My unicorn got run over by a tractor

Have you ever tried really hard to relax?

Yeah, it doesn't really work, does it.

Duke had been doing his best. He'd spent multiple hours of the last few days in the water (always providing his partners with ample warning and not pushing himself to stay under the surface for longer than, like, 30 seconds at a time, which was . . . unsatisfying). Many of the other hours he'd spent sunbathing or tinkering with things.

He was most successful, though, when he decided to nap.

So he'd been sleeping . . . kind of a lot. Possibly getting towards worrying amounts. Today, he'd gotten up a bit early, gone for a swim, and then come back to dry off in the sun a bit before retreating right back to the sleeping cabin by the time lunch time rolled around.

Of course, midday naps were prime time for vivid, discombobulating dreams, so he really probably shouldn't have been surprised when this one took a hard turn ( sideways )

"Shut up," Duke mumbled in his sleep. He rolled over, fighting the light covers, trying to wake up but not quite making it. "Leave m'lone."

In his dreams they continued to argue, each insisting that they get to hold his leash.

[for them's that are on the boat with him, should they care to try to wake the poor boy up.]

Duke was having a very rough night, his second in a row. Nightmares weren't unusual for him, but having them every time he closed his eyes was new. He kept having dreams about his childhood, of freezing in an unheated house in the Maine winter, his stomach cramping so hard from hunger the thought of actually eating just made him feel worse. He tried to distract himself with the good memories instead: the nights the McShaws invited him for dinner. Curling up with Octavia under warm covers on a cold night. Sharing a bed with Nathan, the night after their high school graduation.

But Geoff McShaw was dead. And Nathan hated him. And even his love for Octavia could get complicated.

So when his mind finally managed something resembling a good dream -- him and Nathan and Octavia, all together in an enormous bed -- it very quickly turned bad again.

Duke laughed as Nathan rolled him over, tossing him down on his back and straddling his hips. "You want it on top today, huh?"

Nathan wasn't laughing back, though. His face was flushed, his eyes red, like they'd been when that trouble had made him crazy. And his hands were sliding up Duke's chest, fastening around his throat.

Behind him, Octavia's eyes were wide and wet and wild as blood began to drip down over her chin. . . .

[for the one in the bed with him. Mmmm, BDE CONTENT WARNING: violence and gore]