(Kinda old but not)
Sweet lord almighty, day eight is so freaking L O N G. Nearly seven thousand words. I AM DYING.
Uh, hi. Sorry if I'm not updating as much as you'd (probably) like, but I've been doing the best I can in my current state, mentally and emotionally. I am exhausted from the past two weeks of dealing with insomnia, and even if it's second nature by now to deal with it, that doesn't change the fact that I'm losing sleep and am tired. I guess it's a good thing I can deal with it, or else you guys wouldn't get any stories.
As for the requested story, I'm working on that now. I've gotten a plot written down, from start to finish. I don't know if you'll enjoy it, but please bear with me, I'm doing my best. I'm not adding day nine here, mainly because I haven't written it yet, but also because day eight is so long. While I do like long pages, I don't want to make them so long that they're boring and a waste of time, you know? Anyways, enough of my anxiety, here's day eight!
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Nightmare tried to wash the bite, he did. But he gave up when even attempting it had him nearly screaming. Multiple times, he glared at the door, silently cursing Cross. Getting dressed presented a whole new level of FUCK! He hated it when his tentacles got injured, absolutely despised it. Once he got the limp tendril situated, cradling it with two others, Nightmare left the bathroom and went straight for the kitchen. He hadn't eaten in his worry for Cross and was positively famished. Cross was in the kitchen when Nightmare stormed in. He'd cleaned up the glass and mopped up the spilled beer, silently screaming at himself for being such a terrible friend the entire time. He'd made two sandwiches for Nightmare and had left them on the table. Cross had hoped to finish before Nightmare actually showed, so he wouldn't be in the room, but he didn't hear the bathroom door open through the waves of self-hatred.
As soon as Nightmare stepped in, Cross darted out of the room and fled to his bedroom. He sat down on his bed with a heavy sigh, feeling as if he'd burst into tears right there. Nightmare didn't notice Cross was there until he was gone, eye barely catching that blue sweater dashing around the corner. He absently poked the sandwiches on the table before taking one and eating slowly. He didn't know what Cross was doing, but he hoped he'd finish soon. Nightmare didn't want to be late. He considered grabbing the second sandwich but decided to leave it since he was sure Cross hadn't eaten. He eyed the stairs, growing more and more irritated the longer he waited. What was Cross even doing? Two minutes later, Cross finally came shuffling in right as Nightmare finished a cup of coffee. His eyes landed on the uneaten sandwich and he blinked in confusion. "You... there's still one left..." Nightmare rolled his eye, arms crossed as he stared Cross down. "Just hurry up and eat so I'm not late."
Cross deflated. Of course Nightmare was still mad. He curled in on himself the further he moved into the room, flinching at the glare he was given. Cross set his gaze on the floor, feeling heavy and tired. The sandwich went ignored. "...let's go then.." Nightmare was overly aware that Cross didn't even acknowledge the food, but couldn't force himself to care. Cross silently stepped past him, letting Nightmare step outside before locking the front door and taking the driver's seat. He winced as Nightmare struggled to get in without agitating the injured tendril, cursing colorfully when he finally settled in the passenger's seat. Cross bit his tongue before he could ask if Nightmare was okay, forcing himself to focus on the car. The ten-minute drive was absolutely tense and uncomfortable. Cross dropped Nightmare off at the entrance, dejectedly staring at the darker's back until he disappeared inside the school. Nightmare didn't wait for Cross, continuing to his first class while the other parked the car. Besides, Cross's class wasn't for another two hours.
-
Cross wasted his morning classes by sleeping or staring at the floor numbly. Sleeping through the class, and staring at the floor numbly as his teachers lectured him for sleeping through class. He couldn't be bothered to care anyway. When he left for lunch, Cross didn't even try to avoid the crowded cafeteria. He walked right in and made straight for an empty table in the far back. He wanted to be alone. As soon as he sat down, he let his head fall onto the table with a loud thud and a pained groan. After five minutes of looking at his feet glumly, Cross completely blacked out.
