I don’t sleep well. Never have. I’ve tried everything, aromatherapy, reading before bed, leaving anything with a backlight out of my room, lying in the dark relaxing all my muscle one by one, every relaxation app on the planet, and melatonin. Nothing worked.

 

It’s not exactly that I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep, that I can deal with. It’s the nightmares. Nothing works for those. My apartment is covered in dreamcatchers, because what harm could it do to try? They don’t work. I leave them up only because I hope that one day they will convince my brain not to torment me when I try to sleep. I live out my days in the haze of waking sleep because sleep at night is never fulfilling, never rejuvenating.

 

I was after one of the worst nights that my boyfriend, Hoseok, finally got fed up.

 

“That’s it,” he burst out after I had almost walked into the fifth pole that day. “I’m spending the night. Maybe I can help.”

 

I shrugged.

 

“As a lazy tailor would say, suit yourself.”

 

He smiled at that.

 

Evening came around, after about three more almost-pole-collisions, and I was in my apartment waiting for the knock on the door that meant Hoseok would be there. I was trying to focus on the laptop in my lap (because that’s why it’s called a laptop in the first place) that held my work for the night, but I kept zoning out and finding myself staring at the nearest dreamcatcher.

 

It wasn’t long after six that the awaited knock sounded on the door. I pulled myself out of my most recent staring contest with the dreamcatcher, closed the laptop and set it on the counter, and went to open the door.

 

Hoseok’s arms wrapped around me and pulled me into his chest. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the closeness for a second and then started wriggling.

 

“If you don’t let go I’m gonna fall asleep right here,” I said.

 

Hoseok laughed and let go. Walking into my apartment he set his overnight bag down and plopped onto the couch.

 

“I’ve always wondered about your obsession with dreamcatchers,” he commented, looking at the one I had had staring contests with for the past hour-and-a-half.

 

I shrugged at him and sat down, tucking myself under his left arm.

 

“My mom put one up in my room in high school hoping that maybe it would help. When I asked her why she explained them to me. Supposedly, the bad dreams get lost in the web that’s formed in the circle and are into the bead while the good dreams can find their way through and into your mind at night. The Native Americans used to say that when the dreamcatchers swayed it meant that another good dream had passed through.”

 

Hoseok smiled and nodded his head.

 

“I see why you have so many, then,” he said. “But now I’m hungry and I’m sure you are, too. So I’m going to choose food to order and we’re going to eat and then watch some TV and then I am going to get you to sleep.”

 

I laughed at that. He was constantly hungry and he always let me choose what we ate unless he had a plan. It seems that he had a very specific plan for tonight so I let him get up from the sofa. I slid down onto the cushion his had occupied and closed my eyes as I enjoyed the warmth.

 

“The pizza should be here in about half and hour,” Hoseok said, lifting my upper body and sitting down before laying my head onto his lap. “So we have thirty minutes to kill. What do you want to do?”

 

I shrugged and buried my face deeper into his thighs.

 

“Let’s turn on the TV and see if there’s something decent on,” I suggested, my voice coming out muffled by his legs.

 

Hoseok chuckled and started to pet my hair as he reached for the remote. There must be a god out there somewhere because we found something not terrible to watch while we waited. The pizza came on time and we took it to the couch to pig out on. When that was finished we turned our attention back to the show on the TV, leaving the mess for the morning.

 

It wasn’t long before I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Hoseok could sense it and obviously decided it was time to attempt to get me to sleep. He grabbed the remote, turning off the TV and stood up, tucking his arms under my upper back and my knees. He hauled me up against him and began to trudge toward my bedroom.

 

Kicking the door open, he made his way to the bed and deposited me there. He turned back to the door and disappeared through it. When he came back, he had changed into his pajamas and was holding one of his long white T-shirts.

 

“I know you like to wear my shirts to bed so I figured I’d bring one and take the other ones you’ve stolen from me,” he said softly, placing the shirt beside my head. “I’ll turn away so you don’t have to get out of bed.”

 

I started to move groggily to put the shirt on as he turned his back to me. My pants came off first and then my shirt and my bra, leaving me in just my . His shirt went on over my head and then I was falling back against the pillow. I reached out to him, trying to touch him and let him know that I was ready but he was too far away. My hand fell back to the bed with a thump which got Hoseok’s attention. As he turned around he laughed softly at the sight of me laying there on the bed.

“Let me put these away for you,” he offered, kissing me on the temple and taking the discarded clothes.

 

The clothes were thrown into the closet haphazardly and Hoseok was walking back over the bed, climbing in behind me, and throwing an arm over my waist to pull me closer to him.

 

“Goodnight, jagiya,” he said quietly into my ear.

 

“Goodnight, Hoseok,” I said back and then I was giving in to sleep.

 

 

---

 

I woke up in the morning and stretched, not expecting to feel a body behind me. I froze before remembering last night and relaxing as his arm pulled me closer.

 

“How’d you sleep, love,” he asked me, smiling.

 

I thought about it for moment, my eyes widening when I realized that there were no nightmares.

 

Hoseok smiled even brighter at my reaction.

 

“You’re the only dreamcatcher that’s ever worked,” I said.