I do not own Stand By Me :) I also do not own the book The Body, which was written by the AMAZING Stephen King :D
It had been two months since Chris Chambers had set out with his best friends to find the body of Ray Brower.
It had been about seven weeks since Eyeball Chambers had broken his little brother's arm in two places and put him in hospital.
The next day when The Cobras met at Ace's house, Eyeball proudly explained to his friends in detail what he did to his little brother, and got approving glances from all members of the gang. Ace smiled and said,
"You finally taught the brat a lesson." And this made Eyeball feel even prouder.
However, the teenager hadn't been sleeping for the past few weeks, because his little brother was keeping him awake with his nightmares.
Eyeball just watched his little brother cry out for help though he secretly wanted to comfort him, however he didn't know how to; he had never shown any form of affection towards Chris.
The nightmares were mainly about Ray Brower, or about Ace Merrill coming to find him and kill him.
Eyeball knew that Chris was scared of Ace, so he understood why Chris was having these nightmares.
Tonight's nightmare however, was different.
Chris started his usual mutters before getting louder and louder. He began squirming and thrashing slightly under his covers. This wasn't what concerned Eyeball though; he was concerned about what Chris was starting to shout.
"Richie! Richie, please don't hurt me anymore! I promise I'll never do anything like that again!" Chris yelled.
Eyeball gasped; his little brother was having a nightmare about him?
"Richie, please don't! I'm sorry for what I did! Please leave me alone!" Chris cried, kicking his bed covers off himself.
Eyeball felt like the worst person ever; he'd actually scared his little brother to the point where he was having nightmares about him. What kind of a big brother was he?
While Chris continued to cry, Eyeball wondered why he always had to pick Ace over his little brother.
Ace wasn't at all loyal to Eyeball; he was really mean. When Eyeball and Ace were both in eighth grade, Eyeball had a crush on a girl called Sandra. Eyeball told Ace that he was going to ask Sandra to the winter dance, however the next day Sandra and Ace came in to school walking hand-in-hand, and Sandra said it was because Ace had asked her to the winter dance. Sandra told Eyeball later on in the day that she was hoping that he would ask her, and at that moment Eyeball hated Ace. But he forgave him. He always did.
Chris on the other hand, always argued with Eyeball, but he was at least loyal to his big brother. Sometimes when Eyeball had snuck out to go to a party with Ace and the gang, Chris was sure to stall his parents until Eyeball got home. And if Eyeball happened to stumble in drunk one night, Chris would make excuses that Eyeball was sick and needed to rest. Luckily his parents weren't the type that questioned a lot of things, but still it helped that Chris covered for him.
But now, Chris was afraid of his big brother, and Eyeball actually felt bad.
"I know you hate me, Richie! But please, don't hurt me anymore; or you'll get in trouble!" Chris pleaded in pain.
Eyeball felt like crying now; his little brother thought he hated him. But what hurt him more was the fact that even though he was hurting Chris in Chris's nightmare, he didn't want to get his older brother in trouble, even if he was hurting him. So Chris really did care about him.
Eyeball couldn't take Chris's fear for him any longer, and got out of bed and made his way over to his little brother's bed.
Chris was still thrashing around, and he had kicked his covers off of his body, leaving himself covered by his pajamas. Eyeball hadn't been bothered to change into his pajamas that night and just stayed in his jeans and shirt; he had been really tired and just wanted to sleep, but when Chris started having his nightmare he knew that he probably wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.
Eyeball sat on Chris's bed and started shaking his little brother awake.
"Come on Chris, it's okay; I ain't gonna hurt you." Eyeball said softly when Chris woke up.
The young boy's eyes went very wide and he gasped when he saw his older brother above him. In his nightmare, Eyeball had been giving Chris a beating and was set to kill him.
"It's alright, Chris. I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you." Eyeball whispered as Chris pushed away from him.
Eyeball sighed; he was really unsure of what to say, so instead he used his actions, and pulled his little brother close to him.
Chris squeaked and tried squirming out of his brother's grip; he didn't want his big brother to hold him, especially after the nightmare he'd just had.
Eyeball however, kept a firm hold on his baby brother and wouldn't let him go. He knew this was the only way he'd be able to get Chris to trust him again.
Chris was now desperate to get out of his brother's hold, so he finally decided to use his words.
"Richie, let me go!" Chris begged. Eyeball just looked down at his little brother, making Chris blush and turn away.
"Chris, please let me hold you; I promise I'm not gonna hurt you. And I'll never hurt you like I did again; it was a mistake and I was angry." Eyeball tried, but Chris was still squirming.
Eyeball sighed once again, and gently moved his little brother onto his lap.
Chris felt humiliated when his brother did this; he felt like a baby who was being comforted for crying. He felt helpless like a baby too; he couldn't get out of his brother's strong arms, and was therefore trapped, so he began crying.
Eyeball began bouncing his knee up and down; trying to soothe his little brother.
"Shh, it's okay, little one. Nobody's gonna hurt you again: Dad, Ace, me. Nothing's gonna hurt you anymore; I'm gonna keep you safe." He whispered into Chris's hair.
Chris was still struggling in his brother's lap, but his attempts were weaker than before. Eventually Chris settled down to the occasional squirm, making his brother smile gently.
"I think you're tired, baby brother. Do you want to go to sleep?" he asked, but Chris shook his head quickly.
He didn't want to admit it: but he actually liked the comfort that his big brother was giving him, however he didn't want to get settled down too quickly in case his brother suddenly turned on him.
"Alright then." Eyeball whispered, and began rubbing Chris's back and lightly bounced his knees up and down.
Chris found himself drifting off, however he wanted to stay awake so Eyeball didn't put him to bed; he wanted to stay in his big brother's arms.
Eyeball began slowly rocking his baby brother, and when he looked down he saw that Chris was fighting sleep. He chuckled softly, and nuzzled Chris's hair with his forehead.
"I think somebody's a little sleepy." He said gently, and Chris opened his eyes wide and stared up at his older brother.
"Am not." He replied quietly. Eyeball smiled at his little brother.
"Come on, little one; you need to go to bed, you've got school tomorrow." He reminded his little brother softly, but Chris didn't want to go to bed on his own.
"Don't wanna go to bed!" Chris whined. He knew he sounded like a little kid, but his older brother was technically treating him like one so he was 'playing along'.
Eyeball sighed; he remembered that Chris used to always start a fight when it was his bedtime.
"Chris, please don't be difficult." Eyeball said, a little more sternly this time.
Chris looked up at his brother with wide eyes; what if he hated him because he was being a brat?
Chris climbed off his brother's lap and picked up the covers that he had kicked off and buried himself under them; he didn't want to look at his big brother anymore, not if he was angry with him, which Chris was sure that he was.
Eyeball realized that Chris was in a sensitive mood, and probably didn't want to sleep by himself since he had had a nightmare.
"Hey, Chris, you wanna sleep with me? Eyeball asked his brother, and Chris nodded immediately and pushed himself up.
Eyeball smiled and stood up, and then lifted his baby brother into his arms and carried Chris over to his own bed.
He gently placed Chris in his bed, then climbed in beside his brother.
Chris turned and buried his face in his brother's chest. Eyeball closed his eyes while rubbing his little brother's back at the same time.
While the two brothers still had a lot of things to change, they knew that things were going to better; they had to. Eyeball loved his little brother a lot, and would make sure that nothing would ever hurt his baby brother ever again. Ever.
I know that the characters are majorly OOC in this, but I couldn't help it; I love brother fluff fics in Stand By Me, though I don't think there's ever been a Vern and Billy one. The thought of Vern and Billy fluff…I don't even know hat to think!