he couldn’t sleep, - could ɴ ᴇ ᴠ ᴇ ʀ sleep. - Sleep was for softer moments, times when he could confidently tell himself that he and his comrades would make it through the night without chaos breaking their slumber; without having a gun thrust into their hands before their pupils had even had a chance to adjust to the flash of light overhead. - Or rather as of lately, times when he could adequately lie to himself that the only ᴡ ᴀ ʀ he could fight on naught sleep was the one that began in his head the moment it even came as close as to ghost across a bed roll. Funny how he always lost , his performance taking the brunt simply because he was prepared , just not when the fight was .
but tonight held up restless, an air of s ᴏ ᴍ ʙ ʀ ᴇ ɴ ᴇ s s clinging to their surroundings like a wet shirt that Gabe could only hope in all selfishness that Jack felt too. - One of these days he was going to get somebody ᴋ ɪ ʟ ʟ ᴇ ᴅ if he kept going into combat sleep deprived, but the thought alone only made him overthink further, setting him into a downwards spiral of trying too hard to go to sleep and thus only making his mind more alert. Gabriel Reyes saw worse things in his dreams than the warzone of his waking day could’ve ever prepared him for.
eyes find their way through the ᴅ ᴀ ʀ ᴋ ɴ ᴇ s s to set their sights on the body sleeping a cot over, their breathing steady; each shallow intake a rise and fall beneath fabric, synchronising up with his own as he fell naturally into ᴘᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɴ. ( the only sign that he had spent one moment too many monitoring the blonds slumber and not focusing on his own. )
It was good to actually see Jack sleeping for a change, but like all good things, it didn’t last a great deal of time. ᴍ ᴇ ʟ ʟ ᴏ ᴡ intakes soon transcend into disarray as fight or flight kicks in, heartbeat rapid and limbs thrashing against a predator unique to his own imagination. What his friend saw in his sleep Gabriel could only hope he never bared witness to, because Morrison had a grit to him that you wouldn’t believe, and if it could send a war hardened soldier into a fight against himself, it can’t have been sunshine and rainbows . It doesn’t take more than a second for him to have leapt to his friends aid, kneeling in the dust beside the bed as firm hands splay themselves across his ᴄ ᴏ ʟ ʟ ᴀ ʀ ʙ ᴏ ɴ ᴇ s, pressing down in a fight to stop the lashing and coax him back into the safety of reality, even if it was admittedly a ᴛ ᴇ ᴍ ᴘ ᴏ ʀ ᴀ ʀ ʏ one
even in his ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍs Morrison couldn’t swallow his pride down long enough to stay out of a brawl. He shook his head.
" Jack- Jack s t o p. Wake up, you’re ᴀ ʟ ʀ ɪ ɢ ʜ ᴛ. ”
- you couldn’t go up against your demons alone and expect to win, everybody needed someone you could rely on to save your arse no matter the terrain or bullshit you got yourself into. And he was proud to say he had his back wholeheartedly . Whether it be threat or fiction they faced; ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ғᴀᴄᴇ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ.