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"SANDYYYY!!" A high pitched yell echoed through the lair and usually that meant trouble.
But not this time. It was just sort of a needy whine more than a yell in all honesty. Sandro came running down the hall, dragging his blanket behind him and a book just in case. He slid into Donnie's room to see what was wrong. He was hoping Donnie hadn't fallen out of bed again and scraped his knee...
"What is it, Dee? What happened? Are you ok?" Words were spilling out of him a mile a minute before he saw that Donnie was wrapped up in his weighted blanket, teary eyed and hugging a pillow to his chest.
"Did you have another nightmare? Do you want me to stay with you?" He received a nod as an answer, to which he lightly smiled at.
He went and set his blanket and his story book down on the bed before going over to turn on Donnie's nightlight and grabbing his stress toy for him to hopefully calm him down a bit. Sandro walked back over to him and handed it to him as he sat down next to Donnie, who was now squeezing his stress toy so hard his knuckles turned white. That worried Sandro; Donnie must've had one hell of a nightmare.
"Do you wanna talk about your nightmare? Or do you just wanna cuddle up while I read you a story?" He didn't get a response.
Donnie either didn't hear him or he had gone non-verbal and couldn't answer. He got up and sat on his knees in front of Donnie to sign to him.
'Can you talk right now?'
'No'
'That's ok. Do you wanna cuddle or do you not wanna be touched?'
'Cuddles. Please.'
Sandro got up and sat back down on the bed, putting a hand on Donnie's shoulder and slowly pulling him closer to himself.
"It was just a nightmare, Dee. It wasn't real. You're ok, you're safe here." He said, gently rubbing small circles on Donnie's back to calm him down more.
After a bit he moved himself and Donnie to where they could lay down comfortably instead of sitting up. While moving, Donnie had clung onto him like he was a lifeline and seemed like he was scared to let go of him.
"Was it another nightmare about you not being able to find me and our brothers again?" Sandro asked, still rubbing circles onto his little brother's back and making sure the weighted blanket stayed on top of both of them.
Donnie nodded and Sandro frowned; those were the main nightmares Donnie had whenever they decided to pop up.
"I can't exactly read to you like this so... fo you want me to sing?... like dad does?..." He had heard their dad singing Donnie to sleep a few times.
Granted their dad wasn't that good of a singer, but neither was he. But he had to do something to calm him down enough that he could sleep. He received another nod and he sighed.
"Ok, just give me a second. It's been awhile since I've done this..." He said sheepishly.
He wasn't lying, the last time he did this was maybe a year ago. He cleared his throat and thought for a minute before continuing what he said he was going to do.
"Deep in the meadow, under the willow... a bed of grass, a soft green pillow... lay down your head and close your eyes, and when they open, the sun will rise..." He could feel Donnie's breathing slowing down and his tight grip on him relaxed a bit.
He smiled a bit before continuing.
"Here it's safe and here it's warm, here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you."
Donnie quietly croaked out an "I love you too, Sandy" before nuzzling back into his brother's chest.
"Deep in the meadow, hidden far away. A cloak of green, a moon beam ray. Forget your woes, and let your troubles lay. And when again it's morning, they'll wash away." Sandro's voice was getting rhaspy, but he wanted to finish the song so Donnie could hopefully go back to sleep.
"Here it's safe, and here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place, where I love you.." He listened for a minute before he heard quiet snoring.
He let out a small chuckle and held onto his brother tightly.
"I'm here, Dee. I'll always be right here to protect you." He knew Donnie couldn't hear him right now since has asleep, but he said it anyway.
He pulled the blankets over himself and relaxed into the pillows, still holding onto his little brother.
"Goodnight, Dee."