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It was pitch black in the ocean midnight, with only the moon’s faint glow to illuminate it. He couldn’t see a foot in front of him, but he could barely detect black water and saw himself shoulder-deep in the ocean. He could also feel himself being tossed around by strong waves. The faint salty scent of the ocean lingered in the air. When he realized what was happening, his breath quickened.
Not this again, he thought. Please, please, not this.
He tried to thrash around in a pattern that to him seemed like swimming but found his arms bound to his torso and his ankles tied together. Letting out a wail of fear, he frantically wiggled around in the water, until he felt something latch onto his leg. And his wails turned to screams.
A powerful jaw, specifically one of a great white shark, had gripped his leg and obviously wasn’t letting go. Pain ripped through his body as the smell of salt was quickly replaced with the sharp, metallic scent of blood. He was quickly pulled under the surface of the water, and he felt his quick breaths become painful as salty, bitter water entered his lungs and scorched his throat. His wrists and ankles were rubbing raw from the ropes and with the shark’s powerful serrated teeth clamped onto his calf it was by far the most painful thing he had ever experienced.
Besides the sounds of splashing and his literally drowned out to an extent, but still audible, screeches, it seemed like somebody was calling his name in the distance. He ignored it, feeling it just to be his ever hopeful mind playing tricks on him, when suddenly his head resurfaced and everything went totally black.
“Dan? Dan! Danny, are you okay?” half-shouted a voice he was extremely familiar with.
Danny jolted awake, breathing heavily, tears running down his face. He whipped his head around to face Barry as he sat up and scooted back, recoiling in fear for a moment before he realized who it was and relaxed a little bit.
“Danny! Is everything alright?” asked Barry, worry obvious in his eyes, his own breathing a little bit quicker than how it usually was. He stepped hesitantly closer to Danny’s bed and sat down next to him.
“Y-yeah…” he murmured, his voice feeble and choked up from crying. “Just that… stupid fucking nightmare…” He sighed and rested his face in his hands.
Barry nodded a tiny bit—he’d had to wake up his roommate from nightmares before—and softly questioned, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
Danny nodded in turn. “I-it was dark and I was stranded in the ocean… then a… a shark grabbed onto me… it was fucking terrifying, I’m still shaking…” His mumbled reply was barely coherent through his tears. Barry scooted up closer and started rubbing the older man’s back—it was weirdly soothing for Danny. He started adjusting the sheets and fixing them on his side a little bit with his spare hand, smoothing them out.
“I can stay with you, if you’d like,” whispered the younger man. His face reddened a tiny bit the instant he said it.
“Oh, please! I mean—shit, yeah.” Danny gave an eager yelp at the prospect. All he needed was something to ‘protect’ him, even though their apartment was miles away from any beach. “I’m still really tense from that,” he admitted.
“I get that, man. Phobias suck.” Barry began to pull the comforter over himself as he snuggled up a little bit next to Danny, the blush on his face intensifying. Danny himself felt his cheeks grow hot. They sank down into the bed and got into comfortable sleeping positions.
“Night, Care Bear,” said Danny.
“Goodnight, Dan the Snuggle Man,” giggled Barry before receiving a small blow to the shoulder and a ‘fuck you’ from Danny.
Once Danny had seemingly fallen back asleep, almost instantly, Barry whispered, “Love you.”
Danny grinned and mouthed the phrase back, despite Barry not being able to see his face. Finally his head sunk more into the pillow as he drifted off to a blissful, dreamless sleep.