Work Text:
The day was going horribly for Kay. He woke up late earlier today, he was fell down the stairs (thank God Elias was there to catch him before his face hit the floor), AND he had to run in the rain because he forgot to bring an umbrella. At least he reached his apartment now.
With a sigh, Kay grabbed his apartment keys and unlocked the door. He dried himself off, took off his shoes, and tossed his bag to the coach. Kay went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and dressed himself just as quickly.
Normally, Kay would scroll on social media or maybe even do his homework once he got home, but he was utterly exhausted today. He just wanted to rest. Kay locked his apartment door and closed all his windows. After that was done, he quickly went to his bedroom and flopped on his bed. Sleep came easily for him.
Kay jerked up from his sleep with a gasp. He was sweating all over, too. He should’ve predicted this would happen, really. Sleep came too easily.
He tried to calm down his erratic breathing as best as he could, but ultimately failing.
Fuck, this was bad.
He looked at the time, 9:18 PM. Who would be available at- Cassidy, Cassidy would be available.
Kay grabbed his phone and called him. After a few seconds of waiting, Cassidy had finally picked up the phone.
“Hello? Kay, is everything alright-”
“No, please come to my apartment I’ll explain everything.”
Kay ended the call before Cassidy asked more questions. He remembered Cassidy didn’t know his addressed, so he quickly messaged his addressed to Cassidy.
A few minutes later, Kay hears a knock on his door.
“Kade? Are you there? It’s me!!” he heard Cassidy call out.
Kay got out of his bed and unlocked his apartment door. He was faced with a very worried Cassidy.
“Kay! Is everything alright? You sounded so panicked! I tried to get here as quickly as I can. I brought some tea and snacks too. I hope those will help you calm down!” Cassidy said with a smile.
Kay could only nod at him. He gestured at Cassidy to come in and to sit on the couch, which Cassidy complied to.
“I’m sorry I called you this late at night.” Kay started. “I promised it’s something important, but I’m trying to rack my mind up on how to say it.” he sighed.
“No, no! Take as much time as you need! How about I pour both of us a cup of tea and lay out these snacks on a plate?” Cassidy asked.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Kay answered him.
Cassidy stood up from his seat. “The plates and cups are in the kitchen, right?” he asked. Kay nodded at the question.
Cassidy had finally come back with two cups full of tea and a plate full of snacks. He placed them down on the coffee table and took a seat next to Kay. Before Kay started talking, he took a chug out of his drink.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Cassidy asked, taking a sip from his own drink.
Kay gulped. He had made a mental script on how to go about this when Cassidy was in the kitchen. It was almost prefect, but like most mentally scripts he’s made, he couldn’t follow it.
“Well, uh, I had a nightmare,” Kay said. He knows Cassidy isn’t going to laugh at him, but he couldn’t help think that for a bit. After a few seconds, Cassidy respond.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked Kay. It seemed like Cassidy’s full attention was on him now. If he had to be honest, it was scaring him a little.
“Uh, yeah,” Kay said nervously. “Um, it was about my parents’ murder.” He could see Cassidy visibly tensed at this, but nodded along as a sign that Kay could continue.
“It went like usual. I hear my parents scream, come out of my room and see their dead body, and see their killers. But, um, there is something else….” Kay really was going to confess this. “When their…. When their killers saw me, they didn’t exactly let me off the hook. They, um, they got close to me, and then they started touching me and-” before he could even finish that sentence, he felt tears run down his face. Cassidy quickly handed him a tissue (where did he get that?) which he gladly accepted.
Once Kay seemed to have calmed down a bit, Cassidy finally spoke up. “There’s no need to continue what you wanted to say. I get what you were trying to say. That must have been a horrible experience. It must suck having to relive that, even if it’s only in your dreams.” Kay didn’t miss the way Cassidy said that with a slight tremble. He had also started fidgeting with his hands. Kay hoped it didn’t mean anything concerning.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Cassidy finally spoke up again.
“Does this happen often? Your nightmares, I mean.” Cassidy asked.
“No, it doesn’t happen as often as it used to.”
“That’s great! If it does happen again, you can call me! I’ll try to answer you.”
Kay could believe that. It was just that… something seemed so off about Cassidy. He seemed to be fidgeting more with his hands, and he could see Cassidy’s body lightly shaking. Something wasn’t right.
Kay finally worked up the courage to ask about that. “Um, Cassidy, you know you can always trust me, right? Ever since I mentioned the fact that I got… raped… you’ve been acting weird… You’ve helped me so much, and I want to be able to help you, too.”
Cassidy seemed a little taken a back but restored his composer rather quickly. He seemed to be thinking deeply about the offer. A few minutes later, Cassidy sighed.
“Well, alright if you say so…” he said. Kay’s full attention was now on Cassidy.
Before starting, Cassidy made sure to clear up his throat.
“W-well, I went through something similar…” Cassidy started. His gaze was now fixated on the floor. “It was a couple of years ago. My mom asked her friend to babysit me a few times. It was normal at first, but then she started touching me in places that she shouldn’t have probably touched. I tried ignoring it at first, thinking if I did, she’d suddenly stop. I was pretty young at the time, so I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.”
Cassidy swallowed hard before continuing on. “A few weeks after that change happened, she backed me into a corner and told me to strip. Said something about a game. It’s been so long, I don’t remember it too much. Just the smell of the lavender perfume she was wearing.” Cassidy’s eyes now met Kay’s eyes yet again.
“My mom never found out. The two did break apart though. It was due to some other issue I didn’t bother asking about. I was just glad that she was gone.” Cassidy sighed.
“That’s… horrible…” Kay finally said.
“Yeah, but well, you can’t change the past. What we both went through was horrible, but we’ll have to keep living on. Or at least try to…” Cassidy grabbed a cookie from the plate and began eating it.
“But what you went through really was horrible! Now I fell bad about complain-” before he could finish his sentence, he was caught off by Cassidy.
“No, no! Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? What went through was horrible and we shouldn’t compare trauma. Besides, nightmares are scary too! Sometimes I get scared by them too, you know?” Cassidy said before pausing. “I panic at the scent of lavender perfume sometimes. It’s ok to get scared by something. It’s a human reaction!”
Kay nodded at that. “You know, you can always talk to me too…” he said.
“Yeah, yeah, I know! Same goes for you! Feel free to call me if you get one of these nightmares again!” Cassidy said joyously. They both laughed for a bit until Cassidy let out a yawn. Prompting Kay to look at the clock. It was 11:45 PM now.
“I should go home now.” Cassidy began to stand up from his seat before being dragged back into it by Kay.
“No way! It’s almost 12 AM! Like hell I’m letting you go out at this hour!” Kay yelled at Cassidy. Causing Cassidy to laugh.
“Hehe, I guess you’re right. I’ll stay over for tonight.”