Cold stepped inside, watching the way Opportunist fixed and smoothed out the blankets around them.

He shot a confident smile at Cold. "I may not be as good as Hunt when it comes to blanket forts, but I'm definitely better than some of the others here."

"It's nice," Hunted said, and Opportunist sent his brother a playful glare.

"Nice? That's all you have to say about it?"

Hunted sat down on the other side of the bed, a twinkle in his usually alert eyes as he said, "It's cosy, makes me feel protected."

Opportunist blinked in surprise, feathers fluffing up at the compliment, before he ducked his head and continued working, a small smile on his face that looked painfully genuine.

Cold sat on the edge of the bed, feeling Hunted's eyes boring into him.

Something wriggled within his chest, but he couldn't find the strength to yank it out and examine it. All Cold knew was that being around Hunted and Opportunist made the wriggling more noticeable.

"Cold could sleep in the middle?" he heard Hunted ask, and when Cold looked over his shoulder, he saw Opportunist shrug casually, but Cold could see the relief at the suggestion, the safety of not having to turn his back on Cold.

"That's fine by me," Opportunist said. "He's the skinniest, anyway. He'll need all the warmth he can get."

"I don't care about warmth or feeling chilly. I have no problem either way."

Unfortunately, his mind decided to play back when he woke up a few minutes ago, and how it had been so hard to just get his hands to work normally again.

Still, when Hunted guided him to lay down inbetween them, he didn't resist.

He sighed, and could feel the way both Hunted and Opportunist relaxed as well, shuffling closer to him and curling up.

Neither of them blew out the candles, keeping the room in a low, soothing light, and Cold was surprised to find that he didn't mind it.

Hunted was pressed against Cold's side, his head resting on his chest, listening in on his heartbeat, and Cold could feel him nervously blinking up at him, as if waiting to see if he would say something.

Opportunist was close, but still gave him a little bit of room. He too stared at Cold, but he figured that Opportunist didn't want to let him out of his sight.

After a few seconds of silence, Cold felt Opportunist gently take his hand.

Cold could feel his body sinking into the warmth of the bed, and curiously asked, "What was your nightmare about?"

It was admittedly amusing to feel the way they both tensed up at the same time, and his lips twitched upwards as Hunted whispered, "I was coming apart. It was wet and burning."

"Her stomach," Cold mused, and Hunted nodded, gripping Cold's arm tighter.

"Couldn't get out, couldn't be free, had no one to help me- so I woke up and found Oppy."

Cold wasn't sure whether Hunted was expecting him to comment on the nightmare or comfort him, but he did neither. Instead, he just watched the way Hunted's wide eyes stared off into the distance, breathing switching between picking up and slowing down.

Then, Cold wasn't sure why he did it, but he just knew that he couldn't look at such a familiar expression for much longer- so he blew cold air in Hunted's face.

Hunted blinked in surprise, then froze at the feeling, at being softly taken out of his head.

Cold didn't really have a reason as to why he did this. It probably would have been better to focus on someone else's problems- but seeing Hunted like that unnerved him in a way that he hadn't felt before.

Cold stopped blowing air, and when Hunted looked up at him, he was silent. He didn't smile or say anything, but the look in his dark eyes looked so much more soft and relaxed.

That thing that wriggled within Cold started to slow down, and he could feel his muscles become less tense.

"What about you, Oppy?" Cold asked, turning to look over at the other before he could dwell on what was happening.

Opportunist's face froze at the question, before he smiled, waving a hand dismissively through the air as he said, "Oh, no nightmares for me, thankfully. I'm just here to make sure my poor little brother is okay."

"That's not true," Hunted quietly muttered, leaning closer to get a better look at the other.

Opportunist's smile became more strained, and he looked Hunted in the eye as he said with more force, "No, I didn't. I'm fine."

"You told me you felt yourself falling," Hunted rebutted. "You said that you were too scared to move, in case you fell down the stairs in the cabin again. I remember feeling how much you shook in my arms."

Hunted had a determined glint in his eyes as he tilted his head to the side. "Are you going to tell me that I'm wrong?"

Cold observed the silent argument the two of them were having, until it was going on for so long that it started to bore him.

He sighed and looked over at Opportunist. "I don't particularly care if you have nightmares or what manner of them they are. I'd honestly be more surprised if you didn't have them, considering you're nothing like me."

Opportunist's eyes flicked down at him, studying him intensely.

Cold decided to just squeeze his hand.

Opportunist's eyes widened slightly, looking more like his brother than before.

Opportunist looked back up at Hunted, and all it took was a few seconds for his face to fall, sighing sharply as he let his true exhaustion and fear show.

From the corner of his eye, Cold saw Hunted smile victoriously for a split second, happy that his brother was being himself in this space.

"It wasn't great, alright?" was all Opportunist said, before flopping back down, now hugging Cold's arm with a tired look in his eye.

Hunted settled back down as well, and a comfortable silence fell over the three of them. Cold was surprised to find that he didn't really mind it.

This silence wasn't suffocating. This silence wasn't unbearable. This silence didn't make Cold feel like he was losing his mind.

"What about you, Cold?" Hunted whispered, and Cold found himself struggling to remember what the nightmare that had rattled him so severely had been about. It just felt like a distant ache now.

His eyelids started to grow heavy, the warm weights on either side of him cocooning him and making him feel like he was floating. Has he ever experienced something like this before?

"You know what?" Cold softly said, his wings wrapping around the brothers and pulling them closer to him. "I've completely forgotten about it."