Cougar having night terrors is one of the constants in Jake's world. He had them when they first met, when Jake first joined the Losers not long after Cougar came back from Afghanistan, but they'd slowly died away in the intervening years. After Bolivia...
Well. They came back with a vengeance.
Honestly, it's surprising that it's been so many nights without Cougar's hoarse screams jolting him out of a dead sleep. It's not that Jake doesn't have nightmares of his own, but his are generally quieter, more easily hidden, a childhood spent living in group homes ingraining the habit of sleeping as silently as possible overriding any urge he might have to thrash and scream.
For a moment, when he first wakes, he doesn't realize why. He doesn't know where he is, he can't figure out what's happening, and he's left completely disoriented until he hears the screaming again.
Launching himself out of bed, hopping to avoid getting tangled in his sheets, Jake goes hurtling down the L-shaped corridor that separates his room from Cougar's, narrowly avoiding slamming into Veronica's door as he goes. If she managed to sleep through Cougar's screaming, she doesn't deserve to be awoken by Jake sending her door rattling in the frame.
"Cougar," he hisses, reaching out carefully to touch Cougar's ankle, his knee, ready to dodge any fists that come flying towards him. "Carlos. It's just a dream."
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Well. They came back with a vengeance.
Honestly, it's surprising that it's been so many nights without Cougar's hoarse screams jolting him out of a dead sleep. It's not that Jake doesn't have nightmares of his own, but his are generally quieter, more easily hidden, a childhood spent living in group homes ingraining the habit of sleeping as silently as possible overriding any urge he might have to thrash and scream.
For a moment, when he first wakes, he doesn't realize why. He doesn't know where he is, he can't figure out what's happening, and he's left completely disoriented until he hears the screaming again.
Launching himself out of bed, hopping to avoid getting tangled in his sheets, Jake goes hurtling down the L-shaped corridor that separates his room from Cougar's, narrowly avoiding slamming into Veronica's door as he goes. If she managed to sleep through Cougar's screaming, she doesn't deserve to be awoken by Jake sending her door rattling in the frame.
"Cougar," he hisses, reaching out carefully to touch Cougar's ankle, his knee, ready to dodge any fists that come flying towards him. "Carlos. It's just a dream."