Stand By Me One Shots/Imagines + Preferences (The Cobras x reader)

His Nightmare (Ace's sister)

You woke up from the sound of your door opening and sat up in bed. Your room was dark, but even so you could make out the form of your brother standing in the doorway.

"Ace? What's up?", you asked, as you rubbed the sleep from your eyes.

"Nothing. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep."

He spoke quietly, and you'd rarely ever heard his voice as unsteady and vulnerable as it was now. He turned to leave, but before he could do so you asked why he was awake.

Ace didn't answer, didn't react at all, but he didn't leave either.

"Was it a nightmare?"

He confirmed so with a sigh and came over to sit next to you on your bed, laying an arm around your shoulder, as if it was you and not him who needed comfort.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Ace shook his head. "I'm good. Just wanted to check on you since I was awake anyway."

"Something happened to me in your dream, huh?"

With another sigh your brother gave in and told you about his nightmare. "Yeah. I dreamt that it was you that was laying on those train tracks instead of the boy we found."

Now you were glad Ace had made you wait in the car while they went for the body. Your brother was the toughest guy you knew, so the dead boy must have looked really bad if even Ace was having nightmares because of the sight.

You hugged him, knowing it was what he needed, even if he would never admit so.

"It wasn't me though. 'm here," you reminded him.

Ace nodded. "I know. I just can't seem to get that image out of my head."

"Don't tell me I wouldn't look good with my skull bashed in," you tried to joke, but your brother didn't think it was funny at all.

"I don't know how you can joke about something like that."

"Sorry. I guess I just don't really understand it because I didn't see the body. And I can make fun of it 'cause I have the best big brother in the whole world, who would never ever let anything like that happen to me."
You gave him a cheeky grin he probably wouldn't even see in the dark of the room, and Ace let out a bitter laugh.

"If you were to get lost when you're out on your own and ended up in front of a train I wouldn't be able to do shit about it."

"Well, no, but you never let me out of your sight long enough for me to get lost n' become train fodder. Not to mention that I'm way too smart and awesome to do that," you continued trying to cheer your brother up by making light of his nightmare-induced fears.

This finally got a smile out of him. "Right. We'll just ignore that one time you somehow managed to get lost in the library, huh?"

"That doesn't count. There's no trains in the library, so getting lost in there is perfectly safe."

Ace chuckled, and you smiled at your success.

"Alright. So since there's no trains in here either, I guess it's perfectly safe to send you back to sleep, too, yeah?"

"Sure. But you're welcome to sleep here tonight if you think that'll help make sure you won't get another nightmare," you offered, remembering all the times you had slept in your brother's arms after a nightmare when you were small.

He laughed and ruffled your hair. "Yeah, I don't think so. Unlike you I'm not a little baby. Now shut up and go back to sleep, alright?"

"Alright." You kissed his cheek. "Good night, Ace."

"Night, Y/N."