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Chishiya jerked awake and into a sitting position, heart racing. When he realized it was just a nightmare, he let out a breath and pushed his hair back, annoyed with himself. He wasn't the type to get nightmares. Nothing bothered him enough to warrant them. Except for... well.
He looked to the other side of the bed, and surely enough Arisu had joined him some time during the night. The taller man was curled up on his side, still in his bathrobe.
He's had a late shift that day, and Chishiya had intended to stay wake and wait for him, but it appeared he's fallen asleep with a book again.
It was on the nightstand now, closed and the bookmark neatly in the right page. Blanket covering him now instead of trapped under him. Arisu must've done that before taking his shower when he got back from work.
Should be concerning, how he hadn't woken from the treatment. Though his subconsciousness had gotten used to Arisu's presence, so no surprise there. Not that it bothered him, he trusted his boyfriend.
Seeing him alive and well calmed his racing heart again. He inwardly told himself to pull himself together now, it was just a stupid nightmare.
Some of the games had been traumatic, or at least left their impression. But it wasn't himself he was scared for. Losing his boyfriend was worse a thought than dying.
This one had been particularly realistic. They've gone together in Kuzuryu's game, and he had to watch him be showered with the acid. Not as quick as it happened for real, but slow, droplet by droplet until he was dead as all he could do was watch in horror.
Knowing he couldn't simply go back to sleep, he got up quietly and grabbed a change of clothes. He needed a shower.
While it usually worked wonders in clearing his mind, the nightmare clung to him like a child with separation anxiety. He rolled his eyes up at the warm spray, cursing himself for not being able to shake it off as easily as he'd hoped.
“Shuntarou?”
Chishiya opened his eyes and turned his head when he head his boyfriend's soft voice call out through the door. His muscles relaxed a bit at hearing him. He did wait for him to come inside, but even after living together for over a year now, he was still hesitant about boundaries.
“Come in.” He called out, watching as Arisu slipped inside, looking as adorable as always with half his hair sticking up from laying down, drowning in the too big bathrobe he insisted wearing and sleepy. His face automatically fell into a soft smile at the sight.
“Why are you taking a shower in the middle of the night?”
“Felt like it.”
Arisu gave him his deadpan stare, which then turned into a frown as his mind obviously whirred about why Chishiya was really up. Judging the way his eyes changed, he figured it out. He shrugged out of his bathrobe and stepped into the shower too, wrapping his arms around his shorter boyfriend and rubbing the wet back.
Chishiya relaxed completely, returning the hug and squeezing.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
A sigh escaped him. “Not really.”
“I know that you know it's just a figment of imagination, not real.” Arisu said in a flat tone, which had Chishiya smiling against the warm skin in front of him. “Still you can talk about it. Should. It helps.”
“Distraction also helps.” He countered, one finger trailing down his spine. Before he could reach his goal, though, Arisu pulled back with a huff, cheeks flushed but a cute glare on his face.
“You can't just use sex to get out of a serious conversation.”
Chishiya raised an amused brow. “It worked in the past.”
“Well... not anymore.” Arisu firmly shut off the shower and grabbed his boyfriend's hand to drag him out. There, he wrapped him up in his own still warm bathrobe and used a towel to dry the bleached hair. He looked so concentrated doing that, as if it was the most important thing to get him warm and dry. The concern was heart-warming, really. Also, unnecessary in his eyes, but he wouldn't complain. Especially since he got a wonderful view of the glistening naked chest right in front of him. He was tempted to lean forward and have a taste. Maybe he'll manage to distract him from the pointless conversation Arisu had in mind.
But as if reading his mind – and Chishiya wasn't a full hundred percent sure he couldn't, with how the younger man always seemed to know what he needed even if he himself didn't – Arisu pulled back and hung the now wet towel to dry. He unceremoniously dragged him back into their bedroom and made him sit against the headboard, taking the blanket with the intent to wrap him up like a baby too. No, that was taking it too far.
So Chishiya reached out and stopped him with a hand on his wrist. Arisu paused and raised a brow at him in a mimic of his boyfriend's usual expression.
“Come here.” Chishiya tugged on the wrist, pulling Arisu closer.
“I was gonna cuddle you when I was done with the blanket.”
“I'm not a baby to be swaddled, though.”
“I wanted you to be warm, because warmth relaxes.”
“Is that why you're running around naked and wet?” Chishiya countered. “Not that I'm complaining, but you're gonna catch a cold and then I'll have to feel guilty.”
Arisu had opened his mouth to protest, but the second part of the sentence had him shut it. He was always so quick to shot down anything concerning him and his health, but the prospect of Chishiya feeling bad because of him, well, it worked. Alright, maybe Chishiya could read him just as well as Arisu could read him. It was a nice thought.
With a pout, he sat down next to Chishiya and wrapped the blanket around both of them, and then pulled his boyfriend close.
“Better?” Arisu asked when they were finally settled comfortably.
“I'd rather have you in my lap, but fine.”
