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It was somewhere close to 2 in the morning now.
And Boyfriend was pretty sure that he's not getting sleep any time soon.
He let out a sigh, sitting up from where he'd been laying back at the edge of the bed.
He's... not entirely sure what the insomnia is about at the moment.
Usually, that was because of a nightmare, and he'd end up refusing to sleep for a while, but... he hasn't had any nightmares since the one he'd lived through not too long ago.
He winced - he can feel some part of his mind protesting at just trying to remember it.
Looking back, BF saw Soul peacefully asleep on the other side of the bed.
It's too early. He can't wake him up for this.
And... right. Girlfriend, Pico, and BB had all gone back to their places yesterday, all for their own understandable reasons.
They'd be back... but clearly not right this minute.
...He'll just figure it out on his own.
With nothing else to do, the rapper grabbed his phone from the nightstand, and began scrolling through the internet mindlessly.
He just wants to understand what the hell he's feeling for once. At least, he's sure that's the cause of the insomnia.
Or he just plain doesn't know why he can't sleep right now in the first place.
It's tiring. He's tired.
...But he doesn't want to sleep.
Which just makes it all so confusing.
He let out a quiet groan, exiting whatever app he's on, he didn't bother to care.
...Catching a glimpse of his contacts in the corner of his eye as he tried to set the phone down again.
Should he...?
Maybe... maybe just this once.
Before he could have the chance to change his mind, he sent a small "hi" over to BB, set his phone down beside him, and waited for a response.
Not too long after, he heard the phone buzz - and he lifted it to see a text from his big brother.
At least he's awake right now.
Yo! What's up Keith? Why are you awake this late at night, dude?
Sent 2:21am
can't sleep. don't know why
I just
I need to talk to you
for a bit
please
I don't care what
Sent 2:22am
Preaching to the choir here bro.
Is everything alright though? You okay?
Sent 2:22am
not sure
just thinking too much I guess.
Need someone to talk to and Soul's asleep
Sent 2:23am
Fair enough man. You wanna come over? I'm sure you can get Soul to sleep in your mind while you're here.
I know you two can't stand to be that far apart right now
Sent 2:24am
Boyfriend took a moment to think over the suggestion.
It would be nice, but... was it really the best idea? He could go for talking over the phone for a few more minutes...
...Or maybe an hour. Depending on how long it'd take for that cloud in his head to go away.
Goddammit.
He sighed again, resigning himself to his decision.
sure
Sent 2:25am
Alright, cool!
Oh just a heads up, Armaros is here too. Working on stuff about you-know-who with me.
Sent 2:26am
The next breath he let out left his mouth rather shakily.
He hadn't been expecting that. He knows that the angel was trying to be more trustworthy, but...
...Whatever. As long as he wasn't waving a gun around at his brother again, it'd be fine. At least he hopes.
BF sent a quick thumbs-up emoji before setting the phone down and getting up to grab a small hoodie from his closet, throwing his phone in the pocket of his sweatpants and walking over to the door.
His hand hovered on the knob for a moment as he looked back at the entity still asleep on the bed.
...Did he really want to do this? He already felt horrible for waking him up, and he hasn't even done that yet.
Still, he can feel the growing wave of apprehension, the ever-so-slight tugging at his chest at the thought of leaving by himself-
With a silent groan, he ripped his hand off of the doorknob and walked back toward the bed.
He stood in front of Soul, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently shaking him.
"Soul... come on, man, wake up..."
The other stirred for a moment, before his visible eye opened slightly, and Boyfriend retracted his hand.
"Mmnn... Bee?"
"Hey, 魂... sorry to wake you up like this, I just... do you think you can sleep in my mind for a bit?"
"What for...?"
"I'm- just going to go to BB's for a while. Get some fresh air. I didn't want to wake you up just to talk about feelings I can't pinpoint, but-"
He heard a slight chuckle come from the other as he sat up a bit.
"You're going to walk there...?"
And he knows for a fact that if it weren't for the drowsiness, Soul would be smirking at him knowingly right now.
"...Yeah...?"
Soul shook his head, sitting up fully at the edge of the bed, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You know I can just fly you there... right..?"
BF was the one to laugh that time.
"Soul, no. You're half-asleep right now as it is, dude."
"I won't be that tired..."
He mumbled out, resting his forehead on BF's gently while wrapping his arms loosely around him, getting the rapper to laugh again.
