#aporters

Which is probably what makes this so terrifying. He can remember with clarity the handful of nightmares he's suffered over the years, remembers the spate that came with Missouri's death, remembers facing down his own parents, grossly distorted and bloated to tens of times greater than their real heights and weights, remembers scrabbling desperately for the approval of an unknown audience that he could never impress, and now--well. Now he's got another nightmare to add to the list that'll play out at the slightest provocation. (Okay, so chances are he won't even think of them again until the next time he snaps awake, but if a guy can't be melodramatic directly after a nightmare, when can he be?)

Ash's grumble at his side pulls him out of his own mind, out of the insanely complicated task of making certain his nightmare hasn't disturbed anything vital; with a quick blanket goodbye to all the broadcasting psychics, he rolls onto his side, takes a half second (a half second longer, a half second shorter than he should) to make sure that he won't be elbowed in the face, or otherwise treated to a trademark Ash dispensation of violence if (when) he reaches for her, and then there's no more real avoiding the fact that he's less hugging her and more clinging to her.

Of course, this doesn't mean that he doesn't get hit in the face, because Ash is as restless waking as she is sleeping, and her attempts at shoving herself up to a sitting position  put her hand in prime territory to reacquaint itself with his face.

"Gh!!" 

"Whu..?"