wesleynotponcy | Room 504, Thursday Evening

Katniss had laid down early and tried to sleep without the tea. The last thing she wanted was to become dependent on it -- on anything, ever again. She sometimes missed the way her head had clouded on morphling, letting her sleep through hours and hours without pain or visions.

Sleep had proved futile, though. Katniss had jerked awake, eyes wide and images of Finnick being ripped apart by lizards still making her heart beat out of her chest. She'd tried to calm down -- made and drunk some of Karla's tea -- and started a long-overdue letter to Annie.

But she was still restless. This restlessness was what took her up the stairs to tap lightly on Wesley's open door, still clad in a pair of drawstring pants and t-shirt. She wasn't planning on being awake long -- she just, much though she wouldn't want to admit it, wanted to be held until she managed to sleep. "Hi."

And that would be a book flying out of Wesley's hand and landing open on the floor. Fortunately it didn't fall open to the page with the diagram. That would've been far too mortifying.

"Oh. Hel-- are you all right?"

Oh, distraction. How welcome you are.

"Sort of. What're you reading?" she asked with new interest, stepping in to see what it was that would have made him react that way.

Was that huge blush answer enough, Katniss?

"Er," he said, straightening the stack of similar books still on the nightstand. "Just some, er. Research."

"Oh."

Well, now she wanted to look at it. So she was totally going to kneel down and pick up that book he'd dropped and flip through it. "...oh. Oh, you're seriously doing research." Of course he was.

Of course he was. And he was going to guard his notebook with his life, thank you, and attempt to surreptitiously slip it into a drawer.

"Well, I, ah. Thought it'd be helpful."

Yeah, she noticed that, and hid a smile as she paged through the book. "I...this is very informative."

"I rather thought so," he agreed. "But -- ah -- what's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare," Katniss said, her voice a little distracted because she'd just found that very same diagram. "Couldn't sleep after. I'm not sure how this works."

Yet another thing to ask Karla.

"Oh."

Wesley bit his lip, uncertain. After a moment, he tried, "Is there -- can I do anything? I have some of the tea you gave me, somewhere -- but then, you probably chose not to use it deliberately...?"

Edited 2011-10-27 18:42 (UTC)

"I tried," she agreed, setting the book aside and looking over at him. "I tried without it and I had a dream about Finnick."

She didn't feel the need to elaborate.

No, she didn't have to.

"Oh, Katniss," he said softly, coming over to take a seat on the corner of the bed nearest her and pat the space beside him. "Would it help to -- that is, if you'd like -- er -- I don't suppose you'd like to just -- sit?"

He'd been aiming for "stay here." Aaaand totally chickened out. Oops.

She immediately climbed up beside him, nestling her head against his shoulder without a trace of shyness. She needed the comfort right now. "I started writing Annie. See how things are going with the baby."

"Oh, wonderful," he said earnestly, wrapping one arm around her and rubbing gentle circles on her back. "That'll be good for you, I think. And for her. Is she back in Four, or...?"

Edited 2011-10-27 19:18 (UTC)

"To be with her family," Katniss said with a nod. "I think so. Johanna might be with her. I mean, we didn't really stay in touch."

Entirely her fault.

Wesley realized that his question hadn't been entirely sensitive, so he was quiet for a moment and just rubbed her back.

"I could find out, if you'd like," he said softly after a while. "I mean, if you didn't want to, er. Call yourself."

"...if you'd like," she said, because she was trying to let him help more. She knew he liked to. "I was going to call Haymitch, but if you'd like to do it, I...I mean, there's too many people there I still can't talk to."

"Oh, no, if you're at all comfortable with it, then you should," Wesley said sincerely. "I just thought -- if you weren't ready yet, I'd be glad to make contact for you. Should that become an issue."

"I'll let you know," she said, tucking herself against him. "Can I stay here tonight?"

She didn't think there was any point in beating around the bush.

"I just...sleep better."

"Oh!" That was... a better topic. If slightly surprising. "Oh, of course. Yes. Certainly. Of course."

There was a whole wide world of ways to agree to something, apparently!

"If you don't want me to, it's okay. But that's why I came up here," she said, now a little shy. "You help me, um, calm down."

And also to feel less like the girl who should be dead with everyone else, and to feel less like her nightmares might be real again, and to feel.

Faintly blushing now at that display of awkwardness, Wesley shook his head. "No, no, of course you're welcome to stay," he said earnestly. "I'm happy to help." That sentence was getting used a lot when he was around her. "I'll just -- go and change, and you can, er. Get comfortable?"

He went to his dresser to select a meticulously-folded set of sleep clothes, then awkwardly slipped out to go get changed.

Katniss watched him, hiding a smile before tucking herself into his bed, getting comfortable.

It was just awkward without him. But given that she was already a bit relaxed, and...well, how things had gone recently, she wasn't anticipating settling down to sleep right away anyway.

Well, Wesley would be glad to know that at least it wasn't awkward with him.

Even though it really, really was.

After changing clothes and checking that he was at least moderately presentable (and, okay, maybe doing a quick breathing exercise for reasons that were nobody's business), he came back in and put away the clothes he'd been wearing, then hovered near the doorway. "Would you, ah. Like the light off?"

People usually did when they were sleeping, Wes, yeah.

Edited 2011-10-28 03:21 (UTC)

"Do you leave it on to sleep when I'm not here?" Katniss wondered, raising an eyebrow at him from where she was curled up in his bed.

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