"Yes you will. I can already tell you want to go back to sleep."
Boyfriend still found himself gladly returning the affection, though, resting his hands on Soul's shoulders.
With another slight laugh, Soul pulled away slightly to playfully flick his forehead as he spoke again.
"I'll be fine, Bee. Promise."
"Still unsure."
"Come onnn.. please?"
And then, about a few seconds of silence, BF finally caved, groaning in defeat as he embraced his friend fully.
"Okay, okay, fine, you can fly me over. Just don't fall asleep on the way there, you got that?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Damn."
"Should I give you a few minutes to actually wake up, or what?"
"Well, now you're just being generous."
A snicker escaping him, Boyfriend pulled away, heading for the door.
"I'll just wait at the front door for you, mkay? But if you take more than five minutes I'm gonna assume you went back to sleep and I WILL stay here if you do."
Soul rolled his eyes as he hopped off of the bed, walking over to BF to push him into the hallway.
"Relax, will you..? I won't be that long."
"I'm gonna hold you to that."
"Heh, dunno why you'd want to, you know I'll be there in a minute, tops~"
"Dork."
"You first."
"You too."
They both laughed again, and Boyfriend went to the door out of his apartment to wait for him.
About 10 minutes later, the two of them saw BB's apartment building come into view.
That was when the two knew for a FACT that their big brother was awake, because they could see him and Armaros talking on the roof.
...Still a surprise that they were just talking and not bickering their heads off.
Both of them landed on the roof a few feet behind the two, BF letting out a small beep to get their attention.
They turned around, BB lighting up at the sight of his two little brothers.
"Hey bros! How's it goin'?"
"Beop bop..."
"Still can't figure out what's keeping you up, huh? No worries, dude, you guys can chill here."
"Cool."
"Uh... hopefully you guys don't mind the birdbrain over here being around."
"Hey!"
BF shrugged.
"Beep bo bep dai."
"Sweet, as long as it's not that much of a problem for you guys."
He then fished through his pockets, and took out the key to his room, handing it to BF.
"I got Asian food in the fridge if you want something to eat. Otherwise, just don't wreck the place."
That last comment earned a snicker out of Boyfriend, while Soul rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't~"
"魂!"
"Pfft- what?"
"意地悪な人." [Meanie.]
With another laugh, Soul gently shoved his shoulder, spinning the key in his other hand.
"からかってるだけ." [I'm just teasing.]
The two turned around and walked into the apartment building, and soon found BB's room.
Using the key, they unlocked the door, and walked inside.
...And BB's cat immediately ran over to the rapper, pawing at his legs.
Snickering, BF kneeled down to pet it, allowing the cat to climb into his arms and he moved to sit on the couch.
"Soooooo... what now?"
The other blinked, sitting down on the armrest of the couch opposite to BF.
"What now is YOU try to get some sleep. A change of scenery could probably help you at least a little."
BF deadpanned at him.
"...Dude, if anyone in here should be trying to go to sleep, that's you."
"Right, right, like you're the one who woke me up in the first place because he didn't know why he couldn't sleep at all tonight, hm?"
The teasing smile on his face shifted to a smirk when BF looked away, knowing it was because he didn't have a comeback.
Desperately, the rapper's eyes went to the cat in his arms.
"Dude, back me up here."
BB's cat just meowed.
"See? Even a cat is on my side."
"And since when do you speak cat?"
"Well, I have you, don't I?~"
He absolutely relished in the small blush that cascaded over Soul's face.
"...Take that back."
"No."
"Then go to sleep."
"Nooooo!"
"One or the other, Bee~"
How did he manage to turn this on him so easily??
"I- You- mmmmmmhhhfiiiiiiine I'll sleep."
Soul just sighed in response.
"I'll take it."
"Heh."
"Still not a win for you given how much you protested this idea~"
"うるさいぃぃぃ. ずるいだよ." [Shut uuuuup. This is unfair.]
"Are you gonna stop stalling and get some rest now, Bee?"
"Ughhhhhh. Fine."
Soul smirked triumphantly, getting up from where he'd been sitting and walking toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Just to see what BB and the one-winged angel are up to. And let you have your beauty sleep~"
"Shut up. If you're going to relentlessly tease me like this, I WOULD rather sleep."
At that, Soul couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head a bit.
