Relief

Calming Shuichi

The next morning did not begin well.

I woke up much too early. It had been almost three thirty in the morning before I was done bitching out Nakano, almost four before I had calmed down enough to return to bed and sleep with my pink-haired lover curled into my side.

Five hours later, and I was awake.

Like I said. Too early.

Believe me, it wasn't my idea to be awake at such an ungodly hour. But Shuichi was clinging to my side, his tight grasp putting dents in my skin. I tried to rub his back, his hair, his arms, his face, anything that would relax him in his sleeping state and making him loosen the vice grip he had locked me in, all to no avail.

It was starting to hurt, actually. I poked him between the shoulder blades. No response. I prodded his stomach and again, no response. "Shuichi," I whispered breathily in his ear. "Shuichi, you need to wake up. Let me go, Shuichi."

That at least earned me a groan.

"Shuichi," I said again.

Mutterings and murmurings thrummed against my shoulder. Houston, we have progress.

"Shuichi," I said once more, getting slightly irritated. "You're going to crack one of my ribs, and then I'm going to be pissed you little monkey."

"Sorry!" He suddenly gasped, coming into reality with a jolt and releasing my side.

I coughed once and felt the area of skin he'd been holding. I could actually feel the imprint of his hand in my side. That was going to leave a mark. Damn my light skin, I bruised like a fucking banana.

"Sorry, Yuki," he said again, watching me with frightened eyes. He'd curled himself up at the other end of the bed.

"It's fine."

I brushed it off and sunk back down into my pillow, determined to sleep for at least another four…five…ten hours. But something was missing. Shuichi didn't budge an inch from his curled up position. I opened one eye and stared at him with it.

"You coming back to bed, or what?"

He didn't answer for a minute. When he did, his voice was so quiet I had to strain to hear him. "Are you angry with me?"

"For nearly breaking me in two? Hell no. Now get back in bed and go to sleep." He had to be just as tired as I was. After all, he was the one who'd been walking around like the living dead because of sleep deprivation.

"Not for that…" he said quietly.

"For what, then?"

"The movie."

I was confused. "What about the movie? Why would I be mad at you because of a movie?"

He suddenly burst forth with his trademark Shuichi-Shout, scrambling forward on the bed a few inches. "For going to see it! For getting so worked up! You know that I know that I'm a big baby when it comes to scary stuff, and I went to see it anyway! Aren't you mad at me?"

I couldn't help but stare at him for a minute. "You idiot," I replied quietly, and then shifted position, half-sitting and holding my arms out to him. "Come here."

He crawled forward on his hands and knees and fell into my embrace. I held him for a moment, understanding that for now he needed the sweet me, the kind me that could handle his antics and be tolerant. "I'm not mad at you Shuichi, not even a little. I suppose you could have made a better decision about your movie genre choices, but I'm more upset with your friend Nakano for not taking better care of you."

He laughed a little, but I silenced him and continued talking. "I'm serious. You're punk friend took you out of my care and brought you back in less than perfect condition. I could beat him to a pulp."

"Hiro didn't mean to," Shuichi whispered into my chest.

"Mean to or not, I might just have to punch the bastard the next time I see him."

Shuichi shook his head, but remained quiet, his fingers tracing patterns on my chest. I yawned and changed positions, laying him next to me as I settled back into the mattress. "I'm going to sleep now." I told him. "Stay up if you want, but try not to burn anything down while I'm unconscious."

He giggled. "I'll do my best," then he sighed and nuzzled into me, falling asleep almost as instantly as I did.

When I woke up next it was nearly four in the afternoon. My back protested the prolonged stillness as I stretched and yawned. Shuichi wasn't in bed beside me, but the shower was running in the next room.

The bathroom was steaming and he was singing quietly to himself when I entered.

"Hey, brat," I said. There was a squeak and a clatter from inside the stall. "Any survivors in there?" I asked sarcastically as his sudsy head popped out of the shower.

"Sorry, Yuki. You scared me."

I shook my head. "How long have you been up?"

"I don't know…twenty minutes."

