Work Text:
Normally, I would be up into the early morning hours sifting through videos to try and find any small details.
Normally, Tim would be wide awake until I fell asleep.
Alas, tonight was different.
We had to get a single because the motel didn’t have any other. Since it was a single, there wasn’t a desk or table for me to be perched at.
So, I had to do work on my laptop in bed with Tim asleep next to me.
Which, was the weird part.
I’d never seen him so calm, so peaceful. The way his eyebrows relaxed and the way his hands no longer slightly shook.
I mean, sure, his legs moved around a lot and he kept mumbling random things, but he was still even more peaceful than normal.
I didn’t even get any work done, I was too busy watching over Tim.
It felt like I had to, because he never fell asleep first. Maybe he felt safer here, in this bed, with me? No, that’d be silly.
As Tim turned over on his other side for the third time in an hour, I decided to go back to working. I’d gotten distracted enough, and this needed to be done by the time the morning rose.
I tried to focus my attention on the newest ToTheArk video, but I just couldn’t.
After five minutes of trying to get back to work but failing miserably, I sighed and slammed the laptop before putting it on the floor next to the bed. I tapped my fingers anxiously on my legs before glancing over at Tim.
The way his upper body was crunched in— hands gripping onto the edge of the blanket and pulled up to his face— it reminded me of a little boy who was afraid of the monster underneath his bed. Which, made sense considering our situation, but Tim always put on a brave face. Puts things into perspective, I guess.
My focus moved down to his legs, they were twisted in a weird position that I figured was his bodies way of trying to find the most comfortable position.
I’d never seen him sleep, he’d always waken up before me so I never truly knew if he slept. Of course, he had to at some point, I just couldn’t ever tell when because I wasn’t ever awake to see it.
I watched him for about an hour, letting my thoughts drag on before he began to stir. He sat up, slowly blinking.
”Hey, you good, Tim?” He looked over to me, a dead look in his eyes. Dread filled my stomach, was this his masked state? I couldn’t tell. It couldn’t have been, he hadn’t had a seizure, from what I could tell.
”Who are you?” He mumbled, making my eyebrows furrow.
”I- I’m Jay, we’re traveling right now, remember, Tim?” I swallowed down a lump in my throat. He stared blankly at me before laying back down and cuddling into his previous position.
”Okay.” He said underneath the blanket before closing his eyes and immediately falling back asleep. I felt startled, because what in the hell was that?
That was my cue to lay down to try and sleep, because maybe I was hallucinating things.
As I cuddled in, drifting off, I tried to ignore the gnawing sense of anxiety that seared through my body.
My eyes slowly drifted open, adjusting to the sunlight peeking through the curtains. Once my senses finally adjusted, I realized that I was alone. Wait.
I shot up, looking to see that Tim was gone. My head began to fill with possibilities of where he could’ve gone when I heard the sink turn on in the bathroom.
I snapped my head over to the door, unable to see into the dark room. I slowly stood up, swallowing the forming lump in my throat as I approached the bathroom.
Once my eyes adjusted, I saw Tim in the dark with his head hovering over the sink. He turned over to look at me with confusion, a toothbrush in hand and leftover toothpaste around his mouth. He spat out the remaining half in his mouth before wiping his face on a hand cloth.
”You good, man? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Tim chuckled before setting his toothbrush on the counter and fully facing me.
”Are you okay?” He squinted.
”Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” I looked around the motel room nervously before clearing my throat and looking back at him.
”You- You sat up in the middle of the night, looked directly at me, asked who I was, then when I explained you went right back to sleep as if it never happened,” I rambled before taking in a deep breath, “So, let me ask this. Did you wake up here, in this room, in our bed?” I looked at him with pleading eyes, his eyebrows suddenly stopped scrunching and he grinned.
”Oh god,” He rubbed his hand on his face, “I forgot to tell you.” He chuckled, making me all the more concerned.
”Forgot- What did you forget to tell me?” My anxiety was growing worse by the second. Tim removed his hand from his face.
”Sometimes I sleep talk, I never mentioned it to you because you always fall asleep first.” I blinked.
”How do you know you weren’t in your weird… whatever state?” Tim shifted his weight, taking in a deep breath before explaining.
”Well, first of all, I was talking; I’m, apparently, never coherent during those… moments. Second of all, did my expression seem… dead to you?” He asked, raising his eyebrows.
”Well, uh, yeah? Like you weren’t fully there.” Tim motioned with his hand.
”See, I was asleep. Look, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, it never came up and I haven’t really slept around anyone in a while.” I exhaled the breath I had stored away in my lungs, breaking out into a fit of laughter at my stupidity. Tim joined the laughter.
”God, I’m sorry, I should’ve known-“
“Dude, you’re fine. Now come on, let’s go get breakfast, I’m starving.” Tim smiled, gesturing towards the door.
We left, giggling about the experience on our way out.
For once, it was nice that something scary turned out fine in the end.
voidpress Thu 04 Sep 2025 11:27PM UTC
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