"Alright, alright, I'll have a little mercy on you. I'll see you when we come back down here."
"Okayyyyyy... see you, man."
The two smiled at each other, before Soul left through the door.
BF closed his eyes, BB's cat having moved to lay by the front of the couch.
...Only for him to open them a few seconds later, and sit up.
He listened for any indication that Soul was on his way back down, and when he didn't hear anything, he smirked, starting to get off of the couch.
"Heh... he might have his tricks, but I've got tricks of my own~"
Looking down at BB's cat as he spoke, it seemed to tilt its head in confusion.
BF sighed.
"And I thought you were on my side here."
The cat just stared for a moment, before nuzzling its head against his leg, making him laugh a bit.
"Alright, alright, I appreciate your allegiance. I'm gonna get food though."
Feeling prideful over the little stunt, he began to walk over to the fridge where BB had said the Asian food was.
Maybe having something to eat would help him take his mind off of things for a bit.
That is, at least until the others came back down.
And he'd have to pretend to be asleep again.
...He could do that.
Besides, he already knew the insane amount of teasing he'd have to endure again if Soul found out he'd faked going to sleep.
If earlier was any indicator.
However, he'd just gotten off of the couch when he suddenly felt a throbbing in his head, making him wince. His whole body now felt weak, his eyes beginning to slip closed.
What the fuck was happening?
Just a few seconds ago, he was perfectly fine...
BF fell back onto the couch, now laying across the cushions, hands clutching his head tightly as if it did anything to stave off the pain.
And BB's cat seemed to watch him, concerned.
The pain in his head only continued to worsen the more he tried to fight it.
...Eventually, though, he couldn't hold out any longer, and succumbed to unconsciousness.
...
When he opened his eyes again, Boyfriend awoke to find a pitch-black scenery around him... save for the screen that was in front of him.
But it was clearly broken in some way - the static continuously flickered, unable to remain tranquil for any amount of time.
Was this... his mind again?
...He didn't understand. The only time it was like this was when-
"Ah... how wonderful it is to finally see you again, little Boyfriend~"
A wave of dread crashed into him at hearing the familiar voice coming from behind him.
Oh, god, why?
Why now?
"It's been a little too long for my liking, so I decided you needed a visit-"
And then it was whacked in the head by the microphone that Boyfriend had thrown at it. He drew the makeshift weapon back to him, gripping the handle tightly enough that it was already starting to crack.
"Go. Away."
"Rude. I just arrived here."
"No, no, stop. I'm not doing this. You're the LAST thing I want to be seeing right now."
"Why, XML, you should have seen this coming. I'm sure you knew that at some point, I would come to talk to you again, didn't you?~"
"Unless it's to give me answers, then I don't give a damn."
"Hm. I suppose my recent... attempt has made you quite feisty. I must say, I wasn't expecting that."
And the mention of what had happened had been enough to set him off.
"Well then, WHY?! WHY DID YOU DO IT, HUH?! Do you just want me to SUFFER?! WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GONNA BE DONE?!?"
The entity in front of him seemed unaffected, but surprised, by the burst of anger.
"My, my, you've become quite the fighter. I suppose it's true, this really should have been the first thing I did~"
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU?"
The being looked at him questionably, as BF calmed down a bit.
"...Then why all the other stuff? Corrupting him, Glitch, why did you-?"
"Even with my abilities, it was still hard to tell in your FIRST dream with me where your nightmare ended and my manipulations began. But I didn't come to realize that you were genuinely dreaming about the only way I could kill him. At least, not at first. I simply reused it, seeing that it affected you so much. You, however, just spoon-fed that information to me, didn't you? I just didn't see it back then. THAT is what I meant when I kept telling you what happened is YOUR fault, because it IS."
A look of realization followed by guilt flashed on Boyfriend's face, before he quickly replaced it with a glare.
"But, then again, the other stuff was a nice way to see how much I could break him before I did any real damage once I figured things out..."
"L-Leave him ALONE."
"Or what? Just what would you intend to do if I didn't? Come on, I want to hear it~"
"...I swear, when I find out who you are-"
Suddenly, the darkness around him sprung to life, and he found himself trapped in those strings again as the being yelled.
"You will do no such thing! ...But, I guess there is ONE thing that you can do for me..."
BF simply stared at it, that glare never leaving his face. He then raised a brow after a bout of silence, asking it to finish its sentence.
