Fanfic: Night Terrors (1/1)

[smokingmirror]

Title: Night Terrors
Author: Avarice
Rating: G
Pairing: Egoist
Spoilers: -
Summary: Hiroki wakes in the middle of the night disoriented.
Word Count:
Date First Posted: 09-02-2010
Date Revised: 21-05-2011
Beta: Eike
Awards: -
Notes: I hate it when this happens. Hiroki would, too.
Feedback: always welcome, as is constructive criticism.
Also Archived At: LJ | FFN

It started as a tingle on the very end of Hiroki's toes. A numb kind of 'pins and needles' feeling that soon spread to the ball of his foot.

Even in a deep sleep, the tingling of the cold registered somewhere in the back of Hiroki's mind. And when the cold wouldn't stop being, well, cold, his slumber was disturbed beyond the point of being able to ignore it.

Hiroki squinted blearily into the darkness, and realised that the reason his left foot was so cold was because it was dangling out from beneath the comforter. He pulled it back underneath the covers and turned to his right to leech some warmth from his perpetually hot -- no pun intended -- bed partner to find--

Cold mattress. Cold sheets.

He crept a hand out, sliding it over the mattress only to be met with blank space. Hiroki's eyes fluttered open in confusion, before his gut turned to ice.

An all-too-familiar anxiety gripped him as he fought lethargy to sit up in bed, trying to figure out where Nowaki was. The bedroom was chill and foreboding in the darkness. His eyes still sleepy and adjusting to the dark found it hard to find anything remotely familiar about the room. A bleary glance around failed to locate any of Nowaki's possessions in plain sight.

A knot of distress began to develop in his heart, expanding to seemingly wrap steel bands around his chest. When they tightened, Hiroki could barely breathe.

What if... what if he'd been dreaming Nowaki was there? What if Nowaki was still in America?

He couldn't remember... his brain was so fogged and it was so dark--

Hiroki dropped back onto the mattress, pulling the comforter up to his chin, and his knees to his chest. The feeling of despair seeped into his bones, much like the biting cold.

A flashing on the bedside table caught his eye. Hiroki turned his head dejectedly to see his mobile phone blinked merrily away, indicating a text message. It seemed he'd received a message sometime after he'd switched his phone to 'silent' and gone to bed.

Hiroki reached over to grab it, but he couldn't make it from the centre of the bed. He shimmied over further on the mattress on his stomach, making another frantic lunge for the phone. There was a familiar ache of desperation to his actions, of having vague hope that the message was from who he thought it was from.

He flicked his mobile open. The bright light directly in his face made Hiroki look away until his eyes could adjust.

When they finally did, he rubbed his eyes and pressed a few buttons. The message had only been sent a little while ago, a bit before he woke up. Opening the file, he mouthed the words as he read:

Hospital is quiet tonight and I miss you. Home regular time.

Hiroki's heart skipped a beat, before its erratic rhythm began to slow and steady. He closed his eyes briefly in relief.

The sudden buzz of the handset vibrating as he still held it made Hiroki sit up again quickly, swearing in surprise. Its screen cheerfully asked if he'd like to read the second message, which of course, he did:

Almost forgot: I love you!

The comfort those words delivered flooded through his system, exorcising the hateful cold like a demon. Knowing Nowaki was on the other end, phone in his hand as well, gave him a sense of peace. Heaving a shattered sigh, Hiroki read the messages again before closing his phone and placing it back on the bedside.

With sharper, more awake eyes he could make out subtle details he'd missed in his sleep haze; the outline of Nowaki's black jacket draped over the far door
handle, a stack of cds and a few medical text books on the desk in the far corner, canoe-sized dress shoes peeking out from the slightly-ajar doors of the wardrobe.

Nowaki was very much in Japan.

Hiroki supposed he should be very upset at his subconscious mind for leaping to such a terrible conclusion, one guaranteed to make him panic.

But it was 2am, and all he could do was just be thankful that it was mere anxiety, not fact.

That and never mention what happened to anyone. Ever.

Yawning widely, Hiroki shifted a little further back into the middle of the bed, turned on his left side, making a mental note to 'accidentally' leave Nowaki's jacket closer to his side of the bed tomorrow night.

Just in case.

~finis

Epilogue:

Hiroki's eyelids fluttered but didn't open as he gradually became aware of his surroundings. The bed was still warm, and he was still on his left side, but this time the room had a good deal more light.

An arm was curled around his waist, and a large palm had rucked up his pajama shirt to rest on the bare skin of his stomach.

With a tired, private smile, Hiroki's right hand drifted down to gently interlace his fingers with Nowaki's without waking him. Nowaki huffed, breath tickling the short hairs on the back of Hiroki's neck and all was right with the world.