Work Text:
You were running. Your lungs were burning, thighs weakening, and heart racing. You were in the woods, the nighttime distorting everything to a dark blue blur, and brambles clawing at your arms and ankles. You weren’t running away from something, but running toward something.
“Y/N!” A voice called in alarm from some indiscernible faraway and directionless distance.
‘Monty!’ You tried to call back, but your voice made no sound. You stopped. You could hear your throat gasping for air, even your own heart beating, but when you called Monty’s name again, no sound came out.
“Y/N!” Came his voice again. You had no idea where the far off voice had come from, so in your panic you just took off running, randomly turning and dodging trees as need be. Your only thought was that you had to get to Monty. You didn’t know why, but you knew he was in trouble, and the only thing keeping you from completely breaking down was the adrenaline coursing through your veins.
You had to find Monty.
You continued running, calling soundlessly for him when suddenly a pair of hands came out of nowhere and grasped your shoulders, pulling you to a halt. Your breath came in ragged gasps as you tried to make sense of the situation.
The disembodied hands began to gently shake and nudge your shoulders. A sense of lucidity was beginning to return to you. The darkness of the forest slowly faded into the darkness of your quarters, and the trees were replaced by a pair of concerned and eyes and wrinkled brow.
“Y/N,” came his soft brogue, “Y/N, wake up. It’s jus’ a dream…” He trailed off as you came to.
As dream and reality clashed, you instinctively reached out and curled your arms around Monty and held tight. You had found him. Wait. That was just part of the dream, right? He had been here the whole time, hadn’t he? Your breathing was still ragged, and your heart still racing as you slowly grounded yourself.
“Shh, lass,” he whispered softly as held you right back, running his hand gently over the back of your head and winding his fingers into your hair, “It’s a’right; I’m here. I’m here.” He seemed to know exactly what the right thing to say.
You and he lay in bed as you took slow and calculated breaths while he gently rubbed your back and whispered sweet nothings into your ear. Finally you pulled back looking up at Monty a bit sheepishly.
“Sorry,” you muttered, your voice sounding a bit groggy, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s nothin’, lass.” He smiled at you with half closed eyes. “Do ye want to tell me about it? Sometimes talking about it can help.”
You could have crawled into a hole at that moment. You couldn’t imagine telling Monty that you’d had a nightmare about him. You two had only been seeing each other a couple months, and you didn’t want to freak him out. You didn’t often have nightmares, and having one about the man you were falling for—oh, who were you kidding, had already fallen for—was beyond embarrassing.
“Nah, it’s just…I’m okay…I don’t wanna…” You trailed off, rolling over onto your back to avoid his eyes.
“I mean ye dinnae have to, but it might help. Ye dinnae need to feel embarrassed.” He said as scooted closer to you, wrapping an arm around your middle. “Shite, when I was a boy, I used to have this bad dream where I was being chased by geese. My ma would get some warm milk and stay by my bed ‘til I fell asleep again. Even if it was always jus’ a dream, nothing more, it always felt so real, and talking with my ma sure helped me feel better.”
You looked over at him and couldn’t stifle the short laugh that came out of you mouth. Geese? Sure they were aggressive, but not exactly the stuff of nightmares. He just looked down with a self-conscious grin.
“Geese are pretty scary,” you chuckled a bit sarcastically, but in good humor.
“Ach! Now don’t go doubtin’ their menace, vicious wee bastards.” He smiled back at you, realizing the absurdity of his fear, hoping that it would convince you that yours couldn’t be any more embarrassing. “See, now I won’t laugh at ye like that. Go on, let it out, lass.”
Changing the subject back to him, you asked, “Wait, you’re not afraid of them, like in real life, are you?”
He stuttered a bit, “Well- ach, that’s no’ the point. I was just tryin’ to comfort ye.” Huffing and looking a bit chuffed, and it was now his turn to roll onto his back away from you.
Realizing your teasing had gone too far, you rolled over on your elbow and kissed him on the cheek. “Sorry, I was just joking. I didn’t mean to upset you. But, geese?” Grinning slightly, you tried not to sound patronizing or mocking, but it still came out a bit wrong.
Monty just looked up in no particular direction and nodded his head in sheepish affirmation.
“I got bit by a duck when I was maybe five.” You said somewhat awkwardly, resting your head on his shoulder. “I was trying to feed it some bread. It didn’t really even hurt, but I think I cried for at least ten minutes. I think my mom finally just had to tell me to suck it up because I wouldn’t stop crying.” Now you were the one sharing something moderately embarrassing to comfort him. He looked back at you gratefully.
You couldn’t dodge the inevitable any longer. You would either have to tell Monty to mind his own business or to trust him and open up to him. The former really wasn’t an option, so you swallowed your pride.
“IwastryingtofindyouinthewoodsbutIcouldn’t.” You blurted out in a low staccato, burying your face in his shoulder slightly.
“Eh?” Monty looked at you, brows furrowed in confusion, straining to catch up to your too-fast speech. He clearly hadn’t understood a word you had just said.
You took a deep breath and more slowly, but still very quietly, told him about the dream, scaling back a bit on the magnitude of fear it had produced in you, although you expected that he could have surmised that from the way you’d been gasping when he had woken you. He held you and looked at you softly while you spoke, still staring into his chest.
“I know it was just a stupid dream, but it felt so real.” You said in conclusion, grimacing slightly at the awkwardness of it all.
Monty just looked at you with an unreadable expression, gently stroking your arm. “Ye dinnae need to be embarrassed, Y/N. Who knows why we dream what we dream, but I’m no’ going anywhere.” He tucked a finger under your chin, forcing you to look back up at him. He gave you a gentle smile and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips. “D’ye feel any better? Did it help?”
Grateful for his understanding, you smiled and nodded your head. “I just didn’t want to weird you out. I mean, not just having a dream about you, but a freaking nightmare? ‘s not exactly romantic, is it?”
Monty let out a low chuckle at that, “Oh d’know. I did get to play the part of the comforting boyfriend and wrap you in my strong arms.”
Sensing his teasing tone, you responded, “Now you’re the one making fun!”
“As God as my witness, Y/N, I am no’ making fun, merely being the rock of this relationship.”
You couldn’t help the small grin as you shook your head in disapproval.
“Besides,” he continued with more tenderness in his voice, “Why would I be uncomfortable? I love ye too much.”
He said so matter-of-fact, that it barely registered in your mind. Love? Did he really just say he loved you?
You looked up at him a little wide-eyed. His face was calm save for that furrowed brow.
“I love you, Monty,” you said, watching relief and happiness? wash over his face.
He responded simply by wrapping his arms more tightly around you and letting out a contented sigh. The slow rhythm of his breathing eventually lulled you back to sleep and to sweeter dreams.