"...Well, I'm sure you already know what I want. Don't you?"
A realization dawned on him.
His glare got stronger.
"...Give him to me."
"Never."
"Stop making this so difficult. Don't you want to stop suffering?"
"I'd rather KEEP suffering if it meant he'd be safe from you."
"Now, don't be so uncooperative, Boyfriend... you will give me what I want, one way or another...~"
"...頭から出て行け." [Get the hell out of my head.]
Even though the entity in front of him didn't know what he was saying, it seemed to understand well enough what he'd meant.
Because it suddenly snapped, and Boyfriend was tossed out of the bindings and thrown to the ground.
Still, he shakily stood up to directly face it, pulling out his mic again. He would not hesitate to fight it if he had to.
The strings wrapped around him again, even tighter this time - it almost hurt.
"Just give him to me."
That was when he started to feel the compulsions, the voices whispering in the back of his mind.
Boyfriend still resisted.
He was protecting his friend's life, even if it meant he had to take all the pain in the world (at least enough to, you know, not die) to do that.
"There's no point in trying to fight it... it'll just keep getting worse until you finally give up~"
"And who t-told you I-I would ever g-give up...?"
That scowl appeared back on its face again. The strings once again threw him, this time against the wall, cracking the screen.
He swears that even though this is a dream, he can taste the blood in his mouth.
The rest of him is still screaming, practically banging against his skull to just give it what it wanted - but he clung onto that tiny, intact piece of his mind telling him to keep going, to not give in, that he didn't have to give it anything-
While the splitting pain in his head only got worse, and he felt the tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes, he still held on... much to the other entity's frustration.
"...You know, you can be very, very annoying... So stubborn and annoying."
The strings grabbed him again and flung him into another wall.
...Everything hurts.
'Keep going.'
'Don't give in.'
'You can do this.'
He let those thoughts repeat to himself, over and over despite all the voices roaring in his head.
It slowly walked towards him as the inky bindings wrapped around him once more, lifting him up slightly.
"...But... now that I've finally learned how I can kill him using you..."
It stopped right in front of him, its expression unreadable.
"...The realization that you've been the reason he exists and is all he needs to continue living, that YOU'RE still the source of all my problems..."
And then it placed a hand on his chest, a slight orange glow starting to pool at its fingertips-
"...It only makes me want to kill YOU even more."
The glow brightened, and Boyfriend couldn't stop the flow of staggered screams that came from him.
It was that familiar sensation of a hole ripping itself open in his chest, over and over, nonstop.
He was worried for a second about it knowing, at least until it spoke again.
"You're lucky you even managed to save him, you know that? And on the first try... I can't believe you. You and your stupid ability to put a stop to EVERYTHING I attempt, it sickens me."
It pressed deeper, the pain intensified.
The tears finally came flowing down fully, a few choked back sobs sounding between his screams.
"魂!!!!"
He yelled out, hoping and practically begging that he would somehow hear him crying for help, and he'd come and wake him up from this hell on his mind.
But the thing in front of him simply laughed.
"Oh, XML, your precious Soul can't save you this time. No one can. As far as anyone outside sees, you don't seem like you're experiencing a nightmare at all. And while I'm at it, did I ever mention that I learned how to keep you in these dreams for as long as I want? ...Or are these even dreams anymore...?"
It's just trying to make him paranoid. He knows that, he damn well knows that.
But for some reason, there's a part of him that is starting to believe that its presence in his mind is really there.
Stop it, no- it's not in there, he's fine, this is a DREAM-
"Hm, I see... I didn't. Well... you're going to have to do much more than begging for help to stop this. TO STOP ME."
BF tried to fight his way free, but the strings around him were tight enough that it was nearly impossible to move, and all the pain was quickly sapping his energy - yet he knew this thing wouldn't let him go unconscious.
Not until it got what it wanted.
...Honestly? He was getting a little too close to giving it that. He hadn't remembered being in this much pain in his life.
And while it WAS still a dream...
Give him to me.
He couldn't take this for much longer.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
"...Oh, little Boyfriend... we both know I can't do that."
His head was pounding, the voices screeched and rang throughout his mind. It was nothing short of a chaotic mess and he wanted it to STOP-
GIVE HIM TO ME -
...And then he suddenly froze up and his vision started blinking black, he felt like he was literally being pulled out of sleep...
