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It was quite rare for Stinger to be in bed at a reasonable time. There were a multitude of reasons, but the most common one was he simply wanted to have proper alone time. It was quite late on the ship as he sat on his bed and worked away sewing some small animals (a gift he would give to children who lost their families from Jark Matter).
He preferred doing projects like this on his own. The others often annoyed him too much if he did it around them. They loved getting in his space and observing him a bit too much for his liking.
Stinger was startled by a sudden knock at his door. Who was disturbing him this late at night? Everyone should be in their rooms by now. No one should be wandering about the ship. Especially to see him.
He got off his bed, carefully setting his work aside. He answered the door, figuring whoever it was had a very good reason to be disturbing him at such an hour of the night.
"Kotaro?"
He hadn't expected the young boy to be the one at his door. Not that he really had any expectations as to who it could be before. Kotaro did make the most sense out of anyone else on the ship to visit him at an hour like this. But, there was probably a not so nice reason for it.
"A-ah..." Kotaro got visibly nervous now that Stinger was in sight. "Aniki... can I... stay with you?"
Stinger eyed him up for a moment. While Kotaro did cling to him, this itself was not common. The boy was fine in a room of his own. Had quite demanded that he be treated more like an adult like the rest of them.
"Why?" Stinger asked, though he did usher the young boy into his room.
Kotaro didn't respond for a long while. "...I had a nightmare..."
Stinger sighed softly at the explanation. Of course if something ever upset Kotaro, Stinger would be the first he would go to. Stinger just wished he was someone who was more prepared to deal with situations like this.
"Fine. But don't make this a habit." Stinger stated.
As much as he enjoyed Kotaro's company, he couldn't baby him. Kotaro needed to learn to deal with some things on his own. Sometimes there wouldn't be anyone there to help him. He had to be prepared for that.
But for tonight, Stinger guessed it wouldn't hurt to open his bed. Kotaro was obviously quite shaken from whatever the dream had been. He hadn't stopped trembling since Stinger had first laid eyes on him.
"I won't..." Kotaro promised.
Stinger turned off the dim lights he had on and then got into his bed. Looks like his peace was over.
Kotaro climbed on in after a little hesitation. Stinger wasn't entirely sure what to do. He had never really comforted someone from a nightmare before. What was he meant to do to help? He couldn't just leave Kotaro like this. He needed to think of something.
The first thing he thought of was to pull the trembling boy into a hug. Kotaro almost immediately relaxed when he was in the embrace. The shaking stopped.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Stinger asked quietly.
"I... had a dream that... you died..." Kotaro mumbled.
Stinger tightened his hold on Kotaro. "I'm here... it's okay."
He wouldn't admit it to Kotaro, but he had had some dreams like that before. At first it had been his tribe, but when that became a reality it slowly switched to him having those dreams about the other Kyurangers. They were all he had left now.
"Aniki..." Kotaro sniffled.
"Shh... I'm here. Everything is okay." Stinger just said the first things that came to mind and hoped it helped.
He knew that Kotaro cared a lot about him, but to this extent that he'd have a nightmare like that? Stinger still wasn't quite used to someone looking up to him so much. The people that had liked him had shunned him after they learned of what Scorpio had done. After that, he had refused to let anyone in until now.
"I'm sorry... I know I should be brave but... it's hard sometimes." Kotaro whispered.
"You're not the only one. I'm sure everyone here has felt that way before too." Stinger replied, "It's okay to be scared sometimes. You don't need to ashamed of that."
"It's easier for you guys though cause you're all adults... but when I get scared everyone questions if I should really be involved." Kotaro grumbled.
"You aren't wrong..." Stinger had no rebuttal to that. "I'm sorry. Everyone is just more worried about you since you are so much younger. It's only natural. The last thing anyone wants is for you to get hurt or traumatize you worse than you already probably are."
Kotaro buried himself further into Stinger's embrace. "You won't tell anyone about this, will you, aniki?"
"This is our little secret." Stinger promised.
"Thank you."
"Try and get some rest. You'll need it."
Kotaro nodded. He shifted around for a bit to get more comfortable and then settled back down. Stinger kept a firm hold on the young boy.
"Goodnight, aniki." Kotaro said quietly.
"Night, Kotaro. Sleep well." Stinger replied, "I'll chase away any more bad dreams."
That got Kotaro to laugh. It was definitely not something Stinger would normally say.
"I love you, aniki."
Stinger had no idea what to respond to that with. Kotaro was saying that now? Yeah, he was pretty close to Stinger but...
"Sure... love you too, Kotaro." Stinger replied hesitantly.
He could tell just from Kotaro's body language alone that saying that made him happy. If it made him feel better than it couldn't be that bad to have said. Stinger didn't know if he would say that unprompted though. He preferred showing things rather than saying them.
But, maybe if it was just for Kotaro, he could let down his walls and be a bit more emotional sometimes.