2am Knows All Secrets

Chapter 9 - To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

There was a soft knock on the door.

~

At the faint sound, the air became still.

In a way, the noise had been a relief. It snapped Eijirou out of his head, out of his terror and back into the familiar safety of his room. His heart was still beating so fast it felt like he had forgotten how to breathe, his head thrumming with a dull ache, eyes still burning. But the knock had anchored him to the present, and his erratic breathing calmed. Slowly, slowly, he was able to lower shaky hands from his ears as he blinked his eyes open. It had just been a dream. No reason to panic. He was okay.

There was another knock, somehow even softer than the one before.

He didn't wonder who it was for very long because honestly, it was 2 in the morning, who else could it even be?

If it really was Bakugou, he probably wanted to ask for help. Or... as close as Bakugou would ever get to 'asking for help'. Why else would he be there? And Eijirou had to help. He needed to make sure that his friend was okay. He had to.

He reached for the tissues on his nightstand, wiping the dripping snot from his nose. Some back part of his brain insisted that he couldn't let Bakugou see him like this. But also, he had seen Bakugou at his worst, hadn't he? It wasn't anything to be embarrassed about. But still, Eijirou could not help the feeling of shame that overcame him. It had only been one dumb dream, yet here he was, tears streaming down his face, sweat beaded on his forehead, his heart still pulsing with residual adrenaline, every nightmarish shadow from the disrupted moonlight making his spine chill.

Well, at least now he knew how Bakugou had felt only a few nights ago.

He shuffled the covers away and slung his legs over the side of the bed. He wiped at his eyes a little bit more, attempting to dry them, before shakily standing to his feet. Lightheadedness washed over him, making his head swim. He paused to take a few deep breaths, to stop the room from spinning. Then, after tossing his tissues into his waste basket by his desk, he shuffled to the door, one foot in front of the other, leaving his shame behind him. He didn't care how he looked, didn't care if his face was damp and puffy. His friend needed help.

His arm reached for the doorknob, but it wavered, faltered, for just a second, a stray thought stopping him in his tracks.

Maybe Eijirou needed help, too. And maybe that was okay.

He opened the door. Red eyes bore into him, exhausted, maybe a tad bit relieved, before flickering away.

"Hey," Bakugou grunted.

Bakugou...

The tightness in his chest relaxed, and Eijirou could breathe again, actually breathe a sigh of relief. Forget the crush, forget the emotional ups and downs from the past week, forget the nightmare – at his core Eijirou just missed his friend, so much that it hurt. And finally, finally, there he was.

Bakugou looked uninterested at first, seemingly quite contented with looking at the bottom of the doorframe. But his eyes glanced once more to Eijirou, their eyes meeting, and immediately his face turned grave with concern.

But his eyes, they drew Eijirou in. Legs moved on their own, making him stumble forward, until they were face to face, eye to eye. Eijirou couldn't stop himself from slowly bringing his arms around Bakugou's torso, hugging him carefully, as if any instant could whisk him away. He couldn't help the way his arms trembled, couldn't avoid the desperation.

Bakugou froze at first, for just a second, but he quickly gave in to the embrace, bringing his own arms up to surround and comfort, hands rubbing designs into Eijirou's back, just like Eijirou had done to him only nights before.