"Wait... you're not suppoSED TO-"
He shut down, and everything finally stopped.
...
The mere second Boyfriend had registered that he was conscious again, he bolted upright as his breathing quickly became rapid and unstable, those voices finally fading out of his mind.
He only managed to focus on calming himself down once he saw that he was still on his big brother's couch, where he'd "fallen asleep" to begin with.
It was still only a dream. He was okay now. Breathe.
He didn't dare to think about why his body was still shaking, or why his chest felt so sore. Or why there was an ache in his head.
"I- just came down to get something to drink..."
BF whirled around at the voice, only to see a certain fallen angel standing there.
Right. He was here too.
"...Let me guess. Nightmare?"
Boyfriend paused for a minute, debating on whether or not to answer.
He ended up nodding.
"Figured. At first, you looked fine in your sleep, I assumed there was nothing wrong, until a whole bunch of ghosts surrounded you, trying to get you to wake up. Guess one of them figured out how to do it and pulled you out before things could get any worse."
Ah. So that was why he had suddenly left the dream world when he was meant to be forced to stay in it... he had to get some serious outside help to escape.
...And then he realized that his chest was still feeling sore, his head still hurts, and his body wouldn't stop shaking no matter how many deep breaths he took, and he quickly spiraled back into panic.
"Be- Beep bo ba-!"
"Your soul is still up on the roof with your brother, they're both fine. Like I said, I came here because I wanted some water. Besides, if he wasn't okay, Michael would already be racing down here to check on you."
Boyfriend nodded again, and sighed, thankful that the two were still safe.
Keep breathing. He was okay now.
He looked back at the fallen angel, who was currently finishing up the water bottle while standing in the middle of BB's kitchen, before clutching the blanket sitting on the couch and pulling it around him.
"...Armaros...?"
The angel in question looked over at BF with slightly wide eyes - he still rarely spoke English instead of those beep boops around him, so he still wasn't used to hearing him actually talk to him with actual words.
"...Yeah?"
"D-Do you... know the difference between a demon invading your dreams, and... one invading your mind...?"
As he basically whispered that last part, Boyfriend pulled the blanket even tighter around himself - he looked so small, so helpless, so... afraid.
It was a far cry from the rapper he'd met on the rooftop the night he and BB crossed paths again, still with the intent to kill him.
Such a sight actually made the former angel feel rather sorry for him, especially considering the question he just asked...
"...That's a rather interesting question for someone like you to be asking, but fine, I guess I can answer that. If a demon is just invading your dreams, then nothing much else happens to you when you wake up again. Unless it just happens to be a really bad nightmare. But if one has tried to infiltrate your mind WHILE you're dreaming, you're more likely to have more... violent wake-up calls. Like the one you had earlier. And if that demon has done something to you during the dream, then you're also likely to feel remnants from it when you wake up, too."
Armaros looked back at Boyfriend after his explanation, only to see him averting his eyes and moving a hand to his chest and the other to his head with a slightly fearful expression.
"...Why do you ask?"
"I- ...I d-don't... want to t-talk about it..."
He could hear the other struggling to breathe steadily, his hands moved away from his chest and head to tightly grip the fabric of his sweatpants in his hands...
The angel knew it'd get worse if he didn't try to assist him.
But at this rate, was he even going to accept his help? They still aren't on the best of terms yet...
...Screw it.
Armaros set the empty water bottle on the countertop and carefully moved to sit down next to Boyfriend, placing a hand on his back.
Initially BF tensed at the touch, and Armaros was going to pull back, but the rapper swiftly moved to cling onto his shirt, as a plead to stay.
The angel sighed, mainly out of relief that what he was doing was helping in some way.
Not too long after, BF heard him start humming a familiar tune.
...Wasn't this "Don't Worry"...?
He had to have learned this from BB...
Still, the melody was more than enough to help him mostly calm down, save for the anxiety that still remained in the corners of his head somewhere.
He looked over to see the angel's wing wrapped around him as well.
The grime that tended to accumulate on it had slowly gone away over the years, and with BB just having helped to wash it off, it was perfectly pristine now.
Plus, the fact he was just trying to help him right now...
Maybe he really wasn't that bad.
"...Your wing is comfy..."
Armaros looked down to see the young blue-haired boy starting to fall asleep, and with another sigh, he allowed him to stay there.
It was the least he could do.
