Work Text:
Being a part of Santos Bravos has given Kaue a newfound appreciation for sleep. Gone were the carefree days in Brazil. Now, he spends hours each day repeating dance steps and practicing songs. The music and song lyrics were broken up by the harsh criticism and the occasional crumb of praise from the coaches. By the end of the day, all Kaue and the other trainees wanted to do was have a warm meal and rest their muscles for a split second before doing it all again the next day. In fact, what got him through the grueling practices was the thought of a long night of peaceful sleep. This night, however, was different.
A muffled voice slowly took him out of his sleep, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was saying. He tried to ignore it, but the voice grew louder and clearer.
“We’re late! We’re late!”
Kaue sprang upright, his eyes wide open and brain still fuzzy with sleep. He can’t be late for practice. If he’s late, he’ll miss the bus that takes him and the guys to HYBE’s building, which means he’ll have to walk, and then he’ll really be late. But when he got up, he realized there was no sunlight peeking through the blinds. Normally, he’d wake up to the chatter and shuffling of the boys getting ready for the day, but it was silent. Well, mostly silent. The shouting continued, and Kaue noticed it was being done by his very own roommate, Luigi. The moonlight peeking through the windows showed him standing in between their beds, facing the door, and swaying slightly. It must’ve been a nightmare.
“Shh, Luigi, what are you talking about? Go back to bed.” Kaue hissed. Luigi stopped shouting, but instead of turning around and going back to sleep, he squeezed past Kaue’s bed and made his way to the dressers in the room.
“Luigi, why are you picking out clothes? We have to go back to sleep.”
“You’re right– no time for clothes,” Luigi mumbled, turning around and making his way towards the door. As he passed by, Kaue noticed Luigi’s eyes were open, but there seemed to be no life in them. Almost like he was… sleeping? Was Luigi sleepwalking?
Honestly, Kaue couldn’t help but be impressed – even as Luigi ran into their closed bedroom door and then mindlessly opened it – but he was also worried. What if Luigi woke up the rest of the house? Even worse, if he was headed for the stairs, one step could lead to him falling. It was bad enough that he had to sit out a few practices because of an aching ankle. There’s no way the coaches would let him dance if he tumbled down a flight of stairs.
“Luigi, wait!” Kaue hissed, chasing after him. Luigi had turned on a hallway light and was already well down the stairs, stumbling from side to side. Fortunately, the sleeping boy was able to make it to the bottom safely, but Kaue couldn’t celebrate for long when he noticed Luigi heading for the kitchen. He scurried in front of Luigi and held him by his shoulders, but when he was about to shake him awake, a voice startled him.
“No!” Someone whisper-yelled. Kaue turned and saw Heider making his way into the living room. “What are you doing?”
“Luigi’s sleepwalking-”
“I can see that! Didn’t anyone ever tell you never to wake someone who’s sleepwalking? It’s dangerous!”
Kaue let go of Luigi’s shoulders, and the semi-awake boy went around him, opening the fridge for his breakfast. “What? I’ve never heard that.”
“Oh yeah, I heard it can cause a heart attack and kill someone instantly. Or even worse, he could get violent and start hitting people. Especially with all these knives around, you don’t wanna mess around.”
Kaue watched as Luigi reached for a box of cereal to join the milk on the counter. He noted the knife block that was in arm’s reach. It’s amazing that he still hasn’t managed to hurt himself yet. “Ok, so what do we do? How can we break his trance safely?”
Heider shrugged. “You don’t. You just need to let him come to terms on his own.”
“But that could take all night! Plus, he thinks he’s late for practice. What if he walks out the front door into oncoming traffic?”
“We’re late!” Luigi mumble-shouted again, taking his completed bowl of cereal towards the dining table. Heider shook his head in disbelief while Kaue tried to quiet him down.
“What’s going on?” Alejandro hurried down the stairs with a worried expression, and Patricio followed behind him sleepily. “Who’s yelling about being late?”
“We’re la-ate...” Luigi mumbled, then shoved a spoon of cereal into his mouth.
“What’s wrong with him?” Patricio yawned.
“He’s sleepwalking,” Kaue explained.
“Sleepwalking, sleeptalking, and now sleepeating.” Heider chuckled to himself. “A man of many talents.”
Patricio shrugged. “So? Just wake him up.”
