Light in the Hallway
When you have a child, you get used to the fact that your bed is no longer just yours. Of course, you’ve been sharing it with your significant other but now you have a child. And children have no concept of personal space. What’s yours is theirs, and what's theirs is also theirs. As they get older, it gets a bit better but when they’re toddlers, they will constantly be crawling in your bed.
At two and a half years old, Asher was pretty good about sleeping in his own bed. Sirius or Remus would tuck him in, tell him a story or two, and he was usually out like a light. This was the process they had gone through tonight.
After Remus’s second story, Asher was sleeping soundly, his little face almost completely covered by his blanket. He had a habit of pulling his comforter over himself, covering his face completely, which made Sirius extremely nervous that he was going to smother himself. After months of trying to break the habit, they’d sort of given up.
So the two of them went through their own nighttime routine before heading to bed. It was only a couple hours later at midnight that their sleep was interrupted. The door slowly creaked open, soft footsteps treading across the carpeting of their bedroom.
Sirius was the first to wake up, always a light sleeper and especially so after becoming a dad. Quiet sniffles came from next to his side of the bed as he blinked away the sleep.
Asher stood there, face wet with tears as he clutched at his lion stuffie, “D-Daddy.”
“Hey, mon petit, what’s going on?” Sirius said quietly, his hand coming to brush through Asher’s soft curls as he sat up, blankets falling around his waist.
Clutching his lion closer, the little boy hiccuped out a quiet sob, “H-had a bad d-dream.” The tears started falling faster as Sirius carefully pulled Asher into his lap. As he rubbed his son’s back, another pair of arms wrapped around both of them, Remus’s head resting on his shoulder.
“Do you want to talk about it, bub?” Remus asked, his voice still raspy with sleep as he rubbed a hand over Asher’s back.
Before he could finish his sentence, Asher was already shaking his head, “N-no! No, t-thank you.” He whispered, trying to wipe the tears from his face with the sleeve of his dinosaur pajamas. Asher didn’t get nightmares often, maybe one or two bad ones. The last one had been after Nado had gotten hurt on the ice. He was a little worrywart with a very big heart, seeing his uncle hurt had been hard on him. Or any of their family.
Remus leaned down, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, “That’s alright, you don’t have to talk about it, but Daddy and I are here for you, baby.” He whispered.
“C-Can I sleep with you and Daddy tonight?” Asher asked, looking up at the two of them warily. As if they could ever say no to him.
Sirius was already moving him to lay between them, “Of course you can, mon chou. Always.” Grabbing a tissue from his bedside table, Remus gently wiped Asher’s face up and then pulled the covers over the three of them. Asher curled up, his back pressed to Sirius’s chest and his free hand holding tight to Remus’s shirt.
“Sweet dreams, Daddy. Sweet dreams, Papa. Love you.” Asher mumbled, his eyes already falling closed as the exhaustion from his crying finally hit him.
Remus pressed a kiss to his forehead, “We love you too, bub. Forever and always.” He said quietly, his arm moving to pull Sirius closer so they were all pressed close. Seeing their son so scared was always hard, but they would always be there to wipe away the tears.