Nightmares were normal, and they were not real.
That's what the adults told him.
Everyone had that nightmare where all their teeth fell out. And that the monster under the bed was going to reach out and grab you if you got up.
But his caregivers never took the time to listen. They never knew how real the falling felt. Or the times he had woken up in a panic unable to breathe because of the ones where he was drowning.
It's just trauma from the car accident he will grow out of it, he heard one adult tell the other.
"Ryoga. Ryoga!" his name interrupted his terrors accompanied with a small shake. The dream faded, the death of everyone close to him going with it. It left his brow sheened in sweat and his breathing shallow. "I swear to God, if you wake up Michael with all your groaning..."
It was an empty threat, but Ryoga still muttered out an apology as he finally opened his eyes. His friend hovering over him, crimson eyes giving away the fact that he was trying to hide his worry.
"It's OK," Thomas whispered as Ryoga scooted back on his bed toward the wall. "Hey I'm not really-"
"I know." Ryoga said as he shifted to his side to look at Thomas better, "stay with me."
"They don't like us sharing a bed." Thomas reminded Ryoga, but sat down on it's edge anyway. "If they catch us."
"Just until I fall back to sleep."
"You won't."
"Not without you." He heard Thomas groan as the bed shifted. Ryoga's hand shot out to grab his wrist to stop him from leaving, "please, Thomas."
There was a defeated sigh as he settled down on the bed, stretching out next to the younger boy. It was cramped, the bed too small for two growing boys to fit into comfortably without laying on top of each other. Ryoga curled into his friend's side, a shaky sigh of relief escaping from his lungs. His face nuzzled into Thomas chest as he fisted the other's nightshirt in his hand. There was an unknown desperation to be close to someone. Rio was kept so far away from him... and Thomas was an older brother too, he had to understand. Or at least that's how he thought when he felt the older boy return a tight embrace, one arm across his shoulders and the other cradling his head.
"It's OK to find nightmares scary, you know?" Thomas muttered as he tilted his head into the top of Ryoga's, leaving a gentle kiss there.
"Yeah," Ryoga breathed, his eyelids already feeling heavy as a calm sleep started to sneak into him, "but I won't as long as you stay."
And maybe those words always trapped Thomas, or maybe he did really want to stay, Ryoga wasn't sure. But it was true every time. Ryoga could find peace with Thomas next to him. Someone who chased away the bad dreams and gave him hope to a brighter future. One Ryoga hoped he would be able to share with Thomas forever.