Arisu pinched his side, which was more a tickle through the thick terrycloth. “Now talk. What did you dream about?”
Chishiya was staying quiet, annoyed that he was to relive this stupid nightmare again when he could simply forget about it. Maybe if he dragged this out long enough, Arisu would fall asleep.
“You know, I'm tempted to use blackmail.”
“Tch.”
“For real.” Arisu said, cheek resting on top of Chishiya's head.
“With sex?”
“Nah. But maybe I'll move out to the couch. You know how I hate it when one of my nightmares wakes you up. Especially when you have to get up so early.”
Chishiya's eyes narrowed slightly at what he knew was a bluff, arms around his boyfriend's hips tightening though, because the thought irked him. While he would not sleep somewhere else, he'd definitely try his hardest to hide future nightmares from Chishiya. And just when he got him to be open about them, too.
One time, shortly after they had moved in together, Chishiya's woken up to an empty bed, only to find Arisu curled up on the living-room's window sill with wet cheeks and quivering shoulders, too worried about costing him sleep to ask for comfort after a nightmare. It had been hard breaking him from that habit, but it's gotten better.
“You fight dirty.”
“I learned from the best.” He could hear the grin in Arisu's statement and shook his head with a smile.
“It's really not that much to talk about. You were there when I played Kuzuryu's game. And you lost. It was... a slow and gruesome death.” The memory of the dream had him frown again, tightening his hold again. It did help, though, feeling him warm and alive right next to him as he talked about it. Made it less real. That was enough to actually calm him down. “I had to watch you suffer.”
Arisu squeezed him back in return, assuring, and hummed. “Was it just you and me?”
“Kuzuryu was there too, I think. What difference does it make?”
“Was he wearing a pink bikini?”
Chishiya frowned and pulled back so he could look at his boyfriend. “What the heck?”
Arisu simply gave a sweet smile. “Did he?”
“... no...?”
More or less accidentally he imagined his dream again, unable to get the picture of Kuzuryu sitting there in a hot pink bikini out of his mind. Paired with that serious expression, it made him chuckle reluctantly. He closed his eyes, and sure enough the past horrifying image was permanently directing him to the pink bikini, the absurdness would always come back if he tried to think about it.
Judging Arisu's grin, that had been exactly his intention. “You,” he told the younger man, “are a force to be reckoned with. Manipulative little shit.”
“Again, I learned from the best.” Arisu laughed, and pulled Chishiya close again, scooting them both down so they were properly laying there again. Then he pushed their lips together in a slow kiss, only breaking it when he had to yawn. “Do you think you can go back to sleep now? You have to get up early, right?”
“I took tomorrow off.”
“Again? Didn't you say they were keeping an eye on you already?”
“Don't care.” Chishiya pulled Arisu closer. “I already sent an application to the other hospital I told you about.”
“Ah, the one that looks for a pediatrician?”
“Mhm. They'll even pay for the training course.” He leaned up to press a kiss to Arisu's forehead. “So I'm just bidding my time until I can leave the shithole.”
Arisu smiled softly, eyes already drooping, he was tired from his shift after all. “I'm glad. You aren't happy there.”
“As long as I have you I am happy.” Chishiya laid on thickly with an exaggerated sugary smile, chuckling when Arisu pulled a face and laughed through a groan.
“That was horrible. Really. Ew.”
“Don't you like it when I'm being romantic?” Chishiya was back to his usual smile, heart light at their banter, how Arisu laughed so prettily because of him.
“No. It's sickening. What's next? Petnames?”
“What? Wouldn't you like it, baby?”
He wasn't quite prepared for the way Arisu's face heated up immediately, eyes growing huger than usual, how he made a small surprised sound from the back of his throat. Arisu needed a moment, and then he chuckled, eyes lowering and shoulders hunching lightly.
“That was stupid. Terrible.”
Interesting. “Was it really?” Chishiya asked, intrigued, and despite knowing they should sleep, he couldn't let this go. They both had the day off tomorrow anyways, they could sleep in. He'd rather examine that reaction.
Arisu pulled back a little and squirmed when Chishiya simply tightened his grip again and ducked his head to catch his skittish gaze.
“Yes. Stop trying to mimic those cringe-worthy romantic comedies, it doesn't suit you.” Arisu said, trying to tease, but his tone betrayed his uncertainty.
Chishiya bit his lip with a smirk, rolling them so he could lay on top of him. “You're right. It doesn't suit me. But this does.” He leaned down to suck a hot and wet kiss into the soft skin of Arisu's neck, eliciting a surprised moan. Satisfied with the mark, he dragged his teeth up and nipped his earlobe. “Right, sweetheart?” That got him a full body shiver, Arisu giving him a helpless look, as if he didn't know how to react, he simply couldn't help his reactions.
Smug satisfaction settled inside of Chishiya. Yes, he could definitely work with this. And while he worked to make even more a mess of Arisu, he's completely forgotten about his nightmare.