naim reid and the concept of darkness. sleeping in the dark. can i ramble for a second.
maybe naim had a nightlight as a kid, before bandee, before his dad died. maybe he had some friends over for a sleepover once and they laugh, "what kind of a pussy still has a night light?" and his cries come after they leave in the morning, silent tears tracking down his face when he rips it out of the wall and tosses it in the garbage. maybe his dad tells him he didnt have to do that, no shame in it. but his mom calls him brave and kisses him on the top of his head. so when he goes to sleep that night, it's hard and he's restless but he's being brave he tells himself. so, eventually, he learns to be okay with falling sleep in the dark.
after his dad dies, it's hard again. maybe it's not the dark so much, but the silence, the void, the gape in the night that leaves him empty and raw. it's the same silence that his mom was finding comfort in and it is choking him out. so he wakes up in the middle of the night, flicks on the bathroom light down the hall in the early hours of the morning just to get some sleep. it's always turned off by his mum come morning.
he looks for comfort, and the light is turned off. he looks for comfort sleeping by his mother when the entity haunts his dreams, and he's told to get his stuff out of her room.
naim who thinks he's going to die in that mill like hunter had in the servo parking lot, ryan's shadow-etched face above him and coming in for the kill. except it's the orange glow of a lighter's flame that saves him. a guiding light out of this fucking thing.
the first hotel him and ryan get together, they're get ready for bed and ryan hovers by the bathroom door after having showered with the door open. he looks unsure, naim can tell wants to ask something. "what is it?" naim prods. ryan doesn't look up when he says, "do you think we could keep the light on?" and it's like one long sigh of relief. naim doesn't mind sleeping in the dark if he has to, but it's easier if there's someone to turn on the light.