-
Nightmare tried to ignore Cross. But when the said skeleton sat down and practically slammed his head onto the table and didn't lift it, Nightmare failed, and so did every single soul in the food court. Three seconds later, Killer snickered, and elbowed Horror, getting the broken monster's attention. "Kid looks tired. Bet it's from all the fucking he did." Nightmare frowned as Horror burst into scratchy laughter along with anyone else who heard the joke. Dream and his blue friend, however, watched Cross's unmoving form with worried expressions. Something akin to determination settled in Dream's gaze, and Killer sputtered in surprise when he stood up and marched towards Cross. He didn't even get to sit beside him. Cross's head snapped up suddenly, startling the golden twin. He squinted at Dream, head tilted as he listened to whatever Dream was saying. Nightmare's eye narrowed at Cross's slow scowl. That wasn't a nice expression, and it didn't fit the face that wore it. Cross interrupted Dream, hands moving wildly as he spoke angrily, making the brightly dressed student hesitantly hold out his hand, which was promptly slapped aside. Dream visibly stuttered, stumbling back as Cross abruptly pushed him away with a shout. "I said I'm fine! Now leave me ALONE!!"
Dream rushed back to Nightmare's table, dropping beside Killer with a stricken expression. A loud thud later, Cross had laid his head back down and the food court was quiet. It took fifteen minutes for everything to go back to normal. Dream was talking animatedly to Ink and Blue while healing Nightmare's tentacle, Error was having a staring contest with Dust, and Nightmare was arguing with Killer about macaroni. Nightmare was perfectly fine with pretending things were okay. Horror, who'd been flirting with his boyfriend, started giggling at something. Nightmare stopped his bickering to look at where Horror was pointing, and inhaled sharply. Some random student was creeping up to Cross's table, a bowl in their hands and a sharp smile on their face. Nightmare unconsciously sharpened his tentacles as that bowl was brought down on Cross's head hard. The bowl, which was apparently glass, shattered upon impact, and steaming liquid spilled down Cross's skull. It didn't take long for fierce burns to fade in, an angry bluish-red spreading to cover nearly all of Cross's head. Not too long after, tiny beads of purple started streaming over the dark welts. Cross's body jerked, hardly, yet he remained slumped over as most of the students began laughing. The laughter died out when Cross didn't react like they'd obviously wanted. Another object was flung at him, smashing into Cross's side with a painful sound. A hush fell over the crowd, waiting. Nothing happened.
Killer tugged Dream back down, muttering something to calm him while the others stared, either confused, apathetic, worried, or all of those things. Nightmare found himself bristling as another bowl was smashed onto Cross's head. The student who did it even went as far as to shove Cross slightly, knocking him off his seat. Finally, Cross reacted, and still, it wasn't how they wanted him to. He pulled himself up, dusting his pants off and pulling his hood on with a sigh. As he started scooping up the mess, he addressed the mass of onlookers. "You guys are so original. Gee, I almost feel honored to get so much attention. Next time, try not to make a mess." Cross dumped the shards of glass into the arms of a random person, patting their shoulder and stalking away. Cross didn't bother to ask people to move, seeing as how the crowd parted like the sea as he passed. Nightmare's nonexistent gut churned in unease, his eye flickering in worry. Killer cleared his throat, eyeing him suspiciously. Horror blinked at him curiously, nodding when Killer voiced both of their thoughts. "Is he okay? Y'know, up here?" He tapped his noggin for emphases, sockets narrowed. Dream smacked his shoulder, hissing at him to be nice. Nightmare tore his eyes away from the door Cross left through, refocusing on his food. "He's got a lot of shit on his plate. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"
-
Cross was late, and Nightmare was getting worried again. They had the last class together, and Cross wasn't there yet. Where was he?
-
Cross glared at Chara's back, wanting nothing more than to return the favor. But he couldn't, not when every movement sent a fresh wave of tears down his cheeks. He squeezed his sockets shut, gritting his teeth. "Aww, are you crying?" Chara had come back for more, it seemed. Cross forced himself to turn his head and open a socket, glaring at his sibling with as much hate as he could muster. Chara started laughing, crouching down to poke one a particularly painful mark. "Don't look at me like that, pardner. It's a personal request from dear old mom." Like that made it better. His glare sharpened, and the action kicked off the second round. He felt Chara's fist before he saw it, the blow knocking his head back onto the hard concrete. Stars exploded in his vision, his skull bouncing off the pavement. Blood filled his mouth, trickling out between his teeth. A heavy pressure settled on his bruised chest, something cracking audibly as Chara snickered. "Mom said two rounds, ten minutes each. A little specific, huh? But, she puts food in my stomach, so... No hard feelings, right?"
