Work Text:
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The sound grated against Kaito’s ears, a horrid intrusion upon what little peace he could find in the dark silence of his dorm room. He rolled onto his side with a loud groan, eyes still clenched shut in a pitiful attempt to grasp what little sleep he could, considering the situation.
But, even more merciless than the days, were the nights. The cold, bitter nights that nipped at his fingers almost as much as they nipped away at his mind.
Despite his collected exterior, it all crumbled away from him the second he found a moment of solitude, a moment where his defenses were just weak enough to let the thoughts slip in. The imagery, the scenes, he’d been subjected to the days prior, bleeding into his every thought no matter how hard he tried to fight it off. With every death, the depths of his mind just gained more and more ammunition to torture him with. Every. Single. Night.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Sleeping wasn’t working. Admitting bitter, bitter, defeat, the astronaut finally pushed himself up and into a seated position on ‘his’ bed, bleary eyes blinking away the crushing exhaustion of countless sleepless nights. Tonight was the same as every other, it seems. With every blink, every prolonged closure of his eyes, Kaito’s psyche was assaulted by painful imagery, painful memories. Tonight? Rantaro’s concaved skull, the horrid way his eyes popped out from the sheer force of the impact, hair drenched in sticky crimson hue. Or, if his mind was feeling particularly merciless, his thoughts teetered into entire, irrational fiction. Imagining his own death, the deaths of people he cares about, all in similar, brutal fashions. Crushed, speared, tortured, every single way he could possibly imagine.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Tonight was a bad night. Here, every night was a bad night.
Maybe Shuichi’s awake?