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It was not new to Sakura when he woke up with a start. Waking up breathless in an almost pitch black room–save for the moonlight shining through his gifted curtains–cold sweat dripping down his neck. He knew how to deal with the aftermath too, after being alone for so long, the boy just wished it wouldn't leave him with such a headache afterwards.
Sometimes, his nightmares would wake him up early enough to where he didn't have to worry about falling asleep again, where he could just get up and go for the day. Other times, like now, are in the dead of night, too shaky and scared to go back to sleep.
Sakura exhales, ignoring the way it sounds, choked and short. He runs a hand through his hair and realizes how sticky his face feels, he doesn’t want to think about if it was sweat or tears.
With a groan, he stands from his lonely futon making his way to the bathroom. Washing his face won’t make him sleepier, but maybe, just maybe, it’ll help with the gross feeling on his skin.
Cold water runs down his face and neck, seeping into his plain white shirt. It’s relieving in a way, the cold helps fend off the sleepiness pulling him back into the nightmare and grounds him.
Sakura is here. In Makochi. Not anywhere near that old town, where no one seemed to want him.
Another choked breath comes out of him when he sees his reflection in the mirror. Sakura’s pale complexion looks even paler, and his cheeks hollow. The normally brilliant golden eye stares back dully at him. Sakura bites at his lips harshly, the chapped skin frays between his teeth, and tears his gaze away.
He’s done what he can now, no more fear of falling back to sleep and he can feel the way the water cools his skin, feeling human. Sakura staggers over to his futon again, flopping down harshly on top of the covers.
The room is still encased in darkness, moonlight peeking through and a slight glow in the corner of the room. Sakura hums to himself and crawls over to it. He blinks when he sees his phone light up.
The top of the screen shines 2:00am, he guesses he could try going back to sleep, but nightmares seem to always linger. At the bottom of the screen was a small pop up notification from a random app on his phone, probably downloaded by Kiryu, Sakura guesses.
It dims again and he frowns. Sakura grabs the device and pulls it off the charger, tapping the screen for it to illuminate the room again. He unlocks it this time, staring at the apps he had been forced to add onto his phone. Sakura doesn't know what half of them do, but he knows the one messaging app at the bottom of his screen. A red notification bubble sits at the top of it, someone must have sent him something after he fell asleep.
Curiously, he taps it and at the top of his messages sits his and Nirei’s chat box.
Sure enough the other boy had sent something after he closed his eyes, a lot of something.
“Ten unread..” Sakura mumbles. He scrolls to his last message he sent and reads. It was varying questions from the boy asking Sakura what he’s had for dinner and such, it was five messages in which Nirei figures he’s fallen asleep.
Sorry for bothering!
You must fall asleep fast…
Good night! Sweet dreams!
And Sakura scoffs at how ironic the last message was. But his finger hovers over the text box.
It would be insane to send a message at this dead of night, the last thing Sakura wants is to scare away the person closest to him.
His face burns upon that realization, shaking his head excessively, but his finger still lingers.
Sakura blames it on the post nightmare jitters as he types and retypes a message out. He has no idea what to say, but there was a small ache in his chest that longed for someone to care for him after a night like this.
Gibberish ends up in the text box as he angrily throws his phone across from him. He shouldn't be bothering the boy, it's the middle of the night! No one would want to be woken up just to help him.
Sakura’s entire body stills when he hears the shrill ping! of a message being received. His hand shakes–because of the nightmares he tells himself–as he reaches to grab it.
He stares in horror as his last nonsensical text he typed out was actually sent.
And Nirei answered.
In seconds.
It was a flood of messages actually, ranging from asking if he was okay to asking where he was. Sakura tried to text him back as the boy was still frantically texting him, but he couldn't keep up.
He groaned angrily, not worrying about his neighbors–he wasn't even sure he had any—and hastily hit Nirei’s icon at the top of his screen, slamming the call button. It was always easier to communicate in person, but Sakura was still getting used to his phone, and friends, thing.
It didn't even ring once before the other picked up the call, “Sakura-san!” Nirei whisper-shouted as best he could, “Is everything okay?!”
Sakura gripped his phone tightly enough to shake, “Everything’s fine! You always go around worrying too damn much!”
Nirei let out a relieved laugh that made something tingle in Sakura’s chest, “Oh, good, you sound okay.” Sakura doesn't know why he can imagine the boy's relieved face easily.