Cross sucked in a hissing breath before he managed to force it back out all at once, spitting blood and saliva at Chara. He cracked an eye open, laughing wetly at Chara's offended scowl, the mixed spit slowly sliding down the front of his shirt. His chest rattled with every breath, one of his ribs cracking more and more from Chara's weight. "I think-" When pain cut him off, he growled and tried again, " I think that mom puts.. too much food in your stomach, fat ass." He knew the comment would cost him. He was prepared for the next hit, but he was not ready for the fractured rib to snap and break off completely from the sudden lurch. He didn't scream though. No, Cross's scream was interrupted by a second rib snapping off. With Chara sitting at the very bottom of his ribcage, all of his weight was on two ribs. The first one left the other one to hold Chara up alone, and it wasn't able to. So both of them caved in, and for a split second, all Cross knew was numbness and shock that was nearly instantly drowned out by an ocean of agony. This time, he did scream, and it was loud. Chara scrambled off of his brother when both ribs collapsed, doing nothing but watching as Cross opened his mouth and let out the worst sound Chara had ever heard. He slapped his hands over Cross's teeth, muffling the pained cries desperately. "Shut up! You're going to get me in trouble!" Cross, of course, didn't shut up.
But his screams died down to scratchy sobs and whimpers. Chara stared at him, some part of him throbbing in sympathy for the pitiful sight, but he smothered that part in smug cruelty. "Geez, I didn't think you were that weak. You should drink more milk." Cross went limp in response, his body shaking terribly from the pain. Chara's grin fell, and he sighed. "You can't do anything right, can you?" As expected, Cross didn't answer, only blinking up at him with pleading eyes. "Alright, I'll leave ya be. Hopefully, your friends can help you." He chuckled at the thought of Cross having friends, standing up. "Until next time, pardner." Just for good measure, Chara lifted his foot and brought it down harshly on Cross's hand, resulting in another cry. He sneered down at him, delivering a kick to Cross's skull before turning and leaving the skeleton to cry on the ground.
Cross stared after him, unable to do anything but look as his body rattled loudly. He needed to get up, or someone might see him. Cross grit his teeth, slowly and painfully grabbing onto the car tire with his good hand to pull himself up. Chara had caught him after his second to last class and dragged him outside to 'chat'. Cross had tried to run away, but he'd barely made it to his car when Chara pounced. His legs threatened to give out, screaming in protest as he stood up and searched for his keys. He'd already locked his bag in the car, something he did after lunch, so his keys were somewhere in his pockets.
He would've shouted in triumph when he felt the cold metal of a key, but he was more focused on not passing out. His hands trembled unhelpfully, fingers fumbling for the unlock button. Finally, he tugged open the car door and crawled into the backseat, content to just curl up and cry, which he did. Cross shut the door with his foot somehow and shut his sockets tightly.
-
"I'm expecting that essay to be done by next Friday! Remember, you can't use-" Nightmare tuned the teacher out, quickly packing his things and rushing out of the door before anyone else. He needed to find Cross. "Hey, Night! Wait up, man!" He cursed and spun around to glare at Dust. "What." His friend grinned up at him, looking excited about something. "Me 'n Kills are gonna go out later, he wants you to come with. If we can get Horror to come, it'll be fun. Whatcha say?" Nightmare nodded absently, mentally urging Dust to let him leave. "Why you in such a rush?" He scowled, tentacles lashing. "I need to go find my roommate." Dust made a face, "That guy? Dude, no. That Cross kid is a creep. Why'd you even room with him in the first place?" Nightmare muttered to himself, pinching his nasal bone. "I don't have time for this. Look, we can argue about the kid's life story later. I'm going to make sure he's not dying or some shit." Dust grabbed his arm, keeping him from leaving. Nightmare stopped, glowering at his friend, tendrils slowly raising to point at Dust. His friend glared back, unfazed. "Why would he be dying? The kid's a psycho, I'm sure he's fine." Nightmare stared down at him, eye narrowed. "Dust, if you don't let me go right now, you'll be the one who's dying." Exasperated, Dust let go, hands held up in the universal 'i surrender' sign. "Fuck, man, fine. I'm coming with you, though." Nightmare growled, but wrapped a tentacle around Dust's wrist, yanking him along. He ended up lifting the monster off his feet when he wasn't moving fast enough, which Dust did not like.
