Edward was only half asleep, his eyes observing the flashing green lights just outside the window before fluttering closed again for a few moments. He was only partially aware of how overheated he was, but with a smile he remembered why it was so warm. With a deep sigh he buried his nose in Oswald's feathery hair and took a deep breath, savoring his precious scent.

Just when he was beginning to feel sleep starting to take him, he felt Oswald tremble slightly and heard him let out a little whimper. At once Ed was wide awake and more concerned than he perhaps should have been, pulling away to look at Oswald's face. He was frowning, his eyes were scrunched up and his brow furrowed in discomfort.

"Oswald?" Ed whispered quietly, trying not to disturb him in case it was nothing.

Then out of nowhere Oswald shouted and sat bolt upright, bursting out of Ed's grasp. It was several seconds before he stopped shouting, and Edward wasn't even sure how to react at first. But when he saw Oswald hang his head and noticed his body start shaking, he slowly sat up and wrapped an arm around his torso.

Oswald started at the touch, but Ed leaned in close to his ear and murmured, "It's okay, Oz, it's only me."

"Ed..."Oswald said softly, relaxing at once into Ed's arms and burying his face in the crook of his neck.

Edward felt wet tears start to soak into his tank top and pulled Oswald tighter to him, rubbing his back softly with one hand as he turned him to wrap the smaller man's legs around his waist. And Oswald clung tight to him, clutching the front of his shirt with white, shaking hands and choked-off sobs.

"It's okay," Ed repeated, raising a hand to run through Oswald's hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Oswald tilted his head to answer, "It was...a bad dream. I saw my mother and...."

Ed pulled Oswald's face away and planted a soft kiss on his forehead, then drew back to look into his eyes. They were still watery, and half-lidded to show how tired he was, but Edward brushed away the tears with his thumbs and kissed the bridge of his nose sweetly.

He let some time go by and allowed Oswald to relax slightly before saying, "Don't worry, Oz, I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise. I weaken all men for hours each day, I show you strange visions while you are away, I take you by night, by day take you back, none suffer to have me, but do from my lack. What am I?"

Oswald frowned for a moment as he thought it over, but answered a short time later, "Sleep."

Edward smiled and kissed him again, this time a small peck on the lips. "We should go back to sleep. If you'd like to, of course."

"Yes, please," Oswald whimpered.

Without further prodding Ed leaned back down on the bed and pulled Oswald gently down with him, keeping a careful grip on his bad leg as they both relaxed back into the pillows. With the leg resting comfortably on his hip he slipped his arms around Oswald's back and snuggled him close. The smaller man curled up into his body, his broken leg pulling them even closer as he buried his head in Ed's chest with a deep sigh.

"Thank you, Ed," Oswald whispered before yawning tiredly.

But Edward only half-heard; he was already falling fast asleep. 

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