(he is one talkative boi)
"it's alright, and yea!" he accepted the embrace, tossing an arm around her waist. "the fucked-up tend to attract each other… and i forgot to mention! you know why i like you? cause you don't ask stuff. like… my tics. the wrist rubbin. you don't get weird about it, and you're super badass. and your hair is great, but that's slightly unrelated."
he took a deep breath, and when one is that close you could hear the roughness of his repaired lungs.
"thank you for this. going over these with me."
She tilted her head slightly. "I don like people pryin' so I don pry. Common… What's the word… Courtesy? I think that's it." She snuggled into Nik. She was a snuggler at heart, despite her badassery. "And you're welcome."
he began to hum almost inaudibly.
"yeah, courtesy's the word."
nik was lucky he was drunk, to say the least. nobody had touched him in a genuinely cuddly way for a very long time.
"you know, courtesy in german is höflichkeit. it's wack."
Tess hummed in response, the high off of the alcohol wearing off and leaving her drowsy. She somehow read the clock and saw how late it was. She groaned and pressed her face against Nik's shoulder. "I'm tired but I don wanna moooove."
"you can sleep here, i'll grab a pillow and blanket for you on my way out." he went to get up, but she was still clinging to him and he wasn't quite sure what to do about that.
"No, stay." She said quietly, tightening her grip on him.
"alright." he sat fully back down, leaning on the back of the couch and letting her use him as a pillow. he began to murmur some song out of habit, a popular french song that his mother and sister had loved.
She closed her eyes and listened to the song as she drifted off. "I sing too, " she whispered as she fell asleep.
he drifted off soon after.
(who do you think wakes up first)
(Well, Tess is not a morning person when she's sober. You can probably guess the likelihood of her waking up on her own when she's hungover.)
(fair enough. nik sleeps light anyway)
nik woke up
a. sitting up
b. with the district's most renowned badass asleep on his shoulder.
so you can imagine the slightest bit of panic, paired with a pounding headache and an empty bottle laying on the table in front of them was not an overall pleasant experience.
he definitely didn't mind the tess part, though, and this headache wasn't bringing him anywhere anytime soon. he was perfectly content to stay like they were, but his back hurt like a motherfucker and tessa looked like she'd passed on.
Tess was indeed out cold, subject to an alcohol and exhaustion-induced coma. You could probably toss her around and she wouldn't stir.
nik looked at her for a moment, trying to decipher if she was a light sleeper, before just deciding to go for it.
he gently pushed her off of him and stood, popping his back.
maybe i should put her somewhere more comfortable?
all of his senses were screaming for him to just walk out of the door and disappear into the city, but he sternly reminded himself that this was not one of those times.
when he had figured some sort of solution out, he retrieved a pillow and lighter blanket from her bedroom and set her up laying on the couch.
should i like… make food? she looks dead, i bet she'd appreciate it, but cooking in her bomb ass kitchen is a whole different story.
Tessa groaned and hugged the pillow as she slept, shifting slightly so she was lying on her stomach and her legs were sprawled across the couch.
Her dreams were not pleasant. Reading the files had dug up unwanted memories and nightmares, and they came back to haunt her sleep.
Chains held down her waist, ankles, and wrists, and dug into her flesh as she thrashed violently. She couldn't scream for help or anything, as a disgusting gag had been roughly shoved into her mouth and tied around her head. Her torso was bare to the 10 men who hovered over her, and the cool metal bit into her bleeding back. They had whipped and punished her in an attempt to "break her," as if she were a wild horse in need of being tamed. Tears streamed down her face as they cut into her stomach, following the recently healed-over scar from older incisions.
nik had noticed a faint whimpering, and turned back to see tessa shaking.
"oh, shit. okay."
he gingerly walked over and shook her, tapping on her shoulder at first and resorting to gentle shaking when she didn't respond.
Tess's eyes flew open. Terror and fear filled them and left her unseeing as she grabbed Nik and threw him down; she twisted them both so that she had him pinned beneath her with a hand wrapped around his throat–not enough to restrict his breathing, but definitely a threat should she spook.
Her eyes were wide as she stared at Nik, unmoving from where she hovered over him.
he went ragdoll, letting her pin him.
"hey, it's me. nik. i woke you up." he soothed, holding his hands palm-out. he had half-expected this to happen, and prepared himself accordingly. mentally, that is.
She lurched back quickly, scrambling off of him and to the other side of the couch. She refused to look at him as she said quietly. "I'm sorry." Her hand pressed against her stomach as she curled her legs up.
"it's alright!" he chirped, sitting up quickly. "you didn't get any of the scars, just my neck! can i get you anything?"
She winced at the pounding headache–and how chipper he was. She felt like Hell had drug her down, then sent a herd of elephants to stampede over her, then spat her back out. "This is my home. I'm supposed to be the one offering stuff to you."
"well, you look like death warmed over. i figured i'd offer. here."
he got up, going to retrieve a bottle of water from the fridge and handing it to her.
"if you tell me where the aspirin is, i'll get one for you."
She accepted the bottle of water with a murmured "thanks," then took a few gulps. "Don't got any. No drugs of any kind for me. I'll just have to suck it up." She took in a sharp breath and slowly let it out, resealing the memories that were better off forgotten. "Thanks for waking me up. And not flipping out during my flip out."
"you're welcome!" he quickly grabbed the bottle off the table, looking over it. "should i just throw this away?"
She flapped a lazy hand. "Go for it. No use for an empty bottle, unless I wanna bash it over somebody's head." She drank some more water before flopping back on the couch, letting out a dramatic sigh. "As much as I love you, alcohol, your cousin named hangover is really a bitch."