Nightmare pushed his way through the crowd of students, muttering curses the entire way. Something was wrong, his soul screamed at him. Something was wrong, and he needed to hurry. His soul dropped when he finally got to the car. Dust let out an 'oof' behind him, having been dropped suddenly. He pushed himself up, ready to complain at Nightmare, but his eyes focused on the purple puddles on the ground. "Uh.." He went to ask Nightmare what it was, the words dying on his tongue. Nightmare was looking inside the car, into the backseat, where Dust noticed a small purple and blue object. "Nightmare, what-" He yelped as Nightmare hurriedly opened the car door, his tentacles slithering inside to curl around the item and carefully pull it out. Dust instantly knew what it was when a pained whimper came from the bundle. That was Cross. Nightmare gently sat on the ground, cradling the injured skeleton in his lap. "Cross? Can you hear me?" Dust slowly sat beside them, confused and slightly worried. "...Nightmare?" Cross groaned, trying to push himself up. Halfway through the action, Cross's body rattled and he fell over with a cry, his hands flying to his lower ribcage, where his shirt was dark with purple.
A bit delayed, Dust realized that it was blood. "Holy shit, what happened?" Nightmare echoed his question, although softer and less vulgar, and Cross flinched, noticing that Dust was there. He whimpered again, shrinking away from Dust and hiding his face in Nightmare's chest. "Cross, what happened? Did Chara find you?" Cross mumbled something, and Nightmare scowled, the tentacles that were not holding Cross twitching. Dust tilted his head, confused. "Chara? Isn't that the guy who stabbed Horror a while back?" Nightmare nodded, "He's also Cross's brother. He's the one who-" Cross shook his head rapidly, "he can't know, don't tell him, don't, please!" Nightmare apologized quietly, eyeing the nasty burns on Cross's skull. He looked back at Dust, "Sorry. Can't tell." Dust internally groaned, wanting to know this secret. "Cross, if you don't want to say what happened, can you say what hurts?" Dust watched the pair, deciding to tease Nightmare later about obviously liking Cross. He filed that for later, mentally noting that Cross had more to him than they thought. This would need some digging. "My ribs... Two of them broke off." Dust winced. That had to hurt. "My skull hurts, and he stomped on my hand.. It's broken." Cross held up said hand, hissing as he did. Nightmare frowned, "Anything else?" Cross shivered, slumping back against the tentacles supporting him, "I think... I think my soul cracked agai- I mean, a little."
"Again?!" Cross jolted, eyes snapping up to watch Dust for any threatening movements, which Dust definitely noticed, but chose to ignore for the moment. Without thinking, Nightmare summoned Cross's soul, panicked slightly. What did Cross mean 'again'? His jaw dropped at the sight that was Cross's soul, Dust hissing faintly. It was cracked, more than just 'a little'. "Nightmare!" Cross's good hand came up to slap him, his face flushed dark purple. For a moment, Nightmare was mad. Why did he get slapped, he didn't do anything wrong! And then he remembered that he just summoned Cross's soul without his consent, and that was bad. Nightmare basically just violated Cross. "Oh, shit, sorry." Cross's embarrassment was forgotten in favor of focusing on the fact that he was in immense pain. Dust snickered, earning a flustered glare from Nightmare. "Dust, call Killer and tell him to bring Dream." He mockingly saluted him, "Yessir.", and dug out his phone, sending a quick text to Killer.
>>Bring glowstick, nm needs him
I told you to stop calling him that. where are you<<
>>I'll come get you
Dust chuckled, pushing himself up. He smirked down at Nightmare, "Be right back. Glowstick'll be here soon." Nightmare rolled his eye, "Hurry up." Dust gave him a thumbs up and jogged away. "Man wait until Killer sees this shit." Nightmare was cuddling with the rumor kid, blood and injuries aside. This was perfect.
-
Killer led Dream to the entrance, shrugging in response to his questions. "I don't know, we'll have to wait. Here comes Dust." Dream bounded up to the door, greeting Dust cheerfully. "Yeah, hi. Let's hurry up, kid's bleedin' out." At the sentence, Dream practically sprinted away, yanking Dust behind him and leaving Killer. He sighed and started after them.
