Griffin’s nightmares were nothing new. He’d been haunted by them since breaking free from HYDRA, but with you beside him, they had slowly faded into the background. Some nights, he even slept soundly, and you had almost let yourself believe they were gone for good. (©TRS0824CAI)

That’s why, when you jolted awake to the suffocating pressure of cold metal around your throat, confusion hit before fear.

“S-Seb—” you choked, clawing desperately at his vibranium hand, but your nails scraped uselessly against the unyielding metal. His grip only tightened, a low, guttural growl rumbling from deep within his chest as he cut off your air supply.

Griffin was always so careful with you—so hesitant to even touch you with his left hand in the beginning, terrified of hurting you. The thought of this ever happening had never even crossed your mind.

"S-Seb... It’s me... Baby, it’s m-me." Your voice was barely a whisper, rasping through the dwindling air, but you forced the words out, desperate to reach him.

But there was no recognition in his eyes. No flicker of Griffin—only a vacant, haunted stare, lost in a nightmare he didn’t know he was living.

He wasn’t awake.

He was trapped in a night terror.