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Calum sleepily blinked his eyes after feeling a slight stirring next to him in bed. He and Michael had fallen asleep cuddling last night after their movie night in Michael’s room, but he now noticed that they were no longer pressed together. In fact, Michael seemed slightly distressed. He squinted in the dark room to try and see his best friend who was sitting up in the bed a few inches away from Calum, his knees against his chest and arms wrapped around them.
“Mikey?” he whispered.
“Shit, Cal, you scared me” Michael said a little too loudly given it was probably three o’clock in the morning if Calum had to guess.
“What’s going on? Why are you awake?” Calum pressed, now feeling concerned about his best friend. Michael didn’t talk about it often but Calum knew he had nightmares from time to time. Usually Calum could tell when Michael had a nightmare the night before based on his mood in the morning, but he didn’t like to bring it up unless Michael did so himself. He thinks it’s safe enough to assume that Michael has just woken up from a nightmare and since he’s been quiet for a few minutes he decides to just ask. “Bad dream?”
Michael nodded into the darkness and softly mumbled, “Mhmm.”
“Oh, Mikey, come here..” Calum reached out to Michael and pulled him back under their shared blanket, Michael easily allowing himself to be moved. After a moment of getting comfortable, the two boys were lying on their sides, facing each other. The small amount of light from Michael’s night light allowed them to just barely see each other's faces. Calum couldn’t help but think how tired his Mikey looked in this moment, puffy eyes squinting with sleepiness, soft lips stuck in a slight pout. “D’you wanna talk about it?”
“It was-” He chokes up right away, and Calum’s heart breaks the same way it does every time he sees his best friend cry. “I keep having the same dream-” he rushes the words out but his voice breaks again and he pauses.
“It’s okay Mikey, slow down” Calum reached out to cup Michael’s cheek and wipe away his tears. Michael closes his eyes and lets the tears fall for a few moments before he speaks again.
“I keep having this dream where you die and it’s my fault. It’s my fault every time and it feels so real a-and even when I wake up it still feels real, and I can’t feel calm until I realize it was just a nightmare, which takes a while sometimes and I'm just sitting there thinking that you’re gone and it’s all my fault.” Michael sobs as he says all this to Calum.
Calum is stunned, he didn’t know what he expected Michael to say but it definitely wasn’t this. He pulls Michael into a tight hug and lets him cry into his shirt, “Oh Mikey I’m sorry, I’m right here I promise. I’ll always be here, that nightmare will never ever come true. I’m serious, I love you Michael, you’ll always be my best friend, nothing like that could ever happen.”
Michael keeps his face pressed into Calum's chest as he talks, “I know, I know, it just feels so real and it hurts like it’s real…”
Michael’s voice is hoarse as he speaks and it breaks Calum’s heart even more, “It’s okay Mikey, just let me hold you, okay?”
“Okay” Michael whispered into Calum's t-shirt and allowed himself to be held by his best friend.
Calum stroked Michael’s back and placed gentle kisses onto his head as he continued to quietly cry until he fully ran out of energy and started drifting off to sleep.