-
"Oh, gosh! Nightmare, is he okay?!" He glanced up at Dream, relieved to see his twin. "Uh, you need to heal him. A lot." Killer casually strolled into the lot, standing beside Dust. "So, what happened?" Dust pointed at Cross, who was still in Nightmare's hold, "Kid got beat up real bad. Two ribs broke off, skull's cracked and burned, hand got crushed, and his soul is in bad shape. Damn thing looks close to shattering. It's got way too many cracks, like, really bad. They're all old too. Kid's been through hell, it looks like." Killer absorbed the information, head tilted. "Hmm. We should ask Error to dig." Dust agreed, watching Dream heal Cross's head while talking to Nightmare.
"Brother, this is the second time! Was it Cross's brother again?" Nightmare nodded, muttering something in response. Killer blinked. "Cross has a brother?" Dust elbowed him, hissing through his teeth. "Dude, shut up! He doesn't like talking about him." More questions kept popping up, none of them with clear answers. Cross groaned, catching all of their attention. "...please stop talking about him. I've had enough of him for today." Nightmare rubbed his head, mumbling something the others couldn't hear, but it calmed Cross down. Dream resumed healing him, apologizing whenever Cross would grimace. "Cross, I need to get to your ribs. Can you take off your top layers?" Dust and Killer both came to stand closer, wanting to see the damage.
"Not with them watching me. I-" Nightmare's tentacles shot out and wrapped around Killer and Dust's heads, obscuring their vision. "I... Thanks.." Nightmare nodded, and Cross started trying to sit up, but he couldn't. "um.. Help?" Dream shook his head, eyes glancing at Killer. "Nightmare can help you..." Cross sighed and looked at Nightmare, who carefully tugged the jacket off. Cross took off his shirt, wincing when the hem caught on the jagged bones. Sockets watering, he pulled before Nightmare could help, and screeched as another bit of bone snapped off. Killer and Dust both flinched, managing to squirm their way out of the tentacles' hold to see what had gone wrong. Killer frowned at Cross's ribcage, Dust grimacing at the scars and faded cracks. Dream shouted, hands flying up to his mouth while Nightmare only scowled. "Cross, what-?" The topless skeleton flushed despite the pain he was in, trying to snatch his jacket back from Nightmare to hide from Killer and Dust. Nightmare noticed them staring, and his scowl darkened, tentacles stretching out to form a dome around Cross and himself, along with his brother. Killer threw his hands up, "C'mon man! We just wanna see what's wrong." Cross let his jacket go, sinking back into Nightmare's chest for comfort.
Dream didn't comment on this, forcing himself to ignore the scarred ribs and to focus on the broken ones instead. He blindly fumbled for the discarded shirt, freeing the detached piece of bone and holding it up towards Cross's ribcage. "Can I?" Cross nodded, and grasped onto something, waiting for the pain the would come from healing. Nightmare let him grab a tentacle wordlessly, gritting his teeth against the odd feeling. Dream's golden magic lit up the darkness of the dome, slowly yet quickly reattaching the bones. "Where are the other pieces?" Cross shook his head, "Dusted." Dream sighed, ghosting his hands over the damaged ribcage, closing wounds and cracks. "I'll wrap these up then, and let them heal naturally. I'm not strong enough to regenerate them, and I can't reconnect them if they dusted. It'll take three months tops, but if you let me, I could help hasten the process." Cross relaxed as the last of the pain finally dissipated, yawning tiredly from the soothing magic. Dream absently continued to heal him, rambling on and on. Nightmare didn't try to stop him, hoping that Cross would fall asleep. He needed it anyways. "-Nightmare will have to help you when I can't." He raised his brows at Dream, who smiled back, "I know you can heal too, brother. I know you don't like it either, but it'll help if you do."
He nodded mutely, and Dream sighed softly. "Good, now Cross- oh. He's asleep." Nightmare wrapped his arms around Cross's ribcage, tentacles dropping. Killer perked up when they did, looking between them with a grin on his face. "Oooh, does Nighty like Cross~?" Dust snickered, "I think he does. Aww, he's hugging him, how cute!" Nightmare glared at them, tentacles flicking in annoyance. "Actually, I'm keeping you bastards from looking at him, since he obviously didn't want you to." Nightmare somehow managed to take off his jacket, wrapping Cross up in it as Dream started trying to push Killer away, "I think it's time for us to go, right, Killer? I'll see you tomorrow, brother! Oh, Cross shouldn't come, he needs to rest for his ribs to grow back! Okay, bye now!"