My response was a noncommittal grunt as I turned to the mirror and swiped off some steam with my hand. I grabbed my toothbrush, put a glob of mint paste directly on my tongue, and scrubbed furiously. My mouth felt and tasted like it had been filled with glue.

He'd been quiet all that time, but as I swished and spit for the last time a pair of long, wet arms snaked around my waist and pushed me against his slick torso. I looked over my shoulder at his impish smirk.

"You little brat." I growled. "You just got my pajama bottoms all wet."

His smiled grew even wider. "I can make more than that wet, Yuki."

I shivered and closed my eyes. He let go and snuck back into the shower. Once I'd composed myself sufficiently, I followed.

"So what are we going to do about the nightmares?" I asked as I stirred a pot of stew that was boiling on the stove.

"Hmm?" Shuichi responded.

"You're nightmares; they're not just going to disappear by themselves. What are we going to do about them?"

"I don't know," he said quietly, sighing. "I don't know how to get rid of them."

I nodded and turned the heat down before adding a little salt to the stew and tasting my concoction. It would do. I snapped the stove off completely and dished out two bowls, bringing them to the table. Shuichi started to gobble at his before I could warn him that it was hot. He didn't seem to mind, he was to busy sucking the food down like a vacuum cleaner.

"What's causing them?" I asked before blowing on a spoonful of stew and eating it.

"That movie," he said, looking at me as though I was demented.

"I know that, idiot." I said shortly. "I mean what's the basis, what about it exactly scared you?"

He chewed that over (literally) and then shrugged. "Nothing about it was particularly frightening, if you really think about it. I suppose I was just applying it to a 'what if' situation and let my imagination run away with me."

I raised an eyebrow. "What kinds of what-if situations?"

"Just, like…" he swallowed a bit of stew. "What if this happened to me, or to Hiro, or to you…stuff like that."

I stared at him disbelievingly for a moment.

"What?" He asked.

"You're nightmare yesterday; you said I was in it."

"Yeah, you were like the main person who was in the movie, all the stuff in the movie happened to you and…" he paused, and then his eyes grew wide with comprehension. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." I said, a little more snappishly that I'd meant to. "Are you done?" I pointed to his empty bowl and he nodded. I grabbed it, placed the dishes in the sink, and then walked to the entryway to grab my coat and my keys.

"Where are you going Yuki?" He asked, standing.

"The rental store. Get your coat, you're coming too."

He smiled a little, his eyes glowing with joy at the prospect of going somewhere with me. I rolled my eyes. The stupidest things could make him happy.

"What are we doing?"

"We're going to rent that movie, and you and I are going to watch the whole goddamn thing together. And then, we're going to watch the special features so you can see just how they made it look the way it looks…so that you know it's just costumes, makeup, and computers. Got it?"

We'd reached the car by now. I was backing down the drive when I caught sight of his face. His gorgeous purple eyes had grown as large as dinner plates. He was frightened. "I don't want to watch it again!"

"You said yourself it wasn't that scary in its own right, it was just your damn overactive imagination."

"What if watching it just makes it worse?"

I ignored his question and asked one of my own. "Do you remember the name of that movie?"

"Yeah."

"What was it?"

"The Hills Have Eyes…Two."

A/N: First reviewer got the answer right! *throws mountains of cookies at DStar5* It was Hills Have Eyes 2!!!!!!

I'm deeply, deeply sorry for the wait when it came to an update for this story. Life got in the way. I promise the next update won't be two months away!

Anyway, this story isn't exactly cooperating. I had planned to make it more humorous than it is, but my plot bunnies tend to have minds of their own. This particular situation actually happened to me…I went to see this movie at the theatre down the street that plays hit movies for four dollars about a month after they've come out on DVD. It scared the shit out of me…not because it was just that scary (I mean it was, but it was more twisted than frightening) but because I kept putting myself or my loved ones in the position of the main characters. My partner finally had to go rent the damn thing and show me the special features (like Yuki! Hahahaha!) just to prove that it was all fake.

So, the next (and most likely final) chapter should be here soon. Please review!