He continued to hum the comforting tune, until a few moments later, when he heard the sound of running getting increasingly louder.
Not even a few seconds later, the door was flung open, Soul and BB on the other side.
"Bee, are you okay??"
"Dude, where's my brother-"
"Would both of you SHUT UP."
He pointed to BF, only slightly stirring next to him, but thankfully still asleep.
"I just got him to return to sleep, I don't think he would want to have another rude awakening."
"Oh... I- thanks? For getting him to sleep?"
And that was when Armaros noticed how out of breath the two appeared to be.
"...Did you both run down the stairs??"
"Yeah, kinda!"
"Soul felt a jolt of panic from him earlier, so naturally we rushed down here as fast as we could to make sure he was alright. But, it seems like he's doing fine, so..."
BB walked past them to get to the fridge, putting the Asian food in the microwave.
"Hopefully this isn't gonna wake him up. I just realized that I'm starving."
Armaros rolled his eyes - typical.
"Hey."
He turned to face the source of the voice, and found Soul to be looking at him with what could best be described as a solemn kind of gratefulness.
"Thanks for calming him down. And helping him go back to sleep. I was worried something was wrong when I realized you were still down here when I felt him panic."
"...It's no problem."
"...Do you know what happened...?"
He left out the fact that, in addition to the jolt of panic, he'd felt something was scrambled in his head and it only went away once BF was awake. ...Not that he knew if anyone could answer that question of his. Better to leave it unsaid, then, right...?
"Well... based on how he woke up, and everything he asked me about after... probably that thing in his dreams again."
He heard the other let out a sigh. He turned back, and found his expression to be a little darker now.
"Of course. It NEVER wants to go away, does it...?"
...Just how much more had they both endured because of this thing?
Eventually though, Soul just sighed, the dark look easily falling away as if the moment never even happened.
"Sorry. It's just... I worry about him, you know?"
"Well, the thing is, you have every right to."
"I know."
His gaze traveled back to BF, and he chuckled a bit.
"I'm definitely going to need to wake him up when we get ready to leave."
(About 2 hours later...)
Boyfriend was still in the peaceful world of sleep when he felt himself being shaken, a voice trying to get him to wake up.
"Hey, midget, come on. You can't stay here forever, you know."
When he groaned, finally opening his eyes a bit, he saw Armaros still beside him, BB and Soul watching him from the other side of the couch.
"Welcome back to the real world, little bro!"
"Mmmmfff... what t-time is it..?"
"A little after 5. Far from your usual wake up time, I know-"
"shutup."
"But you and Soul gotta get going. You can get more sleep when you get back home, alright?"
"hhhhhh... I don't wanna get up..."
"Yeah, I was expecting that."
Suddenly, the weight shifted on the couch and Armaros wasn't at his side anymore - because Soul had taken the liberty of scooping the rapper up into his arms to carry him.
"You sure you're going to be able to fly the whole way back?"
"Please, I can handle lesser amounts of sleep better than Bee can. I probably won't sleep for another 30 minutes after we get home."
Armaros rolled his eyes with a slight laugh, while BB just shook his head.
"Alright, alright, but you guys take it easy, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah... thanks though. For letting us stay and all that."
"Anytime, dude!"
Finally, they made their way up to the roof, where it was revealed that Armaros was now taking off as well - he was leaving BB with the theory sheets though.
One last goodbye was made before Soul flew off again, still carrying a half-asleep BF in his arms.
The rapper in question couldn't help but lean in closer to him.
Both of them had gotten back inside BF's apartment without a hitch, with Soul placing Boyfriend back on the bed to let him go back to sleep.
However, before he could make his way out of the room, he heard a tired voice come from behind him.
"S-Soul...?"
The entity in question turned around, seeing BF sitting up from the bed.
"Yeah?"
"...Can... can you stay here for a bit? Please? I-I don't... I don't wanna go back to sleep without you right now..."
He was still shaken from that nightmare, wasn't he?
Soul nodded, already walking towards the bed and climbing into it to lay next to him.
And the other quickly fell into his embrace.
"Aw, Bee... it's okay. It's over. It can't hurt you now."
"I know..."
"You're safe, alright? Promise."
BF nodded, hugging him a little tighter.
Right now, there's just so much in his head that he wants to get away from.
And there's a thought in his head that goes unvoiced, even as he slips back into slumber.
...I just want you to be safe, too.