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He’d been having nightmares like this since he was 13, since he became Kid Danger, and they only got worse over the years. He was never prone to nightmares as a kid, so how they started happening so quickly he’d never know.
From Captain Man never getting his indestructibility back to failing to stop Drex or Rick Twiterler. After everything went down he had countless nightmares about dying in the blimp crash, or Ray dying on it.
It was maybe once every other week that he’d have a nightmare where he’d wake up falling off his bed or with things having been thrown on his nightstand. He’d wake up screaming or sobbing or halfway across his room curled up on the floor like he was hiding from something.
He saw the looks his sister gave him, starting off with annoyance and turning into concern over the years. He saw that his entire family started adding ear plugs to their nightly routine when even his parents soothing didn’t stop his nightmares.
He never slept over at anybodies house, the only exception being the Man Cave, cause Ray had the same amount of nightmares as he did, and they’d often wake each other up with screams and end up watching something stupid to calm down, neither of them talking about it beyond asking if the other was okay.
He’d not brought his nightmares into consideration when he moved to Dystopia. When he moved into a shitty one bedroom apartment with his best friends, and agreed to sharing a mattress.
Getting settled in didn’t take too long, they brought pretty much everything they’d need with them knowing where they were going. The mattress they got was already there, as was a couch and a table, all of which were clearly old and well used, but not disgusting to the point they were going to throw them out.
Henry had a nightmare on the first night they were there, but when he woke up he found himself soundly snuggled up between Jasper and Charlotte, not having moved a muscle. It was at that point he realized he should probably mention his nightmares to his friends, who had no idea.
But he didn’t want to put that burden on them, and he had forgotten about it by the time they had all woken up and gotten their breakfast.
The next night came and went, then the next, and Henry found himself and his partners in vigilantism too busy to talk. Henry was well aware he was basically a ticking time bomb, and that at some point he’d end up in the very same position he found himself five years ago, held down by someone he loved while he sobbed.
His first nightmare in Dystopia, around his partners, was on a Friday. He was once again asleep curled up between Jasper and Charlotte, under ten raggedy blankets on their shitty old mattress.
He slept fine for a good hour or so, before he whimpered and squirmed. Squirming quickly turn into rolling over, which turned into thrashing, which turned into him elbowing Jasper in the gut. Both of his friends woke up quickly, Charlotte rolling off the bed and holding her arms out in a fighting position.
“Jasper?” she whisper shouted, seeing the other boy get up, “Was that you?” Jasper shook his head, a hand resting over where he’d been elbowed. Henry had stilled at the sudden freedom, face buried in the pillows.
“Henry?” Jasper called, yawning. He figured whatever woke the two of them up probably woke Henry, but the blonde didn’t acknowledge him. Henry twitched, before a sharp sob cut through the silence, and his partners exchanged wide eyed looks in the dark, “Henry?” Jasper repeated, this time louder.
Henry rolled over, one of his legs kicking out hard enough to shove some of the blankets off the bed, various incomprehensible noises that were meant to be words filled the room, before he began thrashing again.
Charlotte rushed into action first, kneeling onto the mattress and putting her hands on Henry’s shoulders down. Jasper followed quickly behind her, holding down his kicking legs. The two of them flinched when Henry let out a broken scream and fought against them, following it up with sobs.
The neon lights shining through their window reflected off the tears on his eyes, and Charlotte shook his shoulders, “Hen, Henry, wake up,” she called, her voice firm, hoping to snap him awake. Henry screamed again, beginning to push at her specifically.
Charlotte held her own tears back, not glancing back to Jasper when he began calling for Henry as well, both of them shaking him or calling for him to wake up. Henry didn’t seem to respond to either of them for what felt like hours.
“Let me go!” Henry shrieked, a green pulse throwing his partners back, and then he shot up in their bed gasping for breath. He reached a hand up to his neck and buried the other one in his hair.
“Henry?” Charlotte called, and the blonde turned towards her. She and Jasper got tossed to the other sides of the room, she was laying on the floor propped up against a wall to his left, and when he turned he found Jasper in a similar position.
“Char?” he croaked, reaching up to wipe at his tears, “Shit,” he whispered, “Shit, shit, sorry, i’m so sorry, are you okay?” he fumbled, “Jasper?” he called worriedly turning around and making sure Jasper was okay as well.
Jasper lifted his head, rubbing at the back of it, “We’re fine, Hen,” he responded calmly, “What was that?” Henry wiped at his eyes again, scanning his partners in the dark of the room.
“Nightmare?” Charlotte asked, standing from the floor and approaching Henry like he was a scared animal, beckoning Jasper to come join her beside Henry.
The former sidekick nodded, looking down at his lap now that he knew neither of them were visibly hurt, “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“Henry, look at me,” Jasper called gently, “We’re not mad, we’re not hurt, we’re just worried,” he reassured, watching Henry tear up.
“That’s the problem,” Henry wiped at his eyes again, “I know I should’ve told you I’m sorry, I just didn’t want you guys to worry about me,” he choked down a sob.
“How long have you had nightmares that bad?” Henry turned to Charlotte, before looking away in shame.
“Since I started being Kid Danger,” he mumbled, “Kinda, around there, only my family knows, I woke up to my parents holding me down one time,” he admitted, “I’m sorry,” he repeated, leaning towards Jasper, who pulled the younger into his lap for a hug.
“We’re here for you, Hen,” Jasper assured, running his hands through Henry’s hair, “We’ll help you through this, it’s not your fault,” Charlotte nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, we’ve got you, you don’t need to apologize,” she made her way the few movements towards them and wrapped around the two boys, “We’ve got you,” she repeated, feeling Henry shake with quiet sobs beneath her.
“Thank you,”