Killer yelped as Dream shoved him, stumbling forward. He looked back at Dream, mocking betrayal as they walked away. The couple disappeared, leaving Dust and Nightmare behind. "Uhm... Night, you mind driving me home? Killer usually does it, but he's gotta get ready for the hang out later, and so do I." Nightmare stared up at him, contemplating whether he should. Cross shifted, mumbling in his sleep, snuggling into Nightmare's jacket with a content sigh. Nightmare glanced down at him while he answered. "Yeah. Just help me put him in the car. You mind driving?" Dust shook his head, holding out his hands. "I can drive. Give 'em here, I'll hold him so you can stand." Instead of this, Nightmare pressed his tentacles onto the ground, slowly getting to his feet with Cross curled in his arms. At Dust's expression, he scoffed and walked around to the passenger's side. "I don't wanna wake him. He hasn't slept since the day before yesterday, he needs to sleep." Dust chuckled, getting in the driver's seat. He let out a whistle once he sat, looking around with an appreciative nod. "Nice car. Wonder if his parents got it for him." Nightmare slid into his seat with a grunt, checking to make sure Cross was still sleeping. His expression soured at Dust's comment, "As if. His mom's a bitch, don't know about his dad though." Cross's fingers tightened around Nightmare's tentacle, which he was still holding, his other hand attaching itself beside it, and pulling it to his chest like it was a stuffed animal. Nightmare subconsciously began petting Cross's skull, smoothing his thumb over the dents and cracks.
"Really? You seem to know a lot about this guy. Can I ask you stuff?" Not even a soulbeat later, Nightmare shook his head. "No can do. That's Cross's choice and I ain't about to spill." Dust pouted, "C'mon man. Please?" Nightmare smacked him with another tentacle, glaring at him. "No. Now hurry up and start driving." Dust whined, rubbing his skull. "I don't even have the keys, dumbass." Nightmare slapped the same tentacle over Dust's face as Cross stirred, silencing him. He slid two of them around his seat, feeling around the backseat for the keys, and grinned when he found them. Cross turned his head away from the light, grumbling, while Nightmare dropped the keys in Dust's lap. He covered Cross's eyes, holding his breath. The sleeping skeleton stilled, sinking back into sleep, and Nightmare let out a breath. His tentacle retreated from Dust, curling around Cross protectively. Nightmare refused to acknowledge this, even as he let all the others do the same, and he glared at Dust. "Start the car."
-
Nightmare discovered that it was hard to drive with a sleeping smol in your arms. He'd reluctantly slipped his arms away from Cross, more tentacles replacing them, and forced himself to focus on driving them home. He'd taken Cross upstairs to put him in his bed, but the other began whimpering when he pulled away, so he resorted to carrying the smaller in his tentacles while he did things. Like now. He was cooking while trying to ignore Cross's soft snoring and the tentacle that he was still holding. Nightmare had dropped Dust off nearly two hours ago, kicking him out when he'd started making suggestive jokes. He'd come straight back to the house afterward. And now he was cooking. He'd also thrown chocolate chip cookies in the oven, but he wasn't about to admit that. Once the fragrance of hot chocolate filled the air, it didn't take long for Cross to wake. He blinked a few times, nearly falling asleep again from how comfortable he was, but chocolate. He was holding something and was being held by something, and he hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.
Nightmare continued to cook, feeling Cross shifting around. "You awake?" The tentacle in Cross's hands squirmed, making him squeak and let it go. "Nightmare?" The dark skeleton hummed, gently and carefully placing Cross down on his feet. "What happened?" Nightmare glanced over his shoulder, snickering at the dark flush on Cross's face. "You fell asleep while Dream was healing you, and kept whining whenever I tried to put you down, so I just carried you around. By the way, how're your ribs feeling?" Cross looked down at his chest, ignoring the fact that he was wearing Nightmare's jacket. He poked the jagged end of one rib, hissing when it hurt.
