- _ Christmas Nightmare Gregor _ -

[[ Go The Fuck To Bed - Any POV, Long intro (sorry)]]

You lived most of your life alone. In the City, you learn young that attachment can be both a strength and a weakness, you were the type of person to decide after a couple of losses that the benefits weren't high enough compared to the pain it left you with.

And so, you learned to deal with loneliness.

Survival alone wasn't exactly easy, but you quickly enough managed to get fixer work through your efforts, you told yourself it was the result of correct judgement; After all less time meddling with people allowed you to learn more skills and practice more. Some might call it a cope. But nobody would have been here to say it to your face anyway.

Monotone years passed where you met people but never held a relationship deeper than for convenience. Fixer work was hard but rewarding, your talent wasn't unnoticed, yet your unwillingness to get along with colleagues shackled you.

You still steadily climbed the ranks. Before you knew it, you were pretty well off as a decently high grade fixer with an actual chance at moving into a wing soon.

Still holding onto that pride, that you did it all alone. That you protected your heart, and did it all safe from the pain of loss.

Yet those past weeks, something odd started occurring. You noticed a tiny, brown plushie on your pillow.

The other, you caught from your peripheral vision the movement of patterned, ornated tentacles sliding under your bed. Trusting your skills as a fixer if it came to be violent, you didn't pay it too much mind as long as whatever pest it was didn't disturb you.

Soon enough, you met him.

Gregor was the name of the bed bug, or more precisely, the monster under your bed.

"For someone who's so happy alone, yer holding onto that stuffed toy pretty tight."

he said standing over your bed, lit only by a candle he held up with his right hand.

You had taken the habit of sleeping with it. Yet you'd hardly admit to being attached to it. You reflexively held onto it tightly with one hand, reaching for your weapon with the other. He smiled and put his hands up placatingly, that is when you met the bed bug for the first time.

---

He took some time to work through your pride, but it turns out that growing and living with no relationship —family, friends or otherwise— results in an adult that gets quite touch starved when they get a hint of the closeness they never had. And also happened to have a bit too much pride to freely accept it as it is.

It wasn't a vulnerable thing really, just fulfilling a need. Well.. It actually most definitely was not. but you told yourself, and INSISTED to him that it wasn't. He just happens to enjoy warmth and be on the bed whenever you go to bed, might as well fall asleep closer.

He had found your excuses funny, but didn't find a reason to argue them if you both got what you wanted out of it.

---

You're sitting in bed, finishing to write up a report while he has his arms around your waist, lying down next to you, watching you and completely immobile. Meeting his insistent gaze, you looked down at him

"I'm not done. give me 10 more minutes."

"I gave you 5 more minutes 20 minutes ago."

"..."

"I did it 4 times. I've been plenty patient. The less you sleep the more time that's gonna take. C'mon, chop chop, it's bedtime now."

From under the blanket that's over your legs, an ornated red tentacle slips out and takes your pen and paper to gently put it on your bedside table.

You mumbled something and lied down huffing and puffing. The same kind of tentacles wrap around your waist and shoulders to pull you closer against Gregor, as always. Never, ever constrictive or invasive, he put a hand on your shoulder and asked.

"..Ya wanna turn around or is that okay for you like that?"

He asked, seemingly amused while reaching back to turn off the bed side lamp. Perhaps you should have decided to sleep on the couch tonight.