To say Bray Wyatt's childhood wasn't exactly desirable was an understatement.

From what Luke Harper understood, Bray had sort of grown up backwards. He had experienced so many rough and violent things when he was a child, forcing him to grow up far too fast. Somewhere between his childhood and adulthood, Bray's mind has completely crashed, and now he was in a sort of limbo between the two.

Luke had known Bray for about five years now, and to this day, he still couldn't completely figure the man out. He didn't mind though. It was part of what made the man so interesting.

There was one thing about Bray that Luke knew for sure. Bray was an incredibly paranoid person, and this especially showed at night.

Bray would try to avoid falling asleep for as long as possible before finally falling asleep in the most inane places (Erick swears that he found him in a dumpster once), though they usually managed to keep him in a hotel bed. That's when the nightmares happened.

You could see in his eyes that Bray didn't even know if he was awake or not, whether or not he was in reality or his dreams. Luke had to be really carefull waking him up, or else Bray could hurt him or himself.

When Bray did wake up, his eyes would be unfocused and bloodshot, tears staining his cheeks and lips trembling. Luke never dared asked him what he dreamed about. Even if Bray told him, Luke didn't think he'd be able to bear the answer.

When Bray found Luke during this haze of fear, his eyes would lock onto him, and he would always call him the same thing.

"Sister Abigail?"

Bray always thought Luke was his deceased sister. Contrary to popular belief, Sister Abigail had been a real person. And she had been Bray's older sister.

Sister Abigail was the reason Bray was even alive today. Bray's father had been an abusive drunk, and after he'd killed Bray and Abigail's mother, Abigail had grabbed Bray and ran. She'd taken him to the cottage where the Wyatt family still lived today and raised him until she too was murdered in a run-in with drug dealers.

It had shaken Bray very badly. Abigail was all Bray had thoughout his childhood. He liked to pretend that she was still there with him. It honestly broke Luke's heart.

Luke was lying awake in the overly plush hotel bed, unable to fall back asleep. He missed his old bed back at the cottage. He and Erick had made it themselves after his cot had finally broke. Erick and him were very close, like brothers, which seemed to be what Bray had intended when forming his little family.

Sitting up, Luke ran a hand down his face, lingering on his beard. He never quite understood the modern obsession with luxury. All these pillows and blankets were smothering him.

Luke gazed around the room. Erick was sleeping soundly on the couch, the closest thing to their old beds at home. Erick and Luke traded off the bed and the couch or the floor every night.

Next, Luke turned his head to Bray's bed, only to find that Bray wasn't there.

Luke snapped into a more awake state. Did he not hear Bray wake up? He was usually awake at the first signs of Bray waking up, and especially wandering off.

Luke got out of his bed and searched Bray's bed up and down. He wasn't under the covers or pressed between the bed and the wall, so Luke's next instinct was to check the bathroom.

The light was on, but dimmed, as if the dimmer was just barely hit. Whispered muttering could be heard from inside, along with tapping on the tile floor.

Yup, Luke had found Bray.

Carefully, quietly, Luke entered the bathroom. Bray was huddled in a corner next to the bathtub. He hadn't seemed to have noticed Luke yet, lost in his own paranoia.

"T-There's a place in the meadow, a place you can't hide. Walk with the reaper, leave this world behind..."

"Bray?" Luke approached the quivering man carefully, crouching to the ground. Bray's head snapped up, eyes wide. Even after he seemed to relax a bit, his eyes never seemed to settle.

"Sister...Sister Abigail?"

Luke was about to nod in response before Bray said something that shocked him.

"No...not Sister Abigail. Luke...you're Luke..."

Luke's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Bray had never been able to discern his sister and Luke when in this state. Luke wasn't sure how to continue. Going with what he knew, Luke nodded slowly. "Yes Bray. It's Luke."

Bray was quiet for a moment, save for the tapping on the tile. Then he held his arms out to Luke.

"Please...come here."