"Of course it hurts, it's broken." Nightmare laughed, turning off the stove. "Sit down, I'll go get the kit. Dream said you need to wrap them." Nightmare left the room, and Cross dropped into a kitchen chair, his blush finally dying down. He fiddled with Nightmare's hoodie while he waited, still pretending that it wasn't Nightmare's. Without thinking, Cross raised the sleeve to his face and sniffed the fabric, his sockets closing as he relished in Nightmare's scent. Then he realized that he was being weird and stopped, letting his hand fall back into his lap just as Nightmare came back into the kitchen. "You want me to help, or can you do it?" Cross glanced down at himself, mulling over his choices. "I... I don't think I should do it. I can't really see what I'm doing." Nightmare snorted, moving to kneel beside Cross, gauze already in his hands. "I figured as much. Dream told me to heal you sometimes to help with the pain, so tell me if it hurts and I'll make it not hurt, alright?" Cross nodded, head tilting slightly. He watched Nightmare work, waiting until he was done to ask his question, which was more of a comment. "I didn't know you could heal." Nightmare secured the bandages, stepping away when he was sure it would stay. "Yeah, but I'm not as good as Dream. My healing magic isn't anything like his. It's freezing and it's not even half as fast as his." Cross, after a moment of consideration, held out his hand, "I wanna feel." Nightmare wanted to say no, and he almost did. Almost. He would've if Cross hadn't looked up at him so hopefully.
Nightmare hesitantly hovered his hand over Cross's outstretched arm and summoned his magic. Cross smiled at the cold feeling, his soul pulsing in time with the magic. "That's nice." Nightmare flushed, clearing his throat and looking away. Cross grinned at the action, pulling his arm back as the magic cut off. "You're cute." Nightmare sputtered, taking a step back in surprise. "What?" Cross snickered, getting to his feet and poking Nightmare's cheek. "You're cute when you get flustered." A tentacle slapped itself over Cross's face, pushing him away while Nightmare screeched internally. Thankfully, the timer beside the stove went off, reminding both of them that there was food to be eaten. Cross went for the cookies and Nightmare turned the stove back on to finish cooking. Cross dumped the cookies into a plastic bowl, shaking his hand rapidly over it as if it would cool them off. Impatient, he snatched one up, cursing at the heat as he dropped it into his mouth. Two seconds later, Nightmare choked on air at the sudden moan Cross let out, his spoon slipping out of his hand. He spun around and stared at Cross with a wide socket, fire slowly creeping across his face. He knew Cross liked chocolate, but he didn't know he was so vocal about it. Unaware that he was being watched, Cross stuffed three more cookies into his mouth, groaning as the chocolate practically melted on his tongue. Nightmare coughed, averting his gaze and pretending that Cross wasn't having a food-gasm.
-
Cross couldn't go back to sleep. It wasn't the sugar from the chocolate or his insomnia. No, the chocolate helped with his insomnia. He'd gone to sleep just fine, and he'd slept fine for those three hours of sleep. Of course, it wasn't that easy. Night terrors sucked. He'd woken up tangled in his blanket and panicking over the shadows in the corners of his room. His ribs hurt from thrashing and kicking at his pillows and blankets, which were now on the floor. It was well over fifteen minutes since he'd woken, and he'd calmed down enough to attempt sleep. But it still wasn't that easy. He was uncomfortable, which was odd since his bed was usually the most comfortable thing, besides... He shook his head. He wasn't going to bother Nightmare with this. They'd eaten and gone to bed, nothing was wrong. He was just so uncomfortable. The solution was right there, but he just didn't want to risk waking Nightmare or annoying him with his silly problems. Cross turned onto his side, squinting at the door through the darkness. He was uncomfortable, and he didn't want to be alone. Nightmare was right across the hall, he could sneak in and slip into the bed. He frowned. No, that was a bad idea. He wouldn't do it, no matter how much the walls seemed to press in, taking the air from his chest and threatening to crush him with shadows and quiet and loneliness-
Cross squeezed his sockets shut, breath quickening. He was fine. He wouldn't bother Nightmare with his problems, because there weren't any and he was fine. His skull started ringing loudly, growing in volume the longer he sat in the silence. He wasn't panicking, he was not panicking, he was fine, he would be fine. He cracked a socket open, inhaling sharply. Did the room get darker? He reached for his blanket, wanting nothing more to hide from the shadows, but his fingers closed around nothing. The walls were crushing him, the silence was suffocating him, the shadows laughing at him. He was dying, he was going to die. The shadows would swallow him and he'd die. Something in his soul snapped, and he was out of his room faster than he could process it. He gulped down air, gasping quietly as he scrambled away from the damning abyss that was his room. He swallowed dryly, clawing at the wall behind him and shakily dragging himself up. His knees refused to hold him up correctly, bending awkwardly and trembling. He lurched towards Nightmare's bedroom door, begging his legs to last long enough for him to reach his roommate. He wanted to knock, but his body went against his wishes and pushed the door open a little bit. Cross sucked down a breath, pushing through the slight opening before he could overthink it.
