Sunny opened his eyes...everything was dark. He heard crickets in the distance, and someone's....breathing?
Oh, right.
He looked around. A single lamp and a boy slightly taller than him clinging onto him, wrapped in a blanket (that was falling off of him) and asleep. Sunny tried to move. One of the couch pillows fell to the floor and Kel groaned in protest. Okay, so maybe he can't move. That's fine. But the thing is...Sunny has this problem. Once he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can't go back to sleep. So he would just have to sit here and stare at the ceiling for...
he glanced at the clock.
Seven hours.
He sighed. What could he do? He wouldn't even think about doing anything like turning the TV on, or even getting up. Sunny stared into the darkness, trying to get his mind to drift off.
...
Did he see something?
He paused for a moment, scared, before he allowed his thoughts and panic to take over.
What was that? Is something staring at me in the dark? His thoughts were racing. But didn't SOMETHING go away? What was happening now? He shut his eyes tightly; he just had to think. What would she tell him in this situation? Something like....
"It's going to be okay. You're safe. Just calm down." A familiar voice echoed.
Is that....? Kel? Sunny slowly opened his eyes...was it a nightmare after all? Kel was looking worriedly, he was visibly tired and struggling to keep himself awake. Repeating the same three things over and over again...Sunny was instantly hit with a wave of guilt. Wasn't Kel supposed to be sleeping? Did he wake him up? Different versions of the questions ran through his head.
He shut his eyes again to calm himself down, something she'd taught him to do when he was stressed. Clear mind...clear mind...okay. Now he asks the questions. "What...happened?" He forced out. Oh, man, his voice was way hoarser than usual. Kel scratched his head and looked away. "Oh..well...you were just like, staring at the wall for like..an hour. It was pretty, uh, concerning. But then you fell asleep and kept randomly waking up and panicking, then falling back to sleep again." He explained, the same worried expression now slightly masked with a smile.
...Well then. This was new.
"I did?" He asked, immediately feeling a little concerned about himself. "Yeah." Kel confirmed simply. "I usually...never get sleep, so this is good in a way. And I just...I just thought I saw something in the dark." He whispered, looking at the floor. Kel instinctively glanced in the area he was talking about. There was nothing there? He was becoming increasingly worried about his partner by the second. "Hm...well, if you see anything again...I have an exercise you can try." He suggested, rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him down. "And what is that?" Sunny asked. "Well...when it happens, I want you to close your eyes and try and listen to the clock ticking. Count how many times it ticks, in groups of ten. And every time it ticks twice, inhale. When it ticks two more times, exhale. Can you do that for me?" He asked again. "T-that might be hard to remember. But I can try," Sunny agreed. Kel smiled and hugged him lightly. "Okay. Let's try to get back to sleep, then."
(this was short as hell and im sorry that i havent updated in two weeks 😭 but yeah i think i'll be going back on schedule, was just sick for a while!! -saturday)