Luke complied, crawling over to Bray and wrapping his arms around him. Bray buried his face into the crook of Luke's neck and fisted his hands into his shirt. Luke rested his chin on top of Bray's head and rocked him back and forth.

"Luke..." Bray said in a raspy whisper, "I want to go home."

"We'll be able to go back to our cottage soon." Luke replied.

"No." Bray said, louder this time, "I want to go home."

Luke raised an eyebrow at Bray, who pulled back and looked up at him with teary eyes.

"I want to go home, back in Louisiana, with my mother and my father and Sister Abigail. I want my father to have never touched that rancid alcohol, and I want my mother and sister to be alive, and I just want to be normal and sane!"

Luke was speechless as Bray spoke words well beyond the years Luke thought he was capable of at the moment.

"I don't want to be afraid of the dark anymore, I don't want to be afraid that if I turn my back, I'll be stabbed with a broken beer bottle. I don't want to make you and Erick scared when I talk in a way that isn't an insane drawl. I don't want to be scared anymore. I...I..."

Bray collapsed into Luke, screaming into Luke's chest, "I want my sister back!"

Luke could feel his own eyes stinging as he held Bray close. Bray was sobbing into Luke's chest, jerking violently with every gasp for breath. Luke almost wanted to break down himself, but he knew that Bray needed someone, anyone who was willing to hold him.

And that list was a very short one.

Eventually, Bray cried himself to a fitful sleep. He still hiccuped, and his face was still wet. Luke lifted Bray into his arms, and took him back out into the hotel room.

Erick had woken up, no doubt awakened by Bray's cries, and was now pacing around the room. Upon seeing Luke come out of the bathroom, Bray twitching in his arms, Erick rushed over to them.

"Is he alright?" Erick asked, whispering in a worried tone.

Luke looked down at Bray and back up at Erick before nodding slowly. "I believe so..."

Erick furrowed his brow at the unsure response. "Do you need any help? What happened?"

Luke shook his head. "It's alright. I'm just going to stay with him tonight."

Erick nodded. "If you need me, I'm close."

"Thank you." Luke set Bray down on the bed before turning back to Erick, "Oh, Erick?"

"Yes?"

"I get the couch tomorrow night."

Erick chucked. "It'll be all yours, my brother. Good night."

"And to you." Luke watched Erick flop back down onto the couch, which creaked slightly under his weight, before crawling into his own (Well, Bray's) bed.

Luke looped his arm around Bray, who unconciously snuggled in closer. His breathing had eased, though he still twitched a bit. Luke started playing with Bray's hair, twisting it around his fingers and letting it fall, strand by strand.

This seemed to be enough to relax Bray fully, for he yawned a bit and stopped fidgeting, finally resting to the sound of Luke's heartbeat.

Luke breathed in Bray's scent. No matter where they were, Bray always smelled like pine. Erick and Luke had searched his belongings several times for any sort of cologne or scented candle, but they never found any.

Movement under Luke's arm startled him out of his thoughts. Bray adjusted himself so that his face was pressed into the crook of Luke's neck. Before falling back asleep, he spoke.

"I love you Luke."

Luke's eyes widened, though he tried not to move to quickly, for fear of waking Bray up fully. He looked over to Erick to see if he'd heard, but Erick had already fallen back asleep.

Luke looked back down at Bray, who had settled into a calm sleep. Perhaps he had been dreaming and had said that in his sleep. Perhaps Luke was beginning to hear things that were never said. He hadn't gotten too much sleep tonight.

No. Luke was awake, and Bray had told him that he loved him, Be it platonic or romantic, it was one of the best things that Luke had ever heard come out of Bray's mouth.

He said 'I love you' to someone other than Sister Abigail.

A smile etched on his face, Luke settled into the far too plush bed. It didn't seem to bother him anymore. He listened to Bray's breath for a second longer before speaking, his own eyelids feeling heavy and drooping down.

"I love you too Bray."

Hey look, I'm back! Don't expect too much, I'll try to keep writing, but with how infuriating WWE can be, I can't make promises.