#god. i don't know why i do this to myself JSJS i guess what can i say here? i might've gotten a bit inspired for angst... though

[mad-hunts]

@furiaei asked: big spoon! who says baddies don't need cuddles? we don't see any rules against it written anywhere

in the throes of, unfortunately, yet another nightmare is where barton found himself at the moment. he'd been having them a lot more often lately for some reason; this was the third one he'd had this week, in fact, and it was only thursday. barton murmured something unintelligible underneath his breath as sweat began to soak through the collar of the old tee he was wearing. he had invited mya to sleep over at his home when he realized just how late it was that he had kept her, yes. but not wanting to encroach on any of her boundaries, barton let her take his bed while he slept on the pull out sofa. so, this was all happening in what he believed was an entirely different room than where mya was.

and i say believed because that was what he was left with thinking before he went to sleep. she honestly could've been wandering around, for all he knew. but barton's mind was neither on that nor on anything that had actually gone on that day. he was dreaming that he was being suffocated by someone, some shadowy figure, which was quite possibly one of his greatest fears; so barton responded with about as much distress as you would expect from this in real life ( a lot ). he was taking more ragged breaths now, kicking at an imaginary threat, and his back would twitch every so often in a way that looked at least a little unpleasant. the dream — or more like nightmare — caused barton to eventually reach a fever pitch then that made him wake up with a gasp.

with small ringlets of his hair now sticking to his face due to sweat and the shirt he wore now making him feel very hot, barton was eager to get up. but he found himself unable to due to something around his waist. barton immediately looked down at what it was, and didn't even realize that he was crying until he could taste the salt from his tears. it was someone's arms. who was this? barton swallowed hard, his whole body shaking from adrenaline as he realized mya was holding him. his voice came out more unsteady than he wanted it to. ❝ ah, mya, what are you... what are you doing? i thought you were going to sleep in my bed. ❞

sniffling, barton then grasped one of her arms with a hand of his, ❝ you don't have to do this kind of thing for me. i can deal with it on my own, you know. ❞ part of his mind was saying the exact opposite though as it went: god's, please don't leave. please don't leave. barton let out a sound that he didn't even know he was capable of making. it was an odd mix between a wheeze and a sob. ❝ ugh, i'm sorry. i'm like a total mess right now. i just had a really terrible dream, and... do you know what that's like, mya? ❞