Nightmares and sleep

Avian AU

“You can sleep with me for tonight, come. Let’s get you some warm pajamas.”

Kaeya silently nodded, letting himself be led easily by Diluc, his arms still jelly and his walk still weak.

Sleeping in Diluc’s bed was surprisingly comfortable. Kaeya felt nervous being in such close proximity to someone, but quickly melted into the warm embrace. Diluc had wrapped his little arms around the smaller, with his wings settled on top of him as well, adding an extra blanket to Diluc’s already thick and comfortable one. 

Sleeping in Diluc’s bed was either the worst mistake Kaeya ever made or the best decision he ever could have come across. He slept a peaceful night, surprisingly soothed by Diluc’s physical touch. On the other hand, he had a horrible time trying to do anything other than sleep with Diluc. About a week or so later, Crepus had finished adding the finishing touches to Kaeya’s new room, and Kaeya was able to sleep by himself that night. Diluc gave him the pillow that Kaeya used in his own room and a big round hug before disappearing behind the door. Kaeya was left in the dark, cold room. To the Raginvindr’s credit, the room wasn’t terribly cold. The heater was on and the blanket was thick, but Kaeya was sure that it was absolutely freezing. Who knows, maybe the AMPUTATED WING had something to do with it. 

Kaeya tried to fitfully sleep that night, being used to sleeping alone, it wasn’t too hard to fall asleep. 

How useless. If you had any hope of being useful, you’ve lost it now. Why not just go ahead and lose your other wing too?

No! No! Get away from me!

Kaeya! Kaeya!

Kaeya woke up to shrieks and screams, feathers strewn everywhere and tears streaming down his eyes. He could vaguely see Crepus looking down at him with his strong arm on his shoulder and and soothing tone. Kaeya’s eyes stung, his patched up eye with gauze and stuff was hurting badly, he tried to rub at it but he just came in contact with the bandages and cried out yet again. Everything felt so noisy, everything felt so real, everything-

Kaeya was slowly picked up by Crepus, he heard Diluc’s little voice amongst the chaos, asking what was wrong. Kaeya curled up tighter in Crepus’s embrace.

They were put in the car, Diluc hugged him tight.

“It’s okay, I’m here, I’m here.” Kaeya was mildly soothed by that. Finding some comfort in Diluc’s arms. “We’re going to the hospital, papa said your eye needs looking at now.”

Kaeya felt tears prickle again and decided to let those just stream down his face, trying to make as little noise as possible. His dad never liked it when he made noise. Kaeya felt Diluc hug him tighter. 

Attempt #2

Kaeya curled up into a little corner on the bed, tears streaming down as the darkness closed in around him. He gave little sniffles, pulling the blanket on top of him as much as he could so that it went over his head. That made the darkness better but his breathing worse as he then started to feel the stuffiness affect he already wrecked breathing, with his sniffles and shaky breaths. He was trying not to cry too loudly. His other dad never like it when he cried, or just made noise in general. More than that, Kaeya was supposed to be able to sleep alone, he had slept alone before, and Diluc was supposed to have space .

Kaeya heard footsteps, he froze, every muscle in his body freezing up and stiffening.

The door squeaked open, Kaeya’s head was still under the blanket, trying desperately to stop the sniffles and those tiny noises that inevitably come out when people are crying. There was a silence in the room for an excruciating amount of time, Kaeya being very adept at keeping stone quiet.

The blanket lifted, casting a cold wind onto Kaeya’s face and upper torso, bringing him face to face with Diluc. A sniffle escaped from his nose.

Diluc wrapped his arms around Kaeya, burying his head and squeezing him tight. “I’m sorry,” whispered Diluc. Dragging Kaeya out of bed, he grabbed Kaeya’s pillow and they walked over back to his room.

Diluc first pulled Kaeya in for a tight hug then cocooned both of them in his wings, where Kaeya couldn’t help but relax into his strong, steadfast hold. Diluc listened as Kaeya’s breathing evened out, and Kaeya relaxed in his hold. He hugged him a little tighter, like he was never going to let go. Because he was never going to let Kaeya go.

Attempt #3

Kaeya gulped, he had initiated this particular attempt, after deciding that this should be something that he should be able to do. After all, he was a teenager now. He could sleep by himself. He was armed with a lot of things, a nightlight, a galaxy nightlight that made his ceiling look like the night sky, a plushie, and some melatonin. All things considered, he managed to sleep pretty well!

Kaeya woke up to the sound of his door opening, being an extremely light sleeper. Tonight’s nightmare wasn’t nearly as bad as the others he had when sleeping alone. His dad was disappointed in him, he got beat a few times, the abandonment re-telling, the usual. But it wasn’t bad enough that he started screaming, surely. Diluc crept into his room, pillow in hand as Kaeya sleepily blinked.

“Diluc?”

Diluc froze, “Did I wake you up?” he asked. Kaeya nodded and Diluc gave him a sheepish look. Kaeya gazed up at Diluc’s embarrassed form, he was clutching a pillow and clearly wasn’t here ‘just to check on him’.

Kaeya raised the blanket to let Diluc slip inside. There was a moment of consideration before Diluc got in, and Kaeya placed his wing on top of him, hugging him close and going back to sleep. It seems like Kaeya managed to somewhat sleep alone, but now Diluc needed him too, that was a nice feeling.