I- braid your hair? Please?” Helios finally forced the words out and immediately started backtracking, stuttering out “Sorry! Sorry, nevermind, I just… thought it might help because that’s what V used to do to help me calm down back on the colonies and it always helped and I just miss her alot and I’m sure you’re tired so why don’t we just get ready for bed and-”
Selene silenced the brunette with a soft kiss to those adorably shy lips.
“How about I wash it first? It’s a little oily right now. Plus, if we shower together, we’ll be ready for bed too.” He smiled that sun-shattering smile of his and it was all Helios could do to stay on his feet he was so happy. He practically carried Selene into the showers and ended up shampooing, conditioning, and brushing all those long ombre locks. He hadn’t even gotten to braid his hair and already Selene looked so relaxed.
Helios had never learned any kind of fancy braids. He knew how to do a French braid though. That was really one of the only ways Val had taught him to braid hair. And honestly? He liked the way it looked in Selene’s hair better. The ombre from black to white looked really cool, if he did say so himself.
The next morning when the two of them woke up they were running behind for breakfast and Selene forgot to take the braid out. But he got a lot of compliments on it, so maybe it was all for the best. He thought of Helios every time the wispy tip of the braid brushed the back of his neck.
~~~~~
Selene didn’t have nightmares very often. In fact, usually he didn’t even have dreams. But on occasion he was indeed prone to nightmares. And they were never good when they came.
Selene’s nightmares were almost always violent. He had been looked over a down-trodden most of his life. Always second best, like he had been when Abel was flying through all that alien data. Even if he had been under the influence of the Anglers, nobody had known that at the time. Everyone had just been completely awed by the boy-genius.
So in his dreams, Selene’s subconsciousness apparently got a kick out of letting him take out his emotional hurt with his imaginary fists.
Or, in this case, make him swing his real fists around and sock his boyfriend squarely in the stomach. Selene may be a Navigator, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t strong. Unfortunately he also tended to sleep like a log most nights, so Selene didn’t know he was wailing on Helios until Helios, chuckling slightly, rolled the two of them over and pinned Selene underneath him and kissed him everywhere he could reach without getting smacked until Selene finally calmed down and drifted into a better dream.
Selene wouldn’t remember it in the morning, if he ever remembered it at all, but that was alright. Selene knew that Helios would always be there for him- he didn’t even need to be awake to know it.