Disclaimer: I do not own Kaman Rider Double, and I am making no money off of this. This is solely for my own and other's entertainment.
AN: This is set a few months after the end of the series. It very literally just popped into my head and said 'write me' after I finally got around to watching the W movie.
Warnings: Spoilers up to 49, shonen-ai if you want (or it could simply be fluffy, hurt/comfort, family/friend thing)
Nightmares
He still had nightmares. Even though it had been months since Phillip's unexpected – wonderful – return, Shotaro still found himself waking from nightmares where Phillip hadn't been able to come back, where his partner's return had been a wonderful – horribly untrue – dream.
Shotaro had thought the dreams – nightmares – would stop once Phillip returned, but they hadn't left, only changed. Instead of waking from a dream where Phillip was there to find him gone or reliving the day he disappeared, he was now having nightmares where he dreamed that the other male's return was just a dream, that he would wake up and Phillip wouldn't be there. He was now avoiding sleep as much as possible because the dreams and the fear they brought would drive him insane – at least before he'd had the bittersweet dreams where he dreamed Phillip was there, now all he had were the nightmares and fears that he'd wake up to find his partner gone again. He was sleeping as little as he could get away with, and when Shotaro did sleep it was never more than a couple of hours before he'd find himself waking up terrified by the latest images his subconscious mind could conjure up.
One night, after a particularly vicious nightmare, Shotaro actually woke up and was halfway to Phillip's sleeping area downstairs before he realized what he was doing. Pausing, the brunette tried to calm himself, telling himself that it was just a dream and that Phillip was perfectly fine and was still here. After so many months of nightmares and dreams blending with reality, though, Shotaro just couldn't force himself back upstairs without checking on his shorter partner, couldn't even think about lying in bed again without assuring himself that Phillip was all right.
'It'll just take a second,' Shotaro thought, 'I'll just go down and make sure he's asleep in bed then I'll leave.' Nodding to himself, Shotaro quickly and quietly descended the last of the steps and opened the small door that led to the main office. Closing the door quietly behind him, the taller brunette crept silently across to the corner bed where he knew Phillip slept. Pulling back the curtain, Shotaro let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding in relief when he saw his partner asleep on his side.
Without realizing it, Shotaro reached out a hand as if to brush the hair from the sleeping male's face, pausing a hairsbreadth from actually touching the other male. He was being ridiculous, Shotaro knew that. He had come down to check on his partner, and he could clearly see the other male was fine. There was no logical reason why he shouldn't just head back to his room and distract himself until morning came, but Shotaro also knew that he wasn't a person who could really rely on simple logic. He was a very tactile person, and he needed to touch his partner to know he was really there – just as he'd had to when Phillip had reappeared after a year. He needed to touch – to feel – to make sure he wasn't still dreaming.
Making up his mind, Shotaro closed the short distance and brushed his fingers through his partner's hair, fingers running once through – surprisingly – silky dark locks before he started to pull his hand away. He jumped, though, when he felt another hand grab his, and looked again at his partner's face, startled to find a pair of wide-awake dark eyes now staring back at him. Shotaro looked guilty at his partner – whom he now realized also had bag under his eyes and had been likely awake the whole time Shotaro'd been there – as Phillip simply stared at him, seeing right through him as the shorter male usually did. Shotaro blinked once, dumbfounded, when, after a few moments of silence, Phillip simply scooted farther back onto the bed, making room as he tugged on Shotaro's clasped hand to try and get the taller male to climb onto the bed. After another moment, Shotaro cautiously climbed onto bed, relaxing when Phillip simply reached over him to pull the curtains shut before lying back down and curling up next to the taller detective. Not long after that, Shotaro fell asleep himself, comforted by the simple presence of his partner, and for once his sleep wasn't disturbed by nightmares.
After that, it became an unspoken agreement that they slept in the same bed – though they soon moved to Shotaro's room so they would have more room. Shotaro knew it would seem odd to some – and it was most certainly not hard-boiled – but he couldn't bring himself to care. Everything was right in the waking world, and for the first time in a long time Shotaro slept peacefully, comforting and comforted by his one and only partner.