Archive of Our Own ^beta

Boq jerked awake as the bellow of thunder rattled the walls. Maybe if he was still sleeping in his dorm, his roommates snores would have muffled the sounds of the storm. Instead, he decided to spend the night at Fiyero’s private suite. He rolled in bed, hoping to curl back into Fiyero’s arms and listen to the lullaby of his heartbeat until he fell back asleep again.

Only, there was no Fiyero. 

Something went thunk in the night. Boq sat up, blanket clutched to his bare chest, and strained his eyes to make out a familiar shadow out of the others.

“Fiyero?” he whispered.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the room in its cold white light. Fiyero stood, dressed in only his shirt, staring out the window. The room went dark again, and a few seconds later thunder rumbled overhead. Boq fumbled with the side table lamp until he got it to switch on. Fiyero turned towards his armoire, mumbling to himself as he pushed his shirts aside and tapped the wall behind it.

“Fiyero, what are you doing?” Boq asked, shuffling over to him.

“Door. It’s disappeared,” Fiyero answered flatly.

Fiyero looked at Boq with glassy, half-lidded eyes. Was he on something? But his eyes weren’t red, just tired, and Fiyero had been the first to fall asleep after they exhausted themselves “cuddling” each other earlier.

Then Fiyero rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand and it clicked for Boq.

“Are you asleep?”

“Don’t know where it ran off to, but I’ll find it,” Fiyero said.

He shouldered past Boq for the front door. Boq grabbed Fiyero’s hand without thinking.

“Not that door,” Boq said, praying he wasn’t a monster in whatever dream Fiyero was having. “That’s the wrong door.”

Fiyero frowned, but he didn’t look angry or frightened. “Where’s the right one?”

“Follow me.”

Boq gently tugged Fiyero back to bed. It definitely wasn’t a good idea to let him roam the hallways barely conscious, but Boq wasn’t sure if he should try to wake Fiyero up. Instead, he encouraged Fiyero to sit next to him against the headrest, their hands laced tightly together.

“We’ve found the door,” Boq murmured. “We should go back to sleep.”

Thunder roared like a fleeing lion. Fiyero spoke but his words were knotted in a language only the dreaming could understand. Carefully, Boq stroked Fiyero’s face and eased him down so that his ear rested against Boq’s chest. Fiyero sagged against him. His breathing slowed and at last he closed his eyes.

“Boq,” he breathed.

“Hm?”

Fiyero didn’t answer as he had fallen back asleep. 

Wrapping his arms around him, Boq kissed his hair and whispered, “Good night, Fiyero.”

Despite the terrible storm, they slept quite soundly. When the morning light woke them, Fiyero had no memory of sleepwalking or why he was dreaming about a door.

They agreed that Boq should stay another night to keep Fiyero safe.