“According to Heider, it’s too dangerous,” Kaue said.
“It’s true! I have an older cousin who tried to wake up his friend who was sleepwalking during a sleepover, and he’s still recovering from that.” Heider shook his head. “And the sleepover was 2 years ago!”
Alejandro rubbed his eyes. “Well, we can’t leave Luigi like this all night. It’s not safe for him, and probably not us either. The responsible thing to do would be to gently try to wake him up.”
“Go ahead then,” Kaue said, gesturing to Alejandro, who froze in his tracks.
“Oh, me? Well, I don’t know about that. He might be more comfortable if you do it, you know, since you’re his roommate and all.”
“What? It’s your idea. Just be gentle, like you said.” Kaue pushed back.
“Well, I’m not doing it.” Heider raised his hands and scurried to stand behind the safety of the kitchen counter.
Patricio sighed. “I’ll do it! I just want to go back to sleep.”
Alejandro and Kaue absentmindedly stepped back as Patricio went up to Luigi. The sleeping boy was still sitting in his chair with his cereal.
“Hey, watch out for the spoon!” Heider called from the kitchen, and Patricio rolled his eyes in response. He crouched a bit so he was eye-level with Luigi, and everyone else held their breath to see what would happen. “Luigi…” Patricio said softly, tapping the boy’s shoulder. Luigi continued to eat his cereal.
“Is he awake?” Kaue whispered, and Alejandro shrugged. As far as either of them could tell, nothing had changed.
Patricio continued tapping Luigi, then switched to shaking him by his shoulders. Kaue thought that would have worked for sure, but Luigi showed no signs of waking up. Finally, he let out a sigh and slapped Luigi in the face. The sudden sound caused everyone to jump, and Heider yelped as he dropped behind the kitchen counter completely.
“Pato, what are you doing?” Kaue hissed.
“He’s lost it! We’re all dead now.” Heider wailed from behind the counter.
Luigi’s face recoiled back to Patricio, and he stared for a second. No one dared to make any more sudden movements. The tension was broken when Luigi slapped Patricio back in response, causing the younger to fall to the floor from his crouched position. “I think he’s awake now.”
“I tried to warn you guys. Run while you can!” Heider said again from behind the kitchen counter.
Luigi blinked, and then he furrowed his brows as he chewed the cereal left in his mouth and looked around. “What’s going on? Why are you all up? Wait, why am I up?”
Patricio sluggishly got up from the floor and shuffled back towards the stairs, grumbling about his face. When Luigi turned towards everyone else with a confused look, Alejandro just laughed and ruffled Luigi’s hair. “We’ll tell you about it in the morning. But for now, we all need to go back to bed.”
Heider got up from behind the counter. “I agree. I’ve had enough sleepwalking for one night. Good night, guys.”
When Alejandro and Heider left for their rooms, Luigi turned towards Kaue with a confused expression. “Sleepwalking? Oh no, was I the one sleepwalking?”
Kaue nodded in response and giggled when he saw Luigi’s face turn red with embarrassment. He extended a hand and pulled Luigi up from the chair.
“Sorry about that,” Luigi mumbled. “Sometimes when I get stressed about something, I sleepwalk and start saying who knows what.”
“And let me guess, this whole training experience has been pretty stressful for you?”
Luigi hesitated, then nodded. “I guess so. I mean, I knew it was gonna be tough, but this is a lot more than I expected.”
Kaue threw an arm around Luigi’s shoulder as they headed back upstairs, the act being a silent show of support and comfort. “So, after you wake up from sleepwalking, is there something that you do to calm yourself down? So you sleep for the rest of the night?”
“Well, uh, one thing that usually helps me stay asleep is sharing a bed with one of my brothers. It, um, helps calm me down.”
“I see.” Kaue rocked back and forth. “Well, I know I’m not your brother, but you can share with me if you’d like. Only if you’re comfortable, of course.”
Luigi turned towards the tiny twin bunk that Kaue slept on, and Kaue knew what he was thinking. The bed was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. To his surprise, Luigi turned back around with a shy smile. “Okay, it’s worth a shot.”
Kaue was grateful for that night of sleep, even after it had been interrupted. What was more important was that he not only still got to rest, reset, and block out the troubles of being a trainee, but he got to share that same satisfaction with a friend.