#wibar int: nt

[delimeful]

WIBAR Intermission: Night Terrors

welcome to the third intermission piece; also a commission for @walkingonsunshine for more WIBAR content! sorry for the delay, and i hope you enjoy! <3 

if you’re new to this AU, you can find the first story on tumblr here and the ao3 collection here!

warnings: panic, fear, nightmares, depiction of night terrors, hurt/kind of comfort, tsundere princey

---

Roman carefully adjusted their flight course, half his attention devoted to keeping an eye on the Human currently hovering around one of his two closest friends. 

How strange his life had become, for that sentence to only be mildly terrifying. He glanced at the charted course on the ship’s displays one more time, and then made his way over to the others. 

Predictably, the Human’s gaze flitted to him immediately, and though his shoulders went taut, he continued speaking in low Common. 

“Are you sure this is safe? What if you need to get off-planet quickly, won’t we be too far? The smugglers could have people there, what if they recognize Patton--,” 

“Virgil,” Logan cut in, still carefully slotting items into his traveling pack as he made direct eye contact with the Human. “We’ve taken this all into account, and we have several contingency plans. If I thought that either of us were in danger, this trip wouldn’t be happening.”   

“I know you don’t think the chances are high, but…” The Human shifted his weight, working his freaky jaw as though chewing on his words. “Is it worth the risk, though?”

“In order to keep our ship running efficiently and avoid budget…,” Logan paused, and then revised his statement, accommodating the Human’s inability to comprehend nerd speak. “We need currency and information, and this is the best way. It will also keep us from looking suspicious and risk being boarded.” 

The Human averted his eyes, shamed by the reminder that he was the reason they were striving to remain so secretive. Roman huffed derisively. Before, they hadn’t ever picked up anything illegal or unsavory while running missions. Now, they had an entire stowaway on board that could get them in serious trouble.

“What about Roman?” the Human asked, a curious note entering his voice. “I… I know that I can’t go, but he’d be able to keep you safe, right?” 

Roman bristled slightly, thrown off guard by being suddenly dragged into the argument. Complimenting him, what sort of ploy was this? “Of course I could keep them safe!” 

“However,” Logan shot him a look, completely unfairly since the Human had started it, “Patton and I are the most effective team for trading, and I am a distinctly and severely poisonous species, which means most will be wary to engage. Besides, Roman usually remains onboard to keep the ship functioning properly. Deviating from the norm here could draw unwanted attention, and even open ourselves to the risk of being robbed.” 

The Human seemed ready to continue the discussion, but his mouth clicked shut as Patton skittered into the room at full speed, his own small traveling pack strapped to his waist. “I’m ready to go!” 

Roman raised a skeptical eye ridge at the bulky shape of the bag as the Ampen passed him. “How many cookies are in there?” 

“Just enough to make it through the trip!” Patton chirped back, completely unashamed. The Human’s lips twitched, and Roman reminded himself again that Patton would be upset if he interpreted it as the barely concealed threat display that it clearly was.  

Logan cleared his throat. 

“Can we consider the matter settled, then?” he asked, because he wasn’t above taking advantage of Patton’s puffball-ness to win an argument. It was infuriating when used against Roman himself, but he was more than happy to let the Human face Logan’s underhanded tactics. Virgil’s face pinched up in a strange expression, and then he sighed heavily, slouching more than normal. 

“Aw, still feeling stressed about the trip?” Patton asked, hopping closer to the Human and reaching up to the tip of his talons to pat his hand. 

Obligingly, the Human dropped into a stalker crouch, sickeningly quick. Patton headbutted the underside of the Human’s chin gently, completely unfazed by the threatening body language. Roman did his best to pretend he hadn’t just twitched menacingly in their direction. 

“Don’t worry, Vee, we’re going to be just fine! I’m a little nervous too, but I know everything is going to turn out okay.” They exchanged one of those clingy Human-style embraces, and then Patton finally stepped back, antennae lowered slightly at the parting. “And you’ll be okay, too! You’ve got Roman onboard to help if anything happens!” 

Roman didn’t miss the wary glance the Human threw his way, and he furrowed his brow (one of the few expressions that seemed to convey his general displeasure to the Human fairly well) before turning away pointedly. 

“... Right,” the deathworlder said, sounding more apprehensive than he had any right to be. 

After all, Roman suspected that Virgil hadn’t gotten the lecture/scolding on ‘playing nice while they were gone’ that he had. 

As if Roman was the one to worry about here! Unbelievable.  

---

The first half-cycle that Patton and Logan spent away passed without incident, mostly because the Human didn’t bother to emerge from the guest room and irritate Roman with his presence. 

Roman still struggled to get to sleep, since he couldn’t bring himself to remove his under armor plates while alone in a ship with a Human. Without Patton on board, there was no guarantee that the Human would remain ambivalent towards Roman. 

Humans didn’t take well to anything resembling a threat, after all. 

With that unnerving thought in mind, he should have expected that his dreams would be plagued with flashbulb memories of familiar, long-gone faces, ominous sounds drawing closer in pitch darkness, and claustrophobic tightness pressing in on him. 

He jerked upright, his mind still struggling in the dregs of the nightmare, and froze at a thick tearing sound. 

… That would be the pillows. He sighed as the soft fluff filling spilled out of the holes his scales had pierced. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get them replaced, but Patton often managed the shopping roster, and he’d definitely notice and realize that the nightmares were coming back. 

Roman smoothed his arm scales down absently, shaking his head and climbing out of bed. The lights were still dim, meaning he could barely see three feet past his face, but he had navigated in worse, and he’d also been living on this ship more than long enough to familiarize himself with its layout. It would be simple enough to go get a drink of water, clear his head a bit.