He continues, “Was there something wrong, though? It’s rare for you to call like this.”
Sakura’s face burns, “That’s ‘cause you wouldn’t stop sending all those messages!”
“I-I’m sorry!” Sakura can imagine his wide eyed stare, “But I couldn't make out what you sent me…I was worried something happened or it was a code of some sort…”
“Code? What do you mean code?” Sakura asks genuinely.
“You know! Like in–” he stops himself short, “Nevermind, Sakura-san.”
Again, Sakura can imagine the look Nirei gives him when he normally doesn't understand something that is normal to others. But before he could blow up again, Nirei speaks up, “So nothing’s wrong? You're not in danger?”
“Hell no I'm not!” Sakura immediately answers.
“Then…did you sleep-text me..?” Sakura wishes he didn't imagine Nirei’s slightly blushing face.
Silence stretches across both rooms, one waiting for an answer and one trying to fight off the heat climbing up his neck.
“I…just…I woke up…” Sakura grits out, the closest he’ll get to confessing he had a nightmare.
“Just woke up.” Nirei repeated, Sakura could hear the grin forming on his face.
“Yeah! Got a problem with that!” Sakura threatened, pulling the phone from his face to yell loudly into the speaker.
His grumbles are cut off by a light giggle coming through his phone. The boy pauses, his face warming considerably, but not a searing hot, a more gentle warmth. Much like what bloomed in his chest hearing the other laugh like that.
“No, no I don’t. It makes me happy that you can rely on me like this.” Nirei giggles again.
“R—Rely on you?!” Sakura says incredulously, his volume a low lower and tone softer.
The other makes a triumphant noise like he’s got Sakura all figured out, “No one just wakes up at two in the morning, Sakura-san.” Nirei lowers his voice to a whisper, “So…is there anything wrong?”
Sakura pauses. Nirei phrased his question differently this time. Not implying he got into a fight or ran off somewhere, it was genuine concern about himself.
The line stayed silent for a bit, Sakura having a war in his head if he wanted to confess fully or not.
And Nirei waited.
Eventually, he mumbled his answer out, “Hm? Sorry, Sakura-san, I couldn’t hear you.” Nirei hummed, and Sakura knew he wasn't lying with how his voice got closer to the phone trying to hear him clearer.
“....night..mare…” Sakura said through gritted teeth.
His chest seized in panic, still not used to being vulnerable like this with his…friends. He waited for the laughter mocking him to ring in his ear, or even the name calling to start.
His heart seemed to almost stop when Nirei’s soft voice went through his speaker again, “A nightmare?” he sounded so concerned, voice hushed and gentle, “Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?”
Sakura doesn't. He never likes reliving his nightmares. They were just memories replaying anyway.
But before he could answer, Nirei cut him off again, “No! Sorry! You shouldn't have to talk about it, if you don't want to,” He scrambled, “But I–I’m here if you need it, Sakura-san, I always will be.”
Sakura’s hand shakes, almost enough to make him drop his phone. Of course he would say that, why was Sakura ever doubting him? The boy he met in his first days in Makochi, the boy who encouraged and kept encouraging him no matter what.
All the way to the top!
“Can we…stay like this? …just like this, for now.” Sakura’s voice was so small, so frail. But his chest didn't flutter in panic, he wanted to be vulnerable with the other.
A soft chuckle came from NIrei again, “Of course. Do you want to talk, Sakura-san?”
He’s coming to think he likes the way Nirei says his name.
“No.” comes quickly out of his mouth, “b–but you can. I…like listening to you.” I like your voice.
Sakura can see yet again the way Nirei preens, his excitable breath can be heard through the tiny speakers, “O–Okay! I’ll do my best!”
Just like that, Nirei goes down several tangents and rants. From how different classmates fight to what recipe he was currently trying to learn.
Sakura ignores his face heating up when the other accidentally mentions omurice.
Sometime between the rants, Sakura found himself back under the futon covers, warming his blankets again. With Nirei’s voice also warming Sakura’s insides, he feels his eyelids droop.
“Then Kiryu-san–!” Nirei pauses, hearing a small noise from the other line.
Sakura’s snores are picked up by his phone and Nirei smiles warmly just imagining his sleeping face, “Good night, Sakura-san.”