Room 204 [early morning]

[momslilassassin]

Ben had finally been convinced that sleeping in hospital chairs wouldn't do much for recuperating from being lightly electrocuted only a few days before, so he and Ender had headed back to the island.

He'd gotten a whole two hours of sleep--mostly plagued by nightmares and snippets of memories--and was now staring at the ceiling and watching the room gradually grow lighter as the sun rose.

[OOC: For him who also lives there.]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender was a light sleeper, but not a telepath; it was half an hour or more after Ben woke that he did, finally, either jostled by Ben or by nightmares of his own.

Consciousness shot sharply into being and his eyes opened up, flicking briefly towards Ben and making note of the fact that his eyes were open, too.

[momslilassassin]

"Morning, kreetle," Ben said softly, resting his head against Ender's shoulder.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," Ender murmured. His hand slid into Ben's almost automatically.

[momslilassassin]

Ben took a second to love how normal this had become, then squeezed Ender's fingers in reply.

"Sleep okay?"

[endsthegame]

"As well as I ever do," Ender said. "You didn't."

It was not a question.

[momslilassassin]

"I got a few hours," Ben said. "It's been a trying week."

[endsthegame]

"I noticed that," Ender said quietly. "And not just because of Tony's injuries."

[momslilassassin]

"They didn't help," Ben murmured, closing his eyes.

[endsthegame]

Ender reached up and touched his face. "I'm not going to miss these little outings when we leave," he said.

[momslilassassin]

"He needed help," Ben replied. "I'm not going to say no."

[endsthegame]

"I never said you should," Ender replied. "And you know me - I can't resist meddling either. That's one of the reasons I'm glad to leave the temptation behind."

[momslilassassin]

Ben sighed softly and wrapped his arms more tightly around Ender. "You haven't been sleeping well this week either."

It probably didn't help that he had a boyfriend who'd run off and gotten electrocuted, but Ben was pretty sure there was more to it than that.

[endsthegame]

"I'm not generally a sound sleeper," Ender sighed, and ran his fingers over Ben's arm. "It's nothing worth worrying about." He kissed Ben's temple. "How are you feeling?"

You know. After being electrocuted.

[momslilassassin]

"Kind of stupid," Ben replied. "I should have guessed Gene wasn't being forthright."

Not what he'd meant, Ben.

[endsthegame]

"Not everyone lies loud enough to show up on the Jedi lie detector," Ender said. He ran his fingers right back up. "No residual pain anywhere?"

[momslilassassin]

"Only when I push myself way too hard," Ben replied. "He didn't pack the wallop Vestara or Jacen did."

And Ben had been electrocuted enough to be able to compare them.

[endsthegame]

Ender finally slid his arm around Ben's chest. "Well, thank god for that," he said dryly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben hugged him. "I didn't go into it planning to get zapped."

Or planning at all, really. Ben made amazingly bad decisions where he was off-center emotionally.

[endsthegame]

"I know," Ender murmured. "If you had, I'd be seriously doubting your sanity right now."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nudged his nose into Ender's. "But you're worried."

[endsthegame]

"You haven't been in the best shape," Ender said, tilting his head up and dropping a kiss on Ben's nose. "Not since last week."

[momslilassassin]

"I was knocked off balance," Ben admitted. "I'll recover."

[endsthegame]

"Yes," Ender said easily. "But try not to get electrocuted again before you get there."

[momslilassassin]

"Promise," Ben murmured. "I don't like seeing double."

[endsthegame]

Ender hummed something vaguely in agreement. "Do you want to talk?" he murmured. "Well, 'want' is always a terrible word in this case... but you understand what I mean."