"Kid, you ever get lonely?"
"Huh? How could I?"
Heyes looked across at his companion. Moonlight silvered his hair and skin, making him seem nearly unreal. "Because there's never anyone else around, you know?"
"But Heyes, you're here." Kid smiled, a glint of teeth in the darkness. "How can I be lonely?"
Heyes sighed in frustration. Too many things were crowding together in his mind, things he wanted to say but didn't quite dare. Things he couldn't say, because he couldn't quite figure out what they were. "Dunno, Kid. Just... never mind."
Curry moved, pushing himself upright in the soft feather mattress. "No. Not never mind. Something's been eating at you. I mean, I may not be as sharp as you are, but even I can tell there's something wrong. What is it?"
"Nothing's wrong, Kid." Heyes rolled over, away from the other man.
"Bull," Curry said. He shifted closer, put a hand on Heyes's side. "If nothing's wrong, then why are you acting so weird lately? Are you lonely? Getting tired of me?"
"Not hardly," Heyes protested automatically. "I just. look, Kid, maybe I just don't know what's wrong, okay?"
"Hmmm." Kid rubbed lightly, up and down, like he would with a skittish horse. He felt Heyes relax a tiny bit. "Okay, I can understand that," he said, then yawned. It was really getting late. He stretched back out on his side, still rubbing. That felt good. he didn't want to stop.
"Kid. what're you doing?" Heyes protested, but didn't move away.
"Nothin', Heyes," he replied, around another yawn. "Just thinking. "
"About what?" Heyes shifted back onto his back, eyes wide and staring in the moonlight.
"Just wondering how you could feel lonely. We got each other, ain't we?" Curry, deprived of a side to rub, hooked his arm around Heyes's middle. After a moment, he felt a hand come to rest on his arm.
"Yeah, Kid. We've got each other."
Silence fell over the pair. Curry drifted, not really aware of anything but the warmth of Heyes in the bed beside him.
Heyes shifted again, closer this time. Maybe he didn't have a name to put to the demons hounding him inside, but he was able to recognize when they'd been chased away. He moved closer still, so he was pressed up against the Kid, who sighed and rested his head on Heyes's shoulder. Maybe he didn't know what he wanted, but for now, for this moment, life was very good. He relaxed at last and drifted off to sleep, wrapped in peace.