He silently shuffled to the bedside, hesitating when he reached it. This was a bad idea, his mind screamed at him. He ignored it and anxiously crawled onto the bed, mindful of the black things that were probably Nightmare's tentacles. Nightmare himself was laying on his back, one arm flopped out across the pillows and the other draped limply over his middle. Cross delicately nudged a few tentacles aside, settling at Nightmare's side. He slid himself as close as he could without waking him, basking in the security and safety he felt. He sighed softly, and froze when Nightmare suddenly stiffened.
Cross yelped as a hand shot out and wrapped around his neck tightly. Nightmare rolled over, pinning him down and glaring at him with a hazy eyelight. He didn't recognize Cross. His mouth shifted into a scowl, "What are you doing?" Cross shrunk, his soul starting to pound once again with fear. "I, I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up, please don't be mad!" Nightmare's pupil sharpened, and he ripped his hand away as if burned. "Cross?! What- Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" Cross shook his head rapidly, "No, I'm okay. You just scared me.." Nightmare sat back on his heels, blinking in confusion. "What are you doing in my room?" Cross rubbed his skull sheepishly, "I, um. I had a night terror. Didn't feel safe enough to sleep, so I, uh, came in here." Nightmare stared at him in surprise, "You feel safe around me?" Cross nodded, his hand going still. "Huh. You are one weird person, you know." Nightmare backed off of his companion and flopped back into his earlier position, tucking his arms under his head. "Well, you seem to like me, so you better not be complaining." Nightmare snorted, "You're right about that. Nah, I'm not complainin'." He raised his brows, turning his skull to look at Cross, who'd sat up and was staring at him. "You gonna lay down? That's what you came in here for, isn't it?" He held out his arm, beckoning the smaller over. "Come one, don't chicken out now." Cross huffed, readjusting himself to lay down properly.
"I don't know why people use the word chicken to describe cowards. Chickens are terrifying." He turned on his side, facing Nightmare with a small smile. "I, personally, think that we should describe cowards as cowards, and call scary people chickens, or even cows." Nightmare casually coiled a tendril around Cross and tugged him closer, so that he could cover them both with the blanket. "Why cows?" Cross's face colored as Nightmare wrapped an arm around him, shifting closer with a tiny grin and throwing his own arm over the darker's middle in a weird-but-comfy side hug. Nightmare grinned in amusement, watching Cross practically cuddle into his side, pushing his skull onto Nightmare's shoulder. When he stopped, he sighed and chewed on his tongue. "Well, when I was about fifteen, I helped some guy with his farm for about two months. The cows and the chickens were terrible. Absolutely horrendous. I can't tell you how many times the feathered bastards attacked me. One of them was particularly mean. Damn thing tried to peck my eyes out, but I don't have eyes, so the bitch just agitated my eye magic, and it hurt. I nearly got skewered by an angry bull, and one cow almost bit my hand off. A baby kicked me, but that wasn't as bad. Ugh, it was so bad. It's why I got fired."
Cross could feel Nightmare laughing more than he could hear it. He jammed his fingers into the other's side, playfully scolding him. "Don't laugh at me, mister! I was traumatized!" Nightmare snickered, poking Cross's side in revenge, and was rewarded with laughter. "Don't dO thAt-!" The smaller yelped, twisting his arm awkwardly to snatch the squirming hand. He slapped it lightly and rolled back to his earlier position, yawning widely. "Alright, I think it's past your bedtime, kid." Frowning at this, Cross mumbled into Nightmare's chest, sockets already closing. "M'not a kid... I'm twenty-three, you're twenty-five, 'issa three year difference." Nightmare silently smiled to himself, his soul pulsing in warmth for the sleepy skeleton beside him.
"..Whatever you say, Cross."
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