He tried not to focus on the fact that he was traversing the same darkened halls that a Human could be wandering. Or stalking. He shuddered, and regretted it as his scales clacked loudly. 

As though summoned by his thoughts, there was a faraway faint sound. Roman went still, ears panning carefully-- there it was again. There was only one other being onboard that could be the source of the noise, but what was the Human even doing at such an hour? 

With only a little hesitation, he made a detour, following the turns and curves until he reached the guest door that he knew housed their illegal stowaway. 

Luckily, the Human always left the door partially open, so it was easy for him to peer in and spot the vague outline of him, curled in a pile of bedding on the floor. It was even easier to see the way the Human tossed and turned, murmuring, clearly caught in the throes of his own nightmare.

Roman softened slightly despite himself as he caught a low whimper. It wasn’t any of his business but… maybe he should go comm Patton. The Ampen would know what to do.

Before he could decide, there was a sharp inhale, and the Human spasmed as though electrocuted, sitting bolt upright and breathing heavily. His entire body seemed to be trembling. 

Roman shifted, awkward at being caught lurking, but the movement made Virgil’s head snap sharply towards him. Something about his eyes, wide and blank, immediately set Roman on edge, and he resisted the urge to growl defensively. 

“What?” he demanded instead. “I simply heard you making noise-- hey!” 

A beat after he’d begun to speak, Virgil jerked away, scrambling to his feet and throwing himself not at Roman, but over the bed, as though trying to put distance between the two of them. He slammed face first into the wall with a painful-sounding thud, but didn’t seem hindered by the injury, turning and wedging himself into the corner of the room.  

Roman took an indignant step forward. Virgil screamed, guttural and terrified, as though someone was murdering him. Roman took several rapid steps backwards, but the Human continued to scream for no reason he could see. He abruptly began to worry about how Patton would react if he got back and found that the Human had spontaneously broken in his absence.

“Woah, calm down! I’m not doing anything to you, I’m just standing here,” he tried, backing up slightly. 

It was like he hadn’t even spoken. Virgil continued to stare right through him, eyes glazed with fear, skin slick with sweat, breathing quick and high-pitched like he was on the edge of sobs. Starting to panic himself, Roman sat down, eased his body language, even talked soothingly, but nothing he did seemed to help shake the Human out of his stupor.

“Please. Please!” 

Roman’s head jerked up as Virgil finally spoke in Common, his voice raspy and thin. “What?” 

“No more, I don’t want to-- please, just take it, leave me alone, please,” the babbling dissolved into Virgil’s native language again, and Roman wondered what kind of dream could possibly reduce a Human to this state. ...What had been taken from him? 

“Please…,” Virgil mumbled again, and then hummed a few shaky notes. Familiar notes.

When the Human’s hoarse voice trailed off, Roman picked up the rhythm. He carefully hummed the Ampen lullaby to completion, struggling not to tense up when Virgil finally reacted, his head swinging to the side as though searching for the source. His gaze eventually settled on Roman, promptly dropping down to his chest. It took him a moment to realize the Human wasn’t eyeing his vulnerable underbelly for attack, but rather, spotting the glowing charm that hung there. 

“Patton?” 

“A friend of Patton,” Roman replied in the musical tones of his crewmate’s language, feeling hopeful as the humans shoulders lowered slightly. Virgil nodded to himself, hand reaching for his own charm. 

“Please don’t hurt me,” he asked mildly, and then collapsed. 

Roman made an alarmed yip that he would absolutely never admit to, and then bolted for the nearest biometrics scanner, thanking his stars that Logan had managed to get the twitchy creature to sit still and register a baseline for them to compare to if he ever got sick or injured. He double checked that the device was offline before logging the Human’s vitals and quickly comparing them to baseline.

Other than a slightly accelerated pulse and an increase in the already ludicrous amount of Dren in his system, it all looked fairly normal. For all intents and purposes, Virgil had simply... fallen back into sleep, just like that. 

“What the fuck,” Roman muttered to himself, watching the Human breathe steadily for a moment more before backing out of the room and heading back to his own quarters, water forgotten. Whatever was wrong with Virgil, he could ask (or interrogate) in the morning. 

For now, he needed a damn nap.

---

The next morning, the Human seemed to have no recollection of the incident. 

After a frustrating amount of time wasted with subtle and then less-subtle prodding questions, Roman threw his arms up and stormed from the room, returning a moment later with the communicator. 

“Call Patton,” he instructed as he firmly shoved the device into Virgil’s hands, ignoring his perplexed expression. He paused for a moment, and then added on, “And give me the comm once you’re done.” 

Not because Roman was worried about the situation or anything. It was just that if he had to put up with terrifying and vexing Human shenanigans, then the other two were going to get an earful about it. 

And... if they decided to talk to Virgil about it and figure out what was wrong, that was their business, not his. He wasn’t involved.

---

Virgil squinted curiously at Roman’s retreating back as the Crav’on vanished into the other room. 

The comm in his hand buzzed twice, indicating that the connection had been established, and he felt some of the stress ease from him as Logan’s calm voice trickled through the alien phone, Patton audible in the distance. They were okay. 

He was okay too, despite all his doubts about being alone on an alien ship with an alien who didn’t hide his distaste for Humans at all. Roman had even seemed oddly concerned at breakfast. 

Maybe the guy didn’t completely hate him, after all.  

#sanders sides #wibar #ts roman #ts virgil #space au #writing #my writing #watch it burn and rust #wibar intermission #wibar int: nt #*dangles roman backstory in front of you all* Soon. #ts logan #ts patton #commissioned works