Another Sleepless Night

[Fmkitty]

Title: Another Sleepless Night
Status: Complete
Characters: Akira, Keisuke
Pairing: Akira x Keisuke
Summary: After today's small fight, Akira asks Keisuke to sleep alone as a punishment.
However, upon accidentally checking on him, Akira may realize that he made a mistake.

[Originally written on 2023-02-07]

 

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It is already late but at first glance, a peaceful night. However, for one silver-hair man, who keeps rolling from one side to another and hoping to fall asleep, it isn’t.

Unfortunately, after another hour of vain struggling, Akira gives up and lies on the back while lazily opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling.

No matter how much he prefers staying in the warm embrace of tatami, he needs to get up, or else his dry throat won’t let him rest. Besides, on his way, he can check on his partner before going back to sleep.

That’s right, today, instead of scolding Keisuke for not containing his excitement and not holding back, Akira strictly explained while giving an icy gaze that tonight he would sleep in another room. Despite these made guilty puppy eyes and hearing his name in a whimpering voice, the silver-haired man wasn’t affected and didn’t change his final decision.

But for now, half-hour passes by, and when Akira leaves the kitchen, he heads back to the bedroom. In the meantime, he needs to make sure whether he has a bad feeling. Apparently, he also worries for no good reason - the certain brunette was deeply asleep, and no force may not wake him up.

At least one of them would rest tonight. Or so the silver-haired man thinks to himself as he observes peacefully slumbering his partner and feeling how the heavy rock is removed from his chest.

Yet, when he turns his back and is about to leave, he is startled by the familiar voice ‘‘Please,… Stop!… Don’t come near me. I beg you, please… save me, Akira.’’.

After hearing this cry for help, Akira widens his eyes and freezes in the same spot. Despite the shock, he turns back and notices how poor Keisuke curls and shivers in fear during his sleep.

At a moment like this, Akira sets aside and forgets such a petite little thing as today’s conflict and rushes to his dear friend’s side. After kneeling down, he grabs the brunette by the shoulders and shakes him ‘‘Oi… wake up!’’.

Unfortunately, neither his voice nor the drastic measures as several times slapping Keisuke fail to work against the demons tormenting the brunette in his dreams.

More importantly, it gives the opposite effect - it only stresses him even more than before and fuels the terror. More so, if it wasn’t for his fast reflexes to dodge the sent attack at him, Akira might have been sent back flying for a while.

Nevertheless, he refuses to leave Keisuke’s side. Not at least until he’ll calms down.

Although, the longer Akira stares at the suffering brunette, the more he feels stressed. Therefore, he has to put Keisuke at ease.

Of course, in the meantime, the silver-haired man can quickly get at least a blanket to cover himself. However, according to himself, it will be only an unnecessary waste of time. Besides, he had survived in worse conditions in Toshima and dealt with local fauna. That’s why it shouldn’t be any problem by handling a little chilliness. Or so Akira convinces himself, while closely lying behind Keisuke.

At first, the brunette instinctively resists and tries to brush away anyone who threatens him in his dream world.

Yet, Akira is too stubborn to give up easily. After taking a deep breath, he successfully wraps his arms around Keisuke. Lastly, this is the best he can do to support the brunette when the words cannot reach him.

It’s not the first time, nor will be the last when Keisuke is haunted by nightmares about the past. Perhaps the brunette cannot remember what happened or what he did under the rein’s influence. However, deep inside in the subconsciousness level, the memory of the bloody massacre accompanied by screams of agony and despair is perfectly preserved and keeps coming back to torture him.

This time, it’s a distant but familiar voice whispering a simple command ‘‘kill’’ which eventually multiplies and echoes from all directions and constantly repeats. Yet, it is not the devil but another entity who claims to be following the brunette as long as he exists and won’t leave him even after his death.

More so, this dark shadow suggests that his hands will never be clean again. Not after smearing them with such an outrageous amount of blood.

But it’s okay, he shouldn’t worry about this. Instead, he should remember the ticklish and exciting sensation of cutting anyone’s life thread and embracing his true nature while bathing in the red, warm liquid. Or so the twisted creature adds.

In the end, this entity curves an evil smile and pushes Keisuke into the pit of countless pale, rotting arms, which are bloodthirsty for him. He knows there is no escape for him from this hellhole, or his mute scream will reach that dark shadow figure who only silently enjoys his suffering. Even so, he is desperate to escape and live.

Meanwhile, Akira softens his gaze and tightly hugs his trembling and whining partner. It hurts seeing this, and there isn’t much he can do. After all, he can’t help Keisuke carry a cross which only meant for him.

Even if it is not in his power to prevent Keisuke from having these nightmares, he can make them go away faster if he acts on time. At this point, he forgot the count of how many times his slumber got interrupted by this.

However, as long as his presence and given comfort drive away the brunette’s inner demons, that put patience and effort worth it.

And thus, tonight is not an exception. Finally, Keisuke stops speaking during his sleep, and his stiff body relaxes. Lastly, he gently whispers his most precious and important person’s name before sinking into peaceful slumber again.

Although, Akira decides to stay at Keisuke’s for longer. Besides, he becomes too lazy to get up or return to the bedroom and sleep.

He can borrow the blanket, but it might wake up the brunette, and then he would make himself look like a fool by trying to explain how he ended up here.

In the end, Akira pushes his luck by hoping that after closing his eyes, he’ll doze for an hour at most and leave.

Some time passes by. It is already the beginning of the new day. Or so Akira assumes when the morning sunlight shines on his eyelids. Yet, he can feel that something is off.

Even with his eyes closed, he feels that he is covered in a warm blanket. After sitting up, he looks around and sighs.

‘‘How did Keisuke woke up first? More importantly, why didn’t he sense anything? Well, it doesn’t matter now.’’ Or so he wonders as he stretches out and gets up.

Lastly, thanks to the small details and gestures of affection as wrapping Akira in warmth, make him forget he was mad at Keisuke yesterday and forgive him.

Besides, the brunette truly resembles Shiba Inu - by no means is he mischievous for the purpose of just upsetting Akira. He only does what he thinks is right. More importantly, his puppy eyes help him get away with almost anything, even if he doesn’t realize this.

But for now, Akira is curious about what surprises he can expect from Keisuke today.